I feel as though I was born and bred into the real estate industry. At a young age, I can remember spending time with my father who began his real estate career in 1974. Spending countless hours as a child listening to the way he conducted his business practices, I realize now that I was being given a gift; building life skills that would prove to be priceless.
I started a small business when I was 12 years of age. “A 12 year old with a business?” one might say. Well, at the age of 12 I started cutting a few lawns in the summer. By my last year of high school, I was cutting over 75 lawns in a four day work week and doing odd jobs on weekends. All while playing quarterback at Lorne Park Secondary School and maintaining grades that eventually took me to the University of Toronto.
Selling real estate is a passion of mine. However, my real passion is the people. Clients that eventually become friends, I get to watch their families grow year after year. My approach to selling them a house is more like helping them build a strong foundation where their roots will eventually run deep, in a community that they are passionate about.
I’m not perfect. That is why I have a perfect team of professionals that surround me. I rely on them and trust their incredible and diverse skill set to help our clientele achieve their long and short-term goals.
In a real industry that has evolved with the times, it’s as though the mantra, “bigger is better,” seems to be today’s trend. Call me old-fashioned, but I still believe in a high-level of customer one-on-one service that is geared towards our clients’ everyday lives. Personal service to each and every client of ours is done through a small team of professionals. We are not about rankings and numbers. We are about getting the job done. Doing so in a way that getting to know our clients on a personal level will help to make their buying or selling experience a memorable one. There is no better feeling then being at the grocery store, at the hockey rink, or even on a walk when a past client comes up to you as a friend and asks how things are.
I like to say that opportunity is a gift. Opportunities come in many forms. I am reminded every day how blessed I am to live and work in a community that is filled with vibrant people. People from all walks of life, cultures, ethnicities and that share one thing in common, the dream and realization of owning a home is more than bricks and mortar. It’s realizing that they, too, have been given the gift of establishing their roots, raising families and building a community.
I look forward to the opportunity of one day serving you and your family, and building relationships that stem from client to friend.
[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 0:41
Hello, everyone, welcome to another episode of The No Limits Selling Podcast where we talk to people who are building organizations, building teams and building revenue. And today I have the pleasure of having Matthew Regan with me, I was gonna say Regan but that is wrong. Welcome to the program, Matthew.
Matthew Regan 0:59
Thank you for having me.
Umar Hameed 1:01
So it's kind of interesting because we had that conversation before we started this conversation, you said, you know, pronunciations are really important to me. And I think I'd heard once somebody famous said, the sweetest sound in the entire world is the sound of your own name and that's true, right? When you remember the name of your ex-clients or your employees, it goes a long way.
Matthew Regan 1:24
I agree. I also think it speaks to someone's integrity that they care enough to pronounce one's name properly.
Umar Hameed 1:34
What's interesting is like, sometimes people go, "Oh, it doesn't matter, you can pronounce it any way you want," which is kind of an interesting thing to say and it kind of gives you a glimpse into their mindset. You're not sure whether they just don't want to offend or they've just gotten to a place where, "I'm just happy you're talking to me," so it's kind of a self-esteem issue a little bit.
Matthew Regan 1:54
Could be. Could very well be.
Umar Hameed 1:57
Matthew, you grew up in this industry, your dad was an agent, and there was probably things that he did that you went, "Oh, my God, I want to do that." So tell me about one of those abilities he had as an agent that you admire.
Matthew Regan 2:10
Yeah, I think seeing him operate. Probably comes back to that word integrity, again, at a at a high degree of integrity on behalf of his clients, where it's, it's cliche, but the client's needs were put ahead of his, and there was a lesson that was taught, I got to witness it with my own two eyes, and then hear him teach it is you should never do anything for the money. He said, when you put the client's needs above your own, the money will come. And that, that's always stuck with me and it's, it's never it's actually never let me down. It's, it's been good, good advice.
