Business Innovators Radio - Jesse Lennon – On How As A Real Estate Agent He Sold 100 Homes Per Year Working Only 3 Days A Week

Episode Date: May 22, 2024

In this episode, Nina Hershberger talks with real estate investment expert Jesse Lennon about the systems and strategies he used to sell 100 homes per year, while only working 2-3 days per week.Jesse Lennon has over 40 years of experience in the real estate industry, starting out as a mortgage broker at just 18 years old. He quickly transitioned into real estate investing, buying, fixing, and selling properties while still in college.By 1989, Jesse and his father had started their own brokerage, Pioneer Realty, where Jesse honed his skills as a highly productive real estate agent.Over the course of 6 years, Jesse was able to systematize his business to the point where he was selling 100 homes per year, working just 2-3 days per week, with the help of only one full-time assistant. He accomplished this through meticulous systems and scripts that allowed him to be extremely efficient in his lead generation, listing appointments, and transaction management.Key to his success was his ability to build trust and rapport quickly with potential clients, address their objections proactively, and provide an exceptional level of service and communication throughout the entire process.This episode is a must-listen for any real estate agent looking to increase their productivity and efficiency dramatically.Jesse shares his insights on the mindset shifts required, the importance of systems and scripts, and how to leverage assistants to free up your time for the highest dollar-productive activities. Whether you’re a new agent or a seasoned pro, the strategies Jesse discusses can help you take your real estate business to the next level.To learn more about Jesse Lennon and his real estate expertise, be sure to check out his book “What I Wish They Had Told Me When I Got My Real Estate License.”Jesse has generously offered to send a free, autographed copy of the book to anyone who emails him at [e-mail] and covers the $3.75 shipping cost. Don’t miss this opportunity to get an insider’s look at the systems and strategies that allowed Jesse to achieve remarkable success in real estate.MegaBucks Radio with Nina Hershbergerhttps://businessinnovatorsradio.com/megabucks-radio-with-nina-hershbergerSource: https://businessinnovatorsradio.com/jesse-lennon-on-how-as-a-real-estate-agent-he-sold-100-homes-per-year-working-only-3-days-a-week

Welcome to Megabox Radio. Conversations with successful entrepreneurs, sharing their tips and strategies for success. Real-world ideas that can put Megabox in your bank account. Here's your host, Nina Hirshberger. Well, welcome to today's show. You know, I have lots of fun with guests on here, but today's guests, hang on to your bridges or whatever they would say, because this man, It's going to take us on a journey and a ride unlike any that I've probably had on the show up to this point.

So my guest today is Jesse Lennon. Jesse, I'm not even sure where you live. I'm just outside of the Richmond, Virginia area, a little town called Mechanicsville. So it would be a suburb, but, yeah. Okay, all right. So you're not to, and I'm in Indiana, so you're a little bit, you're over on the East Coast and stuff. Well, Jesse started back in, it looks like in about 1981 is where we pick up the story of his real estate. I think you started it in the mortgage industry, but go back before that.

So were you always an entrepreneur or tell me a little bit before that? for Jesse? You know, it's a great question. Nobody's actually ever asked. I guess I was probably 10 or 11, and I had read a book about a, it was about a young boy that did like some kind of detective work of some form or fashion. And so the next thing, you know,

I'd grabbed a piece of plywood out of the garage. and I found a can of paint, and so I wrote, you know, detective agency on it and set it right there at the end of the street or at the end of the road at the street. Never got a phone call. But, of course, that, you know, I also sold grit newspapers door to door and things of the sort. You know, when you're younger, there's only so many things you can try and actually sell. But I think what it is truly, and it's a great question on it, is that, I grew up, always hearing from my father that if you really want to be successful, you have to work for yourself.

Well, the problem was he never really defined what success is because it's different for my dad. It's different for you. It's different from everyone that's listening to your show. Really, it's, you know, how do you define success for yourself? But not realizing that when I was much younger, it's, well, I want to be successful. so I got to figure out a way to work for myself. So I guess I could make up something that sounded better, but that's the truth of it.

