Be the Solution with Maria Quattrone

Mastering the Art of Connection in Real Estate Success with Coach Lucy

• Maria Quattrone • Season 1 • Episode 329

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What does it truly take to succeed in real estate? Coach Lucy reveals the answer isn't complicated, but it demands something many aren't willing to give: pure, unadulterated will.

Coach Lucy joins Maria to share how her Winner's Wednesday Productivity Bootcamp is transforming real estate agents through a simple formula. Unlike typical networking events or workshops, Lucy's bootcamp creates an atmosphere of activation where agents learn to connect effectively with potential clients. After 25 years in the industry, Lucy has distilled success down to her proprietary "Four C's of Lead Conversion" – Connection, Conversation, Care, and Close – in that specific order.

The results speak volumes. One agent who hadn't closed a deal since January managed to close six transactions after just six weeks of attending the bootcamp. How? By focusing solely on the first C: Connection. "I never realized I needed to find a way to connect with more people," the agent admitted. This shift in focus led her to make more calls, create more content, and host more open houses – all with the intention of authentic connection rather than immediate closing.

Lucy and Maria explore how freedom in real estate is widely misunderstood. "Freedom isn't given; freedom is earned," Lucy explains. True freedom comes from discipline and consistency, not from working whenever you feel like it. Both hosts agree that personal development remains the foundation of business growth, and Lucy offers this memorable advice: "Stop having conversations with broke people" who only discuss other people and problems.

Ready to transform your real estate business? This episode provides the mindset shift and practical strategies to help you break through barriers and achieve the success you've been seeking. Remember: where there's a will, there's a way.

Connect with Maria Quattrone:
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Facebook Page: REMAX at Home Facebook
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TikTok: mariaquattronerealestate
Website: MQrealesate.com
Office number: 215- 607-3535

Speaker 1:

Good morning everybody. We have a new guest today. Forget that Apple cut that part out because we're not live. I'm excited for our new guest. Lucy and I have been following each other on Facebook, in fact. I was on one of her podcasts a few months ago about the listing challenge podcast. A few months ago about the listing challenge and coach Lucy is joining us for the first time here on the Be Solution podcast. So, lucy, I have a quote for you and I came up with this specifically for you this morning. Well, it is a quote, you'll know, but specifically for you, where there is a will, there is a way. Yes, and that quote resonated with me for you, based on what I've seen you doing. You had reached out to me gosh, it was a year or so ago asking me about what I was doing, and you know, I saw that you really cared and you wanted to help and train agents. So welcome today.

Speaker 2:

Thank you so much, maria. It's an honor actually to be here on your podcast. I know that you are a trailblazer in your industry. I know that you are a trailblazer in your industry not only where you are located, but also as I've seen you in other rooms with high level players and high performers and just getting around the people that are leading the way at a very, very high level in our industry nationwide. So I've been one of those people that I've admired you from afar and I've always liked what I've seen. You are a go-getter, you are a woman that set a pace and I enjoyed it. So, yes, I'm honored to be here on your podcast because I know that you are a woman that many people watch and has a lot of influence in the industry nationwide.

Speaker 1:

Well, I'm excited to talk with you today because you're doing some great things in your market and we were just talking about your school, Productivity School, which you have Winter Wednesdays. I love it. I may rip off and duplicate Winter Wednesdays.

Speaker 2:

Let's do it. Let's take winter Wednesday to your city, philadelphia. Yes, philadelphia, the winner's Wednesday.

Speaker 1:

Winner's Wednesday, yes, so let's tell everybody what winner's Wednesday is and how you got this started and what it is.

Speaker 2:

So let's go back to your quote. I think that it is a resonating quote with my heart and soul because it literally is the story of my life. The story of my life has just been pure, unadulterated, relentless, non-excuses will. And I remember that quote makes me recall my first broker when I got into real estate in the year 2000. And he said you know, I just saw that you had the will. And he even told me write this on a piece of paper, put it in your office. You know, be willing. That's all you need, lucy. Be willing. And he said and that's all your agents need. Look for agents that are willing.

