Next Level Agents: The Kevin & Fred Show - Interviews with the best and brightest minds in the real estate industry

One of the key skills of a great salesperson is negotiation, but for the last decade, real estate agents could get away with no having it. Deals were so easy to put together, we didn’t have to fine tune our persuasion and communication abilities. Many agents have never had to do deep negotiation. Even veteran agents who came up in tougher markets need to brush up on that skill too. With the way commissions structures are changing, understanding negotiations at a high level has never been more important. We have to understand human psychology, collaborate more closely with other agents, handle tough situations, understand the art of communication and resolving conflict. That’s why the team at Forward Coaching developed a course on negotiation and why they are working on getting this course in front of agents ASAP. The market might look a little different, but take it from an agent who has sold through some really rugged markets: there’ll always be a seller and a buyer looking to make a deal. In order to get to those sales, we might have to change what we do to match what’s currently happening. If we want to continue to feed our families, give the best service and get the best results right now, becoming master negotiators is non-negotiable. Co-founder and CEO of Forward Coaching, Debbie De Grote joins us to talk about the new course and what it takes to succeed in this tricky market. Quotes People think being a master negotiator means playing hard ball. The best negotiators actually have a collaborative technique. -Debbie De GroteDon’t panic, this will become normal to us one day. -Debbie De GroteI started in a really terrible market so I really don’t fear markets that change. I’m quick to react to them. -Debbie De GroteGuest InfoDebbie is the co-founder and CEO of Forward Coaching. She began her career in Real Estate at the age of 18 and within a few short years was one of the top agents in the nation, closing over 156 units annually. At the peak of her career Debbie was awarded the Hall of Fame award by Century 21. In fact, Debbie was the first agent in the Century 21 system to achieve this award. In addition to her sales career she also managed a large office, assisted in recruiting efforts, and wrote strategic plans and launched new office locations for two large brokers in the Orange County area. Debbie’s extensive background attracted many opportunities to speak, train and consult with others, which is how she discovered her passion for coaching. Over the last 20 years, Debbie has been considered one of the top Coaches in the Real Estate industry, coaching some of the most elite salespeople and brokers in North America, as well as mortgage, title, escrow, and insurance professionals. She has conducted over 80,000 private coaching calls, hundreds of webinars and live events, and is a sought after speaker at many national conventions.Go to forwardcoaching.com/negotiations to sign up for the course. CTA​​Please leave us a review at https://ratethispodcast.com/nla

Selling real estate in 2024 isn’t at all what it was between 2010 and 2022, and a lot of agents are feeling the squeeze. Most of us built and ran our businesses in low interest rate environments, so this market is completely unfamiliar to us. Running a real estate team is a lot more stressful than it used to be. Deals are harder to put together, we have stricter and newer rules to get compensated, and the costs of running a business and paying our people is so much higher. All of this has left a lot of real estate leaders frustrated and even resentful. The fact is: what made us successful in the last few years won’t work in this current market. Due to all the pressures the market is facing, just being good at putting deals together isn’t good enough anymore. We also have to be really good at bringing people to those deals. What that means is an exceptional sales skill set will have to make a real comeback. Right now, everyone is trying to get their sea legs after all the changes, but when things normalize, you’ll either get out of the business or have a bigger opportunity. What factors are making real estate so tough? How can leaders navigate these challenges? In this episode, multiple guest Frank Klesitz returns. The CEO of Vyral Marketing and Klesitz Direct shares what he’s hearing from agents across the country, and why it’s harder to sell homes right now.Marketing doesn’t create motivation, it just finds it. -Frank Klesitz Guest InfoFrank is the CEO and founder of Vyral Marketing and Klesitz Direct. He is an intellectually curious artist with experience in business, entrepreneurship, sales, marketing, and real estate. Frank started Vyral Marketing in 2009 after successfully implementing their marketing plan for a real estate agent in Omaha, NE. Frank also runs Klesitz Direct, a new business mailing personal, authentic cold letters to homeowners to generate phone calls from those thinking about selling their home. Go to https://getvyral.com/ and https://klesitzdirect.com/ for more information. CTA​​Please leave us a review at https://ratethispodcast.com/nla

