Josh Tesolin has been awarded Australia's #1 Agent (according to RateMyAgent) for a record-breaking 4 times (2020 - 2023). He is the Owner and Principal of Ray White Quakers Hill - The Tesolin Group.
In this webinar, Josh will reveal:
This training webinar is a sponsored collaboration with LocalAgentFinder
Josh Tesolin has been awarded Australia's #1 Agent (according to RateMyAgent) for a record-breaking 4 times (2020 - 2023). He is the Owner and Principal of Ray White Quakers Hill - The Tesolin Group.
In this webinar, Josh will reveal:
This training webinar is a sponsored collaboration with LocalAgentFinder
I'm pretty excited because today, ladies and gentlemen, we have the great Josh Teslan. The great Josh Teslan. Hey, josh, how are you going? Look at the numbers build up. We are at 230. Let's get these numbers going and going and going. We have a very big audience today and the reason they're here is that they love the man, they love what he has to say and he's always got something to say. Josh, how are you, brother? I'm good, my man. How are you going? Very good, josh. How's fatherhood Good?
Speaker 2:different. I'll tell you what. I thought it would slow me down a lot. I thought I'd be a lot more tired. I thought I'd want to not be in the office a lot, but it just gives you a new motivation, like you're not concerned necessarily about yourself too much anymore, like you just want to make my son proud and I feel like I'm just at a new level. It's good, love it.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So it's really, really interesting, josh, because I can really relate to that part, because when I had the first one, I thought to myself, okay, that's the end of the hustle, but the hustle actually grows stronger because all of a sudden, like if you've got enough money for you and your wife, you think, okay, life's good. And then all of a sudden you think to yourself no man, we're working here for another generation. Who's working for another generation? So I can truly relate to what you're saying, josh.
Speaker 1:Before we go on today, by the way, everyone that's joining on our event today is brought to you by local agent finder, laf, which many of you many of you, of course are aware of. Many of you actually receive business, and I'll give you an interesting statistic team. Here's an interesting stat. I will tell you that local agent finder, local agent finder I went to the REB awards and the REB awards, out of the top 148, out of the top 100, are users of LAF. They take the listings, yes, they pay the referral fee and, josh, you're in the same boat. You get a lot of business out of local agent finder, don't you?
Speaker 2:Yeah, look, amongst other things, of course, but 100% local agent finder. They send you a lead. Obviously. I think they send it out to two or three people correct me if I'm wrong direct to your phone. They send it all hours email. And I think the most important thing with those leads and reviews is a lot of agents mentally think, oh, I have to pay a referral fee, why are they taking our commission? But I think about it like this I never would have got the fucking lead anyway. So at the end of the day, if I get a lead and I have to pay one referral and then I get the neighbor or I get an open home attendee who's also selling and I get an extra review or I get an extra signboard, that 20% can get me 20% more. Business people are old school and you've got to think new school. You gotta lose a bit to get a bit.
Speaker 1:So, josh, I'll give you another interesting stat on the data Local agent finder gave me. Out of the leads that they give out, 50% are signed up as a listing within three to four months. Right, these are a lot of immediate sellers. And then over the next three months it continues to increase. So, but, josh, it's an interesting one. The listing, the catch and kill, burst the price up. You know, sometimes you go to an appraisal, josh, and you know that they're selling. By the way, can I ask you, josh, you know, when you go to an appraisal and you're not 100% sure if they're a price update, if they're a future seller, if you're just building a relationship or they're actually coming on the market, what are the sort of questions or that help you establish where they're at, if they're an immediate seller or a future seller appointment?
Speaker 2:I asked the question before I go in, look a lot of vendors and I do a lot of appraisals, like I did 16 yesterday. A lot of vendors are very cagey For many reasons. Sometimes they go through a divorce. Sometimes they don't want the neighbors to know. Sometimes they just don't trust a real estate agent. Sometimes they're just shopping around. They've already got their agent, they're just getting a few other opinions. So I just ask really direct questions.
