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The Millionaire Real Estate Agent | The MREA Podcast
99. Pre-List to Post-List: Nail the Listing Conversion With Dan Holt
00:39:05
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- [00:00]
Dan Holt
Foreign.
- [00:06]
Jason Abrams
Welcome back to another episode of the Millionaire Real Estate Agent podcast. I'm Jason Abrams and this is the place where we lift the curtain on the world of real estate like never before. Every week I sit down with visionaries, pirates and mavericks. We're here to document, demonstrate, and most importantly, demystify their game changing models and systems. What secrets propel them to the top and how are they living their dreams? This is about passion, it's about strategy. But above all, it's about real, tangible success. So buckle up and let's dive in. This is the Millionaire Real Estate Agent podcast. You know, some of the nation's top real estate agents come from smaller towns within it. Today we're going to meet a man from Springfield, Missouri. Friends, they do over $100 million year in and year out. They do it by focusing on three things in a very specific order. Leads, listings, and leverage. I know what you're thinking. That's the whole idea of the mrea. It is, but Dan Holt has simplified it to the point where we can all learn something. He is going to tell us exactly how to do the predict pre listing work and the post listing work that gets you more referrals and closes more deals. We are also going to dive deep into pricing and how he discusses it with a seller. In the shifting market, pricing is key. Sit back and buckle up. This is Dan Holt, gang. I'm excited. I'm joined by a dear friend of mine. I know I say that often, but this guy and I go back all the way to the flood. And friends, welcome Dan Holt. Dan, how are you, sir?
- [02:00]
Dan Holt
Fantastic. I didn't know the reference to the flood, so that threw me off, but yeah, that dates me, boy.
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Jason Abrams
Yeah, you're old. I don't want to sugarcoat this thing. We have to be honest with the audience. I mean, this just is what it is, Dan. Y' all are absolutely crushing it. You have so many different businesses. You crush it as a brokerage owner, you crush it as a team owner. I'm going to make the argument later that you're winning in life, but. But you didn't just get born a realtor. There was something that happened before it. So how did you find your way into the greatest industry in the world?
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Dan Holt
It was not on purpose. It was on accident. I was forced into it. You know, I started my, like, professional career out of college. I went into law enforcement immediately and I went five years in law enforcement.
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Jason Abrams
Wait a second. No way you're skipping through that. Because when I think of all the things that Make a phenomenal law officer. You check couple of the boxes, but then there's a few there that are blank. How did you end up in that career?
- [02:55]
Dan Holt
I was an adrenaline junkie. I actually. You don't know this? I was professional rodeo athlete for five years prior to that. And so I decided when I grew up I would actually have a real job. And that paid money because it turns out I wasn't good enough to make money. The professional part was I entered and I paid my fees. They took my money like they were professional. So, yeah. So I was an adrenaline junkie. Got into law enforcement. My dad's a retired minister, didn't have a retirement plan and built his assets through real estate. He invested in real estate and retired with 20 houses.
- [03:27]
Jason Abrams
Paid for how many years? That's incredible, by the way. And by the way, thank you for your mission as a first responder. I deeply appreciate that. What's the aha? Did you take any aha's from being a police officer into your real estate life?
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Dan Holt
2. Number one, I cannot stand the equal pay for unequal effort model.
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Jason Abrams
Okay.
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Dan Holt
I like to be paid what I'm worth, number one. Number two, I can talk myself into or out of anything that I want.
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Jason Abrams
Man, those are both pretty powerful. Let's go with the second one because that can either be a great asset or a terrible detriment.
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Dan Holt
That's right. In that world, a lot of officers, including myself, at the point in time, depending on the day I was having, was going to depend on how my shift went. So if I was coming in with a predetermined attitude, that it was going to be a crummy day. Guess what? Every interaction I had was crummy. And when I say talk myself into something, I could talk somebody into a patrol car very easily, or I could give them the long path and whichever I wanted, I could talk them into.
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Jason Abrams
Yeah.
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Dan Holt
You do know that to be true about me.
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Jason Abrams
This I know to be true. Okay, so you're happily doing the police work on certain days anyway, what happens?
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Dan Holt
So I started building houses, get into real estate.
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Jason Abrams
Wait a second. Why though? I don't get it. You're happily doing the police thing?
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Dan Holt
Yes.
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Jason Abrams
You could continue to do it forever. Are you looking back at the success your dad had and doing that on the side?
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Dan Holt
Yes, so. But he had never built a house to sell it. My goal was to generate cash. I was limited in what I could make in the law enforcement. I mean, my best year, I think I worked all the overtime I could and I made $45,000. Right. That's different now. That's quite some time ago. We still rode horses then. Once I got into that, I did, you know, I did a house. I did, you know, one year, I did three the next year.
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Jason Abrams
Wait a second, they don't teach you that in Police Academy. I've seen both movies.
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Dan Holt
I framed my first house by myself by hand and nail when I was 16 years old. That was my job. And so it was just very much. I was just around it my whole life. So I didn't learn it, I was just taught it. And so by the time it was done, my dad helped me co sign for the first loan I ever did to build a house, lived in that house. And then I recognized that's pretty easy and so just started building more. And by the end, you know, about my fifth year in law enforcement, I built six that year. So I made about five times on my side gig that I was making on my regular gig. And it just made no sense at that point.
