Like A Bos — Beyond The Sale

The Advantage You Deserve: Powered by High-Performance Real Estate

• Bosley Real Estate LTD., Brokerage • Season 1 • Episode 6

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Join us as we explore the defining characteristics of high-performing real estate professionals and uncover why those differences matter to today’s buyers and sellers. Leveraging Dan Elzer’s decades of training expertise, this episode goes behind the scenes to reveal the DNA of top producers.

We dive deep into the mindset, leadership, and skill-building required to succeed in today's market, showing how elite preparation leads to better client outcomes and a more professional industry overall.

Guest: Dan Elzer | ourtrainingacademy.com/

Host: Christan Bosley | President & Broker of Record | Bosley Real Estate

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Christan Bosley:

The difference between an average agent and an exceptional one isn't just about sales. It's about how well they guide, protect, and communicate with their clients. We are absolutely honored to have Dan Elzer with us today as he breaks down what great agents do differently and why it should absolutely matter to you. For nearly a century, Bosley has been helping to shape the landscape of Canadian Real Estate. This podcast is an extension of that legacy, our way of staying connected to what matters most to you. Join us as we sit down with leading voices from across the industry and beyond to explore the ideas, trends, and stories that move real estate forward. Whether you're an agent, investor, homeowner, or just curious about the market, there's something here for you. Hey everyone, and welcome to Like a Bobs, the podcast where we have real conversations with industry leaders shaping the real estate industry. I'm Christan Bosley, your host, president, and broker of record of Bosley Real Estate. Dan, welcome to Like a Boss.

Dan Elzer:

Thank you for having me.

Christan Bosley:

Thank you so much for joining us.

Dan Elzer:

It's my pleasure.

Christan Bosley:

I'd love to start by just getting to know you a little bit. So I had the privilege of meeting you through leading real estate companies of the world. And um, I'm slightly biased because you have been instrumental in the success of both myself as a leader and where we are as a brokerage today. So tell me, how did you get to where you are today and what is it exactly that you do?

Dan Elzer:

Well, that's a very good question. How I got to where I am today was completely uh non-planned. I opened my real estate company back in 1988 and uh had come out of law enforcement. Uh, wasn't sure what I was doing, stumbled miserably in the beginning, but got things figured out and we built a really great company, sold it at the end of the 90s, going into 2000. And I wasn't sure what I wanted to be when I grew up. So I kind of was checking a couple of things out. I went and interviewed at a couple places, and uh I started getting phone calls from other brokers to ask would I help them? You know, and would would my non-compete stop me from doing that? And so I just started to do some consulting. And that has just led to, uh, like I said, I feel very blessed. It's led to me consulting all over the world in seven different industries, uh, mainly real estate, uh, doing executive coaching. And I just have a blast at what I do.

Christan Bosley:

Okay. So the defining moment was just a demand for your knowledge, basically.

Dan Elzer:

Well, that defining moment really came whenever I went and interviewed for a position, and the it was a company that was just purchased by a big company, and the chief financial officer was in town, and he interviewed me first, and he was very excited about me joining the leadership team. He then handed me off to people that were in the company and they didn't want me. And so we had a conversation afterwards with the CFO, and I learned very quickly that leadership was lacking in companies. I actually uh they felt threatened by me. Instead of wanting to embrace a strong person to be in the leadership team, I was a threat and they didn't want me, and they had veto. So the uh CFO said, I'm sorry. He goes, I can't override that. And I came home knowing that these other companies wanted me to work with them, and that was the defining moment. I went, I had venture capital in my first company, so I had great mentors, and I realized very quickly my life running my first company was nothing like anybody else's. So it was kind of the calling then to go out and start doing that, uh, the leadership and the training and the coaching.

Christan Bosley:

Amazing. And so, I mean, we implement a ton of your training here, which we're very fortunate to have offered to us through leading real estate companies of the world. Um, and so, you know, I think it's fair to say that you have a lot of information and knowledge about what agents do really well, where they maybe could improve. Um, so let's shift a little bit into the core of today's conversation. Um, what, in your opinion, do top performing agents do differently than the average, I would say?

Dan Elzer:

When you really look at true top performers, one, they're customer-centric. They understand their client, they understand uh the importance of it's all about the client. The second thing, I believe, is that they have the right mindsets. And that's around abundancy and around creativity that, you know, they can serve that client. But then the third thing that always shines when it comes to uh top performers is, you know, my quote I've used, you've heard me use, you know, treatment before diagnosis is malpractice. We always have to learn about people before we can solve their problems. And true top performers naturally desire to learn about where that person is so they can bring solutions. The lower performing people, they I think get so nervous about wanting to do the job that they might miss some of those, those things, some of that focus, some of that, you know, a little bit of treatment before they've diagnosed. And it can get them in trouble. So I can always tell a top pro whenever I see that their concern is first the customer, second, what is it about the customer they need to learn?

