008 Is The Brokerage Model Dead? w/ Charlie Peterson

On today’s episode, Michael is joined by Charlie Peterson, who has been recognized nationally and locally as a thought leader and driver of new, consumer-driven real estate practices. His prolific writing and sales performance grew his demand as a mentor and coach for other agents, which became the genesis for launching TYLER YORK in January 2018. 

Topics covered:
Charlie’s feelings behind launching Tyler York
How his brokerage was different from the beginning
The difference between training and coaching
The issue with wide specialization
How to stand out in your neighborhood
The brokerage model as a whole
So much more

A huge thank you to Charlie Peterson for being a guest on today’s episode.

Go follow him on Instagram @charlie.peterson1 and let him know how much you enjoyed his story.

Don’t forget to subscribe on your preferred listening platform, and make sure to follow us on Instagram as well @thebusinessofhomespod

Do you have any feedback or want to suggest someone for the show? Email us at thebusinessofhomespodcast@gmail.com

Thank you again for listening!

Have any feedback or want to be a guest on the podcast? Let us know!

 

thebusinessofhomespodcast@gmail.com

The following transcript was made using a voice-to-text software that is not 100% accurate.

 

00:00:31:21 – 00:00:58:07

Michael Conrad

Michael Conrad here with the Business of Homes podcast today, we’re going to be taking a look at a support structure in real estate that gives us all the ability to sell real estate, and that is, of course, the brokerage. And so today we are joined by Charlie Peterson of Tyler York fame. And I am very fortunate because Charlie and I sort of got into the business around the same time, and we were both cutting our teeth early on and just kind of putting our nose to the grindstone.

 

00:00:58:09 – 00:01:33:00

Michael Conrad

And I was very fortunate because I got to see that Charlie made some very interesting and intentional moves that were counter to probably a lot of the advice that he was getting early on. And because of that, it has ended up in what I would consider serious identifiable success. But the tactical nature of how he went about those early years to to learn the business and then make your movement into owning a brokerage has truly been very different than a lot of what we’ve seen in this area.

 

00:01:33:02 – 00:01:35:01

Michael Conrad

And, Charlie, thank you so much for being here today.

 

00:01:35:04 – 00:01:54:20

Charlie Peterson

Well, hey, thanks for having me, Michael. I appreciate it. And just even here, you talk about the tactical, calculated moves I made. I’m not even sure if that’s true because I get this, you know, five and a half years later of being a broker owner, it looks like I’ve made some smart plays, but it honestly feels like just from early on, I had some naive ideals where I was like, I think this is the best way of doing something.

 

00:01:54:20 – 00:02:04:21

Charlie Peterson

Why don’t I just do that? And I ended up just being like a consistent failing of forward until I figured out like, Oh, maybe other people want to do this too. And then it kind of worked.

 

00:02:05:02 – 00:02:19:06

Michael Conrad

Yeah. Failing forward is a phrase that I continue to bring up not only for my staff as I’m trying to inspire leaders, but it’s something I just wanted to say for myself because it’s a good reminder that we are not guaranteed success, but we can guarantee movement.

 

00:02:19:08 – 00:02:36:19

Charlie Peterson

Well, you’re very kind. And your your introduction, we’re we’re very grateful to be where we are as a company. And and for myself, just I’m standing on the shoulders of several giants that have kind of helped launch me here along the way. So.

 

00:02:36:20 – 00:03:00:18

Michael Conrad

But you do sell yourself a little short. In fairness, because one man’s ideal or sort of naive visions is another man’s careful sort of adherence to a set of philosophies and a set of truths. And so you said, oh, he got to be naive and hold on. Well, you did. You held on to it. This isn’t the story where after a couple of years, you gave up on those ideals and did something different.

 

00:03:00:19 – 00:03:08:15

Michael Conrad

Correct. This is the story where you took those naive ideas and you held on to them even when you weren’t an owner broker right away is.

 

00:03:08:15 – 00:03:09:14

Charlie Peterson

Too stubborn to quit.

 

00:03:09:17 – 00:03:29:00

Michael Conrad

Oh, there you go. But those got more clear. They got more codified, and in turn they went from the ideals of a young affiliate broker who is learning the business. And when I met you, you were the man willing to assist anyone with any task. And very smartly and adeptly, you were learning the business.

 

00:03:29:00 – 00:03:32:10

Charlie Peterson

Oh, yeah, man. I was watching, watching it. And they were like, Who was at the top?

 

00:03:32:12 – 00:04:00:11

Michael Conrad

Yes. And carefully selecting the people to connect yourself to to be able to get those skills. And then all sudden it felt all of a sudden, I’m sure to a lot of the folks that were too didn’t know you you popped up on the scene, had a broker’s license, and were going in entirely new direction, not with the franchise into your own space, which felt I would say for, you know, a lot of people on the outside looking in uncomfortable like, is this even going to make are you going to be some like little tiny boutique thing in Nowheresville?

 

00:04:00:17 – 00:04:01:08

Michael Conrad

You know.

 

00:04:01:08 – 00:04:25:05

Charlie Peterson

It. My neighbor Jake describes me as someone who would win the award for someone who’s not fearful when fear is actually warranted. Because when I when I stepped out and launched Tyler York, looking back now was like, oh, my gosh. Like, that was you know, that was that was a big move at the time. It did not feel like a risk at all.

 

00:04:25:06 – 00:04:43:04

Charlie Peterson

It was like, I just trust myself. I know what I’m capable of. I’ve done it for this other company. I can do it for myself. Sure, why not? Yeah. And then once you start it and you get six, six months in and you realize that that feeling of doing more than 40 transactions a year and being a very successful agent, then you start a company and now you have management broker on your business card and you get, Oh shit.

 

00:04:43:07 – 00:05:04:18

Charlie Peterson

Like, I don’t actually know how to do the job that I’m doing. I’m starting over and that imposter syndrome comes in hard. So it didn’t feel like a big risk at the time. And then later it was like, Oh my gosh, what am I doing? And then you settle into that new role and realize, you know, who do I need to be for the consumer and then for agents and what kind of leader am I?

 

00:05:04:18 – 00:05:12:19

Charlie Peterson

And I want to make sure that the values I’m portraying through running a business match my ideals for why I started this dang thing in the first place.

 

00:05:13:01 – 00:05:32:12

Michael Conrad

Okay, so you’re asking this really important question that I’m sure isn’t unique, and that is, who do I need to be serving and like, what are the values that I need to be bringing to bear to make sure I’m serving those people? And I feel like a lot of brokerages are asking, how do I serve the agent? What does the agent need?

 

00:05:32:14 – 00:05:35:01

Michael Conrad

But you are asking those questions.

 

00:05:35:02 – 00:05:52:13

Charlie Peterson

I don’t think that’s a bad question for brokerages to ask. I just I think is the wrong question. Okay. It’s a good question to ask. If your goal is recruiting, if you want to become a big company. Yeah. What tech and compensation programs wanted to have that’s going to attract the talent in and retain. Okay. Like as as business leaders.

