Start With A Win - Agent Safety Month with Carl Carter

Episode Date: September 16, 2020

On this episode of the Start with a Win podcast, our guest is Carl Carter of RE/MAX Elite in North Little Rock, Arkansas, who is also the founder of the Beverly Carter Foundation. Carl’s mother, Beverly, was a realtor who was tragically kidnapped and killed in 2014 during a house showing. After her untimely and violent death, Carl started to share his mother’s story and realized that many other real estate agents had experienced dangerous circumstances or assaults. This led him to start the foundation as a nonprofit to provide resources and education to the real estate industry. Over the past few years, countless individuals have reached out to Carl with their own stories. Carl and the foundation advocate for policies that will provide agents with safeguards. These policies range from requesting identity verification before taking on a new client, initially meeting in a public place, or scheduling a virtual meeting. When it comes to changes that Carl would like to see in the industry, he points out many leaders are afraid to bring up safety for fear of litigation, but that leaders instigating a safety culture from the top down is crucial to the safety of their agents and clients. For more information about the Beverly Carter Foundation and for downloadable resources, visit https://www.beverlycarterfoundation.org.  Connect with Carl:https://carl-carter.remaxarkansas.com/https://beverlycarterfoundation.org/ Connect with Adam:https://www.startwithawin.com/https://www.facebook.com/REMAXAdamContoshttps://twitter.com/REMAXAdamContoshttps://www.instagram.com/REMAXadamcontos/Leave us a voicemail: 888-581-4430

Every day is filled with choices. You're here because you're choosing to start with a win. Get ready to be inspired, learn something new, and connect with the win nation. Coming to you from the podcast bunker at Fort Contos, it's Adam Contos, CEO with Start With a Win. We've got producer Mark on board today. How you doing, buddy? Fantastic. What a great way to start the day, right? That's right. Starting with some positive words. Positive words. And you know what? We're going to get into a really deep discussion about

something that's incredibly important to us today because we care. We care about the people in our industry. We care about our friends. We care about our family members. We have the honor and pleasure of welcoming Carl Carter to the podcast. So Carl is a realtor, an amazing agent with Remax Elite in North Little Rock, Arkansas, and he's the founder of the Beverly Carter Foundation. Carl lost his mother, a real estate agent, at a showing in September 2014, and he's dedicated his life to helping others understand how to be safer doing the job. So we're honored to have our friend on the show today.

Carl, welcome to Start With a Win. All right. Thank you so much. Such an honor. And I get to see you talk about real estate agent safety probably a couple of times a year at different major events. I mean, you have been in a lot of different programs. I mean, you're the founder of the Beverly Carter Foundation. It's a 501c3 nonprofit dedicated to improving agent safety. And we're so appreciative that you do that. But you've just really made an impact on agent safety. Can you give us a little bit of impetus to this? Because a lot of people experience a tragedy in their lives and they don't really go and do something about it. But you said, I'm going to go do something about this. What really

caused you to feel that way? I think just at the core of who I am as a person, I'm a doer and I'm a mover. And so before I lost my mom, I've been a marathoner for years. So I know what it's like to just embrace the suck of a long distance run. And so I've done about 40 full marathons and at least that many half marathons. And so that just keep going. I'm very blessed that my parents put that in me. And then, you know, more than that, I think that my mom had me when she was 16. She was, you know, like, I know all of us guys can relate. We love our mamas, and our mamas are our first love. And when she was taken from me so tragically, I just could not help but get to work. And I haven't stopped running both figuratively and literally too since losing Sweet Mom. Wow. Well, first of all, thank you so much for what you're

doing. I'm very close to this at heart because I actually came into Remax by teaching real estate agent safety. And you and I have talked about that before. And it's interesting. I'm sure you've heard this many times, but you actually are making an impact where agents' lives are being saved because of what you're doing, the impact of what you're having. I mean, I heard it when I was teaching agent safety, people were like, I became more aware and I decided to trust my instincts or to make this change in how I operate. And it saved my life, I believe. How does that feel to know that you're out there, not just working in an industry where you're conducting transactions, but you're actually helping people stay alive, live a longer, more fulfilled life,

things like that, and giving them an opportunity that they might not have otherwise had? How does that feel? And do you have anything you can kind of expand upon that with? So whenever this all started, before we were awaiting the trial of this husband and wife that took mom from me, and they had quite a mouthpiece in the media. And so there was just a lot of negativity. And so what started as me being her voice ultimately led to speaking to the content of her character, her hard work ethic, and the things she did right. Which, you know, include many of the things that we all, you know, recognize and when we teach as safety instructors. And then what happened, though, is that as it turned into a safety message, but in all honesty, like that sounds like a beautiful,

like nice little inspirational path, but it was anything but that. I mean, I did years of therapy because a recurring topic was, you know, I have this fear of what if I am going before people and I am telling this awful thing that happened to my mom. What if I am just a one-man crime show, true crime, that I'm just, I have had blessed validation from our peers to say,

