Inside Ninja with Clara Capano

In this Episode our Real Estate professionals talk with Clara Capano.  She is a Ninja Selling Trainer, a system that's reshaping how a lot of Real Estate Agents approach the business.  This Episode is a real look at what Ninja Selling actually is, what makes it different, and what happens to agents on the other side of the training.  

#realestate #ninjaselling #realestatetraining #protalk #atlantacommunities #atlantacommunitiesrealestatebrokerage

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

I had struggled with the call reluctance that so many people do. I struggled with the idea of I don't want to be selling. I don't want people to think that the only reason I'm talking to them is to get a deal. That just never felt authentic to me. Ninja selling took away all of that. It was about building relationships. It was understanding that your real job is actually being a good friend and just truly being a resource. This conversation happened at about three o'clock. She texted me at about 7:30 and she said, I took what you said to heart. I actually reached out to five people and I have two appointments set for next week. It really aligns so well with my desire and my why of delivering impact and to helping people just not only run a better business but live a better life. And so everything I do, that's really where it stems from.

SPEAKER_03 0:56

If your real estate business feels like a constant hustle, this episode is for you. Today we're joined by Clara Capano, a ninja selling trainer who helps agents trade chaos for consistent relationship-based systems. Clara shares how to build a business with intention moving away from the burnout cycle toward practical strategies that actually work. This is Clara Capano. And today our special guest is Clara Campano from Ninja Selling. Welcome, everybody. Thank you for being here today. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 1:58

Thank you. Yes. Thanks for having me. I'm really excited.

SPEAKER_03 2:01

We're excited to have you here today, Clara. So, as I mentioned, Clara's here on behalf of Ninja Selling, and we'll discuss that more in detail very soon. However, I would be remiss not to also note that Clara is an international speaker, award-winning educator, best-selling author, and host of the Working Woman Channel and Be Productive. In addition to that, she is the executive director for the You Are My Light Foundation, an organization that works to build rehabilitation centers for survivors of human trafficking and slave labor. Slave labor, excuse me. Is that all, Clara? I mean, what do you do in your free time? Right. Very very impressive.

SPEAKER_01 2:40

I know. I yeah.

SPEAKER_03 2:41

Very impressive.

SPEAKER_01 2:42

And so much fun. I yeah, I'm one of those people where I just dive in. I always have about four projects going at a time. And it's how I live.

SPEAKER_03 2:51

All right. Well, well, very impressive. And thank you again for being here today. We'll go ahead and get our discussion moving forward. Can you tell us a little bit about how you entered into the real estate industry? What drew you to the training aspect and specifically uh Ninja Sally? Right, beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 3:08

So, you know, my story is not necessarily anything special. I truly never even thought about going into real estate. I thought I was gonna go more of a traditional route. I thought I was going to be an attorney. More importantly, I wanted to be a judge. And the idea of getting into law and being a judge was mostly because I love money and I love telling people what to do. So I thought that was gonna be a perfect pattern to go through. And then after I graduated college, I was struggling to find a job like most people. And I connected with a lady in Boulder, Colorado, and she was one of the first people to actually build a real estate team where it had all the inner working parts, the listing manager, closing manager, buyer agents, all of those. And quite frankly, she wanted me on her team and she was willing to pay me more than the law firms who are looking at hiring me as a paralegal. So that made the decision real clear. So in 1993, I jumped into the real estate realm and I found out I loved it. I found out it was an amazing career. I loved the fast-paced energy. We were closing about four to five hundred transactions a year. So there was always something going on and always something to learn. My heart, though, was always in educating. It must be in my blood because both of my parents were educators. So I think it just trickled down through me. But remember, I love money. So going into teaching just wasn't going to work for me. And that's when I was approached to go into leadership. So right around the year of about 1998 to 2000, I jumped into the leadership realm and I managed four different offices. My smallest office had about 50 agents, my largest was just around 200. And what I really fell in love with was helping agents run a business because that's really what they are. They are CEOs, they're not just realtors, they are CEOs, and shifting their mindset into what it means to really show up as a CEO and run a business just got me super excited. And so I started on that path. And then in 2009, I was introduced to this little thing called ninja selling, and everything changed. The only way I can really describe it is when I went to Ninja, there was something very human about it. I had struggled with the call reluctance that so many people do. I struggled with the idea of I don't want to be selling. I don't want people to think that the only reason I'm talking to them is to get a deal. That just never felt authentic to me. Ninja selling took away all of that. It was about building relationships. It was understanding that your real job is actually being a good friend and just truly being a resource. And when you show up every day with that mindset of helping others, real estate's the byproduct of it. And that just unlocked something in me. So I was very fortunate. I was hired by Ninja pretty much on the spot. And that is a big part of what I have been doing. Now, I do a lot of other things as we talked about in the intro, but Ninja is at the heart of it. It really aligns so well with my desire and my why of delivering impact and to helping people just not only run a better business, but live a better life. And so everything I do, that's really where it stems from. Amazing.

