Your Coach Has Never Sold a House: What Top Producers Actually Do Differently

Your Coach Has Never Sold a House: What Top Producers Actually Do Differently

Michael Hellickson was the top listing agent in his office by the time he graduated high school. By 2000, he was the number one agent in the country — closing 120 to 180 transactions per month with roughly 750 listings in active and pending status. Today, as CEO of Club Wealth, he coaches thousands of agents and teams across the country.

We sat down with Michael on the Real Estate Insiders Unfiltered podcast, hosted by James Dwiggins and Keith Robinson, to unpack what actually moves the needle in real estate — and why most agents are making it way harder than it needs to be.

Only Three Things Move the Needle

Michael doesn't mince words: "There are only three things that move the needle in this business. Lead generation, lead follow-up, and lead conversion. Everything else is noise."

Everything else — the paperwork, the marketing collateral, the CMA prep — can be hired out. But those three activities are what put money in your pocket. If you're not doing them at a high level, you don't have a business. It doesn't matter how good your service is or how polished your brand looks.

The Two-Appointment KPI

The magic number? Two appointments a day, five days a week, with people you haven't yet met who are interested in buying or selling. Michael calls it the number one KPI they teach at Club Wealth, and the math is simple: follow that cadence consistently, and your annual commission income will roughly match your market's average sales price.

He illustrates this with his son Austin's story. At 19, Austin sat down to cold-call expireds on his first day. He butchered every script, verbally stumbled through eight hours of calls, and set 12 appointments. Eleven showed up. He got zero listings. The next day, he did it again. And the next. By the end of his first year, Austin had listed 97 homes at a $600,000 average sales price.

The lesson isn't talent. It's volume and consistency.

Why Expireds Are Hotter Than Ever

Michael points out that expired listings are more abundant and less competitive than they've been in a decade. More listings are expiring because sellers still expect a hot market, and fewer agents are calling them because "people are afraid to pick up the phone more now than they ever have been before."

COVID disconnected people. Device dependency made it worse. The result is a massive gap in the market for agents willing to simply make calls. As Michael puts it: "74% of all agents didn't even sell a house last year. And why? Because they're lazy."

Human ISAs Are Outperforming AI

Here's the contrarian take nobody expected: Michael has invested $1.5 million in AI and still can't beat the ROI he gets from human ISAs — specifically, overseas virtual ISAs hired at roughly $5/hour plus bonuses for appointments that show and listings taken.

His explanation comes down to what he calls "AI fatigue." People are tired of talking to bots. The novelty wore off. They want to yell at a real person, have a real conversation, feel heard. Human ISAs can communicate on that level. AI can't — at least not yet.

His hiring formula: start with four overseas ISAs. Two won't show up. One of the remaining two will underperform. Keep the good one, hire four more. Repeat until you have a reliable team of at least two to four.

The Open House Masterclass

Open houses have been the number one lead source for newer agents over the past decade, according to Club Wealth's data. Michael's system for dominating them is straightforward:

Pick a move-up house. Not entry-level. You want buyers who also have a house to sell — that's two transactions from one contact. Even better, teach them to rent their current home instead of selling, and they'll buy from you again next year.

Location matters. No more than half a mile to a mile from a major shopping center, no more than two turns off the main road. You want drive-by traffic that doesn't get lost.

Door-knock and call 200 doors per open house. Use a simple script: introduce yourself, mention the listing, and ask if they'd consider selling if they could get more than they ever dreamed of with no commissions, no work, no showings, and they pick when to move. If you get a yes, set a listing appointment. If not, invite them to the open house.

Put out 50 signs. This is the single biggest traffic driver. At $2-3 per corrugated sign, the cost is negligible compared to the return. One of Michael's coaching clients in Minneapolis followed this checklist for a mid-February open house on a townhome and got 77 people through the door in the first hour — so many the police shut it down. He sold three houses from that one event.

The Content Creator Debate

The podcast touched on the Gary Vaynerchuk vs. Brian Buffini debate: should agents spend half their time creating content? Michael sides with Buffini. Spending 50% of your time on content means 50% of your time not generating revenue. Content has its place, but it doesn't replace the phone, the doorbell, or face-to-face conversations.

That said, Michael emphasizes that the "tech-enabled agent" wins. Having systems without technology is a disadvantage. Having technology without systems and habits is equally useless. When you combine both — good daily habits with the right tools — "it's game over. You are going to own your market."

The One Question to Ask Before Hiring a Coach

Keith Robinson asked Michael what he'd want to know before hiring a coach. The answer was immediate: "How many homes have you sold?"

Michael won't take advice from anyone who hasn't done what he wants to do at the highest level. When he started out, he found the top producer in his 125-agent office — a guy doing 125 transactions a year — and refused to listen to anyone doing less. As he grew, he raised the bar to 500+ transactions. At Club Wealth, every coach sells more real estate than the agents they coach.

His point is blunt: "This isn't basketball. It's a lot more complicated, and it's a lot more important to have somebody who's been where you want to go guiding you there."

The Bottom Line

Nothing Michael shared was complicated. Make calls. Set appointments. Door-knock neighborhoods. Hold open houses with 50 signs and 200 door-knocks. Hire ISAs when you can afford them. Pick a coach who's actually done the work.

The agents who succeed aren't the ones with the best technology or the biggest marketing budget. They're the ones with the right systems, the right habits, and the willingness to pick up the phone every single day.

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This article is based on a conversation from the Real Estate Insiders Unfiltered Podcast. Follow them on Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, and TikTok. Visit realestateinsidersunfiltered.com.

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CloseHack gives agents the tech-enabled foundation Michael describes — IDX websites, CRM, automated marketing, and AI tools — so you can focus on the three things that actually move the needle: lead generation, lead follow-up, and lead conversion.