Photo by AJ Canaria of MoxiWorks
Dan Forsman not only inspires you to believe that the sky’s the limit, he shows you exactly how to get there. While he doesn’t mince words when it comes to the industry’s challenges, from agent burnout to attrition, the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Georgia Properties CEO and president infuses positivity into overcoming hurdles and provides a road map for moving forward. In this special interview, conducted live at the REALTORSⓇ Conference & Expo in San Diego last November, Forsman sat down with me to candidly share some of his precise, back-to-basics strategies for achieving great success, not just in real estate, but in any area of life.
Maria Patterson: Dan, you’ve been known for a long time as one of the industry’s great leaders. How have you had to rethink your approach to leadership over the past couple of years?
Dan Forsman: You know, I think to be great at anything you have to humble yourself and stay teachable. So in other words, you’ve got to be a continuous student. So I spend a lot of time reading. I talk about a “miracle morning”—get up, read, pray, study, affirmations, write down the day before it happens…
MP: What time do you get up?
DF: I’m up at 5:30, and before I’m out of bed I say, “This is going to be an awesome day.” And I spend time praying—thinking about how fortunate I am to actually have this day, no matter how bad the prior day was.
MP: You focus on gratitude…
DF: Absolutely. I may not always externally show it, but internally, the juices, the oil, the lubricant of gratitude flows. When it comes to leadership, I really think it comes from a stay-teachable, student mentality.
I didn’t really get how much people watch a leader. They’re watching you when you don’t realize that they’re watching you so my approach has been to continuously try to get better—to share with and grow other leaders. If you’re going to be a great leader, you’ve got to stay humble; you’ve got to stay hungry; you’ve got to surround yourself with people who can be better than you and pull the best out of you. Every day and everywhere, you can get better. You need to try to do that and you need to help your team get better. As a leader, you need to understand that’s your role, not trying to be all things to all people. Once you understand your calling, you can plan, execute, measure then correct. A continuous cycle.
MP: So let’s talk about the market. It’s been crazy. What do agents really need right now to succeed? And how has that changed?
DF: So, I think in a very frantic, chaotic world, you need structure. An agent, REALTORⓇ, anyone who’s going to be really good, really great at something, has got to have structure in their life. Think about a diet. You can’t be good at a diet unless you’ve thought it out, have it planned and have a goal. So I really think structure is how to attack a day.
MP: Which is hard for a real estate agent because it’s kind of an unstructured job. That’s why they get into the business in the first place, no?
DF: Yes, but to be that superstar, you’ve got to be a goal setter. I always believe you begin with the end in mind and go backwards. So you start with what you want to have, visualize it, and then go backwards. Start at your current reality and say, “I’m going to make $200,000 this year.” Well, what does $200,000 mean? How many sales is that? How many calls is that? How many listings is that? How many people in my CRM is that? Am I targeting just my sphere, am I doing geo-farming, do I have a component in there for a mega open house?
You’ve got to be very thoughtful and purposeful and also, to be successful, your mindset’s got to be such that you’re focused every time on accomplishing something. I’m talking about super successful. If you want to make $100,000 in real estate, it’s not the hardest thing to do. If you want to make 500,000, you’ve got to be different. You’ve got to be thoughtful, you’ve got to be effective and efficient, and have a great mindset.
MP: In terms of retaining agents, there’s a lot of attrition for a lot of folks in the current environment. How do you keep agents from being lured away by false promises?
DF: That is a great question, because just yesterday (at press time) I had a national brand offer three agents $50,000, $80,000 and $100,000 sign-up bonuses.
MP: A “traditional” brand?
DF: Traditional
MP: So it’s not just the Compass’ and “disruptors” of the world…
DF: Oh, everyone’s doing it. I lost my No. 1 agent in the company to a national brand four years ago. Two years later, the phone rings—“Dan, can I come back? None of the promises they made me are here. This technology doesn’t really do what they say it’s going to do. There’s no support.”
MP: And it’s not like he didn’t give it a good try if he was there for 2 years.
