Guest Bio:
Brian Morgan has been recognized as a top sales agent every year since 2010; most notably as Team of the Year for Sales companywide in 2013 and 2016, and a winner of the Diamond Circle, Silver Award, and President's Council in 2011-2017.
In 2009, Brian created the Morgan Manhattan Team, a team of dedicated and experienced agents. Brian actively supported the community and co-founded the non-profit organization, Kid Care. His charity's mission is to work with underprivileged and homeless children in the community to alleviate the stresses that impoverished children often face and give them every opportunity to thrive.
Find Brian Morgan: LinkedIn
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[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 Limits 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 0:39
Hey, everybody, welcome to another episode of the No Limits Selling podcast. And just today we did the 259th episode got published. So we've been doing this for a while. And one of the things I love about the show is this is my highest value is learning cool stuff. And the best way to do that is to get bright people on the show. So we get to pick their brains and share their wisdom with the world. And today, we have Brian Morgan here from New York City. Brian, welcome to the program.
Brian Morgan 1:11
Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Thanks for having me.
Umar Hameed 1:13
Brilliant. Before we went on air, we were just talking about, you know, newborns and how it changes your life. And certainly, that's one of the defining moments when people go from whatever house they have to the house they truly want. So now that you've gone through this experience, how does that change your insights into people that are actually getting bigger homes? Because they got kids? does it inform it in any different way?
Brian Morgan 1:37
Yeah, well, I'm going through that right now. I mean, it's a constant discussion in my household, we're trying to figure out where we're going to live, you know, what community we're going to be in? Are we going to stay in New York City? Are we going to leave New York City, if we're in New York City, what neighborhood are we going to be when we're in New York City, we have a good idea of where we're leaning and making these decisions. But there's still a long ways away, I mean, you know, we do definitely need more space, we're in a three bedroom on the Upper East Side, it's a small three bedroom, and I, my wife, just guys, tons of toys for our baby and takes up a lot of space. And I always see my customers going through it, but you know, for for almost 20 years, and now I'm living it. And it's different to live it that when you're the you're the broker, and you know, we're trying to figure it out, you know, it's a very interesting, I'm sure we're gonna get a lot into this into the, into the marketplace, and all this all these factors that are are presenting themselves. And, you know, it's like, I'm in my client's shoes for once.
Umar Hameed 2:29
That is, like, kind of pretty amazing. It's one of my cousins, he had a he's a doctor, and he ended up talking to these women, they got kids that aren't behaving and he's like, you know, hey, look after your kids and just make them take this medicine and, and as he's walking away, one woman whispers to the other woman, wait till you have your own kids minister. And he says he always remembers that because when he had his firstborn, it was like, you can't control these monsters. They have a life of their own.
Brian Morgan 2:57
Yeah, you know, a lots of things that I used to used to be like God, judgmental, you know, we're all a little bit judgmental. I used to think you know, everything, especially when it comes to sleep schedules and things like that you like, oh, sleep schedules, who needs a sleep schedule, you can do that it like, you know, I used to people used to have to leave certain events around because the sleep schedules and now I can't believe it, I'm living it. And, and now I have to tell my brothers that they have to understand the sleep schedule, but they don't understand that it's like we're going through this. Because they're single. And, you know, they don't really get how it works. So I was them remembering how they were, how I was, and now there may. So it's kind of funny how that whole thing is happening. But sleep schedule. I've learned very important.
Brian Morgan 2:57
So Brian how long have you been in real estate?
Brian Morgan 3:04
I've been doing this. I'm going on 18 years now. So I started in 2005. So it'll be 18 years. This this summer, Yeah.
Umar Hameed 3:53
So did you join a team initially, to kind of get the hang of how things work? What was the introduction? Like into real estate?
Brian Morgan 3:59
Yeah, you know, I didn't. And it was definitely a mistake. You know, listen, you live and learn and in many aspects in life, but if I had to do all it all over again, I think my learning curve would have been so much quicker if I joined a team, I kind of just wanted to do it on my own. figure it all out by myself. I wanted to just be was me against the real estate world. And, you know, I realized years later how foolish that was, but that was my mindset going in, you know, I had a killer attitude. I wanted to come in here and take over and do everything and you can't do everything by yourself. And, you know, the learning curve, you know, really gets cut if you learn from people with experience. So, you know, live and learn.
