From 8 to 81 Homes: How Lisa Chinatti Built Her Real Estate Business

Host 00:00

I think that those kind of situations are where trust is made or broken.

Host1 00:03

How do you create that trust, but then how do you nurture it long term so that people want to come back? It's like I'm doing all the work, I'm building all the relationships, I just don't understand why my business isn't growing.

Host 00:11

That's the problem. He goes, if you only do that when it is money for you, it's never gonna be scalable and it's never gonna be impactful.

Host1 00:19

With the rise of, you know, AI and everything that's going on there, I'm seeing this like progressive turn towards human fear of being salesy and that making the ask is salesy. What up everybody? Grant Wise here. Welcome back to the Partner and Puffit Podcast. Excited for my conversation today. I've got the one and only. This is Lisa Channati. Lisa, thank you so much for uh sitting down and spending some time with me today.

Host 00:42

I'm stoked. Thanks for having me. We're gonna have some fun.

Host1 00:44

Of course, of course. So for the people that are listening to this and maybe don't know much about you, give us a bit of the backstory. How'd you get to where you are today?

Host 00:49

I love this. So I always tell folks I am never the smartest person in the room. I actually not a great student, don't really have an education in business or anything like that. I was a stay-at-home mom. I have two little girls or had two little girls. They're all grown now. And I got my real estate license for the first time in 2004. And my very first experience in real estate is kind of what's shaped my entire future. So from 2004 to 2006, I didn't sell a single house. I was part of the 87% statistic that get a license and fail out of the industry. And so in 2006, I let my license expire and I thought I was totally out of real estate. And then in 2010, I got my license back after my husband and I sold our first home. And then I worked kind of part-time in real estate from 2010 to 2014. And I would sell literally like one or two houses a year, either folks that I met at an open house or like a friend in the community until the end of 2014. And our accountant said to my husband and I that I either needed to earn money in real estate or admit that it was a very expensive hobby and stop writing off all of the losses. And so in 2015, I was like, all right, maybe I'll get a little bit more serious. And that year I sold eight houses, thought I was hot shit, right? Like moving and grooving. And then at the end of 2015, as we were heading into 2016, both of my daughters were in school full-time and selling eight homes a year. I mean, let's be real, I wasn't working full-time to do that, right? And so my husband and I were like, all right, I either now I need to really work and actually start to like really sell real estate, or I need to go get a real job. And so I gave myself 2016 to get serious. And that year I sold 81 houses and it changed the course of my life. And 2017, I started a team. I moved to KW, started a team. That year, the team sold 212 houses, but 110 of them were my own personal production. So it was still heavily, heavily in production. I left production in 2018 to focus on building the team and the business at that point. And then in 2019, I opened the brokerage. And we've been kind of kicking along as an independent brokerage since then.

Host1 03:07

That's awesome. What was the pivot from eight to 81 in a year? What was the change? Was it just the focus or was it something strategic?

Host 03:14

Yeah, I mean, it was the focus. And it was, I was just talking to some agents on our sales floor about this. And I said, you know what's super fascinating is I wasn't confident, right? Like I kind of knew what I was doing. Clearly I could get through a transaction, okay. But I was scared to make phone calls and really kind of scared to put out into the universe that I was a real estate agent. I think partly because if you say it and somebody chooses not to work with you, it's kind of like rejection, right? And so it was easier for me to kind of just hide and not have people necessarily know that I was selling real estate. But I also didn't know what was involved with marketing and getting my name out there outside of telling everybody that I was in real estate. And so it was when I really kind of started to understand how lead generation worked and figured out how to crack the code of lead conversion, particularly with online leads. And then it just kind of like it just started to snowball. And as I sold more, I became more confident. And then I was like okay talking about it and telling people what I did. And then that just snowballed and grew even more.

Host1 04:19

That's awesome. This is such a relationship-based business. And kind of what you just said right there is like you started telling more people, talking to more people. How did the relationships that you had and had developed impact the growth of the business?

Host 04:31

It's still a critical part of it, right? Like that's the fun part to realize. And you know, one of the things that we always talk about here is that for most agents, like you do need a little bit of outside lead gen to get started, right? It's gonna, yeah, to get things going like at a quicker pace, lead gen definitely helps become a component of it. But when you can recognize that if you have all of these relationships and like people and humans and connections, people want to refer you. Like that's the one thing that I always tell folks is like people want to tell people all about you when they know you, like you, trust you, and when they feel like you're a part of their tribe, and when there's more than just a transactional relationship. And so it's really being able to foster that sense of like it's not really belonging, but it's it's getting people to really feel like, hey, there's like, I don't know. We you, I'm sure you know this phrase that people like to support people, not businesses, right? And so when they can know that they are making an impact on you, maybe just as much as you've had an impact on them, like that's that's where the magic happens. That's the super fun stuff.

