Creig Northrop has been the #1 realtor in the US three times in his career. he has a personal passion for real estate – unlike any other. Just like Michael Jordan loves basketball, Bill Gates loves software, and Warren Buffett loves the stock market, Creig loves real estate. Every one of these successful people loves what they do and that is why they can create amazing results in their fields. Passion can give you the competitive edge because it gives you stamina. Passion is the fuel that keeps you going when your competition is ready to quit or gets complacent.
Creig began my team with a vision; to be the best in the industry - integrity and unquenchable drive are the stepping stones that have made The Creig Northrop Team of Long & Foster Real Estate one of the most productive and successful Teams in real estate history. The Team began with a special focus on Howard County – and has now expanded to nine additional Maryland counties including Anne Arundel, Baltimore City, Baltimore County, Carroll County, Frederick, Harford, Montgomery, Prince George’s, and Washington, D.C.
Podcast Highlights:
- Build a strong foundation or you have nothing to stand on
- Pick a big goal and go for it
- Energy is contagious make sure yours is high
- Reach one, teach one is one of our guiding philosophies (make sure you listen to this section on the podcast)
Contact Creig:
#RealEstate #Realtor #broker #NoLimitsSelling #podcast #leadership
[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]
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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 0:06
Are you ready to become awesomer? Hello everyone. This is Umar Hameed, your host and welcome to the No Limits Selling Podcast, where industry leaders share their tips, strategies and advice on how to make you better, stronger, faster. Get ready for another episode
Umar Hameed 0:35
Hello everyone. Today I've got the privilege of having Creig Northrop again. Creig, welcome to the program.
Creig Northrop 0:40
Thank you excited to be here. Always. It was fun last time, I'm sure it'll be a blast this time.
Umar Hameed 0:45
Absolutely. So Creig, you've been the number one realtor in the country a few times. What was that like? And what were you doing back then then we're going to talk about this market, which could be the hottest market we've ever had.
Creig Northrop 0:54
Correct. Well, back then I was a team a Creig on a team now, I'm a broker. So it's a little different. But it was a team wasn't me, that was number one, the nation was us. And...
Umar Hameed 1:04
Yes.
Creig Northrop 1:04
...I guess with passion, because, you know, to do a team, I think we got up to about 100 team members at the time,
Umar Hameed 1:10
Nice.
Creig Northrop 1:10
On the third time, we were the number one nation I think, you know, and so really, it takes a lot of cooperation, a lot of adapting, I call it adapting and working with people, you know, leadership. You know, I say team by, you know, people say their team, while it's a team by name or team by nature, and nature means natural born talent to be a leader, right?
Umar Hameed 1:30
Yes.
Creig Northrop 1:30
We talked about that leadership is I consider first leadership. Number one principles lead by example, you know, don't ask...
Umar Hameed 1:36
Walk your talk.
Creig Northrop 1:36
...what you won't do it yourself. I mean, if I'm going to ask him to do open houses, I better do open houses, if I'm going to ask him to go do certain projects, or do home inspections, or whatever, I better do it first. And I think that's sort of one of my keys. That with, again, complimented my wife who sort of handled, we were partners in this. But as we were growing, but ideally, the key was, is I always wanted to put myself out there first, and then guide and teach through that. And I think that was a key leadership.
Umar Hameed 2:04
So how transparent Are you in terms of, I'm sure there were things that you did really well and there were certain areas that you were not as well, did you talk about those? Or did you hide it? Like...
Creig Northrop 2:13
I never hit it, I was very honest, because I really didn't want to waste a lot of time to get where I wanted to go. And if you're going to do anyway, why not be the best. So we when we first started a team, my wife and I, in 2000, we knew we were going to be the best. And the reason was, is because you have to have a vision, you have to have a goal. And you have to have all the drive to do that. And so I realized I'm not good at paperwork, right? So that's why I have client care coordinators. I'm not really good at staging. I want the tolerance or patience to...
