Dec 10, 2025 · 57m · bigdeal
$20 Billion Worth of Sales Knowledge in 57 Minutes | Ryan Serhant
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In this in-depth conversation hosted by Codie Sanchez, real estate mogul Ryan Serhant breaks down his career trajectory, time-management frameworks, and advanced sales psychology used to close billions in luxury real estate. He provides practical strategies for building genuine client trust, overcoming severe setbacks, scaling modern companies, and cultivating an unshakeable executive identity.
How this conversation actually went
Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Codie holds 21.3% of the talking time here. How this is scored →
Codie as informed peer 1.9 Guest teaching 3.1 Guest disagreement 1.2 Codie pushing back 0.4
speaking balance: gold is Codie, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 47:45 Ryan dismisses the early-money obsession premise
Ryan firmly rejects Codie's argument that founders must start out obsessed with financial benchmarks, asserting that focusing on the work rather than pedestalizing money is what actually drives success.
Hardest push from Codie ▶ 47:00 Codie challenges Ryan's lack of valuation targetsCodie directly presses Ryan on his claim of not caring about company size or multi-billion dollar valuations, pushing him on whether early-stage operators genuinely need financial obsession.
Biggest teaching moment ▶ 26:25 Mapping the six rings around billionaire clientsRyan systematically educates Codie on how ultra-wealthy buyers operate, demonstrating that trust and wallet share come from aligning with concentric rings of vendors rather than pitching directly.
Codie holds their own ▶ 24:38 Codie brings real-world data from 800 franchise unitsCodie asserts her own business acumen by drawing parallels from her portfolio of 800 home-service franchises to discuss the psychological barriers new operators face regarding wallet share.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
| Chapter | Topic | Codie as informed peer | Guest teaching | Guest disagreement | Codie pushing back | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Fake Rolex and Future Identity | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | Codie introduces Ryan's social media post about buying a fake Rolex to start a sales career. Ryan elaborates on using external symbols to build inner identity and urgency during tough times in 2008. | |
| Soap Opera Acting Days and Overcoming Career Setbacks | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | Codie asks Ryan about his past as a soap opera actor and dealing with career setbacks. Ryan explains how getting killed off the show forced him to evaluate his life goals and adopt an endurance mindset. | |
| Adrenaline, Fear of Losing, and Childhood Discipline | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | Codie quotes Ryan's intense schedule and asks what fuels his obsession. Ryan shares his fear of losing and credits his father's strict discipline of forcing him to finish every sport and class. | |
| Purpose-Driven Ambition and Beyond Monetary Gain | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | Codie brings up transaction numbers, which Ryan promptly corrects from ten billion to twenty billion. Ryan clarifies that financial gain alone is no longer his main motivation. | |
| Building in Public and Handling Audience Buckets | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | Codie relates her own private equity background and initial skepticism about posting on social media. Ryan outlines the three audience buckets he deals with when building in public. | |
| The 'Gray Hair, Don't Care' Resilience Philosophy | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | Codie asks how to insulate oneself from online negativity. Ryan explains his mindset of indifference and details his 'orchid trick' where he sends sympathy flowers to prospective clients who reject him. | |
| Sponsor Segment: Next Insurance for Business Owners | 2 | 5 | 1 | 0 | Following an ad read, Codie asks how to earn instant trust from strangers. Ryan teaches the 'two C's' (compliments and commonalities) and the psychological power of pulling away. | |
| Selling to the Wealthy and Spheres of Influence | 5 | 4 | 1 | 1 | Codie brings up her portfolio of 800 home service franchise units and the hurdle of expanding wallet share. Ryan explains that ultra-wealthy clients buy confidence and maps out the six protective rings around billionaires. | |
| Top One Percent Sales Habits and Strategic Silence | 3 | 4 | 1 | 0 | Codie asks about the habits of top 1% salespeople. Ryan explains why silence is a powerful negotiation tool and why billionaires prefer text over phone calls for speed and written record. | |
| Hiring for Raw Intelligence and the Three Es | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | Codie asks Ryan how he screens executive hires. Ryan emphasizes hiring for raw problem-solving intelligence and his three core traits: energy, empathy, and enthusiasm. | |