Umar Hameed 4:39
Absolutely, now are you running a team part of a team?
Brian Morgan 4:42
Yeah, so I'm running a team. I've been running a team since 2009. You know, people, different people on the team now than were on the team 2009 Most of the people who've been on my team have stayed around, but certain people have gone on to different careers. Other people have wanted to create their own teams. But most people I've had on my team, usually they're either on my team for a very long time, or they stay for a very short time.
Umar Hameed 5:09
Which is a blessing.
Brian Morgan 5:10
or both, or vice versa either way, you know, but you know, there's a certain, there's certain expectations I have when you're on my team. And, you know, if they're not willing to meet those expectations, and then it's not going to work. I like to feel like and I think most people have been on my team, I do meet, I do, do what I say. And whatever I promise I'm going to act on. So I don't think I underperform in terms of expectations. Maybe they have other expectations. But as far as what I promised in an interview I deliver on and I think anybody that's been on my team knows that.
Umar Hameed 5:45
Brilliant. So let's take a look at because you know, being a realtor is one set of skills than being a team leader adds another dimension to it. So people that are considering becoming team leaders, like you said, when you first started, you made a mistake, not joining a team. But now if you were advising somebody new that starting a team, what would be the five piece of advice you'd give them, so they become, build a good team and unit can share the responsibility will go back and forth. Let's see if you can get seven together, I'll let you kick it off, what's the first piece of advice you'd give?
Brian Morgan 6:16
I think, you know, as as somebody who is a leader of anything, you have to be willing to listen, I think that's, that's a main component to be able to be a good leader is to understand where somebody else is coming from, because the dynamics of someone's personality or situation might be very different than, you know what you where you're coming from. And if you can't listen, then you can't have an understanding of what that particular individual is experiencing. So I think that's number one, rather than always doing the talking, whereas leaders are expect to talk and, you know, speak about what they believe and try to teach. You know, I think listening is underrated.
Umar Hameed 6:54
And just to add to that to aid and crucially important, even as a realtor, if you don't listen properly to your clients, you're not going to find the house that they want quick enough. One of the ways to listen, when you're not paying attention is to watch someone's lips move, because sometimes we're thinking about lunch and dinner, and what am I gonna do my baby. And if you just watch that person's mouth move, it just keeps you focused on that conversation. And it's a good mental trick to do that. So I'll come up with number two. Number two is really get to know how each individual team members motivated, whether it's an admin person, or a realtor, and one of the ways to do that is to ask a simple question when they're not expecting it. And it's just I'm gonna ask you the question, Brian, when you went to school, you know, elementary school, high school, college university, who's your favorite teacher? And how did they get the best performance out of you? So who was that person for you, Brian?
Brian Morgan 7:44
Oh, boy, I would have to say there was a teacher, I don't know that he got the best performance out of me because I wasn't ready to do what was necessary. But there was a guy named Mr. Hewlett who is a hardcore. So I think it's different for every personality from my personal I need someone who's very structured and very strict. Then, if I was if I was given any leash, I was, I was taken advantage. I, you showed me an inch, I was taking a yard. Yeah, so I was gonna, I was gonna do whatever I could to make jokes in class or make the class funny or, you know, just goof around. The minute I knew I saw someone was very strict. I was in line. So the name that comes to mind is Mr. Hewlett. He was a social social studies teacher in eighth grade. And I was terrified of him. And I studied hard because I knew that I had to perform for him I was afraid to do poorly in his class. He caught someone and he caught someone cheating one time in class and expose the whole thing in front of the class. He had all the answers. He had the person in front of in front of that person, right? All of the answers wrong on purpose during the quiz. And when he got to the quiz, he gave all the wrong answers that person in front of the class and humiliated him. Like this is a scary guy.
