Fredrik Eklund has arrived in Australia and he’s already having a fantastic time and posting all about it on Instagram.
The number 1 real estate agent and star of Million Dollar Listing New York spent a large part of the long flight from LA to Sydney running a social media Q&A with his followers.
“I was in business class and everyone was looking at me, like what’s this large man doing with his head stuck in his phone for hours.”
With questions numbering over 5000, he made it through answering around 700 before needing a time out.
What surprised me while looking at the Q&A session was the large number of fans right here in Australia – the ‘can’t wait to see you live’, ‘can’t wait to meet you’ and the offers of drinks and dinner came thick and fast from across our vast country. Did Fredrik realise he had such a following in Australia?
“I didn’t know. The show is in around 140 countries so now when I go the airports it can be a little crazy. But there’s been lots of Australians coming up and saying nice and lovely things. I really had no idea though. I was asked to come out here and then all of a sudden 1000s and 1000s of tickets sold. It’s very humbling and amazing. This guy posted a photo on Instagram of his ticket and it looked like a concert ticket with Fredrick Eklund live – that made me smile. Sometimes I still think I’m just that guy from Stockholm.”
Fredrik is here to share his wisdom from his bestselling book The Sell – The secrets of selling anything to anyone, including a live audience Q&A – I’m seeing a trend here.
One of Fredrik’s claims to fame is the consistently popular Million Dollar Listing New York. Airing in around 140 countries around the world it seems to transcend markets, languages and cultures,
“I think there’s two reasons for that. First, everyone wants to see New York, everyone loves New York but sometimes it’s like the door is closed a bit especially to the luxury, the high end townhouses and apartments. With Million Dollar Listing New York people get to see it. And then it hits a nerve with people, they can see what really goes on with the buyers and the agents who are in between.”
“Personally I think it’s very different from other reality shows, which is why I wanted to do it. People get to see what drives us. After five years people feel they really know us personally.”
Which led to a question that, as a social media consultant, really intrigued me; Fredrik is known for his use of social media and his belief in not separating his personal and professional social media offering, but is he ever concerned that he might be putting a bit too much personal out there?
“A couple of weeks ago I put up a post saying that I thought perhaps I was sharing too much but people were nice saying no I don’t but I go back and forth a bit on this one. I believe in always being open and transparent, particularly in sales because that leads to trust and vulnerability.
You can’t hide behind a title or a name you need to put yourself out there. I can be a bit emotional but that’s me and I have about a million followers so I guess it works. Hopefully I’ll be a dad soon so I may have to rethink how much I put out there.”
Fredrik Eklund, the energetic, high-kicking, top broker at Douglas Elliman has secured over three billion dollars in closed residential sales. Rated as the #1 agent in New York City by The Real Deal in 2014, he set record sales in 28 buildings in Manhattan last year alone and is often spotted showing apartments to top name celebrities, including Sarah Jessica Parker and Jennifer Lopez.
His active listings amount to $540,000,000. Originally from Stockholm, Sweden, Eklund studied at the Stockholm School of Economics before founding an Internet company and working for the investment bank SEB in Stockholm, London, Singapore and Tokyo. In addition, he is the founder of Scandinavia’s most high end residential real estate brokerage with 50 employees and $1 billion in closed sales in 2014. Eklund founded the #1 top-producing team at Elliman, which has 5,000 agents in 85 offices all over the East Coast.
Known as a ‘shark’ in business and ‘softie’ at home, with his trademark high-kick and (a lot of) cheeky manner, I took great delight in teaching this Swedish born, darling of celebrity and New York an Aussie term. I dub thee a larrikin. Welcome to Australia, Fredrik – enjoy your stay!
FREDRIK EKLUND LIVE:
Brisbane – Friday 2nd October 2015
Sydney – Saturday 3rd October 2015
Melbourne – Sunday 4th October 2015
Tickets available through www.ticketek.com.au
THE SELL: THE SECRETS OF SELLING ANYTHING TO ANYONE
Available now via www.fredrikeklund.com
MILLION DOLLAR LISTING NEW YORK – airs in Australia on Foxtel’s Arena channel
Contributing writer Connie Baker is an experienced Content & Social Media Consultant.
Twitter – @baker_con