Ep028: Introverted Or Extroverted? Unleash Your Natural Unfair Advantages For The Win

Chris: Hi everyone and welcome back to the Connect Practice Track and Grow podcast. I’m Chris McAllister and I’m thrilled to be here with my podcast partner, Laci LeBlanc. Today we’re diving into the fourth episode of our 12-part series Protecting the Goose that Lays the Golden Eggs and, if you remember, you are the goose in this sentence. This episode is titled Introverted or Extroverted. Unleash your Natural Unfair Advantages for the Win. So good morning, Laci

Laci: Good morning, happy to be here.

Chris: And happy to be here as well. So I guess this is one of those things that is super duper, fuzzy to some degree and will be fuzzy for a lot of people. So I want to take a little bit of time and sort of frame this episode, if you’ll bear with me. So I want to go back and review for a second. In this series, you know, we’re focusing on the strategies and mindsets that ensure long term success and not just success, but sustainability in the real estate business. You know, if we don’t have the endurance or, quote, the sustainability to play the long game, it’s almost impossible to create an enjoyable life for yourself, quite frankly. So this series is about protecting and nurturing the key elements that drive your success and, again, much like the proverbial goose that lays the golden egg. So, whether you’re a seasoned professional or just starting out, understanding your strengths and how to leverage them can make all the difference in the world. Does that make sense?

Laci: Yeah, absolutely. I mean and again this applies to, I think, all careers and all people but when you think about that Puritan work ethic that we mentioned so frequently, you know it’s okay to need to build your work around your life. I think it’s maybe the starting point where everybody needs to hear that it’s okay to build your work so that you don’t feel constantly stressed and burnt out and like you’re, you know, just treading water to keep your keep from drowning.

Chris: I hate that phrase life balance, but that’s basically what it is and there’s a season, there’s a time and place for everything, whether it’s, you know, digging in and putting your head down and going or finding some space. But in this episode, you know, I’ve thought long and hard about this over the years because, as I’ve said before, you know, I am an introvert. No, no, two ways about it. You know, I’m just fine and I really enjoy doing the podcast. Talking to you, I like one-on-one. I can talk to groups and so forth, and when I have something to say I feel great about it.

But the difference between you know me when it comes to you know my friends who are genuine extroverts, is when I finish with a meeting or I finish with a podcast, I am just worn out and I’ve got to go away and unplug to recharge. I am just worn out and I’ve got to go away and unplug to recharge, whereas other folks I’ve noticed they just get energized and you know they do one big meeting or one big podcast and they’re ready to go for the next. So it’s really about my ability to bank energy before and after an interaction, if that makes sense.

Laci: Yeah, absolutely, as an extrovert, I can appreciate that, but that’s part of the reason I’m here, right, like that’s part of the reason that we do this together is that balance between introvert and extrovert, and so I think that’s yeah, I think this will be interesting for folks.

Chris: And it also dovetails to last week’s episode when we were talking about, you know, unique ability and unique ability, knowing thyself.

Yeah, exactly yeah. So we’re going to explore the unique strengths that both introverted and extroverted real estate agents bring to the table. Obviously, real estate is a field that thrives in diversity, and recognizing your natural inclinations can help you harness your full potential. So first we’re going to talk about extroverts. These are the agents often seen as the life of the party. They bring energy, they bring enthusiasm, they connect with people just almost instinctually, and we’ll discuss the behaviors and strengths that typify extroverted real estate professionals and how they can use their natural tendencies to excel in the industry. We’ll try not to let typify directly into stereotyping, but we’ll see how we do with that. And then, after we kind of go through some of that, we’re going to shift our focus to introverts like me.

Often we are misunderstood in the context of a people-oriented business like real estate. But introverted agents, you know we have our own set of powerful advantages and sometimes we have to remind ourselves of that. So we’re going to explore how deep listening, thoughtful communication and a preference for quality over quantity can make introverts incredibly effective as real estate professionals, even if they’re not the kind of people who naturally light up a room when they walk in. So, whether you’re identified as an introvert or an extrovert or somewhere in between. I think this episode will give you some things to think about and I think it does give you an understanding and hopefully a desire to embrace your unfair advantages. And I think when you really look to leverage you know your natural inclinations toward extroversion or introversion you’ll find some extreme advantages that, at the end of the day, you know maybe they are unfair and that’s what we’re looking for here. So any comments before we dive into the extrovert Lacey.

Laci: No, I’m sure I’ll have plenty of comments on this section, so I’ll just let you get right into it.

Chris: All right. So, as we said, extroverted real estate agents bring their own unique set of strengths to the table, characterized by outgoing nature and ease and social situation and their approach to sales and client interaction. You know it reflects their energy and enthusiasm for connecting with people. So what are some behaviors, what are some strengths that we might expect from an extroverted real estate lacy? Any ideas off the top of your head?

