No Broke Months For Salespeople - No Is Not an Option: How Debbi DiMaggio Stayed in the Top 1.5% and Built a Standout Real Estate Career Part 2

Episode Date: May 8, 2025

What does it take to thrive in real estate for over three decades—through every market, every tech disruption, and every client curveball? In this episode of the No Broke Months Podcast, Dan Rochon sits down with legendary agent, coach, and author Debbie DiMaggio, who shares the mindset and methods that kept her in the top 1.5% of agents nationwide. From the myth of "new" in listings to the daily rituals that fuel consistency, Debbie reveals why “no is not an option”—and how to build a standout career in real estate.What you’ll learn on this episodeWhy relationships still outperform technology in businessHow to maintain excellence for decades without burnoutThe dangers of vague listing terms like "new"How morning rituals anchor productivity and peaceWhy shadowing top producers is more valuable than quick commissionsThe mindset that eliminates excuses and guarantees actionResources mentioned in this episodeseniorsnextchapter.com – Debbie’s education hub for downsizing and senior real estate servicesDebbie’s Instagram: @debbiedimaggio To find out more about Dan Rochon and the CPI Community, you can check these links:Website: No Broke MonthsPodcast: No Broke Months for Salespeople PodcastInstagram: @donrochonxFacebook: Dan RochonLinkedIn: Dan Rochon

one of my other things is look for the magic, look for those opportunities you don't know. So when you leave every day, your house that once a day, you never, I'm sure you leave more than that, but when you're out, you never know who you're gonna run into. You're never gonna know what conversation might transpire. So you have to look for those little opportunities

and that little magic. Welcome to the No Broke Months for Salespeople podcast, the ultimate destination for salespeople, businesspeople and entrepreneurs. As you immerse yourself in this show, you'll discover the secrets to unlocking consistent and predictable income. We reveal the new way to persuade human behavior by mastering the art of the teach to sell method. Get ready to transform your approach

and achieve unparalleled success. I constantly am reminding myself that because like you said, when you're doing it day in and day out, it's easy for us to forget that, but that never changes. And it's so seldom that they're go through the experience. Like I said earlier, once every seven years, that it's really important that we take care of our clients, as you mentioned.

Absolutely. Right. Yeah. And you just have to like, no, it's not an option. You've got to just fit it in and make it work. And it doesn't, if you're on the road or you're in between appointments, I know we're all busy and we have kids in different parts of times in our lives, but you just have to make it work and figure it out.

What's your biggest challenge, Debbie? Today it's the market, for sure. And then my biggest challenge before, and I'm working through this now, but I've never had a CRM in 35 years. It's just always been, I never used to calendar things. Now kids are grown and there's people like, when are you going to retire? Never. So now I'm trying to get hyper organized. So I can keep in touch with people and I know who I should be keeping in touch with. So I'm now working with a company on it, really working that CRM and we're doing a panel, seniorsnextchapter.com. If you want to copy it seniorsnextchapter.com.

I don't want to say next move cause I don't want them to move if they're not ready but they do have to be educated from what's a senior community look like. Who would you get in touch with for that? What is a 1031 exchange and a Delaware statutory trust look like if you want to age in place.

So it's a senior for, no senior, 60 and plus, a 55 and plus. It could be anyone who is eventually going to be there. They should get their information now. So this company is helping with the postcards and the website and all of the different components to promote an event. So that has been my challenge and I'm working through it right now, cause I'm a control freak and my branding. Like you couldn't tell. But I think a lot of people do not are not organized with the CRM and not organized with keeping in touch with their sphere. So I think now that I'm working

through it, there it's take taking me a while to get here. You mentioned earlier that you mentioned about a morning ritual. Do you have a morning ritual? And do you have a typical day or a scheduled day or talk? Walk me through a like day to day for in the life of Debbie. Okay. Well, today's kind of crazy. But so I get up early, very early in the morning when I'm when I'm at home because we have two kiddies, I get up about 334.

And when I'm in LA, my kiddies and husband are not here. So I'm at my apartment here. It's very quiet. So 5.30, 6.00. 6.00 is late for me. But so my morning routine and it's my- What time do you go to sleep? Sorry, what time do you go to sleep?

Yeah, yeah, it varies, but I turn 9.10. Okay. And if we're watching TV, I'll fall asleep and then get up and then go to bed. But yeah, I'm pretty nighttime. I'm pretty quiet. And then I love the morning so much. I spend a lot of time meditation and mindfulness on YouTube, on YouTube.

I subscribe to it. So there's no commercials, but if I do want to get a little bit more sleep, I'll listen to a meditation that will let me rest a little bit more because it's 430 so early and then I do a meditation meditation again guided from on YouTube and I do the gratitude practice and I usually don't work out till later. But I spend a lot of time in my mind. I do not touch my text message or emails or anything during those couple of hours. And of course I have coffee and I take vitamins and drink water.

But it's really my time to just know work at that time. I know people will start working out and then get on the phone. No, not until maybe eight o'clock. I'll start hitting people. So it's your time of the day. And then around 8am, that's when you start work. Yes. And then I'll start with the text messaging and getting back to people. And I love to work with, if I have people on the East Coast because they're three hours ahead.

