Steve Tabrizi (00:00):
Stay humble. Success can become the beginning of your decline. Always stay humble. Don't forget how you started. Don't forget it, what was your route?
Johnder Perez (00:12):
All right everybody, welcome to Real Estate Strategies with RE/MAX Hallmark. I am joined here by soccer expert Steve Tabrizi, and we're going to be talking in perfect timing with the amazing World Cup win of Spain over Argentina. We're going to be talking about how soccer relates to real estate. And Steve is more of a soccer expert by a significant mile than I am. So I'm going to try and keep up. I'm a bandwagon jumper, so I watched the final game. Of course, seeing Spain win over Argentina is amazing, but we're going to be talking about what led up to this, a bit of background that Steve's going to bring up. But overall, we're going to talk about three specific matches throughout this particular episode. Cape Verde or Gabo Verde against Argentina, a game of perseverance and over forcoming friction. We're going to talk about England versus Argentina, which is endurance and high stakes attrition.
(01:09):
And then we're going to talk about the final match, which is Spain versus Argentina and how it ties to systems consistency and executive strategy. For those of you who are soccer fans and who saw the game, you're going to see some of these analogies and we're going to tie it to real estate. So Steve, are you ready?
Steve Tabrizi (01:26):
I am ready. You know what? John Derr, I'm sad that this afternoon or this evening, you and I are among billions of people we don't have any other entertainment anymore. But what a journey was the last 40 days. I'm not an expert in soccer. I grew up playing soccer. I still play soccer twice a week, Wednesday night and Sunday morning. I love it. It's my sanctuary. And why this year was totally different gender. For the first time, the team expanded to 48 teams and there's a talk now to go to 64. So many countries that they never could qualify for this event, they qualified and make it really different underdog team. They perform exceptionally well. We had also some early exit of the top word team such as Netherlands, such as Germany. But it was an interesting. And every game that I watched, particularly the last two weeks of really the stage of, I would call it the 32, the semi-final, the quarterfinal, the semi-final, and then the final, man, everybody was really glued to their seat and the TV.
(03:01):
And I wrote a post on social media on July 4th after the Cabo Verde versus Argentina. And I really thought maybe I should tie it to the business.
Johnder Perez (03:13):
So let's look at that game because my wife actually knows more about Cabo Verde than I do. And she's told me about how their stellar goalie underdog team, somebody who you would never expect the team to make it this far and yet here they are against the reigning world champions. So how would you tie? Let's start with that game, Cabo Verde against Argentina, Steve. How would you tie how they played, how these two teams matched up and how the underdog gave Argentina quite a run in terms of trying to defend the ability to win?
Steve Tabrizi (03:46):
Well, I firmly believe that everyone is talented. Doesn't matter sports or business, but the mindset and the belief is the key. And the Capo Verde game versus Argentina was a perfect example of the belief can compete with the talent. You got a goalie that it's unheard of. He's 41, 42 years old. He's a bus driver, part-time electrician. He has played soccer through his entire life, but at the level that is not even close to the South America or European League, but he stopped eight shots and five of them was from Messi, perhaps the best player of all time. And the team synergy, the team that they really played camaraderie and together, it was unbelievable. And it really gave a good lesson to strong teams such as Argentina. Don't underestimate that you got the talent, you got the trophy, and you can walk into the field and just basically said, "Okay, I'll beat this thing.
(05:01):
This should be an easy run for me. " I related that to the business that basically many of our agents or in other industry, because we think we have a plaque, we have a success, we have a story. So I got it. I own it. Nobody can come and beat me. I'm sure you heard of you and I, we talk many times. We constantly said, "Let's learn from the competition. Let's learn what is the competition is doing. Let's never underestimate new competition come to our market." Because when you start underestimating everybody else and you become really full of yourself, I call it, that you know everything and you are unbeatable, that's a dangerous line.
Johnder Perez (05:52):
Because every agent started as a brand new rookie agent, totally green, totally brand new to the business. When does that transition happen between, okay, I'm brand new to what? I'm a superstar. I can now go into listing presentations without preparing because I've got it. I've got all the marketing. Everybody knows me. The sellers have called me in and yet they're going to face off against somebody who has probably never had a listing. So when does that transition happen and what should agents do to avoid getting to that state of just getting too comfortable and overconfident in themselves?
Steve Tabrizi (06:24):
Well, agents, they have sadly this bad habit of they think once they learn the game, I don't need to learn anymore. The self-interest of the investing in your abilities, in your skillset, learning, coaching, and then it becomes the excuse of the blaming the market, the blaming the buyers, blaming the sellers, blaming your brokerage, your broker owners and everything rather than asking yourself, "When was the last time I pivoted? When was the last time I adopted?" Look at the era that we are right now. You more than anybody else is expert in AI in our company. How many agents have you spoken that when you talk about AI with them, they basically are in denial? They basically said, "No, no, no, this is a person to person, belly to belly business." Yes, it is. But you can also at the same time just say, "You know what?
