Start With A Win - Episode 3 of 3 Live at RE/MAX BOC 2019 With Dan Bertelson

Episode Date: August 28, 2019

Dan Bertelson is the Director of Opportunities at RE/MAX Preferred in Monona, Wisconsin. His primary responsibilities are recruiting and retention and he leans heavily on being genuine, honest, and raw in his conversations with potential and current employees. Even though text and email would be the easiest communication methods for his line of work, Dan realizes the importance of breaking down barriers and conversing via video or in-person meetings, which just adds to his authenticity and desire to connect. Dan values transparency, humility, and truly caring for others, qualities instilled in him during his time serving in the military and law enforcement.Links:Dan Bertelson: https://www.danbertelson.com/ Connect with Adam:https://www.startwithawin.com/ https://www.facebook.com/REMAXAdamContoshttps://twitter.com/REMAXAdamContos https://www.instagram.com/REMAXadamcontos/ 

At top of the 12th floor of the Remax World Headquarters, you're listening to Start With a Win with CEO Adam Kantos. Live from Remax Broker Owner Conference in Chicago, Illinois. Start With a Win. Adam Kantos here, CEO of Remax. I've got producer Mark with me. How are you, buddy? I'm so good.

So good. That's right. Glad to have you here. Yeah, it's awesome. I love seeing everybody coming out to see the show. And it's kind of cool to see some faces to our listening audience. It is. We have a trio of very cool special guests here today.

Yeah. This guest on the show I had the honor and the pleasure of working out with this morning. Lifting some weights. Really? Oh, yeah. He looked kind of buff. Well, this guy is a machine. I just have to say, how cool is the Remax CEO that he works out with brokers?

It was the coolest thing that's happened to me today. We were on the escalator yesterday, and someone's like, hey, let's see you at the gym. So we have Dan Bertelsen on the show, Director of Opportunities with Remax Preferred, based in southern Wisconsin. How are you doing, buddy? Very good, sir. Very good. Have you recovered from this morning? Somewhat.

Somewhat. It's more of a sleep thing than a muscle fatigue thing. Oh, there you go. All right. I kept you awake. I may not work out that early when it's on my mind. Oh, gotcha. Yes, sir. All right, well. Yes, sir. We got to start with a win, right? Yes, sir. All right. So, hey, Dan, we are going to talk about recruiting and retention here. Outstanding. Because you are the Director of

Opportunities. What does Director of Opportunities mean? It means being something different to me. It means recruiting retention messages. We're, I guess, kind of stale. I think recruiting has become kind of a dirty word in our industry and I think it was just a better way of saying I'm the one that has to look out for the opportunities for not only us to bring in awesome talent but the opportunities for that talent to look out for the opportunities for not only us to bring in awesome talent, but the opportunities for that talent to get to be with us. So, I mean, this is a cool concept that we're unpacking here. It's almost like we need a bleeping button or something for when we say recruiting, right?

Yeah. Meep. Sorry. Exactly, yeah. It's not a dirty word. Will that get our podcast kicked off iTunes or anything? No. Well, we're actually currently a safe show.

We've not been flagged in any way, shape, or form. Instead of an E for explicit, you get an R for recruiting. Yeah, exactly. Okay, cool. All right, well, let's talk about the, let's call it opportunities. The opportunity for agents today is a lot different than it used to be just because of the barriers to entries have changed so dramatically in our industry you cannot show up on the first day and and fake it maybe the way you could because of uh you know you can just google you and find everything out we need to know

so i just i think recruiting for me uh personally has become trying to be more real. And that can be extremely difficult when you're only using text. Right. So that's where for recruiting for me, if I do it differently, do it with video, do it with verbal, saying things you wouldn't normally say. I like calling out that I'm recruiting someone now upon initially talking to them instead of acting like I am and not talking about it so sometimes just being really blunt and forward with the fact that I'm recruiting you makes it less of a dirty word and it's also can be a compliment if you if you put it in the right context and use the right tonality when you're delivering it I think I hope

everybody really got that because this is amazing. So you're, I mean, really, you're just being transparent with people. You're being a human being, and you are attracting the type of people you want to attract to your company. And I would add to that, not just the ones we want, the ones that get you, the ones that are more like you, obviously. And that's something I've been taught in this network and in this industry was to go find those people that get you because they'll follow you. You know, it's easier. So yeah, just easy, the easier button. This is awesome.

