Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Yana Kroleg Rivera. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Perhaps, I should mention that I’m an immigrant with a heavy Russian accent. Even despite this serious shortcoming I somehow manage to find Americans and people of various backgrounds that trust me enough with the biggest transactions in their lives: the purchase or sale of their properties. All I have to do for them is to follow my fiduciary duties: put their interests ahead of my own at all times, listen to them carefully to understand their needs, negotiate for them, educate them on the numerous rules and details about the market and proper procedures.

My another shortcoming: I was always criticized by my parents and some men for being “stubborn like a donkey”. In this career this quality turned out to be good to have. On the positive side, I enjoy to stand my client’s ground during the negotiations. I prefer to look for extra points to convince the opposite side to accept my client’s propositions, and to me it feels like a sport.

I would love to bring up the brokerage I’m working with: it’s a Warren Baffett’s branch of business called Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices. I got very lucky with my office: my manager and my teammates are very supportive and intelligent people. They gave me many valuable resources and trainings. Right now, with the nationwide changes because of the lawsuit about the buyer’s agent commission, from my office I’ve already received all the necessary help to learn the new ways to do the contracts and to address the possible issues between the buyers and sellers. I feel prepared and not afraid of the new difficulties.

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

My favorite, and therefore best source of new clients for me is my personal connections: the new friendships and the new buddies of my numerous hobbies. People want to have the business with you if they know and trust you. They send you referrals if they care about you. I wish I were more open and talkative than I’m right now, but even with a moderate socialization attempts I got surprised how much more interesting my life became.

Of course, also I’ve tried many traditional activities for the prospecting: flyers, mailing, cold calling, door knocking, receiving random leads from an application, social media presence, google, and registrations with the popular websites. I’ve had some results from each of the above, but my enjoyment of anything I do seems to work best.

Recently I attempted to organize the listing seminar for my neighborhood, but chickened out in a process. Going to try it again in a near future.

Also I like to volunteer for the community. Once I even tried to get elected to be a treasurer for the local council, Del Rey, but I scared people by the promise to be conservative with their fund, and not enough people voted for me.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

I’m still in a process of building my reputation. So far, people seem to see me as a caring person with integrity. That’s the emotional part that makes them choose me. Then they also notice how smart I can be. I prefer telling the real facts to my customers instead of supporting their wishful assumptions. Math usually helps me to convince people to accept the realistic market prices, for example. I can do my calculations right in front of people any time, and it helps them to see my credibility.
This strategy, I mean being honest with my clients, makes me lose some of them to the more skillful salespeople, but I have this reputation to build: making no false promises, setting the listing price high enough but the way it wouldn’t expire, and noticing the possible problems with a house when working with buyers.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.bhhs.com/california-properties-ca305/los-angeles/yana-rivera/cid-3026771
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yana_kroleg_real_estate/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ykroleg
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yana-kroleg-aka-rivera-a7b17a18b
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/yana-rivera-berkshire-hathaway-home-services-los-angeles
• Other: https://www.homes.com/real-estate-agents/yana-rivera/hy83mt3/

Image Credits
Daniel Rivera, Tatiana Tatarinova, Elena Goodman