September 16, 2025 • 35 mins
What if the answer you've been searching for is simply putting in the work? That's the powerful message Robin Martin, leader of Premier Home Team at Keller Williams, shares in this compelling conversation about persistence, discipline, and accountability in real estate.
Drawing from his background as a college track coach, Robin reveals how he "brute-forced" his way to success in just six years through relentless activity. He transparently breaks down his journey from making 5,000 dials to get a single listing as a new agent to becoming dramatically more efficient through deliberate practice. The magic moment came when Robin realized success in real estate wasn't about luck or natural talent—it was mathematical and repeatable.
"Real estate is something you can work your way to success in, even when you don't have the talent yet, even when you don't have the resources, the database, the pipeline," Robin explains. This accessibility makes the profession uniquely fair—anyone willing to commit to consistent activity can build a thriving business. Maria and Robin agree that 20 meaningful conversations daily virtually guarantees a sustainable career, regardless of age or experience.
Beyond tactics, the conversation delves into the mindset shift required for lasting success. Robin shares how partnering with Place transformed his business by surrounding him with ambitious people who "rob you of your excuses," while Maria illustrates radical accountability through powerful everyday scenarios. The episode culminates in a profound reminder that your circumstances result from choices you've made—and only you have the power to change them.
Whether you're a seasoned agent or considering a career in real estate, this episode offers both practical wisdom and the motivation to take full ownership of your journey. Ready to be the solution to your own challenges? Listen now and discover how persistence and accountability can transform your business and life.
Connect with Maria Quattrone:
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Website: MQrealesate.com
Office number: 215- 607-3535
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Maria Quattrone (00:01):
This will be the Solution Podcast and I'm
your host, maria Quattrone, andtoday I welcome Robin Martin
from Premier Home Team.
He runs his business out ofKeller Williams and he is a
place partner and I'm excitedbecause Robin and I met a few
years ago.
(00:21):
We hadn't had an opportunitysince then actually to go deep
into what's going on.
But, robin, so welcome to theshow as a first-time guest and
if you know anything about me,you know that I come.
I have a quote for you,especially for you today.
Love it, especially for youtoday.
(00:42):
Love it Energy and persistenceconquer all things.
Benjamin Franklin.
Robin Martin (00:57):
I like it yeah.
Maria Quattrone (00:57):
Energy and persistence conquer all things.
I picked up for you thismorning, based on the text that
I sent you and what you sent meback, and I thought I think this
(01:20):
is a good quote from RobinThrough sheer persistence and
will of making something happen.
So, Robin, I know, you know,you are doing amazing things out
there, mainly Delaware Countyservice, in Philadelphia County
with your team.
We have 13, 15 agents, Yep, yepand we met a few years ago and
(01:45):
you were still, you were workingon figuring it all out.
Robin Martin (01:51):
Just bumping my head a bunch.
Just bumping my head a bunch.
Yeah, for sure.
Maria Quattrone (01:57):
And now you are a joint place, so you're a
partner with them and you'rerocking and rolling.
But I want to go back to highlevel and have people and and
(02:26):
you have systems and processesand a lot of transactions.
It takes a lot to get there andso usually what I found in
talking to I've interviewed over350 people something with
persistence, it's somethingthat's embedded in you 350
(02:47):
people.
Something with persistence,it's something that's embedded
in you and came from somewherelong ago.
Robin Martin (03:00):
What would you say that was for you?
It's, it's probably, um, my, myathletic background, um, I ran,
I ran track, uh, as a, as a kid,I ran track in college, um, and
it's a grind, um, and but ifyou work really, really hard.
(03:27):
I actually coached track andfield for almost a decade, um,
before I, before I started realestate, Um, and it's, and it's
kind of fascinating becausesometimes the most talented
people they're they're not very,they're not as successful and
the ones that just work hard dayin and day out as successful
and the ones that just work hardday in and day out, um, they
(03:49):
can, they can produce reallyhigh levels of success.
So I just kind of learnedthrough my athletic and coaching
career that you um, that it's ahow to set a goal that's that's
years away, how to work at itdiligently every day and how to
kind of push through those, thefeelings right, the I don't want
(04:11):
to do it today's, and the oh,this hurts today and it's just a
little bit of pain.
And I really believe that ifyou keep pushing through that,
you're going to get there.
And I've just seen it happen inmy life and I've just seen it
happen as a coach enough timesthat I can't deny that it's true
(04:31):
.
So when real estate started itwas really that same kind of
mentality and that's kind ofwhat we did from the beginning.
Maria Quattrone (04:43):
It's a discipline.
There's no, you know, yourfeelings are your feelings.
A lot of times it's just madeup stuff that you make up anyway
.
But it's a discipline to dowhatever is required on the
daily basis, day in, day out,without you know, without
(05:04):
minimal complaints, because themore energy you bring to it, the
greater possibility of beingsuccessful with it if you leave
it aside.
So in real estate, becausethat's what we do.
But in real estate, many peopledecide that they don't want to
(05:26):
do the work, and I always thinkabout things like I could be
digging a ditch, I could be sounfortunate and live in a third
world country with no water andno infrastructure.
I could be so unfortunate andbe in a war zone, and so
(05:51):
sometimes, you know, I bring itto that to the team, I dumb it
down to, you know, really noteven having basic needs, yet we
can't make 20 more phone calls,hmm.
Robin Martin (06:09):
Yeah.
Maria Quattrone (06:10):
It's really just choosing.
Robin Martin (06:11):
Sorry, go ahead.
Maria Quattrone (06:12):
No, no, no.
We're sitting in like a nicecomfy, warm or cool home,
depending on the weather, oroffice with all the things that
we need.
And it's a decision.
I mean you made a decision.
(06:35):
So you made a decision when yougot into this business because
we met and I remember you werelike adamant.
You were adamant about figuringthis out and doing it and it
took how much time to do that soI've been an agent.
Robin Martin (06:59):
Um, in july it was uh, six years.
So so been an agent six years.
