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Episode #039: The Ultra-Wealthy Customer with Ben Bacal

In This Episode of The Buyer’s Mind with Jeff Shore:

Ben Bacal and Jeff discuss what it’s like to work with the Ultra-Wealthy and Ben’s new venture Roofshoot.com.  So, what’s the mindset difference, how does trust play a factor, and what’s the psychology of their purchase decisions?  Then Ben and Jeff have a great discussion about video marketing and what makes it so powerful.

 

 

Topics we’re going to cover on today’s podcast:

[1:36] Quote of the Day

[3:22] Sales Tip of the Day

[7:10] What’s the mindset difference of the ultra-wealthy?

[8:50] The Psychology of Nice

[10:29] How does emotion play a role in high-end sales?

[12:13] Philosophy of video marketing

[14:59] Roofshoot.com for Real Estate Professionals

[17:00] Video marketing made simple

[19:59] What drives Ben Bacal?

[25:56] Motivational Summary

 

More about our guest Ben Bacal:

Ben Bacal has become a clear leader in Southern California’s luxury real estate business. Selling over a billion dollars in residential real estate, he has carved his niche and driven prices in the most prominent neighborhoods in Los Angeles. Ben is well respected among his peers and has become the “go-to” agent for hard to find trophy properties. His excellent relationships with home owners and developers alike, along with his knowledge of inventory allows him access to properties that are not available to most agents and gives him the ability to easily connect buyers with the best property for them. Ben and his team are committed to clear communication and loyalty for each and every client looking to buy or sell a home.

 

Links from today’s podcast:

Homestreet Bank

Ben Bacal

Roofshoot

Read Full Transcript

Jeff: What’s it like to sell to the truly rich and famous? We’re gonna find out on today’s episode of The Buyer’s Mind.

Male: Welcome to The Buyer’s Mind, where we take a closer look deep inside your customers’ decision-making mechanism to reverse engineer the perfect sales presentation. Now, please welcome your host, Jeff Shore.

Jeff: Welcome, everyone, once again to The Buyer’s Mind, where we try and figure out just what is going on inside the minds of prospects who are considering a purchase decision. That’s what the podcast is all about. It’s about taking a little stroll through the buyer’s brain. It’s about knowing that customer so well that that sales path begins to roll right out in front you. We like to have fun and celebrate the world of sales and sometimes to look at it from a completely different perspective. That’s what we will do today.

We’re gonna talk to Ben Bacal, and we’re gonna talk about how to sell to the ultra-wealthy customer. But let’s start there, Murph. What do you think? Are the ultra-wealthy just like everyone else? Or are they truly different cats?

Murph: They’ve gotta be different. They have to think different otherwise they wouldn’t be where they are. And if I could think like them, if I could do what they do, I’d be one them. But I’m not.

Jeff: Well, yeah. And of course, for our purpose, we will define wealth in different ways, right? We’re gonna be talking today about how we sell to people who have a lot of…I mean, a lot of money. But wealth has different descriptions, doesn’t it? And that actually leads us to our quote of the day, from the great Brian Tracy. I’ve had the pleasure of working with Brian in the past and just really appreciate the work that he’s done. But this is what Brian Tracy says. He says, “The single greatest source of wealth is between your ears. The single greatest source of wealth is between your ears.

Think better, and then act better.” And the beautiful thing about that quote is that it does allow you to broaden the definition of wealth. Does that mean financial wealth? Does that mean relational wealth? Does that mean spiritual wealth? “The single greatest source of wealth is between your ears.” And I wanna look at it from that perspective. For me, personally, you know what? I wanna be successful in anything that I do. I don’t have dreams about being a billionaire. It’s not important to me. But, you know, do I wanna have a good life? Do I wanna have the freedom and the choices that finances give?

Yes, I do. But I also wanna make sure that I’m living a balanced life and that my family is a priority and my faith is a priority and that my business is a priority and my employees are a priority. So I wanna be wealthy everywhere. I wanna be wealthy in all the different areas of my life. And my guess is that you probably feel the same way. Well, we’ll let you know that the podcast is brought to you in part by your good friends at HomeStreet Bank. They are our show sponsor, but they’re also my lender of choice. I’ve used HomeStreet Bank. I used them actually in the last home purchase.

