January 29, 2025 • 35 mins
What if you could transform from an average real estate agent to an extraordinary one, simply by embracing the right guidance and mentorship? Join us as we welcome Ricardo Cortazar, a distinguished real estate coach from Tempe, Arizona, who shares his journey from a humble intern to a highly respected mentor in the industry. As a second-generation immigrant from Mexico, Ricardo embodies the power of dedication and education, and he highlights the critical role of seeking experienced mentors to break barriers in real estate.
In this enlightening episode, Ricardo and I dive into the underpinnings of successful real estate careers, focusing on innovative coaching strategies and the importance of authenticity. With a startling statistic that 71% of agents didn't sell a home last year, we underscore the importance of selecting mentors who truly invest in their mentees' growth. Our conversation sheds light on the transformative impact of active listening and understanding clients' needs to tailor personalized services, a principle that extends well beyond real estate.
Networking and continuous coaching are not just buzzwords in our discussion but essential pillars for gaining a competitive edge. Ricardo and I explore the significance of nurturing genuine relationships and the value of being intentional with personal and career growth. We share insights on setting realistic goals and the indispensable nature of follow-through, all aimed at inspiring professionals to transcend the ordinary and achieve remarkable success in their real estate endeavors.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Well, it is my pleasure to welcome a good
friend of mine from severalyears ago.
Mr Ricardo Cortazar is basedout of Tempe, arizona.
Ricardo and I go way back maybefive, six years.
Actually, it was around thetime of COVID that Ricardo and I
actually formally met eachother at a conference.
(00:24):
We were co-workers at the timeand we have learned so much from
each other.
We have attended several realestate conferences in the time
that we've met each other, andone of the things that I would
like to point out specificallyis that Ricardo Cortazar has
done a phenomenal job ofbranding himself.
Has done a phenomenal job ofbranding himself, and we're
(00:49):
going to speak today about howwe help agents break through,
and we are also going to speakabout how you know what are the
common mistakes that real estateagents make, where they just
can't break through or theycannot get out of the rut that
they are in.
So it is my pleasure to welcomeRicardo.
Ricardo, how are you today?
Speaker 2 (01:06):
I am great.
Thank you very much forinviting me here to speak a
little bit on your podcast.
Happy to serve, happy to givesome advice, and things have
worked for me and a lot of theagents that I've coached,
managed and helped in the last25 years so in the 25 years, you
answered my next question,which is uh, when did you start
in real estate?
Speaker 1 (01:25):
And then, was it something that you planned, was
it accidental, or how did youget involved into real estate?
Speaker 2 (01:33):
No, I wish I could say it was accidental, but you
know what Accidentally it didhappen.
I walked into a real estatedevelopment firm in Tucson,
arizona, as a student at theUniversity of Arizona, started
working for the firm as a paidintern, saw exactly what they
were doing there, loved seeingthat.
They always showed up nicelydressed, polished vehicles, they
spoke very eloquently, theyalways were closing on
(01:55):
transactions, they werecelebrating successes, you know,
at the end of the month talkingabout sales, and that really
intrigued me and I said you knowwhat?
That's something that I reallywant to dive a little bit more
into and find out how I could bea part of something like that
fantastic.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
So, um, that's how you entered into the real estate
world.
Uh, tell us about your, uh,your.
You know your, your story.
How did you, um go from then,25 years ago, to who Ricardo
Cortazar is today in the realestate world?
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Well, it's not easy.
It's not easy and I'll tell youwhat I think.
My parents, my parents, camehere to this country.
I am a second generationimmigrant from Mexico, born in
San Luis, rio Colorado, sonora,which is the Mexican side of
Mexico, of Arizona and Yuma andSan Luis border itself.
So I grew up in an area wherethere was a lot of opportunities
(02:55):
for people that wanted to workin agriculture.
My parents came over in thelate 70s through the Bracero
program and luckily my parentswere able to immigrant and got
us papers.
My older brother, myself, therest of my siblings were born
here in the states.
But through all that um, howwould you say sacrifices that my
(03:16):
parents took coming to thiscountry, you know we have been
blessed.
All my brothers and sisters areall decorated business people,
whether they're in banking andreal estate, working for big
tech companies.
We are blessed to be in thiscountry of opportunity and I am
excited to share a little bit ofwhat we've gone through as a
(03:36):
family as we tell a little bitabout the story.
But peeling the onion back alittle bit is I'm gonna tell you
we are hard workers.
My father came from a school ofhard knocks, so he taught us
how to work hard with our backsand sweat.
It wasn't until we got older,at the age of 18, when we
graduated high school, that werealized that, hey, by the way,
(03:57):
there's another way to work, andthat was working smarter and
not harder, which is getting ahigher education, which is going
to university, which is doingthings a little bit different
than what we were accustomed toand it's made all the difference
in the world Fantastic.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
So let's turn our attention to coaching real
estate agents and if you canshare with me some of the
commonalities amongst realestate agents that have a
difficult time in breakingthrough in the business okay,
that's one and then thedifferentiation between the
agents that actually breakthrough and what are the
(04:34):
commonalities amongst them.
So let's focus on theindividuals that have a
difficult time breaking throughand then the commonalities among
those that have broken through.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
I equate this it's a great question, by the way.
I equate this to being a kid,and if your parent tells you do
it this way, I already know howto do that.
Dad, I already know how to dothat.
Mom, right.
But in real estate it's a littlebit different, because the
agents that struggle the most toget their business off the
ground are the ones that don'tsurrender to what we have to
(05:07):
share.
The more they fight.
A person that's trying to coachthem, educate them, give them
advice on how to change theirbusiness are the ones that
struggle the most.
Conversely, the agents that say, okay, tell me I'm going to pay
you more money, but you tell mehow to do it, and they listen
(05:28):
those are the ones that theirbusiness just takes off because
they do all the things that weshare.
And, by the way, you've got toprepare to make phone calls.
You've got to practice yourscripts, you've got to get out
there and get people to meet you.
You've got to go out there andknock on doors.
You've got to go out there,knock on doors.
You got to go out there and doopen houses.
And when you do them, here'sthe process to actually do these
open houses.
So, once again going back tothis, the agents that have the
(05:57):
most difficult time to getbusiness or traction in our
industry are the ones that don'tsurrender to the process of
wanting to be go from mediocreor not selling anything to
selling something.
Let me just share a statisticwith you, jorge, that's National
Association of Realtors 71% ofreal estate agents last year of
the 1.5 million did not sell onehome last year.
(06:20):
Wow, I can't tell you how manytimes agents that didn't show up
to my office means I alwayssaid maybe you're getting
coaching or advice on how tosell from somebody else.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
So so let's talk about that again.
The theme of our podcast isbreaking barriers from average
to extraordinary, and there's ahuge difference between the two.
Let's talk about that.
You you obviously have acoaching background.
You've developed some skillsets, et cetera into coaching.
I know for a fact that you pouryourself into those individuals
(06:59):
and coaching them intoproduction and helping them
become extraordinary.
But you just mentionedsomething that I believe is key
that individuals, instead ofsurrendering to what they need
to do, they go and continue tolook for solutions to make the
process easier when there's nota simpler or an easier solution.
