Ryan Serhant Quotes

Steve Jobs said it best: “People don’t know what they want until you show it to them.

When people think you're crazy, it's just because they don't have the courage to do what you're doing.

Don't prioritize your schedule, schedule your priorities.

A Win is the legacy you leave behind. And your Win doesn’t have to be as big as “change the world”—but it needs to be real, it needs to change you, and it needs to be something you really want.

#2 Choose success first, no matter what—then back yourself into a career.

Good follow-up, just like a good golf game, is an art form: It takes practice, grace, and diligence to make the ball go where you want, and eventually in the hole—and it works. Had I not been on my follow-up A game, the International Man of Mystery still would have bought an incredibly expensive apartment, it just wouldn’t have been from me. Another broker would have gotten that commission. Ouch. And that would have really sucked because he and I go wayyy back.

I had to understand first that even if I didn’t have a team to handle my client’s listings that weekend, I would have still deserved a weekend off. No one owns my time but me. I also have to tell myself on a daily basis that there will always be some people who CANNOT BE PLEASED. Work 24/7, go above and beyond, consistently deliver fantastic results, offer your firstborn child—and they’re still unhappy. If your PTSD is tied to human reactions that have upended your livelihood, the solution here is to simply say (in your mind, please) “FTG!

If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?” If someone is the best graphic designer, dog walker, yoga instructor, real estate broker, professional organizer, or personal chef and no one knows about it, does it matter?

establish yourself as an authority in your industry, remind people constantly that you’re right here, and provide continual evidence that YOU are the go-to human for all things in your industry.

And what I didn't understand...was that maybe other brokers only say yes to the easy deals. Maybe that's why I was struggling while other brokers seemed to be moving through deals with little effort.

When your instant reaction to everything is no, it's like you're unleashing a little monster that eats up all of life's possibilities.

to solve algebra problems. It’s weird and confusing. This should explain why one of my first clients, Jessica, was so annoyed with me. Jessica was a twenty-something who responded to my ad on Craigslist. That’s how new brokers like me found clients in 2008. We placed ads, clients called, and we arranged to meet with them. It’s actually very similar to arranging a date with a prostitute.

The secret to your success will be revealed in hindsight. You won’t recognize it until you’ve already lived it.

Or did I want something different? Did I want a life that was completely unhindered by anything? Limitless possibilities. Expansion in all ways. That sounded a lot better than my current situation of broke and in tears. I understood that I had a choice to make. Did I want to be moderately successful? Or did I want to be phenomenally successful?

thought about how I could take initiative to move my career forward every day. I asked more experienced brokers if I could shadow them for a day or run one of their open houses. I put more ads on Craigslist. I worked to be less shy. Soon I started to feel less weird about not going to auditions, and more excited about selling. It was a slow, steady process. There were occasional bumps, big and small, but I kept going. At first, I was fueled by fear and the scary thoughts of returning home to Colorado a failure.

Initiative is like a magical cure-all elixir. Pick up the phone and make a call, send an email, follow up with leads. Do something. Taking initiative is like breathing for a salesperson; you cannot survive without it. Take initiative with everything that is put in front of you, and you will experience success every single day.

Never hyper-focus on one ball. You do not live or die by one sale. 2. You never wonder, “What’s next?” because your next deal is already in the works. 3. You are surrounded by opportunity—making contacts, gaining referrals, generating new business, always reaching for new balls. 4. You know that it takes as much energy to manage one ball as it does four, five, or even six. 5. You control the flight path—you know which balls to handle first, which ones to deal with quickly, and which ones require more time and attention. 6. You don’t blindly toss balls in the air. You care about where each one lands. LET FEAR DRIVE YOUR SUCCESS

Face time matters in sales. Whenever I have a client who is on the fence about a deal, or hesitating to move forward, I schedule a face-to-face meeting right away. People often struggle to make decisions, and if they’re not in front of you it’s out of sight and out of mind. It’s easy to ignore texts and emails, but it’s not easy to ignore someone sitting right across from you. I take in-person meetings whenever I can. An in-person meeting shows a client your level of commitment. In the end you’ll also save time, close more sales, and be ready to tackle that next ball.

option. Never forget that while you’re a salesperson, you are also in the service business—and sometimes that means being flexible and playing by someone else’s rules.

