I was featured on Peter Lorimer's Podcast where we talked about how to find clients in the luxury bracket, how to follow up, and best techniques of the real estate trade. I also shared my background including how and why I got into real estate.

It has been a Seller’s market for years and it is impossible to accurately determine when that will change. Regardless of whether it is a Buyer’s or Seller’s market, there are always opportunities to get a great buy if you play it correctly and you are prepared. Here are my best practices to make a great buy.

Know the market. When you really know the market, and a great opportunity comes up, you will recognize it, not hesitate to act on it and offer the right price. Lots of inexperienced Buyers just low ball any offer regardless of how good of a buy it is and that Buyer does not have a chance.

See if the Seller has a problem you can fix. I once had a Buyer offer to lend the Seller $1,000,000 on the spot and in turn got a great deal and beat out a number of other Buyers. Numerous times I was able to offer a long leaseback to the Seller which made a great deal happen.

Look at properties that have been on the market for a long time. Often the best deals are Sellers that overpriced their home and now 6-12 months later or longer they are anxious to sell and don’t have the same attention as a new listing on the market.

Make sure Agents know that your Buyer is interested in their property, even if they don’t write an offer. If their Seller gets very motivated and the Agent knows your client is circling, you’ll get the call.

Selling luxury real estate is a full contact sport and it is over the top competitive, especially in Beverly Hills. I have had CAA talent agents say that luxury real estate agents make talent agents look like crossing guards. Despite the competitive nature we are also in a collaborative business where agents rely on their fellow agents heavily for intel, access to property and working together on deals. Most sales involve two agents working together.

I go out of my way to help agents. Why would I be making these Voodoo Agent videos? There are those Rogue Agents that operate in their own little bubble, but for the most part, Karma is in full swing amongst your fellow agents.

So you have converted that lead into a hot Buyer or Listing by connecting dots, pushing buttons and you are in play heading towards a sale. All Good? Not so quick. Buying or Selling a home puts even the most hardcore and experienced buyers and sellers in a very vulnerable position. At best selling or buying a home is complicated and tedious. Often it is all consuming and your clients fight or flight responses are stuck in the on position.

It is critical that we check in and make sure our clients are getting love and attention from us. It is not enough to be doing a good job for them, they need to know it. We also need to let them know what is happening between the lines whether it is the results from advertising or showings for a Seller or letting your anxious Buyers know about the homes that are new on the market but not for them.

It does not matter whether your Buyer or Seller is an old repeat client, a new lead or your brother, if they feel you are taking them for granted it is not going to be pretty. We also need to be teachers and have some patience. We are in a business to consumer business for the most part and our clients do not know what we know. Just because clients are sharp in their own field, they are often are clueless in ours and it is our responsibility to educate them. Buying and Selling a home is a big deal.

There has never been an easier time to communicate with leads. In luxury real estate I used to work thru people’s lawyers and business managers and assistants. Today people deal with me directly for the most part no matter how pricey the homes are. There is also multiple ways to connect with person via phone, text, e-mail and social channels.

It can be very satisfying to reach out to buyer and seller leads by firing off a bunch of e-mails and texts and see if you catch any lead at the right time ready to look, list or transact, however most of the times you are just being too lazy or fearful to pick up the phone.

I use all forms of communication and communicate how my clients want to, but initially and on occasion you need to talk on the phone and meet them in person or they are not your client and they can easily forget about you.

When the so called experts say that millennials text and don’t want to talk on the phone it does not apply to initiating a relationship. You can maintain a relationship with text and e-mail but you are not going to forge a relationship that way.

Have you ever had a Buyer or Seller tell you they are not ready to buy or sell and 2 weeks they buy or list their home? Why does this happen? When leads say they are not a buyer or seller today, they don’t always mean that. When you spoke to them they may have been too busy to get into it, you may have had nothing compelling to say, or they may have things to figure out or people to talk to, before they feel ready or you may have asked the wrong questions.

People often buy or sell on what they think is a whim but the wheels have been set in motion for a while. This is very similar when people say they do not want a relationship and 2 weeks later they are madly in love.

To really understand our Buyers and Sellers motivations, we need to literally interview them, ask leading questions when they are backpedaling and claiming they are not ready. When people reiterate in their own words why they want to buy or sell it is much more compelling than an agent coercing them to do so. Luxury Buyers and Sellers have lots of options and can often do whatever they want to do, and you need to track these people sometimes for a couple days and other times a few years before they pull the trigger.

If you are just relying on perfect timing when you meet Buyers and Sellers at the precise moment they are to make a move you are not going to do many deals.

