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Today is gonna be a quick lesson on how you can not only survive, but thrive during a recession. While everyone is cutting costs and sacrificing marketing, you can start dominating the field. One of the best ways to do that is to start with your database.
Three Things You’ll Learn in This Episode
- How to seize opportunities in this market.
- How to use your database to maximize clients.
- How can we stay in front of our database?
Resources
The Listing Advocate (Earn more listings!)
Transcript:
So how do you attract new business, you constantly don’t have to chase it. Hi, I’m Mike Cuevas a real estate marketing. This podcast is all about building a strong personal brand people have come to know, like trust, and most importantly, refer. But remember, it is not their job to remember what you do for a living, it’s your job to remind them. Let’s get started. What’s up ladies and gentlemen, welcome another episode of the real estate marketing dude, podcast, folks, what we’re gonna be chatting about today, I don’t have any gas, we’re going to do a little bit of a teaching moment. And with this recession, with all these things coming on, I think it’s more than ever important if someone helps lead the way, from someone who has actually been through these types of markets before. I know it’s coming, I feel it’s coming. I’m ready for it. So I want to be able to provide a lot of that insight because I’ve been here before, folks, I’ve done this in the past, and I cannot wait to do it again. First off, these markets are great, there’s a ton of opportunity in them. And I understand that you may be scared right now. But don’t be be encouraged. Business may be slow a little bit for the time being, but it’s okay. It’s what you do now, though, that’s going to pay off tomorrow. So this is the time when you do not sit down and go hide in the closet, because you’re too fucking scared to go out there because you don’t know where your next commission paycheck is going to be. This is not the time that you go out and you start crying, and just keep on doing more and more of the same. This is when you look at your business and you focus and working on it. And what I want to dedicate this week’s show to is one of those little areas that I’m going to encourage you to focus on, and that is going to be on your database 100% This entire podcasts gonna be focused on just how to own your database, and I want to take you through a very simplistic way to stay in touch with them. Now, I literally just got off a call. And it’s the same question every single time I get, how are you staying in front of your database, you know, when we bring people on board, we’re recruiting their content, and one of the things we do with them as we build their database for them, so that when we create their videos, we put the videos in front of the right people and the right people are always the right people, you know, past clients, friends, family, aunts, and uncles. And I’m just shocked that literally, no one ever talked to you as a system to stay in front of their database, or stay in relationship with them. And every single person I talked to well over on average, over 6070, most times 80% of their business is coming from that very database, but they don’t even have a system to market it and stay in touch with it. And to me, that’s just crazy. Like, folks, we know where the business comes from. In this business, it comes from people we already know not strangers. Okay. We’ll, we’ll do a lead generation podcast next week. But let’s focus today on sphere of influence over 80% of businesses comes from people we know we met in the past and we personally used or we run into over 80%. So the number one, regardless of the market conditions, the number one form of marketing and a real estate agents business is always been to stay in front of their own database. And let’s first define what your database is, and I’m gonna show you how to stay in front of it. First off is your database is not a combination of a bunch of leads. It’s not your farm area, not the way at least I’m gonna explain it to you your database is a combination and a collection of the relationships Haven’t you haven’t lived. So your database is your entire Facebook friends lists your IG followers, your personal email list the people that you have in your cell phone, those are your database base, okay. And the best thing about real estate is that this is the only business in the world that you can start and have a built in clientele. The problem is, is that you have to take that built in clientele and earn their business. But more importantly, before you could earn their business, they got to make sure they know what the hell you do. And that alone is the problem in itself. So during these types of markets, when you see a recessionary type market like we’re in today, and you’re going to continue to see us the rates will go up a little bit further. I think we’re in October 14, as of now, the market is going to get scarier and watch what’s happening overseas, especially in England right now, there’s a big crash coming over there. It’s gonna affect our market too. You got to look at these types of things and be ready for it. But the reason why you want to own your database is because people within it are still going to move. Some people are going to get sick, some people are going to lose their job, a lot of people are gonna lose their job, unfortunately,
a lot of people are going to lose some income, some people are gonna get a promotion, some people are gonna have kids, some people won’t get divorced, lots of people are gonna get divorced in a recession. But some people are gonna get married. It doesn’t matter when life happens, people move. And of those people who are going to move despite what interest rates do over 80 plus percent of them are going to use the first person they speak with, and that’s either going to be you or it’s gonna be somebody else. That’s marketing like me. So if you want it to be you, here’s exactly here’s what I recommend doing now, very first is that your database has all the relationships you have in life, okay? And each one of those relationships you have in life is worth at least $25,000. And here’s why everyone lives somewhere last I checked unless you have a bunch of bums as friends. But if you’re in real estate, that’s probably not the case. Nothing to the bumps against the bumps, I saw a bum shoot someone on Encinitas downtown yesterday. So forgive me, if I’m on politically correct, I’m gonna have a lot of love for the bums right now.
