From Market Knowledge to $1M GCI: Strategies That Work with Chris Schlenkerman

Sherri Johnson (00:01.874)

And we are back. Hey, it's Sherri Johnson with the Sherri Johnson show. And today I'm actually going to call it the Chris and Sherri show because this today's guest, my featured guest is one of my all time faves. And we have been literally best friends, colleagues. We've worked together. We've done so much together. And I have Chris Schlinkerman here from Cleveland, Ohio, from the collaborative home sales group, team leader of approximately 20 agents, rockstar agents out of Northeast Ohio covering the Greater Cleveland Market. Hey Chris, I'm so excited. We're finally doing this. my gosh. Talked about it for a long time. So everyone who's listening to this, first of all, Chris and I, I have to go back in history just for one second because of our personal relationship. we met, my gosh, I think.

Chris SCHLENKERMAN (00:35.718)

Hello?

Chris SCHLENKERMAN (00:55.378)

20 years ago.

Sherri Johnson (00:56.408)

Yeah, 20 years ago and we got to work close together. We've, we've, gosh, we've had a lot of fun and, I just, I just want to tell you, have, you have done so much, your career, the influence you have on your team, the agents, the whole industry, frankly. And, I've just, it's a pleasure. It's an honor. you know, that we're, we have been. we've done a lot of training together. We've done a lot of skits together. We've illustrated the do's and don'ts of practicing what I, what I used to call, remember sales prevention and a lot of laughs. my gosh. So it's, it's really like awesome to see you and everyone I'm excited about today's show. And it is really the Chris and Jerry show because it always was. So having that.

Chris SCHLENKERMAN (01:41.714)

It exists. For those who thought it wasn't, it exists. Look out.

Sherri Johnson (01:47.36)

It totally does. it still does. So Chris, you've got a wildly successful team over the last over 10 years now that you have built and you've been in the business 20 over 20 years. Tell us a little bit about your team because they're amazing. And it's what I love most is you lead from the back. You're like, you lead from the front, but you also lead from the back. It's all about your team. You make it about them. You always have. I admire that. think that you position your agents for their success and very humbly lead them in a way that's different than most team leaders who are a lot of times about, you know, their name, their whatever. So you start with having a team name that does not have your name in it, which I think is great. It's collaborative, obviously by definition, but tell us about a little about about how you've built this over the years. And then we're going to get into some industry topics that are hot topics. can't wait. So tell us a little bit about your team.

Chris SCHLENKERMAN (02:47.078)

Well, the, started when, while I was in an office overseeing agents, there was a lot of, that was when teams were growing and becoming a more mainstream thing. And you know, in meeting a lot of new agents and experienced agents, it was a conversation topic. Should I be on one? Shouldn't I be on one? I don't like it for the risk. This reason, I like it for this reason. So just through observation, I was like, well, there is probably a better way to. do this and that's what was used to craft our group. And what's been nice about our group is we're going on 10 years old as a group. 90 % of the people are still the original agents. You know, it's not a big, fast growing recruiting kind of group. We just do a good job and we try to focus on the job and having great client experiences and successes and you know, I personally enjoy helping them help others and see their success happen. trying to put the ego to the side, giving the agents credit for their hard work, for their listings, for their sales, and being available. And that's just been rewarding to me. And I think we have a very steady path ahead of us. It's been working really well.

Sherri Johnson (04:12.128)

It has, and you have, I think done just a great job. I've watched it obviously for years and I know that any conversation I have with you, it has to be right for your team and for them, or you're not going to do it. So, and I pay very close attention to those things, whether I've said them or not, I noticed them. And I think that that speaks volumes of how, why you have the success rate of retention is because people really succeed. I've watched you take. Part-time agents and they are successful. are full-time. They are making three, four times what they used to make. And I just, I love it. I think it's great. So kudos to you because that's a, that's hard to do. And it's, there's a lot of what I would call revolving door with teams that have, they don't do what you do and they don't build the culture you have. I know culture has always been important to you and it shows, but more importantly, what the proof is, is that the people have been with you. for this long. And so they continue to go forward and I think it's gonna be great future. So a lot has changed in our industry. You and I talk about this like every month, we're always talking, we go to dinner, we laugh, we talk about things, we call each other, we text each other. There have been some major changes in the last couple of years. Sellers today think it's like, know, 2021. Buyers think it's 2008, I think. And so we're, you know, agents that have not, if they got their license and 2020 or 2021, they're not really know how to price a house today. They really only know how to handle 17 offers and no home inspections and not having to price a house or do a price reduction. So there are some challenges that we face both with marketing, marketing homes. We have lots of great debates, you and I, we talk about these things. Some of what I want to talk about today would be you have an extremely unique marketing approach to a seller. And then also you have an amazing value proposition with working with buyers and with the changes that happened. We'll cover each one separately, but we'll start with buyer agency and the difference today that agents can experience and really the benefits of what some of our massive changes that happened. We always should have been using an exclusive buyer agreement.

Sherri Johnson (06:39.722)

Some people did, some didn't. Yeah. And now if you want to share with us, your perspective, how that has changed your business practices for better and for how you train your agents to use that and some of the insights you have on.

Chris SCHLENKERMAN (06:39.782)

Ready.

Chris SCHLENKERMAN (06:54.778)

It's been a positive change for the real estate industry, for us. It's been positive for the consumers. It seems like it's really, it's allowed us as agents to help anyone that calls to see a house or anyone that might be in the market. It's helped us to maintain a focus we didn't have before. And that focus is going to help with better service and experience for the buyer clients and for the transaction in general. mean, it was always, you know, for the first 20 years of my, of my licensing, it was get a call, run out to a house, show a house, you know, you were supposed to social, social show some forms to them, maybe get them signed. I mean, it was just, it was a little bit of a circus in the sense that, you know, and, that's what we had trained the public to think that we would do is like you make a call, we run out, open the door, and after that, you know, whatever happened, happened, good, bad, or in between. So with this change, it's kind of been a great reset because even the people that have been doing this for decades longer, for decades, it was a reset. We all became new agents on that August day of last year of 2024. And, you know, which has always been Interesting and a little bit entertaining at times. So everyone's got their way of doing it brokers had different approaches, etc, etc But you know in general it was a great reset because we probably needed that We needed to stop and say to the people who want to see a house. Who are you? What is it that you're trying to do? How can I actually help you and do you understand how this could work between us? And so Since that since that official change took place I know we and myself personally have had a few instances where you didn't show a house because that person really wasn't a buyer or they weren't really ready to commit to you because they were working with someone else. didn't even, whether they realized it or not. And so we avoided a loss of trouble, a loss of time, a loss of, you know, we avoided those problems. So it's, it's been good and it's also been, you know, a way for, for the transparency.

Chris SCHLENKERMAN (09:19.76)

with our buyer clients about these are how the numbers work. it's, you know, it's allowed the agent to take more control of what they can or will or won't work for. And we can set our own value with our buyers instead of being dictated by some, you know, some ridiculous number that we didn't have a choice in and...