Laci: Well based on you know just who I am as a person inside. I think that you know I really I love the quantity over quality and quality versus quantity conversation you mentioned earlier, because I think quantity not that excludes quality right, but quantity is really important for an extrovert. How much we do, how many people we connect with, you know how often we are showing, how you know the quantity is really, I think, important to an extrovert in a lot of ways.

Chris: So I think being an extrovert in the real estate business, you know we talk about, you know your personal connection standard and you know how many calls, notes, pop, buys, phone calls, et cetera are you going to do in a week. And I do believe that you know extroverts have an easier time setting and hitting those goals, maybe than I do, for instance. So for me that’s a task, right, that’s something I’ve got to work on, I’ve got to build up to. I have to execute consciously, whereas you know the extroverted folks in the industry, they just seem to do that naturally.

Laci: Yeah, that’s the first thing on my list. Oh gosh, I need to connect with X number of people. Like, let me go ahead and get that. I put that at the top of my list, right, because there’s that’s the easy thing for me, and you probably put it at the bottom because it’s the hardest thing for you. You would rather do everything else before you get to that. But yeah, I particularly love the idea of the networking. As an extrovert, I think that’s at the top of an extrovert’s list. When you’re looking at things you need to do for the day, I think that goes to the top.

Chris: Yeah, I think networking is critical for all of us but again, for people like me, oh my God, I dread it and I’m okay once I get there, but I’m still wiped out afterwards.

But extroverts tend to thrive in social situations and they like going to industry events and doing open houses and parties and so forth, and they do a great job of, you know, meeting potential clients and connecting in those situations and I’m always jealous of how easy it is for these folks just to strike up a conversation and introduce themselves, for instance.

So the one thing I would say before we, you know, jump to introverts, is the thing that I think that the extroverts need to keep in mind is, you know this, excuse me, this podcast is called Connect, Practice, Track and Grow, and connecting is absolutely number one, the most important thing and I think the extroverts have an unfair advantage in that regard but where an extrovert needs to challenge themselves is the tracking piece. And you know, the trick is if you can balance that great connection skill with actually documenting who you connected with and getting their contact information and an email address and doing the follow-up and so forth. Oh my God, you put those two things together and you’ve absolutely got a real estate machine there. So that’s the absolute plus side, but also the thing that really makes that natural. Mobility and instinct and skill pay giant dividends in the future.

Laci: Yeah, you’re absolutely right, and luckily now there’s so much technology that can help with this stuff. So point one for every one of these you know super strengths that we’re going to talk about, there is typically an underlying weakness. Right, there’s a, there’s something there is right.

And sometimes these are going to. You know these are going to offset one another when, like if you had extroverts in one column and introverts in the other column, the strength of one is the weakness of the other and vice versa. But there’s also all these tools and you know tricks that exist now that make this easier.

I was thinking about this tap tags. We use them at Roost for to drive people to give us Google reviews. But you can. What they were designed for was actually to share contact information. So literally by touching phone to phone or phone to little tap tag it’s a little adhesive like button, basically that goes on your phone or your business card or whatever you can share information and automatically, with just a tap, you could literally just keep talking and do it. I’ve seen people keep talking and just hold their phone up to the other person’s phone and transfer their information. So I do think that there’s some tools out there now, especially with technology, that could make this easier both for introverts and extroverts, depending on what the alternative weakness is that accompanies each of these strengths.

Chris: It’s funny. You brought up the whole thing with the reviews. You know we’ve been talking pretty openly about our Google reviews and you know we’ve been really focused on that this year and we’re up to about well over 200 five-star reviews now. And you know, once we got that platform in place with tap tags and actually communicating successes, we actually had posters up all over the office now of different reviews that people have left for specific team members. So you know we’ve gone all in. But the whole phrase have I earned a five-star review today? I gravitate toward that because the extroverts in the company they all need it, right, they’re asking for it anyway. I wrote that phrase or I stole that phrase.

Laci: We’re actually just assuming it, we’re not even asking, right?

Chris: Oh, that’s true too. So there is a. You just assume it’s going to happen. But the whole idea is to make it easier for the introverts to ask right, and it’s much, much easier to have a little sign on a at the front desk that says have I earned a five-star review today? Or to have that as an email signature, or to use that phrase you know when you’re working with a, with a tenant or a client, and so forth, than if you don’t have the words in front of you. So there are some interesting things that I think the introverts among us do, consciously or unconsciously, to thrive in what sometimes feels like an extroverted world. So anyway, super strengths, super tools and tips, tap tags and catchy marketing phrases How’s that? Verbal communication?

Extroverted agents typically have strong communication skills. They’re comfortable speaking with clients, negotiating deals, presenting, doing showings, presenting contracts and so forth. They can articulate clearly and persuasively. They’re often extremely persuasive and obviously that’s great for sales. And again, just like we talked about, connect, practice, track and grow.

An extroverted agent is more proactive in reaching out to clients and staying in touch. I’d say 99% of the time. That’s true. I mean it does sound like a stereotype, but it is a natural gift. It’s an unfair advantage. It’s something to leverage and take advantage of. Sometimes, though, extroverts going to lean towards phone calls or face-to-face meeting over written communication, and sometimes that leaves a documentation gap, but overall, the power of personal interaction tends to trump everything because it allows them to build long-term relationships.