And I've never really had anybody ask. So that's the truth. True story. How about that? That's great. You know, I always tell the story that when I was growing up, I don't remember this, but my parents told me I wanted to go door to door selling rusty bobby pins. It was probably right there with that detective.

You were probably the one down the street from me. You're right. Right. That's funny. That's great. Rusty bobby pins. Perfect. Yeah. Yeah, they didn't let me, but I wanted to. So let's fast forward. You got into the mortgage business in 1981. How did that happen? Well, my father got his real estate license in the mid-70s. My father's actually a pharmacist by training. But pharmacy then, much like it is today, you work in many cases quite a few days, very, very long days in a row, but then you have quite a few days off. And so my dad, being the product of the depression, you know, you always have two and three sources of

income. You've got two or three jobs. So he got his real estate license so that he could maybe sell a home here, sell a home there on his days off. And somehow, and I'm guessing it was from an Opportunities style magazine that he would go grab off the newsstand or the magazine stand and, you know, peruse it while he's at the pharmacy and doesn't have anybody to help. He came across an ad for a mortgage broker, meaning how to be a mortgage broker by another mortgage broker. And I kept hearing him talk about, you know, gosh, this is, this sounds pretty, You can probably make a lot of money at this.

And then, Dagnett, there was a full-page ad in that magazine, I guess an issue or two later. There was a young fellow who was, gosh, if my memory serves me, I think he was 17. Might have been 19, but I think he was 17. And he had apparently gotten this gentleman's course, became a mortgage broker, and became quite successful. And so my dad kept trying to push me to become a mortgage broker. And we bought the how-to force. And so that's how I started National Financial Network. I was 16 at the time, and I know I closed one loan.

I might have closed two, but I know I closed one. But you know, the thing about it is it wasn't because of a lot. lack of closing the many loans that I would say that was actually very successful for me. It was really more because of what I learned about the mortgage process and how it works and the context that I made within the mortgage industry. That really helped me a lot because later, you know, I became a real estate agent and an investor and you have to understand how to finance the real estate or you can't buy it and or sell it, whether it's for yourself or someone else, without being able to

get that thing financed. Unless you're independently wealthy and can just write a lot of checks, right? So, Jesse, I know we're going to talk about systems, but do you think that is one issue that real estate agents often don't understand that funding process? I would say that the majority of them have a very rudimentary understanding, especially. especially because, you know, for, I guess since probably 2010, there have been very, very limited flavors for financing. So most real estate agents only know the basics.

So I think you're right. They don't know a lot about a lot of the other techniques. You're starting to see a few of them come back in DeVogue that they used to be commonplace when I was an active and aggressive agent, but, you know, they just disappeared and got out of favor. So I think you're probably right. And most people don't have a good, good handle on the financing. They just, well, here, talk to this person, they're a loan officer. And if you can't get financing, oh, well, I have to move on is the point. Right. Yeah. Yeah. So you don't have a mortgage brokerage company right now, so you transitioned into actually selling real estate.

And actually investing, actually, I think, in the early days as well. Yeah. In 1983, when I was 18, my dad and I bought a foreclosed property, it was from Sovereign Bank, which after a couple of mergers is now known as Bank of America. So we bought it, we fixed it up and sold it, and I got by the real estate bug. It was a huge amount of money. Well, I mean, I say huge. I was 18 at the time, so it was a lot of money for an 18-year-old guy, right? And so I switched my major in college from finance because the naivete of thinking finance

because finance and mortgages. I'm financing real estate. Same thing. No, not the same thing at all. It's actually different. But I did switch the major to real estate and how I paid for college other than two semesters was by buying them property. We'd fix them, sell them, fix them, and keep them as rentals.

So I have an undergraduate and a master's in real estate. And then in 1989, which was about three months after. graduating with my master's, is when my father and I started Pioneer Realty. And that's when I learned that everything that they teach you in college is wonderful. It helps you pass the test, but it has very little real-world application. You have to be out there actually doing it, not just reading about it in a book or writing a paper. So I don't know if that kind of helps.

Yeah, no, that makes a lot of sense because, you know, I have a marketing degree, and I say, I didn't learn anything about marketing until you're actually doing it. You're right. When your money is on the line, that's when you begin to learn. Yes, ma'am. You're right. You're right. So did you get a real estate license during those early days when you were buying in?