Sherri Johnson (09:22.082)

here.

Chris SCHLENKERMAN (09:45.744)

And you know, and that's where all the problems came from when, and you know, it was a problem that might've put the magnifying glass on it. And now the solution has, I think, improved the entire process. So it's been positive and we've been able to manage it quite effectively by saying to our new buyer clients, mean, let's face it, not everyone we meet as a client is someone we know. We weren't always introduced and they're complete strangers half the time, if not more, right? So, you know,

Sherri Johnson (10:12.834)

Yeah. Yep.

Chris SCHLENKERMAN (10:15.57)

Hi, you're a complete stranger. I don't know you. You don't know me. We're both apprehensive of each other. Let's go look at some multi hundred thousand dollar transaction right now. So it's been nice to like been able to we've had the freedom to say, listen, here's the law in a nutshell. This is what we have to do now, whether you are aware of it, whether you've had experience before the change or not. And we've modified our agreements so that we can kind of go on some first dates. on a friendly level and say, I'm not going to break the law. I need you to sign this. I need to understand this. However, I'm not going to trap you into something and you're not going to trap me into something either. It's a mutual situation here. And so we've been able to make, use a strategy or use an approach that's consumer friendly, agent friendly and effective where we have great clients who understand and are prepared to work with us because we've had a nice test run. and it started off on the right foot.

Sherri Johnson (11:17.184)

And, you know, mean, I, I for years begged agents to stop doing agency on the hood of the car, you know, fly by night to sort of sign the document and go and please sit down and have an actual consultation like we do when we list a home. And now we're having that where it's, it's actually, we've, we've risen to the occasion. think our, our professional standards have all been.

Chris SCHLENKERMAN (11:27.154)

You

Sherri Johnson (11:44.01)

raised to a better level. also think we foolishly, many people, as you know, you didn't do this, but a lot of our industry said, Hey, it doesn't cost you anything to work with an agent. And I think we completely devalued our service. so that even though it was being paid, you know, by another party, that was one area that I was like, look, you're, we stopped saying that, right? lot of things we say, we don't realize we're saying, you know, there's no inventory. Like all we do when we tell people there's no inventories, they don't move because you won't find a replacement house. You know I mean? So it's like, we're actually, you know, it's a self-fulfilling.

Chris SCHLENKERMAN (12:21.01)

It's to sell a house, it's pretty much marketable stuff. Yeah, okay, that's a great message. We bust our best dealers.

Sherri Johnson (12:25.902)

And then, yeah, well, I'm not going to do anything because there's nothing for me to buy. what I think buyer agency has done, and you said it, is we are fairly compensated. We actually can have a conversation that says, this is how I work. This is how I get paid. I remember I was an agent in our forum back at Smith Kramer said, a retainer fee. I walked into my manager and I gave her a check and she thought I sold a house. And I said, no, that's a That's a retainer fee on the buyer exclusive. And she's like, you got a buyer exclusive signed. It's like 1996. And I go, yeah. She goes, and I said, this is the retainer fee. It 1500 bucks. And I said, give me $1,500. If I never see you again, I've been paid. If you buy a house from me, I'll, you know, it'll go towards your purchase and you'll get refunded if the seller pays my whole fee. So we've all caught up to what I think every state was doing randomly differently. I think it's a huge incentive and we get to dictate that, you especially if you're an agent who's resourceful like you, and you have an actual plan where you can go out and find a buyer a house that's not yet listed. I know you do that. And the fact is, I remember to be on a plane with a guy, was flying to Virginia and into DC rather. And he's like telling me why, you know, he wouldn't use an agent. And I said, well, would you use an agent and pay them if they find you a house that was not yet listed? And he said, Absolutely, that I would pay for. And I said, well, that's what we're doing. So you might not really, just like you would hire the best attorney, just like you would hire the best CPA, you need to hire the best real estate agent. that said, there seems to be, you know, there's always different ways agents are trying to differentiate their marketing, differentiate their value when going out to get a listing and then actually market that. I've known for years, I've watched you do this. You have a very awesome unique way of marketing your homes, not only to the buyer that would be buying that home, but internally to your team. Your whole team has an inventory of buyers. We're marketing that within your group of 20 plus agents. Tell us a little bit about what you do that sort of separates you from your competitors in terms of how you market a home.

Chris SCHLENKERMAN (14:45.638)

Well, I wish it wasn't unique. You know, we've had we, meaning you and I in the past, and I've done training to different groups about... marketing listings and one of the biggest downfalls right now that's happening and it's been going on for years is a lack of marketing for the wrong motivations. Irresponsible behavior by certain agents or brokerages to take a new listing and not fully expose it so that they might benefit by, you know, selling it in-house. So kind of like with that in mind in the background of it all, you know, even before our market turned hot or before COVID or whatever that turning point was. During the time when listings didn't sell overnight, 2008, 2010, kind of getting out of the ditch there, in every market, a seller should seek the highest level of exposure to the most buyers. It doesn't matter what kind of market it is. Buyers, markets, it's always going to be the case. And there's always exceptions to the rules, but we're just going to keep it in the mainstream. But even the exceptions to the rules can benefit from some of these points. every seller should be seeking the highest amount of exposure to reach the most buyers in the most effective manner. And we've had a lot of industry options and changes and

Sherri Johnson (16:30.444)

Right.

Chris SCHLENKERMAN (16:32.178)

you know, different approaches and the kind of thing. you know, overall, when we are going into a listing appointment, when it comes to the marketing and the strategy and getting things set up, it's, it's always a combination of, you know, what's possible and what for the seller and, and all terms considered, I mean, but the, the, the real point is that overall, Our approach is that we create a strategy that's customized to the sellers. can be for their needs and their situation or for the property. And we want to find, we want to have a plan. Like you cannot effectively meet a seller today. List their house today and put it on the market today or tomorrow. It's not going to work. Those are the agents that think MLS database entry is marketing. And unfortunately, that's going to be a short career if you keep that in mind. So throwing something in MLS in a haphazard way, or even in the most planned way, is not the answer. So we try to do steps or waves of release. OK, so you're going to sell your property. We agree to move forward, work together. get everything. We're preparing. Preparing the listings are so important now. Condition and price are so important. I mean, I think the past few years that was kind of out the window, we heard agents and brokers say, you don't have to stage a house because everyone's gonna buy it anyway. And you know what? Yeah, they were gonna buy it. However, some places might need specific attention. So some properties, right? So you know, so conditioning and pricing is having a strategy having a seller understand this is the approach.

Sherri Johnson (18:09.868)

elect.

Sherri Johnson (18:20.482)

Now you're right.