Started this team.
It'll be five years in October.
So it took five years, fivegood years.
My first six months in thebusiness.
I had no idea what I was doing,so I don't even count that, but
yeah, it took a good five years.
Maria Quattrone (07:21):
You've had tremendous success for somebody
in the business for such a shorttime.
What do you attribute it to?
Robin Martin (07:33):
Well, I would say that real estate and thank God
for this reality, but realestate is something can brute
force your way to success, andwhen I first started, I just
didn't want to wait my turn.
It seemed like everybody whowas successful.
(07:53):
They've been doing it for 20years, they built this book of
business and I just didn't havethat kind of time.
I got into this business lateand so I had to speed it up and
I started with expireds.
It was like a miracle for me,because you watch people be
(08:17):
successful when you're a brandnew agent.
You watch people be successful,you watch people be
unsuccessful and you can't tellthe difference between them.
So it seems like luck, it seemslike magic.
Like Maria Quattrone, she justgot lucky right.
That's what a new agent wouldtell themselves if they saw you.
Maria Quattrone (08:36):
They don't know how much work, right.
Robin Martin (08:38):
They just see you winning.
And so I didn't really get itand it seemed like magic and I
just was hoping that I would beone of the touched ones, you
know.
And so I started callingexpireds and I was terrible at
it, but I tracked my numbersearly on and so it was at the
(08:59):
beginning I was 125 contacts toan appointment.
That was 5% pickup rate, 6%pickup rate.
I was calling some, you know,calling some older lists.
So 5% to 6% pickup rate and 125contacts to an appointment, and
I closed a little less thanhalf of my appointments, right.
Maria Quattrone (09:20):
So those are terrible numbers by the way,
just terrible.
Robin Martin (09:22):
But it didn't matter because it was repeatable
, right.
So those are terrible numbers,by the way, just terrible, but
it didn't matter because it wasrepeatable, right.
Like it stopped being magic,like instantaneously for me.
And so, even though you knowyou do that math, I don't know
I'd have to like do it here onmy, but let's see 20, we'll call
(09:46):
it 20 times 125 times 2.
So that's 5,000 dials to alisting right.
That's pretty extreme, but itdidn't matter to me because I
could do that If I made 500dials a day and I did that five
(10:08):
days a week.
That's a listing every twoweeks.
That's 26 listings in a year.
That's a living right.
And when that happened, likeeverything switched for me.
And real estate is somethingthat you can, just you can brute
, force your way through it.
(10:28):
You can be terrible at openhouses, just terrible, but if
you host enough of them, if youhost 10 of them a week, you're
gonna get buyers Like this isthat's why what I love about
real estate is that it's fair,like you can work your way to
success even when you don't havethe talent yet, even when you
(10:51):
don't have the resources, thedatabase, the pipeline.
You can just work yourself tosuccess, and that's just not
true everywhere, right?
And that's kind of how westarted.
Just, we didn't know what wewere doing, we were not great at
what we did, but we were goingto brute force our way to
(11:12):
success and that's kind of howthat was the platform at what we
built.
Maria Quattrone (11:19):
Wow, those are some numbers.
You knew the numbers, thoughit's now what are the numbers?
Or you're not calling anymore,so I don't call expireds anymore
.
Robin Martin (11:33):
But when I stopped it was same pickup rate and I
was about 37 conversations to anappointment and I and I closed
about 80% of my appointments, sothat that was that's what it
was when it was the end.
So we many conversations do youhave a day?
So that was probably 30, 35.
(12:10):
So this was so.
That's 925 dials to a listing.
So I started at 5000 and endedup at 925 925 dials to a listing
.
Maria Quattrone (12:29):
Okay, well, it is what it is right Meaning.
What else were you going to do?
Robin Martin (12:40):
That's a really good point right.
Maria Quattrone (12:43):
We have new agents that come join us.
Robin Martin (12:46):
I always, you know , I think, oh, seven houses,
open houses, that's a lot.
You know, we don't, ourstandard is three on our team,
but even three, three seems likea lot.
I'm like what else are youdoing?
Maria Quattrone (13:00):
I mean, if you went to Comcast and punched in
or anywhere else and you work8.30 to 5.30, you'd have to do
work.
So this is the work.
If there's in a team model likeyou and myself, the agent
(13:25):
doesn't really have to doanything else but dial the phone
.
Robin Martin (13:30):
So if you have and cash their checks.
Maria Quattrone (13:35):
If there's no appointments that day, then
there's nothing else to do butmake phone calls, right?
Robin Martin (13:45):
But that day-in, day-out discipline is hard.
I have a lot of understandingof what they go through,
understanding of what they gothrough, and that's the coach in
me that I really enjoy helpingthem work through.
That it is not what we'retaught.
We're not taughtentrepreneurial thinking right,
we're taught.
(14:05):
Nine to five I mean, I rememberI used to work for USA, or it
doesn't even exist anymore.
That's how old I am and I wouldgo to the.
You know, I remember I would goto the bathroom and I'd like to
stay there an extra fiveminutes and I would just, I
would feel I would laugh becauseI like they just paid me $2 for
(14:26):
nothing.
You know.
Like that's like instilled in us, this kind of like shift work
mentality, and that's all mostof the people around us that
they know.
So I don't really I have a lotof understanding for our agents
as they navigate these waters.
Most times you go to a job, youwork twice as hard, you get a
(14:50):
5% raise, so why work twice ashard?
And so all of this, I think, isreally kind of ingrained in our
minds, and so I love workingwith agents to help kind of free
them and to think about theworld in an entrepreneurial way,
so that they too can understandand feel the benefits of being
(15:16):
the master of your own destinyand the hero of your own story.
And I think that's just notnatural, like we're not bred to
feel like ourselves, as the heroof our story, to be victors,
not victims, and and so helpingthem work through that, you know
it's it's it's my life's work,it's the thing that I love.
(15:36):
I love the most about about,about having a team.
