In today’s episode of The No Limits Selling Podcast, we have Jonathan Tager, Licensed Associate Real Estate Broker at The Corcoran Group.
Jonathan Tager’s Tip: “And if anyone is listening to her right now and doesn't know what the 80/20 rule is, I highly urge you to go onto YouTube and type in 80/20 rule. And if you do anything today, I think that'll be the most important thing you did today.”
Guest Bio:
Growing up in Beverly Hills, the entertainment industry was always in Jonathan Tager’s blood, so he started his career working on various film projects. His interior designer dad had always taught Jonathan to value and appreciate properties, their designs, and architectural styles, which ultimately fueled his passion for real estate.
Jonathan is a licensed associate broker in New York State and a licensed sales agent in California, allowing him to sell properties and conduct business on both coasts. Jonathan’s success in real estate is attributed to his no-nonsense attitude and his out-of-the-box thinking. He consistently lives up to his reputation for getting the job done.
Find Jonathan Tager: Website, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter
[EDITOR’S NOTE: This podcast is sponsored by No Limits Selling. It is a fun, fast-paced podcast that delivers hard-fought business advice that you can implement today to improve your sales and performance]
Interested In Our Real Estate Coaching Services? Explore Our Website: Link
Feeling Not Well Today? You Can Use Our Mindset Boosters App To amp Up Your Mood: Link
Find us on Social Media:
LinkedIn | Facebook community | Instagram
Like what do you listen to? Subscribe to our podcast!
Ready to become fearless? We can help you become fearless in 60 days so you accomplish more in your career Schedule A 15 min Call with Umar[Podcast Transcript Using Artificial Intelligence]
Umar Hameed 0:01
Are you ready to become awesomer? Hello everyone. My name is Umar Hameed, I'm your host on The no limit selling podcast where industry leaders share their tips, strategies and advice on how you can become better, stronger, faster. Just before we get started, I've got a question for you. Do you have a negative voice inside your head? We all do, right? I'm gonna help you remove that voice and under 30 days guaranteed not only remove it, but transform it. So instead of the voice that sabotages you, there's one that propels you to much higher levels of performance and success. There's a link in the show notes. Click on it to find out more. All right, let's get started.
Umar Hameed 0:41
Hey everyone! Welcome to another episode of The No Limits Selling Podcast. Today, we have Jonathan Tager with us today. He's a Montreal boy in New York City and a realtor. And I'm looking forward to our conversation. Thanks so much for being on the show.
Jonathan Tager 0:56
Yeah, of course, of course. I haven't been called a Montreal boy in a long time. So that's, that's, that's special.
Umar Hameed 0:58
So when we actually met in Manhattan earlier on in the week for the first time at a coffee shop, which was like a kick-ass amazing coffee shop by the way. It's probably one of the best coffees I've had in a long time.
Jonathan Tager 1:00
I agree. It was fantastic. Just I have to correct you, we were in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. That's Brooklyn.
Umar Hameed 1:18
Ah, okay.
Jonathan Tager 1:19
Yeah, yeah.
Umar Hameed 1:19
He's a realtor. He can't help it. And I'm like [garbled]
Jonathan Tager 1:21
[Garbled] I can't allow that mistake.
Umar Hameed 1:25
So one of the things we were chatting about was you doing stand up before he started being a realtor. And one of the things we thought might be an interesting conversation is how stand up relates to real estate. Because to get ready to go on stage, it takes a lot of preparation and a lot of sacrifice to get there. So why don't we kick off the show with that? How does stand up comedy relate to being a realtor?
Jonathan Tager 1:52
That's funny. You have to have a keen sense of humor to be in real estate, I promise you that. But no, I mean, in all seriousness, the reality is, look, you're, you're selling, you're you're always selling yourself, I think in no matter what, right? You're always selling yourself, whether you're selling cars, whether you're selling real estate, whether you're a comedian, right? I'm selling myself as a comedian, because I'm up there. And if you don't like me, you're not laughing at me. That's just the reality. And you know what the real, you know, another reality is if you don't like me, you're not buying a house from me.