Umar Hameed 2:38
Right.
Creig Northrop 2:38
...know what color wallpaper there is my mother, my mother, my wife has that ability. I don't. But so we started staging department, right? to home marketing consultants, and marketing, I'm good, but I don't I mean, I have some ideas, but I'm not implementing, you know, like, I need somebody that's way better than us. So we have a great marketing department and social media, you know, people to do all that. And then you have IT just like this. I no idea how to turn the put this northern thing on the back of the computer.
Umar Hameed 3:04
Oh, yeah.
Creig Northrop 3:04
You called the IT guy in that's IT. And then training, we just, we just introduced a new platform called Elevate,
Umar Hameed 3:13
Right.
Creig Northrop 3:13
which is just for new agents only. So because I think there's a lack of training of new agents. And we're seeing that right now, especially in a very good market. And so I think we took initiative and did that. And we require mentorship programs for all of our new agents, because I think that is also needed as well.
Umar Hameed 3:30
Brilliant. So when I look at the man before me and your leadership ability, it's probably, dramatically better than it was when you started
Creig Northrop 3:38
100%. I mean, yeah, fail forward.
Umar Hameed 3:41
So what were a couple of those leadership things that you wish you knew better back then? And who did you go to to learn to improve those?
Creig Northrop 3:50
Great questions? You know, well, I think competence was really one of the key,
Umar Hameed 3:54
Right.
Creig Northrop 3:54
competence in your ability do they call it knowledge is competence, competence, trust, trust the sale, I had knowledge in the market, I knew how to sell a house, but it really did not run a team.
Umar Hameed 4:03
Right.
Creig Northrop 4:03
Did I need balance with my wife to be a partner in that where she has that mantra? Everyone matters? Yes, I needed that. So the balance of being her were great. But my lessons as I learned things were is what other people want. Why did other people want to be part of a team?
Umar Hameed 4:18
Right.
Creig Northrop 4:19
I wish I would have learned that earlier. Where I know that now because we have 30 teams now with the brokers in Northrop Realty, I know what they want. Because I was had to go through my ventures. I did not know at the time, what people wanted and why they want to be on a team until I started evolution in the team through
Umar Hameed 4:36
Brilliant. So right now you have 30 teams?
Creig Northrop 4:39
30 teams, yes.
Umar Hameed 4:40
So think of two of those teams.
Creig Northrop 4:42
Okay.
Umar Hameed 4:43
And how you might find that distinction between Oh, this team is all about X. And this team is all about Y, one is not better than the other but they would have different views and vibes.
Creig Northrop 4:53
Yeah. Each team is totally different. They all stemmed back to one thing it's called relationship selling.
Umar Hameed 4:59
Right.
Creig Northrop 5:00
But every one of them all the commonalities of the 30 teams is the same, their leadership styles are different. Some are, hey, go out and do it yourself, you know, and, and just, you know, and grow from there, you know, you don't go through you go through it, or the others are much more, I'll teach you how to fish, you know what I mean? So that you can go out and get your own leads, right. So, you know, how do you build that, that team member so well, that they become imitator of the team leaders? There's some more more hands on, and some are a little less hands on. I think that's probably the differences. They're both they're all successful teams.
Umar Hameed 5:34
So do you remember that Harry Potter?
Creig Northrop 5:36
Yeah.
Umar Hameed 5:36
They had this sorting hat where people come which so when you look at people coming into I'm not sure if you see the newbies coming in? Do you think you'd fit really well with that leader? Do you get a sense of that?
Creig Northrop 5:46
We do that we interview, every agent that comes here, because we only require, you have to be full time to be in Northrop Realty. If you're a part time, you can be part of a team. So we actually interview a lot of agents that want to be agents that are part time that we put in place with teams. So we're replaced a lot of lot of agents with a lot of our teams based on adaptability of the leader to the agent.
Umar Hameed 6:09
Yes.
