“Two days ago, I received a call from the wife who had indicated that they had read the entire book and they were super excited and wanted to know if I would consider them to be my clients.”
Maurice Brooks, a former college instructor, first obtained his real estate license in 1988, back when he says “everything was done on paper.”
Maurice became a designated broker for about 10 years, then became a federal contractor.
“So I kind of left real estate for a period of time, but it's always been my passion,” he says. “So at the beginning of the pandemic, when all the colleges and everything shut down, I needed to do something. And so to me, I figured that this was a good time for me to renew my passion for real estate.”
Maurice was drawn to Authorify because of his background in academia and his understanding that being a published author would give him an edge over his competition.
“Being published is the thing… It was just the direct relationship with my background and experiences. It was the best way to articulate for me the style that I use in order to help my buyers and sellers get where they have to go.”
Hitting the Ground Running
Before Maurice even received the first copies of his books, he started building up excitement around their release.
“‘Hey, guess what I've been working on during the pandemic?’ And, you know, it was simple conversation. The massage therapist was the very first person in the office and said, ‘Yeah, when he comes in, I want a copy of that. I'll pay for it.’ And so when the copies came in, the first one that came in was my buyer's book. And I provided a copy of that because I was waiting for the custom cover for the Biz Card book. And so I provided a copy of the buyer's book.
“I left that in their lobby — which I don't think it's still in their lobby. I think the staff or the staff members may have taken it, but my custom cover came in, and I provided a copy of that to the massage therapist. And he was bragging in the office about how he was the first person to get a custom signed copy.”
He also made a new contact by leaving a copy at his chiropractor’s office.
“Someone saw it on the desk and picked it up and decided to give me a call.”
Maurice recently landed three listings by dropping off one book at an expired property.
“I had noticed this house, this condo, and it was really in a distressed kind of area. And I just kind of said, ‘I'm going to keep an eye on that.’ And so I checked on it probably six months after I'd seen it the first time and noticed that it had expired. ...And so I put together a quick packet.”
Maurice put his book into a gift bag with a cover letter and left it at the front door.
“And that was, I think, on a Sunday evening, and on Tuesday, I received a call from that seller indicating that yes, she was definitely still interested. She just had bad vibes with the other broker, and she had an inherited property that they were dealing with and wanted to sell first. And so right now, I have a full price offer on that one. And then once we've completed that transaction, we're going to look at listing her condo and then subsequently of course, selling her a new place to live.”
At a recent showing, Maurice met some unaccompanied buyers and gave them his book in place of a business card.
“I keep my books in gift bags in the car. And so I went to the car, grabbed them a book bag and provided them with a copy of the book and thought nothing more of it. And so it's been about a week, and two days ago, I received a call from the wife. They indicated they had read the entire book, and they were super excited and wanted to know if I would consider them to be my clients because they knew that because I was a high-demand professional based on my book, there was a possibility that I might decline them. And of course I accepted them.”
Maurice says his books have been a game-changer in terms of the process to convert leads.
“It definitely made the conversation a lot easier. They already have somewhat of an idea of my style and because I've really spent a lot of time tweaking my book to make it really mine rather than off the shelf. And so they have a really good idea of my style — and that speaks volumes — and then to meet me and for me to articulate that same style is a confidence builder for the seller.
Maurice just mailed his book to all of the FSBOs in his area, as well as expired homes within the $700,000 to $900,000 price range. He included a packet of referrals, a cover letter tailored to each individual home, as well as a promotional mailer to introduce himself. He also tagged specific parts of his book for the homeowners to check out.
“So it's very custom; it's not a generic ‘must've came out of some type of production assembly.’ It's me; I'm the production assembly.”
Maurice says he likes to keep up with the latest Authorify training to learn new strategies for handing out his books.
“I love the idea of the public library. I thought that was really cool when I saw that video. And so I've taken the time to follow those instructions, go through, find the highlights, make the highlights, make the little references, you know, doctor it up, like it's recommended in the instructions. ...When I encounter one of those, especially if I'm out touring or working in the community, then I can drop one of those off, hopefully to plant that seed as well.
“I enjoy the fact that I do it and it really speaks to my personality. I think it is a great opportunity. Every week, I'm constantly taking in new information, looking at different ways to approach it, It’s probably my strongest tool to negotiate selling and buying opportunities.”
