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Practical articles for independent agents — written to be used, not just read. Newest first below. If you’re working on one specific part of your business, the eight Edges are further down the page.
The Latest
Fresh thinking for the market you’re working in right now.
New articles, most recent first.
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Why Are So Many Deals Falling Apart After the Offer Is Accepted?
Why Are So Many Deals Falling Apart After the Offer Is Accepted? Cornerstone Commitment doesn’t happen at the signature. It lasts until closing — and when buyers have choices, every week in between tests the decision. One in seven home purchase agreements came apart in July. Nationwide, 14% of the homes that went under contract…
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A Price Reduction Is a Guess
A Price Reduction is a Guess The Turn The seller gives up the same money either way. What changes is which obstacle those dollars actually remove. Showings slow down. Two weeks pass with nothing. The seller calls and asks what we should do. Most of us answer the same way. Let’s reduce the price. Sometimes…
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Posting is Not Marketing
Posting is Not Marketing The most trusted agents online aren’t the most entertaining ones. They’re the most useful — and usefulness is a game a solo agent can actually win. Every few months, an agent tells me some version of the same thing: “I know I’m supposed to be on social media. But I’m not…
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Recognition Happens Before the Conversation
Recognition Happens Before the Conversation The Turn Most agents think the first appointment is where trust gets built. By then, the client has usually decided. Most agents prepare for the first appointment as if that’s where the decision gets made. Rehearse the presentation. Sharpen the numbers. Bring the proof, the marketing plan, the production history….
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Before You Recommend a Price Reduction, Identify the Buyer’s Obstacle
Before You Recommend a Price Reduction, Identify the Buyer’s Obstacle Cornerstone Most stalled listings have one of five obstacles. Only one of them is solved by taking money off the asking number. You know the call. The listing has been active three weeks. Showings have thinned out. Nothing has come in. Your seller calls and…
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Referrals Are Maintenance, Not Luck
Referrals Are Maintenance, Not Luck The Turn The industry trained agents to ask. Predictable introductions come from relationships that get tended on purpose, year after year. Every agent gets the same instruction early on: remind people you sell real estate, and the business will find its way back to you. Mail the calendar. Drop off…
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Scripts Don’t Build Trust
Scripts Don’t Build Trust The Turn A script can book an appointment. It cannot build a relationship — and consumers already told us, at scale, that they were done being read to. My first script came with a clipboard and a boss listening in. The summer between my sophomore and junior years at Baylor, I…
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The Deal That Died Over a Truck
The Deal That Died Over a Truck Field Notes Seven days from closing, I called my broker to ask how to soften the news. He told me not to bother. Seven days before closing, the buyer’s agent called and said we had a problem. I asked what the problem was. He paused. “The buyer bought…
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Seven Minutes From Home
Seven Minutes From Home Field Notes I was driving twenty-three minutes to serve one builder and thirty-six to serve another, past a neighborhood I didn’t know existed. Seventy-two homes. Lots backing to a natural wash, views worth the price, and a builder I’d never worked with. I found it by accident, in Tucson, with buyers…
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Working on one specific thing?
Every article files under one of the eight Edges. Pick the part of your business you want to strengthen and read only what applies to it.
Business Edge™
Systems, planning, and the numbers that tell you what to do next — with your Quiet Team™ carrying the follow-up.
Read articles →Market Edge™
Reading the five signals that move your market, and explaining the Decision Gap Market™ your clients are standing in.
Read articles →Niche Edge™
Choosing a niche and walking the Known Path™ until your market knows your name.
Read articles →Brand Edge™
One clear identity, recognized at every touchpoint in your Recognition Circle™.
Read articles →Marketing Edge™
Visibility on a rhythm one agent can sustain — the Five Seats™ approach.
Read articles →Listing Edge™
Winning listings and working every one as inventory that returns five ways.
Read articles →Buyer Edge™
Building confident buyers step by step across the Decision Bridge™.
Read articles →Referral Edge™
Staying connected so the 5 Referral Gears™ keep turning.
Read articles →Don’t come looking — let it come to you
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