So this, I mean, this is really a unique approach to this or a unique mindset. Different. I think I had to because I was getting sick of um I I think everybody has that feeling in in maybe in service sales where you want you don't want to feel disingenuine you don't want to feel like I'm saying this to get you to like me so that you will listen to other things that I will say well I found out if I just said it just like I just did and said listen, normally I'd have to say some things over a long period of time to get you to like me

or at least make you comfortable with me. I'm just going to let you know right now I'm already saying those things and I don't want you to feel uncomfortable because I am too. If I'm uncomfortable on this end, I can't imagine what it could possibly be for you. We don't know each other yet.

So I'm not going to fake it from here on out, but we just opened my messages. I'm not going to fake it. And it's been extremely effective in my open rate. I'm getting conversations with people that have otherwise kind of shut me down in the past. And then every once in a while now, too, it's given me that boost of confidence to maybe jab somebody really hard with something that I wouldn't have normally. Maybe a good example would just be if somebody's ghosting me or not responding to me and I'm hitting them from different mediums and I'm really going for just a face to face for instance. I'll specifically send them something now or a funny picture of a ghost or you know, or something like that,

and then leave a message that goes something along the lines of, hello, Mr. Agent. Hey, it's Dan. You know that dude that you've been ghosting for the last two and a half weeks? I know that you've opened this message, this message, and this message. So at this point, you're just making me feel bad about myself. But, you know, something like that, but just something different to get a reaction because I'm going for an appointment the same way the agents are I just want an appointment I don't care how it happens I just want the appointment this might be an uncomfortable unusual approach for some people I think I'm just as uncomfortable when I do it which is why

I just started being so blunt because it made me feel better and uncomfortable when I do it, which is why I just started being so blunt, because it made me feel better. And then when I told him that's why I was doing it, was to make me feel better, I'm like, please don't leave the phone call thinking I'm a selfish jerk. I'm making it more comfortable for me, and I'm letting you know up front. So if you want to go back to ghosting me for X period of time, I can just let you know when I'm going to hit you up. I have also, through videos, and this is important too, a strategy or an attitude towards this doesn't work via text because it would come off very wrong and it would work really poorly. But through video, when you can translate the full message and everything else, then I think it's really, really effective to be able to be really real.

And as far as just to cap off the being really real it was when I started sharing my personal life with recruits directly not out on the web not posting out on Facebook or this or that or the other but directly sending messages to people I was recruiting when I was doing an activity I know they enjoy but not going on their Facebook and pretending to be friends with them when I've never even met them face-to-face or, you know, congratulating them on something to do with their family. I've never met them. How, I don't even know their, you know, I don't know their family. So I feel like there can be some, just this giant shot of, you know, genuinity that can be, and I think I made up a word just now, but if genuinity wasn't a word,

we could all use a shot of it. I think you've uncovered something pretty deep here. And thank you for clarifying because I'm sitting here going, how do you text that to somebody? But you can't. I mean, it's,

you are basically providing that uncomfortable situation for them. And you're taking it on your shoulders so that they don't have to deal with the uncomfortable situation for them. And you're taking it on your shoulders so that they don't have to deal with the uncomfortable situation. Well, and I think Chaplick said it on your podcast here a few weeks back about just the simple fact that they're going to see everything anyway. Right. If you have stuff going on at home, if you're not doing what you're supposed to be doing at your REMAX office, if agents are upset with you, manager's not jiving, all that's

going to come through in your messaging anyway. So why not call out or tell them you're having a bad day when you're sending them a message instead of sugarcoating it with something that seems really canned. So John really, he talks a lot about interrupting the pattern or pattern interrupts, which I think this is what you're doing in recruiting. I just want it to be different because the message of here's the solutions to your problems when it comes to real estate was just getting it was coming from all angles. And it was the same channel, same volume, same everything. So, yeah, I think it was just a matter of just trying to do it a little bit different. Wow.