Speaker 2:

And literally after the market crash in 2008, which is when he gave me that wisdom nugget, I wrote it on the wall, I shared it with my agents. I said we just got to be willing, because we don't always have the answers to what we want to do and we don't always have the answers to our problems or our challenges. Why is this taking so long? Why isn't this working out? Why did this agent, who seemed like they had it all put together and was going to be like a racehorse, turn out to be someone that just threw in the towel? Why this. Things just don't make sense many times, and that's when you know I've learned I have to go back to my will, because where there's a will, there's a way, and it's just my job to find it. So that is basically the story of my life and that's how the Academy got started back in the year 2020. And that's why it's still up and running.

Speaker 1:

Pure will. That's why I picked that for you. This lady's scrappy, she's gritty she's. She's going to do whatever it takes. So where there's a will, there's a way, and it's true in this environment, it's going to take a lot of will, a lot of will, to make things happen. And guess what? Everybody gets to decide for themselves, absolutely.

Speaker 2:

See, I think that will, and I love that we're talking about will, because here's what I want your audience and everyone that's going to watch this, wherever they're watching, from right. Will is a gift. I mean, the only thing that separates us from any other creature or creation on the planet is we have a gift called free will, and everyone has it. So we get to do what we want, if we want, how we want, for as long as and nobody, I mean think about it. It's also the worst weapon that we use so often against ourselves because we don't know how to harness that free will. There's many Wednesdays there's been many Wednesdays since January 15th when I said you know what that's it? We're taking this to another level.

Speaker 2:

You know, I come from doing a lot of events. I've sat in many boards. I've always been. I've always enjoyed being a frontline leader. I call it a frontline leader. You know those people that are just leading the way, like when you look at a race with horses. Right, I mean there's always that one that's leading the way. Then another one comes up. I mean there's always that opportunity to be a frontline leader. So I said, okay, we've been doing a lot of events. I've been in front of the market.

Speaker 2:

You know, I learned something from John Maxwell about leadership and you know, leadership is not really the amount of zeros you have in your bank account right To the right of any given number. Yes, leadership is really the influence that you have wherever it is that you are placed. So to have influence, you need people and to influence people. You need people and to influence people you must give. And I remember Floyd Wickman when I took his training back in the day. You know our dear Floyd Wickman, who would call me even in. You know, I think the last time I spoke with him was in 2022, maybe 2021. And he would always say you know, his slogan was get by giving. You know he had his core values and one of his core values was get by giving. And I'm like that's me I like to get, but I like to give first. So will going back to that, to give, we all have it. We get to do whatever we want with it.

Speaker 1:

We get to do whatever we want, and it is about being in contribution. What is your winter Wednesdays is about being contribution with the community, inviting other agents to your company inviting actually which is fantastic Other business people. A lot of business for anybody, but he wants to smile and dial business development. Let's make calls together.

Speaker 2:

Yes, anybody, anybody that wants to come and be mentored for one hard core hour and a half, nonstop, full fire, full power, full action, full impact. Those are my performance, those are my KPIs, like I have my own KPIs. So, winners Wednesday, and it's a productivity bootcamp and I tell people this is not a class, this is not a workshop, this is not a seminar, this is not a networking, this is not a breakfast meeting. This is a bootcamp. You're here to get out of your way, you're here to go to that next level. So, yeah, for an hour and a half, we start at 10. And it's very interactive. I mean, anybody can go on my Instagram and you'll see it. It's like it's crazy and I, many times I'm going to have a little bit of transparency here, maria, if you'll allow me Many times I feel like a fool, like, oh my God, that was so corny. But you know what? It moves the people, it moves the room. So I say, well, this is not about me. So whatever it takes, whatever it takes to move these people out of their way, and the results oh my God, the results that are coming in are undeniable. Like people saying you know, lucy, I got a text from one of the attendees, one of the guests on April 29th.

Speaker 2:

She says I don't know what to do. She's a realtor. I don't know what to do. I represent a developer. I've got a whole bunch of listings that are not moving and, you know, I'm afraid they're going to take them away from me because this is what they hired me to do sell these properties. Could you help me? And I said yes, I will help you. And here's the first thing I need you to do Just show up every Wednesday. You to do just show up every Wednesday.

