Frequently Asked Questions & Answers or even better, Some Concepts You may want to Think About..
Q: Does the Envelope strategies and plans really take 1-12 months to implement? What if I need additional income now?
A: Yes and NO- but within 1 -12 months, we WILL fully install the Envelope Strategy in your business. To be clear, everything you'll need to implement the Envelope Method is delivered on day one. Unlike most Programs, I do not "slowly leak" content or withhold it from month to month - as a ''tease" to get you to stay with me. So some agents, will dive-in, pedal to the floor and be fully operational in a month or two, others will progress more slowly, choosing to implement the different, multiple systems sequentially opposed to simultaneously.
Further, the reason I say this is a "1- 12 month Program" is because, this is a complex Method, and promising "overnight millionaire" or super star status as many gurus do is...at best, is negligently misleading...at worst, untrue. I'm certain I could recruit more agents, doing as THEY do, promising overnight riches, offering social events, but bluntly, I believe that is delusional and not very wise.
So just to clarify, from day one, you will have all the training necessary, be provided every important tool- for attracting niche clients (from several provided/recommended niches), for advertising and marketing, for setup, for stimulating referrals, etc....plus, the complete Systems and all related marketing/positioning tools: ready-to-use ads, sales letters, the 12-page New Agent Report (and, although I don't encourage it, some say this Report is the only tool they're using to convert cold-prospect to clients- and getting amazing results), the client application system, website templates, CD and scripts, and so on - to once and for all- forge your own network of power, respect and authority.
If you need additional help in setting up, operating, or want to get further advanced training, I am here for you.
The most important thing to know is that your decision to join Envelope Real Estate is not just a "come on" or "first step" of a series of steps in selling you one thing after another , or letting you squander away your life or getting you to blow your budget or sell your children! It is ''free standing." That means you get all the direction and training you need .
I know, this sounds like a lot to learn. I tell every agent who joins us to take it in, in bite-sized chunks. And I send you a QUICK-START manual that puts everything in "roadmap context" and helps you start with a few things that deliver immediate results.
Note: Envelope Real Estate Brokerage Inc. is not in the real estate agent business, we are in the real estate transactional business!
Q: What about if there are other agent’s working The Envelope System? Am I too late?
A: No. Because the Envelope Method creates "Category of over 160 strategies that you can use to fit your personality. There are four, in some cases nine niches (depending on certain factors that I explain) in every marketplace, where I recommend putting the Envelope Method to work to make you successful. I have no grandiose idea about radically revolutionizing our entire profession and the status and reputation of every agent - in fact, I really only care to work with a few agents in our area. Operating a 'swine farm', focusing on volume and turnover as many gurus do, is of no interest to me. It is not by accident that I tend to attract already successful agents, who're smart and intelligent, ready now, having seen a better way, using my Method- are eager to be even more successful: not just income-wise- but life and time-wise too.
Secondly, concerning "being too late" to the game- you should know I am constantly monitoring the number of agents in any one given geographic location. I think it's pretty poor of some brokerages who tell you and hundreds of other agents to do the same thing over and over and in fact, what they did years ago which is not pertinent in today’s market. This is why commoditization is so rampant. Every agent is taught the same, generic "bag of tools." .
Q: How can I ease my skepticism...satisfy myself that you can help me and determine that I can do this?
A: As mentioned, this isn't some giant operation. I don't have a dozen assistants working for me. Nor do I have any "replacement brokers" for which you're pawned off on when you're accepted as a sales person. Early in my career, before discovering what I know now, and recommended by my brokerage, I bought one of those $10,000 coaching programs from which I had a "coach" that was little more than a leaning post. He had no solutions.
No new strategies. His answers were all canned, scripted, repeated, old-tricks and more of the same -NO CUSTOMIZATION. And to make matters worse, I was promised coaching from one guy, the guru, but was pawned off and "sold" off to one of his student fill-ins classic "bait 'n switch." So rest assured you will be working, hearing from, and getting your answers and advice directly from me: The Horse's Mouth, or my enemies call the horses butt!