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Jason Abrams
So do you go get the builder's license or do you go get the real estate license?
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Dan Holt
When got the builder's license? So I went into the world as a builder slash developer. So over the next four years, I built 130 houses, developed 40 acres, had 120 lots available in it. And then 2008 happens.
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Jason Abrams
Oh, man. All right, so hang on a second. Stay in this time period for me before eight happens, you're having success.
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Dan Holt
Oh, massive.
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Jason Abrams
What do you learn there that you pulled through to today?
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Dan Holt
So 2008, what? Pre 2008, what I learned is very much I started this and I did everything by myself. I then transitioned to a full general contractor role where I had subcontractors for everything. And the thing I learned in that world is that subcontractors have specialization. And the more specialized they are in trade, the more efficient and effective they are, and therefore the faster my job goes. So really became a project management role. I understood that specialization is always faster and more effective. The jack of all trades. And I learned this like we've all heard this, right? But it was in building specifically, the jack of all trades makes no money, right? So when you try to do everything, you can do everything, but you're very slow and inefficient. An example, it took me six months building a house by myself. Now the profit margin was higher on a scale, but by the end I was building six in a month, right? And to the point in time, I was building 24 a year, right? So I can't do that. Math off top of my head, but it's 12 every six months. So my margins got smaller, but I was making way more money.
- [07:15]
Jason Abrams
Got it. Got it.
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Dan Holt
Yeah.
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Jason Abrams
Okay, so then 08 happens and the music stops. Stops. What's that like?
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Dan Holt
Well, I'll tell you exactly what it's like. To the point that I was six and a half million dollars in debt. I was roughly, I'm going to guess, 30, 32 years old. You could do the math really fast at 6% interest and know that I was struck in checks for about $24,000 a month of money that I won't say I didn't have because I did have. Right. That went on for about six months to the point in time I made my last interest payment to the bank, came home, I got licensed about three months before I was broke. I had three kids at home and made my last interest payment of $224,000 and came home with $212 in the bank and legitimately didn't know how I was going to feed my family.
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Jason Abrams
Take me there. I lived through it as well. And those of us that did all have a story like this. If you were in the industry, but now you're sitting there, your kids only know the lifestyle they've been living, which is times are great and we've made it.
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Dan Holt
That's right. I'll go back to the real estate side of it because even though I wasn't, I was licensed, just barely, but I wasn't practicing. I got licensed just to list my own property so I could save that money. Because my perception was that realtors were lazy and they did nothing actually proactive to sell a home, right? And I probably hadn't had a showing in three months, had 18 houses finished. I've had a showing in months, right? So I make my last payment, I go home, sit on the tailgate of my truck. My family is none the. But they have no knowledge of this, right?
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Jason Abrams
You've been carrying this all inside?
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Dan Holt
Oh, yeah. Nobody knows. I can't let them know what can they do, right? And so I sit on the back of my truck and I have this coming to Jesus meeting with Jesus, right? We're sitting on the back of the truck and we're having this conversation.
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Jason Abrams
He showed up for the meeting.
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Dan Holt
Well, I think he heard I did all the talking, okay? I was broken, right? I was broken down. Walk tears off and walk inside and nobody knew the difference.
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Jason Abrams
Wait a minute, wait a minute. What happens in that conversation?
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Dan Holt
Well, the conversation is exactly this. The conversation was If I've been a bad steward, right, because we're taught to be stewards. If I've been a bad steward of this and if I've been egotistical in this, take it all from me. Just make it really fast. And it wasn't going to take long because it was only $212, right? That doesn't. But it was. Take it all from me and I'll start over tomorrow. I don't know what I'll do, but I'll start over, man.
- [09:31]
Jason Abrams
Okay, so you wake up the next.
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Dan Holt
Morning, that was a Thursday. I know that very specifically because of this. I go to the last house that we're finishing that I have in the ground, and we're finishing it, put finishing touches on it, and it's a backsplash, right? I can't afford to pay subcontractors, so I'm doing it myself. 4:00 clock on Friday, my phone rings and it's a bank. And in those days, banks didn't call you proactively for good news, right? Keep on. I never lost a home at this point in time. Bank calls me and the guy says, hey, Dan, my name's Andy, We've never met, and I've just taken over the foreclosure department for the bank. And I said, okay. I'd stepped outside, I had one employee still. And I said, hey, finish up, you know, roll up the tools, we'll be done. I can't pay you. Don't show back up. I can pay you this, but don't show back up on Monday. I have nothing else to do. And I step out, take this phone call. Hey, Dan, this is Andy from the bank. I'm new to the bank, we've never met, and I'm in charge of the foreclosure department. I said, okay. I knew what this phone call was, but he says, are you still building? And I said, as of 15 minutes ago, yes. He says, well, you're the only builder that's still good with our bank and been in good standing. And he said, are you interested in finishing a bank foreclosure, a builder? Bank foreclosure for us? And I said, yes, I am. I didn't play hard. Bottom. Yep, yep, be there tomorrow. He says, okay. And he says, what would your fees for something like that be? And I. Just off the cuff. I said, well, I said, here's the deal. My normal fee would be 12% cost plus to finish a project for anybody. I said, but what you don't know is I'm now A license agent. And I know that you're also going to need to sell this property when you're done. So here's what I'll do. I'll reduce my bill fee to 10%, I'll finish the house and I'll sell it. And he says, that's a fantastic plan. So we'd save on your builder fee if we listed it with you. I said, yes. He says, okay, meet me Monday, 8 o', clock, Monday, 7 o'. Clock. I'm sitting there. He rolls in at banker hour, 8, 10. I remember all this very vividly, like it's seared in my brain. He goes, hey, here's the house. We need you to finish. And I said, okay, that's fine. And he goes, by the way, there's 26 more of them right down the line.