You didn't really flip. You're not a flipper. You're an investor, so you keep properties. But you did, and that's what we're going to primarily talk. about on this on the show is for the real estate agents how you manage to sell a hundred houses every year for I don't know how long yeah it was six years in a row and you're right at the beginning I was we would buy them we'd fix them and sell them that would give me some cash to you know be able to take care of

living expenses for a year year and a half But, I mean, hey, I was in college and didn't require a lot of living expenses. They were pretty low. And then I would also take and buy a few properties as rentals here and there. But I did not get my real estate license until graduating from college. I didn't need it to do what I was doing. My father had his license, so if we wanted to sell something, we could just use my dad's license. So when I got my license, not really working for anyone else and having the experience of maybe a training that might be available at this franchisee or that franchisee, you know, bigger firms like maybe Keller Williams, some of the larger firms like Long and Foster, Weikert, etc., I had to learn a lot of this stuff myself.

and so I was working a whole lot crazy. I mean, it was kind of a 360, you know, 24-hour day, 365 a year. I've even shown homes on Thanksgiving Day. So it was just kind of a, I guess you'd say it was an unsustainable for a lengthy period of time practice. But I had gotten to the point. by my second year, and I maintained that, where I was around 20 to 24 sales a year. Not knowing at the time, the average real estate agent then was only selling around four homes a year, I figured, well, that's pretty good, you know, when I looked back at it.

But I really didn't have any systems. I didn't have any, you know, the word I'm looking for in Fortin just went right out of my head. I really didn't know what I was doing. I found one or two things that seemed to work, so I was kind of a grinder and would just keep doing that, and more often than not, it would work, but it just wasn't sustainable. And so I hired a multitude of different companies,

read a lot of books, attended quite a good number of seminars, and I think I mentioned hired some good coaches, and started to learn skills. This whole idea of putting a system in place, had no real idea of how to put a system in place or even what type of systems should be put in place for real estate sales, either individual and or company at that time.

And so once I did that, that was about, I was in the industry for about 10, 10 years at that point, my sales started to increase. The amount of time I was working started to decrease. And so 2007 was the end of my sixth year in a row of being at or over 100 transactions a year without a big team. It was me and one assistant. And I was working about two and a half days a week. I can say that now. I wouldn't have said that earlier because, gosh, I didn't want my competition to know I didn't

really work a whole lot to sell 100 homes a year. Now, getting to that point, at the beginning, I did have kind of a team. I had one other individual that worked with me as a buyer agent, and I wound up getting two full-time and a part-time staff person. to help. And in the last two years, it was just one assistant. She was full-time and me. And what I was doing was truly working two and a half days a week. And I was still selling 100 homes a year. So, Jesse, if I understand it, and when you started in, you grew to about 24 a year. And then when you began to study and get coached and go to events and learn and learn,

you did build a team while it was still small. There was some like there was about three full time, maybe one part time. But you continue to refine your systems in such a manner that ultimately you were able to do it with just one assistant. Yeah. It's funny. I would set goals. I mean, you know, one year you're at 40. And that's when I hired my first assistant and made a lot of mistakes.

Did not have a system for hiring. And so made a lot of mistakes early. And, you know, it was one of my coaches had mentioned something once, and I'd shared this with you previously, that I think most real estate agents never really think about. because they've probably never heard it mentioned before. And this is true for any and all businesses, every business, even the government, there's really only two activities that you can be involved in.

You can be involved in the income generating activities or the income servicing activities. And so the question you need to ask yourself is, one, which pays more? and two, which do you enjoy? What do you want to do? So obviously the income generating is what's going to make more money because last time I checked in a 100% commission industry,

there are no upper limits. So you can sell as much as you want. They're not going to say you've sold 100 homes, you can't sell anymore. And I could hire people to help, help me with all the other things, like after the home goes under contract, kind of tracking that through the system, scheduling inspections, making sure the loan officer, if they need anything, you know, they're in touch with somebody or they have a contact point that's going

to help them shepherd that document, getting it back and getting the loan approved and getting it to closing. Same with working with buyers, making sure that they are kept abreast of what's on the market and things of the sort. So I can spend my time doing the highest dollar productive activity that I possibly can. And, you know, the funny thing is that every year, for those five or six years, I would set a higher goal for the next year. Because I figured, well, I already did 100. I want to do 110.

or maybe it was 107, could have been 115, maybe 125 because I figured, well, gosh, I already did 100. I want to do more. But after the third year, I had set that higher goal and I just as quickly crossed it out. And I said, 100.