Christan Bosley:

Right. And clearly that has a major impact on the customer experience too.

Dan Elzer:

Incredible. Because you never do what they don't want. You're always serving them where they are instead of trying to force-feed them into a deal or a transaction or something that doesn't fit.

Christan Bosley:

Right. So, in your training and the training that we've done through your swap program here, there's a huge emphasis on mindset and accountability. So, how do you see these qualities translating to better results for buyers and sellers?

Dan Elzer:

So, from the agent or the sales perspective, uh, the mindset, you know, we have the abundance mindset. We want to make sure that we're not accidentally, you know, slipping into scarcity in the way that we work with people. But this the second one, when it comes about mindset and the way I train, is the doctor-patient relationship. And people who are in sales have to always realize that as much as they want someone to love them, like them, and do business with them, they're still the expert. And if you fall out of that doctor-patient relationship, you're literally letting the consumer who's the novice start to drive things. So the mindset about stay in your lane, you're the boss, you're in charge, but make it all about them. And then the accountability piece, there's so many different ways we could go with that, with you know, from transactional accountability to behavioral stuff, but accountability of being open to somebody finding your flaw, because we can get self-important sometimes and really go down a wrong path.

Christan Bosley:

No, really? I know it's hard to believe. I don't.

Dan Elzer:

Uh and having that accountability, not only in your performance for transactions, but also in the manner in which you perform, to make sure you don't lose some of that. So I'm huge about accountability.

Christan Bosley:

Yeah, absolutely. And listen, that mindset that uh that you know you've touched on in being able to find flaws in realtors, or you know, there is something to that because the customer needs to have the confidence right off the bat. So it's not necessarily a bad thing.

Dan Elzer:

Correct.

Christan Bosley:

Um, so if we were to flip it to the consumer perspective for a minute, what are some qualities that a consumer should look for to indicate to them that they are working with a well-trained professional?

Dan Elzer:

This that is an excellent question because um as a coach in the marketplace, I'll have agents come to me that are struggling with controlling a customer. And I always ask questions and find out that's because they weren't the doctor. So if a consumer sees a professional that one discovers and understands need, and then two has a process by which the transaction goes or the interaction goes. When you don't have that process down, when you don't have that map, then you actually relinquish that control to someone again that doesn't understand what's going on, depending on the personality of the buyer or seller, they'll feel that that void, that vacancy, and take it, take it over. And now we're in big trouble. So I think a consumer can always tell they have a pro when they have a process, purpose, and they really make it about them in the beginning. I think that gives them comfort and they go, okay, I'm in good hands here.

Christan Bosley:

Yeah. So when we do our training here, we talk a lot about being in the boat. Yes. Right? Like don't get in the boat with your clients, don't get emotionally invested, be objective, be the voice of reason, because the minute you lose control of the dialogue, uh, it becomes very problematic.

Dan Elzer:

Exactly. And and I I when you said that, what popped in my head is, you know, I'm I'm steering that boat, but I don't need to be in, you know, empathy, sympathy. I gotta be really, really careful I don't become sympathetic with people or I can't serve them.

Christan Bosley:

Very distinct difference, right? Sympathy versus empathy. So I had an agent approach me the other day who who started the conversation by saying, I'm gonna I'm gonna get right to the point. I am not only steering the boat, I am really poking holes in the boat so that we sink to the bottom fast. So, like, let's pass that part of the conversation. And then here's the problem, how do I do it?

Dan Elzer:

I love when I get that. I love when people share with me the they've they've gone the wrong course. Now help help me fix that have gone the wrong course.

Christan Bosley:

But it's a little too, you know, it it's the significance of the fact that they know it, which makes it really it's the beginning of changing that habit. Exactly. Exactly. So, in your opinion, kind of switching back to the agent lens, we have been in, I would say, a fairly balanced market for the last little while with challenges that many agents in this marketplace have not uh experienced as of yet. So if you were an agent, what would you be focusing on right now to stay relevant and continue delivering value to your clients?

Dan Elzer:

First and foremost, because of the market shift, is getting the real estate professionals back out in the street. Um it is because of the shift in the market and you know what you hear in the news and misinformation out there, the consumer is uncertain. There's a lot of people that want to do a transaction that are not doing it because of uncertainty. Where in the market we came out of, they would hunt an agent down to get that answer. Now they're not. And the agents not adapting to getting back in the market to be the expert, to be the person to have conversation and solve problems, is creating, I think, the largest gap between performance and non-performance. I have a client uh as present like you who uh went to buy a piano for his daughter on a on an ad online. And when he got there, there was a woman whose husband had passed a year ago. Uh, the house was half empty, and she said it took me a year to start selling things. And he started asking her questions, finds out that she's gonna sell her house. But he she said, But I have five or six friends in real estate. He said, No problem. He goes, Can I answer any questions? Worked with her, spent about 50 minutes, he said, talking to her. Left, daughter wanted the piano, came back to buy it, and she said, Will you list my house? And he asked her, he said, What about your friends? She goes, I didn't even call them. And the moral of the story there was if the friends would have gotten out of the office, they would have learned the problem. But I will bet you money that when their friends of this woman learns that she listed with someone she didn't know, their first question would be, Why didn't you call me?