Extroverted people tend to be more visible in the community. They tend to be more visible on social media. They tend to get involved with the board of realtors. They volunteer in the community. They are just out there amongst people. They tend to be really active on social media.

The corresponding potential downside is it’s easy to be active on social media. It’s not necessarily easy to do social media well. So extroverts who love to do that, they still need to get some you know training and strategy and some guidelines together, for you know what they do, what they say, what they’re promoting in social media and I guess Lacey, just to do a self-serving advertisement. That’s one of the things that you know I feel we do really well at Roost working with our agents. You know we have Kylie, you know, who does all of our social media work, and she works directly with our agents on their business pages and helps make sure that what gets posted on there and what they want to post on there is done, you know, professionally and make sure it amplifies what they truly want to say. So I think that’s-.

Laci: Yeah, if you could see me right now, I have my praise hands up. Everything you just said is completely true as a marketing person who I’m actually an extrovert, who, I don’t want to say, hates, because I appreciate the power of social media from a marketing perspective, but personally it is too overwhelming for me because it can, it sucks you in. That’s what it’s designed to do, and so I think that’s another one of those kind of offsetting weaknesses for people who are extroverted is you can really get sucked in to the social media and it really without a solid strategy, without a solid marketing strategy, which almost 100% of the time includes paid advertising, then you’re really not accomplishing what, what you think you are in a lot of cases, so I think that is a downside and you do.

It makes you feel productive, right, when you go and you post once a day. Or you know you’re sharing things or and people are liking it, or you know that does make you feel productive, but a lot of times that’s a slippery slope because it’s not as productive like we could. Any anything else on the on your list would be a more productive use of your time in most cases, and it can be a distraction, right Like I can procrastinate all day doing social media tasks and never get around to the actual connection or the actual, you know, tasks that are going to, at the end of the day, give me more referrals or give me more clients or, you know, just give me less to do the next day.

Chris: But I do think in my experience that extroverts are more susceptible to shiny object syndrome. I think that oftentimes, in their eagerness to connect, they’re more easily sold, maybe, than an introvert is. You know, but by a salesperson, on the other hand, I know I get distracted by my share of objects that maybe aren’t as shiny. But you know, we all go down our rabbit holes. But it is when you, when you thrive on connection, when you thrive on making other, putting other people at ease and so forth, it is a potential weakness that you’re more easily sold than other people are. So, having said that, again, extroverts, it’s about enthusiasm for their work and you can see that it’s infectious. They’re excited to help and engage clients and this is obviously a massive advantage when it comes to closing sales and overcoming objections. So just one more ask of my extroverted friends please be conscious of using your powers for good.

Laci: See, that’s the problem. For people who are really fulfilled we’ll use the word fulfilled by engaging and exciting and communicating and like that’s the reward. So an interesting challenge for some of us is moving into that, the closing right. It’s closing the deal because we already feel fulfilled by helping the person you know, fulfilled by helping the person you know to point to 75% of the way right. So sometimes it’s really easy to just stop there and never close actually. So that’s a little bit you know, in in contrast to what we’re saying is the strengths.

But when you’re really fulfilled by the engagement, the networking, the you know, again, it can be a distraction, right, you can move on too quickly and not get deep enough, which I think you know we it can be a distraction, right, you can move on too quickly and not get deep enough, which I think you know we’ll probably talk about with introverts. Introverts are great at going deep, but if you don’t get deep enough, if you don’t get, you know, a hundred percent of the way there, then you’re never going to get to that close. So I think that, yeah, that’s an interesting point I hadn’t thought about before.

Chris: Yeah Well, the thing about extroverts and their persuasive abilities. You know what is the Spider-Man thing With great power comes great responsibility. Extroverts have to really be careful as to what they’re persuading people to do and why, you know, pursue aims that maybe are less than what we want in the industry. Surely not. Well, it’s true, though. And then there’s others who you know are persuasive towards all the things we want for our clients and for the industry, and so forth, but I clearly digress. Another advantage I think unfair advantage for the extroverts is collaborative teamwork. Extroverts often enjoy an excellent team environments. They’re more inclined to collaborate with colleagues than they are to work alone, and that creates incredible opportunities and synergies that aren’t easy to achieve for people like me, an introvert.

Laci: Yeah, we’re also way more likely to take over conversations and steamroll others, and so we have to be cognizant of that as well.

I think, as a leader or a manager of people or just a member of a team, I’m very cognizant of how much I talk, which is a lot, and you know how likely I am to dominate a conversation, and over the years I’ve really become intentional about a telling people that I might do that and to please stop me, because it’s not always in my control, that I think that comes with the ADHD too.

