From Salesperson to Sales Pro: Mastering Real Estate Conversations with Renee Funk

Host 00:00

I don't like stereotypical salespeople. Oh my gosh, all of these real estate agents are so successful. Me, me, me, look at the car, look at the trophies, look at this. They need to know the truth. There's gonna be blood and tears and all the mishap. That's the reality that the consumer, if they saw on a consistent basis.

Host1 00:16

And you can represent sales for the largest asset and the biggest transaction that the average American will ever make in their life.

Host 00:21

I need to make the money, I need to make the money, I need to make the money. And it's like, no, you don't get it.

Host1 00:25

Access to data, that's not the play. Access to insights from a professional is the play.

Host 00:30

What's up, everybody? Grant Wise here. Welcome back to the Partner Profit Podcast. Excited for my conversation today with Renee Funk. She is an absolute, absolute, absolute amazing human being in the real estate space, has an incredible track record that she's going to dive into and just such a unique expertise that I'm excited to unpack today. So, Renee, thank you so much for being here.

Host1 00:51

Well, thank you, Grant. It's exciting to share time again with you in the Partner in Profit podcast. I'm excited for our conversation.

Host 00:59

I love it. So for the people that are listening to this and maybe don't know much about you, why don't you give us a bit of the backstory? How do you get to where you are today?

Host1 01:05

Currently, I am a co-founder of a real estate team called the Funk Collection, brokered by EXP Realty in Orlando, Florida. Specifically, I call Windermere, Florida home, which is the first town north of Magic Kingdom. I get to hear Walt Disney's trained from my house every day. And when I walk my dog, uh, that's where you'll find us. The journey of real estate has been an interesting one. The real estate industry is an industry that I refer to as the missed opportunity that almost happened. Real estate industry can be the most impactful, life-changing industry for entrepreneurs and business owners. And many, many years ago, my husband, of whom I get to work with each and every day because we're both real estate agents, he came to me before I was an agent and said, You do things differently and you need to be in this industry. And I said, I don't want to be a stinking salesperson. News flash, I don't like stereotypical salespeople. I didn't then, I don't now. I don't like scripting. I didn't then, I don't now. And what the heck would I have to bring to the real estate industry, which is a sales industry? So my favorite realtor, my husband, uh, kept nudging me and nudging me for many years. And I was helping him in a few capacities as an unlicensed assistant role. And we were having babies and all the things, and he nudged enough that one day I said yes. About 15 years ago, I acquired my real estate license right here in Florida. And to this day, it's one of my husband's forever, I told you so. I tell him he was right that I almost missed out on the most amazing opportunity that exists. And that's because the real estate industry literally changes lives, not just for the consumers we serve, but for us as business owners. And uh for that I'm forever grateful. Today, uh, you and I had a little side conversation right before we launched the podcast. And when I was sharing with you as a real estate team leader and speaker and coach of sales pros, I found Elaine to be very passionate about encouraging others to think differently about their communication strategies and to realize that we can really change the face of our relationships when we take a little bit of a pause and think that the way we sound, the words we use, and certainly the curiosity we lead with is game-changing. So today I get to coach and train not only real estate agents, but many different organizations and speak in conferences on communication strategies that change the game.

Host 03:40

That is an amazing story. Shout out to your husband for pushing you into this.

Host1 03:46

Every funk, thank you.

Host 03:48

Yeah, I guess it's probably one of those like when real estate's good, it's like, all right, you're right, you're right. When real estate's bad, it's like, oh, I knew this wasn't gonna be a good idea. I don't know if you've ever had any of those conversations, but oh well, sure.

Host1 03:58

There's so many seasons in the real estate industry, which right, and and by the way, all real estate agents we're entrepreneurs, we're business owners first. And there's so many seasons and feelings and ups and downs and wins and losses. And you know, as a business owner, I think it's also important for us to normalize. We should be able to say when things are rough. There's more than enough people in the real estate industry, especially that will pound on their chest and tell you, me, me, me, I, I, I, everything's so great. Is it? Is it always no? Those that are coming up alongside of us or coming up after us to say, Hey, can you show me how it's done? They need to know the truth. There's gonna be blood and tears and all the mishaps, but those are also gifts. So you're gonna get the raw, like it's not all rainbows and butterflies. Let's just remember that.

Host 04:50

I'm glad that we seem to like collectively as an industry, at least I've noticed this in teams, started telling the truth about real estate. Because you know, if you go back 10 to 15 years, 20 years, every broker in the world would be like, Yeah, just get your license, go rent a bin's. It's gonna be amazing, like you're gonna do great. And then people would come in and just flail and not know what to do. But I'm certainly starting to see people like you tell the truth about the industry, which is like, well, it's gonna be really hard and you're gonna make a lot of mistakes and you're gonna feel like quitting a lot. But you get through all of that stuff, you're gonna be very successful. It's the truth, and I think it's the better version of the story to tell.