My coach at the time said, why do you want to do the same amount? I said, well, I want to do the same amount, but I want to do it less time. They said, well, that's interesting. sell me more. I said, well, I want to have, I don't want to work as many hours. I want to work less, but I want to sell the same number of homes.

And they said, well, you got any ideas on that? I said, yeah, I do. He said, well, what's your idea? I said, well, I want to be able to list the home for sale without ever seeing the home or ever seeing the seller. I want to take the listing at a price that I know will sell, one that I've set in advance, if you will, but they, of course, the seller has to obviously agree to it. I want to handle the entire transaction under contract, you know, on the market, under contract closed without ever having to see them, them having to see me, and I want them to love me for

it. He said, how are you going to do it? I said, I don't know. No. That was my idea. I didn't know how I was going to do it. But I was able to create that system, that framework. And that's how I was able to ultimately get to the last two years there of selling 100 homes a year and working about two and a half days a week. Okay. So you've got to tell us some of the secrets, you know, in there. I know we don't have hours and hours, but, oh, Jesse, you've got to tell us a little bit. What did you do? It's a great question. I think it all goes back to those systems that I was talking about. You know, you have to have a system for, and maybe it could be referred to as a customer journey. How does that very first interaction go? You have to be able to script it out.

You have to choreograph it. You have to think about it. I mean, whatever term that you want to use that resonates with you, you really have to figure how does that first interaction that you have with that individual? And for me, it was on the phone. How does that whole thing work? So I had a script that I had been given by one of my mentors, one of my coaches. I had tweaked it a little bit here and there.

And I got very, very good with my communication skills. So in a very, very short period of time, the people I'm speaking with, and when I say very short period of time, and I mean, it was not an exaggeration, but within about a 35, maybe 45 second period of time, my goal was to build a level of trust, confidence, and comfort in me on the phone. They've never seen me. They have never heard of me. They have never, you know, seen a lot of advertising or marketing about me,

but to feel like that on the phone with them or have them feel, I should say, on the phone with me, having those thoughts in their mind. And I knew I was on to something because in real estate sales, and this will make sense to agents that are listening, there were things in a normal market called expired listings. Somebody had their home on the market. It didn't sell for whatever reason. And so it shows up as an expired listing.

And a lot of real estate agents, I was one of them, would be trying to reach out to that seller and ask if we could be interviewed. Well, I would ask them to be interviewed by them for the job. It's a little different mindset because I know that they have choices. but I think of this as a job interview. And I am habitually unemployed, and my goal is to get hired by that individual,

do what my job entails, which is help them sell the home and or buy another one, and then I'm unemployed again. I've got to go do it again. But my thinking was if I'm always out there searching for the next person to hire me, the job, then I'd be okay. So getting really good and clear with my communication skills is very, very hopeful, and I think that was critical, number one, to the success. The second is there was a, I guess what you and I would refer to as a shock and all package that I would have delivered in advance of our meeting. Now, sometimes that was truly I'm driving over because it's out and about in the area where I'm going to be in the next day or two, and I would leave it at their home.

This did not have physical items in it other than it had paper. The only physical item I'd put in there would be maybe a pen. You know, this I'd call Jesse or the Jesse team, something of that sort. But then later, I got down to, I would just prepare it and send it all by case. email. Now, the truth that matter is my assistant sent it,

but it, and I would tell them that it came out, it was going to be, she would be sending it over, and then we, I would call them

and we'd go over it. And it was the ability to handle their objections, address them in advance, in that conversation, in that scripted

or choreographed or however you want to think of it. Because after a period a time, you know what the objections are going to be. Out of the hundreds of different objections that anybody could possibly give anybody in this industry of real estate sales, for me as a real estate agent, I'm only getting a very limited number.