(07:20):
Let's talk about that.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
I got to share.
I I mean, there's a reason whywe're sharing what we share to
make the process easier for them.
When somebody comes to youstarting the business and they
really want to know, it's likegoing to a mechanic.
Hey, by the way, I want to be amechanic, a good mechanic.
Do you listen to the, the themechanic expender that's got the
(07:43):
veteran 10 years of experience?
Or do you have a mechanicworking your car that just
started you?
You've got to put the work inright and there's a way that the
, the, the savvy mechanic'sgoing to find out how to do
certain things that the otherperson doesn't know.
This is the same thing in realestate.
When you open yourself tosurrendering and listening to
(08:07):
what people are willing to sharewith you, boy, does it become
easier.
Here's the other thing, thatskill that that works listening.
Because I'm going to tell youright now, our industry, we call
ourselves sales people.
I just mentioned 71% of the 1.5million agents last year did
not sell anything.
(08:28):
We don't call them not salesmen, we call them salesmen still.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
Right.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
Right.
But here's the other thing toothe agents that say that they're
salespeople.
They're not leaning into whatmakes a good salesperson, would
you believe?
It starts off by listening.
If you sat down and said thankyou, mr and Mrs Buyer, is this
the first time you've everworked with the buyer's
representative on the realestate you want to purchase?
(08:54):
That's the first question Iwould ask.
I want to find out if they'recoming off something that was
polyheated.
That they fired somebodybecause I don't want to be the
next agent, maybe they're adifficult client needed.
That they fired somebodybecause I don't want to be the
next agent.
Maybe they're a difficultclient.
And this is the experience thatwe have as real estate brokers,
as managers, as leaders, ascoaches, trainers.
We have all these questionsthat we ask before we actually
(09:16):
start dealing with the clientand an agent wants to hurry up,
and because we live in anenvironment where everybody
wants instant feedback, right,you know, we want to run a
tiktok, you run a video.
Hey, it looks like it's so easy.
Why does it take so long?
Speaker 1 (09:31):
right, right, so it didn't take.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
You know, it wasn't small, it was a tiktok well
there's an investment of time,energy and and practice, etc.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
To make that, um, that uh platform successful.
Right, and a lot of patients,obviously, so it's a crowded
field out there.
Obviously, the statistics speakfor themselves and gives us the
explanation as to why we haveso many sources of mentoring,
coaching, et cetera, becausethere's that 70, you mentioned
(10:01):
what is the statistics?
79% 71%.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
71% of agents last year did not sell one home.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
So the difference between those that are not
extraordinary and the ones thatare extraordinary.
Obviously there is acommonality and I think that
there is coaching and badcoaching, right, or maybe
they're just not investing ornot paying attention to the
investment of coaching thatthey're making.
Tell us a little bit about thedifferentiation, about the
(10:31):
strategies out there.
I mean my experience and thismight be self-serving, as you
know being a branch manager at acertain you know for several
years of my career and pouringmy heart and soul into helping
our agents.
And then there's otherindividuals that are just trying
to cash a check as a mentor andnot necessarily interested in
(10:55):
the well-being and success ofthat individual.
And I'm being sincere here.
I believe that there'sphenomenal coaches out there.
So this is not a jab at anybodyspecifically.
I just want to be able tohighlight for a real estate
agent to do the research, toinvestigate, interview and
(11:16):
really look at the character ofthe individual that is leading
them and then coaching them.
So let's talk about that.
Can you share some of yourexperiences related to that,
because I know that you haveserved as a manager as well for
many years?
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Yes.
So the coaching is big and I'mgoing to share something that
maybe people can understand.
Maybe you have a child that'sin soccer or baseball.
You take them to the first.
You know.
Get together to do a practice.
There's a coach, and if theylisten to the coach, chances are
they get better at their craft,and if they practice more with
(11:51):
that coach or they get privatecoaching, they even get more
proficient at what they're doing.
That's where pearls come in.
You start at a very young agebeing taught.
That's why you go to school aswell, and people think that when
you're done with high schooland college, that's all the
school that you get.
(12:12):
I'm going to tell you that mycoach that's been doing this for
40 plus years also has a coach,because he can't be good at
everything.
So I'm going to tell you rightnow that people are afraid to
invest resources, their ownmoney, into getting better at
their craft.
But people will invest a lot ofmoney to look nice, right?
(12:36):
People invest a lot of moneyand get in the fanciest car to
look nice, but then you don'thave the skillset to come behind
everything else, right, but ifyou were coached, if you were
taught and you know exactly howto actually be really good at
your craft.
You'd have all those otherthings.
People look for the wrongthings, sometimes the lost
(12:58):
heroes, like we call them.
Coaching helps you doeverything else, because when
you're coached and you actuallyyou know do the work, a lot of
people are afraid to do the work.
I'm going to share an analogythat I use all the time, or a
saying that we always talk aboutthe magic that people are
looking for for their businessto take off.
(13:22):
The magic's in what people won'tdo that they have to do in
order to be successful, and I'mgoing to break it down.
Sometimes the magic is makingthe phone calls to people that
you don't want to call Right.
Sometimes the magic is showingup to a networking event and I
know you're tired, but you knowwhat you show up and what are
(13:42):
the chances that, because youwalked in and you were the most
interested person as opposed tothe most interesting person,
somebody there said hey, youknow what, ricardo, I'd like for
you to represent my family.
We just moved here from adifferent state and my employer
has me here and they told me togo to this networking event to
meet people.
That's the magic, and a lot ofagents don't want to do any of
(14:06):
the hard work.
They think that if I buy leads,if I go out and work with the
company that's going to give meand sell me leads, leads 98% of
the leads nowadays aren't worthanything.
You pay for them, but it'sabout 2% that actually get to
fruition or get consummated to asale.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
So there's no substitution for networking,
being interesting and beinginterested in other people,
right?
Speaker 2 (14:35):
Correct.
There is no substitution forhard work.
I'm going to tell you, realestate is still been and still
will always be a relationshipbusiness.
You're getting ready to asksomebody to represent them in
the highest price dollar amountthat they've ever spent.
Don't you think they want toknow a little bit about you in
(14:57):
person, how you actually work,how you treat people, how you
show up, how you dress?
Speaker 1 (15:06):
So there's value in the network in the real estate
sector, but there's also morevalue in networking outside of
your real estate sector.
A lot of people use the wordindustry.
We don't build widgets.
It's real estate as aprofession and I'd like to be
able to put that out there, thatyou know.
You need to stop treating realestate as an industry, because
(15:29):
it's a profession and when youthink about it as a profession,
you start behaving accordingly.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
Let's talk about I think you said it best
Profession, isn't thatprofessionals?
Speaker 1 (15:39):
It's a profession and therefore we need to behave as
professionals.
So, networking I know that inthe real estate profession and
in the sector you know and we'retalking about, there's
association of realtors, there'sother associations that put a
lot of educational events andthere's a lot of networking.
I know that there's anopportunity to build from
(16:02):
networking, but what is thechallenge of networking in your
same uh, in your backyard, wherethat's your farm, versus
networking in other areas?