Christan Bosley:

Oh, yeah.

Dan Elzer:

And it should have been, why didn't you call her? And so I think it's all about getting back out there in the marketplace, sharing that expertise, and knowing how to convert that over to an opportunity.

Christan Bosley:

Absolutely. Couldn't agree with you more. I think DocuSign, while we ex you know, I'll be kind. DocuSign is a very valuable tool, it has also eliminated a lot of face-to-face interaction. Correct. And this is a human, human high-touch business, right? So exactly.

Dan Elzer:

And and a lot of the technologies that have come to our industry were to make us more efficient, not make us more engaged. Yeah. And I think we've gone way too far there.

Christan Bosley:

Absolutely. And again, I think that leads back to our conversations about top performers, right? Top performers do understand that it's a people business. Right.

Dan Elzer:

They use it as a tool, they don't use it as an excuse. And that's the big difference.

Christan Bosley:

And the emotional intelligence required to understand that is important as well. So, what common mistakes are you seeing regularly in your coaching, for instance, or with the agents that you're working with that really do unintentionally hurt the client's experience? And how can we avoid them?

Dan Elzer:

Okay, this is going to be a different approach to this, but you'll get it. That uh again, with a shift in the market, a professional cannot let a client choose them. They must choose their client. And this goes back to empathy and sympathy. So, how do clients get hurt right now? Well, in my opinion, is because the market shift, because of fear in the market in the eyes of a real estate professional, they might take everything that comes their way. Other words, clients choosing them. And if I don't choose my client, I could end up with people that are not ready to perform, never going to perform. And then let's say I take you on as a client and you need me. I have diminished your value or the value of me to you because I have clients I shouldn't have. It's a complex transaction. We really need to be careful that when we give of our time, we're giving it to someone that truly needs it so we can actually impact their life, not give it to a bunch of people. And then the person that needs it only gets 10% because I'm too busy. So that's one that I've been working on with a lot of people to get them to understand it's okay to choose your client, not let them choose you.

Christan Bosley:

Yeah. And again, I think it goes back to scarcity versus abundance. Yes. Right. The people who are coming with an abundance mindset know that unequivocally, that there needs to be alignment and they're not motivation.

Dan Elzer:

People that are in the marketplace that are, you know, have a abundant mindset and are meeting and talking to people, those are the people that always find opportunity. If I'm not doing that, I'll find the people that actually the pros said no to. And then they go looking for someone, and that agent that takes anything gets the person who's really a second choice of a pro.

Christan Bosley:

That would impact the consumer as well. Yes? Yes. Yes.

Dan Elzer:

They get poor service in that scenario because when they get the real person that needs them, they've divided their time so much that they can't go give the time necessary to the person that actually is going to do the deal.

Christan Bosley:

Mm-hmm. So, I mean, that dovetails beautifully into our next question, which is you know, what do you wish more consumers understood about the role of a truly professional real estate agent?

Dan Elzer:

Um, I think the consumers, the same as real estate professionals, have habits from the old market. And I think there are some consumers out there that don't understand the complexity of a real estate transaction until it's too late. So, one, if the consumer really remembers or understood that this is a very complex transaction, especially in the market that we're in, and then also recognized who the pro was over who the pro wasn't, I think that that would give them a much better map, if you will, to find the person that can solve their problem versus find someone who's just in real estate. Um, but if I don't understand how complex it is, I don't know how to look for the right person. I just assume it's commoditization. I just assume everybody can do it. Therefore, I'll just get out there. But even more so today than a year ago or two years ago, the market's becoming more and more complex financially, uh negotiation-wise, uh just everything about real estate's going back to my world whenever I had my company, which was people didn't go it alone much back then because they understood that.

Christan Bosley:

Yeah. And I would say, you know, the economy, and to your point about the markets, Toronto specifically, and even the surrounding areas, they're so full of hyper-local markets that you have so many additional layers beyond that.

Dan Elzer:

Yes.

Christan Bosley:

I mean, if I were to answer that question, I would really like to help educate the consumers on the difference between a realtor and a professional and what they would get with a professional realtor.

Dan Elzer:

Yes.

Christan Bosley:

Right? So, um, you know, you threw a stat out today that is consistent across North America at our fall kickoff meeting. So, do you happen to recall what that stat was in terms of how many agents do transactions?

Dan Elzer:

Yeah, 70 plus agents registered zero transactions last year.

Christan Bosley:

And that's not 70 plus, that's 70%, right? Yeah. So it is substantial.