Speaker 2:

By June, by the first Wednesday of June, we were getting ready because I had very curated, I've developed a very, you know, integrating atmosphere. Like this is not you walk in and you're gonna go stand in a corner. No, no, I connect people before we start. So we were there in the mix and mingle part 30 minutes of mix and mingle. Like you will introduce you to somebody else. Like I am there connecting you. Hey, listen, meet so-and-so, hey, so-and-so meet. You know this person. And I said tell me about you, what's been happening. She goes Lucy, since I've been coming, something happened inside of me. I've been thinking about things I never thought of. I've dared to do things I never dared to do. She says, since I first came and I text you that time that I was going through trouble. This was six weeks later. She says I've closed three transactions.

Speaker 2:

Yesterday I introduced her to one of my premier partners, a title company, who, of course what a title companies want? They want to be in front of realtors, they want to be all eyeballs on me is what I call it. Like we need all eyeballs on us, like I don't care who's doing, whatever they're doing. I don't compare myself, I just watch, I admire, I take whatever you know can serve me. I congratulate them. Like I get happy when I see other people win, like I genuinely get happy, like I smile as I watch. Even when I see you doing things, I smile. It makes me happy. But then I'm going to go implement. So yesterday I introduced her to our premier partner, who wants all my balls on them, and I said tell him what has happened since April 20, 29th. She says well, lucy, I've now closed six transactions, so you can't make this up. You can't make this up.

Speaker 1:

And that's what this one thing is about it's all about.

Speaker 1:

Look, I mean, I say this, I'm like I'm old school, Mike Ferry, yes so, but I'm old school, even older than that, and I don't know if you know this, Lucy, but I was in radio advertising sales. So I sold air for 11 years, oh wow. And I started when I was 23 years old and I've been in real estate for 21,. So 32 years in sales. So the cadence is really simple. Right, we have people to call? Yes, Okay, we have our list, it's in our case, it's in follow-ups. So you ever see a room.

Speaker 1:

The cadence is dials, connections, conversations, appointment set for a booked listing appointment or a booked buyer consult, A contract assigned, an offer is negotiated and cha-ching, you get paid, Right, and that is the cycle. But our cycle is 20 conversations every single day and if you do them it works 20 conversations, and I could tell you exactly how long it takes. For me, 20 conversations is. For me it's two and a half hours of talk time, 60 dials on average, and takes three and a half hours to do it. Do you dial, do you dialer or you dial? No brain follow up. So I just hit the little button Okay. So like five recruiting appointments the other day in an hour, people that are just got their licenses so coming to. I have a thing that's called a day in the hour. People that are just got their licenses they're coming to. I have a thing it's called a day in the life of a realtor.

Speaker 1:

Anyway, I love that I say if you have eight or more pendings, it's 10 conversations a day. If you have less than eight, it's 20. Right, if you have none, it's 40. It's whatever it takes. It's whatever it takes. Those 20 should be able to give you two transactions a month. The average agent that's newly building their list should, in a database and there's so many people we could call.

Speaker 2:

We could call anybody, anybody, we could call anybody. So what you just described as your as the cadence right, the it is. I mean nobody can reinvent that cycle. I mean that is the ever lasting, forever in a day, till the end of the world cycle. There's no other way to build a business right right.

Speaker 1:

One other way Get your own personal robot to make the calls, not with AI. Well, there's going to be robots soon. I do want one. Yeah, and that's good.

Speaker 2:

But you know what I digress?

Speaker 1:

I'm with all seriousness. This is the cadence, yes, and and and. It's like if you talked about and you asked them okay, well, why are you in this? What are you doing this for? I want to buy a house, I want to buy a beach house. I want to do this, okay. So I would say how's it coming along with getting that beach house in maryland? If you don't make no doubt, I don't need to say If you don't make no dials, I don't need to say if you don't make no dials, you get new beach house. Right, how about paying? Just paying? You know what, lucy, you've been in the business for how many years now? 20?, 25., 25. Okay, I know, it was a couple more years than me. What is the biggest thing you've seen? Why real estate agents fail?