So the people who are part of my CRM, they're three hours ahead. So they should definitely be working. Yes, and then I start and then my husband gets up and when he gets up, it'll be like, okay, and I'm because I wear my headset when I'm watching, I definitely go in. So I'm watching the YouTube or listening to the YouTube meditations. If he gets up early, because the kiddies woke him up, I'll be like, stop talking.

I'm not we're still in morning time. It's no talking. And then once I go, I'm kind of like, just go and I'm just working on every, just all cylinders go. But so today let's give you today. So this morning I had my business networking at seven 50 this morning. After I had, I spoke with my husband. And that was live face to face or no, he's no, it was just on the phone.

Cause he's up North and I'm in LA. Cause I'm busy networking. Was that live. It's on zoom. Yep. It's once a month, once a month in person, which makes it nice so I can be there when it's in person. And then I could be anywhere. I do it from Cabo and learn Cabo and wherever I am. But I always like to be number one in my BMI group. So I give the most referrals and I attend most of them. so I give the most referrals and I attend most of them. The best leaders, they don't sell. They teach. They build trust. They change lives. Teach Yourself is going to be published by Posto Press and Simon & Schuster. It's going to show you how to lead with influence to leave the old way of chasing behind. Pre-orders are open now. Lock in your copy to visit www.teachyourselfbook.com.

That's teachyourselfbook.com. And Clay Boatis says you're never going to see again. Your future followers are waiting because people don't want to be sold. They want to be led. And it's your time. So BNI is from 750 to 915. And what I love about BNI is it's very concise, so I can plan. And then I had a few work phone calls. My husband is the broker, so I had to check with him on a deal we're working on. I had a few client calls. And then at 1030, I was on with a coach in New York that I worked with. She's a video coach, but we're also working on some other things, and I'm writing a book.

And then my meeting today with you, and as soon some other things. And I'm writing a book. And then I my meeting today with you. And as soon as I leave here, I'm going to a women's networking event. And then I just have a bunch of paperwork and docu signs and contract stuff I have to get out and then I'm getting a haircut. And then I have another networking meeting. And that's a typical day for you. It's pretty much and if it's not a meeting like a

group that I'm part of, then it'll be face to face. So that's one thing B and I taught me. And I spoke about building relationships, but B and I in the last couple years really taught me about making the date and sitting in front of someone even for 10 minutes. So I've been doing How long you done B and I? Just a year and a half. Okay. Yeah, I'm a natural networker, but I love to help people. So it's easy for me to connect people. I'll be on a podcast like this. And I'll say, Oh, you need to talk to that person. My mind just connects that way. But so now I just make, I try to get in front of a person one on one just to have a conversation and learn how can I

help you. And it just gives you a purpose and it just is very structured. And I like that. Yeah. One of the rules I made, I got divorced a few years ago. And when that happened, I made a rule that I have to be outside my house once a day with a human being physically. So that could be at the gym. I'd normally go to a class, that type of stuff, or it could be a coffee or something. And I haven't missed a day, I don't think. And it's vital.

It's vital for my mental health and wellbeing. But it's, and Zoom doesn't count. This doesn't count because it's just, there's a different type of energy to be face to face with somebody rather than on zoom. I'm on zoom all day long. I'm sure you are. And being face to face is pretty vital.

It is. It's very important. I'm visual. So it's like, I remember the conversation I had where we were on zoom. It's different, right? We did have a quick little conversation of where you are in Virginia. And I know some people, so I have that visual, but when you're sitting there at Mulberry's having coffee and there's a feeling, there's an experience, and then you can draw from

that when it's time to refer them or you need them for something or you want to connect them with something. But it's super important. We tell our agents that we have 80 agents in our, just in our two offices that my husband is the broker of. And we tell them, don't, you can't just be at home. You have to come to the office, be present, interact with the other agents. You never know what you're gonna learn. But so many people sit at home and it's their thing. They're just waiting for the business.

It's not gonna come to them. They need to get out. One of my other things is look for the magic. Look for those opportunities you don't know. So when you leave every day your house that once a day, you never, I'm sure you leave more than that. But when you're out, you never know who you're going to run into. You're never going to know what conversation might transpire. So you have to look for those little opportunities and that little magic.

Debbie, would you share with us a failure along the way? And I don't like even say categorizing as failure. So let me rephrase that. A learning opportunity that you would say was significant and what happened and what did you learn? Yes. So this one really sticks out in my mind. It's not, there's two, they're not really, they're not really failures.

It's just stuff that you learn from experience. So you have to educate your clients. So a client walked in during a home inspection, the buyers were doing the home inspection, the seller, my client walked in and we, and she said, oh, they said, the buyers said, they said the stove doesn't work. Can you fix that?

