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Why I Would Create Content On Inflation Right Now?

I usually hate discussing business, but when there is something newsworthy that affects everybody in the world, whether they’re buying or selling, or they own a piece of property, like the topic of inflation then we gotta talk about it. This is the opportunity that you have to brag about real estate. This is when you bring it from the soapbox, because right now, no one’s talking about inflation. I don’t see one real estate agent out there talking about inflation right now. Why would we be talking about inflation? Well, it fucks up everything. So what I hope to do today is give you guys a bunch of different ways to create content, based upon what we’re going to talk about in terms of inflation.

To bring this conversation to life we’ve brought on Mr. Shawn Richard. He’s out of the DFW market. He works with guaranteed rate. He’s a lender. He’s been doing this for a long time. I want you guys to listen to what he says grab a pen. Then we also have, from Scottsdale Arizona, Mr. Brian Cardenas. As a veteran loan officer, Brian has committed himself to listening to his clients and providing them with the financing solution that serve their needs.

Three Things You’ll Learn in This Episode

  • Why no one is talking about inflation
  • How to create content surrounding inflation, but make it interesting
  • What inflation will do for your purchasing power

Resources

Brian Cardenas

Shawn Richard

Real Estate Marketing Dude

The Listing Advocate (Earn more listings!)

REMD on YouTube

REMD on Instagram

Transcript:

So how do you attract new business, you constantly don’t have to chase it. Hi, I’m Mike Cuevas to real estate marketing. And 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. And I first have to go ahead and say, I’m going to apologize for being off the show for two weeks in a row, I sort of broke my golden rule of consistency, but I’ve been working on a lot of shit behind the scenes. And for those of you that are working with us or anything else, I think you’re gonna like it to your benefit. I’ve been working on my business recently, I hired a coach, and I’m working on different things within my business. And I’ve been doing a lot of restructuring. So I apologize for missing the last two weeks, I promise you, I won’t do it again. But what we’re gonna be talking about today is something that’s going to be very relevant to the news today. I don’t if you guys follow the show, I don’t like talking about business. I’m the videos that we create. So like, I hate boring people with video content. However, when there is something newsworthy that affects fucking everybody in the world, whether they’re buying or selling, or they own a piece of property, like the topic of inflation that we’re experiencing today. This is the opportunity that you have to brag about real estate. This is when you bring it from the soapbox, because you right now, no one’s talking about inflation. Nobody’s talking about inflation. I don’t see one real estate agent out there talking about inflation right now. Why would we be talking about inflation? Well, it fucks up everything. We have interest rates are changing. We’ve been so spoiled with this market lately, that people think it’s always gonna last this way, guess what books I thought the exact same thing in 2006 and 2007. And think the Lord, I switched my business at the time that there’s a correction to adapt in the short sales and I had the best few years of my life. I’m not saying the markets gonna crash. But what I am saying is that there is a correction going to take place in the affordability for what people can actually afford in today’s market. And if you don’t want to admit that we’re going to bring on two financial Mortgage Pros, these guys are frickin killers in their market, they understand mortgage and interest rates. And if you’re a real estate agent listening to this right now, you need to know this stuff. This is the this is the time to show your expertise and get out there and start talking to people and I don’t know much about inflation, I just know that it’s a topic people want to talk about. And when there’s something newsworthy, you create content on it. So we’re going to go out today. And what I hope to do is give you guys a bunch of different ways to create content, based upon what we’re going to talk about in terms of inflation. And the truth is there is no right or wrong answer on this. Nobody knows what the future is going to hold. No one knows what’s going to happen tomorrow. However, it is you’re going to be getting these questions on the daily from your clients. Questions. People are wondering right now, if you go into Google and you type in these terms, this is why I know it’s a hot topic. So when you create content, you create content, people search for it now what you think is cool, and when the other day when I went to Google and typed it, the search related results revolving around inflation in real estate were through the roof. That means people are talking about it, which means you have a content creation opportunity. So the problem is what are we gonna talk about? That’s what I brought these two studs on. So without further ado, I’m gonna go ahead and introduce them both. We got Mr. Shawn Richard. He’s out of the DFW market. He works with guaranteed rate. He’s a lender. He’s been doing this for a long time. I want you guys to listen to what he says grab a pen. And then we also have from Scottsdale Arizona Mr. Brian Cardenas and I say Cardenas right is our card den. Yes.

Depends if you’re a white boy. Are

you Hispanic like me? You’re like a white Mexican.

That’s exactly what I am. Yeah, me too. Everyone’s

like Cuevas is a qwave asked is your last name say acid it notes Well, boss if you say what do we got a lot to catch up on? Our Anyways, you guys I want you to say Hello, Brian. First. Go ahead, introduce yourself. Tell her where you’re at. And then we’ll get you on next.

Yeah, glad to be on here. Appreciate you bringing us on. I think the criteria you had was find the two most boring guys that knew anything about inflation and bring them on so I think I won that contest was Sean there.

This is C we’re gonna this is only as boring as you make it. We’re gonna make this superduper sexy today. Brian or Sean, go ahead and want you to tell everybody where you’re from.

Yeah. Hey, Mike, and everybody. Thanks so much for having me on. So yeah, Sean Richard, with children’s mortgage team here at guaranteed rate in Colleyville. Texas for those who have no clue where Colleyville Texas is. It’s about 10 minutes outside of DFW airport right smack in the middle of the metroplex. So yeah, glad to be here. Talk about inflation. Everything’s rising across the board.

Yep. So here’s where I want to start with is uh, and honestly, like, we as real estate professionals should know this. And honestly, I don’t I’m going to be the I’ve been selling these. You guys. I’ve been in the business 20 years. I can actually say that I got licensed 2002 I actually be the guy that says that, but I don’t understand it. Okay, so if I don’t understand it, I know a lot about real estate, I’m assuming that a lot of the people in the show don’t fully understand it. So here’s what I here’s what I think the one question that every real estate agent needs to be able to answer in the country today. And the question is, what will inflation do for my purchasing power? So that’s the question, I want to see how you guys answered, let’s start with Brian, you go first. And then let’s go on Sean?

Well, I think there’s there’s two parts to it that affect your purchasing power is, the first one is we’re seeing that this with housing prices, obviously, everyone’s seen the ridiculous increase in housing prices over the last couple of years. And that is going to continue probably not at the same rate. But that is going to continue for the next probably three to four years, just based on supply and demand. Everybody knows we’ve got super low historically low supply and high demand properties. So that’s going to drive up one piece of the equation. But the other one that’s most directly, in fact, reflected through the inflation is mortgage rates, you know, we’ve seen mortgage rates jump, almost 2%, really in this year. And the reason that inflation impacts mortgage rates so dramatically is because you have to step back and stop seeing it from the consumer standpoint, you have to look at it as an investment vehicle that Wall Street investors look at it as. So when we make a mortgage to somebody to buy a house, ultimately, that gets packaged up and sold on Wall Street as an investment, just like a bond does. And what those do is those return a fixed rate of return to the investor. Well, if that investor is purchasing a fixed investment, that’s going to return him three and a half percent. But now inflation has gone up, and it drives the market rate to 5%. Well, that investment that they made is less valuable to them, it can buy less shit at that rate of return. So basically, what has to happen is mortgage rates have to go up to attract those investors to buy those mortgages that we’re making for you to buy your house. So as your rate goes up, now your monthly payment goes up, you know, when you factor in the interest rate on top of the increase in the home prices. Well said. Gotcha.

Yeah, that’s, that’s absolutely right. Brian’s got it spot on. And you know, and one of the analogies that I use for consumers, because you know, not not all consumers are super in tune with the market and things like that. So, you know, I relate it to these certificates of deposit at a bank, right? You go into a bank, and you’ve got the ability to invest in a certificate of deposit and different lengths of certificates of deposit or CDs, you know, three months, six months, 12 months, 18 months. And so essentially, the longer you tie your money up the typically the higher the return on an investment, right? So let’s say you put your money into a 12 month certificate of deposit. And six months later, three months later, that 12 months certificate of deposit, the return on that has gone up maybe from three to 4%. Well, are you are you excited about your 3% return when you know that new certificates of positive paying 4%? You know, maybe not as much so. So that’s loosely, a good analogy for what’s going on with mortgage bonds is like Brian said, the yield on mortgage bonds has to be increased to to meet investor appetite. And so new, higher yielding bonds created and it pushes interest rates higher. And like, like Brian said, you know, has an impact on on monthly payment. And

here’s what I’m so let’s just play devil’s advocate here. Because if houses are going to continue to rise in price for the next three to four years, and at the same time, the cost to obtain them is also rising. At the same time, the cost of everything else from groceries to gas is also rising. At what point does it come where affordability, I can’t afford that next house anymore that I could have afford last through two years ago? And when does that hit the fan? Because I don’t see it as a sustainable way to keep going like trust me, I don’t want the market to correct or adjust. Nobody does in that sense. But I do believe that we can have everything correlating directly up even with supply and demand because there’s going to be a point where somebody says, Hey, dude, I, I can’t put down, you know, 10% on this on this house anymore, and pay the extra $900 A month is now costing me. But then on the flip side of this, let’s play the other side of devil’s advocate guys is there’s, well, interest rates are going to go up so it makes sense to buy now and lock in if we know rates are going to go up, because the benefits of homeownership always outweigh and if we think the market is going to continue to appreciate and that might be a smart move. Soon. I mean, there’s there’s two sides here and I see both arguments and I don’t know which ones right. So how do you answer those questions?

Well, Mike, I think there’s there’s a missing element there that a lot of people are just completely overlooking. And maybe Brian can also attest to this as well. But the missing element is, is wages. Right? So what’s going on in the labor market right now, we are at, you know, post pandemic lows in unemployment. And so what you have is you have a lot of companies that are having to increase wages to attract employees. And so what wages are increasing. And I think the most recent wage report said that year over year, wages were up 12%. And so if wages are up, 12%, that’s going to help the average homebuyer afford a higher mortgage, because you don’t spend 100% of your income on a mortgage, typically, you’re spending around 25, maybe 30%, you know, maybe upwards of 35%, and your mortgage. And so when you get when you get, say, $1,000, you know, $1,000, raise, let’s call it monthly, right? So $12,000 Raise, you got a promotion. So that $1,000 a month, well, if you’re only spending 25% of your income on your housing, that means you can afford $250 more per month. And if we break that down into what that means, that means the home price, a higher home price of roughly 30 to $35,000 that you can afford based on that increasing your wages. So I think the wage increases play a role that people are kind of overlooking, yes. The the appreciation in home values, the increase in home values, coupled with the increase in interest rates, is problematic for affordability. But I think that the the the complete omission of wage increases or wage inflation makes it look a lot worse than it may be actually

is interesting I didn’t know about and I you know, I have a gas here in San Diego’s 619 As of today. Right? So what that means $105 to fill up your gas tank. So like even our employees here in the office are asking to work more from home because of that, you know, and there’s going to be some companies, though that can’t afford to increase wages, I get the big corpse but there is going to be some that can small businesses like ours can’t afford just to instantly increase our wages overnight. And that’s what I’m that’s why it’s just so interesting to me, what’s what’s going to be happening, but very well said understood.

I think one of the things did it just add to what Shawn was saying he’s he’s totally right. People don’t think about that in terms of the math equation, you know, can you afford a house, but we’ve definitely seen on the lower end of the market, where people have been priced out of being able to afford purchasing a home. And so it’s a real thing that’s happening right now, at least in my marketplace. And I think probably a lot of other marketplaces, kind of the the mid mid range move up buyer and higher end, that’s not being affected quite yet, because they’ve got more disposable income. And that’s why we see a lot of the statistics you hear talked about in terms of how home price increases, they always refer to the median home price. And what that means is, that’s the midpoint at which the number of houses above and below that have sold. So what we’re actually seeing is we’re seeing higher priced homes being the ones that are moving on the market, and stuff in the lower price range, because it’s gotten more expensive, is not moving quite as much. And but at some point, you’re right, like what your your gut instinct is telling you, Mike, is this not sustainable? You know, what is going to happen is we’re already seeing some of the indicators that a recession is coming. Like we don’t know exactly when it’s coming. But what tells us that it’s coming is that when you get really, really low unemployment rates, which is basically where we’re at now we’re about at pre pandemic, unemployment rates. And we were we were there back before the pandemic, and we actually went into a recession, which probably a lot of people don’t realize it was very short lived, they actually went into reserves before the pandemic hit. Yeah, so, but what happens is, when when things become less affordable, what ends up happening is the average person cuts back on their discretionary spending. So like, you might not go out to dinner, you know, an extra time a week that you would have done before. So what happens is now that restaurant has less revenues coming in, they have less revenue revenues coming in, well, they got to cut back on employees, and now that employee loses their job, they may have to go find a different job that’s not quite paying as much. Now they’re going to spend less money. And so what ends up happening is, then unemployment starts to tick up. And then that’s what kind of leads us to recession. Like what Shawn was talking about earlier with CDs, another indicator of recession coming is a complicated, super sexy term you’re gonna want to hear it’s called a yield curve inversion. And basically, that’s a good one, instead of the long term investments giving you a higher rate of return, which is normal. Now, the shorter term investments are giving you a higher rate of return. And that’s investors basically saying we think rates are going to be lower down the road. So what that is basically telling us is We’ve got a couple of indicators that are that are telling us that recession is coming. My guess is it’s probably coming faster than what what it has in the future. But that’s gonna push interest rates back down, which will then help affordability for the homebuyers. When we’re in that

chapter size, right, just note down. So look at the newsworthy what out the whole purpose of this is to have conversations like this with other people that are experts in their trade, and then come up with different ways to create a bunch of attention and content around this. Are you guys doing any form of lead generation or any type of digital marketing at all? In your biz? Yeah, I would love for you to test this headline. And I guarantee right now this would fucking crush it. I would do something like inflation is here. Can you still afford to buy a house? Find out now? Something along the lines of like that? I think that and I don’t know, maybe that doesn’t make me that bombs. But just hearing like what you just said, instantly? Just told me Well, if I focused on the lower end markets, and I really want to do until that down, even just an engagement post to your actual database and posting on social or sending a video email out with this topic. inflation, inflation is here. Inflation is real. Can you still afford to buy a house? Or on the flip end of that you could take that same headline and be like inflation is here has it has it affected the value of your house? For people that are own owning houses. So we’re always looking at ways to create content and create different media or ways to start conversations. This is all content creation is guys. I don’t create content because it doesn’t create conversations. I create content because it creates conversations that lead to more opportunities, which is how you attract business. So what I’m getting at here is like you got all of these questions being answered like I could we this show might be an hour long, I still have like 20 More questions asked you guys. But each time I asked one of these questions, if I’m thinking about it, so is your average customer avatar guys. So fuckin put it out there. There’s not a better way to become the expert and to demonstrate you our talk is cheap me getting up on my soapbox and being like, Hey, I’m the best on the bus. That’s how that’s every real estate agents business plan show sold just listed. brag, brag, brag brag. instead? Why don’t you start demonstrating me what I need to know so that I could see you as a professional. I’ve never seen a it’s crazy when we look at how real estate agents market their business. I made this post the other day. And it says if a doctor marketed their business the way realtor does, after after they after they do like a surgery and the doctors like hold it up like $3,000 like breast implant surgery cardiac whatever, like that’s what real estate agents do. And it’s the only profession we’ve ever seen it happen you know what I mean? Like but why is that it’s because our egos all the time like there’s such a better and better way to earn expertise and authority and build it by just creating content and shit that’s relative or what people care about not about you. It’s always about what can I do to serve my audience today? This is why we have this podcast guys. I think podcast we don’t have a lot of our business we get a lot of our business from the show because we add value so how do you add value what today’s topics

we started doing? We just funded posts that’s the best way we can can join the fray.

You guys should be like just funded.

Yeah, I was able to do the minimum expected requirement out of my job congratulations me.

Yeah. I got someone a loan they probably shouldn’t be having right now.

That was like 15 years ago.

Yeah, the good old Nina’s. Anyways, let’s get back into this. So what do we know? Let’s go into like what you guys see how because that’s super interesting. And you guys are both especially in your two markets like you guys have ibuyer Haven so inventory is extremely low. You got every open door from now no longer Zillow, but all of the institutional buyers are all over Scottsdale. There’s a huge problem with that they’re buying everything investors can’t even find properties to buy in Scottsdale anymore. They’re having trouble they’re fighting each other for the scraps but the same things in DFW so we have a lot of things happening you have a lot of institutional buyers are buying and cash out. Kicking the VA guy who deserves his house to the curb, to be honest. Right? What do you guys think? What is your prediction? For like these first time buyers like what are you people that are out there going to go out there and compete? What are you seeing happen are you see, are they losing deals yet? You mentioned you alluded to a little bit earlier, but have you seen people losing deals? Are they staying in the market? Are they getting frustrated? What’s the pulse you’re getting from your realtor partners and all of that?

Yeah, can Brian you get if I jump in on this one? Yeah. All right. So yeah, so like that’s what’s what 100% was happening and I’m sure Brian’s got plenty of experience because I know the Arizona market is red hot. And they’ve got some of the most depreciation the entire country going on right now. So Yeah, buyers are losing deals first time homebuyers. And if they don’t have cash laying around to be able to go over to guarantee appraisal gaps there, they’ve got a bit of a problem. So you know, I know here in DFW, you know, my team and I, we’ve been looking for ways to help buyers set themselves apart by being able to take finance buyers and turn them into cash buyers. I know, Mike, you’ve talked about that before, some programs. And so we’ve got some some companies that allow us to turn finance buyers into cash buyers, but outside of stuff like that, it’s tough for first time homebuyers, for people who maybe, you know, they’ve got enough cash to cover downpayment and cash to close, but not a whole lot more than that. It’s a really, really tough market. And so they’re, you know, their options are, sit this one out, which could be 3456 years, and then that $350,000 home is now $500,000.05 years from now or more, you know, or they they’ve, you know, figure out a unique out of the box scenario to try and get into a home right now. And if they can do it, there’s tons of benefit, because one, they’re going to get the appreciation that’s going to come over the next several years, which is going to be phenomenal. But on top of that, as Brian alluded to, we’ve got a ton of indicators that say that we’re going to be in a recession in the not too distant future. And with you know, normally, you know, he’s talking about the yield curve inversion. Normally, when that happens when that yield curve inverts, we’re in a recession within 18 months. But honestly, with information moving as fast as it does nowadays, we can see that significantly faster than that. So everyone who’s buying right now is going to get the appreciation, but then they’re likely going to be in a position where they get to benefit from a refinance sometime over the next maybe six to 24 months.

So let me rewind that just for people really quick, just so we get the terminology, right. So basically, today’s higher rates, the fact that we this is what I’m gathering, this is a really interesting comparison for all you realtors, when buyers ask you this, because you have to Homer Simpson, this stuff down, we’re giving you like really high level stuff, you have to make a dumb simple so that anyone can understand including my six year old son. So what we’re saying is that yes, today, here’s what’s going to happen, folks, there’s going to be a recession, all indicators are showing there’s gonna be a recession that’s happened is going to happen. And you might be wondering what that means for your upcoming house purchase? Well, here’s the way that we’re looking at it. Yes, today’s rates are probably going to be around a 5%. But the day that recession does occur and or happen, rates are gonna dip again. And that’s where you need to refi low into your low interest rate, while property values still continue to appreciate.

Yeah, I mean, we do with people like that, as you know, we’ll show them, what is it going to actually cost you in real dollars by waiting, you know, six months, 12 months, whatever to try to time for, you know, the bubble to burst, which you hear about a lot, you know, is there a real estate bubble? And the simple answer is no. But, you know, some people think, well, maybe we’ll just wait till rates come down. That’s the next thing that we started to hear. Well, we can actually quantify. And I know, Shawn, does this too, how much are you actually losing in equity growth and pay down on your mortgage by waiting six months, 12 months for the interest rate to come down. And it’s almost like, the best analogy, I think, for a real estate agent is, you know, you look at a house flipper, you know, they go in to purchase a house, and they’re using financing that might be you know, eight 910 12% interest rate, you know, with points just to get that deal. And they’re going to try to flip that as quick as possible to turn that into a profit, they look at that higher cost of acquisition as the cost of doing business. And that’s how you know, a person purchasing a home, whether it’s for an investment or for their own personal use, yeah, you might have a little higher cost of acquisition today, because the rates are higher than what you think they should be or what they were six months ago, but there’s going to be an opportunity for those rates to come back down, just look at that short term, whether it’s six months or 18 months that you pay a little higher interest rate to get that house that’s going to appreciate by you know, 10% 12%, whatever it’s going to do in the next year. It’s just the cost of doing business. And the sooner you get in the better opportunity, you have to capitalize on that equity growth.

He’s spot on,

I go piece of content creation. Number two, why it’s a good idea to buy a house when there’s about to be a recession. I’m sorry, I’m going to read that. Alright, Sean, go for it.

Well, I’ll just kind of piggyback on what Brian said is absolutely, you know, one of the you know, when I have conversations with clients, you know, I remind them I obviously don’t have a crystal ball can’t guarantee we’re gonna be in a recession even though a lot of indicators are pointing that direction, but I encourage them to think of you all Brian’s got

got to get one man it’s super happy. He’s got to first of

all, if you’re listening to this just on an audio Brian just whipped out literally a Christmas ball and all I saw were a bunch of interest rates floating around there, and a bunch of numbers and all this shit and just I just I just saw opportunity.

You want to know what else

Oh, and he’s got the magic eight ball. That thing never fail. thing does work right.

But I like to remind clients I encourage them to think The current acquisition costs the rates as a temporary cost, you know, that way, hey, this is a temporary cost that you’re likely to have for the next 612 1824 months. And then you get to turn around and reduce your cost. And for that reason, I think when when, when available, I encourage people to, to minimize out of pocket costs, save that out of pocket costs and put it into the refinance down the road, if you if you can take a slightly higher interest rate, even then where interest rates are now if you can take a slightly higher interest rate, and save, save money at closing and reallocate that money to refinance on the road, you’re gonna end up coming out even further ahead. In a lot of cases.

I think it’s smart. Here’s how when you guys are trying to explain this to home buyers or sellers, you have to do it in the form of a story. It’s just too complicated. Not too. It’s an excellent way to position it like look, here’s how here’s how real estate investors approach, but purchasing properties. And this is the way that I look at it and approaching it from a real estate like you have an acquisition cost. Like that’s the way you sell this guy’s 100%. Because I understood that in honestly, you guys both taught me some you guys taught me a lot today already. I never really thought about how to pitch it that way. And I’ve never really thought about, hey, yeah, this is explaining a purchaser just like they’re being a real estate investor right now. That’s so smart. It’s such a smart way to position this. Because there’s fear, there’s going to be fear when there’s uncertainty. And our jobs as professionals, folks, for all of you salespeople chasing checks, this is the time when the market cleans you out. I’m not joking, I’ve seen three shifts, I’ve seen three cycles, two and a half in my career, I think this is the third, I saw the new construction boom, prior to 2007. I saw the short sale foreclosure crisis, from oh seven to 12. And then we saw the rebound right here in the real estate market. If you study it repeats itself in 10 year cycles in 2012. As we start climbing out of that crap, we’re at 2022, right there at a 10 year cycle. So everything these guys are saying is right on, where do you see in recession, correction, all that other stuff. What’s interesting is that we’ve never had all these outside circumstances happen with it. And we’re going to need to sharpen our skill set regardless. Like, if I’m you guys, and I’m sure you guys are prior to doing this, because you’re killers, but what you just said about explaining options to all of your the clients, if you started doing after realtors and laying this out for them, you’re gonna have the meeting out of your hand. But it’s gonna take an extra step to create those three options and give them a full plan. We have a client, as you guys know, his name is Mac Humphrey. And this is what he’s doing in his office because we’re creating some of his videos for his new offering. And I could see why now Mac is doing this. I’m sure I’m going to see him in Vegas this week. And I’m asking him if this stuff that we talked about today is the reason why he’s doing this. And what Max doing is max sane. Anytime you do a mortgage app, you have to come in to my office. And he set his office up into four different workstations. And workstation number we get some he’s got a beer, he’s got one, he’s got food, he’s got sandwiches, he’s got water, tea, you name it, he has them come in their office, and they once they get them settled down, they go in they he treats them and you know, the receptionist welcomes there. And then they spend 10 minutes in there filling out their forms in a questionnaire but then they go into the planning room. When they go into the planning room. This is where Mac literally goes, Okay, let’s talk about all your options, how much money you got done with the credit? Like what are the goals, how long you’d be on this property for what do you want to hear what you wanna do there. And he spends about 2030 minutes getting all the information from them, his team will go back into the other room and crunch the numbers and the programs and then he they move the client into the opportunity room, the opportunity room, there’s tons of plasmas, there’s a freakin pool table in there and everything. But each plasma television has a different loan option for them based upon all of this stuff we’re talking about today. Here’s your 3% down, here’s your 5% down, here’s your bridge loan option. If you want to try to be a cash buyer, here’s your 20% down with no PMI. Mack is going to do two things. One he’s going to sell through experience because that’s all we are. We’re service providers, we’re commodities, the one who provides the best experience is one who always wins just like the Ritz Carlton charges the same price as they do for a night and a holiday and also charge the prices for a night. They’re both in business but they’re both in business to provide a certain type of experience. We are do the same thing in our business and what I think is gonna happen. I think we’re gonna have another cleanup of the real estate industry and rightfully so we need it. But the ones who will excel are the ones who take customer service to the next level for stuff like this. Anyone can show a house. That’s not but not everyone can help someone accomplish and achieve to obtain one. And this education for the next 12 months about knowing what this stuff is going to happen. Mark my words the people who really mark this down, they’re gonna you’re gonna see them excel. And if you guys have anything like that and you start selling options for all of your realtor partners, I would be giving you every loan I had, because most agents aren’t going to be smart enough. have the skills to crunch numbers. Now you guys are dumb, we’re, this is our business, we show houses, okay, we don’t crunch numbers, that’s these guys’s job, find a lender that’s going to do this and start selling options, especially when you’re working with your buyers, because the one that has them is the one who’s going to win. And you’re also, you’re going to see commission compression too. You’re gonna see, let’s see, that’s already happened. But I guarantee it and all the stuff that’s happening with NAR, when they try to get buyers to pay their agents commissions, this is gonna be a whole nother ballgame. We don’t know what’s gonna happen with that. But you guys have to know about this stuff. Because there’s always a way to compete, you just have to have the best food on the block the best food is the best service and experience. Go ahead read.

I was just gonna say that. I think no, Shawn does this. And there’s a lot of lenders out there to do this. But being able to look at your your potential clients situation and help them think outside of what their little perspective is because they come in, they want to buy a house. Okay, they got the blinders on this one, how do I get that house? And what we try to do step back and look at this from a longer term perspective, whether it’s, you know, five years, what have you. And what we want to do is start with that education process and figure out what is the plans? What is the long term plan? And then what are loan options that help you achieve that. So one of the things that we do is, will always show those lower down payment options. You know, I know most agents that I talked to on the listing side, they want to see 20%, down 30 40% Down, they think it’s a stronger offer, you know, but there’s ways to present an offer, where you’re showing the client, well, you know, that five or 10% down financially is better, because you can reserve reserve that money back that you’re putting down to avoid paying, you know, 5% interest today. But you can use that money to go do something else and make more money. And even if it is to look at the prospect of a year or two, three years down the road, buying an investment property, well, having a lender partner on the realtor side of it, where that lender is thinking long term and setting that client up for the expectation. There’s future opportunities with real estate, if the market is going to go up at 10% 20%, or whatever for the next couple of years. Well now what we’re doing right now, the craziest thing is about 80% of my current pipeline is refinances. I normally do about 65 to 70% purchases, it’s crazy, because what we’re doing is we’re going back and revisiting with these clients who a year or two ago bought, now they’ve got a ton of appreciation. Now they’re accessing that equity, and looking at either improving their property, consolidating debt, so now they can afford to purchase another property, buy an investment property. So those are all opportunities. If you’re thinking big picture and long term as a real estate professional and a lending professional, you’ve got to get people thinking outside of what their immediate desire is and start planning for the future. And, you know, I know realtor’s they want to go in and make a cash offer with all these people, they’re buying cash. Well, great, that offer looks outstanding. But could you do something else with all that cash, like buy two properties, buy three properties by leveraging the bank’s money. And even if it isn’t a little higher rate today, you’re going to be able to get a lower rate in a couple of years. But you can gain the appreciation of those two or three properties as opposed to the appreciation on one, he’s got to think outside the box.

Has there been a lender yet that’s created a finance a finance certification course for real estate agents? And if so, why not?

It’s a question. But like, why,

why not? Why aren’t you creating a certification course for real estate agents to teach us this stuff? So we could go out and have the ammo? Have all the forums and the docs and all of that? Like, because I will. I’ll be honest, I don’t want to learn this shit. And most real estate agents don’t I just want my team to know it. But I need to know enough to be deadly to have the conversations and then refer them out over to you guys. You know, I mean, man, that’s a goldmine.

Finding the right partner?

I’m like, no, no, and Brian, just finding the right partner is really important. And he’s, you know, he’s spot on with the approach, you know, and my team and I were the same way. No, we, you know, we don’t really sell mortgages, we sell peace of mind. That peace of mind usually comes with a mortgage. But we talk about client’s financial financial goals. Every single client I speak to I asked them, you know, what, other than this home purchase, what other goals? What other financial goals do you have on the horizon that we need to make sure that we’re keeping in mind as we work towards a solution for you on this? You know, I declined today. So I mean, that he he’s self employed, and he really hasn’t done a great job of setting aside, you know, a retirement account. So we talked, so we talked about how we can help them into a home, try and keep, you know, not spend all of his money on down payment, so that way he can take some of that and really start to fund his retirement, which gives him peace of mind. And so peace of mind is, in my mind, one of the most important things that we can give our clients today and that peace of mind for us comes with a mortgage.

Yep. I like it. I agree. Okay, a couple more questions. We’ll get this wrapped up. lost my train of thought. But I know I was asking you something along the lines of

we’re talking about financial literacy for financial course certification course for realtors. Yeah,

that’s a good that’s a given. Like, if you own a mortgage company right now and you’re not that’s not on your agenda. I don’t know what’s wrong, you call me. I’d love to help you put that together, because that’s a fucking goldmine. I do think that people, I liked the approach you guys are taking? I think it’s smart. What do you think that the average agent though? What do you think they need other than they need to know this stuff? I mean, this is I think that everyone’s going to have these conversations, like you’re going to be sitting with a new buyer console. And you’re gonna be sitting at lunch or in your office wherever they go. And they’re going to ask you this stuff, guys. Once you start seeing the media start talking about the word recession, trust me, people are gonna get worried and scared. Because you guys the way you You made me the way you explain it, you made me feel good about a recession. Seriously, that’s what you just accomplished. Right? And normally, that our word you hear any run the other fucking way. You don’t ever like Oh, recession, I’m not buying a house. But the way you guys presented that, I think is a conversation that is going to be needs to be had with agents and their clients to some extent, and I think it’s going to be a topic of conversation to come. And we’ll see in six months if we’re right or not, but I think this is the that that advisor, consultant expert, the authority, a lot of that, and the only way you ever become that guy is by creating the content to have that conversation to begin with.

Well, Mike, every recessionary period since 1980, with the exception of 2008, you know, and and although yes, that was a recession, I don’t look at as a recession, that was a crash, right. That was a full blown crash. Every other recessionary period since 1980. Home prices have done one of two things, they’ve either continued to appreciate, or they’ve started to plateau. But when that recessionary period was over, in all of those instances, including 2008, home prices, appreciated after the recession was over. So good. So home, it’s home ownership, it like I don’t wanna say there’s, there’s never a bad time. But it’s, it’s historically proven that buying a home is almost exclusively a great way to build wealth. And so, you know, recession yeah, there’s a lot of bad things that go with a recession. I’m not going to try and fool anybody, you know, employment, you know, unemployment ticks up, you know, but if buying

a house isn’t one of them, that’s what we fucking put our hands. That’s what we that’s what we fall on the sword for dude. You know, I mean, if you if you can’t, here’s the things like, I see this all the time. I have no problem selling people my video services because I know exactly what they do for people. I know my value. I know every single person that does what we tell them to do doubles quadruples their business, if they follow the damn plan, okay, it’s not. It’s not rocket science. But there are so many people, it’s because I’m confident in my service. There’s so many people who sell their service and don’t believe in it. There’s a major difference in that I see it every day in the real estate industry. I saw a guy make a post the other day on Facebook. This is what the guy says, I’m not going to call him out. But he posts on Facebook, I’m sort of seeking this market. I can’t wait for a short sale or foreclosure market. Bro, that’s when people get a lot of pain. Your real estate agent saying this excuse me, mind you. Like who says that? That just tells you right off the bat, that you don’t have the confidence to sell your own product. So what you’re really doing is you’re poisoning people. If you’re in a restaurant and your food tastes like shit, and you continue to feed people that damn food, you’re a prick. Well, that’s a difference in the real estate business. You have you you guys have to know this shit. Like there’s no questions asked anymore.

Yeah, like getting yourself as a real estate professional is is critical right now. Because there’s there’s two words that you’re starting to hear all the time. Number one, everyone’s hearing inflation. I just saw a little news thing I was walking through the room, my wife had the news on which I hate watching. And then we’re talking about recession. So those are the two scary words that are coming out to you inflation and recession. And so as a real estate agent, you’ve got to be able to educate your clients on what does that actually mean for you if you’re contemplating getting into a new house or buying real estate as an investment? Those are not bad words for the real estate market. And people have to understand and differentiate. Yeah, can it mean job layoffs, there’s there’s pain that comes with it. But if you’ve got a good solid job and a good source of income, real estate is a hard asset. hard assets do well, in inflationary periods, and recession. Like Sean said, real estate tends to do well interest rates come down during a recession. So those are all good positive things to be able to look at when you hear the scary words because you’re gonna hear it on the news that’s how the news gets clicks and they get viewers to scare the shit out of everybody. That’s what they’re good at. But I hate to combat that.

I hate to do is if you’re listening to those turn it off. None of it’s right or accurate. Dig a little deeper.

Brian spot on and I’ll add one more thing on that. So You know, as far as you know, real estate professionals educating themselves, you know, if you’re a real estate agent, and you’re having conversation with a client, and they bring up these topics, if your only responses, that’s a great question. Let me get you with my lender. If they’re not ready to have that conversation with a lender let yet you probably just lost that business. Yeah, right. So you’ve got to be able to at least have some semblance of a conversation initially, before you get to the point where you’re like, hey, you know what, my lender can really elaborate on that topic? And let me let me connect you with you know, let me connect you with Brian, let me connect you with Sean. And they can really elaborate on it. But if you can’t have at least that initial conversation and have some level of education on it, you’re you’re you’re in trouble in this market, this market weeds out the people who are not, are not experts at what they do.

100% Last question. Well, you answered the interest rate question. So bottom line and your guys’s experience, you think that yes, rates are going to going up. But as your indicators are showing a recession is going to come in that you’re going to see the rates go back down at that time. Overall, you’re gonna see a lot of buyers who buy from now until then, to refinance back into the low rate when that hits, and you guys have enough experience to feel confident about that call, right? So this is the this is all forecasting, guys. Here’s the biggest thing I got on today’s show. And here’s the conversation. I think that if you’re listening to this, you don’t need to do a super duper edited video, you don’t need to go out do anything crazy. You can do a video email to your Bom Bom and you guys included in the subject line is inflation and a recessions upcoming. But this is why it’s the upcoming inflation and recessionary period is the reason why you should buy a house today, something along the lines like that, there’s something there that’s going to generate a lot of the clicks.

Is myself recession proof by yet.

There’s so many different headlines there. And it’s something to get there because no one’s talking about it. That’s why we’re doing this podcast. I’m going to create a piece of content here and test it on ads about what Brian had on approaching it as an investor is buying a house right now a good idea. It’s inflation coming, should you really be buying a house right now? Fuck yeah, you should, here’s why. That’s probably my attention getter. Something like

that. Even your investor clients do, you know, I was talking to another one, she’s got five properties. And you know, she’s she’s pretty sharp, she came to me and she says, No, I’m thinking about refinancing, pulling some cash out my investment properties to go buy another property, I know my rates are going to be higher, but I just look at it as you know what you need to do to be able to get to the next property, because the appreciation that I’ll get on this next property is more than going to cover the increase in interest that I’m paying on these other loans. And I said, you know, you’ve done half my job, I don’t have to educate you on it, you You’ve done a great job with it. But here’s the other thing to look at too, is if you can, no, some, some people are worried about negative cash flows on their investment properties, okay, because rents are going up, but they’re not going up as fast as the increase in the home prices. And now interest rates going up. Again, I just look back and say, you know, it’s a temporary situation and look at it that way. Because while you may have to carry, you know, a couple $100 negative cash flow, if you can handle it, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to always be that way, because you’re gonna have to things are likely to change down the road, you’re going to have rents continuing to increase because of the shortage of housing supply and the housing crisis that we’re in. So while you may be negative today, a year from now, two years from now, you’re probably not going to be negative. Plus when rates come down as we expect him to you can refinance into a lower rate and improve that cash flow situation. So again, short term costs for long term gain, you might have to absorb a few $1,000 over a year to in negative cash flow, but you’re gonna write it off anyway. And then you’re going to have that appreciation grow. So like whether it’s buying somebody buying their their primary residence or investors, like you shouldn’t have them putting these roadblocks up because of, of inflation of recession, or negative cash flow. Those are all things that are easily combated and overcome if you know how to explain and plan for what’s down the road. And that’s where that thinking outside the box is thinking past today is super important. Like you don’t always look at today’s situation as the permanent situation. You got to think down the road

100% Brian,

awesome show you guys you guys taught me a lot and you gave me quite a bit of marketing opportunities to come that’s what they are their marketing opportunities. And the more controversial you are with them, the better they’re going to do you guys, like address the elephant in the room always. And don’t hold back, like the whole point of starting a conversation and generating attention and you have a great opportunity to do so right now. Why don’t you guys if you guys need someone if your lender doesn’t know any of the stuff that we just talked about, call these guys up. Obviously, there’s a reason why we had him on the show. So if you need a lender that actually will educate yourself for you so you don’t have to go through your own financial literacy class once you guys give them your info and how they could contact you.

Yeah, go ahead, Brian. Start us off.

Yeah. Brian Cardenas. My website is www dot the Cardenas team.com our phone numbers 480314684. Or you can shoot us an email Cardenas team at finance america.com.

Yes, and I am Sean Richard with with guaranteed rate here in Dallas Fort Worth metroplex. My website is Shawn Richard team.com My first name is spelled SHA w n. So Shawn, but your team comm can also reach me via phone at 817-380-8148 and can always drop me an email at Sean Richard [email protected]

Appreciate you guys awesome show and thank you folks for listening to this episode the real estate market dude podcast if you want to build your personal brand with video and start creating consistent content so that when anyone thinks that the term real estate or mortgage instantly associate your name with it, you don’t need a bunch of leads you need more dudes let us create the content for you. All I need is one to four hours a month and I’ll turn you into a local celebrity that I promise if you follow the process it works and if you don’t believe me watch the case study where I have both a mortgage broker and a real estate agent write on my website both generate a 931% ROI plus return using video in just under six months the whole case that is there I highly encourage you guys to download it get it read it and then contact me and start getting on video because attention is the name of the game lead generation is not appreciate you guys have a good day and appreciate listen to episode we’ll be back next week peace. 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 do.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 schedule a 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.

Case STUDY: What Happens After 6 Months of Consistent Content Creation?

Today is something a little bit different. We’re not just not just me, it’s not just one other person, we actually have three of us. And what I wanted to do was get into some real life examples of people actually creating content. We have two agents, different parts of the country doing video, and they both been doing it for about over six months. And we want to see exactly what happened, what their experiences were and all that.

Christine Johnson got into Real Estate to be able to give back. Christine and her husband also invest in homes to flip or rent as well as help others find investment properties. Joel Sandman is also an agent who, prior to his career in real estate, spent over a decade in the golf business serving as a PGA Golf Professional and also worked in commercial construction. These past careers allow him to help and serve others at the highest level. 

Three Things You’ll Learn in This Episode

  • Why video is so necessary
  • Real Results from real clients
  • Tips and tricks from people who have been through it before

Resources

Christine Johnson

Joel Sandman

Real Estate Marketing Dude

The Listing Advocate (Earn more listings!)