Host1 05:41

100%. The personification of businesses today, it's critical. I've had so many people just on the show in the last few weeks talking about how they're shifting their entire content strategy to just talk about stuff that they're passionate about instead of business, because that's what's really moving the needle with the rise of you know AI and everything that's going on there. I'm seeing this like progressive turn towards human. Like I want to connect with people that are actually people. And so I've always talked about this. I just don't think it's ever been more important than it is today, is people want to know who is like running the company, who is the person behind the machine, because that is critical, I think, today to I think forming trust and it's just it's a it's becoming the most valuable form of currency, I think, right now is if you trust somebody or if you have a community of people that trust you, I don't think there's going to be anything more important than that in the next five to ten years when it comes to marketing, especially and trying to grow a business.

Host 06:34

Absolutely. I couldn't agree with that anymore.

Host1 06:37

Yeah. When it comes to building relationships, how do you do it? Um, I I don't know if there's just like the strategy you have in your head or if it's kind of just something you do, but would love to kind of break down how how do you create meaningful relationships that help you grow your business?

Host 06:52

Ooh, so that's a fascinating. I don't uh so I know some people have like a system or a process that they use to it, and I don't. I think it's just like one of those things. So the first thing is that I always recognize that I am polarizing, right? And but and I think everybody is polarizing at some level, right? Like when you try to be liked by everybody, the reality is that there tend to be really like fake relationships or maybe not as genuine and not as sincere and not as deep. And so as I've gotten older, I've actually become okay with that. I think that was something that I struggled with for a long time was I was like, I can't, I can't have an opinion that's too far this way or an opinion that's too far that way because I don't want to offend people. And so one of my big changes recently is realizing that I do have opinions. And when I find the people that share those opinions or that feel the same, the connections are deeper and they're a little bit more meaningful for both of us, right? For me and for them. So that's definitely one part of it. I also I'm a one-on-one person. I don't do really well in in large groups. I feel like I get lost, but I thrive on one-to-one connections. And even if it's just like being able to shoot over a text every so often, and you know, just remembering small little details that like when I see something that makes me think of that particular person, being able to shoot over a message with a picture or you know, whatever it is, that I don't know, I feel like that that goes so much further than a scheduled outreach where you touch everybody once every 90 days or, you know, rando text your entire cell phone database like twice a year. But that being said, my real deep personal connections are probably smaller than a lot of people's, but I think that they're a lot deeper and a lot more meaningful. And it turns into more long-term connections and referrals from each individual as opposed to smaller numbers from more people, if that makes sense.

Host1 08:54

What do you say to the people that are like, yeah, at least I get it, but it's not like that's not scalable. You can't scale the one-on-one conversations. You have a very successful company, and this is your philosophy, so it doesn't seem to be impacting you as much.

Host 09:07

Yeah, no, um, it doesn't. I mean, we've got, you know, well over a hundred agents and 20 staff. And I think it's just that it's not scalable at mass, but I also don't, I'm realistic about what I am building and what I want, right? I don't want to have a thousand agents or do a thousand sales in a year personally. And so I think it's looking at it and saying, like, can you define what your goals are and build a system and a structure that helps you accomplish whatever those goals are? And then being super intentional. And I just know whenever I walk by somebody, it doesn't take me much time to be able to stop and have like a really deep, meaningful three to five minute conversation. You know, um, back a couple of years ago, I was out with Tom Ferry. He was my coach at the time. And I said to him, because he's a master at making people feel really good, right? When you're when you talk to Tom, he makes you feel like you're the only person that you're talking to. I'll never forget this. We were walking and I asked him, I said, How do you do it? Right? Like, how do you make everybody feel good? And how do you remember all of these crazy details, right? Because he remembered some rando fact that I had shared years earlier. And he said to me, Well, he said, What's your average price point? And I said, It's about, you know, for the company, it's about 650,000. And he said, So if I introduced you to somebody who was selling a $10 million condo, so more than 10x your average sales price, would you remember every detail about that introduction and that referral that I made to you? And I was like, Yeah. And he goes, but that's the problem. He goes, if you only do that when it is money for you, it, you know, it's never going to be scalable and it's never going to be impactful. But when you can look at every single person that you come across and every relationship as though it could be worth the same as that $10 million sale, you'll figure out how to do it and how to how to make those connections. And I've kept that with me for years.

Host1 11:05

It seems like almost just like a lack of curiosity almost. Because you said something a second ago that stuck out, you know, beyond the advice that Tom gave you. You know, have a really meaningful conversation in three to five minutes. I think popular people hear that and are like, How the heck do you have a meaningful conversation in three to five minutes? Because people are so I can't even put, you know, some people are like, well, I can't even put my phone down for three to five minutes. I, you know, and talking to people like this or, you know, constantly tapping their foot, those types of things, like, yep, yep, cool, cool. Let's go, let's go. So, how do you have a meaningful conversation in three to five minutes that that uh helps you connect with somebody?