- [11:38]
Jason Abrams
You must have felt in your tummy the butterflies of savior.
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Dan Holt
There is no clear message in my life of the breaking point like that. And Jen knows it. Everybody that knows me knows this story. That was my breaking point. That was my breaking point. And within 24 hours, it was answered.
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Jason Abrams
That's unbelievable. God is good, my friend.
- [11:58]
Dan Holt
All the time.
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Jason Abrams
So now you're back up and you're running and the rest, as they say, is history.
- [12:04]
Dan Holt
Yeah, well, no, not really. So here was the nice thing. So I stayed in that mode, though. I stayed in the builder hat. So my first year in real estate, I made $24,000 in compensation. So huge, right?
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Jason Abrams
Yeah.
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Dan Holt
Next year was like, it was nothing, right? It was nothing to talk about. And so at the three year mark, this had been like probably 10 or 11. I went to my first event and that was Mega Camp. And I went to the Mega Camp, had some ahas from that, came back, hung the nail bags up and said, I'm never touching them again.
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Jason Abrams
Friends. Yeah. We have guests from all different brokerages here. We love having everybody. Megacamp is an educational event that Keller Williams throws where over the course of a couple of days, you're going to hear from four or five different authors, you're going to hear from 80 plus top agents as they walk across the stage and give them their models. It's literally the mrea, but live. It's the people's podcast live. Yeah. And you go back, man, and you light fire.
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Dan Holt
I go back and light fire. Here's what blew my mind. I went and sat down the stage and I was sat by myself. Took notes the whole time. I was the first one there. I was the last one to leave every day, listen to everything, took notes the whole time I left with this, there were people doing massive amounts of business in markets smaller than ours. It was just that my perception of real estate had a tall wall at the edge of Springfield, Missouri, and it didn't go beyond that. So I only thought as big as the people that were in my market. And quite frankly, they just didn't think that big. And then I go to this national scale, I see all these people doing these huge businesses with all this adversity in these difficult markets, et cetera. And I said, I can do that and I don't have to borrow money.
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Jason Abrams
Yeah, well, that's the thing. When you start to compare the real estate business to the building business, there's all kinds of benefits.
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Dan Holt
That's right.
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Jason Abrams
Yeah. 100%. All right, so you're off and running. I love it. We're now friends. If you listen to the show, you know what's coming next. We're about to unpack the model that drives so much of the success that Dan and his team have. It's all around the pre listing and the post listing. And we're going to get detailed now. You don't have to take the notes. If you're bombing down the freeway in your F150 lightning and you don't have to go to a gas station because that's an electric vehicle. Friends, if that's what you're doing, then I'll take the notes. If you don't get them, they come out every Thursday. Go to mreanotes.com that's mreanotes.com I'm jumping in. Cause I see an opportunity. Friends, listings are sitting on the market longer. And because of that, some people are choosing to rent out their properties. They don't wanna walk away from the low interest rates. They're deciding to hold it. Now all of a sudden, you need to be an expert on all things rental. And one of those things is vacation rentals. That's why I'm excited that Airbnb has partnered with the MREA podcast. Here's how it works. You are going to go to MrEanotes.com Airbnb and you are going to sign up. It's totally free to sign up. And once you do, you are going to get access to localized market data about rentals in your area so that you can be smarter about what's happening and become the economist of choice for your clients. You're also going to get access to a webinar that's going to teach you all about Airbnb and Why you should be referring your clients to them. And then once you refer your clients to them, you will be eligible to receive referral fees based on where the property is and what the demand is. Friends, it's a win, win, win. MrEanotes.com Airbnb Dan, what sort of truck do you drive?
- [15:32]
Dan Holt
F150.
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Jason Abrams
There it is. Can't beat it.
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Dan Holt
Never driven anything different. Well, that's not true. I've got a couple extra vehicles. F150 all the time.
- [15:40]
Jason Abrams
It's a fantastic product. Dan, tell me exactly how the pre list and post list work. We start with why it matters and then hit me.
- [15:48]
Dan Holt
Okay, let's go back to the housing. Let's go back to the building industry. There's no production builder that doesn't have a system. It's a system. Right? Because you can either have a career in real estate, you have a fantastic career in real estate, or you can have fantastic business, and they're drastically different. Wow. Okay, so think of a production builder when you think of any business. But I think of building because that's where I came from. That's the background I came from. And consistency becomes really effective. Right. And really efficient.
- [16:13]
Jason Abrams
And in the MREA and friends, if you're new to the show, the Millionaire Real Estate Agent book written by Gary Keller, Jay Papasan and Dave Jenks, may he rest in peace, lays out a very simple premise that it's leads that turn into listings that then turn into leverage. And leverage comes in the way of people and more leads that leads to buyer sales. So it all begins with leads.