REMD on YouTube

REMD on Instagram

Transcript:

So how do you attract new business, you constantly don’t have to chase it. Hi, I’m Mike Cuevas to real estate marketing. And 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, what we’re gonna be doing today is something a little bit different. We’re not just not just me, it’s not just one other person, we actually have three of us. And what I wanted to do was get into some real life examples of people actually creating content. One of the things that happens, especially once you get started and you’re creating videos, is that you’re like, how long is this chick going to take the work? Right? Like, um, you get impatient. And a lot of time, even with me too. Like, I’m, I’m in a process of actually launching my YouTube channel here in San Diego, now that I’m a licensed real estate agent again, and I’m gonna fucking dominate it. But I’m already myself growing impatient, because it does take time, and nothing is going to happen overnight. You have to just be patient with it. This is almost videos like, I don’t know, it’s like the tortoise and the hare type story. The whole thing with that tortoise won the race because he was just consistent over time. And then the hair kept trying to take all these different shortcuts, and over time, the tortoise won. That’s the exact same way that I want you guys to approach video. So what we have today is we have two agents, different parts of the country doing video, and they both been doing it for about over six months. And we want to see exactly what happened, what their experiences were and all that. And if you guys have any questions, you can also read them in and maybe we’ll have them back on the show. So without further ado, we’re going to go ahead and introduce our guests, Mrs. Christine Johnson and Mr. Joel Sandmann. Joe, why don’t you go ahead and tell Brian about who the hell are you wet mark? And let’s start with there. And then we’re gonna meet Christine, too.

All right. Yeah. Appreciate it, Mike. I’m Joel Sam. And I’m out here in a little town in North Carolina called Winston Salem. And I had been kind of creeping on your stuff for probably about a year before I actually called you. Just curious about it. Cuz I’m, you know, burned by some marketing stuff in the past that didn’t work. And I was very hesitant to get on video. But now that I have in kind of dialing in my brand, I’m full steam ahead.

Their roadmap is again, a little addicting. Yeah, I mean,

the thing that I thought before that I wasn’t going to have anything to talk about. And now it’s I need to actually organize what I need what I want to talk about because there’s so much and you got to stay on a on a plan.

Good. And then we got Mrs. Christine Johnson down in San Antonio, Texas. Christina wants to say hello to everyone and tell them who you are, what you’re doing, where you come from.

Alright, hey, everybody. I’m Christine Johnson. I am. I’ve been in San Antonio for about three years, and I came from the Maryland area. So when I came here, I didn’t even think I’d be considering real estate started to invest in some homes and flip houses. I decided to get my real estate license so that I could show myself the houses and not have to rely on somebody else to show me these little Junkers I kind of felt bad that they were I was wasting their time. And so I got into that and then kind of took it on as a job as well. So I’m

really like one of those sellers, one of those buyers who just uses the agent to get in the door and then you never call them again and you just call the listing agent directly up. No, I didn’t even know. No, I did not do that. Because we have to we have to kick your ass off this podcast right now. No, but um, so Christine is an organist for a little bit of time now, man my over a year, I think. Right? Yeah. And you know, you were new to your market. So I wanted to give people a couple different different things. You’re brand new into that market and video, what was your hesitation at first before you got started.

So I was never big and I’m still slacking very much on social media. I don’t post a lot I was always just the kind of creeper behind the scenes and I was fearful to put myself out there to show I wasn’t one of those people that was like I’m not gonna show my family or anything like that. I just never I just didn’t. So coming out of my shell that way was really hard for me. And so when I got into real estate I realized you know, you gotta at least people need to see your you out there. You can’t just hide behind it. So I have a degree in editing, film editing, surprisingly enough, is very old degree. So that’s dated. But I I was like, you know, I know that video that I did so many research, so much research. I mean, you name it. I did it and Of course, I had been listening to your podcast. And finally I was like, Alright, I’m gonna hit that button and make that demo call. And so um, yeah. And it’s been with with you guys ever since then. So

I’m very glad you’ve done you have we become good friends and even both you guys I like the conversations we have offline. But so I want to start the beginning because I think you guys can share a lot of insight into people who are just thinking and let’s start with the first thing that I said. And I’m going through this right now. Like, it’s like, Alright, I want things to happen. Like yesterday, most real estate agents are actually like, hi, Dee personalities. And I want to talk a little bit about different types of content. So, first thing is Joel, we’ll start with you first. You started creating content, you get your first video out there, Christine YouTube. Actually, remember when you guys first posted you guys were nervous as shit. You guys are like, Oh, I don’t know what people are gonna say. You remember that? Oh, yeah. And I’m dude, I’m the same way. Like people like Mike, you’re getting nervous to do but if I do a controversial one, I’ll get pretty nervous except I post this. Should I not post it? Should I do this? Should I do that? And I’ll even get nervous. But that’s part of being human. You guys, we had a client a couple weeks ago, and she was nervous to post that first video. She’s like, not going to post it. I’m like, dude, just post the damn video. And I do it. While I’m on the call there. By the time we get off share, he has 2530 comments. But why is that? What the hell were you so nervous about? Because if looking back in hindsight, would you ever be nervous again?

Well, I mean, I think we most people would agree in life, right? Like, the scariest thing in life is, is the uncertainty like what will happen? Yeah, you know, even if you know, something bad is gonna happen. If you kind of know the outcome, it’s alright. So you know, you’re afraid of being judged this than the other. But I think for me, you know, I kind of experienced it a little bit been in real estate for a couple years before getting started with this, that I don’t have to be for everybody. It’s that’s okay. Like, my personality is gonna work great for some and it’s not going to for others. And but you know, that is kind of scary. putting yourself out there. Especially, you know, as you get more into developing your own brand, people really get to know you. And you don’t want to get a big portion of people that may not use you. I guess that would be a concern.

How about you, Christine?

Okay, um, I’m sorry. Can you repeat that question?

What was it when you’re starting? What were you so hesitant about like it? Would you ever look back at that again, and be like, Dude, I was like, worried about like, so stupid.

Yeah, so I would, I would definitely do it again. 100 times again. Um, I remember that day. Like, it was yesterday, though, when I was, you know, when you fear the comments, and for someone that doesn’t post on Facebook, I was like, Oh, God, no, I have to tend to Facebook and I have to look and it was like, people were so responsive. And now they’re like, where’s your videos? Because, you know, I haven’t seen any and I’m like, they’re there. You just have to go to the YouTube channel. And and, you know, I get really busy sometimes, so I haven’t had a chance to put as many out there. But, but yeah, I think it’s a good thing. And I think if you’re not doing it, you should be doing it because once you do it once, then it just becomes easier each time you do it and now I mean, now I just videotaped myself I don’t even help so our encouragement, you know, so and I just talked to my camera it’s easy.

One of the guys Oh, I was just gonna say once you you know, Do this a few times you start getting in the flow of like, God I hate the way that I sound on camera. Like once you get over that you can kind of relax a little bit. I think people start reacting your videos way more to like your personality is actually starting to come out you know, see that you’re not reading or anything like that yet

we’ve just you know, that’s that’s normal to you guys. I mean, it’s part of the the progression like first time you do anything, you’re nervous, including riding a bike, get on an airplane going on a roller coaster, but do people stopped doing it? No, they seek that thrill. And truthfully what’s really happening within the industry today is that people are if you’re not marketing the people that you already know no other note that you’ve used in the past somebody else is and video is really just more about attention and whatnot. I want to bring up jokes Joe said something about putting yourself out there and he was really nervous about this but Joe you put out a you did you in a lot like you we you put yourself on a video. Do you mind if I share that story right here? Yeah, go for me. So Joel, put out a video he created a you get back out. I’ll let you share the story and why you did it. But yeah, Joel, in the past used to be an alcoholic. And he came out and told his database that so many people would not have the balls to do that. And I haven’t even talked to you to see how received that was that in detail or whatnot. But why don’t you tell everybody what you did with that what you’re thinking with it and sort of how that came about?

Yeah, so I’m, you know, still a recovering alcoholic. Now I’ve got a little over eight years of sobriety. And as you’re mentioning now I, I’m pretty grateful just to kind of be here, you know, to, to have been able to get married to have kids and to just experience life. And so yeah, I did a little bit of a video on my story and how I kind of got I got carried away with it, and how I’ve been able to, you know, at least in my eyes, be have a pretty successful life now. And like, it’s, it’s all right, like, none of us are perfect. You know, we’ve all got shit in our closets that other people don’t know about. And you can come out the other side. But you know, I talked to Mike about it before I, you know, did this, like, Is this too much? And Ken encouraged me to do it. You know, people always ask you real estate, what’s your what’s your income goal? You know, what are you hoping to make this happen the other, I’ve kind of pivoted my business now to where, on every transaction, we get back a percentage of the commission, and I don’t have an income goal anymore. Now I have a charitable goal. You know, my goal is to be able to give $20,000 of my commission every year to charity or more. And, you know, right now, we’re on pace to exceed that this year.

1000 church on Sunday. And, you know, like the, when you give your offering up, we go through a tidy thing. And those stories, man every single day up my tide when I got home on Sunday, because of that. And I do think that when you give, you always give back, I just think it’s the way the world re rewards you. I say that as a Christian. But, folks, I’ve seen it happen in so many different people’s businesses. Tell. You have a reason, though, why you’re doing that is because you wanted to bring awareness to a program, about how you give back and talk about specifically what that program does, like you’re raising money, but what’s the cause behind it?

Yeah, so we kind of came up, you know, my show name is driving triad, because I’ve got a background as a golf professional before real estate. But my program is thriving triad, I take 5% of every commission that I earn. And that goes back to it’s the client’s choice that they have a charity that they really like, but if they don’t either give it back to the United Way here. Davidson County, because I do a lot with substance abuse and addiction and mental health crisis, because depression was a big part of my issue as well. And then also to the Mental Health Association in Forsyth County, that kind of leaned into that and joined on the board of both of those nonprofits and trying to, you know, do a little bit of good within the community when I can and use what, what, you know, little platform that I have for good.

What was your response? When you posted that? Like, did you get any comments? Are you getting clients because like, that’s, that’s serious stuff, man. Like, you get it that’s hard to do for somebody, I commend you on doing it. But my guess is that it went well. But tell me if it went bad, I’m super curious. So what happened?

No, no, like, great. You know, I had some people that I hadn’t talked to in quite a while reached out to me that kind of going through their own struggles as well meet up for coffee lunch, and a couple of people have started their own journeys to sobriety not not because that obviously they’ve already been thinking about it, but they have somebody they can confide in that they know they don’t have any judgment from. And you know, as far as my business in that it’s it’s not been an issue like said you do business with people, you know, like and trust. And when you have common factors. If you have something in common with somebody, especially as deep as that other people who’ve struggled with addiction and depression and things like that. There’s just that instant connection that you know, you’re going to, you’re going to jive well together and it just goes that much easier. But it’s it’s been great. I had some past clients reach out to me as well just kind of offers support and things like that. And so it’s not a good thing. People will never

not cheer on a champion and a comeback kid you guys it’s a story of every movie that exists. Don’t be scared to embrace your faults, strengths and weaknesses and expose them to the world because that authenticity is what people want when they’re hiring anyone that’s going to represent them for the most expensive, maybe even most stressful transaction will ever do in your lifetime. Christine, I remember your one of your favorite videos I saw you do was the one that you went off the wall in front of a fireplace. You just told her how it was. And again, Christine, you start at the beginning you’re trying to have a little struggle with scripting but he got more and more comfortable. When did you start you got this new your search results like lightning roll? Can you a little bit No. When did that start happening? Why don’t you talk a little bit more about that.

I don’t know I don’t I noticed it on my like my video that I just I’m getting ready to release. Yep, I was like Huh, I guess I don’t know. I think you’d like to hear it out. I did and I I just I think because The script was coming from personal experience, I think when it comes when it’s not something that I am uncomfortable with, like, let’s say you’re doing certain neighborhoods or something that’s, that’s great. But like, I don’t know, that neighborhood, as well as I know, my own neighborhood, or, you know, the one that I just did the whole fake Bernie thing, I made it all completely up. But that’s, that’s why I think it came so naturally, was because it’s my opinion of where I live in the surrounding areas of what I was talking about. Same with my little, you know, Christmas thing and from my fireplace that came so naturally, because it’s things that I think about every time somebody gives me that gift, I’m like, man, does anybody else get these silly things? And so yeah, I mean, I think I think it’s when it’s more natural, it’s just becomes more camera.

Yeah, I think you hit on the head, you have to do stuff you’re excited about otherwise, it’s not gonna last period. And anything you do, it’s not like a video thing. But you have to, there’s so many different types of videos you can create. You’re right, you can’t just do it, just to check a box, you got to do it, because you’re actually excited. And when you are that authenticity shines out from when you guys look, keep it with you. When you started with videos, how long until you know, people started talking? Months wise, weeks wise, it happened quickly, what did you see? What’s the difference? We’ll start from the beginning. Sorry, Christine.

I’ll say I started seeing I started getting contacted within maybe six was like six months. And then like when it happened, I got like three people all at once that were all people from out of state. And it was crazy, because they were huge leads, and I’ve since closed on them. And then it comes to kind of waves and then you know now lately with the market, I get a lot of people wanting to rent, just because they, you know, can’t buy right now. But so the calls come in like waves and was super exciting when I got my first call from somebody from Maryland. And so I helped that family of you know, 10 move here and relocate. And it was pretty awesome. And we stay in great contact. So. So yeah.

You don’t accidentally find someone from Maryland. Like it’s not how it was just a perfect example of how you attract like, people. When you got the couple from Maryland, you got us to go to breweries together.

Oh, I talked to them all the time. Yeah, we don’t go anywhere because they had little kids and like everything. But But yeah, we talk all the time.

Joe, how about you?

Yes, I’m just just getting past six months right now and got my first offer accepted from a YouTube lead just two days ago. But I’ve been working with quite a few and getting getting people you know, accustomed to the meeting with people that come here for the weekend. So I probably have seven or eight active buyers that I’m working with right now from from YouTube. But I would say right, immediately, I’d say maybe two months after I started doing videos, I started getting a lot of comments from different people within the industry here that hey, I see all your videos you’re doing around town, they’re really cool. I love how you’re putting the city in a in a positive light. And I started getting more referrals from my sphere. I’ve never been this busy in the winter ever. You know, I’ve kept consistently between eight to 10 places under contract since November, which is much much busier than I normally am.

Great point. When you’re creating the content, this is the biggest thing we see is like people you don’t distribute it without a point. Like no one’s gonna see the videos. And so like, a lot of times I see like a lot of people will say, alright, I’m just gonna do YouTube. And if you don’t get views on YouTube, then it didn’t work. Well, the way the content you create on YouTube will determine whether or not you get views on YouTube. Not that it’s YouTube. Like you have to create content people search for on there. But regardless of what you guys are creating, you’re always putting in front of your ongoing networks. And if you focus on building your brand and your channel at the same time and not just one or the other, you double dip exactly like that. Christina, you’re new to your area. Right? You were new to San Antonio, you said three years ago. Yep. So you didn’t have quite a referral network to go into you’re much like what I’m going to be dealing with here. All my friends here in real estates, I can’t really sell them houses. I’m gonna go I’m gonna have to go cold Legion like and I’m gonna have to go all in on the YouTube side of things. So tell me about what happened. And as you start to develop new friends and family new people, you building the list, you nurture them, are you getting referrals? Tell me what’s happening with that?

Yes, um, so yeah, so obviously it didn’t have any friends didn’t have a sphere didn’t have any of that. So everything was pretty much you know, busting my butt to do stuff, you know, by Lee not buy leads, but lead gen all that sort of stuff. But once I got into the video, things started to really kick off putting the videos out on Facebook. Right there people remember Oh, hey, you know you’re doing the real estate I forgot. You know, you’re so brave. I can’t believe you’re doing that a lot of realtor friends of mine, from even college that are just getting into real estate, say that, you know, I need to do that video stuff. And then like, you know, my husband, my husband works with the military, I get a lot of military referrals. You know, we’re very close with military. And now I’ve built friendships, I’ve built relationships in my neighborhood, I’m very involved in my neighborhood. Ladies Night, you know, I’m always at ladies night, every single every single week, not even thinking about real estate stuff, but we’re always they’re always talking about it, you know, asking me like, so what’s latest gossip? You know, it’s so and so I heard yourself in their house. And so I’m like, I’m not saying anything, you know, kind of those type of things. But, um, but yeah, they’re really starting to roll in now. So it’s really cool.

He is like, you gotta keep building the list, though. And even for you guys, like you guys can’t stop building those lists, because you hit your own glass ceiling. Everyone’s always like, oh, I want to do more and more deals will double your database. It’s very simple. The more people who know how you do the more referrals in a business for you to get because 80% of them are gonna use the first person they meet with. So it’s either gonna be you or somebody else. And if you’re keeping your content in front of them, yeah, you get that little people tend to look up to you like a celebrity status is different. You feel it when you’re meeting with people. And they’ll be like, Oh, I seen your videos, and you’re already they already like you because of it. You don’t know what it is. Have you guys felt that? Sorry. I call like the unfair advantage. And you feel like they think that you’re like, dude, I’m just a fucking human being like, What the hell are you talking about? I’m fine. Like, I just shot a video, bro. Like, chill the fuck out. I had a girl.

Yes, it happened to me.

I had a girl asked me for my autograph right before COVID hit. I was doing a an event in. In South Florida two weeks before the pandemic hit. I was doing a lot of speaking at that time before the pandemic came. But she came up and she goes, I get your autograph. I’m like, give me your autograph. Like that is just insane. And that’s what happens to a lot of the content. There’s a dude out here. He’s an exp. Guy’s name’s Kyle whistle, shout out to Kyle whistle. He’s been doing video forever. But the way that he heard him say something that really stuck out, he says, my videos are like my employees because they’re always on 24/7 working for me. So when you have your content sort of everywhere, people you don’t know who’s watching them. And folks, it’s not the number of views that people who watch your videos all the time. So often I see Realtors gauge the success of a video campaign by how many views they get, which they’re really doing is they’re engaging the success of their campaign by how much their egos been stroked. And there’s a major difference in that. And it’s my strategy. So important period. If you don’t have like, You got to be excited about it. You got to know why you’re doing videos. But know the different types of videos to create for that. That’s the number one thing I see so many agents. Why is it my real estate content getting 300,000 views on YouTube? Because it’s fucking boring. I’m sorry. Right? Does it mean that video is not worth doing but it there is you have to take that stuff into consideration. Real Estate content, I got a ton of it. My least engaged stuff. Even my video marketing contents, my least engaged stuff. Right? The Matrix video we did was funny, it was fun. That thing rocked because we did something a little bit outside the box. But I just talked about, hey, here are the top three tips to do video marketing. Sorry, most people are checked out. So it’s not it’s not just in real estate. It’s in my business. Anytime you talk about work with the people you serve, you’re sort of being checked out.

Well, yeah, I mean, like, they’ve already done a transaction with you at this point. Like they don’t need to the market update every week. They want to know what else cool is going around on around town like and, you know, I think that’s a good strategy for anybody to if you want to get to talk to you know, places that you know are popular in town already offer to give them some free publicity, right? Like you’re already a fan of theirs, you’re trying to take their fans and convert them into your fans as well. You know, get this restaurant that you love in town that has 10,000 followers on Facebook. Oh, you know go there all the time. You know the owner go talk to him. Yeah, you can get him get her or him on video and talk about how awesome they are and don’t even talk about anything about yourself because you’re associated with them then and people are gonna like you because we have the same favorite spot.

What do you guys like doing the most out of your personally? What do you what kind of content do you like creating most Joel then we’ll go to Christine next.

I don’t know. I mean, like I have a bunch of stuff I wanted to do and you kind of kept me in check and said like, hey, you know, stay on this YouTube plan first to go ahead and get your regional terms knocked off. And that’s been huge, because I really didn’t want to do that like pros and cons of the three different cities around me but those have done really well. I’ve enjoyed now bringing on a team member being able to banter back and forth with him a little bit because that puts us both at ease. But I’m I’m looking forward to Getting out more. Now, once we have our local area knocked down on the YouTube stuff, getting out and talking to people within the community about people that are doing good things, you know, just kind of bring positivity to the area.

I like business owner interviews personally. So like, that’s where a lot of if you’re looking to build like a local audience, like you’ll meet the business owners, brewery owners, like I’m gonna do a lot of breweries, because I just want the relationships, you know, I just want to go in there and get free beer, invite my friends, maybe have a client party there and all that. And at the same time, once you start nurturing those people, we’ve seen people like literally hijack clients from other agents doing that. They say hijack meaning, like they don’t use that other agent anymore. It’s because you’re creating TV commercials, but those videos aren’t going to perform on YouTube. So a lot of people won’t do them. It’s a totally different strategy, guys. Christine, what do you tend to gravitate towards? What do you like?

Well, you know, me, I’m the shot type trying to get out there. Also green screen, so don’t get it twisted people. I still can’t get in front of everybody. Um, you know, I’m in huge in the brewery industry. And so we

I’ve been begging Christine to get up, give me some brew tours. I’m gonna do it. I’m gonna do it. I’m not your deal. Christine. If you come up to San Diego, I’ll take you to a brewery and we’ll shoot a tour together. And then I’ll train you. I’ll train you at the same time. And we’ll go ahead and do I’ll give you a San Antonio. Welcome San Diego, we’ll do the San brewery tour only under the one condition. Two weeks within the time that that video publishes. I want to see your footage in our folders on your own movie tour.

I will call my friends that are brewers right now that own these breweries and I will see

you Burke’s hold you guys hold it. I call them forks. Forks. You folks heard it here first. Sorry. Had a little tongue twister there. What else would you guys say for you know what else is struggle wise over overcome wise like what else do you guys think you could share that anybody else would? Maybe questions you get think challenges you’ve overcome

it guess you know first like you may not even really want to reach out to somebody see if they want to talk to you on video cuz you’re like, ah, you know, haven’t really done anything yet. Listen, like it’s your you’re genuinely trying to help them. It helps you in return great. But as long as you’re genuine in your requests, like, hey, you know, I love your spot. Can you want to talk about it? Most people even if they know you’re not getting 1000s of views will say yeah, man, come on. Let’s do this. You’ll never know anything until you ask. Yeah, take that first step.

Yeah, what do they have to lose? You’re giving them free publicity? Exactly. Yeah,

most most businesses are in and once you do a couple, like they’ll come out to you trust me, they’ll reach out to you. But it is easier once you have the first one or two business owner interviews because once they see I’m like shit, that looks pretty good. And then like, yeah, I will do that on my on my, on my business. What they don’t want is like the first time when you don’t have content business owner might be like, what are we really gonna do? The things are gonna really put something together. Is it gonna look legit? You know, and they’re a little worried cuz I waste my time. I’m busy. But um, yeah, it you’re right, it does. Once you have a couple of gifts, everything gets easier. But that’s how anything goes. Once you do a little bit of anything, everything gets a lot easier. I like it guys. What do you guys gonna do next? How many are you currently doing per month? And Christine, you’re doing like, you’re averaging like one a month, one to month, not creating 10 to 20 videos a month.

I was I was doing really good. And then I you know, the content gets dry. Right? So you gotta you know, it’s hard to write, keep writing, you kind of rewrite the same things in different ways. Like you said, that’s how you got to do it. I get it. But I was trying to gear towards like, where I like to where I think there’s not a lot of content out there, which I need there needs to be is where I live in right outside of San Antonio. Yeah, it’s a huge area people coming in. So I’m going to start focusing on that area and see how how things change for me.

She’s located in the northern suburbs, right by Bernie, Texas, correct?

Yeah, I’m in Bernie Texas. Yep.

So if you guys have reloads. I know half of the state of California is moving over that way. So feel free to contact Christine. She’ll put her info on the show notes. And I’m sure we’ll plug it at the very end here. Joe all by yourself, what are you gonna do next?

Now I’m now that springs flowing around and grass is green it up? I’m actually I want to talk to you about delving into my golf background a little bit more. And doing some you know, some people are gonna think it’s goofy shit, right? But talk about things that are fundamental to your, you know, tying in fundamentals for your golf game into the home buying process, you know, starting up good foundation, things like that, you know, find ways but also want to do like top three golf course communities in and around Winston Salem, Greensboro. because, you know, that’s completely subjective, right? There’s going to be in my eyes like what golf courses do I love to play where what neighborhoods do I like to I don’t probably

do good on YouTube too. It’s just golf, golf community tours that you can literally do. So here I made a deal with myself last night, I was up till 3am. So I have these big bags under my eyes. I was one working on my funnel, but to I couldn’t shut my brain off. And once a month, I get into like this weird stage where I just stay up on that and can’t sleep. So I’m just thinking about different things. So why part of the reason I had that anxiety was because I was like, I really because my YouTube channel is not fucking kicking, I don’t have enough content, right? I told you, we were just talking about this pisses me off, I’m like, I need to get business yesterday, I’ve only been licensed for 10 days, and I’m pissed off already. So I got a, I made the commitment to myself last night, I’ll make it on the podcast. And I’m gonna start publishing all of the content, just like I publish my other content. And I’m going to go and do a ton of tours and brewery tours. And I’ve committed in my head to have my own content a two to three per week. For my real estate business, it’s a lot. But I’m going to perform a case study I myself live as a brand new agent with no business, no friends, no family, no aunts and uncles, no past clients, and no market. I don’t know anyone in but real estate people. And if my gut is correct, within 12 months, I’ll have a team of 10 people. The only way that’s going to happen is you’re consistent communication to the same audience and brand over time. That’s it. Video is just a way to meet people online without having to meet them in person. And if you’re an introvert, that’s like the best fucking thing of both worlds.

Yeah, I think that’s actually something that it’s funny, you bring it up like I am. And I’m definitely not the most outgoing person out there. And my wife is a hermit. So we really don’t get out. I wouldn’t say like I would not is is the golf course. And in video now, that’s where I meet people. And then the other thing I want to tie in like, but the two things that I enjoy doing most outside of work is golf, and hanging out with my kids, like so places that I enjoy playing and play golf. And where do I like taking my kids? Like, where’s a good place? The family places around town?

Work? I like it. I like it, Christine. Yes. We’ll get you we’ll get you outdoors. Whatever that that first video, we’ll post it here, we’ll send out to our clients to we’ll send it out to the email. So make sure you guys subscribe the show here. And you’ll be seeing Christine doing her first business interview. But here’s the thing is that you have it doesn’t matter. The answer doesn’t matter. Joel’s not writing either as Christina, neither mine on what our strategies are what’s right is you have to do something you’re excited about. Right, and then do it consistently. Agree, mine is going to be very San Diego transplant like and I’m just going to tell my story of my five year journey here, which will be really authentic. And I know I’ll connect with people that way. That’s how I could create content. What I can’t create content on is the cost of living. Because even though I’ve licensed I don’t know the cost of living entirely like I did in Chicago, Chicago, I could name off top my head, but I’m getting new brand new market. So be interesting to see where the next 12 months takes us. Folks, I appreciate your guys’s time, I think you guys gave people a lot to think about you guys have any other closing thoughts you want to mention. I’ll start with Christine first.

I would say if you been thinking about it, and then you just need to do it because it’s well worth it in might make you feel comfortable if teams amazing. So I have zero regrets. And I have no plan on leaving.

I appreciate that. But folks, it’s not whether you do in me or not. This isn’t a buy my shit pitch even though if you want to I will take your money, however, and I love your business, but get on it. Like it doesn’t matter what you do with video. But like I said before, if it’s not you somebody else’s marketing and infiltrated your network on a daily basis, many times depending on your market, it’s in the form of huge ibuyers Discount companies and big Wall Street companies have a lot more money than you. And your personal brand has never been more important because without one you won’t last in the damn business. Joel, you’re up?

Yeah, I would. I would say the same thing. I wish I had started this when I first got into real estate four years ago. You know, I wish I’d done it from day one. But I will say I’m gonna go ahead and teach your own horn even if you don’t want me to. I think that you’ve done this before, right? You were a real estate agent. You’re getting back into it again. He understands how to do it. If you’re thinking about doing video like this team’s extremely easy to work with. And I don’t even have to run Facebook ads. I do it all for me now. I like you’re going to get busy if you start doing this and you need people like Mike and his team to help you get it out there.

I appreciate that. And like I said didn’t need another plug but I do appreciate that Dude, this isn’t rocket science video makes you more popular with the more attention that your brand has, the more people you’re going to track. There’s someone in your market right now, regardless of where you’re at, you’re on the treadmill, wherever you’re doing. And there’s some dude in your market or some chick in your market and you’re like, What the hell is that dude, or that chick doing that? You guys probably have this person in your brain like, how how’s that gonna kill me? Like he’s crushing me right now. Or she’s crushing me. They’re a moron. The only difference between them in any of us or any of you listening right now is that they have more attention than your brand currently does now doesn’t make them smarter, better, bigger or better. They just have more attention, aka popularity. That’s all video is don’t approach it with Legion. Second, you do. The second you will not last long term. If you approach it in the long term. Tortoise versus hare analogy we presented today it’ll always work. Folks want to go ahead and if you guys have clients or referrals, Winston Salem, Greensboro and there’s another one there that try it on Greensboro, high point, high point. Okay, so Joel, you go first and then Christine, you go next, tell them where your sights are, they could contact you. If you guys do need any relocation clients, you couldn’t be in better hands. They do a lot of these already serving these types of people from the YouTube channel so they know exactly what they’re doing. And I’m sure you guys would welcome the referrals if you want to go ahead and plug your stuff right here.

Absolutely. If anybody has anybody moving to the triad area of North Carolina, Greensboro, high point, Winston Salem especially, would love to help them Joel Sam man phone numbers 336-582-9210 And website is Sandman Realty and C as in North carolina.com.

Cool Christine floors yours

all right. Anybody relocating needs any help I also specialize with the military PCs assignments, things like that. In the San Antonio surrounding areas, Bernie any any area around there? You can find me I my website. Yes, but you can mostly find me on like Instagram at C Johnson 1006. Or you could call call or text me at 443-878-7772

Cool. Thanks, guys. And thank you for listening another episode of the real estate marketing dude podcast. Make sure you subscribe, leave us some more reviews and connect with us on social and like you heard today. Get on video guys. I mean, I don’t care if you do it with me or anyone else but I’m just telling you, personal brand is the most important thing we have. It’s the only thing that we have that as a survives any type of correction or any type of a market that we survive in because real estate’s always being transacted. But what type of real estate is being transacted will differ as the market changes. So thank you guys for listening and make sure you connect with us on social YouTube. I got this tick tock started a few videos back again it started again in April we’re delayed but I’ll have that up to appreciate you guys love you have a good one. Peace we 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 do.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 schedule a 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.

Flipping Land? Yes It’s Doable, With Brent Bowers.

Why are you helping everyone else make money and then not doing it yourself? An area that people struggle in a lot is investing, and that is exactly what we’re going to be talking about today. More specifically we’ll be talking about making money in land sales.

Today we have on an expert guest, Brent Bowers. He has a company called land sharks, and he’s going to walk us through how the fuck we split land, how we sell land, what the fuck we do with land. Over the last seven years, Brent has been able to build a business that generates upwards of $50,000 – PER MONTH – in passive income. So, let’s hear what the expert has to say!

Three Things You’ll Learn in This Episode

  • What land sales is and why they matter
  • How to generate a passive income
  • The risks of flipping and how to avoid them

Resources

Learn more about Brent & His Business

Real Estate Marketing Dude

The Listing Advocate (Earn more listings!)

REMD on YouTube

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Transcript:

What’s up, ladies and gentlemen, welcome. Another episode of the real estate marketing dude, podcast folks we’re gonna be chatting about today is doing things different. It’s what we chat about in every single episode that we have here. And when we’re gonna talk about doing things different, we’re going to talk about investing differently. I get a message we get a lot of people asked to be on the show. And we turn most of them down unless they actually have somebody that like is superduper. Interesting. And who we got today is that we often hear, and just a couple of weeks ago, we actually had a show on how agents are going to plan their retirement. And then what are you gonna do when you think about retiring? We had a show a couple weeks ago, again, that said, Hey, why aren’t you investing? Why are you helping everyone else make money and then you’re not fucking doing it yourself. So one of the biggest struggles and what I’m excited about today is that this is an area like I used to dabble a lot in investing, and I’m trying to get back into it, to be honest with you. One of the areas I never knew how to make money in was land sales. Like how do you make money on vacant land? There’s no income producing, what are you going to rent parking spaces? How do you do it? You subdivide it. And it’s just a topic that a lot of people don’t traditionally talk about. But today we have on an expert guest this is all this dude does. He does land sales. He has a company called land sharks, and he’s going to walk us through how the fuck we split land, how we sell land, what the fuck we do with land. And we’re going to learn all about land sales. Agents, listen to me. If you are not adapting an investor friendly mindset, you are going to be losing business, it’s period. Just real estate license only gives you the permission to legally collect money, it doesn’t earn anyone’s business, the more knowledgeable you are on different facets of business, whether you’re investing whether you’re cash flowing, or you’re helping the traditional residential home buyer or seller. The more skills you have, the more you get paid. And if you want to get paid in the future, you need those skills. So without further ado, let’s go ahead and introduce our guest, Mr. Brent Bowers. Brent, what is up, dude?

Hey, Mike, you know, I’m really excited to be on here. I know, when we first jumped on, I was like, What the heck, this came on my calendar. What is it now? I’m really excited. I love the energy, like you’re good at what you do, sir. Thank you. So I’m fired up ready to go to talk to some real estate agents and some investors and lenders. You know, when I was a realtor, I remember like, it was a constant treadmill of deals. And after I got that, that person that are home or or sold that person’s home, or I was even driving tenants around back in 2008, when I was a real estate agent, a real estate agent, but it was a it was a transaction treadmill, I like to do stuff that I get paid for a very long time on, you know, sometimes 30 years. That’s my preferred method. So that kind of changed. My mindset changed a little bit because I worked we worked our butts off, as well. I used to work my butt off as a real estate agent.

Yeah, it’s nonstop. It’s the peaks and valleys and you’re up and down. Stressful every month, a new month. It feels like fucking Groundhog’s Day. I mean, it really does. If you guys have ever watched that movie, you wake up like Oh, shit, this transaction goes and you get another pain. Yes client and you guess what, you just do it over and over again. But a lot of real estate agents start off in that position. And then they venture off into different things. Like I ended up as a fucking marketing dude. You know, I sold real estate for 18 years did a lot of short sale, investing and all that. And there’s different avenues that a lot of people or industry move on to because they let’s be honest, they burn out in the real estate industry. Tell them a little bit about where you’re at. And then I want to get into about how you got into lead. So you were a real estate agent, but give him your name. Tell them a little bit about your first and then let’s get into that.

Yeah, I bought my first Well, I got my real estate license in 2007. I actually thought I needed a real estate license to be a good investor because I was like, I’m gonna get all the deals as they come across my desk. Well, one of my sister agents listed a house and I put an offer on it. I thought that’s what we were supposed to do. Because I was gonna be an investor. So I put the offer on it. They accept it. I need the earnest money deposit and this is 2007 I wasn’t like rolling Joe, I had a lawn and landscape company and I went to get my real estate license and got it took me three times it passed that freakin test by the way, that stuff is hard. And I had to borrow the earnest money deposit from my grandma. And I got paid a commission to buy the house, which is I mean, I got paid to buy real estate, you hear about that in the seminars, you go to right? And rented it out. And then 2008 kicked my butt by 2009 to join the military because I wanted to go back to school kind of start something new. I got got in my head that I like, why can I Why should I be able to be a success in real estate? Everyone else is failing at it right now. So I got that in my head. And I quit. join the military. I’m in Afghanistan before I know it, and then back for a year and then back to Afghanistan. And they pulled me out to send me to college in 2013. Well, I still had that real estate bug that itch the entrepreneurship edge. You know, I was renting a house from a guy. And it was beautiful from the outside, but the inside it’s just like stunk like cat pee, because he’d never changed the litter box. Sure. I was like, This guy is renting a house for me. I’m paying him $550 A month. I’m sure his mortgage is like 800 I’m gonna do this myself. I’m going to buy a house next to the college and rent out three of the rooms and make money. I didn’t realize it’s called House hacking. I’ll

say I can Yeah. I love it. Thank you for your service. First off, we appreciate that. Every day, especially nowadays, with all the craziness going on. In 2009 Were you like, getting your ass kicked by the market? Like fuck it. I’m gonna go to the military because I don’t I was gonna go on because at that time the world was burning.

Got it, Mike. I was getting my butt kicked every day. It was so bad. I went from owning a business, a real estate license. I have a rental property. I’m married. Yeah. And I had to move in with my in laws because we couldn’t afford our rent anymore. Because we moved over to the coast and I’m now humbled. I’m starting to think like, I suck I need to do something with my life. So I did I joined the military got really humbled when I went in as an E one getting paid nothing. And I was like doing little extra things in basic training like making the beds and pulling Fire guard and just making a little extra money here and there to send to pay, you know, my back debts like I was I owed money. So 2013 Things are on the rise again. And I got some equity pretty I bought the house at a really good price. I pulled out the equity with a VA streamline bought another rental use sweat equity to build that rented it out. And now it’s time to move to Colorado. So I basically bought a house there for us to live in me and my wife and then bought a triplex with the equity from the other properties. But one thing I found out was like buying all these rentals with value add needing fix up, you go in debt pretty quickly. Like I’ve now maxed out all these credit cards and Home Depot card and student I used student loans to fix up houses by the way.

Yeah. Gotta do what you got to do, man. Yeah.

So I’m like, Okay, there’s got to be a better way. So I start Wholesaling Houses, like getting them under contract at a discount and then selling the contract. Well, the problem with that was you had to spend time with these sellers and figure out what the problem was and solve it. I’m an Army officer, I’m working like 13 hour days. And I was still searching for answers listening to podcasts like you know, the the marketing dude like this stuff like this, like searching for answers. I heard a guy doing land and I was like, No one does land. I’m driving by land every single day and I don’t realize a way to make money on it. And I heard of what he was doing. And I was like, You know what, I’m avoiding mailing the lands. So I started mailing the land. Immediately. I was mailing the tax delinquent list, the county held tax lien lists all the list. And I just blasted out 680 postcards, got a bunch of phone calls, did two deals within two weeks. Each one netted me a little over 4500. And I was hooked. Interesting where we are today.

Yeah, I bet you and if you guys aren’t, like haven’t chased motivated sellers before most people will go target. You know, you pull up tax records, and you look for distress points, whether it’s financial constraints are whatever it may be, right. But nobody fucking mails the landowners, unless you’re a developer, right? So like, but traditionally these people are getting if you if you know the space, these people get bombarded by everybody trying to buy their house. So whether you’re an app if you’re an absentee owner right now, you’re getting a mailing piece a month, no doubt because that’s that’s whatever, that’s whatever. Yeah, that’s what everybody does at least one but you’re probably getting one from like four different people, especially if you’re like in Phoenix or Florida, or some of these crazy markets right now. But yeah, that’s interesting, because direct mail you guys are still the number one way to reach a lot of people because it’ll get 100% deliverability rate you’re you can’t say that for any other form of communication or channel to reach and it’s tangible so people see it just but really quickly as well. I mean, guess what’s on the card. I’m guessing the postcard said, hey, I’ll buy your piece of land.

You got It’s like, Hey, my name is Brent. If you’d like a fair cash offer for your land, call me.

You don’t have to get super creative because everyone’s always like, what’s the content on the cards? If I’m going to direct mail be what’s the contents like knowing dude, you gotta realize you cut right to the chase. Hey, I want to buy your shit. You’re interested call me. Here’s my fucking cell phone number dude, you know, like, like, and then the more unprofessional works, the better that usually the stuff on direct mail works. Alright, so what

are what happened? I might use that. That’s amazing, actually. And it’s handwritten is Oh, yeah, three, three and a half by five, like the cheapest card you can get. Um, so the first one, I had no clue what I was getting into. It was two lots on the side of a mountain looking at, you know, the Pikes Peak National Forest and Palmer lake. So me and my wife drive down there with our newborn baby, and I’m like, this is beautiful land. And guess what the seller told me he’s like, look, it’s yours for $285 Take it off my hands. And this guy was no dummy. He was a CPA retired. He’s like, I traded this like 10 years ago. I’m ready to be done. Like get it off my hands. You already $5 You bought the land for you got it, Mike. Got it. So I’m like, Okay, I’m second guessing myself. So we drove down there. I’m like, holy cow. So we found that it wasn’t buildable. Because there’s only one ingress egress. The firefighters won’t let you build because like they can get pinned down. And the city is not letting them build a road over the railroad tracks. So I call the first real estate office. I see. I’m like, if anybody knows it’s gonna be the real estate office right down the road. Well, long story short, that realtor ended up making an offer on it. On the spot, basically, I was like, hey, what’s the blowout price? How can I get rid of this for on the MLS? Can you list it? She’s like, maybe 10 grand. And she goes gave me the whole backstory of that area. Like she was educated on it on a Saturday to this woman is a rockstar. So she called I hung up with her. I thanked her for a time I said, I’ll let you know when I own it. So you can list it. She calls me back within like five minutes and says, Hey, Brent, what if I bought it from you? She offered me five grand for it. And she said I can close in a few days. I was like, please send the contract deal. So I paid the seller on Tuesday got my $5,000 Check on Wednesday, it was that quick. And I’m like there’s no way this could be that easy. And did another one a week later. And that same scenario. Very similar, not accessible, not buildable surrounded by if you notice I’m talking about like very inefficient land here when I’m starting out. And no one has ever mailed these guys. So that’s why they’re like, just take it like this one was 500 bucks, almost five acres surrounded by a state land which is a beautiful area. I put it on Craigslist bought on Saturday for 500 Put it on Craigslist that night, sold it on Sunday for $500 down, I got my investment back out of the property. And then $400 a month, and I now had passive income. My paradigm shifted. Because of this time I’m ready to go the military. I have a wife, a brand new baby, and I want to be home more often. Sure. Um, because I was always gone, always deployed, always training and that’s not good on a marriage. And I’m missing my son. Yeah, um, so that gave me $400 A month it paid my truck payment and I was like I told my wife I was like, if we can just keep doing this. If we do this 12 times that will cover our entire outgoing each month that’s that’s gonna give us magistrate resilience.

