By Jefferson Snow
In November’s Tele-Seminar, our very own Michelle Holt sat down with REDX Power User, John Scheffer to pick his brain on everything from his real estate prospecting routine to why he got into real estate in the first place. John’s been a Realtor since 2004 and a REDX user since 2007. For the most part, he works as a one man show but that’s not stopping him from aiming high for 2013. John’s plan for next year is to list 50 properties and do it without working buyers and without a team pulling his weight for him. During our interview with John, he laid out several methods he’ll employ to reach this goal. In case you missed it, we want to pass those specifics onto you.
Be a Morning Master
In John’s own words, he’s striving to be a “Morning Master.” What is that? Well a Morning Master is someone who makes the absolute best use of the morning hours to prospect and to lay a foundation for more business. Being a Morning Master starts the night before. John makes an effort to get enough sleep, to eat right, and not have too much drink. He does this so he can get into his office every morning at 6:30am. This means that while the rest of his colleagues are wandering in bleary eyed and yawning, John is already hard at work and getting listing appointments.
When he lays out his routine you start to wonder if he has cyborg DNA or something because he is extremely regimented.  By 7am he’s got his expired leads into Mojo, by 7:45 he’s roll played with multiple partners, by 8:00 he’s calling, and hopefully by 8:10 he’s got his first listing. The ritual seems almost daunting but you should ask yourself, but maybe it’s worth being a little robotic to get 50 listings a year.
Usually his android-like discipline pays off.
A Master for All Seasons
John didn’t stop after mastering the art of working mornings. In many cases prospecting only in the morning is a recipe for never reaching many of your potential clientele. Because of this, John has also started prospecting other times during the week- typically Tuesday and Thursday evenings and every Saturday from 9am to Noon. Before you go on about how intrusive that is, you should listen to John explain how much more relaxed people are during these times and how much easier they are to get along with.
That being said, mornings are still his bread and butter, especially one morning that will be soon upon us- New Year’s Day. There is usually no other day in the year with more expireds hitting the MLS at once. John has every intention of using the REDX to its fullest that morning to make sure he can capitalize on as much freed up inventory as he can. The fact that it’s a Holiday doesn’t faze him either. In fact he clamps down harder and calls longer during this time of year. He will stick to his routine and use the same scripts. All he’s going to add is a “Happy New Year” tag on its front end and go on as usually from there.
 A Master of Many Trades
John doesn’t stop at calling. He’s also very active in knocking doors. This is something his competition seems unwilling to do. It’s probably something people aren’t doing enough of in your area either. If you’re worried about what to say on the doorstep, John advises to say the same things you would on the phone. Unlike a call though, you need to worry about your body language, your posture, smiling, and looking groomed and professional.
Making a good impression at the door often brings down some of the defense mechanisms most people cling to over the phone. In many cases, knocking doors will distinguish you from the lazy agents who haven’t gone the extra mile to come make a visit personally.
Being a Master Is Easy, and It’s Not
One thing John kept mentioning was that individual steps in his routine are easy to do, but they’re also easy not to do. Yes, implementing all the methods he does may seem daunting but guess what, Real Estate is a job and unless you don’t approach it that way, you’re not going to make money at it. To quote John, “It’s just called hard work.” Doing what he does everyday is not just some ritual to make him look better than the other agents in his office. It’s not showing off. He’s simply giving it his best everyday to make sure he has the success he knows he deserves.
There were some other gems in our conversation with John.