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Dan Holt
It all trickles. That's all I focus on, is generating leads that, that lead to listings that then obviously lead to closings and more leverage, et cetera. So obviously we generate leads everywhere. I will tell you this. We buy zero leads.
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Jason Abrams
It's hard for you to say we buy zero leads and then not tell us some of the tricks to it. So give me one or two ways to generate leads. Today that's working for you. And I mean today.
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Dan Holt
So number one, Google, it's a phenomenal place. You can just have great SEO and not pay for it.
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Jason Abrams
Okay, how do I do that?
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Dan Holt
You have reviews. We only focus on Google reviews. And we don't have a ton. We have roughly 650 Google reviews. They're all five star reviews. We comment on every one of them. We show up when people search. We show up so they click through that. That's asource, Friends.
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Jason Abrams
If you want to get the system for Google reviews, go listen to the show we did with Nick waldner, he's got 1800 of them now, and he lays out exactly how to do it. Here's the key. Y get the reviews and then start placing some ads on Google. Whether it's the push to talk or whether it's going to be a click. That model that Doug hunts. Dan, what else you got?
- [17:38]
Dan Holt
That's right. And so we are very intentional with repeats and referrals. Right. So customers that have purchased before, we stay in communication with them. We're just good people and we talk to our people and we're front of mind. Right. And we stay in communication with them after. It's not difficult. We just talk to them. We try to talk to them every quarter. Is it reality?
- [17:56]
Jason Abrams
They.
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Dan Holt
No. Does everybody need to talk to every quarter? No, but we stay in contact with our people. We're influential in our community and we're connected with people that generate. See sphere of influence. We call sphere of influence. Right. I think the biggest place. This is a whole different topic. I'm sorry, I'm on a rabbit trail for a second. But the term sphere of influence. People think that we need to be influential in their life. I need to be in relationship with people who are influential in the community. I am relying on their influence, not my influence. I think most people think it's their influence. It's not. I need to be in a relationship who have influence.
- [18:28]
Jason Abrams
Man. That's a big way of thinking about it. Okay, so all these things, and that was a bunny trail. But they're going to generate leads.
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Dan Holt
They're going to generate leads.
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Jason Abrams
Now we want listing leads and we want to convert them. Enter pre listing. What does that mean?
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Dan Holt
Okay, so pre listing means that they have raised their hand at some point in time. Every rooftop, by the way, in your town is a lead. Wow. Here's the difference. Okay. It's owned by somebody, right. The challenge is they don't know who I am, I don't know who they are, and I don't know the timeframe that they want to sell in. So the way to close that gap is to then get them to know you, you know them, and then understand their timeline. That's a lead. That's all a lead is. I love it right now. Get in a relationship with them and understand their timeline. And so that when they think of real estate, they think of you. Right. And so then we just simply stay in communication. We have a big funnel. We have a huge funnel that starts all the way with people that own a house. It can be that Simple. They own a house, I know their name. And then we just push them down the funnel by staying in communication with them. We also on the back end, we can see when they're looking at our houses and looking at our site. We have 22,000 people saved on saved searches. So we see their activity online, we can see when they unsubscribe, we can see when they look at houses favorite. And then we call them, we pick up the phone and we call them.
- [19:41]
Jason Abrams
By the way, friends, if you're calling anyone, do it in a TCPA friendly compliant way. I get it.
- [19:46]
Dan Holt
They have all subscribed.
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Jason Abrams
You're calling them to talk to them once a quarter. Because if you don't talk to them at least four times a year, it's hard to say they're your people.
- [19:53]
Dan Holt
That's right.
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Jason Abrams
Okay, so now you got someone who raises their hand and they're close to now what's the pre list system?
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Dan Holt
So the pre list system is this. And let's just pretend that I've set an appointment.
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Jason Abrams
Okay.
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Dan Holt
Right. We're down the trail that far. We've set an appointment. We try to set an appointment a minimum of three days out, maximum five days out.
- [20:09]
Jason Abrams
Okay.
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Dan Holt
Okay. Because you need some of these things to work. So they're going to get information delivered to them in person. That is the same thing every time. Everybody gets it. Most would call it a pre list packet. It's really just a value proposition of the team. It's really just this is who we are. Welcome to the team, meet the team.
- [20:28]
Jason Abrams
And that's hand delivered.
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Dan Holt
Hand delivered.
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Jason Abrams
So it's in color, it looks great. It's got a bio for everyone. All your accolades.
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Dan Holt
Yep. As brief as could be. And drives them to reviews so they can see the reviews. Right. It's just an informational. You'll think my mom wrote it. It says all wonderful things.
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Jason Abrams
Yeah, I love that. Does it say anything about your mission or your values?
- [20:49]
Dan Holt
No.
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Jason Abrams
What does it say?
- [20:51]
Dan Holt
It's our results. When they list with us, they're buying into a system.
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Jason Abrams
Love it. So it's, you have something to sell, I have a system that does it in the time that you want with the least amount of headaches for the most amount of money.
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Dan Holt
And I would argue that's the value.
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Jason Abrams
And here's the proof. Okay. Love it. That's number one. What else you got?
- [21:08]
Dan Holt
Okay, so then next they get a follow up phone call. Right. Hey, this is Dan. This is who I am. This is who your listing agent is looking forward to meeting with you. The next thing they're going to.