You’re holding the paper, you’re calling around selling it and you’re holding paper and people are paying you back. Yes, sir. Love it. Wow. All right. So let me I got a couple questions. I know a couple of people in New treadmills. Like what the book Bub used to lose $400 Alright, so let’s start through and just look at land in general. So overall, is a strategy here, that you guys have been using or you’ve been using is, is you find people who want to sell land, they’re probably gonna do a little bit of a discount, and you just turn around and bring it to someone who’s more knowledgeable in the area, and then they sell it. Or is because it’s cheap land like what how, what are the price points? Like what do you shy away from? Are you only buying land in the hundreds of dollars range? That makes a lot of sense to me, cuz there’s probably a lot of those. Or are you buying land like, Are you searching land for 300,000? You’re looking lots and all that stuff. So where does it started? What type of land because like in real estate, we could go condos or we could buy townhomes we could go single family homes, we go multifamily. So what type of land deals do you go after them today,

I target the entire county because here’s the thing. The ones I stay away from are the ones that I can’t get at a discount and sell for a profit because that’s at the end of the day. All I’m doing is buying it for one price and selling it for a little bit more. And I love holding up the note because that gives me time freedom and gives me passive income. Some of these I’ve sold on 30 year mortgages at 9% interest. I mean if you get a $200,000 mortgage from the bank at 6% interest, you keep it for 30 years and never refinance. You’re paying back over 420 Like that’s compounding interest working for you. That’s a retirement account basically. So I target the entire county because it allows me to build a buyer’s list in that county, because some people are looking for that four acres, some people are looking for that one acre, some people are looking for the 36, or the 440 acres. So I basically try and get every every parcel at a discount. My third deal was actually from a bank, the land with his 44 acres next to Schriever Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, in the banks, that bank wanted, like a lot of money for it, but they had that they foreclosed on it, basically. And they are behind on their taxes. That’s how I found them. And I wanted it for 20 because I was so nervous. I didn’t know I didn’t have 20 grand, by the way. But I was like, Okay, if it’s worth maybe 80 I’m getting it for like 20 cents on the dollar, or maybe what 2040 6080 I’m getting it for like, cheese 1/4 of what it’s worth. Sure. So I can go for 20 About a month went by and they find is like, dude, listen, Brent, you want the damn land, it’s 25,000 Sign the contract, and we’ll do it. Well, this was a Friday night, like, whatever, I signed it, and I didn’t sleep that night, I was like, This is crazy. I don’t have $25,000 They’re gonna sue me, I’m going to go to jail, I’m gonna, they’re gonna take my security, or they’re going to take my my secret clearance away, because blah, blah, blah, I had all these things going on in my head. And fear and doubt what I did I remember one of my coaches telling me if you ever get a piece of land under discount, or under contract at a discount or house at a discount, and you want to offload that contract, go out and put 33 bandit signs saying, you know, three to must sell your phone number cash only. So what did I do? I put 44 acres 38k had it under contract for 25. My phone number and I put those signs everywhere on a Saturday, and I got a phone call. First one was like, don’t you put these signs on my property? Come back here are gonna call the police. So I got another phone call. And I’m now bracing for impact. Yeah. And the guy goes, where are you? I see these signs going up everywhere. Me and my wife sold our ranch in in Texas about two weeks ago. And we have been driving all over Colorado looking for land. And I see these signs going up. And me and that man met on the side of the road shook hands at $38,000 I had my buyer. I was gonna I slept so good that night, on Saturday and great what happened on Sunday? I got an even higher offer of 14,000 over what that man and I shook hands on. And now I had a crossroads. I’m like, What do I do? And I’m calling that Texas Texan gentleman and said, Hey, I know that we agreed on 38,000. I just had a $14,000 higher offer. He goes we shook hands on. It’s like I know. I was wondering if maybe you wanted to split that 14,000 I’ll give you seven grand for just meet me on the side of the road because that was life changing money back in 2016 For me, and he said no, I want the land. So I had to like swallow real hard. And I said, Okay, it’s yours. And that was it. Like we just kept doing these deals over and over and over and

over. Sometimes Karma comes back and pays you for though dude. Like one thing in real estate investing, like even we just do a lot of short sales. And we never took advantage of people. And I always kept our word. And I’m telling you guys, if you ever tried to pull it over, I guarantee you that God’s gonna pay you back one day some way and never fails. It’s common like, right, and that’s good, good for you way to keep that. That’s from the service for sure.

That was hard. One of the hardest things ever did. Yeah. Well, thank God to this day, I am so happy that that’s the way it worked out.

So let’s go let’s fast forward today. Let’s say for somebody that does have some capital, somebody that does have something to invest, where are the deals and one of the most lucrative I mean, it’s really you’re just buying low selling high. I mean, what do you turn down? What don’t you do? And then how much diligence you have to tie in between like, do you do a 10 day? Contingency when you when you want to go out there and find the buyer? And will you ever close on land if that buyer is not located?

Absolutely, yeah, we do all the time. Now I built up so much confidence in this like if you’re getting something at such a margin of safety such a steep discount, 30 cents on the dollar 20 cents of the dollar, it’s almost a no brainer, because Americans think how much is it going to cost me each month, not the total purchase price. So buyers will pay nine 12% and finances as long as you make easy affordable payments. Well I don’t always have the my own cash my own cash to buy this. So like I just use my father in law to buy three lots. We are listing it with a builder and they’re going to build to suit right on it. So that’s one deal. We are buying 36 acres that we are going to develop and I don’t have the

let’s actually here’s how they’re gonna let’s go through each one of those because I think if we apply the application to it and more of like a case study, I think they’re going to get your out of this. Give me that first one that’s interesting. The builder so you locate three residential lots. Yep. So your lease it to him and then he builds the suit but he’s not having to buy their ticket on the land. So it works for him right? Got very

similar. So we actually just went into a new market in Florida. And we got three lots under contract. And I I said, Look, we don’t have a buyer’s list in this area. So what I Googled builders, Palm Bay, Florida, this is the area so I called every single builder in that area and said, Hey, I’ve got three lots, here’s the street. Let me know if you want them left a message. And some sent me their voicemails some some I text as well. If I left a message, I also texted them. And then some sent me like, hey, send it to this email. Well out of those like calling those 15 builders, one of them said, Look, I’m actually building right on the street right now. You can list those things with a house model that I do. It’s an Eco Friendly House, they won’t have a electric or water bill because it’s all solar panel, yada yada. He said you can you could price I said What can I sell the lot for the actual land? He said 30,000 to two easy, no problem. Well, I’m buying them for 15,000 each. So I’m spending 45 We’re gonna make 90 and I use my father in law. We’re paying him 9% on his money for the next three months. And I asked us like what, what is the most amount of time this could take to sell it to someone that wants to build a home because there’s only 300 houses on the market in Brevard County right now. And that includes multifamily duplexes. triplexes, mobile homes, manufactured everything. Well, there’s over 800 Real estate agents in that market. So that tells me there’s a demand right now for building. So we just bought them last night, and the builders gonna list them with his house model on them here in the next couple of days. And hopefully it’s a 90 day flip, we make a quick 45,000. That’s that case that we’re doing this week.

And they’ll buy they’ll find the end buyer That’ll buy the lot, you get cashed out that the builder builds a house,

and they’re getting a bank loan called a construction loan to build their house.

Makes a lot of sense. I like that a lot. Let’s go through the second one you’re going through

the second one now I didn’t start here. I like I got my confidence built up. The second one that I just mentioned, we’re looking at 36 acres that a realtor brought me in Sebring, Florida right on a major major highway, US 27 North, it is already zoned and approved for RV lots. It also has nine vacant commercial lots that we could put site pads on. They just threw up a Wawa a half mile from the property line. So there’s a lot of opportunity here. It’s an old developer. And it’s so funny how this is working out 82 year old developer, and he’s got a lot of projects going on. And he’s basically bringing in young people and money to help them complete everything. Well, long story short, the same realtor that brought me the deal. I call him on the way back from looking at this 36 acres. I was like I love this guy. I think we can figure something out. It’s so funny. He actually just sold an RV park in the town. I grew up in Okeechobee and Joe is a realtor. He goes Brent, you know where I met him, right? I was like I had no clue. He was on that land in Colorado. I was like what land in Colorado, it was a piece of land that I wholesaled in Colorado five years prior, same owner. So it’s just amazing how these things work out. So going back to that deal. We’re syndicating the deal. We’re syndicating the funds, we are going to purchase the land. And basically we’re going to build these RV, this RV park is already bringing in income it’s already got an RV service centers already got storage, it’s already got 17 RV spots, bringing in income, we’re just gonna expand the footprint

because when you have the land you can act as the bank on other people’s money guys, that’s what he’s getting at if he just locks in the land, and you’re just brokering it. Like the agents and that’s where I think that’s a really interesting niche because like the agents, the vast I’d say 99.9 agents don’t know anything about land, but about 30 or 20% of them will have people that would want to buy it. They don’t have the education to take the land down themselves. But if I was an agent, I probably be the number one listing agent in the area because I would have every listing I go to every single builder with land OPERS opportunities and then once I have all the listings I’d also have all the buyers that’d be controlling my own inventory. Think about it folks. This is what you have to do in this type of market in a tight inventory market like this you cannot just wait for houses to come on the market. You got to go manufacture deals. This is how you do it.

I love that man that’s that’s amazing. You got my wheels turning mike

so there’s a lot of opportunity here what let’s get let’s flip the script. Let’s do some pitfalls that could happen and buying land because not everything is all peaches and roses all the time. Oh yeah. So what’s some shit we need to watch out for? What do we got to be on the lookout for that we might get our asses kicked to say the least.

Let’s talk about my sixth and seventh deal. or maybe my ninth or 10th It’s a little fuzzy at this point, but I got a little cocky probably wanted to get probably wanting to

get it out of your brain. That’s why you get a couple kick back and forget about that bad memory. Right?

Yeah, I started getting a little arrogant about it. And I’m still doing my army officer job, I think we’re have we’re, you know, I got my first kid. And we’re about maybe my wife gets pregnant again, with our second baby, I really enjoyed, like the success we’re having in this, I’m like, so happy, I’m not having to deal with houses that much anymore. And I just start buying land sight unseen. And I see it’s assessed for, you know, 3600, I’m paying half of the assessed value. So I’m paying like $1,800 for it. And I see the county gives me a market value of like, 36,000. And I’m paying 1800. I’m like, no brainer, right? Well, there’s things like treasures deeds, where people pay the back taxes for a certain amount of years, and they can take the land via foreclosure. Well, that’s what happened with this with this owner, the seller, and they’re like, Yeah, give me 1800 bucks, it’s yours. So I would just like meet people with cashier’s checks, just buying land, getting a quitclaim deed and not running title search and title insurance and getting a title insurance policy. And then I didn’t go look at it. And turns out, it was like a huge crater in the ground and Woodland Park, Colorado. But I was like, it’s a no brainer, like, right, cuz I’m getting it for 1800 bucks. Well, I start coming into play, I sold this thing for 36,000. I already had a buyer lined up. And we go to we go to closing, they were fine. They they’re the ones that told me about the crater in the ground. They were fine with that. But when they figured out they can’t get title insurance for the next nine years, because there’s a cloud on the title like things start like, Okay, wow, I wish I would have known about this in the very beginning. And there’s ways around it, we could have gotten through it with a, you know, you know, it’s called Quiet title. But I didn’t know that at the time, either. And the title company didn’t tell me I could do that. So all these little things, it’s like, okay, you got you start getting a little arrogant, and you start pondering and start learning your way. And it’s actually they’re all blessings, and I ended up selling that land for about $3,000. And I held the financing to get my money back out of it. But it could have been so much better. And you know, those little pitfalls by not running title searches. By not getting a title insurance policy by not sending somebody to go look at it, I could have hired someone on a on a Buy Sell group for 25 bucks to go take pictures, or better yet, that land specialist Realtor you just talked about my xao That’s what we call.

So do your diligence, no matter what pull title, get insurance full, full shebang. And that should be I mean, mostly real estate agents, you know, you guys have that in your ingrained in your brain, you should at least, but I could see, I could see that what anything else that you would advise that another pitfall was, you know, another

thing is like, buying land, you know, know what’s buildable, like know how many acres you need to be able to put a septic system like Colorado, you need one acre. Colorado Springs, you need 5000 square feet, to be able to build on there that’s like the minimum footprint. And you have to be you have to be in front of the sewer lines and the water lines or you’re gonna spend a boatload of money bring in. Like for things like that. Pueblo, Colorado, you need to know that it’s like $35,000 for a water tap right now, just knowing little things like that, and not being like, okay, it’s worth, it’s worth 100 I’m only paying 20 It’s a no brainer, right? Just knowing like, okay, who’s my buyer? What’s the buyer gonna want to do with this? Are they gonna want to build on it? Or is this like going to be an off grid cabin, like, I love recreational land and stuff that’s in the middle of nowhere that no ever build on, but you got to buy it at the right price. And so I would say that’s probably another pitfall just knowing what’s buildable, and then higher is.

And let’s do that really quick. And we’ll do one more and we’ll get this rap. Recreational land land that’s like that first deal. You mentioned like a land land that’s in the middle nowhere that is not going to be anything built. There’s not gonna be commercial built. There’s not going to be a house built there any time. Who’s the we’re gonna unload something like that

too. Well, that was that second parcel that five acres that was surrounded by by the state lands. That was actually right next to Fort Carson, Colorado, the army base, and just south of NORAD actually where they track Santa Claus. The guy that bought that just wanted a piece of land that he can go and sit in like a tree stand and watch the turkeys go by like the guy was like a nature lover. He and he knew the only way who’s ever going to get legal access in and out of that that area ingress egress was by hiring an access attorney. And you can find those by you know, talking to the title company, he knew is gonna have to spend a fortune doing that. But that guy just wanted to be out and out in the wilderness. Yeah. Other people like You know stuff we bought in the middle of nowhere in Colorado, they just want a place they can go ride their quads or their dirt bikes or camp, or you know, you name it bring your RV type thing. And the

stuff that’s way out there you got a lot bigger buyers because you’re dealing with like a $5,000 piece right? $10,000 $15,000 $12,000 not buying 100,000 or parcel land if it’s a male nowhere it’s it’s low price. So you could the risk isn’t as high for you to take it down. You could afford to wait six months to sell that land. If it’s 1000 bucks, right?

And you can get a longer contract like Hey, Mister, mister seller, Mrs. Seller, I get it. You own this land for 10 years, you want to get rid of it. I buy and sell land for a living my full time jobs to military. This is a way for me to make extra money. Is it okay? Do you have a heart? Do you mind if I have if I line a buyer up before I actually buy it from you? So I’m gonna need a 90 day contract to do that. Is that okay? I’m actually gonna market this thing all over like Craigslist and Facebook and Zillow. Is that okay? If I find a buyer before I actually buy from you, and then they come on my side. They’re like, yeah, absolutely. We hope you can make some money off of this. And now I had 90 days to have a buyer lined up with $5,000 down and $200 a month for the next seven years.

Yep, makes sense. I love it dude. I think it’s very creative. It’s great niche. What do you think your competition is in like a market like how many other people do you have? Let’s just take like Fort Collins seems like you know that area very well. In Fort Collins, how many other guys or gals are there out there like you going after these lands? Like what would you guess? And then what is it like in Florida?

You know what I say there’s virtually no competition in this there are a bunch of there are several guys like me, I am training them. And I say there’s virtually no competition because most people drive by land every day. And they don’t see a storage unit on it. Or or multifamily or a mobile home park or house they can buy and flip. So they’re driving right by it and not even thinking anymore about it. So the big institutional guys like with a lot of the pockets are not messing with it. But the guys that like I’m creating by teaching them with the land sharks, how to build businesses that serve us, our families and others. There’s not a lot like one of my land shark students right now just got 28 Lots under contract in Colorado, that they’re they’re building right down the street from we’re going to join venture, we’re going to do the deal together. And we’re both going to make a ton of money. And I wouldn’t have ever found that land if it wasn’t for that that amazing student going out and taking action and nailing and talking to seller. So you could squat up you can joint venture like you don’t have to do all this on your own.

Yeah, makes a lot of sense. Love it. Brent, why don’t you go ahead and tell everybody if you guys like what we talked about today, check out what Brent does. He does. You guys have like a coaching program and training thing that you bring people I want you to go ahead and tell them where they can get more info.

Absolutely. I’m a wholesaling Inc coach on their official land coach, if you’re if you’re looking at like trying to figure out more about this, you can go to YouTube and you know, search Brent Bowers, find me on YouTube. Definitely subscribe, trying to build that thing up started about nine months ago. And if you want to schedule a call, and see if this is a good fit for you head on over to the land sharks.com

Oh, appreciate it. Brent, awesome show and thank you guys for listening to another episode of the real estate marketing dude, podcast. Folks, if you’re looking to build your personal brand with video, we will script that and distribute your shit for you. It’s not very hard. We make video marketing very simple and turn you into a local celebrity in your market. And if you’re sick of training and you’re sick of going on Zoom training, why don’t you check out the event we’re having in April right here in San Diego. It’s called the best real estate conference.com It’s the best real estate conference calm. If you are interested in attending that make sure you use the promo code dude d U d, dude and you will save some money. I saved you some money on that ticket. Make sure you go zoom training is getting old. If you want to go back to live in training network with people like you just spoke with and heard from today. Do it live events. I can’t tell you you always walk away with something. This is the one to attend. Thanks for listening to their episode, follow us on all of our social channels and keep leaving us reviews. We appreciate you guys and we appreciate you listening and we’ll see you next week. Adios 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 do.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 schedule a 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.

What Kind of Videos, How to Script, & How to Distribute

Welcome to the second training on video marketing and building your brand with video. What we’re going to be talking about in this particular training is going to be how to script, distribute, and multipurpose your video content. If you did not watch the prior video, we spoke all about your video strategy and how important it is to dial in to the right one for you and why we’re doing it to begin with. Watch that before you watch this one. So as long as you have, then we’re going to go and get right on into it.

Everything you do in real estate is content, whether it’s listings you’re taking, the case studies you’re creating or clients you’re serving, even just pictures you’re sharing on social media, of really, really cool stuff, or it’s blogs, or writing or videos we’re creating. Everything you do is content and once you realize that everything you do is content you start realizing that the content you’re going to create is going to be much like your own little HGTV series. Let’s dive into that today!

Three Things You’ll Learn in This Episode

  • How to make content creation easy
  • The importance of authenticity
  • The best brand building tool

Resources

Real Estate Marketing Dude

The Listing Advocate (Earn more listings!)

REMD on YouTube

REMD on Instagram

Transcript:

So how do you attract new business, you constantly don’t have to chase it. Hi, I’m Mike way ambassador, 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 everybody, and welcome to the second training on video marketing and building your brand with video. And what we’re going to be talking about in this particular training is going to be how to script distribute and multipurpose your video content. But if you did not watch the prior video, we spoke all about your video strategy and how to and how important it is to dial in the right one for you and why we’re doing it to begin with. Watch that before you watch this one. So as long as you have, then we’re going to go and get right on into it. So what we’re really talking about folks is content creation, and we’re going to go a little bit deeper than we did in the previous training. And everything you do in real estate is content, whether it’s listings you’re taking, whether your case studies you’re creating or clients you’re serving, or it’s just pictures you’re sharing on social media, of really, really cool stuff, or it’s blogs, or writing or videos we’re creating, like what we’re talking about here, where you’re creating neighborhood videos or other community information. Everything you do is content, small business owner interviews, it doesn’t matter. And once you realize that everything you do is content. And you start realizing that the content you’re going to create is going to be much like your own little HGTV series, right like last week, we talked about creating a show. And if you look at any of these shows on HGTV, they’ve already done a lot of the work for us. They’ve showed us what the appetite is for what people want to see on television. And because there’s a whole damn channel dedicated to our profession, I don’t understand why we overthink this so much the content creation should be really easy. And it is, but content creation around your personal brand, is what you want to dial in. Because that’s ultimately what people are going to remember. So, you know, the reason why the first training we created this, this show is because it’s just like we’re creating an HGTV show, if you have a show, what is the purpose of it. And that’s going to determine the content that you create and how you create it many times, because you’re simply just the host. And these videos are not about you. You don’t need to sell people all the time on real estate or mortgage or whatever side of the business you’re in. But it is your job to remind them that you exist. So when you create a show, every time you’re publishing or you’re creating content, or you’re distributing your content, it doesn’t matter. Every single video people see will remind people that you’re in real estate, so you don’t necessarily have to hit him over the head with your calculator or your lockbox. So look at the content, you have an excuse to market your database and attract people just like you. That’s exactly why we dialed in the content strategy. You know, we spoke about it briefly. Last week, you know, you have to be doing stuff that you’re excited about doing if I started doing a bunch of cooking videos, it’s not going to be that authentic, and therefore nobody’s going to watch them. So the key is really figuring out what kind of content are you excited to create that you can see yourself doing long term and over time. Because once you nail that this should be fun, then the key is you do not want to make your content boring, you want to make it authentic. So where most people start is what kind of videos am I going to create? This is the biggest holdup? What do I say? How do I say it I’m too fat. I don’t like the way I look or whatever it may be. But it’s so important that once you define your strategy, first, you’ll know how to communicate through your brand. That’s the key of having a brand. You cannot build a brand without creating a bunch of content all around it. It doesn’t go the other way around. Someone who’s not creating content and not in communication with anyone and no one knows exists doesn’t have a brand. But someone who’s consistently creating content on a consistent basis, put it in front of a bunch of people that are responding and engaging with it. Well, you start to build one. So we’d like to build the show and then create content for the show because the show will determine how you create videos and they’ll identify a way for you to find video styles that you like, so that you can run with it. Video is not lead generation and that’s what you want to get out of your head at least in the way we’re explaining it. I can create videos for leads. And I can do call to action videos and we do if you visit my site, you’ll be retargeted with a few of them. But

it’s a brand building tool. That’s what we’re using it for in the real estate industry. It’s a referral based business. So we have to stay in communication with With our audience with our database with our people that are responsible for sending us referrals, repeat business and doing business with us in the future. That’s what we’re doing it for. Because if you stop talking to your significant other, what’s going to happen, you’re going to get a divorce, and they’re going to cheat on you, when you stop talking to your database, the same damn things gonna happen. And you want to approach your video marketing campaign no differently than you would like direct mail farming. Direct Mail, farming has been around since the dinosaurs ruled the earth and how it works. I’ve done so many different podcasts with people all over the place. And I could tell you straight up, everyone has the same stats. And typically how a direct mail how farming campaign works with direct mail is, you know, you pick an area $200 $500, whatever it may be. And after year one, you spend a direct mail piece to that neighborhood and it shows up on their doorstep every single month. Year one, you might get one to two listings, your two, you’ll see five to seven, your three, it starts going seven plus maybe 1012. And the reason why that occurs is because the people who live in that neighborhood, when you keep showing up and communicating with them. Over time, they start to realize and say, hey, that’s that real estate guy. That’s his neighborhood, he knows this neighborhood more than anything, then they start seeing your face and they start seeing your other content, they start seeing you in a grocery store. And it’s consistent communication that makes the farming campaign work. Well, we’re doing the exact same thing with video. But the only thing that’s different with video is whom we’re targeting, I would much rather target my database, my friends, family, aunts, uncles, anyone that has ability to do or, or refer me business. And that’s going to come from the relationships you have in life. However, if you’re farming a camp if you’re farming a market, or if you could still farm with video. So you know, look at your audiences, like we spoke about last week, the primary audience is always going to be the people that know like trust and love you first and foremost. But my point is on this slide here is that if I did direct mail for, you know, 15 months, and I decided to take four months off, did I just screw up the previous whole campaign, probably, that’s how important consistency is. And you’ll never be consistent with video, if you’re not excited about your process, or what you’re creating content on, you’ll push it off, you’ll kick the can down the road, like so many other people do. That’s why that first training was so important. So what we’re going to do is walk you through a bunch of different types of videos. And then you can see what, what, uh, what they sort of look like. Now, I believe the sound is going to come on out here. And what we’re gonna do here is walk you through just a couple different videos, and I’ll sort of let it play in the background when we talk through it. But this is a case study, right? So how much house can I afford case study, this is a mortgage broker and a real estate agent teamed up together. And they created a case study on a client that they both helped out. And they just basically walk through the scenario, as you see right here step by step. They’re in the Denver market. And oftentimes one of the things that

I can’t stand personally with real estate agents is when they are always posting just listed just sold. It’s it’s not cool to brag about how much money you made. But it is cool to tell story about the people you served. So I just challenge you to if you thought about how much more attention would your brand get if you started saying, hey, this 45 year old single dad just got his daughter her first own bedroom and guess what they’re owning, and his payments $300 less than it was when he was renting. Here’s how that’s called a case study. So you can create case studies and get testimonials on video, you can just tell the story. But there’s so many different types of case studies that you can go out there and create. See a case study is nothing more than what every HGTV show is. Except those case studies are about 30 to 60 minutes long, their full out productions, we’re doing the exact same thing, but anywhere between a four to seven minute video in this exact case. So what they’re doing here is just walking people through just exactly how they created and backed into a monthly payment and helped out one of their clients and how they qualified and all of that. So it’s very important that this could this style video could apply anytime you have a really cool story to tell. Right? And it’s just an easy way to go off and do it. Now, as we go through these different videos, I’m going to give you the pros and cons of each of them. So these videos will have pros and cons to them. But regardless of what you’re creating, everything’s going out to your database and we’re going to cover the distribution part. But you’re always going to post content and make sure everyone that you know sees it. Then you’re going to multipurpose it to other places and we’re going to cover that but for this time type of video the pros and cons are, these are really easy to create, you know, you’re just telling me the story that you got paid on essentially right? So you know it very well. Contents very easy to script, you could shoot these at a house, you can shoot these on a green screen, you can shoot these at your desk, the key is having the story and having the right, you know, format for it so that people understand it. And people follow it. It’s very good for authority, it’s good for conversion content, I love case studies, I’m like review pages on websites, very effective for that. And just think about when you hire a service, a lot of times one of the most visited pages on your site, at least mine is, is my reviews pages, because people before they schedule a demo with us for to interview us for their video marketing. They’re also looking for to make sure what other people say about us. So for a case study the way you multipurpose this content down the road, it’s good for core content, it’s good for conversion content and our social proof. But don’t expect a ton of views on YouTube. You know, if your whole strategy for video marketing is going to be I want to blow up my YouTube channel. Well, this is probably not the right type of video to do. Unless you have some really interesting things like dead bodies under houses. Really crazy, like ghosts in a house like that. Unless it’s something compelling like that. Chances are you’re probably not going to get a big YouTube following on that. So these are the different things you sort of weigh out when you’re looking at, okay, why am I creating content? What’s the purpose of the content I’m creating? Am I doing it to build a brand? Or am I doing it to attract new clients? But it doesn’t? There’s so many different ways that go that answer will be different for everybody. So let’s check out another video right here. This is an agent Orlando. Orlando, colorful neighborhoods. You’re ready, let’s roll. So he has a series called touring for and then it named brand of his team, as you see on screen right here is the Rockstar home team makes sense for Rockstar to have a series called touring for, because that’s what rock stars do. But because we’ve developed and identified what the strategy is everything he does will be on tour home tours, neighborhood tours, bar tours, music venue tours, it doesn’t matter the themes been created. But he’ll never run out of things to say, No, I love doing neighborhood videos, I love being on site. There’s a lot of benefits to doing these types of videos. But there’s also some pros and cons to them. So what we’re going to do is walk you through exactly what all of those pros and cons are. So pros and cons for neighborhood tours now. So one of the best videos, you can absolutely do, no doubt. They can do really good on YouTube, if you keyword it correctly, and you cover a neighborhood that gets a lot of love and views. Well yeah, you could get 1000s of views on this. And on Facebook, people like these two people like seeing the tour, they like the personality to come out. So they do extremely well on both YouTube and Facebook in terms of engagement.

Definitely one of the best videos to do. But the negative part about a neighborhood tour is it takes the most amount of time to create unfortunately, that’s why we don’t get enough of them from any of our clients. Because you’re that video, you’re going to go on the neighborhood, you’re going to go on site, you’re going to take us on a like a walking tour going to show us around different aspects. Now you can also create these videos in studio and in in, even on a green screen. But you got to have the footage or the B roll of the neighborhood to pull it off. So there’s a lot of ways you can shoot these and get them done. It’s all just based on comfort level but no doubt neighborhood tours neighborhood community videos are definitely one of the best videos you can do. Next one you see here is business owner interview. So

my name is Melissa DeSantis with exp Realty and welcome to another episode of mama three to find a one show that focuses on everything. And

so in this case, this is a business owner interview, you guys have probably seen some agents that have done business owner interviews. Now, this has another very specific strategy. I see these work differently in different markets. The key is what are the right business owners interviews to do for you. The show you’re looking at right here is called mommoth. redefined. And obviously this is a pop up business and the Christmas season. So they redefine what they offer there. It makes a lot of sense to be on brand. But this is also the whole local celebrity strategy, right. You might have heard that term used in many trainings or from other trainers. They’re teaching a lot of the same stuff that we do. But business owner interviews are great for brand. The key is to make sure you do the right ones. If you recall from the first training, we walked you through a couple different shows. Couple different you know show concepts. And if you’re going to do businesses, well make sure they’re on brand is on my only advice. So for example, if you were a military brand, make sure you do veteran owned businesses. If your brand is based on you being a parent or a mom or dad, make sure you interview kid friendly restaurants or kid friendly businesses or parent friendly businesses, if your whole brand is based on being a single bachelor, and all you do is Chase women, well, you know what type of content you’re gonna create the nightlife, the nightclubs, the bars, and all of that. You see, what business owners you’ll create interviews on are going to be based upon what your brand is. Remember, the videos you create, enhance your brand. That’s what we’re after right here. So once you dial in the show, you could see what type of businesses that you would cover, or that your brand would cover. That’s the key for doing the entire damn thing and not running out of content to say, a very popular show that you may not may know of diners, drives and drives with Guy Ferrari. That’s a food show. Okay, a lot of people have seen it on the Food Network. But what kind of food is he covering, he’s covering very specific niche of food. He’s not interviewing five star Michelin restaurants, he’s going after the grease pits of America and hangover food for dudes. So it’s very on brand for him. So you got to figure out what that is for you. So let’s go through some of the pros and cons. Again, it’s the local celebrity strategy. Really good on Facebook, just don’t do boring businesses, like don’t go out there and interview a mortgage broker, it’s way too boring, or home inspector or an attorney, those things are just so boring, people don’t watch them as much. But when you interview restaurants, or pop up events, or places people generally go for social or have fun, you get a lot better engagement, and you want to create the content on new places that open up in your community, or equally as the staples of your community. We’ve seen some clients get up to 10,000 views on Facebook, for business owner interview, and it’s because community supports community. Alright. Now, if your goal is to blow up your YouTube channel, don’t expect to do it with business owner interviews, that’s just typically not the type of interview video that is going to get 10s of 1000s of views and just turn into a ton of business. It’s just not the way that it works. I love the strategy for database nurturing, right? I love it for networking with future referral sources. See the business owners are just future referral sources. And when people say you want to attract your like client, well, you’re creating content on businesses you support because you agree with their positioning. So of course, you’re going to attract the same type of client because you’re creating television commercials for future referrals. That’s what these business owners do. They share the living daylights out of these videos, and they get you more eyeballs for you. So lots of good stuff with it. Just make sure like I said earlier, you keep it interesting. So let’s go ahead and look at another type of video strategy, which is based around YouTube.

So today, I’m going to share with you that good, no windy

Welcome to the newest.

So Stan is a mortgage broker. And he just moved to Wyoming, Cheyenne, Wyoming. And Isn’t anyone there doesn’t have a database. So it makes a lot of sense for him to go after YouTube clients. The name of his show is called why not? Like why not Wyoming. And everything around the content that he’s going to create is going to be based to rank on YouTube. He’s creating content that people search for on YouTube. And he wants to generate relocation clients which he will this strategy literally, he’s already got 1000 over 1000 views on a couple different videos. And if you want to see you could just go to YouTube and type in living in Cheyenne, Wyoming. And you should see him pop up first right there and see all the videos he’s created. He’s only been creating content for like a month. But his goal is very specific. Right? He’s looking for lead generation. So there’s a very specific type of video that series he’ll be running with. So let’s go through some of the pros and cons on this. This strategy you may or may not have seen before, but as a couple people teaching it, we script that and distribute these videos for different people around the country to and I can tell you exactly what to create 99.9% of the leads that come off of these videos will be buyer relocations. And the reason for that is because when people are moving relocating one they’re not being referred to anyone. And two, they’re trying to get a visual cue of the What the hell’s going on in that neighborhood. I’m across the country five years ago, and I found myself on YouTube, exploring what California and San Diego looks like and all of that, because I wanted to see what their real estate looked like, I want to see what the strip looked like on the beaches look like. So it’s the same exact thing here, you want to do the exact same thing, you’re creating a lot of content that is very community focused cost of living in top three neighborhoods in where to live in, you know, and you’re doing this for a specific strategy. Now, I do love the strategy because I think if you get there first, and if your markets not that competitive, you could generate there’s there’s agents that are crushing it, and lenders are crushing it on the strategy, we have people there closing every month, multiple clients from this. So it’s very, very effective. And the thing though, with it is that it’s not the most fun, not fun, fun content to create. A lot of it will feel repetitive, you know, pros and cons of living in Encinitas, California. And sonidos, good, bad and ugly, moving in soon, it isn’t the eight things you need to know. So the content, a lot of it will feel a little repetitive, but you’re playing a different game, you’re playing an SEO game, you’re trying to generate clientele, from YouTube, in the strategies out of the bag, there’s so many of these different videos that you can create, but they’re all going to be focused around living in or moving to, or neighborhoods in, or tours work really good. With this as well. So it does feel a little bit repetitive. Now, these videos we see is that when a client’s post them up on Facebook, and you’re not sharing the YouTube link, so I’m not saying share the YouTube link on Facebook, you upload the video organically. They don’t generally get as many comments as say, like a neighborhood tour or business owner interview would. But they’re gonna outperform on YouTube all the time. Right. So we have a lot of people like to start with this strategy. But again, regardless of how we’re putting videos on YouTube, but all of them on YouTube, you always multipurpose your content on YouTube, why not? But how it performs on YouTube will be totally different. It’s all about what what type of content you’re creating, and how you want it to perform. When you multipurpose it all the content goes in front of your database. But how multipurpose it is will change. The strategy won’t be available pretty much in every single market. If your market is competitive, there’s a lot of agents already creating this content, expect an uphill battle, you might never get to the top and get those results. But if you’re in a market where no one’s doing it, how, you know, I would do it in a heartbeat. If you have if you don’t have a large population, don’t expect 2000 200,000 views. You know, it’s all based upon search, and then competition. But the strategy is very effective.

So you’re thinking about moving to the San Antonio area look for someone to give you the bottom line of what it’s really like, well we excuse me for a second real estate cycles.

So obviously, this guy likes to have a little bit of fun. He’s hilarious. He’s very funny on video. And he’s creating real estate content, but he’s doing it in a funny way. And this is the 15 buyer commandments not to do. So he’s having a good time with it. He does a lot of green screen stuff. He’s always dressing up in character, and real estate content you can have fun with but you can also keep it very professional, you don’t have to do anything superduper crazy with it either. But there are pros and cons of real estate content. The type of content I’m talking about are going to be the closing costs, you know, city name closing costs, how to buy and sell at the same time, the home seller marketing plan, how to determine your budget, how to pick the right neighborhood, stuff like that your core content that you would give and say a listing presentation or a buyer’s presentation. So let’s go through the pros and cons of Korean real estate content. It’s going to be the least engaged content you’re going to get typically, unless you’re doing stuff like that. Usually it’s get the least amount of comments least amount of views on YouTube and Facebook most real estate content on YouTube doesn’t show okay. The type of process like content I guess, don’t expect your channel to blow up. Just getting out there and talking about real estate isn’t gonna make you the next YouTube celebrity. In my opinion. It’s a very hard battle you got to create people content that people are going to be searching for. However, it’s really good for conversion and authority. This is the core content that’s on your site. We have a lot of people create and even on our site, we created a buyer Learning Center, a seller Learning Center, a va Learning Center. Each of these learning centers have different videos within them a five to six videos per thing per Learning Center. And all of them are there just to educate. So this is the type of car to use over and over again, you send the clients when you’re in conversation. So you use it as conversion, you can also use it on ads. And you only got to create this kind of stuff once, but it definitely you want to have this up on your site, I think is the most effective place to multipurpose it. Don’t expect a ton to perform off of your YouTube channel. If that’s the goal, that’s not the right strategy more than likely, but again, doesn’t mean you don’t put it in front of your database as well. So point being is that those are five of the most common types of videos people do. But there’s plenty more you could be doing react videos, you can be doing, like real estate, what you get for the money videos, you could be doing blooper videos, there’s no shortage of content to create. But you’ll get an idea off of how that part works. So what we’re going to do now is focus on how you script for a little bit, and then we’re going to get into content distribution. And then we’ll get this training wrapped up. Because the next question we always get as well, how am I going to script all of this different type of content like, this is crazy, I can’t script all this stuff who’s gonna write these for me? Well, truth is, is that I’m just going to walk you through the basics of scripting, and show you sort of how it works. But you probably already know how to do this is the truth. And when you’re creating content, and you’re building a show, in this way, your your scripts are going to have a format to them. Remember, we’re not selling your stuff. But every video is going to have the same components to it. And it’s much like how you would write a letter or how you would write a book report or an essay even. And I want you to go back to the time and think and remember back when you’re in school. And when you’re in school. Your teacher. If I was writing a letter, my attention getter was dear Mike or Dear to whomever was addressed for right? Well, attention letter attention getter in a video is going to be if you want to blank and blank and blank and blank. Okay? If you really want to get the biggest bang for your buck, you got to do it in this neighborhood right here.