 

00:05:52:15 – 00:06:26:14

Charlie Peterson

Good question. Ask my ideal for the industry would be a different question. Brokerages should be asking what does the consumer need from our agents? Not what does the agents need from us as brokers? So what I had built my business around when I was selling full time was a very hyper specialized local, high trust business model where, you know, prior two and a half years in maybe 30, 45% of my business was all within like a five mile radius of where I was, where I lived.

 

00:06:26:14 – 00:06:50:12

Charlie Peterson

And I loved serving this small community where it’s not like I’m saying, Oh, I specialize in Daviess County, Williamson County, the Governor’s Club and the Gulch. It’s now I’ve built a specific product for you, for this community. It’s why I’m in real estate to serve you this specific community. Can we work together? Can I provide you value? How can I best do that?

 

00:06:50:14 – 00:07:07:20

Charlie Peterson

And then, you know, for anyone listening to this, you can start with those questions and identify who are your people, What do they need from you that no one else could provide because of your talents and your passion and your skill set, then just give it to them. Just provide value, provide value, provide value. And then every now and then there.

 

00:07:07:20 – 00:07:10:20

Charlie Peterson

All right. Hook and say, you know, I’d actually love to be a realtor to.

 

00:07:10:22 – 00:07:11:05

Michael Conrad

Ask.

 

00:07:11:05 – 00:07:12:09

Charlie Peterson

For the. Why not? Yeah.

 

00:07:12:11 – 00:07:39:02

Michael Conrad

Yeah. So you’re talking about some of the most basic tenets of business, and that is we’re always meeting a need. Yeah. That there is profit borne not only in risk but in meeting a need. And so that stepping out there’s the risk, but that asking those questions and sort of foreseeing what the market is requesting, that’s the meeting, the need part and those connections together that’s business and really in any vertical.

 

00:07:39:03 – 00:07:42:18

Michael Conrad

Yeah and I think more realtors should be asking those questions.

 

00:07:42:20 – 00:08:02:20

Charlie Peterson

It’s this is correct this is crazy to say okay so just gear up for this. All right? Most people are not going to hire you because they saw you on Instagram. Well, they’re not serious. They’re not now. They’re are agents. I have a couple of my company, Mary Lee, at Move Me to Tennessee might be the most successful agent in the state of Tennessee of capturing out-of-state buyers.

 

00:08:02:22 – 00:08:32:01

Charlie Peterson

It leans into her talents and her passion. That’s what she has built her business around. Very few people can pull it off. Okay. Most of the time where you’re going to build trust is belly to belly. It’s, you know, it’s the people you’re doing business with. Are you sponsored a popsicle stand at the neighborhood pool party and you met every single person there and then you followed up with them and you say, hey, thank you for being a part of this.

 

00:08:32:03 – 00:08:48:11

Charlie Peterson

And then every month you’re providing a CMA on the neighborhood Facebook group and saying, Hey, you don’t want anything from me, only everything for you. Here’s what’s going on. And maybe you’re writing market reports. I mean, you might be doing any number of things, providing a a general contractor list of vendor lists, promoting other people in your community.

 

00:08:48:11 – 00:09:06:02

Charlie Peterson

If you’re promoting other people who are also within that same sphere, why not just build trust and let that rising tide raise all ships? It’s a it’s a really fun way of building business when everyone you’re working with, you don’t have to build trust with. You’ve already done it. It’s like, if I’m going into a listing appointment, I’m not interviewing.

 

00:09:06:04 – 00:09:15:07

Charlie Peterson

I’m going there because they already trust me, or even if I am interviewing, I’m just assuming, say, sale, why would they not work with me? I’m literally the most qualified person in the world to help these people sell their house.

 

00:09:15:08 – 00:09:17:07

Michael Conrad

Because you’ve specialized in a niche.

 

00:09:17:07 – 00:09:33:13

Charlie Peterson

And I can sit across a dining room table for them and and hear the story. What’s the vision where we’re going? Why? What are you all looking for? Okay, great. Right. Well, let me tell you, I’m the most qualified person in the world to help you. I’ll do this, but don’t hire me because of that. You know, here my folder and my reference sheet is in there of my last 30 listings in this community.

 

00:09:33:13 – 00:09:43:03

Charlie Peterson

Don’t. They’ll take your call. Anyone here will take your call. Let me tell you what my system and why I’ve developed a skill for why I’m good at this.

 

00:09:43:05 – 00:10:08:07

Michael Conrad

And that system that you’re developing in that motion. It’s hard to come by and really needs the tutelage and instruction of a brokerage. And so how are we seeing a difference between the brokers that you’re building versus the brokers that other people are building around what the consumer needs as a pass through value of what agents should be providing and sort of you sculpting in them versus what are the needs that agents sort of are needed for their business?

 

00:10:08:07 – 00:10:39:09

Charlie Peterson

Well, generally speaking, as a broker, just don’t think this way. They’re not necessarily helping their agents build an irreplaceable service to a niche market. They’re not doing that as long as their agents are producing. Generally, they’re happy. Sometimes, even if they’re not producing. Sometimes brokers are happy because they’re collecting monthly dues or whatever. So I can’t speak for other companies, but at my company it’s right when someone on boards and generally during the interview process, I’m learning, Who are your people?

 

00:10:39:14 – 00:11:02:19

Charlie Peterson

Are we crystal clear on who your people are that you’re trying to serve? What do they need from you now? How are they going? How are you going to reach them? If we can get there? Now, all you have to do is put in the work most agents are, and we just try and put in the work and we go to these broker opens and show people that I’m doing the business and they’re working really, really hard and not selling any real estate.

 

00:11:02:21 – 00:11:39:14

Michael Conrad

Which is interesting because effectively what you’re getting at is it’s not equipping you to be generally good at practicing, you know, a profession. It’s helping you begin to center in on what’s your brand, what’s your sphere, what’s your niche, what’s your specialization. You’re focusing really early in the conversation on specialization and sort of brand management. When I don’t see that probably a ton and we know this is good because we see this in other industries where we know we can’t be relevant to all people and we know we need to stand out and be different.

 

00:11:39:14 – 00:12:02:01

Michael Conrad

And so this brand piece about, you know, what other people say about you, it has to be molded and sculpted and sort of carefully curated. And if you’re only merely being equipped to know the legalities and the ethics of contracts or negotiation tactics. Yeah. Or even where the best find the best land, who cares? You know, all of that stuff can probably be the learn on the internet.

 

00:12:02:01 – 00:12:05:20

Michael Conrad

Yeah. And probably be taught in almost any brokerage.

 

00:12:05:22 – 00:12:27:09

Charlie Peterson

Yes. And generally speaking, like the larger the brokerage, the more I lose trust because the problem in the market is saturation. Yeah. Okay. So it’s like you were just saying, I mean, what we were taught in the licensure process and code of ethics, just because you spent a ton of time in the classroom doesn’t mean that you’re a great agent.

 

00:12:27:11 – 00:12:44:12

Charlie Peterson

Who are you building trust with And who were you on this planet to serve? I don’t want to get to the core of that, let’s say. And that’s different for every agent. And why of real estate training is generally bad, because it’s kind of it’s usually in this one size fits all format. Okay. Real estate training is overrated.