But be realizing and recognizing like I have a system right, like before I get on a call or before I have a team meeting, or you know, I remind myself that I need to be cognizant of that other people, especially introverts, might not be so forthcoming with their objections or their ideas or you know, and so to give them space and permission out loud to voice those, to voice those. So I think that, again, you know I’m over here talking more about the challenges of being an extrovert, but I think with with this kind of teamwork, that’s really important. If you’re an extrovert and you just get super excited, it’s. You know, it’s not. There’s no malice there, you’re not trying to like, take all the credit or lead the way, or you just get excited about your ideas, but you have to leave space for the other people on the team to express theirs, and a lot of times. If you can do that out loud, then that’s helpful to other people.

Chris: I think that’s really important and it highlights the fact that extroverts are tend to be very quick thinkers and they they’re just really good at conversation, right, but the key is that they have to be able to adjust their approach to the other person you know on the fly and make sure that, as you said, they’re not dominating over dominating the conversation.

But again, every strength has, of the potential, corresponding weaknesses. But I think those weaknesses are, I don’t want to say insignificant, but they’re far less significant than the value of the strengths. And the last thing I think we tend to see in extroverts as a super strength is risk-taking. Or maybe they just are perceived to be more inclined to take risk. But whether in pursuing a new marketing strategy or exploring a new market, or investing in branding and so forth, the potensity for risk-taking can lead to a lot of cool things, innovative approaches and so forth. The downside is, as I mentioned, it can also lead to falling for the shiny object syndrome and going down a rabbit hole for the newest, craziest thing that somebody brings to you. So that’s one thing to guard against when it comes to the super strength of risk taking.

Laci: Yeah, I’m interested to see how this next section goes, because what I’m feeling after this first section is that the introvert kind of puts on a pedestal the extrovert, and I’m just realizing for myself that I think as an extrovert I put on a pedestal the introvert Like I want what they. It’s like I don’t know if this conversation applies to you, chris, but if you’re a young girl and you have curly hair, you want straight hair, and if you have straight hair, you want curly hair.

Chris: Like that’s like a known throughout throughout life for us females. But I’ll tell you, right now I am absolutely jealous, envious, etc. Of anybody who could just walk in and light up a room. You know, I would love to have that and I don’t have it. So you know, I try to focus on the things that that I’m good at. But yeah, I’d say it’s somewhat kind of the extrovert question, right?

Laci: so my guess is, in this introvert section of the conversation, I’m going to have so many positive things to say about the super strengths of an introvert and nothing of the challenges is my prediction.

Chris: Well, that’s interesting because we put these notes together based on where I am and we all do. So it’s cool that you see yourself as an extrovert, so it makes for a more, you know, cool conversation. But you know, I guess the most important thing is introverted real estate agents, just like their extroverted counterparts, can be insanely successful. They just are going to approach the work a little bit differently, and the whole idea behind this podcast episode is understanding and leveraging the strengths of introversion, just like understanding the strengths of extroversion can provide unique and I love the term unfair advantages in real estate. But at the end of the day, you know, real estate is still about connect, practice, track and grow, and connect comes first, whether you’re an introvert or an extrovert. So, like me, you’ve got to consciously look for ways to make sure that you’re connecting just as effectively, although likely very differently, than your extroverted friends in the business. Does that make sense?

Laci: Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. I work with you on a daily basis. And then you know my best friend since the fourth grade same life path in a lot of ways, especially career-wise, we do the same work. We went to college together, graduated with the same major, we’ve worked at several of the same places. She’s an introvert. She can accomplish so much and she’s the most creative person I know, without ever saying a word, just by listening. I think that’s one of her super strengths is the ability to listen and get to the same information that it takes me many words to get to.

Chris: Yeah, so that’s actually the first super strength, right Deep listening skills. Introverts tend to be good listeners and in real estate this can translate into truly understanding the needs, wants and concerns of their clients. An introverted agent might spend more time listening and less time talking, which can help in building trust and making clients feel valued. It’s funny I identify as an introvert, but when I do get one-on-one with somebody I tend to get very excited and I have to stop myself from talking. So you know, I guess it just shows that there’s a lot of gray area between introversion and extroversion, and sometimes we introverts get a little extroverted, and vice versa, I’m sure. But I do think that deep listening skills, or the natural ability to cultivate deep listening skills, is a hallmark of an introvert.

Laci: And it must be, because it’s not a hallmark of me.

Chris: Another super strength for introverts are preparation and research. Introverts prefer to be well prepared before a social encounter and we tend to spend a lot of time, you know, thinking about what we’re going to do and what we’re going to say. You know, in the real estate business, you know we spend a lot of time researching properties, understanding market trends, client needs. We want to be prepared. We know we’re not going to win this client over just by our sheer ability to light up the room. I tend to feel like if I don’t have my facts stacked up, if I’m not in a position to show my work, I don’t feel like I’m going to be able to compete with the extroverts of the world and I’m not sure that’s healthy or not healthy. And maybe I need to employ a therapist for the next edition of this podcast. But that’s just a fact, you know. I know for me as an introvert, I feel like I’ve got to be so well prepared because I know I just can’t rely on, you know, natural charisma or whatever. Does that make sense?