It was an incredibly smooth transaction. They’re professional, they’re dependable, great rates, great service. If you’re a real estate professional listening today, you just aren’t gonna find people to work with in taking care of your clients. So whether it’s banking, home loans, credit lines, go to homestreetbank.com to learn more. That’s homestreetbank.com. Let’s get to our sales tip of the day here before we have our time with Ben Bacal. And I wanna make this suggestion. Since the subject today is dealing with that ultra-wealthy customer, I wanna make this suggestion to you.

Read what your wealthiest customers read. Now here’s the deal. If you’re a salesperson, you want to be able to connect with a customer. Not just so that you can get the sale. You wanna connect with your customer so that you can serve them best. If you wanna build that bond, if you wanna build that trust, if you wanna be an influential, then you need to be in that position where you understand their language. And the best way to do that is to read what your wealthiest customers read. Now, the good news is, there’s this whole thing called the internet.

It’s not difficult to find out what your wealthiest customers might be reading. But if you can speak their language, everything changes. You know, most salespeople that I’ve met in my life, they’ve come across that time where they’re going to deal with an ultra-wealthy customer. And if you do that, if you gain their trust and they let you into that sphere of trust in their own life, you have a huge opportunity. So it starts with the homework that you do about what they understand and what they experience. Then you can connect and then you can understand and then you can best serve.

Before we get to our interview, I wanna tell you about an opportunity here and that’s to be involved in our 4:2 Academy. Our 4:2 Formula Academy, this is an intensive training program specifically for real estate sales professionals, where we’re using modern selling strategies and skills just for today’s buyers, just for today’s market. The 4:2 Formula is the core real estate principle that we talk about at Shore Consulting, but it’s gonna give you several days and actually spread out over the course of an entire quarter. A program that’ll allow you to just transform your presentation.

We’ve put so many people through the 4:2 Formula Academy, always with tremendous results. You can go to jeffshore.com/events to learn more about the 4:2 Formula Academy. All right, hey, let’s get to our interview. I’m not even sure how to describe Ben Bacal. He’s a walking picture of achievement drive. To start, he might be the most successful real estate broker in the world. Over a billion dollars in sales. If you go to benbacal.com, B-E-N-B-A-C-A-L dot com, we’ll put that in the show notes, you can see some of the homes that he currently has listed.

Including an incredible Bel Air home for a mere $250 million. We’ll have to ask him if the helicopter’s included in that. He’s also a serial entrepreneur. His company, roofshoot.com is revolutionizing video marketing. So we’ll get into that as well. He’s been featured in just about every major media source out there. We’re thrilled to have him on the show. Ben, welcome to The Buyer’s Mind.

Ben: Thank you so much for having me.

Jeff: So is the helicopter included? I gotta start there.

Ben: Yes. It’s unequivocally included. It’s actually an art piece. You can take off from that location, but you will incur a $10,000 fine.

Jeff: Ah, got it. Got it. Got it.

Ben: It’s actually pretty funny because the neighbors…everyone in the neighborhood would love to have a helicopter pad. So when we put the helicopter on the roof, for about three weeks, every day, LAPD would come up with about four or five cars because people in the neighborhood said we were taking off from that location. But it wasn’t true. They’re just a bunch of jealous neighbors.

Jeff: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Ben: Because we all need a helicopter on our roof, right had

Jeff: Well, we really do. And, you know, but we’re not gonna fly it because, really, who can afford $10,000 if you’re paying 250 for a house. Let me ask you about that, though. You work with some of the wealthiest people on the planet. What’s the mindset difference when you’re working with that ultra-high-end client? And I would say both their mindset and your mindset when you’re working with that type of clientele.

Ben: You really have to understand what that mindset is looking for. And essentially, there is no time to compromise and to get it wrong. So time is super-important in their life and they’re willing to pay for that expertise to figure out exactly what they want really quickly. And if you’re not delivering, you’re put off to the side. It’s a sophisticated buyer, and it’s not so…it’s not emotional. But you have to, you know, take the brunt of whatever, you know, mood that they are in for that time or for that day and kind of…and really roll with the punches.

