Neil Schwartz: Okay. For the last 3 weeks I’ve been talking to you about the question of is there business out there, and we’ve answered basically, certainly the last 2 weeks, and we’ll answer it again in a moment, is there business out there? Is there business being done as we run through the finish line? As we move to the finish line here. I’m telling you every day, I get an email, I get a text, I get a phone call from someone who’s telling me that because of some efforts that they did in the last 3 or 4 weeks … Six or eight weeks, that they ending up opening in escrow, or putting a transaction into escrow. They got an extra listing or 2 because of it. Some of you have had a pretty nice Christmas because of some efforts that you put in there, so congratulations for that. I want to … There’s 1 week left. Well, not a week, huh? What is today? Today’s the
Speaker 2: 29th.
Neil Schwartz: 29th.
Speaker 2: Two days.
Neil Schwartz: I believe you can still get a listing or you can make a sale, but do you think there were more listings, or less listings taken last week? More listings, or less listings taken the week of December 28th?
Speaker 3: Less.
Neil Schwartz: Less? Okay, less than the week before. You’re right. There was 2,079 listings that were actually taken for the week, not the month, not the quarter. There was 2,079 listings taken, and there were 1651 properties that went pending last week. 1600 deals, so there’s less transactions, no question, yet there are deals being done. In the last 3 weeks … Write these number down. In the last 3 weeks, in the CRMLS there was 8756 listings taken. In the last 3 weeks. 8700 plus listings taken, and there were 6254 properties that went pending. Deals are being done. Transactions are being opened. As we come to the end of the year, as we’re running through the finish line, I wanted to remind you of a couple of things, so write this down. Listings are the name of the game.
Listings are the name of the game. I’ve been doing this for 40 years, and in 40 years I’ve never seen a year where it was buyers were the name of the game. Even when the market was a buyers market, when you had the listings, you were in what? Control. You just had to have a lot of listings. That was okay, but instead of having 4 or 5 listings, you had 14 or 15 listings, and you know what? Every week something was going into escrow. That’s the name of the game. I wrote down here number 2, “He or she that takes the most listing wins in this market place.” Today, and going forward for the foreseeable future in 2015, he or she that takes the most listings is going to win the game. I wrote down number 3, is, “What changes do I have to make in my activities,” starting today, “What changes do I have to make in my activities starting today to go on 1 listing appointment per week in 2015?”
Now, I want every one of you to write down 1 listing appointment per week in 2015. Just right it down. I don’t care how impossible you think that might be at this moment, write it down anyway. One listing appointment … One listing taken per week in 2015. Okay? One listing taken per week in 2015. I wrote down here, “The key to taking listings is self-confidence, and the key to self-confidence is knowledge.” The key to taking listings is self-confidence. Being confident of the market place, and the key to that is knowledge. I wrote down here, “Knowledge of the scripts.” Number 1, knowledge of the scripts. What to say, and how to say it at a really high level. Number 2, “Knowledge of the clients motivation.” Why are they doing what they’re doing? What’s important about that move to them?
The third thing is product knowledge. So it’s knowledge of the scripts, knowledge of the clients, and product knowledge, meaning you have to preview all the properties. In order to do … We’re not going take 52 listings next year, because the truth is, you don’t work 52 weeks. Did you know that? Hello?
Speaker 3: (crowd response) Yes.
Neil Schwartz: I know you think you do, but you don’t. All right? You don’t even work 50 works, because you say, “Well I worked 50 weeks, and I take 2 weeks vacation.” It’s not so. It’s not how this works. We’re going to talk more about goal setting, and the number of days we’re going to work in the next few weeks when we work on our goal setting classes, but right now, here’s what I want you to think about. I want you to think about taking 40 listings. That’s 1 listing a week for 40 work weeks. Okay? Forty listing. Forty work weeks. In order to get 40 listings, most of us are going to have to go on 2 listing appointments a week. Now, stop right there. The minute I said that, that was it, I heard all the pens drop. “There’s no way I can get 2 listing appointments a week,” but I want you to stay with me right now. Okay?
