[photopress:rudy.jpg,thumb,alignright]He goes through the classes to get his license. He fails the test and decides to go through the classes again, to see if more might stick in his brain the second time around. He passes his test this time.
He picks an office to “work in” and notices how no one notices him. Agents coming and going, all busy as bees, looking right past him like he’s invisible. He buckles down and studies the market. He finds a high turnover segment of the market and creates his “farm”. He knocks on doors, walks the farm, shakes hands, hands out business cards and lollipops and $02. stamps when the postage rate goes up. People on the street start to smile when they see him, instead of rushing to get back in the house before “the Realtor” starts bugging them.
He begs and pleads with the receptionist at the office to call him, anytime day or night, when one of the agents doesn’t show up for their “floor duty time”. He’s Johhny on the Spot when he’s lucky enough to get that call from the receptionist. Pretty soon he’s like a permanent fixture at the “duty desk” for “opportunity time”. He’s working 60 hour weeks. He’s listening to everyone in the office trying to pick up the lingo. When he’s not “on floor duty” he comes in and listens to the pros capturing the leads, studying how they turn a call for “info” into a sale.
He goes to the Office Manager and asks if he can open the phones and take the calls after 5 p.m. when they turn on the voice message saying the office is closed for the day. Every day at 5 p.m. he’s there, manning the phones while everyone goes home to dinner or is running around completing their paperwork and making their calls.
He’s always listening to every word anyone says, but he’s quiet. He doesn’t bug them. He’s careful not to ask too many questions of one person. He spreads his questions around, so no one avoids him. In between he’s opening the pending and closed file drawer and studying the contracts as written. Not the stuff he learned in school, but the reality of real live sales. He looks at the commissions actually charged by the top producers. He looks at how the winning offers are structured. He’s getting ready for the day when he gets to write one of his own, and he’s not listening to any of the garbage people are feeding him about how “competitive” the business is. He’s looking at the real live closed sales, and how agents really get there.
He doesn’t need to be a Superstar, he just wants to be in the game. He just wants to beat the statistics and be one of the 20% that stays, and not one of the 80% that leaves.
After several weeks of these 60 hour days, the agents in the office aren’t looking through him like he’s a ghost anymore. They say, “Hi kid! How’s it going?” and they actually stick around for the answer! They say, “Hey kid, how’d you like to do my Open House this Sunday?” They give him a few pointers, they put a nice ad in the paper for the Open House with HIS name on it. They say, “Hey kid, how’d you like to make a few bucks helping me with my CMA’s and Flyers?” He jumps up at the chance…hell, he’d do it for free just to touch the “real” stuff.
And then one day he comes in beaming. He’s grinning from ear to ear. He walks up to “the Board” and writes in his first sale. He writes, “123 Someplace SOLD BY Rudy”. He turns around and everyone is watching. They start clapping and giving him high fives. He knows he has a long way to go…but he’s IN THE GAME!!