Laci: Yeah, that’s really interesting because I’ve never thought about it that way. I don’t feel that sounds terrible to me. Hours preparing for some sort of meeting or like no preparation is the best preparation in my book, but it’s not because I’m relying on something else, right? It’s not a. It’s not that introverts have to be more knowledgeable or than extroverts or vice versa. It’s a quality versus quantity. I think, like you know everything about all of the information you’re ready to provide, so that any direction they take you, right, any question they ask, you could be prepared to answer. For me, it’s more of a jack of all trades, master of many kind of thing, where I know a little bit about a lot of things, right? So it’s a quantity thing.

And.

Laci: I’m totally fine being able to say you know, I don’t know, I don’t know, Like, I know this, but I don’t, I’m not sure about that and I’m confident that I’ll be able to still move the conversation in the right direction and get back to them on what I don’t know. So I think that’s a I’ve never considered that.

Chris: The downside for me is I you know it is a huge plus that I’m well prepared, I do a lot of research and so forth.

Laci: The downside is that can be incredibly boring and what if they never ask about any of the things that you spend hours preparing for?

Chris: And it can also be. I’m going to tell them anyway, so that’s a problem.

They don’t care, but you’re going to hear it anyway and that’s what’s so critical is, you know me, being able to work with you and take some of these that I feel are really great ideas for the company, but packaging them and framing them and articulating them in such a way that they resonate emotionally with the people that we want to help. It’s funny, you know, when we started Roost, you know the whole brand exercise was what do we want Roost to be was, of course, an extension of me and what I wanted it to be. So you know we built a company out originally that the Roost was going to be smart, passionate, supportive and approachable. Right Now, think about that. Coming from an introvert. So smart, I like to think I’m smart.

What else do I have right? I’m not lighting up a room. Passionate, I do care about the business. I want people to know that. Supportive, I want people to know that you know I’m not as cold and analytical as you know maybe I tend to come across sometimes and smart, passionate, supportive and approachable, because you know an introvert like me can be. You know it’s not many introverts are not people that you naturally gravitate to. So it’s interesting that when I first got started with Roost, I sort of set it up in response to kind of how I am and it’s, you know, as we started to find some success and I’ve met people like you and Kylie and so many of our agents and so forth we’re trying to find the emotional center to what we want this brand to be and that’s why, you know, I think I’m more excited about the next 10 years than the last is. I think the whole idea of roost equals home is the emotional connection that you know, I think that we’ve been looking for for the past few years.

Laci: Yeah, I mean like what a what an epiphany right, but I think the you approach it more academically, as an introvert right, like you approach it more methodically, academically, as an introvert right, like you approach it more methodically, my favorite way to set a goal or to, you know, define something is how do you want to feel, or how do you want other people to feel about roost would be how I would have framed it and the funny thing is like it’s the same right we want people. What are your words to describe?

Chris: Smart, passionate, supportive, approachable Smart passionate, supportive, approachable.

Laci: So that’s what you want Roots to be. How we want other people to feel is that they’re working with someone who knows right, so that they’re working with the best, somebody who knows the market, who knows what they’re doing, someone who is passionate about it right, who isn’t just there to make money out of it. So we want people to feel supported and we want them to feel welcome, right, approachable, supportive and approachable. So when you look at it the other side, from the other angle, it’s the same. It’s just different words. So I think you know. I think that really illustrates the one of the differences between introverts and extroverts and how you view things. But you know, the end result is actually the exact same when you look at it. It’s just how you get there. That’s different.

Chris: So I think that’s very, very insightful the whole idea of home, the emotional connection of home right, everything that entails. There’s a whole podcast you can talk about what is home right, and it’s different things to different people, but home, 99% of the time, you know, conveys a positive feeling. So to try to point the company, you know, strategically towards the idea that when people think of Roost they think of home, I think that’s going to be a poignant differentiation for us that I absolutely down, feel incredibly strongly about. You know, it’s not like. You know I don’t know what people think of when they think of Remax. I don’t know what people think of Caldwell Bank.

Laci: They think of house. They don’t think of home. They think of house. Maybe that’s right.

Chris: They think of a transaction, right Right, whereas I think you know Roost has always been about relationships, no question about it. You know Roost has always been about relationships, no question about it. But I think it’s about home and all the relationships that home entails. So, anyway, it’s just another one of those shortcuts that you know, I think we introverts are pretty good at coming up with and you extroverts are great at getting out into the world or with us. How’s that All right? You still there?

Laci: Yeah, I’m here. I’ve got a little background action. It’s summer break over here.

Chris:Just, you know, All right, Thought, I lost you there, All right. So while we introverts may not thrive in social gatherings, we do pretty well one-on-one or in small groups. So when it comes to networking, you know we’re going to be more likely to want to ask somebody out for coffee one-on-one and try to build that, that a deeper relationship. You know one client at a time as opposed to you know going out and you know working a room or hobnobbing with a million different clients. So it’s still networking, but our networking approach tends to be more focused and, I dare say, a bit more strategic, you know, maybe than the extrovert naturally light up a room.

