[APPLAUSE]

RYAN SERHANT: Thanks.

PAUL DARRAH: You're welcome.

RYAN SERHANT: Hello.

How's work?

[LAUGHTER]

This is a cool place.

PAUL DARRAH: It's not a bad spot.

We have our own real estate.

RYAN SERHANT: Yeah.

You're the real estate guy.

PAUL DARRAH: I'm the real estate guy.

It's exciting to interview the other real estate guy.

RYAN SERHANT: I love doing deals with Google people.

It's great.

You always know they can close.

You know?

[LAUGHTER]

PAUL DARRAH: That's right.

RYAN SERHANT: Which is really important to me.

PAUL DARRAH: Well, it's a big talent pool.

We have 10,000 Googlers in New York.

RYAN SERHANT: I know.

PAUL DARRAH: I don't think you've sold to all of them yet.

RYAN SERHANT: No, not yet.

PAUL DARRAH: Not yet.

RYAN SERHANT: Not yet.

PAUL DARRAH: Not yet.

RYAN SERHANT: That is the goal.

PAUL DARRAH: So why don't we start-- in the book,

you talked about your childhood growing up,

opposite to the guy you see on TV,

and I thought that would be a great place to start.

RYAN SERHANT: [LAUGH] Great.

Yeah, a lot of people--

most people know me from "Million Dollar Listing New

York," which started in 2012.

I was cast on it in 2010.

How I got cast on that is totally--

it's like book number two.

But I think I was kind of the opposite person when

I was a little kid.

Like, the anti-salesperson, which was a big

push for me to write the book.

Like, I didn't necessarily write it for great sales people

out there, who are crushing it and at the top of their class.

Right?

I mean, I think those people should also get it.

But I really wrote it for the people

who were like me, who were super shy, introverted.

I moved eight times before I hit fourth grade.

I was really overweight.

I had really bad self-confidence.

I just liked theater.

My parents made me play every single sport known to man,

hoping I would get over it.

My whole family's in finance.

Everyone's very business oriented,

and I just wanted to do theater and come to New York

after college, which no one approved of whatsoever.

And then I ran out of money, right?

I mean, that's kind of classic story.

I moved here in 2006.

I went to Hamilton College in upstate New York.

I was a Theater major, also English Lit

because my parents made me.

And I gave myself two years on summer savings,

and it lasted me two years.

And I ran out of money and didn't know what to do.

And it was either go home to Colorado

and paint fence for the rest of my life--

which was an actual summer job I had, painting wood fence.

There's a lot of it in Colorado--

or figure out something.

I had a friend of mine who was like,

listen, don't be a waiter.

Don't be a bartender.

Get your real estate license.

The market's insane.

This was the summer of 2008.

PAUL DARRAH: Your timing was impeccable.

[LAUGHTER]

RYAN SERHANT: Yeah.

Yeah, I could not tell the future yet.

PAUL DARRAH: Yeah, yeah.

And as a real estate guy for Lehman Brothers

when it went under, I know what your first day of work

was like.

So you started the day Lehman collapsed.

RYAN SERHANT: Yeah, September 15th.

PAUL DARRAH: Yeah.

RYAN SERHANT: Yeah, 2008.

PAUL DARRAH: It was a big--

RYAN SERHANT: Which, for a lot of people,

was a really awful day.

For me--

PAUL DARRAH: I was one of those.

RYAN SERHANT: Yeah.

And it's tough.

I had a lot of friends who worked at Lehman.

But for me, I had no money.

I was either, figure out this real estate thing

or go home to Colorado.

And I had gotten my real estate license.

It didn't really all make sense to me

yet what was really happening in the world.

Because if you're living in New York

City trying to be an actor, you're

not watching CNBC every day.

And you have no money.

So you don't watch the markets.

You don't really know.

And I just though real estate was the hardest thing

in the history of the world.

I just figured that everyone in New York City

lost their jobs all the time.

Those first two years, I mean, every client I would get,

they would lose their job in 2008 and 2009.

And they wouldn't be able to afford apartments.

So in hindsight, it was the absolute best time

for me to start, because every broker was getting out

of the business, because they all

called the end of the world.

And, for me, I was there to kind of pick up the pieces

and just sort of figure it out as I went.

PAUL DARRAH: So you talk about improv as a training ground.

RYAN SERHANT: Yeah.