The list goes on, and the only thing I’ve said NO to was having a live tiger at an open house—that’s just going too far. But it was that first big deal with Mr. X that showed me the true power of YES when it comes to making volume sales. I sell more because I say YES when other people would say no, and I can keep moving a client forward until that deal is done. Saying yes to every opportunity was my way of believing in myself and showing everyone I was the best—even when I wasn’t. I’ve also learned that quickly flipping negatives into positives will help you close deals faster and more frequently. Sometimes this is as simple as asking yourself, “Is this negative really even a negative?” For example, if I’m selling an apartment with no light I’ll push this as a positive to a client who is almost never home, or only home at night. Why pay for a view you won’t even see? Take the time to think about the usual objections you have in your area of sales; it’s likely you’ll hear the same objections over and over. How can you show clients that this isn’t really a negative? How can you turn this around? Anticipating objections and immediately turning them into positives will result in you selling more. Get ready to juggle more balls and cash bigger checks! AN UNEXPECTED SALES WEAPON: IMPROV If you visited my office on a random Monday morning during our team meeting, you might think you had mistakenly walked into a circus or a lunatic asylum.

YES is the most essential word in any salesperson’s vocabulary. Say yes to opportunities so that you have lots of balls to play with. You have to persuade clients to say yes to making purchases. You have to say yes to taking risks. And maybe most importantly, if a client were to say, “I only want to buy from the best shoe salesperson in the world. Is that you?” don’t hesitate to shout, “Yes, I am the best!” from the top of the nearest mountain. Or just climb on a chair, you know, whatever works. When you are asked to do something new or totally foreign to you and you have no idea how to do it, say YES and trust yourself to figure out how to do it later.

toward closing and a nice big check), you need to listen to what your client is saying to you. You can’t be a one-note salesperson. Not everyone responds to the same song, and it’s your job to adjust the tune and play the right notes. You have to constantly ask yourself, “What does this client need from me?” and respond at their level. Ask yourself:

If you want a client to buy what you are selling, self-confidence needs to be oozing out of your pores. You must decide that there is no choice but to be the BEST salesperson that has ever existed in the history of the entire universe. Early on in my career, I bought myself a one-way ticket to planet confidence and I’ve never looked back.

Making enough money to pay for your kids’ college or take your dream vacation? The Serhants and the Badavas family have been lifelong friends since the day we showed up at their front door. I never could have imagined such a risk would pay off in such a good way. If there’s the possibility of that big reward on the other side of the door, just knock on it. Go ahead, take a risk. What are you waiting for? See? You’re still alive! Take another one. Then do it again.

Set your timer for two minutes (once you become a master of this game, do it for longer). Start a conversation with the other person by asking them a question. They must reply to your question with, you guessed it, another question. Continue this for the entire two minutes. Whoever messes up and answers a question with a statement loses the game.

SoHo was a market I desperately wanted to sell in, and I started meeting people the moment I put my mind to it. “Need some water? My name’s Ryan.” “Need a spot?” “Nice Nikes!” These would be strange things to say to someone on the street. But at the gym, these were my client pickup lines, and they worked. They worked so well that I became addicted to meeting people. The first week I picked up a $3.5 million loft and sold it in four days. The 6 percent commission I made paid for 100 years of Equinox. Literally. And these were just my afternoon clients.

Never start off by talking about the product. Always make a connection first. If you went on a blind date and the first words out of your mouth were, “Do you want to have sex?” things probably wouldn’t go your way. You might even get a drink thrown in your face. Sales is surprisingly similar: You have to be sincere when meeting a potential customer for the first time. Give them a genuine compliment or ask a question to get a conversation started. Get a yes and a smile. Once

People are attracted to other people with similar likes.