And the seller's, oh, sure, we'll have that fixed. It wasn't an easy fix. So what I try to do is educate, and I couldn't have stopped her, it all happened so fast, but you have to educate your clients on the littlest of things. And unless you've been through a lot of different transactions,

you don't have those little things. It's not taught. These are things that just happen through experience. So that's one. And then the same house, it wasn't me, but it makes me, it happened to my client, but it makes me aware that we have to be so careful. We're not attorneys, but we have to dot and cross, right? We have to be so careful of what our clients put on paper because we have to protect them almost from themselves. Like the word new, you can't say if a stove is new or refrigerator is new, is that new a day old, a month old, a year old? We never

use the word new. So on this one property, the listing, I was the selling agent at the time and the listing agent wrote the square footage and the square footage was off. And so we never allow the... and so that was a whole craziness to get through. But you have to be very careful what you put on paper because someone... they might be nice at one point and then all of a sudden people are fighting. Like the square footage is not 4,000, it's 3,500. of a sudden people are fighting like the square footage is not 4,000, it's 3,500. What if the secret to top performance is not selling, but doing something completely different? My new book, Teach to Sell, Why Top Performers Never Sell and What They Do Instead, is about

to change the way you think about influence, leadership, and success. Because it's not about pushing harder, it's about teaching people how to think so they choose you. Teach to Sell is being published by Post Hill Press and distributed worldwide by Simon & Schuster in February 2026. We're in pre-sale now. When you grab your copy early, you'll not only be the first in line, but you'll also unlock exclusive swag you're not gonna see anywhere else. So visit www.teachtosellbook.com that's

teachtosellbook.com. Pre-order your copy today. Start leading the way the top 1% do. Teach to Sell isn't just a book, it's a shift that will build your business and your life. And so you just you have to be super, super careful. And I'm just every transaction. I learned something new the way you have to deliver what you can say and I'm still checking that sometimes to make sure can I say that or is that right? So I just very important to be very careful and don't be

careless. With your with in real estate. I mean, with your clients. It's interesting the perspective of new also in this typically happens like for me when I'm doing an intake on a seller and also tell me about the property. So it's got a new roof. It's got new. Okay.

They lived in for 30 years and you find out new for them was 12 years ago when they replaced the windows. It's not quite new anymore. Right. We remodeled the kitchen in the 90s. Yeah. Yeah. And I get it. I get it because for them, it is, they did it. They have that that memory of doing it seems more recent than what it may have been. But that's where you have to dig down and make sure you get the correct information. So, we're like the referees. Of course. Yeah. What advice would you give another, somebody has listened to the No Broke Months podcast,

what advice would you give to them so that their life could be better? Get a mentor, get a mentor and don't just think of get a mentor, try to work, whether you're on the seasoned agents team or not, try to follow them, go to inspections with them, go with them if you can to a listing appointment, go with them to a buyer's and don't think about the money. You can't think about the money. Just start the business, learn what you can shadow. It's like getting an MBA by training under someone who's, who's been in the business, learn what you can shadow. It's like getting an MBA by training under someone who's been in the business. People get so caught up on the money. Keep your day job, keep your whatever, be a bartender, whatever.

Do you know, someone's playing as a tennis coach, stay with that, do real estate, but don't get worried like, when am I going to make money? You have to, there's so much learn. And you have to learn to network and you have to learn to you have to understand the inventory. There's so many things you need to do. Do not just sit home every day. You should be in that office. You should be sitting next to I always tell people my husband likes to be in the office front and center. I like to be

floating around but he likes to be in the office. Sit next to him. Listen, the people who have continued to stay in the business in our office who started, they used to sit right next to Adam and listen to him. He's talking to multiple agents a day, hearing problems that most of us will never even hear because that's what he does. He's troubleshooting for these agents who have questions.

And if you're sitting there listening, and then you're there so someone can say, okay, come with me to the home inspection, come with me to the home inspection, come with me to the pest inspection, just be present, be present. Love it, Debbie. How can somebody get in touch with you either for a referral to your marketplace

or to learn more or mentorship or just get connected with you, how can they do that? They can Google me at Debbie DiMaggio, you'll find me everywhere, it's Debbie D E B B I know Ian Debbie, or call me at 510-414-6777 or find me on Instagram, Debbie DiMaggio. I'm everywhere else too. But Instagram is probably the quickest and give me a call. I'm happy to answer your questions. Happy to coach you and would love to work with you and your

real estate deals. And however I can be of service, I'm here to do so. Debbie, thank you for being gracious with your time today. I appreciate you. Wish you continued success. Best of luck. No Broke Months podcast listeners and viewers. Thank you for joining us today. Until next time, have the best day of your life. Be grateful, make good choices, go help somebody and God bless you. Take care. Hey there, NoBrokeMonth's listener. I've got some exciting news.

We just passed 375,000 downloads for the NoBrokeMonth's podcast and I could not have done it without you. I am beyond grateful for every single listener who tunes in daily, takes action, and shares this journey with me. Now, with you and I, let's take it a step further. If this podcast has helped you, imagine what it could do for another salesperson who might be struggling. Share the show with them. Let them know there's a way to create consistent and predictable income. Because no salesperson should ever have another broke month again.

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