Umar Hameed 9:01
Oh, yeah, definitely. And this the reason I liked that question is I got somebody Judy in the class. And she's like, you know, someone said, was my favorite teacher. And what they did was they told me exactly what needed to be done. And then they just let me go do it. And I could ask them questions, and that got the best performance. And so people reveal how they want to be led. And if you ask them, How do you want to be led, it opens up a different filter, and they give you a different answer. So sometimes just asking, who's your favorite teacher? What do they do get performance, lets you know as a leader, how you need to lead that person. And so that's number two. So number one was listening. Number two was figure out how they learn and are motivated. Number three goes to you, Brian, what's your third piece of advice to be a good leader?
Brian Morgan 9:41
My third piece of advice is to have goals, you know, to make sure that you have goals for people on your team. And that could be a yearly goal. That could be a weekly goal. It could be a monthly goal. And a goal doesn't necessarily mean achievement. A goal means something you say you're going to do. And then execute on. So if you have all these ideas of things you want to do, let's say, you know, my goal is to go on. I want to do a lot of fizz bows, right, and I want to do I want to get listings from fizz bows. Well, how many? How many fizz bows are you going to go on a week, how many a month how many a year. So have a plan, I like to make sure that my team has a plan, I let them decide how they want to get business. And it's up to me to hold them accountable for that plan.
Umar Hameed 10:26
I love that. And just for the uninitiated, a Fizbo is?
Brian Morgan 10:29
Oh, it's a for sale by owner. So some people that tried to sell homes themselves often fail. Now the statistics are there that most of them fail. And realtor's often go to listings and meet sellers and try to help them and sometimes they help them without getting a listing. And other times they don't. But the idea is for realtors to try to help. And sometimes people will sell it themselves. And that's great, because now the realtor has a relationship with that person. And if that person likes you, then maybe they refer you a buyer or seller in the future. So you know, you're not necessarily wasting time just by meeting somebody and not getting the listing.
Umar Hameed 11:04
Number four, just for me is very much you need to walk your talk and keep your word because one of the things a leader does is you lend your confidence in the person, you're leading to them when they need it most. Because this is a scary business. And when things are going not so well. Sometimes people lose confidence and they can leverage the confidence leader has in them. And one of the ways you build that confidence is keep your word back people up no matter what and realize that your well have confidence in them will be utilized. And once they actually utilize it, they get more confidence in themselves. And it just becomes you just help the entire team be bolder, more competent, more driven. But it all starts with you. Any thoughts on that?
Brian Morgan 11:46
Yeah, yeah, I would agree with that, I would add on that to say, you know, you want to make yourself available for your team. And just because you're instilling confidence is very important. But the real way to show that you care, and that you're in it with them is to make yourself available. So I'm an extremely busy broker, I could have 20 customers going on at a time. I have two assistants, you know, constantly networking and figuring out ways to market myself better and also handling my customers, there's a lot going on. So then I have a whole team I have to be responsible for. So it's up to me to say they have a problem to say even if I'm not available at that very second, okay, I'm not available now. But this is when I am available. And it should be that day or even that hour, maybe even if it's just five minutes, giving your time absolutely shouldn't be, oh, three days later, I can sit down because three days later is way way too long. They need an answer now, and I might not be available that second customer with the customer. But I am extremely motivated to make sure that the second I am available, I let them know some constantly, I will text them back right away say listen, I'm not available now. But I will have 30 minutes from now or two hours from now. That's the first second I have available and I make sure I make myself available at that time. So showing that you're constantly there for them. You know, it's not what you say it's what you do. It's what you do. People react to what you do, anybody can talk.
Umar Hameed 13:09
Absolutely. And I put that down as number five. So number one was listen, number two is figure out how they teach and motivated them. Number three was setting kickass amazing goals. And before was mine, keep your word and incompetence and for you be available. And number six, number six, what you need to do is do an autopsy on every single deal that you do to every deal that your agents do. What went well, if the deal went fabulously well, and how do we do that? Do we need to change the process to add that little trick you did, so that everybody improves. And then the second thing is when things go wrong, do the autopsy without blame to really figure out what happened and as we train people to with iteration, we get better that that just creates a culture of improvement. And everybody is there to support everyone. And everyone knows that it's okay to make a mistake as long as you learn from it. And it just allows you to just a more highly functional team.