Umar Hameed 2:54
Can you give me an example of seeing your dad do that in real life, where it cost him something to do the right thing because, you know, everyone talks about it but when it comes down to it, it's like, "Do I take the extra $1,000 or do I do the right thing?" Do you have an example that comes to mind that your dad did?
Matthew Regan 3:11
Well, maybe not so much that, that my dad did because you know, 17 years later, a lot of that's a blur but I, you know, oftentimes we, when we represent a client and we're in this case, maybe transacting in a, in a home the purchase or sale of a home, oftentimes, someone's biggest asset, you, you, you were a lot of responsibility on helping the customer make the right decision. And one of the wars that rages in a consumers mind is, "Am I taking the best offer? Are the terms and conditions appropriate for, for what that customer's unique situation is?" And as a representative of them, you've got to be extremely careful that you don't let your selfish reasons bleed into the consumers' decision making. And, and just to be blunt, the quicker I can get this deal done, the faster I get paid. Well, yeah, but if the seller, the consumer smells that good luck getting a repeat, customer down the road, like let alone a referral, so again, you've really got to draw a hard line between your interest versus the customers.
Umar Hameed 4:31
Absolutely. And I think what's interesting is I was at a real estate office in Baltimore, and I saw this master at his craft, and a client called in and they were really upset about the offer they were getting. And the guy took 15 minutes to talk to her and then he finally got her to the punch line, which was, "Take a look at the net price you're going to walk away with, that is actually higher than what you expected." And he could have said that in the first one minute of the conversation, but he knew he needed to let her vent and slowly explain it to her, and then reveal it to was much better for the customer than just saying, not saying, "Hey dummy this," but I thought it was masterfully done because it's not just about the facts, it's about the relationship that you have with your clients, because you mentioned, you know, happy customers referrals. So talk to me about how you train your agents to really strengthen that relationship during the transaction between them and their customers, because they reflect your brand. How do you articulate that and how do you ensure that that's happening?
Matthew Regan 5:39
Yeah, that's a powerful question. And there are many business models in every industry, we happen to, to abide by a business model that hires recruits, and retains human beings, that by their nature, a lot of what you said comes very naturally. And I was once given some advice that you can train somebody to do a job, but you can't train, honesty, integrity, you can't train that like you, you can help somebody and coach somebody, no doubt. But often, we are looking for qualities in a human and a person that I don't want to say automatically put the customer's needs above their own, but it's it's built into their nature. And and then once you have that pedigree in somebody, you come alongside them and you, you refine, and you show, you know, when you're faced with giving advice, make sure you don't let your interests again, bleed into their best interest. And a lot of it is subtleties, you're not reinventing the wheel, you're not handing them a 200 page playbook and say, read this, do this oftentimes have built into who these people are. And that's one of the things I'm very proud of with the companies that I own. And in this case, the real estate company is we've got the most amazing people.
Umar Hameed 7:15
Stories are an important part of any organization, because you can say, this is what we're all about. And that's like, what does that mean, but when you tell the story of an agent actually doing that, you bring it alive. So tell me about one of the stories you're really proud about one of your agents kind of stepping up and, and really living up to your expectations.
Matthew Regan 7:36
Oh, yeah. And I can tell 100 of these stories. one that comes to mind as a colleague of mine, who started her career, her real estate career with us. And we're similar in age. And we're very risky, very similar in profile, meaning the way we think the way we conduct business. And I read, I think I probably was five or six years in the business at the time, she joined us. And I remember how I remember some of the ups and downs early into her career where it is a oftentimes, you'll hear it as a cutthroat industry. And it is, and there's a lot of highs, and there's a lot of lows. And I remember saying to her, the faster you develop thick skin, the easier this is going to get. It was offered advice, though, because if you think about the meat and potatoes of that advices Well, what does it mean to develop thick skin? Does it mean that you should stop caring about the customer? No, you shouldn't? Does it mean that you need to stop taking things as personally when they don't go your way? Perhaps that's a component of it as well. And I think if you draw a parallel to life in general, as we get older, we experience more sometimes it's good experiences. Sometimes it's bad. And we develop that thick skin. If you fast forward. What are we fast forward eight or nine years later to today. I'm so proud of this person. She's married, she's got a great family. She absolutely kills it in the industry. And I think the thing I admire the most about her with the exception of being a great mom and wife is she's she's really seems to have a grasp on the balance of life. This is somebody that could work 25,25 hours a day, eight days a week if she wanted to. But she's kind of figured it out and she's young and she's successful and I'm so proud of so proud of that.