If you want to be really productive, give yourself a quota. Meet at least three new people every day, and get their contact info.

Social currency matters. The more people you meet, the more business you’ll do.

Most salespeople are either too pushy and aggressive, and only focused on the sale. Or they’re too accommodating—robotic, and say yes to whatever the client asks. Both of these scenarios prevent deals from closing. To be an effective closer, you have to maintain a connection but focus on the deal first.

As I started to close more deals, I saw that when I made a genuine connection with clients I was able to show how my product fit into their lifestyles—and not vice versa. If my client loved golf, I’d point out how much fun it would be to live near the driving range at Chelsea Piers. Making that personal connection between product and client is key, and it lays the groundwork for a transaction. It’s the difference between closing or losing a sale. If

Don’t always sell the most expensive product.

fit for them. Steve Jobs said it best: “People don’t know what they want until you show it to them.” Linus wanted an apartment in Murray Hill, but I sold him a townhouse in Park Slope. This didn’t happen because I just told him where it was, when it was built, and what the square footage was; based on what I knew about Linus I believed it was the best choice for him—and that he would love it. Closing a deal is about tapping into emotions. The sooner you can learn to take off the “salesman’s hat” and get in tune with your client’s emotions and desires, the better you’ll become at working the deal. If you’re not sure how to do that, remember what makes an exceptional salesperson: a salesperson who works for The Deal.

Shifting your focus back to the deal will remind you that you have one job: to close a sale for a happy customer, who will then come back and buy from you for the rest of their lives. When you work for the deal:

This means I can call up a client and say, “The bad news is that your buyer backed out because he decided to join a competitive curling team in Moscow. But! The good news is I got you another offer!” The bad news is instantly replaced by the good news. For people who sell other things, this could mean that a product won’t be ready on time or an order was placed incorrectly. Instead of calling up your customer and dropping the bad news, take time to think about what little surprise you can add to remedy the situation and maintain the relationship. “I’m so sorry that your order won’t be received on time. Please know that I’ve reduced my commission to make this a better deal for you, you get free shipping, and 20 percent off your next order.” Sometimes surprise comes in the simple form of exceeded expectations.

That’s when I began dividing my work day into three sections: the Finder, the Keeper, and the Doer. This was a watershed moment for me as a businessperson. Was this what Thomas Edison felt like when he finally got his fucking lightbulb to work? Probably.

was mostly still doing rentals at the time, so I decided I would create relationships with some landlords. I cold-called them to introduce myself as someone who would do a great job renting out their apartments. Fueled by my new role as the Finder, I also cold-called some For Sale by Owner ads, even though it was as terrifying as that time I asked Liz Jose to the prom.

With my Keeper hat on, I decided that I could afford to spend $200 on advertising and taxis. And I could dedicate about 10 hours each week showing the apartment. This helped ensure that if I sold it I would make a good profit.

Do anything you can to find relationships—from talking to people on the street, to cold-calling, to going to three different gyms. Make a vow to meet potential clients every single day. Give yourself a specific number, and get their contact information!

For every paycheck I received I saved 50 percent for taxes (as sure as death), 40 percent for rent and food, and the remaining 10 percent went back into the business. I used that 10 percent to make postcards or maybe place one ad.

Doer work can be everything and anything. Turning on lights, sending emails, answering the phones, opening mail, placing ads, licking stamps, putting postcards in mailboxes—whatever work has to be done to get the deal made. I did everything from ordering Twizzlers in bulk to showing apartments, to painting apartments, staging apartments, and measuring apartments to make sure a couch would fit, and taking out the garbage when a seller forgot to. For you it might mean paperwork and contracts—whatever work it takes to support the deal.

I wore all three hats for a long time. While today I wear my Finder hat more than when I first entered the sales business, I certainly pop on the Keeper hat and the Doer hat every day, but for much less time.

