Interview with Mike Ferry Coach – Carol Turner
Mike Ferry: And welcome. Good morning. Back to Mike Ferry TV. We have a very wonderful and great person on the call today, Ms. Carol Turner. Carol has been involved for the last couple of days in one of our prospecting clinics. And so, Carol, we’ve been doing these prostrating clinics for probably about twenty five, thirty years. And it’s interesting that the success that you folks and the coaches are having with our clients virtually is actually better than the success we had live at the prospecting clinic. And you’ve done both live in? Yes, I have. First of all, I’m going to ask tell our great viewers, we have a lot of people watching Mike Ferry TV. Tell them where you live and what your background is, please, because you have a great one.
Carol Turner: Thank you. I live in the Philadelphia area of Pennsylvania. I’ve been working with you as a coach, full time coach for over nine and a half years. And I before that, actually trained the Mike Ferry system exclusively for seven years with Coldwell Bank of Preferred. And let’s just say I’ve been a realtor for a very, very, very long time.
Mike Ferry: Ok, so I don’t I don’t need to know the date, but how long have you been?
Carol Turner: I’m sorry.
Mike Ferry: How long have you been in the industry now?
Carol Turner: Almost 38 years.
Mike Ferry: Good for you. We had a chance to interview Sidney Fullen who is I know is a friend of yours. I think she is also about 38 years. It’s amazing to me that we’ve known each other as long as we have, and we’re still smiling in a single day with this crazy business. So thank you for participating today. So so just give us an outline of what what happens in a prospecting clinic, because it’s very hard to do these virtually, and you’ve done so well.
Carol Turner: Well, what’s interesting is in the clinic I was just a part of, we had brand new agents, as well as incredibly experienced agents all together. About twenty four people showed up this this last time. And we had everyone, almost everyone set appointment on the first day. So what happens is everyone gets started with a coach kind of warming them up, talking them through this. They’ve been sent a book with all of the scripts, actually, even how to get themselves ready to prospect. And then we walk them through it. We do affirmations and we let them go.
Mike Ferry: So they’re prospecting at their office or home when they used to be at their office together?
Carol Turner: Absolutely. So we used to have them in, you know, 30 to 40 people right there in Las Vegas and in Florida. And now they’re on a zoom call. We see all their faces and they’re making the calls and the energy is high.
Mike Ferry: That’s exciting because it almost seems like an I don’t have the actual results for the last it’s been almost 18 months now. We’re doing these on virtual. And it just seems like the results are so much better. Can you can you identify why would the results for Prospecting be better this way than live?
Carol Turner: Well, what was interesting, especially in this last one, they get to work with you one on one. So they’re moved into a breakout room and you’re with them and they’ll bring up either a topic or we actually watch them prospect and we critique them right there and help them get to another level or for the brand news, there was a lot of teaching. They didn’t really know what they were doing, but they could walk away or go back into the main room feeling confident that they can move forward. And that’s what we’re looking for, getting them to A) focus, which a lot of people are doing right now coming to this. The texts I received are thank you. “I needed to focus for four hours.” I had to do this. And that, I think, is probably more important than anything else.
Mike Ferry: That is great, well you have such a big advantage. A lot of all those years of being the training director at CBE and that company you were with was a great client and it’s still a great company. I think they sold it to NRT. Yes, they did. So how much does that experience, because you had a lot of new licensees and we have a lot of new licenses at this retreat, Carol. If you remember, we did this last month or six, eight weeks ago in July. Yes. The audience was a year or less in the business, which was I’ve never had that many. Yeah. Yeah. What is the difference when you’re doing the teaching with a new licensee versus a person Four or five years, 10 years that may never have produced much business?
Carol Turner: Interesting you said that; we had we had both of those kinds of well, we get them right now in coaching. I think the two things is for the brand new is they have a lot of things to learn and we have to take them. We have to ask them to be patient a little bit to learn the skills of how to actually run their business. Yes. For those who have sold Real Estate before, it’s a little bit easier because we’re just giving them the specific systems that they need right now to start producing faster. Yes. So the first group we’re trying to find a transaction for them, help them find a transaction and learn it the best way. I mean, I know this sounds silly, but I couldn’t do anything else besides the Mike Ferry system after training in so long. It’s the only way I know that helps people get there faster and more logically. Does that make sense to you?
Mike Ferry: Yeah. Well, actually, you know, you when you said what you said, I said to Sabrina a couple of days ago. It’s really no longer The Mike Ferry Sales System when you’re working it’s the Carol Turner system or the Sydney Fullen system or Mitch Choboian, because that’s that’s really what we have to believe. How many clients do you coach for us? Sixty seven. Wow. So you have one of the biggest schedules of all of our full time coaches. I do. Thank you. And by the way, hats off to you, because I know that is a stressful, exciting job.
