Tom Ferry on Mindset, Model and Marketing

The three most powerful words in real estate are “mindset, model, and marketing,” said Tom Ferry, author of “Mindset, Model and Marketing!” and New York Times bestseller “Life! By Design.”

Ferry is also the CEO of Tom Ferry International, a multimillion-dollar, full-service sales and marketing business. He leads more than 200 business motivation seminars a year across the United States and is Swanepoel Power 200’s No. 1 Real Estate Educator. He’s been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, REALTOR® Magazine, and many other national publications. A popular speaker among REALTORS®, this is his fourth time on Secrets of Top Selling Agents. This time, Ferry spoke about the top three real estate trends REALTORS® should look into.

Mindset
Mindset matters—perhaps more than anything else. The only glass ceiling you’re going to hit is the one you create for yourself. With every request made of you, your mind automatically moves to a “fixed” or “growth” mindset, Ferry said. People with a fixed mindset believe qualities like intelligence, talent, or networking and social skills are fixed traits that can’t be improved on.

People with a growth mindset believe their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work—that having a brain and talent are just the starting point.* According to Ferry, REALTORS® with a growth mindset are REALTORS® who succeed. Those with a fixed mindset, well…they don’t do so well. How you feel about yourself on the inside spreads to how you look and perform on the outside. “If you’re not spending an hour every day on you, on improving your looks, your mindset, your self-image, your self-talk and your belief in yourself, you could be a great salesperson, but you’ll hit your ‘glass ceiling’ and not your potential,” Ferry explained.

Run Your Business With a Checklist
Have an organized mindset. People who run their life with a checklist every day not only get more done; they get more important stuff done. “If it’s not on your schedule, it doesn’t exist,” Ferry stressed. Have six or seven activities every day. Your list can include social media postings, phone calls, or whatever meetings, activities, and note-writing you need to do, but put it on a list. Get organized—starting with a checklist.

Modeling
Modeling is when you look at someone who is already successful in an area of life and learn from the things they have done. This means you don’t have to reinvent the wheel, and you can speed up your progress by learning from their mistakes and wins.

You can’t change your behavior until you’re aware of what you need to change.
Until you can admit that you need to change, it is very difficult to interrupt old habits and patterns and create a new behavior.
After you realize you need to make a change and where you want to go, find your model. Consider who to model, where they excel (attitude, marketing, style, work ethics, systems, and time management), and what your plan for change involves.
What got you here won’t get you there. Study the top agents, look at what they’re doing that you’re not, and model them.

Marketing
Marketing is the business of promoting and selling your product or services. It includes doing market research and advertising, but it also involves understanding where your business is coming from.

The Experience Economy
The hottest marketing trend this year is a painless and fun buying and selling experience. Smart buyers are examining their entire real estate experience and looking for ways to eliminate the pain points of buying or selling their home. Consumers are demanding a better experience from start to finish. REALTORS® who can figure out how to provide a painless experience and who have the innovation and desire to serve clients are the most successful REALTORS®.

Where Are Your Listings Coming From?
By combining his own proprietary software and a Facebook poll, Ferry created a list of the top 12 places REALTORS® found most of their listings. Here are the top five. You can find the rest of the list in the seminar:

Database: Your database is full of past clients and future sellers, and since the vast majority of the 131 million homeowners in America do not know the value of their homes, you’re in an ideal situation to connect with them. Ask yourself, “With what level of frequency am I educating everyone in my database on the value of their home?”

Mega Open Houses: Try making your open house an event! Serve food and drinks, have a bounce house for kids, rent some food trucks—whatever fits the community. Use food, drinks and fun to celebrate the house and attract people who will be desperate to live in the community.

Geographic Farming: Figure out where your buyers and sellers are coming from, and then claim those neighborhoods and grow your customer base with direct mail pieces, Facebook contact, and door-to-door visits.

Agent-to-Agent Referrals: Are you going after agent-to-agent referrals? You should be. It’s the fourth-most popular place REALTORS® are finding buyers. Meet and network with agents from out of state at conferences to start building your referral network.

Portals: Real estate portals like Homes.com are often the first place buyers and sellers visit on their real estate journey. Find new leads and help your clients find buyers faster by leveraging these sites.

Ferry said he doesn’t expect anyone to chase all 12 listing sources, but by adding one or two to what you already have, modeling success, and changing your mindset, you can double the listings you’re currently getting.

For the rest of the top 12 sources for finding real estate listings and more tips on modeling and marketing, listen to the webinar, “Mindset, Modeling, and Marketing.” Tune in to the Secrets of Top Selling Agents next webinar, featuring Sherri Johnson, titled “Make $50,000 on Your Next Open House.”

*edglossary.org/growth-mindset/

Mark Mathis is VP of Sales for Homes.com. For more information, please visit connect.homes.com.