Host 11:36

It's the curiosity, right? Like it's asking more and saying less. And everybody wants to talk about themselves, but I think often we as humans approach conversations thinking, how do I insert myself or my experience or my insert whatever into this conversation? And if it's a flip to instead say, what can I learn in this three to five minute conversation and add to the Rolodex of things that I know about this human in front of me? It's just it's a totally different mindset to it.

Host1 12:08

Yeah. It seems like people are missing that, missing that point. You know, social media has created this desire, I think, for, you know, I want I want a million people to know me at once. It's like, it's like, yeah, but you know, what about the person that's just sitting right beside you? Like, how is that relationship? How is that connection? I personally don't like to talk very much. It's funny enough that I have a podcast, but like if you put me in a room with like five people, I'm probably like the opposite of you. Put me in a room with five people, and I'm like, no, no, I don't have anything to say. But if you put me on a stage in front of like 5,000, I'm gonna crush. Like, I and I can't explain that to anybody. So I've gotten really good at asking questions. Everybody thinks I'm a wonderful listener. Because if we go to dinner with like my wife's friends as an example, I'll let them sit there and talk the whole time and I'll strategically ask questions so that I don't have to. So we'll leave an hour at dinner, and people are like, Man, you are such a good listener, but I didn't learn anything about you. Like, it's like that's exactly how we script it. That's that's how we want to do it. That's the goal. Yep, totally, that's the goal. But I am genuinely interested in people. Like, I am genuinely curious about Lisa Cinnati and her business and how she does it and how she develops relationships. And I think that people can sense that, like that genuine desire to create a connection. It's amazing. How do you I think like I go back to a second ago, like I think trust is one of the most important things in a relationship, and I think it's one of the most important things in marketing right now. How do you create trust, not just within your kind of local team, like within your team, within your ecosystem, but with your customer base? How do you create that trust? But then how do you nurture it long term so that people want to come back and come back and refer and refer you?

Host 13:45

That's a very deep question. I and I think it's like it there's so many different levels to look at with it, right? So it's these days look at it and say, my customer is actually my agents, because I don't sell a ton of real estate anymore, right? So when I really talk about like where's my referral base and what am I building and who is my customer, it would be looking at the agents who choose to partner with us to build their business and accomplish their goals. And so like that's one level of it. And for that, I mean it it's the basics. It's being brutally honest in a nice, kind, and compassionate way, but always being honest, right? Even when it's a hard truth that maybe somebody doesn't necessarily really want to understand understand or hear, and then always doing what we say we're gonna do. And so we're really, really clear if we make a commitment to an agent that my entire staff is gonna step up and make sure that that the company accomplishes that exact commitment that we made to that agent. And it's the same thing that we hope that our agents will do with their consumers, right? When when we can encourage somebody and give them the honest feedback that they want to buy this house that is maybe not in the best of condition or has a a fatal flaw, or when they're in this crazy multiple offer situation, we had one the other day. It was 28 offers on this little property, right? That's an insane number of offers. And these buyers were were pre-approved, they could have afforded to pay whatever the property was going to sell for, but it wouldn't have appraised, right? There's no chance this property would have appraised and it wouldn't have been a smart investment. If they had needed to sell it in the next two to five years, we couldn't promise them that we would be able to sell it for exactly what they were going to pay for it. And so being able to be honest in that point, and instead of pushing to get a sale done, but telling them, you know, that, hey, maybe, you know, here's the pros and cons to what you're walking into and letting them come to the decision that was best for them. I think that those kind of situations are where trust is made or broken, right? Like when you can take your own personal like benefit or needs or wants out of an equation and really do what's best for somebody else. I think that that's like the foundation of trust and everything that our industry stands for.

Host1 16:02

Mm-hmm. So good. I think what you said is the essence of sales too. I think a lot of people get sales backwards. They say it's, you know, you think you have to talk a lot in sales. And I'm like, if you are talking a lot in sales, you are losing a lot because the best salespeople I know ask a question and shut their mouth. And then they ask another question. I find if I'm ever in a sales conversation, I'm rarely talking or rarely trying to quote unquote persuade somebody. I'm just asking questions, letting that person come to their own logical conclusion for whatever they feel like they should do right there in the moment. And in real estate, I had somebody on um a couple of weeks ago. He's like, he's like, I just don't resonate well with like the sales word. My job is not to sell anybody in real estate. I'm here to serve. Like I'm here to to be a I'm customer service, I'm support. You know, people have a desire, and my job is to help facilitate that desire. And um, I think it's probably people listening to that probably I don't know if they would agree with the philosophy, but it is the essence of sales. The best salespeople I know are very good at just asking questions in a with a servant heart and uh trying to help get people from point A to point B. I know you know, from a consumer's perspective, I think that's the way that they want to be talked to as well. Most consumers don't want to be sold to, and that's how you can break trust is by really trying to push people into situations that they maybe shouldn't be in.