In today’s episode, I’m joined by Bob Stewart of community evangelist at Place Inc, and Active Rain before that. Bob’s got a cool story - he’s been in and around real estate for many years. He was a pioneer in real estate blogging, and community building, and also understanding how to drive traffic to websites in the days before Google dominated everything. Bob comes from a place of contribution, and I even remember the days he’d call ActiveRain clients to help them out with marketing, 14 years later. He’s truly a genius at building and growing communities around businesses and now he’s brought his skills to PLACE.  Bob has been involved in the real estate industry since 2002. He co-founded and was responsible for managing operations for a 150 agent real estate company, and also co-created one of the very first online referral networks. Since 2006, and the beginning of ActiveRain, Bob has been educating, motivating and training real estate agents and brokers around the country. Through live appearances and webinars, Bob has taught thousands of agents the intricacies of online marketing and how to engage online leads and turn them into clients and closed transactions. Bob has successfully instructed agents on a wide range of topics, from the fundamentals of successful agent websites to using social media to enhance an agent’s online profile. He is also well known for his engaging interviews of real estate industry thought leaders. Bob brings his wealth of knowledge and contagious enthusiasm to every seminar, and delivers to his participants the necessary performance skills, the latest, most effective online marketing strategies, and practical lead generation and engagement methods. Real estate has become so dominated by tech and AI, it’s easy to get confused about what delivers results. Fact is, to extract more deals from our database or any lead source for that matter, the basics still ring true. You just can’t replace calling your database and actually adding value to them.   The team at PLACE have collected data that drives this home over and over again. One crucial stat we need to be paying attention to is database turnover - how quickly you can call your entire database. Unfortunately the database turnover rates of most teams are abysmal, and it’s costing us money. Instead of buying more leads, we could be doing the work to get more deals from relationships we already have.  To find out more about the podcast, head to https://winmakegive.com/podcast-2/.  To do the Wealth Series, go to https://winmakegive.com/wealth/.  CTA ​​Please leave us a review at https://ratethispodcast.com/nla 

Time is finite but so many of us are just not purposeful with it. People plan how they go to a movie better than they plan their life, the relationships they have. It’s amazing how calculated we are about our movies and vacations but we don’t do the same thing in our personal worlds.   Hard work is a key to success but what’s the point if there’s no true balance? So many of us say we work hard for our families but do we really? Start defining achievement a little differently, you can’t let your work define who you are.   If you count how many winters, Fridays, ocean swims, football seasons, beach days you have in your life, it really puts how finite time is into perspective. If you’ve got 20 years left in your life, and you go snowboarding once a year, you probably have 20 of those days left.  Think about how many more Halloweens you get with your kids when they are little. How are you taking advantage of those moments?  The average kid and parent spends 300 days per year together from the time they are 0-18. Over 18 they spend an average of 30 days with their parents, 10 days a year if they don’t live in the same town. Depending on how old your kids are, you might have spent over 50% of your total time with your kids already. You have to cheat the system and get more purposeful to get more out of those days. The key thing is becoming aware that time is finite.  We go through our lives not being purposeful about these things that we deem most important. Cheat the system - do it differently. Think differently to what we usually do in our normal programs of life.  How do we maximize the moments that we have? When you work hard, think about what you’re giving up in its place.   We all have things we care deeply about and we neglect them. The good news is: you can do something about it now.  Now that we know this - what should we do? Write your own eulogy: connect the dots and design the specific commitments you want to make to leave the impact you desire to leave. What are the things you could be doing better so that you influence that outcome? Truly start life planning: how do you want to be remembered by your kids, how do you want people to speak about you, think about these things and be honest about where you stand. Take no days off: every single day you can improve something, whether it’s yourself or a relationship. You can deal with a pain or challenge, and get healthier and smarter.  Get a Memento Mori calendar. It’s sobering, but also inspiring to see how much time you have.  Think about your life accounts: health, relationships, wealth, business, friends, social, siblings, spiritual, travel etc. Some of your accounts have really positive balances and others are overdrawn. Prioritize those accounts accordingly  Health should be number 1, you can’t honor any of the other accounts if you’re not feeling great and alive.  You are going to outgrow certain things and certain relationships as you grow, accept that.  Life is about counterbalance - there are times we’ll have to be in the extreme in certain areas, the key is not to stay in the extreme too long. How long can you be in something until other areas start to suffer and/or deteriorate?  CTA​​Please leave us a review at https://ratethispodcast.com/nla