Chris SCHLENKERMAN (18:26.768)

that I would recommend or that you can do or here's if you don't like that. Here's another one but pros and cons for each. Right. So we try to give the options based on what they're comfortable doing based on what we think might be best for their goals. You know price time wise timing wise you know purchase power wise. So there's all these things going on but you know by the time we know the narrative of their of their story of their of their life right now of what it needs to be in their in their real estate goals. You know it's about. Hey, all right, so great. Let's get the house ready. Let's get you ready. Let's get the paperwork ready. Let's do the prepping. Let's do this. Let's do that. It's not going to happen in a couple of days. Sometimes it takes a couple of days or a couple of weeks. Meanwhile, we can do some marketing. Now we've got some shackles thanks to the powers that be. But we can still do some marketing. I can tell my group. I can tell my office. I can put the word out there. There's better ways to do it than others. We won't get into details right now. But you know, the idea is to hey, let's just get some of the word out there. Let's get the house ready. And then when it's this close to ready, let's put out some trailers about this thing is coming on the market any minute now or in the next day or two or Monday or Thursday or whatever the date, whatever the plan might be. And let's have a plan to have appointments. Let's have a plan to do open houses. Let's make it so that people can plan. to come to this event, which is the opening of the sale of this property, instead of, I think sometimes what it's easier to understand is, instead of doing what some agents will do, which is throw it in the system, don't tell anyone about it, have an open house, take the first offer, leave money on the table, close the door on buyers' faces that could have been the better buyer than what you accepted because they didn't have a set, and it is not.

Sherri Johnson (19:57.262)

That's right.

Chris SCHLENKERMAN (20:22.288)

These are not complicated. This is common sense. This is what sellers want. But sometimes the sellers think that the agent is knows best. Unfortunately, that's not always the case. And they go with what they tell them. And there's others of us who didn't get to show the house and you have a chance to make the appointment before the door and the appointment desk is shut down. So, you know, we really go over the strategy of here's why we want to do it this way from perspective of pricing, conditioning and marketing and releasing the property to get those people. We have a new listing right now. It was priced properly. It was conditioned. It took them about two weeks to get ready for it. The pictures are in, the reports are created. It is polished. It was released last night. We have 24 appointments lined up. Not even 24 hours later. was released late last night. It is now 330 the following day and we

Sherri Johnson (21:14.19)

Wow.

Chris SCHLENKERMAN (21:18.714)

Last I checked, there's about two dozen appointments made throughout the weekend. And so we know that that tells us and the seller, this is gonna happen. And you know, here's the other thing that everyone needs to understand too on that level is agents and clients alike, we might sell your house very quickly and very effectively. Just because it didn't take three months doesn't mean my value was lessened. We have done so much preparation and and so much data and updating. I sometimes we talked to a seller three months earlier and that market has changed one way or the other and we have to adjust and or even talk about future possibilities if the adjustment doesn't work or if they don't adjust and whatever. So, I mean, our value didn't end just because we got a contract or a dozen offers. We prepared, we educated, we strategized before the doors even opened and now we've got

Sherri Johnson (22:12.544)

Mm-hmm.

Chris SCHLENKERMAN (22:17.978)

Strong deals, the other part of our marketing strategy is to get backup offers and not put all of our eggs in one basket and not to close the door before the ink is dry. that, you know, and now from here we have to get through things. So the value is not just that micro moment of striking a deal just because it went in the system this day and sold the next day or two. Or, you know, if you strategize to say we're not even gonna look at offers until day three or four. and we make that clear to all the buyers and the agents. You can write all the offers you want right now. We are not going to shut the door on everybody else. And so that, you know, all that value, all that, I mean, it takes time. It takes me three hours to do like an MLS setup, putting pictures in the right order, bringing it together, writing the description, not with AI by the way. So, you know, and like, I don't think people realize like,

Sherri Johnson (23:11.949)

No!

Chris SCHLENKERMAN (23:14.418)

like because I'm a little bit of a perfectionist too, I'm like everything has to be just right and I'll go back and I'll fix it. And if I see something wrong, there is all this prep to get that amazing results quickly where, know, sometimes there's been a couple, there was a couple of stories just the past month or two where the prior agents who had these listings for six months didn't do these things. And now that's even tougher to have to reinvent something that's been on the market where everyone's going, Oh, we saw this before, why didn't it sell? We had to get, I raised the price on one thing, gave it the marketing and the attention it deserved, and we sold it in two weeks. you know, details matter, preparation matters, and the value for those things are priceless. you know, everyone should be happy when it happens, when it actually happens. So that's, mean, we just really come in with a lot of planning.

Sherri Johnson (24:03.502)

You're there.

Sherri Johnson (24:09.56)

Well, it's a complete comprehensive strategy that you're not just slapping it in the MLS, putting a sign up and very sort of haphazardly just, I see this all the time. That is not in the seller's best financial interest. And then you have the people who, this sold before whatever and it's sold by, you know, whether it's, it's, that's not in the seller's best interest either. Like this is the wrong approach and you know, it just is sad when we see it happen. I know it's extremely frustrating. What I love that you do is you actually are adding so much strategy on the front end to prepare the home, to stage it. houses that are priced right. And show like retail, right? You're selling the houses host wholesale or retail. You're putting that in its best light. You're, going through not rushing the project and making sure I heard you say waves of marketing. also heard you say we do the proper job to, to stage it to, you know, you're making repairs, I'm sure, or late remodeling, but you're putting that house in its best light and those houses sell for top dollar. If you also said you do like a grand opening, I heard you create excitement. You create a little bit of FOMO. Everybody wants to see that house. You're creating urgency, whether you know it or not. feel like, remember the days when agents would be like, I already have a showing during that hour and they didn't want to stack the showings. And you and I were like, stack them. I want people to see, I want to overlap actually. So agents overlap your showings. And by the way, like,

Chris SCHLENKERMAN (25:52.722)

Shut the door right now.

Sherri Johnson (26:01.484)

The entire front end of this is what you are being paid for. Of course you're being paid as well to do the negotiation and keep that deal together. But when you have 24 showings in the first 48 hours of a new listing, I mean, that speaks volumes and that's why you're so successful, I think, at doing this. What a great strategy. I mean, that's just...

Chris SCHLENKERMAN (26:23.442)

And the other thing to keep in mind, she's like, not everyone can paint or fix or remodel or stage. you know, if there's there's a ways to adjust that's the other like all of we don't come in with like, this is how it's going to be. You're going to do this and this and this. And I think that's why a lot of, you know, you're going to hear the ads out there. Don't hire an agent. We'll just buy your house as is. Well, they could probably sell the house for more if it was exposed. You know, the point is. Not everyone can do just one plan and so many agents say this is how we do it. This is how it has to be and they're they're not fluctuating to the clients needs or abilities. So if you can't stage your house, if you can't remodel it, if you have to sell it in less than ideal condition, maybe the timing doesn't allow. You've got to adjust for it and have a different option for them. I mean, they deserve it. You should be able to do it and that's our job is to be able to help them. based on their circumstances. So it's not always about just, you know, top dollar and making everything look beautiful and Instagram ready. It is about reality and giving people options and good service.