PAUL DARRAH: So spend a minute on that.

RYAN SERHANT: The most important training

I ever did to be a real estate agent was taking improv classes

in high school and college.

And I still make everyone who works for me take improv.

Because the most important thing you

can do as a salesperson is learn how to listen and learn

how to act on your feet.

And those are two things that a lot of people think they have,

but it's a real muscle.

To be able to think on your feet and never use the word "no"

is a really kind of hard thing to do.

Because most people will say, "um," "like," "right," or

"let me think."

That's how we grow up.

But to be able to say "yes, and,"

over and over and over to whatever your client is saying,

it really, really helped me a lot when I first started.

PAUL DARRAH: How many people have taken improv

in the audience?

OK, so we have some work to do.

RYAN SERHANT: It's important, especially because-- yeah,

exactly--

because it's really scary, especially as you get older.

I was just fortunate that I took it when I was younger

and then thought it was fun.

But once you get older, you're more self-aware,

and you don't like to embarrass yourself.

And so that's actually when it's more fun, because it's just

ridiculous to watch people.

And you should just go watch improv classes,

just because they're funny.

They have them everywhere.

And they're like $5 or $10.

And you just create situations.

And in sales, that's what you're doing.

You're negotiating people's emotions,

and there's no script for that.

You're figuring it out as you go,

and that's what improv has taught me and taught the team.

PAUL DARRAH: I think the other big observation you have is

that in real estate sales and TV,

the first impressions are literally everything.

RYAN SERHANT: Yeah.

And if you're not careful, they're

also your last impression, right?

PAUL DARRAH: So give an example of where that moment occurred,

where you were at risk of the last impression.

RYAN SERHANT: Probably when I met

you and I didn't look up from my phone, so I apologize.

I was just in the middle of something.

PAUL DARRAH: Well, he was eating Raisin Bran, as well.

RYAN SERHANT: Also that.

You guys have food here, which is great.

I'm a real estate broker.

Every time I see food, I'm like, ooh, I've got to survive.

You know, just take it really simply.

I didn't write the book for real estate agents.

I mean, my life is as a real estate agent.

But I really wrote it for anyone who

just wants to do better and do more,

whether they're selling digital advertising,

or they're selling themselves to their boss

to get a bigger promotion, or they're

trying to convince their kids to go to bed on time,

or they're trying to pay down student debt.

I wrote it for everybody.

But put yourself in the shoes of,

you're walking into a store.

And someone comes up to you and they say--

what do people typically say?

Like, "Hey, can I help you with anything?"

And what do you say?

"No, thanks."

Right?

For the most part, you say, "No, thanks," because you

don't really want to be bothered,

and it's a salesperson, and it's gross.

Like, no, no, it's fine.

I got it.

I'm looking at shoes over here.

Right?

And then they'll say, "Hey.

OK, let me know if you need anything."

And then they walk away.

That is every salesperson in every store

in the entire world.

So you have to remember that every client interaction

you have is just like you would be making a friend

or meeting a future boyfriend or a girlfriend.

I mean, could you imagine going into a bar,

and tapping on someone's shoulder randomly and saying,

"Hey, let me know if you need anything."

[LAUGHTER]

Like, how do you think that would go?

You could get super lucky and they could say,

"Actually, I do need something," and then that's a one-off deal.

But, for the most part, everyone is going to say,

"You're with me?"

OK.

So, for the most part, people are going to say, "No, no.

I'm OK," or, "That's weird," right?

So that's a bad first impression,

which is now the last impression you're going

to have of that salesperson.

Right?

A different way is to introduce yourself.

Introduce yourself and start with something super simple

like a compliment, right?

Most people think about the clothes they're putting on

or think about their ridiculous mustache

that they grew out to try to sell books or--

[LAUGHTER]

--mm-hmm, true story-- or something, right?

Or if they have a kid with them, you compliment the kid.

Something small, just to get them to smile

and to start a positive interaction.

I swear to you, it works every time.

I've gone into stores to buy a pair of socks.

Someone has come up to me, introduced themselves,

and complimented me on something,

and I've left with, like, a canoe.

[LAUGTER]

And maybe that's just because I'm gullible,

but also it works, right?

You're building that trust in that first impression,

and you have less than 20 seconds to do it.

Oftentimes, you have less than 10 seconds.

Every relationship, even with your best

friend or your partner, started with a 10-second introduction.