That's just true for anybody and everybody. Some agents may hear vastly different sets of objections, so I needed to make sure I could address them up front. So therefore, they never came up. They never had the ability to raise that objection. Also, by getting really good in my communication skills, when I'm speaking with them, in the odd chance that they may come up with an objection that I don't typically get because I knew my script.

I followed a script. And it just simply became so ingrained as part of me. it didn't sound funny. It was more like I thought of myself as an actor, right? I had internalized it, so I didn't need to have the piece of paper in front of me. So the reality of it was, they really didn't have much of a chance of saying no.

Although, in all fairness, there were a few occasions where I chose not to take the listing that was typically because those people in the process of the conversation following the script, if you want to think of it that way, they impressed me as being a real pain in the butt. And there are people out there that first interaction is like the first impressions. They can sometimes be vastly wrong. Maybe that person is not like that. and that's more often than not what happened.

But I had the mindset that they had an issue, they had a problem, they had some reason that they wanted to sell that piece of real estate, and I was the best person for the job to help them get that done. Are there other real estate agents that could help them with the sale? Of course. But my mindset was I was the best for them. I was the best choice, the best option. And if I didn't do everything I could to convince them of that on the phone while we're having that conversation, then I have let them down.

So I don't know. Did that help answer some of that question? Yeah. So were most of your leads coming from the expired, or was that just an example? That was just an example. A lot of it came from for sale by owners, well, of course, from expired. I called more expires,

but when I'm looking at my numbers at the end of every year, it's always the for sale by owners, which I really didn't call a whole lot of them. I also got a lot of repeat and referral business, and I got a fair amount from, I would have a sign in a particular neighborhood, The best advertising is for that sign to say for sale and then within a very short period of time, say contract pending or under contract or however, you know, they've got some pretty cute ones out there these days. You just missed it, you know, something like that. But to put that up there as quickly as possible, because what that meant was that guy knows what he's doing because he got it under contract very quick. So that's a lot of what I had done. to do that. Now, I also worked with a few investors. And the reason for that is I have quite an affinity

with investors because I invest. I'm an investor. So when I'm talking with an investor, I have a little more in common with them. I'm not just the real estate agent looking to, you know, list your sell that rental or help them buy something that they can fix up and sell or anything of that sort. So I did have a few of those that I had cultivated over the years. Not a ton because a lot of investors will waste a ton of your time and they'll never buy anything. Those are the people that just love to talk about. They just don't like to actually, or maybe I shouldn't say they don't but they don't like to. They like to talk about, but they don't do.

And for somebody that's, you know, their income is dependent on a commission from a sale, you kind of want the person that's going to do. So, Jesse, I know then you had a script, and I've heard you say it, and I want you to say it to those who are listening. So when, I don't know if you had already signed, they had already signed a listing contract or whatever,

but you did have a script of how, how the interaction with you is going to go from that point on. Can you share that script? Oh, you mean like from the time that we took the listing? Because the listing appointment script can be short, it can be lengthy. You mean like once they've chosen me to list our home for sale? Oh, sure. So, Nana, I really appreciate the opportunity to get your home on the market and get it sold.

Now, so you know, I'm going to be doing just a couple of things real fast, and let's pretend just for a moment, I know, that I'm actually in your home, because most real estate agents still go and meet the people in their home. Okay, so we'll assume that. So what I'm going to do is take just a quick moment here. I'm going to go through and take a couple of pictures just to kind of help get things started, and I'm also going to, you know, measure rooms and things of the sort. Is there anything special, maybe in particular, that you haven't told me about your home, that, you know, already, that would be really good to know.

And so you'll tell me whatever you tell me. I know that's terrific, and I really, really appreciate it. So you know, one of my assistants' jobs, and you might remember seeing her name right here, it's Melinda, she is my listing coordinator. one of the things that she will be doing is every Friday she'll be calling you in the afternoon to let you know what's been going on during the previous week. Because I never want you to have to wonder, gosh, wonder what's going on with the sale of my home? I mean, what is Jesse doing? So you have a list of everything I'm going to be doing to get you. your home sold. You saw that in the

pre-listing package that I had dropped off earlier, correct? And they always say, well, sure, yeah, I saw that. Horific. And you saw Melinda in there too, right? Yeah, great. So what will happen is she'll be giving you an update

as to what's going on. So you'd never have to worry about ever calling us to wonder, right? Now, if you have any questions in the meantime, you're certainly welcome to call. but we're also going to put a lockbox on the home and we'll call you in advance before anybody wants to come out and see it. We'll have the sign in the yard that should be set up in the next couple of days. Do you have the extra key that I had asked for for the lockbox?