SPEAKER_03 6:29

Wonderful.

SPEAKER_02 6:30

What do you think? There's so many programs out there. What do you feel is different about ninja selling than just it's kept you there? I mean, you said since 2009.

SPEAKER_01 6:41

I started in 2009. Ninja's actually been around for almost 35 years now. And it was created in Fort Collins. You know, some of the things that really drew it to me is one, it's a system. Most of the other programs out there, and there's no no shade on any of them. They all are great and have wonderful things to offer. But some of the differences with Ninja is Ninja is actually a training system. So many of the other ones are coaching programs and they do a little bit of training. With Ninja, it is a user-friendly selling system. And when you sign up, you get it all. It's not some infomercial where you're they're always trying to upsell you into something else. When you show up, you get everything. You get the lessons on changing and growing your mindset so that you're really showing up as that CEO. We teach you how to work with buyers and sellers from the standpoint of delivering value. We really connect with you on how to build relationships and not be transactional. And the key is you do all of this so that you can build a predictable and a sustainable business. Because quite frankly, your business should not be seasonal. There are always people who are going to be having a need to move. And when we can tap into that, when we can show up as their trusted advisor, there's always a market. So it doesn't matter what's happening with the economy, you're always going to have sustainability. Another thing that really attracted me is that this is a system that is created by real estate professionals for real estate professionals. And we are constantly adapting it because everything changes. So we're always talking about here's the principles and here's how you can adapt it now. And then the last thing I would say is that Ninja doesn't stop when the training stops. You know, we're coming out there in August and we're going to be doing a three-day training together. After those three days, we then roll it into a 12-week program so that we can take the three days, dissect them, decompress on them, and really put them into play. So again, it is a lifestyle. It is something that is going to stay with you forever. And then also being able to align and work with your leadership team, you know, they're going to be getting all of this constantly in front of them because it is about the evolution. And that's why we call it an installation, because we want to install it, not just teach it.

SPEAKER_00 9:01

Yeah, it's a great operating system that keeps you grounded because again, it's once it's installed, then you just use it all the time. For everything. Everything. Everything.

SPEAKER_02 9:14

Well, mindset is so important. And I do think that many agents walk into this industry, they get their license and they're like, all right, I'm ready to do something, but they've never learned how to open a business, how to market themselves, how to advertise properly, how to come at it organically versus cold calling and and being that I always call the shark in the water. It's and that's what I like about ninja selling, is that it really humanizes the process. And as you said, you're you're you're building relationships. And that to me, I think, is so important in this.

SPEAKER_00 9:48

Yeah, it is. And in and the servant aspect of it as well, because that's really the heart of what for those of us who've been in the industry a long time, that's really the heart of what we do is we serve others. And the byproduct of that is people buy houses and sell houses. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:05

Exactly. So every day it's not a matter of waking up and saying, who can I sell something to? It's who can I serve. I actually was talking with a realtor yesterday, and she was really struggling with making calls because her mindset was these are sales calls. And when I reminded her that her job is not selling houses, her job is being a good friend. And don't we want to call our good friends? Don't we have, you know, we don't have any issue picking up the phone and having a conversation with our good friends? And you can just see the light bulbs that went off. This conversation happened at about three o'clock. She texted me at about 7:30 and she said, I took what you said to heart. I actually reached out to five people and I have two appointments set for next week. That's okay. And it's it's not what it is. It's when you can change that mindset and look at it and come at it from a more intentional way, everything changes. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 10:56

Well, that kind of leads us right into our next question. Uh, what are the three biggest takeaways an agent will walk away with when they invest in themselves and in ninja selling?

