Top 5 Ways for Agents to Stay Safe with Tracey "The Safety Lady" Hawkins

If it doesn't feel right, it's probably not right. It's not right. No, probably to it. If it doesn't feel right, your body is warning you, whatever it may be, get out of the situation, figure it out later. There you go. I love it. That's perfect. All right. So number one is trust your gut. Number two, you had lead with safety. Tell me what that means. How do we lead with safety? That's probably, I want to say that's my theme song, but lead with safety. That's what I'm always saying is there are what 1.3 million Realtors. That's members of the National Association of Realtors. I understand that there are almost 3 million real estate agents because everyone doesn't belong. So the question is, how do you stand out? How does a real estate agent get a foothold in the market and stand out? I say lead with safety. Now that starts with first and foremost, being safety trained. Like you said, so often people don't think about safety training until there's a headline. And there have been four headlines, no, five as of yesterday, four headlines in the news that talk about crimes against agents that range from murder, armed robbery, possible race, racial profiling, and assault, car robbery, car theft. So those have all been in the news. And that's when people say, hmm, you know, let's start thinking about safety. I'm the advocate. Like you said, I'm proactive, always think safety. So you need to get expert led safety training. So that means someone like me who lives and breathes safety. So often I run into someone who says, oh, we have the local law enforcement come in to talk about real estate safety. I have great respect for law enforcement.

They have a job to do and I have a job to do. I live and breathe real estate safety. So when I actually first started out, my program started with law enforcement, a crime prevention officer. He talked about crime in the area and crimes that would impact real estate agents locally. He also talked about services that they could offer. That's exactly how we want to utilize law enforcement officials and safety training. But when it comes to actual real estate agents, safe practices, you need someone who's again, walk the walk. I know what's realistic and I get to observe other people doing safety training. And when they're saying things like don't go to an open house alone or don't show alone, I'm already thinking the agents tuning them out because that's not realistic. My job is to teach ways to do it in a safe manner, but to actually get the job done. So leading with safety means first and foremost, getting trained on ways to do your job in a safe manner with the theme of how do we use this to build the, the, your brand, how to build your value so that the consumer and the community knows, oh, that's the agent who's always talking about safety. That's the agent who's always, you know, sending safety tips. So what I did is I started a subscription service where agents are always told stay top of mind with their clients. And did you know, Chance, I don't know if you've heard this statistic, but 91% of the agents who sell a client a house will never get in touch with them again.

And then the numbers even smaller, I think it's like 19% of the client that you sold the property to won't call you again down the road. They're not thinking of you. So stay top of mind. So I say, share safety and security information. I'm a content creator. I make it easy for you to do that. Always talk about safety. So, you know, I think about it this, we talk a lot about experience, creating experience, right? And so, you know, if you were like me and we're talking about safety, when you were being brought up, your mom probably told you don't get in a car with strangers, don't take food from a stranger. And now I can pick up my phone and in five minutes, both of those things can happen just by pushing a button. And so we've kind of created this experience economy and you hear people who talk experience and you talk about creating experience as part of your value proposition. And one of the things that they always say is it matters how you leave people feeling, right? And so if safety is one of those core things that we need in our lives, safety and security, I mean, it's on the hierarchy, right?

It seems to me that that would be a natural extension of creating an experience for a client is creating the feeling of safety. Every single person on the planet is worried about safety or security. There's no ifs, ands, or buts about it. Every single one of us, men as well as women. And a lot of times people think that real estate safety, that's for the female agents. The last four crimes against agents have been men. Again, that includes murder, armed robbery, assault, and the racial profiling situation. Men. So male agents are in danger as well. So the message is for everyone. Safety, and I hate using this term, but someone said it to me and it made so much sense. But they said, you know, I'm, I'm sorry that safety is hard, but safety is not sexy. And it's not a sexy topic. Marketing people, social media people, video producing instructors, those people are constantly busy and rightfully so. But when it comes to safety, people don't think about it until there's a story in the headline. And I need to change that.