Creig Northrop 6:09
It's a great question.
Umar Hameed 6:10
In your career, you've probably seen a lot of people where you look at so let's say this imaginary person here, Janet, Janet is doing a good job. But she could be phenomenal. If only she could X. So tell me about one of those people that you worked with, where you kind of decoded what the missing link was, and help that person kind of achieve? Because there's a quote from Pogo is a comic strip, "We've met the enemy, and the enemy is us." So sometimes, you know, we're trying like hell on we can't make it but it takes a leader to go, "Oh, this is it." Do you have one of those stories?
Creig Northrop 6:42
Well, you know, I think way I look at real estate and in life is it's all about you. Right? It's all about you. It's first of all, it's all about the client. But what I mean by that is all about you and how you interpret things. And when
Umar Hameed 6:56
Yes.
Creig Northrop 6:56
I say by that is is, is we're by nature, we don't push ourselves enough, right? You know, I don't I think we we so what I see with agents are is, you know, what is enough? I don't know that answer, right? So that's that person's ability, you know, the push and accountability, you know, and accountability is, you know, don't blame, you know, complain, you know, you know, things like that focus on yourself, what, what I learned from everything, I don't lose, I learn and what, what can I do better in the next situation? I think our business is so rejection oriented, that, that they lose confidence in the next deal, because they bring their bad experience from the last deal to the new deal. And then what happens is, naturally that client that they're in front of
Umar Hameed 7:28
They feel it.
Creig Northrop 7:40
Yes, they feel Exactly.
Umar Hameed 7:41
Interesting. So we are at a white hot real estate market.
Creig Northrop 7:46
White hot? White hot, white hot? I'm not sure. It sounds interesting, what's white hot, right? Sounds really hot.
Umar Hameed 7:54
Oh, yeah. It's like when you get metal, and it just starts.
Creig Northrop 7:56
Oh, yeah, yes.
Umar Hameed 7:58
So when they were inventing the light bulb, you know, the old Edison, he tried so many, because it got so hot that it burnt and it fizzled out.
Creig Northrop 8:05
You know, many times he tried it 1000 times.
Umar Hameed 8:09
I think it's more like a really cool story. I'm not sure what the real number, even if it was like 100. It's really impressive. So here's the question, right now, it's a hot market, everybody's doing well, but it's going to change at some point in the future. So what are the activities? What's the mindset people need to really be have a discipline on? So when the market does go south, that those people still do well? Whereas the ones that were just going along for the ride, sometimes get out of the business?
Creig Northrop 8:36
Well, again, this business is challenging. Yes, it's a great time so let's start with your first point, right? It's a second best market I've ever seen in my career, I've been no one's 35 years, 2005 was certainly the best, but that had its own issues, the issues were, you know, no doc loans actually could hurt us and appraisers would appraise. You know, whatever value it was, it wasn't really a kind of defined mechanisms...
Umar Hameed 9:00
Yes.
Creig Northrop 9:00
That really hurt us there were I sat with sellers, they couldn't even afford their own homes, right? That was not scalable. This new market is very scalable. So do I think it will adjust after the election elections a good example, right? In less than a little over 30 plus days, we're gonna have, you know, could be whatever the presidency happens, can affect our market. Up till then traditionally, year after year, every four years, its rates are always low. Economy always tend to be strong, everything there. So the urgency is what I first urge all agents take advantage of the market while it's here, don't allow your opportunity or your advice to that seller, not be of urgency, right? Because you don't know what six months is gonna look like. And the last thing you want to do is give somebody advice a wait, and then they miss and you can't get a Super Bowl. Game back.
Umar Hameed 9:49
Yes.