Host1 05:27

Well, it's exasperated, right? But the industry, specifically in Florida, 63 hours and a class exam and a state exam, and poof, you have a real estate license and you can represent sales for the largest asset and the biggest transaction that the average American will ever make in their life. Tell me there's nothing wrong with that, right? And I know this podcast isn't to diagnose the issues in the industry. We can talk about that later. Though it does warrant putting on the table is the agents who are rising up, I, you know, I call new agents rising up agents because they're they're looking to those in the industry who've already traveled the path and saying, hey, help me show me. We owe it to them to say, hey, it's not all that you see online. And I would, I would ask you, Grant, because you were saying you're glad to see some shifts that maybe more are being authentically true about the reality behind the curtain. We still have work to do. I think there's a lot of brokerages, a lot of team leaders who are not being as forthcoming that they can be. And you can see that even with what you see on social media. The me, me, me, I, I, I, look at all the awards. What if we put some more transparency about how many awards agents actually have to pay to play to get the award?

Host 06:41

Well, I don't know that everybody would like that because then really the truth would come out, you know. Then it's then it then it uh then it might tell a little bit of a different story. Uh I think that, you know, it's not everybody. Uh, there's an there's a amazing, amazing, amazing people in this industry. And I think that marketing is messaging. The people that are talking about their trophies, trophies tend to recruit, you know, the people that talk about the consumer tend to sell more houses. There's certainly a lot of messaging uh that's at play. There's there's a strategy for a lot of stuff, but I would agree that if we could show the uh million-dollar listing version of this, like actually show the dramatic things that happen, I think the industry would be better off. And I think that you go back a couple of years ago, and I'm gonna ask you a question here in a second, just to get to the point of the podcast, but you go back a couple of years ago and look at the lawsuits.

Host1 07:29

Yeah.

Host 07:29

And look at commission compression, look at all this stuff that's taking place, like if real estate agents were actually honest about what they did on a daily basis to help the consumer, we would never have conversations about commission. Like it wouldn't even, it would be a moot point because the consumer, instead of seeing, oh my gosh, all of these real estate agents are so successful, me, me, me, look at the car, look at the trophies, look at this. And instead, like today I'm reviewing a HUD statement and it took me four and a half hours and I had to contact 16 people. And like, like that's the reality that the consumer, if they saw on a consistent basis, would have a dramatically different view of the residential real estate agent. And I think I see people do it. The people that do it, they have a different relationship with their customers, and the people that don't, you know, don't. But getting to the point of the podcast, right? Talking about relationships and how do we turn our relationships into revenue, you're kind of at this intersection of really like the most important part of real estate, which is how to communicate. Because if you can't communicate to build relationships, you certainly can't turn them into revenue. So coach us up. What are some of the things that you're teaching people right now to like how do I need to communicate so that I can build really effective relationships in my real estate business?

Host1 08:43

I love that you asked that question. And, you know, you were reminding me that a focus on how to turn relationships into revenue. A moment ago, you were talking about if more agents would show, you know, like how the sausage is made behind the scenes. So you referenced, like, I was reviewing this HUD statement, and you know, this particular task took me X amount of hours, which means to you as my client, it saves you this much time. You hit the nail on the head. And yet, isn't it interesting? The real estate industry, and we're all guilty of this. So, like, I want everyone to know that there's no mastering, first of all, there's no mastering communications. There's no mastering. It's continuing to focus on it every single day to incrementally be a little better today than you were yesterday. But go back to that agent that's reviewing the HUD statement, and oftentimes is told, just go explain your value proposition. There's this trap in the industry, just explain your value proposition. Coaches, trainers, team leaders, brokerages, they all tell agents, explain your value proposition, which is a bit of what you were just mentioning. Though most agents don't really understand what that means. And there's four key factors that help drive decisions that will help drive agents to explain their value proposition. One of my dear mentors, Phil M. Jones, who's the founder of Exactly What to Say for real estate agents. I am a licensed guide within the Exactly What to Say community. And Phil reminds us all these four factors. Sales pros can help their clients save or buy back time, mitigate risk, elevate their status, or save money. So we when we're representing a buyer, what do we want to do? We want to keep as much money in that buyer's pocket, right? When we get really clear on those four factors, that in and of itself helps your value proposition to become clear. So that agent reviewing the HUD statement and doing all the things behind the scene, what are they really doing? Is they're helping to save their client money. They're helping to save their time their client time and buyback time, they're helping to make sure there's awareness on potential risk, right? In many cases, they're elevating their status. That is a part of your value proposition.