SPEAKER_01 11:07

So I would like to say with a caveat, if all they get are three takeaways, I would fix that because I want them to have 300 takeaways when they leave there. But some of the things that I really think is again, they're going to have that operating system. They're going to know clearly how they need to show up and what they need to focus on. So we're going to be giving them the tools of knowing the right activities and also how to maintain their focus, their energy, and learn how to leverage their time because those are things we can have, all those skill sets, but if we don't have the system to put them into play, it's not going to go anywhere. So we're going to give them that. I think another thing that they're going to walk away with is a lot of clarity and helping you decide how it's going to work best for you. So you still get to run it with your own authenticity. And then the other thing I think it's going to give a lot of confidence. We do go through how to approach things. We talk about how to connect with people and communicate them based upon personality styles, learning modalities. We go over a lot of dialogues on how to deliver value. And when you are confident, you want to go out there and talk to more people. So I think again, it's that structure, that clarity, that confidence so that you can run that consistent and sustainable business.

SPEAKER_03 12:24

Thank you. I know we had some very seasoned agents or agents that have been in the industry for a while, like the three of us, and or the four of us here today, uh, that took the installation uh here back in when was that?

SPEAKER_01 12:37

January. January.

SPEAKER_03 12:40

And but they they got so much out of that three-day course and installation and training that they they were leaving here every day just feeling more motivated to go out and to continue to build their relationships and be better about running their business like a business.

SPEAKER_00 12:57

I think it gets gives them the, like you said, the confidence to realize that what they're doing is bigger than real estate, and that if they take that step and do that leap, they will end up serving more people. You know. And they're not married to the outcome either. Because, as you've said before, if they show up and they're doing the right things and doing all this, all you can do is the best you can do. And when you're confident that you've done that, everything else will fall into place. So true. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:28

And again, being that we're adding in the 12-week after program, I think that that is going to give even more value and really help them to want to keep showing up and do it because it's going to make it so easy and so turnkey for them to be able to have that after effect, really helping them lay the foundation and working on implementing it because that's the key. We don't want all this information to become shelf help where they just put it on the shelf and forget about it. You know, it's coming out of that and really implementing it.

SPEAKER_02 14:00

Yeah, that that three-ring binder that they get that's filled with information like this. It's incredible. But keeping that motivation, I'm curious, is that the hard part? They they come to the three-day, that energy is palpable. You can feel it. Everybody is really excited. And then that it's time to implement. Do you find that now with this night? Is it a 90-day program?

SPEAKER_01 14:23

It's a 90-day program, so 12 weeks. And I do believe this is going to help keep that going. I mentioned earlier that we talk a lot about getting clarity of vision. That is really key to the motivation because when people understand their why, that is what's going to help them to stay motivated. So we're going to give them tools to help them keep that top of mind. And with the 12 weeks, I do feel this is something new. This is something we haven't been doing. So it's brand new. So even the people in January didn't have this opportunity for the 12 weeks. And I do believe this is going to be a welcome game changer. And really, we're going to see even more improved results coming from this.

SPEAKER_02 15:04

That's exciting. And then that's where I know that just the participants that went to the January installation, we've seen great success off of what they've accomplished. And so it's like now having something more to add to it, it's going to be wonderful. And for those that attended installation back in January, do they have the ability to come back into this installation?

SPEAKER_01 15:27

Absolutely. Um, you can always reattend. So we actually have a lot of people. I would say generally 20 to 25% of each session is repeat people because they just find each and every time they go, they learn something new. You know, again, it's a system. We want to eventually get to a level of mastery. So we have people that go every year and it's just part of their business. And they've been a six, seven, eight times. Um, I always encourage people to come back because you will always pick something new up. If they just wanted to be part of the 12 weeks, we can arrange for that as well.

SPEAKER_02 16:02

That's good to know.

SPEAKER_00 16:03

You know, one of the things that that strikes me is because I hear the stories of what, you know, how they can't the inertia that it takes for them to get started, you know, and they'll talk about no cards is one of the things. And, you know, I say, well, before you can do two, you have to do one because that's really where they they get hung up on the fact that they don't have the time to do this. And like anything else in life, if you take the time to do your what you need know you need to do first, and if in this case first thing in the morning, then you'll you'll get into the habit of doing it.