Yep. Yeah. And so if we're, if we're leading with safety, we're being proactive about that messaging. We're incorporating it into the things we're talking about, not just from a, Hey, we're going to go show some houses this weekend and, you know, be careful what we do here, wear slip on shoes, you know, things that are that basic that we talk about with our clients, but also how are we going to stay safe while we're doing it? Right. Exactly. Exactly. And in this day and age, PPE is still a deal. It's still a deal. We thought we were getting away from it, but it's, oh my God, it's still a deal. And so one thing that I do is if you were that, and I guess we can move kind of to number three, is that okay? Sure. Absolutely. Protecting the seller is number three. Protect the seller. So here's what I say, add value to the relationship. Let's talk about the PPE part of it. When you go into a seller's home, there's a virus, there's a pandemic going on, still practice PPE. What that does is that shows the seller that you are concerned about their safety and the safety of everyone living in the house. That means at least the mask. For a while there, people were wearing the booties and the gloves. Talk to your listings, your sellers, tell them, leave your light switches on, leave closet doors open, drawers open, so that we don't have to touch as much when we're showing.

That way you limit the opportunities for the virus to spread. So you're having that conversation with your seller. So they know safety is top of mind with you. Another thing that I say is during the listing presentation, walk in the door with a security checklist. And I created one. That's one of the things that I do. You walk in the door. Instead of doing what the other two agents have done when they were being interviewed for the listing, you're walking in and you're talking about, here's how we're going to keep your house and your family safe while it's on the market. You're telling them, get medicine out of the medicine cabinets, jewelry out of jewelry boxes. You are talking to them about lights, landscaping, and lots. You're talking to them about getting the personal pictures out of sight. So you're saying, this is what we need to do to make sure your house and the possessions are safe when strangers are walking through it. Those electronic devices that we don't think twice about, put them out of sight. Gun collections, expensive artwork, put them in storage or at least under lock and key somewhere in your property. So the sellers hear you talking about ways to keep their family safe while their house is on the market, how to keep their stuff inside safe. And then you're standing out. You're standing out from the other agents who come in talking about CMAs and they're talking about your profits and everything. Lead with safety. Show your sellers that they are most important. And along those same lines, FISBOs. FISBOs are great opportunities. But as you know, FISBOs don't necessarily like real estate agents. They don't really respect the jobs that they do. They think all you have to do is put a sign in the yard and it's just that easy. We saved the commission. They don't know what they don't know. They are not thinking about the dangers of letting strangers in their houses, walking through where their kids sleep, where their family sleeps. They don't know to get the medicine out of medicine cabinets, jewelry out of jewelry boxes. I created a FISBO safety tip sheet. It's got 13 safety tips on it.

And I tell agents when you're driving through neighborhoods, whenever you come across a FISBO, don't tell them you have a buyer. That's kind of tired, right? Don't say I can market your house in a better manner. Say, here are some safety tips. And I've stapled my business card to this sheet and leave it alone. And by the time they get to, yeah, you are, you really are. And by the time they get to number 13, they're thinking, oh my God, this is crazy. This is dangerous. What was I thinking? Guess whose business card rises to the top of the stack? So protect the sellers. Love it. Love it. I think that we talk a lot about the things that you mentioned, right? The the hiding medicines and hiding jewelry and guns and things like that. But we don't talk about as a whole protecting health, protecting safety, you know, and protecting valuables as really part of our value proposition, which just like a, it almost becomes kind of like an afterthought, a checklist item, right? And so if we're talking more about that upfront as part of who we are, you know, I tell my agents all the time, just because you talk about it. And just because the next agent that comes in to try to earn that business talks about it, it doesn't mean that anybody should take it for granted. If you really create something around it, it's a differentiator. It's not just, oh, hey, by the way, by the way, hide your medicine, hide your guns, hide your pill, you know, your jewelry, whatever it is. Right. It's, hey, here's my safety system to make sure that you and your family are, and you've, you've really created a product at that point, right?

Thank you. Thank you for seeing that. And thank you for saying it. Excellent point. And part of the training that the agents get is I'm telling them, when you go on that listing appointment, you need to have a conversation with your sellers, what to do if someone knocks on the door and they have a name tag on and they have someone standing with them and they say, hey, I'm an agent and I have a client with me. We want to come in and look around. I guarantee you right now, this very day, 90% of the sellers would let those people in the house. But that's why I say agents, you must have a conversation. I can print up business cards. I can put on a name badge and say, I'm an agent. I could be the biggest burglar in town with my accomplice right there with me. And then the sellers are letting them in. So you have to have that conversation with your sellers, you know, advice on what to do, close, lock the door and tell them to access the house with the lock box and then go about your day. So you have to have those conversations because sellers don't know. So that's a part of the agent conversation.