Speaker 2:Tom, thank you so much for the call. Are you selling or is this just a little health checkup for your property? That's the first question. The second question is, tom, can you see yourself still living in this property now or in another five years? Is this a five year thing? And they go oh, definitely not.
Speaker 2:Like I was in a living room last night seven o'clock and I asked the lady. I said do you want to sell now or in three months? She said definitely not now. And I said do you want to be here for Christmas? She said no way. She said I want to be in my new place in Foster by Christmas. So all automatically, she's given me a timeline that it's not now, but it's not the end of the year. It's going to be prior somewhere in between around spring. So ask that question.
Speaker 2:Timeline's a big one. Also, I asked is it in one name? Is it in two names? If you got the right price, if they gave you a long settlement or potentially a rent back, would that be something that would push your timeline forward? A big one is Tom. Have you bought yet? Find the motivation. Have you bought Tom?
Speaker 2:Like I went into one yesterday in Quaker's Hill and this lady literally called me up and said I just want a bit of a price update. And I thought to myself, oh look, she's not motivated. I've got better things to do than this. And then I just heard it in her voice, like sometimes you can just hear it. There was something more than just a price update. And then I sat down and I said Sylvia, I said, is this just an update or are you wanting to sell? And she said Josh, I was a bit scared to tell you that I was going to sell because I thought you were going to just commission breath in, pounce on me. And I said that's a natural thought to think. And she goes I actually bought yesterday and you're my first call and I really want to put it on the market. So she called me with the intention of a price update, but bought and then I signed it up yesterday.
Speaker 1:Okay. So, josh, can I ask? Yeah, on the issue and this is something I've been talking to local agent finder, and that is what is what are and you're the best agent, right? What does the best agent do Once he's gone into a price update? They're not ready to sign up, right? They're not going for around nine months. How do you stay on the shopping list, keep the relationship going even though they're not coming on right now? What do you do to stay in contact with them?
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's a lot of touch points so physically.
Speaker 2:So I've got a app. It's called the group text app. So I used to do it all myself. I used to pick up my phone and I used to literally manually copy and paste messages to every single fucking person in my database. I've just sold 10 out of 10 at auction. I just set the new suburb record for a three bed and I'd literally just text every person manually and that would take me four hours once a week and it was fucking crazy, but I used to do it. I did it like eight years.
Speaker 2:Now, this group text app, I've got people in categories. So let's say you own a three bedroom home, tommy, and then I've got four bedroom sellers or I've got, you know, duplex sellers or townhouse sellers, and if I sell a townhouse I press one button. It puts them in a group message. They don't all see they're in this message and it disperses with one click of a button so within five minutes I can text. My database has got I think nine or 10,000 people now and they all instantly get a text and I write it up and it's got a little template and it says I just sold this. This many people came this many people missed out. Would you sell at the right price? Or like a free appraisal too and ask a question with a question mark? So group text is number one.
Speaker 1:Number two it's actually called group the actual app is group text.
Speaker 2:Yeah, man, it's called the group text app. It's got, yeah, it's. I can't show you the app, but yeah, it's, it's, it's okay.
Speaker 1:So essentially what you're saying, one of the way that you can stay in contact and scale yourself because you've got such a big chase list, because I mean it's 16 appraisals yesterday I'm just multiplying how many people you got to stay in contact you can easily, josh, have, you can easily have a group list called a chase list 30 days, chase list 90 days, or local agent finder or all the ones that you've got local agent finder. You know I'll just be staying in contact with them. So group text is so text is a very effective way.
Speaker 2:Text is the best way, cause manually. Just due to the sheer volume of people that I'm meeting and she's sellers that I'm getting into, it's absolutely impossible to call everyone every day. So number one is group text. Number two there's little touch points along the way. Like sometimes you put a signboard up on a main road when it's for sale, they'll drive by and think, oh my God, letterbox drops. I'm doing 10,000 listed, 10,000 sold per property, buses, bus stops, community Like I'm doing every single school, every single soccer team, football team, hockey team, athletics, the gym, f45, baseball, cricket, oz tag you name it, I do it. I'm the major sponsor of fucking everything. So they're just little touch points along the way, but probably the main one Facebook. Like I'm doing a lot of targeted boosts.