Facebook came out with a stat it said 74% of people will decide to watch your video not in the first, you know, seven seconds. So the last thing I like doing a video said Hi, I’m Mike Cuevas and I’ve been in the business for years. Click, I’m gone. You got to get the attention. Tell me what’s in it for me. Make it interesting, right? These are the biggest blueberries in all of California. Great. Don’t need it short and sweet. But every video has an attention getter. Every video will also have an introduction. Tell me what I’m watching and give me a preview why it’s important. An introduction to a letter would be Hey, I’m writing to you because I think blank blank blank in my name is blank. And I wanted to give you a couple reasons why I wanted to blank blank, blank. It’s an introduction, right? In a video, I would say hey, what’s up guys, it’s Mike Cuevas with another episode of North County vibes. And what we’re going to be doing today is I’m going to show you one of the best places in North County to get a burger. Now if you like burgers, you’re going to see that in San Diego, there’s not a ton of amazing burger places everyone hears all fit and doesn’t like to eat like me. But that doesn’t mean they don’t exist, you just need to know where to go. What we’re going to do here show you one of the best kept secrets and all here and go inside and check it out right now. Got that’s an intro right? So every video will have an introduction. Alright, now the body of your video is going to be the core content of your supporting arguments. If you think back to the time when people were when you’re in school, remember your teachers would say Alright, give me three supporting arguments to your essay or give me five reasons why that’s the body. That’s your core content. So if I’m creating content on a neighborhood, I’m focusing on those four body points or three points of the body I’m making maybe seen one is alright, so I want to show you exactly why people love live in this neighborhood. And right there is the very cute downtown. That is the number one reason see where I’m standing is just a couple minutes away from where I’m going to show you a most beautiful houses. But did you know that there’s over 12 different restaurants, outfits, a shopping, public transportation and just about everything you’re gonna want to do right here. Right? So the body would have a breakdown of the core arguments of your point, right? Every video is going to have them. They support why you’re there. If you’re doing a tour, you’re breaking down your tour in the body. If you’re doing a business owner interview, you’re doing your questions, you’re showing them how they make their food in the kitchen, then you’re tasting their food. If you’re doing a piece of real estate content, you’re given all the reasons and education of why this is important. And then eventually at the end you’re going to get to an outro Alright, so hope that helps if you have any additional questions you need help doing this you can reach me my contact information is blink blink blink blink. Make sure you subscribe to my channel look at some of my other videos on my site. Thank you so much for calling real estate dude. I’ll see you on the next episode. Peace out short sweet to the point but you’re still gonna have an outro the video doesn’t just stop. But if you look at this, it’s attention getter, Intro body outro, attention getter, Intro body outro, tension getter, intro, body outro, that outline, you can write any script you want. The key is, what’s your content can be. That’s why you create a show. So if you guys have more questions on this, feel free to message me on the site, you can send me some messages, I’m social, we have hundreds and hundreds of these scripts, we cater to different types of videos. But in general, they all have the same thing in common. And that’s what it is. So the key here is that, regardless of what you’re going to script, every video is going to go in front of your database, every video is going to go in front of people that have the ability to do business with you or refer business to you, or repeat business back with you. But you’re going to Multi Purpose them for lead generation and brand. Every single one think long term, not short, every one of your videos will live on your YouTube channel forever, they live on your website forever. Look at YouTube as a search engine, because that’s exactly what it is. Your website host videos forever, I highly recommend a site that you own, that doesn’t have a huge monthly fee. Because once you start creating content, it’s going to live there for the entirety of your brand’s existence. longer lasting impressions leads to more referrals, it definitely leads to more repeat business and think of all of your content creation as a library of content down the road that you can get to repurpose on my site, I have a video on every single page. That’s not anything more than that connect with people. That’s my number one goal, that’s the only thing I want it there. If I want to connect, I want you to build trust, I want to see if we’re the right fit. And if we are great, let’s do business together. But if not, that’s okay, too, I’m gonna do that not everyone’s gonna get along with me.

It’s how it works, folks. So let’s bracket let’s break down the distribution, sort of step by step. And we’ll get this training wrapped up because what we’re not doing is just creating videos and let them die in a news feed. And then people forget about them in three days, if you’re going to invest in video content, marketing, content creation, need to maximize and distribute and distribute these videos, so you get the most amount of mileage out of them. So first thing we always recommend doing is video emailing your videos to your database, get rid of the market updates, get rid of the turn back the clocks and other crap content, start creating content that people actually want to see. With video email, we get way higher open rates, we average over 40% most cases, which is very high, it’s a lot higher than national average. But it’s for two reasons. One, we’re not sending out crap content. And two, we’re sending it to the right people. What we’re not doing is spamming an email list of people, we have no idea who they are. But what we are doing is nurturing a database of people that know like trust and love us that all have the ability to refer do business with us. Again, if you’re doing two videos a year or a month, I mean, you that for 12 months in a year, two videos a month, over 12 months 24 A year to that same list, which will grow over time, will you do more business because 10 to 15% of people on that list are moving, but 100% of them have a referral for you? The answer is absolutely. For your social platforms. You’re going to distribute your videos on all your social platforms, and upload each organically. So if you’re on Instagram, then put your videos on Instagram. If you’re not an Instagram, then don’t put them on Instagram. If you’re on Facebook, put your videos on Facebook. But if you’re not on Facebook, don’t put them on Facebook. If you’re on Pinterest, put your videos on Pinterest, put your videos also on your business page, but upload both organically. The point being is that anywhere that you’re on social media 10 to 15% of the people who see your video content are moving and 100% of them have a referral for you. Those are the two numbers I want to ingrain in your heads. Because once you start chasing attention, that’s when attraction occurs. When you upload these videos to your social platform, you’re always gonna upload them or Ganic Lee, don’t share the YouTube link on social media on Facebook, take the video and upload it organically. You’ll get more mileage traditionally on the platforms. A couple things to look out for Tik Tok and reels on Facebook short form content, something that’s coming up excuse me your website. So highly recommend put all the content back in your website I like to create take every video and turn it into a blog post. So I like to put the video on top of my page on the site. And then I like to take the do a little bit of a write up or some blog content to put down below it because you want to multipurpose every thing and over time your content on your site will grow same concept though, the agent that has a lender that has 24 videos on their site page on every site, well, they’re going to convert a lot more website leads than the one that doesn’t have a site or doesn’t have any video content on the site. So you want to just make sure you multipurpose there. People don’t go to your website to look up real estate for sale, in my opinion, they’re going to your website to see if they trust no and can exceed themselves get in a car with you, while they look at houses for the next unforeseeable future. That’s the truth, folks. So become more marketable, multipurpose, that content, put it back on your website, because that’s where people will ultimately visit you at. And last, but not least, everything should go on YouTube, but not everything is going to perform on YouTube. What you’re seeing here is a gentleman in Palm Springs that does very well on YouTube. But look at all of his videos are very community centric. So he’s created a lot of YouTube related content. He’s following a YouTube strategy. And every video will go on YouTube, but not every video will perform on YouTube. So just something you want to think about. Before you start your strategy, why am I doing this YouTube part of my game or not, and adjust accordingly. So every video I put on YouTube.

Now, how YouTube works is, I hinted at it a little bit earlier, but I wanted to show this to you guys for a little bit is that the only type of content that we’ve seen, perform really well is going to be living in or moving in, living in or moving in. So in that case, you see living in Las Vegas moving to Las Vegas, people are typing in these different words. And those are typically for whatever reason that YouTube tells us to put up. So you always you don’t create content for YouTube that you think is cool, you create content that people search for. Alright, so right here you can see living in Las Vegas moving to Las Vegas, relocating to Las Vegas, right? So it’s very, very important to do your homework ahead of time. But YouTube’s a search engine. Alright, so there’s so many different types of these videos, I just want to give you a quick screenshot. The pros and cons of living in city name the cost of living in city name. Living in San Diego versus living in Encinitas, new construction in Southern California, the top three neighborhoods live in downtown San Diego, the top three neighborhoods to live in North County, San Diego, the top three neighborhoods to live in South San Diego, the good, the bad, the ugly of living in San Diego, top three things to do when living in San Diego. Relocating moving all this type of content, when you’re if YouTube becomes sure your strategy, you want to maximize it, and you just need to know how to upload and optimize it. But most importantly, create the right videos that people search for. And that’s the key with YouTube. It’s not rocket science, but there’s a process to it. And then one other thing I highly recommend is run ads. I’m huge on running ads to your database, your customer to a database, your custom audiences, your retargeting audiences. So I love running ads to people who visited my website, I love running ads to people that have engaged with me in the past. I love running ads to people I’m connected with on my pages. And then I love running ads to a custom audience of cell phones and email addresses. They always pencil. And the truth is the Facebook algorithms right now, your business page, you’re going to get less than a 5% reach your personal page, you can get 15 to 18% from the last Facebook expert on my on the podcast I had on and because of that not everyone’s seen your stuff. So I like running ads to the rest of the audiences that so I could get more reach, the more attention you have, the more attraction that will occur. So one this on what’s the ROI? So people always ask me, how do you measure video, remember, and yesterday’s training is not advertising. Its marketing and attraction and branding. So what you’re going to see is that it’s hard to it’s very hard to find out what the ROI is, but this is the best way to look at it. And most people I tell is like, unless you’re trying to break your YouTube channel, and some people will publish more, but realistically, I think how much time you have and how much can you really pull off? If you could do two a month for over a year’s time that would equate 24 pieces of content or 24 videos 24 Everything. Okay? Now, this the key is you got to take the cost of those videos, how much is all that content going to cost you because there’s probably gonna be cost you outsource editing. Now there’s companies like ours that exist that can do editing and distribution and everything. But and I don’t know what those costs will be. But I’ll tell you what ours are ours would be $13,000 over the course of a 12 month timeframe. Now typically you want to look at okay, how much real estate do I have? To sell, to break even typically, that’s in our numbers. Again, this is just a formula, you could break these down and just plug in your numbers, but at our numbers 650,000 to two and a half percent is about a break even point. So the question becomes, if you had 24 videos Video emailed to your database, posted on all your social profiles placed on your site optimized on your channel, and you ran ads to, could you sell more than $650,000 a real estate or whatever that number would be? And then you can answer the question about is the ROI going to be beneficial. The only time folks I’ve seen video not work is when people don’t like you. But if that’s the case, you’re in the wrong damn business. Look at the big picture when you’re building a brand. Because you don’t build a brand with strangers, you build a brand based upon relationships, because the strangers eventually communicate back and you have to do it over time through consistent communication. So I love taking on a multi prong approach and I love incorporating direct mail. But let’s just look at the big picture. Let’s just say I had a database, a list of past clients, friends, family, aunts, uncles, waiting list, if you will,

of people and I hit them with direct mail once a month. Let’s say I had a and out of that, let’s say 150 People, I’m sending them a postcard a month 10 to 15% of our moving 100% of mark every fall for me. I’m doing two videos a month, video, email those videos out to to another list, it’s probably gonna have 150 250 people on it. Then I’m posting all those videos to social media and then I’m running ads to the rest of my custom audiences on social media. This is what attraction is, but you got to keep consistent with it. Because it’s nothing more than a big game of attention. So I really hope that helped clear up distribution scripting we have a lot of other content feel free to visit us on our website. But we really appreciate you guys taking the training and watching the whole four step a class we have going on here with a brand face and if there’s any questions that you have that you may need help with, or you need any assistance with please feel free to visit us or follow us on our social channels. Real estate marketing do.com That’s real estate marketing dude.com Have a great day. Thanks for watching. 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 do.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 schedule a 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.

Video Marketing-Identify Your Audience & Content Strategy

Welcome to the first of a two part training! In this session I’m going to be covering how to build your personal brand with video, and how to attract clients versus chase leads. A lot of the stuff I’m going to explain today is going to sort of spell all of this out. Call it the who, what, when, where and why of video. Video is not lead generation, its branding its attraction, and to do it more long term or to do it over time, there’s a couple things that we’re going to have to do ahead of time. That’s what we’re going to cover today so let’s jump into it!

Three Things You’ll Learn in This Episode

  • How to not chase business, but have business chase you
  • The importance of your personal brand
  • What the most impactful form of communication is (hint: it’s video)

Resources

Real Estate Marketing Dude

The Listing Advocate (Earn more listings!)

REMD on YouTube

REMD on Instagram

Transcript:

So how do you attract new business, you constantly don’t have to chase it. Hi, I’m Mike way ambassador, 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 is up ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the training where we’re going to do is go ahead and get started. Right here and what this session is going to be on is how to build your personal brand with video. And attract versus Chase leads attract clients versus Chase leads. And a lot of the stuff I’m going to explain today is going to sort of spell out call it the who, what, when, where and why of video, video is not lead generation, its branding its attraction. And to do it more long term or to do it over time, there’s a couple things that we’re going to have to do ahead of time. So without further ado, we’re going to go ahead and get right on into this. We have not met before, if you’ve not been on my podcast or anything, my name is Mike way, Boss, I’m the real estate marketing dude. sold real estate since 2002 in Chicago. And today I live in San Diego. And what we do is we script edit distributed videos for real estate agents, lenders, investors all over the country, from East Coast to the West Coast, north and south. And I don’t know about you, but I hate lead generation. I hate prospecting I hated chasing leads as an agent. And last four years, what I’ve been doing is sharing exactly what we always did our whole career, through content creation, and through personal branding. So what we want to do today is walk you through sort of how it all works. And where we’re going to start with is that agents with a strong personal brand, they’re not going to chase business business chases them, this entire business is built around your personal brand, nobody’s hiring your broker anymore. Last I checked. And the reason why this is so important is because only 4% of consumers pick their agent because of the brokerage or the brand they’re affiliated with. Quite frankly, I don’t think people really care who you work for who you work with, or where you hang your flag. The end of the day, 96% of consumers chose the agent, not the broker they’re affiliated with. But ultimately, people are people they do business with agents they typically know like, trust and remember, but they don’t remember what it is that you do for a living. And they know that they remember how it is that you do it. And that’s true for any industry. Right people don’t follow your what they follow your why is another way, I guess you could go out and say it. Now, when you’re able to craft video with personal branding, and you do it visually, that’s when it works. That’s when you start building a brand. So we’re going to start off with a little exercise here. And what I want to showcase here is that video is going to be the most impactful form of communication, it’s going to be the one that generates the most amount of attention for what I’m about to show you right now. So I want you to sort of look at what you see on the screen here. And boy, B O Y, and I want you to sit for two seconds, jot down what imagery is sort of coming through your mind right now, as you’re thinking about this, like what images go through my close your eyes, you see blue boy, what images do you see? Okay? Go ahead and jot those down. Now, what do you think? Is this a little bit more impactful than that? Which one leaves a longer lasting impression you see in this one? What kind of boy but in this one and this image in the picture, it’s a lot more impactful boy with bubbles on his head, he’s got a couple T dS looks like he’s taking a bath. There’s a blue bottle behind them. He’s in the bathroom, someone’s attending to him. This picture is just a lot more impactful than the first.

Now I’m gonna go ahead and play a video. This is my son, Alex Blinken. He’s talking. He’s asking a question. Right? So the question here is out of those three images, which one is the most impactful or the more memorable? And the answer is obviously going to be video. So the whole thing here is that the impact and understanding how to build a personal brand with video starts by understanding the impact of it, and the impact of using imagery and story on things like social media. So I want to go through another example and show you how powerful this is. And let’s get out of real estate. I have a friend of mine, that in college, I’ve been in college since 2002. Right? So what that is 20 years later, and my friend’s name is Matt. And you know, when we were in college together, we used to hang out all the time, good friends party together, just girls together, play sports go workout together, you name it on spring break all this other stuff. But like most people, when you graduate college people sort of move right people move on with their lives, people start careers. I live in San Diego, for a matter of fact, but with Matt here, you can see that over time, you know, in 2013, I saw pictures of him. And the only reason why I see Matt posts all the time. As a matter of fact, Matt posts, always pictures of his kids, I see him growing up. And the fact that I keep seeing Matt on social media, even though we haven’t spoke at all, in a long time. I still feel like I have a relationship with him. See, if I were to walk past Matt today, I haven’t seen him in what maybe 10 years, I would still know exactly who he is, I would say what’s up, dude, it’s been so long. But let’s just pretend the opposite happened. And Matt was absent from social social media. Let’s say I didn’t see anything. I didn’t even hear from Matt, I haven’t seen a picture of him an image, I could equally walk past Matt in the grocery store, and not even know who the hell he is. So I want you to think about that. And think about how visual you are with your brand. How visual? Are you with branding and marketing and? And all of the above? And are you imagery present? Right, that’s the impact. The end of the day real estate’s a big popularity contest. See, the reason why I remembered math was because I stayed in touch mentally. And video is just the most impactful way to stay on top of mind. It’s what we use video marketing for is to nurture and build relationships with our sphere of influence and the local community. Right? So what does it mean to have a brand, it’s very simple. You have a brand, and how big your brand is, is determined by how many people instantly associate your name with real estate. Right? If you see John Doe, and everyone’s like, oh, there’s that one real estate agent guy that’s always on video at John Doe has a bigger brand than Jane Doe when people say Who the hell’s Jane Doe? See, real estate, like I just said, is a popularity contest. Because the vast majority of people work with people they feel comfortable with. They personally like no. See, people don’t remember what you do for a living. They remember how you do it. It’s very, very true. See, and ultimately, when you’re going to want to get on video or build your brand with video, the way you build your brand in any business is consistent communication to the same audience over time. In the real estate industry. We call that farming. So why don’t you start farming your relationships and do it with video content? Because consistent communication at the same time to an audience over time will build your brand? See? And the audience people are like, who’s my audience? Well, it’s not strangers. It’s gonna be the people you already know. This is not my stat right here. This is not this is NARS, showcasing where business really comes from. And look at the top two, you know from all sellers. Everyone wants seller leads ever Lowe’s asked me Hey, Mike, how do I get more seller leads? Hey, I want to get more seller leads? Well guess what? You start having more relationships with people who own houses. That’s how you get more seller leads.

Look at the numbers right there. 39% of people have listings were referred 24%. They use them in the past. So look at the buyer side, you can see it very similar. Obviously, if people who are buying a house, use the agent previous 12%, but were referred over 41%. So what does that tell us? Well, it tells us where the vast majority of business comes from in our business. And that means that if I’m going to build a brand with video, I already know who to put it in front of. Because in it in either case, 74 to 80% of business is going to come from people you know used in the past or I’ve personally met not a bunch of strangers in the vast majority of cases. It’s not coming from Zillow, or any of these lead sources where they’re really coming from other people we already know. And that’s a video works. But what happens when you stop communicating with that very database? Well, they forget you exist and they go out and cheat on you with another real estate agent and you log on to Facebook to find out that they just bought or sold a new house and they just forgot. You were in real estate. But remember, it’s not their job to remember to send you business but it is your job to remind them to. And that’s how you want to approach video or at least the way I’m going to explain it in this presentation. See the agent that’s doing video consistently over and over again to that database. They’re going to become a lot less forgettable than the one who is it and it’s really that simple. See, video is not lead generation, but it’s branding and attraction. And we’re not fighting for leads but I am fighting for the attention of my database and my local community. Top of Mind brand awareness creates conversations and conversations leads to referrals. And that’s why we create content consistently. Ultimately, over 70% of people will close with the first agent they speak with. So the name of the game has always been, hey, why don’t we become the first agent they speak with because nothing I’m sharing with you is going to be theory, this is mathematical 10 to 15% of the population move each and every year and 100% of the population know someone moving that they can refer you to. So I want you to really think about that. That means that your entire Facebook friend list has a referral for you. And 10 to 15% of them will be moving this year, and most won’t even know it yet. Some might get sick, some might get relocated, some might get divorced, and some might have a kid and get married. But life events are typically when people move, and it’s nothing that’s planned, however it is statistical. And if we already know where business comes from half of the job, right here, half of the strategy is already solved. For me. It’s very simple. Keep my videos in front of the people. I know, if people move every six to nine years, or five to seven, whatever you want to do the math, how many people in your network are moving, this means you have 1000 friends on your Facebook feed. Well, how many of them are moving 10 to 15% of them 10 to 1500 150, it’s pretty good year, I would say.

But 100% of the people in your in business, the people that we know your Facebook, friends, your email list your IG followers, whoever it may be the people you’re connected with 100% of them have referral for you. And we’re not looking for a superduper large audience. We just want an engaged one and a targeted one of people that we already know. It’s the biggest mistake I see is that we think we need to go out and but reach the masses. No, we need to reach the people that already know like trust and love us. And then become more marketable and referral. Don’t get me wrong, you could go out and reach the masses if you want. But what I’m talking about here is building a brand and you can’t build a brand with complete strangers, you do it with the people that already know of your brand, by consistently remaining in conversation with them. Ultimately, you’ll have a conversation, which is what this is really all about. See realistically as your database wants to refer you business and the people, you don’t get referrals from strangers. That’s why I keep my content in front of the people who already know. So people will refer your business if they like, or they’re satisfied with your past service. And they like the person that’s hinting about getting the referral. Because ultimately, the way God made us the way our brains work is that people like to be able to solve a problem. And I want you to think about the last time you referred anyone anything? Why did you do it? It’s because you were wired to seek the approval of others, we’re constantly looking to be acknowledged. If you don’t believe me, I want you to think about the last time you went out to dinner with family, with friends. And you know, I don’t know about you, but when I go out to dinner, we talk about other places they go out to dinner, and people are always exchanging referrals during that time. And the reason is because we want to share an enjoyable experience with others. We don’t refer people things we don’t like or don’t know ourselves. So if you really look at the business, the business has always been in front of us, but it’s your job to become more referral. Because when people are going to refer you business, three things have to occur one, the referring party as a notice a conversation about real estate, they gotta go, Oh, that’s my guy got a guy they have to think of you. And then they have to like you enough to introduce your services into the conversation. Because a referral opportunity or an instant repeat business opportunity, whatever it is, when people decide to go out and hire an agent and take that next step, over 80% of them are going to close with the first one they meet. That’s why this is so important. See, video, builds an audience, a database, and people always confuse Oh, I have a database, I have a database. Database is nothing more than a con than a collection of contact information. But an audience is a collection of relationships that actually pay attention. When you open your mouth. They pay attention to what you say. They engage with you on social, they’re responding to your emails. That’s what nurturing an audience was video does. So when we really lay this all up, we have to go through that first part first because unless you know who to put your videos in front of and why they should be authentic, why they should be natural. You’re going to be stuck. Where do I start? Because the number one thing people have. Next is what am I going to talk about? See Creating content is not necessarily about you know, selling yourself As a matter of fact, you don’t ever have to talk about real estate. As far as I’m concerned. I’m sure some of your videos will. But they just need to remind people that you’re in real estate. Nobody wakes up in the morning and wants to go out and cold, call all their friends and say, Hey, do you ever referral for me again? Like, let’s be honest, how many of you really want to call 100 people a month? And it’s like, oh, yeah, by the way, do you know anyone looking to buy or sell? To me that feels so authentic, and most of us will never do that. But if your videos are automatically doing it nurturing all the time, you don’t have to, okay, I’m not saying don’t ask for referrals, but I am saying, become more referral. Your videos don’t have to be in real estate, they remind people you’re in real estate. And the key is to find something you’re passionate about. Because if you start creating videos on stuff you’re not comfortable with, like, if I were to start creating a bunch of food videos and cooking videos for you right now, you probably be like, This guy’s nuts. He’s that, like, he looks so awkward. Well, yeah, I wouldn’t have any authenticity, because you’re forcing me to create content and stuff I don’t like. And the only goal here is to connect and humanize your brand. See when you define like a theme, and I want to give you a couple examples in a second, you’ll have something that you’re excited about. All the above occurs naturally authenticity, connection, your passion,

it’s impossible to do a video on something that you’re not passionate about. And ultimately, when you do something you’re excited about, you really dial in your video strategy, your communication is going to be more impactful. Because ultimately 6090 90% of communication is gonna be based off the tone, or the body language that you’re using in the video, people are only going to retain 10% of what comes out of your mouth, including this webinar right now. And this training, you guys are probably gonna, you could watch this again, but most people only retain it. And if it’s a person of stuff that they actually hear, what you’re going to remember, is my tonality on the way I’m doing things in my body language, I’m using them. So the reason why I’m on video here cuz I don’t feel like I can communicate my message across appropriately without you see in my body language and see my passion behind this. Right. So how can you communicate effectively if you’re not excited about your strategy? It’s not what you say. It’s how you say it. That’s the most important aspect of this. So I want to give you a couple examples of a couple lenders and agents even that we came up with the video strategy for them and show you sort of how it works, right? So in this case, beard budget, I went on. He’s a mortgage broker in Fort Collins and I went on his Instagram handle and I see hey, he calls himself your bearded lender, he gets on our deep dive call. I see him with a big beard. And, you know, he’s a total bro, right? He’s like a dude, he’s like me, like done, you deal with first time buyers a cost of living your job. So you might as well call it beard budget. Why not? Now he could create content doesn’t matter. Everything he does is on a budget. If he wants to do a business owner interview, he’s doing businesses that offer great value, and he’s doing it on a budget. He could do a brewery tour on a budget. He could do a neighborhood tour and talk about what you get for the money, especially when you’re on a budget. He’ll never run out of things to say strictly because people are not gonna remember what he’s talking about. They’re gonna remember the beard budget. Right? Number two, right here you see serving, excuse me see serving on SoCal. This is a military brand, Farmer Veteran. And all he focuses on most of his business comes from the military. So it makes a lot of sense for him to go out there and have a show called serving SoCal, right? What kind of content what serving SoCal create, well, he’s not going to do any type of neighborhood tour. He’s going to do neighborhoods near bass. He’s not going to create content on any type of business interview, he’ll do business interviews that are veteran owned. He has a buyer bootcamp, a seller bootcamp, if you don’t want to listen to him drop, gimme, 20. Sir. See, what I mean is that when you identify the true brand, and you know what you really stand for and whom you serve, and sort of how you roll? Well, the content creation should be natural Torian forest for a team in Orlando, Florida. His name is Jordan. And Jordans team brand name is called the home or the Rockstar home team. So because the Rockstar home team has a rockstar, George’s Rockstar, this is what he is. He’s a music guy, you know, got tats. It’s cool. It makes what do rockstars do when they go on tour. That means everything he’s going to do is touring for four is the I corridor or the corridor the highway that runs right through there and touring for his red rock stars do so he could take us a neighborhood tours, bar tours, venue tours, it doesn’t matter. What do we really sell we don’t sell houses we sell the communities they reside and therefore any bit of community based content is going to remind you But we’re in real estate generally. The one you see in the bottom right there was called why not? As a mortgage broker he moved to

Cheyenne, Wyoming. And then you could see why not looks very similar the flag to some of the branding. We gave the guy a little bit of a beerbelly put them on a house instead of a horse. But what it’s all about is why not live in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Talks about living in Cheyenne, Wyoming, he’s following a YouTube strategy. See, when you create a show, the reason why we do this is because it’s much like if you were to have a podcast, what would you call it? Nobody has a podcast without first naming their podcast and even in the name of their podcast, it’s going to be you know, it’s gonna sort of symbolize sort of how, what yours is, right? What is your show, you’ll get idea of the content. So for example, a concept I like to use a lot is there’s a guy called guy Ferrari, if you ever watched a Food Network, and there’s a show he has called diners, dives and drives. Now that’s a food show. But guy Ferraris a total dude, he’s wearing flannels got ripped jeans. And he’s basically covering content on grease pits of America. He finds all these dives and eat they have really good greasy food. And it’s like hanging over food for dudes. But he’s not. Even though it’s a food show. He’s not sitting there creating content on, you know, French bistro or five star Michelin restaurants. He’s creating content because it’s themed out. So we approach this much like you would if you start a podcast and we promise starting a podcast is that it’s audio only. And it’s not going to be as effective in my opinion as a video series with your face because your face is the brand. So finding your strategy and what we’ll be focusing on the next webinars, the different styles of videos and we’ll show you guys a couple here as well so that you can sort of piece it together. But when you really dial in your theme, and when we build a show, you’re forced to tell a story. Welcome another episode of North County vibes. Today I’m going to show you what the vibes are going to be like right here in Encinitas, California. If you ever thought about living in Encinitas, California, well, you’re probably wondering what the lifestyles like. And today, I’m going to give you a preview. So without further ado, let’s get in there and go ahead and get started. See, that’s a show I have here in San Diego and I have to use when you script or a show, you’re forced to tell that story. And that’s why I like it. It also identifies your theme. But let’s really look at the big picture here. When you’re building a brand, and when you’re acquiring business, there’s really a couple different. There’s two ways you’re going to generate business right? Now statistically, everything says that the vast majority of businesses come from the people we already know. So if you look at the right side here, this is marketing. If you look at the left hand side, this is advertising, Facebook ads, fizz bows, the prospecting internet leads, you name it, right? I’m not saying stop doing lead generation, because this is lead generation and prospecting. This is attraction inner marketing. Okay. But what I am saying is that everyone should have a little bit of both. See people that are here, what do you do with them. So I like to direct mail my database, because if I send them one postcard a month, 100% of the people are getting that postcard, unless I have the wrong address. And if they physically have to engage with me, and throw me in the trash, great, they still mentally and physically engage in my existence. That’s very powerful for branding. But direct mail is just one piece. video email is where we would send our videos, and I’ll show you our distribution process on the next webinar in the next training as well. But if I’m doing two videos a month, I’m going to nurture those two videos a month. And then Social, I’m going to go ahead and post all my my personal profiles, all of my videos, I’m going to run ads to my database. For I get more people to see them now my database full of past clients, family, friends, aunts, uncles, basically anyone I invite to my wedding or funeral. But if you look over here, here’s what really happens in practice 10 to 15% of the people that get my direct mail, they’re moving in 100% of them do. If I’m direct mailing 100 people that I know that I invite to my wedding or funeral, I can generate more referrals and more repeat business. Yes. If I’m taking an email list of 150 to 250 people, 300 people, whatever the size of your email list is, and I’m sending them two videos a month. And I’m doing that for 12 months in a row. Do I become more referral because we’re not talking about sending turn back the clock emails or market update reports or we’re talking about nurturing and offering value through content creation and showing people stuff they actually like, which can only be done when you’re excited about what you’re doing. And it’s the point of dialing in your brand.

And then on social same thing most people are Friends with anywhere between 700 to 5000 people, like on Facebook, for example. And when you’re posting two videos a month, and then you’re running ads, the same videos, you just get a whole lot of eyeballs. But here’s what really happens is that eventually someone either is referred to you, or they raise their hand, and then you come on in here and you take them through your process, because you’re either going to find a lead that you’re going to start working with, or it’s gonna be referral a repeat client. And once you do work with them, you’re gonna take them out and show them houses, if it’s a buyer, or listed, if it’s a seller, you’re gonna take them through your process as a client, and then once you’re done with them, you’re gonna deposit them right back in here to keep nurturing them for future business. And that’s why we’re talking about marketing and attraction is nothing more than just remaining in a consistent communication. Same with leads to, they’re still gonna come through here, but you don’t dump them off. So in in biz, in real estate, I don’t spike the football when the house is sold, spike a football when you get the third referral from a client, or the third house from a client, because that’s when you’re truly playing the long game, and running a business. So the next question, we get quite a bit as well, Mike, how many videos do I actually need? How many videos do I need to shoot? Well, for most people, believe it or not, and we’ll talk more about this on the next. But let’s just take this example, right here,

and let’s just say I’m doing two videos a month. I’m taking those two videos a month, and I’m doing

put them on on my social profiles video, emailing out to my database, running ads to them, putting them on my website, and then also put them on my YouTube channel. I’m gonna have a little bump for about a week, take a break, and then boom, I’m back with another episode. You see, when you’re creating content, and you’re building a campaign, people always ask me, Hey, Mike, is it more content, it I need more videos, I’m gonna do eight a month. It’s not more content, it’s more impact with the content you’re creating. Because realistically, throughout the course of the month, there’s other things that you’re doing that sort of fill in the gaps. So most people you need to videos, but your strategy might change. Maybe you want to blow up your YouTube channel and your competitive market, well, you probably need to publish more frequently. But again, we’ll cover that on the next training. So I wanted to give you a couple ideas of different types of content that you could create. And you’re not gonna hear the sound on this video, but I’ll play it through as we go through. So this is a mortgage broker that does case studies with his clients. We have real estate agents, clients that refer him on over or his own clients, it doesn’t matter. It’s not just listed just sold, or in his case just funded. It’s this client just got bought their first house. And guess what, he did it, save $1,500 a month. And he’s owning not renting anymore, right. So instead of creating content that says just listed just sold, we’re bragging about how much money we made, we’re doing the opposite. We’re creating content that showcases and demonstrates our professionalism, expertise, whatever it may be, that just like HGTV. Another video, this is a team. So this team has a lot of fun. They have a series called play out Denver. And they’re all parents. So it’s a very like parent friendly brand. And what they do is they just go out and do these tour videos. And they have a lot of fun together and all of them share the videos together. See, so this one, I believe this one was a they’re doing some kind of park tour. They’re doing the train system, and they’re showcasing that and how that works in the Denver market. But the same thing is it just consistent communication over time, they’re humanizing their brands. And they’re showcasing themselves on it and showing us content. So when a real estate agent is like big tour guides, neighborhood tour, same concept. Neighborhood tour. This team, the dream home, so dream homes, Dream hoods could be the name of the series. So same concept. What do you do on a neighborhood door? Hey, have you ever wondered what it’s like to go out and live in Mission Valley San Diego? Well, what we’re gonna do on this week’s video is show you exactly that. Let’s go. So, same thing. Neighborhood tours, every single one of these videos, remind people you’re in real estate, community informational videos. If you’re looking for a YouTube type strategy, where people are generating clients off YouTube, I’m going to create content that’s like pros and cons of living in blank city name. Cost of living in city name, moving to city name, neighborhood tours. That’s the type of stuff that works on YouTube. But there’s a very specific strategy for it very specific scripts and content to create. Same concept here we call these community informational ‘s or a YouTube series. And again, we’ll show you a little bit more of these on the next training, real estate content. So real estate content is good, everyone should have it, you know, stuff that you use over and over again, with different clients. It’s the stuff that shows you have the expertise and or authority. But it’s also the stuff that gets the least amount of comments on social media, and the least amount of responses because you’re talking about work, right? There’s a purpose for these videos. But what I want you to see here is that not every video there is not a universal strategy. The way that these videos work is that you create content over time and the type of content will determine and how much will determine the strategy and you back into it. But it all starts by figuring out, which is the right strategy for you. How does that work, and then executing on it and just doing that consistently over time, rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat. So I really hope that this seller to help walk you through how to really dial in that video strategy, especially if you’re looking to, you know, run like a local celebrity type.

Agent strategy, you’ve probably heard that terminology, but what we’re gonna be chatting about on the next webinars they’re going to be showing you Okay, so once I dial in that strategy, how am I going to define what videos are right for me? What are the pros and cons of different types of videos to do, and then we’re also gonna break on the pros and cons all the different types of videos you can be doing in a lot more depth, and then how you distribute and multipurpose each of those videos for maximum eyeballs and our maximum exposure. So thanks for watching this training continue on with the series that we have here for you guys. And if you have any questions ever, our contact information is right on the screen in front of you. But hope you got a lot of value out of this. Wait to see next one and we’ll see you on the next training. 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 do.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 schedule a 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.

What’s Your Plan For Retirement?

Let’s pretend that you’ve been attracting business for five to 10 years, 15 years, 20 years, and you’re going to get towards that retirement stage. How the fuck do you sell your practice? Or what do you do next, you just stop selling. Today we’re joined by a couple out of actually Illinois, Peoria, Illinois. And this is what they do. They focus on the transition, post real estate career. 

First we have Jessica ball who has been an agent just under five years with REMAX truth unlimited. Justin Ball is a Real Estate Investor/Entrepreneur. They’re about to publish a book that will help realtor monetize their business as they retire and teach other real estate agents how to do this.

Three Things You’ll Learn in This Episode

  • Why maintaining good relations with other realtors is important
  • What you can do to help others while benefitting yourself
  • How to monetize your business as they retire

Resources

Jessica’s Website

Real Estate Marketing Dude

The Listing Advocate (Earn more listings!)

REMD on YouTube

REMD on Instagram

Transcript:

So how do you attract new business, you constantly don’t have to chase it. Hi, I’m Mike Cuevas to real estate marketing. And 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. What we’re going to be doing here today, folks is talking a little bit about the future quite often on the show, we talk quite a bit about how to build in the current in the now and how to make now business better yet attractive, not necessarily chase it. But let’s just pretend that you’ve been attracting business for five to 10 years, 15 years, 20 years, and you’re going to get towards that retirement stage. How the fuck do you sell your practice? Or what do you do next, you just stop selling. I know, when I moved out to San Diego, I just literally stopped cold turkey probably wasn’t the smartest move. But I was burnt out, I didn’t really give a shit. I was just ready to go. And I was done with real estate and that sense in Chicago, however, I probably could have set up like a really easy to go referral network, I still get referrals back there. And I don’t even try and wish I should have done it better. So what we’re going to be doing today is we’re joined by a couple out of actually Illinois, Peoria, Illinois. And this is what they do. They focus on the transition, post real estate career. And eventually under one day, you’re going to retire or you’re going to stop selling and you’re gonna do what I did burn out and something’s gonna happen. There’s a reason why most people don’t last this long in this business, no matter who you are. It gets tiring, it gets old and you want to do some different and other opportunities will come up. What are you doing to get to that point? That’s what we’re gonna chat about today? How do you monetize everything you worked for so hard? Prior to those 10 years, like if you built a business of 20 years selling real estate, you’re just gonna walk away and let that go away? It’d be like opening up a bakery and just saying, Hey, I’m gonna close the doors tomorrow, not sell the business and not do anything else to it. So what do we do with that? So that’s what we’re gonna be chatting about today. So without further ado, let’s go ahead and introduce our guest, Jessica and Justin ball. How’re you guys doing? Good. Good.

Glad to be on the show. Man. I’m listener, and it’s awesome to be a part of it.

Thank you. Well, guys, like you just have to call and ask if you don’t get if you don’t ask you don’t get you guys just fucking called me I think and said, Hey, I have this thing. I’m like, I’m looking for shows. And I’m like, Alright, let’s just do it. You’re from Peoria to cool. Let’s see what’s up. So that’s basically where we’re at guys want you to tell everyone a little bit about yourselves. And then let’s get right into this interview. Yeah,

I am Jessica ball. I have been an agent just under five years with REMAX truth unlimited. And I added Peoria and I lead a small team. And really where this came from watch it. I’ll let Justin introducing stuff real quick. And then we’ll jump into kind of where this brainchild came from on what we’re doing. Sure.

So Mike, I am a long time unpaid, unlicensed assistant and one of the best in the business. And then 2021, I got my real estate license. I’ve always been an investor. And I’m looking forward to doing commercial real estate investing to support the Jessica ball team.

Awesome. So what do you guys stumble across here?

Yeah. So when I first started, I was I was coming out of a 10 year law enforcement career. And so I had no idea how to do marketing or anything like that. And I was looking for a way to grow my own sphere grow my business. And we realized that there were agents that were retiring from our brokerage that pretty much just said, Hey, I’m retired, anyone want to buy a few signs? Great. And then they’re out the door. And it’s like, well, what just happened? All their clients that someone taking care of those, what happened? And we started asking questions, and a lot of times people just kind of shut the doors and walked away with no plan in place. And so we really dug down deep into how can one we help those agents monetize their business as they retire. But then also, for agents like myself looking to grow their business, how can they benefit from that as well and helping an agent do that? And that traveler?

So then you started seeing some of the retirees a new created this is I see where we’re going right now? Um, yeah, I could, I could. It’s interesting, because people just, you know, when you get to that stage, you’re just sort of like, Ah, I’m Bert. A lot of times and they don’t really think about this, but keep going interesting. So

the first succession plan that we did was with a long term residential agent, who had ironically bought someone’s book of business about 15 years before that. And so we sat down with him and said, Tell us about your sphere of influence. Tell us about your database and your CRM, and how can we make a plan over the next 18 months for you to introduce us to your clients, the ones who are really engaged and give you a lot of referrals as well as the ones who may have bought five years ago or own an investment property and do these How do we really build trust and show them that we’re a team working together so that when you retire, they pick up the phone, and they call us or when you are in Florida and you say, Hey, I have this team and Justin and Jessica, they’re going to be working with you. They say to themselves, that’s awesome. I know who these people are, I trust them, they’re going to really treat me right, we’re going to be great. And for us, the acquisition cost is zero. And the lifetime benefit of developing a relationship with these clients is really, really high. And so when we started writing the book, and when we started doing this process, there’s nothing out there, literally, there’s some contracts. And there are people who do this, I think all the time. But the information isn’t there, there’s nowhere to get it, and there’s no place to talk about it. And so we really sat down and said, let’s design a contract for when you’re going to hand your assets over and how we’re going to do marketing and CO branding. Here’s the referral fees that we’re gonna pay you while you’re still an active agent selling at the brokerage, here’s the referral fees, we’re gonna pay you in retirement. And we really set on a thought about everything, websites, domain names, of video assets, all of the marketing assets, the signage, and we really build a plan from start to finish. So the retiring agents can feel really good about getting paid referral fees that their clients are being taken care of. We can really expand our our team and our business and commissions. And then

it’s almost like every brokerage should have this sort of program like this built in office, I mean, just to increase production, but it’s a good mentorship thing.

standpoint, you know, you when you think about this, the brokers are big winners here. Because if somebody retires and they call their cell phone, and they say, Hey, I moved to Texas, and I’m no longer a realtor, a real estate agent, you know, they’re going to go on the internet, they’re going to find other people, they’re going to find new realtors. And so this is really a win win win for the retiree for the team taking over as a successor, and then the brokerage because they’re keeping that business within the brokerage, keeping those clients and keeping the recognition for their brand.