But that’s another story.
Your database is going to be anyone that you’d say hello to in a grocery store, walk down the street and say hello, or feel a pain in your stomach like a knife was going through it. If you found out they bought or sold a house without you. That’s your database. Now, the only way you can stay in touch with them is to set up several different communication channels, several different ways to stay in touch, which is why you need to build an email list, which is why you need to build a direct mail list, which is why you want to continuously be creating content on social media because your email list your direct mail list and your social media accounts are nothing more than just channels to stay in touch with the people you already know. Because 100% of the people you already know have the ability to refer you one deal. This means that 100% of your Facebook friends, your IG followers, your email list your neighbors, your aunts, your uncles, and every single person that you know that you come across with 100% of them have a referral for you because everyone knows someone who’s moving. The question is, are you going to get it or not? Well, you increase those chances of getting it when you become more referral you become a referral when you become more marketable when you start becoming more marketable requires creating content that reminds people you’re in real estate. It is really that simple. People always want to farm strangers like I get on Oh, my farm area, oh, I’m gonna go farm area, folks, the best farm area have are your Facebook, friends, your email, as I just listed them up. It’s the people you know. And the main difference between farming a bunch of strangers versus farming the people you already know is that strangers don’t refer things they’ve never experienced with in the past. But relationships do. Very important point. So we’re going to farm your database, and I’m going to teach you the three channels that you’re going to farm your database with, that will make you unforgettable, and you’ll attract more business. The only time it doesn’t work is if people don’t like you, and it’s nothing we can help you with. You’re in the wrong damn business. If that’s the case, this is a popularity contest. This is the people’s business. And if you’re not a people’s person, or you don’t want to be whether you’re an introvert or an extrovert, it can be very difficult to attract business. You’re going to be the hamster wheel of lead generation, your entire career you’re gonna burn out as soon as possible. So let’s go through this direct mail. If you’re not direct mail, farming your database, you are losing money.
Direct Mail, Mike, does that still work? You bet your assets still works. That’s the reason why Bed Bath and Beyond and every other major corporation is doing it. If it didn’t work, trust me, those people are a lot smarter than us. They have a lot more money than us, and they wouldn’t be doing it. But here’s why direct mail works. And everyone has a direct mail list your direct mail list guys. First off is your wedding list and all your past clients. Okay? So if I imagine everyone that you’d invite to your wedding or funeral with an unlimited budget, that’s part of your direct mail list. And don’t tell me you don’t have their direct mail. You invite them to your fucking wedding or funeral. You have their direct mail. Or you can get one because everyone could everyone has a wedding list. But when it comes to real estate people, oh, I don’t have a direct mail list. We’ll go get fucking married and then all sudden, you’re going to have a direct mail list. I don’t know why it works that way. But it does and anyone you’d invite to your wedding, wouldn’t you expect to do business with you. That’s why you farm them. So I want to find my wedding list. And then I want to add on my past clients to it. That’s your direct mail list. Okay. Now, if I am going to farm them with direct mail, here’s why it works. Everything I explained to you is going to be mathematical. If I sent my direct mail lists full of relationships, one postcard a month. I just kept doing that 100% of them are going to get it 100% of them are gonna get it, they’re gonna get the postcard in the mail. I don’t care if they throw it in the trash. I don’t even they just physically engaged with me. Direct Mail is the only channel that’s going to give me a 