Speaker 2:

The number one reason if I had to define the number one is their mindset. Their mind just gets in the way. I mean, everything begins in our mind and then they just don't treat it like a real job. So the mindset makes them think that real estate is not a real job, it's not a real business. I mean, could you imagine somebody opening up a subway and just showing up every now and then or whenever they feel like it, or making a sub whenever they feel like it, or buying inventory whenever they feel like it? And I see it day in and day out. I've seen it for listen, everybody that got into real estate when I got into real estate, they're not around. Like I can't say. There's one person that started with me back in 2000. That's still around. It takes grit, it takes relentlessness, it takes passion, and passion is not the fuzzy, wuzzy, fluffy make good.

Speaker 1:

Passion is sacrifice and suffering, just like the passion of.

Speaker 2:

Christ, yes, yeah, yes. To me it's the mindset. But if you bring it down to a daily activity, they don't treat it like a job. They don't treat it like a real. They will do more for someone that pays them an hourly than they do for their own future.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I think also the lack of discipline. I posted something. We use Slack in our company to communicate and I post a lot of things in there and I do a lot of stuff. But I said, you know people get into real estate for freedom. Freedom isn't given Freedom's earned. You hear, I want the freedom to control my schedule. You hear it constantly. But here's what nobody will say is that real freedom comes from after you have established relationships, you're proven in the market, you have clients and the first few years requires even now, 21 years, still requires discipline.

Speaker 2:

Of course, look at me, look at, look at. I mean 25 years later, because I'm not done, I'll never be done. You know, there's always another level. I said, ok, how do I get?

Speaker 1:

always another level and in that level is another devil.

Speaker 2:

Yes, that's true, because we have to outperform ourselves. You know, forget about what anybody else is doing, it's we must outperform ourselves. So discipline, right? Yes, again, the mindset, the mindset of discipline. What does that look like? What does a disciplined person act like from the moment they open their eyes and come out of unconsciousness, right? So I've been going 24 weeks with Winners Wednesday Productivity Bootcamp. Do you think? Every Wednesday I want to go and, you know, exert myself and, just, you know, be in a room just building up this atmosphere of activation. That's what happens in this room. It is very intentional what I do. It's like I got to activate these people. You know, I've got to shift their mindset. I've got to give them, you know, tool sets and skill sets.

Speaker 2:

And you were talking about the cadence I developed back in 2018. When I'm like, oh my Lord, I've got like 65 agents and most of them are not producing, how do I get these people to? And we were paying for leads and you know that's not cheap. So I said, how do I get these people to become better lead converters? So I came up with my own. Don't ask me how, where I'm like, I'm going to come up with a formula. So I came up with the four c's of lead conversion. That's what I called it back in 2018 the four c's of lead conversion and I just started like drilling them. On the four c's, the number one is connection, number two is conversation, number three is care, and then you close. I'm like you guys are doing it backwards. You're closing without you know connecting with someone, and so guess what I teach now the four C's 24 weeks later, the four C's certainly is what it's about.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, you know. And what's interesting, lucy, is that people will ask me all the time like because I can book a lot of appointments more than like if you're calling 20 people, you should be able to book two appointments.

Speaker 1:

Okay, like I probably booked like eight appointments are like how do you book so many appointments? You know what? Because people the main thing care about is themselves and their family, and I care about them and their family and when you build that plate line of people, people are actually excited to talk to you because they know you care, because you demonstrated it in your actions.

Speaker 2:

Yes.

Speaker 1:

And that's why, already they will kill you. So we'll go through the four. C's again, it's connections, conversations, care and then close, yeah.

Speaker 2:

Close in that order. So sometimes it's going to take longer for you. So what is connect? And you know what? Twenty four weeks later, 24 weeks later, 24 winners, wednesdays later, I've only taught on the first scene, which is connect.

Speaker 2:

Because Sometimes, when, when, when anybody's lead right, because I focus on business development as well, because I said, okay, do I just want to have an academy or do I want to have the academy, like the place where people go to learn how to make money? Because I remember how much it hurt when I didn't know how to make money in real estate. I remember, you know, the pain and suffering of showing up at home week after week. I went like eight months without making a paycheck. I mean that hurts. It hurts your mind, it hurts your heart, it hurts your bank, it hurts everything. That's why the Academy is not just for getting your license, it's for agent productivity and business development. Because I said, if I can get agents to think like business owners, they're going to make money Right. So 24 weeks later, we're only on the first C, and that one, that one concept, is what got this agent to close six transactions already. Just that one.