Maria Quattrone (15:43):
It's interesting and I it's
interesting it's we're in asales job, so our job is to sell
real estate to as many peopleas we want, which is the beauty
(16:05):
of it.
I think that you know, if youdon't want to be in sales, then
this probably isn't a good spotfor people.
I did a day in the life of arealtor last night webinar for
(16:30):
people that aren't in thebusiness and and you know, after
21 years of this, to still havethe energy and enthusiasm yeah,
and straight away, tell them,like I never went to a
(16:55):
settlement that didn't startwith a conversation, so
conversing.
So what do you think an agentneeds to do, robin, in today's
marketplace?
Robin Martin (17:13):
To be successful.
Maria Quattrone (17:15):
Yes, activity what do you think that looks
like?
It could be a lot of differentthings right.
Robin Martin (17:24):
It's finding what fills your cup, like what you're
good at and what gives youenergy, but I think it's.
It could be.
Could be door knocking, couldbe circle dialing, could be
expires, it could be Fizbo's, itcould be first-time homebuyer
seminars, it could be openhouses, it could be.
(17:45):
Could be you know, working yoursphere super hard.
It could be setting up tablesat 25 festivals across the
greater Philadelphia area overthe summer.
These are all things our agentshave done this year.
It's really farming.
(18:07):
I mean, we could go on and onand on, but pick a lane and go
and do a ton of it like a tonand you're going to be bad at it
when you start Like.
I used to live in Nicaragua.
I arrived there um able to saythe word burrito and agua, right
(18:28):
, and and I learned how to speakSpanish, but I learned it by
being terrible at it.
I have a number of amazing,embarrassing speaking Spanish
stories that I like to sharewith my team because it's okay
to suck.
It's okay to not be good atsomething, but that is the path
(18:49):
that everybody walks to get goodat something.
Maria Quattrone (18:53):
No one arrives good.
Robin Martin (18:55):
Just do it, the sheer volume of that activity,
and you'll get good while you'redoing it.
You don't have to practice andget ready to get ready.
I mean, you should practice,but don't get ready to get ready
.
Just jump in sheer volume ofactivity and that's the activity
.
Activity, activity.
(19:15):
That is the solution.
Some people are going to beinnately more talented at it
when they start, and that's fine.
And then doing it with intent,and then doing a little bit of
self-analysis when you're doneOoh, I said that that didn't
land right.
Maria Quattrone (19:31):
Ooh, I did this and they didn't like it.
Robin Martin (19:33):
Ooh, I didn't pick up on this cue.
Maybe I should try thatsomething different next time
and just consistently get betterand go.
That would be my advice.
Maria Quattrone (19:47):
The value of the compound effect.
Doing this work over and overagain and over time, it
compounds.
Agreed.
Why did you get into realestate?
Agreed why did you?
Robin Martin (20:01):
get into real estate?
Um, well, it's not a.
It's uh, you know, like, whenyou ask, people like that are
married, well, where do you meet?
It's not always a great story,you know, uh.
So, um, I, I was, uh, I was acollege track and field coach
for a long time.
When that that career ended, Ihad a friend who was a realtor.
(20:24):
She sold us our first house andshe thought I'd be good at it.
I thought maybe this might makesense and so I tried it, and
that's the story.
It's not super compelling, andthat's the story.
It's not not super compelling,but that's.
That's how I started.
It was an invitation of afriend.
(20:45):
Her name's Carrie Carr.
You might know her, and Carriewas a good friend of mine.
She was just starting in herreal estate career and she was
having success and she broughtme along.
That's really the whole story.
Maria Quattrone (20:58):
That's great.
You always have to have afriend in real estate.
Yeah, I had a similar story.
My friend thought I would begreat at it and I investigated.
I was in advertising sales for11 years.
I've been making calls for 32years yeah, a long time.
Robin Martin (21:30):
But it compounded.
Maria Quattrone (21:32):
It compounded.
Yes, we teach you can do openhouses, you can do door knocking
, whatever, but we just teachcall the database.
57,000 people in there, tons ofpeople to call.
Call the database, make as manycalls as possible, have at
(21:56):
least 20 conversations a day.
Everything else takes care ofitself 20 conversations a day.
Robin Martin (22:04):
You are going to sell houses.
Maria Quattrone (22:06):
I don't care if you're having where you're
having.
Robin Martin (22:09):
That's really.
Yeah, I agree with you.
Maria Quattrone (22:11):
If you have 20 conversations a day, you'll make
a good living, a decent living,in real estate At least yeah,
At least a decent living.
And this is if you don't evenhave all the skills yet.
I have 19-year-olds right fromhigh school selling real estate,
(22:32):
doing deals.
Just don't call in the database, yeah.
So you know, people don't.
You're not too young, you'renot too old, you can do this.
Nobody's going to say you can'tsell real estate because you're
19 or 80.
There's a lady out there in thesouth.
(22:55):
She's 100, she's selling realestate still.
Yep, the sky's the limit.
100, she's selling real estatestill.
Robin Martin (23:00):
Yeah, the sky's the limit and that's what makes
this industry so amazing.
Maria Quattrone (23:10):
Right is that that's there's just not a lot of
places anymore where that'strue, but that's definitely true
here and you could do as muchas you want or as little as you
want.
Where else can you go and havethis kind of opportunity?
Mortgage, yes.
(23:35):
Insurance, financial services.
You need more experience forfinancial services, though, and
you need to get your Series 7.
A lot easier to get a realestate license.
Even easier to get your MLOlicense and insurance license
(23:58):
Yep license, an insurancelicense?
Yep.
But those careers are alsoviable, for the sky's the limit,
mm-hmm.
You know, my friends in themortgage industry make in half a
million, a million dollars ayear from sheer work ethic.
(24:19):
Yeah, and if you do enough ofit, you figure out how to do it
right.
Yeah, exactly, but it's aboutbe the solution.
Robin, you're the solution.
You recently not that a littlewhile ago you partnered with
Place.
Robin Martin (24:40):
We did.
Maria Quattrone (24:42):
How has that impacted your business?