But I guess you gotta deal with that at any price point, from 100,000 up to 1 million or 2 million or a quarter billion, right? But the difference is it’s just it’s more business and brass tacks and getting down to the nitty-gritty and just saying, you know, “This is it.” Less hand holding and more about, you know, making…getting the job done and bringing them the best product. Giving them…when it comes down to it, it’s finding the ultimate dream home for them that they can’t find anywhere else and that you’re delivering on that. And it’s a service game, you know. They’re always right and you’re just making things happen. Does that make sense?

Jeff: Yeah, sure. What about the psychology of…let’s call it the psychology of nice or the trust-building process? I had interviewed the number one salesperson for Ferrari in the United States. And here I was expecting a guy in a, you know, an $8,000 suit and the product in the hair and the bling and the whole nine yards. And this guy’s got, you know, the khakis and a polo shirt on, one of the nicest guys on the planet. Didn’t fit my image at all. But he said something interesting.

He said, “I don’t know who sent the message out there that only your average Joe is interested in working with nice people, with kind people.” How do you gain the trust of the super-rich and how important is that idea of just being a good guy? Because it’s…I have a sense it’s not always what we see on the so-called reality, real estate television shows.

Ben: You know, I think the idea of dealing with ultra-high net worth individuals, the thing that I do is I’m not selling everything, you know. I’m really genuinely subjective about everything that I do, every product that I put in front them. And I’ll look at the products through their eyes and be like, “Does this really work for them?” And at a certain point, you have to, you know, you have to be…you have to give the Ying and Yang and give the positives and the negatives. And it’s really just working super-hard and being subjective and offering, you know, criticism about the property that you’re showing them. So they’ll be like, “Okay, cool. This guy’s…this woman or man is not just trying to sell me. They’re giving me some genuine perspective on how they feel about the property.”

Jeff: We had psychologist Peter Noel Murray on the show a while back, and he suggested that the higher the price tag, the greater the influence on emotion in a purchase decision. Now, you’re dealing with the super-high-end clientele here who may not wanna show their emotional hand. But do you see that with your clients? Do you get that sense that this is a very emotional purchase?

Ben: I don’t know. I actually think just opposite. I don’t think it’s an emotional purchase at all. I think…not “at all.” Of course, emotion runs…that dictates our entire life, right?

Jeff: Yeah.

Ben: Everything we do, emotions. But I don’t…I feel like it’s almost less emotional with the ultra-high-net-worth individuals, that they just…they can take it or leave it, you know. If they wake up one morning and they feel like they wanna pull the trigger on something, we’ll go for it. Otherwise, they could just turn away.

Jeff: Yeah. Maybe it’s a different type of emotion. It’s not necessarily, “Oh, my goodness, I’m in love with this kitchen.” It might be just more of a holistic emotion to how they feel like they’re running their life in general.

Ben: Right. Yeah. I think they, you know, they keep their…you know, they have a small circle of friends that they trust and appreciate their, you know, their sensibilities. So I think that they are emotional with a small group of people.

Jeff: You have excelled in addition just to your real estate prowess and your ability to understand what your customers want and need, but also because of your investment and your interest in video marketing. I wanna talk about roofshoot.com in a moment. But start with your general philosophy. Your philosophy about video marketing, about where it is, about where it’s going.

Ben: Right. Okay. Well, I was one of the first agents in my industry to use, you know, video. And I used it to brand myself. As a result, you know, I went from being an average agent in my office to selling, you know, close to $2 billion worth of residential real estate. And I discovered that, while I would go out and I’d prospect and door-knock and cold call and, you know, meet people face to face, that if I shot a video and I posted it, I would end up meeting hundreds of people, if not thousands, and now millions of people face to face, if that makes sense.

Because you press the button, and it’s evergreen content. And it goes on the web and just collects more views. And it’s like a movie star on TV. People start to recognize who you are and they’re following you and watching you. And you present knowledgeable information about the neighborhood that you work in or the sale that you’ve done. And it’s the best calling card you can have. And in fact, in 2019, 90% of all global content will be from video. So it’s super-important. You can hear Mark Zuckerberg and, you know, all the big entrepreneurs and all the blue-chip companies.