Umar Hameed 2:27
Yeah.
Jonathan Tager 2:28
Yeah. So...
Umar Hameed 2:29
What's kinda interesting...
Jonathan Tager 2:30
Yeah. Oh, go ahead.
Umar Hameed 2:31
To what you were saying that authenticity piece is they sometimes I watch the shows where they're, like, the voice or whatever. And one of the things I often hear them say is, "If you can't sing about a song, if you're not feeling that emotion," so if there's deep sadness in the lyrics, and you're not feeling it, you're faking it, it's not going to come through. So you need to be authentic. And I think stand up by its very definition is people that are truly great is that they're being themselves in the most vulnerable way. And is that connection, artist or person on stage with the audience that creates the laughter that creates the trust, because I can tell jokes, and not be me be a facsimile of me. But that runs out pretty quickly. And the same thing when you're selling something, especially real estate, is if you like, "Hi, my name is Jonathan, I'm gonna sell you this and you're like that this facade up?" People see through that they don't want that they want to have that real person connecting with them? Are they going to love you or not? But if they love you, they'll go the distance.
Jonathan Tager 3:28
Well, here, it's funny. You say that, Umar? Because, really, here's the truth, right? I've been doing this 20 years, almost 20 years, I've sold the apartment, I've convinced someone to buy either an apartment or, or anything. One time and 20 years, right? I truly talk someone into buying an apartment. It was a young man. And it was during the first downfall or the down cycle. And he was getting an apartment for pennies on the dollars. And I truly talked to him in the day before we were going to close he was he was changing his mind. And I'm like, you are making a huge mistake. You've got to buy this apartment. It's the bottom of the market, I promise you there's only you know, the value of this apartment can only go up, right? It's like, this apartment was $600,000, you know, two years ago now it's 300,000. I was like, I promise you, it's gonna be worth 600,000 and then some and a few years anyway, of course, the apartment went up, the guy doubled his money and god knows how long and that was the only time I've ever talked someone into buying an apartment, an apartment or a property. You're never going to talk someone into buying a property they don't want you know, if someone walks into it to a house or whatnot, you know, and they're just like, Oh, this isn't for me. There's zero out of 1000 times are you going to convince that person to buy the property. So when when real estate brokers are selling, you know, properties in like, "Oh, hey, look at the kitchen." "Oh, look at this stone" "Here touch it, put your hand on it" You know, when they do silly things like that, it just shows how fake and how, you know not honest they are, in general. And it's, you know, it's sort of a disaster to watch. So I think with comedy, it's the same thing, right? You got to, you know, get up there and, you know, be yourself what's what something, I might say something that's hilarious. And you could say the exact same thing and no one's gonna laugh, right? Because...
Umar Hameed 5:37
Yup.
Jonathan Tager 5:37
...you're just different people and that's what it is. right? So I think real estate's the exact same way, right, where I could tell you something about a house where a similar a different broker, you know, would say something, and it just comes off completely fake and not real.
Umar Hameed 5:55
And I think intent is so important as well. Is your intent when you're onstage? If the intent is to make people laugh, that's certainly a worthy intent. If the intent is I want to connect with these people in the audience. And the byproduct is going to be laughter is all about that connection, it'll have a different feel to the show than the other, or if the intent is not to suck. So I think in real estate as well, if the intent is I want you guys to find a home that you guys are gonna be proud of that your family's gonna grow up in, that's one thing. If my intent is to sell you something so I make a commission, people also pick that up as well.