Sherri Johnson (27:30.774)

love that you said you give options and then go over the pros and cons, the risks and benefits of each option. That's, that's our job. It's very consultative approach and it's slowed down by you, which I love because I don't know why, but you've seen it a hundred times. Everybody's like, throw the sign in the yard. It's like slow down people, please. And you're in charge of the marketing, right? It's like, I think sometimes, and we've talked about this ad nauseum, we're not order takers. We're the ones that are being hired to give great counsel and direction and guidance and set the tone and create the marketing plan. In other days, we're a seller.

Chris SCHLENKERMAN (28:12.658)

We're the professionals, we should know how to handle this. We're the ones that are listing and selling properties. know, dozens, hundreds, you know, a year or a time, whatever. So why are we not instructing our clients what might be best for them? They wanna hear that. Most of them wanna hear that. They may not always agree with it. You might need to explain a couple, but that's what you're there for. You should be giving them that advice. You should be giving them that guidance. setting those expectations, giving them the pros and cons, asking a lot of questions to make sure that you don't uncover the most important rock that's got that piece, that tidbit of information that could make all the difference. It's gotta be that way. That's the way it should be. I don't wanna go to my doctor, he's just gonna throw some mass for me, take this, they haven't even asked me what's wrong with me yet. So.

Sherri Johnson (29:04.877)

Yeah, it's a much more thorough, I think it's a comprehensive review evaluation. And then you're setting the entire success path of taking that client's home, getting the highest top dollar that you can and exposing it to more buyers, which is your whole point of this whole thing too, is like, doesn't serve the seller to not prepare the home, A, but not... prepare the home, like you're getting 24 appointments because you're launching the listing in a better organized format. And that's, that's just, I think that's great. I want to ask you about, you know, so agents get their license. mean, you've, you've coached and trained hundreds of agents, not thousands. what are some things that agents are doing today that they should stop doing? And instead start doing because they would be more effective if someone's listening to you right now. And know, Chris Lenker and literally his team, your team, and you don't get to brag about this, so I will, but you are in the top teams in the state of Ohio. You are in the top in the country and you didn't get there overnight. This has taken years, but if an agent is listening to you because you, you, you coach agents, you train them, you do such an exceptional job. What are the top two or three things that either a brand new agent should strive to do or an agent that's struggling or having some challenges right now who wants to reboot their business in the next week? What could they do to hear what you do so that they could go out and get some listings or buyers?

Chris SCHLENKERMAN (30:54.576)

be seen, get out there, know the market. The people that have to listen to me, they hear ad nauseam and I bring it up regularly that agents should know their markets, they should be previewing homes, they should be meeting people, holding open houses, they need to slow, they need to, well, That's more on the list side. think like you were saying, the listing side needs to slow down. You need to have a plan. And part of the reason I bring that up in this is because, you know, if you can't have a few days of your listing being on the market and you're not giving a large portion of the buyer pool a chance to even get through the door, then you're probably not doing things like open houses either. so like having the open houses or doing the, doing the host, being the host of an open house. Preview tours. I still go and look at, I have a search in the MLS that sends updates to me directly about any new listing in my neighborhood. You know, and it's not just because I might have a particular buyer, but it's because I want to know when one of my neighbors is listed and then I want to go look at it. So when it, after it reaches me the same way it would like if I was a buyer and an agent was sending me updates. then I find out is there an open house or can I just go make an appointment to go walk through it. There are times where that data has helped me either list or sell another property. There are times where that property I'll go through and I go, oh my gosh, this is making me think of so-and-so and I haven't talked to them in a while, so dial them up and I think I might've found a house that you will be interested in or better yet.

Sherri Johnson (32:24.706)

and let it.

Chris SCHLENKERMAN (32:46.994)

That house goes on the market and then my neighbor calls me and says, hey, I want to go see this house. go, great, I've already seen it. I can tell you about it even before we go there. So the previewing has always been a really good, the previewing goes hand in hand with knowing your neighborhood, your primary market, because while you're out walking through houses by yourself just to see them and what cracks them up is some list agents, like if they know it's just you, they're like, you can't sell it. Well, then good luck selling it, you know, that's another story. But you you go through and you walk through these houses because you need to know the inventory. You can't sell the inventory if you don't know what it is. So this is actually beneficial to the seller and the list agent, whether they wanna see it that way or not. And while you're out there, pull up the for sale by owner sites and see who else is for sale by owner in there. Maybe go knock on the door or pull up the expired or withdrawn list and see who's in the neighborhood.

Sherri Johnson (33:44.206)

Hmm?

Chris SCHLENKERMAN (33:47.09)

is expired and maybe knock on their door or drop off something and say, I was out looking at houses because you were and I work in this neighborhood because you do. And I saw that your house is off the market because it is. And maybe you should list with me because you should. Right. And, um, you know, so you can do all these things at once. And there are times where, know, on a beautiful day or not, you know, whether they're out watering the flowers or shoveling the snow, I see the neighbors and I wave to them. go, Hey, it's Chris over here. haven't met before. Who are you? Okay, so you network with your name. I mean, you can do so many things at this time and then through all of this previewing and just saturating your real estate brain with this data, we do an open house in that neighborhood and the people that come through you say, I've seen this house, I know this house, this one smells like you know what, this one is awesome, this one has a crumbling foundation, this one is ideal, this one's you know, and they're like, okay, this person knows this area. There's no one else that we should be talking to if we're going to buy or sell a house. And that has worked so many times and it is not hard to do. And it is the best time spent. It is not a magic pill. I will hit a house on my way to the grocery store. I will hit a house on my way back home from the office. It takes me 10 or 15 minutes to walk through it, if that. And it's up here. And so... Brand new agents that were first day, this is what we talked about, know, create, turn off your reports, make your plans, make your appointments, set them up, walk through, make notes, things that you wouldn't have known about this property if you hadn't walked through it. Don't tell me that you were at a house because you looked at it on the screen. That is not effective. Don't tell me you know a house just because you scrolled through your screen and you saw some pictures.

Sherri Johnson (35:36.91)

Wow.

Chris SCHLENKERMAN (35:42.906)

I'm going to call BS on that. You need to know how it feels, smells. I mean, not all the pictures are going to be there. Did it show the basement? Did it show the flooded backyard? Did it show the amazing finished basement or attic space? Sometimes you're not getting the whole picture, but if you're there, you can... And so write the things down on these reports and hold onto them for a while. Use them as your reference point. Take them with you at open houses so that you say, you know what?

Sherri Johnson (35:48.718)

That is.

Chris SCHLENKERMAN (36:11.43)

I've been to that house before. Let me check my showing diary, my showing blog. And right. And people, want to know that you are, you might not be the best contract writer, you might not be the best negotiator, maybe you're not the best dresser, but if you know real estate, that's what they need you for. And so if you've got that knowledge, it is in the bag. I've even...