Umar Hameed 9:44
So, Matthew, so you mentioned the thick skin. I do a lot of work with nurses as well and medicine just like real estate. It's all about if you can connect with your heart to the person you're dealing with that it just makes the transition So much better in medicine. And I think that's where healing actually happens. But when there's lots of tragic events, especially in nursing, people tend to build a thick skin that shields their heart from the connection. And, and the balance really is, is how can we keep that heart to heart connection. So people feel that warm fuel that carrying fuel that integrity, but still protect ourselves is kind of the balance that we do. So thank you for articulating that in your story. Question I have for you is this, you've had agents that have come into your organization, that you can see that they could be phenomenal, and sometimes they can't see it themselves? At the level you can. So tell me a story. You don't don't name names, but somebody that came in, and they could not see their potential and how you got them to actually overcome the limitations and step into that?
Matthew Regan 10:52
Yeah, that's another great question. And I'll I'll start it with a sports story. For football fans out there. The long standing New England Patriots, coach, Bill Belichick will probably go down when he retires as one of if not the greatest football coaches of all time. And you'll look at his Hall of Fame resume and you'll see a lot of wins, you'll see a lot of statistics and you'll see a lot of Super Bowl championships. But the thing that he's one of the things he's most respected for in the, in the world of sport is he can see things in an athlete perhaps on another team or in in college that others don't see. And it's often the gift of being able to see this person's potential. And I've never forgotten that. So when I look at resumes, and people that come across come my way. First of all, I always feel very fortunate that people want to even consider aligning themselves with with us but what we're often looking for is what is this person's potential, and I we have a person on our team and I've never shied away from telling the story and how wrong I was when I interviewed this person I I remember saying to our might one of my business partners and got that person's never gonna make it in real estate. But she was a good this is a good person, good qualities, big heart, very caring, her nature was kind of like a nurse like just so empathetic. And the long story short, is she she just completely in the most amazing way proved me wrong. And she's now two and a half years into her career and just hitting it out of the park. And I couldn't be more proud that she actually proved prove me wrong. And that's that build Bella check where I failed to see this person's potential. And what a great lesson to learn early to go just because there's one way to do it do something doesn't mean that there isn't another way to succeed at the same the same goal.
Umar Hameed 13:07
So the Matthew I see before me is way better than the Matthew that probably was there five years ago or 10 years ago.
Matthew Regan 13:15
I hope so.
Umar Hameed 13:16
So tell me about one of the challenges you had to overcome. Because oftentimes, by the way, here's my personal theory. The reason God invented spouses was to let us know when we're like, not as awesome as we think we are. So tell me about one of those hurdles you had to overcome. Number one, how did you identify it? That you knew Oh, wait a minute, I've got this barrier. And then how did you overcome it to become the person you are right now?
Matthew Regan 13:41
Yeah, I like to thank God you know, human humans make plans and God laughs right. So, you know, I have to take you back to my early 20s I I make some great money I'm I don't like this word, but I'll use it for clarity purposes. I was very successful. I had the car, I had the house, I had the clothes, I had the lifestyle. And that was about an eight year period in my in my life and I found Christianity or maybe it found me depends how you look at that. And a light switch went off. Now that's that is in conjunction with some incredible people that were that had the guts to basically stand up to this ego testicle no at all. Late 20 year old and basically say you got to make some changes in your life if you if you want to life worth having. And it is cliche and you know, you could read about it in books and how people's lives change. But I would say that surrounding myself with amazing people that again, have the guts to just look me in the eye and tell me things that I didn't want to hear. But when I went home and looked in the mirror and had that that conversation with the person staring back in the mirror. It was the truth. And it was the hard truth. But it couldn't have been. It was the best medicine that i think I think i could have gotten at the time and things changed life slowed down, business got took off. Like it's a it's a paradox because they don't. That's not the norm. Normally, life gets busier when when business gets busier. But it couldn't have been more more of the opposite. And what an incredible feeling and result that that was.
