Success through Personalized Systems

[0:04] This is the Full Funnel Freedom Podcast, supporting sales leaders and managers to improve their sales funnels from people to prospects. I'm Hamish Knox. In this show, you'll learn how you can improve your results, lead a great team, and hit more targets with Full Funnel Freedom.

[0:22] Welcome to the Full Funnel Freedom Podcast. I'm your host, Hamish Knox. Today, we are going to get ideas and insights on how to set up systems and processes for success that are personal to you from Jennifer Sino-Tucker. The Full Funnel Freedom podcast is brought to you by Sandler in Calgary. Join us at the 2023 Sandler Summit. Go to hamish.sandler.com slash Orlando for more details. So my guest today, I am delighted to welcome Jennifer Sino-Tucker. She is an associate broker and vice president of business development of Exit Realty, located in Nassau County, New York. She is the co-creator of the 7 Saturdays training program for local real estate agents. Jennifer, welcome to Full Funnel Freedom. Hey, Mish. Thank you so much for the great intro. Thank you. Appreciate me being here.

[1:18] Yeah, you're very, very welcome. Yeah, you're very, very welcome. So I've given the audience just the quick chapter heading of who you are. Please tell us a bit more about you, your journey, and then how do you define Full Funnel Freedom? Sure, just a little bit of my life story. Grew up here in Long Island, still here. Took some travels in and out, but always come back home, right? Very traditional upbringing for me. Went to high school, college, graduated my bachelor's, got my master's. Went into teaching, thought about safety and that whole 401k plan. But it turns out being a teacher.

[1:54] Was not for me as I kept getting critiqued by my administrators. And I like having stars and checks next to my name as opposed to red markers.

[2:04] And it was then that I kind of got this itch to kind of, well, I want to do something on my own. And I already had had my daughter and I needed more time to be at home. And that's kind of how I fell into real estate. My mom had been in the business for some time. She was my mentor through the process. And yeah, that's kind of how I fell into real estate, started working my way up, so to speak, and got into my own business and became an investor and realized that my system was good and it was working. And if I could do it and I was now doing it within our brokerage, well, then other people can do it. So let me write this book so that I can help educate other people about how to become this rockstar real estate agent within their community. And yeah, here I am. My business has kind of taken off and it's doing its own thing It's very automated where we've decided that it's time to be home again and homeschool our children and just being an investor at this time for me. So it's all good. Love it. Well, tell us more about the book. So the book is Become a Rockstar Real Estate Agent, Seven Steps to Make $100,000 a Year and Awake from the Darkness, which is a very cool ending to that title. So tell us a bit more about the book and who should read it.

[3:24] Sure. The book is really meant for those beginner real estate agents or maybe are new to the business or been in the business somewhere between two and three years and are thinking, this might not be a good fit for me. I'm not really making the money I thought it would make in the time. And it really is a guide or a platform for real estate agents to kind of get their own systems in place. I believe that systems are very individualized to each agent or each salesperson, but this is just meant to be a guide so that you can kind of start your own business and start your own financial freedom from it, of course. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. So Jennifer, everyone who is very successful and clearly you've had a lot of success over your career. I know I'm struggling with some things in my business, what my role looks like. So where are you struggling right now in your business to create the freedom that you desire? I think I'm struggling with hiring another person at this time.

[4:23] Yeah, you know, it becomes a balance, right, in my business where does it make sense for me to make an investment? I always second guess myself if it makes sense to hire on a new person. I'm still a single agent and I think I'll always be that way just because I've learned that it's difficult to manage other people, especially when they're not meeting the expectations that are in place. So I think hiring a non-administrator is what I'm struggling with at this time. I have a transaction coordinator and I have a part-time admin. Do I hire a part-time social media person or increase the admin's role and duties? Fair enough. Fair enough. And having that rockstar person behind us can really accelerate our success. I know I found that. How about for you? Oh yeah. I mean, because I'm not, I'm not a behind, I like being in the front and I like, you know, going out, you know, shaking hands and kissing babies, right? Like that's where I'm best. So to be behind the desk and to do some admin work doesn't make sense for me. I need to be, get out there meeting more people. So yeah. So finding that rock star behind the scenes in and of itself is a job and task. Absolutely. And I know a lot of our, the leaders that we work with are struggling with the same, you know, whatever role they are in the organization, a lot of salespeople, a lot of administrators. And I know that they've.