Host 10:55

I love this topic so much. Sales is one of my favorite things in the whole world. It's the thing that I've studied probably the longest is how to effectively communicate with people. And I think that people have this common misconception in sales that you do a lot of talking, and it's the exact opposite in sales, you do a lot of listening. And one methodology that I've kind of like, you know, learned slashed made my own is this formula that I've developed, and um I call it emotional math. And if you can do emotional math in a sales conversation, you can pretty much sell anybody anything. And we look at internal pain plus internal pleasure equals motivation. So, what is internal pain? Internal pain is you know, where am I wanting to go and like what's getting in my way, and and most importantly, how is that making me feel? So I want to buy a house, but I don't think I can, and that's making me feel anxious or defeated or stressed or like I'm not enough. Okay, well then what is the internal pleasure, which is I want to buy a house because it's gonna make me feel like I'm a success. It's gonna make me feel like I'm a provider, it's gonna make me feel like my family loves me or knows that I love them. So, okay, if we can take your internal pain and we can understand your internal pleasure, we then have your motivation. And this is when I go to communicating a value proposition, what I love about what you're saying is like you that's not a script. Like, you have to understand human emotions. You have to be able to talk to people and get into a conversation to understand these things. And what is valuable to a single mom that's trying to buy a house for three kids is not the same thing as what's valuable for a doctor that wants to live on a golf course. Like, these are two radically different conversations that you would have, two radically different motivations, two radically different sets of emotions. And how can you communicate a value prop with a script when you're talking like these two things don't match? And so I don't know if anything that I'm saying is making sense to you or not, but I would love if we could like go deeper on the just like the dynamic nature of communicating a value proposition when every single conversation in this industry is different.

Host1 13:05

We are so aligned in this, and and what you said makes a hundred percent sense. First, in order to understand what a value proposition is, then value needs a definition, right? And and here's Grant where a lot of business owners, which everyone listening to this podcast, you're a business owner. Most of you are in the real estate space, you're a business owner and entrepreneur. Many times business owners go at this wrong is business owners assume or presume that they understand what value means to those they're seeking to serve. There's two questions that every business owner needs to ask, and you need to get clear, so crystal clear on this. So do the work, take the time to really narrow in on who are you seeking to serve? And I mean specifically who are you seeking to serve? Because if you say all people, then that means you can't be all things to all people. That means you're nothing to everyone, right? Who are you seeking to serve? And what are the solutions you provide those people? Because what happens as a business owner is often you'll say, Well, I think value in the eyes of the other person is X, Y, and Z. I think that that individual who wants to buy a golf home in Windermere, which is where I live, this is what they'll think is value. Have you asked them, right? Have you truly got to know what value is to the individual? Because like trust, like value, those are in the eye of the beholder. We don't get to decide if we're trusted. We don't get to decide what someone else deems as valuable. They do. And when we start to go deeper into this, what we find is that human nature is we want to move fast. But if we slow the process down slightly to really focus in on who am I seeking to serve, and do I truly understand what value means to them, then you'll know the solutions you provide, which all ties into the four driving factors on establishing your value proposition. Because usually agents try to do the value proposition first. And I'm like, but hold on a second. Do you know what value means to the people you're seeking to serve? It would be as if I would say, I have one solution for every human who's ever considered investing in real estate in Orlando. Oh my gosh, Grant, there's hundreds of reasons why different individuals might trade real estate in Orlando in many micro markets and segments and products, right? Like every individual can have different drivers and have different definitions of what value means to them.

Host 15:29

I think the people that say, like, oh, I lurk with everyone are directly in conflict with even their own teachings. Like I always say the person that works with everyone works with no one. And so you can't say, I want to work with everyone, but then have a script that you feel like is actually gonna like no. If you have a script, you have to go so niche, you have to become such a specialist that you basically only work with this one type of person, because then you can start to create, like, there are patterns that exist, and you can start to say, okay, well, I only work with veterans that are relocating out of the area that have a family and they're PCSing or whatever. Like, okay, there's a lot of patterns in that one particular niche. So your scripting might be a little more relevant, but if you don't know, like going back to what you're saying, you don't if you don't know what's valuable to that person, it's an impossibility. It's very difficult to go out there and effectively communicate. You were talking about like time, everybody wants this stuff to happen quickly. Part of building relationships is establishing trust. And so I'm curious from your perspective, how do time and trust coexist? Because a lot of the relationships I've ever been a part of, they take a little bit of time to curate the trust. And then once we're there together, we can go off and we can do whatever it is that we want. What are your thoughts on that?