 

00:12:44:14 – 00:13:00:18

Charlie Peterson

Real estate coaching that is specialized for that agent where you can identify what do you want to do, what do you want to grow? And sometimes that’s geographical community base, neighborhood base. Other times it might be about property type or working with investors. It can be completely different.

 

00:13:00:21 – 00:13:18:10

Michael Conrad

But yeah, I love this idea that there is a big difference between training and coaching, and those terms are certainly used interchangeably in the grander business world and certainly in real estate where it’s like, Oh yeah, I’m going to do some training or I’m going to get some coaching or I’m going to see a coach who’s doing some training or whatever, mix of words.

 

00:13:18:12 – 00:13:39:22

Michael Conrad

But this idea that there’s training almost insinuates that there is a predetermined format that you are now applying yourself to, or that you’re trying to fit within. Whereas coaching has this sense of like, Hey, you’re a specific player with a specific set of skills on a specific team, and I’m going to work to make you the absolute best that you can be in your specific thing.

 

00:13:39:22 – 00:13:43:21

Michael Conrad

You’re not going to be a point guard, you know, and a forward at the same time.

 

00:13:43:21 – 00:13:46:23

Charlie Peterson

You’re not sending the kicker and the quarterback to do the same workouts.

 

00:13:46:23 – 00:14:22:19

Michael Conrad

Correct? Yeah. And so this idea of coaching at a brokerage level becomes a way for a brokerage to set itself apart. And I really think that this idea that brokerage is not service and value and sort of methodologies, but you know, brokerage as a place where you are clarifying and distilling and even shaping a personal brand is actually a much better and almost much more future oriented look at like how we support a selling agent group.

 

00:14:22:19 – 00:14:48:09

Charlie Peterson

It’s generally something also that can’t be replicated. Okay, So like if I’ve got about 50 agents that work with us in our Nashville market, if the only reason they were at Tyler York was the the compensation plan and that we provided dot loop. Okay, any other brokerage can do can replicate providing dot loop or are our using our compensation plans.

 

00:14:48:11 – 00:15:00:21

Charlie Peterson

Some companies have kind of ripped off or compensated. Good for them and we publish it. We have no secrets is on our website. What do we care if that’s what’s keeping agents out of brokerage? The grass will always be greener somewhere else.

 

00:15:00:23 – 00:15:08:05

Michael Conrad

Okay, so I’m hearing you tell me an entirely different message than the words you just said. I’m I tell you what I just said.

 

00:15:08:05 – 00:15:09:04

Charlie Peterson

Okay. Tell me. Yep.

 

00:15:09:04 – 00:15:36:03

Michael Conrad

I’m hearing that you’re building a brokerage that is an experience driven model rather than a service based model. And this is something actually that I’ve done some teaching in the real estate community here locally around this concept that really all selling agents need to be focused more on creating an experience driven brand for their consumers rather than a service driven brand.

 

00:15:36:03 – 00:15:47:13

Michael Conrad

Because service driven means that you are effectively potentially replaceable by software automation. God forbid I and or some other disrupter tech disruptor with Wall Street money in the market, the.

 

00:15:47:13 – 00:15:48:21

Charlie Peterson

Service has to be great.

 

00:15:48:23 – 00:15:49:23

Michael Conrad

Like no doubt.

 

00:15:50:01 – 00:16:21:13

Charlie Peterson

It has to be great, but it can be replicated or the agent might. You know, generally brokers provide like this buffet of services and sometimes the agents don’t know how to walk up to it and even leverage the services that are being offered. Okay. So they should have that. We have that. No one’s at the camp. Well, they they might stay at the company generally because I am super accessible, I demand of myself expert knowledge and things like our our contracts, contract strategy, contract enforcement, dispute resolution.

 

00:16:21:13 – 00:16:49:18

Charlie Peterson

I have to be an expert in those things. If there’s a crack in that service, agents will be dissatisfied. And if I lose any amount of trust with my agents, that could bring everything down. This is a high, high trust environment. We’ve built 95% retention in our company over five and a half years because of trust. Okay? But the culture that we have is not synonymous with the service we provide that experience that you’re talking about.

 

00:16:49:20 – 00:17:15:21

Charlie Peterson

It’s because we all are aligned on the same vision of excellence and all value and practice. A hyper specialized business model, not as a good way of doing business, but the only way that’s worthy of doing business, that creates a culture that people can feel a part of. That’s an agent experience to where, like I know you specialize in something that I don’t do and I do something that you don’t do.

 

00:17:15:21 – 00:17:27:03

Charlie Peterson

And if we need to partner with a client or promote if I need to promote your listing or your business, it doesn’t cost me anything to do that because we’re really not competitors. You’re doing something completely different than what I’m doing.

 

00:17:27:05 – 00:17:38:16

Michael Conrad

It’s a true real estate community in a way that is different than the way we probably use that word a lot. Yeah, it’s a shared group of leveraging resources.

 

00:17:38:18 – 00:17:56:21

Charlie Peterson

It’s very fun. Yes, and it’s very freeing because when you get a call for a client who wants to buy ten acres out for it and they were asking you all the subject permitting questions and you don’t know how to handle all this stuff, that’s okay, because you call Maggie or you call Kristin because they’re the best in the world at that.

 

00:17:56:23 – 00:18:09:13

Charlie Peterson

And they’re gonna say, Yeah, hey, this is going to be easy. I can totally help you with this and I can just tell you how to do it. Or if you want to introduce me to the client, we can partner on this, whatever you want to do. You know, high trust where it doesn’t cost anyone else in the company to promote and support you.

 

00:18:09:15 – 00:18:39:23

Charlie Peterson

Yeah, that’s game changer. Okay, What if my retention and the success of my brokerage service and experience or culture isn’t dependent on me at all? What if it is felt peer to peer within the company so that you enjoy being at the company that you’re not because of the leadership? That’s part of it, but also because Maggie’s here and because Kyle’s here and that high trust environment is irreplaceable.

 

00:18:40:01 – 00:18:43:23

Michael Conrad

Yeah, this is this is the future. It’s official calm.

 

00:18:44:01 – 00:18:47:14

Charlie Peterson

All right? Because if it’s only technology, who cares.

 

00:18:47:16 – 00:18:49:03

Michael Conrad

Right? It’s replaceable.

 

00:18:49:05 – 00:18:58:10

Charlie Peterson

It’s in. And it’s not only replaceable by other brokerages, whether they’re trustworthy or not is replaceable by Wall Street.

 

00:18:58:12 – 00:19:10:09

Michael Conrad

Yeah. And we can’t envision or imagine what the next disruption is going to be. So you have to be rushing towards the places where is the least opportunity for disruption?

 

00:19:10:11 – 00:19:17:04

Charlie Peterson

Absolutely.