Robin Martin (24:48):
In a number of ways, but I think the most
important is it's just who yousurround yourself with.
You surround yourself with, andif you're the, you know, if
you're the smartest person inthe room you need to find a new
(25:09):
room and Place.
Was that opportunity for us andour agents to be able to be in
a room where we're consistentlylooking up and learning from
people who are doing it at ahigher level than us?
right there, we kind of we setthese limitations for ourselves
and then we go to, like.
We went to an event a couplemonths ago and it was a, you
(25:34):
know, a sales event.
You had to do these.
If you did this high number ofactivities, you called it this
event and there were- 5,000files right 5,000 files, 50 open
houses.
Yep, yep, you got it 5,000 files, 50 open houses, 50 ads to your
database, five listings orsomething.
(25:56):
Yeah, five listings going liveand 10 buy side or listing side
agency contracts.
So you had to do three of themto qualify for the event.
And one of the people that gotup and spoke was a single mom
(26:17):
with a six-month-old who did allfive, who did 50 open houses in
10 weeks, who did 5,000 dialsin 10 weeks, added 50 people to
her database and had 12 or solisting and buy-side contracts
signed and put five listingslive, listing and buy side
(26:40):
contracts signed, and put fivelistings live.
And it was this moment whereyou're like my excuses are gone,
my life is easier than her life, and if she could do it, I
could do it.
And I think there's this magicto being surrounded by ambitious
, successful people that arecrushing the real estate game.
(27:04):
It just it robs you of yourexcuses, and I think we all need
to be robbed of our excusesevery once in a while, and so
that's a big piece of that.
We're running playbooks, thevery best playbooks that real
estate has to offer, proven byreally, really established,
powerful real estate teams andjust the highest levels of
(27:25):
support and the highest levelsof training and you put all that
together, it's kind of a magicbox.
So at one point in time Idecided that I was going to do
anything I could do to supportmy agents at the highest level.
That was going to be my callingcard.
It was, it was, it was a.
Maria Quattrone (27:43):
This is part of my DNA.
Robin Martin (27:44):
I wanted to support my agents at the highest
level and so when thisopportunity for place came up,
it put me in a spot.
You know it's not cheap, but itput me into a spot where, if I
had said no to place, I wouldhave been going against my own
principles, Because this was thevery best opportunity in the
(28:08):
country for my agents and Icould not take advantage of it.
Maria Quattrone (28:14):
Good stuff, really good stuff.
What's on the horizon for you?
Robin Martin (28:24):
Well, you know world domination, you know just
really the regular.
We're just growing, and I meanthat in every sense of the word.
We're growing as humans.
There's a number of us doingthe 75 hard challenge right now.
We're growing that we're justbecoming better people together,
(28:46):
because that's really realestate is just a linear
progression that goes accordingto your growth as a human right.
So we're growing together.
Our businesses are growing,we're expanding and adding new
people and I don't think that Idon't really believe in a lot of
(29:07):
limitations.
So we're just looking to becomebetter agents, better humans,
and share that with more agents.
As we continue to grow and aslong as we keep to those
principles, I can't wait to seewhat the future brings.
Maria Quattrone (29:26):
I love that, I love that and it's you know.
I would say you want X, y, zand I said well, who do you need
to become?
Who do you need to become?
Who do you need to become?
And the number one thing dailyyou can do is your own personal
(29:49):
development.
Become radically self-aware andaccountable.
And I ask people this question.
So I'm sitting at a stoplight,I'm in my car, I'm waiting for
(30:11):
the light to turn green, the carcomes up behind me and hits me.
Whose fault is it?
Robin Martin (30:29):
No, nobody's fault , everybody's fault.
Maria Quattrone (30:35):
Curious, tell me.
Well, it's my fault for beingthere.
So here's I'm standing there,you and I are talking.
We're having a conversation.
We're in-depth conversation.
We're standing about two feetapart from each other.
(30:57):
I'm holding my cup of blackcoffee.
I have weight on today.
Somebody comes over and asthey're coming over to say hello
and give you a hug, they trip,bang into me and the coffee
(31:21):
spills all over me.
Whose fault is it?
Robin Martin (31:29):
I'm curious, I'm fascinated.
Tell me more.
Maria Quattrone (31:33):
It's my fault.
I'm standing there, I'm holdinga cup of coffee.
I choose to hold that cup ofcoffee.
I choose to wear white Coffee'sall over me.
My white clothes become steamedcoffee.
(32:04):
That's radical accountabilityand awareness.
Yeah, that's great.
It's something that I teach.
In fact, it's part of myplatform, beolution.
I'm going to send the finalstages of finalizing the book Be
the Solution.
It's.
I'll tell you what the coversays.
There we go.
(32:29):
I was working on this yesterdaybetween 10 things.
What if the answer you'researching for is you.
Be the solution, a guide toliving and leading with purpose?
The answer you're searching foris you, because you know and
(32:52):
this is I'm included in thisokay.
So I always say to people areyou where you want to?
be in your life right now andthey tell me yes or no, but
let's say they say no, I say,well, there's only one person to
(33:15):
blame for that.
Pick up the mirror and lookinto it.
It doesn't matter what happenedto you as a kid, what happened
to you with your husband, yourwife, your kid, it doesn't
matter.
You know, I wrote a postwrapping the other day and I
made like a face in it, likekind of like you know not, it
(33:35):
wasn't I wasn't smiling, Iwasn't angry either, I was just
like kind of in between,whatever that is.
Anyway, I wrote I said peopleneed to get real.
I said you're not where you are.
I said people need to get real.
I said you're not where you are.
I said you know, for example,I'm not in Italy right now for
(33:59):
90 days and that's because ofthe decisions I made or didn't
make Is why I'm not there.
The decisions I decided to makeor not make.
I could have been there.
I chose to be in real estate.
(34:19):
Yeah, I chose these things.
I chose, I chose, I chose, wechoose this radical
self-awareness like that I likethat.
