At Tim Hortons, the Timbits and coffee are “Always Fresh” and that’s why I think it may be the best place in the world to prospect.
The other day, one of my agents asked me to walk over to the local Tim’s for a coffee break. I wasn’t astonished by the invite, because I get the Royal Treatment from our sales team on a regular basis.
The café was crowded and my colleague wanted to grab a sandwich and a coffee, so we invited ourselves to a table occupied by a sole patron who was finishing a tea. He said he didn’t mind the company and was happy to have a conversation after his long day at work. His broad smile and welcoming demeanour showed that he was genuine.
He told us that he drove an “18 wheeler” all over Ontario, hauling heavy equipment and supplies. He spoke haltingly with a voice impediment. He told us he came from Nicaragua over 17 years ago with his wife and one child. After a few years he earned his truckers licence and began to earn serious money compared to his native country. Meanwhile, his spouse found employment at a major hotel, where she is now a supervisor.
The conversation expanded to what he did in his home country, and it turns out that he still has a small dairy farm and returns there once every six months. After showing us photos of his two sons, the eldest of whom is now an engineer, we exchanged business cards.
Seeing my card, he asked me where our office was and told him that we were right behind Tim’s. He then asked if we had any condominiums in the 600-700k range for his son and family of three in the area of downtown Toronto.
I remembered my first days in Belleville, Ont., when I started out in this crazy and wonderful business, and how I would drop into the really new coffee spot called Tim Hortons and read the Globe and Mail.
I’d be circling the For Sale by Owner ads in the Out of Town Section (no highlighter back then!) and someone nearby would ask me what I was doing and what I did for a living.
Presto! I had invented my own small niche marketing tool! The Globe back then was 10 cents and so was the coffee. The average selling price in the Quinte area was about $20,000, and the average commission was six per cent. Those were the days!
Oh, the commission split? 50/50 until I reached $20,000 and then I went to 70/30. You can do the math and see what it would take to earn $50,000! I think I made $25,000 in my second year and bought a new Chevy for $2,500 – loaded!
The point of this article is to show that you don’t have to spend a lot of money to make a lot of money. Make some new friends when you go to your favourite java shop. Tell them what you do. The investment today: the Globe and Mail is about $1.25 and the coffee is about 1.59, plus HST of course. But the average sale here in Toronto, the last time I looked, was over $500,000.
Commissions? They’re relative to whatever the listing agent negotiates. I can’t say average, because the Competition Bureau may come down on me, the board and who knows who else.
Next time you have a coffee at Tim’s, tell them Stan sent you. And I take my coffee black.
Stan Albert, broker/manager, ABR, ASA at Re/Max Premier in Vaughan, Ont. can be reached for consultation at stanalb@rogers.com. Stan is now celebrating 40 years as an active real estate professional.
Stan Albert, ABR, ASA is a consultant with Re/Max Premier in Vaughan, Ont. He can be reached for consultation by email. Stan is now celebrating his 45th year as an active real estate professional.
