Coaching Magazine ** Special Edition** David Banks

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• REAL STORIES - REAL PEOPLE •

DAVID BANKS A

DEEP LIFE

SPECIAL EDITION

DIVE AND

INTO

DAVIDS

BUSINESS

Welcome to the first issue for 2020 of Coaching Magazine.

COACHES NOTES

Coach Ken

Over the past 20 years. we've had the honor of working with some of the very best in the real estate business. Some have come to us to grow and maximize the potential of their business and some have come when things got to be a little messy with their business. Whichever way they became a client, we are proud to have helped 1000's of amazing people.

We want to tell their stories. These are phenomenal people. People who are hyper-dedicated, with powerful mindsets. Nothing gets in their way. There is no stopping them. These are their stories.

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all you need is love. but a powerful coach, doesn't hurt.Â

SPECIAL EDITION

David Banks David Banks is truly an icon in the real estate industry. His journey to becoming the Number 1 agent in the state of Maine is a fascinating one.

David and his lovely wife Donna, have a special relationship that has encouraged and supported each other over the years.

I am proud to work closely with David and grateful for his friendship and support.

Enjoy this deep dive into David Banks life and business.

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"I was always eager to figure out how I can make money as a 13 year old, and always liked working. I always loved setting up a challenge or a goal and figuring out how I can get to the next level." “

Interviewer: David give us a little bit of your background. Where you grew up and kind of what your childhood was like.

David Banks: Sure. I'm 62 years old. I've had my real estate license for about 37 years, and I grew up in Cumberland, Maine, which is a suburb of Portland, Maine. I was born in Wooster, Massachusetts, but moved to Maine when I was four years old, five years old. So I really grew up in the Portland area of Maine.

Interviewer: What did your parents do?

David Banks: My father passed away very suddenly back when I was eight years old, and he brought IBM computers to Lodge Baking Company, Nissen's Bakery. So my father was the controller for this large baking company and introduced the IBM computers back probably in 1963 to this company, and the size of the room, it was unbelievable to put computers. We look at today what we do for computers versus when they started. It was these major computer for corporations and everything. Unfortunately dad passed of a heart attack when I was eight, and my mom had seven kids under the age of 10, believe it or not. Eventually she had to go to work and worked at a dentist office as a receptionist for like 30 years. Unfortunately she's passed a couple of years ago with Alzheimer's. But so it was not easy. Mother did a great job bringing us up, but it was very difficult growing up without a dad. Of course I remember them, but it was hard.

Interviewer: So with your mother raising all of you, did you or your brothers and sisters have to go to workm at an early age to contribute?

David Banks: We didn't really, other than I started doing odd jobs at 13 years old, from taking care of lawns to mowing to doing odd projects and working at the golf course. So I guess I did. It was kind of my spending money, so my mother didn't have to come up with so much spending money. But we lived in a wonderful community and the community was very good to my mother and really kind of kept their eyes on our family and people were there in the community for my mom. At the time it was a community of probably 3000 people, so everyone knew us. Numbers of people between the church and the town were there to make sure the kids were all taken care of and that we participated in groups like Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, all that stuff. We were fortunate that way.

Interviewer: What kind of student were you?

David Banks: I struggled in school, and I was the only one in my family. Maybe one other brother did too. School was a struggle for me. I was an average student, but I had to fight for every grade I received.

School wasn't my favorite thing. But I did decide to go onto college part time, and I worked full time after I graduated from high school.

Interviewer: Did you always like working? Did you always like having a job, or did you just find it necessary?

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David Banks: I did. I was always eager to figure out how I can make money as a 13 year old, and always liked working. I always loved setting up a challenge or a goal and figuring out how I can get to the next level, and buying something or saving money to buy something. So that was always me as a kid. So that definitely followed suit up to now.

Interviewer: You mentioned you didn't graduate college. At what point did you drop out?

David Banks: So what happened is, my wife and I got married, 19 years old. We got married, and we had a child two years later, and I was working two jobs, and we had a baby, and I didn't love college. So I stopped taking classes at night. My wife had just finished her degree before we had the child, before we had our son.

I went back, and I took a course in business development and marketing, and I absolutely loved the course.

The professor challenged us on creating a business planning, setting up a company. I talked about running and owning a real estate company.

In my presentation to the class and my classwork, I got an A, and I said, ‘My goodness, I've never had an A in my life’. After class the professor says, "You need to do this. You're so passionate about it." I told him that someday I hope to do it. Probably three years later I got my real estate license, and I worked part time in real estate. Then eventually went full time and open up my own company. But it really showed me when I was interested in something in college, to do it.

nterviewer:

I

You mentioned that you started part time, and then you went on to open your own company.

While you were working part time, what other job were you working at?