Folks, I’d like to think that I do this.

I’m not sure I do it enough, but introverts tend to think before they speak, leading to more deliberate and considered communication in negotiations with clients. This can look like a well-crafted response, it may look like a well-crafted email and so forth, and sometimes that’s what it takes to help make sure everybody’s on the same page and move deals forward. I do think I know for me that introverts tend to gravitate towards written communication versus verbal communication. I can tell you I would much rather take the time to write a personal note to somebody to thank them or express gratitude than I would be to pick up the phone and do the same. For my extroverted friends it’s just the opposite. The whole idea of sitting down even for 10 minutes and writing a personal note is just torture, Whereas for me the phone call is going to be torture, and that’s why I think I like text messages too, because, you know, again, the whole writing piece is a way to connect with somebody. That’s more comfortable for me and, I’m sure, many other introverts like myself.

Laci: Well, as the resident food orderer of my friend group, still at 41 years old, I think you’re exactly right. My husband, my best friend, the people I hang out with, will go to the trouble of downloading an app from the app store brand new. Creating an account. Downloading an app from the app store brand new. Creating an account, you know logging in, doing the two-factor authentication and perusing an app to order, you know, a pizza, rather than just pick up the phone and call the pizza place and again, that sounds terrible to me. I would much rather just pick up the phone and call the pizza place. So I think you’re correct about that.

Chris: As a writer, you know which is interesting the way the world’s going. That’s bad for you, right, because to get somebody on the phone these days, that’s almost impossible yeah it’s not an AI bot.

Laci: you know that’s going to direct you right back to the app anyway, so well you know it’s really bad for his, my husband because he’s responsible for all things app oriented or, you know, technology related. I have abdicated that responsibility in my household. So if, like, the Roku is acting up, not it. You know, like if the kids need to log into their Xbox not me, I’m not, it’s not me. So actually it just gives me less responsibility, like when I can no longer call and order a pizza. Then I will never have to be responsible for dinner ever again.

Chris: So course, that brings us to our next super strength for introverts leveraging technology. It might leverage technology to manage some or more of the extroverted aspects of the job. Right, for example, we may, you know, excel at digital marketing. We may excel at email communication. We may really put a lot of time into virtual tours, right, you know? And it’s funny, you funny. We’re talking about completely revamping our whole value proposition for sell with roost. And then, now that I say those things out loud, there is no question that it’s designed for an introvert like myself. But I also believe, introvert or extroverted, that there’s absolute value in a well-crafted, well-designed, well-executed virtual tour. So that’s funny. This is a conversation.

Laci: Yeah, I was right and I was wrong. I do put you introverts on a pedestal, because I do wish, in a lot of ways, I was more like this. I wish these things sounded good to me, because I think they’re valuable, but they absolutely sound terrible. And I don’t work that way at all, which illustrates to me the value of having both types of people as agents, because they’re going to be folks who would prefer to only communicate through email and text and to only go see a virtual tour and never have to actually, you know, engage with their agent, right? That would be more comfortable for them.

And then there are people who would prefer, never like to only talk on the phone, to only see each other in person, to only go on real, you know, real showings and in the end, right, it’s the balance that’s going to make it work. You can’t buy a house without ever having seen it. You know, if you have that opportunity, it’s definitely better to go and look at it before you sign the papers, right? So the balance is what makes it all really work, but people are going to gravitate towards the agent. That makes them feel more comfortable and works the way that they work.

Chris: So I think that’s a that’s an interesting point, that we’ve kind of plays into our whole business proposition for agents too, right, you know the very best agents among us. I think this is fair to say the majority are extroverts and the majority of them could use some help on the backstage part, so to speak. So you know, for us to work with agents who are just naturally gifted at connecting with people again, connect, practice, track and grow. If we can provide, you know, a digital marketing platform, a social media platform and service, you know, set up and make sure virtual tours get recorded and executed, that instant open houses happen, that Roost Ramblings goes out to their top 150 clients every single month without fail, if we can provide those services, so to speak, to the extroverted superstar, holy cow, not only do they win, but the brokerage wins too.

And that’s really the essence of what we try to be as a company is we want to be able to meet people where they are, add value to their business and both grow and benefit collaboratively. And the fact is, as a company or as a broker, I’m not the one going in there lighting up the room, having the kitchen table conversation that solves all of their problems, but what I can do is make sure that the execution of their problems. But what I can do is make sure that the execution of those promises happens without fail, and happens predictably. I think it’s the term we’ve been using lately, or that you came up with Lacey. You know a hundred percent of the time, and that’s the magic formula that I think that we’re striving to get to every single day.