I’m assuming it’s a 18 month plan for the introduction of the new entity face brand to inherit that relationship right? Or is it because it’s hard to just introduce it like you have to blend that in over time and so they start to see it because I I’ve seen other people Oh, yeah, I’m just gonna get my book of business. You can’t just do one email. That’s what I did when I left. I sent out like one or two emails me Hey, this is Luke. Hey, go ahead. Give all give all his Luke he’s cool call call him up. Like I’m out peace. But keep Yeah, I mean, that’s is that the number one issue that people have when they’re doing this is the transfer of power transfer brand? Yeah, says her face.

Yeah, exam, we can type into that. So as far as the time limit, I mean, really, a year is ideal, the more you can give it to do the CO marketing and CO branding is, is the best that the longer you can do it, the longer you have to introduce your sphere to the successor is the best. But we’ve done we’ve done a shortest two weeks, actually, when there was kind of a lack of planning and suddenly an agent was leaving. And in two weeks, she was going to be gone. And we pretty much sat down, I said you need to give me at least three hours, I’m gonna sit with you with your database, we’re going to make calls, we’re going to send out a few things I’m going to take whoever you have unlisting you know, alerts right now and convert them right now we’re gonna, you know, onto my stuff. And so we you can do it in a very little amount of time, but it’s not going to be as productive and as as good of a monetary gain and continue into retirement is if you have a longer period of time for it.

Mike, I think this is where we talk about CO branding, like, well, that person is still an agent in your brokerage. We’re advertising ourselves as a team and putting both of our faces on mailers and putting both of our faces on advertisements and on that the retiring agents information so that all of their sphere and their farm and all of these things are seeing all of our faces together. And then when they actually move into that retirement or into the referral networks. It really moves it co marketing than that we’re marketing maybe that team but not misleading and keeping in track with all the state guidelines of things. But people honestly a lot of times don’t even realize that that retiring agent isn’t even there because we’ve done such a good job of CO branding and CO marketing on the front end. And so, you know, when we have 18 months or 24 months to do this process, we’re shooting videos together. We’re going out on big listing presentations together. We’re hosting client parties together we’re doing all of the things so that literally that sphere of influence doesn’t think that It’s just Jim’s business. It’s Jim and Jessica or Jim and Justin and Justin, who is actually a real team now.

I like it. So let’s first, let’s just say you find somebody like, Alright, I’m gonna retire in a year or two, let’s sit down, how does it work? What’s the most important thing to do first, and then especially in the first couple months happens, because once you build it, I’m sure it’s just repetition, repetition, repetition.

Yeah. So in the book, we talked about three structures, kind of for what a contract would look like, for that succession planning. And so are you going to be literally teammates, equals or you’re gonna have an actual team leader? And then a team member in that? Or is it just gonna be this really loose contract of, hey, we’re gonna start doing some branding together and kicking things back and forth and not sharing expenses. But I think where we really see the power is sitting down and making a plan to say, here’s kind of where we’ll negotiate what those referrals look like, here’s my retirement date. And making sure that people are really confident they’re going to keep that retirement date, and serve themselves. And it’s okay, if it’s a moving target, you know, if it’s going to be summer of 2022. You don’t need to know whether it’s going to be June 1, or whether it’s gonna be July 15, you can kind of aim for but the closer you get, you’ve got to really know when you’re going to pull that trigger. Making plans about the marketing is the biggest piece, how do we really sit down at first get people’s business together for their data, and their CRM at some of those, we have to reconstruct totally from scratch. Some of them are, hey, I’ve got an awesome CRM, I’ve got brevity I’ve got TM, I can literally just print all this out for you and habit. And then how do we really start to get the message out of we’re working together how to you as the successor learn the clients and the business that the retiree is in and how their clients like to be treated? Are they super analytical? Do they have a great sales plan for marketing a home? Do they work with investors? Do they work with commercial real estate, building that plan and then executing on the CO marketing and CO branding? Because that’s where the power of it is, it’s really, the most important thing is how do we tell a retiring agent sphere of influence, you can trust this new person I’m bringing in, they’re really good, you’re going to get what you expect, you’re going to get continuity. And you should feel really comfortable when you pick up the phone as a client calling them or when you call me and I refer you back to them. You know what to expect them what you’re going to get?

That’s what is the the average age last time I checked your real estate agents like 56 and a half or 57 years old, right? So how many of those people are retiring? Do you guys ever done the math on that? How many like people in the real estate industry? What’s the number of agents because it is an older overall population? And then the younger ones are coming in now. But what is that, because there’s quite a bit of people out there that are probably in this position right now.

You’re exactly that. And I was just flipping back because I had all the data from NAR that’s here. But basically, in Illinois, there are 7000 realtors who have reported on the NAR national survey that they’re not confident they’re going to be selling real estate in two years. And 2400 of those are over the age of 55 and 60. So really, there is a great opportunity here in the sense that as you look across the country, that average age of Realtors is going up even though there are 10s of 1000s of new realtors, which is telling us even people entering the market are not younger agents in a lot of cases. And so it’s not just the opportunity for people retiring to but kind of like you were talking about during your plan. There are people that relocate there are people that get into the corporate side of real estate or lending or do any of these things. But this is a huge, huge market. In terms of the number of retiring agents even at our brokerage in Peoria. There’s a significant percentage of our retirement age eligible. And I think what was really neat to think about in the the National Association of REALTORS report on kind of the state of Realtors was that those experienced Realtors get 70% of their business from referrals. So they’re not buying these leads. This is their sphere doing the work, and it’s them passing their sphere on to you. So whether you’re in a small brokerage, whether you’re in a huge brokerage, whether you’re relocating to a new market, to try and establish yourself as a real estate agent, there are ample retiring real estate agents or people who are eligible to retire and I think sometimes people don’t retire because they don’t have a plan. I mean, they want to feel really good about when they do that someone’s going to take care of their family and their friends and their clients and sometimes having that conversation with retirement eligible agents in your brokerage is probably going to make them feel really good about starting the process.

Just stay on them. Got it. I think a lot of agents don’t look at that as a potential source of business either. I don’t think anyone does. They’re chasing leads they’d rather do like a Facebook ad versus just go target some old crusty real estate agent that’s dying by the vine waiting to get the hell out of business in your office right in front of you, that could need your help. Yep,

yeah. And I can speak a little bit more on you know exactly what you’re saying, you know, it’s, it’s so much easier to work with a lead and work with a person, when it’s a referral, someone saying, you know, hey, this is the person I trust, you’ve got to sell your house, you’ve used me in the past, but I work with with my teammate or my partner here. If you’ve been given that credibility, and so working with that person, they already then trust you, you’re not having to fight for the conversion on that. And so it’s, it’s not just going out there and paying for these leads here, you’re sure you may be paying a referral on the back end of it. But you’ve just been given credibility to work with this person?

How, what are the referral agreements? Typically, when you guys see me 5% 30%? Is the agent still involved? Can I guess? I’m sure it could be all the above. Sure, it’d be open for discussion or negotiation, like the agent still gonna be involved for a year? Maybe they’re just the listing presentation, and they hand everything off? And that’s all they do.

Really, it can be all of the different different ones there. Yeah,

I think would you know, when we sit down, and we say that there is no standard for what a referral is, and these things, but we typically see, as we’ve done these contracts, making three years of these referral commissions that will pay out before then we wholly own, if you will, the, the book of business or the sphere of influence that people are passing. And, you know, we’ve taught to some agents across the country where referrals are 40%, I would say we mostly see 25%. And we really sit down and say, you know, in the first year, should we be giving more than 25% have put this plan in place, so that the retiring agent says I really feel comfortable, and I know I’m getting some benefit here, and then slowly reduce that over time. And we even you know, you talked about the the investment side of business, we put a lot of things in that contracts about if they’re going to sell their personal residence or their personal portfolio, giving them a discount or not charging some percent of the commission or a flat fee. But those are all the things that I think really build a trusting relationship between the successor and the retiring agent is sitting down and talking through those and what they feel they deserve and don’t deserve. I think as you look at the the history of succession plans, there are some people who literally just put a number on their book of business, and they’re like, I’m gonna sell this to you for 50 grand. I don’t know that that’s the best way to do things. But we even talked in the book about how do you sit down and put a monetary incentive in there, of, hey, if you meet the certain amount of millions of dollars of referrals that you send, we’ll give you a $2,500 or 5000 or $10,000 Bonus, because that really gives that a the retiring agent motivation to be talking about real estate at Thanksgiving and Christmas, I’m referring their older relatives who may be selling their home or building smaller ranches or moving in house, whatever it is, they have some skin in the game now to say like, I’m going to keep referring business and we’ve even seen agents in the referral business, or referral networks make a business card that says referring agent, and then they’re still out there in the field, handing them out and then getting them connected with us.

How long? How long does the agreement last?

But it depends. I mean, we have we have one right now that’s a three year another one is just one year, it really depends on what what the person wants to do what works best for them, maybe how long they’re going to be working another one that’s probably going to be even a multi year, maybe more than three years because they’re going to still be working with us for a while. Got it kind of depends on what’s best.

Because eventually they’re gonna they’re done. Right? Like a sad, sad person prepaid style, like in what’s the right word for perpetual? ility? Whatever. perpetuity forever. Yeah, there it is. It’s like jewelry. I can barely say that either. Okay, that makes a lot of sense. And it makes a lot of common sense to me. Just you’re just, instead of just I mean, it makes a whole lot of sense. I think it’s a recruiting model for a broker owner, perhaps. I think a broker owners is probably where I would start marketing this thing, because it’s an office if

the broker owners should want to have us come in and talk to their group of agents about because there’s probably some percent sitting there thinking about retirement and they probably have some really hungry agents who can take on the business who would be a really good fit. I found the place in our kind of introductory chapter where I talked about that survey of realtors. So there are 300,000 Realtors across the United States who are over the age of 60. And 65,000 of them reported that they don’t think they’ll be selling real estate then the next two years. So the numbers are are staggering out there. Yeah, I’ve got across the board

makes a lot of sense. What about age gap differences? How do you overcome that a lot of times the personalities have to mesh, no doubt. But I could imagine like you had like a 24 year old kid coming in, then you got like a 65 year old woman going out? Sometimes, it’s not just automatic, you got to find the right person for your business, right?

Absolutely. And that’s part of it, too. And in the book, we have a kind of a work book section there, where you go through and kind of ask yourself these questions as the retiree. And then if you’re a successor, asking, you know, those questions of what the best fit for you would be, and that’s kind of also where you maybe decide how the structure is going to be maybe if it’s a real, you know, fresh into the industry individual. You know, maybe you do work as a team for a year or two, just to build even more trust and give them the experience in the business. Yeah, like,

it makes a lot of sense. Any other thoughts? You guys have? You want to share here? Anything else? Someone may be looking at broker owners agents? Go ahead, the floor is yours.

Yeah. Well, again, really, the opportunity is out there. So you know, I, I love and when I listened to your podcast, I always say one or two marketing things away, like I’m going to start putting this into the work that I do. And everyone saw, I think, caught up in the game of buying leads and the high cost of entry. And this is the kind of opportunity again, that retirees should be thinking about other realtors or agents should be thinking about to grow their business, and the broker owners should really be I don’t wanna say subsidizing, but really thinking about to keep the owner in their brokerage

profit stream to make money in a brokerage today.

And I’m going to tell you a bit of the ones that we’ve done, the retiring agents have been really happy because literally, they’re just staying keeping their their license active through continuing education, and they’re getting mail checks. And they enjoy still, you know, being on Facebook referring people that they have conversations to transferring us phone calls, emailing us leads, and it’s a, it’s a really great opportunity for them to be doing it. And so I would say, you know, if people are interested or people are thinking about it, the biggest struggle is just the plan and putting it together. And that’s exactly why we wrote the the short book that’s out there is to give people that structure so that you don’t have to be scared or intimidated. And you can really enjoy the relationship that you develop with the retiring agent or with your successor. And do the marketing things that we found out are best practices, and then really sit back and reap the rewards and do the hard book and build your new book of business for the future.

Like it. Sometimes folks, the largest income streams or opportunities are right beneath your nose, you just got opened your eyes and Quit Chasing other shiny objects. Why don’t you guys go ahead and tell everyone how they can read your book, get your book, find you guys, if they want to learn more, follow us on social Go ahead.

So our books website is our E succession.com. The book is going to be coming out right at the start of March. A couple of versions of it are already available if you want to go out and check it out. We have a variety of services and we provide some consultation and support for people going through the succession planning process, whether you’re the retiring agent or the successor to make sure that you’re doing things, best practices and getting the most bang for your buck as you go through it. We also do a variety of speaking presentations. We’re going to be out at the International Conference for our for in Las Vegas at the end of February starting March, sharing that but we’re happy to work with people from all types of brokerages and all types of agencies and teams to talk about yours

yet, so we also have Facebook and Instagram. So our E succession is the handle on that so you can easily find us there plus links from our website for that. And then another website to reach us is Jessica ball homes.com. And then also Facebook, Jessica Boyle homes and then well that is also our Instagram handle so you can find us in lots of different places

and can’t pass up the opportunity for shameless promotion. If you’re another Illinois real estate agent or anybody across the country, and you got people moving to Peoria, Illinois, whether it’s for the hospital system Caterpillar tractors, anybody else we’re really happy to take your referrals and ship referrals out there.

Here’s ever used the tagline the balls in your court. I like it. I like it, too. I was just like, I’m gonna grab these guys.

We’ve got a lot of funny taglines and inappropriate taglines. You can insert your own balls

I love it. Alright guys, I think it’s great. Smart Good job. You guys look these people up man look them up, get this, get their book and if you’re in that boat, whether you’re young buck and you’re looking to get business look for someone who’s trying to retire and vice versa I appreciate you guys coming on the show. We appreciate you guys listening to another episode please visit our website check us out real estate marketing do.com and connect with us on our social channels. Make sure you subscribe, follow like comment, and I think that’s it. Appreciate you guys have a good day and you guys have a good day listening and thank you for listening to the episode. We’ll see you guys next week like 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 do.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 schedule a 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.

Conversion Through Authenticity with Tristan Ahumada

You know as well as I do that leads are worth NOTHING if you can’t convert! They cost money and you get nothing back. But Tristan Ahumada is an expert at connecting and conversion and in this episode, and he’s here to take me through the steps he uses to not just convert, but convert RELIABLY from Facebook and Google pay-per-click ads.

Most of us have a split of business where up to 80% of our business comes from repeats and referrals, but for Tristan, it’s more like around 35%! His remaining business comes from converted online leads, and he does it WITHOUT buying leads from Realtor.com or Zillow. I asked him to lay out exactly how he does it, and the first thing we discussed was connecting with people and understanding personalities.

If you haven’t taken a DISC course, do it now! Understanding your leads’ personalities is key to conversion, and Tristan and I look at a couple examples of how (and why) it works. Once we’ve got that down, it’s time to talk specifics, and Tristan walks me through exactly what he does when a lead comes in. He covers everything, from how long it takes to call that lead, to how long it takes to follow up, and what to say. We even talk about how to deal when you’re having an off day!

Next, Tristan explains why he went cold turkey and stopped using both Realtor.com and Zillow for leads. When he decided to leave both sites, 66% of his business came from the two of them, and he had to make it up from somewhere! He talks me through where he made that business up.

We finish off by talking about how to build trust with a client, once you’ve made that initial connection. We talk about the best way to communicate (Text? Facebook Messenger? E-mail?) and how you know when someone really trusts you. Finally, we talk about stories, and why telling a good, authentic story, will get a lead to pay more attention to you and engage more quickly.

Today’s Topics:

  • Understanding personalities using the DISC method
  • Why it’s important for agents to tailor communications to their leads’ personalities
  • How to incorporate different personality types into automated response systems
  • What to do when a lead comes in and you’re off your game
  • The worst way an agent can respond to a new lead
  • Tristan’s tried and true method for following up on leads
  • Why it’s key to capture buyers when they’re emotional
  • The best methods of connecting with leads
  • Why we pay more attention when someone tells us a story

Connect with Tristan Ahumada and the Lab Coat Agents

If you’re not already a member, have a look and join the Lab Coat Agents group on Facebook, the largest real estate agent group in the US.

What It Takes To build a Team With Suneet Agarwal

Are you born to be a team leader? Do you have what it takes to build a team of agents and make it prosper? It takes more than just being a great agent to lead a team, and one man who knows that all too well is Suneet Agarwal, so I’ve invited him on the show to tell me his secrets! Suneet is a team leader with Home Smart Realty in Sacramento, California, and he’s a Club Wealth coach and Lab Coat Agent as well.

Suneet and I start off by discussing what it means to run a team, and what helps retain agents. He tells me how running a team is like running a business, and the culture-building tactics he uses to make his agents feel supported and valued. He also explains why you should never brand your team with your own name!

Then we talk details: where does Suneet get his leads from, and how much does he supply to his agents? How dependent are they on him for their leads? And how does he provide them with incentive to go out and find their own leads?

Finally, Suneet tells me how he chooses his agents, and gives me an introduction to how he onboards them. We discuss probation periods, new agent expectations, and his number one trait that will determine whether he keeps an agent on the team, or lets them go.

Today’s Topics:

  • How is running a team of agents like running a business?
  • Why your agents should work WITH you, not FOR you
  • Why top salespeople tend to stay with the same company for long periods of time
  • Why you should never brand your team with your name
  • Where the best leads come from
  • How to decide who to bring on to your team
  • The number one trait that determines whether a team member will succeed
  • The question you should ask yourself BEFORE you start up a team

Connect with Suneet Agarwal

Reach out to Suneet Agarwal on his cell phone: (916) 216-7375. You can also reach his team directly, just visit their website at bestsachomesgroup.com. You can also email Suneet directly at [email protected].

Create Media, NOT Advertising Or Prospecting

Guess what we’re talking about today, marketing and marketing and marketing. But we’re gonna be talking about a specific kind of marketing and why you need to be creating it. Everything you do today is content. The posts you make when you’re taking up the ugly carpeting in the basement is content. The picture of you and your clients at the closing is content, that big ass kitchen with beautiful views, that is content, anything you publish is content, and you have to be creating it going forward. There is no other way, lead generation is dead and you’re gonna burn out door knocking and cold calling.

To further engrave this into your minds, we’re bringing on Gary Pickren as our guest today. Gary has deep ties to the local real estate community. Since 1995 Gary has performed real estate closings, taught real estate agents, and advocated for all South Carolinians in changing South Carolina real estate law. Toward that end, Gary started a weekly video blog that has over 4,000 subscribers. He even started a real estate podcast in 2020 to better educate the real estate agents on issues in the real estate closing process.

Three Things You’ll Learn in This Episode

  • The importance of being visual with your communication and why it is so effective
  • How to sound more authentic and why that matters
  • Why podcasting is a great form of content

Resources

Learn More about Gary Pickren

Listen to Gary’s Podcast

Real Estate Marketing Dude

The Listing Advocate (Earn more listings!)

REMD on YouTube

REMD on Instagram

Transcript:

So how do you attract new business? You constantly don’t have to chase it. Hi, I’m Mike Cuevas to real estate marketing. And 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. Guess what we’re talking about today, marketing and marketing and marketing. But we’re gonna be talking about a specific kind of marketing call it media, and why you need to be creating it. So probably about a week or two ago, I was on somebody’s podcast, and now he’s on ours. And this guy’s an attorney. He’s a he’s a he’s an a boring attorney. Okay, talking about the most stuffy profession in the damn world. Like anyone in the attorney space. It’s like you get attorneys, you get to doctors, but anyone that wears a suit pretty much all the time, or you would think wears a suit all the time. That’s a very stuffy, stuffy business. Well, Mr. Gary here has taken the concept of creating media around his brand. He’s a real estate attorney in one specific state, but he understands marketing, he understands content creation, he understands communication, and staying in front of people remaining on top of mine, the only way you remain on top of mind is if you create content, otherwise, how the hell do you do it? Everything you do today, guys is content. The posts you make when you’re taking up the ugly carpeting in the fucking basement is content. The picture of you and your clients at the closing is content, that big ass kitchen with big ass views, that is content, anything you publish is content, and you have to be creating it going forward. There is no other way lead generation is fucking dead and you’re gonna burn out door knocking dead cold calling dead. I’m telling you guys, it’s common. We’ve been talking about this attraction thing, but I wanted to bring on the most stuffy business and show you how it even works in his damn business. And he’s either due to a video he’s doing in the form of a podcast, this podcast you’re listening to is a form of media. I publish it every Saturday. And as a result, some of you guys, are you gonna call me next week and schedule a demo and spy my shit. And it’s because I’m constantly adding value and want you’re gonna convert sooner or later. I don’t give a fuck what do you think but I’m gonna convert you. Anyhow, let’s introduce our guest, Gary picker the show Gary wants to come in and tell everyone a little bit hello to you. Oh,

what’s up, man? First of all, I don’t like attorney so I try to do everything I can to not be like an attorney. And that’s why

I like you. I don’t like attorneys either. I hate attorneys.

To help wrong with it. You marry an attorney. You made a bad decision already. But yeah, I try not to be anything like an attorney. But Mike, man, I really love being on your show. You are the real estate marketing. Dude, you’re a guru in this. And it is an incredible honor to be with you. And have you on my podcast. Really appreciate it.

Yeah, he has a podcast going what tell everyone what that is because they

are podcast called dition dirt. And it started really in South Carolina just kind of a podcast talking about things that real estate agents need to know in terms of agency appraisal gaps, multiple offers, a lot of it applied to real estate agents all around the country. But recently, in particular, in the last five or six months, I’ve been very fortunate to meet people like yourself and some other great coaches and other agents that have said, hey, I want to come on your show and talk about some of the crap we do. And it’s kind of taken two sides. Now we do a little bit of the legal stuff and things that agents deal with. But we also hit a lot of the marketing things, how to stay top of mind how to get a referral based business, how to do you know servant leadership, things like that. So we’ve had a really good run over here and it’s, it’s kind of taken off. It’s been really surprising.

So let’s back into how you started this thing. Okay, so we’re gonna start the beginning with this, you guys. Gary’s a real estate attorney. He makes money off of real estate closings, but Gary’s license in South Carolina. Right. Right. So you only closed properties in South Carolina. Is that cool?

Pretty much. So yeah, we have we used to have an attorney in North Carolina. We got one in Florida that mainly it’s just South Carolina.

So how long ago until you realize you’re like, I got to start creating content. And Gary today has a podcast and his main form of content Correct? Correct me if I’m wrong, but your main form of content is creating a podcast consistently every week. And all it does it has people like myself on it and other people and you interview and you give a marketing advice, right?

Yeah, we have a podcast and also have something called legal tips, which is a video blog that we did that we send out through Bom Bom and I’ve created about a 4500 person subscriber list. And with that subscriber list, they’re all pretty much real estate agents and the vast majority are in my market. We have offices in Greenville, South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, Lexington, South Carolina. So the vast majority of that comes from my market. And I’ve been able to hit that group in less than two years with 1 million opens of those videos. So the videos are usually a short topic one to three minutes. And then my podcast usually runs 30 minutes. But the podcast kind of came out of the idea from the videos, because in a video format, when you’re sending emails out, whether it is somebody who has signed up for your blog, or somebody, you’re just trying to attract through social media, most people give you a minute, two, maybe three, if you’re lucky, but anything goes about two or three minutes, they’re not going to listen to it. So when you start trying to talk about appraisal gaps, and how not to have your clients stolen from you, and things of that nature, you can’t hit that crap in two minutes. I mean, just no way. So I decided, hey, why not try a podcast, it was going to be a one one a month. That’s all I was gonna do. And that first one went really well for us. And the next thing I know, I’m doing one a week, and it’s developed into having people like you and Krista and Jan and Jan and some other people on the show that has just really helped push it forward for us. And our people listen all over the country, which is really cool.

And when did you realize like, how did you and most of your business comes from real estate agent referrals? Is that correct? That’s right. So most of his business comes to real estate agent referrals, he realized that he had to do something to attract more and more referrals. And when did the light switch go out? Like you’re like, you’re like, I’m an attorney, I started podcasting new video series. How did you know that? That was a direction to take it?

That’s a really good question. So I’ve been doing this for 26 years, I started 1995, before internet was a thing, right? And I was the attorney in 1995, or 96, who told the guys in our office, let’s don’t get internet, because a staff will do nothing but play on it. It’s no good for, for searching for porn, right? People basically use it for back in the 90s. And so, you know, I was kind of always anti social media. And then I’ve just over the last maybe seven or eight years when when our firm a bunch of lawyers and another from broke off and started this farm. And I said, you know, we have to be different than everybody else. Everybody’s doing the same crap over and over doesn’t matter if you’re a lender, you’re an agent, or you’re an attorney, we all do the same crap over and over. And when you say, Well, what differentiates you from everybody go, I give great service. Nobody gives a crap. Everybody gives great service. It’s kind of the expected, so you better come up with something that’s different than everybody else is doing. So at that point, I was doing a representative of a real estate agency called Russell Jeff coat. And I was sending them out. They were a big independent that’s been consumed by big major. But we were sending out basically a legal tip to the people that we worked with, we just type up a little email going, Hey, guys, don’t do this, as we’re seeing this being a problem. And from that, I decided, hey, this could go farther, because I was getting so many positive remarks about it going hey, I love your tip you did on this. I love your tip on home warranties. So we made it into a WordPress and so we started putting on our website as a WordPress. Well that sucked because, you know, I’m from the south and we type that type all this stuff up and we’re different we, you know, I come up with my own version of English sometimes and the words aren’t really really that correct. But you know, I was having to type this up, give it to an associate to proofread it, send it back to me, make sure everything’s legally the way it supposed to be. And so you’re doing a little two paragraph post is taking you hours. And I’m like there’s got to be a better way of this crap. This should this doesn’t work. And so I went to rehumanize at Bom Bom and ran into Alicia there. And I started thinking how could I take what I was already doing, which was being successful, and make it different than everybody else? And I was like, video, nobody’s doing this crap in South Carolina. Why don’t I do video. So I started doing the video is legal tips. And I started finding out instead of spending 30 minutes or an hour, typing it up making sure the grammar is correct. And I’m not using the wrong words that I could crank out content in three to five minutes because you know, they wanted to be authentic. They don’t want to sound rehearsed. And once I cranked out that content, it exploded. I mean, it literally exploded all over the place. And what’s that exploded, I started noticing every time I literally can be sitting at home on a Sunday watching a football game. And notice the number of opens and then hit Refresh an hour later. And it goes up two or 3000 on a Sunday afternoon in the middle of December. It’s just amazing how I’m able to stay consistently in front of my client base, even when I’m not working. And so at that point, I said, Alright, I’m on to something here. This is working. Let’s now look at where we can take it to the next level. And so we started the podcast but but ultimately Mike what really pushed me to do this and to keep really going farther and farther and farther. And this is everything we’ve ever done in this farm has been copied by every one of our competitors. Yeah, so either

a badge of honor. Right? It’s a bunch of the Guru’s are copying my shit.

There’s no doubt about it. I copy your shit, you know? Be honest with you. I actually posted a podcast I did a legal tip today and a business coach email me goes hell I love this. I’m gonna use this I will record it myself. But she’s like, I’m just kidding. I wouldn’t do that to him like I don’t care still is

the best form of flattery, dude, the wheel you don’t need to reinvent the wheel folks. You need to make it yours.

Exactly. So at that point, I’m like, you know everybody’s Feeling everything we’re doing. So we’ve got to keep recreating, uh, coming up with new stuff, better stuff, more interesting stuff. And that’s just kind of what we’ve done over the last six, seven years or eight years, really.

So I like it. I like it all. Let’s want to relate it back to Paco, we have their real estate agent. So a lot of people get stuck when they’re like, Okay, what kind of content am I going to create? Now? Can I do it long term, you can never create content with first identifying who your audience is. Okay. And this is true for any business. Gary’s business is real estate agents, his audience, my business is real estate agents, lenders, investors, we do videos for them. But a realtors business is 95 99% of time is their Facebook friend list the relationships that they have in life. So you have to look at those relationships and be like, Okay, how do I nurture these relationships? That’s really we’re talking about how I farm these relationships. And you have two ways to do it. One, you can just start talking about real estate all the time. And I’m gonna tell you first why that’s probably not going to work as well as the latter. One is that if you are always if Gary, Gary, you’re married, right? Yep. Okay, if you when you get off of work, do you? What’s your wife’s name? Emily, Emily. So when you get off of work, do you tell Emily and just come home and just keep talking about work? That you don’t wanna hear? But yeah, what would Emily do if every time you communicated it was just about work?

It was just not look at me. She she’d eventually be

like, This guy’s boring as shit. I’m going to divorce him and go find a 25 year old. But no, seriously, so but and but I can talk about work with my content, because people subscribe for marketing stuff, right? Gary can talk about work with his real estate agent list, because they’re subscribing to get value from Gary. But people don’t subscribe to the real estate agents that constantly hear about real estate. So that means you it’s hard to always talk about work with your friends, family. It’s also hard to talk about work with your audience. Let’s just first identify it. Because real estate, such a relationship type business, I just think you need to remind you I don’t think I know. You just need to remind people that you’re in real estate and create content consistently. That’s more entertaining. Doesn’t have to always be educational, you guys.

And we do a lot of content here too. Like during COVID. Every single thing you heard on the news was doom and gloom terrible numbers, everything was going to shut down the economy was going to crash were real estate was going to be the worst it’s ever been in the history of the world. What’s quite the opposite real estate actually wanted to be in the greatest city had ever been in much years. And so I started a legal tip called Gary’s good news only. And every Friday, I would send out a two or three minute video on good economic stuff, good real estate stuff and good COVID news. So like if we saw COVID numbers going down, we saw real estate and I was just getting this stuff from Inman News or Fox News or CBS or NBC I just go on their websites and there was always a piece of good news somewhere that somebody wanted to hear about and I was getting emails from people when I stopped doing it and please start doing it again. I send this to my parents and did any

of that and here’s the thing then you what you sent those out via bom bom right? So when he sends these out via bom bom it do not have your branding all over the all over the actual email that says you’re an attorney. Therefore you don’t have to during it you guys like what people see is very impactful. And the reason why video and vid being visual with your communication is so effective is because that’s where your branding plays. Like no matter what if you’re going to be doing a video you better have your damn sign or something that tells me you’re in real estate there. Otherwise don’t do the damn video. You’re missing the point. But it’s a giant game a reminder, remind don’t tell remind, you’ll tell. Can i Alright, so we get this podcast going. And then you and I would honestly if you would have told me as an attorney in South Carolina and we never met and say you didn’t do a podcast if you would have told me that if I do a podcast? Is that a good idea? I’d say no, it’s not a good idea. I’d say I would probably a video series in a local markets a very good idea because it puts your face with the name but the fact that you did it through an audio only version of a podcast in the local market but made a national presence is absolutely amazing.

Yeah, and it’s been a long time coming. I’ve been doing this for 26 years and during that time I’ve represented real estate agents at the real estate commission when they’ve had grievances filed against them. I represent the Realtors Association. A wrote that the contract helped write the contract for our Realtors Association. I helped write the seller disclosure form for the state. And then I got put on the real estate commission. So over my course of 26 years my brand has been common the Gary is the go to guy he’s the one who knows about the seller disclosure. He’s the one who knows about the contract. He knows about this. And so because my brand in a lot of ways has become that it was just a perfect fit for me that I was able to start doing the legal tips and explain the legal stuff. And you know, I don’t there’s not really a real estate agency in Colombia that I haven’t represented at some form, whether it’s a Keller Williams or color or Coldwell Banker or an auto real estate or whoever. And because of that been able to get this big following. And that’s that has been a big help. I have to admit that. But yeah, that’s been part of my branding is to be that go to guy. I do agree 1,000% with you my ability to target with agents with going straight education or majority education works to a point where I don’t believe it would with an agent because if you’re if I’m just a homebuyer and you’re constantly hitting me over the head with what’s a deed, what’s, you know, what does it mean for sale by owner and all this? I get bored? I’m moving on. Yeah. But so we’ve started to because of listening to your podcast, and some others started trying to bring a little bit more that fun in and some of the other aspects and our podcast. No, it’d

be a good idea. Maybe if you guys did like a, the craziest legal stories of the month. Yeah, the summary episode of that. Like, even crazy, there’s a agent here, she’s gonna start podcasts. And we ended up calling it I don’t know if she launched yet or not. But we ended up calling it humor house. And it was all about the funniest crazy stories that agents have in real estate. And what she was doing it for is that she wanted to create a podcast to create a referral based business from other agents. So humor, she just interview agents that would like tell their stories about like, the dead body they found in the house, or the safe that had like a pound of heroin in it or, you know, like, whatever it may be the crazy shit we see. Right? So I think that could have been a good idea for her. But you have to first come up with a theme you guys like you’re gonna create content. My theme is creative marketing outside the box video content creation, personal branding, right? Your theme is legal pitfalls of real estate, stay out of trouble, essentially. Right? Right. So it’s no differently. Each of you guys has a theme to create content with. There’s a reason why people hire you. Because before you get hired, you have to be remembered. And the reason they remember you is your theme.

Right? And it’s worked very well for us. And you know, like I said, we tried to venture out with Gary’s good news only also did a series one time, which I’m almost embarrassed to talk about, but it was called three dudes watch The Bachelor. I mean, it was a real estate lender, and it was another Real Estate Commissioner, and we would watch The Bachelor and then we would come in my office and

watch like react videos. Oh, well, we

would actually talk about the day after it’s like this is what happened last night on this crappy crappy show. And it was a lot of fun we

got it wasn’t that crappy? Because you guys kept watching it every week. Wow. That’s like me. I’m like I watch every episode. I’m like, No, my friends. But you watch The Bachelor making the fuck out here talking about bachelor bachelor me watch The Bachelor. What are you talking about?

Course that means like, where do you get to see 25 beautiful women hit on one guy that doesn’t happen. That’s why I never watch The Bachelorette. Because you can see 25 guys hit on one girl in any bar in America. Watch that.

Yeah. So there’s Alright, this is great, man. So I want to know, what’s your advice to people? Because here’s the challenge a lot of people have we all want to become internet famous yet yesterday, right? We all want everyone to know who we are, like three weeks ago. And when you start creating content, I mean, it’s not gonna happen overnight. You guys like you don’t build your brand overnight, you build over day. And I think that’s one of the reasons why people don’t ever commit to doing it. So why don’t you tell us what that experience has been for you? And give some people some advice that might be thinking about creating content, maybe they’re thinking about hiring us and get on video or whatever it may be. Talk, tell them a little bit about that.

I think you hit a good point there is that everybody wants to be internet famous. But the question really is, is what are you trying to do? I mean, are you trying to be internet famous? So people will ask you to sell their crap on on the internet? Are you trying to become internet famous because you want to make your business expand? And that’s been a tough thing for me to understand. And I kept doing videos on YouTube or doing something on Facebook or even doing a podcast wanting the million downloads, right? Everybody wants to say, look, I had a one go viral and a million. But if you are selling real estate in San Diego, where you are, and I get a million downloads from New York City, does that really matter? I would rather have 1000 downloads in San Diego where my clients are, where people are that are going to hire me to sale then worry so much about how many people around the country. When I first got into this podcast, I can track where they’re being downloaded. And I got real excited going, hey, wow, somebody in Cleveland or somebody in Denver is watching my listen to my podcast. And it’s a big ego boost. There’s no doubt about it to say people around the country are listening to your stuff. But when you’re really doing it to hit your market, what’s really more important is core market. And so when I started really looking back at the numbers, I’m like, Okay, well, this week, 500 of the people that in my market that are looking at me that I might be able to close a deal with. Those are people who are listening to this podcast, these are the people who are looking at my legal tip video. These are the ones who are interacting with me. And so after a while, I kind of had to get over that ego thing that I want to go big and viral and all this stuff because it doesn’t mean crap. It doesn’t mean anything. And so that was the big thing that I had to come come away with is doing that. The second thing I had to come away with Is the authenticity of it matters so much. As y’all can tell, I’m very southern, I say words like Virginia and not Virginia because I make words up. That’s who I am. I talk very fast, which is very odd for a Southerner, but it’s just who I am. And I’m not going to change it. It’s the way I am and people that work with you, and are going to use you that already know you that you’re trying to stay in front of mind with them. If I came in here, and was very robotic, and completely different in my podcast in my video than I was in person, it would come across rehearse scripted in terrible. And so they need to know that Gary is Gary and what you get in the video and what you get on the podcast is exactly who I am. And if I say words, like forgot, I sort of forgot. That’s who I am. And so that was one of the things I got over very quickly. I also had to get over with the podcast, and the videos don’t have to be perfect. You hit record once and you record it, you do it. And when you say awesome, and the phone rings in the background, that’s natural life. And that seems like a lot better than these that are very rehearsed and very script read. It just doesn’t work.

Yep. Yeah, I mean, that’s why I like the viral videos on tick tock, or like a cat. Like here, I posted a my son. I posted this reel. And I’m not big an IG dude, I’m not an IG expert. I just put my content. There’s my weakest channel. However, I’m starting to get into it. And just a little late to the game. But like, I posted a video of my baby climbing the stairs and he’s grumpy and he’s like, or, or and he turns around, he goes, and it sounds like he says, Hi, he goes Hi. I’m like grunting baby says hi. And he said hi perfectly, we didn’t really mean to say I was this way. But I got like 3700 views on this thing. And then I look at some of my other content that’ll be like real estate related or anything, I’ll get like 12 views. So the point being is that it’s not about the number of people that see your stuff. It’s about the fact that you do it consistently. I have a lot of content that bombs, okay, that’s great. But I take a lot of risks in life to a lot of businesses I started that never took off and was bankrupt. But I kept trying and it’s the same thing with videos. As long as you focus on the consistency of it. It almost always works like I have yet to see anybody do video where it hasn’t worked like I have yet to see a case study. No bullshit, you guys at least in in real estate agents in our industry. I’ve yet to see someone that has done video consistently for anywhere between two to six months and not see it work. I shit you not the only time it doesn’t work you guys is when people don’t like you. I said every week on this show. There’s nothing we can help you with on that. Right? You’re probably in the wrong career. To be honest with you. You’re not supposed to like it. Everyone’s not supposed to like you. It’s okay. I like pissing people off with my videos. Some guy just made a video comment on one of my ads. And he’s like, I have a video where I’m swearing believe that. And it’s targeting a cold audience. This guy’s like, well, you should. One guy goes, I don’t really like to. I hate because it’s such a turn off the use of the F bomb and I go, Hey, you can’t win them all. Another guy comes in and says, Oh, we should learn how to edit first. I’m like, Hey, thanks for the advice. Right? I hug my haters. But if you’re not hating, that means no one’s watching it. Right?

Well, you know, I failed at video first, I’ll be honest with you. And the reason I failed at video first is I had no plan and no consistency. It goes back to what you said about the consistency. So when I signed up with Bom, bom the very first time I got really excited 15 videos, the first month, maybe the second month was like 10. And it was down to five. And by the fourth month I called Shane and said I’m done. I’m out. And he said come to this meeting. We’re doing a rehumanize conference. So I went and I came home with six pages of notes of ideas. And I sat down I said, Okay, I can’t implement six pages. I don’t have enough time to do this crap. So what will work for me? And what worked for me was legal tips. I said, Okay, let’s try this legal tip and see how this works. And just like you said, you got to keep trying and some things bomb and some things don’t. Well legal tips took off. I mean, it was like bam. And so then I went to Gary’s good new zoning, bam, that work. And then I went with the podcast, I do a legal tip, talking about the podcast, and now that goes on. So it’s a lot of trial and error, and not everything’s gonna work. But if you don’t have a plan, you’re gonna fail. And if you’re not consistent, I come out every Thursday with a legal of podcast tip of what my podcast is going to be about. And I come out every Friday morning with that legal tip. And when I don’t do what people ask me, where are you last week, you didn’t do legal tip. And another thing I’ll tell you, it’s also found out when I do these videos, two things were important. One was background. To me people do videos where it’s like, you almost wonder if they’re sitting on the toilet when they’re doing it, you know, it’s just all you see straight up their nose and you see the back of a wall. And so I spent a lot of time developing behind me what my personality is and so if you can if you are on video, I have pictures of my family, all these different baseball fields. I’ve got my Cleveland Browns helmet right there. Yes, I like the Cleveland Browns. I’ve got some Johnny Cash stuff so like country music so I’ve put some pieces an outing and thought into what my background is. And then what I also found out just by happenstance is I forgot to do a legal tip, I was on vacation. So I pulled the video out and did one from Utah. And that video is my most watched video that for a long period of time, so then I started saying, okay, when I go on vacation, whether it’s the Yosemite or Zion, or Moab, or wherever, I’m going to come with a list of three videos, I’m gonna do a video, every you know, every chance I get at different places. And when I get home, I’ll come and post it, I don’t post it while I’m gone. So we’ll be able to have gone but those are amazing. Those are those have more views than anything because people are like, Oh, I’ve been to Monument Valley, or I’ve been to Zion, and they’re relatable.