Dan Elzer:

It is very substantial. And that is, again, the shift of going from a market that was very fluid and order-taking, if you will, into a market that requires you to actually meet, greet, define the need, provide the solution, and then carry forward. And I go back to, I like how you said the difference between a pro and just a someone who has a license, basically. And that when you talk about that education, I'm gonna blend the two. The more we can share with the consumer the complexities of the market, the more they have more, they have more pause before moving forward. And I think also the more they understand the complexity. I have better questions of my agent whenever they come to me. And if that agent can't answer those questions, that gives me concern because these are the things I need to solve for. So it's almost like I wish I could train all of them to ask the right questions of the agent, and that would separate the pros from the non-pros.

Christan Bosley:

Yeah. When I was in sales, I used to actually go in and sit at the listing table or with my buyer consult and leave them with a list of questions that they should be asking as they continue to interview the right person for them.

Dan Elzer:

I love it.

Christan Bosley:

For that very reason. Right. I think that people don't know enough about it to know what questions to ask. Yeah. Also, it set up my value proposition beautifully. Of course. So, I mean, you have a really unique position in that you ran a real estate brokerage, you sold real estate, so you understand the agent perspective, but now you do spend most of your time focusing on brokerage success. Yep. Right. So you've worked with many brokerages globally. What do the best offices, Bosley, do to raise the bar? Sorry, guys, I couldn't help it.

Dan Elzer:

It just snuck out.

Christan Bosley:

It just fell right out of my mouth. Okay. What do the best offices do to raise the bar for both agents and their clients?

Dan Elzer:

I think it's two-sided. There's two sides of the coin there. One is culture, environment, leadership, training, support. But on the other side of the coin is about expectation and standard. Um, the best companies that I find have high expectation. They're providing all that stuff. They've got the culture, the environment, they've got the training, but they create kind of like a culture of expectation where people feel that they, if they didn't go to it, if they aren't participating in it, they're making a mistake. They're they're being left behind. So high expectation and standards married with great culture, training, support, and great leadership, I think is the winning difference right now for um for brokerages out there.

Christan Bosley:

Amazing. What about accountability? Do you see that from the brokerage level to the agents every so often?

Dan Elzer:

That's that's the part of the standard. And it's it's hard for real estate organizations, as you know, to come into a standard that you want as a minimum for people performing. And I always show people that, you know, there's all kinds of studies on high expectation raises people to a higher level. They will strive for something they didn't strive for before. So that accountability of checking, you know, on the quarter, 12 months on the quarter, where are you? Are you falling? Are you gaining? Uh, why? And if you fall below what a company, and it's always the company's decision, is the minimum activities necessary to be able to represent somebody in the marketplace that they're put on notice, that they know. And the ones who are pros will rise up, they will, they will, they will meet that up, that opportunity and that that challenge, where the people that maybe got into this business for the wrong reason, they'll start to show. And so that's where accountability right now comes in because people want to be surrounded by pros. They want to be surrounded by productivity and getting the companies, again, same habits that agents have, back into hey, we're a proud company and our people are have standards and we're we'll never put someone in the street that's not there. And that's why I love working with you. Uh, we've had this conversation many, many times over the last X. Thank you.

Christan Bosley:

You really fell into my Bosley trap right there. So thank you.

Dan Elzer:

It just came to me as we were sitting here.

Christan Bosley:

I was laughing as you were telling that story, thinking about I don't know if you happened to see my panel at the leading RE conference last year on recruiting and retention. So it was myself and four other broker of records, and and I was like by far the youngest. And then the person beside me ran a company of 20 agents, and then they're huge companies, right? Thousands and thousands broker of records. So uh real diverse dichotomy of people on the panel. And I remember I was talking to an entire room full of presidents and brokers of records. There were probably 80 people there from around the globe. And one of the panel questions is, What do you do to hold your people accountable? And I said, Well, I have deal minimums. You don't meet your deal minimum, you're not with Bosley. And the whole room went, Yep.

Dan Elzer:

I deal with that all the time. This new company hires me and I say that, and they're like, You mean like get get rid of people?

Christan Bosley:

There was an audible gasp. Like, like all of these brokers couldn't possibly imagine that I would do something like that. But, you know, I'm kind of a unique unicorn, if you will, and uh it's my last name. So I'm a little more serious about it than perhaps a remax or something that isn't affiliated with your persona.

Dan Elzer:

Exactly. Yeah. And also it's, you know, it's also under it's great leadership. So I'm gonna compliment you again here. It's great leadership to understand that those tough questions breed greatness, breed what we're looking for. Again, sympathy and empathy from a leader. If I get sympathetic about someone's inability to perform, I will keep someone on board that I shouldn't. And I promise you, there's three people they'll touch in my organization that they'll keep down because of that feeling. Where if they're gone, those three will achieve that standard because they don't want to be gone. And it's not, and people go, man, you're pretty cold. I go, no, I always look at it this way. If there's five people, two of them aren't making it, and three can. What I'm doing is I'm supporting the three. I never look at it that I'm being mean to the two. Um, I'm what I'm doing is I'm supporting the three. My my responsibility as a leader to make sure this environment is good for you. So it's kind of like a bad apple in the bunch type of thing.