SPEAKER_01 16:40

Absolutely. You know, it just all starts with that one step and building those habits. And that's really what we want to do is build on it each and every week so that by the end of the 12 weeks, you really have that system dialed in for you and understanding how it works for you. And so many of the items are relatively, I'll call them simple. They're not always easy. And, you know, you talk about the idea of, oh, I don't have enough time. That's one of the things we really go through is understanding that time is your greatest commodity. And you need to start looking at how you are investing your time, just like your money. So you're going to start to learn how to make higher quality decisions on where, on how, and with whom you invest your time.

SPEAKER_00 17:26

Makes perfect sense. Yes, it does. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:29

And now for for our listeners, I mean, it's if somebody wants to be just a part-time agent, there's just as much value for them with this program, whether they want to be part-time or full-time, because it's helping them to really get into that why, to focus on what they want to accomplish and then be purposeful about it. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 17:48

You know, I always like to say because there are people who want to do the transition and make this more of full-time, that takes time to do. And especially if you are, you know, needing to make money to feed your family, you know, we want to support them in doing that. So it's not always about how many hours, it's about how you leverage and invest those hours. And I've seen many people who truly can only invest 15 hours a week, really build a solid business and be able to transition out of that job into real estate as their full-time career in under a year.

SPEAKER_00 18:18

Yeah, we had the one of our your most recent graduates, she told me the other day that she had sent uh six property annual property reviews. And out of those six, she had four you know, transactions out of it. And it's amazing. And it's amazing, and it really is. And and she was, I'm, I'm sure, unsure about whether it was going to happen or not, and just went ahead and did it and took the leap of faith in some respects and had the confidence to put it out there. And once she did, it came back to her, and that's typically how it works.

SPEAKER_01 18:54

That makes me so happy. You know, we have a saying in Ninja TSW, the system works, and we do, you know, we go into it and we are hesitant and we're doing the work, and it's that consistency, and then all of a sudden, 90 days from now, it's it's a totally different exchange in what we're seeing. And I love hearing stories of success like that.

SPEAKER_03 19:17

All right. Should we put a wrap?

SPEAKER_02 19:20

I I think so. Well, we have our our our our end of the session question.

SPEAKER_03 19:26

Yes. So we have we have two questions that we asked our guests at the at the end of our discussion. And number one is what is your favorite book or podcast at the moment?

SPEAKER_01 19:36

So right now, I will just say my favorite podcast is Julia Louis Dreyfus, and it's wiser than me. And she interviews women of a certain age and what we can learn. And so I'm really enjoying that and just learning from some of these amazing women like Jane Fonda. Um, I listened to Pam Greer this morning. So that's one of my favorite ones that I love to listen to because I just feel success leaves clues. And books, there are so many great books out there. I would say some of the ones I'm working actually on rereading some of my favorite ones so I can learn to study them. So the Go Giver by Bob Berg. I actually am reading, rereading that with my son right now, who's 21 and on his own little entrepreneur journey. So that's a great one. Atomic Habits is another fantastic one. And another favorite of mine is the Slight Edge by Jeff Olson. The Slight Edge. I haven't heard of that one.

SPEAKER_03 20:30

I have not either.

SPEAKER_01 20:32

Okay, well, check that out. All about the compound effect and how your life becomes a printout of all the small things that you do each and every day and how they start to compound over time.

SPEAKER_03 20:42

Very interesting. Yeah, absolutely. And our last question is if you had the opportunity to have lunch or dinner uh with someone current, past, historical, uh, who would that be and why? And we know this is always a tough one.

SPEAKER_01 20:56

Yeah. Um, it's actually not Betty White, hands down, Betty White. I'm loving it. All right. I love her. I just love her spirit. I think she is just an amazing icon, and she is funny. I just, yeah, adore everything, Betty White.

SPEAKER_03 21:13

That is that is a great one there. Well, Clara, thank you so much for joining us here today. We look forward to seeing you here in person uh when you're here in August. And uh really appreciate all the insight and information that you've provided to us today. Mr. Hall, Mrs. Rooscranz, thank you for being here as well. And to our audience, we'll see you on the next episode of Pro Talk Powered by Atlanta Communities. The views and opinions expressed on this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Atlanta Communities Real Estate Brokerage. Content shared is for informational and educational purposes only and should not be considered legal, financial, tax, or real estate advice. Listeners should consult with their own licensed professionals before making business or real estate decisions. Atlanta Communities Real Estate Brokerage is an equal opportunity employer and supports the Fair Housing Act.