When you drill down to it: can YOU, will YOU do it? And get results? I'm afraid there is no good answer I can give. Only you can answer that. Only you can decide if you're sufficiently fed up with the way things are and sufficiently worried about the future, to radically re-engineer your approach to real estate, to build a real business, rather than just a better mousetrap. Only you can know if you are lazy or disciplined; smart or dull; a "flit-about" hopping from one seminar course or brokerage to the next in search of the magic pill or someone who is a serious, sensible businessperson. What I can do, though, is provide guarantees. If you listen, if you apply yourself, do not try to re-invent the wheel, you will be successful.
Q: What are the costs - beyond your fees -in creating this kind of a great real estate business? How much money am I going to need?
A:If you're wondering if this is one of those franchise brokerages where you need the special $200/month website and $150/month hotline, high franchise fee, high printer/copy fees, etc., etc. - the ANSWER IS NO!! I “don’t blame you for being skeptical, you're right to ask the question. Early on, I made the huge and regrettable mistake in thinking you needed fancy websites and killer technology to be able to compete.
The end result was, after paying the $897/month brokerage and office fees, the $199/month for websites, branded and unbranded, and $149 plus usage fees for the hotlines - on the 1st of each month, I was already $1,200 bucks in the hole- and because of it, I couldn't even afford to advertise or farm. Please, let me and my unfortunate experience serve as your own bad example. Learn from my mistakes.
When I started, since I had less than $200 bucks in my bank account, I literally printed, licked, sealed, placed a stamp and sent just a few of my magic letters a day. I know, I’m old because email was just starting , I was one of the first to use it for marketing, and I don’t mean spam. I know that "magic" word sounds all "hype", but they certainly seemed magic to me. In a recent conversation, one of my agents mentioned having mailed one of the marketing pieces, instead of running it in one of the cheap niche publications, as I recommend - and despite doing nearly everything totally wrong, seriously wrong- still managed to generate nearly 10 high-quality leads. And last we talked, I think two, maybe three had become clients. Just imagine if he'd actually done it right, not botched the execution.
What you will find is, because my agents are receiving proven marketing pieces: ads, sales letters, viral marketing tools, proprietary Free Reports, etc. and delivering their message to a tiny, carefully selected niche...all their marketing is both, more effective and efficient. Result? Their market costs typically decrease significantly, while return on investment shoots up like on Viagra. Many of these strategies cost literally nothing to implement and produce immediate results - others, a couple hundred bucks. So - relax.
This is not a "scheme" to sell yon a wagon-load of additional "necessary" products and services. I am into ALL YOUR MARKETING MONEY GOING TOWARDS ONE THING:MARKETING -not high-priced websites and fancy, glossy magazine ads. In fact, I even include how to setup super-cheap websites that convert like crazy, including what to send prospects who respond, first, second, third...for easy conversion. Best of all, this website only costs a few bucks a month - so, sorry for being blunt, but if you're spending a ton of money on websites, you're getting screwed. Let me show you a better way. And the icing on the cake is: You're probably in far better financial shape than I was...therefore, will have no problem getting started. But even if you're at "rock bottom" like I was, just know there's hope. Many moons ago I walked in your exact shoes ankle-chained in financial shackles- and started seeing results immediately.
I will have two types of agents join Envelope which is fine with me.
Most will be just starting in real estate or are not happy with their income and present lifestyle. They know and understand they need guidance, coaching and perhaps at times, a kick in the butt! For that training and hands on approach, they are willing to join Envelope Real Estate Brokerage on a commission split basis. Once they reach a certain level of income, they have many options.
A lot will want to join our Team Envelope. This will not be for most of you who are stuck in the archaic ways of real estate compensation, in other words, I won't work for that. Well, listen folks, 100% of nothing is nothing, ven until the cows come home!
Q: Why are you doing this at all? Why not just focus on your own business, and relax?
A:Again, I certainly understand the skepticism. There certainly is no shortage of "charlatans"; seminar givers and assorted self-anointed gurus in brokerages selling themselves and their information to agents because they must. The income from their commissions is slipping so, hey, why not be a weekend guru? They see others' promoting re-hashed 20-year old leftovers, and other 1990's cold-prospecting techniques, and figure- hey, why not me too? Well, I definitely do NOT need your money this week to pay last week's bills or at all- you should find comfort in this.