And then we'll talk aboutnetworking in your backyard, but
in different sectors.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Networking in your backyard is, like we say, you
know, going for the low-hangingfruit first, the easy ones.
If people don't even know youin your backyard, why would you
go outside of your yard?
If you can't be theneighborhood expert in your own
neighborhood, why are youselling somewhere else?
It's the easy one.
Work on some of the easyfactors first, where people get
(16:45):
to know you.
Hey, by the way, did you haveany questions regarding my
experience with clients?
Because I have a couple ofrecommendations for people in my
immediate subdivision whereI've sold and bought in firm,
can I share those with you?
You'll never have those becauseyou're outside of your scope or
outside of your comfort zone so.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
So to clarify, so to clarify, and sorry to interrupt
you there, ricardo, when itcomes to networking in your
backyard, your chambers ofcommerce, networking events,
maybe there is something thatmaybe your PTA, there's an
opportunity for you to networkand you know, when you,
especially, there's a fundraiserand you maybe donate something
(17:23):
to your school's PTA fundraiser,it gives you an opportunity to
talk about your profession oryour business, which in this
case would be real estate.
But networking outside of yourarea for the intent of
generating referral business.
That's where the importance ofattending these national events
(17:46):
and statewide events to be ableto build a network of real
estate agents.
I'm just very proud of the factthat I can put a name or a town
and I know someone in thatspecific town.
You and I know people inAtlanta, georgia.
You and I know people in Miami.
You and I know people inChicago.
You and I know people in SanFrancisco.
(18:07):
Obviously, that's practicallymy backyard in San Francisco.
Obviously, that's practicallymy backyard.
But I know for a fact the bestreal estate agent in Tempe,
arizona, which is RicardoCortazar.
Let's talk about that a littlebit in your experience when it
comes to, you know, toprioritize based on what you're
going to be getting out of andwhat your intent is to get out
(18:27):
of that networking.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
Well, you don't just go in there with expectations to
actually get something out ofthe network.
Remember, networking is aboutpaying it forward first.
How can you be of service tosomebody so that they can
remember you and how graciousyou were to always prefer you as
well in return gracious youwere to always prefer you as
(18:51):
well in return?
So a lot of people, I think,network ineffectively by going
and expecting something out ofit.
I got to tell you I've gone toa lot of networking events where
people are like hey, my name issuch and such and here's my
card and I'll talk to you later,and I think it's speed
networking and I'm thinking,look, I didn't hear anything
about them.
I usually follow up with them.
Hey, you know what?
It was really brief how we met.
(19:13):
I know you said that you deal inthe insurance business, but I
wanted to see what is an idealclient for you.
If I came across somebody likethat, I'm like nobody's ever
asked me that.
Well, I work with nothing butspecific these kind of clients.
I go yeah, I didn't get to hearthat that day.
All right, so now I know alittle bit more about that
person.
But people networkineffectively and sometimes less
(19:35):
is more because you don't haveto service everybody, because
you're going to get really badat that.
You can't service everybody,but if you work on a subgroup of
people that are really goodreferral sources that's where
your business is going to takeoff.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
So, what would you?
And, switching a little youknow gears a little bit, what
would you credit?
It actually kind of goes alongthe way of you know what you're.
That you're what we're talkingabout as far as the networking,
because there's a hugeconnection to to that.
As far as your success, um, howdid you get to the point where
you are today?
And, um, who was your mentor?
Who did you align yourself with?
What were the questions thatyou asked in order for you to be
(20:23):
able to become extraordinary?
Speaker 2 (20:30):
thank you for that question and I'm going to share
that.
I've had a lot of mentors alongthe way in my 25 years of real
estate experience, but my firstmentors are obviously my parents
.
To always do good, you know.
Always do the right thing.
Don't do something for just themoney, you know.
Be happy with what you're doing.
Those are the things that havealways been hallmarks in our
(20:50):
family for all my brothers andsisters.
So with that, you are neverlooking over your shoulder.
Oh my god, and I find outthat's not me.
If you're your authentic self,you'll never have to reinvent
yourself when you're in front ofsomebody.
I gotta tell you there's a lotof agents on social media that
if you caught them one day, theywon't act the same way they act
(21:11):
on social media, becausesometimes it's just a farce or
they're putting on a skit onsocial media.
But when you're authentic,people know you remember.
I take notes If somebody makesan impression on me, because
most of the time that's whathappens and I look for that.
I write something on a card andI take notes.
By the way, this day that I went, this person's kid is going to
(21:32):
the University of Arizona.
I mentioned that I knewsomebody there that the Alumni
Association that might be ableto help them with a scholarship,
and then I sent them an email.
Hey, by the way, a lot of you Iknow we talked about this
opportunity.
Here's some information on theUniversity of Arizona.
Here's the alumni group thatpertains to that area.
You should, you know, contactthem to see if there's an
(21:53):
opportunity for a scholarship.
Oh my God, so I just paid itforward.
Those are the effectivenetworkings.
I'm a real estate broker.
If you ever find yourself inneed of selling or buying real
estate or have any friends andfamily that are looking to buy
in real estate, I hope you canthink of so thank you for for
(22:14):
sharing that, ricardo um.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
Going back to the the purpose of this podcast and our
goal to help, uh, real estateagents break barriers and going
from average to extraordinaryassuming, assuming that the
mentor, assuming that themanager has an individual's best
(22:37):
interest in mind okay, we'rejust not talking about a jerk,
we're just talking about someonethat absolutely has an
individual's best interest inmind.
What should a real estate agentthat wants to improve their
results, what do they have to bewilling to accept and receive
(22:57):
from that mentor in the form ofadvice?
And you and I spoke about thisearlier because we were
comparing notes about somequestions that I asked of an
individual that you and I knowas to what their goals in real
estate were.
Tell me a little bit about whatwould an authentic mentor say
(23:20):
or share with someone, and whatis it that they're not going to
do.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
First and foremost, I always ask the mentee coming in
for our first meeting what doyou expect to get out of our
first meeting today?
Because I want to setexpectations, to see what they
are expecting to come out thefirst, because I don't want them
to come in with expectations.
Well, I'm going to get a client.
I'm going to find out how tosell people this way.
I want to first find out moreabout them.
(23:46):
What are their pain points?
Why are they in the industry?
Who do they know?
How are they actually marketingright now?
If they are, and once I findout, they tell me what they
expect to get out of there, thenwe could at least work on one
or two of those items so thatthey can at least feel like,
okay, I got something good outof this.
He's going to help me do this,going to help me do that, but
(24:09):
that's it.
You can't do everything on thefirst meeting and you always
have to have realisticexpectations.
I can't tell you how many timesagents sit across the table
from me and say I want to make$100,000 a year.
So I say, okay, well, is thatsomething that's going to be on
your top to-do list?
Yes, well, have you made$40,000 this year.
So, on real estate, no, howabout we start there?
(24:32):
Well, why I want to make ahundred thousand dollars?
Well, you've.
You know how hard it is to workto get 40 first.
So I started.
We start off with reaching agoal that's achievable, because
a hundred thousand dollars inthe industry and I'm in our
profession is not that easy ifyou don't have a good contact
(24:56):
database of clients that youworked with in the past that
trust you.