Host1 16:46

Again, you're hitting the the nail on the head is that we don't inherently just wake up and have trust with every individual.

Host 16:52

It is especially in 2026, like it doesn't happen in the age of the internet, like it's impossible.

Host1 16:57

Internet, AI. I mean, you want to talk about so a friend of mine who is very much in the AI space, he often talks about Phil Stringer's his name. Phil Stringer often talks about with AI how there is an economical and a relationship-based trust recession that's going on. And I couldn't agree with Phil anymore. I love how like the two people getting shout-outs from me today are Phil and Phil, Phil Stringer, Phil M. Jones, two completely different Phil's, but shout out to both of them. If your listeners aren't listening to the two of their thought leadership, highly recommend. So when Phil Stringer talks about AI strategies, he also bundles that in the trust recession that's happening. And each and every real estate agent particularly has a responsibility in 2026 and beyond to be very clear with those they're seeking to earn relationships with, i.e., seeking to earn the trust of, to make sure that they know you're not an icky salesperson. You're not out solely for the next commission check. So when you talk to me, Grant, about how to bring relationships into revenue, first and foremost is focus on earning and owning the relationship, not earning and owning the transaction. The money will always come.

Host 18:07

That's will you say that again for the people in the yes, focus on earning and owning the relationship, not earning and owning the transaction.

Host1 18:19

The money will always come.

Host 18:21

Yes. And the money is a byproduct of what you just said. Like I've had salespeople that I've tried to train for years, like, well, I need to make the money, I need to make the money, I need to make the money. And it's like, no, you don't get it. Like the money is a byproduct of what you do. The cars, the houses, the trips, the vacations, the retirement plans, the investment portfolio, like all of that stuff is important, but it's not the main thing. It's a byproduct of the value you create in the marketplace. And you can only create value in the marketplace, you're actually developing these relationships. This is such a good conversation.

Host1 18:51

We again in the real estate industry, going back to how easy it is to acquire a license, on the outside, many people think it looks easy. You have easy to acquire a license in the United States. You have social media, all the bells and whistles of look at me, look at me. Which, by the way, if you're out there celebrating your success, I'm not knocking it. We should all celebrate success. We also need to at least have some self-awareness of the message that sends out because we make it look celebrate strategically. We make it look easy. And the consumer needs to understand all the work that actually goes into representing transactions as a real estate professional. And our fellow agents need to understand that. So going back to how do you earn the trust is number one is curiosity is a superpower. Period. And when you're asking questions, you cannot be wrong. The difference between a stereotypical salesperson and a professional salesperson is someone who seeks first to understand. So if we specifically look at buyers and sellers, is you can go out in the industry and you can fly a paper airplane in any direction, all over, and you're going to be able to find an agent who will say, Now is the best time to buy, sell or invest in real estate. Heck, you're probably fine years ago that I said it. Because we were coached to say these scripts.

Host 20:12

Right. Yeah.

Host1 20:13

Oh now is not the best time to buy, sell, or invest in real estate for all people. The pro will seek first to understand. Tell me, was it what is it about potentially listening and selling your home in Windermere in the spring of 2026 that's standing out to you? Let's unpack that as the pro because I'm not here for that transaction. I'm here to serve the human first. If I may share a recent story that the funk collection, the real estate team in which I'm a co-founder of experienced, the market is very dynamic for most of us across the United States. As we record this spring of you know 2026, I'm sure most of the agents can agree it's a dynamic market. And about a month ago, a prospective seller called the Funk Collection here in Windermere and said, Hey, I'm thinking about selling. I have a lot of agents reaching out to me, telling me now's the best time to sell. And I'm not really sure. I know I have some equity built up, but would you come and share a conversation with me? And I shared with you that I get to work with my favorite realtor, my husband, Jeffrey Funk. He went out on the listing consultation. We call listing consultations listing strategy sessions, just like when you go to meet with a buyer, they're buyer strategy sessions. Little bit of simple swap there. So Mr. Funk goes out to the listing strategy session and he meets with this individual and through a whole lot of curiosity, learns that the seller has a few options. They could, of course, list the property. They could, of course, hold the property and stay in the property, or maybe even make the move and rent out the property that they currently hold. What they determined together it was it was best to stay in the property and not list it and revisit over the next three months to see how the equity position has changed with the. Homes are trading for reassess the property value, all of those things. So as Mr. Funk goes to walk to the front door from the kitchen table with the seller, the seller says to Mr. Funk, Hey, I just want you to know you're the first agent that walked through here that didn't jam a bunch of paper down my throat and tell me that I needed to sign. Could it be possible that I leave a review for you? And Jeff said, Well, of course, and thank you. And the homeowner said, You know what? It's really refreshing to see a salesperson who's looking out for the greater good and is walking away happily to say maybe it's not the best time for you. And the nudge to all sales pros, because I want you to call yourself a sales pro, you're not a stereotypical sales agent, is to think first about what curiosity you can lead with, to truly, and I mean truly, understand what they are aiming to achieve and by when, so that then you can determine as the professional what the solutions are that exist and if it makes sense for that individual to do it by that time frame.