Creig Northrop 9:49
And when I say that is my advertisers come to me and said, and I'm upset when my commercial didn't run exactly where I wanted in the Superbowl. And they said, well, we'll run it somewhere else. I said, you can't get it back. So you You're not going to get this market back. I think you have a solid 30 days called Rocktober. October 1 called Rocktober. It will be the number best month in most agents history, along with the markets history is incredible. Everything's lining up. People want to know where they want to quarantine next, people are looking at specific things in, they've lived in their house in the last six months more than they lived in the last six years.
Umar Hameed 10:23
Yeah.
Creig Northrop 10:23
And so they're noticing what it is to look like polls are up 150% backyards are up a lot, because people are spending more time at home. So you know, and the nice part about our facility of that is we fuel the economy. What happens six months later, after you buy a house, you buy a new car, you buy a new you're fixing it up. So all the trades are all the mechanicals all the different things fuel from us. And if our if our market is doing well, it helps a lot.
Umar Hameed 10:49
Everybody's doing, yeah. As you move forward, what do you need to like brokerages come and go? And the ones that stay on the top and stay anchored to the values? So A, what are the values of your brokerage? And as you grow, how do you maintain that level of integrity and living true to what's written on the wall, because a lot of places you go, they've got stuff written on the wall, we're here for value and integrity. And frankly, this is for the camera, a lot of it is kind of like they don't live up to it. So how do you ensure that you guys walk your talk? Because when you have more and more agents, it's an effort to make sure that happens. So what are you doing to make sure everybody lives by the code and you get the culture you want?
Creig Northrop 11:29
Well, I think that's a phenomenal question. I think it demands more, I think you need to demand a certain consistency of professionalism, I think you need to train a more, I think the agents that want to be better are here, the ones that don't, or maybe just not saying they don't want to be better, but ideally don't want to be pushed, let's,
Umar Hameed 11:47
Yes.
Creig Northrop 11:47
right? they're comfortable, right? I call, we do a class called out of comfort zone, you know, I see a lot of agents that started in that class. And when they come out of that class, they're doing more business they ever had, because they got outside of their comfort zone, we get comfortable, we just do. And so what happens with our brokerage is first of all, we're very much agent focus, right? What's best for the agent? How do we train the agent better, and then what's best for our clients. Because if you can't, if you can't do it for yourself, like be on time return calls, the different things you're not gonna do for the client. So if you're not agent focus, first of how to make them best possible, then you're not going to get it best for the client. And that's why in our brokerage, we're number one the nation for five star Zillow reviews in the nation. So we believe in great customer service before the for the sale during the sale, and after the sale. And we're very passionate about that. So if they if for some reason, one of our agents are not professional or something like that, they we have such strong leadership that we know about it right away, and we correct it.
Umar Hameed 11:52
Yes.
Creig Northrop 11:56
And I think that's the answer where we're much more hands on, you know, we're able to do that. I mean, I always use the statement, when I own a video store, you know, you can check, you know, I never want to get so big, where I couldn't turn the lights off and check the inventory,
Umar Hameed 13:03
Right.
Creig Northrop 13:03
right? It's the same thing. I know every agent by name, I know their abilities, and, and I say we we know their agents by name. And we know what their abilities are their strengths, and we want to feed their strengths. And we want to make sure that each of the areas they service, they know it better than the consumer. So they should know and live and learn and be that real estate resource. And that makes you powerful already, because that gives you the confidence to sell your area. And I think that's it and being full time. Right? To me, this business is not a part time business, you can do it. But I think in order to really be successful in this business, especially right now, you have to be an all the time agent. See, somebody asked me this, they go, man, she goes, lady had asked me she goes, "Creig, are you a full time agent?" I said, "No, no, ma'am. I'm an all the time agent." Big difference, why? Because I'm always available. My clients, they need something. It's their priority, we make it happen. And that's again, lead by example. The leadership has to be the leaders in doing that response times. You know, vision, all that great stuff rolls right down to your agents. So that leadership, what I don't like seeing is when leadership checks out,
Umar Hameed 14:09
Right.
