WARNING: This may be the most important information that you will ever read, about selling real estate and having it ALL.
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MIKE COSTIGAN
ANTI-TYPICAL AGENT
Shows agents how get listings using "zero bs" marketing and sleaze-free sales approaches.
FSBO KO’s the Rookie Agent
Love thy FSBO…
Worship them…
Bring them gifts…
Seriously. Do stuff for them. They are the “freebies”. They are the cherished few that raise their hands and say “come get me oh savvy one.”
I’m truly amazed at the “FSBO sales prevention” programs that most agents employ.
Typical pitch: “Uh, can I stop by and give you a complimentary home evaluation?”
Click.
Blown chance of EVER seeing your sign in that yard Mr. Typical salesguy.
Truly pathetic.
Or this one: “Call me when you want to list because agents won’t show your home as a FSBO. “
Really?
Slam the door on them. GREAT technique.
These approaches are for the pure amateur…the agent who’s signs reside in his own garage-never seeing the pretty green lawns for which they were intended.
I came up with a technique many years ago that gets me every FSBO listing that I want.
It’s so simple…
I become their advocate. I genuinely help them. And I do it with ZERO expectation of anything in return and absent of any slimy sales pitch.
“Hi Mr. FSBO. Mike Costigan here. I am a broker but I’m not calling about listing your house. I know you want to try it yourself and I think it’s a great idea. I’d do the same. It’s a great house.
I’d like to just pop in this week and see it. I sell a ton of homes in the n’hood and I’m sure I’ll have a buyer at some point….”
Would you mind if took a few pictures for clients while I’m there? I don’t expect anything at all from you Even when I don’t make a commission, I get rewarded by helping my buyers. They all send me referrals, so it works out for me.
Great. See you Tuesday.
I’ll also leave blank contracts for you, in case you get a buyer. I’m happy to help you fill them out….no cost of course, and I’ll even help you arrange the closing. My lender’s number will be in the packet too so you can get your buyer prequalified….”
There’s a tiny bit more to my “FSBO Ally” program and it’s magical.
All you have to do is to make them like you. It’s so ridiculously simple.
Don’t fight them. Be their corner man (or woman).
I honestly can’t remember the last FSBO listing that I didn’t get using this approach.
Want to knock down FSBO signs like a champ? Go here:
-Mike Costigan
Hustler
You can’t bullsh*t me. Ever.
You want to know why?
Because I’m the king of b.s.
And it’s a learned skill. 100%
You see, in the infancy days of becoming the world’s greatest listing agent, I spent many hours bullsh***ting around…
…touring new listings
…visiting new construction
…holding open houses
…I was damn good at making myself feel like I worked my tail off.
One thing is for sure. If I can bullsh*t ME, I can fool anyone.
And I can smell the crap a mile away…so don’t even try telling me that you are truly making the best of your precious hours.
Agents have a way of doing all of the WRONG things, day after wasted day, so they feel “accomplished”. They spend 80% of the time working on non-dollar-productive activities-totally reversing the magic of the 80/20 rule!
If you want to be successful in real estate, what you need to grasp pretty darn quickly, is that there’s a big difference in being a “Hustler” and actually hustling.
Hustlers bs everyone…especially themselves…1 hit wonders at best.
Then there’s the agents who get sh*t done….LOTS of it! (Ahem…my Agent On Fire Blaze monthly newsletter subscribers,to name a smart bunch.)
You see their signs in yards
Their faces are on billboards
They’re the local real estate “gurus” interviewed on TV.
They make a seriously great living by “DO-ing”. And they Do, Do, Do all the time.
They are “hustling” and killing it, while the majority are riding the real estate roller coaster, making a buck here and there and sweating with anxiety worrying about when the next deal might fall into their lap.
In my time as a top agent and broker, I’ve rarely run across a “Doer” who can’t make so-called “geniuses” look like rank amateurs.
To be perfectly transparent with you, even today I can’t figure a mortgage payment. But I sure can out-list everyone I’ve ever met. I’m very good at taking a lot of swings.
Put a brainiac up against me any day…I’ll be hitting grand slams while he’s still warming up.
If you want to start taking home major league commission checks and working less, by simply doing ONLY the right things, Go here:
-Mike Costigan
YOUR Bleeding Toes in Sharky Waters
Shark bait.
That’s why agents don’t get listings. They are easy prey. They swim blindly without direction in an ocean of predators and they die.
I see this so often. I’ve swallowed up so many delicious morsels of slow swimmers in my time. And I have to tell you…nothing is tastier!
Have you ever watched Shark Tank? It’s a show where a panel of Millionaires and Billionaires receive “pitches” from wannabe entrepreneurs seeking investors in their companies.
Kevin O’Leary, aka “Mr. Wonderful” delights in telling many of them “you’re dead to me. Leave now.”
And while he may be the a**hole of the show, he’s the one helping these guppies the most.
See, he doesn’t tolerate unprepared losers. And they all have these things in common:
They don’t know their metrics.
They have no strategy.
