Why I Stopped Calling Myself a "Top Producer" (And What I Say Instead)

Somewhere around year eight of my real estate career I realized I had stopped introducing myself as a person and started introducing myself as a statistic.

"Top producer." "Multi-million dollar sales." "Award-winning team."

All true. Also ... kind of meaningless to the person standing in front of me who just needs to know if I'm going to actually show up for them.

Here's the thing about "top producer" as an identity: it's entirely about the agent. The number of transactions. The volume. The accolades. It answers the question "how successful are you?" which is not actually the question any client is asking.

What they're asking ... what they're always asking, even when they don't say it out loud ... is: will you protect me?

And no award answers that question.

I built The Monday Team around something different. Nine women. Every single one of them trained to understand every aspect of this business ... not just their lane, not just their specialty, but the whole thing. Contracts, negotiations, short sales, complex transactions, the stuff that makes other agents nervous.

We did that on purpose. Because protection isn't a personality trait. It's a skill set. And skill sets have to be built deliberately.

When I introduce myself now I say I'm a real estate advisor who specializes in complex transactions and out-of-the-box solutions in the Bay Area. Which is less catchy than "top producer" and approximately one hundred times more accurate.

The clients who hear that and light up ... those are our clients. The ones who want someone to hand them a glossy packet and tell them everything is fine ... they can find that elsewhere. We're not the right fit and I'd rather know that upfront.

Leadership, I've learned, is a lot about being honest about who you're for.

Agent Takeaway: Your title should answer your client's actual question ... not your own ego's question. "Will you protect me?" is what they're asking. Make sure your positioning answers that.