Creig Northrop 14:09
And lets them just run amok. And I think that's part of what brokerage models fail, eventually, because there's no training, there's no leadership, and they're just say, good luck.
Umar Hameed 14:20
So there's like two schools to that, like, one is, you know, I want to be a good guy and you guys do what you need to do. And they can run amok, then the you can have an other extreme where people are like, Okay, this is the army, you're doing this, and they go to the other extreme. So how do you respect the agent, but still require them to do the training? And so what's that battle? How do you strike that [garbled]
Creig Northrop 14:41
It's a great point, we're certainly not militant, and we're starting to allow them to be on Mark, we have rules and guidelines to make them better than makes it better for the consumers experiences. So how do we do that? You know, we acquire mentorships if you're new, right? So you must be mentored and do three transactions there. So for the new ones, we're not gonna let you Get in the business without having good training. That's, that's mandated mentorship, okay, so that's very, very important, very passionate. Then we have better level training classes that we invite everyone in the brokerage parts of, and it's based on where you are in your levels of things. Like we have mindset masterclass right now that that Brian's teaching, I've got Buffini that Kathy and Patrick are teaching, I've got myself and will they're teaching out of comfort zones where you have, and they're all different, different agents at different levels of their careers, getting taught. And guess what? They want to be there voluntarily. You know, you, you also can't learn, unless you want to learn, right? You can't, you can't fight it. So there's not a militant, you don't have to do any of this. We invite you in. If you'd like to do it, we're gonna make you better. And I think that's one of the,
Umar Hameed 15:48
The intent.
Creig Northrop 15:49
Yeah, the intent.
Umar Hameed 15:50
Is so important. So it was a couple things you said, I'm going to backtrack a little bit. So you said you're the number one royalty firm in the country for Zillow reviews,
Creig Northrop 15:57
Correct.
Umar Hameed 15:58
That does not happen accidentally.
Creig Northrop 15:59
Correct.
Umar Hameed 16:00
So how did you make it happen?
Creig Northrop 16:01
I give credit to wil Miller, my son, who really kind of saw that that need to let the consumers where do you go to rate your restaurants, you go to surveys you where do you go to see if a movie is good you go to? So he saw that he noticed it. He built profiles for not only the company for every one of our agents. And then we basically because we do good business, we get a lot of reviews back a lot of these sellers will say, "Wow, what a great experience. I want to write a review, where do I go, and we send them to Zillow." The same as a buyer's experience. "Wow, I've enjoyed this, you've been really great. I just talked to an a seller, now potential seller that said, 'I want this agent because they've helped me with three or four transactions, I just want to continue with them." You know, and I think that's really the key element of how you build great Zillow reviews. And let me tell you this, very important, very important,
Umar Hameed 16:50
Oh, absolutely.
Creig Northrop 16:50
going forward that you have a good resume of. I won't call raving fans.
Umar Hameed 16:57
Absolutely. Tell me about if you want to be really good at something, teach it. And so what I find is when people are being mentors is just as rewarding for them. Because as they teach younger agents or younger, whatever, that they learn as well,
Creig Northrop 17:11
Atleast the best.
Umar Hameed 17:12
So who is someone that you've noticed that has been a mentor, and you can see the growth in them as well?
Creig Northrop 17:17
Well, one of the things I love about our brokers that 50, literally 60% of our brokers that's $5 million or more, no one can say that. But and I say that because we have a bunch of mentors, we used to have one, it was great, but and I think Shadowing is a good example for two reasons. One, they're shadowing them to see what that that experienced agent does. But then an experienced agent knows you're being watched.
Umar Hameed 17:41
Yes.
Creig Northrop 17:41
So it makes them better. So all of our mentors, they wouldn't be mentors, is my answer to that, that they are better, because they're mentors. And, and they're benefiting you because they're training while doing not saying, see, I think being more in the field and being doing the fact is making them better trainers.