Speaker 2:So on Facebook you can click like people who like my page. So I always invite every single person I go to an appraisal to. I ask them to like my Facebook business page. Main reason is I say to them guys, would you like to be kept up to date with what's for sale? Because if you're looking at buying local, I upload all my listings to Facebook as well as I do a live weekly wrap up talking about the market. Every week I put auction videos on live auction videos for you to see the process, vendor testimonials from happy customers. I send my link for them to like the page.
Speaker 2:Once they liked the page, I spoke to some social media expert a month ago. Apparently it drops a cookie on them and then all of a sudden you can retarget that cookie. So every single person that I go to an appraisal to, if I list it or I don't, I'll say to them hi, tom, thanks for having me around, would love to work together now or in future. Here's my link to keep in touch so they'll like my page. Then all of a sudden they're getting I'm uploading fucking 15 times a day. So it's just content on the phone, content in their face, content in the letterbox. Drop content through the group text app and it's just. You just can't not see me Okay.
Speaker 1:So, josh, one of the things with local agent finder is that they have studied the agent that gets back to the vendor, yeah, has the highest chance of winning the business, definitely. A lot of agents say oh, tom Mate, you know like what, if you get the lead at nine o'clock at night, yeah, would you ring him at nine o'clock at night.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, mate. So what they do they've got some little system on that you don't get the text message until the morning of local agent finder. You get the email, though, and I've got my emails on alert. So as soon as I get an email, I read it and call them. But yeah, absolutely if you. If they send it to me at midnight, I'll call them, and regardless if they answer or they don't, I'm gonna write them a text and say hey, tom, sorry it's late, respect your time. However, I would love to help you and when you wake up in the morning, feel free to call me at any time. I want to be your agent, I.
Speaker 1:Love that. I want to be your agent man, I. The thing I like about your approach to Bendors is you don't tiptoe and become an amway person. You ask direct questions like even when you're at the listing presentation and you are, you are you actually are clearly asked for the business, or whether you're worthy of getting the business. What's the clothes you use? Again, josh.
Speaker 2:Oh, my, plenty of clothes is along the way. I was inside. I went to Sydney Olympic Park on Friday night this is a good, this is a good story and the bend or said to me they go, oh, we don't want to go to our unit. You know, do you mind just having a chat here? So I was presenting in a lobby with 300 people going up and down the elevators and they ended up saying they go, josh, you know, we really want time to think about it. And I said Respectfully.
Speaker 2:I said if a buyer said to me I need a day or two to think about it, I said they're probably not gonna be hot, they're probably gonna go cold and buy something else right now. Tom, what do I need to do to get your business? What's holding you back from moving forward with me being your agent? And they said oh, you know, we're a bit apprehensive on the fee. And I said so, tom, right now, if we can get to an agreement on fee, you're telling me you're happy to move forward. And she goes yes.
Speaker 2:And then last night I had another vendor call me and she goes oh, Josh, you know. This other agent said they sell less and they've got more time. And I said respectfully I never talked bad about other agents. However, if they've got more time, that probably means they're meeting less buyers, doing less open homes and they're not as active in the market with more local knowledge. And I said right now, and I go oh, your fee, your fee, your fees too high? And I said respectfully, I said let's say, tom, we were the same fee, me and you were 2.75 with the same fee. They're not 1% like they're quoting. With the same fee, who would you choose, tom? She goes silent. And then she goes you and I said there's your answer. I said why we? Why would you go with someone you don't even want? And she goes, you know what? Let's go ahead.
Speaker 1:Why would you go with someone you don't even want because their fees low? Why would you eat that hamburger that you don't want because it's a dollar? Why would you do something just because the price is right? It doesn't solve your problem, right? Why would you fly with XY Airlines that you're not even sure whether you're gonna get to your fee, whether you're gonna get to your final destination, right?