Host 23:07

It's so good, and it's so true. Everything that you're saying is so incredibly true, especially right now, where it really does not make sense for people to buy and sell real estate for all people. Like we're in a life, we're in a life event market as we record this of April and 26. Most people are moving because some they have to, like something's happened and they need to make a decision. And you know, people aren't it's not five years ago like it was during COVID, where it was funny money and interest rates were low, and we could all just kind of do whatever we wanted, right?

Host1 23:35

Well, and also remember, I mean, there's all sorts of factors going into this dynamic market. There's we've all been around for a very long time. One of the interesting data points, I just looked this up yesterday. I was doing a training, I get to um train with real estate agents, and it's so much fun. And looking up the stat that it's just shy of, I think it was 51% of all mortgages held in the US are still sub-4%. We as pros have to address that and be willing to know that every listing consultation we should be treating as if it's an opportunity to say, maybe it's an actual listing consultation, maybe. And just maybe you become the advisor long term to say, I always want to be your go-to. I always want to be your go-to to answer questions and know that you're not gonna get a pitch from me. You're gonna get educational information, true insights. Because here's the other thing, Grant, is the consumer, they don't need more knowledge, isn't power. With AI and and everything that we have access to now, right? Like access to data is that's not the play. Access to insights from a professional is the play. So you want your people in your world, when you talk about earning trust, like let's bring this full circle. You want every human in your world to truly know that yes, there's times where I'm going to say, like, I earn an income by doing X, but there are plenty of times when you're going to reach out to me. And my job is to say, I want to empower you with the education and the information combined with our insights of being the go-to in Windermere real estate.

Host 25:10

Yep. It makes it really easy right now if you're in real estate to know like just the nature of what's going on in the real estate industry and then to recognize that if somebody is coming, is asking you to come out to potentially list their house, something is going on. Like, so you you know that you can just walk in the door and instantly be more human with people because most people are not just like I'm not giving up a 4% interest rate, a sub-4% interest rate, just because. So most people have something going on, and if you can just be a human being for a minute, you're gonna get the commission check. It just may not come from that person. Like, this is just the abundance mindset, good karma, whatever you want to call it. Like, you're gonna get paid if you have this mindset. It's it's irrefut, like it's gonna happen, but just recognize that most people are going through something, probably. And if you can just walk into every conversation being a human being, and I love what you said. I think the I can't remember exactly who said this quote. It said, a statement closes the mind and a question opens it. If you can walk into every conversation with an open mind and just be curious, you're gonna do yourself a world of good. If you focus on what you're saying, Renee, and try to own the relationship instead of owning the transaction, it will just make you unbelievably successful. I I was kind of lost in what you were saying and I lost track of time. So forgive me, I want to respect your time. I always like to ask this question at the end of these conversations. I don't have to find a way for us to get back on and chat some more because this is just a deeply fascinating topic to me. What is the number one way that the people listen to the show can partner with you? How could they walk alongside you and support you and help you grow?

Host1 26:41

Well, thank you for asking. The number one place to find me is Instagram, Renee underscore funk. I offer a variation of trainings and workshops, and when there's team leaders and brokerages who seek to hire me, that is one of my favorite places to go and play. Um, there's much opportunity in the real estate industry. So find me on Instagram, send me a DM. I have an exactly what to say. This amazing book right here. I have an exactly what to say field guide specifically for real estate agents. So if you DM me the word exactly, you will receive that field guide. And uh, Grant, I want to say thank you. You're making a difference. It's really great to share these conversations and thank you for elevating the real estate industry because these are the conversations that move the needle forward from true pros.

Host 27:27

100%. And thank you. I appreciate that a lot.

Host1 27:29

Yeah, absolutely.

Host 27:31

Thank you again for being here. Means a lot and uh very grateful to have your time.

Host1 27:35

Let's do it again.

Host 27:36

Yes, yes, we will for sure. And uh thank you guys for continuing to listen to the Partner Profit podcast. This has been another amazing conversation about how do you take your relationships and turn them into revenue. This was a great one, and I'll see you on the next one. Peace.