And typically people are always going to say, sure, great. So I'll put that lockbox on the door. You can still use the door. It's no problem. It's a little bulky, but you can get your hand around the knob, no problem. So are there any other questions that you might have for me at this time? Typically, the question, the answer is no, not really. I'll say, great.

I really appreciate it. Again, thank you so much. And by the way, Melinda will probably be in touch with you within the next day or so. just to introduce herself and say hello. So I really appreciate your time, Nina, and I'm going to be right out the door. And because let's face it, I'd love to sit here and chat with you longer.

You're a really great person and quite interesting to speak with, but I can't get your home sold for you if I'm sitting here talking to you, right? And after all, you'd probably rather have me out there trying to get your home sold. And they, oh, yeah, absolutely. Well, listen, you have a great day. Thanks again. and I'll talk with you shortly. And then I'm out the door.

Or in that pre-listing package. Or the phone call was over, because ultimately that's where you got to. Well, if it's a phone call, it's going to be a little different script. If it's the phone, then it's, you know, I really appreciate you very much taking the time to speak with me. Now, here's what's going to happen just so you know. Because, as you know, you and I haven't, have not met before. I have an assistant that's going to be stopping by with a lockbox, and they'll come in, they'll take a few measurements, they'll take some photos of the home, and they'll obviously be bringing out a sign to put in the front yard as well. So that's going to be, generally speaking, the same assistant that will be the one in touch with you every Friday.

Her name is Melinda. Now, it could very well be, though, that it may be my buyer agent, and you saw him listed in there Richard Smith. Richard, maybe it will be in touch with you, if not Melinda, within the next 24 hours, to set up a time to come by, see the home, grab the key, etc. But remember, Belinda's going to be in touch with you every Friday to let you know how things are going with the sale of your home. Now, do you have any particular questions for me at this time that I can answer for you? Because otherwise, I'm going to let you go. I want to get started letting all of my qualified buyers know about your home so that we can get that process of getting it under contract for you as soon as we can.

Did you have any questions for me at this time? Typically, they don't. Because the reality of it is the only two questions, questions that a seller has. Now, they may have a few others that they come up with, but the essence is how much is my home worth, honestly, no funny business, how much is my home worth, and you get that for me? That's really all they really want to know. So, whatever the dollar figure is that you're telling them, for one, be honest. There's an awful lot of agents out there. there that will tell people an exceptionally high price knowing it's never going to sell for that,

but that's how they think they're going to get the listing. And then they start beating people up on price reduction, you know, week after week after week after week, and just give them a fair and reasonable price at the very beginning. But more importantly, when you show up, how do you show up? Do you show up as somebody that they feel is able to actually get that job done for them? and by the way, that does not mean how you dress. How you dress is certainly a part of it, but that can certainly be addressed as well. But when the, hey, look, when the weather's hot,

I'm not showing up in a suit. Matter of fact, I never wore a suit. I'd show up in a pair of shorts and a nice looking shirt. And I would tell them that in advance, just so you know, it's a little warm outside. And I know I'm coming to you at your home, but if it's okay, I'm going to probably be wearing just a nice pair of shorts and a nice shirt.

Because one of the things that I had a, I guess you'd call this person a mentor of mine, said years and years ago, he said, you know, you never want to overdress for your client or the person you want to be your client. He said, it's okay to dress the same as them or maybe a little underdress, but you never want to overdress because you don't want them to feel like you were talking down to them.

And I thought, you know, he's got a good point. So it was never an issue of how I showed up, if you will. And I didn't show up with jeans and with holes in them and, you know, cutoffs or flip-flops or something like that. But in the course of the conversation, I did my best to proactively explain how we were going to do things. And then when I'm, that is a lot of it in that pre-listing package, that shock and all package. And then I'm simply repeating it, which reaffirms it while I'm there. You're going to be getting a call every Friday from Melinda, those kinds of things.