Laci: Yeah, we do the sit up, so you get the six pack. Frequency and consistency are the two words as a marketer that I use, and I am I don’t want to use the word blessed necessarily, but I thank the universe every day that I get to work with the people I get to work with, and almost exclusively kind of entrepreneurs, who are in a lot of ways like extroverts, drawn to the next thing. They’re constantly moving, they’ve got all these ideas, but their follow through stinks in most cases.

You are the exception to that, but their follow through stinks, and so frequency and consistency. Everything that you do has to be done with frequency and consistency, and I love to figure out what that process looks like, but then repeating it over and over is so boring, right? So I need somebody else to repeat it once I’ve. I love the cracking the code, but I need somebody else to repeat it, and that’s what all of these folks that I work with need somebody else to help them. What is it? We do all the things that you would do if you could rely on yourself to actually do them.

Exactly what is it? We do all the things that you would do if you could rely on yourself to actually do them. So I think you’re right there. But I think that also applies to introverts, right. If the introverts can do all of this stuff and then they have the support of other agents and of an office and of you know a coach like you, or then that also encourages them and empowers them right To do the hard things right. Taking some of the easy things for an introvert off their plate and making a process and a system for this so they don’t have to think about them, frees up your energy to bank right, so that you can go out and maybe meet more people at once, or you can have those phone conversations right, so it just. It takes away the energy that an introvert has to expend, even on these things that they’re good at and that they don’t mind doing, and allows you to bank some of that for these types of conversations or these types of things that do require more of your energy.

Chris: I think we can all agree that real estate is a belly-to-belly business, right, it’s face-to-face, it’s interacting with another person and whether you’re an introvert or an extrovert, you’ve got to be comfortable making those connections, having those interactions, building those relationships. So there’s that you know. You could go to the extreme and say that if your introversion is such that you know you just struggle having conversations with strangers, you could go out on a limb and say are you in the right business? On the other hand, I think it also makes sense that it becomes a unique ability question, right, and whether your brokerage is providing all the things that you want your brokerage to provide is sort of immaterial.

But when it comes time to partner with somebody to build your business or partner with somebody just to improve your daily life, it’s kind of hard to find a better couple of set of puzzle pieces that fit together very well than an extrovert and an introvert. And the skills that an introvert brings to the table can just make the extrovert a superstar and vice versa. So it is something to think about we have to. The worst thing you can do is deny your unfair advantages, right, for good or ill, and at the end of the day, you know, I can focus really hard on my quote weakness of lighting up a room and at the end of the day I’m still going to be pretty crappy, or at best average, at lighting up a room and at the end of the day I’m still gonna be pretty crappy, or at best average, at lighting up a room, right. But if I focus on all the other things that I’m great at naturally as an introvert, then that’s been the secret to whatever success I’ve had to date.

Laci: Excellent point. We do need a link, I think, to the masterclass that you did on how to find the right broker here, because I think this is a complimentary conversation to that. If you’re listening to this and you don’t feel like you have that match in your broker, then there is an alternative. Right, there are brokers. There are other brokers out there that might support you better, and it’s worth looking into because it does play such a huge role in your overall success as an agent.

Chris: So a couple more things. For the introverts quality over quantity. An introverted agent is likely to focus on building a few strong, long-term deep relations rather than constantly seeking new leads. This can lead to repeat business and referrals from satisfied clients, which is why I’ve always naturally gravitated to a working by referral business model, and that is the basis of Roost and always will be.

Introverts tend to have a more independent working style. They often work best when they have the space to manage their own schedule and complete their own tasks. You know they thrive. We introverts thrive on autonomy and we do like to plan and create strategies. That allows us to.

You know, I know I do this work in bursts of focused activity followed by, you know the downtime I need to recharge. You know when I used to, when I was doing Popeyes, when I was actively practicing, the last thing I wanted to do with the Popeye was, you know, knock on somebody’s door, announced or unannounced, and hand them a Popeye gift and have to talk to them, right, as bad as that sounds. But you know what my workaround was. I would go out, I’d do my Popeyes. Now I had to do them all at once, right? So I had to gear up for it.

I had to have them all ready, I had to have them in the car, I had a map. I had to know I was going to do a dozen places and and often I would send a text or let them know ahead of time that I was going to be out that day, but I would just pray that nobody was home. It actually worked for me because I got into the habit of putting the pot pie gift there by the front door. I’d take a picture of it and text the picture to the client and I’d have the most wonderful rewarding text conversations with these people that I cared about and cared about me. But I made it easy for me. Does that make sense?

Laci: Oh well, I mean theoretically, in your brain it probably does, and you’re talking to somebody who volunteers to go knock on doors for all kinds of things.

Chris: So you are a weirdo.

Laci: Well, I mean I was. So I was like three months pregnant, I was working with a pest control company as their marketing director and it was the middle of summer and somebody needed to go to Atlanta and test out and build a script for some folks we had hired to go knock on doors to sell mosquito control and I could not raise my hand fast enough I mean I could just barely keep down a Luna bar but I was going and I was knocking on those doors, that I was having those conversations out of just sheer curiosity, just that the opportunity to meet random people that would never, you know, my human algorithm would never put in my path otherwise. So, yeah, it makes sense that you would pray for them not to be home and that I would be there, just literally couldn’t stand still with excitement that they might open the door and talk to me.