Robin Martin (34:35):
Well it's.
It makes it impossible for youto be a victim right, that's
right.
Maria Quattrone (34:39):
That's all what it's about.
And when things do happen, likethings that aren't great, you
sit back and you go.
That didn't to me.
It happened for me because ittaught me something, and that's
a hard pill to swallow.
Yeah, you know, real estate'sjust a vehicle, not really about
(35:03):
real estate, not life.
Thank you for being thesolution.
You're doing a great job.
Robin Martin (35:12):
Thanks for having me.
Maria Quattrone (35:15):
My pleasure.
Congratulations on all yoursuccess and your team.
They got a great leader in you.
They really do.
You're such a caring and openand warm individual, so God
bless and keep on being thesolution, thank you, thank you.
Robin Martin (35:33):
Thanks for having me again, my pleasure.
This will be the Solution Podcast and I'm
your host, maria Quattrone, andtoday I welcome Robin Martin
from Premier Home Team.
He runs his business out ofKeller Williams and he is a
place partner and I'm excitedbecause Robin and I met a few
years ago.
(00:21):
We hadn't had an opportunitysince then actually to go deep
into what's going on.
But, robin, so welcome to theshow as a first-time guest and
if you know anything about me,you know that I come.
I have a quote for you,especially for you today.
Love it, especially for youtoday.
(00:42):
Love it Energy and persistenceconquer all things.
Benjamin Franklin.
Robin Martin (00:57):
I like it yeah.
Maria Quattrone (00:57):
Energy and persistence conquer all things.
I picked up for you thismorning, based on the text that
I sent you and what you sent meback, and I thought I think this
(01:20):
is a good quote from RobinThrough sheer persistence and
will of making something happen.
So, Robin, I know, you know,you are doing amazing things out
there, mainly Delaware Countyservice, in Philadelphia County
with your team.
We have 13, 15 agents, Yep, yepand we met a few years ago and
(01:45):
you were still, you were workingon figuring it all out.
Robin Martin (01:51):
Just bumping my head a bunch.
Just bumping my head a bunch.
Yeah, for sure.
Maria Quattrone (01:57):
And now you are a joint place, so you're a
partner with them and you'rerocking and rolling.
But I want to go back to highlevel and have people and and
(02:26):
you have systems and processesand a lot of transactions.
It takes a lot to get there andso usually what I found in
talking to I've interviewed over350 people something with
persistence, it's somethingthat's embedded in you 350
(02:47):
people.
Something with persistence,it's something that's embedded
in you and came from somewherelong ago.
Robin Martin (03:00):
What would you say that was for you?
It's, it's probably, um, my, myathletic background, um, I ran,
I ran track, uh, as a, as a kid,I ran track in college, um, and
it's a grind, um, and but ifyou work really, really hard.
(03:27):
I actually coached track andfield for almost a decade, um,
before I, before I started realestate, Um, and it's, and it's
kind of fascinating becausesometimes the most talented
people they're they're not very,they're not as successful and
the ones that just work hard dayin and day out as successful
and the ones that just work hardday in and day out, um, they
(03:49):
can, they can produce reallyhigh levels of success.
So I just kind of learnedthrough my athletic and coaching
career that you um, that it's ahow to set a goal that's that's
years away, how to work at itdiligently every day and how to
kind of push through those, thefeelings right, the I don't want
(04:11):
to do it today's, and the oh,this hurts today and it's just a
little bit of pain.
And I really believe that ifyou keep pushing through that,
you're going to get there.
And I've just seen it happen inmy life and I've just seen it
happen as a coach enough timesthat I can't deny that it's true
(04:31):
.
So when real estate started itwas really that same kind of
mentality and that's kind ofwhat we did from the beginning.
Maria Quattrone (04:43):
It's a discipline.
There's no, you know, yourfeelings are your feelings.
A lot of times it's just madeup stuff that you make up anyway
.
But it's a discipline to dowhatever is required on the
daily basis, day in, day out,without you know, without
(05:04):
minimal complaints, because themore energy you bring to it, the
greater possibility of beingsuccessful with it if you leave
it aside.
So in real estate, becausethat's what we do.
But in real estate, many peopledecide that they don't want to
(05:26):
do the work, and I always thinkabout things like I could be
digging a ditch, I could be sounfortunate and live in a third
world country with no water andno infrastructure.
I could be so unfortunate andbe in a war zone, and so
(05:51):
sometimes, you know, I bring itto that to the team, I dumb it
down to, you know, really noteven having basic needs, yet we
can't make 20 more phone calls,hmm.
Robin Martin (06:09):
Yeah.
Maria Quattrone (06:10):
It's really just choosing.
Robin Martin (06:11):
Sorry, go ahead.
Maria Quattrone (06:12):
No, no, no.
We're sitting in like a nicecomfy, warm or cool home,
depending on the weather, oroffice with all the things that
we need.
And it's a decision.
I mean you made a decision.
(06:35):
So you made a decision when yougot into this business because
we met and I remember you werelike adamant.
You were adamant about figuringthis out and doing it and it
took how much time to do that soI've been an agent.
Robin Martin (06:59):
Um, in july it was uh, six years.
So so been an agent six years.
Started this team.
It'll be five years in October.
So it took five years, fivegood years.
My first six months in thebusiness.
I had no idea what I was doing,so I don't even count that, but
yeah, it took a good five years.
Maria Quattrone (07:21):
You've had tremendous success for somebody
in the business for such a shorttime.
What do you attribute it to?
Robin Martin (07:33):
Well, I would say that real estate and thank God
for this reality, but realestate is something can brute
force your way to success, andwhen I first started, I just
didn't want to wait my turn.
It seemed like everybody whowas successful.
(07:53):
They've been doing it for 20years, they built this book of
business and I just didn't havethat kind of time.
I got into this business lateand so I had to speed it up and
I started with expireds.
It was like a miracle for me,because you watch people be
(08:17):
successful when you're a brandnew agent.