Umar Hameed 15:41
So we can go visit that in a moment. But I want to ask you a question first. Do you know who Pepe lepew is one of the cartoon characters?
Matthew Regan 15:49
I do.
Umar Hameed 15:51
So there was this one episode where somebody had told Pepe that he stank really badly, Pugh, and it goes to this dictionary and he looks He said, No, no, this cannot be true. And the reason I bring that up is so people in your life, told you hey, you've got a problem. Then you went home and you looked in the mirror? I suspect it wasn't an immediate "Oh, my god, they're right." There was this struggle of this can't be right. So take me back there if you could, because I think that's where a lot of people end up not getting the breakthrough they need they talk themselves into rationalizing what they're doing and still remaining stuck. So did you have that struggle? And if you did, what was that like? And how did you finally get to the other side and go, Okay, I got an issue. I need to solve it.
Matthew Regan 16:39
Yeah, that that was probably there's it's a two pronged answer. So that from the time I had those people that cared enough to look me in the eye and tell me straight, until the time I actually really began to see a material change in my life was about three years now. of the struggle of tug of war. And but if I being you know, completely transparent, that is an ongoing thing. I mean, I don't know if I'm any different than another human being, but that that tug of war is is real. And I would say if I took you back to those three years that at that point in my life, it would have been late 20s or early 30s you know, you you I'm single again, I got the house, I got the cars I vacation, I got a I got a pretty sweet life, from an outsider's perspective. So if you looked at my facebook profile, and Instagram, you go, like, "Whoa, I want that guy's life." But when you go to bed at night, very, very empty, very empty. I couldn't tell you what I had for breakfast that day, I didn't have a consistent woman in my life to share in these experiences. So the tug of war was really like, well, what, what does society say I should have and what my, what does society say my life should look like versus no, no, like, what's it saying inside? Like, like, like heart, mind and soul? What? What are those three things telling me and they were telling me very different. Cuz they're very different things. So you want to talk about a tug of war. For that those three years? Man, that was tough, but I think I think I've won think I'm on one side of this coin now. And don't get me wrong, it's work every single day, there is still a lot of room for improvement. Or as Bill Belichick would say, "That that guy's got. He's got growth ahead of him. Well, well, we'll hire him."
Umar Hameed 18:59
So you mentioned you found Christianity. So I'll tell you a Christian story before we can park company today is often I tell people that you know you and I are like a bunch of idiots here in Brampton, more or less. And if Jesus was on a journey, and he's all the way to San Francisco, and he's like the being of light, even in his last days at the Garden of Gethsemane, if I'm pronouncing it right, he's got doubts. Should I stay? Should I go now? What's going on? So if the one has doubts, we got a lot of learning to go. There's just plateau after plateau after plateau. Like it's never done. It's an ongoing process of becoming better as we go. So Matthew, I've got two last questions for you. Number one, could you share a mind hack, a simple technique you use to make your life happier, more effective, that our listeners would really appreciate?
Matthew Regan 19:50
Yeah, I that's an easy one for me, and I can't tell you how I developed this but it would have happened five or six years ago and I remember sharing it for the first time and it was so uncomfortable, I was leading a men's kind of a men's night, there was about 30 of us. And we were talking about what it's like to be a man. And I was leading this thing and talk about uncomfortable like us, man, we're not good at sharing emotions and feelings and stuff. But I said, I developed what I call a trigger. And this trigger is in my mind, and it's a four letter word. And you maybe you've heard of this word before, it's, it's,
Umar Hameed 20:31
Oh, my God, don't say that. It's a big show.