A lot of people who would be exceptional recruiters don’t do it because it feels like too much of a burden. The idea of building tens or even hundreds of relationships and nurturing them just feels like too much of a logistical nightmare. And it would be…which is why it’s the wrong way to do it. If you had a recruiting strategy that was based in building community, it would be so much easier. A recruiting strategy based only on yourself is taxing and unsustainable. It’s like inviting 100 people to dinner and having to make all the food yourself. If you had a community, it would be like having a potluck where everyone brought in a dish for everyone to enjoy. Instead of having one-on-one relationships, a community-focused approach leverages relationships and takes a huge burden off of you. This is how we were able to build a rev share group of 2400 people. It was about building a room people want to be a part of and allowing everyone to do their part to build and nurture those relationships. That will continue to pay off.  What other misconceptions keep people from the wins of recruiting? How do we bring leverage to our recruiting? Today, I’m joined by Chris Bowers for an in-depth conversation on recruiting and the easiest way to recruit. Quotes Don’t take advice from people who don’t have the life you want. -Chris BowersThere are a few things that are absolutes in my life, everything else is negotiable. -Chris Bowers You can’t make people change, but you can make them do something different. -Kevin Kauffman Guest InfoChris Bowers is a Realtor, Investor and owner of the Bowers Team, and the host of The agentXcel podcast. Chris has been in real estate for over 16 years, but he has been an entrepreneur since his teens. Today, Chris and his wife run a successful team selling over 140 units with half of those being Chris’ personal production. He has also built a solid rental portfolio that continues to grow to this day. Follow @chrisbowers_realestate on Instagram and listen to agentXcel on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.  CTA​​Please leave us a review at https://ratethispodcast.com/nla

As driven entrepreneurs and hungry investors, we’re always searching for that big idea or once-in-a-lifetime deal. Then we find ourselves in a bunch of random businesses and investments in a bid to increase the odds of success. More often than not, that only leads to a loss of focus and ultimately, a loss of wealth. What if getting to that billion dollar idea is as simple as picking something and concentrating on that? There’s a ton of different things we could be doing, the real challenge is learning to focus and be patient.  For Andrew Abernathey, concentrating on one idea allowed his business to ramp up to $250 million in a very short space of time. At one point, he was involved in a slew of random areas. It took losing a ton of money for him to realize that he didn’t know who he was or what exactly he was good at, and that’s why he was trying everything. That was the major turning point that made him think about his billion dollar idea and let go of everything else. The effect of his concentration can be seen in his results, and it’s something all entrepreneurs should think about. The urge to do everything will never go away for entrepreneurs. If you follow that urge, it might just rob you of the big idea you’re looking for. Instead of searching for the perfect idea and trying to do everything, think about what you can be great at and just focus on that. It’s hard and goes against every instinct we have as investors - just like the instinct to never sit on cash. Ultimately, putting your hands in too many pies and doing a deal for the sake of doing a deal is how big mistakes are made. Guest InfoAndrew Abernathey is the founder and CEO of Abernathey Holdings (AH), a leading real estate holding company driven by a passion for business and inspired by the value investing approach of Warren Buffett and the simplicity approach of Gary Tharaldson. His investing journey began at the age of 13, exploring a diverse range of public securities. Established in August 2012, AH initially pursued a diverse investment strategy. However, in 2019, they strategically shifted their focus to developing and owning class-A self-storage facilities across the sunbelt region, while also owning the operating companies to ensure vertical integration. This streamlined approach has not only enhanced their returns but also propelled AH to achieve remarkable market-beating results, elevating their assets under management (AUM) to an impressive $250 million.For more information, go to https://www.andrewabernathey.com/,  https://abernatheyfoundation.com/ and https://unseen.org/. CTA​​Please leave us a review at https://ratethispodcast.com/nla