So those are some of the thingsthat I talk to agents about.
First is, let's talk what realexpectations are of you and how
hard are you willing to work inorder to get there.
Will you lean in to what Irecommend?
Speaker 1 (25:18):
so what has been the toughest piece of advice that
you have ever received?
Speaker 2 (25:24):
that ended up being the most valuable being the most
valuable telling agents thetruth.
A lot of managers tiptoebecause in real estate keep in
mind they're all independentcontractors.
As a manager, you can't tellthem.
You know straight out how youfeel, because when I used to do
that, when I first started inbusiness, in the, in the
(25:47):
profession, I used to tellagents by the way, you're by the
way, you're not good at this,you're not good at that they get
offended, they disassociatetheir license from my office.
So now I've got to ask them hey, can I tell you the truth to
help you succeed, or do you wantme to tell you something to
just keep you okay and you'll behappy?
Can I tell you the truth?
(26:08):
I'm asking for your permission.
And when they tell you, yes,please tell me the truth.
Okay, here's what I would do ifI was in your shoes.
I think you and I crossed it acouple of times where I had
agents in my office that youknow, even if you're a female,
you still have to have ormaintain a level of
professionalism, even the wayyou professionalism, even the
(26:30):
way you carry yourself or theway you dress, because it's
still a profession.
But some of these people don'tfollow the rules and think that
in this, in, in our, in ourprofession, we can do pretty
much whatever we want show up,dressed up, like you know, we're
going out to a club and expectto get good clients.
I had to have a hardconversation with an agent.
(26:55):
They didn't like it.
They moved their license, eventhough I asked can I get your
permission to share what I thinkwould change?
Because you're missing out onopportunities with clients with
good incomes and you know prettygood opportunities to sell the
million dollar houses.
But I got to tell you most ofthese million dollar clients
(27:17):
have million, are married andtheir spouses wouldn't
appreciate the way you show upto meetings and they didn't like
it and it's painful becausesometimes you gotta have yeah,
it's painful, but sometimes,jorge, I would much rather share
the truth than mask it.
And then they never succeed orlearn right and then um.
Speaker 1 (27:41):
So the the huge difference of keeping people in
the dark with the intent of justkeeping them so you can gain
something out of them, or beingtruthful and helping them grow
with the intent of helping themsucceed, huge.
Huge difference right and it's atough, very, very tough job.
When people ask me do you enjoyyour job, jorge, I said I know
(28:01):
and I knew what I signed up forand I enjoy every single moment
of it, the ups and downs.
Is it painful?
Absolutely.
Is it awkward at times?
Yes, it is awkward Because haveto.
When you have someone's bestinterest in mind, you have to
and I hate to use thisexpression because I'm not
somebody's.
(28:22):
I mean, I am the father of fourkids.
My wife and I have four kids,but I have to have had
conversations with my kids thatare very, very tough, that are
very, very tough, and I've hadthose conversations with real
estate agents that are very,very tough, again with the
intent of ensuring that they'redoing the right thing for
themselves and for the consumersthat they serve.
(28:44):
Ricardo, I would like for you toclose out this segment with a
few words of wisdom.
And the young.
You know you're a very youngperson.
You have a lot of years ofexperience, but still relatively
young in comparison to what theindustry has to offer.
Please share with us.
Sorry, I I misspoke what thisprofession has to offer.
(29:06):
I have to retrain myself aswell.
Give us some some few words ofadvice okay words, words of
advice.
Speaker 2 (29:16):
in what category?
Speaker 1 (29:19):
Being in a real estate agent in order for them
to go from, you know, trying tobreak through and being
exceptional.
And what is it that they needin order for them to be
coachable?
Speaker 2 (29:35):
Okay, great, Thank you.
All right, If I had the silverbullet for an agent to be
successful.
Every single time I tell them Isay, by the way, what is the
number one big idea that youhave right now that you heard?
That will take you yourbusiness from here to up here.
And they always they tell methe idea.
(29:57):
I said, okay, then go ahead andpile on that idea, but heavy,
Don't do it half.
I'm going to get to it tomorrow, I'm going to do it next week.
I mean, you pile it on andimmediately, fast and heavy.
People spread themselves.
Then they think they have to beeverywhere because somebody
said they got to do social media, they got to do posts every day
(30:20):
, they got to do this, got to dothat.
By the way, that helps.
But if you have an idea that'sgoing to take your business to a
different level, you reallypile on heavy on that one idea
and that's what's going tochange your entire business.
Because I have agents thatstart one thing and they end up
never finishing it because theystart other things too In real
(30:41):
estate.
Real estate is a good starter,good finisher profession.
If you're not good at startingsomething and not good at
finishing it, you're going tostruggle.
I always ask the follow throughis big because, keep in mind,
we are looking for a transactionto start and to close.
We open escrow, we close escrow.
(31:03):
So if you're not good at takingcare of the start and the
finish, what good are you goingto be?
And I always ask that questionwhen they sit down with me
because they think they're justcoming in and interviewing me.
I got to ask that question too.
I got to ask have you startedanything?
Do you have any designations inreal estate?
Well, I started this.
(31:24):
Did you finish it?
Not yet.
When do you plan on finishingit?
Let me write that down and Iwrite it down for them.
And then, when we're done withour interview, I said hey,
here's the thing that you saidyou were going to do.
I think we should start onthese.
And they're like man, I I needaccountability.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
That's what I need.
It's it's so valuable.
I'm going to share a story withyou to end the segment and, uh,
it has exactly to do with withfollow through.
Um, I started my career workingfor a real estate broker and
eventually I became a certifiedescrow officer, but one of my
first experiences in the escrowworld as an escrow assistant
entailed a situation where I wasresponsible for generating a
(32:09):
report an accounting report forthe escrow administrator for the
company in the county that Istarted out my escrow career
with, and I was given my walkingpapers over the allegation that
I had not followed through witha task, and it was such an
(32:31):
important lesson for me.
I knew that I had completed thetask, but I didn't take the
additional steps to ensure thatit was recorded correctly the
lack of starting or finishingwhat I started and doing it
correctly and having it done ina way that nobody would ever
(33:01):
question my integrity, my followthrough and professionalism.
So, once again, ricardo, thankyou so much for joining me today
all the way from Tempe Arizona,for joining me today all the
way from Tempe Arizona, and Ilook forward to speaking about
other subject matters relatedwith helping agents break
(33:22):
through and becomingextraordinary agents, because
the statistics as you spoke,where only what 29% close a
transaction in 2024, leaves alot to be desired.
Speaker 2 (33:39):
Yeah, so I don't know what you know one of those.
It's close to a million agentsthat didn't sell something last
year.
You know what they did, but weare called salespeople, not
salespeople.
I'd recommend that everybodylisten to your podcast.
You know, if you take somethingand you're intentional about
listening to today's podcast, beintentional about getting some
(34:03):
serious coaching.
Speaker 1 (34:06):
So we will talk a lot about that on the next segment
and we'll go ahead and announcethat when it's, when it's
recorded and published.
But our goal is again takingour agents, breaking that
barrier from average toextraordinary.