Carl, you know, it was one thing whenever I heard, you know, this stagnant safety tips by, you know, safety instructor X, but you allowing and exposing, you know, us into your family and exposing your heart has truly changed the way I do business. And then, you know, I've never made a hashtag out of it because it means too much for me to make it cheeky. But I cannot tell you how many times I've heard people say, I thought of Beverly. And they made a different decision in their business that could have saved their lives. So it's everything, honestly. It pushes me forward. You can't find a bigger why than that.

I mean, truly, it's very inspirational. In fact, you created the foundation, the 501c3 that I mentioned before. Tell us a little bit about the foundation. What does the foundation do and where can people find information on it? Sure. So, you know, because mom's story got so much attention, I don't even know that we had made it to, because she was missing for so many days and then, you know, so many days to the funeral. And because it was just such a big tragedy, people were like, well, we have, you have to start a nonprofit. And it's like, no, don events that we've been at, that when I open up, when the event is over, people come up to me and they say, thank you, here's my story.

And what I found is that there were people that were inspired to tell their truth about how they had been victimized. And I felt like they were laying a huge responsibility at my feet, although they didn't realize they were doing that. It was a responsibility that I picked up because it's like I kept seeing these trends of, especially with female agents. time and time again, hearing ladies tell me of stories of assault and stalking and, you know, down to just creepy behavior that they have to deal with just as a female with a social media presence, you know, down to it's just, and so what began to happen after all these sessions is that eventually it was just like enough is enough. And surely there's something we can do to inspire change. And, you know, it's my hope. You know, I always say that if it's possible, you know, for my mom to give me a thump on

the head from heaven, she would. If she ever saw me instilling fear or paranoia in people, everything that we do with the nonprofit is to educate, empower agents to make preventive business practices to keep them from finding themselves like my sweet mama did on the second floor of a vacant home with a taser in their side. It's all about helping agents keep from those scenarios. So we teach and we talk and we preach and sing and dance whatever we can do to inspire agents to think about safety, just pump the brakes a little bit. And it's such a great organization. It truly is. It's 100% volunteer and a great board of directors from all kind of

cross sections of the industry. And then of course, we love our REMAX family because it's truly through R4. Anyone that's ever come through the R4, for the past three years, we've had a booth there. And you talk about amazing conversations with people about safety. It's life-changing. It's amazing. And we are so grateful that you're there to share that, especially at R4, because, you know, we have people with, from over 60 countries that show up at R4 and it's not just victimization that occurs in the U S in fact, I have a Google alert for realtor attacked, but I see every time something occurs like that. And it's all over the world. I mean, all over the place, you see this

occurring and obviously it shows up on Google because everything is there, but, you know, it's all over the world. I mean, all over the place, you see this occurring and obviously it shows up on Google because everything is there, but you know, it's, it's interesting how you've put that together. What, what's the URL, the web address for people to check out the foundation if they want to gather some information or make a contribution? It's beverlycarterfoundation.org. And yeah, I would encourage anyone to go and check it out. And you know, I know it's another site to check out. So I'll give you one quick tip. If you've only got 30 seconds to hit the site, go to the training tab, go to downloadable resources, and you'll find a bunch of one-sheeters that you can pull down and share with people using sales meetings and so forth. It's a great, great little, almost a two hidden repository there. I love it. And frankly, you know,

coming from a law enforcement background and an agent safety training background, I can, I can assure you if, if you're not a real estate agent, go check it out in any way, because so many of the principles and tips that occur there are human nature safety tips. There are things that you and your team have come up with that are pertinent to people across industry. So it's very valuable information for anybody interested. I encourage everybody to look into it. But on that note, I have a question for you, kind of a technical question here. So in terms of safety, how important do you view the screening and verifying of the identity of a new client for a real estate professional? So knowing where you're going and who you're with and any of

the background about them. And this isn't just for real estate. I mean, a lot of people go unknown places with unknown people in their careers. So, I mean, what are your feelings on that? Well, kind of my baseline that I set, and I do this, which makes a lot of sense, is I think about my sweet mom's story. My mom had no idea when she was going to that property that day that this couple was not from out of state. They were always from just right across town. She had no idea that this husband was not a fine, upstanding citizen, but he was a seven-time felon that intended to hold her for ransom. And so, it is at the core, in my opinion, one of the strongest things we can do. I will say, when I hear, we talk a lot in our industry about tightening up how we say what we say, you know, elevating, you know, I have to continue to refine my safety script because

a lot of agents, if we're honest, we will say, you know, having that initial conversation with someone say, well, you know, I know you probably never had to do this before, but I'm going to need a copy of your identifications or office policy. And I'll be sharing it with, you know, my assistant or office manager or however, whatever that process looks like. I think we can all easily empathize with the fact that someone that wants to buy a $500,000 house, if you do not approach that as the professional you are, then it could be off-putting.