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Jason Abrams
Wait a second. Don't rush through it. Pretend I'm answering. Do it with me. Hello.
- [21:20]
Dan Holt
It's a very simple phone call. Hey, I'm Dan. I know that you talked to Mark previously in our office and he scheduled an appointment for you. I just want you to know that we're set for a Thursday at 2 o'. Clock. I know that you probably got the information that we left for you because we don't meet them. We don't try to make me the time to leave it with it. We just leave it for them.
- [21:35]
Jason Abrams
Right.
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Dan Holt
Have you had a chance to look at that? It's either yes or no.
- [21:38]
Jason Abrams
Yes.
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Dan Holt
If it's no, great. Fantastic. I know that you have questions for that. My intention is not to answer those questions now, but have those ready when we meet. You'll also notice that there was a copy of a blank set of seller's disclosure statement in that. And there was also a CMA in that. Don't read into any of that at all because we're going to talk in person at that. I look forward to seeing you. That's it.
- [21:56]
Jason Abrams
Okay. Now what's the strategy behind including the seller's disclosure but not asking them to fill it out ahead of time?
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Dan Holt
Well, it's two things. Right. So I'm looking to close. Right. Always be closing.
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Jason Abrams
Yeah.
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Dan Holt
If that is filled out and signed, I'm feature cast through 40% of my listing presentation.
- [22:13]
Jason Abrams
Got it. So that's a signal when you come to where you are in the process.
- [22:17]
Dan Holt
That's right.
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Jason Abrams
Love that. All right, so number one was dropping off the stuff. Number two was making the phone call. What's number three?
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Dan Holt
Well, actually, I guess to back up one would have been the pre call. Right.
- [22:28]
Jason Abrams
Okay.
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Dan Holt
So we've always done four steps.
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Jason Abrams
Got it.
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Dan Holt
The most important one I think is after the appointment. Because regardless of after the appointment, the day after the appointment there's a phone call from the listing manager. And it's just a fault because I don't always sign paperwork in person.
- [22:43]
Jason Abrams
Okay.
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Dan Holt
Probably 50% of the time we do. 50% and I asked them, it's their preference. I have it there and I have it ready with me. Right. In case they want to review and etc. But the phone call afterwards is the presumptive close if it's not closed yet and they schedule photos that next day.
- [22:57]
Jason Abrams
So what does that sound like?
- [22:58]
Dan Holt
Hey, this is Paige from Holt Homes Group and I know you met with Dan yesterday and I'm looking at photographer schedule And I just want to know if today or tomorrow, whatever, whichever day, is a better time for us to show up and take pictures of your home, start getting the marketing process ready.
- [23:12]
Jason Abrams
And that's whether we've signed the agreement or not.
- [23:15]
Dan Holt
That's right. Well, if I have signed it, it's a fantastic follow up. If I haven't signed it, it's a fantastic presumptive close. And they feel it for the first time. They go, this is a system. I feel what the leverage feels like. This is an organization that is put together that is prepared to sell my home.
- [23:32]
Jason Abrams
Got it. So do they sometimes say to her, well, we haven't signed the paperwork yet. What do you mean? When the photos.
- [23:37]
Dan Holt
Well, we may as well get photos ahead and scheduled in the event. And if you need me to have Dan call you back. He will.
- [23:43]
Jason Abrams
That's so good, man. Okay, so I want to make sure I get this. So number one, they're going to set the appointment or you're going to set it. Number two, we're going to hand drop off this package.
- [23:52]
Dan Holt
Yes.
- [23:52]
Jason Abrams
Then we're going to call before the appointment to see if they got it, see if they didn't. Let them know we're not answering it now. But I can't wait to meet you. I can't wait to see you.
- [23:59]
Dan Holt
That's right.
- [24:00]
Jason Abrams
Then I'm going to do my listing presentation. It's highly consultative. Then regardless of whether I get it or not, the next day the listing manager is calling to set the photos.
- [24:09]
Dan Holt
They assume I closed it.
- [24:11]
Jason Abrams
I love it. What's next?
- [24:12]
Dan Holt
That's it on the pre list. That's the list. So then I don't touch anything after that. And that's a whole different system, right? That's an op system.
- [24:20]
Jason Abrams
Let's talk about the listing consult, if you don't mind.
- [24:24]
Dan Holt
Sure.
- [24:24]
Jason Abrams
Walk me through this because this is as much of a science as it is an artist. And your closing ratios are pretty darn good. What are you doing? Like sleight of hand magic when you get there? Like, what's the conversation look like?
- [24:37]
Dan Holt
It's funny. Typically they have the book that I have left them in front of them and sometimes they're seeing it for the first time. Right. Let's be honest. And the first thing I do, I just take it and I slide it across to the side and we never talk about it again.
- [24:50]
Jason Abrams
What do you say?
- [24:51]
Dan Holt
I say I'll make the assumption that you believe my mom wrote this and it says nothing but great things about me. And this is all about me. And this appointment has nothing to do with me and everything to do with you and why you're why I'm here. And they slide it over and then we talk immediately. And the two things I want to talk about is timeline and money. I'm trying to ascertain what's more important. It is specifically a question I ask what's more important in this meeting that we ascertain the time frame that you sell your home in or the amount of money that you receive that you net from the sale.
