Reverse Engineering the Sale
I have a confession to make: For the past several weeks, I have been watching reality TV shows, and I never watch reality TV shows! American Idol…NO! The Kardashians…NO! Housewives of wherever the “F”…HELL NO! But there was something about the Netflix show, Selling Sunset, that got me, and it wasn’t the pretty girls, or the fancy cars. It was the fact that for 45 minutes I got to conduct my own case study on the people who sell the most expensive homes on the planet and the people who buy them!
If you have been following my Driven AF madness from the start, you know I aspire to buy a home in Malibu at some point. It’s going to happen. There is no doubt. I will have a 90265 zip code, damnit, and it will be awesome, but reverse engineering how I am going to get there is really where the fun is.
So back to the show. Selling Sunset is about a group of real estate agents selling homes in LA for a firm called the Oppenheim Group. The team is made up of heavily augmented women, with sharp tongues and deep tans, but they sell more million dollar mansions than anyone else in LA! Here are the top 7 things I’ve learned from this guilty pleasure:
You need to be all in - Everyone working at the Oppenheim Group is not screwing around. Their personal lives may be dripping from every contract they sign, but the truth is, these people are totally immersed in the scene. Oppenheim is viewed as the best, so expectations are high. They walk the walk, talk the talk, and most importantly they back it up.
If you want to be a wolf, you must run with wolves - All these women have a different flavor of the same thing: Beautiful, driven, hungry, and very competitive. To make it on their team you must have thick skin and be ready to work well outside of your comfort zone.
Be authentic until you have to fake it - Most of the people on the show seem pretty hard to deal with, but they make no apologies, which I find refreshing. They are extremely confident in who they are, and they always give it to you straight. Until they need to bullshit, which is often.
Hard work is always necessary - They wear high fashion, and drive fancy cars, but they work hard. There is no escaping that. Whether you are buying or selling the most high priced goods in the world, you are going to have to grind it out at some point.
Service is limited - Here’s a dose of reality for you. If your only way of making money is based on a service hour, then there is a good chance you are NOT buying a house from one of these girls. You need to find a way to take your talents and ideas to a world that never sleeps. That means developing a product, or a piece of technology.
Being pretty helps…but it’s not everything - Alright, so the agents are pretty, but the owners of the group (twins, Brett and Jason) are nothing to write home about. These dudes obviously took every last bit of talent and passion they had and blew it up. I’m sure I’ll have them on my podcast at some point.
It really is who you know - This one is pretty simple. Become a phenomenal connector and your odds of being successful will rise dramatically. Get out there and network, but do it with intention. That means knowing how you can help others, and of course, how they can help you.
I don’t think I’m going to spend much more time watching this show, but whenever I’m in need of some filthy inspiration, I might indulge myself!