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“Say YES and Figure it Out LATER!” | Ryan Serhant (@RyanSerhant)


say yes and figure it out later it was
important thing you can do as a
salesperson is learn how to listen and
learn how to act on your feet I’m only
happy with controlled chaos and we’re
the only happy when I’m like sprinting
through the city all over the place all
day long and hit the pillow at night and
the motivation watch a top 10 with
believe nation what’s that belief nation
it’s Evan I believe in you and this
channel is designed to be a part of your
daily success routine so let’s get your
motivation to attend and get you
believing in you grab a snack and chew
on today’s lessons from a man who went
from starting in real estate in 2008
when the market crashed to becoming one
of the most successful real estate
brokers in the world
he’s Ryan Serhant and here’s my take on
okay let’s kick it off with rule number
one work the hardest my little brother
and I always had to do manual labor for
our jobs
it sucked it was the worst I’ve resented
it me full fully but I also credit it at
the same time you know now like I’m very
very thankful that I had to work in
construction and do roofs for years and
years and years because I never want to
do that again and I will work my ass off
every day to keep me off of roofs so did
your dad instill this hey you got to
work yes understand that came from him
or your mom not my dad for sure and what
was he telling you as a kid
um that’s you know there’s a lot of
things you can’t control but how hard
you work isn’t one of them oh well I
just that you know everybody else can be
taller bigger smarter faster come from
different families come with money go to
better schools but you can always show
up earlier you can always show up later
so like when I first got to New York and
I wanted to be an actor I lived with two
guys two roommates one was there both
paralegals because they both wanted to
be lawyers and my dad told me and I
remember he’s like listen you don’t have
a job you don’t have any boss telling
you what to do they do you’re gonna wake
up before they do and go to bed after
they do you’re gonna work harder than
they do and that’s at least how you’re
gonna know whether this is gonna work or
not because the last thing you want to
do is just show up and wait for the
phone to ring and that really kind of
rang true to me rule number two
seize the opportunity as a real estate
guy for Lehman Brothers when it went
under yeah I know what your first day of
work was like so you started the day
Lehman collapsed yeah September 15th
yeah yeah big thousand eight it’s a big
which for a lot of people was a really
awful day for me that was one of those
yeah and that you know it’s tough I had
a lot of friends who worked at Lehman
you know and but for me
I had no money like I I was either
figure out this real estate thing or go
home to Colorado and I got my real
estate license
it didn’t really all make sense to me
yet what was really happening in the
world because if you’re living in New
York City trying to be an actor you’re
not watching CNBC every day and you have
no money so you don’t watch the markets
you don’t really know and I just thought
real estate was the hardest thing in the
history of the world I just figured that
everyone in New York City lost their
jobs all the time you know at those
first two years I mean every client I
would get they would
lose their job in 2008 and 2009 and they
wouldn’t be able to afford apartments so
in hindsight it was the absolute best
time for me to start because every
broker was getting out of the business
because they all called the end of the
world and for me I was there to kind of
like pick up the pieces and just sort of
figure it out as I went rule number
three find your fuel sitting in this
apartment right now that we have on the
market 14 million dollars and central
park behind me you can see the leaves
changing what’s yeah yeah and if these
insane views everywhere and I think
about you know and I’m waiting for a
showing right now right and I think
about like what really pushes me to
succeed what pushes me to to be where I
am today like I’ve been doing this for
10 years
like why do I keep going why do I keep
pushing it’s not just power of positive
thinking that I talk about a lot it’s
not just the power of yes you know
there’s something that’s more like
there’s something more instinctual to it
and I honestly think and I think a lot
of people are gonna give me for
this and I can’t wait to see what people
say in the comments but I honestly think
a lot of it is the power of revenge like
that power of that innate feeling of
retribution of going after what you lost
and you’re gonna get it back
I don’t think revenge is a bad thing I’m
not talking about revenge like like a
like a Bruce Willis movie right I’m not
saying we go out there and like her
people that’s the same okay so let me be
very very clear I’m talking about taking
that feeling that you want to show
people right to not hate the player but
hate the game and you want to show
people that you can actually do what
they said you couldn’t do and you want
to use that as fuel you want to use that
as fuel to continue to fight every
single day and that’s what pushes me
like that feeling of revenge that
feeling of competition like they say
that Pepsi wouldn’t exist without
coca-cola Pepsi wouldn’t exist without
coke right adidas wouldn’t exist without
Nikes Phil Knight says that in his book
shoot dog great book by the way he
should read it
he says honestly as much as he hated
is it pushed him to make Nike what it is
today so it’s revenge mixed with
competition mixed with hard luck and
work equals success over and over and
over and over and I think about that
stuff every day rule number four stay
positive
so if I wake up every single day and say
I’m the greatest real estate broker ever
it might not be true today but it will
be true eventually so how important is
that affirmation like I just talked
about for you Lee yeah yeah what people
are saying to themselves every power of
positivity the power of yes right say
yes and figure it out later
hmm stay positive and you know I always
kind of look at it like you’re driving
in a car right and there are two types
of people one person looks out the right
window where it’s sunny the other person
looks at the left window where it’s
cloudy and you both made the same choice
