Tim Smith thinks you’re being selfish.
Not in the way you’d expect. The Orange County agent – number one team in California for Coldwell Banker, $7 billion in career sales across twenty-seven years – returned to the AREC stage thirteen years after his first appearance with a message that reframed the industry’s most avoided activity.
“If you are not out there prospecting, that’s selfish,” Smith told the AREC audience.
“Because whatever you are self-absorbed with that keeps you from doing the work that pays you – and not just pays you, but allows you to serve people – you are being selfish.”
One appointment. Every week.
Smith broke his entire business down to arithmetic. Forty-two working weeks. One listing appointment per week. Sixty-five percent conversion to listings taken (because thirty-five percent of sellers aren’t real). Eighty-five percent of listings sold. Factor in buyer-side transactions and referral flow from every listing, and the model produces a $6.6 million income.
“No matter the question, prospecting is the answer,” he said.
“If you sat with my team, if you sat with my wife – she would just tell you how shameless I am, because everywhere I go is an opportunity to open my mouth.”
The language that opens doors
The shift Smith advocates is subtle but deliberate. He doesn’t ask sellers if they plan to sell. He asks if they’ve had thoughts of selling.
“Don’t ask them if they plan to sell, because then you can start really getting inside their mind,” Smith explained.
“Everybody’s constantly having thoughts of selling.”
From there, it’s two follow-up questions: Do you know anyone thinking of selling? And do you know anyone who tried to sell and wasn’t successful? Both surface opportunities that traditional listing strategies might never uncover.
His daily formula: five new conversations with strangers, five follow-ups with pipeline contacts, and four conversations that steer toward listing opportunities. Fourteen conversations a day. No scripts.
“When you really care, and you really know your craft, prospecting doesn’t have to be salesy,” he said.
“Confidence is not the starting point – confidence is the result of reps.”
The films that opened $900 million in doors
Smith’s other obsession is brand-building that creates listing appointments without cold calls.
He showed two case studies that traced a direct line from creative risk to offers, listing opportunities and closed deals.
The first was a rap video spoofing “Teach Me How To Dougie” for a Newport Beach listing – rewritten as “Teach Me How To Duffy” after the electric boats locals cruise around the harbour.
It pulled 35.2 million views in its first month and, through geo-targeted distribution, surfaced both an international buyer and an out-of-state buyer who made offers on the property.
The second was a $43.5 million sale in Emerald Bay, Laguna Beach – where five agents told the sellers it could not be listed above $30 million, and Smith’s biggest competitor said to stay under $40 million.
Smith came back with what he calls a “confidence interval rate” – the price achievable with ninety percent certainty – and guaranteed over $42.5 million.
Through geofencing campaigns targeting private jet centres, his team found a buyer flying from London to Las Vegas who had been searching for a beachfront home in Emerald Bay for twenty years.
A second buyer surfaced the next day, flying from Connecticut to Montana. The property sold for $43.5 million in thirty-three days. The sellers later estimated his strategy saved them five to six million dollars over what another agent would have achieved.
After the sale, Smith had the sellers record a testimonial. He said one film, produced for $2,200, had generated $900 million in sales.
“2.0 is building a brand not just for your ego – building a brand to open doors,” Smith said.
The challenge
Smith closed with a direct challenge to the room: one listing appointment per week, fourteen conversations a day.
“Ninety percent of the people aren’t in the home of their dreams,” he said.
“And we’re dream makers. Let’s get them in the home of their dreams.”
His daily routine still includes prospecting calls – even after $7 billion in sales. When motivation fades, he comes back to the same thought: it’s not about making money. It’s about serving people. And choosing not to have those conversations means choosing not to help.
Your Tuesday morning to-do list
- Block out your first hour tomorrow and make five calls to people you don’t know – neighbours of recent sales, open home attendees, expired listings. Ask one question: “Have you had any thoughts of selling?”
- Write down your numbers: gross commission last twelve months, number of transactions, average commission per deal. Work backwards to how many listing appointments you need per week to hit your target.
- Pick three people in your pipeline you haven’t spoken to in thirty days and call them before lunch. Not a text. A call.
- Create a list of five homeowners you know tried to sell and didn’t succeed – through other agents, withdrawn listings, or passed-in auctions. Reach out this week with no pitch, just curiosity about what went wrong.
- Record yourself doing a two-minute property walk-through on your phone – no crew, no budget, just energy and knowledge. Post it. Start building the brand asset library that compounds over time.