And, unfortunately, not havinga sale is not average.
(34:27):
Okay, average sales transactionat, according to nar statistics
.
Statistics is, uh, fourtransactions a year to be
average, and in order for you tobe extraordinary, you have to
be more than that.
And if we can help you succeedand this is we're, and we're not
we're not asking you foranything other than giving this
(34:51):
serious consideration If you aresuccessful and we had something
to do with that that in itselfis going to make this podcast a
total success.
With that said, guys, have agreat day and go out there and
make your phone calls, go,follow through and don't try to
reinvent the wheel, because themost successful people out there
, they just have systems inplace and they just follow
(35:12):
through.
Well, it is my pleasure to welcome a good
friend of mine from severalyears ago.
Mr Ricardo Cortazar is basedout of Tempe, arizona.
Ricardo and I go way back maybefive, six years.
Actually, it was around thetime of COVID that Ricardo and I
actually formally met eachother at a conference.
(00:24):
We were co-workers at the timeand we have learned so much from
each other.
We have attended several realestate conferences in the time
that we've met each other, andone of the things that I would
like to point out specificallyis that Ricardo Cortazar has
done a phenomenal job ofbranding himself.
Has done a phenomenal job ofbranding himself, and we're
(00:49):
going to speak today about howwe help agents break through,
and we are also going to speakabout how you know what are the
common mistakes that real estateagents make, where they just
can't break through or theycannot get out of the rut that
they are in.
So it is my pleasure to welcomeRicardo.
Ricardo, how are you today?
Speaker 2 (01:06):
I am great.
Thank you very much forinviting me here to speak a
little bit on your podcast.
Happy to serve, happy to givesome advice, and things have
worked for me and a lot of theagents that I've coached,
managed and helped in the last25 years so in the 25 years, you
answered my next question,which is uh, when did you start
in real estate?
Speaker 1 (01:25):
And then, was it something that you planned, was
it accidental, or how did youget involved into real estate?
Speaker 2 (01:33):
No, I wish I could say it was accidental, but you
know what Accidentally it didhappen.
I walked into a real estatedevelopment firm in Tucson,
arizona, as a student at theUniversity of Arizona, started
working for the firm as a paidintern, saw exactly what they
were doing there, loved seeingthat.
They always showed up nicelydressed, polished vehicles, they
spoke very eloquently, theyalways were closing on
(01:55):
transactions, they werecelebrating successes, you know,
at the end of the month talkingabout sales, and that really
intrigued me and I said you knowwhat?
That's something that I reallywant to dive a little bit more
into and find out how I could bea part of something like that
fantastic.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
So, um, that's how you entered into the real estate
world.
Uh, tell us about your, uh,your.
You know your, your story.
How did you, um go from then,25 years ago, to who Ricardo
Cortazar is today in the realestate world?
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Well, it's not easy.
It's not easy and I'll tell youwhat I think.
My parents, my parents, camehere to this country.
I am a second generationimmigrant from Mexico, born in
San Luis, rio Colorado, sonora,which is the Mexican side of
Mexico, of Arizona and Yuma andSan Luis border itself.
So I grew up in an area wherethere was a lot of opportunities
(02:55):
for people that wanted to workin agriculture.
My parents came over in thelate 70s through the Bracero
program and luckily my parentswere able to immigrant and got
us papers.
My older brother, myself, therest of my siblings were born
here in the states.
But through all that um, howwould you say sacrifices that my
(03:16):
parents took coming to thiscountry, you know we have been
blessed.
All my brothers and sisters areall decorated business people,
whether they're in banking andreal estate, working for big
tech companies.
We are blessed to be in thiscountry of opportunity and I am
excited to share a little bit ofwhat we've gone through as a
(03:36):
family as we tell a little bitabout the story.
But peeling the onion back alittle bit is I'm gonna tell you
we are hard workers.
My father came from a school ofhard knocks, so he taught us
how to work hard with our backsand sweat.
It wasn't until we got older,at the age of 18, when we
graduated high school, that werealized that, hey, by the way,
(03:57):
there's another way to work, andthat was working smarter and
not harder, which is getting ahigher education, which is going
to university, which is doingthings a little bit different
than what we were accustomed toand it's made all the difference
in the world Fantastic.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
So let's turn our attention to coaching real
estate agents and if you canshare with me some of the
commonalities amongst realestate agents that have a
difficult time in breakingthrough in the business okay,
that's one and then thedifferentiation between the
agents that actually breakthrough and what are the
(04:34):
commonalities amongst them.
So let's focus on theindividuals that have a
difficult time breaking throughand then the commonalities among
those that have broken through.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
I equate this it's a great question, by the way.
I equate this to being a kid,and if your parent tells you do
it this way, I already know howto do that.
Dad, I already know how to dothat.
Mom, right.
But in real estate it's a littlebit different, because the
agents that struggle the most toget their business off the
ground are the ones that don'tsurrender to what we have to
(05:07):
share.
The more they fight.
A person that's trying to coachthem, educate them, give them
advice on how to change theirbusiness are the ones that
struggle the most.
Conversely, the agents that say, okay, tell me I'm going to pay
you more money, but you tell mehow to do it, and they listen
(05:28):
those are the ones that theirbusiness just takes off because
they do all the things that weshare.
And, by the way, you've got toprepare to make phone calls.
You've got to practice yourscripts, you've got to get out
there and get people to meet you.
You've got to go out there andknock on doors.
You've got to go out there,knock on doors.
You got to go out there and doopen houses.
And when you do them, here'sthe process to actually do these
open houses.
So, once again going back tothis, the agents that have the
(05:57):
most difficult time to getbusiness or traction in our
industry are the ones that don'tsurrender to the process of
wanting to be go from mediocreor not selling anything to
selling something.
Let me just share a statisticwith you, jorge, that's National
Association of Realtors 71% ofreal estate agents last year of
the 1.5 million did not sell onehome last year.
(06:20):
Wow, I can't tell you how manytimes agents that didn't show up
to my office means I alwayssaid maybe you're getting
coaching or advice on how tosell from somebody else.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
So so let's talk about that again.
The theme of our podcast isbreaking barriers from average
to extraordinary, and there's ahuge difference between the two.
Let's talk about that.
You you obviously have acoaching background.
You've developed some skillsets, et cetera into coaching.
I know for a fact that you pouryourself into those individuals
(06:59):
and coaching them intoproduction and helping them
become extraordinary.
But you just mentionedsomething that I believe is key
that individuals, instead ofsurrendering to what they need
to do, they go and continue tolook for solutions to make the
process easier when there's nota simpler or an easier solution.
(07:20):
Let's talk about that.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
I got to share.
I I mean, there's a reason whywe're sharing what we share to
make the process easier for them.
When somebody comes to youstarting the business and they
really want to know, it's likegoing to a mechanic.
Hey, by the way, I want to be amechanic, a good mechanic.
Do you listen to the, the themechanic expender that's got the
(07:43):
veteran 10 years of experience?
Or do you have a mechanicworking your car that just
started you?
You've got to put the work inright and there's a way that the
, the, the savvy mechanic'sgoing to find out how to do
certain things that the otherperson doesn't know.
This is the same thing in realestate.