to look out a window one just decides to
see a different type of weather and for
me it’s always been like okay so it’s my
choice to wake up upset bad things can
happen today can they do off right and
it always happened and balls will always
fall but it is your choice to wake up
positively or negatively and so I’ve
always just made the choice even if I’m
gonna lose reading it and I really want
to be pissed off and I want people to
comfort me and I want to feel bad that’s
not a choice I’m willing to makes I know
what’s gonna affect my day and no one
wants to buy anything from someone who’s
pissed off alright they want to buy
something from someone who’s
enthusiastic because that’s what you
sell you sell enthusiasm every day and
that enthusiasm and that positivity like
that that has been a huge huge boon for
me rule number five act on your feet so
you talk about improv as a training
ground yeah so spend a minute on that
most important training I ever did to be
a real estate agent was taking improv
classes in high school in college and I
still make everyone who works or may
take improv because it is the most
important thing you can do as a
salesperson is learn how to listen and
learn how to act on your feet and those
are two things that a lot of people
think they have but is it’s a real
muscle you know it to be able to think
on your feet and never use the word no
is a really kind of hard thing to do
because most people will say um like
write or let me think right that’s like
that’s how we grow up but to
be able to say yes and over and over and
over to whatever your client is saying
it was like my really really helped me a
lot when I first started rule number six
do more if you are feeling good and
you’re in a zone don’t stop
who knows when you’re gonna get that
zone back you know pump it out if you
can stay at the office an extra hour and
crank out a little extra work and you
feel good about it do it don’t just look
at your clock and say oh well I mean
it’s 5:00 p.m. so I should probably go
home that’s what everybody else does so
when you feel it inside don’t ignore it
that’s your body telling you you can go
a little bit more right that was like me
a year ago two years ago I felt like
this emptiness inside me and I thought
maybe it was like depression I thought
maybe like I wasn’t doing the right
career I thought maybe I hadn’t found
what I was looking for you know I just
like existential crisis but what I
realized after was was actually with
Amelia’s help was that it wasn’t like
this emptiness for for a sad reason it
was an emptiness because I was able to
put more in I was able to do more I
wanted to do more and I’m only happy
with controlled chaos I’m really only
happy when I’m like sprinting through
the city all over the place all day long
and hit the pillow at night and say oh
my god I can’t believe I made it like
that’s for me that’s my happiness that’s
how I filled up that empty tank and it
wasn’t because I couldn’t drive further
it’s just that I needed to put more fuel
in to drive as far as I wanted to go
rule number seven be prepared so how
does this thing come full house for you
like I mean what it seems like you you
had this entrepreneur thing yeah even
it’s an actor and then and then you get
the entrepreneur thing handle a little
bit in a real estate but you go back to
the acting I mean it look it’s like a
full circle that’s weird
you’re on TV all the time yeah I think
it’s a lot of people say that to me and
they’re like you’re the best of both
worlds because you wanted to be on TV
and and then you weren’t and then you
got into real estate but now you’re also
on TV doing real estate and I think it’s
like yeah you know what is that line you
know about luck like luck is when
opportunity meets preparation yeah yeah
right like you never really believed
until it actually had
yeah like I prepared my whole life to be
in front of a camera and I thought it
was gonna work one way and it did not
work that way and then this opportunity
came up when million dollar listing Los
Angeles decided to do New York franchise
in 2010 they put out a casting call and
I saw it because it was in the real
estate newspapers and I totally given up
on acting two years prior and I saw that
it was like wait a minute I I was
something soap man I’ve done stuff
before I’ll go to that yeah and they
were like are you the greatest real
estate agent under the age of 30 I’m
like yes I am and just sold myself that
was the question yeah basically you know
did you do that in person or do to
oversee first it was like a 30 second
in-person interview I mean it was a
bunch of emails and follow-up and I was
like a six-month audition process
oh wow but I knew how to handle myself
in front of the camera and now I
actually did real estate and so I think
that helped whittle it down so that when
they cast me on the show then I just had
to really step up to the plate of being
the greatest real estate agent ever and
never really put a gun to my head to go
out and make more phone calls talk to
more people on the street follow up with
more people because the last thing I
want to do is fail interest on
television as a real estate broker rule
number eight make good first impressions
you’re walking into a store right and
someone comes up to you and they say or
what do people typically say like hey
can I help you with anything and what do
you say no thanks right for the most
part you say no thanks because you don’t
really want to be bothered and it’s a
salesperson and it’s like gross like no
no that’s fine I got it I’m looking at
shoes over here alright and then they’ll
say like hey okay let me know if you
need anything and then they walk away
that is every salesperson in every store
in the entire world so you have to
remember that every client interaction
you have is just like you’d be making a
friend or meeting like a future
boyfriend or girlfriend I mean could you
imagine going into a bar and like
tapping on someone’s shoulder randomly
and saying hey let me know if you need
anything
like how do you think that would go you
can get super lucky and they could say
actually I do need something and then
that’s a one-off deal but for the most
part everyone’s gonna say you were with
me okay yeah so for the most part people
are gonna say no no I’m okay or that’s
weird
right so that’s a bad first impression
which is now the last impression you’re
gonna have of that sales person right a