Sherri Johnson (36:17.816)

I've seen that book of yours.

Chris SCHLENKERMAN (36:38.994)

Had some people say, I was going to work with my friend, but can I work with you instead? I'm like, well, it's up to you. So, you you've got to have that knowledge. It is your foundation. It's your baseline. And that can happen with a brand new agent. That can happen with someone that's years into it. Maybe they're maybe they're going to a different, you know, if you're in a rut, I'm always selling these hundred and fifty thousand dollar houses, the two hundred thousand dollar house. I want to get into a higher price point. I want to get into a neighborhood or a building or a different city. I want to expand my my reach. Well, this is what you do. You learn the market. And so if you don't want to sell a hundred thousand dollar houses, go get familiar with the three hundred thousand or the five hundred thousand dollar houses. Go look at them. Go hold them open. Go get into that flow. And so that's the best advice that has helped people go from new agents to rookies of the year to top producers over a matter of a couple of years, because

Sherri Johnson (37:24.856)

Such good advice.

Chris SCHLENKERMAN (37:35.398)

You just keep repeating that and that knowledge will always help you do better.

Sherri Johnson (37:42.124)

And I'm so glad you brought up, you cannot preview houses online. You have to physically go in the house. And by the way, when you have been in the house and you know that the backyard's spectacular, but the pictures don't show that, and you can say, know what, Lisa, I've actually been in the house, you have to go see it. You can't judge a book by its cover. Many of my clients buy a house that they didn't like online. And that is only because they did what you're talking about, which is going. physically to see the home and nothing worse than if you have not been in the houses. I mean, you have to do this guys. is real estate 101. I'm so glad you brought it up. It's tour, know your market, be the expert, that knowledge will help you. And I love the fact that you make it a point to preview houses, even if you don't have a buyer. That's what he's talking about is like, you know, are people still doing caravans and brokers opens? I'm just curious in your market.

Chris SCHLENKERMAN (38:39.27)

I mean, not not at all the way it used to be. But, you know, I don't like going to the local grocery store, running into someone I know. And they said, gosh, did you see the house that came out? I mean, I I usually say, yes, I have. But if you know, if I hadn't, I'm like, God, I can't believe I don't know this property. You know, and hopefully it's because it just came on the market. Like, OK, funny story. This literally just happened yesterday, two streets down from. where I'm sitting now in my home. I've met a neighbor who's looking in the neighborhood and there's no sign in the yard. And I ran into another neighbor who lives across the street from the house on the market. And they said, what are you doing here? I go, I'm showing this house. They go, we didn't even know it was on the market. I go, now you do. So I mean, like you've got to be out there and you know it start, start focused and start, you know, where you want to, where you want to do the most business. You can't do that on the, like it's not a county wide effort. can't be, you know, previewing all of Cuyahoga County or Lorain County or Lorain County. You gotta get in, get here and then build out. So, but it works. It just works and it builds your confidence. It builds your knowledge base. Maybe you haven't sold a house at all. Maybe you've only sold two houses and it's been a year or two because that's how things went for you. But if you have that knowledge, you can say, I've been in this house. has this, I mean, you sound and you probably feel more confident. and you sound more confident and the people will be more comfortable using you. And they're not asking you, how many houses have you sold? Because it doesn't matter to them. They're just glad that you know what the heck you're talking about.

Sherri Johnson (40:18.636)

That's so true, and this is-

Chris SCHLENKERMAN (40:20.146)

It's easy. It's not difficult.

Sherri Johnson (40:23.768)

building confidence, industry knowledge, market knowledge, know your neighborhood and be an expert and the rest will take care of itself. I love the fact that you said they aren't gonna ask you how many houses you sold when you know the market data. So, so priceless, I love it, great advice. And so basic, like, come on, like who couldn't do this, you know? I mean, like, it's so easy, it's just.

Chris SCHLENKERMAN (40:49.042)

so easy.

Sherri Johnson (40:52.332)

making it a priority. What do you tell somebody who wants to scale? You know, they're doing 25 units a year right now. They're a solo agent, solo entrepreneur, real estate agent. They want to scale to 50 plus units. What's the best thing to help them to make that shift? Because they might have plateaued. They may be like, all the business is coming to me, Chris. So I just kind of do what's coming to me. You know, I don't know how to hit that next level scaling. Do I hire someone? Do I take the leap and start a team or tell us what you think your advice would be to them.

Chris SCHLENKERMAN (41:32.723)

Well, this is just business planning, right? So if they're, they're whimming it and they're selling 25 units a year by whimming it, well, what could they do if they weren't whimming it? And so let's talk about the different approaches. What is the real goal? Is the goal to solve 50 units or is it to sell 25 units of twice the volume? Right? you know, you start to, I'd say let's look at Let's look at the strengths and the weaknesses. What can we build on or improve? And what's going to really make sense for them? If they're doing a lot of units and it's more time consuming, maybe more physical because you're out running around more places to show things or listings, an assistant or some sort of hired help may not be a bad way to go. It's not for everybody. And that's not always the case, but it might be time to do that. Or pairing, or even just pairing up with someone, another agent. I mean, there's so many ways to do this. This is the problem. This is the problem with the term team. You know, where you've got teams that are, they look like, you know, groups of people that are under one name of some sort. And then you've got these teams where it's really just the agent and their admin. or they're, you whoever. And so that, that, that term is so, such a wide spectrum. you know, so like, this doesn't mean like you have to join a team or be a team, create a a group team, whatever you want to call it. You know, it's like, this is business planning. mean, brokers aren't just one guy in the office being a broker, you know, right? So, or gal. so, you know, that agent that wants to ramp their business up, it

Sherri Johnson (43:05.673)

for sure.

Chris SCHLENKERMAN (43:26.212)

isn't always about units. It might be also about volume. It might be about approach. It might be about organization. A lot of people don't have systems. Maybe they just need to market to their past clients because they've never sent a follow up or anything or made a call and said, hey, I'm still here. you know something? Like asking for the business, asking for the referral. And that would be a really easy way to increase your volume or your overall sales. So there's so many ways to do it that could be person specific where you've just got to sit down with someone who's objective and can say, well, this is what I see that you might be missing. And you got to be open to hearing that if they're not, if you're not open to hearing it, then you're not opening, then you're not open to growing. You you just want to, you actually want to stay where you're at. If you're not going to listen to what might actually make your business and your lifestyle better.

Sherri Johnson (44:25.506)

But I love that you said, you you can increase your average sale price and give yourself a raise and not have to.

Chris SCHLENKERMAN (44:32.37)

or your commission. How about that? Let's not cut commission. How about, know, I'd like to make more money. Well, what are you charging people now? I'm charging them a dollar. Well, you should be charging them $2. You know?

Sherri Johnson (44:36.59)

lot of math.