| The Thousand-Minute Rule for Executive Time Management | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | Ryan details his 'thousand-minute rule', where each working minute is treated like a dollar in a daily bank account, helping him prevent minor bad moments from ruining entire days. | |
| Showmanship, Persona Construction, and Sales Improvisation | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | Codie asks if Ryan's TV persona is authentic or constructed. Ryan reveals how early elimination pressure on Million Dollar Listing made him lean into a high-stakes performance style. | |
| CEO Leadership Versus Traditional Operational Management | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | Codie asks about bringing showmanship into the CEO role. Ryan distinguishes between leaders and managers, describing his front-line leadership style and identity-mapping exercises. | |
| The SERHANT. Ecosystem: Cloud Brokerage and AI Flywheel | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | Codie asks Ryan to outline his corporate holding structure. Ryan explains how his cloud brokerage, media studios, and proprietary AI back-office tool create an organic flywheel with a 6.6x LTV-to-CAC ratio. | |
| Pursuing Excellence over Speculative Valuations | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | Codie pushes back against Ryan's claim of not caring about company valuation, arguing founders need early money obsession. Ryan rejects the premise and argues that chasing dollars degrades operational focus. | |
| Vetting Sham Buyers and the Secret Billionaire Client | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | Codie asks about vetting fake wealthy clients. Ryan shares an anecdote about an un-Googleable overseas shipping tycoon who bought an eight-and-a-half-million-dollar property out of sympathy. | |
| Power Negotiation: Translating Value and Reframing Fears | 1 | 4 | 1 | 0 | Codie asks how to negotiate from a position of strength. Ryan breaks down value translation, throwing the first punch with open-ended questions, and diagnosing counterparty fears. |
Statements from this episode (29)
Serhant: Adopting Future Identity Beats 'Fake It Till You Make It'
“And so the fake Rolex for me was I was trying to find a way to enter rooms, not as a broke kid and enter rooms as the person I wanted to become. So it wasn't fake it till you make it. It was how do I give myself the confidence when I'm 24 to be future me?”
Serhant: Bought a $30,000 Rolex Daytona 18 Months Into Career
“And it was like, 18 months later, I'm doing a deal in Florida, And I didn't do deals in Florida. And I walked through a mall and there was like a Winston's or some kind of jewelry store. And there was a rose gold Rolex Daytona in the airport mall in Florida. A…”
Serhant Aims to Build History's Largest Real Estate Brokerage
“Like, I'm sitting here saying, I want to build the number one real estate firm the world has ever known, so let's go try, because the opportunity is actually there. We have Inbound lead flow. We have great growth. We're moving incredibly quickly. I know how to…”
Serhant: Built US Number One Real Estate Team via Bravo TV
“Like, I built the number one real estate sales team in the United States on the back of a Bravo TV show.”
Serhant Reached Number One US Broker in 2019, Closing $1B Annually
“By 2019 was the number one real estate broker in the United States, right? We're doing just over a billion dollars a year without a whole lot of tools and resources.”
Serhant Pitched 70 TV Concepts Before Landing Netflix's Owning Manhattan
“Owning Manhattan on Netflix was not the first show that I pitched outside of Million Dollar List in New York. I think it was like the 70th. So that's 69 no's. To get to that one win”
Serhant Sends Rejecting Clients Orchids With 'Sorry for Your Loss' Notes
“When people reject me, my go-to, because I just know how great I am, and I feel so instinctually bad for the person who's rejected me, because I know what they're about to go through with someone else, that I send them an orchid, the same way you would to send…”
Sales Clients Trust Brokers Who Pull Opportunities Away or Say No
“People don't trust yes men or yes women. They do trust when you pull things away or you say no.”
Pulling Back Is the Best Sales Tactic for Ultra-Wealthy Clients
“Wealthy people, their number one asset is their time. So they're going to be moving way faster than you are most of the times. The number one thing to do is just to pull.”
Sanchez's Holding Company Owns 800 Home Service Franchise Locations
“We own a, it's called Pink's. It's actually very cool. It's like, a 170 locations across the U.S. The whole home service franchise is about 800.”
Serhant: Wealthy Clients Pay for Confidence, Not Information or Access
“What wealthy people are paying for is not information or access, it's confidence. And confidence is currency.”
