I started working as a real estate agent back in 1998. When I first started I was assigned to the rental division at my office where I had to work with about 20 more agents, all of them seemed very excited about the opportunity. But for me rentals was not my thing, I wanted more than just a quick small check, I wanted the big checks and the big reward, so I quickly decided to move to a different department at the company, the commercial department. Selling apartment buildings and mixed-use properties in Manhattan was a very attractive target. So at the age of 24 I started. 

My training was similar to this: "Take the owners book (a thick book with over 3,000 pages back then was the only way to find the information about the owner of a property in Manhattan) and call them to ask if they want to sell their building or buy more buildings". That was it! No 3 months roleplay sessions, no explanations, no if A then B then C. Just grab the phone and begin calling. For most people I bet that wouldn't be sufficient but for me it was alright. So I started. It might be a good time to mention my English wasn't so good at that time, I had very thick accent and a very limited vocabulary. So I decided to sit down next to our #1 top producer at the department and listen to him making his calls. I approached him and said: Hey do you mind if I sit in to listen to your phone calls and learn something? Smiling, he said: I am happy to share some wisdom. For the next two weeks I showed up early, at 7am, since that was when he started working every day, I wanted to mimic his behavior. Sitting next to him I made a lot of notes and learned some nuggets, but overall I realized it is fairly simple to make these calls. It wasn't so much about what he said, but it was how he spoke, his posture and his approach to the market and his attitude that made an impression on me and on most property owners. This guy was a listing machine! He would list a property every week, and each one had a minimum of 7 figures listing price. You can imagine how exciting it is to watch him play the game. 

In the next 3 months I showed up daily at 7am preparing myself for a busy phone calls day. This guy was on-the-phone-all-day-long. That was the secret. It wasn't anything he said, but the fact he was saying it over-and-over-and-over again. Day in, day out. It's a numbers game. I am wondering if that makes you happy right now, as much as it made me happy, realizing this is a numbers game. Are you smiling? 

So I had my script written down on 1/10th of a page, just a few sentences. What was much more important is knowing who to call. Preparing your phone calls, knowing who to call before you begin calling is a key component to this business. You can't just look up who to call at 9am in the morning. If you are doing that, you're already doomed. You must show up early and by 7:30am - 7:45am you should already know who you're calling and start banging the phone. Remember, it is a numbers game. If you play low, you die. So don't play low. Play high numbers, make a lot of phone calls, talk to a lot of people and you will make it for sure 100% no doubt (unless of course you quit before you allow yourself to play the high numbers, which is what 90% of all Realtors do).

I was making over 200 dials a day, which gave me my 50 plus contacts every single day and within 3 months I got my first exclusive listing. A mixed-use property on Third Ave and 35th street in Manhattan. It had a store with 4 apartments above. The owner was an older Chinese lady who spoke very broken English (just like I was) and we clicked. Find something in common and build on it to build rapport and trust. I went to see her that day and took the listing with no objections. It was a very easy listing appointment (btw I wasn't trained on how to take a listing, I just jumped in the water, winging it, which is NOT what I suggest you to do, but I had to do it since I didn't have a coach or a trainer to guide me back then, I just had an extremely busy boss/broker who said: "Just go and ask her to sign the listing, you will do just fine"). 

That listing sold in less than 24 hours by my broker. He made 1 phone call and that was it, the building was sold and never to "hit the market". Full price, closing in 60 days all cash. Which turned me on like crazy! I couldn't believe what just happened. But I understood making phone calls had something to do with it. If I hadn't taken the time to make these calls, day in, day out, if I did not prepare myself at 7am to be ready to make calls by 7:30/7:45am every day, I would of never gotten the owner to pick up and agree to meet me that very same day. So I continued to make calls and that was what set me up for a fairly successful real estate sales career. 

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