Sherri Johnson (44:43.202)

So many times, you know what, I want to point this out. in coaching, we find that agents are, you know, overly reducing commission when they don't have to because they don't have a good talk track or a rebuttal or an overcoming objection to say, you know what, I'm actually not part of the contract. I'm not a part of the contract. Thank you for asking for me to cut my commission, but I can't and you know, let's get, let's keep this deal together. we've saved people 35, $70,000 a year because an agent was both reducing her fee on past clients by $3,600 a deal and didn't even know it, never did the math. It's like 36 grand on 10 units. then the other side was providing money to keep deals together because she didn't have a better way to handle those situations and she felt stressed out.

Chris SCHLENKERMAN (45:35.965)

the other way around? How about the other way around? By your client, just this is a few days ago after inspection, the buyer was prepared to just take it and move on without a without anything. I mean, and I am I am charging they are agreed to a rate that is higher than some lower than others. You know, it's a fair rate, all things considered. But and you know, there was a little bit of pushback. But we got it handled. And now that client is more than OK with it because after the inspection, he was prepared to move forward without a single request. I said, all right, let me talk to you tomorrow. There's a couple of things in here I think we could do. Do you give me permission to talk with the list agent and see what I can get? Yeah, go ahead. $2,500. He was like, holy crap. All right, $2,500. It was more than what the complaint was about my fee, about the difference of what was. So, you I didn't cut my fee, I got him more money. And we do that with sellers too. You want a low commission? All right, well, hate to bring this quote up, but you cut your commission, you reduce your commission, you reduce your price, right? As a seller. You want to hire someone that's not going to put in the effort, the time, the resources, the strategy, the planning, the marketing? Well, then you just lost. 10%, 5 % of your sale price when the fee would have been 2 3 or 4%. Do the math. Do the math. And we're going to see you through the process so that you retain what you started with as much as possible, if not all of it. So yeah, anyway, I think I want to try. Sorry.

Sherri Johnson (47:09.838)

Right? Exactly.

Sherri Johnson (47:23.694)

Well, it's our soapbox. always on the soap. I mean, we literally have taught this ad nauseum and it goes back to knowing your value, knowing how to articulate it and add value. We're not just shoving documents back and forth to people.

Chris SCHLENKERMAN (47:44.802)

Agents don't they don't

Chris SCHLENKERMAN (47:51.826)

What's the word? They don't transform. does a butterfly does? Anyway, so they don't learn. They don't adjust. They don't change with what's going on. They learn something early on, and they just want to hold onto that for the rest of their career. And that's how it always is. And I think that's why a lot of people have suffered or had a lot of trouble with this new buyer agency because they didn't have to do it You know, you've got to learn to change your ways. And if someone can, back to the question, in order to increase your success, your income, whatever the goal is, then be open to hearing someone give you constructive advice. And you know what? Maybe you don't have to sell more. Maybe you need to sell more of a higher volume and do less cutting or less expense. I mean, there are so many things to that, you know, where or adding on some efforts, whether it's marketing or just simple phone calls. So that answer is so specific to each person, but that's just a lot of different potential ways to boost from up to the next level.

Sherri Johnson (49:10.702)

Well, and I think most agents really just don't have a plan. So having a plan and being strategic about your growth is what's going to make it happen. it's not half, you can't just say, is what I do. I do it every year, you know, hope.

Chris SCHLENKERMAN (49:26.098)

We used the gold mine, the pipeline. I did, we used the pipeline. I mean, we have the list of buyers and sellers listed, priority, motivation, price points, all that sort of stuff. And that is the dashboard that goes on your refrigerator, on your screen, and you update it.

Sherri Johnson (49:30.419)

you did not just know there.

Sherri Johnson (49:46.518)

I love it.

Chris SCHLENKERMAN (49:56.026)

as often as you can, if not every couple of weeks, every month. And you know, I just did this with my team a couple of months ago and it's about to go out and say, okay, update these. If you haven't done any updating, and it puts them in a reset and it says, okay, well I've had these successes because these people listed, sold, bought, whatever the case might be, but I've got new people coming in that I need to remember to follow up with. And now they know what their pipeline is. Cause if they don't have that in front of them, you just don't, you're guessing. And being successful is not guessing, it's knowing.

Sherri Johnson (50:30.606)

Well, I love that you just brought up the Goldmine Pipeline because you, mean, it is the long game. You will have business six, eight, 10 months from now if you are patient and you work with the people and you put them on the list and you put every lead, stop looking at leads. Like they're not good if they're gonna buy, you know, six months out. You need business six months from now, people. And it just is so practical. know you use it. it's just so great. I'm so glad you brought that up. It's like my, you know, if I didn't, if I created any one strategy, maybe it's that and the make 50 grand to turn next open house. I don't know. They're both pretty cool. it's so fun. And you know, I, the other thing I wanted to ask you is there's, there's so much, you know, agents are like, I get it's, know, a lot of people think they have to be on social media to be successful. You have, you do some social media, but your business does not come from social media. So would you share with people how you're one of the top teams in America? You're one of the top teams in Ohio. And it's not like you're pushing out tons and tons. I know you do a nice strategy. You're online. You have a great presence, but your lead generation and your referral rate speak for themselves. I mean, you do not have to buy leads to do this business and you don't have to be running around on TikTok. So. Your thoughts on that.

Chris SCHLENKERMAN (51:58.072)

I'm dabbling a little bit because we do have some paid lead stuff. do some online marketing or advertising, tried it, still kind of feels like an experiment. The core to it is referral and word of mouth. And that's where when the agents are trained and it's ingrained in them to know the markets, know the facets of them.

Sherri Johnson (52:21.806)

There it is.

Chris SCHLENKERMAN (52:32.881)

I mean we are we do we do have weekly zoom meetings. Okay, our group does and in that 45 minutes to an hour We talk about the market and we talk about what's going on and any sort of challenges or so so You know, we just you got to know that stuff But you know, so We do a little bit of this, we do a little bit of that, but really the core is that the agents, this is why I was bringing up the meetings, the Zooms, is they need to be knowledgeable. They need to know how it works in finance, whether that is appraisals or different loans. They need to know a little bit. can't know it all perfectly. You need to know a little bit about houses and inspections, how they work. So lots of education, lots of training, lots of workshops. You know, if they're on it, then what they do is they are able to project that to their clients with confidence and talk about those things. Those clients have a great experience. They had success with that agent now and they had a lack of success before that. And it's because they were educated. They were proactive. They, they set right expectations. had high communications. And so. A lot of the business is generated by the agent themselves through their excellent client experiences. I mean, yeah, we put some things out there on social media. mean, sometimes you can't track where your businesses are coming from. I know where some things are coming from, not everything. I'm always asking people, how did you hear about me? So and so and so and so. I'm like, OK, OK, cool. It's the knowledge and being out there. Open houses are the best lead generations. We can't have enough open houses and it drives me crazy when agents won't do open houses or won't allow other agents to open houses. mean, open your doors, people. If I have a listing and maybe I'm busy or I'm exhausted or I just don't want to do an open house that weekend because I wasn't playing, whatever happens or, you I do want to do the open houses usually, but

Sherri Johnson (54:35.566)

That's going to

Chris SCHLENKERMAN (54:59.666)

You know, there's a Saturday, there's a Sunday, there's 12 to two, two to four on both days. I mean, that's eight hours of time right there. If the seller can allow it or if it's vacant or if they're out of town or if they'll just be like, I mean, I'm always saying, hey, if I can get people to do four open house shifts over the weekend, let's throw in a Friday night while we're at it, there's five. That's part of the strategy. You want that? I'll get it done because the more these doors are open,

Sherri Johnson (55:08.002)

for sure.