Christan Bosley:

Well, and this is, you know, what I was gonna mention is it's not necessarily for me about having somebody out there doing the transactions. It's more a cultural thing. Yes, right. Like uh the thing that I hear time and time again from people who join us from other companies is you know, you have a culture of success. There's an expectation that you are full-time successful, dedicated. And I never feel like I'm coming into the office to sit beside somebody who's watching Netflix and posting messages on Facebook, right? Like it's a very different uh experience, I would say, in terms of how that translates to the culture.

Dan Elzer:

Exactly. And then whenever it's in the culture, I always say, you know, picture a fish bowl. The fish don't know the water temperature, the fish don't know what's going on. But if it gets too cold, they'll die, too hot, they'll die. But if I get the temperature right, they don't know it's right. They just know they'll they're gonna live and thrive and do well. Same in companies. I go get that culture right, and people will do the right thing because it just feels what they should do. Let the water get a little stale, and you attract people that aren't gonna do well.

Christan Bosley:

Right. Well, luckily I have you to hold me accountable to making sure that culture remains.

Dan Elzer:

I was waiting for that plug there too.

Christan Bosley:

So thank you. So listen, how can consumers benefit when agents are part of a brokerage that invests in ongoing training and performance development? So in our market, similar to yours, I would say, there are many different brokerage models. And in many of the discount ones, which tend to be the largest in number of realtors, training and education is not a part of it. So, how does that translate for the consumer?

Dan Elzer:

Um, it's a horrible thing for the customer. And and the the fluid markets, the the high liquidity markets that we just came out of covered for a lot of that because it was fear of missing out on a transaction. So people rushed in. You know, in the states, uh, they just came out with a stat that was like 64% of people in the states that did a transaction through the good times regret it. It was the highest state we've ever had stat we've ever had of people regretting their purchase. So, what when you talk about how does that help the consumer, it kind of all goes back to everything we just talked about, Christan, that when we have leadership, when we have standards, when we have a great culture environment, and we require people to be in performance, we will make it where the consumer will find us in that in that scenario, I think, because as long as my people, and I'm speaking if we're together here, if my people are in the in the street talking to people and sharing and and answering questions and and all of that, they're not getting that from the other people. The other people are so transactional that they're not doing those things. So I really think the onus is on our pros to really make sure that they're out there, really make sure that they're in front of the consumer or that they're volunteering to be part of you know associations and different things just to get their voice out there because we are overrun by what I call lightly managed um high split or no split type organizations, that it's a volume business, not a quality business. So I don't know if I really answered the question there, but it is a it is a challenge that I think we can take some responsibility to position ourselves out in the marketplace. And we don't have to put down those companies. All we have to do is just share what we are. And I think that's that's the that's the goal.

Christan Bosley:

Absolutely. And I find um in our market, in particular, I know we've had a brief conversation about how uh the Real Estate Council of Ontario launched its Trust in Real Estate Services Act, which is an entirely new code of conduct. So, you know, where we're seeing that education and training play out is in being able to talk to the consumer about what we're legally required to talk to them about. Half the people can't still can't describe the paperwork and the types of representation and everything else that we have to go through now.

Dan Elzer:

And and I think that that's all in our favor. And I see more and more of uh municipalities and and uh laws being changed that are governing how we work. And and I'm I I don't like to be over-regulated, but I think these are good regulations because whenever they when they hold people accountable, it won't take many people um losing their license or getting thrown out of our industry to bring the others in line. And I really think that this is going to be a great thing for the consumer. Um in the meantime, though, you know, we have to be great leaders because our people run into people that ignore new law. And so it's it's it's one of those leadership things where we have to keep our people engaged, you know. Like mom used to say, just because your friend didn't doesn't mean you should do it. And that's kind of where we are in a lot of places around the world with those types of changes.

Christan Bosley:

Yeah. And I find we're seeing a lot here around disclosures, which is kind of interesting because now, according to Tressa, there are a lot of disclosures required around where the remuneration, we don't call it commission anymore, according to Tresa. So where the remuneration is going, which is interesting. Like back, you know, five years ago, you'd have an agent do an open house for a listing agent, and the agent would pick up a client, and 25% of that remuneration would go to the listing agent for the opportunity to do the open house, right? And now um you have to disclose every moment of that. So we're seeing a lot of agents, you know, how how do we navigate this conversation, right? Whereas there's still quite a few people who just won't navigate it.