Reach Billionaire Clients Through Their Trusted Vendor Network, Not Direct Pitches
“Billionaire class is that bullseye, but they are protected by six rings of sphere of influence, right? From advisors to family to friends to assistants to bankers to the outermost ring. Of vendors. So who is somebody that has already broken through and gotten …”
Silence Is the Most Effective Negotiation Tactic With Wealthy Clients
“Like the number one negotiation tactic is silence. Silence is violence. There's nothing that drives a wealthy person crazier than not responding.”
Codie Sanchez: Ultra-Wealthy Individuals Execute Faster and Waste Less Time
“I think the richer you are, the faster you move on average. And the one thing I've always found with knowing as many billionaires as we've gotten to know over the years is like, they're just faster than anybody imagines. I think a lot of times people think the…”
Billionaires Prefer Texting Over Calls to Save Time and Avoid Pitching
“Billionaires text more than thirteen-year-old girls. They just do for two reasons. First reason is it saves time. And they know that if you try to get them on the phone, what are you gonna do? You're just gonna try to convince them. And if you can't convince t…”
Wealthy People Prioritize Written Communication Because They Fear Litigation
“Anyone who has become that wealthy has gone through litigation and text messages and emails are admissible in court. And so you just always have to be careful that if you say it right, you can forget it. If you write it, you can regret it. And incredibly wealt…”
Serhant Hires Executives for Raw Intelligence Rather Than Real Estate Experience
“What I like to do, especially with our executive hires is I hire for a function and I hire for raw intelligence and I hire out of industry.”
Treating 1,000 Daily Minutes as Dollars Transforms Executive Time Allocation
“You have a thousand minutes every day to be productive. Some people have 800 minutes, some people have seven jobs, some people have 10 kids. It's all different, but on average, right, you have a thousand minutes every day to be productive. If you look at those…”
Million Dollar Listing Producers Filmed Four Agents Hoping to Cut One
“When Millionaire Listing was created, they cast four of us on the show. And they said, we're going to film all four of you for the first season. We're going to spend a year making this TV show. Only three of you are going to make the cut.”
Real Estate Sales Is Theatrical Improv Guiding Pre-Destined Client Decisions
“It's theater. It's the same thing. You put on a performance. You put on your suit. You memorize information. You understand the scene. And you say, yes and. Right? There's some memorization, but it's yes and. How can I help you? You want a department? Yes. And…”
Legacy Real Estate Franchises Are Failing Because They Abandoned Agent Training
“The minute the training went out the window, which is what All franchise operators in the real estate brokerage space have forgotten to do. Quality goes out the door, and that's why all those businesses are failing. Like, one by one by one. They're also aging …”
Serhant Claims a 6.6 LTV-to-CAC Ratio Against Industry Baseline of 1
“Our LTV to CAC is it, I told you it was six times, right? Yeah. Well, the industry I think is like at one. And so we're at 6.6 as a ratio over present day value, which is I would, which is just like astonishing.”
Serhant Predicts His Brokerage Will Be a Public Company by 2030
“I think it's a public company by 20 30.”
Ryan Serhant Claims His Real Estate Brokerage Is Doubling Annually
“Our average agent is young, the most diverse and inclusive real estate brokerage in the United States by far, you know, we're doubling in size every year and profitable.”
Sham Buyers Use AI Voices to Fake Goldman Sachs Bankers
“Like, AI voice bankers who say they work at Goldman Sachs, who will trick you on the phone to tell you that their purchaser has all the money in the world. They submit offers, and then the deposit doesn't show up, and they waste all your time. We have sham buy…”
Top Negotiators Mirror Counterparties So Resolutions Feel Like Their Idea
“First thing you just have to remember, the best negotiators, they don't talk, they translate. I see salespeople all the time, employees trying to ask for more raises. They don't know what to do. They don't understand their value, and so they just talk. They ta…”
Asking 'What Does Winning Look Like?' Unlocks Stalled Sales Negotiations
“What does winning look like to you? That's another great way and a great question to reframe a stalled negotiation, right? As you mirror them, you say, I totally understand why you're frustrated. I totally get it. Let's walk away. You pull and then you say, bu…”