You watch people be successful,you watch people be
unsuccessful and you can't tellthe difference between them.
So it seems like luck, it seemslike magic.
Like Maria Quattrone, she justgot lucky right.
That's what a new agent wouldtell themselves if they saw you.
Maria Quattrone (08:36):
They don't know how much work, right.
Robin Martin (08:38):
They just see you winning.
And so I didn't really get itand it seemed like magic and I
just was hoping that I would beone of the touched ones, you
know.
And so I started callingexpireds and I was terrible at
it, but I tracked my numbersearly on and so it was at the
(08:59):
beginning I was 125 contacts toan appointment.
That was 5% pickup rate, 6%pickup rate.
I was calling some, you know,calling some older lists.
So 5% to 6% pickup rate and 125contacts to an appointment, and
I closed a little less thanhalf of my appointments, right.
Maria Quattrone (09:20):
So those are terrible numbers by the way,
just terrible.
Robin Martin (09:22):
But it didn't matter because it was repeatable
, right.
So those are terrible numbers,by the way, just terrible, but
it didn't matter because it wasrepeatable, right.
Like it stopped being magic,like instantaneously for me.
And so, even though you knowyou do that math, I don't know
I'd have to like do it here onmy, but let's see 20, we'll call
(09:46):
it 20 times 125 times 2.
So that's 5,000 dials to alisting right.
That's pretty extreme, but itdidn't matter to me because I
could do that If I made 500dials a day and I did that five
(10:08):
days a week.
That's a listing every twoweeks.
That's 26 listings in a year.
That's a living right.
And when that happened, likeeverything switched for me.
And real estate is somethingthat you can, just you can brute
, force your way through it.
(10:28):
You can be terrible at openhouses, just terrible, but if
you host enough of them, if youhost 10 of them a week, you're
gonna get buyers Like this isthat's why what I love about
real estate is that it's fair,like you can work your way to
success even when you don't havethe talent yet, even when you
(10:51):
don't have the resources, thedatabase, the pipeline.
You can just work yourself tosuccess, and that's just not
true everywhere, right?
And that's kind of how westarted.
Just, we didn't know what wewere doing, we were not great at
what we did, but we were goingto brute force our way to
(11:12):
success and that's kind of howthat was the platform at what we
built.
Maria Quattrone (11:19):
Wow, those are some numbers.
You knew the numbers, thoughit's now what are the numbers?
Or you're not calling anymore,so I don't call expireds anymore
.
Robin Martin (11:33):
But when I stopped it was same pickup rate and I
was about 37 conversations to anappointment and I and I closed
about 80% of my appointments, sothat that was that's what it
was when it was the end.
So we many conversations do youhave a day?
So that was probably 30, 35.
(12:10):
So this was so.
That's 925 dials to a listing.
So I started at 5000 and endedup at 925 925 dials to a listing
.
Maria Quattrone (12:29):
Okay, well, it is what it is right Meaning.
What else were you going to do?
Robin Martin (12:40):
That's a really good point right.
Maria Quattrone (12:43):
We have new agents that come join us.
Robin Martin (12:46):
I always, you know , I think, oh, seven houses,
open houses, that's a lot.
You know, we don't, ourstandard is three on our team,
but even three, three seems likea lot.
I'm like what else are youdoing?
Maria Quattrone (13:00):
I mean, if you went to Comcast and punched in
or anywhere else and you work8.30 to 5.30, you'd have to do
work.
So this is the work.
If there's in a team model likeyou and myself, the agent
(13:25):
doesn't really have to doanything else but dial the phone
.
Robin Martin (13:30):
So if you have and cash their checks.
Maria Quattrone (13:35):
If there's no appointments that day, then
there's nothing else to do butmake phone calls, right?
Robin Martin (13:45):
But that day-in, day-out discipline is hard.
I have a lot of understandingof what they go through,
understanding of what they gothrough, and that's the coach in
me that I really enjoy helpingthem work through.
That it is not what we'retaught.
We're not taughtentrepreneurial thinking right,
we're taught.
(14:05):
Nine to five I mean, I rememberI used to work for USA, or it
doesn't even exist anymore.
That's how old I am and I wouldgo to the.
You know, I remember I would goto the bathroom and I'd like to
stay there an extra fiveminutes and I would just, I
would feel I would laugh becauseI like they just paid me $2 for
(14:26):
nothing.
You know.
Like that's like instilled in us, this kind of like shift work
mentality, and that's all mostof the people around us that
they know.
So I don't really I have a lotof understanding for our agents
as they navigate these waters.
Most times you go to a job, youwork twice as hard, you get a
(14:50):
5% raise, so why work twice ashard?
And so all of this, I think, isreally kind of ingrained in our
minds, and so I love workingwith agents to help kind of free
them and to think about theworld in an entrepreneurial way,
so that they too can understandand feel the benefits of being
(15:16):
the master of your own destinyand the hero of your own story.
And I think that's just notnatural, like we're not bred to
feel like ourselves, as the heroof our story, to be victors,
not victims, and and so helpingthem work through that, you know
it's it's it's my life's work,it's the thing that I love.
(15:36):
I love the most about about,about having a team.
Maria Quattrone (15:43):
It's interesting and I it's
interesting it's we're in asales job, so our job is to sell
real estate to as many peopleas we want, which is the beauty
(16:05):
of it.
I think that you know, if youdon't want to be in sales, then
this probably isn't a good spotfor people.
I did a day in the life of arealtor last night webinar for
(16:30):
people that aren't in thebusiness and and you know, after
21 years of this, to still havethe energy and enthusiasm yeah,
and straight away, tell them,like I never went to a
(16:55):
settlement that didn't startwith a conversation, so
conversing.
So what do you think an agentneeds to do, robin, in today's
marketplace?
Robin Martin (17:13):
To be successful.
Maria Quattrone (17:15):
Yes, activity what do you think that looks
like?
It could be a lot of differentthings right.
Robin Martin (17:24):
It's finding what fills your cup, like what you're
good at and what gives youenergy, but I think it's.