This year, for the first time ever, I went to the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting AKA Woodstock for Investors AKA Coachella for Capitalists. Warren Buffett is by far, the world's most successful investor, and I was keen to hear what he had to say about the economy, his investing strategy and his mindset in the wake of the death of his business partner, Charlie Munger. As usual, Warren had a lot of insightful things to say - things that I’ve been thinking about in my own business and my approach to building wealth. Berkshire Hathaway has made a few surprising moves over the last year, but hearing Warren Buffett talk about the governing strategy, a whole lot made sense. Today, I share the most powerful lessons I took away from the meeting and how we can apply them to our own businesses. Key Points  The right way to evaluate a stock Look at stocks as a business and realize that the market is there to serve you, not to inform you. When Warren Buffett is evaluating whether or not to buy stock in a company, he's evaluating it the same way he would if he was buying the whole company. Whether you're buying a piece of a company or the whole thing, you should be evaluating the decision the same way. The market tells you when it’s a good time to buy or sell, and you should follow that. If you don’t listen to what the stock is saying, you're going to make a lot of mistakes. It's interesting how many mistakes you can make if you just keep goingIf you're in business, mistakes will always be part of the game. If you're not making mistakes, you're probably not doing a lot of things. If you're intelligent and reflective, you'll learn from those mistakes.Do what moves the needle With the recent passing of Charlie Munger, Warren Buffett has been thinking about what happens to the company when he passes away. He provided a simple but powerful blueprint for Berkshire's management team after he's gone - increase operating earnings, decrease shares outstanding and have a sizable cash investment for the occasional big opportunity. Cash is king There was a lot of buzz around Berkshire selling some of its holdings in Apple. Warren Buffett said his approach is all about reducing tax and increasing cash. It all goes back to the succession plan - having a sizable amount of cash so they could make an investment when there's a great opportunity. This is how I read deeper into this: Warren Buffett doesn't foresee things getting a whole lot better in the economy, and he foresees some more sales or good deals being available over the next 2 years.Look for good deals, not just any deal When asked why Berkshire Hathaway’s cash hasn’t been invested, Buffett said, “I don't think anyone sitting at this table has any idea how to use it effectively, and therefore, we don't use it”. He then added, “we only swing at pitches we like”. If you’re sitting on a lot of cash, knowing where to put it is a big question and it's really easy to get antsy when you want to put the money to work. But when the world's most successful investor says “we only swing at pitches we like”, it's a good reminder to stay patient and look for great deals instead of just putting cash into any deal that comes your way. Navigating the noise The world that we live in is full of noise 24/7. When you go on social media, watch the news and read the economic reports, it’s hard to make sense of all the information coming your way as an investor. Warren Buffett’s insights and approaches are very simple. They cut right through the noise. This is not to say that none of the noise matters, but the key to investing is focusing on the things that matter the most. CTA​​Please leave us a review at https://ratethispodcast.com/nla