 

00:19:17:06 – 00:19:42:05

Jake Hall

Hey, everyone, it’s Jake, director for the Business of Homes Podcast. I hope you have been enjoying today’s episode, starting with Charlie’s feelings behind launching Tyler York, how his brokerage was different from the beginning, and the difference between training and coaching. When we return, Michael and Charlie dig into the issue with wide specialization, how to stand out in your neighborhood and the brokerage model as a whole.

 

00:19:42:07 – 00:20:02:10

Jake Hall

We’re diving into some of the best information we’ve had on the podcast. So make sure to keep listening. Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook and Instagram @thebusinessofhomespod, where you can interact with us and see some great bite sized pieces from all of our episode for you listeners out there. Did you know our entire podcasts are filmed and are on our YouTube channel?

 

00:20:02:12 – 00:20:23:15

Jake Hall

Check it out next time you want to see our amazing guest, tell their stories. And are you currently watching this episode in video format? Don’t forget to follow us on your preferred audio streaming service to take us with you on the go. Lastly, do you have any feedback or want to suggest someone for the show? Email us at thebusinessofhomes@gmail.com.

 

00:20:23:17 – 00:20:37:23

Jake Hall

Please enjoy the rest of today’s episode with Charlie Peterson. Let’s get back to it.

 

00:20:38:01 – 00:20:41:04

Michael Conrad

The brokerage model is antiquated.

 

00:20:41:06 – 00:20:42:00

Charlie Peterson

Yeah.

 

00:20:42:02 – 00:20:45:11

Michael Conrad

And I would argue in some circles the brokerage model is dead.

 

00:20:45:12 – 00:20:48:07

Charlie Peterson

It’s no longer about selling real estate. It’s about recruiting.

 

00:20:48:08 – 00:21:15:00

Michael Conrad

Well, not only that, it’s like the curtains been pulled back on style of like, Oh, just kidding. The brokerage isn’t my friend. I’m the consumer. I’m the target, I’m the mark. I’m the real estate agent that the brokerage is looking to acquire. They’re not serving clients. I’m serving clients. Yeah. And so we know that now. But you are breathing new life, in my opinion, into a brokerage model, which in general, I’m kind of wondering how much longer we have that brokerages exist.

 

00:21:15:02 – 00:21:48:22

Charlie Peterson

Tyler York doesn’t try to answer the question, What do agents need? Oh, that’s what most brokerages do. How do we attract more talent? But we need support. When he brokers, we need office space, we need technology. So that’s the wrong, wrong question. It should be. What do consumers need from agents? And we can identify what the consumer actually needs from a grassroots, local, hyper specialized real estate professional, what that agent actually needs more brokerage gets really focused very quickly.

 

00:21:49:00 – 00:22:10:10

Charlie Peterson

It’s like, do they need some tech? Yeah, they don’t need much. Don’t they broker support? Yes. But depending on what that brokerage is trying to achieve, which is part of the problem. And in real estate, if you ask brokerages across our city, across the nation, what are you trying to achieve, they say, well, just market share. We just won’t be bigger.

 

00:22:10:12 – 00:22:12:20

Charlie Peterson

Well, how big is big enough? I don’t know.

 

00:22:12:22 – 00:22:34:17

Michael Conrad

Okay. So you’re scratching at this idea that to be more relevant, which is an outward sort of pushing energy, you have to be more inwardly local focused. And so our technology leverages us to further reach digitally, but we then have to almost diametrically opposite to that would be focusing inward.

 

00:22:34:17 – 00:22:58:22

Charlie Peterson

Absolutely. Yeah. If you say that you are a realtor and you specialize in Davidson County, Williamson County, Wilson County, and you do residential sales, single family homes, condos and townhomes, that’s your specialization immediately. There’s no trust built because we know you can’t do any of that. You really aren’t going to be the best in the world, any of those things if we’re trying to do all of that.

 

00:22:58:23 – 00:23:01:01

Michael Conrad

Yeah, it doesn’t pass the smell test to that.

 

00:23:01:01 – 00:23:01:14

Charlie Peterson

It doesn’t work.

 

00:23:01:14 – 00:23:02:05

Michael Conrad

Consumer.

 

00:23:02:08 – 00:23:22:06

Charlie Peterson

It’s like, okay, if I, if, if you if you’re at a job, well, we don’t go to Best Buy any more per se, but let’s say you go to Best Buy and you’re looking at computers. There’s this giant section of Dells and UPS and whatever else, and it’s like, Well, these are business machines. These are created for you to do business.

 

00:23:22:08 – 00:23:47:03

Charlie Peterson

They’re they’re created for programs and function. Meanwhile, you go over to the Apple section and it’s we built this for you. We’ve built something special for you because it’s a lifestyle piece. The same thing that Tesla did, right. It’s everyone else was trying to figure out fuel economy and design. And Tesla said, let’s just reinvent the whole game and why wouldn’t realtors want to do that?

 

00:23:47:05 – 00:24:11:11

Michael Conrad

Yeah, it’s difficult because we want especially early in business, heck, you don’t have to be early in business. Wherever you are in your business, depending on your goal. You want more? Mm hmm. And our little lizard brains tell us. Well, we have to go wide to get more, and we sort of somewhere know that there’s this depth of niche and depth of vertical.

 

00:24:11:13 – 00:24:28:08

Michael Conrad

But, like, it’s much harder for our lizard brains to sort of attach to that and figure out how to get there. Or there’s a doubt component. And I’m not going to this isn’t some Tony Robbins thing here, but there’s a doubt component where we’re like, Well, statistically speaking, it’s doubtful that I can be the person in the niche.

 

00:24:28:08 – 00:24:35:12

Michael Conrad

And so if I kind of play it safe and play it wide, I’m not going to cast a large dragnet. Mm hmm.

 

00:24:35:14 – 00:24:58:21

Charlie Peterson

Mm hmm. Sounds like a good recipe for burnout. Yeah. That’s why we have agents that are going from Lebanon to Colombia to Clarksville, trying to close just whatever they can. Yeah, and it’s. Is that who you want to be? It’s not sustainable. You can’t do it in this business. You have to list to live every successful agent in history really has been listings focused and their sellers become their buyers.

 

00:24:59:01 – 00:25:20:10

Charlie Peterson

If you want to be doing 40 transactions a year, don’t get 40 sets of clients. Try and do 40 transactions a year with 20 sets of clients. Now your life just got a lot easier. And then if all of those sets of clients are also within a five mile radius of where you live to, where now you’re not just uninsurable to a small subset like sub market segment, you’re irreplaceable to them.

 

00:25:20:11 – 00:25:25:04

Charlie Peterson

You’ve built trust relationships. It’s now your job, just not to screw it up.

 

00:25:25:06 – 00:25:46:12

Michael Conrad

Well, it goes back to this idea that sometimes I think in real estate gets missed and that is the easiest customer to acquire is the customer that you already have. And the quickest way to a dollar is to re monetize a customer that you already earned a dollar with, you know. And so if you are getting both sides of the transaction, so to speak, not on a single deal but on a yes listing.

 

00:25:46:12 – 00:25:46:20

Charlie Peterson

Number of.