It could be.
Could be door knocking, couldbe circle dialing, could be
expires, it could be Fizbo's, itcould be first-time homebuyer
seminars, it could be openhouses, it could be.
(17:45):
Could be you know, working yoursphere super hard.
It could be setting up tablesat 25 festivals across the
greater Philadelphia area overthe summer.
These are all things our agentshave done this year.
It's really farming.
(18:07):
I mean, we could go on and onand on, but pick a lane and go
and do a ton of it like a tonand you're going to be bad at it
when you start Like.
I used to live in Nicaragua.
I arrived there um able to saythe word burrito and agua, right
(18:28):
, and and I learned how to speakSpanish, but I learned it by
being terrible at it.
I have a number of amazing,embarrassing speaking Spanish
stories that I like to sharewith my team because it's okay
to suck.
It's okay to not be good atsomething, but that is the path
(18:49):
that everybody walks to get goodat something.
Maria Quattrone (18:53):
No one arrives good.
Robin Martin (18:55):
Just do it, the sheer volume of that activity,
and you'll get good while you'redoing it.
You don't have to practice andget ready to get ready.
I mean, you should practice,but don't get ready to get ready
.
Just jump in sheer volume ofactivity and that's the activity
.
Activity, activity.
(19:15):
That is the solution.
Some people are going to beinnately more talented at it
when they start, and that's fine.
And then doing it with intent,and then doing a little bit of
self-analysis when you're doneOoh, I said that that didn't
land right.
Maria Quattrone (19:31):
Ooh, I did this and they didn't like it.
Robin Martin (19:33):
Ooh, I didn't pick up on this cue.
Maybe I should try thatsomething different next time
and just consistently get betterand go.
That would be my advice.
Maria Quattrone (19:47):
The value of the compound effect.
Doing this work over and overagain and over time, it
compounds.
Agreed.
Why did you get into realestate?
Agreed why did you?
Robin Martin (20:01):
get into real estate?
Um, well, it's not a.
It's uh, you know, like, whenyou ask, people like that are
married, well, where do you meet?
It's not always a great story,you know, uh.
So, um, I, I was, uh, I was acollege track and field coach
for a long time.
When that that career ended, Ihad a friend who was a realtor.
(20:24):
She sold us our first house andshe thought I'd be good at it.
I thought maybe this might makesense and so I tried it, and
that's the story.
It's not super compelling, andthat's the story.
It's not not super compelling,but that's.
That's how I started.
It was an invitation of afriend.
(20:45):
Her name's Carrie Carr.
You might know her, and Carriewas a good friend of mine.
She was just starting in herreal estate career and she was
having success and she broughtme along.
That's really the whole story.
Maria Quattrone (20:58):
That's great.
You always have to have afriend in real estate.
Yeah, I had a similar story.
My friend thought I would begreat at it and I investigated.
I was in advertising sales for11 years.
I've been making calls for 32years yeah, a long time.
Robin Martin (21:30):
But it compounded.
Maria Quattrone (21:32):
It compounded.
Yes, we teach you can do openhouses, you can do door knocking
, whatever, but we just teachcall the database.
57,000 people in there, tons ofpeople to call.
Call the database, make as manycalls as possible, have at
(21:56):
least 20 conversations a day.
Everything else takes care ofitself 20 conversations a day.
Robin Martin (22:04):
You are going to sell houses.
Maria Quattrone (22:06):
I don't care if you're having where you're
having.
Robin Martin (22:09):
That's really.
Yeah, I agree with you.
Maria Quattrone (22:11):
If you have 20 conversations a day, you'll make
a good living, a decent living,in real estate At least yeah,
At least a decent living.
And this is if you don't evenhave all the skills yet.
I have 19-year-olds right fromhigh school selling real estate,
(22:32):
doing deals.
Just don't call in the database, yeah.
So you know, people don't.
You're not too young, you'renot too old, you can do this.
Nobody's going to say you can'tsell real estate because you're
19 or 80.
There's a lady out there in thesouth.
(22:55):
She's 100, she's selling realestate still.
Yep, the sky's the limit.
100, she's selling real estatestill.
Robin Martin (23:00):
Yeah, the sky's the limit and that's what makes
this industry so amazing.
Maria Quattrone (23:10):
Right is that that's there's just not a lot of
places anymore where that'strue, but that's definitely true
here and you could do as muchas you want or as little as you
want.
Where else can you go and havethis kind of opportunity?
Mortgage, yes.
(23:35):
Insurance, financial services.
You need more experience forfinancial services, though, and
you need to get your Series 7.
A lot easier to get a realestate license.
Even easier to get your MLOlicense and insurance license
(23:58):
Yep license, an insurancelicense?
Yep.
But those careers are alsoviable, for the sky's the limit,
mm-hmm.
You know, my friends in themortgage industry make in half a
million, a million dollars ayear from sheer work ethic.
(24:19):
Yeah, and if you do enough ofit, you figure out how to do it
right.
Yeah, exactly, but it's aboutbe the solution.
Robin, you're the solution.
You recently not that a littlewhile ago you partnered with
Place.
Robin Martin (24:40):
We did.
Maria Quattrone (24:42):
How has that impacted your business?
Robin Martin (24:48):
In a number of ways, but I think the most
important is it's just who yousurround yourself with.
You surround yourself with, andif you're the, you know, if
you're the smartest person inthe room you need to find a new
(25:09):
room and Place.
Was that opportunity for us andour agents to be able to be in
a room where we're consistentlylooking up and learning from
people who are doing it at ahigher level than us?
right there, we kind of we setthese limitations for ourselves
and then we go to, like.
We went to an event a couplemonths ago and it was a, you
(25:34):
know, a sales event.
You had to do these.
If you did this high number ofactivities, you called it this
event and there were- 5,000files right 5,000 files, 50 open
houses.
Yep, yep, you got it 5,000 files, 50 open houses, 50 ads to your
database, five listings orsomething.