Right? It’s really relatable, your content, your content has to be relatable. It’s like how ours are like just people that hate me. I’m sure like the guy swears to me, that’s all it’s usually like, it’s usually it’s usually all the old people do. A lot of people trust me. They think I get called it all the time. You’re so frustrated, you make me sick, whatever. I don’t care. Like, I’m never gonna fuckin work with you anyways, dude. I mean, like, I don’t, I don’t care in but you have to, I understand that. I’m not meant to attract everybody. But I think I attract a lot more because of how authentic it is. And it’s really just not holding back. I think it’s very, very well, any, let’s wrap this up. And let’s see any closing thoughts you have for anybody that is thinking about possibly getting started. I mean, you’re doing it as an attorney in a local market. And it’s just a, it’s ticking off for you. So what else you want to tell anyone else that’s thinking about, and I’m not saying get on video, of course, video is the best one to use. But you have to start creating content, wherever it is, whether it’s pictures, whether it’s written posts, whether it’s written emails, I don’t care, you have to create content, it’s no longer optional, it is a necessity. And if you’re not creating content, you are going to be out of damn business.

Well, I think you’re going out of business, if you do do something else. And that is you got to understand that regardless what the market is, there’s too many real estate agents, right? There are a lot of part time agents, a lot of excellent church agents. So the agents who signed up became an agent, they’re gonna sell a friend at church, a house that will sell a friend down the street, a house, and that’s it. But we have I think, even in South Carolina, we have like 60,000 Real estate agents. And so you have to figure out what is going to separate me from everybody else. We don’t want to be a commodity. And if you’re a real estate agent becomes a commodity, all you’re doing is replacing one with the other. So you have to show value, and show that you’re different than other people. And if you will go back and look at your multiple listing service that they have the stats for you go back 10 years and look at the top 10 agents and tell me where they are today. I bet you almost all of them are not in the top 10 anymore. It’s a new group of people that come in the top 10 Because people are not planning ahead and looking and trying to be ahead of the curve. One of my clients told me one time he’s a builder, he said, if you’re not changing your business and how you’re marketing what you’re doing in your technology every two to three years, you already two to three years behind. And so we have learned that you know, like, as I mentioned earlier in the show, we came up with the signs that everybody stands by and you take a picture says my real estate agent rocks came over that in 2015 or 16. Every lawyer in Colombia has that now every lawyer in South Carolina has that. Then I started putting TVs on the wall. And then everybody started doing that. And then we started putting MLS pictures on the TV. We did Greenstreet screens. It’s gotten to a point now where it Blair Kato, we actually have our own beer. I mean, we’ve had our thinking so far the box, we have candles that have our own scent, you walk into a casino, you know what it smells like you walk into black ghetto, we want to know what it smells like, with the iPads, we have our own. We have music going during our closings from XM Radio, we have a bear call closing time that we do at Columbia craft. So you’ve always got to be thinking ahead and what’s gonna differentiate me from the other people using the real estate marketing dude, he’s taking a lot of that thinking out for you, because he’s helping you come up with these plans. So if you’re not working with the real estate marketing, I don’t know what you’re doing. You got to get with somebody who knows what they’re doing, they can help you develop a plan that you can implement and that you can put in place and that you can market and change when you need to change because I’m telling you at 26 years, the last five years has changed change more than the previous 21 and I guarantee you the next five years will be so much more change than we’ve had this past five years we’re looking at remote online notary electronic closings, everything is going to be changing in the next five years this this what we’re talking about today in three years will probably be old hat

well said and thank you for the plug. But yeah, he’s focusing on the client experience you guys and that’s extremely important how you make people feel is what they remember. But you got to be top of mind for them to experience that first and that’s why you have to create content so you have a brand appreciate you guys listening to another episode of real estate marketing do podcast Gary want to go ahead and tell them website they could check out your stuff tell me your shows that so they can reach you if they have any questions. And you can

find me at Blair Cato BL a ir ca to calm that’s on the web. And then if you want to find our podcast it’s called dition dirt without a GDI Shi N apostrophe dirt On any podcast platform, and you can find blackhead on internet on the Instagram or on Facebook at Blair Cato.

Awesome. And thank you folks for listening to other episode real estate market, new podcast. If you’re looking to build that brand, start creating content, we’d love to speak with you. It’s not very difficult. I need one to three hours a month from you. That’s it, and we scripted it and distribute your video content and make the whole process really, really simple. So, you know, visit us real estate market to do.com Thank you for the reviews, connect with us on our YouTube channel, Facebook and now follow us on Tik Tok and IG and if you’d like to keep the conversation going, but we’ll see you guys next week. Thanks for tuning in. Don’t forget to leave that review. So you guys like 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 schedule a 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.

Disrupting Your Marketing Using Video with Jeff Pftizer

Getting the best referral business is all about putting yourself out there and staying in front of people’s minds! Successful businesspeople are using video to transform how they communicate with their target audiences and market their brands. Jeff Pfitzer is a mortgage broker in the St. Louis area, and is using a combination of video marketing and great service that’s built his agent referrals up to 80-90% of his business. In this episode of The Real Estate Marketing Dude, I’ve brought Jeff on to tell me his branding secrets and how his videos are disrupting the market.

Are you an employee or are you running a business? That’s a key part of what we’re talking about. Are you dependent on a big website like Zillow for your leads, or are you putting yourself out there and bringing in your own business? Jeff and I discuss why depending on Zillow is a bad idea, and what it looks like when you break free and start thinking of yourself as a business rather than an employee.

Jeff is using video to differentiate himself from his competition, so we talk about what it is about video that catches people’s attention. We talk about why, if you’re in the real estate business, your videos should almost NEVER be about real estate, as counterintuitive as that sounds. Finally, Jeff talks me through the development process behind his first ever video, which had over 4,000 views in its first week.

Today’s Topics:

  • Why differentiating yourself in the mortgage industry is key
  • Building a brand is a fundamental skill
  • How to stand out in your market
  • The three most important parts of video communication: body language, tone, and content
  • Why you should never talk about real estate your videos
  • How to work hard to position yourself, even in a slow market
  • Why customers don’t remember you until they’ve seen you seven times or more
  • An example of the type of high-engagement video that will make an impact

Connect with Jeff Pfitzer:

The best way to reach Jeff directly is by text at (314) 220-4945. You can also call!

Attracting Leads Online with Ryan Stewman AKA The Hardcore Closer

 

If you’re not focusing all your energy on attracting leads online, you’re missing out. Today’s real estate industry is so competitive that your most profitable business comes from referrals, rather than direct. One of the most reliable ways to secure referral business is to do the lead generation work for realtors – so they can concentrate on closing, and send the business back to you. I’ve brought in The Hardcore Closer himself, Ryan Stewman, to talk to me about strategies he uses for attracting leads online, and tell me his tricks for bringing the best quality leads to his agents.

Ryan Stewman IS the Hardcore Closer. We’ve talked before about how important your personal brand is, and this guy’s got it down. We start off by talking about authenticity and building a strong following by letting your personality shine through on social media. Ryan started his career in the mortgage business in 2003, but in March 2010 lost his license due to regulation changes that disqualified him due to events from his past. In 2009 and the first part of 2010, he’d already closed 260 deals. Rather than fighting his license, he turned to selling social media management to real estate professionals, and really focusing on sharing his expertise.

In this show, we’re talking about why lead gen is so important, and especially why it’s vital to help realtors with leads. We’re looking at what’s working for him in terms of bringing in business, and some concrete steps of how to handle new leads to get them to convert. We’re also discussing why you shouldn’t be tempted to play it cheap on social media, and how much a good campaign might cost you per lead. Finally, Ryan also gives me some tips about how to handle agents to get the best return (in terms of referrals) from the leads that you supply.

Today’s Topics

  • Why authenticity is key in building your brand on social media
  • How to decide who your social media audience is
  • Why it’s key to work with realtors and feed them leads, and what you’ll get in return
  • Why big companies are now hyper-focused on lead gen for realtors, for FREE
  • Social media and how it’s making it easier to get some exposure back from Zillow.com
  • Ryan’s verdict on whether agents should have IDX on their websites
  • Concrete steps to setting up a funnel for leads
  • Why you NEED to make sure you have a privacy policy and terms set up on your website
  • What’s a reasonable budget for a Facebook ad campaign with decent return?

Connect with Ryan Stewman

hardcorecloser.com

Webinar Registration: hcwebinar.com

Resources Mentioned

CardTapp app: hcapp.co

Agent Legend: agentlegend.com

Kick-Ass Copywriting Secrets of a Marketing Rebel by John Carlton

 

 

 

 

 

Working in Your Business vs Work ON It with Josh Fonger

If you haven’t been following this show, we’ve been on this little kick lately. And what we’ve been chatting about mainly has been running your business as a business not being a salesperson, just chasing your next check. You have to realize that you’re running an entrepreneurial business and you are the business you are the brand. And that means you’re running a damn business. If not, you’re just a salesperson. We’re gonna talk about how entrepreneurs really run their business as they spend more time setting up systems and things in their business, they could work on their business and not in it.

So if you feel like you’re just being ran around by clients, you don’t have enough time in the day, today’s guest is for you. He’s in charge of the book, work the system. This dude knows what he’s doing. Josh Fonger is the CEO of WTS Enterprises, based on the best-selling business book written by Sam Carpenter (you can find a free version of it right here. Work the System’s mission is to help entrepreneurs get out of the day-to-day of their business by managing their systems. (Naturally, financial growth and freedom follows.) To accomplish this business mission they focus heavily on training and certifying consultants in the WTS Method so that they can make the largest impact worldwide with our coaching and consulting services.

Three Things You’ll Learn in This Episode

  • How to make more and work less
  • What step you are currently at
  • How to help owners/entrepreneurs fix their life expenses by getting control over their systems

Resources

Work The System

Real Estate Marketing Dude

The Listing Advocate (Earn more listings!)

REMD on YouTube

REMD on Instagram

Transcript:

So how do you attract new business, you constantly don’t have to chase it. Hi, I’m Mike Cuevas to real estate marketing. And 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. It is 2022. If you haven’t been following this show, we’ve been on this little kick lately. And what we’ve been chatting about mainly has been running your business as a business not being a salesperson, just chasing your next check. Unfortunately, in the real estate space, whether you’re a lender and investor or real estate broker, that’s just what happens. You have to realize that you’re running an entrepreneurial business and you are the business you are the brand. And that means you’re running a damn business. If not, you’re just a salesperson. So what we’re gonna do today is because it’s the beginning of the year, because it’s 2022, we’re gonna talk about how entrepreneurs really run their business as they spend more time setting up systems and things in their business, they could work on their business and not in it. So if you feel like you’re just being ran around by clients, you don’t have enough time in the day, this episode’s gonna be for you. He has, he’s in charge of the book, work the system. This dude knows what he’s doing. And without further ado, we’re gonna let him tell you all about it. Josh fungerer. Ladies and gentlemen, why don’t you go ahead and introduce yourself, Josh, and tell everybody a little bit about yourself, we’ll get right into this interview.

Sounds great. Glad to be here. Thanks, Mike. Yep, Josh bunker. And those, I don’t know if you guys have this on video or not. But I’m only have a book called work the system, what I do is take the methodology in that book, and help his owners entrepreneurs fix their life expenses by getting control over their systems. And ultimately, that allows them to make more and work less, which is what most entrepreneurs would like to do. And we kind of free up their their mind space as well.

In the real estate industry, we all get into this business, because we think we’re gonna work less and control our hours, but fucking nothing is further from the truth. You get in the business. And if you get busy, you have no life. And it’s a major problem within it. So I think everyone here is going to really appreciate what you have to say, sorry, I’m going to cut you off.

No, that’s great. Yeah, I’ve worked a lot of folks in in real estate, whether it’s investors or realtors, or developers and home flippers, or you name it, anyone who’s doing any kind of work ultimately has things that they do every day, every week, every month. And our whole goal is to help them see the separate pieces that make up their lives. And then realize those can be made from organic, which means you’re just doing it by the seed your pants, just reacting to mechanical, you can mechanize those things. And it starts with a shift of the way you see your work. But then once you see your work differently, you can start to take those separate pieces and get some help along the way. I’m sure a lot of people who listen to this have some assistance or some part timers people that they that they use, and how to really expand that help and duplicate what you do. And ultimately, it’s allow you to buy more houses, sell more houses do do more of what you already doing, you just gonna be able to expand that. But

so many of us are control freaks, I’m guilty of this I guy, I’m the guilty, I’m your ideal client. The, you know, no one could do it as good as I can. Or, and honestly, I’ve been you guys, I’ve been going through this shit for the last three years, no BS, like I’ve had a road from hell building these businesses. And I’ve lost family time. I’ve suffered time with my wife. No doubt, and I have no problem sharing that with you guys. But I’ve also learned a lot about business throughout this last three to four years of my transformation out here to San Diego. And what I’ve learned a lot is what my business partners have taught me and working on the business. I’m an operator. I’m not a business owner. That’s one realization I came to this year, it’s very hard to go from operator to business owner by by mindset, I’m just an operator, I like being in the fucking grind, like get in the trenches. And I’m a control freak. I don’t like giving up stuff because I don’t know if anyone could do it quite as well as me and I think a lot of people that are entrepreneurial are in that position. Which is what real estate agents and lenders are. So how do you is it fair to say that’s the first step?

Yeah, it definitely is. The first step is to is realize where you are you are self employed operator, right? And it’s a build, they like to stay in that phase. And that’s fine just to stay in that fight phase but you’re, you’re going to hit a wall, right? We call it the plateau and whatever that plateau is maybe that’s making, I don’t know, 100 grand a year, 200 grand a year, whatever that plateau is. You’re going to be able to raise the plateau a little bit if you work more hours and your pipes gonna go down if you work less hours, but you’re just gonna hover there, we call it a yo yo business, basically, you’re going to be there. And if you get sick or you have family issues, it’s gonna go down. And then if you you know, have less responsibilities at home, you’re going to go up, but you’re not going to go anywhere. At the end of your life, what you built will just be a job, and you can’t sell it, you can’t expand it, and some people are fine with that. And if that’s you, then you know what we’re going to talk about the rest of today, maybe you won’t be that helpful. But for those who want to go beyond that, there is a way and it is a different way of working.

You’re right on the money with that. But God I’ll use myself, as an example here you guys is that when you will hit a plateau, you can only do so much. You won’t grow your business by yourself. There is no I in team. And no, I get to the next level like and we’re talking about running a business like not just being the average agent, you wait, you sell fucking 50 houses a year, congratulations, I’m talking about selling 150 houses a year 300 houses a year, becoming literally local celebrity building a brand in your market that requires business. And there’s no way that anyone in the top ranks right now, regardless of what profession you’re in, does this without what I think you’re about to share with us. But at least the vast majority unless you’re freakin Superman, but let’s be honest, we’re human beings. We have feelings, we have needs and whatnot, and it’s very difficult. Let’s start off with how you sort of walk us through how we work the system here, if you will, and let’s start off with that. Like, how do you and I’m just gonna act like how do you? I feel like this is a question. But how do you know what to give up and what not to give up? This is something I personally struggled with. Because ultimately, the biggest thing is you got your business you’re running, there’s a million things going on. You’re the CEO, CFO, accountant, CPA, you name it, you’re wearing every hat. Where does it make sense? I think one of the hardest things people has is I have to pay someone for that. What do they decide? And how do you help people overcome that? Because that’s the control factor, I think is just was hard for me at least Yeah.

Oh, yeah, definitely. And I think that’s a really important step. It was usually a few steps before that. And the reason why is to handoff. So whatever you’re doing right now, and entrepreneurial people, especially in real estate has a lot of ways to make money in real estate. But people who are entrepreneurial in that space, they, they there’s so much in their head and in their instincts and in their experience, that they know how to make success out of all sorts of random situations. And so they they’ve lived that for so many years that you had to hand over what you’re doing right now, or even pieces of it, the next person you handed over to is going to drop the ball, they’re going to screw it up, they’re going to miss the context, they’re going to miss the opportunity, they’re going to botch it. And so even before you can start handing things off, is you need to do, you know, sit out, sit alone for a minute and really think, okay, of the 10 different ways I make money in real estate, what is the piece that is the most scalable, that is the most efficient, that is the most simple, that really I could build a team around. And that could be duplicated, because maybe it’s not everything that you do, but there’s probably certain pieces. And that’s the part that you want to really think through and make a business out of, and we call the document, you write a strategic objective, because if you if you do that, then you know, okay, there’s, again, a lot of ways to make money real estate, but the business I want to build is going to be Gatineau flipping houses that are in the, you know, starter houses that are under $300,000 a year, or said that would be much in San Diego, but you know, whatever, whatever the range is gonna park in space. Yeah. And so you you pick, you pick exactly the kind of housing type, you pick the exact area, you pick the exact buying type, you pick the exact, you know, all the different pieces, and you really simplify it taking this, this buying group this product this way, you know, marketing this way, and like this is the plan. And then, and then you can start bringing people on. Because both people want to do a good job, they just don’t know how to, they don’t know what a good job looks like. And they don’t come with 20 years experience. It’s not their business, they learn how dedicated and so you you have to say hey, it’s a very simple thing, I need you to move this from point A to point B, I need you to to pound a real estate sign in the grass. Can you do that you dig the hole, put that in there. And yeah, someone can do that. And so the more you first have a simple strategy, then you can have simple processes and then you can bring in people to do simple things. And if those people come and go, which they do, then you can bring someone else on to do the same thing because you’ve you’ve mechanize a simplifies the pieces of your business and allow yourself to do the things that are more gray area decision making more complex. There’s a lot of nuance, there’s those there is you want to stay in, but you want that that piece your business to shrink, right. So right now most entrepreneurial real estate folks, everything is gray, everything has context, everything has nuance, but you want that part of your life to shrink over time, the more that can shrink, the more your business that’s scalable, can can grow. And that’s ultimately what you want to do. I’ll say, I have a client that I had years ago actually in Guam, so we do coaching and consulting, and they buy our products and, and one of them was a realtor, right. And so she was a realtor in Guam, and she focused on selling houses and the whole island of Guam. I’d never been there before. But then she realized that her key bind type was people in the military people were coming there, you know, to be there for a few years. And they were leaving years later. And like, this was her core thing. And then she realized that there was a certain kind of house that they wanted. And then she realized that they were mainly buying houses or searching for houses, out of state or out of country, like there were somewhere else looking. And so she said, You know what, I’m just going to do social media posts, specific to this kind of buying group. And she just became the face the brand, she’s very bubbly. And then she had her agents, she built up a team of agents, who just did this one type of house for this one type of buyer, who had this one type of situation where they’d be there for a while, and they would leave and they had, you know, a spouse, and one kid or whatever that might be kind of in that life range. And that was a business very simple, build a team around it, and didn’t have to do all of the real estate, commercial, industrial, you know, every other kind of real estate, you know, storage rentals, renovations, she just did her thing. And that’s what allowed it to be simple, profitable, easy, and ultimately more, more fun, because she could do what she likes to do, which was kind of be out there and be the face, but not actually handling the client work or the paperwork, or the, you know, the headaches that go into it.

It’s one of the one of my favorite books I’ve read in the last few years has been The One Thing by Gary Keller. And he talks a lot about that, like, pick out one thing you do well, so let’s put this in the context for a couple of the agents out there or even it’ll say your mortgage broker be really good at FHA loans. Now, I agree with this, I believe that when you’re really good and your niche or your niche, however you want to say it, I think that is when you actually sell more and do more. I think when you the problem I think you have in real estate, because you’re right, you’re saying you’re hitting on the DoD guys, this is really good. You might want to play this back. But what he’s saying is that what are you trying to resonate, and you become the jack of all trades, you master zero. And when that occurs, you end up losing other opportunities. And if you were just to narrow down on a niche, so let’s play this through on a couple different aspects. Why do real estate investors never have a listing problem? Like in any market, like real estate investors are always flipping houses. But then you have in this market right now, where inventory is very tight, regardless of where you’re at in the country, you can’t get a real estate agent can’t get a listing if they bought one. But Riis investors are picking up properties for pennies on the dollar easily. It’s because they do one thing very successfully, they focus on motivated sellers, distressed assets, and they put their cash offer in front of them over and over and over again until someone raises their hands and therefore they eventually find a property to buy. So what does that for you, you guys, realtors go out there and then they buy leads over here, then they go out and buy a software they never use, then they go out and invest in some coaching system they never take the lessons to and then they go out over here and then they go to this and this is every freaking you guys are a bunch of squirrels is what the problem is? Well, Heidi personality, like me, I’m like one of the worst of it. But how often you see that? Is that pretty common?

Oh, yeah, well, and I think that people who are in sales, like realtors, it’s even more common, the more you’re in a sales environment, perfect face to face sales. The skill sets that you need to be really successful making connection and making these deals happen is like the opposite skill set that you need to build a business. To build a business, you have to be someone who can just sit quietly, and see the separate pieces and document their systems and be more of a you know, behind the scenes engineer than somebody who’s really good on the spot. And I think that that’s hard. And if you don’t, if that’s not your personality type, then you can know that but still know that’s a key part of your business that you’re lacking. And so maybe you need to bring out someone who’s an operations manager. But they wouldn’t have to be full time to begin with. They could help you with the operations. They could help you get those pieces dialed in they could help you line up a sequence for you. Because I mean I mean a lot people in sales and that’s just not their their way of living. But they know they want it and I don’t I don’t say don’t don’t become something you’re not just understand the importance of it and try it bring someone on, you make a few more sales, and then use that money to invest in your business, you’re not gonna invest your time at least to invest your money in your business, and don’t invest in coaching yourself to be something that you’re not. I think that’s because I’ve tried, I’ve tried a lot of people, you know, to make them into that kind of a project engineer, and they hear it, they think about it, they like it, but they don’t do it. And I’ve gotten more to the point where we know what, that’s really not you then find somebody who is like that, who really likes to cross the t’s and dot the i’s, they really like to build these separate systems, and bring them on board. And oftentimes, you have to pay those people very much. I mean, they, they really like to be behind the scenes and, and help you put those pieces together. And then you’re gonna find that, again, scalability happens then.

So basically, list all the stuff you hate, or you’re not good at, that you have to do to get by with your business, make a list of that, outsource it, figure out how to outsource it, whether it’s a VA, or maybe you hire someone in house, you hire what we call slash I’m going to give you a little bit everything. But that’s what we’re seeing here. Yeah.

Yeah, well, but again, the first thing is, we call. So there’s different methodologies into the first step to ours is systems mindset, mindset shift a strategic objective operating principles, general principles. And then after that, yeah, just like you said, it’s breaking apart your business in terms of what I would do with business owners is to help them first see what what they’re doing. And so it’s pretty tedious, but actually writing down every single thing you do throughout the day, and do that for three days. And you’re going to see, most of what you do is pretty remedial work, most of what you do, wouldn’t have to happen. If you’re driving out to properties to take pictures, maybe you’re, you know, I don’t know listing things online where someone else could list it, maybe you’re doing various things that you wouldn’t really have to do. And, and once you have that list that it’s about, who can either do this, or doesn’t need to happen at all. So automating that, delegating it, deleting it, oftentimes, a lot of what people are doing doesn’t even need to happen at all, or it’s the wrong thing. They’re putting something that would be really great once their business was in order, but they just need to put some things in order first. And so you know, stop doing that thing for six months, and just build a few infrastructure elements first. And I think you put a good point out there in terms of the people you bring on board. In some cases, you want us an expert to do a thing, like I have a bookkeeper who just, you know, does my books, she doesn’t do 10 different things. And she sends out invoices, she does the books, she prepares the things to give us my account, my counter says taxes. That’s the one thing that they do. So there are some you know, I’ve got a guy who does video editing, he just does video editing. He’s great at video editing, I’m not going to have him also do sales calls like he just does the one thing that you want to have some of those you know hired guns on your team, especially as you’re growing.

There’s there’s gonna be a specialization and then there’s going to be the nuanced stuff that’s like must do but someone can take care of a lot of this stuff, especially transactionally in the transactional business. Yeah, did you guys hear what he said? He’s just said if you need to outsource your video editing, that’s exactly what we do you guys. That means if you need to script that industry, but your videos you contact a real estate marketing dude, because that is about money making activity. Anyways, edit, take that plug real quick. So yeah, it makes a lot of sense. There’s a lot, a lot, a lot, a lot, a lot of stuff to unpack there. Alright. I go through I figure out what I’m doing because it is also if you’re running a business, you’re good at something like if you’re at this stage, right? So identifying what that is and what cannot be duplicatable was one of the things I figured out early on I’m like what can I do that no one else can buy that I can’t hire out. Right for realtor a lot of that’s gonna be the face time the one on one go in there and close a dam appointment. You don’t need to be the one to show up and take the damn photos with the photographer that’s a waste of time you don’t need to be the one putting up the lockbox that’s a complete waste of time. If you’re a lender, you don’t need to be the one taking in the paperwork. That’s a complete waste of time you need to get them on the phone you’re pretty face in front of them, make them feel secure and then hire out all those tedious type tasks. And yeah, what does that mean you have more time to create content more time to spend with your family more time to I don’t know do whatever the hell you want go on fucking vacation who cares? Live life but it makes a lot of sense. I’m living in it right now everything that he’s saying is right on you guys and I’ve made the shift in like literally 12 months 1218 months I would say doesn’t happen overnight though does it?

No it doesn’t it that’s why we like get people to write some things down so that they can hold themselves accountable to actually sticking with the plan that came up with because as you know, there’s always that next deal that comes in the door and it takes you off track and you’re like well I’ve been really focused on this this housing type but then you know this multi multifamily you know, unit came in, so I’m gonna get You know, spend my a spinner wheels with this for next two months. And so you have to really be eventually discipline to stay in that line. And the other piece about really doing what you’re really good at Mike is, eventually, you become so good at that you can start charging premium prices, you can start to really raise the rate of what you you are personally worth at doing what you do, because you don’t do hire things. You just do three things. And so I you know, and that depends on different industries. I don’t really know how much of a premium you can put on your pricing in real estate, but

I think quite a bit. Let’s play it out. I’m gonna be two different examples. Well, you live in Hawaii, right. What’s the town you live in the city again?

I live in Kelowna. So Kawhi is the island. Yeah, so

Kawhi is the island. But Hawaii is a bunch of different islands. So there’s a difference between a Hawaii real estate agent and then one that specializes just on that island? Yep. Yeah, like the one who’s just on that island is going to demand a higher rate than the one that’s not there. And the thing that I think too, in real estate is that we often be like, Oh, my God, people often don’t care as much about price, as I think we put an emphasis on and I think that goes for any business. There’s a reason why Ritz Carlton exists and Holiday Inn. It’s just based upon the experience, there’s gonna be a market for both you guys, and you have to realize that it’s one of the biggest questions when a realtor what’s happening in the industry right now is there’s a lot of we call it commission compression. There’s a lot of outside forces, trying to remove the Commission’s there’s a lot of outside forces trying to remove Realtors from the equation. Do a travel agent reboot, if you will. But and that’s where a lot of this in the industry is a lot of agents having to do things differently having to reposition themselves having to rebrand themselves. And it’s what you’re saying is right on because I the whole message of the show you guys, you guys got to own one you got you got to do one thing with your personal brand very, very well.

Right? Yeah, totally. And I and, and as you probably know, from talking to me, I work a lot of industries, hundreds of them. So I don’t know much about real estate. But I know that I had a client years ago who owned a fleet of taxis, right? It was in the taxi, it’s like, maybe eight years ago, nine years ago. And we all know what’s what’s happened to that industry, right with Uber and Lyft, and all that stuff. And at the time, you know, everyone kind of wore his his fleet, the different different colored cars, different clothing that his drivers wore, they would say different things, the brand wasn’t really tight, they had some repeat clients, they had some private clients, they had some, you know, high end, low end, you know, will be at the airport, they’re all different things. I said, you can see what’s coming with technology and what’s happening and, and you’re really gonna have to be, you know, clear on what your brand is, I mean, and we came up with this whole plan, which was going to be you know, really higher end cars, it was going to be private clients, it’s going to be clients who wanted consistency, they wanted to get to know you, they were going to be your personal drivers. And really just focus on that don’t Don’t be the generic, Uber Lippard just coming up then. And, you know, he just didn’t, he didn’t go didn’t go for it. He said, Well, you know, I’ve been a miss out in the airport, I’m gonna miss out on this, I’m gonna miss out of that. And my drivers don’t want to all wear a uniform, and they don’t all want to be consistent. So the people didn’t want to be consistent on his team. And therefore he just diluted and never heard from the guy again, I’m sure he’s out of business, he’s probably probably he’s probably an Uber driver right now. And I think, like you said, it probably happening exactly the same in real estate. Not that I follow it closely. But if all of the low end people who want the cheapest people who want who are fine using an app or using a website to find their own house, and they’re really trying to cut the commission down i’ll be trying to be at the highest and you know, very specific, very custom very unique, you know, know, know your market know your niche, know your, what, you’re the best ad in the world in terms of helping in this particular industry, and then charge a premium. And don’t be ashamed about it. Like yeah, I help people find houses that have Olympic sized swimming pools that are near the ocean or whatever. And that’s what I do. If you want Olympic sized swimming pool, I know where all the Maranta it costs extra 10 grand, I don’t know, I mean that here’s

the hardest part of that is that when you do make the shift, guys, this is what happens. The hardest part about making it is that there will be an opportunity that doesn’t fit your new narrative that you have to turn down. It’ll be a short term loss for a long term game, though you have to realize that Yeah, and just like the scenario here would be like, Okay, let’s just say I’m in San Diego I only focus on coastal properties. So that means I’m west of the five you know, the market or their you know what that is? I’d focus just on the west of the five but let’s just say I get a listing 20 miles inland. I got to say no to that listing, because what we’re saying while I build my brand going west of the five because over the long term, if you play your cards right you fully commit You’ll win out. But in the short term, you might lose out in that little than that one deal that you just took inland. So you have to discuss and figure out what that is for you. And be willing to do it is the hardest part

is there’s two things, you also wanna think about what then I totally agree with you, Mike. One of them is, if you’re consistently getting work that’s outside the bubble you’ve defined, find other partners, friends, referrals that you can send out and get paid something for, you know, I used to this kind of work, but I don’t anymore, I give it to give it to Rick. Okay, at least I’m gonna get 1000 bucks or whatever, I’m gonna get some fee, but I can keep my head straight. That’s one way to do it. And the other way to do it, and this is what I do as a consultant, is I do one thing, I help people, you know, shift from being, you know, self employed business owners to being true business owners kind of help them make that shift using a methodology. But if somebody comes to me and says, Josh, I love your podcast, I love I want to work with you. I mean, I’m working on this startup, and we’re doing whatever, you know, can you work with me? And I’m really intrigued by it, I will just raise my fees dramatically. And I’ll say, You know what, it’s going to be $10,000 a day. I’m just throwing a number out there. But I’m happy to work with you just $10,000 a day. And if he’s like, sounds great. Let’s do it. Like, Oh, okay. Well, you know, so. So it’s more of a not saying no to opportunities, but you just raising your rates, because it takes you off of your key business. And I think that helps people during the transition period, as well, as they’re not saying no, they’re just saying, you know, my time is worth this, it’s going to be a distraction, it’s gonna take me off course, I’m going to put a high dollar fee onto that. If it happens, I’ll do it. But if it doesn’t happen, I’m okay with that, too. I did that with a speaking event. I don’t I don’t do keynote speaking. If you’re watching this, you probably know, I’m not that dynamic of a person. And so I those persons, like I want you to speak at our annual event, it’s going to be so important. And I’m like, Well, I don’t really do that. It’s not part of our business plan. It’s not really

a perfect example. Like, would most people be like, I speak in a keynote I’m in. But you’re like, so disciplined that you know, your lane.

Yeah. And it’s not scalable. It’s not going to be I can’t use my team to do it. I have to travel. This

is my team to give a keynote. That’s funny.

So it’s a, so I said, Okay, so how long is it? It’s, it’s an hour to $5,000. Okay. He Said, She Said, sounds good. You know, and like, Okay, well, I guess I’ll, you know, do my standard by standard stick for five grand and that’ll go horrible. Call it a day, but but it’s not something I want to do every day. But then I can take that money and invest in things that are scalable, that don’t require me to be here. And so that’s, that’s, I think, mentality that you want to have. But like you said, it doesn’t happen in a day you have to be disciplined. I’m personally not discipline. I mean, I that’s something that I was just talking to, you know, Sam, the author of the book is that that’s 2020 to be more disciplined. That’s and entrepreneurs have a hard time with that. Yeah.

No doubt. Well, this has been awesome. Closing notes, closing thoughts, guys. The one thing that you have to own in the real estate business is your network, your database, anyone who you know, basically your Facebook list because 88% of business is going to come from the people that are just around you that either know you personally met you they referred to you or you have worked with them in the past. That’s where business comes from in real estate. So if you’re gonna own one thing on your damn database, on your social media accounts, and make sure every single person you know knows what the hell you do, and if you need help doing that, we would love to help you script edit and distribute your video content. Josh, why don’t you go ahead and tell people how they can find you read the book, check out his stuff, you guys it’s been this is while we always talk about making money and all the glamour shitter real estate buying nice cars and all of that you don’t get there unless you do this first. So look this guy up. And Josh, go ahead and tell them how they can find you.

Sure, yeah, could a WT s enterprises calm and there, you can get a copy of the book, the book summary. So if you don’t wanna read the whole book, which I recommend you get the book summary there for free other business resources and all we do is help people like you scale their business with with this methodology. So coaching consulting done for you services, and if you want something else, maybe you want to ship your business, I trained consultants so I train and certify consultants in this method because I can’t do all the work and tons of work out there. So if you ever want to make career change or be consultant, let me know and happy to talk about that.

Love it man. Appreciate it appreciate you guys listen another episode of the real estate marketing dude podcast. Like I said before, if you need help building your personal brand and you want to do it with video, the only time it doesn’t work is when people don’t like you. But that’s nothing we can help you with. So, but if you do need help scripting and editing and doing all those non money making activities we just chatted about, quit thinking about it and get on the computer on your phone and scheduling demo with the real estate marketing dude right now. Appreciate you guys follow us on social keep relieving the remarks leaving the comments and the reviews. We love you. See you guys next week. Peace out. Bye. 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 do.com We make branding video content creation simple and do everything for you. So if you have any additional questions, visit the site, download the training, and then schedule a time to speak with a dude and get you rolling in your local marketplace. Thanks for watching another episode of the podcast. We’ll see you next time.

Converting Leads Through Text with Jesse Beaudoin

So you’ve got a pile of leads from a variety of sources and levels of readiness to make a purchase. How do you convert them into customers? What channels do you use? How long do you wait to respond? We are answering all these questions and more on today’s episode with Jessie Beadoin, CEO and Founder of CallAction.co. CallAction.co is a lead engagement platform that lets you personalize your messages to prospective customers on a whole new level.

Nowadays most leads are coming through online, and we are living in a mobile-friendly world. It is time for our engagement with leads to catch up to technology! And no matter how many leads you may acquire across all your channels, the key to conversion is in the right follow up technique. That’s where Jessie’s software comes into play. Through quick response and personalized messages, we can engage with our customers and make a good first impression. Jessie and I go into more detail about the types of inquiry messages realtors typically will receive, and the differences between a daytime vs. nighttime inquiry. Jessie keys me in on what the average response time should be for the initial outreach, as well as the follow up after response. By defining what the customer’s need might be, and how pressing the need currently is, we can clearly lay out a path to converting them into a customer.

Realtors need not focus first on establishing the trust or touting their expertise, but rather simply making the connection. First impressions are everything! By meeting the customer’s expectation through rapid response time and personable communication, you are establishing the first level of trust with your customer. In this episode, Jessie and I share some great tips to increasing the quality of your leads, and the proper follow up to boost the chances of converting the lead.

Today’s Topics:

  • What is CallAction.co
  • Typical lead time between inquiry and actual purchase
  • What is lost when we communicate online vs. in person
  • Are scripts bad?
  • Magic response times for first touch and follow up
  • Biggest frustration for customers with how realtors follow up

Resources Mentioned

Customer Obsessed: A Whole Company Appoach to Delivering Exceptional Customer Experiences by Eric Berridge

Tested Advertising Methods by John Caples

 Connect With Jessie Beaudoin:

LinkedIn

Website

Phone: 323-741-2255

Learn More About Jessie Beaudoin:

Real Estate Presentation on Impact Of Mobile Technology

Thanks for listening! Please leave us a review on iTunes, and visit the Real Estate Marketing Dude. Check out our blog and click the subscribe button if you want to get more of our no frills approach to real estate marketing.

How To Optimize Your PPC Campaigns

if you are an avid listener, you know we have been concentrating a lot on PPC. If you’re in real estate, you know that the Facebook way isn’t quite what it used to be and a lot of you guys are frustrated by it. As a result of that, what we’re seeing is a lot of people heading over to Google and YouTube ads. So I think by now, if you’re tuning into the show, you get the point on PPC. And we don’t want to beat that up anymore. What we do want to do is how to optimize because if you’re going to start spending money, the number one question you have is about return on investment. With your return on investment from ads and money spent etc.

Today, we’re gonna talk about how to optimize and measure your PPC campaigns and Google ad platform. We brought on an expert who has a software that does this shit for you guys, Fred Vallaeys. Vallaeys is a Silicon Valley entrepreneur, author, and leading influencer in pay-per-click search marketing. One of Google’s first 500 employees, Fred quickly established a reputation as a pioneer in PPC marketing as the company’s first AdWords Evangelist. Today he serves as Co-Founding CEO of Optmyzr, a leading and multiple award-winning PPC management software system.

Three Things You’ll Learn in This Episode

  • Refresher on what PPC is and where to start
  • What is a good cost per action
  • How to optimize your PPC

Resources

Optmyzr

Real Estate Marketing Dude

The Listing Advocate (Earn more listings!)

REMD on YouTube

REMD on Instagram

Transcript:

So how do you attract new business, you constantly don’t have to chase it. Hi, I’m Mike Cuevas to real estate marketing. And 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. Welcome to 2022. Everybody we’re gonna be chatting about if you are an avid listener, you know, some have been concentrating a lot on PPC. If you’re in real estate, you know that the Facebook way isn’t quite what it used to be. And a lot of you guys are frustrated by it. But in as a result of that, what we’re seeing is a lot of people head over to Google YouTube ads, for example. So I think by now, if you’re tuning into the show, you get the point on PPC. And we don’t want to beat that up anymore. But what we do want to do is how to optimize because if you’re going to start spending money, the number one question you have is about return on investment. And with your return on investment with ads, money spent, and what we’re going to talk about today is very specific. We’re gonna talk about how to optimize and measure your PPC campaigns and Google ad platform. And we brought on an expert disguise a software that does this shit for you guys. So maybe you just fucking go use that after the show if you’re actually interested in this, but this guy is the one who built it. So I am getting into PPC myself. If you guys have seen me online, you know exactly where I’m finding you guys and I’m retargeting living daylights out of you. But I’ll be honest, I don’t 100% know what I’m doing. So this is gonna be very educational for me too. And I’m going to ask him questions just like I would as a customer as we go through the show. So without further ado, let’s go ahead and introduce the owner of optimizer platform. Fred valets Fred, what’s

up, dude? Hey, thanks for having me. Mike.

Why don’t you tell everybody a little bit about who the hell you are? And then let’s get into this thing.

Yeah, who the hell am I so I’ve been doing PPC for a long time I’ve been doing it since 1998. Started in my dorm room in Stanford, I was buying video cassettes from blockbuster, anyone remembers that company and a way to to sell them. And found this platform called go to that was the original keyword advertising system. didn’t make a lot of money doing that maybe just enough little drinking money. But then later on, I went to Google started at Google in 2002. And I found out that a lot of the big advertisers were these mega affiliates, they call them. So I was like, Wow, this whole advertising thing, it does seem to work, it seems to provide good results. So let me see what I can do. And I became a big advertiser, while I was working at Google, I was big enough, I had my own account rep inside the Google team that is literally a guy sitting five desks away from me. But I’ve been fascinated with PPC and how to make money with it ever since. And nowadays, I make money with it, running a software company that helps other companies be more successful save time and, you know, produce better results.