 

00:25:46:20 – 00:26:20:11

Michael Conrad

Deals. Exactly. That’s a much better use of time. Classic two birds with one stone sort of analogy here than it is to try to acquire two buyers. And you aren’t taking into account consumer behavior and adoption and attrition. And this whole idea of like a never ending chase of acquisition. Look, I’ve been in business and it’s a high volume business and I know how to put on a show and I know how to acquire new clients because sexy and cool and shiny and interesting are the things that I can deal in.

 

00:26:20:11 – 00:26:40:09

Michael Conrad

But that depth of relationship over time has been learned that this is the way, this is the best path to the most rooted monetization. It’s the easiest, less expenditure of time and energy and effort moving forward. And honestly, at the end of the day, ask anyone, you go to a networking event and someone says, I specialize in everything.

 

00:26:40:09 – 00:26:59:14

Michael Conrad

What’s your immediate thought? You say, No, you don’t. I don’t believe you. Yeah, I don’t believe it. You can’t. It’s really we don’t live in that. We’ve never lived in that when our world was much smaller. I know that the digital world has given us a brain space that is wider. It still doesn’t work. We still can’t be the real draw for all of America.

 

00:26:59:16 – 00:27:08:11

Charlie Peterson

I live in Williamson County. If someone says they specialize in Williamson County. No, you don’t. Don’t tell me you do. No one’s will townhomes and work land because I know you don’t. Yeah, Columbia.

 

00:27:08:12 – 00:27:09:09

Michael Conrad

And Brentwood.

 

00:27:09:09 – 00:27:32:03

Charlie Peterson

Because I know you don’t. Yeah. You know you’re not doing Governor’s Club and also doing Falcon Creek. Not with excellence. You can do it. You could do it, but you’re going to reach a point in your career and you should try and do it as fast as possible where you are scaling up in a very focused direction and farming out and delegating things that don’t match exactly where you’re going in your business.

 

00:27:32:03 – 00:27:53:08

Michael Conrad

I’m glad you brought that up because I’ve talked before. Our business required personnel to grow and because of that, we were always fighting the same formula in business that everyone fights, and that is, are you going to sacrifice quality? You’re going to sacrifice availability. Are you going to sacrifice, you know, pricing? I mean, what is going to be the sacrifice?

 

00:27:53:08 – 00:28:24:11

Michael Conrad

Because if you’re a single solo practitioner, which most of the folks listening to this podcast and most folks in real estate are going to be some form of a single solo practitioner, something’s going to give up. There’s just not enough time of the day is lot of energy, burnout, all that kind of stuff. But if you begin to farm leads to cohorts in other little burrows or build a team around you, both of which are great options, both can lead to additional dollars and allow individual specialization and a team working on behalf of a whole.

 

00:28:24:13 – 00:28:28:09

Michael Conrad

And I don’t see that happening as readily. I’m not sure what’s being taught.

 

00:28:28:09 – 00:28:34:02

Charlie Peterson

Here’s why in schools, here’s why. In real estate, it’s because it’s a low trust industry.

 

00:28:34:03 – 00:28:35:03

Michael Conrad

For who?

 

00:28:35:05 – 00:29:07:19

Charlie Peterson

For agents to other agents. It’s it’s from the consumer to the agent to sometimes from the agent to the broker. Broker, sometimes the agent to agent. This is why teams form small little companies within their larger company because they don’t want to be so-and-so of the KW office or of the campus office or whatever. They have their own system, their own identity, and their own small circle of trust to where they say, okay, if I can’t take this client because it’s outside of my specialization or my purview, whatever it is, I can send it to Michael because I know that’s exactly what he does.

 

00:29:07:21 – 00:29:28:12

Charlie Peterson

This is the whole point of starting Tyler York Go is what if an entire company was only comprised of people who were the absolute best and their small market segment? We don’t have to for formed teams. The company is its own team acts as a team, even though we’re not co-branding with each other all the time as a formal team.

 

00:29:28:14 – 00:29:46:11

Charlie Peterson

So when I have a client that says, Yeah, I want to sell this house and Franklin and I want to purchase a lake house in Hendersonville, I don’t know a damn thing about lake houses, okay? I don’t want to do it. I don’t want to drive in an hour away to do this either. But you know what? I can help them perform this part of their transaction and reach the real estate goals.

 

00:29:46:11 – 00:30:04:22

Charlie Peterson

Why? While also leveraging Katie in my office? Because she’s the best at that. And I can say, yes, I can absolutely help you reach that goal. When we get to that point, I’m going to open Katie. She’s my business partner that specializes in what you want to do. I’m going to take the supportive role. We’re going to get you to the closing table.

 

00:30:05:00 – 00:30:06:10

Charlie Peterson

Okay. So I trust.

 

00:30:06:12 – 00:30:32:13

Michael Conrad

But this is hard because we as humanity are not high trust. I mean, you’re getting out some really interesting social dynamics that this givers get philosophy where I know it will come back to me. The world feels like that’s not true, even if it is true in certain ways. And this idea that you have to believe that when I give away that referral, someone is also going to be in this larger chain giving it back.

 

00:30:32:15 – 00:30:55:06

Michael Conrad

Usually where I see the successful is when there is an inspiring leader at the front, either by placing a framework, you know, on the people or providing them continual transparency and leadership to sort of inspire this type of behavior. Because I don’t think that natural, chaotic entropy leads us to a place where we’re trusting and passing and giving and then hopefully getting.

 

00:30:55:12 – 00:31:16:11

Charlie Peterson

Trust builds over time. Obviously, like this kind of business model requires time for people to really understand and see the value of it. But secondly, to really understand the importance of it. When they’ve gone to Hendersonville ten times and have gone 2 hours each way, hour at the showing, and now they’re they’ve invested 30 hours into something that hasn’t resulted in something.

 

00:31:16:13 – 00:31:40:15

Charlie Peterson

And they’re thinking about, okay, I’m doing all this for a $15,000 commission. At some point this is going to have a negative return. At some point, I’ve got to say this is no longer worth my time. That’s when they really start to get, Oh, yeah, this high trust model is really important. Maybe I should leverage the trust I have with this other person and have this sharing economy where, Okay, Katie’s going to take the lead.

 

00:31:40:15 – 00:31:52:02

Charlie Peterson

I’ll get a commission chair. Right. It is. So at our company, it’s something crazy. Like one out of every six transactions has a level of commission share that’s bonkers. That that’s very unusual in our industry.

 

00:31:52:03 – 00:31:52:19

Michael Conrad

Amazing.

 

00:31:52:21 – 00:32:13:07

Charlie Peterson

We hope to see that be a catalyst for inspiring other companies to do the same thing, because usually in this industry, the more successful someone is more transactions, they’re doing higher price point, they’re doing, the more miserable they become.

 

00:32:13:09 – 00:32:17:17

Michael Conrad

I like to see that graph, the misery against volume sort of metric.

 

00:32:17:17 – 00:32:36:02

Charlie Peterson

If you looked at the ten top companies in Nashville and you said, Show me your top 25 agents and those companies, those are not going to be the happiest people at those companies. Yeah, this is why I fell early in my career. So why I wanted to be a broker owner was I was at this amazing company, had a great broker and a great mentor.