Speaker 2:Correct why it doesn't make sense, but sometimes people just need to have it repeated to them Sometimes. And I said, I set it up the question, and I said, tom, I only have one last question, just one, and I go. What's the question? I go, can I? Can I ask, tom, that you answer this with full truth and honesty, because I've been honest to you, I want to work with you. I've given you a marketing plan. I'm on the phone and this was 10 o'clock at night last night and I said, tom, one question. And then I paused, I said what's the question? I said if we were the same fee, who would you choose? And they go, you. So a lot of agents. Just talk, talk, talk, talk, talk. Sometimes the pause goes a long way and I had one the other day where it took me three hours to close the business.
Speaker 2:Sometimes there's different closes, like sometimes you don't want to hear a presentation, and I had one Aussie guy the other day say, josh, mate, I don't care about your presentation, I know you're the best, you know what's my housework. And I just went, mate, I think your house is worth nine to nine fifty. I sold the one across the road for nine twenty five. You know, conservatively nine, a great result be nine, fifty plus. Do you want me to sell it for you? He goes yeah, I said great, I need to see forms of ID and let's move forward. He goes, yeah, cool, shook hands, boom signed. So there's a different close to different people. But the the crux of closing business is eye contact, saying it with confidence, wanting the business, having energy, but asking the question Tom, are you happy for me to sell it? I want to work with you. Do you want to work with me?
Speaker 1:I like that. So, Josh, the truth is sport, real estate. At the end of the day, people judge you on the results.
Speaker 3:Yeah, man.
Speaker 1:So you can turn around and say everything else, but at the end of the day you are judged on your results and what you're sort of saying is you can do everything right in real estate, but at that pointy end, if you don't score the goal, if you don't ask for the best listing, if you don't get a form six or, in New South Wales, victoria, sign that agency agreement, all that other stuff is irrelevant because the second agent that misses out, even though they may have been 1% less, they get zero, they get no signboard, they get no listing, they get no fee. So, josh, I'm going to bring in, if I can, susan, can I just bring in Richard and Warwick on video. Just bring them in. Bring the boys in. Let the gentleman in. The other thing I was going to say Josh, I'm pretty curious when you're doing, like you know, 16 appraisals, going home at night really late, then waking up the next morning. Repeat button yeah, is there anything that you do that helps you sustain long term energy for real estate? That is like that's draining man.
Speaker 2:It is, it is and it's so funny I've got. So you know Penel, he was the best man at my wedding and he's a sales agent now in my office. He was my assistant for many years. He did eight appraisals on Saturday and he came into the office and he goes. Man, like I'm done, I go. What do you mean? He goes.
Speaker 2:I don't know how you do it. I don't fluff around in the appointment Like a lot of people, just talk about rubbish and I just really get to the point You're looking to sell. This is what it's worth. This is my process Run through it. Are you happy for me to sell it? So I don't stuff around. Number two lots of water. Number three I don't have any like heavy carbohydrates. During the day. They really sink me down like bread and pasta and burgers. I don't have that chips, none of that shit. I do the exercise bike 30 minutes a night at one o'clock in the morning, so I'm texting my owners and texting my team there to do list for the next day at 1am and I'm on the bike. So at least I'm moving my body. What else? I have a protein bar once a day and a protein shake that keeps me fueled, so I'm not heavy and the big thing like I want to be there, so like I love doing good numbers.
Speaker 1:Mate, you hate losing, you love winning. It's a common sign of you know great competitors. I want to ask. So both Warwick and Richard are from LocalAgentFinder. Two of the senior executives there in that business, I've got to say I said it yesterday at a function that Laf had and that was Laf 1.0 looked like they were clipping the ticket, adding no value. Laf 2.0. I'm just saying like we were sitting at the REB Awards and I actually said to you both. I said it'd be fascinating to find out out of the you know the top officers in the country, how many of them are actually using LocalAgentFinder? And you actually went onto the website, looked at the top 100 officers 71 out of the top 100 businesses are users of Laf. You've got to be very terribly proud with that. I'm just curious, richard and Warwick, as you've been listening to Josh talking about his approach with listings and calling people at Laf. What do you normally find is the agents that have the best conversion rate of LocalAgentFinder leads? What do you see, richard and Warwick? Is it the speed?