Jonathan Tager 6:36
100%, 100%. It's you know, look, I have the luxury of working in New York City, right, where there is no, you know, the hard part is getting listings, right? So I've always tried to work the listing, you know, when I get listings, I mean, I sell every listing I have, right? so it's very rarely do I get a listing that I just can't sell. You know, usually it's because just the salaries are, you know, what's the word, they're not reasonable and in their, in their price or whatnot, they're just not reasonable. But, you know, it's when I have a listing, I know I'm gonna sell it to someone. So if it's not, you know, buyer A, B, and C, it'll be buyer D, whatever it might be, so I'm not sitting there, like, Oh, I've got to sell it to this person. You know, and I think to be honest with you, it's helped me in my career, because I listen to people and I, you know, look, if it's not the right apartment or right house for them, I want them to find the right house, you know, and if they want help, I'll gladly work with them on the buyer side. But, you know, I don't need to lie to people or to make things up. So, you know, first of all, people aren't really that stupid. It's, you know, if it's a third floor walk up and you've got someone with with kids and they've got a you know, small kids and they've got, you know, baby strollers and stuff like that. You know, I look right away. So guys, you really don't want this apartment. You know me, it's third floor walk up, you know, what, are you going to take the stroller up and down those stairs, you know, every day, that's, that's just not reasonable. So I you know, I think those are obvious things. And, you know, lucky you got to find the right, I guess the right connection and the people that you work with, or else you're wasting your time.
Umar Hameed 8:35
Brilliant. So let's, uh, put you to the test. You've been in the business for a while. Since what year?
Jonathan Tager 8:41
2005? 2004? 2004? Yeah. 2004.
Umar Hameed 8:47
So why don't we get five ways to generate leads in real estate? And what's the first way?
Jonathan Tager 8:54
The spokes of the tire. I love that. I love...
Umar Hameed 8:59
Tell me about that.
Jonathan Tager 9:00
You know, coaching and stuff like that. Anyway, they call it the spokes of the tire. You gotta have I think they actually at one point, they're like, you have to have seven, I'll take five because sevens a lot. But...
Umar Hameed 9:11
Yeah.
Jonathan Tager 9:11
You know, and in no particular order. Okay? Is that okay? Can I just throw them as they...
Umar Hameed 9:16
Sure, yeah.
Jonathan Tager 9:18
One can be a newsletter. I think a newsletter is key. Because there's so many, there's so many systems out there where you can just grab everyone you're in contact with. And you know, you're you're getting in front of them once at least once a month with your newsletter.
Umar Hameed 9:39
Right.
Jonathan Tager 9:40
Email people once a month with your newsletter, you're very reasonable, right? So let's start with the newsletter. Second, you know, it's pretty obvious nowadays. I hate it, I'll be honest, but at the same time, I try to have fun with it but social media.
Umar Hameed 10:00
Yup.
Jonathan Tager 10:01
Social media, it's actually interesting a lot of people that follow me or that I'm connected with on social media, I don't have their email address. So it's just another, you know, bunch of people that I can get in front of...
Umar Hameed 10:17
Nice.
Jonathan Tager 10:17
...that way. I started using this new app actually recently. What is it called? Gosh! It's actually pretty funny. It's I think, oh, yeah, it's called Homebot? Have you heard of that?
Umar Hameed 10:32
No, tell me about it.
Jonathan Tager 10:33
It's pretty cool actually, it it basically, you input all your buyers or sellers. And it automatically reaches out to them once a month, and tells them about their home's value.
Umar Hameed 10:47
Love it.
Jonathan Tager 10:47
What if they wanted to refinance? What if they wanted to sell? All these all these different options for them. And like, you know, let's say, most people aren't looking to sell, right? So it just gives them you know, sort of a framework of their options if they did want to sell if they wanted to refinance, whatever it is. That's, it's, and it's great, because once you put everyone in there, it's just it's, it's automated, right? So you know, I mean, the newsletter I actually have to sit takes me 20 minutes, right? But I sit and I do that once a month, right? Homebot is once once I put people in there, it's you know, they consistently get emails from the system, and it has me as their real estate broker.
Umar Hameed 11:36
Love it.