Chris SCHLENKERMAN (55:27.794)

the more opportunity people have to come see it. And it's opportunity for the person who's hosting. That earlier story I gave about the house that didn't sell for six, it was actually 12 months. And I did open houses Saturday, Sunday, Saturday, Sunday. I met three buyers, two of them made the offers on the house. And I was there. They had some, most of them had agents.

Sherri Johnson (55:34.382)

Correct.

Chris SCHLENKERMAN (55:55.717)

Others became clients now for buyers. So this stuff is so layered that if you're doing nothing, it's like a deficit. If you're doing something, you're up there. You're going to be getting all these things because they're woven in with each other. The knowledge and the activity and the success, it all comes together. And that's where my favorite part is when a new agent, they've done all their previewing and they're just waiting for something to happen. Okay, let's do this. Now do the open house. Now talk.

Sherri Johnson (56:00.515)

Yes.

Sherri Johnson (56:04.664)

Yes.

Sherri Johnson (56:10.99)

There.

Chris SCHLENKERMAN (56:24.88)

like say these things and then somebody comes in and they give them the right stuff and they say the right things and they go and then the agent comes back the next night or the next morning say it happened. Someone's going to work, you know, because I knew stuff, right? And so I just think that's where our leads are mostly coming from is that the agents are lead generating themselves with through their knowledge and through the excellent experiences that their clients are have where their referrals are actually. quite quite good.

Sherri Johnson (56:57.518)

Well, I just, know, the open house is the goat of all the Jen. It is the greatest of all time. Where else can you sit in a house? Have people come to you, have a better strategy, sit at a house that has a move up buyer so you get listings from it. I just had a client, literally seven new clients. He said, I used, if you remember the handshake strategy that I do. And he said, It's the one where you shake hands until people answer your questions, but your name, you keep shaking. then they, I mean, you keep shaking the hand and then you say your last name and you keep shaking. so this, this agent who, by the way, did gold mine pipeline and an hour had $9 million on it. He got in his car. He said, you know what? I'm going to go back in the office and actually call these people. In another hour, he had three listing appointments. Those houses all sold. But just last week he was on and he said, Sherry, I did this open house here, make 50 grand open house strategy, seven new clients. They're all gonna list. They're all gonna buy. It's 14 transactions. It's $157,000 in commission. If that's not the best two to three hours of your weekend time, the most profitable, the most productive and most profitable, please. Like I never met an agent who was licensed 35, 40 years who then said to me, I'm going do that open house. Even if you do it once a month, you'll get enough business to put on your pipeline. I know you do that. These are sort of what we call it easy hard work and they're easy concepts, but it's because people don't have a strategy. They're doing the open house to make the seller happy. It's only two hours. You see me in the house trying to sell it. They're slapping and sign up for the open house. There's no preparation, right? We know this. And it's like, you have a gold mine of leverage from that one house. Let's sell three to five more houses off of every listing. That's the way it really works.

Chris SCHLENKERMAN (59:04.73)

I will take one open house visitor over 10 online leads because that one person, they took the time to show up. They knew it was a window of time. They're there for a reason. And so, you know, when you have an open house and it is slow, it's not always a bad thing. So you've got 40 people coming in, you can't talk to them, right? But if you've got one or two trickling and you've got that opportunity, I will take that one. one visitor over 10 or 100 online leads because they took the time to show up and now we're face to face and you can't get that on a phone call and you sure as heck can't get that on an email or a text. So that two hour window or three hour window or four hour window, because yes I have been doing four hour open houses more, well not always on purpose. Sometimes I get there early and people are there and I'm like okay.

Sherri Johnson (59:41.944)

Yeah, that's a good.

Sherri Johnson (59:47.854)

Now. Now.

Sherri Johnson (59:57.091)

The best.

Chris SCHLENKERMAN (01:00:04.39)

And then they come in late and I'm there an extra hour, half hour before half hour early, it just happens, right? So I'm not gonna shut it down. They appreciate that. It's actually great service. They wanna work with you. You took the extra time out of your way. So that one, I'll take open houses leads anytime because that's when they get to see you, hear you, you get to ask the questions. mean, it's just so much more effective. If agents would spend time to make... You know who hates open houses? Agents who can't convert leads. It's a waste of their time. I get it. If you're gonna show up, if you're gonna bring your phone and just watch the game there while everyone walks through, don't even do it. Get out. If you're gonna show up with one blank piece of paper or a legal pad and put name, phone number, email, get out. Don't waste everyone's time. Don't waste the people that are coming through. But if you're gonna show up with data about the market,

Sherri Johnson (01:00:44.75)

You're right.

Chris SCHLENKERMAN (01:00:59.122)

with flyers or little pamphlets or whatever the neighborhood might have. I mean, you can find them somewhere. There is blending. Everyone needs information about lending. Do they need this kind of loan, this kind of loan? Have they even talked about it? That's value. And so that one person that comes to my open house, in that two hour window, best use of my time ever. Best use.

Sherri Johnson (01:01:20.194)

Yeah. Yep.

Sherri Johnson (01:01:26.638)

You know, the best part of having listings is that they create more listing opportunities for you. And you're spot on, you know, the purpose of the open house is not to send people through the house and say, Hey, I'll be in the kitchen if you have any questions. This is an opportunity for you to convert your best when you're face to face. You know, 55 % of communication is body language and 37 % is tone of voice and cadence of how you speak. So you Debbie Downer. the front door? Or are you like, Hey, enthusiasm wins every time, right? The last four letters of that word are I am already sold myself. And it's like, you can meet one or two people at open house and get more business. You're absolutely right. I love that you said that. By the way, the neighbors are potential listings and future buyers. Please stop calling them nosy neighbors. Come on. They are literally Where there is one for sale sign, two to three more signs are gonna pop up in that neighborhood. It's not a coincidence, everybody. You can be the agent who gets those leads, who gets those listings and puts your name on those signs if you would just do some legwork. Walk around, do canvas neighborhoods. Do canvas neighborhoods, and I'm sure you do. Tell people you sold the house or invite them to the neighborhood open house or do you do like invite the neighbors.

Chris SCHLENKERMAN (01:02:37.65)

They're waiting. They're waiting more.