different way is to introduce yourself
okay introduce yourself and start with
something super simple like a compliment
right most people think about the
clothes they’re putting on or think
about their ridiculous mustache that
they grew out to try to sell books or
true story or you know something right
or if they have a kid with them you
complement the kids something small just
to get them to smile and to start a
positive interaction I swear to you it
works every time I’ve gone into stores
like to buy a pair of socks someone has
come up to me introduce themselves and
complimented me on something and I’ve
left with like a canoe and maybe that’s
just because I’m gullible but it also it
works right you’re you’re building that
trust in that first impression and you
have less than 20 seconds to do it
oftentimes you have less than 10 seconds
all right every relationship even with
your best friend or your partner started
with like a 10 second introduction and
with the people you know that you’re
friendly with it worked
other people it didn’t work rule number
nine work out in the morning and we
talked about it last season season one
the greatest vlog in the world about how
work out so hard in the mornings two
reasons one is that the hardest part of
my day is now over at 7:30 a.m. and
everything I have to do from now on will
not be a 13 speed sprint on a 12 incline
followed by a decline bench think I
don’t have to do that again all day
today is great and it’s really important
to start every day making a mind-body
connection I know that sounds like
sounds super cliche and
actually makes you throw up a little bit
to say it
but it’s secret
I’m more connected right now in my peer
exhaustion
then I will be at all during the rest of
the day for sure
had I not worked out and now I’m going
to think fast or think quicker be more
decisive and be more radical during my
entire day be more productive and be
more successful and rule number 10 the
last one before a very special bonus
clip is treat life like grad school
let’s say you graduate high school and
you can’t go to college you can’t afford
it okay which is totally fine we
graduate college and everyone else
around you is getting a master’s degree
or going to grad school and and you
can’t afford that either which is fine
you have to treat your first three years
in any job in any profession in a new
city has grads okay you can’t graduate
and expect to make millions of dollars
the best part about treating life like
grad school after you graduate is that
it takes all the pressure off from
making money because you are already
mentally prepared but you’re not gonna
make money so the money just remember
that you’re there to learn you’re there
to be a student for three years at that
point you don’t have to pay back student
loans because you’ve been working those
three years anyway and now you’re
already set and prepared to be
successful now I’ve got a really special
bonus clip from Ryan and how to master
sales that I think you’re really gonna
enjoy but before that it’s time for the
three point landing questions time to
move from just watching another video to
taking action in your life or business
and if you’re feeling bold leave your
answers in the comments below here we go
question number one what’s the first
impression that you want to make with
people number two how can you treat life
more like grad school and number three
what opportunity in front of you do you
need to seize right now how do you
manage the indecisive client good
question there’s I broke down as much as
I could you know how there’s like the
six stages of grief and then like the
types of tornadoes like I always when I
got into the business really kind of
thought of sales like the six stages of
selling like what emotional clients go
through because they go through their
grieving period like their denial period
they’re excited period and you have to
walk them through all those steps and
the best salespeople are the ones who
can anticipate it like an ER doctor
like they know like when this next
emotional phase is gonna hit so you can
prepare how your conversation is gonna
lead into that moment kind of like a
psychologist right but people who are
indecisive or people who are insecure
about the decision that they’re gonna
make anyway like at the end of the day a
lot of indecisive people we know they
end up making a decision they’re just
really self-conscious or insecure about
their intelligence or something and you
have to help them get comfortable and
figure out how to get there and a lot of
it is just laying out options so kind of
the way I just talked to you about first
impressions and it could have been super
boring but I’ve made it relative by
talking about dating in a bar and then
people laugh and they’re like oh that is
kind of the same way Oh interesting same
thing with people who are indecisive you
know it’s figuring out a way to make it
relatable to them and like if you have a
client or a boss or somebody you figure
out what they like to do personally so
you track them on social media let’s say
and you figure out that they really like
cats okay or they really like golf or
they’re really into the Jets I don’t
know something like that you try to
without telling them that you internet
stalk them you figure out in your
conversation with them how to make
whatever the situation is you’re talking
about it relatable to something they
really like like you know this is you
know I understand you want to take your
time but if Sam Darnell had taken his
time you know and his first game out
might not have won that first game huh
and then that guy is gonna be like dude
you’re a Jets fan like I mean sure yeah
now I am Oh crazy yeah anyway the real
reason I don’t want to do this is
because of XY and Z because now it’s on
a personal level now they’re thinking
about something they really like plus
you made it relatable it’s just how you
present that information versus that
sales person who just says can I help
you with anything no okay let me know if
you need anything great that’s most
if you like this video check out the top
10 I made on Josh Altman the link is
right there next to me I think you’ll
enjoy it continue to believe and I’ll
see you there it’s the greatest job in
the world I’m the first one in the
office every day I’m the last one in the
office every day that it’s a passion of mine real estate
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