Why am I doing this at all?'' I have three good answers for you here:
See, probably like you, early in my real estate career- I was led down the primrose path. My broker taught me: long hours, stress, sacrifice, fatigue...60, 70, even 80 hour weeks...taking any client I could get (too often, ungrateful, disrespectful, low-quality bargain hunters more interested in me being their "whipping boy" than expert advisor and their taxi driver)...an empty cheque book and badly bruised self-esteem at the end of every week. I was told by some to advertise more and be patient, by others to work harder and be patient, by most to simply keep getting better as an agent and surely "my time would come"... that I just need to "get my name out there" more.
Early on, I joined several leads groups in hopes of getting referrals (I'll tell you a 'horror' story about this in a minute) but, what I discovered is, these groups were little more than 'support groups' for the struggling...more of a 'pity-party' and place to complain than anything else. As were the brokerage on site training and 10 year old marketing plans!
I attended a Chamber of Commerce meeting, only to discover nearly 70% of the people in attendance were real estate agents like me, in search of business...worse, we were all vultures competing for the same picnic basket.
I joined the Rotary club, the BBB, the London Property Managers Association, London Chamber of Commerce and on and on. I met some great people and learned a lot but in truth, it cost me more to join than what I ever earned.
After months of this, finally decided to bite the bullet and attend a high-priced seminar. Desperate, I ended up buying a $10,000 per year plus coaching program -here's what I learned: how to generate hundreds and hundreds of terrible leads. Using the unbranded advertising approaches I learned, which funny enough, not knowing any better at the time, thought were revolutionary- I (regrettably) flooded my business with "wannabe" investors and buyers who didn't give two pennies about my time, who stood me up, one appointment after another- and never bought a single property. Beyond struggling, I even went down the path of the "mind power secrets"-you know, the Tony Robbins stuff, mystically attracting clients and prosperity if only I could get my thinking right.
Fact is, these ''solutions" have been peddled since the days of the hula hoop back in the 1960's.In that time, the failure rate of agents hasn't improved one iota, the status of our profession hasn't improved, in fact, gotten worse, the security of agents hasn't improved, and the average # of homes sold by agents hasn't improved- and this suggests that the best way to stay a ''poor beggar" is to continue to tow this line and operate and promote a traditional real estate business.
In other words, It is a very Big Lie. I am motivated - and to some extent even feel morally obligated - to expose that Lie and share what I've discovered about an entirely different path. About a level of marketing, promotion, and positioning (not prospecting) I've been able perfect, using tons of time and past mistakes.
According to CREA’s annual study, the average median income for agents is around $36,700- but what's more telling is, agents with 2 years’ experience or less make just $8,600, while those with 16 years’ experience, only $53,900. When the majority of agents can't earn a decent living, it suggests a need for radical change.
Even garbage collectors earn between $35,000 to $80,000 per year- and their pay cheques are as certain as the sunrise, no stress, no worry, no uncertainty, no "on call" like a top surgeon minus the pay -just go, pick up garbage, get paid. And they only work 40 hours a week, not 80. Personally, if I were taking all the risk and enduring all the pressure of being provider to "bring home the bacon", and if after 16 years, I was only taking home $53,900 per year, I'd be embarrassed, depressed and angry.
It's just not acceptable. My wife works as an assistant to an Investment Advisor and she nearly made more than this her first year. I have a friend, who is a car salesman, a neighbor, who runs a mobile windshield repair business, a cousin, who is a flagger on a construction crew - and they all make more than the "16-year agent." Just how low on the totem pole should we be? And stay, year after year? I realize, hopefully, you are making well-above $50,000 per year...but it is evidence just how flawed the traditional approach is, and you must ask, even if you are doing well how much better could you be doing?
Or get this, I had an agent speak with me the other day, he was with the company that has the balloons, he told me he made $46,000 last year and his expenses were $46,000! Hmmm!
And what CREA's average numbers don't reflect is the growing percentage of agents who are in trouble, nearly the edge of the cliff...living like a lunch-pail worker, living paycheque to paycheque or worse, watching the bills pile up. I recently had a former top producer at one of those pie in the sky brokerages tell me, almost in tears, that her one-time "strong referral" base is no longer referring enough...and feels helpless, with no control over her income, literally, at their mercy. Her home is mortgaged to the hilt, her credit cards maxed, and her nights sleepless. This is not uncommon.
Very dedicated agents, serious agents, very hard working agents are living on the thin ice of scarce commission cheques and debt, now paying the price for having created a business dependent on others to bring them business ie. referrals -instead, of implementing a model that puts them in total control over their own fate.