When you open yourself tosurrendering and listening to
(08:07):
what people are willing to sharewith you, boy, does it become
easier.
Here's the other thing, thatskill that that works listening.
Because I'm going to tell youright now, our industry, we call
ourselves sales people.
I just mentioned 71% of the 1.5million agents last year did
not sell anything.
(08:28):
We don't call them not salesmen, we call them salesmen still.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
Right.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
Right.
But here's the other thing toothe agents that say that they're
salespeople.
They're not leaning into whatmakes a good salesperson, would
you believe?
It starts off by listening.
If you sat down and said thankyou, mr and Mrs Buyer, is this
the first time you've everworked with the buyer's
representative on the realestate you want to purchase?
(08:54):
That's the first question Iwould ask.
I want to find out if they'recoming off something that was
polyheated.
That they fired somebodybecause I don't want to be the
next agent, maybe they're adifficult client needed.
That they fired somebodybecause I don't want to be the
next agent.
Maybe they're a difficultclient.
And this is the experience thatwe have as real estate brokers,
as managers, as leaders, ascoaches, trainers.
We have all these questionsthat we ask before we actually
(09:16):
start dealing with the clientand an agent wants to hurry up,
and because we live in anenvironment where everybody
wants instant feedback, right,you know, we want to run a
tiktok, you run a video.
Hey, it looks like it's so easy.
Why does it take so long?
Speaker 1 (09:31):
right, right, so it didn't take.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
You know, it wasn't small, it was a tiktok well
there's an investment of time,energy and and practice, etc.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
To make that, um, that uh platform successful.
Right, and a lot of patients,obviously, so it's a crowded
field out there.
Obviously, the statistics speakfor themselves and gives us the
explanation as to why we haveso many sources of mentoring,
coaching, et cetera, becausethere's that 70, you mentioned
(10:01):
what is the statistics?
79% 71%.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
71% of agents last year did not sell one home.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
So the difference between those that are not
extraordinary and the ones thatare extraordinary.
Obviously there is acommonality and I think that
there is coaching and badcoaching, right, or maybe
they're just not investing ornot paying attention to the
investment of coaching thatthey're making.
Tell us a little bit about thedifferentiation, about the
(10:31):
strategies out there.
I mean my experience and thismight be self-serving, as you
know being a branch manager at acertain you know for several
years of my career and pouringmy heart and soul into helping
our agents.
And then there's otherindividuals that are just trying
to cash a check as a mentor andnot necessarily interested in
(10:55):
the well-being and success ofthat individual.
And I'm being sincere here.
I believe that there'sphenomenal coaches out there.
So this is not a jab at anybodyspecifically.
I just want to be able tohighlight for a real estate
agent to do the research, toinvestigate, interview and
(11:16):
really look at the character ofthe individual that is leading
them and then coaching them.
So let's talk about that.
Can you share some of yourexperiences related to that,
because I know that you haveserved as a manager as well for
many years?
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Yes.
So the coaching is big and I'mgoing to share something that
maybe people can understand.
Maybe you have a child that'sin soccer or baseball.
You take them to the first.
You know.
Get together to do a practice.
There's a coach, and if theylisten to the coach, chances are
they get better at their craft,and if they practice more with
(11:51):
that coach or they get privatecoaching, they even get more
proficient at what they're doing.
That's where pearls come in.
You start at a very young agebeing taught.
That's why you go to school aswell, and people think that when
you're done with high schooland college, that's all the
school that you get.
(12:12):
I'm going to tell you that mycoach that's been doing this for
40 plus years also has a coach,because he can't be good at
everything.
So I'm going to tell you rightnow that people are afraid to
invest resources, their ownmoney, into getting better at
their craft.
But people will invest a lot ofmoney to look nice, right?
(12:36):
People invest a lot of moneyand get in the fanciest car to
look nice, but then you don'thave the skillset to come behind
everything else, right, but ifyou were coached, if you were
taught and you know exactly howto actually be really good at
your craft.
You'd have all those otherthings.
People look for the wrongthings, sometimes the lost
(12:58):
heroes, like we call them.
Coaching helps you doeverything else, because when
you're coached and you actuallyyou know do the work, a lot of
people are afraid to do the work.
I'm going to share an analogythat I use all the time, or a
saying that we always talk aboutthe magic that people are
looking for for their businessto take off.
(13:22):
The magic's in what people won'tdo that they have to do in
order to be successful, and I'mgoing to break it down.
Sometimes the magic is makingthe phone calls to people that
you don't want to call Right.
Sometimes the magic is showingup to a networking event and I
know you're tired, but you knowwhat you show up and what are
(13:42):
the chances that, because youwalked in and you were the most
interested person as opposed tothe most interesting person,
somebody there said hey, youknow what, ricardo, I'd like for
you to represent my family.
We just moved here from adifferent state and my employer
has me here and they told me togo to this networking event to
meet people.
That's the magic, and a lot ofagents don't want to do any of
(14:06):
the hard work.
They think that if I buy leads,if I go out and work with the
company that's going to give meand sell me leads, leads 98% of
the leads nowadays aren't worthanything.
You pay for them, but it'sabout 2% that actually get to
fruition or get consummated to asale.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
So there's no substitution for networking,
being interesting and beinginterested in other people,
right?
Speaker 2 (14:35):
Correct.
There is no substitution forhard work.
I'm going to tell you, realestate is still been and still
will always be a relationshipbusiness.
You're getting ready to asksomebody to represent them in
the highest price dollar amountthat they've ever spent.
Don't you think they want toknow a little bit about you in
(14:57):
person, how you actually work,how you treat people, how you
show up, how you dress?
Speaker 1 (15:06):
So there's value in the network in the real estate
sector, but there's also morevalue in networking outside of
your real estate sector.
A lot of people use the wordindustry.
We don't build widgets.
It's real estate as aprofession and I'd like to be
able to put that out there, thatyou know.
You need to stop treating realestate as an industry, because
(15:29):
it's a profession and when youthink about it as a profession,
you start behaving accordingly.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
Let's talk about I think you said it best
Profession, isn't thatprofessionals?
Speaker 1 (15:39):
It's a profession and therefore we need to behave as
professionals.
So, networking I know that inthe real estate profession and
in the sector you know and we'retalking about, there's
association of realtors, there'sother associations that put a
lot of educational events andthere's a lot of networking.
I know that there's anopportunity to build from
(16:02):
networking, but what is thechallenge of networking in your
same uh, in your backyard, wherethat's your farm, versus
networking in other areas?
And then we'll talk aboutnetworking in your backyard, but
in different sectors.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Networking in your backyard is, like we say, you
know, going for the low-hangingfruit first, the easy ones.
If people don't even know youin your backyard, why would you
go outside of your yard?
If you can't be theneighborhood expert in your own
neighborhood, why are youselling somewhere else?
It's the easy one.
Work on some of the easyfactors first, where people get
(16:45):
to know you.
Hey, by the way, did you haveany questions regarding my
experience with clients?
Because I have a couple ofrecommendations for people in my
immediate subdivision whereI've sold and bought in firm,
can I share those with you?