Do you notice that when calling a person for the first time it can often take days, weeks even months before you connect? We call this phone tag. Once you connect that same person all of the sudden they become very easy to reach. There is a reason for it and I call it being “In Play” which means you are engaged in an ongoing conversation. Once your “In Play” that same person who was so hard to reach now will pick up the phone at lunch or on the elliptical at the gym. You no longer need to have that initial conversation that takes time and effort. You can now have a 2 minute call or 2 line text because there is an objective set in motion where all parties are on the same page and up to date.

You want to be “In Play” with as many people as possible because when you are, you are the one who gets the call when they see a home online or drive by a house. Why do you get the call over the agent they thought they were going to use but has not talked to in 6 weeks? You get the call because you are the most convenient person to facilitate a deal, there is no downtime getting you up to speed. We are no different. You walk into a BMW dealer and spend some time with a nice salesman, Amanda, who you like and whose diligent following up with for a month, then stops. 3 months later you walk into that same dealer it’s Amanda’s day off and you buy a car from another salesperson.

There are those relationships that we have that are deeper and you are their agent. You are not going to be in the top 1% just selling to that group and even your best clients can fall thru the cracks if you are not all over them when it comes to the real estate market.

When clients hire us to either find them a home or sell their property they are hiring us to represent them and negotiate on their behalf, but that is only half of it. These people are also counting on us to manage them and make sure they stay on point and complete the sale or purchase they set out to do.

I have a trainer at the gym and I go to a yoga class. I know exactly what to do at the gym and I have been doing the same 26 poses in Yoga for 30 years. My trainer and the Yoga teacher make sure I do it. Real Estate agents serve the same purpose.

When you are in the position of managing somebody, the most persuasive tool in the box is telling clients the truth. Some agents get in the habit of bullshitting their clients because they want to please them or convince them in the moment and it is cowardly and not cool. You can be persuasive with the truth. Speaking the truth requires confronting people, knowing what you are talking about, putting your client first and possible rejection when clients are in denial. In the long run you are better offer, more successful and it’s a cleaner way to live.

When you speak the truth it does not mean you are not trying to be persuasive or close somebody, Au Contraire. The truth is more powerful. The Truth is the New Bulls*%t.

If there was one skill you could master as a real estate agent to guarantee success it would be connecting the dots. I am not talking about painting by numbers, I am talking about the ability to match Buyers and Sellers.

If you have a Buyer lead and you cross reference that lead with your Seller leads and you are able to show that Buyer an off market listing, you will be elevated in that Buyers mind as more than just another agent. On the other end if you bring a qualified Buyer to a Seller willing to show his house you have also been elevated by that Seller as an agent that can deliver Buyers, not just put their home in the MLS. The Holy Grail would be if it’s a perfect match and you double end that deal, which will happen if you connect enough dots.

Connecting the Dots is how the top 1% of Agents operate and make deals happen. They have this finally honed skill of scanning all of their on-market and off-market listings for a match as well as every other agent’s properties, and every home that has traded in the last 20 years as well. Some Agents are so good at it they take on a Rain-Man like quality while making millions.

There is no magic to pushing buttons it is a muscle that needs strengthening and a commitment to know the market on a deep level. If you also happen to be OCD, you are going to be unstoppable.

Buyer and Seller leads have never been easier to obtain than today. The reason the top 1% of Agents consistently convert these leads into deals is what I call Pushing Buttons. Buyers and Sellers today have connected with 10 agents during their listing or selling process. The majority of these leads are fair game and any agent has a shot at being their agent who ultimately sells their home or finds them a home.

This is a big game where agents are all battling for the same client by asking, saying,or proposing something compelling that resonates with that lead to take a step forward to buying or selling a home. In luxury real estate the gestation process from an initial contact to a final sale can be anywhere from an 1 hour to 5 years.

Never call and a lead and ask just checking in. “Just checking in” is code for “i have nothing to offer but I would love to earn a commission”. “Pushing Buttons” is the art of consistently providing relevant and valuable information and asking thought provoking questions to motivate a Buyer or Seller to take the next step. There is another word for this, it’s called doing your job.

You have worked your ass off, deployed an exhausting amount of money and resources to get in front of a ready, willing and able Seller prepared to list their home. A listing presentation primarily focusing on how great you and your company is ineffective. Every agent has a presentation loaded with charts and diagrams why they are the greatest. News Flash! Sellers don’t care. Sellers only care about what you can do for them and how are you going to sell in most cases the most valuable assets they.

My reverse marketing listing presentation demonstrates to Sellers in detail what you have done for other properties and what you will do for theirs.