The Ultimate Secret Sauce of Selling

He sold his house for a $400,000 profit a year later!

My friend Frank moved to a beach community in 2019. He left the big city and, as he put it, moved to a city where everyone chooses to live. Not a city they had to live in for work. He chose 30A on the Gulf Coast.

His neighbor asked him, “Are you interested in selling your home?”

“I just moved here a year ago. Why would I sell it?” he said.

Frank sells private jets for a living. He knows about buying and selling high-priced products. And the neighbor said the magic words which got Frank thinking. 

“Everybody has a price. What’s yours?” he asked.

Frank said, “I’m not interested.”

But Frank’s wife stepped in and said, “Our price is $1,250,000.” 

As Frank was telling me the story, he said, “Who would buy my house a year later and give me a $400,000 profit?”

The next day Frank had three cash offers. One was for his wife’s asking price.

But now he needed a house. 

There was an area located near a bay in the same area that he was interested in. He was walking the neighborhood when he ran into a man who was working in the garden outside his house. 

Typical Frank, he introduced himself and told the guy what was happening in his life. Frank’s transparency is his secret weapon. I don’t think he even realizes this. But when you meet Frank, you just love the guy. He is very understated and humble, and he just tells you about his life. He tells you in a way that you feel like you’ve known the guy forever. So you tell him all about your life.

The guy said, “I was going to buy the house across the street from me. My wife and I wanted to live right on the bay, but given this pandemic (it was April 2020), there appear to be no buyers.”

Frank said, “Show me your house. If I like it and we can agree to a price, I’ll pay you cash.”

Long story short, Frank and this guy he just met shook hands on a price. Thirty days later the guy moved across the street to his house on the bay, and Frank and his wife move into his “old” house.

Frank told me this story as we were touring his new neighborhood after we had lunch at a restaurant. I got to meet the neighbor’s wife who was working in her new yard. And guess what, she made a point of how great it is to have Frank as a neighbor. 

What I didn’t tell you.

During lunch, Frank told me that he bought an old Land Rover Defender at auction. He said, “I always wanted one of those trucks.”

His problem was the truck came with electrical problems. The Defender is a 30-year-old collector’s item, and he was concerned he wouldn’t find anybody to work on it on 30A.

He began solving his problem by sharing with people he met in the area. He told them what was happening with his new truck and asked them for help. 

A stranger he talked to said, “There is a guy who just moved here from Arkansas. He is one of two specialists in that Range Rover model in the United States.” Frank went to the guy’s shop which had no signage. It really looked more like a house. 

Frank introduced himself and started up a conversion with the guy. Found out the guy just retired in the 30A area, but he still works on the Defenders because he loves the trucks and loves the people who love them just like he does. 

And the guy told him, “Before you put any more money in this thing, I need to tell you straight. These trucks have a way of rusting from the inside out.”

He inspected Frank’s Defender and was happy to tell him, he had a good one. He fixed the electrical problem, and Frank now has a new best friend, and so does the Defender mechanic.

What I learned. 

Frank is one of the most successful people I know. And now I know his secret.

Frank loves people and people love him. They love him because he is approachable and completely transparent. He shares himself and what is going on in his life. And he does it in a way that makes people really want to help him. And when he does this, it opens the door for the people he is with to do the same. Conversations get real, real fast.

Frank loves people. He trusts people. He needs people. He listens. And he helps people.

He is a delight. You would love this guy!