Episode #226 Serving Your Client Should Be the Top Priority with Derek Tye

In this episode of The Hyperfast Agent Podcast, host Dan Lesniak interviews Derek Tye, a real estate agent for almost two decades who has built multiple real estate teams and eight total streams of income. Listen to hear Derek explain why reaching out to clients with the intent to provide value in their lives creates a long-term positive impact, and clients for life!

Episode Highlights: 

• In 2004, Derek decided to leave his career in the corporate world to start a real estate team with his wife.
• At just the age of 20 and his wife of 18, Derek and his wife purchased their first house.
• With 2 kids at the time, Derek only went part-time in real estate until he was able to build his book of business.
• Serving the client should be the top priority for all real estate agents, regardless of what that looks like.
• Focus on helping your client in the long-term and your business will see long-term positive effects.
• Repeat, referral, buyers’ agents, and listings are Derek’s top sources for leads in that order.
• In his book, The 7 Levers for Success in Real Estate, Derek teaches readers how to leverage what they have available to them.
• Depending on where you are financially and with time availability, the direction you take is going to be different than other agents.
• Many agents tend to complain about putting the time and money into getting leads because they don’t have a proper follow-up system.
• No system works after using it just one time; each one depends on your consistency of using it.
• Statistically, it takes 5 to 10 times before a lead will actually engage with you, so reaching out 1 to 2 times will not cut it.
• You must reach out to people with the intention of adding value to their life rather than captioning the lead.
• Give them nuggets of what you can do for them and then pull back, effectively letting them know you’re there.
• At the beginning of the coronavirus shutdowns, Derek was left with only 1 other agent and an admin team manager on his team.
• The exodus of agents from his team allowed Derek to shift his business model and how he was paying for everything.
• At the end of 2020, Derek hired a new ISA and is also looking to hire a new junior agent to prepare for the next 12 months.
• For 2021, Derek’s team has a goal for roughly 72 transactions and $22M in sales.
• Along with selling real estate, Derek actually has 7 other streams of income right now.
• Even though he’s been in the business for almost 20 years, Derek still enjoys showing houses.
• New agents should make sure their heart is in the right place before chasing number-based goals.
• Experienced agents make the mistake of treating other agents poorly in deals, giving them a bad reputation in the industry.
• Investors should know their tolerance of pain level before deciding what kind of property to invest in.
• Derek’s biggest mistake was making too many long-term financial commitments with research.

3 Key Points:

1. After 8 years working in the corporate banking world, something he hated, Derek decided to jump into real estate with his wife.
2. Bringing in a massive amount of leads does not mean that commission checks will just start appearing. Setting up an efficient follow-up system is vital to success in real estate.
3. Real estate sales can act as a vehicle to build wealth in other areas. Take the money you make and diversify to create other sources of income.

Resources Mentioned:

• Learn more about Hyperfast Academy; Text Dan your real estate questions: (703) 215-1684
• Dan Lesniak (Linkedin, Facebook, Instagram) 
• Derek Tye (Website, Book)
• Followup Boss