So I hope that answered your question. Yeah, but here's what I'm sensing. I mean, you talked about scripting. I'm sensing it. I'm sensing real. confidence in your voice. I'm sensing a certain cadence even about your conversation. I mean, I don't sense a man who's anxious or, you know, needs a sale or, I mean,

there's a real sense of calm, but confidence, you know, I'm the right person. I mean, I'm sure that, and I don't know, maybe that's a natural thing for you. I don't know. Well, of course it's natural. No, I'm just kidding. You're right. That is part of. And it kind of goes along with that you have to have the mindset that you're the right person for the job.

I think it's very important to also go in not with the mindset of I really need this. I really, really need this listing. that's like going into a junkyard with a piece of raw meat in your pocket. That dog in that junkyard dog is hungry. He's coming after you. He can sense it. He can smell it. He knows that fear, if you will.

Okay. And that's kind of the analogy of the steak in your pocket. He can sense that fear. You have to go in with 100% commitment to telling the, that person what is best for them. And if you truly believe that you are the best person to deliver what's best for them, then it's going to obviously follow that natural course of they're going to hire you. I was a very firm believer, and I would tell people this quite often,

and I would tell them, I know this sounds a little cliche, but I 100% believe this to be true, and that is that I can have anything I truly want to have, as long as I help enough other people get what they want to have, which means I have to put your needs, your desires, your goals ahead of mine. So if I'm looking out for you and your best interest ahead of mine, then I'll be taking care of as a direct result of that. Does that make sense?

Yeah, it makes perfect sense. Every time that's exactly what they would say. In many cases, their head is not. as I'm saying it, and then they get to the, yeah, that makes sense, and that's what we want. So you have to be, I'm not going to say detached

because that sounds a little weird and that's not quite what I mean, but you have to be able to not be afraid to take that listing. And because I was not afraid to turn the listing down, that made all the difference in the world. I think once I shift,

that mindset. Oh, and I mean, let me tell you something that I did. I'll tell you, I heard one of my mentors or coaches one time make a comment about firing a client. Don't ever be afraid to fire a client. And I thought, you know, I'm going to take that to heart. And so it wasn't terribly long afterwards. I'm in a listing presentation. At that point, I was still going to people's homes.

And it was an older couple. The wife was the one doing all the talking. The husband was just sitting there, didn't say a word. And that's very true in many couples. One of the people there are the ones that are, you know, kind of the mouthpiece, if you will. The others there, I guess, for moral support. I don't know. But I'll never forget.

I tried to close on price because the price that they wanted or she wanted felt it was worth was way over the market. And so after trying to close, I think it was five times. This person impressed me as just being a pain in the butt. I mean, I understand, and I'm very comfortable with, if they come back with a few objections on price. No problems with that. But there was something, I guess the spidey sense maybe,

was telling me that if I took the listing, this lady was just going to be a pain in the butt. So sensing that, I just said, you know, Ms. Jones, Mr. Jones, I really appreciate both of you, allow me to come out and speak with you this afternoon about getting your home on the market and getting it sold. It looks like, though, and I'm saying this while I'm gathering all the papers that I brought, I said, you know, I really appreciate you allowing me to come out

and speak with you by getting your home on the market and getting it sold. It looks like we're just a little too far apart on price. But I'll tell you, I really do want to help anybody and everybody that I run into. And so if you would like, I would be more than happy to give you the name and phone number of a good agent. He's a really good guy, he's a very good agent, that specializes in taking overpriced listings that never sell. Would you like me to give you his name and phone number? Now, the husband heard what I said, and he leans back in his chair, crosses his arms, and he's got this great big old Cheshire cat grin on his face. A phone number for a real estate agent that specializes in taking overpriced listings that never sell.

Now, the wife, oh, yeah, I would like his name and number. Yes, please, I'd like that very much. So I gave her the name and number of a real estate agent. I just did not like. to this day I don't like the guy. Yeah, it's just one of those things. We all have people like that, right? And so I know what happened.