- [25:18]
Jason Abrams
Okay, and if they say time frame, what do you say?
- [25:20]
Dan Holt
I say, great. And how fast do you want to sell? I say the reason I say that is because the answer you give me is going to determine the price that I recommend for listing your home.
- [25:29]
Jason Abrams
Got it. Now, are you having this conversation prior to the walkthrough of the house or after you've walked through it?
- [25:34]
Dan Holt
By the way, I always let them walk me through. I know there's opinions on this. I'm always a one step listing process. By the way. I don't go back. Okay, I get it. I follow up. I go one time.
- [25:45]
Jason Abrams
So are you building rapport as they're walking you through?
- [25:48]
Dan Holt
Yes, that's why I use it. I don't care about the house. I've seen the house. I can see it online. I know what I'm walking into. Nine times out of ten, right? I am looking to build rapport. I'm talking to them. I see a picture of their kids. I have kids. I see a picture of their dog. I have a dog. Like, right. You know, that's the stuff that you're just making connections with. But I'm just walking through the house. I never make recommendations for repair, I never recommend a stage. I never anything. I'm pricing the house to sell and it's as is condition. And some would argue that's not very consultive.
- [26:13]
Jason Abrams
Well, I was going to say these days it's very in vogue to give people like three or four different prices based on a scope of work. And who's going to manage the work? I would look at your background and say, man, you, you're tailor made to do all the work to get someone's to flip every home you sell, quote, unquote. Why don't you go that route?
- [26:29]
Dan Holt
Well, I'll go to the whole flip thing really quick because I find that if I can price it right, typically in my market and I'm in a very blue collar average sales price, $275,000. I don't see the margins for people to drastically make. I want the house on the market today.
- [26:42]
Jason Abrams
Got it. That makes sense to me.
- [26:43]
Dan Holt
If I can't and I tell them, I said I will never make a recommendation to you that you can't make a return on your investment. If we're just going to trade dollars, let's just reflect it in the price.
- [26:50]
Jason Abrams
How do you explain your role in their process because you're so highly leveraged? I mean, you're not setting the photos, you're not setting the showing. What do you tell them about you?
- [26:59]
Dan Holt
I say the fantastic thing about me is that I have an entire team behind me that's going to help you market and sell your home. I'm going to come in, I'm going to help you price it and we're going to look at the market as a whole and we're going to strategize based upon your timeline how we're going to price your home. And I always tell next steps right from there, you're going to talk to Paige, the marketing manager or Monica, our director of ops. And that kind of depends on price point is depending on who they get. And they're going to stay in communication with you and they're going to follow up and they're going to give you information such as feedback, scheduling, showings, all the things that are appropriate for that. You're going to talk to me when there's either a really large problem, something that's happened, or you have an offer and we're going to negotiate the offer together.
- [27:41]
Jason Abrams
Got it.
- [27:42]
Dan Holt
And that's probably the only times you're gonna talk to me.
- [27:44]
Jason Abrams
They're okay with that or they're not okay with that. Well, that's right.
- [27:46]
Dan Holt
Because one of the things I say too is listen, I could handle all your paperwork if that's important to you, but I promise you, I'm the worst person handling paperwork and it would be a disservice to you and you'd be really unhappy with me.
- [27:57]
Jason Abrams
Got it. I love it, man. So after they're listed and they call with the photos, is there anything else unique that they're doing in that post list process?
- [28:05]
Dan Holt
No, I wish I could tell you there is. We market them in all the same channels and avenues that everybody else lists from. You know, we're utilizing all the social media chann we're utilizing all the 340 websites that connect through kwls and all that. I wish I could tell you there's something unique. There's not. What's unique though. Is how we track it.
- [28:21]
Jason Abrams
What do you mean by that?
- [28:22]
Dan Holt
Okay, so our system, and I learned this a long time ago at probably one of the mega camps, is we actually follow up and we track every bit of data that comes from the showings. Not online necessarily, but what comes from the actual showings. And it's this really simple. And this is in the consultive conversation, by the way. We say this because they always have a price. I walk into the range, I never give a price to list the house because the range is dependent on their level of motivation. And I give them the six month price and I may never sell it at that price. And I give them the one week price. And the reason I give them two prices is because their motivation sometimes changes.
- [28:56]
Jason Abrams
What do you mean by that?
- [28:57]
Dan Holt
Well, we've all listed homes before and they just want to test the market. Let's just use that. We've all heard that before and we've all listed homes and something tragic happened and they had to have it sold the next day. And sometimes that happens in your list, period.
- [29:09]
Jason Abrams
I love that. So you're taking them through, your pricing strategy is to educate them with two prices so that at any point they know they can pull the exit lever and you're confident in that price.
- [29:20]
Dan Holt
Yes. Also another part is I never back myself into a corner listing presentation to give them the number they don't want because the number they're thinking is always in the range that I'm thinking. I can't think of one single time I've ever given a range and their number not been in my range. So I've never lost by saying it's $500,000.
- [29:37]
Jason Abrams
Well, look, I don't think you're Houdini, my friend. Isn't the range always the highest price home to sell in the neighborhood and the lowest price home and odds are theirs is gonna sell somewhere in between.