Umar Hameed 18:02
Absolutely. Because a lot of times I can tell you how to do anything, but when I when we're doing it, it's like, "Oh, yeah, when this happens,
Creig Northrop 18:09
Right.
Umar Hameed 18:09
You need to think about this, all of that really important information doesn't happen unless you're doing it live."
Creig Northrop 18:15
Correct. And I think you have to do that you have to be part of it, you have to see it. And I think that's what a good mentor program is all about.
Umar Hameed 18:21
So how do you, if I opened up the internet and said, you know, realtors, and I interviewed five realtors, it would be really difficult to distinguish between the five unless they're like complete idiots. But almost everyone's going to talk about the customer service and all those things. But you guys live it, walk it. So how do you relay that? How do you communicate that to customers? So people kind of go? Yeah, I really believe that, that they're going to look after me.
Creig Northrop 18:46
I think it's good question. I think you're again, we go back to some of the what's the client said about me? I think that's important.
Umar Hameed 18:52
Those reviews are absolutely critical.
Creig Northrop 18:54
No question. You got to have a plan, right? Every seller needs a plan. You're they're calling you professional. It's like going to a doctor and asking the doctor what's wrong with me, and then they give you a plan to how to fix it, right? It's the same principle in real estate, you have to have a plan. And that plan has to have a concrete foundation of results, right? And more foundation results is we did a billion dollars last year we did 2,500 transactions in their price range, we sold plenty in that homes, in their area of so plenty, that's your foundation, then you build from that. What are you doing in marketing? What makes us different? Well, every seller gets the same service, whether your $200,000 property, or $2 million property. Yes, you might get a little extra goodies on the luxury side of marketing they don't need on the 200,000 side, but you're going to get a lot of that same service. And I think that consistency is very important.
Umar Hameed 19:44
Nice.
Creig Northrop 19:44
And I think that's what makes the consumer not feel like oh, I only have a foreigner dollar house. You know how to treat me like a teammate. We do it all the same. We want every client to feel like you're the only one and the only way to do that with volume is systems you gotta put systems.
Umar Hameed 20:00
Hallelujah.
Creig Northrop 20:01
Yes, got to you just you have to have systems. You have to have a good CRM, you have to have see, you know, things in place and a great communication, which is the key through COVID. Communication really has been the key through COVID of how we've not only strengthen, but even gotten and grown [garbled].
Umar Hameed 20:19
I think you're mispronouncing that I was listening to the BBC is COVID. I said, COVID, really? But anyway,
Creig Northrop 20:25
All right, good. Thank you.
Umar Hameed 20:26
So going back to his COVID.
Creig Northrop 20:28
Oh.
Umar Hameed 20:29
But going back to systems. So systems, but Craig, you don't understand I'm a free spirit. And I need to do it my way. So how do you get people, in order to get better, you need a system, because you can measure against it. But having a system and getting people following a system, [garbled].
Creig Northrop 20:46
They are that way a little bit, but I call it my way with a twist a lemon. All right? We're gonna make lemonade out of that you might have a little lemon in between, that's gonna taste a little sour, because it's not going to be totally your way,
Umar Hameed 20:58
Right.
Creig Northrop 20:58
but if I can get you to do five deals instead of one deal, because we got the system already in place. It's called a plug and play system,
Umar Hameed 21:05
Right.
Creig Northrop 21:06
why would you want to reinvent it? Why would you want to spend so much energy. So what I say this company is built on time, time, and energy is worth more than money.
Umar Hameed 21:16
Right.
Creig Northrop 21:16
We're gonna get a lot more time and energy back so you can focus on what matters. And I think the problem is the agent runs around, doing all the things they don't need to do, when they can just focus on the client. You know, it's whether you want to...
Umar Hameed 21:17
It's the only important.
Creig Northrop 21:28
That's it. That's it. And what you don't realize is how much lack of RPAs, agents are doing. They're busy. But what's busy show me the results will show you the results. You give it you, give us a listing, we're gonna have it out that week. We're gonna have everything done from there man reports to the floor plans to the staging to everything's done. It's magic.