Brian Morgan 14:04
Absolutely, absolutely agree with all of that. And you know, in going to maybe number seven would be kind of a mixture of compassion and tough love. Because the business is really hard. It's a lot of rejection, and people tend to get down. And they also tend to go way, way up. So if you're excited about a new car, new big client, and they're all excited, you know, that's, if that doesn't work out, it comes crashing really, really hard. So you have to have compassion for the emotions that are involved in the business at the same time. There needs to be tough love. So somebody's saying, Oh, I'm gonna do this, that and the other and then they're not. You have to be able at that point. I'm not going to have compassion for you. I might have compassion that you lose a deal or something went wrong. They couldn't get a mortgage, or the person just changed their mind and didn't want to buy or you know, somebody you know maybe had an inter problem with their family. those things I have compassion for, because you can't control that stuff, right? But, you know, if somebody says that they're gonna go in a certain amount of, I brought just one example fizz bows up before, and then they don't well, I'm gonna give you tough love at that point like you made you made a promise to yourself, you made a promise to me, why didn't happen? And if and if it continues to happen, you're not going to be on my team very long.
Umar Hameed 15:20
Absolutely. I think some people will really need that. And they step into where they want to be. It was this company I was working with, and the CEO of the company took this guy in and said, look, it's come to Jesus, we're firing you, you're just not working out. And the guy begged for the second time for another 30 days, and something inside him just switched. And he just switched on awesomeness. But it took that come to Jesus conversation for him to step up. And then he became like, the number one producer in the entire company. But it wouldn't have happened unless that accountability and tough love is like, Hey, you're not working out, you need to leave.
Brian Morgan 15:55
I can appreciate that. Because anybody that's been on my team that hasn't worked out at all, I do have those come to Jesus moments where I do sit down with them. And listen, I like you, I want this to work. Because a lot of times the people that I bring in originally, I usually bring them because I like them. So I hate to see what he has to go. So I do have those, like, listen, we try this, if you can't do it this time, it's going to be the last time and I hope that they are able to do what they say. But then when they fail again, then, you know, it has to end somewhere and just I'm too busy.
Umar Hameed 16:23
And just for a Jewish brothers and sisters, it's a come to Moses moment for you.
Brian Morgan 16:28
Yeah. And I'm Jewish, and I'm still saying Jesus. Jesus wants to do. Remember,
Umar Hameed 16:33
He certainly was. So number eight, I think training is essential. And it doesn't have to be like this big overarching thing. I think just small increments of you know how to be a better negotiator. Here's a tip to do that here is a better communicator, here's how to not cave in on, you know, pressure to reduce your commission, and also get the agents themselves to teach each other. So once a week, somebody's teaching the group as well. So the leaders teaching individual group members to teaching and it just creates a culture of learning. And then of course, bringing experts in, that were black T shirts and look incredibly handsome is also a thing to do. So number nine for you, Brian, close this thing out with a high note.
Brian Morgan 17:13
I think positivity is something that especially now, in an environment, I had a meeting with two of my agents yesterday, and things are really slow. In New York, we just had the slowest November since 2008 2009. And we had the slowest 2008. And over a decade, sorry, the slowest October since 2000. in over a decade. And you know, obviously your agents get start getting a little scared because, you know, we don't get paid salaries, we work on commission, you know, completely. So people start to get a little bit nervous. And I think you got to remain positive about things. I mean, listen, this is in the face of what we just had another another rate increase in the States. So it is it does start to get nerve racking, you know, our deal is going to happen, what's going to happen. And, you know, I remind them what happened in my career in 2008 2009 said, Listen, it's a blip in New York City people that the reason I got into this business are people always need someplace to live, you know, you're always going to have work is you're not going to get fired, you're with me, we're going to work hard no matter what we're going to build our business, we're going to use this as an opportunity and try to take something that's negative and make it into a positive. It's all about positive reinforcement, there's always something positive at the end of that rainbow if you just want to see it. And that's that's absolute. That's what leadership's about, you know, is making sure that people, there's always something more to do that we can improve, you can be the worst football team in the NFL. And I guarantee you and go to practice and work on something that's going to make you better that hopefully you'll get a win. And it's just where your baseline begins. So maybe the baseline needs to be lower. Okay, you got to start from somewhere, let's be positive. And let's not that all the negative things.