They’re all doubling down on video because it has the most…it captures the most attention. And I went to film school, and that’s, I guess, you know…and I love entertaining people and I love watching television and movies and directors and following the best directors and actors. And hundreds of years ago, we all loved stories, right?

Jeff: Mm-hmm.

Ben: So, you know, I think it comes into our daily life of buying products, watching commercials. So I wanted to create Roofshoot so agents can tell their stories. Because…and I just happen to, you know, create an app and raise millions and millions of dollars to be able to have the team, the talented team I have of backend and programmers to create an app that basically allows you to shoot simple content from your phone. It’s basically Dr. Seuss for shooting movies about listings and neighborhoods and cool spots. And of course, your agent profile video.

Jeff: It must be amazing to you, having gone to film school and studied this. And, you know, back in the day, it wasn’t that long ago when this was a major undertaking to try and figure out how to produce a true, authentic, and high-quality video. Now, it’s all about people…they’re not gonna go to film school, and they don’t need to, right? Right now, it’s about ease of use. When you think about the most used apps, they’re also the easiest to use. And having played around with Roofshoot, I think that that…my sense is that’s what your goal was. How do we get the right blend of really high quality, but really simple user interface here?

Ben: It’s interesting. It’s a bit of a mix. Because, you know, I achieved very…I, obviously, sometimes my sellers, so I’m selling a $30, $40, $50, $20 million, $10 million, $3 million house. They expect some crew to come up with drones and slider cameras, and then the rigs and all that, and I’d edit that together. And then I’d shoot a video on Roofshoot, which edits the video pretty beautifully and seamlessly. And I’ll get just as many views as I would, you know, shooting that video on my iPhone and then even turning it into a selfie mode and editing that on Roofshoot than I would spending $2,000, $3,000 shooting with a crew. And you know what it is? It’s…you know, reality TV blew up, right? It’s…everyone loves reality TV, right?

Jeff: Mm-hmm.

Ben: Programming is massive. So it’s a blend of like, reality TV meets like edited content, right? That you would find with a professional crew. It’s that kind of like hybrid that really attracts a lot of people. So, like, yesterday, I went and shot a $16 million house, and I just…I walked through and I shot it in-app. My friend was like, “Wow, you’re shooting a movie?” And I’m like, “Yeah. I’m shooting a movie.” And I shot it step by step, put it together, and it was me talking in the camera. And then, pressed preview and publish and, boom, I had, like, this really fun, engaging movie and I sent it to, like, three of my friends and they were like, “Oh, this is so awesome.” They’re like, “You just did this in an hour?” I’m like, “Yeah. I just put it all together.” They’re like, “Oh, this is great.”

Jeff: You know, it’s kind surprising to me that it hasn’t caught on more. I think if it’s something as simple as video email, which I do all the time, and I’ll send out a video email, and people will be like, “Oh, that was mind-blowing. I’ve never seen that before.” And I’m like, “It’s 2017. This is not that hard. It’s a free service. It’s not that difficult.” At this point, video marketing should be part of everybody’s arsenal. For some reason, it’s still cutting-edge. It shouldn’t be cutting-edge, but for some reason, it’s still cutting-edge.

Ben: You’re right. The video emails are easy to use and they’re awesome. You click through it, you get, like, 75% less opt-outs just by saying the word “video” in an email. You get four times more inquiries on a home if you have a video over those that don’t. Seventy-three percent of homeowners are more likely to list with an agent who offers to market their home or property using video. So all these statistics are, like, super-important. And I think our technology is gonna get better and better. It’s super-easy right now. It’s gonna get even better for the next iteration for 2018.

It’s like me door-knocking, you know. I still prospect. I still cold call. I still go out there and I hire agents to go do what I did for the past, you know, 12 years to sell billions of dollars worth of real estate, which is putting the hard work every day, you know, 40, 80, 100 hours a week. And I’m successful because I work harder than everybody else. I’m non-stop, right? I’ve been sleep, eating, drinking real estate for over a decade. The more content you shoot every day, you shoot a story about the areas that you live in and the values and architecture styles of that neighborhood.