 

00:32:36:02 – 00:32:58:02

Charlie Peterson

But when I looked at the top of that company, the more likely I was seeing marriages falling apart, relationships with kids falling apart, greater levels of addiction. And I was like, man, something has broken here. And I realized it wasn’t this company. This company was awesome. It was the culture of the industry.

 

00:32:58:04 – 00:33:39:06

Michael Conrad

Yeah, this burn out piece is so just under the surface and not being discussed and it all leads back to this concept of how is the brokerage leading? How are people being taught? How are they practicing? So commission share, as you put it, is nothing new. We’ve been sharing commissions with brokerages for decades, but in a increasingly sort of streamlined brokerage model that’s more and more present, perhaps the alternative that makes it all make much more sense to not have to be driving to Timbuktu and back again is commission share with your fellow man and fellow woman instead of with your broker.

 

00:33:39:06 – 00:33:55:20

Michael Conrad

The broker is not building you and empowering you to become the all in one for the all of middle Tennessee. No, it’s connecting you to a web of leverage resources so that the commission share. Sure. A little bit goes back to the brokers naturally, but that it’s to your fellow man because you have a web of connection. It’s a community.

 

00:33:55:22 – 00:34:16:13

Charlie Peterson

And when the trust is there, you stop one. You stop thinking about all, What am I giving up by outsourcing this client to another agent? You don’t think that way. You think, Oh, my gosh, It’s so freeing to know that even though I specialize in Southeast Franklin mid-nineties subdivision homes, I don’t have to be the expert on lipase for septic system approval.

 

00:34:16:13 – 00:34:31:08

Charlie Peterson

And I don’t have to be the expert at that. I can. I can be involved. I can help. But I’m going to work with Kristen, who is the uninsurable, irreplaceable expert at that. And we’re all going to look like heroes at the end of the day and all make a good commission. So who wouldn’t want that?

 

00:34:31:10 – 00:35:06:03

Michael Conrad

You keep talking about housing, stock subsets, geographic subsets. However, we are actually peeling back the layers of the business side of real estate, even more to you to this place of look. Sphere mining or lead acquisition and lead development into clients is an entire skill unto itself. And for us to kind of insinuate that every solo or even team practitioner in real estate is going to be natively good at like farming a sphere and develop leads into clients is outright ludicrous.

 

00:35:06:03 – 00:35:43:02

Michael Conrad

Some are going to be good, some are not going to be as good. So when we talk about these practitioners in certain niches geographically over the certain housing stock, these are servicers in the service of business sort of manner. And then really the lead acquisition is almost marketers or in an element. And so yet further within this community, this this new brokerage concept, you have those that heck, I could almost begin to become a skilled lead developer and then my only my only business, I don’t service anyone.

 

00:35:43:02 – 00:35:59:12

Michael Conrad

All I do is refer. And if I was good enough and my reach was far enough, sure, perhaps I could be building almost an entire referral based business because I feel like that entrenches relationships, puts people in an element of business and social debt, which I think builds relationships.

 

00:35:59:12 – 00:36:00:13

Charlie Peterson

Totally.

 

00:36:00:15 – 00:36:08:01

Michael Conrad

And provide you a chance to focus on the thing you’re good at rather than maybe trying to do both servicing and lead acquisition. You have to.

 

00:36:08:01 – 00:36:31:03

Charlie Peterson

Lead into your talents and what you’re organically good at. I’m really good at geo farming because I love building relationships and knowing my neighbors and like providing value, promoting other people in my community. That’s what I do all day. I love it. I’m that as an agent. That’s what I do, right? Some of our agents on our company would rather poke themselves with needles than do that.

 

00:36:31:05 – 00:36:51:03

Charlie Peterson

They want to look at acquisition costs. What’s it going to cost us to tear down this lot and pitch to my builders to build 2 hours on this lot? Right. They do not need to be out building. They need to lean to their strengths of maybe it’s investment in development acquisition, maybe it’s property type. It doesn’t have to be geo farming, community based specialization.

 

00:36:51:03 – 00:37:09:23

Charlie Peterson

It might be land or development or working with investors or flips or whatever it is. Whatever you’re interested, there is room for a lot of different kinds of skill sets and personalities in this industry. If I can give anyone listening to this that is earlier in their career, the advice is don’t try to be someone that you’re not.

 

00:37:10:00 – 00:37:14:15

Charlie Peterson

Don’t try and go specialize in Green Hills luxury property. Really, If that’s not who you are.

 

00:37:14:15 – 00:37:15:19

Michael Conrad

Unless you own.

 

00:37:15:21 – 00:37:24:06

Charlie Peterson

If you’re trying to think to yourself, oh my gosh, now how do I reach those people? If you have to ask that question, they’re probably not your people. Yeah, that’s tough. Yes. I mean, yeah.

 

00:37:24:12 – 00:37:25:17

Michael Conrad

That’s a tough reality to hazard.

 

00:37:25:17 – 00:37:51:11

Charlie Peterson

But they’re probably not your people. Yeah. Identify. Who are you organically in flow with. We learned this from our ninja selling sales systems that a lot of realtors have gone through. Who are you and Flow with? Who is organically part of your life? And if you can’t think of some subsets that make it your SWI from church or the gym or school or neighborhood or whatever, you need to really figure out who it is that you’re and why.

 

00:37:51:13 – 00:37:57:02

Charlie Peterson

What do they, what do they need from Michael that the other dozen realtors I know can’t provide.

 

00:37:57:05 – 00:37:57:21

Michael Conrad

Right.

 

00:37:57:23 – 00:38:03:08

Charlie Peterson

If you can’t answer that question, you’re going have a really hard time in this business. We don’t need more realtors.

 

00:38:03:09 – 00:38:04:02

Michael Conrad

Right?

 

00:38:04:04 – 00:38:08:12

Charlie Peterson

Like, you know, we’re not shutting the door, but we don’t need you.

 

00:38:08:14 – 00:38:23:00

Michael Conrad

So we in the grand scope or any more realtors. But who knows your sphere, whoever your is, your sphere might need a realtor in this manner, you know, not all acting roles are right for the actor, right? Sometimes it’s perfect.

 

00:38:23:02 – 00:38:38:06

Charlie Peterson

If agents can have crystal clear clarity on who they’re here to serve and how they’re going to do it and why, Oh, now all you got to do is put in the work. Most people try and put in the work without ever figuring out who, how and why. If you can start with that, then put in the work.

 

00:38:38:10 – 00:39:00:17

Charlie Peterson

Now you’re moving in a very focused direction and who cares that, you know, you’re doing 40, 50 transactions a few years into your business? What if 20 you were doing 25, 30 transactions, but they’re all in a hyper specialized niche that you’re irreplaceable, too. And it doesn’t matter what Zillow or Opendoor are offer pad or purple bricks or whatever Wall Street’s cooking up next to try and replace the traditional agent.

 

00:39:00:19 – 00:39:09:11

Charlie Peterson

What do we care? Because this is going to take business away from agents who probably never belong here in the first place. They’re not going to take business away from you. Yeah, you’ve built the trust.