Speaker 4:I think you're right, tom. I think Josh is right. We certainly see that mirrored across the country. In terms of speed to view the lead and call the client, he's absolutely crucial. Also, the calling at sort of the odd hours is also important as well. So when we look at agents that have had success, you know, in other states or throughout the country, they'll also call it 8.30 or they'll also call it 9 o'clock whenever they get the lead. Because if the vendors we're addressing on the website we're qualifying that opportunity as quickly as we can, then they're still in real estate mode, they're still in front of the computer and nine times out of 10, they'll be happy to have that conversation. So if you can jump onto that straightaway, have that impactful conversation and book your appraisal, for example, by the time the other guys get up tomorrow morning, the vendor was already booked in. In a lot of cases Josh and others have listed the property already. So speedy certainly are crucial there, tom.
Speaker 1:Richard, do you want to add anything to that?
Speaker 3:No, I think what Josh and Warwick have said this morning is really important the fact that our service is always on. So where our marketing is always on, the service is able to be provided to someone. As Warwick said, that's at 2am that maybe you want to register there properly. Well, that's when the right time is for them. So the number of times we'll hear stories of 8pm on a Sunday being the right time for a homeowner and getting our listing appraisal already signed before Monday even starts is so, so important, and we're seeing record numbers of homeowners coming through month on month. So the number of homeowners that are wanting to fill, as if they're in control of the process or at least be confident about having that first conversation, is a really, really important thing, and we're seeing huge numbers coming through.
Speaker 1:Alright, Josh. Another question I want to put to you is that some agents turn around and say, oh, but I don't want to pay 20%. Yeah, the same agents will pay referral fees to other people. What's your take on that whole roof? And, by the way, Richard, can you confirm that it is actually capped at a dollar amount, even though it's capped, isn't it?
Speaker 3:It is capped, yes, and it's the same fee for every agent in Australia. There's no discrimination, or Josh?
Speaker 1:what do you say? Because I've seen you present at your beautiful conference where you actually use the fishing slides, right the fishing lines, where you said you've got to be fishing in combination. If you had one fishing rod, you want to have 10 rods. Yeah, a fishing finder is a rod. Obviously expired listings is a rod. Obviously, calling back your opens is a rod. What do you say to the person that says, oh yeah, why will I pay 20%?
Speaker 2:Why would you not pay 20%? And look, I don't get paid by local agent finder. I'm just a user like every other agent. Maybe on this video I'm very new school, though I think it's a very old school mentality. Oh 20%, how dare they? That's our fee, not their fee.
Speaker 2:But, as I sort of said at the start of this video, you pay 20%, you get a listing. You literally don't have to go on cold call and don't have to doorknock and don't have to spend money on letterbox drops or a Facebook boost or physically have your staff door knocking a house trying to get a lead, when they could be in the office doing other shit. So, in terms of why wouldn't you? People are acting like a lot of people feel like they feel more pain losing a dollar than making a dollar. They think they're losing 20%, but you're making fucking 80%. That's the first thing. The second thing, as I said, you're getting open home data, you're getting a review, you're getting a happy customer, you're getting a neighbor, you're getting an auction, you're getting a theater show for the whole community to see what you do Sold board. There's so many opportunities that you get from one sale, so more than happy to pay 20%.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well that's, if that means.
Speaker 1:I mean that's the point 100%. I mean people miss the concept of you get a listing to sell a listing and you get a listing to get another listing, in fact probably more listings. Anyway, we've got to say is, guys, you've got to be, by the way, susan, if there's anyone that's on this right now that is not a local agent, find a client and wants to become one and has rationalized and thought to themselves man, I need stock, I need some immediate sellers. Susan, could you please Richard and Warwick, what's the best contact for a non-using agent? What do they do?