THIS IS A TRAGEDY, and I know for fact it is not necessary, so I am strongly motivated to share a Different Way. And I don't just mean a Different Way regarding the way you attract more qualified and higher paying clients, from "hidden" markets other agents don't even know exist-
I mean a different paradigm for TRANSFORMING YOUR ROLE and your position in the marketplace from being just another agent, to being in a position of power, accepted as a consumer advocate, seen as a legitimate leader, expert advisor, even philanthropist and local celebrity. AUTHORITY and ELEVATED STATUS are client-magnets like no other. Reputation precedes you.
I am a passionate advocate of agents, but also small business owners - and having worked with the ungrateful "fat cats" in corporate Canada -I've never been more committed to helping regular folks succeed and thrive in these tough times. Every time I see another "best Craigslist ad" or..."just listed/sold postcard" strategy or..."better script & dialogue" technique or whatever the new "shiny object" of the week is, promising to revolutionize agents' businesses- knowing they'll all fail for one 'key' reason (I'll come back to this).. I AM SICKENED AND ANGERED by the Enormous Fraud and Misleading rhetoric, merely attempting to capitalize on the 'hope' and 'desperation' of agents...while gypsies get rich, leaving you...more frustrated, and further behind.
All these approaches have one thing in common: How to be a better Predator. Hint: Nobody likes to be Hunted, not me, not you, not prospects. And so, they all fail for the same reason: They teach you how to be "a better more aggressive salesman" but in reality, no matter how "excellent you are"- prospects still HATE salesman, resistant and distrusting of anything they say.
And just generating MORE leads won't change that. To MULTIPLY your income, you are best advised to increase your value to those who pay you money IN MULTIPLE WAYS- but sadly, this is not what "gurus" teach. They can only show you how to be "a better hunter", to tirelessly chase, certain only to keep you as a "poor beggar." THIS IS NOT .JUST MY CONVICTION there is 30-plus years of proof, supported beyond a shadow of doubt by · the perpetual % failure rate of our industry.
That means, look around your office, because 7 or 8 out of 10 won't be there next year. And while the majority of agents have always helped their clients achieve superior results...the cold, hard-truth is, we aren't given the respect we deserve...instead, forced to labour as second class and third class citizens, in one of Canada's lowest respected profession...because our own models, taught to us by our brokers and so-called "experts" have let us down!
The Envelope Model changes all this, instead of chasing and just being a faster predator, you're given an entirely NEW REPUTATION; one that attracts rather than repels. The others have not been "up to the task''. If it sounds arrogant, sorry, but MY model IS.
I believe by catering to a select, narrowly-focused niche market, by using radically new, different, unique strategies, positioning not prospecting, helping not chasing, advocate not salesman...delivering benefits beyond just 'commoditized' real estate services...my approach is unique and dare I say, superior to anything else available.
To be fair: Can you make good money doing things the 'old way', just working harder? Sure, of course you can – but- Can you make the money you want, in a way that is pleasing to you, physically and emotionally rewarding to you, working with clientele that is respectful and appreciative of you, that gives you control over your time and income, that liberates you...etc., etc. doing as you're doing now?
Only you can answer that truthfully. I just know, and view my work, as leading a revolution and transformation of "how income is made" and vastly improving "the FUN agents have" making that income -for a small group. Nothing less.
Second, I happen to know how slaving in a traditional real estate business is a disease, like cancer, that damages, even destroys relationships, and perpetually disappoints loved ones and being, I have a method to cure this -it would be selfish not to share it- but giving it away is useless. Nobody values what they get without investment. Anyway, in the early days, I literally lived in fear. When the phone rang, I popped taillike a good soldier and lurched forward like Pavlov's dog. If I didn't, I feared losing a client. I feared not getting enough clients...feared not being able to pay my bills...feared appearing as a failure...feared being unable to provide for my family, I was humiliated and embarrassed that my first thought, whenever asked "Want to go to dinner" was, "We can't afford it." Money was the daily fight. Eighty hour work weeks and I was still broke.
