AREC 2018 Feature Interview: Chris Helder with Samantha McLean

TRANSCRIPT

Samantha: Hey everyone! Samantha McLean from from Elite Agent Magazine. I am here at AREC 2018 with our first interview of the day. It’s Chris Helder. Welcome, Chris. 

Chris: Thanks so much Sam. Good to be here. 

Samantha: We are so looking forward to seeing you at the end of the day. What are you going to be talking about? 

Chris: We’re gonna be talking about influence and how we influence ourselves, how we influence other people. Obviously, in this market right now, more important than ever, that we’re able to win face to face and make sure that we’re able to deliver those influence skills. 

Samantha: One of the things in being able to influence people is being able to build rapport really quickly. So, give us some tips for the people that can’t be here today on building rapport really quickly. 

Chris: I think number one is research. I think we gotta, before we go into a situation we should know who we’re gonna talk to. How we’re gonna do that. Once we’ve done the research and we know where they’re at, we can get an idea you know, in terms of you know, what they do for work and a little bit about their professions. And that’s gonna give us a clue possibly in terms of their personality and what’s important to them. So, we’ll play with that. 

Once we get face to face, I talk about matching and you know again noticing the intensity of people. Some people have what I call ‘crazy eyes’ and they get that ‘crazy eye’ intensity and some people are calm. So, really identifying, you know that we can match that type of personality. And you know ultimately delivering the presentation that’s important to them. 

Samantha: Alright, so let’s dig into what you just said about doing some research on people. Where are the good places to research people. Like, if you were gonna go into a listing presentation let’s say with me, how would you research me? 

Chris: I’m gonna start with the basics. I’m gonna start with the Google search and see what comes up and go from there. But obviously, we’re gonna look at the property, we’re gonna look at the property history, we’re gonna take a look at you know, the neighbourhood in the area.

If I can find out a little bit about yourself and LinkedIn is obviously a terrific way as well, that I find out you’re an accountant and you work for a major accounting firm. And I now know you’re probably gonna be a more analytical person. I better make sure my data is together. Yeah, just goin’ in with some smart ideas. 

Samantha: And what happens if you meet someone that is just completely out of your… Like, someone who is loud and you’re say, an introvert. How do you then try to match and mirror those people?

Chris: The best agents are the chameleons and they’re able to adapt to different styles, adapt to different personalities. So, I think that that’s really key, that they are awake, aware, and you know I always say Sam, that most agents are just thinking about themselves. They’re just you know, they’re flipping through the presentation as opposed to just noticing who’s here and really being awake and adapting to that person. 

And the other think I’m gonna be talking about is, really having the right mindset to go into these with. And I wrote a little book called, Useful Belief.

Samantha: I love that book.

Chris: You love that book? I love that book, too. 

Samantha: They’re selling it just over there. 

Chris: Yeah! They’re selling it just here today, which is great. 

In an environment where again, we’re now gonna see more heavy hitters on listing presentations. We’re gonna have to make sure in an environment where there may be less opportunities, we’ve got to make sure we can birth those opportunities. 

And, a big part of it is you know, starting with the head and walking out there everyday saying, “Useful belief, opportunities are abundant, opportunities are everywhere.” 

And to put ourselves in a situation where we have a useful belief. You know, this is the best time ever to be an agent. Best time ever to be at my organisation. Best time ever to be out there doing this job. 

Samantha: Do you mind if we just dig into Useful Belief just a little bit, because some people might have not read the book, but in the book, people always say, “Positive thinking, positive thinking, positive thinking.” But you say, “No, useful belief is better.” So, can you just define useful belief for us? 

Chris: So, if you’ve been in a rut the last six days or six weeks or six months in your real estate career, being positive’s not gonna get you out of it, right? Instead, useful. So, what’s the most useful thing for you to do to get from zero to two? Useful actions for you to take to get from two to five or five to eight, and now you’ve got criteria. 

And then, we extrapolate that out with useful belief. Do I believe these are tough times? If I believe these are tough times, then my brain will go find tough times. 

If I believe these are the best times ever to be alive in the history of the world, my brain’s gonna go find beautiful things. So, really tapping into the brain and our filter, which is called the reticular activating system, but we don’t have to go into all that. The filter that we filter everything that we see is absolutely paramount to our real estate success. 

Samantha: Absolutely, and one last question for you on that. Say you are having a bad day, cause we all have bad days. I’m rocking up at a listing presentation. I’m in my car. I’m in a bit of a funk because my kids have been playing up and all the rest of it. And I know that I need to build rapport quickly with someone when I get out of the car. What is my useful belief as I get out of the car, to get in and do the right thing by my client?

Chris: Don’t get out of the car until you’re ready, first of all. You know, I see a lot of agents. That’s the biggest mistake they make, ’cause they’re still thinking about all those things and in the meantime they’re at the front door, you know, ringing the doorbell. Take a moment and compartmentalise. 

I’m talking about two words for them. Authenticity and knowledge. I’m walking out there right now to list this house, I’m a real person. I’m a good person. I’m coming from a place of authenticity. And the knowledge bit is, I’m a knowledgeable agent. I know the market. And by the way, the people that are neither of those two things are in big, big trouble. 

Today it’s about authenticity. It’s about real and it’s about knowing your stuff. You must, must, must know your stuff. 

Samantha: Great advice. Chris, thank you so much. 

Chris: Thanks, Sam. Awesome. 

Samantha: Have a great conference. And we’ll catch up again with you soon.

Chris: I know! It’s gonna be fun! I can’t wait.