Chris SCHLENKERMAN (01:02:47.122)

using so so I am getting back into my mailing habits my direct mailing habits and so this this whole year earlier this year you know it was probably April or something like that I put out a couple of postcards you know there are a couple weeks apart from your sales listings open houses just kind of your regular stuff but a couple neighbors said when did you start getting so popular

Sherri Johnson (01:02:52.12)

Yes. Yes. I love it.

Chris SCHLENKERMAN (01:03:15.186)

I was like, well, I've always been doing business around here. I just didn't send you postcards about it. And so, you know, it was like, it was funny, but I'm like, And I'm like, should have, you know, it's one of those, you know, we've got past clients that end up working with other people, not for a good reason, just because we forgot to follow up with them. We've got family that says, hey, I bought a house. Hey, I'm a real estate agent. I'm related to you. What the hell? You know, and so.

Sherri Johnson (01:03:21.954)

Yeah

Sherri Johnson (01:03:36.14)

That's right.

Chris SCHLENKERMAN (01:03:44.147)

That canvassing is definitely worth it. And again, it goes hand in hand with previewing all this stuff. If you're previewing this neighborhood and you're sending out direct mailers or door knocking or whatever you do, you know, like it all goes hand in hand and you will become the specialist, not some general practitioner, but the specialist of those people's real estate needs and. Whatever. It's just awesome.

Sherri Johnson (01:04:15.522)

Well, listen, know, number one, I had a listing in a neighborhood and I told everybody about it six times. And they said, you sell everything in this neighborhood. And I'm like, I only have one listing. But the perception was that I was the only one telling anybody that it had an open house. was a new listing. had a price change. It went under contract. And then it finally, you know, sold. And I told them who the neighbors were, but they got five cards from me. And so they thought I sold everything in the neighborhood.

Chris SCHLENKERMAN (01:04:30.866)

This is really funny.

Sherri Johnson (01:04:45.007)

Such a point and yeah.

Chris SCHLENKERMAN (01:04:47.196)

coming, you know, new listing, open house, under contract, sold. Those are four right there without even thinking, right? Four right there. Because they want to know, right? New price.

Sherri Johnson (01:04:57.016)

Yeah. And maybe a new price, a new price. And everybody wants to know what's going on in the neighborhood. Like when an agent says, I don't want a cold call, Chris. And then they look at me and they say, I don't want to, I don't want to call my sphere either. I basically look at them. say, who are we selling houses to? Because this is a contact sport. You just proved it really in the last 55 minutes. Like it is, it is game day. You are literally out. meeting people, running into people. Every person needs shelter and you have the opportunity as an agent to provide value, exceptional value and help that person meet them where they are. Don't get hung up on their timeline. Have a conversation and show value. But again, it comes all the way back to knowing your market and being an expert in your market. That only happens because you've been through enough doors and enough houses. So I love that set a goal right now. If you're a new agent, if you're not a new agent, you got to go out and preview houses. You got to know your market. I love when you can talk about a house and people are like, how do you know about that? And you're like, I've been in it. You said that multiple times. You can't nothing beats knowledge and being an expert and literally knowing your primary market. So we could talk all day. I

Chris SCHLENKERMAN (01:06:10.012)

My job. My job.

Sherri Johnson (01:06:23.352)

think this has been amazing. If you are listening right now, please, the action items, the best practices you just heard, put them into action. We're gonna be able to indicate how to get ahold of Chris Schlankerman and his team and how to send any referrals your way. If you're listening to this across the country, Chris is in Northeast Ohio and covers the greater Cleveland market. Has an amazing team. Again, amazing team in the. country, you are like, it's just awesome. You've done so well. You've always done well. And I personally, when we got to work together and run a huge, huge thing together and run it and hit goals and crossover thresholds, no one said we could. And we did it not once, but three times in a row. I'll tell you what, those are the best memories. And I know like you make me better. You you have taught me so much Chris and it's just been. Well, it's been a fun partnership and I look forward to the future. you come back, be on the show again? You got it, the Chris and Jerry show. And guess what, everybody? Chris is literally one of those people. You can call him. You can reach out to him if you're in Cleveland. He knows everybody. He will connect you. He will help you if you have a referral. His team and Chris will take care of that.

Chris SCHLENKERMAN (01:07:28.316)

Chris and Sherry's show.

Sherri Johnson (01:07:46.606)

And I want you to follow Chris on his social media that will be in the link here for you to follow Chris and get to connect with him and connect with his team, the collaborative home sales group. And Chris, thanks for being my friend. Most of all, thanks for being one of my like dearest closest people, friends, BFF in the industry. And I just said BFF, didn't I? Oh my gosh. Remember that I got you that, that I got you that big. Do you still have it? You still have it? I know you still have it. We are going to have you back and we are going to bring Chris back and he'll, I know, bring it and deliver some more fire. This has been an amazing, amazing episode. I'm so excited. Hey, Wilfa comments. Yes.

Chris SCHLENKERMAN (01:08:26.204)

What do they want to hear? Do you have comments on this thing? Do they get to put like, here's what we want to, here's what we want topic wise.

Sherri Johnson (01:08:33.442)

Yeah. So you know what? Drop a comment. put a review in the podcast, please. This is the new Sherry Johnson show. It's the new podcast. My old one. I shouldn't say old. I retired the first one after about 330 episodes, the you rock podcast. It's, it's retired, but it's still awesome. And, know, I love the fact that people tell me. People appreciate this. I met someone in an airport, an AM, elevator and, I didn't meet them. was talking on the phone. had a baseball hat on. was running in the morning, NAR, and I'm in Orlando and this woman heard me talking and she said, Hey, you're Sherry Johnson. And I said, she said, I recognize your voice. Let's go figure. And I said, I said, you must listen to my podcast. Cause I didn't know her and she grabbed my arm and she said, I not only listen to your podcast, I've sold five houses from your podcast. So here's what I know. and that alone just like made my entire week. You're going to take, if you listen and implement just a third half, all of what Chris has just shared with you, your business will soar and you can do anything you set your mind to. So please take what he said, write it down, take notes from your notes. As my friend Brent Gove says, take notes from your notes and put into action what you just heard, because this is a recipe for consistent growth. scalable growth and just a fantastic way to really have a successful business. You've grossed over a million dollars in closed real estate this year in GCI. And, you know, I'm going to say it for you, but you are a wildly successful person. You're a wildly successful real estate leader, team leader, and you're just one of my favorite people. So thank you fellow Capricorn, my friend. Love you. Love you. So we will have Chris back and

Chris SCHLENKERMAN (01:10:20.434)

Bye.

Sherri Johnson (01:10:25.07)

Tune in for the next episode of the Sherri Johnson show. We are dropping new episodes every week. And again, I'm Sherri Johnson. Thanks for being here, everybody. We'll see you next time. Take care. Bye-bye.

Chris SCHLENKERMAN (01:10:35.923)

Thank