David Banks: I've done real estate, and I worked for one other company. I worked for Shaw's Supermarket, and they were at the time, probably the number one supermarket company in New England. I started 1973 with them, in a major growth time period. They were growing very quickly.

When I graduated high school in 1975, and they heard I was just going to go to school part time, and I was looking for a full time job, they promoted me into a full time job as an assistant deli manager. Then 9 months later I became a deli manager, and I ran a store in the deli. Then they trained me as a night manager, which I would close the store at night, and it was kind of crazy. I was probably 20 years old at the time when I finally started running the store at night. But I was at the right place at the right time. I gave them whatever they wanted, and they were just fantastic to me.

IT REALLY SHOWED ME WHEN I WAS INTERESTED IN SOMETHING IN COLLEGE, TO JUST DO IT.

DAVID BANKS

COACHING 2020

David Banks: Then when I decided that I really love to someday do real estate, which I knew as a kid.

But my wife thought it was a crazy idea. She says, "We've got benefits, we've got consistent pay, and I don't want you to live on commission." I went to Shaw's and said, "I'd like to work in your real estate department." Probably three years later, I finally had bugged them enough, and I said, "I'm going to leave Shaw's unless I can get into real estate because it's my desire. It's my drive."

So they trained me as a real estate analyst, and I would analyze where they should build supermarkets in New England and do all the market research, the database, analyze all the competitive stores. Started me in Maine and then had me do research in New Hampshire, then Massachusetts, Rhode Island. Then I took over the strategy of them expanding into Connecticut and Vermont.

I became the senior analyst. When I resigned, I had been in the real estate department for eight years with them.

I would never be where I am right now if I didn't work for Shaw's Supermarkets. They knew I was young at that time

They hired a business coach for me. This is back in '82 that they hired a business coach for me to groom me to be one their senior management people, and then eventually the real estate department. Again, working for a corporation, understanding and doing presentations in board when I was in management.

meetings for where they should build supermarkets, and needing to verify my decisions and my calculations and my fact finding. It just prepared me to sell houses. So at the time, Shaw's Supermarkets had a policy for management people. They could not work two jobs. They could only work full time. I went to them and said, "You know what? I love this job, but I got my real estate license," and back in '85, Shaw's sent me away to Minnesota for schooling on being an analyst. Before that I convinced them to send me to New York City for a seminar for the art of

I said to them, "I'd like to sell real estate part time." I can be driving in the car for four or five hours during the day. I said, "I'll buy a phone, which at that time was extravagant." I said, "I can do phone calls when I'm driving." So they allowed it, and it caused some friction negotiations, it was called back in the 80s.

with other management people saying, why does David get to work two jobs? But they realized that it would teach me negotiating skills that would also help market on a commercial end. So it worked out.

nterviewer: At what point did you say, I can't do this, and I really just want to do real estate full time?

David Banks: In 1993 I was spending a lot of time in Vermont, in Connecticut traveling a lot more, and I had sold I

more real estate on a part time than pretty much anyone else in the independent office that I was working for. It really came down that I was making a lot more money selling real estate than I was being an executive at Shaw's, and my wife finally got the comfort level of saying, "Okay, you can do it full time." I had reached my 20 years with Shaw's, and I just decided to give my notice in August of 1993. They asked if I would stay on for two or three months, and I negotiated and stayed on for a month. Then they hired me as a real estate consultant. I joked with them I was making more money as a real estate consultant than they were paying me as a manager in the management group.

DAVID BANKS “I'm going to leave.. unless I can get into real estate because it's my desire. It's my drive."

are you ready? Â KEN@COACHKEN.COM

C O A C H I N G

M A G A Z I N E

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"I had sold more real estate working part time than pretty much anyone else in the independent office that I was working for. It really came down that I was making a lot more money selling real estate than I was being an executive" David Banks

The town I grew up in was abutting Falmouth. These two other out of probably a number of towns that had the best schools and really the top towns for relocation. We have towns of Cape Elizabeth, Yarmouth, Cumberland.

Those were areas I'm very familiar, and I was just involved in the community. We had children very young, but I was involved in school activity, coaching and my wife was volunteer coordinator. So a lot of people knew us, I was just very fortunate to very good communities that had waterfront properties, country club locations. In the 80s there were two major golf course communities of hundred houses in each that went into development. I was at the right place at the right time. Doing it part time, I would get up in the morning and drive from Maine. I would drive three hours to go look at a real it was a great gig. I would go look at locations on my

estate site, maybe spend three hours doing my due

schedule when I was selling real estate full time. So it was

diligence, and then drive three hours back home. So I

kind of reverse. A year later I decided to open up my own

had six hours in the car that I couldn't do anything else.

office, a RE/MAX office, and at that time in 1995 I just did

So I was just on the phone and making calls, asking for

consulting for a year plus. I just said, I'm going to open up my

business. Those were the days when you used to have

own

the multiple listing books, and here in the state of Maine,

company, and I need to focus solely on that, and thank you

we couldn't give out those books. So it was like I

very much. I kept my communications. They would call me

controlled the information.

periodically on advice, but it really worked out perfect.