Yeah. Being an expert is a lot more than just putting a house on the market and selling it. Right. Agreed. Yep. Awesome. All right. So that takes us to number four, what you had as be a resource for the buyer. Right. In this day and age, I'll bet every single real estate agent out there gets the question from a buyer. Is this a good neighborhood? Is that, you know, is it safe here? Is it safe for our family here? You know that legally real estate agents cannot answer that question. You can't do it. You'll get in trouble. So here's what you do. Instead of saying, here's what you do. Be a resource. Learn the lessons. I teach agents resources. For example, I teach them to advise the buyer to go to the police department. Contact the crime prevention unit. Contact the crime prevention unit and say, I am considering buying a house at this address. Can you give me the crime statistics for that area? That way, the buyer has all of the information from a resource that actually has the facts there. You're not guessing. You're not getting in trouble. And then you let them make their decision if this is a good risk. There are other websites that I talked about. Spot crime is one. And oh, I can't think of the name. I've got too much stuff in here.

But there are websites that I teach about that you plug in an address or you have the buyer plug in an address and it will tell the type of crime in that area. So instead, if you're making the assumption that that neighborhood has high car thefts, so it wouldn't be a good fit for the buyer. What if the buyer doesn't have a car and they have access to the information and they see that car thefts are high, but they don't care. That might be a good neighborhood for them. So that's why I train agents to be a resource. Know where the resources are. Point it to the buyer. And the buyer knows that you're looking out for them. Another way you're leading with safety with the buyer. Yeah. Be good at explaining that you have why you can't answer that question and then be the source of the source. And that's the value. I couldn't have said it any better. Look at you. And that's the value that we bring to the table. And then last but not least on our list here, you have arm yourself.

And this is one I promise you, no matter where I'm speaking across the country from North Dakota, California, California, New York, Texas, anywhere, everywhere, I get the same questions all the time. What tools can we use? What do we use to protect ourselves? When the National Association of Realtors conducts their annual member safety report every year, the number one and number two safety items that surveyed agents say, number one is always pepper spray. Number two is firearms. And that is followed by knives, which I don't understand, but let's let's talk about the top two. First and foremost, firearms. As you said, I am a contributing writer with the NAR for Realtor magazine. I got an opportunity to interview general counsel. And I said, what is the take?

What does NAR's take on whether or not agents can carry a weapon? They won't answer that question. They said that is up to the local association. So I tell agents, contact your local association and ask the question if you are allowed to carry weapons while you work. More importantly, you need to ask your broker, your broker manager or owner, if you're able to carry weapons while you're working for that company. And if the answer is yes, if your weapon is a firearm, then you must, of course, follow laws, get the licenses and permits necessary. But more importantly, practice. It's not a one and done. You need to practice on a regular basis. So when the time comes, you are comfortable and you can do it. Absolutely. Number two, pepper spray. Pepper spray is probably when I started my business 26 years ago, I was selling pepper spray.

I took the pepper spray class at the police academy because it's so serious. So I like to think I'm a pepper spray expert. I know everything about pepper spray, even questions people don't know to ask. I start off with the question. Every single class that I have, I do a product education. I always say know the difference between mace, tear gas and pepper spray. Mace is a brand name. They are a company. They make pepper spray. They make alarms. For a while, they even own the chain of car washes. Tear gas is an antiquated formula that police officers, law enforcement officials won't use it anymore. If you have a pepper spray, grab it. Look at the label. If it says CN or CS, get rid of it. It's a pain inducer. If you spray someone under the influence, they're not going to fill it and it may even escalate the attack. So get rid of tear gas. What you want is pepper spray, and that's indicated by OC, pure pepper.

That's what law enforcement officials and postal carriers use. It works on people and it works on dogs. And the most important thing is non-lethal. So you don't hesitate. If you accidentally spray someone, apologize. Pepper spray is ideal and it's non-lethal. And as a matter of fact, one thing that I'm doing is I'm kicking off my safety and security products for real estate agents for Safety Month this month. Because too many people are out there selling junk and agents don't know any better. They're buying it. So I'm saying, you know, I've vetted it. I know what you're looking for. So I am starting my pepper spray sales and I'm excited about it because I get to educate people on how to use it. Make sure you follow the laws. People say, what if they, what if it gets taken from me? I get to explain that if you're carrying it and you're looking around, people can't take it from you and you need pepper spray that goes a great distance.