Speaker 1:

Amazing. What did they do differently? I asked her that.

Speaker 2:

I said so tell me what it was about the C? She said I never realized I needed to find a way to connect with more people. She said I hadn't thought of that. Like, okay, my job is to connect with more people. So guess what she did? She started calling more people. She started doing more reels, she started doing everything that her mind told her.

Speaker 2:

Now that it had been activated, you must connect with more people. Because I dissect, I go deep with okay, how do you connect? Where do you connect? What does it look like? How do you know when you've connected right, how do you know when you've connected with the person? It's not about you. You know what are the signs. So you just said I just, I just said something just clicked. So I've just been connecting with more people. She started doing more open houses to connect with more people. She started reaching out, she started following, she just focused on connecting. And here she is, 24 weeks later that I've been doing this. She's been with me for six weeks, eight weeks actually. As of today, six transactions closed. She had gone since january without closing a deal. So it's working it's working.

Speaker 1:

Success shows success success.

Speaker 2:

It's more fun to be around successful people Yesterday at Winners Wednesday or at our last Winners Wednesday, better yet, at our last Winners Wednesday I was telling the room because it's become a mentorship, it's become an atmosphere of mentorship, right? So what is mentorship? The how to this is how you do it. Everybody knows what to do. It's they're just not. I said stop having conversations with broke people. Broke people only talk about two things and don't forget this, it's the two P's that broke people conversations is other people and problems. That's the only thing. Broke people talk about other people and problems. And the room was like, oh, when they left they were like I'm not talking to broke people anymore.

Speaker 1:

That's funny, but it's true. You can decide who you work with and what happens if you talk to enough people. You can decide what business you're willing to do and not.

Speaker 2:

Yes, that is freedom. That is freedom. People have not understood the concept of freedom. They're focused on the word, the word's in the dictionary. That's when we were in school. How do you spell freedom? Right, that was for our spelling class. The concept of freedom is something we build. We build freedom.

Speaker 2:

We build it by doing the work so we have the freedom to choose what 60 hours we're going to work when we're building our freedom. We have the freedom to choose what days we're going to work 15 hour days so we can take, you know, a midday off, a midday week or off. Rather, we have the freedom to decide when we are going to work, monday to Monday until we see breakthrough. That's my freedom. I know where I'm going. I have no doubt. I know where this is going to take me, that.

Speaker 1:

That, that it happens, because every thought, every idea starts with a thought. Thoughts become things. Yep, oh, I had a thought. I want to start this program. Oh, how do I do that? I have another. Okay, I want to recruit and retain chairing agents and coach agents. It doesn't just happen by happenstance, once in a blue moon maybe, but generally speaking, we develop the thought and you could develop good thoughts or bad thoughts, you, you get to choose them, and the biggest thing is get the feelings out of the way.

Speaker 2:

Yes.

Speaker 1:

So it's all about the good thoughts. It's all about how do I make the connection? Somebody said the other day Lucy, they said I'm not, I want to go to the next level. I said I understand, I get it. I said who do you have to become and to go to the next level? What personal development, interpersonal work do you need to do to go to the next level? Number one way to grow any business is through personal development, absolute, 100%, radical accountability, and I wrote a book on this called Be the Solution, and it's about radical awareness and really taking ownership of your life. And that is what the Be the Solution podcast and the movement Lucy is about, which is why I invited you, because I saw you doing this program and you took. You said there's a problem here I have a solution, right?

Speaker 1:

I mean, you're not the first person in the world to do a productivity boot camp, but you're doing it in your market, bringing people together, and you're Lucy, so there's no other Lucys, so nobody else can do it like Lucy. No, it doesn't matter. Mike Barry did the productivity boot camps. I went to them at San Diego or wherever the heck. It was Vegas, okay, that was a long time ago.