[5:48] What I found that's successful is really like, if that candidate could walk through the door, what would they look like, talk like, sound like? And all of a sudden, it's like when your eyes are open, your brain sees what you're looking for. Right. I don't know about that. Any idea what that would look like for me? Maybe we'll talk off air.

[6:09] Gosh, yeah. Oh, yeah. You know, I'm always, I seem to be more attracted, and I use that word loosely, continuously to people who are more like me. And that's, that's basically what it comes down to, if that would be my, my roadie, so to speak. Yeah, no, fair, fair enough. And, and I know from my own experience, I oftentimes will discount that automatically. Cause I go, you're too much like me. I, and then I try to swing the other way. And then of course that can go badly as well. Cause you know, you meet these people and you're like, okay, you're oil and I'm water. I think I should work with you. And then usually things go sideways shortly shortly thereafter. Right, right. Exactly. Sure. You want to avoid that for sure. Well, best wishes to you with that. I know it can be really challenging to get the right person and then, you know, getting them to agree to work with us is just the starting point. We've got to onboard them effectively. We've got to teach them all these things, which I don't know about you, but largely they exist in my head. I don't know if you've found that where you're like, but don't you know how to do this? And it's like, well, no, because they're not us. Right. Yeah. Yeah. I definitely have that similar situation where I'm like, what do you mean? You don't know what, you know, what my expectation is. And then we clearly go over it, but yeah, it becomes definitely becomes a way of communicating with that person. I think that also goes to any potential clients, you know, that may be in front of you, right? We have to communicate on their level, what they're at. It's not about me. I have to take myself out of the equation.

[7:34] Yeah, absolutely. Now in real estate, real estate's highly emotional. I think that's it's a fair assessment, highly emotional business.

[7:41] Yes, yes, yes. And, and so when we're looking at managing, you know, the emotions and we're looking at leading a team and managing their emotions through the sale, like how have you found being able to manage the emotions of your buyers, potential buyers or, or, and yourself because they're feeling it, you're feeling it and things can just kind of blow up if it's not managed effectively. What, what sort of tools have you you used over your career to manage those emotions effectively over the course of a sale? That's a good question because I typically, especially as the agent, try to take the emotion out of the sale because I don't think even for a potential buyer, I really explain, yes, this is emotional, but your first step in the door to the home that we're looking at really has to be more of a business decision. Once you step in and you feel it, you start having those feelings, that's the house. You're going to know it right away. I knew it from my end, right? I've been looking for some time for my own purchase and what my family needed at the time. And I was seeking, seeking, seeking, but I didn't get any of those feelings, right? But I knew once I stepped into the house that I knew this was the house for me. I literally sat on the seller's couch and said, okay, we're done. Just close the door. The open house is over.

[9:01] But as an agent and as a salesperson, I tried to let them look at it more more of a business position, because typically the home purchase is, you know, the greatest investment that people make, right? So we can't be looking at it as, you know, always like, is this safe? Is this secure? Is this, am I feeling, am I doing the right thing here? It's not, I don't think it's always the best way to walk into your purchase. No, because then you, I would imagine you have some like preconceived notions and you're probably going to overlook the fact that there's a giant crack in the roof or things like that. And as much as I have an awesome agent who's like, hey, do you see the giant crack in the roof? I'm like, yeah, yeah, but I can deal with that. But one of the tools I typically use is really the personality profiling so that I know who the person is or the buyer in front of me is so that I can talk to them on their maybe safety issues that are major concerns for them, but yet still bring that business part of it so I can touch the other personalities that they have within themselves. Yeah, very much. And using how do they like to give and receive information?

[10:11] I'm a clearly very direct person. If you just say, here's how much and here's what it has, it'd be like, awesome. Whereas my wife, very detailed, she's going to want to open every cupboard. She's going to want to flush every toilet and she's going to want to make sure that all the details are sorted. So as a salesperson, how do you balance? Because I I imagine oftentimes you have at least two people in this conversation. How do you manage one side says, yeah, kind of, and the other is like, no, we got to do this. How do you balance that conversation as the seller? Oh, good question. Me, as the agent, how do I balance that? Yeah, as the agent. It just becomes through speaking to each of them differently. And I never try to separate those two people who are making the purchase either, because each point in and of itself is, first of all, independent, obviously, but yet it's a dependent situation because it's a husband and wife team, right? They're not going to make a decision without the other. It becomes a balancing act where, as the agent or salesperson, and your emotions are definitely swayed from side to side, knowing what the right thing to say might be for each individual. It just becomes a balancing act and to be neutral in your delivery. Good point. One side starts to feel like you're leaning to the other side. I'm sure that also does not create a successful outcome. Right, no, never does, right?