Carol Turner: Can I tell you, it’s an advantage. Say that again. It’s an advantage. I coach all over North America. I am on the pulse of all these markets. And I can get from each of them something to give to others. There’s so much to be able to share. So we’re teaching the system. But in coaching, there’s more than just the systems. It’s about getting to the next step. And I feel like I have an advantage because I know what’s going on all across the country.
Mike Ferry: Well, that is a huge advantage. In fact, I said to Cathy Sweitzer a couple of weeks ago, I said nationally, the market is changing and it’s you know, it’s not getting worse and it’s not getting better. It’s just kind of leveling off a little bit; the days on market has extended. I coach Zach Barer, who is not too far from you in Philadelphia. You know, the number of Expireds is getting bigger, the number of offers per listing. It’s shrinking back to somewhat normal situation. Price reductions are more common. Expired listings are taking place. I talked to Red Jones, the Vulcan7, and he said we have Expired listings now more than ever, more than we’ve had in 18 months. Are you experiencing that same environment with most of your clients?
Carol Turner: I do that with many. Not all, but many. Yes, absolutely. And I kind of think I feel stabilization more than a problem. I do think that it’s a lot more advantageous to buyers, that they’re not against 20 different people now and there’s still multiple offers and in multiple markets. And really it’s a multiple price points. So it’s really something that client has to watch regularly. They have to be on top of their statistics every day.
Mike Ferry: Yeah, I really think, Carol, what you’re saying there and I want everybody to listen to what Carol said, be on top of the market stats almost every day today. It’s that important, especially when you’re talking to a seller. Absolutely. That I’m aware of. But I like that word stabilization, because that, you know, it’s becoming a little more stable. You know, we can’t expect the big checks instantaneously without any effort that we could expect six months ago. Do you agree?
Carol Turner: Agreed.
Mike Ferry: So what are some of the common things you see in the agents that are doing the best? What are some of their common? You know, they always use the word characteristics. You know, I guess that’s as good a word as any. Sure.
Carol Turner: Well, a couple of them are, I’m going to say, boring. The top producers that I work with are consistent and reliable first. Ok. They always show up. They always are prepared and they’re always ready to go to work. And I know that’s kind of boring, but that’s that’s sort of the foundation. But when I think of the people who are producing at the highest levels right now, There are few things that are very specific. They know their goals inside and out, and they are so driven or, you know, it’s that people use the word grit. I feel the grit from them regularly. They will do whatever it takes to achieve their goals, which makes it easier for a coach. The other thing I see with them is that they have sort of the ability to have the broad look at their lives, the thinking big look, as well as being able to look at daily and weekly goals and live within them. And some people who are not as successful don’t have an easier time to be able to do both of those well.
Mike Ferry: You know, I wish everybody would really pay attention to what you just said, because I wrote down a broad look at themselves.
Carol Turner: Yes.
Mike Ferry: You know, they’re all saying, well, I if I could just be like Carol, if I could just be like, Bob, why don’t you be like the person in the mirror, but just improved.
Carol Turner: Good idea.
Mike Ferry: That’s really what it’s all about. But I also wrote down the word driven. Yes. Something we spent a lot of this past summer, as I’m sure you were aware. We were at our house. At the beach. Yes. Being in this nice, cool Las Vegas temperature in May, June, July and August. And it was interesting, Carol, because we started writing a four year plan for Sabrina and I because at seventy six … Four years, all of a sudden has the number eight in front of my age, which it’s really hard for me. Somebody said to me last week, because we’ve known each other so long, I could share those with you. Somebody said, what’s it like to be seventy six? I said, I don’t know. I’ve never seventy six before.
Carol Turner: Right.
Mike Ferry: But it’s just like seventy five, except my date on my calendar is more than it was in the past.
Carol Turner: But we stayed right there with you.
Mike Ferry: But I know you’re not. But we start planning the next four years. And the more we talked about it, the more excited we got and the better our decisions became. And we could see clearly. At age 80, what we can all I can do now, Sabrina, as most of our clients know, is substantially younger than I am. So she has much more time left on this wonderful thing called Earth than I probably have. But you really have to have a big overall thinking, big view, which I think is a great thought. What’s the biggest frustration you experience from doing the training, the teaching, the coaching, the clinics? You know, because you do so much.
Carol Turner: Well, I don’t know if I thought, you know, this is hard for me. I’m the consummate optimist, so I don’t feel frustration for very long. I can tell you what the challenges are, but the frustration, I have to say, leaves me every 30 minutes so I don’t leave it in my head very long. I don’t know how to do that. So that’s a hard question for me. But in terms of challenges, I kind of see it in two ways. So for the people who are having this wonderful year and you’ve written about this and you’ve talked about this, we’re working, first of all, to keep them out of complacency and reestablishing goals so that they continue to achieve. But one of their biggest challenges are when you are achieving at a high level, systems break down. So we’re looking at systems almost monthly and quarterly before they have to hire that second assistant or find new ways to have additional delegations. And there’s a lot of that happening with the top producers because they were having a great life before that. And now things have to be reevaluated. So we have to do that pretty rapidly. So they keep moving forward. So keep them out of complacency and watch how they’re operating, because systems will have to be revamped as they grow so quickly.