This is really cool. Good. Good recruiting tip there. Interrupt that pattern. Be genuine. Just genuine. Wear your emotions on your sleeve. And have a conversation with the people from who you really are instead of trying to go after them with that recruiting script. Don't be the person that you want to be on paper because they're going to meet you eventually. Same thing with actually the people's rejection to doing video. They're going to meet you anyway. Same

thing. Don't show them a message or paint a picture of some really cool corporate person that has everything wired together and then show up and you're not that person. They could be the same thing as showing up to a house and the picture that they showed you wasn't wasn't the real picture so that's a good analogy I think we all understand that one yeah a little house analogy I've got a question for you you're a broker what makes a good broker in your mind that's a really good question I think just to care more about other people's businesses than you do your own because their businesses make up your business at least in the broker-owner

world and I think what makes them the best too is and I noticed this more I've I've only been a broker owner for nine years but every year I've noticed a little more and that is to be a little more transparent with everything that you're failing at. And I'm working really hard to be better at that by just telling people where you've gone wrong, not where everything is going right and where everything looks awesome, but being better at explaining to your people what's not working and how you're handling it instead of just keeping stuff under the rug.

Again, bringing stuff to the to the surface you know so just some transparency some humility understanding that none of us are perfect and people want to help each other agreed okay so um the big question on start with a win yes and I know how you started today with a win but Daniel. Daniel, how do you, as a business leader, how do you start with a win? Well, you already hit on it with one of the other guests, but it goes around that grateful thing of the fact that our job doesn't include getting shot at or running into burning buildings. So I think I try to, as far as starting with a win,

what I've been trying to do at least the last few years is start off with something I'm extremely grateful for. And if I can't find that, I always just revert, since I'm a vet, just revert to finding some story about a vet somewhere and sharing it with somebody else. That's how I try to start my day, you know, or whatever, to keep me connected to that world and remind me how good I have it. But it's really usually just around the grateful thing. I'd love to say that every morning starts with working out at 5 a.m., but it doesn't. I started off, though, with promising I'd get a certain number of workouts done a week, which I had sent to you about three years ago.

By the way, I weighed 235 pounds then. I weigh 184 now. Bravo, man. And he's a little bit to do with getting back into that too. Wow. Awesome stuff. Well, good for you. And I don't know how many people know that you're a veteran and a former law enforcement officer. Correct.

So thank you for your service to our nation and our community. You too. It's easy to follow. That's why I think I like also just waking up. Trying to find a different leader to follow that day is making things easier too instead of trying to create my own stuff. Awesome. Well, another great leader on Start With a Win here at REMAX Broker on our headquarters or at Broker on our conference.

Not at REMAX headquarters. Yeah, we're not there. I'm losing my mind today, Mark. That's right. Well, you know you're running and gunning. Hey, Mark. Great podcast REMAX headquarters. Yeah, we're not there. I'm losing my mind today, Mark. That's right. Well, you know, you're running and gunning. Hey, Mark. Great podcast, buddy. Hey.

Thanks, Dan. So, anyhow, some amazing information today. Three amazing guests. Three parts to the podcast. You guys will see them put out as we put out our podcast where you get your podcast at. Hey, thank you so much for listening to Start With A Win. We hope you enjoyed today's episode. Don't forget to go onto iTunes and subscribe,

write a review, or rate the show. It helps us get the word out and reach more people. You can follow Adam on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. And remember, start with a win.