[11:32] So in real estate, and I know a number of realtors and there's all sorts of ways that they go out and keep that funnel full because people are not necessarily buying houses every day or every week, or at least the same person isn't. How do you keep your funnel full so you're not thinking, oh, if I don't close this house, my family might not eat this month, which is a bit of an extreme, but how do you keep that funnel full when you're in real estate? The goal for me in real estate was to... Stop at being an agent or to live that out. So to me, being full is having multiple streams of income coming in, in multiple businesses. Real estate was the business that catapulted me to become a business owner, to become an investor. So that really is how I kind of keep my funnel full. But on the agent and the sales side, it is a matter of consistently staying in front of the people I've already done business with. So I've already determined that my best clients or the clients that I work best with are investors because I have the same personality as them. So for me, that means I need to go out and find distressed properties and find those properties for my investors. I've also learned by doing that and keeping that side of my sales funnel full is that I'm able to do less work and earn more commission.

[13:02] So by that, I could possibly sell one house and earn commission on it four times. If I have a distressed property, I'm obviously working with that seller. That's one side of the sale. I'm going to sell it to my investor. So that's the other side of the sale. The investor is going to fix and flip it. And in four months, we're going to put it back on the market. I become the listing agent it and I could potentially sell it to a buyer. So for one house, I can make income on it for one time. So to me, that's the best way that works for me. Yeah. And to be able to take one resource or asset, the distressed property, and to be able to leverage it multiple times, it doesn't matter if you're in real estate or in manufacturing, how can you sell over and over and over again? And it sounds like you've figured out a really good system to make one property potentially come back to you four times over. Right. Exactly. I mean, the system definitely works and it's working on its own and I have my own CRM in it.

[14:03] And by working with these homeowners, it is a struggle and that's really an emotional sale for me. And that's where a lot of time and energy and head strength, I would call it, comes into play because it can become an emotional decision for a seller at that point, and hence going through those processes many times with that seller, was the cause for writing the book, Awake from the Darkness, how to help homeowners avoid foreclosure. So-

[14:32] When we talk about awaking from the darkness, because I love this and avoiding the foreclosure, you know, and that obviously back in, you know, 08, 09, you know, there was a lot of that going on. So what insights were you, could you share with us out of that book that the audience might appreciate? Because I'm going to guess that most of them are at least current homeowners or going to be future homeowners. So what would be two or three things that you would want them to avoid doing so they can't awake from the darkness? You know, if you're in a situation, I know a lot of people may have been due to COVID and maybe being in forbearance is to really figure out, you know, and sit down with an agent to see if it makes sense to sell the property or to maybe short sale it. Those are two of the best ways that I would say so that your credit score does not become in jeopardy because the foreclosure will cause more damage on your credit score than anything else. Or to see if, you know, if it makes sense to make an investment. I mean, some homes that I've walked into may not need that much of a renovation. So it doesn't make sense for the seller to make some sort of investment to maybe make a gain on it as well. Love that. Love that. Those are great tips. And again, the book is Become a Rockstar Real Estate Agent, Seven Steps to Make $100,000 a Year and Awake from the Darkness, The Homeowner's Guide to Avoid Foreclosure.

[15:54] So a couple of tips, and certainly we'll put the link to the book in the show notes.

[15:58] So Jennifer, we had talked off air about, you know, how can you personalize systems to create success? And, you know, you didn't start in real estate and go, I should work with investors. They like, you came to that over a, over a time, and now you've set up a really strong system to make that work.

[16:16] Help us understand how did that all come to be? And how could someone who's maybe at the beginning of their career, whether it's in real estate or something else, start to figure out how could I personalize something that feels good, but it doesn't feel like me yet. That's a good one. And I think it becomes a self-exploration for that salesperson.

[16:36] Really to start to get to know who they are and what they make sense for you. As we know, people are going to want to do this with you because you look and behave more like them. It just became this natural thing for me where I just was naturally attracted to work with investors. I'm not really sure what it was, but I think it was more of the thrill that really excited me because it's all a numbers game, right? From the investor point. And that's really what I liked. I mean, I was a athlete growing up. Everything was all about the win and the numbers. Right. So I think that really was diving deep and figuring out or realizing again who I was as a person and now who I am as a salesperson. And I think going back to what you know already is really the key here. We don't have to reinvent your personality now that you're a salesperson. You don't have to become, and I'll go back because I just heard this person's name before, to Crazy Eddie, right? Back in the 80s, and I'm sure, right? Going back far. We don't have to be him, you know, up there. That doesn't have to be you as the salesperson, no matter what you're selling. I'm not like that, you know? So I couldn't imagine, you know, reinventing myself to become more like someone else.