- [29:46]
Dan Holt
That's exactly right. But by not backing myself in a corner, I don't lose with them because they're thinking a number and I always. Here's the deal, Jason. I pick the midline range that I believe. This is my 30 day sale. I go 5% below and I go 5% above. I give a 10% range.
- [29:59]
Jason Abrams
Love it. You know, it's an interesting thing when you look up at the number of listing appointments, you go on, what would you say your conversion rate is?
- [30:07]
Dan Holt
Our conversion rate right now on listings taken to appointment is 90%.
- [30:11]
Jason Abrams
So friends, it's easy to discount this conversation, but do it to your own peril because when you have a 90% conversion rate, it changes the number of leads that you need to generate. And the shifting market is all about the hunt for the motivated. Dan, you're in Springfield. Is that a shifting market?
- [30:29]
Dan Holt
It has shifted, yes, because it's flat. It's been uptrending for 14 years and now it's flat. And now it's flat. So that technically is a shift.
- [30:37]
Jason Abrams
Love that. All right, man, two more questions for me on this topic and then I want to move on. You run a highly specialized team, so when a buyer, at that point, they're not your clients, but when a buyer calls in on a sign or on one of your ads or on the Internet, that goes directly to the buy side of the house and they're responsible for that.
- [30:56]
Dan Holt
Yeah. And the buy side has two ISAs specifically answering those phone calls. Right. So the intention of a listing is to market our business. Yes, we want to market the home, but it's to market our business and to market our services. So we answer those calls promptly, just like anybody else would like to say. That's also the importance of leverage. And I also sell that when on the listing presentation, I explained to how that works. Right. Because the number on the sign is not my number. So I don't want them thinking they're going to call that and they're going to get me. They're going to get the ISA department and it's going to rain to them, and then it's just speed deleted. Sense of urgency and that. Just to go show the home. Right. Like that's not something that we do, but to show that level of value and information that we have about that humble calling about.
- [31:33]
Jason Abrams
So what would you say for every listing you take, how many transactions does it lead to?
- [31:38]
Dan Holt
Oh, on average, it's a twofer. Right. So every home that we list, we do two transactions.
- [31:43]
Jason Abrams
You know, Dan, there is a great book on this.
- [31:45]
Dan Holt
I didn't make this up.
- [31:47]
Jason Abrams
Where did you get it from?
- [31:49]
Dan Holt
The Red book, the mrea, the millionaire real estate agent. That's where I stole it from, and I wish I could disprove it. Jason, I would argue in seasons it's 3 to 1. If I list a home 75% of the time, that seller also becomes a buyer. And I generate at least one qualified buyer. Now, better yet, I generate a qualified seller lead or buyer lead that also needs to sell a home. Now we're talking five to one. All I had to do is generate one listing appointment and convert it and market it appropriately. It could be five to One man.
- [32:22]
Jason Abrams
You just nailed that. When in your career do you end up reading the mrea? When does that happen?
- [32:27]
Dan Holt
I read it after I came back from the first event. Right. I sat down and went and sat and talked to my team leader, and I said, you know, these are things I'm wanting to do. And she just pulled it out and she opened it up and said, get out of your own way, basically.
- [32:39]
Jason Abrams
What's your aha from the book? Like, because you were coming into it from the building business and then you read this book, right?
- [32:45]
Dan Holt
And so the importance of the book is just the. I mean, what I connected with it was just the specialization, because even in the organizational model, it shows you what the roles are, and it shows you what the job responsibilities are. And so it became very simple, Right? Like, this is a paid role that I can pay a salary to, plus bonus, potentially to do these things that I don't want to do anyhow. And I suck.
- [33:05]
Jason Abrams
Dude, I love it. All right, I want to switch gears. The other side of your business is you own a Keller Williams Market center. How many real estate agents work out of that location?
- [33:14]
Dan Holt
458 friends.
- [33:17]
Jason Abrams
He owns.
- [33:18]
Dan Holt
Yes.
- [33:19]
Jason Abrams
The number one brokerage in his town. I want to ask you two questions about that.
- [33:22]
Dan Holt
Yes.
- [33:22]
Jason Abrams
If I'm a brokerage owner out there, what's the one thing about being a brokerage owner? What drives that success?
- [33:29]
Dan Holt
The same exact thing as running a great sales team. Focus on listings, focus on production, and recruit agents that carry listings.
- [33:36]
Jason Abrams
Man, you couldn't have said it any plainer. Okay, number two, how do you wake up every day and be the owner of the brokerage, but then also run one of the largest teams in it and stay in fellowship with everybody? Because someone less couth than I might say that feels like he's competing with me, the guy that owns the place, he's supposed to be helping me. Do you get any of that?
- [33:55]
Dan Holt
I get that from people outside of our brokerage. I think anybody that knows me knows that my genuine goal is for everybody in the brokerage to kick my butt. But I'm not gonna let them.
- [34:07]
Jason Abrams
No, I think they know that too.