(25:56):
Yeah, five listings going liveand 10 buy side or listing side
agency contracts.
So you had to do three of themto qualify for the event.
And one of the people that gotup and spoke was a single mom
(26:17):
with a six-month-old who did allfive, who did 50 open houses in
10 weeks, who did 5,000 dialsin 10 weeks, added 50 people to
her database and had 12 or solisting and buy-side contracts
signed and put five listingslive, listing and buy side
(26:40):
contracts signed, and put fivelistings live.
And it was this moment whereyou're like my excuses are gone,
my life is easier than her life, and if she could do it, I
could do it.
And I think there's this magicto being surrounded by ambitious
, successful people that arecrushing the real estate game.
(27:04):
It just it robs you of yourexcuses, and I think we all need
to be robbed of our excusesevery once in a while, and so
that's a big piece of that.
We're running playbooks, thevery best playbooks that real
estate has to offer, proven byreally, really established,
powerful real estate teams andjust the highest levels of
(27:25):
support and the highest levelsof training and you put all that
together, it's kind of a magicbox.
So at one point in time Idecided that I was going to do
anything I could do to supportmy agents at the highest level.
That was going to be my callingcard.
It was, it was, it was a.
Maria Quattrone (27:43):
This is part of my DNA.
Robin Martin (27:44):
I wanted to support my agents at the highest
level and so when thisopportunity for place came up,
it put me in a spot.
You know it's not cheap, but itput me into a spot where, if I
had said no to place, I wouldhave been going against my own
principles, Because this was thevery best opportunity in the
(28:08):
country for my agents and Icould not take advantage of it.
Maria Quattrone (28:14):
Good stuff, really good stuff.
What's on the horizon for you?
Robin Martin (28:24):
Well, you know world domination, you know just
really the regular.
We're just growing, and I meanthat in every sense of the word.
We're growing as humans.
There's a number of us doingthe 75 hard challenge right now.
We're growing that we're justbecoming better people together,
(28:46):
because that's really realestate is just a linear
progression that goes accordingto your growth as a human right.
So we're growing together.
Our businesses are growing,we're expanding and adding new
people and I don't think that Idon't really believe in a lot of
(29:07):
limitations.
So we're just looking to becomebetter agents, better humans,
and share that with more agents.
As we continue to grow and aslong as we keep to those
principles, I can't wait to seewhat the future brings.
Maria Quattrone (29:26):
I love that, I love that and it's you know.
I would say you want X, y, zand I said well, who do you need
to become?
Who do you need to become?
Who do you need to become?
And the number one thing dailyyou can do is your own personal
(29:49):
development.
Become radically self-aware andaccountable.
And I ask people this question.
So I'm sitting at a stoplight,I'm in my car, I'm waiting for
(30:11):
the light to turn green, the carcomes up behind me and hits me.
Whose fault is it?
Robin Martin (30:29):
No, nobody's fault , everybody's fault.
Maria Quattrone (30:35):
Curious, tell me.
Well, it's my fault for beingthere.
So here's I'm standing there,you and I are talking.
We're having a conversation.
We're in-depth conversation.
We're standing about two feetapart from each other.
(30:57):
I'm holding my cup of blackcoffee.
I have weight on today.
Somebody comes over and asthey're coming over to say hello
and give you a hug, they trip,bang into me and the coffee
(31:21):
spills all over me.
Whose fault is it?
Robin Martin (31:29):
I'm curious, I'm fascinated.
Tell me more.
Maria Quattrone (31:33):
It's my fault.
I'm standing there, I'm holdinga cup of coffee.
I choose to hold that cup ofcoffee.
I choose to wear white Coffee'sall over me.
My white clothes become steamedcoffee.
(32:04):
That's radical accountabilityand awareness.
Yeah, that's great.
It's something that I teach.
In fact, it's part of myplatform, beolution.
I'm going to send the finalstages of finalizing the book Be
the Solution.
It's.
I'll tell you what the coversays.
There we go.
(32:29):
I was working on this yesterdaybetween 10 things.
What if the answer you'researching for is you.
Be the solution, a guide toliving and leading with purpose?
The answer you're searching foris you, because you know and
(32:52):
this is I'm included in thisokay.
So I always say to people areyou where you want to?
be in your life right now andthey tell me yes or no, but
let's say they say no, I say,well, there's only one person to
(33:15):
blame for that.
Pick up the mirror and lookinto it.
It doesn't matter what happenedto you as a kid, what happened
to you with your husband, yourwife, your kid, it doesn't
matter.
You know, I wrote a postwrapping the other day and I
made like a face in it, likekind of like you know not, it
(33:35):
wasn't I wasn't smiling, Iwasn't angry either, I was just
like kind of in between,whatever that is.
Anyway, I wrote I said peopleneed to get real.
I said you're not where you are.
I said people need to get real.
I said you're not where you are.
I said you know, for example,I'm not in Italy right now for
(33:59):
90 days and that's because ofthe decisions I made or didn't
make Is why I'm not there.
The decisions I decided to makeor not make.
I could have been there.
I chose to be in real estate.
(34:19):
Yeah, I chose these things.
I chose, I chose, I chose, wechoose this radical
self-awareness like that I likethat.
Robin Martin (34:35):
Well it's.
It makes it impossible for youto be a victim right, that's
right.
Maria Quattrone (34:39):
That's all what it's about.
And when things do happen, likethings that aren't great, you
sit back and you go.
That didn't to me.
It happened for me because ittaught me something, and that's
a hard pill to swallow.
Yeah, you know, real estate'sjust a vehicle, not really about
(35:03):
real estate, not life.
Thank you for being thesolution.
You're doing a great job.
Robin Martin (35:12):
Thanks for having me.
Maria Quattrone (35:15):
My pleasure.
Congratulations on all yoursuccess and your team.
They got a great leader in you.
They really do.
You're such a caring and openand warm individual, so God
bless and keep on being thesolution, thank you, thank you.
Robin Martin (35:33):
Thanks for having me again, my pleasure.
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