Matthew Regan 20:38
That it's a four letter word, and it's stop. And I'll let that sink in for a second. So it's a trigger, it's in my mind, it's a four letter word. It's called stop in the visual is red and white, it's a stop sign. And that trigger will come out, thank goodness at the best, the most opportune times where my mind is straying in a negative way. Or I'm beginning to have an ill thought it could be any number of usually what would fall into a bucket of negativity and, and don't get me wrong, it doesn't work every time. But it's amazing how the brain how you can train your brain to get ahead of certain things, that those things usually are the ones that would would perhaps drag you drag you down. So I hope that answers your question.
Umar Hameed 21:36
It does, actually.
Matthew Regan 21:37
If people listening and going back guys a little crazy. Yeah, I'm not I'm not trying to say that. But I will say, practice it a little bit and watch what happens to your, your mindset.
Umar Hameed 21:48
So I'm going to dig deep here just for a little bit, can you think of a particular moment where that stop sign came up for you, like recently, in the last month or two?
Matthew Regan 21:56
Um, it comes up a lot, I I struggle, I struggle with anger and frustration. when things don't go my way, I begin to in boil in internally, it's a constant work in progress. And if I'm aware of this, if I'm in tune, if I'm not, if I'm not say, under the influence, I'm not saying that I under the influence a lot. But for those that may struggle with an addiction, or, or certain other things that cloud the mind, having a clear mind often allows you to see what's coming or feel or be aware. So that happens a lot. But I'll share something from a men's group that I learned and it's a little, you know, uncomfortable, maybe for some men out there, I shouldn't stereotype or generalize. But I remember this man, saying to me, who I have a lot of respect for, and he would have been in his late mid to late 60s. He's lived a life, he's married, he's raised kids, blah, blah, blah. And he goes, you know, it's so easy in Toronto in July to be driving in the GTA. And there's a beautiful woman out of the corner of your eye dressed provocatively, well, as a man, you might have that wandering eye and in it, it may be innocent. But what if your kids sitting beside you and sees you doing this? And I've never really forgotten that because it's such an innocent thing. It doesn't say anything. You're you're you're not necessarily acting like there's not an action there. But it but I've never forgotten that. And that's where that ties back to that trigger of stop. Because sometimes it's not what you say it's what you do, that can have lasting impressions in a positive way. But maybe in this example, in a negative way, depending on who's with you or even if no one's with you. It it'll come back to bite you if you're not if you're not careful. So again, trading the mind finding the trigger being disciplined enough to stay on stay on track, stay on course.
Umar Hameed 24:16
Brilliant. One last thing. What is a book you'd recommend that our viewers and listeners read?
Matthew Regan 24:23
Yeah, so you're not going to be surprised for me to recommend this. I would say the Bible and I said this to somebody an atheist last week I said look from from an atheist that I was listening to on another podcast, University of Toronto Professor very recognized credentials are massive. And he goes basically he goes, every single answer to life is in the Bible. So I'm only saying the Bible not to like try and have that atheists listening to this go. Oh, man, this guy is trying to convert me enjoying a call like no, no, like I'm being dead serious about you just want the most basic answers to life's biggest questions, you'll probably find a lot of the answers in that book, from business to relationship to hardship to the best of times that it answers a lot of really difficult questions.
Umar Hameed 25:20
And even if you know from that person's point of view, it's the wrong answer. It still gives you the ability to think about it differently, which is incredibly useful to get a different perspective. But I agree there's lots of amazing answers in there. Matthew, I just want to thank you so much for coming on the show today. It was you were transparent and vulnerable and that makes for great radio. Thanks so much for being on the show.
Matthew Regan 25:44
You're very welcome. Thank you for having me. We're hopefully I'll get to meet you in person one of these days.
Umar Hameed 25:54
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.