Deep in my core I believed I could sell this apartment. I was positive I could. Ready, set, GO! I called everyone. I spent the entire day emailing and calling people, trying to find a buyer. I never stopped believing I could pull this off. And it worked—I found one! After two weeks of negotiations, contracts were signed. Sold!

salesperson. If I take care of the work, the work will take care of me. Think about it. Life is going to go up and down. You will have great days and some you’d like to forget ever happened. You will have good relationships and bad ones.

never forget that I’m not really selling a product; I’m selling a product’s story.

When the market is great, that’s all you need. But when the market is bad, you need to sell more than just the product—you need to sell the story.

John Deco became the basis of our marketing campaign. We decided to throw John Deco a homecoming party as our launch event. We invited a lot of brokers for food and drinks, and gave out fancy gifts from Tiffany & Co. and Hermès, making sure everyone knew that both of those stores were located right in the area. See what a great neighborhood this is!? Now people were talking about the building. Suddenly, instead of calling the building 99 John, brokers started referring to it as “the John Deco building.” It was no longer just a bunch of units being converted into condos—now everyone knew about the building’s rich history because we had created a story to showcase it to potential buyers. We got our first three offers the next day.

People want to spend their money with the most confident and most knowledgeable person, otherwise they will just stay home and shop on the internet.

Enjoy being creative—it will help you attract shiny new balls, get publicity, and close deals. Once I hired an artist to paint the naked bodies of models and then made a 100-foot-long banner out of the images and hung it on the building I was selling to create buzz.

In sales, there is a direct correlation between the business that you get and the business you’re known for.

If you make a big sale, you’re one step closer to being the salesperson you want to be. Let everyone know about it. Send out postcards, post on social media, talk about it every chance you get.

We can prospect for new clients for 30 minutes, send follow-up, follow-through, and follow-back emails and texts for another 30 minutes, and strategize with our manager on an incentive-of-the-day to offer to customers if they buy TODAY. Trolling Facebook for an hour is only OK if you’re finding clients. Serhant Secret #18 No customers in front of you?

ribbons were the icing on top of the cake that was the right-sized three-bedroom apartment with perfect light in a great neighborhood. It was the ribbons that made the cake irresistible to Patty. Since making deals for Sarah and Patty, I’m always on the lookout for creative things I can do to get people comfortable with the purchase they are about to make.

Always make a counteroffer. You can’t get anywhere without a counter. Remind clients there is always a cost for time. Time is expensive. You can’t predict the market. You can’t assume there is always a better offer. Can the parties involved split the difference? Can you as the salesperson offer an additional incentive? Can you lower your commission? Pay for a cost associated with the deal yourself? Remember, $10 is better than $0!

Do I guide clients toward one decision over another? Possibly. Do I push a little when someone is nervous about making a decision? Of course. When I sell someone an apartment they love, it’s because I listened carefully to their wants, needs, and concerns, and I am able to assure them that they’re making the right choice. I always make a point of keeping my eye on the target, and my bulls-eye is always a closed deal.

That day I walked out of the store with new shoes and an understanding of how emotions can be used to drive a sale. Having me put on a shoe that was way out of my price range, but not pressuring me to buy it, created a big Wow Moment, and it achieved a couple of important things. First, my mind was blown. I couldn’t believe the difference between a good shoe and an amazing shoe, and I was able to feel it for myself. This is a great technique for upselling someone if they have more to spend. You can’t control how much money is in a client’s bank account, but you can control how you present the product to them—and that directly impacts how they feel about it. I

The Wow Moment also gave me a clear understanding of what products were in my price range. It helped manage my expectations. No one wants to hear, “Well, your budget is small, and therefore the sofas in your price range really aren’t that great. That’s probably why you hate all of them.” The Wow Moment is a kinder way to educate and assure a customer about their purchase. Serhant Secret #10 You can’t negotiate with someone’s wallet, but you can negotiate with their feelings. I first tried the Wow Moment on my client Amanda, who was looking for a rental on the west side of Manhattan and had a budget of about $3,500.