Speaker 4:Yeah, so they can just email Tom agents at local agent find outcomau or simply give us a call on 1300 765 969.
Speaker 1:Okay, susan's actually put the URL of local agent findercomau. She's also put the email there. Could I get you to repeat that mobile number slowly so Susan can put it in there?
Speaker 4:Yep, it's 1300, 765, 969.
Speaker 1:965 969. 969. Susan's also given the short version there, which is sorry, susan, it's 1300, not 100. Thank you, susan. She's also putting that other number, 133, 003-core Customer Care. Could I please get you to read out, sorry, can I get you to please read out that number again, and I'll also put it in there. What is it?
Speaker 4:1300.
Speaker 1:Yeah 765.
Speaker 4:Yeah, 969. 889-169.
Speaker 1:Oh, Susan, beat me to it Susan. Susan's a very competitive person herself. She always has to say, let's see who's going to type that first now. And yes, that's what I liked about her. She was like that also when we met her at a gym, at Fitness Fitness Fitness Body in Berlwood.
Speaker 4:They've got Bitbods in.
Speaker 1:Berlwood and Susan always wanted to beat me running around the block. She and what she used to do is she used to leave the gym faster, so we used to run around the block. She used to get this competitive event Correct, susan. Do you remember that?
Speaker 4:Yeah, of course I do.
Speaker 1:You do, you used to do it, but, susan, was it true that I also used to come home flying and I'd beat you at the end? What do you mean? Come home flying?
Speaker 2:This is not relevant for the webinar Of course it's not relevant.
Speaker 1:Of course it's not relevant. Anyway, ladies and gentlemen, I've got to tell you it's an absolute listen local agent finder. They are now an important part of the real estate landscape community. They're touching, I think, one in 50 deals. Richard, you've told me in the past, one in 50 deals. It's quite an extraordinary business and they care. So I want to thank you, josh, can I ask you? I spoke to you last. You know, yesterday we were having another chat about real estate in general. Would you say this the best way for you to describe your marketplace at the moment? Josh, in 30 seconds, what's it like?
Speaker 2:My marketplace low stock, which means there's more buyers, which means that there's less choice, which means there's more urgency. I think if you price a property correctly, create competition, put on the market motivated vendors, results will happen. I sold 20 out of 20 in the last two weeks, 10 out of 10 on the weekend. Overservice buyers reserves a key A lot of vendors when they want to put a high reserve and strategically go really high and work down on the day just to have comfort, do not work. You've got to have a competitive reserve. Having Josh, I reckon.
Speaker 1:I've actually worked out. You know, when sometimes you say to the vendor, let's put the reserve a little bit higher to give us a bit of a buffer, I think that new number becomes in their head their reserve number.
Speaker 2:They say, oh, that's the number we're going to chase now 100%, 100% and all because sometimes buyer feedback let's say everyone's talking 900 and one buyer is talking 1.2, they want to put a reserve of 1.2 because one buyer has it. What happens if that buyer does not turn up? You'd rather have a competitive situation on the market at a more competitive number. I had one on the weekend. I had a guide was 1.150. The reserve was on the guide. You know, great auction sold for 1,590,000, which was exceptional, based on competition. But why? They wouldn't have got that result if the reserve was 1,590,000. They got the results. It was on the market. They got that result because they had intense competition, hope of gain, fear of loss, emotions were involved. So yeah, I think the auction process in this market is better than anything. Main reason competition, unconditional sale. Number two low stock list more. That's what it comes down to.
Speaker 1:Alrighty team. We've got about eight, nine days till Easter. We've got a home stretch. Then we've got a bit of a funny period Anzac day, school holidays which is an enjoyable period, but it means that some vendors will say, let's just wait till it's all over and we'll put it on there. So much, josh. Thank you so much, warrick. Richard. Thank you so much. Thanks, doc. More leads equals more money. Let's go out there. Team.
Speaker 2:Thanks guys.