 

00:39:09:13 – 00:39:44:02

Michael Conrad

So there’s this idea that it’s hard to come up with specialization, but that the only way the consumer is going to notice and begin to know you like you and eventually trust you is through radically differentiating yourself. Yeah, sure. This it’s so easy for our lizard brains to sort of push us into. I want to be the essence of real estate professional, and so I’m just going to keep on myself, those elements in those essences that make me look from the outside looking in like I’m doing real estate.

 

00:39:44:02 – 00:40:07:03

Michael Conrad

But if you don’t have something that is identifiable about you, if someone can’t speak to that about you, then you have no brand. Because a brand when you break it right down is actually not what you say about yourself. It’s about what others say about, That’s great. And so if you can’t go to someone in your sphere of influence and say, What do you think of around business?

 

00:40:07:03 – 00:40:25:11

Michael Conrad

Or maybe not when you think of me, and if that isn’t immediately identifiable, your brand isn’t out there and you can begin to influence your brand. Social media, of course, is a big way to do that. But how you interact with people in your neighborhood or you’re the folks that you’re already seeing that’s going to begin to build that differentiation.

 

00:40:25:16 – 00:40:34:11

Michael Conrad

And so again, yes, for folks listening here, please, please listen to Charlie. Do not try to be all things to all people. It just doesn’t work. It’s a fallacy.

 

00:40:34:16 – 00:41:01:05

Charlie Peterson

This is why market segmentation is so important. And like what you were just saying about the brand being what other people are saying, it’s almost like a palate for like if you recommend to me a restaurant, you don’t have to tell me much about it because I know, like if I trust your taste in restaurants, I’m just gonna be like, Oh, if you say dressing in DA in the Hermitage Hotel, Nuff said, I don’t need to ask about the menu or the service because I know your standards and that’s trust.

 

00:41:01:06 – 00:41:04:09

Charlie Peterson

It’s like I can just I can go in and be like nuff said.

 

00:41:04:11 – 00:41:24:09

Michael Conrad

And that’s really we’re trying to build is that people know our palate or know our brand. That’s really the idea here. And if you are not able to be differentiated from that other realtor down the lane right here at the brokerage, then your trustworthiness is watered down. Okay, So.

 

00:41:24:09 – 00:41:40:04

Charlie Peterson

Here’s here’s the biggest problem in our industry. There are 17,000 of us down the lane oof! In middle Tennessee alone. Okay, so and let’s say of those 17,000, half of them have never done a real estate transaction.

 

00:41:40:06 – 00:41:41:05

Michael Conrad

That’s true.

 

00:41:41:07 – 00:42:02:09

Charlie Peterson

I don’t know what it is. It’s but like, if you look at across most large brokerages, more than half of not close the deal in the last year of their agents. Okay. Consumers know this because consumers, you know, say every person knows roughly six realtors, they don’t trust five of them. Okay. Because, you know, it’s it’s a hobby.

 

00:42:02:11 – 00:42:22:21

Charlie Peterson

They don’t do it professionally. And so why would you trust someone to handle your biggest financial asset? That is, does this for a hobby? Well, so how do you raise the bar? Will usually I’m getting on my soapbox. So that’s our efforts. I hear you. Usually brokerages and realtor associations point the finger at the state and say, well, should just be harder to get a real estate license.

 

00:42:22:23 – 00:42:45:15

Charlie Peterson

I think that’s completely wrong. In fact, my libertarian brain thinks that just whatever the state thinks is a good idea probably isn’t good anyways. Who cares? Even if there is a real estate license like having an affiliate, brokers license didn’t allow you to practice real estate anyways. You have to affiliate with a broker and practice underneath them. Okay, so who are the real gatekeepers for the professionalism in the standard in the industry?

 

00:42:45:15 – 00:43:13:19

Charlie Peterson

Is the brokers stop taking on everyone that has a real estate license and a pulse. If you want to change the game, elevate the industry, create some standards where we can build consumer trust. Again, it’s the brokers have to stand up and say, No, I think it’s on us. Maybe we need to change our hiring practices. But because brokers has learned long ago, if we have so many agents on our roster paying $100 a month in monthly dues, we don’t have to sell any real estate to be profitable.

 

00:43:13:21 – 00:43:29:20

Charlie Peterson

There are recruiting companies. Well, I have a fundamental problem with any company that charges monthly dues. Look, if you’re if you’re one of my agents and I and I’m devoted to your success, I don’t want you pay me anything. I’m going to make you successful. I’ll go. I’ll get a commission share from the business that you produce. I make money when you make money, period.

 

00:43:29:22 – 00:43:41:12

Charlie Peterson

End of statement. If you’re not making money, I don’t make anything from you. That means as a broker, I better elevate you. I better show you how to do this and coach you, keep you accountable and let’s let’s go make some moves in the market.

 

00:43:41:14 – 00:44:04:04

Michael Conrad

Yeah, I like that. That’s something that I’ve been incorporating in business for a number of years. And this idea of tying our fates together and that are and this is a bit of a social soapbox in and of itself that we shouldn’t be getting ahead on the backs and the work of others, but that the leverage that we can provide as leaders or as, you know, owners or as, you know, a team leader.

 

00:44:04:04 – 00:44:47:21

Michael Conrad

Sure. You know, it must be a way for you to connect back to whatever the work is. And so I think the brokerage model is due and ripe for this disruption because in a lot of ways it’s been disrupted of all of its essential values multiple times over the last handful of decades to to an extent that I think many brokerages are failing to provide real value and which is why your brokerage continues to be a breath of fresh air in the marketplace and why there’s almost nothing bad to say about Tyler York out there, because you guys are looking at it almost opposite and different than the way the other broker is.

 

00:44:47:21 – 00:45:02:06

Michael Conrad

It’s not the realtors are your client and you’re just looking to serve them, know you’re continuing to keep your eyes on the prize, that there is a larger consumer base that needs service. And it’s about leveraging those that are doing the servicing.

 

00:45:02:08 – 00:45:23:02

Charlie Peterson

I think of the brokerage world sort of like the luxury hotel space. And Tyler York is the Ritz-Carlton. Now, here’s the problem. The Waldorf Astoria is across the street. There’s the Holiday Inn. We got the W we have. It’s like it would not if you’re a guest in my hotel, it’s not like it’s hard for you to check out and go across the street to the Waldorf.

 

00:45:23:08 – 00:45:42:01

Charlie Peterson

It would be mildly annoying, but you’d have to pack your bags and move across the street. Okay. I got about 58 into my company. All of them could be at a different brokerage this afternoon. All of them. It would be mildly annoying for them to print new cards, you know? That’s it. So why are they at Tyler? York?

 

00:45:42:03 – 00:46:06:09

Charlie Peterson

Brokerages right now are racing to the bottom of who can be the cheapest. We’re 100%. We provide you all this. Okay, great race. Can’t wait to see who gets there first. You know, it’s a business model I don’t like, but I like that it’s in the marketplace. Okay. I like the different brokerages exist for different, different agents. Totally.

