At this point in my career I often land a listing to sell on my presence alone. But there was a time when this required more of a fight for Matt and me.

Still, the game for certain A-list clients and multimillion-dollar developers is always to test you. They want their team leaders on their toes at all times. Keep ’em sharp. No matter the position of your career or the listing and client you’re trying to land, there are a few tricks you always can use.

As I’ve said, the first thing I push is my availability and willingness to hustle. I make sure the client knows this, and that no one else will measure up to me. No one will be there to fight for a client with as much force and speed as I will. That’s the way I have branded our business: 24/7 for you.

The next thing is, through research and gut instinct we know that people respond differently to different people. So the Altman Brothers will often close an open as a pair, a team. We often work together for listing appointments. A potential seller might like me and not Matt, or the other way around – Matt is often a shoulder to lean on while I aggressively bite my way through, ready to kill competition.

Recently my wife Heather and I met with a property manager who right away took to Heather’s refined and amazing charm. My wife correctly believed she had the listing. We then met with the owner. Turns out he was an old numbers guy, a businessman. He preferred to do business with me, warming instead to my animal instinct. But we would have never gotten near him if it weren’t for Heather’s dynamic with the manager.

Another secret weapon is that I show the house before I get the listing. I go right to work. I’m on it from the door. I’ve even showed up with possible buyers to start if I know in good faith the potential client will be cool with it. I take two or three of my buyers through the property so the maybe-client can see how hard I will work for them. Of course, if my buyers like it, at best I double-end it and at the least, I’ve got some feedback to sell my active buyers’ houses faster. Either way, the listing owner knows I don’t play around, I play ball. I’m all business. I open. I work. I close. I make money.

Another wildcard I throw their way is the marketing budget. Pitch your thoughts on how you’ll reach the house’s market after the walk-through, straight and up front. Most sellers don’t even consider our investment and the very mention of it lets them know you have skin in the game, too. Not only that, but using a technique suggested by Professor Cialdini’s “mints for tips” experiment, we spend more to make more. This attracts potential clients to use us more.

For my luxury LA real estate listings, I invest marketing dollars at top industry standard – 10%. That’s a growth number; others believe 5% is enough to keep their business moving at the same pace. That’s cool for others, but I just don’t stop there. The Altman Brothers go all out. Sell the possible client on the whole package – photography, video, MLS costs, print, internet advertisements, open house food and drink with a DJ. It’s all part of the work and close that will come later, and key to landing the listing now. I let the client know that I make them part family, our brand, and they already know our brand is baller.

We think of our marketing budgets for listings as subsets of our brand marketing budgets, and we weave the listings into aspect of marketing we do. We also pull the Altman brand into listing advertisements, running our logo and stats on everything. It’s a double play, a win-win. Everything feeds everything in marketing. It’s how we get our money’s worth, impress the client, and close the best possible deal.

Reinvest in your business by marketing your listings and you’ll keep from leaving more money on the table. You’ll fuel your brand. Give to get. Money makes money. We spend money. We give to get money. We make money.

Now it’s time for the ink – signing the listing agreement. Anything can be negotiated here. No rules. Anything plays. National standards range from 5% in California to 6% in New York. This means that here in California I will take a 2.5% commission and the other agent gets the same.

The length of agreement is usually between six months to a year, the year being for rural and slower moving markets. The agreement can be renewed and renegotiated for as long as you and the client choose. Shoot for the six months, at least. In real estate time, you lose the first couple weeks to prepping the listing for market, so build time for launch into your agreement.

You can represent the listing with an “exclusive right to sell,” meaning only you get access to the property. You can also sign an “exclusive agency listing” meaning anyone in your firm can show it. An “open listing” works just like it sounds, anyone can show the house.

Remember, there’s no loyalty in real estate, so even the listing agreement is made to be broken. I’ve made millions of dollars for clients and that night I’ve seen them nestled at a corner table in Beverly Hills, a new agent whispering sweet nothings into their ear as I pass by, barely acknowledged. That’s real estate. That’s my game and now it’s yours.