(07:20):
I don't need the AI." Because what's going to happen? The new kids in the block will learn the skillset that you have about the belly to belly, human interaction, engagement, but they get faster in front of that human interaction and engagement through the AI. And the agent who's been in the business for 15, 20 years, great success now suddenly because they didn't believe that they have to adopt to the AI. Now suddenly they see in your market, in their neighborhood, somebody's beating them in the market share.
Johnder Perez (07:51):
Exactly. So something to keep in mind for real estate agents, you get too comfortable, you get too overconfident. The game, even though real estate is always going to be belly to belly business relationship and whatnot, there's always going to be new things thrown at you. And even if you are that champion, the listing agent that dominates a neighborhood, there's going to be that one kid that just got into the business that's using tools and using techniques and strategies that might take that away from you if you're not careful. So let's go to England versus Argentina. So that was a pretty interesting game as well. Steve, how would you analyze that particular match and then tie it into how real estate agents treat endurance, high stakes attrition, where they should be in terms of the level of their game?
Steve Tabrizi (08:37):
Well, Argentina and England was an incredible game. First half, I was convinced that basically Argentina... And it was, you know what? Yesterday when I watched the final, it reminded me more that Argentina actually could have failed at that stage with the England because they played very similar game, similar attitude. And England in the first half of their game versus Argentina, they controlled it. As soon as around 56 minutes or 68 minutes on the second half, England scored the worst strategy they could ever done. You never in the business you basically start being a defensive mode. You always got to be a forward attacking mode. And they decided 30 minutes to the end of the game to basically go on a defensive mode. When I refer to it, I would refer to it your yesterday success. Let's protect the yesterday's success and don't worry about the future.
(09:47):
And that's exactly what they did. And Argentina became at the last 30 minutes desperate. When you become desperate, you do everything to win the game. And in a business is the same thing. And we saw the outcome, what happened? A team that rely heavily on their yesterday's success. England team is filled with the really top, top European players. And you could see also a different attitude with their game versus the France. They didn't want the same things repeat itself. They came strong the first half. They scored four goals. But then you notice at the second half on the first 20, 25 minutes, they were almost again losing it, but they picked up the momentum that going over there. So Argentina in the game of the England, even in the game of the Spain, they really lost that discipline. They lost that system. So in the business, if you want to relate it to it, agent, they get a listing.
(10:52):
Agent, they are prospecting. Agent, they basically has suddenly three, four, five clients. They just say, "Oh my God, I'm too busy. I don't have anything to do. " They don't become the leader. They basically, their success is major because they have a job. No. When you become successful, when you have a system, when you have an organization, when you delegate, when you have a consistency, when you can repeat the same behavior every day. So when you get one listing, when you get a big transaction, a big check, big commission check, 100,000, because suddenly in last five years of your career, you did, I don't know, a $5 million transaction. Don't think, okay, it's done. You never lift your foot off the pedal for prospecting. You prospect every day. Yo connect every day. And you wake up every day, you ask yourself this question, "What did I do wrong yesterday that I can correct myself today?"
Johnder Perez (11:50):
So maintaining status quo, you shouldn't maintain the status quo. You shouldn't be complacent. Yo shouldn't be defensive because there are real estate agents today that have gotten away for so long with the same kind of marketing, the same kind of prospecting. And again, nothing wrong with their consistency, but did they adapt to the current new ways of reaching out to people? Are you going in addition to the traditional forms of prospecting and marketing yourself? Did you adapt to social media? That was the first game changer. Are you adapting now to AI and how it can leverage your productivity tools and systems? So that's a very interesting analogy, which brings us to the final game, which is Spain and Argentina. And again, I'm a bandwagon jumper. I usually save myself to the last, but this is a match that even I was sitting in and at the edge of my seat, I'm not going to say who it's rooting for or not.
(12:40):
It's besides the point, but hey, the champion is the champion. With Spain and Argentina, again, I'm not as much of a sport soccer, I guess, as somebody as knowledgeable as Steve is. But one thing that I did notice during the game was the ball control, the dominance of Spain. I was looking at Argentina and again, I didn't watch every single match during this Rocado. And I'm thinking, is this actually a championship team that's playing? On the one side, the fact that they maintain a zero-zero means both teams are well-suited to compete against each other. But on the other side, I didn't see Argentina being offensive. And Steve, you mentioned the Spanish coach and maybe we should talk about the technique that was taught through the Spanish coach earlier when we were training, because I didn't even think of it that way. I saw it on screen as that, but it was interesting the insight that you said.
(13:29):
So can you talk about the Spanish coach, the technique and how it played out here?
Steve Tabrizi (13:34):
Well, Spaniards are famous for a technique called tic-tacto. This is one of the technique that one of the greatest coach on a planet, he's still around, he just recently decided after 10 years successful coaching of the Man City in England, which is one of the toughest and the best league in Europe called Premier League to basically take a leave for now Pepa Guardiella. And he taught them about the possession of the ball, controlling the narrative in your business, controlling the environment in your business. And if you take a look at the Spain versus France, they stick to their plan. Their system was middle of the field, control the ball, pass back and forth, pull the attacker off the opponent team towards their goal, and then do a counterattack. But they didn't give up for 90 days. They changed the strategy. They didn't go to the defensive mode.