Love it. So let’s get into it. And we know that I’m sure it’s the first time you heard it. But a lot of people are looking for somewhere else to spend their money. In regards to not on Facebook, at least in the real estate community, especially with real estate agents, for whatever reason, real estate agents always seem like we’re the last adopters to any new ad thing. But yeah, the PPC guys are hearing the talks about it. So let’s get into it and focus on we get what PPC is, right, we understand that it’s people it’s intent based advertising, you’re typing in keywords that people are looking for your shit, you know, just a matter of whether you’re going to pop up or not. But you’re right. The question is where I’m struggling right now, personally, as a potential customer of yours going through this is how do I optimize? What is a good cost per action? And what should I aim for? And where do you even start? So let’s start targeting, I guess, or wherever, wherever you take it from here, you know what you’re talking about

to start, right? I mean, so like, listen, the biggest mistake that I see advertisers have been making for the last 2030 years is they just get to general keywords, right? So because Google gives you the ability to choose any keyword, you damn well, please, people are like, Hey, let me advertise on something like Super Bowl or basketball or something that’s popular, but that has nothing to do with what users looking for. And there’s this whole relevance penalty that you end up getting right. So choose good keywords, but but also come to realize that there are so many people searching for the stuff that you sell, that having a specific keyword is probably a better path to spending a reasonable amount of money on highly qualified prospects as opposed to like, you know, blasting everyone but your ad and then like 99% of people don’t even care what you’re talking about. Right? So choose good keywords. And nowadays, bid management, which is sort of that next decision, how much am I going to spend on it? What is a good cost per acquisition? Well, it’s gotten much easier because Google does a lot of the bid management for you through building automation, in the past, you would have had to save up for this keyword I want to bid $5 for this one $10. And by the way, CPCs are really expensive. We see legal, the legal industry is the most expensive. So clicks go over $100 per click. So don’t be shocked by that, right? Bring it back to what is my cost per acquisition goal, if I’m going to make $2,000, you know, on an acquisition on the on the sale? And how much can I afford to get that maybe I can’t afford to spend $100 per click if five clicks lead to a sale, and it’s $500 to get that sale, and I make four times, you know, my investment back as profits, I have a good ROI. So those are the initial place. And then and you were also talking Mike about, you know, you don’t money into a certain place of PPC or you put it on YouTube or Facebook or wherever. So budget allocation is a really big question as well. And so one thing that software like ours will do is it’ll literally show you it into Google Ad engine, you have these campaigns running and this one is performing it maybe twice the cost per acquisition as this one. And maybe there’s ability to put more budget towards that. So why not put it towards the the better performing campaign, a one that has the lower cost per acquisition? So those are sort of the first steps that I would take.

And, yeah, I think that’s important. You guys are gonna spend more money on Google. But that could be a good thing, because you’re not dealing a bunch of tire kickers is what we’re talking about here. And so let’s go back to keywords though. I want to go to so you’re saying good, more intent based keywords. So and are you doing long tail? So like, let’s just say, because this is a common place where people get confused with keyword research, myself included? And is it better? Like what? How much of a number do you need to see as a result on keyword research to justify that it’s worth something of targeting?

Yeah, and that’s a tricky question, because you will get too deep into the detail where the numbers become so small that it’s hard to drive any measurable volume that makes it worth your while. But then again, think about it this way, right? Like, you can literally put in 10,000 Key longtail keywords that each get, say 50 impressions per month. Well, that’s still 50 highly qualified impressions multiplied by 1000. And if some percentage of those click and buy, like that’s what you want, right? So don’t be scared of that. I think again, like I said, the bigger risk is that you go too much after the super high volume, keywords. And guess what, you’re going to be competing against some other people with a lot more experience that they may have deeper pockets, bigger budgets, they may have a better optimized landing page experience. So you’re going to convert better, and then you quickly get into this game of like, you just don’t have the money to compete against him yet, right. So if it was me, I’m always looking for what we call the torso. It’s not the head, it’s not the tail, but it’s the torso. So you get like that sweet spot of volume, but not volume that you can quickly start to iterate and learn from your experience. Because if you go too deep into detail on each of these individual keywords, you just end up waiting three, four months before you can make a decision. And that’s painful to write. So go with the torso. Now what that exact number of impressions is, that really depends on your industry. But you’re going to run that through the key keyword tool. And you’re going to see kind of those ranges at the top and the low end fingered stuff in the middle. That’s probably your sweet spot.

Make sense?

Yeah. So the only other thing I was going to add to that his keywords are really the original way of targeting and PPC. But nowadays, there’s a lot of audience things that you can do as well. And that really lets you narrow in on exactly who your prospect is. Right? And so are you looking for a corporate buyer or a consumer buyer? Does a big difference in that right, depending on what kind of real estate you’re into? They might look for the same things. I mean, they might look for apartments. But if you’re a corporate buyer, well, then you’re looking for a block of 100 apartments, right a multifamily unit. If you’re looking as an individual, then you might look for one apartment to rent. And how do you distinguish between that. So that’s where audiences can be really helpful. So Google has predefined audiences that you can pick from and layer on top of these keywords. But then, like you were saying, Mike, and a great strategy that it sounds like you’re already doing but remarket the shit out of people, right? Once you know what kind of audience somebody falls in, put them on that list and use that to beat your competition because now that the stuff that you’ve already invested in figuring out about your prospective customers, that’s worth gold, right? That’s the stuff that you layer on top of these really expensive keywords so that you can afford to pay $20 for a click because you know, it’s the right click. It’s someone who’s a highly qualified prospect Is it?

Yeah, when targeting too, and people first see it, I mean, the actual platform feels a little bit like Facebook. And it’s not too hard to figure out if you are familiar with the backend of Facebook. And when you get in there, there are there’s really comes down to four different targeting options. But anyone who’s been on the show is basically agreed that you should always be using keywords. Is that a fair statement?

Oh, absolutely. I mean, I think there was this whole thing about keywords being dead for a while. But now with all the privacy laws coming in, I think we do have to be very careful about over relying on audiences, because that’s becoming more and more difficult to do. And it’s also putting a little bit too much reliance on what the engines know, right analytics, putting you into a silo, the silo of just Facebook, or the silo of just Google. So I think it’s really important to take what they give you build your own first party data from that first party data simply means things that you know directly about your customer, where you don’t have to go to someone else to ask them, Oh, does this person fit the corporate profile? Or the consumer profile? Is this person? You know, where do they live? Okay, you usually have to go through a third party to ask that. But if you’ve asked them for their address, it becomes your first party data. And now you can use that to target not just on the platform where you could have gotten asked that question, but you can target across all the platforms that you have access to. So just puts your power more in your hands.

So keywords, keywords, let’s get into sort of second half of this. When, you know, this is going to be very for most people, this show, you’re gonna be doing some very, very hyperlocal. So you’re not going to have a lot of impressions. But I’m guessing that you guys could pick your geography and target but I’m not gonna I’m guessing that there’s not going to be like, super duper, duper amounts of impressions for people, or a lot of people searching for your keywords is what I mean. So I’ve done this research, like you could look at by house, there’s gonna be a lot, though a new segment and down to like, you know, your market. So you probably you guys are gonna have to pick a lot of keywords, I’m just picking one or two, and you’re gonna have to test them all and whatnot. How many keywords should someone actually start with? If I’m looking at a campaign? And I’m going to look at and say, my first time doing this? How many keywords does someone have to pick? How many is too many? Some people out there, say five to 15 keywords is good per campaign, some people say it doesn’t matter. And how do you even approach that?

Yeah, so I’m actually the guy who came up with the five to 20, I think is generally out there.

I could have asked it to a better person. So what happened

20 years ago, people were asking me that question. When I was working for Google, and I was speaking at a bunch of conferences, and I just made a slight I was like, probably keep it between five and 20. And now somehow, that’s like the thing everybody believes in. But but the thing in PPC is every answer is it depends. So here again, it depends, right? The whole point of five to 15, or five to 20, or whatever you believe in is that once you go beyond 20 keywords in an ad group, chances are pretty good. There’s multiple themes starting to develop. And you could take those, say 2530 keywords and split them into two groups that are more thematically related. What you’re able to do by splitting it is write a more relevant ad text to each of the different themes. And by writing a better ad text, you’re going to boost your quality score and quality scores, this whole complex topic that we could spend hours about, really fundamentally, it’s Google’s way of saying, how good is your ad at answering a user’s question, and Google cares deeply about that. But they care about it so deeply, because it’s also what makes them money, right? They get paid when somebody clicks, they don’t get paid when they show an ad. So when they’re going to show your ad, they want to make sure it’s got a pretty damn good chance of getting clicked on, because that’s how they’re going to monetize it. Right. And so that’s what they reward in turn. So that’s kind of where that comes from. So it’s totally fine. And I think you probably should have hundreds of keywords, but split them up into ad groups, somewhere between five to 20, each thematically relevant. And then you also may put them in different campaigns. And the campaign is really what controls the budget and a lot of geo targeting. Right. So if you operate in a single market, it’s very possible you just have a single campaign, you put one budget towards that it’s fine, that campaign may have 100 ad groups each have five to 20 keywords, highly relevant ads, that’s fine. Now one thing that has changed a little bit over the past probably five years is keyword match types. Right. So Google has gotten much better at taking your broad match keyword and modifying it into things that that will show your ad to the right user. And here’s kind of how that works. Right. So if somebody is looking for houses to buy, Google actually has a pretty good profile of who that user is. Where do they live? Demographically how much income Do they have what other websites do they visit? Do they read Wall Street Journal? Or do they read USA Today? Right, so they start segmenting based on that, and they start to understand that, okay, well, this person who reads Wall Street Journal, probably more corporate, this person who lives in an affluent ZIP Code probably has more money. And so now the same search for the same keyword by houses, Google is going to show different ads to these different people. And and they might also even start to, you know, say, well, this person actually typed in by apartments, or by condos, or by vacation homes, and even though your keyword was by homes. While that’s, that’s close enough to the intent that was expressed, so we’re still going to show the ad and they’ve gotten much better at doing that. So you don’t have to have quite as deep a keyword list as you used to, to still get pretty decent results. But it does rely on you then using the automated bidding from Google. Because otherwise, you’re gonna end up spending way too much money on low relevance keywords that they brought him to out to

make sense. Yeah, no, it does. When you guys pick keywords, Google asks, Do you want it to be an exact match or broad match? And he’s saying choose broad match?

Yeah, I’m saying it’s safer nowadays, to use broad match, I know, I’m gonna get a lot of criticism for this. People love their exact match. Exact Match is great, right? If you know your money, keyword, exact match, like control that tightly, own that keyword. But when it comes to someone being newer in the space, right, and building out that initial keyword list broad matches fantastic, because you pick like, okay, buy homes, that’s pretty obvious. And then Google is going to come back to you and say, and then you can look at your search term, the search terms report, you can start to figure out what the people actually type in, and what was the actual performance of those different queries. And then you can say, Oh, well, look, this is my money, keyword, even though I didn’t have it, but Google, find it out for me. And then you make that an exact match keyword, and you keep exploring potential new volume by having a good amount of broad match keywords as well.

extense, let’s get into copywriting dogs about targeting. But this is gonna be the other half of the formula. Here. If you don’t have good copy on there, imagine these ads aren’t going to be as good. It’s also something you have to test beyond your keywords. So what makes a good ad? What kind of tax? Do I need to go? I only have x amount of characters. And how does that work?

Exactly. So it’s back to the same thing. It’s relevance, relevance, relevance, the user on Google has a very specific intent. They don’t want to they don’t want gimmicks, right, they they ask the question, they want a good answer. Now, the question then becomes how do you stand out from everyone else? Who has a good answer as well? So then it becomes about, well, what is the value proposition that you have? What is your call to action? So a good ad generally has a strong branding component that will go into title right? Who are you? Why should I trust you? What is it that makes you better than the rest? So that’s your unique value proposition? And then what is it that I will be able to do once I click on this ad, that your call to action, call to action is really funny, because we have measured that if you tell the user what it is they should do when they come to your website, they will do that at a proportionately higher rate. Right. So if you say, register for more information, or call us to get a quote, people will actually go to that website. And the human brain just works in a way like, Okay, I’m a hunter, you’ve given me a mission, like I’m on that mission, I’m on your website, I’m looking for that thing to do, as opposed to being very vague and letting them kind of like, Ah, interesting website, like, what might I want to do on here? Right, tell them what to do.

So just don’t be gimmicky. I mean, like, Don’t try too hard, guys. Like, just tell them exactly what’s gonna happen when they make that click, click to register, click to speak to someone, click to get your free, whatever your lead magnet may be. Let’s go into the text. How would we write let’s do some like real plain, I guess? How would How would I? How would we write let’s just take a typical second mortgage broker. So a lot of mortgage brokers here, and mortgage brokers targeting probably, let’s just say they’re targeting FHA loans, which is gonna be low income, or lower than income, maybe not the best credit scores, what would and targeting someone who wants to buy a house? What would be a good headline for something like that?

Yeah. And so so just to save it, like the financial industry that’s heavily regulated. So it’s a little more tricky in terms of what you can say. Going into terms of headline, if you have any affiliation with a known institution, a brand name that people recognize, like, there’s nothing better than that, right? People want to know that or not. Exactly. They want to trust who they work with. That’s number one. That’s your headline, as it could be something like Fannie Mae affiliated or official site of blah, blah, blah, whoever you are. That’d be number one.

That makes a lot of sense. And he just said, and most mortgage brokers would instantly think of like going to do something like about them, you know what I mean? Like, they wouldn’t think about making a Association at all, let’s switch the script a little bit, let’s go into maybe you’re a real estate investor, looking for motivated sellers?

Um, yeah. And so they’re usually more individuals, there’s fewer big known companies. So I mean, as a headline and be something like, sell fast, no contingencies, how many deals you’ve done. Right, and those motivated sellers, for them, it’s often about speed of closing the deal, right? So I think I’d make that a big part of the draw. But again, now we’re talking maybe more about the value proposition, which tends to be the middle portion of the ad. Now, if you don’t have a strong brand, or a strong affiliation, then that could become your headline, obviously, right? So your offer in 48 hours, something like that.

And that’s typically what I see too. And a lot of those, and it makes a lot of sense that they, it gets right to the point, I mean, makes a whole lot of sense. So let’s break down the components of the ad, you got your headline, and you have like a little sub headline section underneath it. What else does anyone else need to know?

Well, so the other big thing to know is that ads used to be very rigidly structured in terms of headlines and descriptions that you had to give. Now Google in its push towards automation, has come up with this new ad format, which they call responsive search ads. And what you do is you give 15 headline variations, or up to 15. And you give up for description lines and description lines are pretty long, the headlines are pretty short. But But really, what Google again, is trying to do is if you get that generic query, like, you know, sell your house quick, that’s your keyword. Well, what’s the scenario? Is this someone who’s like, relatively affluent, and just is moving for a job? And that’s why they want to sell quick, or is it someone who’s underwater, and is about to face foreclosure. And that’s why they need to talk quick, right? Google tends to know these things. And so what they can do now is they can pick from these 15 headlines and four descriptions and construct the ad on the fly, that’s most likely to resonate with that particular individual. And so it makes our jobs a little bit easier, because we don’t have to think about who could everyone be that’s clicking on this. Google can do that work for us. And so, but but if you think again, about these 15, headlines, brand association, like who are you, and why are you to be trusted value proposition, right. So cash out fast. You know, next day delivery, free shipping, when you talk about e commerce, right, like have a harder time putting it in real estate terms, sometimes investor myself but have an advertise, maybe I should

go back and tweak your your back and optimize your ads right now. Like you’re talking

to you. And then there’s the call to action, right? So then have like two or three calls to action and experiment with that. And then eventually, you’ll see what works better and not go with that.

That’s a really good tip, guys. So like, let me put that into, just add on a little bit further on that. Let’s just say you’re a real estate and tell me if I got this, right. You’re a real real estate agent, and you’re trying to target buyer leads? Well, why don’t you write one to two headlines per type of buyer that you’re trying to target. So that might be the move up buyer, right? Write a headline or two for them, then target the first time buyer, and then target and then write a headline for them. Because all those headlines are going to be different, and they’re going to resonate with different people, there isn’t going to be a universal. So take your intended audience, and then go back and write a headline for each type of person that you know, would be your ideal candidate. Is that a fair way to?

Exactly. So think about your audience? And who might be the subgroups of that audience and then write to each of those specific types.

Yeah, that’s really that’s like a that was like a if you guys got anything out of the podcast, that’s like a huge, golden little nugget. Alright, so when you run a new campaign, pick a bunch of keywords. Often, I’m going to check it out once a week, how often how’s the optimization process work? This is like your your thing, right? So let’s talk it’s gonna be optimized and you write a good headline, you test all this stuff out, you guys have to come back and check these ads and make your tweaks they’re not gonna like, and Google does have like this new, automated optimize ad to I’d like you to chat on a little bit, if you have any input on that. But let’s talk about optimization.

Yeah, so optimization really depends on how much data you get. Right. So but generally speaking, do check into your campaigns at least once a week if you have really high cost going through it more often than that, if you have a really low volume campaign, maybe once a month is okay, but but we can do things through the software like auditing. Right, one risk that we see is as you continue Adding new keywords and new ad groups, you forget that maybe you should have put in sitelink, extensions sitelink extensions, these are ad extensions, by the way, right? So we talked about the ad and what you put in. But we haven’t talked about the extensions, right? If you want to have people call you put in a call extension, if you want people to go to specific parts of your website, if you are out, a mortgage broker will maybe have a different landing page for commercial lending, as opposed for Residential Lending, etc. So those could be different site links to take people more directly to the portion of the site that’s most relevant to them. So, so put those things in as well. So we can audit for that is all of that working? The audits will also include things like, are there certain ad groups that are just spending inordinately more than others? There might be something wrong with that, right. So that’s, that’s an optimization opportunity, we will look at crime rates. So based on your keywords, what search terms has Google actually shown your ad for? And are those some of them are really good, so let’s add them as keywords. Or some of them might be really bad, so let’s exclude them and make them negative keywords. We’ve done optimizations, Mike, we’re, you know, advertisers run on the Display Network, for example. And this is an option Some people leave it on, and we will audit it for that. So we’ll tell you, Hey, careful, you might not want to automatically do this. But if you did automatically do it. Well, here’s a placement, maybe a YouTube video where you spent $2,000. And nobody signed up. Do you want to keep doing that? Probably not. Right? So put a negative placement, we help you do those types of things. But yeah, optimization, there’s so much you could do.

And when does the optimization process stop?

Never. For my business, right, I mean, that’s my face. But But honestly, listen, as long as you continue running ads on Google, and as long as Google keeps evolving, how to determine relevancy, and how broad match keywords will show for different search terms. And bidding is always evolving. And listen, I mean, like, obviously, the last three years have been crazy, right. But that’s an external change. And even though that has nothing to do directly with PPC, like it’s impacted everybody’s business, and it’s impacted what people search for how people behave. And so these are the reasons we need to continue to, to optimize.

Well put, well put any other final points, anything coming out with the platform. I was in there the other day, and I noticed when you the targeting options, there was a I don’t know if this is a new thing, and maybe some ad accounts have it some don’t. I don’t know yet if they’re rolling it out. But I noticed and because it’s not an all my ad accounts, I start noticing one only, and I have three different ones. And I’m not running heavy PPC ads, by no means am I an expert. So don’t take my advice. Take this guy’s advice. What does that question it’s like, Why meet automated optimizing? And they just do it all? For you. There is no targeted, like we’re gonna figure out what you get for you. And then you don’t even create your ad, all you do is you create your copy, skip the whole targeting part. What’s up with that?

Yeah, I mean, you might be talking about performance Max, which is a new campaign type that runs across six or seven channels within Google. So it’s really nice, because it gets you on to discovery campaigns against you on video campaigns, whereas what we tend to talk about with keywords is a search campaign. We also talk a lot about shopping campaigns, right? So but but these are nice, if you’re kind of a novice advertiser, you don’t have too many opinions on how it should be done. This is a really easy way for you to get online and like Google, figure it out for you. But even then, like there’s concepts like well, where should you allocate your budget, like between Facebook and performance max on Google, we can tell you, we can look at that and shift your budget around based on what’s working better. The audience component that we talked about at the very beginning of the show that is relevant still to two performance, Max. But I think the biggest shift in PPC that’s happening right now is, instead of managing all of these little details, like what keyword what bid what ad text, Google started to handle a lot more of that. But what we need to think about is, how do we communicate to Google what we actually want to achieve? And that’s what you were saying like, right, well, what is my cost per acquisition target? Well, that’s a calculation for you to do, like, what is the sale worth. And if you tell Google correctly, what a sale is worth to you, and you communicate that properly, they can do a good job of getting you profitable sales. But too many advertisers, they say, Oh, if somebody fills out my form on my page, that’s silly. That’s a conversion. And that’s where they stop. And that’s wrong. Because now Google is going to say, well, I can get you a ton more of those. And now you get 100 leads through the forum page. And then you call all of them up and nobody buys. And you’re like, I just wasted all this money. But what you can do is you can say well, okay, this is stage one of my conversion, but stage two is how many of these people actually do the eventual thing I want? to do which is buy from me, if you communicate that back to Google, then Google has better information. And they can actually use these performance Max campaigns and automated bidding to get you what you actually wanted. So I think the biggest problem in PPC today is that the advertiser doesn’t tell Google what they really care about. And then Google goes and does the wrong thing for them, because they thought they were doing what was interesting.

And you’re talking about creating the conversion values.

Exactly. So the conversion values and the conversion actions.

Yeah. So basically, when you get in there, you got to tell you can’t just leave that blank, you got to tell Google how much a demo is worth, as opposed to an opt in, and then figure out what those are because you’re basically giving them your your cards like your, hey, this is how much I’m going to pay for that. So like, hey, I’ll pay this for that. They’re like, trust me, I’m gonna figure this shit out. I’ll get that for you. Right? works.

And so let’s see the example of the mortgage broker, right. So that first lead form, that’s usually the first step. But then it takes really long for that person to get through the approval process and all the paperwork to be done. And the problem is, sometimes this takes longer than the conversion cycle that Google allows you to report back on. So after 60 days or so you may not be able to tell Google, oh, this original click actually became a customer of mine. So what you have to start doing now is you have to start using your own data, and basically predicting, okay, well, the person fill out this form, and then we talked to them, and I know where they live, I know how much money they make. So I can start to prequalify is basically the pre qualification process, is your input back into Google that says, This person has a really good chance of actually closing the mortgage and becoming my customer. And you feed that back into Google, not after 60 days, but after three days, because maybe that’s how quickly you got on the phone with them, and figure this all out. Now Google can instantly start to find you more people, just like that with the same attributes. And so that’s going to help your pipeline stay full, but also with the right types of customers who who don’t just fill out the form, but become customers of yours and pay you money.

Very, very, very good tip. But, um, let’s just say I’m lazy, and I don’t want to do that. Does your software like solve all this shit for me? Well, I’m gonna really check it out.

So some of these things are pretty difficult to fully do. But yes, we are working on doing much more of this automatically. A lot of the initial things like keyword optimization, bid optimization, budget optimization, all of that will handle this whole new wave of value optimization. And there’s very few tools that do this. Yeah. But we are working on it, we have the first couple of forays into it. You guys got to come from us.

Very cool. Things are always changing, folks change with it. It’s the beginning of 2022. And this is a time that you make those changes, and you think about what things are going to do differently. If that’s PPC, then commit to it and start figuring this shit out. If it’s direct mail, then great commit to it and figure it out. If it’s owning a niche, then great commit to it and start figuring out why don’t you go ahead and tell everyone how they can find you guys, and any other final tips you want to go and we’ll get this rap?

Yeah, check out optimizer.com op tmyzr.com, we’re actually launching a new light product, which is going to be free. So it’s going to do a lot of this auditing work. At no cost. Just hook up your Google Ads accounts and we’ll tell you what’s going on with them. So that’s brand new for us in 2022. Follow me at Silicon Valley’s on Twitter. And I’m sure we’ll pop that in the show notes. And and yeah, I speak a lot of conferences on PPC. So if you are as passionate about PPC as I am, hit me up say hello at a conference and I’m actually I’m starting to go back to conferences which I’m really excited

to. It’s been too long man it’s been two years I can we see a lot of speaking events and people are starting to get out and see each other again. It’s great and you guys got a it’s so important to get out of that comfort zone, whether you’re doing it in a conference or you’re learning something new. I know I get that a lot on the show from comments from people but yeah, you’re exactly right. Check this guy stuff out. Man. This is really good shows a lot of nuggets, you guys may want to rewind that and write some of the shutdown I have a little envelope over here full of notes I’m going to actually implement and I’m gonna check out your software as well. Folks appreciate you guys listening to another episode of the real estate marketing dude podcast if you guys need any help with your video content creation, you know where to find us real estate marketing, dude calm, we script edit and distribute your video content and we make the process really fucking easy. So go ahead and give us a ring give us a shout. Look us up and I will follow you around until you finally schedule a demo with me because I’m telling you video works for everyone who implements it. The only time it doesn’t is when people don’t like you. But that’s nothing we can help you with. So appreciate you guys have a great day and stay tuned for next week’s podcast. Let’s go 2022 peace. 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 do.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 schedule a 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.

Debunking Google Ads

The new year is coming and in the business world you’re probably hearing a lot about Google Ads. Facebook isn’t really doing as much as it used to so more and more people are trying to crack the code for Google ads or finding someone who can do it for them. I’m going to take today’s lesson, or podcast as a lesson myself, because there’s a lot of work I personally need. So we get an email, like most people come on the show, say, Hey, I got this Google Ads expert. I’m like, perfect. We’re getting all kinds of questions on this. So we brought him on today. 

Nik Tsoukales founded REALTOP after spending more than 15 years growing multiple sales teams, call centers, and businesses using digital marketing. In his career, he’s been awarded multiple INC. 5000 Awards for fastest-growing private companies in the United States, been responsible for multiple business turnarounds in the financial space resulting in millions of dollars in revenue recovered as well as organically growing multiple companies online dominating organic SEO, Google PPC, and Social Media. Nik and his team of digital marketing experts are responsible for more than 89k actual clients acquired using online marketing and counting with a diverse range of business types including financial services, dental, medical, legal, real estate, and more.

Three Things You’ll Learn in This Episode

  • Why content is important to rank organically
  • What you can do on Google that you can no longer achieve on Facebook
  • How to get on the first page of a Google search

Resources

Realtop

Real Estate Marketing Dude

The Listing Advocate (Earn more listings!)

REMD on YouTube

REMD on Instagram

Transcript:

So how do you attract new business, you constantly don’t have to chase it. Hi, I’m Mike Cuevas to real estate marketing. And 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 is the end of what really 2021 We’re about to get in 2022 and 2022, you’re going to talk about doing some new things. And one of those new things that have started about a little bit of a buzzword in the industry, are Google ads. I actually saw a post about it this morning and one of the Facebook groups. Hey, do I know anyone that can run my Google ads for me? Because my guess is that Facebook’s not doing what it used to. And that’s the only ad platform real estate industry has ever actually attempted to do anything on. And they’re resorting to Google ads. And you know, personally, I’ve been doing those YouTube ads for about nine months. I’ve not cracked the code I’ve had. But I’ve generated my business from nowhere. I optimize but I also am running a lot of Google Display ads right now those are doing really well. I’m getting a lot of for retargeting purposes, I love them. But I’m going to take today’s lesson, or podcast as a lesson myself, because there’s a lot of work I personally need. So we get an email, like most people come on the show, say, Hey, I got this Google Ads expert. I’m like, perfect. We’re getting all kinds of questions on this. So we brought him on today. Nick, why don’t you go ahead and tell everybody who you are, what you do. And then let’s get into this interview.

Thanks for having me on Mike. My name is Nick Collis, I own a company called Real top marketing. out of Boston, Massachusetts. We help all types of professional service businesses, including a lot of real estate brokerages, financial services, companies, and so on, generate tons and tons of qualified leads using Google ads, amongst other things. But I would say that’s our that’s our core focus we’ve generated to date. And this isn’t actually counting every single client but over 89,000 paying clients using Google ads. So that’s our that’s our claim to fame.

Yeah, well, let’s get it. There’s all kinds of questions about Google ads. And you guys, these are the ones that pop up at the top of the search results. So you see ad and it’s like blue font. And if you’re not number one, no one goes to page two. That’s why people are doing them. You either get there two ways we either SEO and rank there, which I’m going to go on a wild limb and say 99.9% of the real estate and mortgage industry don’t have enough content to rank organically.

So how are you? How are you going to compete with Zillow and Redfin and these guys that have 100 People just writing content, it’s difficult for the sole practitioner, even even a local brokerage to even come close to what they’ve got going.

So walk me through from a real estate agents perspective, let’s do this in three ways real estate agent, lender, and then seller lead generation, so people own homes, because these are the top three topics, and how we would reach these people. First off, let’s go on to the targeted. What can you do on Google that you can no longer do on Facebook?

Well, there’s there’s kind of a fundamental difference, right? So you have and I’m gonna actually put aside display for a second. I mean, we’re going to put aside the majority of YouTube for a second and just simply talk about the two fundamental differences between Google search ads, so be a little bit more specific, and even just Facebook ads, okay. Facebook is an amazing platform, you can create zillions of cheap leads. I mean, it’s it’s it’s a powerhouse right now. But it’s disruptive marketing. So someone isn’t necessarily looking for what you have to offer when you put that ad in front of them. Okay. And that’s okay. Because, you know, if, you know, if they’re interested, if the demographic and they inquire, eventually you’re going to have business, okay. There’s no question. It’s a powerhouse. But Google, especially Google search ads, you have people that are super high intention, they’re looking for what you have to offer when they see that ad. They might have already tapped on the shoulder of their referral sources and said, Hey, you got a guy that that can sell my house or you Hey, you got a guy that house they already did that? And and they didn’t find someone. So what do they do? They just went to Google or they’re just slightly introverted, have no friends and they just live on Google. Right? And they search for companies there. So what we find is the actual sales cycle because these people are so motivated, the sales cycle is far shorter with these people that are looking for your services, so long as you can as long as the searches exist, okay, cuz sometimes you have markets that the searches just aren’t there. Okay, as long as the search exists, you can get in front of them with an ad that doesn’t oversell which we can talk about that, and then get them to some sort of landing page experience that literally matches what they were looking for. You could do business very, very quickly using Google, um, you can turn a profit very, very quickly. Now, the cost per click is going to be, I mean, it could be 10x, what you’re paying on Facebook, but you should be able to, in a lot of cases generate revenue a little quicker, even if it’s more expensive. It seems you we can typically get cash flow, cash flow working a little earlier, if that makes

sense. Yep. So we’re talking about intent based versus disrupting somebody’s couch? watching the Kardashians. And, and he’s right, your costs are going to go up higher. But it’s going to be a better quality lead overall, because it’s people that are looking for what the hell you do they need this help. So you’re solving somebody’s problem with it. So that makes a lot of sense. Why don’t we hit into targeting and just start with search, it’s not getting to display it. So So box search ads, I’m sure you’re targeting the same, but let’s start with just search ads for the real estate industry.

Who can we target? I mean, here’s the cool thing about search, okay. It’s not necessarily a matter of picking the right age group, or, or you know, the right audience, okay, you can really target people just based on searches. And you can add some other filters, obviously, your you know, your zip codes, you know, you can only do business in a certain area. But you can, you can target people that are looking that are typing in exactly what you can offer, okay, so you don’t have to worry about making sure that that audience matches exactly what could possibly be a customer because you’re not, you know, you’re not disrupting, you’re not disrupting them. Okay, they’re, they’re looking for it. So really, you’re targeting I actually think it’s a lot easier. Now, some industries tend to be or the searches tend to be so broad. Okay, so we have clients that are attorneys, and yet people that literally search for attorney, okay, but they need a malpractice attorney, and they’ll go to 10 Different attorney websites, you know, looking for malpractice attorney. And every time they click on one of those websites, or those ads, they’re wasting someone’s cash, unfortunately. So an industry like that can be very finicky, and very tricky when you’re doing your keyword bidding in real estate can be as well, because you could bid on literally the word, sell my house, get a bunch of different variations of that, and people just looking for websites to, you know, value their house like Zillow, and they’re not necessarily looking for a real estate professional. And that’s where, you know, when we have someone that is kind of new to Google ads, okay, and maybe they don’t have a massive silicides budget, okay, but they’re doing you know, they they’re doing great business in a particular zip code, what we’ll typically do is we’ll target keywords like, you know, real estate broker real estate company, we won’t just, we won’t target just the word real estate or real estate listing, we want someone that is looking for the professional, the actual person that’s going to assist them. And that allows us to do away with some of the garbage traffic that won’t tarnish the lead ever.

Let me stop you right there. super interesting. Whereas most people, and we’re talking about keywords. So yeah, there’s just a couple of ways you could run ads in Google. And even before I go into this, you could reach people who type in certain keywords, which is what I believe is best practices. Yep. But you could also do several other different forms of targeting, and you could target them based on demographic income, all this other kind of crap, right? Interest, all this other stuff. But from everything I’ve seen, yeah, I think the keywords is what people are what works the best. But what’s interesting about what he just said, was not necessarily focused on the keyword that they type in, on the problem they have, but the keyword that they type in based upon the person who could help them solve it. That’s a difference. Right there. So if you didn’t catch that, think about

that. That’s, that’s one of the filters, otherwise, you’re just gonna blow a ton of cash. We’ve seen agents do it, they’re bidding on literally real estate in their zip code. And they’re getting all of Zillow traffic, people trying to price out their house. And there’s, there’s, there’s no money there, you know, or they’re getting a lot of people that come to the website, and they do want to poke around, or they’ll use their, their home value engine, you know, whatever. They’re running on their website. And that’s great. You can capture some data there. But I usually suggest doing that as kind of a phase two of Google. So phase one, I usually like to launch campaigns, people looking for the professional. Even if the traffic isn’t a ton of traffic, the leads will be quality. It’ll be super high intention. And once we’ve sort of maximize the campaign like that, and we’ve kind of squeezed every Anything we can out of it in terms of how many leads we could generate at the right price, then we’ll move on to like a phase two, which is an additional campaign that’s a little bit more broad. Knowing that we’re gonna get some tire kickers, we’re gonna get some guys that click around, we’re gonna have a higher bounce rate. But you know, you just work out the formula at that point a little differently.

And when you guys are searching for different keywords, a lot of people are aware, you guys just using keyword planner in Google, are you guys using anything in particular, I have a follow up to that.

We’re a big, big fan of keyword planner. But also we’re a big, big fan of SpyFu, SpyFu SpyFu has been our go to lately, I mean, because we can, we don’t have to totally reinvent the wheel. And I think that’s something important for a lot of the listeners out there. I mean, you know better than anybody, especially with social media ads, you can see what the other guys are doing. Facebook will give you the data, Google will give you the data. And now these third party engines can literally give you everything. So why try to reinvent the wheel just use one of these tools

in tow, arresting how much money that people need to spend on something like Google ads, you know, like they get the hit a campaign, they are more expensive. How does someone know? And in this some I struggle with too is like when you look at the audience size is based on impressions, and my brain looked at just looks at different like there was like millions and millions and millions no matter what. So like when you’re sitting there like looking at a Google ad? Or a keyword like how do you determine which is the right answer? How much do you need to spend to actually make an impact? I see a major drop off or pick up in Facebook when I go over 100 bucks a day versus under it? And there’s all it seems like that’s almost like that threshold. But is that true for Google? And how does that work?

Yeah, Google. I mean, I hate to say it, right. But the barrier of entry is definitely higher than it was five years ago, way higher than it was a decade ago, when I really first started getting into Google ads. So we’ll get you know, we’ll ever brokerage or a professional services business hit us up and say, hey, you know, I want to test this out with $500 in ad spend the first month. And as much as I’d like to help them, what we find is when we do the numbers Google’s been around so so long, that they’re already companies occupying those top three spots, they’ve already made their money back 100 times. So now they’re playing with the houses money in terms of marketing spend. So they’ll just auto bid for those top spots. So the little guy, he doesn’t have that low bear event she wears, you know, with social ads, at least you’re paying for impressions. So you almost have not almost you’re not completely but an unlimited inventory. With Google, it’s like you’re limited with the number of searches, you’re limited to those top three to four spots, page two is essentially totally useless. So the barrier of entry is much higher. When I get an inquiry like that, I tell people, what’s your budget for the year? And if it’s not at least $1,000 per month to start? I tell them don’t even waste your time yet, you know, get out there start knocking on doors, you know, start posting tic tock videos, because I don’t think it’s going to be for you.

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. And I do see a certain audience size that’s relative to that, or are you just you? Don’t you even look at that?

Well, yeah, sometimes we’ll have a customer that’s only doing business in a particular zip code. And, and we do the you know, we jump at the keyword planner, and we do our forecasting, and we find that, you know, this 50 searches in that particular zip code. And, you know, if you if you take it two or 3% click through rate, and then you take 20% of those clicks, turning and deletes really, what do you get maybe a lead? You know, so you wonder, like, all the time management that goes into monitoring these campaigns, is it worth it to get a leader to where maybe you could be out there, I don’t know, going to your local chamber of commerce meetings and asking for referrals and getting the same thing. So yeah, you want to have a decent pool size. I

mean, that requires me to get up off my ass and actually do some though. So I mean, what the hell I want. That’s too much work.

Funny story. I was at a chamber of commerce meeting the other night, a random town that I don’t live in. It was like a wedding crasher Chamber of Commerce meeting in Bill burrs brother was there randomly lives in the town. That’s funny.

Interesting, man. So um, also, I noticed when you’re doing Google ads, there’s different like, they could say, like, let’s just say I type in real estate agent, real estate broker realtor. And then it says, you want a specific keyword search? Or do you want it very broad? What do you guys do on like a phase one when you’re starting a new campaign for something like that?

Great question. So for those of you that have never run a Google campaign, when you bid on a keyword, there are three different ways you can bid on a specific keyword. So let’s use that example. Let’s say real estate broker or even real estate company, right? You can bid on real estate company exact match, which is they have to type that exact thing in exactly how we just said and wrote it. Then you have phrase match, which is a slight variation of real estate company which could be like those Worst real estate company, the best real estate company, some variation of it, and then you have a broad match. Okay, and broad is a recipe for disaster for almost every campaign early on, because that could be a sentence with the word in it, it could be real estate sucks, it could be the word real attached to, you know, find me a real juice, juice press machine, like any variation of that word, or that phrase that you can imagine it’s too loose. So usually, when we start these campaigns, especially in real estate, we’re starting with exact match, it doesn’t produce a ton of traffic, but what we find is the traffic is super quality. And even if it only generates a few leads, here and there, we know the clients not burning through their cache. And then we build on that the majority of companies and actually Google suggestion, if you deal with a Google agent, they’re not going to like this, they usually want you starting with broad match. And then they tell you to prune the tree to thin out your campaign from all the bad searches. By then you blown through 10s of 1000s of dollars, you don’t have to you can do the opposite, start small and then add slowly. Google’s a for profit company, keep that in

mind. But in a lot of the you’re doing the keyword research, like we’ll just say, Buy house sell house fast, a lot of the wholesalers and the rehabbers, you see all their keywords, they do different variations of sell my house fast or something like that. But if you’re like if you’re narrowing down your area and say your local business, like during the search isn’t high. What type of keyword volume do people need to look at? If they’re thinking about researching some other keywords to start hitting?