’ve had my RE/MAX office for 25 years in this past June.

Interviewer: You mentioned you were selling far more than

one of their top users. But at the time, $2000 bucks a

I

My phone bills were $2,000 a month. I can remember at the time the phone company said I was

everybody else who were who were working full time. How do

month, that was what I needed to do.

you think you were able to do that?

The company I worked for, it was called Mark Simpson

David Banks: I've always been someone networking. One of

associates. They were unbelievable. I'd just have to call

the benefits of the Portland, Maine community, the town I

the office and say, can you get this done for me?

lived in at the time is Falmouth Maine.

Because I was bringing on these listings, they just did anything needed.

It was very fortunate. Then just when I was leaving

We controlled the market share, the 16 agents.

Shaw's, I had hired my first assistant. But yes, so at

It was just surrounding myself with like minded

the time the real estate company was very

successful agents, and, it worked out really great. It

supportive. They knew I was doing it part time, but

was a neat group. I had lists of people on the wait

they would call in and ask some things to be done,

list, and whenever I had an office open up, back then

and they would be very, very helpful.

Interviewer: Fast

everyone felt they had to sit at the office. So I would

forward to you opening your own

office and your own brokerage. What made you want to open the brokerage?

David Banks: I

probably from our board of realtors, we probably couldn't allow that at the time. But I was open in 95,

always thought I wanted to do some

type of a boutique office, and in June of 1994 I went to a Floyd Wickman conference in Las Vegas, and there were probably a dozen people from the company that I had worked for in Maine. A group of us said, hey, let's go to Vegas and listen to this speaker. At the time in Vegas I started talking to different people and a lot of people worked for RE/MAX. I didn't know anything about RE/MAX. Well, by the time I left there, some of the people that went

"David, you open a RE/MAX office, we'll come work with you."

never think of anyone working from home, and

to this conference said,

So get

and I just had my 25th year with RE/MAX.In 25 years,

I think it was about eight or nine years ago is when I met Ken Goodfellow . Someone had recommended even in the down market, I've grown every year.

I go to Dallas to go to a conference that Ken was running, and I went and I brought my wife. She didn't go to the meeting, but we've never been to Dallas and always wanting to go to Dallas.

My only struggle I would say personally was I was working too much . My wife was trying to help me figure out a balance, and it was just, I needed to

back from the conference. Two weeks later I called

hear from a professional person how to deal with the

RE/MAX of New England and met with them,

balance.

decided to buy a franchise and bought a building. It all happened in like 30 days. It was crazy. I always knew I was going to open a company. Fortunately when I opened I had like 16 agents come work for me, and we were fortunate.

“My wife, Donna, she's always been right behind me. She's doesn't work in the business, but she's always there when I need her" My wife and I, she's always been right behind me. She's doesn't work in the business, but she's always there when I need her. Really her focus was on our three children, to volunteer at their schools, be there for them, and be a backup for me if I needed anything. So really from a business standpoint, we really didn't miss a beat. Of course in 2008 to 2015 and even in the early 2000s, even though you've grown in business, you were working more, and you had needed to be more creative to make a deal happen. But it did happen.

those tough years

Actually I became stronger in

because the agent said, "I'm just in there for the

short term, I'll get out." The stronger ones become more successful.

Interviewer:Â

What do you think allows you to be the top in your market?

David Banks :

Part of it is, I'm very lucky. The territory I cover is such a

fantastic quality of life and people come to southern Maine just for quality of life. We have very, very strong schools surrounded by a number of private colleges. We have the Atlantic Ocean right here, and major airport within 5, 10 minutes from our communities, and we're less than two hours from Boston, five hours to New York. So I look at that, I'm at the perfect, perfect spot to grow a business. The other thing is I was definitely the number one, first agent to ever have an assistant, and it took a while for people to buy in on that. It was used against me with my competition. Oh, David, you have to deal with Jackie, his assistant.

Well, Jackie, my assistant was sharp, bubbly. Absolutely the best assistant you could ask for. Retired after 15 years with me. She helped me figure out how to grow, bringing in other administrative people, and then when she retired I grew even more and more, and now we're up to  13 team members. But I think the challenge for a lot of agents, it's a scary financial number.

All my team members are on salary plus

commission, plus benefits. They have benefits, paid holidays, vacations, sick pay, workman's comp, 401k .

But to attract the level of

agents I want, I need to pay them in my opinion really good and give them the benefits that it's hard for them to leave, and go to someone else because not many teams could afford to offer the services I offer.