Of course, I'm not alone. This type of neglect, in one way or another, is a systemic plague. Many agents spend as much time apologizing to their spouse, son, daughter and friends for missing or being late to ball games, school plays, birthday parties, even wedding anniversaries as they do selling homes! Every time they have to "take this call", they shake their head sadly and say "it’s just the way my business works." I've walked in those shoes. I've been promised the moon by experts who- unlike me, now guaranteed nothing and delivered less. I fought my way out of that place so you don't have to...you can simply use my Method as your own.
So, back to your question. why wouldn't I share this? Initially, having seen my success, my agent-friends would come to me and ask me to teach them my secrets. I quickly discovered just letting them come and hang out for a day or just lecturing about this was inadequate. To quickly and painlessly put all the pieces together, they needed reference materials, training, coaching, support, marketing, and more.
As a practical matter, I could not deliver all that free unless I wanted to be Mother Theresa. A business was required, hence, Envelope Real Estate Brokerage Inc.
There is a better way, and to be totally candid and blunt- it'd be selfish of me not to share it. At least with those interested, like minded, and share similar goals.
Q: I can see it working for you - and others - but not me, because•••What if I have no team and/or have only limited experience? What if I'm struggling just to get by? What if my business is already thriving?
A: This is what I mean by "disqualifying yourself." Let it be known, before I pioneered these ideas for myself, I was just a plain-ordinary, bread 'n butter real estate agent who did his best grinding it out with hard manual-labor. Sure I had persistence, and I refused to quit and worked hard...but I had no earthly idea "how to sell" or "get clients." So if I can do it, certainly you can too.
Older, younger; starting with too small of budget using only parts of my Method, implementing slowly...and others thriving, who view my Method in two different ways: I) as an addition to their present business and present way of doing business...as a second business within their business, catering to a niche population that could add $40,000 to $60,000.00 to their income and 2) as an escape path: they see 'the writing on the wall' and dangers ahead and understand the importance of making a change from 'commodity' and hard work...to 'Category of one' positioning.
Wherever you are, if you're serious about making a top income in real estate, making the move to re-invent and transform your business to the futuristic, cutting-edge WHO-based model...being the only agent of your kind...to increase your value IN MULTIPLE WAYS to narrowly-focused group of niche clients, naturally from convincing to attracting...to stop playing second fiddle to mega-agents and escape the worsening commoditization- this is all YOUR CHOICE.
Better yet, unlike most 'systems' and 'courses' everything is being updated regularly, more tools, better tools, are being added monthly to all
NOW I HAVE A QUESTION FOR YOU....
If you continue on your present path, if you continue to practice as you are now, hunting down prospects as you are now, attempting to convince distrusting and skeptical prospects "of your difference" as you are now, against all the ills and evils of "Negative Reputation" and "Commoditization" destined only to grow worse - do you have rational reason for great optimism? Can you honestly say your income's future is certain and secure? Can you see yourself achieving all your goals? - not just money-wise, but life and time-wise too?
If you can't say "yes" to MY questions, then please set your questions or doubts aside and try something different...very different yet proven- and guaranteed. After all, if the path you're on isn't leading you to where you want to go, the first thing you should want to do...is to stop schlepping ahead on it further. You certainly don’t want to run down it faster! I know how difficult this can be; I faced this very same decision myself. Change is always difficult. When something is feeding your family and paying your bills· and it's what you know, even if you can see it may be a dead-end, even if it's "killing you", there's a lot of worry, even fear, reluctance, procrastination and excuse-making about any sort of change. But, really, if not now- when? The great author Og Mandino wrote this:
'To be always intending to make a new and better life but never to find time or courage to set about it is as to put off eating and drinking and sleeping from one day to the next until you're dead."
Honestly, are you guilty of this?
Well, now, I am offering you a real opportunity. A plan that works with help, coaching and support from me. To help you make these changes in your real estate business, re-inventing it to be free of the dog and pony show, successfully. A clear path that can be traveled in just 1-12 months, not some endless learning that meanders forever. I am personally committed to your way out of a perpetual losing battle...climbing increasingly steeper and steeper Mountains of Distress and committed to you have a new, better, more secure and more rewarding life as a real estate professional...given back control over your income, and treated with respect.
Fear of the unknown is strong and holds many people from living their ideal life. You already know how your present business is performing, why not come over to the other side, have some fun, enjoy life and make some money to boot?
My personal real estate sales and clients all came about because of this one belief and something I truly believe in: "Attract, Don't Chase"!
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