Dan Elzer:

Right. And that's, you know, when I get that, I always share with the pros, guys, transparency and be up front. Understand it, know it, you know, put the time in to master it, and then have it up front. Because there's nothing stronger when we've had these things happen in when I had my company. I used to teach my agents, there's nothing stronger than you being transparent and knowledgeable about the change in the law. And the consumer saying to you, Well, I was talking to someone else and they didn't bring that up. And I would teach my agents to say, Well, let me apologize for them because maybe they're not up to speed on the new law. And I didn't, I didn't do anything wrong ethically to that agent. I just it's very clear to the seller or to the buyer that I'm I'm sorry that happened to you. And as soon as they have doubt that that person's up to speed on the law, they're out. You know, that person's no longer a consideration. So there's so many good things that can happen from some of these laws, as long as, again, great leadership keeping our people informed informed and making it okay that they have to do that.

Christan Bosley:

Okay. So we've spoken a lot about professional realtors. Yes. What's the one quality you should be able to identify in a professional realtor?

Dan Elzer:

Wow. I again, I'm gonna go very um um intangible on it. I think a good professional realtor is somebody that is not in a hurry and that has curiosity to learn about you, not about A deal, not about a listing, not about a buyer, not about a no a true, genuine curiosity to understand you, to want to be there for you. And then if by chance your needs turn into a need to do a transaction, they're there to do that with you. I think that's the big difference between finding someone who's a pro and finding someone who's scared or trying to get a transaction or trying to make something happen.

Christan Bosley:

So having coached with you for a few years now, this is a skill that you've worked quite diligently with me on. And um, unfortunately, I didn't know you when I was in sales, but some of those skill sets translate into brokerage and recruiting. Yes. And um so my whole leadership team has taken Dan's recruiting workshop on how best to get to know agents, right? To that very comment. And so I'm sitting here laughing, listening to you relay that from the agent perspective, because I remember I asked this uh agent out for lunch, and and she was like in the business for 20 years, one of the top performers straight out in the city, right? Like very, very big, big realtor. And so we meet for lunch, and and they're just drilling me with questions about the company. And I'm sitting here and I've got Dan in the back of my mind, and and I'm somewhat effective at dodging answers if I have to be. So I kind of was dancing around a bunch of answers, and then finally she puts her fork down, she's like frustrated, right? She's like angry, and and she's like, I don't understand. You invited me to lunch, you're not answering any of my questions about your company, and you know, what are we doing here? And and I looked at her and I was like, you know, I think we've had a misunderstanding because you think I'm here to recruit you. And and she just looked completely kind of blank-faced, and and I said, I don't even know if I like you yet. I don't know if I trust you. I don't know if our values are in alignment. So why am I gonna share the secret sauce of my company with you until I know that? Oh, and and it was so fascinating to see somebody on the other side who has spent their entire career getting to know people and understanding who they are and what they want, actually just have the complete reverse happen to them. Like it was, it was uh really enlightening for both of us. We still talk regularly, we laugh all the time about it. Um, but I channel that from you all the time.

Dan Elzer:

It's so cool to, you know, another um another attribute, if you will, is comfort in yourself. And that comes from mastery, you know, the more that people practice these things, where it's okay to sit there as you did and not let that bother you that she had that moment and you were able to then take her down the path of why that moment occurred. So many people at that moment of energy coming back would would fold and it would ruin that whole opportunity. And that's that's another attribute is when you're a master of skill, you you're not afraid. You're you're you're very calm in those moments.

Christan Bosley:

Well, I was kind of waiting for it. I could see her getting body language. And I was like, okay, it's coming. Here we go.

Dan Elzer:

Yep.

Christan Bosley:

Um, anyway, highly effective. And you know, perhaps one day she'll be a Bosley agent. You never know.

Dan Elzer:

She if she fits.

Christan Bosley:

She's a great fit.

Dan Elzer:

Okay.

Christan Bosley:

Um, okay. So thank you for all of your wisdom. I really appreciate that.

Dan Elzer:

It is my pleasure.

Christan Bosley:

This is my favorite part of the podcast where I get to come from a place of curiosity and ask you questions that are probably not overly appropriate for the topic at hand. But I'm gonna do it anyway.

Dan Elzer:

Fantastic.

Christan Bosley:

Okay, exciting. So, one lesson you learned in your career that you wish you knew earlier. What is one lesson you've learned?

Dan Elzer:

The last thing I just said the power of mastery to be calm and purposeful in the field of battle. I rushed into the industry. I I knew it from a surface, if you will. I knew about it, but I didn't have it mastered. So every engagement was um less than what it should have been, not as successful as it should have been. And as I matured in it and mastered things, and what it what happened to me in that is uh when I was in law enforcement, um, I worked undercover and I was on the SWAT team. And you weren't allowed to do those jobs until it was mastered. I mean, you were videoed, you were tested, and I got into real estate and I just kind of winged it. And when that clicked in my head and I went and mastered this business, all of a sudden, I money was not a problem, you know, customer service was not a problem. I found that I I could enter into uh any scenario or situation and be effective. So that if I could have started day one with that knowledge that I already had, I just didn't put it to work, I would have been my first 18 months would have been completely different. Did that answer it?