100%. receivership rate. Because everyone on my list is going to get it and it’s the only form of marketing that’s going to be physical. Think about that. If I have 200 people on my direct mail list, 10 to 15% of them are moving this year. Okay, so that’s 200 People getting one postcard a month. There’s probably anywhere between 20 and 30 deals right in there. But 100% of them have a referral for me so am I more likely to get the referrals if I keep showing up on their doorstep each and every month? You bet your sem it’s the same reason why direct mail farming still works today. But direct mail farming doesn’t work over overnight. It works over time. And here’s how that works. People pick a neighborhood of 500 doors, and they start farming them. Year one, you might get two listings, year three, you get three to four, year three, you get five, seven plus, and all sudden you got a business, right? Well, why is that? Well, it’s because you consistently kept showing up to their doorstep each and every month where that people finally said, hey, that’s the neighborhood realtor. The only difference between farming a relationship versus farming a stranger in your farm is that that relationship will refer business immediately, the foreign person won’t, you need to pop up a long time to do so because they’ve never experienced you themselves. So I want you to apply that. If you find your book or relationships, your wedding list plus all past clients, would you do more business? And the answer is absolutely, because a certain percentage of those people are going to move in 88% of them are going to hire the first person they speak to. So that’s either going to be you or it’s going to be me or gonna be someone else that’s marketing them. Which one is it going to be, that’s why you farm your database people go, it’s gonna be too expensive. Listen, it costs $12 a year to send that person or that contact $12 a year to send that contact a direct mail piece, and that’s sending your direct mail pieces $1 A piece 12 You’re saying you won’t spend $12 per person in your relationship list a year, that person is going to move in five to seven years, which means that $12 I’m going to spend a whopping $100, staying in front of this person that I have the potential to not only generate the referrals for the rest of my life, but I have the potential to get their repeat business for the rest of my life. And everyone buys three to five houses over the course of their lifetime. That’s why I said Every relationship is worth $25,000. Because every relationship is going to move three to five houses, they’re going to buy three to five houses over the course of their lifetime, which will equate north of a $25,000 commission unless you live in the sticks.
That’s why it matters.
Now, let’s go through channel number two, that’s just direct mail, channel number two, email, video email. Specifically, if you were to send one to two video emails a month to your database list and the people on your email list are going to be everyone that’s on your wedding list. But plus everybody else’s whose direct mails you don’t have what’s going to be your evite list, that if you had a birthday party, you’d invite everyone in the world to you have an unlimited budget, open bar, anyone you’d invite to that party or that including past clients. There’s your email list. Same, the same statistics are true 10 to 15% of your email list is moving this year, but 100% of them have a referral for you. So I want you to do the math, if I am to consistently video email. And I’ll get to the content in a second but video email database one to two times a month that’s gonna give me anywhere between another 12 and 24 touches to my email list, we see 40% open rates on these pretty consistently north of that it’s even much higher many times. But 40% Most people are gonna open those emails. Well, it’s just a numbers game 10 to 15% of those opens are going to move on 100% of those opens, are going to have a referral for you. The question is, are they’re going to use you. Referrals happen instantly, you either get it or you don’t when you’re top of mind, you’re more than likely to get it when you’re out of sight you’re not. In either case, whether that’s not moving or they’re referring you to moving. It’s all about attention who they think of first. That’s who they hire.
Question Who is going to be you? That’s the question.