Just stay with me. What do we need to do to go get 2 listing appointments a week, because you’ve got this drunk monkey on your back saying, “No, way, now way. No way. Neil’s so full of it. He doesn’t even know he’s way out of his tree right now. He’s been talking about running through the finish line so long he can’t even see. Doesn’t he understand me? I can’t take 2 appointments are you nuts? How is that even possible? I mean, if I get 2 appointments in a month I’m thrilled.” I’m saying to you, we have to turn the knob on the television set. We have to change the channel up here. What the mind can conceive, man can achieve. What the mind can conceive, man can achieve. That is not my original thought. That’s Napoleon Hill wrote that back in the 1930’s.
It’s as true today as it was then. What the mind can conceive, man can achieve. I wrote down here, “You are where you are, because it’s okay with you.” If you went on 80 listing appointments this year, and you took 40 listings, and only 20 of those sold, that would be, for everyone in this room, on average $200,000. You guys get that? $200,000. I know. I’m looking at people here that earn 2, 3, $400,000, could easily make 5 or $600,000 if they would put it in their head to do so. It’s got to start with listings, and it’s got to start with this focus. Let me do this. I wrote down here a question, “How am I going to get 80 appointments?” What do I have to do? What activities do I need to do to get 80 appointments in the next 200 work days? A 5-5-10.
You never thought you were going to get there did you? How is he going to turn that into a 5-5-10? The truth is … Go with me on this. If you previewed 5 houses a day, 5 days a week for 40 weeks … That’s how many houses a week? Twenty-five a week. That would be 1,000 houses that you would see. That you’d preview. Now, think about this. If you really previewed 1,000 houses, do you think you would have product knowledge? Yes, or no?
Speaker 3: (crowd response) Yes.
Neil Schwartz: Absolutely. If you went and saw 5 expired today, 5 days a week, that’d be 25 at the end of the week, and for 40 weeks that’s another 1,000 expireds at that door. We know 300 of those are going to be home, and if you talk to 300 expireds because you knew what to say and how to say it at a really high level, how many of those do you think you could convert to listings? Three, four, … You went and saw 300. How many could you convert? How many appointments could you get out of 300 opportunities? Give me a number?
Speaker 2: Thirty.
Neil Schwartz: Thirty? Thirty appointments.
Speaker 2: One hundred.
Neil Schwartz: One hundred. I like that better. Somewhere between 30 and 100, but if use 30, and 15 of those listed with you, right there’s a 100 … Love that. Half of those sell, that’s $75,000 that you would earn just from that activity alone. Remember we went to see 1,000 expireds, right? We went and door knocked 1,000 previews, right? You guys with me? If you door knock 10 around each one, that’s 10 times 2,000. That means you’ll door knock 20,000 doors. Twenty thousand doors in 200 work days. You guys with me on this? I thought I lost you over here. Twenty thousand doors, and if 30% of the people were home, and you only spoke to 6,000 people, could you get some listings, and make some sales from that activity, yes, or no?
Speaker 3: (crowd response) Yes.
Neil Schwartz: You think you could figure a way to put this all together and make a couple hundred thousand dollars? Yes, or no?
Speaker 3: (crowd response) Yes.
Neil Schwartz: Okay, good. That’s turning nothing into something. That’s turning nothing … You got nothing right now, but you do these activities over time, and you then will have something. Write this down. The start that stops most people. The start that stops most people. [Laozi 12:58], great Chinese philosopher said, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” Another great teacher John Maxwell said, “Success is a journey, not a destination.” If I put both of those together, and I combine them, I now have, “The success journey begins with a single step.” Get it? That’s the problem. It’s taking the first step. That’s the problem. We’ve established that if you do a 5-5-10 over the next 40 weeks, 200 work days that you could probably make a couple hundred thousand dollars a year, or add a couple hundred thousand dollars a year to your existing business.
That’s probably doable. I’m getting all this. All the time I get this. [inaudible 14:04]. I’d like you to get this. That’s the word that stops most people, “The first step.” It’s the little step that separates abundance from failure. That’s what separates most of us from abundance, and failure. It’s that first step. It’s that activity. First of all, congratulations to everyone that’s in here. It’s the 28th?
Speaker 3: 29th.
