Be a Rock Star Agent: What I Actually Told My CE Class About Expectations, AI, and the 47% of Leads Nobody Calls Back

By Mike Ferrante, Broker Associate, Mike Team at LPT Realty

I teach a two hour elective CE class called Be a Rock Star Agent by Doing These 15 Things. I've done it internationally, I've presented it at a global conference for my old brand, I've done it locally, and I've done it for other brokerages in a couple different states. It's my favorite class I teach. And every time I teach it, I end up giving way more than 15 things. This last round I think we landed closer to 30. Here's some of what actually happened in the room:

We're in the expectations business, not just the real estate business

I opened with something that sounds a little trite, but I think it matters. We're not just selling houses, we're setting expectations. And I told the class to go grab a book called Raving Fans. It's short, maybe 100 to 150 pages, and I still have it sitting on my shelf. The book uses a grocery store example that I've never forgotten. Whole Foods, or as one of my favorite coaches, Terry Watson, used to call it, Whole Paycheck, charges more than Aldi, more than Giant Eagle, and more than Kroger. Why do people still shop there? Not because the milk is different. It's because of how the experience makes them feel.

I gave the class a restaurant version of the same idea. You get seated, five minutes go by, nobody comes to your table. Then someone finally shows up and says, "thank you for waiting, can I get you some water?" Compare that to getting seated, someone walks by within a minute and says, "hey, thanks for coming in, I'll be right back to get your drinks", and then it still takes the full five minutes. Same wait, completely different feeling. That's the whole class in one story. The public thinks real estate agents are all the same, door openers who put a sign in the yard and wait for the phone to ring. The distinction is how we make people feel, and that's why I've got hundreds of reviews.

Easify: the made up word I stole and never let go of

Terry Watson is also where I got easify. It's not a real word, it's a combination of easy plus simplify. I use it as close to a mission statement as I've got for how we handle paperwork. I told the class to think about the difference between asking a Home Depot employee where to find a two by four and getting pointed toward aisle 12 while they walk away, versus walking into Whole Foods and having someone walk you over to the item. That little distinction changes how you feel about the whole interaction. The easier you make it for a client, a vendor, another agent, anyone, to do the thing you need them to do, the more likely they are to actually do it. Every piece of marketing you put out has a call to action, and the easier that action is, the better it converts. A yard sign's call to action is call me. Put the phone number on the sign. Keep it that simple.

I confessed to scrolling for 45 minutes this morning

I got a little vulnerable with the class here. I woke up early telling myself I'd get ahead on work so I'd have more time later for my family and my dog. Instead, I spent the first 45 minutes of my day on the couch scrolling. I told the room not to tell anyone, but I'm telling you.

I had everyone pull out their phones and check Settings, then Screen Time, then See All Activity, to compare how they actually spend their time against how they think they spend it. On mine, Messages is the top app, not Facebook or Instagram, and I told the class that's actually fine by me. A text is a more efficient use of time than a phone call. I can set an appointment by text faster than I can by phone, and every business plan really comes down to two goals: a number of conversations, that leads to a number of appointments.

AI won't replace you, but an agent who uses it will replace the one who doesn't

I told a long story about the MLS book, the actual physical book that looked like a phone book, that agents used to fight over when new listings came in. When the internet showed up, agents who thought their whole value was controlling that book faded away. Then Zillow came out, and the same thing happened to agents who thought their value was gatekeeping photos and showings.

Same pattern with AI. It's not going to replace you. What it does is free up time, and that extra time is what gets reinvested into relationships, the belly-to-belly stuff AI can't do. I use Claude and ChatGPT now, and I mentioned Claude's cowork feature specifically, where it can actually move your mouse and click and, if your MLS allows it, do listing input for you while you're logged in.

47% of leads never get a response

This one I think should bother every agent in the business. According to research in Chris Smith's book The Conversion Code, 47% of leads never get a response at all. I told the class about a Google lead I got two days before the class, someone moving to the area saying nobody was getting back to her. I messaged her back within 60 seconds. She said, "wow, that was quick". I'd already exceeded her expectations before we'd said much of anything. From there I dug into her situation the way Chris Smith teaches, found out her job, what she was looking for, how she wanted to finance. She told me she needed a lender too. I sent buyer documents and she signed them in DocuSign within 60 seconds. She was seeing houses within 48 hours, all because of how fast I responded.

I also told the class Chris Smith's number for ideal contact attempts is six, and that when I was a brand new part time agent driving home from a full time job, I used to call all my leads on that drive without even realizing I was batching my time around dinnertime, which turned out to be one of the best times to call. If a teammate tells me they called a lead twice and gave up, that's not the lead's fault.

Final Thoughts

That's the class, or at least the version of it I can fit in a blog post. Fifteen things, sometimes thirty, and every single time somebody in the room takes something away from it.

Text, call, or email, whichever is easiest for you, and you will hear back from a real person quickly. Call or text +1(216)373-7727, email me at mike@21mike.com, visit www.21mike.com, or find the Mike Team on Google at https://g.page/r/CSQoYzel0Z68EAE.