And what has sold and what the comps are, that’s called a neighborhood video. And then, if you’re out for dinner and you want…you shoot, film that restaurant and stay and talk about how great this restaurant is and do an exterior shot and shoot the menu. And if you’re dropping your kids off at school, you know, go and film that elementary school and interview the principal and, you know, be the purveyor of all those great things in those neighborhoods. And then post those every day on YouTube and Instagram and LinkedIn and Instagram and Roofshoot.

And all of these videos will live on the net for as long as you want them to be posted, as long as you don’t delete them. And people will go on the internet and they’ll be like…type in that ZIP code that they’re searching for a home, and they’ll find a video about you talking about the neighborhoods and the cool spots. And they’ll be like, “Oh, this guy knows what’s up.” It’s not enough these days just to have a business card that people throw away. You have to have your digital calling card. And you know, talking about, you know…it’s basically your bio that you have on your website.

You’re just talking into the camera, saying who you are, what you’re passionate about, and the areas that you work in, and how much you’ve sold or what you plan to do for your buyer or for your seller. So that’s what Roofshoot is. It’s an app that allows you to shoot, like, really engaging content, emotionally engaging content that’s shareable right from your phone. And then, there’s the platform where all the content is displayed and you can download it and share it with the world.

Jeff: So it’s roofshoot.com. And even the website, very easy to figure out what this is and how it works. So again, we’ll put that in the show notes. We’re just about out of time. Let me ask you one last question. You were talking about your drive and your hard work. Clearly, you’re a very driven individual. I don’t think that’s lost on anybody. But did your achievement drive come naturally to you as a matter of just diligent habits over time? What do you attribute this to? Because your foot seems to be on the gas all the time.

Ben: What does it attribute to? I don’t know. I feel like I…I guess I think I just have this innate feeling that if I’m not doing something that’s pushing forward my career in some way that I’m not living up to my potential. I just want to be able to do, you know, big things and create products that change the world and have an impact on the masses. And that’s exciting. And then, if it can come full circle and I can, you know, make a big change, you know, in charity and creating foundations, that’s something that I wanna do.

So I’m trying to…I think every day, that…I think it comes down to like my final goals in life. I really wanna have…I wanna make a mark in the world. So that’s where it stems from for me.

Jeff: I love it. I often say here, this is one my philosophies, “Life is a buffet, and I wanna die full.” So we’ll go with that. Ben Bacal, cannot thank you enough. Just great stuff. You can go to benbacal.com. You can also go to roofshoot.com. We’ll put that in the show notes. And it’s great talking to somebody who clearly, clearly understands what it takes to be successful and to really maximize the opportunities in your niche. So Ben, thanks for being on the show. We really appreciate it.

Ben: Awesome. Thank you so much.

Jeff: Well, there you have it. Speaking to…I mean, listen. My background is real estate. That’s where I cut my sales teeth. And to talk to somebody like Ben Bacal is just absolutely amazing. Clearly, Murph, the guy’s got it going on, doesn’t he?

Murph: He really does. And I think it’s interesting to know that video is taking over the world. So I feel like my job is secure.

Jeff: Well, I figured you would like that more than anybody else. Murph, how did you…he and I were talking about the idea that it really shouldn’t be as cutting-edge as it is. It probably should be more readily adopted. Does it surprise you that video has not been more quickly adopted given how easy it is to be able to use these days? Especially with sites like roofshoot.com?

Murph: Yeah. It’s easy to shoot. But to try and tell the story is what makes it difficult.

Jeff: Yeah. Right.

Murph: Because most of us aren’t really good at telling stories because that’s not our background.

Jeff: Right. But that said, you know, look, I remember years ago, I bought a home…this was really in the early days of the internet. And this home that I purchased was not listed on the internet. It was, again, real estate was just sort of getting going on the internet at the time. But I had this flyer, right? This one-page, front and back, color flyer. It was three color photos on the front, three color photos on the back. And because it was a relocation, and I couldn’t go see that home once I had purchased it. I gotta tell you what, I left that flyer on my desk and I looked at it every day just turned it over back and forth.

