Yesterday I received an e-mail from a friend who sent me a copy of Mike Ferry’s “One on One” coaching letter to his followers. Summarizing it for you wouldn’t do it justice, so here’s a copy of the actual letter.
To say I was at a loss for words immediately following reading this would be an understatement. After regaining my composure, I was then angry that someone who is looked to by many for advice and guidance in their Real Estate careers would even considering writing such an e-mail to his followers. I certainly hope they are smart enough to realize that Real Estate is by far one of the most social industries in the world. It’s all based on relationships! I guess Mike has forgotten that people prefer to do business with people who they know and like. Sounds pretty “social” to me!
One of the biggest problems the Real Estate industry faces is the “Transactional Mindset”. When your focus is on the “sale” you are no longer concerning yourself with the most important aspect of the transaction – THE CLIENT. This is a relationship business… NOT a sales business.
I am fairly certain that Mike Ferry will end up regretting this e-mail, and most likely it will be in the very near future. As Social Media rapidly continues its meteoric growth, I can say with 100% confidence that Mike will find himself on the sidelines wondering where he went wrong. Hopefully he’ll remember that October 13, 2010 was where he went wrong.
Would love to hear your thoughts and comments on Mike’s e-mail.
utahREpro 
I wonder what Matthew and Tom have to say….They all make a living helping agents, and Tom helps one of the biggest in social media..
Tom sent me a DM on Twitter after I had posted the e-mail there. His response was “Whoa!” I think that pretty much sums it up. He then went on to his facebook page and posted the question to his followers – “Is Social Media a waste of time?” Interesting thread there…
You might ask Tom Ferry and Matthew Ferry what was each of their largest grossing year in real estate sales was or even average of four years in UNITS EACH HAS SOLD. I just want you to find their top year or top averaged 4 years. I know the answer. Take a guess: It has a ZERO at the end of the number. It is, how might we say, “rounded.” Report back with their COMBINED totals if you like. That should truly “impress.” The answer, you will find, will be amazing for such RE sales gurus as Tom and Matthew. Former Mike Ferry Staff and current Realtor at William E Wood and Associates, Va. Beach, VA
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Chris you are dead wrong and Mike is 100% right. Even all of the Social Media gurus admit that 90% of your business is going to be coming from person-to-person contact and only10% from the internet. You do need to have an internet presence: WordPress, Activerain, Linkedin, Facebook, etc. – NOT to generate business but to support it. And in the long run: You first need to be a great agent to succeed in real estate – the other are frills that if needed you can do without.
Thanks for the comment Andy. Most REALTORS I interact with via Social Media would argue differently. The moral of the story is do what works for you. Social Media has accounted for the majority of my business this year. The new generation of buyers are using it to find a trusted professional. I am grateful Mike is telling his followers NOT to engage in Social Media, leaves a bigger piece of the pie for the rest of us…
We have been grateful to Mike Ferry since the mid 1990s.
It was before the common use of eMail that he was instrumental in getting hundreds of Realtors to take our sales training courses. He had a mailing list of thousands of Realtors and he sent letter to them about us. He warned them NOT TO get involved with our sales training and consulting programs, which are based on the concepts of mutual trust and mutual respect.
Even some of the Realtors who were featured in his video programs became our long term clients.
If you know Mike, you know it did not end at that …
Beliefs are powerful! I think it was a Henry Ford quote that said,”If you think you can do a thing or think you can’t do a thing, you’re right.”
I keep hearing success stories from folks I know using Social Media.
seems to me Mike Ferry’s training has always been more transactionally based rather than relationship based…
An agent’s own personality style & the demographics of their target client will alter what works and what doesn’t…
If you have consistency, self-discipline and do something often enough…any strategy will work, but it’s finding the one that helps with the low hanging fruit that will give the best results with the least effort!
I think Mike has been one of the best sales coaches in our business. He completely transformed one of my agent’s business by sharing his talents. He has always been an advocate of education, industry knowledge and consistency.
However, I learned about this article – not from his email – but from a posting that I saw on Twitter and further on this blog. We learn from great minds sharing and today they are sharing through social media. Chris is dead on – this is a client business and I can learn more about my clients and strengthen relationships through social networking.
When you ask me what keeps me up at night is it this – I worry that some of my really successful “traditional” agents are not seeing the changes that are happening in this business. I worry about their future success and as their broker; I want to help them remain successful and relevant for many years to come. On the flip side I am excited about the new agents embracing change and opportunities they see. They are creating new systems and making money at the same time. I consider Chris one of the new great minds to watch and follow.
Mike – I have no doubt that your methods work and help agents sell, but don’t underestimate the new techniques – the wave is here, it is happening and agents are making money.
Thank you for the kind words!
Elizabeth, I really appreciate your view on this from a broker’s perspective. You made some excellent points. And yes, I agree that Mike has been a phenomenal coach for our industry. Perhaps that’s why his email was so shocking to me.
BTW… I am so very excited to work with you next year on Strat Plan. Looking forward to it!
Chris, Mike simply provided his opinion along with facts in his message. He is also saying that physically speaking to people on a personal level (over the phone or in person) is a far better way to run your business. I can attest to that as I’ve been part of the Mike Ferry coaching program for years. Sitting inside all day updating Facebook and Twitter accounts doesn’t really do anyone any good … less money for the agents and really bad service for the clients. In fact, I just read an article that a real estate agent, nicknamed the “Blogging Queen,” passed away in her home as she couldn’t afford health insurance. Tells you something, doesn’t it?
Thanks for your input Gus. I’ll try to get out more often.
Completelly support what Gus said. Sitting inside all day updating Facebook and Twitter accounts doesn’t really do anyone any good …
I didn’t say it to Gus, but I’m going to say it to you – learn a little more about social media before you make silly comments like this.