There are a lot of stupid people who have been massively successful in real estate. This isn’t an insult, just the reality of how uncomplicated it can be to build a beautiful business. But if you lack in intelligence, there are a few things you can’t lack if you want to succeed. You can’t be impatient, inconsistent, undisciplined and undetermined. There’s a reason why the most successful agents came up in the toughest markets. It forces you to do all the right things in order to survive and live to sell another home. It forces you to pay attention, become a true student of the industry instead of burying your head in the sand or being stuck in your ivory tower. When you’ve learned how to do things the right way, it doesn’t matter what’s going on, you’ll always win. High inventory, low inventory, great rates or challenging rates, it doesn’t matter. If you have the right behaviors in place, your business will be market-proof. Today, I’m joined by real estate industry leader, Dave Fanale. We talk about what it takes to survive and thrive in this businessQuotes Never put your head in the sand, no matter how successful you are, never sit in the ivory tower. -Kevin Kauffman  Don’t go after the business with the money in mind. See how you can help people and the money will follow. -Dave Fanale Don’t listen to someone on Instagram just because they have Reels that look good. Actually look at the fruit of their labor. There’s too many people out there that sound like experts but don’t have any results to speak of. -Kevin Kauffman Guest InfoDave Fanale is the founder of Real Estate Skill Builder, a new type of coaching company. Focusing on accountability, production, and focus. He has been in the real estate business his entire professional life, spanning actually 6 decades. David has experienced many different markets, from 20% interest rates to the mortgage crisis to the 2022 Shift. Dave’s real estate career has included Realtor, Property Manager, Leasing Manager, Home Builder, Mixed Use Property Developer/Builder/Designer, Developer, Broker/Owner of a Century 21 Franchise Company and Real Estate Coach.  Dave believes the most important thing a real estate agent has to have is adaptability. He has helped many agents build businesses as well as reinvent themselves over the years. Go to https://www.reskillbuilder.com for more information and subscribe to the RET YouTube channel. CTA​​Please leave us a review at https://ratethispodcast.com/nla

Real estate professional Ben Riehle debunks the myth of institutional buyers killing real estate, emphasizing the opportunities they present. He highlights the value of local knowledge for agents, the growth of single-family rentals, and the potential for agents to expand into asset management. Ben discusses the benefits of working with institutional clients, adapting to industry trends, and providing specialized services for greater success in real estate.

Whatever industry you’re in, marketing is something we all have to worry about. It’s our job to deliver eyeballs to whatever it is we have to offer. The challenge is, the rules of marketing and the platforms that can get us traffic are constantly changing, it’s hard to predict what will work in a few months. What we have to be aware of is that people are using these marketing platforms to do their due diligence before they even think of hiring us. We have to be authentic and tell a story that connects because that attracts the right clients and repels the wrong ones. As much as we use marketing to connect with people and build a relationship, we have to take the emotion out of it. To succeed at the marketing game, you have to focus on the math - the numbers and the dollars behind the strategy. If we get too emotionally invested, it can be hard for us to make the shifts and pivots that give us the results we want. What are the critical boxes our marketing content has to check? How do we succeed when the marketing landscape is always shifting? In this episode, I’m joined by CEO and Founder of Ezzey Digital Marketing, Michael Hamburger. He talks about the mentality we need to have about marketing, and how working in MLMs prepared him for the industry. Quotes Be who you are at all times, whether you’re on camera or not. -Kevin Kauffman  Try to remove all the emotion from the marketing side of things when it’s decision making time. Make it about math. -Michael Hamburger You have to be authentic to who you are, inauthenticity has a stench people can sniff out real quick. -Michael Hamburger Guest InfoMichael Hamburger is the CEO and Founder of Ezzey Digital Marketing. He’s dedicated over 20 years to innovating the field of digital marketing. Ezzey Digital Marketing, based in Scottsdale, AZ, is renowned for crafting bespoke digital strategies that drive search engine rankings, generate leads, and amplify revenue across diverse sectors. At Ezzey, they take pride in being a mainstay of full-service marketing. Their forward-thinking solutions enable businesses to excel in the complex and competitive digital environment. Beyond these services, Michale also indulges his passion for coaching and training business owners, corporate leaders, entrepreneurs, and sales teams. Empowering others with tools and insights to navigate the digital age is a mission close to his heart. Go to https://ezzey.com/ for more information and follow Michael on Instagram. CTA​​Please leave us a review at https://ratethispodcast.com/nla