I told her, but before she got upset, I said, “Don’t worry, I know that’s too much for you, and who really needs a terrace? I have this same apartment one floor down, for $3,850 without a terrace. Want to see it?” She signed a lease that night.

At one point she got up to go to the bathroom, and I noticed her coat. I saw the tag—it was made by Linus’s family. I laughed out loud and sent him a text. He responded right away, “So funny. Just thinking about you. I want to buy another house.

Bring value. Have respect.

you want your voice to convey qualities that assure customers they are making the right move, start with your posture. You’ll sound best if you are standing up tall and straight.

When working with buyers, it’s important to keep momentum—once a buyer cools on spending this kind of money, it’s very tough to get them motivated again.

I no longer work like this, by the way. I learned my lesson after working with buyer after buyer who wouldn’t actually buy anything. Now I qualify buyers, I help them focus, and teach them that purchasing property is a process of elimination, not a shopping spree.

I decided I would follow up every three weeks, religiously, until they bought an apartment or I was dead (tragically young), or I read that they’d perished in a fiery car chase in Monte Carlo. I was going to implement the first F, follow-up, by sending them emails about new developments, listings I thought they would like, and highlights from The Serhant Team newsletter.

up. You are still in touch with cold clients once or twice a month. When they do decide to buy something, there you are, like magic!

HOT: Hot clients are ready to buy something now. They have a time line set. You are in touch with them every day. You’re keeping them posted on any product developments or sales. You are making it clear you are working hard for them. WARM: Warm clients are thinking about buying something. They are buy-curious. You are in touch with them once a week, also keeping them posted on developments and sales. COLD: Cold clients are not actively looking to buy, but that doesn’t mean you don’t follow

When you incorporate follow-up into your regular sales practice, jotting off a quick and friendly email is practically effortless—and it’s free. It’s free! It costs you nothing to send an email, and it takes less time than it does to make yourself a donut-shop-flavored Keurig coffee. If there was any chance the Lockes were going to buy an apartment—ever—it was going to be from me. Let the follow-up parade continue! When you follow up with a lead, don’t just

message. Include information about a sale, or a new product. You just came across an article that says, “People who have hot tubs are so relaxed that they outlive poor slobs who do not have hot tubs.” Include that along with a friendly message about how you’re offering free delivery this week only! I follow all my clients on social media. I also save all of their birthdays in my calendar. The other day I noticed that Greta Lambert’s son James had just celebrated his tenth birthday. It was an opportunity for an easy, friendly follow-up message. I shot her an email, “Wow. James is growing up so quickly, your apartment must be feeling small.” Greta responded, “Ryan, good to hear from you, it does feel small!” Now she’s a warm lead and I’ll follow up next week with some listings in her area.

One time he wanted me to research a house he was curious about—in Iowa. Some realtors might find this annoying, or view it as something they “don’t have time to do.” Anytime someone on my team tells me they’re too busy to answer clients, the next day they’re not on the team. Customer service and follow-through are paramount to referral business from clients just like Campbell. So even though I had no idea what houses in Iowa were worth, I was happy to get more information for him.

Anyone can follow up by pushing calls and emails, but follow-through is the next level. It’s simple: do what you say you’re going to do. If you tell a client you’ll do some research and get back to him, do it. If you say you will answer your emails within twelve hours, do it. If you make a promise to yourself that you’re going to meet three new people every day, don’t sell yourself short. Do it.

Never wait to follow up. Follow up now. It’s one of my little tricks to get attention. No one follows up faster than I do. And when you want to set up that follow-up meeting, propose dates that work for you. Don’t just ask if they’re free—take control of the destiny of your working relationship!

He said I was relentless with my outreach, and that’s the kind of broker he needs selling his apartments.

Following back is keeping in touch with past clients or people who did not hire you, and it is one of the biggest opportunities that salespeople miss out on.