Umar Hameed 18:48
Absolutely. And just to your example, you could be the best team in the NFL than ever lived. And your coach is going to point out the area you need to improve. And those teams go and look for that little small thing they can improve to be even better. So yeah, that's just one of the things that great leaders do and winners do is they're always looking for that little edge to do better. So Brian, what brings you joy in your work?
Brian Morgan 19:10
Helping people, you know, watching them get the apartment that they really want, you know, signing that contract and being excited about it not signing the contract and be like, Ah, I don't know, should I do it? Like, I want my customers and I tell them this when I meet them. If you're not running to sign that contract, then maybe you shouldn't be signing that contract. I want them to be overjoyed, moving forward on a deal. If they're not then it gives me no joy. You know, it doesn't do anything for me. I'm not about getting deals. I'm about making these customers of mine happy and for Word to get around that I'm the broker that, you know looks out for them, not for me. You know that. Knowing them knowing that I am looking for. I'm looking through the lens of them first. It gives me so much joy if they understand that when By the time they close, that's what gives me pleasure.
Umar Hameed 20:03
I love that. And what's one mind hack you'd like to share with listeners something you use a technique to be more productive, more successful? What's that one mind hack you'd like to share.
Brian Morgan 20:15
I think I started meditating about seven, eight years ago. And I think that's been really helpful for me. And a lot of different ways and not being reactive in certain ways. And being focused more on the present moment, not worrying about whether a deal is going to happen, not worrying about a deal that fell apart, or being angry at someone who did something that maybe wasn't so nice, you know, people, you learn a lot about people in this business, and not everybody is so nice, you know, people, you're not their friend, necessarily, and you're not their brother or sister or cousin, you know, you're their realtor, they expect something from you. And if you're not delivering on that, even if it's just a perception, and you are delivering, but they think you're not. That's tough to take, because you know, you're doing everything I can and they perceive it, that's very hard. And you could wrap yourself up in how I could have done things different and beat yourself up about it. It's good to learn, like we talked about that before, and like, Okay, well, what did I do wrong? How can I improve, but there's some times that there's nothing you could do, and you're beating yourself up about it, and you're thinking about that deal you lost? Or you're thinking about that new buyer you get you're thinking about oh my god, I'm gonna have this much money in my bank account after I do this big deal. When really like, what mindfulness teaches you is we have to be focused in the moment. And past future not going to help we got to be talking about now.
Umar Hameed 21:33
Absolutely.
Brian Morgan 21:34
Always thinking about now.
Umar Hameed 21:34
My favourite cards all happens here of one of my favorite cards, I saw this card, they've got a Dalai Lama as kind of guy, it's his birthday, and the other monks have gotten him a gift. And they've given him this empty box. And the guys opened it and he goes, Oh, my God, nothing. That's what I always wanted.
Brian Morgan 21:48
Yeah, well, that's what it's about. It's but people don't want to, it's just like anything, people don't want to take the time to do it. So every morning, I set aside 15 minutes to do it. And it's part of my day. But it's hard, you know, like to get into that habit. It's a big commitment, just like the gym or just like anything else. But once you start doing it, and you get in a mindset where you can't not do it, you'll always do and you'll be better for it. So I recommend that highly to people.
Umar Hameed 22:16
So Brian, I'm gonna send you out a copy of my web app. It's called Mindset Boosters. And it allows you to take charge your mindset. So when you need more competence, you got it, when you need to be focused in the now you got it. And I'm creating a new track today, which is all about gratitude and presence, like 10 minutes in the morning. We'll be designing it today and releasing it. I'll send you out a copy. We'd love to hear your feedback. All right, Ronnie, thanks for being on the show. Really enjoyed the conversation and looking forward to our next.
Brian Morgan 22:47
My pleasure. Take care have a great weekend.
Umar Hameed 22:54
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.