I walked out the door, and the door just barely probably got closed behind me, and he's looking over at her, and I'm making it names because I don't remember at this point. Like, you know, Martha, you know what that boy just did? Probably just did, because she didn't catch it then. I thought that was awesome. I've only done that twice. And to give a listing back, that one I just prevented that thing in the butt from happening in the beginning.

See, most real estate agents are so concerned because they're not out there doing what they need to do, marketing and prospecting every day, that that one listing is so critical to them and what they feel they need for their business that they're definitely afraid they'd never consider giving it away. I would rather give it away up front. Now that's freed up time and space in my schedule in my life for somebody that appreciates me

and what the value that I bring to the table for them. And I also would... You talked about systems and stuff, but did you have a marketing budget? So, I mean, just a moment ago, you talked about out prospecting and stuff. I mean, did you have a particular marketing budget that you had? You know, it's really interesting you asked that because I've had a lot of agents over the time just really have a tough time because of what I did. What I did, even with the do not call laws and things, is I was on the phone.

I didn't spend a lot of money with full-page ads. I had ads that I would put in various publications, but the phone never rang as a result of the ad. I would also put an ad in a smaller local newspaper that would go out just within the community. I never got any leads from that. I did it because the guy that was the ad rep just became a friend. So I really didn't have much of an ad budget.

I did send postcards into the neighborhoods and or the general area around properties that I had listed or that I had sold. And it wasn't because I was expecting someone to call from that postcard, but it was because when I made the phone call, like the day after those things were expected to have been delivered, I wanted it to at least be in their head. They had heard my name. And so it would be a little better conversation. So I really didn't have much of an ad budget. I didn't really, I mean, my business was actually very lean, so it was very, very profitable. Well, you know, Jesse, I am looking at the clock.

We are over time, and I always hate that because, you know, I could just sit here and listen to you for hours. but I know that there's going to be people that are listening to this show that says, and I know you've kind of transitioned out, well, not kind of. You are not a real estate agent now. You are in investing, but you have been known to do some real estate coaching. And you have a book. And you have a book. What I wish they had told me when I got my real estate license,

if I know what the name of that book is. And before the show, we talked about it. And you are going to offer to send a hard copy, I think, of that book to anybody who wants it. All they need to do is pay $3.75 for the shipping. I will pay for the envelope and maybe the shipping. Yep. That's right. It'll pay for the envelope and the postage at the USPS.

That's right. And they can also buy it Amazon, but what the heck, this is far less expensive, right? And I'll even autograph the inside with their name. So how can they get a copy of that book? Well, the best thing to do, and the easiest, is going to just send me an email to Jesse, J-E-S-S-E- at jesselleylennon.com. and Lennon is L-E-N-N-O-N. So just send a simple email, Jesse at jessieleon.com.

They want to put in the subject line free book. That'd be fine. It might be good, though, to put in the text of the email, the real estate sales book, and then, of course, their name and the best mailing address to send it to. Therefore, you know, and if they're buying it for someone else, else.

Then if they would like for me to, you know, autograph the inside, just please give me the first name of the person they want me to sign it to. If I don't get a name, then I'd be able to do that. Or for fear, I'd put the wrong name on there, right? Too, Mary, best of success, Jesse, you know, but I'm giving it to Bob.

So, you know, anyway. And by the way, this book is truly what my business looked like when I was selling 100 homes a year at a 10,000 foot view. So it is absolutely what my business looked like. I'm not pulling any punches. It's in there. Well, it's a very, very generous offer, and I really appreciate it. And, Jesse, this has been fabulous. Thank you so much for being on today's show. Listen, I really appreciate you inviting me and asking me if I've had a good time. Like you just said, I wish we had a little more time. There's plenty of more things I'd love to

share with folks, but dang it, that clock is what it is, right? It is, it is. Well, thank you. So, you've been listening to Megabucks Radio, and to learn more about what Jesse shared or anything else that's mentioned on the past episodes, visit us at megabucksradio.com. Until next time. Thank you for listening to Megabucks Radio with Nina Hirshberger. To learn more about the resources mentioned on today's show or to listen to past episodes, visit megabucksradio.com.