It’s also a way to keep a door open for an opportunity that isn’t yours to be had at the moment. I don’t get every job I pitch (very much to my dismay), but I don’t see that as the end of the opportunity. I can still show a developer or client how awesome I really am (and why they should hire me next time) by following back.

Follow back after the sale—ask how they are enjoying that hot tub, if the kitchen renovation is going well, or even if the dress they bought for their daughter’s wedding was a hit. Follow-back leads to repeat customers.

Another big developer in New York had a new condominium project I desperately wanted to sell in Park Slope. I pitched my heart out for this project, but the developer didn’t go with me—he thought I was too small at the time. I could have just been annoyed or angry. Too small?? Really? Or I could follow back to show that this perceived flaw was ultimately something that didn’t matter at all. I decided to send the developer a gift as a thank-you for letting me pitch him. I ordered a 10-foot fig tree that took four people to deliver and had it sent to his office with a note that simply read, “IMPACT.” My new development team may have been small at the time, but make no mistake, I know how to make an impact.

could let that drive me bananas and sit around by the phone like a 16-year-old waiting for a girl to call, or I could use this as an opportunity to follow back. My team and I worked together to figure out how we could make another impact, something bigger and more meaningful than a tree. We bought a very attractive, modern, and architecturally interesting bookcase, and had it delivered to his office. But we didn’t stop there. The next day, we sent a book with a note. We did the same thing the next day. And the next day. Every. Single. Day. By the time he decides which broker to use, he will have a well-curated collection of books sitting on his beautiful bookshelf. I knew I was the right broker for the project, and I was determined to send him a book a day until he chose me. Did it guarantee it would get me the job? No. It did not. But it would be impossible for him to not think of my team, our passion, our determination, and our generosity every time he walked into his office. And that is a big impact.

Good salespeople know what to expect from clients during every phase of the deal, because they are in tune with their clients’ emotions as they pass through each phase.

When times get tough in any kind of sale, you need to have a doctor-patient–level relationship. Your clients need to know they can turn to you for help, and you’ll be with them until the problem is solved. Try saying: We are in this together. I will be with you until this is finished. I’m here for you throughout this entire process.

persisted with my client. Every two days I sent him a message about the deal. One message would be about how I’m trying to hold it for him. Another message would be about a new comp sale that justified the asking price. A third message would be my suggesting he see it again. He agreed to take another look. We talked about his issues and it was clear he was in the fear stage. I used my tools to get what was down

I’m not happy unless I go to bed happily exhausted.

My number one rule at the beginning of any negotiation is to always counter. Clients so often feel there is no point in doing so—they’ll say, “We’re too far apart, there’s no point!” But I’ve seen time and time again how coaxing two parties to make counters can result in a mutually beneficial transaction where both sides feel they got a good deal (and the broker is happy because he got the sale done).

But bridging the gap isn’t as simple as coming down or coming up in price. You have to play to the fears. Remember how we discussed having Walls? And the Wall being our motivation to succeed? Buyers and sellers have the same thing. The seller’s biggest wall is a future in which they have Not Sold. The buyer’s biggest wall is a future in which they have Not Bought. Seems simple, right? I play to those fears in every negotiation. With my seller on 12th Street, I reminded him that the risk of not countering was going on the market and not selling at all.

Yes! I reminded my buyer this was an off-market deal. She was getting in early, and P.S. her daughter had been searching for an apartment for four years! Wouldn’t she like to see her happily settled? She agreed to come up $250,000 for “a quick sale.” Just like that, the million-mile distance was slashed in half. I know I’m talking about big numbers here, but what you should understand is that I’m making the gap relative. Whether you’re trying to close a million-dollar gap or a $10 one, break it down. I basically asked each side to come up, relatively speaking, $2.50. That doesn’t sound nearly as bad as bridging a million-dollar gap, now does it?

relentless. Have empathy. Are patient. Listen.