You'll never have those becauseyou're outside of your scope or
outside of your comfort zone so.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
So to clarify, so to clarify, and sorry to interrupt
you there, ricardo, when itcomes to networking in your
backyard, your chambers ofcommerce, networking events,
maybe there is something thatmaybe your PTA, there's an
opportunity for you to networkand you know, when you,
especially, there's a fundraiserand you maybe donate something
(17:23):
to your school's PTA fundraiser,it gives you an opportunity to
talk about your profession oryour business, which in this
case would be real estate.
But networking outside of yourarea for the intent of
generating referral business.
That's where the importance ofattending these national events
(17:46):
and statewide events to be ableto build a network of real
estate agents.
I'm just very proud of the factthat I can put a name or a town
and I know someone in thatspecific town.
You and I know people inAtlanta, georgia.
You and I know people in Miami.
You and I know people inChicago.
You and I know people in SanFrancisco.
(18:07):
Obviously, that's practicallymy backyard in San Francisco.
Obviously, that's practicallymy backyard.
But I know for a fact the bestreal estate agent in Tempe,
arizona, which is RicardoCortazar.
Let's talk about that a littlebit in your experience when it
comes to, you know, toprioritize based on what you're
going to be getting out of andwhat your intent is to get out
(18:27):
of that networking.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
Well, you don't just go in there with expectations to
actually get something out ofthe network.
Remember, networking is aboutpaying it forward first.
How can you be of service tosomebody so that they can
remember you and how graciousyou were to always prefer you as
well in return gracious youwere to always prefer you as
(18:51):
well in return?
So a lot of people, I think,network ineffectively by going
and expecting something out ofit.
I got to tell you I've gone toa lot of networking events where
people are like hey, my name issuch and such and here's my
card and I'll talk to you later,and I think it's speed
networking and I'm thinking,look, I didn't hear anything
about them.
I usually follow up with them.
Hey, you know what?
It was really brief how we met.
(19:13):
I know you said that you deal inthe insurance business, but I
wanted to see what is an idealclient for you.
If I came across somebody likethat, I'm like nobody's ever
asked me that.
Well, I work with nothing butspecific these kind of clients.
I go yeah, I didn't get to hearthat that day.
All right, so now I know alittle bit more about that
person.
But people networkineffectively and sometimes less
(19:35):
is more because you don't haveto service everybody, because
you're going to get really badat that.
You can't service everybody,but if you work on a subgroup of
people that are really goodreferral sources that's where
your business is going to takeoff.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
So, what would you?
And, switching a little youknow gears a little bit, what
would you credit?
It actually kind of goes alongthe way of you know what you're.
That you're what we're talkingabout as far as the networking,
because there's a hugeconnection to to that.
As far as your success, um, howdid you get to the point where
you are today?
And, um, who was your mentor?
Who did you align yourself with?
What were the questions thatyou asked in order for you to be
(20:23):
able to become extraordinary?
Speaker 2 (20:30):
thank you for that question and I'm going to share
that.
I've had a lot of mentors alongthe way in my 25 years of real
estate experience, but my firstmentors are obviously my parents
.
To always do good, you know.
Always do the right thing.
Don't do something for just themoney, you know.
Be happy with what you're doing.
Those are the things that havealways been hallmarks in our
(20:50):
family for all my brothers andsisters.
So with that, you are neverlooking over your shoulder.
Oh my god, and I find outthat's not me.
If you're your authentic self,you'll never have to reinvent
yourself when you're in front ofsomebody.
I gotta tell you there's a lotof agents on social media that
if you caught them one day, theywon't act the same way they act
(21:11):
on social media, becausesometimes it's just a farce or
they're putting on a skit onsocial media.
But when you're authentic,people know you remember.
I take notes If somebody makesan impression on me, because
most of the time that's whathappens and I look for that.
I write something on a card andI take notes.
By the way, this day that I went, this person's kid is going to
(21:32):
the University of Arizona.
I mentioned that I knewsomebody there that the Alumni
Association that might be ableto help them with a scholarship,
and then I sent them an email.
Hey, by the way, a lot of you Iknow we talked about this
opportunity.
Here's some information on theUniversity of Arizona.
Here's the alumni group thatpertains to that area.
You should, you know, contactthem to see if there's an
(21:53):
opportunity for a scholarship.
Oh my God, so I just paid itforward.
Those are the effectivenetworkings.
I'm a real estate broker.
If you ever find yourself inneed of selling or buying real
estate or have any friends andfamily that are looking to buy
in real estate, I hope you canthink of so thank you for for
(22:14):
sharing that, ricardo um.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
Going back to the the purpose of this podcast and our
goal to help, uh, real estateagents break barriers and going
from average to extraordinaryassuming, assuming that the
mentor, assuming that themanager has an individual's best
(22:37):
interest in mind okay, we'rejust not talking about a jerk,
we're just talking about someonethat absolutely has an
individual's best interest inmind.
What should a real estate agentthat wants to improve their
results, what do they have to bewilling to accept and receive
(22:57):
from that mentor in the form ofadvice?
And you and I spoke about thisearlier because we were
comparing notes about somequestions that I asked of an
individual that you and I knowas to what their goals in real
estate were.
Tell me a little bit about whatwould an authentic mentor say
(23:20):
or share with someone, and whatis it that they're not going to
do.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
First and foremost, I always ask the mentee coming in
for our first meeting what doyou expect to get out of our
first meeting today?
Because I want to setexpectations, to see what they
are expecting to come out thefirst, because I don't want them
to come in with expectations.
Well, I'm going to get a client.
I'm going to find out how tosell people this way.
I want to first find out moreabout them.
(23:46):
What are their pain points?
Why are they in the industry?
Who do they know?
How are they actually marketingright now?
If they are, and once I findout, they tell me what they
expect to get out of there, thenwe could at least work on one
or two of those items so thatthey can at least feel like,
okay, I got something good outof this.
He's going to help me do this,going to help me do that, but
(24:09):
that's it.
You can't do everything on thefirst meeting and you always
have to have realisticexpectations.
I can't tell you how many timesagents sit across the table
from me and say I want to make$100,000 a year.
So I say, okay, well, is thatsomething that's going to be on
your top to-do list?
Yes, well, have you made$40,000 this year.
So, on real estate, no, howabout we start there?
(24:32):
Well, why I want to make ahundred thousand dollars?
Well, you've.
You know how hard it is to workto get 40 first.
So I started.
We start off with reaching agoal that's achievable, because
a hundred thousand dollars inthe industry and I'm in our
profession is not that easy ifyou don't have a good contact
(24:56):
database of clients that youworked with in the past that
trust you.
So those are some of the thingsthat I talk to agents about.
First is, let's talk what realexpectations are of you and how
hard are you willing to work inorder to get there.
Will you lean in to what Irecommend?
Speaker 1 (25:18):
so what has been the toughest piece of advice that
you have ever received?
Speaker 2 (25:24):
that ended up being the most valuable being the most
valuable telling agents thetruth.
A lot of managers tiptoebecause in real estate keep in
mind they're all independentcontractors.
As a manager, you can't tellthem.