That’s just email. Now if I have email and direct mail going at same time now let’s apply that same concept to social media. On social media, 10 to 15% of people see your shit, they’re moving 100% people see your shit, they have referral for you very simple, be very loud, be very proud and go through social and create a whole lot of content because 100% of your Facebook followers, friends, family, aunts and uncles live somewhere. Same with your IG. Same with LinkedIn. Look at when you’re creating a lot of content on social, whether you’re doing video or reels or whatever the hell you’re doing. You got to be consistent at it. And you got to post more on social because out of all the engagement you get out of all those views the same statistics are true 10 to 15% of the people who see your content will be moving 100% of the people who see your refer who see your content have referral for you when they give you the next one. See when you combine direct mail, email and social media and just stay in front of the people you’d invite to your wedding or funeral you’re going to transact business it’s impossible not to unless all those people don’t like you but if that’s the case then you have the wrong damn list or you’re in the wrong business like I said earlier it regardless of the market it let me just do ROI on this like what were the costs out of their direct mail you give a video email system you just video emailing them people asked you expect all too expensive. Oh God, so expensive, so expensive. What are you talking about? I just told you direct mail cost it’s $12 per contact. If you’re not willing to put in $12 per contact. You’re not running a business your salesperson chasing a check, video email, create the damn videos put in the time. What does video email subscription cost you $49 A month you’re in business dude, you gotta cost you’re gonna have cost of doing business. This is one of them. We call them cogs cost of goods sold.
Oh, I don’t have time.
You do this in two ways, you either make the time or you pay someone to do it. In either case, not doing it is not optional. It’s a necessity. It’s just the way the market is. And the ones who were very loud and proud right now I’m tie this back into the recession and land this plane. But the ones who were very loud and proud right now are the ones who will be very loud and proud after the business after the recession is over. The statistics are already showing month over month, we’re already 33% down in transaction count. And what we’re seeing is that we’re gonna experience about a third last transactions this year. But at the same time, what we’re also going to experience is a large number of agents leaving the industry in the next six to 12, maybe even 18 months, which is an opportunity for everyone who remains in it, the part timers are going to leave like they do in every reception, the full timers in the business people are going to take over. But the number one audience, the first take over are the people that you already know, before you try to go out and take over ones you’ve never met. It’s extremely important to understand the number of agents who will leave the business will be greater than the third list of transactions we’re going to experience, which means there’s going to be less agents doing more transactions. The question is,
Which route are you going to hit. So when you want to
the number one thing I would do in my advice to you guys, first is pull lead generation immediately if you’re spending money on ads, and all this other crap, don’t do it right now. And the reason why I’m not talking about if it’s still providing a positive ROI, I take that back, keep doing it. But when this times change like this, what happens is that the ROI you had six months ago on the lead your bind is not the same ROI you’re gonna have today because consumer habits changed. And that’s what’s scary about it. So you have to be very careful in the shifts. But the one audience that doesn’t cost a lot to markets, you always double down on that is ready and able to be infiltrated. Because the same number of people are going to move within it is always the people that you know, like and trust, or that you’d invite to your funeral. Focus on serving all of those people and re establishing ties, and owning those that database until things stabilize again right now. And if you don’t have a database, this is the time you start building one because not staying in touch with the people that you already know like and trust is only losing money. And if you’ve experienced anytime within the last six to 12 months of logging on to social media and learning that a friend or family member or even at a party learned that a friend and family member or someone you know well bought or sold a house without you that just means that you’re not doing a good enough reminding people what you do for a living because it’s not their job to remember what you do for a living. It’s your job to remind them folks, if you liked this episode, and you like what we had to say today, I want you to go ahead and visit real estate marketing dude.com and a couple of weeks we’re going to be rolling out a marketing software called brand new that is going to do all of this stuff for you and stay in touch with your database. I encourage you to check that out if you liked this message today because I want to make database marketing great again and what we want to do with that that’s what the software is going to do make staying in touch and nurturing your network easier, simpler and not take up a lot of time. Thanks so much for listening other episode real estate marketing podcast you have any additional questions please feel free to visit us at real estate market dude.com We script we had it we should be videos for people and we have many other different services but our main thing is just building your personal brand and attracting business from the people you already know. Thanks for listening. We’ll see you guys next week. Thank you for watching another episode of the real estate marketing dude podcast. If you need help with video or finding out what your brand is, visit our website at WWW dot real estate marketing dude.com We make branding and video content creation simple and do everything for you. So if you have any additional questions, visit the site, download the training and then scheduled time to speak with the dude and get you rolling in your local marketplace. Thanks for watching another episode of the podcast. We’ll see you next time.