Welcome and good morning to Mike Ferry TV … the week of April 20th. Who would have thought on March 1st of this year, which was virtually 45 … 50 days ago, that our country, North America, and most of the world would be in the position we’re in today? I don’t think anybody could really project that, but we’re in that position … and now, of course, we have to adapt to how we’re going to do business and how to make our business continue to run to service the Buyers and Sellers we have.

See, the biggest thing that I think most agents are suffering from is fear … and it’s the fear of not knowing where this particular disease is … how we’re going to get it … how do we avoid it. Even though there’s all sorts of social distancing and great advice, which we’re all trying to follow, it’s fearful.

You know, I said to a group a couple of days ago that if we were to experience a hurricane, we would be notified several days in advance it was coming and we would prepare for that. In most cases, even in the Midwest and in the South Midwest where you have tornadoes, you can see or hear that that is coming to your area and you protect yourself. The Northwest has rain. It’s called the Emerald City for a reason … Seattle … because the rain is so much of the time part of their lives, but they know and expect that. If you look at the Northeast … in the wintertime, we have some horrendous snowstorms and snow up to here … but you know that’s coming.

The challenge we have today with the coronavirus is we can’t see it, we can’t feel it, we can’t touch it and therefore the fears that we have are normal. I think the biggest thing I want to say to all of you professional Real Estate Agents is that the fears are normal … however, if you’re taking all the precautions that are being suggested, the odds are very, very slim that not only would you get this terrible disease or that you would suffer badly or … unfortunately … pass away.

So, in this type of environment, working from our homes … virtually all the time … Sabrina and I made the decision … I have to share with you … we’re walking through the Wynn hotel … we live in Las Vegas … going to dinner at her favorite restaurant that first week in March and, of course, we looked at each other and said we can’t touch anything. This was before we all became so aware. Sabrina, in her normal style, pulls out of her purse gloves for each of us in case we do touch something. So, we were a little ahead of the curve and we also made the decision before all the announcements that we would start working out of our home.

Part of that was because of my age … and being 75 years old in another month or so, I’m supposed to be in a category of people that would be more apt to get this disease. I am 100% confident it is not going to happen to me because we have done all the things we’re supposed to do. My doctor suggested we stay home … and my doctor is my age and he’s staying home … so I understand.

But with all that being said, the one thing I’m doing … and I’m doing probably an average of 5 webinars per day … sales presentations for our Broker customers on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday each week … and I’ve been doing that now for about 5 weeks … the one message I’m trying to get across today to all Real Estate salespeople … if you’ve ever had an opportunity to work with your database, to work with your Past Clients, your Centers of Influence, now is the opportunity.

Now, if you’re talking to them and you’re spreading the fear that you feel … you’re not accomplishing anything of value. A Real Estate Agent should be what I refer to as a Real Estate resource center. Now, in good times, you’re the resource center for how to help them purchase a home … you’re the Real Estate resource center to help them try to sell their home and move to the next one … and you’re the expert on all things that comes to the buying and selling process. That’s the job we took when we got our license and that’s the job that so many of you do so well.

But, the truth is, as this market has changed so dramatically, those thoughts of being a true Real Estate resource center seems to have diminished. We’re not talking to the people that probably have the most respect for us … which is our database. We’re not talking to the people that have a high level of trust … our Past Clients. We’re not talking to the people that we could inform that everything is okay … because, see, the truth is … I’m getting reports 2 or 3 times a week from a wide variety of marketplaces all over North America that in the last 3 weeks, the number of listings taken, listings sold and Buyer sales is remaining even.

Now, yes, there is some places where it’s gone down 5% … 8% … 10%. A couple markets have gone down a little bit more than that, but that’s generally based on the fact that the agents in the market are not being active in the work that they do. You see, something we always have to remember … we can be the creation of a new market very quickly by working … and we can be very much the case of a market not succeeding by not working.

You and I … on the street … on the phone … talking to people on a regular basis creates, in the public’s mind, that the Real Estate world is okay … and therefore, by having conversations on a regular basis, we’re creating an aura that the world is okay because the truth is … even with this virus, as difficult as it is and challenging and unfortunately causing deaths, the world is still operating … which it is.

There are listings being taken … there are sales being made … in almost all cases virtually today … and they’re being done everywhere. I mean, Italy … we have our clients in Italy that are still doing deals and that’s where this pandemic really has hit the hardest. So, now it’s hitting Russia and we have a company in Russia and they’re homeward bound now also … and of course all over the U.S. and Canada. But, the truth is, the market is there for those that are working. The market is not there for those that are hiding under their covers at 11 o’clock in the morning.

I had a request about 10 days ago from a Real Estate Broker about me doing a webinar for their company … a sales webinar … and so I said “okay” and I called the guy at 10 o’clock in the morning and he was in bed. This was the Broker … for goodness sakes.

Now, I will say to you … I don’t know all of you personally and I don’t know all of your companies, but I am committed 100% to doing whatever I can do … and Sabrina is on my side … and our Coaches are in the same position … and our entire staff is. We’re going to do whatever we can to help you through this.

So, if you want a webinar for your company … and if your Broker may not like Mike Ferry or you may not like me, but you’re watching, which is interesting … or you may think what I teach doesn’t work … there’s a lot of people lining up for me to do a 30 to 45 minute webinar over the next several weeks.

It’s MikeFerry@MikeFerry.com. If we can be of service and we can help, we’re going to do it. I’ve got a message that is very strong that agents are using today to produce. We just had 1,497 people last week in Toronto on a virtual 4-day event … so we know that what we’re talking about makes sense, we know that what we’re talking about works, the question is … does it make sense to you and do you want to work? Because if you want to work, there’s not much else to do for a good portion of the day when you’re homeward bound. You might as well work effectively.

So, pay attention to the next few weeks of our Mike Ferry TV as we dive more into the different topics that we think are required for you to succeed … and let’s hope that in the next few weeks, this whole problem is starting to be resolved … and let’s hope that some of this home isolation is being lifted so we can get back to doing what we do best … because what we do best is talk to people about buying and selling Real Estate … and what we do best in this market is calming the nerves of people who still have an interest … and being an information source to our database to help them become calm and be knowledgeable so when this thing does turn around and they come back to you, they come back to you first.

See you next Monday.

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Mike Ferry is the global leader in real estate coaching and training. Watch Mike each week as he discusses a variety of topics to help real estate agents and brokers. Grow your real estate business by improving your mindset, developing your skills and creating a plan of action to increase your production!