Christan Bosley:

It did. Yeah. I'm just sitting here thinking that one of my most frustrating things about the real estate licensing process in Ontario is that it's all theoretical. Right. It's very um, you know, by the book, here are the rules, here's what you need to do, but there's no practical knowledge around how to do it. So, I mean, we have a really effective training course. It's quite long, it's called Bosley U, for those of you who are curious. Um, but you know, a very small percentage of new agents come to us in the scheme of how many people get licensed. So you talk about how many people are out in the field just winging it with people's largest purchases. Yeah, it's quite concerning. So if you were somebody who didn't necessarily have access to that training, would you have recommendations for how to ensure that you were not just winging it with people's largest investments?

Dan Elzer:

Well, again, with a shift in the market, I think we'll get a shift in the mindset of the new people that and you might be seeing it already, where they're seeking to learn these things. Um so from their perspective, I think it really boils down to the level of professionalism they want to bring to the marketplace and recognizing that um there are skills and strategies and tactics that you must learn to be able to deliver. I don't know how to peripherate per spread that. Can't speak today, to spread that through. I wish it was more prevalent in agent licensing, where almost you come out of it being told by that person you're trusting that you can't succeed in this business unless you get to this next level. Um I don't think they'll go there.

Christan Bosley:

I think they enjoy too much money.

Dan Elzer:

Yeah, I think they enjoy the turn, you know, instead of the truth. And so that's one. Two, um, you know, going back to my coaching mindset, uh, if an organization is set up with a Bosley U, then, you know, it's that creativity in my brain. You know, how do we how do we become a funnel for that? So anyone that leaves that school knows that this is where I have to be to at least uh be competitive in the marketplace. So there's there's all kinds of opportunities. We should probably chat about those things. Yeah. Yeah.

Christan Bosley:

Yeah. I'm excited about it. I often think about my husband's career. So my husband uh is an AACI, which is like top-level appraiser, although he would get very upset if he heard me call him an appraiser. Uh, he does very high commercial development. Anyway, bottom line is when you're going through your AACI, it's like four or five years of education. And then you have a two-year kind of practicum where you have to work under an ACI who signs off on all your work before you can go for the final test. So, I mean, it sure would be nice.

Dan Elzer:

Right. I would love that to happen.

Christan Bosley:

Yeah, it would be really nice to see that happen here. So, anyway, I'm sorry, I uh digress. I did turn a little bit back into business talk because I was interested in curiosity. And I was curious. There you go. So, uh, what brings you joy?

Dan Elzer:

Oh, joy. Um, I am very joy. I love my wife with all my heart.

Christan Bosley:

Um and that's nice.

Dan Elzer:

Uh yeah, I I hit the jackpot there. And um, so joy for me is when my wife and I are on our boat with nothing to do but just relax. Secondary to the thing. Of course. Craft beer. Yes. Uh secondary to that is uh, and I'm not diminishing my grandchildren, it's just that the joy that they bring is different than the joy I get when it's just my wife and I on the boat. So the secondary to that is when we have all the boys, uh, they're all uh I got all grandsons and they're all over and we're either out on the boat or at the house doing something, you know.

Christan Bosley:

How many boys?

Dan Elzer:

Four.

Christan Bosley:

Oh my goodness. Yeah, okay. Tom and Ann have four too. Yeah, yeah. Boys, no girls in this.

Dan Elzer:

Can't find them.

Christan Bosley:

It's crazy. Um, well, so family. Safe to say family brings you joy.

Dan Elzer:

With without a doubt.

Christan Bosley:

On your boat. On my boat. Specifically.

Dan Elzer:

That's specifically important. You, you know.

Christan Bosley:

Yes. I I know it's important because a couple of times we've had to reschedule coaching calls for hurricanes risking your boat.

Dan Elzer:

Yes, that happened. It did happen.

Christan Bosley:

Okay. Um, what book is on your current reading list?