Neil Schwartz: 29th, excuse me, of December, and there’s 45-50 people in this room. Phone canvassing, door knocking, calling, talking to past clients, and [sphere 14:53], reaching out to their clients, their past clients. Congratulations to every single one of you, because this morning you took that first step today. You didn’t have to. You had the choice. You could have done something different, and yet you took that choice. It’s the one motion, the first step, I wrote down here, “The one motion of picking up and dialing the first number that separates the winner from the loser. In terms of times. [inaudible 15:30]. It’s less than 2 seconds that will determine the outcome for you today, and today really is whether or not you’ll have a great Christmas in 2015, or not.
Why? The activities you generate today, the calls you make today, the people you see today, the step you took today, will compound, and result in business that will close for you tomorrow. A pending next week. A listing next week. Another appointment the week after. Another appointment, the week after. The only reason you’re not going on 2 appointments a week is you don’t do enough of the activities that we line out for you. Do you guys get that?
Speaker 2: Yes.
Neil Schwartz: When you do the activities … I get this all the time, “Oh, my gosh. I made some calls. I talked to some people, I worked on the scripts, and I need the time management class. I’m out of control.” That’s what I get. Do you guys get this? How powerful and important this first step is. I wrote down here, “Why is the first step so hard?” This is a question. Any ideas? Why is the first step so hard? Okay. Because it’s too easy. Okay.
Speaker 2: [Walking 17:07] the hardest door.
Speaker 4: [inaudible 17:09].
Neil Schwartz: Rejection. Options. First step is a pain. Picking up the phone … That first step to pick up the phone in the morning, that first phone call is difficult. It’s that first step. I wrote down here, “The pain of discipline we feel now.” If I have to come to the office, and I have to get my list, and I have to pick up the phone, I have to be discipline to do that, and that is pain now, today, this morning, this afternoon. You guys get this? You run that? When we feel the pain of discipline, it’s a now feeling. The pain of regret … The pain we feel of regret for not doing what we’re supposed to be doing, we may not feel for hours, or days, or weeks. Remember last January when we said Christmas was coming, but that was so far away. So many months away, and then all of a sudden … We didn’t do what we were supposed to do over those days and weeks and months. The days, and weeks, and months. You guys with me here?
Speaker 3: (crowd response) Yeah.
Neil Schwartz: Okay? Then, Christmas is upon us, and we have this horrible feeling of regret. If I would have door knocked a few more houses. If I would have worked on my script a little bit harder, if I would have done a 5-5-10 a couple of times more of month. If I would have, If I would have, If I would have. It’s that horrible pain of regret, but it’s future pain, not now pain. You guys get this? We have to learn how to overcome the pain of discipline, because discipline is a pain. It’s a bitch getting up in the morning. It’s hard not eating that extra donut, or that extra bagel. It is. I know. I got the same issues. You put a bag of popcorn in my house, whoa. Chips, popcorn, hot fudge sundaes. I’m going to find them. I’m like a heat seeking missile when it comes to that stuff.
This will often cause us to make the wrong selection, because we prefer not to have pain now. We have prefer to have pain later, or never. Get it? I wrote down here, “Start today toward discipline, and away from regret.” I talked about this paragraph that I read a few weeks ago. I want to share it again with you, because I think it’s very apropos to all of us and how we feel sometimes. Don’t feel badly about how slowly you feel heading towards your goals. It’s like it’s too slow. It’s too slow. I want it now, I need it now. It’s too slow. Don’t feel badly about how that makes you feel. Overcome that. Head towards your goals. Don’t worry about the roadblocks, and the detours that you might be forced along the way that we’re going to find in these 200 days, because we’re looking for 2 appointments a week.
There’s going to be some roadblocks, there’s going to be some failures, there’s going to be some listings that we tried to get we couldn’t get. We’re going to have to learn the scripts. We’re going to have learn the dialogues. We’re going to have to do the 5-5-10 every work day. That’s discipline. The pain of that discipline, but we’re going to do that, because as long as you’re moving forward, you’re still cruising far above anyone who’s afraid to even get started with that first step. Let’s take those steps together for 200 work days, 2 listing appointments a week, 1 listing taken a week. Then next Christmas let’s have the biggest, wildest, Christmas party that anyone’s ever seen. Let’s go out and make this a great holiday. Thank you.