You know straight out how youfeel, because when I used to do
that, when I first started inbusiness, in the, in the
(25:47):
profession, I used to tellagents by the way, you're by the
way, you're not good at this,you're not good at that they get
offended, they disassociatetheir license from my office.
So now I've got to ask them hey, can I tell you the truth to
help you succeed, or do you wantme to tell you something to
just keep you okay and you'll behappy?
Can I tell you the truth?
(26:08):
I'm asking for your permission.
And when they tell you, yes,please tell me the truth.
Okay, here's what I would do ifI was in your shoes.
I think you and I crossed it acouple of times where I had
agents in my office that youknow, even if you're a female,
you still have to have ormaintain a level of
professionalism, even the wayyou professionalism, even the
(26:30):
way you carry yourself or theway you dress, because it's
still a profession.
But some of these people don'tfollow the rules and think that
in this, in, in our, in ourprofession, we can do pretty
much whatever we want show up,dressed up, like you know, we're
going out to a club and expectto get good clients.
I had to have a hardconversation with an agent.
(26:55):
They didn't like it.
They moved their license, eventhough I asked can I get your
permission to share what I thinkwould change?
Because you're missing out onopportunities with clients with
good incomes and you know prettygood opportunities to sell the
million dollar houses.
But I got to tell you most ofthese million dollar clients
(27:17):
have million, are married andtheir spouses wouldn't
appreciate the way you show upto meetings and they didn't like
it and it's painful becausesometimes you gotta have yeah,
it's painful, but sometimes,jorge, I would much rather share
the truth than mask it.
And then they never succeed orlearn right and then um.
Speaker 1 (27:41):
So the the huge difference of keeping people in
the dark with the intent of justkeeping them so you can gain
something out of them, or beingtruthful and helping them grow
with the intent of helping themsucceed, huge.
Huge difference right and it's atough, very, very tough job.
When people ask me do you enjoyyour job, jorge, I said I know
(28:01):
and I knew what I signed up forand I enjoy every single moment
of it, the ups and downs.
Is it painful?
Absolutely.
Is it awkward at times?
Yes, it is awkward Because haveto.
When you have someone's bestinterest in mind, you have to
and I hate to use thisexpression because I'm not
somebody's.
(28:22):
I mean, I am the father of fourkids.
My wife and I have four kids,but I have to have had
conversations with my kids thatare very, very tough, that are
very, very tough, and I've hadthose conversations with real
estate agents that are very,very tough, again with the
intent of ensuring that they'redoing the right thing for
themselves and for the consumersthat they serve.
(28:44):
Ricardo, I would like for you toclose out this segment with a
few words of wisdom.
And the young.
You know you're a very youngperson.
You have a lot of years ofexperience, but still relatively
young in comparison to what theindustry has to offer.
Please share with us.
Sorry, I I misspoke what thisprofession has to offer.
(29:06):
I have to retrain myself aswell.
Give us some some few words ofadvice okay words, words of
advice.
Speaker 2 (29:16):
in what category?
Speaker 1 (29:19):
Being in a real estate agent in order for them
to go from, you know, trying tobreak through and being
exceptional.
And what is it that they needin order for them to be
coachable?
Speaker 2 (29:35):
Okay, great, Thank you.
All right, If I had the silverbullet for an agent to be
successful.
Every single time I tell them Isay, by the way, what is the
number one big idea that youhave right now that you heard?
That will take you yourbusiness from here to up here.
And they always they tell methe idea.
(29:57):
I said, okay, then go ahead andpile on that idea, but heavy,
Don't do it half.
I'm going to get to it tomorrow, I'm going to do it next week.
I mean, you pile it on andimmediately, fast and heavy.
People spread themselves.
Then they think they have to beeverywhere because somebody
said they got to do social media, they got to do posts every day
(30:20):
, they got to do this, got to dothat.
By the way, that helps.
But if you have an idea that'sgoing to take your business to a
different level, you reallypile on heavy on that one idea
and that's what's going tochange your entire business.
Because I have agents thatstart one thing and they end up
never finishing it because theystart other things too In real
(30:41):
estate.
Real estate is a good starter,good finisher profession.
If you're not good at startingsomething and not good at
finishing it, you're going tostruggle.
I always ask the follow throughis big because, keep in mind,
we are looking for a transactionto start and to close.
We open escrow, we close escrow.
(31:03):
So if you're not good at takingcare of the start and the
finish, what good are you goingto be?
And I always ask that questionwhen they sit down with me
because they think they're justcoming in and interviewing me.
I got to ask that question too.
I got to ask have you startedanything?
Do you have any designations inreal estate?
Well, I started this.
(31:24):
Did you finish it?
Not yet.
When do you plan on finishingit?
Let me write that down and Iwrite it down for them.
And then, when we're done withour interview, I said hey,
here's the thing that you saidyou were going to do.
I think we should start onthese.
And they're like man, I I needaccountability.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
That's what I need.
It's it's so valuable.
I'm going to share a story withyou to end the segment and, uh,
it has exactly to do with withfollow through.
Um, I started my career workingfor a real estate broker and
eventually I became a certifiedescrow officer, but one of my
first experiences in the escrowworld as an escrow assistant
entailed a situation where I wasresponsible for generating a
(32:09):
report an accounting report forthe escrow administrator for the
company in the county that Istarted out my escrow career
with, and I was given my walkingpapers over the allegation that
I had not followed through witha task, and it was such an
(32:31):
important lesson for me.
I knew that I had completed thetask, but I didn't take the
additional steps to ensure thatit was recorded correctly the
lack of starting or finishingwhat I started and doing it
correctly and having it done ina way that nobody would ever
(33:01):
question my integrity, my followthrough and professionalism.
So, once again, ricardo, thankyou so much for joining me today
all the way from Tempe Arizona,for joining me today all the
way from Tempe Arizona, and Ilook forward to speaking about
other subject matters relatedwith helping agents break
(33:22):
through and becomingextraordinary agents, because
the statistics as you spoke,where only what 29% close a
transaction in 2024, leaves alot to be desired.
Speaker 2 (33:39):
Yeah, so I don't know what you know one of those.
It's close to a million agentsthat didn't sell something last
year.
You know what they did, but weare called salespeople, not
salespeople.
I'd recommend that everybodylisten to your podcast.
You know, if you take somethingand you're intentional about
listening to today's podcast, beintentional about getting some
(34:03):
serious coaching.
Speaker 1 (34:06):
So we will talk a lot about that on the next segment
and we'll go ahead and announcethat when it's, when it's
recorded and published.
But our goal is again takingour agents, breaking that
barrier from average toextraordinary.
And, unfortunately, not havinga sale is not average.
(34:27):
Okay, average sales transactionat, according to nar statistics
.
Statistics is, uh, fourtransactions a year to be
average, and in order for you tobe extraordinary, you have to
be more than that.
And if we can help you succeedand this is we're, and we're not
we're not asking you foranything other than giving this
(34:51):
serious consideration If you aresuccessful and we had something
to do with that that in itselfis going to make this podcast a
total success.
With that said, guys, have agreat day and go out there and
make your phone calls, go,follow through and don't try to
reinvent the wheel, because themost successful people out there
, they just have systems inplace and they just follow
(35:12):
through.
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