Dan Elzer:

Ah, that's a great question. Uh, with the shift in the market, I have all my clients ask this. Um if we look at what happened over the last decade, decade and a half with how liquidity, how much liquidity was out there, it was a different type of selling. Now we're back to a normal market. So when I talk to my clients, they'll ask, what should I be thinking about? And I go, well, if you've only been in the business for 15, 12, 13 years, you've never experienced what we have. Go back to the 90s and read some books. So I just recommended to one of my clients in Michigan uh to read When Giants Learned to Dance, which is a book I read uh in the early 90s, written by a Harvard professor, business professor. And it compares Apple and um Eastman Kodak. And they showed how Apple grew so fast and entrepreneurial, it got in trouble. They fired jobs back then and brought in some bureaucratic people. Where um Eastman Kodak got so bureaucratic it was dying. And so the balance between leadership, bureaucracy, and entrepreneurial spirit is very, very important to be able to run an effective company. So uh I have had a couple of companies in my charge that are experiencing that they don't have the bureaucracy necessary to not topple. And so I recommended that book. And then because I did, I just started reading. I actually picked it up, uh, it's sitting on my desk. I started reading again. So it's been so I I go backwards right now and read Jack Welch, you know, uh the CEO of uh GE. I read uh, you know, the one I just spoke of because I feel that I have to make sure that my skill sets are sharp in the leadership and in the executional things that are needed for today's market. A lot, as we said, a lot of technologies, a lot of things that were working during the hot market are not working as well now because they don't have the structure behind them. So that's the book on my desk at the moment. Not the one you thought, huh?

Christan Bosley:

No. I still have so many questions I want to ask around that because I'm curious that I feel like we're almost out of time. Okay, I have to ask one question. Okay. What do you mean when you say brokerages that don't have enough bureaucracy?

Dan Elzer:

Okay. Um policy, procedure, structure. Um anytime something goes wrong, we've talked about it.

Christan Bosley:

Because an entrepreneur is a creator, not necessarily an operations.

Dan Elzer:

Difference between growing and creating versus running. And um, every time something goes wrong, I always ask my clients to postmortem that wrong. What was a policy, a procedure, a question, a document that you could have put in place there for this not to happen? Now, if it's an anomaly, it's okay to leave it. But if it's a recurring thing, when I hear it over and over again, there's no bureaucracy there, you're allowing things to go wrong, which takes capacity, time, emotions, and get you off target. When you might be able to just insert one piece of bureaucracy, one one document, one policy procedure, that that never happens again. Or if it happens, it's very rare. So it's it's being objective for for my leaders. I want them to be objective enough to see their own areas that they've over that they lost sight of, or maybe just felt it's supposed to be that way and we'll just deal with it, versus, hey, we can fix this, we can put something in place.

Christan Bosley:

Okay, great. Thank you for that, Clarity. Also hard to uh scale when you don't have that stuff in place. Exactly. Yes. Okay, if you were to do a TED talk, what would the topic be?

Dan Elzer:

My favorite topic for those types of opportunities that are given to me is I live by 10 laws. Uh so I call it life on purpose. Um, very principle-based in the way I go about life. And um, the laws are in our company. Everyone that works for me has them, my kids have them. Um, and if I'm on my laws, my life goes in the right direction. If I get off of my laws, they don't. So many times I've either done keynotes or or short talks on, you know, those 10 things. And you don't need my 10 things, but you need your 10 things or your seven things. What are the things that keep you on the course that you want to be on versus allowing emotion, self-doubt, um, you know, the latest, greatest thing of the day to move you away from what you're trying to accomplish. And it's not so rigid like I lived this really rigid life, but having lived them for so long, I actually get a physical reaction if I do something that's not in within my laws. It actually bothers me, kind of like running a red light, you know, you're worried that you'll get caught. So I have this gut reaction whenever I violate my laws. So I would share my laws and having a purposeful life.

Christan Bosley:

Okay, I think we're supposed to wrap up now, but like I really need to know like, can can you just give me like two of the laws, two or three of them?

Dan Elzer:

I'll give you the first couple. Uh, law number one is passion. And passion is that burning desire to get up, get going. You know, you can't stop, but you gotta have it. Um, but some people lose passion and they always look to others for passion. Law number two is vision, more specifically, having defined, written short-term goals, not the long-term. I'm talking short. It can be as short as a day, a week, a month. When you have a short-term goal, that is fuel for passion. Whenever you lose passion, you usually don't have a goal. You usually aren't striving for something. Third one is give energy, don't take it. We all know the person that sucks the energy out of the room. I have to give energy. My wife knows if I go through a drive-thru with a teenager and they're not in a good mood, she knows we ain't leaving until they're in a good mood. I just have to give energy. Uh, and then my next two, which are very key to my success, is tenacity. I call it my best friend. Never ever quit. And then creativity, there's always a way. You just gotta find it. So there's the first ones.

Christan Bosley:

What a powerful way to end that segment. Thank you. I really, really appreciate it. Uh, thank you so much for being here, for sharing your story and your insights with us. It's been a real pleasure. And um, you know, I hope we can do it again soon.

Dan Elzer:

Me as well. Thanks so much.

Christan Bosley:

Okay. Until next time, I'm Christan Bosley with Like a Boz. Thanks so much for tuning in. If you enjoyed today's episode, be sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with someone who might find it valuable. We've got more conversations coming your way with incredible guests across design, finance, wellness, tech, and more, all through the lens of real estate. A special thank you to our set design sponsors, Stage Right.

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Christan Bosley

Host
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Dan Elzer

Guest