Mine goes 16 feet and you need to spray an S or Z formation because you're not going to have exact aim. So I'm taking the time to educate people on what's out there, what to look for, no matter where you get it, and to make sure you test it and you use it. Awesome. Love it. We talk about here, you know, if an agent wants to protect themselves, we want them to protect themselves. We want to feel comfortable doing that, but we want to make sure that they know how to do so responsibly. I read a study one time or somebody told me one time, I think actually it was while we were at in Washington, D.C. for Realtor day at the Capitol. And at the same time was police week at the Capitol. And we went to the Fallen Police Officers Memorial there in D.C.

And they were telling us there that 25, I can't remember if it was 20 or 25 percent of the police officers. So these are trained professionals who die in the line of duty, die at the hands of their own weapon. And so when we talk about firearms in particularly, you know, you really need to be trained, you know, just having a gun in your purse or having a gun on your hip or whatever it is, isn't safety. It could be more dangerous if you're not trained properly. It really isn't. Chance, I can't tell you how many times I've had women come up to me after class and say, my husband wants me to get a gun, you know, and I'm really not comfortable with it, but they're insisting on it. Those are the people who don't need guns because they'll never use it.

And like you said, if they're not trained, they're not comfortable, they're the ones who will have the gun taken away and used against them. But if it's someone who's confident and knows how to use a gun and wants to use a gun, they will be ready. And the likelihood of it being taken away with training, slim to none. But like you said, those numbers are staggering. But almost every pistol range in America has some sort of training classes, education. They're not hard to find. You just have to take the time to go do it. I agree. And same thing with pepper. Spray, test it before you need it. Don't wait until you're in a dangerous situation trying to figure out how does this work? What will it do? Test it before you need it. You have about eight to ten one-second sprays in that canister, so you have opportunities to practice at least twice a year. Make sure it's in working condition. And if by chance someone takes it and sprays you with it, you won't die.

Your eyes will burn in water. You're going to cough for about 30, 40 minutes, but you won't die. By the same token, that's what's going to happen to the person bothering you. They're rubbing their eyes. They're coughing and you're running. So get out of there. So I'm excited to have the safety and security store for real estate agents. I'm excited about launching it. All right. So let's do a quick recap. So number one is trust your gut. If it doesn't seem right, it's not right. Get the heck out of there, right? Exactly. No question. Leading with safety. And we're talking about building your messaging into, or building safety into your messaging and your value proposition. Every conversation. We're talking about protecting the seller and actually really making that part of your expertise. Being the source of the source for buyers.

And then last but not least, responsibly arming yourself, right? Exactly. Awesome. And I forgot to mention, I'm going to be speaking at the NAR conference this year. I'm excited. I'm going to be talking about lessons learned. And I have found that's the best way to reach agents is to talk about true stories and then what the solution is. So I would like people to come see me. And also, I contributed an article for RS Risk Media. So definitely look that one up, too. I'm all over the place. I have a goal to reach 250,000 agents with my message, whether it's in the classroom, virtually, by word, whatever. That's my goal. And I'm going to do it. I love it. So if somebody wanted to buy some pepper spray that is Tracy, the safety lady approved, or they wanted to get in touch with you about this designation to make it part of their business, how do they get in touch with you, Tracy?

My website, my website, right? Or you can Google me on Facebook. I created a group specifically for real estate agents safety, and it's called the Safety and Security Source for Real Estate. Reach me in that group, and I'm going to be launching my store, the Real Estate Safety and Security Store, pretty soon in time for Real Estate Safety Month. And I'm fully stocked, and I've got more stuff. I didn't even plan on it, but I've got more safety stuff around here than you can imagine. And I've got my pepper, my trestle pepper spray. I've got the Kiss Kind, and I've got the alarms. I'm fully stocked. I'm ready to go. That's awesome. That is awesome. Tracy, thank you so much for coming on and sharing your message with us today. This has been fantastic. And I think, to me, I typically don't think of safety as part of my value proposition.

And so that's really a game changer, I think, if agents will take the time to build that into their business. It's really an integral part. It could be a game changer. And I appreciate that you see that. I mean, you get it. And I appreciate it. And I also appreciate you giving me a voice to help me reach my goal and helping take safety seriously in the real estate industry. Thank you, Chance. No, my pleasure. Thank you. And thank you, if you're watching and listening to Top 5, for coming by. We hope that you're able to take these five best practices from our industry experts and put them into your business in a really simple way. And we will see you next week on a new episode. Take care.