Jonathan Tager 11:37
So I like to be automated stuff is great. I also use this CRM, again, in no order, because I'm not putting, you know, you got to find what works for you. But I use a CRM, Corcoran has has a really, Corcoran has a great, one of the biggest reasons I love being at Corcoran is their back end systems make it so it almost looks like I don't have to work like...
Umar Hameed 12:06
Ah, love it.
Jonathan Tager 12:06
...they know what we're good at and meaning their agents. So they basically want to give us all the tools to you know, just focus on connecting with potential clients and potential buyers and sellers and which is what they do. So the back end is as automated as possible. And our CRM, it's funny, we had a CRM when I joined, it was Contactually. And then compass bought it. Not to give you so much backstory, but compass bought it so then we got rid of Contactually. And it took us I would say almost a year to put together a better CRM than Contactually.
Umar Hameed 12:07
Nice.
Jonathan Tager 12:08
And it is, it's called close. I don't know if you've heard of Close. But it's an amazing, it's an amazing back end system where literally just tells me, "Hey, email this person today" "Call this person"
Umar Hameed 13:06
Yeah, love it.
Jonathan Tager 13:06
It tells me. Yeah, it tells me like what to do almost. It's fantastic. So I'm always in touch with everybody. So I mean, obviously, I've got my newsletter, sending mass emails, right? But then, you know, this is a more personalized call work guy, let's let's have a conversation. send this email, I can send like, you know, like, you can send 10 people the same email. Let's say I get a property, right? And I'm like, "Oh, wow, this is a great deal." I think I have some buyers, I can send it to 10 people, as opposed to sending it to, you know, 1000.
Umar Hameed 13:47
1000, yeah.
Jonathan Tager 13:48
You know, and I can
Umar Hameed 13:48
Love it.
Jonathan Tager 13:49
[Garbled] email and it looks like I'm just emailing them, right? It looks like I'm specifically just emailing that person.
Umar Hameed 13:56
Love it. So number four social media, CRM.
Jonathan Tager 14:01
Number four, good, good one, right? Let's keep going. So something like that I do all the time. I think like a big thing that I do, and it's kind of you know, I guess I don't know I mean, I don't look at it as as looking for business but it is really is taking people to lunch, obviously I'm not doing it every day. But And truthfully, I look at it as I'm taking my friends to lunch, right? It's these are people that I genuinely like but I've got certain people that I know you know, they've they've referred me business in the past, but they're good friends and you know, it's important to you know, get in front of them and catch up and all that stuff so...
Umar Hameed 14:55
Ron Howard and his partner Brian leisure, Brian at actually wrote a book about when he came to Hollywood he started taking people out for lunches, like really smart people just to pick their brain over lunch and he said it was just gave him such an education. And one of the stories he tells is he finally got a lunch with Isaac Asimov. Wrote iRobot T's, you know, sci fi writer probably got like 8090 books, one of the giants. And he wasn't prepared for the meeting. So the guy stopped the lunch. So I don't have you weren't ready for this lunch.
Jonathan Tager 15:35
With Brian Glazer.
Umar Hameed 15:36
Yeah. And then he went, "Oh, my God! Yeah," this was a giant in the industry. And I basically just showed up like, wonderstruck. And he was like, because he was getting on yours. And he's got books to write. He says, You know, I've got books to write, what advice do you give yourself write faster. And so anyway, so that lunch thing is so huge if you can actually just attend someone, and just be with them and not doesn't have to be about business, like the coffee you and I had? It was like a great coffee. It was just two guys talking about life, comedy, real estate. And it was a delightful conversation that I got lots of value out of, and hopefully you got value out of it, too.