[17:53] I think it's a personal journey that we go through in this holistic approach to sales, where we treat our mind, body, and soul so that we can have this truly identify who we are. Yeah. And mind, body, soul, 100% on side with you, because unless we have all of those working in concert, we're not our best self, right? And we're not going to show up in front of our clients as our best self. So when you're coaching other clients.

[18:20] Salespeople, real estate agents, things like that. What are they coming to you with these days? Obviously with COVID things have really changed, but what are the struggles that they're having that they're seeking support from you on? Right now, the struggles is getting their offer accepted, to be honest. That would be one struggle. I'm really trying to make sales very business-like. A lot of times we have moms, I would say, looking to get into a part-time or or a second job. And they, and I'll say they loosely here, this just becomes a lot of emotion, you know, involved that they're not doing the right thing. Like I'm not able to meet the needs of my clients.

[19:00] I'm always like, that's okay. You know, because of the lack of inventory, it's going to be difficult to meet the needs of your clients and your clients have to understand, you know, that you have to be patient with, they have to be patient with the process because we're We're no longer in this, it really is this marathon to finding home. And sometimes it might take six months to find the right home, but those would be some of the things like, how do I get my offer accepted from another agent? And, you know, it becomes a position that you have to take as a new, new agent or buyer's agent to just, you know, I'm never a fan of forcing things. I'm always about, you know, letting things happen and keeping myself open to what's about to happen. And I tried to teach that to new agents and sometimes it's just not successful because they don't understand or have the skills at the time to really understand what it means to be open to your clients.

[19:52] So if I was an agent and I was coaching and you were saying, hey, be open to your clients and I'm going to say, hey, Jennifer, that sounds like a wonderful idea, but what do you mean?

[20:02] How would you define that for us? Because that applies across all sales. How do you define be open to your clients? Sure. I think it's a matter of just hearing them and asking the right questions. You know, as you know, and as I know now as a Sandler, you know, kind of graduate here, you know, we're doctors. We have to continually diagnose how the patient is feeling and what is making them sick, right? Like what is making them buy the house? Why are they selling the house? And it's not just to move, right? Or it's to avoid probably some sort of pain that they're going through. And then agents don't typically understand what it means to have in the buying experience to have pain. I know what it was because during COVID, when we went to remote schooling or homeschooling, we only had one computer in the house and I needed it for work. So my pain was paying the $2,000 for the laptop because I needed it tomorrow.

[20:59] That was pain and I would have paid anything for it. But yeah, so that's what I mean by being open. We still need to kind of be open and receptive in the communication that we're receiving, but yet give the information that we need and give it in the manner that is clear and concise to the agent. Absolutely. And it also sounds like really not just making assumptions and really clarifying, because I know I've had experiences where it's like, well, I'm looking for a bungalow. Oh, I've got six bungalows over here. It's like, well, why do you even want a bungalow? Like, could you deal with a ranch? Like, what's driving the bungalow? And what I'm hearing from you is it's not just taking that initial like, hey, I need fill in blank. It's okay, you asked me for fill in blank.

[21:42] Let's dive into that and really understand. Is that accurate? Yeah, very accurate. I mean, that's my favorite line. You know, can you tell me more about that? Like, I always use it, always use it. And it just becomes a repetitive thing. I mean, what do you mean by that? Tell me more about it. You know, when you say this, do you mean that, you know, it's always, always just keep diving and you get more information by asking the question as opposed to that, because they're not going to give up everything. No, no, no, no, because we've been trained that way, right? If you give up everything, you're going to get into something thing that you don't want. Right. Exactly. Exactly. The other thing is, you know, I have a lot of agents just constantly talking too much. You know, we can't give out and stop, stop talking about the product or service that we offer and start asking the questions that that would be the other thing. Yeah. We teach our clients, your credibility is enhanced by the quality of your questions, not by your responses. And because we're all commodities, right? A realtor is a realtor is realtor. I know they're different. I know they're different, Jennifer, right? But, you know, to To someone who's never bought or sold before, like, I don't know, I saw your face on a sign. And so how do you, and really in those asking the questions, I know for me and our clients, that's where you start to differentiate is you make it seem, and you do genuinely, but the prospect goes, oh, this Jennifer cares about me. Like she's taking the time to listen to me as opposed to the other people I've talked to who just want to tell me that they'll cut their commissions if I work with them. Right, right.