They have nothing unique.
They are not INVESTIBLE.
Why in the world would anyone give money away with no chance of return? Ask yourself, would you invest in a guy who has no track record, or would your check go to the guy with a chart showing 100% gains month after month, who could tell you succinctly how you would be repaid? Choice is easy.
So ask yourself this…
Are YOU investible in the eyes of clients?
Can YOU tell them quickly WHY they should chose you, over and above all other options out there, including doing nothing at all?
Do you have something UNIQUE to offer? TRULY unique?
Can you show them how they will get a return on their investment with you?
Probably not. The only agents I’ve met who are worthy foes, are my Agent On Fire Blaze newsletters subscribers. They hungrily consume my teachings..and any competitor who perilously swims across their path.
Don’t take my comments personal here. It’s just that I know from selling thousands of homes and EASILY beating every agent out of listings almost 100% of the time, that pretty much all agents say the same thing…maybe a twist or two added. But nothing unique enough that I can’t swallow them with one big gulp.
Don’t be the blood in the water that guys like me smell a mile away. It’s not even a fair fight.
You gotta dig your teeth into learning the skills of the people at the top of the food chain if you want to avoid extinction.
If you want to become the Great White in your marketplace FAST, go here:
-Mike Costigan
Lying, cheating scumbags
“I promise to never tell a lie. I swear I’ll deliver on my promises. I’ll never cheat steal or swindle.”
Agents should have to take that oath before ever throwing customers in the back seat and taking them for a “ride”.
This is a crazy business. Sometimes it’s downright cut throat.
People will say or do anything to make a sale it seems.
I have a buddy who reminds me constantly that people act out of selfish interests.
And damn it, as much as I hate to believe it, he’s right!
I’ve seen agents hold sellers hostage at the closing table, charging more than agreed.
I’ve seen FAMILY members screw family members. Now incest is certainly relative, but it disgusts me personally! And so does ripping off your own flesh and blood.
I’ve watched agents completely throw their reputation out the window for a few measly bucks.
Integrity MUST be the essential core value of your business proposition.
Let integrity slip and you’re just a hustler. Hustlers don’t last. They get a good pop here and there but sooner or later they are just tumbleweeds rolling off across the sandy plains.
I had an REO asset manager call me one day and offer me every listing in Atlanta if I kicked him back 20%. He thought he was the hot shot holding the cards. Tried to force it down my throat with threats of not getting any listings otherwise. Let’s just say old Billy the Kid there didn’t win. I got listings…plenty of them. He got tossed like a hooligan in a bar fight, thrown out the swinging doors by muscle bound bouncers.
Moral of the story here is this….stay true to yourself. When you act with integrity, you perform at a higher level. There’s no self-doubt, less anxiety when dealing with clients and just plain old more success.
Temptation is hard to resist and that’s why most people fail. It’s also why most people make very little money.
When you can look yourself in the eye and smile, clients pick up on your honesty naturally. Getting listings and making sales comes easily because they trust you automatically.
If you’d like to become the new sheriff in charge of your market, go here:
-Mike Costigan
Who wants to be a Celebrity agent?
Does anyone even know who you are? Really?
Your ego may tell you so but it’s lying to you!
I’ve sold somewhere around 7,000 homes and it’s not like people ask me for autographs…well, to be honest, yeah, it’s happened more than once. I’m prominent here in the Atl.
I’ve been a real estate expert on radio and TV and in newspapers, so I’m visible.
But can YOU be a known name? Most can’t and never will.
However, it’s easier than you think. The secret….
GETTING LISTINGS.
Signs in yards=top of mind
It really is that simple. You can easily saturate a small area and clean up on the commissions if you get your signs out there.
It’s a crazy phenomenon called “triggering the reticular activator”. Sellers and soon-to-be sellers subconsciously file your name away when they see it on a sign. They aren’t even aware. The brain associates “selling” with “name” and when the conscious mind needs it, it retrieves the information and it is acted upon.
Sparing you the psych lesson here…but trust me, it works.
So, you don’t need to be a superstar.
You don’t need to have ever listed the first home before.
You just need to start planting signs NOW.
And the key is to have multiple good seller lead sources. There’s plenty to choose from. Some cost ZERO and some cost a penny or two. But cost matters not. When you get in the HABIT of calling them, no matter what the source, they become EASY. Conversion goes up with practice, and regardless of price, they ALL provide a handsome return.
You see, “Branding” doesn’t cost much once you’re an expert with the process. The “big” agents in your market know this already. They are hardly geniuses. They just figured out a few things that you haven’t yet.
When you see how the secrets are all hidden in plain sight, you’re going to flip at how simple it really is. Then you can really start being a Rockstar that people line up to do business with.
In an upcoming issue of The Agent On Fire Blaze monthly newsletter, I’ll be showing you a few ways to become the real estate “A-Lister” in your marketplace…quickly and unquestionably (without breaking the bank).
If you are ready to take YOUR walk on the red carpet, go here:
-Mike Costigan
MIKECOSTIGAN