Speaker 1:

Most people want to get into a room A lot of times. They want to feel good, they want to pat on the back. Problem with that is or they want the information. None of that's work. And at the end of the day, when you put the work in day in, day out, consistency time, which is the compound effect, value of consistency over time, is what works. Yes, works in reverse. Like if you want to lose weight, I'm on day what's today, 26. So, two and a half weeks in, I weighed myself last night and it was like 10 o'clock and I just ate dinner. I still weighed myself, but I lost six pounds. So I hadn't weighed myself. So I lost six pounds two and a half weeks. But it's that's the compound of in reverse Doing the actions every day.

Speaker 1:

Now the week goes by by doing the actions. Every day, more agents come in our company, more sellers, more buyers, more whatever. Yeah, it's the inspiration that you bring to the table, the people and all be brought together. We're better together. We're the excuses and the can. The have to have. You have to have, they have to. People need to drop excuses. Take ultimate accountability. As I say, if you're not where you're at, if you don't like where you're at, just go in the bathroom and look in the mirror, absolutely.

Speaker 2:

Where there's a will, there's a way.

Speaker 1:

If it's to be, it's go in the bathroom and look in the mirror. Absolutely. Where there's a will, there's a way. If it's to be, it's up to me, yep, and you're leading from the front with a beautiful smile, beautiful face, coach Lucy. Thank you, Coach Lucy is bringing it.

Speaker 2:

Yes, we can take the productivity bootcamp anywhere. I mean, who knows? My thought now, Maria is. So where will this be three years from now? Because I'm serious, I'm not stopping See this. Wow, I know where I would be. So that's why now the determination has been made and that's all it takes is a decision, and then daily, daily, daily work, daily work, daily work, nonstop. It takes a decision.

Speaker 1:

It takes the work and effort. One thing that I think about often is the meeting that you don't want to take. And that meeting that you don't want to take is when you're dead or almost dead and you meet the person you could have become, you could have been, you did the work and took the risk, and there's a version of you because there's. You know we make decisions in life yeah and they take us to a path.

Speaker 1:

But who could you have been had you taken the effort and um sacrifice and let fear go? You know, I think there's something about and I've been reading you can't have fear if you believe in God. So whatever your God is, I'm just saying this is my God. Whoever's God? People have different gods, that's fine. But if you believe and you trust yourself, fear is just walking through it, because everything we want is on the other side of being uncomfortable.

Speaker 2:

Yes, I was having that conversation yesterday with my assistant and two other ladies that came to the productivity boot camp and I said the truth of the matter is that we're either going to get you know, we're either going to reach our deathbed or, in my belief, we're going to go in the rapture. One of the two, there's only two ways. But we're not going to be here forever. I said nobody gets out alive, right? I said I want to show up empty. I don't want to show up and have my God show me what I could have, would have accomplished. Like I don't want that, like I can already. I think that I haven't done. You know, I don't want to wait till the end. And I said you know, in life, life is so that if we don't take the opportunity, life will give it to somebody else. And my assistant was like oh, you really think that? I said no, I know that. I know If God gives an inspiration, it's because you can do it. If you don't carry it out, the inspirations go to somebody else. But whatever is meant to be is going to happen. You just get to decide if you harness the opportunity.

Speaker 2:

I said because that's how life is. Life is an equal opportunity giver, and we're those that get in the way. So I decided to be the solution. What's the number one problem in real estate? Lack of productivity, lack of closing, lack of money making activity every single day. So I said, ok, I know how to do that of money-making activity every single day. So I said, okay, I know how to do that, let me be the solution, let me be the one, let me be the one that is doing it every week, even if I'm not the only one doing it. I'm gonna be the only one doing it every week and so far I am.

Speaker 1:

Well, we're gonna join you in that and, lucy, it's been great having you on. I to again. We'll get together at the end of the year because I want to see what a full or in January, I want to see what a full year of productivity camp boot camp has been like for you and your organization and the people that are surrounded by you.

Speaker 2:

I will be happy to report the results, and then I'll be happy to lead others in their own path towards a winner's Wednesday.

Speaker 1:

It's the best part of the week.

Speaker 2:

It's the best part of the week. It's a lot of work because we end one and we've got to be planning the next one week after week, but it's the best part of the week. Winner's win, yes, winner's win.