I needed to see something. I needed to see something. And it was only six pictures. But even there, I was telling myself a story about what my life was gonna be like, how much more so if I had a crisply edited, annotated, you know, narrated video of the home that I was thinking about purchasing. I mean, I had watched that 100 times. And then, I’d send it to friends and family and anybody else I could think of to say, “Hey, look at this home that I’m gonna buy.” I have to believe that it’s certainly not for want of a market.

It’s just being able to put it together. But you see that Murph, right? Because that’s your job. You’re…ultimately, people see you as a tech guy. You’re a storyteller. That’s what you do.

Murph: It is what I do. You know, it’s been interesting because, with the technology, as we talked about, it’s been called the democratization of technology. And so, what that means is it’s available to everybody. Anybody can use it. So it’s just a matter of availing yourself of the technology that’s there. Now, some of us wanna learn it, some of us don’t. But the people, I think, who take advantage of it are the guys who are gonna get ahead.

Jeff: Well, and that’s…I think that that’s my key takeaway that I wanna share with all our audiences. You know, look, that technology is there. The fact of the matter is it’s not as difficult as you think it is. When you look at something like video email, for example, here’s a little secret. It’s easy. It’s really easy. And you know what keeps us from doing it is fear. It’s just our own desire for comfort. And I wanna challenge you right now that your comfort addiction might very well be standing in the way of your success if you are not embracing this technology.

Look, it’s not a matter…you can say, “Well, you know what? I don’t get it. I don’t understand it.” Listen. If you can figure out how to run an email program, and you’ve all done that. If you can figure out how to program your smartphone, and you’ve all done that, you can figure out how to do video. It’s not difficult. It’s really not. And if you’re not quite sure, just go to YouTube and watch a video on how to do a video. But it’s all right there. And if you don’t believe me, go to roofshoot.com and you’re gonna see it straightforward. It’s gonna show you exactly how it works and how simple it is.

And look, I wanna make this clear. I’m not getting paid by Ben. We’re not a sponsor. He’s not paying us to talk about roofshoot.com. I just love technology like this that makes it so easy to tell a story. And my suggestion for you, if you’re listening right now, do not let your addiction to comfort get in the way of your progress, your success, and your very future. Or let me put it another way. We’re going there. It’s only a question of whether you’re coming along for the ride. Well, listen, before we wrap it up, I just wanna remind you, we’ve been talking about that ultra-wealthy customer today.

But just wanna remind you, that ultra-wealthy customer is a human being. And at the end of the day, while I respect that people make a lot of money, that people are successful in what it is that they do, I’m sorry. I’m not gonna respect them as a human being any higher or lower than I’m gonna respect anyone else. But I wanna look at it and say, “If I recognize them as a human and I treat them as a human, it changes things.” The reason I say this is because sometimes when you meet people that have a lot of money, you kind of wanna treat them different.

You wanna kind of look at them differently, as if there’s a higher regard just because they have a lot of money. Maybe that’s your philosophy. It doesn’t have to be mine. I’m not gonna disrespect people. I’m gonna respect the fact that they are successful. That, I will do. But I’m not going to see them any differently as a human being. I look at people from all walks of life, and I wanna be fair. I wanna make sure that I am not getting trapped by the trappings that the money is sometimes gonna show. So I’d just encourage you to kind of keep that idea in mind.

You can respect somebody for their success, but you can’t treat them like they’re more of a human because they have money. Well, listen, if you liked the podcast, we’d really appreciate a subscription. If you love it, a review would mean even more. And then, consider posting a link to the podcast on your social media page. But that’s a wrap on this episode of The Buyer’s Mind. Hope you enjoyed it. You can find everything you need at jeffshore.com. But until next time, go out there and change someone’s world.


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About the Author: Jeff Shore

Jeff Shore is the Founder and CEO of Shore Consulting, Inc. a company specializing in psychology-based sales training programs. Using these modern, game-changing techniques, Jeff Shore’s clients delivered over 145,000 new homes generating $54 billion in revenue last year.