Mike Ferry: Well, as a person that was very involved with new licenses at CBL all those years, you know, the number of new licensees today is almost overwhelming to the industry. I think we’ve got probably three to four hundred thousand agents of with 8 to 12 months of Real Estate. And they all see this great big paycheck visually, but they don’t have one in their hand.
Carol Turner: Well, they are the challenges, right? They so what I feel like I’ve done more this year was ask people to be patient and that they really need to get the foundation in place. And that’s what I like about the top producers, because they’re always asking to learn. Always they want to know more. But the newer people or the people who haven’t seen that success have to be fundamental. The fundamentals are the only way to it. And it’s hard for them because of the distracted world we live in. So we have to take it in chunks of kinds of skills. You chunk it and work with that skill until they can really master that so that they can move on. But it takes time. And plus, they’re they’re not getting the listings that rapidly. As someone who’s been getting them all the time, they don’t have the database for that or the knowledge. So they end up working with buyers and we have to help them truly become more efficient at that and to have really strong standards with that, because they’re already running around crazy and they don’t want to go out with people who aren’t motivated or really aren’t going to be able to be qualified in the way the market works now to have a home. So there’s a lot of emotion with people who are newer to the business,
Mike Ferry: And that is such a critical thought. I think what you just said, there is a lot of emotion because, you know, yes, we have to work with buyers. It’s part of life, but it doesn’t have to be our life.
Carol Turner: That’s right.
Mike Ferry: The agents that listen to you and listen to myself and listen to the other people that share our knowledge is – listings are the name of the game, period. Agree. Why is it harder to get an nation or is it so hard to get an agent to understand that because you have a lot of experience with this?
Carol Turner: Well, so. People, unfortunately, take the path of least resistance, and especially when they are learning and growing, so it’s very difficult for them to hang in there a little bit longer. A little more, you know, and it happened on the clinic, you know, do take that third, do that fourth close. Don’t give up because you’ve had 99 no’s. It’s ninety nine no’s to a yes. Keep at it. If we could just keep that stamina, put that grit in that and that that, you know, the Kobe Bryant the mamba mentality of never giving up, then they’re going to make it. We just have to get over the hump.
Mike Ferry: You know, it’s it’s tough. Then, of course, then you add to the fact that their paychecks, when they get them, are big, bigger than we’ve ever seen. And when I say this, some of them will say no way. But my first paychecks as a realtor in 1970 were two hundred and eighty five dollars for a listing sold.
Carol Turner: That’s not a lot of money,
Mike Ferry: And I thought it was pretty good at the time. But I remember my first listing, I took at fifty thousand dollars. I thought I had hit the roof for the biggest listing in history, you know.
Carol Turner: Well, you know, you bring up something important, because when they’re getting these first big checks, the roller coaster begins. So it’s our job as coaches to be really tight with them, getting back on the schedule and not to have those complacent moments, because then they do what we’ve seen so many times. They work from paycheck to paycheck as opposed to building a business like we teach.
Mike Ferry: Well, it’s interesting because that you mentioned complacency, you know, keeping the systems working forward. But the independent contractorship that we all have to deal with is probably what gets in the way of a lot of them really attaining. I can’t remember who said to me, “…if I could help them understand that they’re in the sales business, they probably would be better off.” And that’s something that you and I, of course, understand very well.
Carol Turner: So you taught me, you know, this is a business. And they have to understand that even though they have a roof over their heads with the broker, they are literally running a business and they have to open their store every day. And if they could kind … they still … Many people who come into coaching have an employee mentality. And it’s very difficult to get out of that when they’ve been employees in their past life.
Mike Ferry: Yes, because the freedom is their greatest asset and their biggest liability. So we want to tell all of our viewers something kind of fun. When I asked Carol to be with us today, I sent her a list of questions. And then, of course, I didn’t ask any of them. But your insights were great. I’ve got a whole page of notes for what you’ve said. Thank you. Well, no, it’s just been great. I have to do this more often. That’s for darn sure. So I want to say on behalf we have thousands of people to watch Mike Ferry TV each week, as I do every week. Watch it more than once, because there’s too many things Carol said that have a lot of value. And each time they listen, they’ll hear something a little bit new. So I know you’ve been extremely active as a coach every day running our prospecting school. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And Carol, we’ll look forward to seeing you very soon. And I hope that the balance of this year is as good for your clients as the first seven, eight, nine months of that. That’s for sure.
Carol Turner: So thank you so much. It’s an honor to work with this company. I enjoyed every single day.
Mike Ferry: Thank you. See you very soon, Carol. Thank you. Bye.