 

00:46:06:11 – 00:46:28:02

Charlie Peterson

It’s not my jam, but I’ll let you know. I love that Zillow tried to get in the brokerage game. Good. Shake things up, get in for our brokerage. Is it is all about vision alignment. It’s very different than than other brokers. It’s a culture of excellence and a business model of hyper specialization to become irreplaceable to a small market segment.

 

00:46:28:04 – 00:46:34:20

Charlie Peterson

That’s not something we think is a good business model. We think it is the only business model worthy of an agent pursuing.

 

00:46:34:21 – 00:46:58:13

Michael Conrad

Hmm. So there is inherently within that is an element of sustainability and a focus on long term business practice rather than short term gain. You referenced earlier this idea of like, Oh, I did 40 or 50 transactions last year. Cool. What are you going to do over the next ten years? What’s the volume? Do you have a sustainability based model and a sustainability based support system?

 

00:46:58:15 – 00:47:16:10

Michael Conrad

Sure. And your orientation to that is is really different because if I’m playing a long game as a broker, there’s not a lot of financial return in it for me right this moment. And so you have to have a bit of an expansive vision and going back to like things that we as humans are bad at. And I know that long vision is hard.

 

00:47:16:12 – 00:47:36:18

Charlie Peterson

And it’s no one becomes a real estate broker because of the money. If I wanted to make more money, I’d be a selling agent. Okay. I found that my niche and what I’ve felt the most fulfilled by in this industry was to be a broker owner. So let me preface that with agents who think their brokers are just rolling in it.

 

00:47:36:22 – 00:47:39:09

Charlie Peterson

Listen, they’re not they’re they’re working at.

 

00:47:39:11 – 00:47:39:18

Michael Conrad

Spoiler.

 

00:47:39:18 – 00:48:11:08

Charlie Peterson

Alert. Like they’re not they’re here because they love you and they are really fulfilled by helping you succeed. And I think the reason why we’ve done well, I think, is because we have a very set of ideals that I would love to give as advised brokers listening, but also to agents in their own respective businesses that don’t let anyone stand in your way of achieving what you specifically want to do in this business.

 

00:48:11:08 – 00:48:40:09

Charlie Peterson

No one thought Tyler York was a good idea. Okay? No one thought, Oh, let’s build a company that only does hire specialization. That sounds like a brokers. That’s always going to be struggling. Really, Who’s going to align with that? Well, it turns out, you know, five and a half years later, we have 95% retention of our agents. That’s because no one’s joining us because of our compensation plans, like we’re a moderately affordable company, but we’re not the cheapest.

 

00:48:40:11 – 00:49:06:07

Charlie Peterson

Some agents from cheaper companies join us. Some agents from more expensive companies join us. Okay, But this isn’t a commercial for Tyler York, but for anyone listening, it’s the people you’re going to do business with your clients, your business partners, your broker. What is it that makes you irreplaceable in the market to where others might align with your vision and say, Wow, you’re doing something pretty cool.

 

00:49:06:09 – 00:49:27:00

Charlie Peterson

I want to go with you. I want to join you on this. And when you when you tell a neighborhood, Hey, I’m in real estate, okay, who cares? They know a ton of people in real estate. If I say I’m in real estate and I’ve built my product around you. Okay, that’s interesting. Now, when they back that up with Now, here’s what I’ve built for you and here’s the value I’m going to provide you.

 

00:49:27:02 – 00:49:49:18

Charlie Peterson

And here’s the here’s my vendor list and here’s my services and providing the neighborhood, here’s my monthly CMA of what I’m doing. And when it’s custom tailored to somebody, it builds trust and it’s helpful for brokerages, for businesses. What I mean, I think of the developers and the builders we work with, they’re not building their product for everybody.

 

00:49:49:20 – 00:50:06:17

Charlie Peterson

They know who they’re building that product for. If they veer off of that, anytime someone like diverges away from what is clearly their vision, it never works. It’s like those are the clients that are going to give you the most headache.

 

00:50:06:18 – 00:50:48:14

Michael Conrad

You’re going back to the digital space. We have been lulled into thinking our ideal client is the everyman, and that’s just not true. And the best marketers at even the Fortune 500 companies have a very, very specified consumer avatar to sort of make sure that they’re always focusing their marketing on a certain niche of consumer. Sure. And so I think that’s a good piece of encouragement for anyone listening that if you can’t readily identify kind of what your consumer avatar is and kind of say, Yeah, my friend who lives in this place and has this kind of product is more or less kind of the kind of person I’m trying to sell real estate to

 

00:50:48:14 – 00:51:10:16

Michael Conrad

or, or serve of. Yeah, in that manner. Then you need to do a little bit of a deep dive. Real estate constantly lulls you into the idea, especially with our market, that like, I don’t really need to do these hardcore deep dives into business practice or to do personal development because I will incidentally acquire enough experience where if I can stick it out long enough, I’m going to be great.

 

00:51:10:16 – 00:51:47:05

Michael Conrad

Sure. And it’s just not been true historically. It’s certainly not true in other industries, and I would say it’s not true in other markets. Survival rate, of course, in this industry is notoriously terrible attrition ratio. Yeah, but the best practitioners that we can look at and really kind of the reason behind the storytelling, this podcast is about the business and the entrepreneurism behind it all and those that have these beautiful, clear visions and these very codified philosophies, they survive because the public and their consumers that they’re going after recognize that.

 

00:51:47:10 – 00:52:17:04

Michael Conrad

And the truth is we all want to follow like an inspired doer or an inspired leader or some combination thereof. And so we are no different in our own consumer behavior. Well, that’s a I mean, this has been really, really great for us to be able to kind of look a little bit different at the brokerage model and some of those less visible pieces of the business behind a, what I would call future oriented brokerage model.

 

00:52:17:06 – 00:52:37:16

Michael Conrad

I think we have probably a lot more to share that could also even go into another podcast. But we’ll wrap it up for today. And Charlie, amazing stuff. I would highly recommend that everyone take a moment, get online, find Charlie, start following him. He’s actually a thought leader in this space and someone worth watching. And I really appreciate the time you’ve given us today.

 

00:52:37:18 – 00:52:40:08

Charlie Peterson

I appreciate the invitation. Yeah, anytime. Michael Yeah.

 

00:52:40:08 – 00:52:45:20

Michael Conrad

Buddy.

 

00:52:45:21 – 00:53:10:10

Jake Hall

Hey, everyone. Jake, again, director for the Business of Homes podcast. I hope you’ve enjoyed today’s episode. A huge thank you to Charlie Peterson for being a part of the podcast. Go follow him on Instagram @charlie.peterson1 and let him know how much you enjoyed his story. Don’t forget to subscribe on your preferred listening platform and make sure to follow us on Instagram as well @thebusinessofhomespod.

 

00:53:10:12 – 00:53:20:14

Jake Hall

Do you have any feedback or want to suggest someone for the show? Email us at thebusinessofhomespodcast@gmail.com. Thank you again for listening and we’ll see you again soon.

 

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