(14:43):
They didn't go to the reckless attacking. They didn't lose the possession. And that's exactly they did with Argentina. Argentina, contrary to what they were supposed to do, they came out of the very successful counterattack game against England. And the hero, two successful passes was Messi. Listen, let's not argue Messi is the greatest player on the planet. There's no question in my mind that man is genius and probably we won't have another one like Messi for the next, God knows, 50 years. I won't be around. But the entire team came to the field believing that the Messi can save them. Every team has an 11 player. Business is about the delegation, about the developing. I have always said this. The business is about the system. It's about the consistency. It's about the people around you, people around you. You cannot be jack of all trades. Yu cannot be experts of everything.
(15:51):
You stay in your unique lane and your unique lane, you discover there are other lanes that you are not good at it and you bring people to it. Messi needed to receive some balls to create his magic for the first quarter, first half time he didn't receive anything. And a second thing, the same thing. Versus Spain, stay with their system consistently. And one mistake, one mistake of the unpredictability just paid off and one goal that was needed. So Messi can be the magician, but he cannot carry the entire team by himself.
Johnder Perez (16:32):
And isn't that interesting? Exactly what you said, Steve, one mistake costed it, but what resulted in that lucky... Some will say luck that it just happened to be that way, but luck is continuously doing things over and over again until the right opportunity presents itself. And so one thing that you pointed out here, which is attuned to real estate, is that if somebody is consistent and doing the same things over and over and over again, luck will find them because it's that one opportunity that just happens to line up. And seeing that game too, interestingly what you said, I mean the offense versus defense, the numbers don't lie. Spain was playing a very good offensive game and Argentina was trying to be defensive as much as possible. But one thing that the commentator was saying yesterday was that Argentina thrives on chaos. And isn't it interesting that real estate agents are reactive in the sense that when it's chaotic, "Oh, I absolutely need to get a deal done now.
(17:25):
It's do or die. It's all or nothing." Sometimes that's what it takes. But when you're thriving on chaos, the results don't always come. Towards the end of the game, it was very sitting at the edge of your seat because you're like, okay, if Argentina scores, now there's going to be a tie. But that didn't happen and it was a little too late. And so Steve, looking at this championship game and alluding it to what makes a real estate champion, let's end off this episode with what does a real estate agent need to do to be a world-class champion at their game today?
Steve Tabrizi (17:55):
Well, before we talk about that, I think when you talk about the chaos and intensity, yeah, it sometimes pays off. And during the course of this year and last year, many of our realtor or the industry, I'm sure they ask you or ask me how come some agency basically outperformed the market, the slowest market in the last six years, which has been 2025 and early 2026. Even beating the 2021, 22 market. It's all about the consistency. So consistency beat the intensity. You can be chaotic. You can be reactionary. You can create some transaction for yourself. And that's a pure luck. That's a pure luck. But is there a substance there? There is no substance. So it's basically it's your luck. But if you beat consistent, you beat the intensity. And another thing that you have to ask yourself the lesson, did the market change first or did your habit change first?
(19:06):
I think a lot of agents, their habit change without even thinking about why their habit change when the market turns around and becomes in a slower market. Doesn't matter, good market, bad market, your habit cannot change. Got to stay in the same course. When your habit stays in the same course, in a good market, you outperform. And when you are also in a bad market, your habit is stay the same. You still outperform compared to the market because it's compared to the data.
(19:40):
And remember one thing else, stay humble. Success can become the beginning of your decline. Always stay humble. Don't forget how you started. Don't forget it, what was your route? And just don't constantly look backwards. Backwards meaning how you started, when you started, when you were struggling. Don't look at your success of yesterday and look at what can you do on a daily basis to change and go forward. And your response to all these changes will determine your result.
Johnder Perez (20:22):
There you go. The prescription to be a champion real estate agent, real estate professional in this market. Thank you so much for that, Steve. Thank you for those of you who watched and listened to this and make sure you like, subscribe, rate, do what you need to do on all the channels that we have this in. Thanks for joining us at... You have one more thing to say. Well,
Steve Tabrizi (20:42):
I have one more thing to
Johnder Perez (20:43):
Say. Okay, go for it.
Steve Tabrizi (20:43):
I know we have created a lot of soccer fan in North America. So the next game will be between, it will be hosted by three countries, Portugal, Spain and Morocco. And 2030 will be the Centurion history of the game. Started in 1930. So it'll be a hundred years in 2030. And because of that, because it started from South America, there will be one game in Argentina, one game in Paraguay, one game in Orego. So it literally is going to be in three continent. You plan for 2030, plan early.
Johnder Perez (21:18):
I'll see you in Spain, Steve. Okay?
Steve Tabrizi (21:20):
I'll see you in Spain.
Johnder Perez (21:22):
Thanks everybody for watching this episode of Real Estate Strategies with RE/MAX Hallmark. We'll see you next time.