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C O A C H I N G

M A G A Z I N E

"I never wake up in the morning and say, oh, I don't want to go to work."

David

C O A C H I N G

I do a lot of strategic planning. I have a full time marketing person, but I meet every week to talk about strategic plan; how we're going to market this? How can we print our magazines? Where do I want to go? So I'm involved very heavily on that. I'm very fortunate, back 2005 my son came back from college at Villanova, and then he went to Washington DC and actually worked in the real estate management end of a company and came back in 2005. He's been with me since helping run the operations, and he is the creative person and is really helpful with  strategic planning.

I need to be the one in front of the clients to get the listings the majority of the time. But my buyer agents can run on their own, and the buyer knows that I'm here for consulting or questions or whatever. My listing coordinators, I still to this day do all my listings, negotiations and strategy over the phone.

But I couldn't DocuSign anything if I had to. I don't even go on MLS. I don't do emails. I have people that help me with those things. So my focus can be strategic planning, negotiations, and I'll get listings.

Interviewer:Â What do you think the role of the agent is and where is real estate going?

Ilook at my role in real estate as a consultant. I really look at the top agents. All they really should be doing, in my eyes, is I view myself as a real estate consultant. I help strategize price, what type of marketing, what type of promotion and negotiations. I surround myself with people that can fill in the gaps, and they're all very important jobs. But they will see me at closings. They will hear from me in the inspection. Issues, they'll hear from me. But I really see the top agents as really a business real estate consulting, and they're there as the expert, and they surround themselves with people that can really help execute the deal.

I REALLY SEE THE TOP AGENTS ROLE AS THAT OF REAL ESTATE BUSINESS CONSULTANT. THEY ARE THERE AS THE EXPERT. THEY SURROUND THEMSELVES WITH PEOPLE THAT CAN REALLY HELP EXECUTE THE DEAL. DAVID BANKS

I'l'll tell you, I've had a number of people come up, want to mentor me, talk to me, and when I listen to their days, they're so bogged down with emails. They're So bogged down in details. I'm trying to get a listing and try to look at photos, and I had to give up a lot of that stuff. I used to feel like I needed to touch everything. But with Ken's group and people I network with, I've learned that I need to let go and put the emphasis where my expertise is.

I

nterviewer: What's

next then for David Banks

and the David Banks team?

“I used to feel like I needed to touch everything But with Ken's group and people I network with, I've learned that I need to let go and put the emphasis where my expertise is.”

David Banks: We

have a home on the west coast of Florida

and starting in October till May we go one week a month, and I'll set up a couple hours each day that I'm going to do phone calls and negotiations. Typically nine o'clock in the morning and four o'clock in the afternoon. I'm starting to take more time off right now, one week a month. In 2020 it's probably going to two weeks a month that my wife and I will vacation,go away, or do things around here.

It doesn't mean I'm not in communication with the team, it's just that I am trying to get my team, which they've done a great job with, letting them go into more and more appointments. If I'm away then I can still do a conference call with the buyer or the seller. But the future will be that I will still have this amazing team. I will be able to travel more, and making sure I have the right people in the right place that understands my culture, my goals, and just keep the ball going.

When people are in the business, if they're not passionate about the real estate business, those are the ones that have frustrated every day with a stress level. If someone's passionate about the business and they surround themselves with successful people, it's the most unbelievable business you could go into.Even now, I never wake up in the morning and say, oh, I don't want to go to work. Some days I wake up and say, I wish I wasn't out at 7:00 AM. I wish was in at 8:30 in the morning. But it's the best business out there. If you're passionate with it and you really look at not trying to kill yourself on hours. I work very little weekends. I don't work nights anymore, which I used to work one night. I just stopped working that one night a week. You can make it into a fantastic business and make fantastic money.

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nterviewer:

That's great, David, I really appreciate

your time here,

David Banks :

No problem. Oh, the last, final

comment I'd say to every person that says how do I ever get to this level? Every person should have a business coach. I go back to Shaw's Supermarkets in the 80s, they hired me at 21 years old and they hired me a business coach. Anyone serious about their success in business should be looking at hiring a business coach. That will bring them to the next level.

Interviewer: Thanks David Banks: Take

so much, David.

care.

NOTE from Coach Ken "It is truly an honour to work with David. He is a powerful leader, a skilled realtor, a respected business man as well as a good friend. I thank you David for this candid interview and hope that it inspires many to follow their dreams.

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Don't be the leader that settles for good when AMAZING is within reach.

Ken @CoachKen.com

I hope you enjoyed this special issue of "Coaching" magazine.

If you want to reach out to me at any time KEN@CoachKen.com

Is it.....

TIME FOR A COACH