- [34:10]
Dan Holt
It's a very healthy, cooperative, and competitive. I'm actively engaged with them, involved with them. They also know I will always step away from business if it coincides with theirs. And whether they know that or not, that's true and that's factual. I'll go find it somewhere else. Like, we're hunters and gatherers. Right? And we're. But I teach them to be and we focus on production. We don't focus on drama. We don't allow it to creep in, we remove it when it's there. We focus on selling houses. This is a production based business. And if we don't produce, there's no business. It's that simple. You know, it's funny, Jason, I'll tell you something. People have asked me, they say, why are you still at Keller Williams? Why don't you open your own brokerage? Why don't you? Or why don't you, whatever. And it doesn't matter, the brokerages, why don't you do your own? And I said, I am always open. I'm always open and I'm always going to listen till the day nobody's ever showed me a more proven system model. And until anybody can, and nobody's come close yet, I won't change anything. I will be consistent and I'll just keep going forward. I'll put my head down. There's nothing that will deviate from me. And I won't allow myself to get distracted by the way, when I get distracted and you know, some of these distractions I've been in, my distractions cost me so much money, right? That's my biggest loss leader is me and my distractions. And when I just focus on being consistent and doing the same thing over and over, no, it's not exciting, it's not flashy, gets very few accolades and awards and et cetera. And I don't care because I'm good with me and I'm good with this.
- [35:36]
Jason Abrams
You're my hero, brother. I mean it. I love you. I love your heart, I love the way that you show up for your people. And every time I meet one of the people in your office, they tell me, you know their name, you know their families, you know their stories. And it speaks to exactly why you're this successful. Thank you for everything you're doing for real estate agents everywhere, brother.
- [35:54]
Dan Holt
Well, thank you for what you're doing.
- [35:57]
Jason Abrams
That's just an old school real estate conversation. Here's how you know that you love real estate and that you're a real estate junkie. It's that you're still listening right now. If you're still listening right now. It's because you love old school real estate banter. I mean, let's be honest, the guy's a genius in the simplicity and he's also so humble about it. But let's talk about what he's doing. He's generating leads. He's doing that on the listing side, and then he's leveraging the properties that it lists. Could it be any more stuff? I mean, that's the mainstay from the mrea. I've been in Masterminds with Gary Keller, who wrote the mrea, by the way, with Jay Papasan and Dave Jenks, may he rest in peace, and he'll walk into a room where everyone in it is a $300 million plus producer, and he'll draw a triangle and three Ls and say, let's talk about leads, listings leverage. And inevitably someone says, well, wait a minute, Gary. Where's the new stuff? Let's talk about the new stuff. And he says the same thing every time. We can talk about the new stuff when you master the old stuff. Here's the joke, friends. Leads, listings leverage is the new stuff. That's what we're going to be talking about from now until the end of time, because it's the foundation of a healthy real estate business. And sure, there might be some changes that have happened to the industry along the way, but that is as true as it was the day that they wrote it. What do I think of when I think of Dan Holt? I think of a scary, slick real estate practitioner, someone who understands the basics and wakes up every day happy to live within them. Here's the question. Have you over complicated your business? Because some people set out to build a huge business and I want to say it slightly different. What if you just went out and made a bunch of money? You see, you don't have to have some sort of huge business with a massive org chart and really complicated anything. What you need to understand are the basics and the models that revolve around them. I generate leads to list properties. Those listings turn into leverage in the form of buyer leads. For every house I list, I'm gonna go sell two or three. That's the math. Go forth and do likewise. Before you go forth and do likewise. Wait a second. Earlier we talked about Airbnb and I don't want you to forget it. Airbnb has joined the most powerful podcast in the industry to roll out the Airbnb Real Estate Agent referral program. Go and sign up. It's free, gang. And you're gonna get the localized market data so you can be the economist of choice. When your clients are thinking of putting their home for rent, you'll be able to tell them how much they're gonna get, how long it's gonna take, and if vacation rentals even make sense for them. Then if they decide to put their property into the system, you're going to get paid. It's a win, win, win. You can't go wrong. MrEanotes.com Airbnb There it is. That wraps another episode. Friends, I don't know what you're taking out of this. I really don't. I'll tell you what I want you to be taking out of it, which is these are the people that are having tremendously big lives. And the reason it's happening is because they're setting up the models and system to do just that. Gary Keller told me that leaders leadership is teaching people how to think so that they do the things they need to do when they need to do them, so that ultimately they get the things they want when they want to have them. And that's what I want for you. You're all leaders, but it begins with leading ourselves. If you're enjoying this podcast, I want you to click the subscribe button anywhere that you get your podcast. We want to be the voice in your head every single week and every week we're dropping new content. We also send out a newsletter at the conclusion of every show to make sure that you get the highest points in the models and systems that were discussed. So if you want to sign up, I need your name and your email address. Head over to themillionaire agent podcast.com millionaireagentpodcast.com Enter your name and your email address and every week that newsletter will be in your box. Friends, you just went on a journey. I hope that what happens between now and the next time we meet is absolutely wonderful for you. Thanks for listening. I'll see you next week.
- [40:14]
Podcast Disclaimer Narrator
This podcast is for general informational purposes only. The views, thoughts and opinions of the guest represent those of the guest and not Keller Williams Realty, LLC and its affiliates and should not be construed as financial, economic, legal, tax, or other advice. This podcast is provided without any warranty or guarantee of its accuracy, completeness, timeliness or results from using the information. Warning. You must comply with the TCPA and any other federal, state or local laws, including for B2B calls and texts. Never call or text a number on any do not call list and do not use an autodialer or artificial voice or pre recorded messages without proper consent. Contact your attorney to ensure your compliance.