And so I'm first to acknowledge that, but it is a conversation that is worth having and worth practicing. I have felt the sting. I have been on it a number of times because I truly try to practice what I preach, and I insist upon ID, meeting in a public place, or in this environment we're in now, at least insisting upon a virtual consultation so I can see the person beforehand. And I felt the sting of seeing people walk away. And I don't see it as a broken process. I just see it as an opportunity that I could refine what I say.

I love your open-minded approach to that. And not everybody likes or is comfortable with being asked for identification. But the reality is it's for your safety and theirs as well because some can happen to them at the showing. And I think you're such a great speaker and you're so eloquent in how you deliver that message. It's interesting because sitting in the crowd and watching you deliver that,

a lot of times I see agents going, I wish I could say it like him. I wish I could say it like him. But at the same time, you also look at it and go, I love the fact that you put it on policy. You say it's our office's policy that this happens. And I think a lot of people accept that. You're doing your job, for crying out loud. You're not trying to hassle them by asking for their information. You're trying to help them by asking for their information. Some people just feel off-put by that, and they don't understand that.

Next question I have for you. You're a big thinker. I love this. You've been involved in the industry for so long. Are there any particular changes that you would like to see in the industry to help with real estate agent safety? So I think that, one, we have a fundamental issue that there are a lot of leaders that are afraid to try to heighten safety awareness, their safety culture, the resources they provide. They're truly afraid to do, not because they don't want to just put bad information out, which I can respect, but they're also, they're very afraid of doing too much for fear of litigation. And so, one thing I've been very active on this year, and I think that we will see bigger, better changes coming forward, is that working with our national association to say, okay, let's make some lines in the sand. If litigation is a true fear for leaders,

then what are the hot topics that we need to stay away from? If personal safety is 100% on an agent and not for anyone else to consider, then we need to at least be bold enough to make that assertion. By the way, none of us want to make that assertion because we love and we care for one another. So I think that's big.

One thing that I have to tell you, and I plagiarize like crazy, but I put your name at the bottom of it. You did something in early March when the world fell apart. for all of us, you put our entire brand, your reputation, you risked backlash by making the recommendation that we pump the brakes on open houses until we understood what this virus was. That's the type of leadership that we need because, in my opinion, safety culture. If we don't see a leader taking it serious, then the rest of it doesn't matter. If you only ever, we only ever hear Adam talk about, hey guys, how many houses you sell today? Well, okay, that's one thing. Cool. I hope I sold a bunch. So kudos to you. Thank you for your leadership. But I think that fundamentally, we've got to tell our leaders how they can lead

without fear of litigation, and then we need to empower them to lead. I love that. Carl, this has been an amazing program. And I mean, I told you this time was going to go by in a heartbeat, and it did. And we're honored to be here talking about how we can make ourselves better and celebrating the memory of your dear mother, Beverly, and thanking you for all you do. I have one final question for you, though, and that's a question I ask everybody on this show. Carl Carter, how do you start your day with a win? I start my day for a win. So I am super nerdy and a big runner. So I start my day every day with a good long run. Of course, the distance of the run is a little impacted by the amount of wine consumed the night before.

But also, I get a lot of gratitude in checking things off a list. So every morning, I got my run, I've got my to-do list, and then I go forth and conquer. You're just an amazing human being. We appreciate having you on the program. Make sure if you're down in North Little Rock, check out Carl Carter Jr. with REMAX Elite. Don't forget, check out the Beverly Carter Foundation as well. And don't forget, September is National Realtor Safety Month. Please, please, if you know a realtor, if you're not one on this program listening, we have people all over the world, find one you know and thank them and remind them to be safe in what they do. We're all human beings. We're out there to help each other. And

Carl, we appreciate all you do and thank you for starting with a win. Thank you. And thank you, listener, for listening to Start With A Win. Hey, if you'd like to give us a call and leave us a message about how much you love us, go ahead and do that. 888-581-4430. Don't forget to go to iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts and subscribe. Leave a five-star review.

You're awesome. Thank you in advance for doing that. And hey, for more great content, head over to startwithawin.com. Follow Adam on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. And remember, start with a win. Thank you.