Chris: That’s so funny. The last super strength for introverts are empathy and sensitivity. Introverts are often highly empathetic. They’re able to sense and understand the emotions of others. I think I fall into that category.

In real estate, this can be an asset as it allows the agent to navigate you know potentially sensitive negotiations or to provide support to clients through. You know what is often a stressful thing buying or selling a home. You know and again, I’ve always admired the extrovert’s ability to walk into any situation and light up the room. But over time I’ve learned that you know I have my own unfair advantages to draw upon room. But over time I’ve learned that you know I have my own unfair advantages to draw upon and I have a unique value that I can offer to. You know the clients I choose to work with. So whether you consider yourself an introvert or an extrovert, I urge you to soar with your strengths and your own unfair advantages.

So I want to wrap up a little bit here with you know it’s clear that success in real estate isn’t about fitting into a one-size-fits-all mold. So whether you’re an extrovert who thrives on social interaction or an introvert who excels in deep, meaningful connections, your natural tendencies can be powerful assets right energy, strong verbal skills, proactive client engagement, dynamic and visible presence, their ability to network effortlessly and adapt quickly. In conversations they generate leads without even thinking and they’re really effective at closing deals. So they leverage their enthusiasm, they leverage their collaborative spirits and they tend to create it’s just an infectious energy that draws clients in and keeps them engaged, and that is, in a nutshell, the strength of the extroverted agent. On the other hand, we introverts, with deep listening skills, thorough preparation, thoughtful communication, you know we take a different but I dare say, an equally valuable approach. So our ability to build strong long-term relationships, provide empathetic support, leverage technology, create a loyal client base that appreciates personalized service and attention to detail.

We introverts focus on quality over quantity and we do our very best to make sure that clients feel valued and understood. And we do our very best to make sure that clients feel valued and understood and of course, that leads to repeat business and referrals. So there is a way in the world, the real estate world for the introverts, just like there’s a maybe a more obvious way in the world for the extroverted agents. So anyway, understanding and embracing what makes you, you know, playing to your strengths, you know it’s going to allow you to create a unique real estate practice that you’re going to be able to enjoy Again. The word sustainable is going to work for you for years to come. Any other thoughts Lacey today.

Laci: Yeah, only to remind, but we said we weren’t going to stereotype and I feel like I did not contribute to that at all.

But there is a such thing as an introverted extrovert and an extroverted introvert. So if you don’t see yourself, you know, fitting one of these or the other, or maybe you’re half of one and half of the other then that’s normal too, and certainly there’s a way in the world, no matter how many of each set of traits you have and I think again that you know I hadn’t thought of this before, but it really goes back to the finding the right broker conversation. If you’re an agent, or being the right broker right, in your case, being the right broker finding how you work well and then getting a team around you to fill in the gaps and make you feel more supported. And yeah, I think that’s the big, the big conversation. I mean, knowing myself is great, but then what you do with that knowledge and that information is what’s going to make the difference between you. Know how successful it is, what’s going to make the difference in how successful you are.

Chris: I mean, it’s our job to make sure that our introverted agents are just as successful as our extroverted agents, right? So you know, again, our job is to make sure that our extroverted agents have everything they can to just double down. Triple down on what they’re already great at and do the exact same thing for the introverted agents. So you know, at the end of the day, we want to believe and we strive to be the perfect partner for each agent, as long as they share our core values relationships come first, et cetera. I think we’re a great home for people who are in this business for the long term, and I think it’s important to acknowledge we do celebrate the diversity of our unique abilities and we encourage our agents to be true to themselves. So, whether you’re introverted, extroverted or somewhere in between, you know your unique perspective and approach. That’s what makes you valuable. Those are your unfair advantages. So by soaring with your strengths and embracing your natural tendencies, you can achieve. Are we still there?

Laci: Yeah, we had a blip there.

Chris: That was strange. Sorry about that. Anyway, again, soar with your strengths, embrace your natural tendencies. You’re going to get success on your own terms. So, as we continue through this journey in our 12-part series, remember that protecting the goose that lays the golden eggs means nurturing your unique abilities and creating strategies that support long-term growth and sustainability. So, keep focusing on your strengths. Don’t be afraid to step out of your comfort zone and be open to new opportunities. So thank you for joining us today. If you found this episode helpful, please share it with your colleagues and friends in the industry, and don’t forget to subscribe to the Connect, practice, track and Grow podcast so you never miss an episode. We’re excited to continue this journey with you and explore more ways to help you protect and grow your business. So, until next time, keep leveraging your strengths. Create those, protect those that goose that lays the golden eggs. And I’m Chris and, on behalf of myself and the podcast partner, lacey LeBlanc, I wish you continued success and growth in all of your endeavors.

Laci: See you next time.