Host 17:16

Agree a hundred percent. A consultant and an advisor, not a salesperson.

Host1 17:20

Yeah, that's awesome. I love it, I love it. Okay, how do we take these relationships that we've built and how do we turn them into revenue?

Host 17:27

Well, I think one of the biggest mistakes that I always see people make, regardless of industry, is they build the relationship and they don't make an ask later on, right? And it's the single biggest thing, whether it's asking for a review, asking for a referral, asking for insert whatever, we're not good at making asks. And I think that it just making that one change to the script or the process or what you do with it can alter a business dramatically.

Host1 17:57

You've been around a long time. Why do you think agents do that? Maybe I don't know if you had that that kind of personal experience yourself where you didn't know when to ask or didn't want to. Going back to the maybe a life fear of rejection, why do you think people don't do that?

Host 18:10

I think you just said it. I think they're afraid of the rejection, right? They're afraid that if they ask for the review that they won't get it or that it won't be positive, right? Like how many times, how many real estate transactions do you know that ever go smoothly from start to finish?

unknown 18:26

Right.

Host 18:27

Right? Very, very few.

Host1 18:28

And I think 1% or less, yes.

Host 18:31

Right. And we beat ourselves up thinking that, you know, everything has to be perfect. And if it's not, it's a direct reflection on us or our business or our practices or whatever. So I think it's a fear of rejection. I also think it's a fear of being salesy and that making the ask is salesy. But if the relationship is genuine and sincere, you've earned the right to be able to make an ask from time to time. And I'm not saying that you make an ask every conversation or every week or every month or even every quarter, but you've got to have a cadence of being able to make the ask for whatever it is that you want the outcome to be.

Host1 19:08

I uh I could not agree more. I think a lot of people, they just are so uncomfortable sometimes in making an ask and selling that they they choose not to do it and they just give, give, give, give, give to relationships. And it's it puts you in a great position. You have a lot of great relationships, but if you don't ask for business or ask, you know, for XYZ, I think a lot of those people struggle and don't really understand why. It's like I'm doing all the work, I'm building all the relationships, I just don't understand why my business isn't growing. I think to your point, it's like, are you asking people to do business with you?

Host 19:37

Right. Like it I always think about like when an agent says, Well, m my neighbor just listed their house and it wasn't with me, and they listed with some other agent. I'm like, Well, did you ask them why? And they said, Well, I felt an obligation to so-and-so, right? And we didn't create any level of feeling of want that we even wanted the business, or you know, and I just bought a car recently, right? And so one of the things that I went through was kind of picking which dealer I was gonna buy this particular car from. And I wanted to know the person that was gonna get my sale wanted the sale because I can buy the same car, just like we can buy a house with anybody, but I wanted to give the business to somebody who really wanted the business. And I think it's the same with real estate.

Host1 20:23

How did the car purchase go? Because car salesmen sometimes they they work for it and sometimes they don't.

Host 20:29

Yeah, that's a whole different story. I hate buying cars more than I hate buying houses.

Host1 20:35

I know a lot of people that are like that. I had a friend uh recently, he's like, All right, I think I'm gonna buy a new vehicle, and he's never had a new vehicle, he's always just bought something, you know, the Dave Ramsey philosophy. And he's like, How do I buy a car? I was like, What do you mean how you buy a car? You're 36 years old, you don't know how to buy a car. He's like, No, he's like, I hate buying cars, I don't have any desire. I I grew up in the car industry. My father was uh worked in the on the on the automotive side for a long time. So I have a lot more familiarity, I think, than the average person. I still don't totally love buying cars, but uh it's uh it's always an experience. Thank you so much. I I want to respect your time. I always like to ask this question, wrapping us up. You know, what's the number one way that we as listeners of the podcast can partner with you? What's important to you right now? How can we help you grow?

Host 21:18

You can find me on social media. Instagram is my thing. So it's Lisa Cennati, straight up on there, and you'll find me right there. And I'm always happy to give back. If there's ever anything that I can do, folks can message me and always happy to answer answer questions or provide help in whatever way I can.

Host1 21:35

Love it. Love it. We'll make sure that we link up all the ways that people can connect with you. Really appreciate you again spending the time.

Host 21:41

Thanks. It was fun.

Host1 21:42

Awesome, awesome. And thank you all for continuing to listen to the Partner Profit podcast. This has been another awesome conversation. I'll see you on the next one. Peace.