I just had to comment, I am a huge Facebook user BUT I use it to supplement my personal interactions. I do not believe that any 1 type of attack will work it has to be part of a holistic approach and it has to be consistent with who you are as a person and you MUST follow up with great real estate skills. Now I’m off to spend some face to face time with my social network!
Exactly… Thanks Stephanie!
I find that social media assists my efforts to describe and promote my unique service proposition; It permits branding myself as an entity rather than Just another Agent.
The Youtube video’s provide recognition and open topic streams that might other wise go un noticed but real estate is a belly to belly face to face business.
Having said that; Websites, Landing pages, blogs and featured listings do get the phone ringing where advertising ( print and radio) does not.
What do you think? Long Term Social experiment? or CWOT
David Pylyp
Living in Toronto
Social media is here to stay, at least until it’s replaced by something even better and cooler… 😉
I am amazed that anyone would draw a line in the sand like this. All Sales involve people and trust. I choose to give my money to people I trust. Any professional I hire has to earn my trust either based on a referral or their reputation that I’m able to discern. The internet has allowed us to do both quicker than ever before.
I believe the stats speak for themselves; check out that I just shared on my blog. There is nothing scarier to me then people that do not embrace change. If we believe we’ve arrived and have all the answers we loose our relevance. The opportunities have never been better for us to develop better client relationships.
In my estimation all sales are relational.
Thanks Kathy! Excellent comments!
Wow. I would say it’s unbelievable – but it’s not. I suspect Mike will regret his “my way or the high way” approach one day, but probably not today and that’s OK. It makes room for new teachers, mentors, coaches, trainers and speakers to lead sales professionals to expand their minds, re-think the way they do business, re-assess what it will take to propel them towards their goals and re-affirm that yes, we are indeed a PEOPLE business, and connecting, creating trust and communication are all vital elements of that. While they’re at it they will be sure to teach those professionals that we are not limited by old school thinking any more than we are by what some may consider “fads.” The savvy professional will drink it all in, find the tools and technology and skills they need to meet the needs of their customers in today’s world. They’ll add all the incredible new means of reaching out to their marketing plan and their mindset and they’ll adopt change willingly as it comes along. It’s going to be some journey!
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Foolish me. I just wrote a long response to this thread and didn’t copy it before I clicked on Post Comment. Internet Explorer failed and trashed all my writing.
But I think I can be more succinct, now (maybe.) Mike’s concerns are very valid in that I’m sure many, many Realtors have spent months on social networking without a deal to show for it. Mike’s method is old-school and simple if you’re willing to work at it – knock on doors, talk to people and list homes. Chris will resonate more with younger clients and may have an efficient and effective means to use social networking to get business. Both are valid! Should Mike rant on social networking? I’m guessing that many more Realtors will fail at it than succeed at this point in time. Is it advantageous and will it be “required” in the future? I expect so.
I’ve gotten the feeling over time that Mike believes other methods work, but aren’t necessarily as effective or as profitable as his system. While I can’t say how profitable social networking can potentially be for real estate, I do believe I could personally, easily get mired down in the details of it and never do a deal.
While social networking could be very profitable, I don’t begrudge Mike his comments and think that most Realtors would likely be better off with his methods than exploring social networking (assuming they do what they’re told and notwithstanding a very structured and proven social networking system to follow.)
Thinking about “most” Realtors, I’d have to go with Mike on this one, but would love to learn of an effective, systematic, proven social networking approach to selling real estate.
My 2 cents.
Cheers,
…PPT
I wonder how many more REALTORS have failed at using the phone, knocking doors and mailing postcards tha failed at Facebook to date? I suspect that the failure in any case isn’t due to the tool being used, but the user.
Just wondering aloud… After booking twondeals in two days from Facebook connections I have never met, but said they felt like they knew me already from my posts and wanted me to come speak to their companies.
Great comments Matthew and nice job on your smackdown at GenBlue with Mike Ferry!
Thanks for including this blog post in your recap of that event!
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Mike Ferry’s point of view is the most public display of resistance to change that I have ever seen – and it is sad to me. Unfortunately, this is not what our industry needs in order to move forward – as the world and the needs of the real estate consumer we are working for changes.
wow! everyone who uses social media is just lazy, sit there all day in a quiet office clicking away at a computer screen for 8 hours, then going home to your wife and kids and acting like you had a productive day at work because a friend of a friend sent you a message asking about the market and you spent 6 hours of your 8 hour day sending him comps and updates on the market, turns out hes just curious. ridiculous. mike ferry wants you to speak with people, human beings, find out what drives them and what they need, then deliver… facebook is a joke, social media is a joke, and oh yea before someone says this is for the younger crowd, im 23 yrs old, and closed 74 deals last year.
Social media is a completely new and very effective way to add new contacts to your database, even if it is only used to keep in touch with friends and family it is never hurt to remind them what you do for a living. If used properly it can be very useful in staying in touch with all clients at the same time. Most of the clients are on the Facebook this days. Older people were always afraid of changes, or to be more correct find it more difficult to understand new technology, new tools, new methods and they always find the way to justify their believes, it is their way to deal with things they refuse to understand and apparently Mike is still haven’t realized the full potential of social media. It is FREE way to stay in contact with the sphere of influence, or anyone who may be on the contact list, as much as you can as often as you can. Social media is a FREE branding and that’s the price I am willing to pay. One day Mike will realize that, until then, his faster adopting competition will make more closings. If a lead is generated from the social media go ahead and use Mike Ferry method to close it. If social media can generate 3-4-5 % of leads, and on average people have 200-300 of local people, it will generate 6-15 solid leads and according to Mike it is possible to have 70% conversion rate which will put extra few thousands dollars, the best part of which is the cost of expenses $0.00