DF: He gave it a really good shot, but he realized that the brand, the resources, the expertise and the systems we had, had value. So retaining people takes relationships. It really takes understanding the value that you bring to your agents, and I think it also takes a “stay interview.” Everyone’s leaving, Maria—it’s not if, it’s when. So I think it’s incumbent upon us to stay focused on recruiting, and it’s incumbent on us to continue to raise standards. It’s incumbent on us to not be held hostage to losing someone
MP: In other words, just let them go if they’re going to go…
DF: Yeah, but you don’t close the door. Don’t burn the bridge. And when [agents] get signing bonuses, be sure they understand the after-tax impact. Agents don’t really comprehend the tax implications of what they’re doing—what a signing bonus really is, and how it locks them into three years of purgatory. You need to be focused on supporting people, having “stay interviews,” and staying closer to your team now more than ever before and showing the value you provide.
MP: What happens at a “stay interview”?
DP: It’s simply an opportunity to talk to someone intentionally; it’s not a business planning meeting; it’s more of a, “Let’s talk about your career. How are you doing? What could we be doing better? How could I help you?” It’s important to stay connected to people to make sure they’re course-correcting—so you know where they’re at in their journey.
MP: I love that. What about training? What’s the most effective approach?
DP: I’m a franchise, so I have all the training that Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices provides. We replicate it at our own company, so we have internal training for new people and then we’ve got advanced courses. I think the greatest training probably happens in a weekly business meeting with a manager. I also think bringing in outside speakers [is important], so I contract with Tom Ferry, Sherry Johnson and the Buffinis.
MP: Who’s your biggest competition this year and why?
DF: I think it’s the chaotic environment of negativity. I think the biggest challenge is staying focused on swimming in your lane and being the best you can be.
I just heard Drew Brees (speaker at the 2021 REALTORSⓇ Conference & Expo) talk about mastering where you’re at, becoming a mentor, then giving back to your community—making the world a better place. Fantastic message. You’ve got Zillow Group out there, you’ve got all the iBuyers, you’ve got eXp, you’ve got KW, you’ve got other traditional companies. So I think the most important thing I can do is try to be the best I am where I’m at and help my agents stay focused, because when you open your mind up to a lot of glitter and bling, you get distracted. When you get distracted, production falls. When production falls, now it’s not [the agent’s] fault, it’s the company’s fault. So I think [agents] have to plan, execute, measure, then correct, and have a time every year when they reassess their business and stick with their plan. You can never really get the results you want in a physical fitness routine, a diet routine, a spiritual routine, until you’ve been at it for a while.
MP: Let’s talk about the consumer. How have their expectations changed and is the nature of the real estate transaction changing?
DF: I think all the interlopers and tech folks have tried to gamify the real estate transaction. I used to call it infotainment, but I really think they’re trying to gamify it and make the complex simple. In the last year, with the increase in the value of a home, everyone expects to make money in real estate, and they expect the transaction to be easy—and when you get into a transaction, none of them are easy. They’re all different. It’s a leaky roof, it’s a problem with financing contingency, it’s an appraisal issue—it’s never simple. I think the expectations are different now than they ever were before. A REALTORⓇ’s job is to help frame those expectations. You have to tell [consumers] how you’re going to help them and why they should work with you versus someone else. In order to stand out, agents have to be hyperlocal. You have to anticipate all the questions the consumer’s going to have.
MP: Ok, last question, Dan. Everyone’s talking about the challenges in 2022—where do you see the opportunities?
DF: I’ve got to tell you this, Maria: I don’t think there’s ever been a time in the history of real estate where I’ve ever seen more opportunity for a REALTORⓇ. I’ve sold homes in a 15% interest-rate market, I’ve sold them through the great recession, and I’ve sold them through the pandemic. So I think the greatest opportunity for increasing business—and this is going to sound kind of old school—but be prepared. Be disciplined and go work it. Be aware that when opportunity comes, you need to pivot and do more. When interest rates rise, people get antsy. So talk to people, stay communicative. I think 10/10/10—10 calls, 10 texts, 10 emails a day—will make people gobs of money as long as they follow up. We are notoriously bad as an industry at following up.
MP: Great advice. Anything else you’d like to add, Dan?
DF: I just think it’s the greatest time in the history of mankind to be doing what we’re doing. In spite of the pandemic, in spite of interest rates, in spite of the political/socioeconomic climate we’re living in.
Maria Patterson is RISMedia’s executive editor. Email her your real estate news ideas to maria@rismedia.com.