Jonathan Tager 16:14
No, it was fantastic. It really was. I mean, we because we didn't know each other that was, you know, we met each other at the coffee. And yeah, it was kind of funny, because the coffee was like, Really, I was like, wow, this is so good. It was such a coffee. Um, but yeah, I mean, know what life is, especially in the world we're living in now. Right? Because we're, we're so I think I was telling you this at our coffee, like, I'm so alone a lot of the time, right. And I don't mean that in like a depressing way. I mean, you know, but it can be honestly, some days, I'm a little depressed, because I'm either in my car driving around, you know, going, you know, even if I have a busy day, and I have two appointments, right? That's a busy day. Other than those two appointments, I'm in my car by myself, or I'm doing computer work, you know, in my home office, I'm not around, you know, I don't have that in the office surrounded by activity on a consistent basis. So it's nice to sort of, you know, just meet up with people and like humanize the business or humanize really life, right? It's not absolutely, you know, not every meeting needs to be, you know, am I going to make money from this. It's nice.
Umar Hameed 17:41
The quality of your life, my life is the quality of our relationships.
Jonathan Tager 17:44
Absolutely.
Umar Hameed 17:45
And lucky up earning tons of dough. And if you don't have anybody to share it with, then you know, what's the point?
Jonathan Tager 17:50
Absolutely.
Umar Hameed 17:50
And so we've got newsletters, social media, CRM, doing lunches, number five, bringing it home. What's the fifth thing to generate?
Jonathan Tager 18:00
I'm trying to think like, what I, what I tend, and sometimes they change, because I have like a few things that are changing, right? That because I try to see what's working, and I try to, I try to do what, you know, obviously, I don't want to do things. And after like, a little while, you get no return, you're like, Well, why am I doing this? You know, this doesn't make sense, or it doesn't feel like but I think a big thing is reaching out to people you don't know. Because it's one thing to, to, you know, to be in contact with people you do know, on a consistent basis, but getting people. Well, before I even say that, obviously, who you don't know and you can reach out to, you know, buyers sellers, anybody right? Because in real estate, you don't have to be a buyer or a seller, you can be a renter, you can be just any Joe Schmo who has a friend who wants to sell their part. So it doesn't, it doesn't matter. But I will say so reaching out to people you don't know. But with that said, obviously, you know, you need to keep current and I still send out print advertising. I don't send out a mass amount of print advertising. But I do. I think it's important because other agents do too. And I think it's important to kind of, you know, and truthfully every now and then you send it you gotta be consistent with with print advertising, but...
Umar Hameed 19:34
Right.
Jonathan Tager 19:35
Every now and then you send something out and you get a random call from someone and, and, you know, there's a listing for you.
Umar Hameed 19:43
Love that. And I'm going to add one from our conversation at the coffee shop.
Jonathan Tager 19:48
Yeah.
Umar Hameed 19:48
We talked about mitzvahs. I think if you're feeling down or you just want just help someone. Just helping another human...
Jonathan Tager 19:57
Absolutely.
Umar Hameed 19:57
...being changes your mood and it's also a good way to just build relationships that will eventually lead to business. And it may not be from that person, but their crazy brother in law is selling a house, "Hey Doctor Jonathan." So yeah, I think it's helping people is the most selfish thing to do because it makes you feel good. And I'll tell you my favorite quote, Jonathan, you may wish to write this down. I'm not sure who said that somebody genius. And he went something like this, "The love I give you a second hand, I got to feel it first."
Jonathan Tager 20:30
The love I give you is second hand.
Umar Hameed 20:32
I got to feel at first.
Jonathan Tager 20:35
I have to feel it first.
Umar Hameed 20:36
When heard that it was like, "Wow," that's like, so and [garbled]
Jonathan Tager 20:40
Who said that, you know?
Umar Hameed 20:42
I don't know, which is gonna make it sound more legit. And say it was Gandhi. But it wasn't.
Jonathan Tager 20:47
It was gonna say some homeless guy. And after our coffee [garbled]
Umar Hameed 20:50
We could have been. Alright, brilliant Jonathan. So two things before we parted company. Number one, what brings you joy in your work?