[23:08] Yep, for sure. And none of that is helpful to anybody really, because the person who cuts the commissions is like, well, I'm only working for less, so I'm going to do less. And now it becomes this ugly cycle. And I would imagine in your career, you've probably had a couple of clients who had that experience and then came to you. Absolutely. And it's like, where has Jennifer been all my life? Because she actually cares about me. Yeah, I mean, the value proposition that I give out is important to me and it's important to me to express that to someone who's in front of me. Too. Yeah. I mean, I have to know. I have to know. I have to know. Yeah. Otherwise, why bother? Exactly.

[23:44] So Jennifer, you are, you know, shared that you've done some training with Sandler

[23:50] and you have written the book and you, you do all, you do all this other training. So what right now are you reading, watching, listening to, to support your own professional development that the listeners might want to check out as well? The funny thing is, as I mentioned, we decided out of the homeschool. My education has gone up tremendously just by homeschooling. That's one thing. Okay. But, but one thing I have been doing is really just diving back into more of a purpose and my meaning now that I've transitioned into, you know, not being in the workplace, I'll call it as much, um, and to find my value and connect with my higher power even more. So I'm doing a lot of devotional reading on a personal growth level for me. I'm diving into Jim Quick so that I can learn faster and read faster.

[24:43] So he's my new thing that I'm kind of brushing up on or diving into. Cool. Yes. I've actually taken one of his read faster courses and I had someone at the airport. I was reading on the plane and someone came out to me at baggage and said, you were reading so quick. I don't think I could ever. And I was like, well, you could, if you took this guy's course. Yeah. And that we're going to do that with our, with our kids going, who are going into high school, like this summer, like I'm, I'm totally into

[25:10] it with them. So love it. Love it. Very cool. So Jennifer, let's say that you had a magic wand and you could go back to younger Jennifer, you get to pick younger and you could give younger Jennifer a bit of advice and you could say, Hey, you're going to hit this mountaintop, but you could hit it faster if you did this, or you didn't do this, what, what would you tell your younger self? I think the cliche would be if I listened to my parents more, right. But, um, that, that is never right. I, you know, I, I think it would have been like, if I did, um, gosh, I don't know if I, I don't know. I don't know how to answer that. I'm sorry. No, not, not at all. And actually, you know, you say that you love your experiences. You love yourself. You know, the night before my wedding, we were all sitting around and my best man looks at me and he says, you know, I've been to a bunch of weddings and the night before the groom is terrified.

[26:02] And he's all, have I made the right choice? And he looks at me, he's like, you're totally chilled out. Now we have been drinking tequila, but I said, yeah, all of my choices have led me to where I am. Sure. So why would I ever regret all the choices I've made? Because I want to be here in this moment right now. Right. Right. And that's kind of how I feel. I mean, if I didn't take the path that I took, whether, and there were a lot of bumps in the road and somewhere, you know, as high as a mountain and some very low points, right? But I wouldn't be, you know, where I am. I wouldn't be in a position where I could be home, homeschooling my kids and, you know, being an investor and having this full and abundant life. I wasn't here three years ago. And the fact that I'm here now, you know, is great. Love it. Love it. Well, Jennifer, I've had a blast chatting with you today. Thank you so much for being on the Full Funnel of Freedom podcast. And I look forward to connecting with you again sometime soon. Hamish, this was great. Thanks. And I'd love Love to give all your listeners a free download of my book, Become a Rockstar Real Estate Agent. They can download it for free at rockstaragenttraining.com. Perfect.

[27:07] Well, thank you. We'll definitely put that in the show notes. And once again, we have been getting ideas and insights from Jennifer Sino-Tucker on how do you create success through personalized systems. I've been your host, Hamish Knox. The Full Funnel Freedom Podcast is brought to you by Sandler in Calgary. Join us at the 2023 Sandler Summit.

[27:28] Go to hamish.sandler.com slash Orlando for more information. Like and share, rate and review. Connect with us on Instagram at SandlerYYC. And until we connect with you on the next episode, go create full funnel freedom. Thank you for listening to Full Funnel Freedom with Hamish Knox. If you want to increase your sales with ease, go to fullfunnelfreedom.com.

[27:54] Music.