Umar Hameed 21:50
Why would you not. Today I did a blog post. It was my mentor, Wolf Rinke, Dr. Wolf Rinke, long time ago, said, "Umar, I want you to get a three by five card, put it next to your monitor, and I want you to write down number one, is this activity I'm about to do, will it make me money or not?
Creig Northrop 22:05
I like it.
Umar Hameed 22:06
Number two, will this strengthen the relationship? So it leads to money. And number three, delegate it or kill it? Because we get so caught up in busy work that the most important thing that you've described in our conversation in the previous one? Is our relationship with the customers? How do we make them feel important, and get them? We're gonna go overtime on the interview here because here's the interesting part is sometimes our clients are their worst enemies. As agents, we need to negotiate with them influence them to do the right things at the right time to let us help them sell their house. So how do you train your people to manage clients to cooperate so we can actually help them achieve what they want to achieve?
Creig Northrop 22:46
So one principle you have to live by is that no one's gonna do it like you.
Umar Hameed 22:50
Yes.
Creig Northrop 22:50
Right? So if somebody can do it, 70% of the way you do it,
Umar Hameed 22:54
Yes.
Creig Northrop 22:55
Or the system's built to do it. 70% of the way you could do it, then let it go. Let somebody else handle.
Umar Hameed 23:01
Oh, there. But what I'm saying is, so let's say you're my customer, you've got a house, and it's the best house ever in the world. And I'm saying, you know, hey, we need to clean it up. We need to do a few of these things. You need to do this to help me sell the house.
Creig Northrop 23:14
I'm not doing it. You know why? I put a mechanism in place.
Umar Hameed 23:18
Oh, so you've got systems that...
Creig Northrop 23:19
Agents [garbled].
Umar Hameed 23:20
That talk to the homeowner to make them do it.
Creig Northrop 23:23
Talk about that, that's better. Why wouldn't you have an expert do that? I'm not I don't know what that wallpaper should look like.
Umar Hameed 23:28
Brilliant.
Creig Northrop 23:28
Right? Amen.
Umar Hameed 23:30
So you take that complexity out of the agents things to do and say just focus on this stuff, we got other people are gonna do that.
Creig Northrop 23:36
They're not the stagers, they aren't. Stop giving your opinions. You know, I had a person tell his true story real quick on this right? Seller wrote me and said, I've interviewed five agents, and they all talked about my wallpaper. I want your agent who comes out to not talk about my wallpaper. And if they do, then I'm not gonna hire them. So I call my agent and said, Don't talk about the wallpaper. We sold the house that we get with the wallpaper. The other five agents brought up the wallpaper had to be removed, guys, you're not stagers stick with what you're good at. And be really, really good. And it shows our model works. You follow me? Yes, it's a you know your way with a little spice, you know, with the with the lemon, because it's gonna taste a little sour for a minute, but it's gonna taste really good once you mix it together.
Umar Hameed 24:20
One last thing, it's kind of interesting. I wonder how many of the other five agents got the same thing. But they felt compelled that, "No, no, I have to talk about the thing," whereas you said you're telling me don't talk about it, we're not going to talk about it.
Creig Northrop 24:32
Right.
Umar Hameed 24:33
So sometimes, listen to your freaking clients.
Creig Northrop 24:35
Called listening appointments. You don't listen well enough.
Umar Hameed 24:38
So instead of listing is listing appointments, Creig, thank you so much for spending time with me today. I think if there's one takeaway out of all of that good stuff, it's we don't listen enough. And if we listen to our customers, our agents, our spouses, our kids, and especially Creig, you call my brother. Thanks so much.
Creig Northrop 24:57
Pleasure, guys. Thank you. It was a great it's always fun.
Creig Northrop 25:00
Thanks.
Umar Hameed 25:06
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.