Jonathan Tager 20:58
What brings me joy in my work? I think helping you know, like, okay, like, right now I'm selling a house for these for like, the nicest people in the world, right? I'm still waiting for like, you know, the, the nasty to come out. Because it's like, you know, whatever you have, with my experience. Whenever you have someone that's like the perfect and ideal client, something really crazy happens at some point. And they turn nasty. So I'm hoping that doesn't happen and we're closing next week. But to date, they've been like, the nicest people in the world. They're, you know, they inherited their family house, and they're selling it and we got, you know, they basically were like, you tell us what to do, and we'll do it. They've listened to me, and I haven't had a fight on anything. And we sold over ask all cash. So like, you know, that just shows when you let people who are good at their jobs do their jobs, right, they're gonna do a good job, right? But what makes me happy is they're the nicest people in the world. Nobody deserves the windfall of cash, they're about to get more, I mean, they've lived their whole lives, you know, their New York, NYPD, police are retired now, but, you know, protecting New York City, all that good stuff. And, you know, I like, I just want them to, you know, it makes me so happy to help them, and to have done a good job for them. So, you know, that for me is is, you know, don't get me wrong, I want my commission check but, but I also, it makes it that much sweeter, knowing that they're happy, they couldn't be happier.
Umar Hameed 22:41
Good things happen to good people.
Jonathan Tager 22:43
Exactly. I mean, it's just great.
Umar Hameed 22:46
So what's one mind hack? One technique that you use to be more productive, more efficient? Like, what's one mind hack you'd like?
Jonathan Tager 22:54
Mind hack?
Umar Hameed 22:55
Yeah.
Jonathan Tager 22:55
The first thing that probably comes to mind, because we spoke about it the other day, so I think it's, you know, I used to have my own brokerage. So I, I even trained, I literally would take new agents, and I would like make them watch this YouTube, on and I don't think a lot of people even are aware of it. But the 80/20 rule. I think it's like,
Umar Hameed 23:16
Oh, yeah.
Jonathan Tager 23:16
it's so key, especially in real estate, where you're your own boss. You know, so I mean, there's so many days where you're like, "Oh, I got so much going on. And we're sitting there focusing on the 80%, that really doesn't matter if we do it or not." So I try to focus on my 20% that actually, you know, earns my income, right? So the 20%, where I see results, and that do matter, like if I do anything today, it's that 20% because that 20%, like, you know, reaching out, you know, going through my contacts, picking up the phone, you know, and calling, even if it's calling one person a day, right? You know, if I call one person a day and a work week, that's five, five people, right? I could get a...
Umar Hameed 24:05
Oh, yeah.
Jonathan Tager 24:06
...referral from one of those five. You know, so if you do anything that should be one of them. You know, if I read a post about how to design your home for the holidays on Facebook, that gets no traction, I don't think that really matters. So I think the 80/20 rule is super important. And if anyone is listening to her right now and doesn't know what the 80/20 rule is, I highly urge you to go onto YouTube and type in 80/20 rule. And if you do anything today, I think that'll be, that'll be the most important thing you did today.
Umar Hameed 24:43
There was this guy I forget the name of the guy. He was using the 80/20 rule but in a different way. And it was all about online, selling things online like courses and coaching. The guy was saying if you have 1000 people that are buying your program for 50 bucks, the 80/20 rule says that 200 of them would be willing to pay $500 for something more value adds. And out of those 200 people, there are 20 people that are willing to pay $5,000 for that. So they actually use pricing with the 8020 rule. And I thought that was actually a genius way of using that rule in a slightly different way. Jonathan, thank you so much for sharing your wisdom with us today really appreciated the conversation, and I'm looking forward to our next conversation.
Jonathan Tager 25:28
Thanks for having me. I appreciate it. Great meeting you. And again, thanks so much.
Umar Hameed 25:38
If you enjoyed this episode, please go to iTunes and leave a five-star rating. And if you're looking for more tools, go to my website at nolimitsselling.com. I've got a free mind training course there, that's going to teach you some insights from the world of Neuro-Linguistic Programming and that is the fastest way to get better results.