Well, I think it’s a matter of conversions, right? reverse engineering the formula, okay. So let’s say your goal is to get I don’t know, four deals a month out of your campaign, okay. And you know, out of those four deals, you need to generate, I don’t know, 20 leads, okay, and you know, the traffic that’s going to come to your website, it’s real estate, it’s a little bit loose, only 5% of the traffic is going to turn into a lead, then you can kind of reverse engineer that and say, you know, I’m going to need to generate, you know, to generate those 20 clicks, I’m going to need to get, what’s the math there? How many clicks 20 divided by? So this is why God gave us calculators, right? So 20 divided by, so we’re going to need to generate 400 clicks per month to get to those four deals. So if you get with a pro that’s been doing it long enough, that’s the question. They’re gonna say, hey, how many deals you want to generate from this. And the other thing they’re going to say is, what are you willing to pay per deal? What’s your cost per acquisition? That’s another thing. Some people like, alright, let’s generate traffic. All right, traffic sexy, but I rather say, hey, professional realtor guy, right? If I can get you a deal today, how much are you willing to pay in marketing expenses for that? Yeah, I make 10 grand on a deal. I’m willing to pay two grand and marketing expenses. Great. Let’s reverse engineer that. And I’ll take a formula like that. I’ll reverse engineer that and say, Alright, we need 400 clicks. Right now we’re looking at $6 A click in the zip codes, you can do business in $6 a click, you’re gonna spend? Yeah, 2400 bucks. Do you have the budget for that? Oh, you don’t, don’t waste your time. You know,

that’s a it’s crazy. I’m sure this is like an all the professional industry, not just in real estate. And it makes our egos feel better. Like when we’re getting a bunch of like, leads and people you see us on Facebook, like Oh, I got I’m getting $5 per buyer lead and you’re like, great, we got to go through 700 of those until you actually get to closing and we feel like it. Here’s why we look at cost per lead versus cost per listing contract. And any rehabber if you guys listen to a few of the episodes ago, tune in to the one with Dustin defrays. And he runs his he’s talking about you know scaling in a local operation and owning properties. And his whole thing is not cost per lead it’s cost per contract. He doesn’t care about the cost per lead. And he’d rather get five leads a month than to get 300 tire kickers and it saves them a lot of time it saves them a lot of energy for conversion, but that’s the way that we have to start thinking that’s how you always have to be thinking our business is so fucking ego fold. It’s like we just care about what people say. It’s like Mee Mee Mee Mee Mee like none of us ever did true like I was so bad at running business with numbers until just about three years ago and even when I moved out here in San Diego, I look back and it’s embarrassing. When I look back at my career as a real estate agent How much should I throw at the wall and I would literally just feel better about myself because I had leads coming in and they stroke my ego when I really should have just said dude I didn’t even know my ad cost was but I was probably losing money to be honest with you. Right and people don’t look at it that way because if I have

leads coming in there oh keep the leads that come in the leads are coming. Pluck the leaves

Dude, give me the damn contracts.

You know, what I’ve noticed is I did that early on in my career, my last company, we did a ton of volume. And we reach a certain plateau, we hit it, we ran a bunch of different marketing campaigns, we did well, but then we reached a plateau. And then I met with some guys that are running companies that are 10 times the size of mine. This was a financial services call center. And McCarthy’s guy so big, and I met with this one guy, and he’s like, what’s your cost per acquisition? And I was like, it’s $100. He said, Well, I pay $200 to acquire a customer. So I’m like, wow, you pay so much more. But his operation was TEDx. And essentially, he created that threshold for himself. He said, I’m willing to pay $200 to acquire clients. And what he would do is he would go out into the marketplace, to call centers, to marketing companies, to agencies, he had so many different people funneling him business, because he knew, I’ll get to $200 If you can get me a deal. That was it, how it plays out in terms of ad cost agency fees, and everything that that was just like logistics hitting care about that. But he got to the point where he was setting up sales people were setting up sales organizations just selling him files at 200 bucks a pop, and he would just buy him ready to go deals. So if you can figure out your your cost per acquisition, okay, you can go out into the marketplace and hunt for business, okay, it’s free business at that point, if I can give someone $200 I give you $200. And you can hit me 300. What do I care if if I pay 200 or 100? It’s free money at that point. And I think that’s the difference between the big guys and the little guys, they have that number, and they hunt with it all day long. And that’s why they’ve got these massive operations.

I mean, it’s, it’s for the individual though, it’s, it sounds like it’s a big, it’s a big nut for a lot of people realistically, and they throw up when it’s just getting started. You guys, it’s like once you get started, like what was I ever worried about? But it’s that first month or two? And you’re just wondering if it’s gonna work. And you know, there’s a lot of BS out there. So I understand but you got to put a risk your entrepreneur dammit, like you don’t just it’s not an easy road, man, you want to sell a lot of houses will take a lot of risks. When you know, you have to just the way it’s all it’s what we’ve all done. Anybody in the same I’m sure you have very similar stories, mind you probably risks something. And now you have a good successful business. Well, you fail forward and everything we do, and this is just another one of those things. Let’s go into display ads a little bit. So we just talked about search ads, guys, what are the ads for search, you get popped up was talking about how display ads work a little bit. And if you can start getting everybody the concept, but

give you guys a quick summary display, as well as discovery which is part of it. Literally just when you’re browsing the internet, you have a lot of websites that are getting paid by Google to have banners all over their websites, right and they get a commission for it. So you’re popping around your Gmail, you got ads there, you’re popping around YouTube, you got banner ads there and picture ads there. You’re popping on different websites that have Google embedded on their sites for to make some cash. And you see these banners everywhere. It is very much this it’s very much disruptive marketing in the same way Facebook is okay or Instagram ads are Snapchat ads are obviously they’re not as dynamic, you know, you’re not going to have you know, really cool video pop up on someone’s random website for an ad. But those banners are there. The cost per click for those are way, way, way cheaper than a cost per click for someone that is searching for what you have to offer for search, and they serve a purpose. Okay. What we like to do, Mike is we like to start using display in tandem with search for remarketing purposes. So that people that are leaving the website, we’d like to we’d like to show up everywhere they go, whether it’s YouTube or anywhere on that network and we’d like to use remarketing obviously, inside the Facebook Instagram network to but will first use display to take warm traffic and warm it up a little bit more usually try to try to hit them with an offer to get them back into the site. That’s usually phase one. Phase two with display is cold traffic. Okay. But and this is a big, but it’s a different beast. Okay? It’s disruptive marketing, it’s cold traffic. It’s not something that get that can just be done, you know, where you get the clicks. And that’s it, you usually have to remarket your, your display traffic as well multiple multiple times and actually immerse them with YouTube ads with Facebook ads with Instagram ads. So if you’re doing cold display, you should be hitting them on social you should be hitting them on YouTube with video. That’s the way to make that effective. And also, you know, you got to realize that that sales cycle online just just in this part of the funnel, the marketing part of the funnel, it’s going to be much longer than that. In a search ad, okay. And then on top of that, when you’re generating these leads, the sales cycle of those leads is going to be much longer as well because they might not necessarily be ready to buy today. But they still want to be part of your ecosystem getting info from you. So your longer marketing cycle, longer sales cycle but display. By the way, the majority of businesses that I work with, they never even get to graduate to display. They never fully maximize their their marketplace in search. So it’s very rare. We even go to display for cold traffic. We’re usually just hanging out there for remarketing most of the time, that’s exactly

how I’m using it. Hey, guys, I want you guys go ahead and do a test right and I want you to go visit WWW dot real estate marketing do.com www dot real estate marketing do.com. And I’m going to be all over your ass wherever you go. No matter what you’re going to see what we just talked about.

Yeah, in your dreams in your sleep, like like Freddy Krueger just everywhere, everywhere. That’d be. That’d be neat. If we could just market to people in their dreams. Like while they’re sleeping.

It’d be great folks, the people, you give it to the one that’s exactly how I’m using it. And that’s refreshing to hear. You say I’m just using it for retargeting, retargeting my YouTube views and I’m retargeting my website visitors. And I’m returning my emails throughout that, but that’s very, very good, cool. Anything else you think we need to add in here? That I don’t know, anything that I think people should know.

Yeah, my suggestion is that this is just the more of a general tip. And then this is actually coming from a sales guy. I’m a sales guy before I’m a marketing guy, I got into marketing because I needed to generate my own leads, okay, and I didn’t want to waste my time, maybe I’m lazy, maybe I just want to be efficient, call it what it is. But if I get on the phone with 10 people, I want to be able to close a minimum of two or three of them minimum. And I want high intention people. So don’t be afraid to pay a high cost per click, don’t be afraid to pay a big cost for lead, focus on quality, quality, quality quality, because that’s going to get your cash flow moving, right? Okay, that’s gonna give you the shortest sales cycle. And when the cash flow is right, you can keep buying leads, you can spend as much as humanly possible. In fact, you will, you’ll, you’ll, you’ll want to spend as much as you can, it’s a funny thing, when you can get a return on marketing, any sort of positive return. It’s, it’s unbelievable how much more money you want to spend. It’s like making money on the stock market, it’s pretty addictive, very similar to it.

To every company grows, it’s how you scale you got to figure out what that number is, in your guyses business. If you’re a realtor, it’s at cost per listing contract or post cost per contract. If you’re a lender, it’s cost per Loana. If you’re an investor, it’s cost per contract to doesn’t matter. You’re buying houses, and a lead amongst all three of those audiences is going to be worth something different based upon how much money you make on it. So you also have to take that into consideration. Folks, most of you guys, if you’re an agent, you’re making two and a half percent of the sales price, right? You’re making fucking $10,000 On the low end, usually in most markets nowadays, too, sometimes. $20,000. So like for you to, that’s what you want to look at is like, Hey, I’m gonna make $10,000 per closing, would I pay? $2,500 a lead? Yeah, if I knew that was gonna be the case. Do you think you could turn in and lead for $2,500? Someone gave you just one a month?

And yes, the question. No, call

this fucking guy up. Steve. Why don’t you tell him what your stuff is? God plug your stuff. Oh, sorry. Oh, Steve, Nick. We’re Steve. Yeah. I thought you’re gonna be on the show to know Nick, go right ahead and plug them in. Tell them where they can learn more

about. All right, you guys can hit us up at real top.com Not to be mistaken for real tour.com It’s not an art. It’s the real top calm. You can go on there request a free consultation with myself or someone from my team. There’s no charge. We’ll spend you know half an hour an hour with you over over a zoom call or face to face and you’re in the Boston area and we’ll just strategize you know what’s not working what’s working we’ll help you come up with a plan that you know just make a making make a zillion bucks in 2020

I love it man. Thank you for your insight, folks. Thank you for listening another episode of The Marketing new podcast you guys know where to find us if you don’t like I said visit the website so I can re follow you all over the freakin internet I’ll see you every website WWW dot real estate marketing do.com And if you need someone to start building your personal brand with video, we will do it all for you. You don’t need more videographers you don’t need more leads. You need more dudes with script added distributor video content costs after and we’ll dial in what exactly your branding and video strategy is and make it really easy for you all in us a couple hours a month. Talk to you guys later. Have a good weekend and Merry Christmas. Thank you for watching another episode of the real estate marketing dude podcast if you need help with video or fine Finding out what your brand is visit our website at WWW dot real estate marketing do.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 schedule a time to speak with a dude and get you rolling in your local marketplace. Thanks for watching another episode of the podcast. We’ll see you next time.

Stop Chasing Leads & Start Chasing CONVERSATIONS

Every single year in December, it’s one of my favorite times, because not only do I recharge, I try to take a little bit of a break. But I also start implementing what the hell we’re doing for next year. So what I want to do is bring on a friend of mine, he’s been on the show before, this guy’s a fucking killer. He’s ranked on the Inc 500 and what he does is all virtual. He doesn’t need an office he could do this from his in his underwear from the comfort of his damn living room. And this guy just has a system for everything. He’s a master at lead generation and that’s we’re going to talk about today, is how he could do this from the comfort of his home and do it nationally too.

Three Things You’ll Learn in This Episode

  • The importance of having systems in place that work
  • How to utilize your skill and prospecting ability to grow clientele anywhere
  • Taking advantage of resources and not being afraid to spend dollars

Resources

Learn More about Kevin Markarian

Real Estate Marketing Dude

The Listing Advocate (Earn more listings!)

REMD on YouTube

REMD on Instagram

Transcript:

So how do you attract new business, you constantly don’t have to chase it. Hi, I’m Mike Cuevas to real estate marketing. And 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. It is that end of the year. And what we’re doing today is doing nothing better. Yeah, what we’re doing this whole month is nothing more than just a bunch of end of the year planning things and getting ready for next year. Because if you’re living in reality, the next two weeks should be pretty slow. Unless you’re some kind of pagan or atheist, and you don’t celebrate Christmas. So if you are celebrating Christmas, what you’re gonna have is a lot of downtime. And thinking about what you’re going to actually implement this year. And I know from my own personal experience, every single year in December, it’s one of my favorite times, because not only do I recharge, I try to take a little bit of a break. But I also start implementing what the hell we’re doing for next year. So for example, guys, I am implementing a How am I going to create eight videos a month next year? How am I going to implement this system, we’re implementing new products and services with real estate marketing dude, including creating short form content, all of these little things are things that you have to do because I was very poor at working on my business over the last three months. And there’s a major difference between working in the business and being ran by it then working on it, setting up systems and basically allowing you to grow it’s you’ll never grow your business if you don’t work on it and just work in it. It’s just a hamster wheel that just never ending thing. So what I want to do is bring on a friend of mine, he’s been on the show before, this guy’s a fucking killer. He’s ranked on the Inc 500. And how he does it is all virtual, literally like this guy has an office. He’s in his office right now. But he doesn’t need an office he could do this from his in his underwear from the comfort of his damn living room. And this guy just has a system for everything. He’s a master at lead generation. And that’s we’re going to talk about today is how he could do this from the comfort of his home and do it nationally to that’s the most amazing thing. So without further ado, let’s go ahead and welcome our guest, Mr. Kevin Markarian. What’s up, dude. Thanks, buddy. Thanks, man. Congratulations on all of your success. It’s great to see you progress and grow. And I’m just honored to be on this, this time with you to spend this time with you and to get to connect with your wonderful audience. So thanks, Kevin, watching everyone who you are, yeah, where you’re from what you do, and then we’ll get into this. Okay. I’m Kevin Markarian. And I’m in California. I originally lived in Modesto, California, small town, little ag town, did incredibly well. And at a young age, I started in real estate around 21. And worked for a big developer, national builder. And after a short period of time, and 1000s of agents I became the number one agent in the country for them. And and then shortly after that, I was living this low high life you know, a great lifestyles driving like a convertible Porsche, and as big as this has the fucking size of a giant balloon thinking your shit don’t stink? Yeah, you know, 23 years old. Yeah, it was, you know, this is all butterflies and rainbows or whatever. And then the market crashed. The Central Valley of California was really kind of the epicenter of the foreclosure crisis in the United States. And so I had to make a decision fast am I going to continue to beat this beat this bit this path here and go down this path selling $60,000 homes and, you know, dilapidated properties, and not not really enjoying what I was doing? Or should I should I go somewhere else, and then try to expand and try to do something bigger. And fortunately for me at the time, you know, being that I was not far from San Francisco, one of the most elite cities in the world. I had, I took a chance and literally just kind of closed up left Modesto and moved to SF, and that was a really big, big move for me. And,

and, yeah, did you have a database? Or did you know anyone in SF when you made this move? Or were you and were you still like, what, 2425 years old? Yeah, I didn’t know anyone. No, I didn’t. But I knew that I could count on my my skill and my prospecting ability and just, you know, it just it works anywhere. It’s like you said, you know, I like to really build out systems and everything and, and if it can be done somewhere, then it can be done somewhere else. And so that’s how I how I really looked at it. And I know I didn’t know anybody, but but I knew that I can connect with people. And so that’s what I really counted on. And then also at that time, companies like Zillow and realtor.com, and lead gen was sort of on its way, becoming more of a just really started coming out at that time, and so took advantage

To that, and that’s really how I was able to level the playing field because shortly after moving to San Francisco, I became a top producer and sort of building a team and everything and just was very, very successful in a short period of time. And it wasn’t so much of like, personal skills and everything, it was just more about taking advantage of resources, and not being afraid to spend dollars. And it’s easy for us in our industry, especially being commissioned salespeople to want to hold everything and not not want to spend it, because you don’t know when our next checks come in and everything. But, but if you have the systems in place where you can make more predictable income, then you can take a little bit more risk. It’s not as scary. And that’s really what I what I was able to do.

Let me ask you a question. Sorry. So Kevin, start buying leads, right? You’re doing like the realtor.com. One, and it doesn’t matter. Like I think where you source your business from the difference is whether or not you can fucking close it. Leads are nothing more than conversations that you’re having with other people. And when we’re marketing our database, all I’m doing is I’m having conversations with them might not necessarily be about real estate. But when you’re buying leads Zillow, you’re having conversations about real estate either way, you’re still having conversations. And the key to having conversations is to get people know like trust. Love you. First and foremost. Would you agree with that? Oh, yeah, absolutely. So what is your secret weapon? Why can’t Kevin Markarian convert leads, but I can’t find an agent within a 500 mile radius, I can have a conversation with a complete stranger and get them in the car the next fucking day? I think, you know, I think it just sometimes we overthink things. You know, we have to do things a certain way a certain script, somebody told us we have to do it this or that. It’s just, I think, where I kind of why I think I have a little bit of a difference. People do this to not saying I’m the only one but just Just be yourself. You know, yourself. When you be your swimming, when you just feel be you know, you and just be comfortable with yourself. And just treat talk to people normally, it doesn’t have to be like a, you know, certain way mean a talk or whatever it just be, be normal, be yourself be comfortable. And then you’re going to start to attract people. And, and that’s really what it is. That’s the difference. That’s why I’m able to do that and understanding other people. That’s here’s what we’re talking about. Guys, if you’re following up with people, do you have commission breath? And yes, I can smell that through the phone. Yeah. So obvious. Like, you know, when people have commission breath, you could feel their tonality, you could just feel on be like, Oh, my God, like I could tell when I have someone on the phone, whether that cold calls me. And I could tell whether they have commissioned breath or not just by asking different pointed questions, right? Yeah. And a lot of people have commission breath.

And sometimes, though, sometimes we had that because we’re in a position where we don’t have not, we don’t have transactions, we’re desperate, right? Yes. So what we have to really do is avoid those desperate situations. Because then then it’s like, then I can just be be comfortable, you won’t be myself, we get the commission breath, I guess it’s more, it’s either you’re doing and you’re doing it wrong. Or you’re doing it because you don’t have other income, and you’re just, you’re desperate. So how do you avoid those desperate situations? That’s the question. So that you don’t have to come across as that sort of, like pushy salesperson, you bring up a good point. Because I agree, like I had to start this company on a, I bought I bootstrapped this company for three years before we get out, we didn’t have money for freakin lead generation, we didn’t have money to go out and run on ads, we had to do everything from the ground up how we did it was creating consistent content. And you either have money or you don’t, if you have the resources, and you can leverage your time, if you don’t have the resources, you got to put in some time, is how it works. So how do you approach so I think that’s a good conversation to have is that people are always like, well, if I spend this, I have to get this back? And then how do you overcome and start approaching ROI on specific marketing activities? I think it’s you know, if you’re, if you have the luxury of being in a market where people know you, it’s really simple. Just go through the list of people that you know, and just start having conversations, right. And that’s, that’s very simple. And then

from there, if, like, for me, I didn’t have that luxury. So I had to basically spend the dollars. But there are ways that you can you can connect with people without spending money, like you said, just spending time, for example, one is through using sell scores, that’s one way that you can do it today. And that is through just using the MLS to find out who’s most likely to sell because they put a score on every single person now through the tax record, and then going through and skip tracing that data and then making out making those calls yourself or that just takes a little bit of time. But there’s that’s pretty much free, right? You can use free resources to get contact information. And so that’s that’s the way to do it is just to try to have as many conversations as possible with the most amount of people about real estate, and I use a system that it’s funny because I got this thing out of a book a long time ago, tiny little book and

and then I

I kind of hear people saying it, which is cool, you know. But I brought, I kind of started talking about it, which is the four point system, the four point system that I use, and that’s everyday My goal is to get four points. I got this out of a book called How to be a rainmaker by Jeffrey Fox, super tiny little book. And he says, If you want a salesperson that always wants to stay busy, should try to try to reach four points a day. So if I can reach four points a day, I’m always going to be busy. One way to do that, or how to do that, How’s his other ranking works is one point as foreign is for a good positive conversation about real estate. Two points is when I set an appointment, three points is if I get a signed contract, so signed buyer contract, listing agreement by representation, whatever, if you get a signed contract, that’s three points. And four points is, is if you get paid. So if I, if I can get four points a day, I’m always going to be busy. So that’s one thing that I was able to do.

When I moved to SF was I just My goal is to get the four points a day, that was it, and I know that I can get I got four points a day, I’m going to be, I’ll be busy, I’ll be successful. And tomorrow, I have somebody to talk to. And so I think that’s, you know, because we get, it’s easy to get caught up in the monotony and yeah, you know, you get bored and so on. You gotta have some that’s why people talk about having your why and so on. But, um, but this is this a way to kind of game it and stay and stay focused. And I so let’s, let’s put this into context, what we’re talking about is you have to have more conversations, whether you have a built in network or not either have a database or you don’t, and you can buy conversations, you go out and have them. Have you guys ever realized some of the top producing agents aren’t the sharpest tools in the shed that the most popular?

They have more friends than you do. They’re more marketable and more people they have more conversations than you do. On average doesn’t mean they’re smarter than you doesn’t mean they’re better than you, which is exactly you know, there’s two ways that you really stand out in the business you either a nurture the relationships you have, or be you offer something no one else has. There’s a reason why Redfin goes into a market, it’s our shreds acting immediately is because they have unique selling proposition. Unfortunately, the vast majority of real estate agents don’t have a unique selling proposition, you guys are all selling the exact same shit. And when you’re having these conversations, it’s how you make people feel that really makes you stand out, which is all your personal brand, at the end of the day. So what does that mean? Well figure out a way to have conversations

with regardless of how you’re doing, you’re gonna buy them, or you’re going to manufacture them, by putting yourself in the center of that conversation. There’s a reason that I’ve seen, we’ve had some people on the show that would start up a brand new business.

In a market they don’t know anyone in, and in every single circumstance that they do. It’s because they’re super outgoing and social and they put themselves at that table.

I’ve seen people do that with business owner interviews in those small local market. I’ve seen people do that in foundational giveback programs where they didn’t know anyone in the foundation. But today, they are now sitting on the board of the foundation because they raised so much money for them over the last 12 months. But every case that I see somebody run an attraction based business, it’s because they put themselves in that situation. It didn’t happen on accident. Hmm. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And, and the thing about that, too, is that there’s plenty of information out there that we can get access to, and how to do things, and how to find like people that are watching and listen to this. It’s like, you know, they’re they’ve, it’s, there’s, the information is available. So it reminds you of the story. If it’s all right, I can tell this story about when I was growing up, I had a coach wrestling coach. And he’d always ask us, what’s the difference between an amateur and a professional? What’s the difference between an amateur and a professional and then, you know, sit there looking all these Theriot steroid kids, you know, like nobody has the answer. And then he would say the differences consistent, right? Yeah, an amateur and professional. So like, if I go bowling, I can ball strike maybe once out of 10 to three times out of 10. A pro is gonna pull 10 out of 10. Right? And, and the baseball pitcher is gonna pitch strike every almost every time, right? So the same thing with what we’re talking about is like, we can get excited, listen to a conversation with you about what to do. And then the next day, we’re amped and we go do it. But then what do we do the next day, the day after, and so on, and so on. So that’s really kind of the difference, right is though those individuals that you’re talking about that are putting themselves in those positions, they’re doing it all the time, not one time, right? You listen to who they are, it’s who they are naturally, like you’re born with it, it’s very hard to create that in somebody you either have it or you don’t. And that the faster you figure out whether you do or not is the faster you figure out which model is going to work for you or which type of waves you’re going to have more conversations. That’s the key right is like figuring so you don’t have to be that guy like I’m not always the most outro virgin outro Verna person but understanding where you kind of fit in then you can build a model around your strengths. And that way you can leverage other people or other systems or tools to do that.

The things that you necessarily like you’re not enjoying as much, right? So so I think that’s, that’s the key. And and, and that’s where kind of teamwork comes in and partnerships and so on and so forth. But, but, um, and that’s also where leveraging technology comes in. And then that way staying top of mind through digital platforms, and, and so on, if, you know, maybe just, it’s really just about you said, it’s defining, and understanding what your strengths and weaknesses are, what you’re good at, and then being able to work around that. And I think that’s, that’s really important. And so I guess the question for you is I have for you is what’s, uh, what are some ways to do that? Like, how can people determine routes go.

Um, I mean, it’s really comes down to, if you’re the type of person that goes to your kids school event, and you sit in the corner and just talk to the people, you know, well, you’re probably not the person that’s going to go out there and put yourself in a center of attention. You know, if you’re the type of person that knows everyone on your block, and says, Hi to everyone in the restaurant, you walk in, like that’s perfect for you. In the event, you’re not say the person that’s going to do it, maybe you don’t have the time, maybe you’re like me, and you have like 10 Kids, can you pick it up three different, pick it up three different things, I don’t have time to go out and meet people, nor do I have the energy. And I’m about to do this here in San Diego, and start a real estate team. And I’m starting from scratch, all my friends here are in real estate. So it’s like I remember referral based business. But I can tell you guys how I’m gonna do it. I know how Kevin does it. And let’s let’s actually do this as a case study of something good for show. So what I’m going to do here in San Diego is I’m gonna create a create a website called your real estate dudes. And we’re going to create lots of conversations through a shitload of video content creation. And what we’re gonna do is we’re gonna have every dude on the team is going to be creating two to four videos a month. And that’s how I’m going to get them in front of the right people to have those conversations with because we have to create content in order to do so. Content creates engagement, engagement, creates conversation, conversation creates trust, trust gets you fucking paid. That’s the formula. It’s very, very simple. But I’m also going to be doing lead generation to now totally different strategy. Because when you look at your business, you got to look at the assets you have the assets are nothing more than the amount of people you’d invite to your wedding or funeral if you had an unlimited budget for both.

Now, in my case, I don’t have any assets. But the agents I bring on my team do, each and every one of them have to be from the area, each and every one of them have to have X amount of Facebook friends, an email list and X amount of social media reach, because I know that all I need to do is infiltrate those people to have conversations. Now, that is one aspect of lead generation more based on attraction referral generation from people’s existing audiences. The other system I’m going to run is probably something you know how to do way better than me. And I’m going to trip and fall forward and call you up for advice along the way. And what that’s going to be is I’m going to buy a list, I’m going to get data of people who are most likely to sell, I’m going to do this to my friends over Geopoint data, Dawson the phrase, and these are going to be people that are facing financial constraints, death, probate, divorce, relocation, significant amount of credit impacts significant amount of debt on their score, I’m looking for people that own properties that are more than likely to sell. And then I’m going to take that data, and I’m going to fucking pour out all over them. I’m going to hit him on email, I’m going to hit him on tax, I’m going to hit him on social and I am going to be everywhere all the time.

And that is lead generation.

Right? But I have to start, I don’t want to just I’m not gonna go by, here’s where people screw up and lead gen as they go out. And they do it. It’s good to Every Door Direct Mail. So let’s start talking and having conversations with people that have no interest or intention of moving. That is what I call a waste of money. Hmm, absolutely. Tell me how you do it. Yeah, no, I think that’s I think that’s great. I think right now, especially in this market. It’s it’s very, I wouldn’t say easy, but it’s there’s a lot of sellers that that

are interested in selling, right. I mean, there’s Fannie Mae came out with the article a couple months ago, talking about the first time in 25 years, sellers think it’s the very best time to sell in the last 25 years. And buyers think it’s the worst time to buy in the last 25 years. So who would you rather work with? Who’s most likely to work with you? So? Absolutely. You know, that’s, that’s one of our strategies as well is just now that we have this access to data that can tell you people are likely to transact, like I mentioned earlier through the self score thing, but like you mentioned, Geopoint, that’s another option is finding those individuals who are likely to transact and start creating relationships, and with what your strategy is, what I really like about it, Mike is is that it doesn’t take me to go out to a parent teacher conference or whatever and sit down and talk to 1515 parents, right. It’s it’s it’s a leveraged approach. And so that you’re kind of throwing out that that that casting the line, and seeing who who’d be in

interested and you’re targeting individuals that are based on digital information and data are likely to transact right so that you’re efficient and being smart with your with your dollars that you’re spending. One area that I think what we do on that is we have,

we have a call center, we have individuals that are that are incentivized to create create appointments for agents on our team. And so we take that list like that. And like we do everything that you just said. And then we’re also reaching out to them to to try to set appointments or try to have conversations. Another area that I think is really helpful with this type of marketing is to use leverage I buyer, people talk about eye buyer being an enemy, right? To me, I think eye buyer is more of a strategic partner, and we can leverage them to get our foot in the door. Whether or not those individuals, the agents decide, or the sellers decide to use that eye buyer as an option to sell their home is irrelevant to me, what I want to do is, is I want to provide those solutions, and I feel more and more today, as real estate agents and professionals. We’re not no longer the gatekeepers of information, what we need to really be as a solution providers, option providers, provide individuals with those with a mountain enough all the options so they don’t have to go elsewhere. Here’s all I’ve been saying this for fucking five years, your don’t sell real estate, you solve fucking people’s problems. I had issues with the real estate, it’s very simple. I forget, when I started learning, content marketing.

It’s like when real estate marketing dude came up, I was in this conference, outside Marketing Conference in Denver, I remember. And I don’t know what stuck out to me during that day. But they said, hey, you know that this is what content creation, I got addicted to it, I was just like, Dude, it’s great. I’ll just gonna create content on people’s fucking problems and have the solution for it. You know, it’s very simple. Like that makes sense. Like think about when you’re when you’re shopping yourself. And you’re like, I don’t know, let’s say I need a flowers for my wife. Because it’s Valentine’s Day, I’m sorry. But I have no interest in going to page two a Google, like the first flower shop I see is fine with me the first one that solves that problem I’m going to use. Now I want to take that same concept and apply that to real estate because 88% of people close with the first person they meet with period. No one wants to go out and shop a bunch of different real estate agents. But you do have to offer a solution that’s relevant to today’s market. What Kevin’s talking about with the I buyers is 100%. Right on the money. This is why we built listing advocate is that we’re taking all those ibuyer offers, and we’re out.

I wouldn’t say performing, but we’re out servicing our competition. Because people want solutions and the market is changed. And when we’re doing something different than nobody else is by offering many different types of solutions to their problems. Who cares which bucket they find it. So people with the ibuyers 95% of people will still go regular listing agreement, but 100% of them want to see all their options. So if you’re just selling, hey, I got a listing agreement. I’m doing a video on this today. What’s the difference between you and every other agent? And most agents can’t answer that.

I asked him every time What would you do? Why should I hire you over anyone else? Why don’t they? What do you think the answer the question is?

Well, we’re going to provide the most options and most solutions we’re going to get depending on what their needs are what the agents say we think most agents answer to that question is what do you do differently than everybody else? You’re gonna work harder. Yeah. I’m gonna have your best interests in mind. Well, No shit, Sherlock, you have a fiduciary duty to do that. Right? Right. But they don’t have the you don’t like that’s the craziness of the of the business right now? Is that the answer? The answer is read the answers right in front of you. I have an easy answer. It’s called listing advocate calm. But do you could just copy your concept and do it yourself. There’s nothing crazy about what we’re doing with it. We’re just creating a mega offering that’ll out compete every eye buyer and every other agent and marketing. Think about it from

Think about from two cents you guys is like, you got a couple different restaurants to go to. Right. And Kevin and I are I’m in Orange County with Kevin and we’re hungry, it’s lunch. And if it’s lunchtime and mean Kevin want to go eat because I’m Mexican, I’m automatically going to default to go to the tacos. But because we’re in the middle of the business meeting, we might go and eat tacos for 10 minutes at a taco stand. That’ll fill our bellies and that’ll check the box. But once 5pm comes along, Kevin and I don’t just want to eat we want to eat and have an experience we want to eat and go have a cup of margaritas. We want to drink a little bit so we’re gonna go to this fancy taco restaurant in Orange County by Kevin’s house. And when we get there, it’s going to cost me five times as much.

What’s the difference? The experience I’m seeking? Right both both serve both them my belly both accomplished immediate goal, but I’m looking for something specific. So how can you create the experience keep going sorry. Know that how do you that every real estate agent listen when I What is your experience level? What makes you different?

Because having the conversations have to battle, you still got to close it. Right? So a lot of the stuff we’re talking about is twofold. Guys like having the conversation comes in one aspect, but then what makes you the right answer to their problem?

Why do you have the right solution? I think what you’re talking about also, and I don’t want to, I don’t want to be like super abstract, because I do want to allow my child how much time we have left, but I want to get into some specific support, things that people can really take away and use. But um, one of the things like, you know, kind of, before COVID, I was speaking all over the country going to different events and going on stage and stuff like that, and doing podcasts and everything.

And people ask me all the time, like, why do you share all your secrets and everything? And first of all, I like to do that it’s fine, because I feel like it’s more of a reciprocal thing. But also, here’s an important factor to keep in mind. Like we talked about all the time, most, most people don’t implement anything, right?

Exactly, right. Nobody implements anything. But then let’s say that, let’s say people implement,

but then it’s a matter of how you’re going to execute. So matter of First of all, you’re going to implement, nobody does that anyway. So only a small percentage of your competition is going to implement. And then second, beyond that, who’s an execute better? So it’s kind of like if you’re in a football, you know, real estate marketing dudes, I think there’s maybe a lot of dudes on here that are football, maybe football fans, okay? So it’s like when the NFL teams are going to heads up, and the offense runs the ball. And the defense knows the play, they know exactly what they’re gonna do. They’re gonna, they ran the same play four times in a row, they keep running it, and why are they running it? And how are they successful? Are they successful is because they can execute better than the other team? And they don’t doesn’t matter if you know what I do. So the answer is they asked me, How come? How come I share because I don’t care, because you’re not going to execute better than me. And I’m not confident in that. And there was something that I forgot who said this, maybe I don’t remember who but you said, Never underestimate the mediocrity of the competition. That’s great. So it’s just so much opportunity. And it’s just something to be very excited about. And, and so just putting in a couple things, like, you know, the listing advocate of the website that you’re talking about, that was the name that you just said, you’re saying add listing, advocate, listing, advocate calm, I mean, how many people are using that? I mean, it’s like, I’m sure you have a lot of sales and everything, but like are the top are as your competitors using it. Right? So it’s like taking small rooms, and then just implementing them into your business. And then now you just perfect and execute and just focus and do it over and over and over again. And I’d rather be the master of one thing, then be you know,

so, and that’s where we come back into leads, and how we manage our lead flow and systems and everything is just a it’s a science, it’s a process. It’s just it’s easy. Anybody can do it. Next, do you have a Kevin as a follow up for everything? If someone opts in, they want to Kevin’s forms. Like, I don’t know how many Zapier connections you have, I’m gonna guess you could probably build a house with all of them. We, we stop using Zapier a lot.

We have our own internal stuff. So you had to build your own. But yeah, if you’re going to get in the lead gen, you got to have all those different systems set up. And you’re right, the same reason that I’ll give away all of my video scripts to my competition. I’ll give away all my video scripts. I’ll give them the viral marketing right now. Frank, take them all, you’re not gonna execute, dude. Yeah, you know, I mean, like, and same thing with real estate agents. I’ll be like, here’s exactly how you shoot the video. But I know for a fact that they’re never gonna learn how to edit. That’s why a service like us has, but it is about leaning forward. So we’ll create all of our content, we give it away. We’re not gonna hold anything back. Yeah, but here’s the thing. It’s part of that though, too, is it’s okay to hire out. Right? It’s fine. But part of execution is is having the right team. Yeah. So that’s why it’s like one of the factors too, is like, I’ll hire you to edit for me. I’ll hire the marketing dude, edit for me, because I don’t know how to edit. Right. So it’s like coming back to one of the early things in our conversation was, you know, is don’t be in a position where you can’t spend money, don’t be.

So that way we can create a predictable income so that you can spend the dollars but one thing I want to share with everyone.

I’ll try to give away like a simple strategy. I don’t know if it’s, how simple it’ll be. But first of all, one of the things that we do and we’re we’re creating about maybe 100 between 60 and 100 Hand raisers per hour with our team, and the way we do that is we use real scout and then we just integrate real scout with follow up boss So Andrew, if you’re from from real Scout, if you’re watching this, you set up that integration, buddy, so we don’t have to do it so much on the issue. What the fuck are you doing man?

Forever, you get about 60 to 100 per hour. The way I do it is I take my follow up boss, CRM, and every lead that comes in gets entered into real Scope.

Just have real Scott by itself alone, I don’t have any ownership of real Scott, I probably should be already gifted by now like 10%. Andrew, you’re that one to pick them up Andrew. And so take your leads, put put them into real scout or something like it, where you can then start dripping, sending content that’s relevant. And then where you can track the engagement, but more importantly, where your your clients can, can message you to let you know when they’re interested. And, and so what we’ve done that’s unique is taking the the activity and the engagement that’s happening inside of real scale, and then transitioning that through an integration that we’ve created on our own because it was way too expensive. To use Zapier, imagine 60 to 100 an hour how much that’s gonna cost.

So we had to do our own. But now all those all those activities that are happening in real Scout are getting sent over to follow a boss for my team, who is now seeing all those activities, all that engagement in our, in our call center, and everybody is calling. And it’s just working out so well. So if anybody’s interested in learning how to do that, reach out to me, because I’ll show you guys how to do and that’s kind of something that we’re offering right now

as a consulting thing, so if anyone wants to do that for their team or their business, you look up, but you’re doing it through like the thing to to just serve everybody understands as you’re reaching out through multiple mediums, oh, yeah, to pull tabs, like, there isn’t like, if you’re doing lead gen Do you agree? Like, there’s no such thing and lead gen world anymore, where there’s just one channel you’re using? Right? Like, you can’t just use email anymore, and then expect it to work? Like you might get a deal here and there. But like, you’re never gonna scale? Well, like you said, you need to be everywhere all the time. Yeah. And so right, it’s just, it’s a matter of like building trust, and so on. So like, people see you, they’re gonna, it’s a matter of building that trust. So the more that you’re seeing, the more visible you are, the more relevant content that you’re providing, the more the more trusted that you will be. And the more likely the thing is, people are going to reach out to you. Because like you said, when you’re when you’re going on looking for that flower shop, right, you’re going to click on that first one that reaches that solves your problem. So if I can be in that position, maybe I’m not going to be the first page of Google, but I’m going to be on your videos, I’m going to be on Facebook, I’d be on everywhere, so that when the time I just I don’t have to go far to find the answer. So the Be that person, and I know you’re like a master of that. And and then we do that as at a high level as well. And we’re just, you know, constantly sharing that data. And it’s also important to share it with people that are most likely going to transact. So we don’t want to waste our dollars and our time with people that have no interest whatsoever. So one of the things that we do, like you said, you take that data, the cell score, the geo geo point where you can show that shows you who’s interested, but then now you’re sending them content. And now they’re engaging with your content. That’s information that we may be tracking to. And then we’re picking and going deeper with that it’s all basic stuff to you, man. You know this, but people that are listening if you don’t know it, learn from Mike, because there’s nobody out there. It’s really better than understand view. Do you believe that everyone needs to be creating content today? Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Because of that. And then because of that, like you got you can’t like if you have your sales messages going out, you have that you have multiple things going on. Like I have a pitch video that goes out to people who are listening to this podcast right now, like you guys, click on my website, go ahead and click on my website, I dare you click on my fucking website right now. Click, click, click on my website, I am going to be all over Google YouTube, Facebook IG, and I’m about to do it on tick tock. Because I know that even in our world, like the more I am everywhere, the more demos we get, and the more times we saw our video services. But when I turned off those demos, there’s been a couple of times this year where my schedule was booked out two weeks, and I turned off my ads. Big mistake. Don’t ever do that, please. And then I went through a peak and valley in our demos because of it. So it’s crazy on how important it’s become unnecessary learning experience, man. Yeah, if you didn’t do that you wouldn’t have known for sure, like you would have guessed would have been a hypothetical, right? And that everything’s hypothetical. I’m always wrong the very first time I’m not smart. I’m not by any means. Like some kind of smart dude. I’ve just not scared to test things out and see what works and then amplify and that’s that comes back to because you’re consistent because you’re you have systems in place you can you can take those types of financial risks

and, and not be afraid so.

Yeah, I mean, it just

I mean, I can I can see her and talk forever man, I really appreciate you I think you got it wrapped up I think people are gonna be interested possibly in your consulting thing. Why don’t you go ahead and unless you have anything else to add, let’s go ahead and get this one wrapped, and tell people where they can message you. But I think closing thoughts guys. You got to have more conversations and to do that you got to be in multiple places. And you got to be everywhere all the time. And you got to have those conversations in front of the right people.

The right people are either a cold list of people who are more than likely to buy or sell, or those people are the people who already know like and trust you. Yes. And like I said, right now we’re generating between 60 to 100, new, active people that want to engage that want to talk that are hand raisers. per hour, 60 to 100 an hour.

How much of a guy asked how much of a budget does that cost? Okay, so my,

I got it.

I mean, like, probably close to six figures a month at one time, close to with everything, okay. But now, it’s a lot lower. It’s, it’s because I got smarter number one, number two, also, we built such a huge database over those over those years, right? And then three is who, okay, here’s my philosophy on leads. And we have a short time I know, but for those who are leads, people, okay, and where are those people live? In your community? In your your neighbors, your people, right? So what are when you’re paying for leads, what you’re simply what you’re doing is you’re speeding up the process, from having to basically find a needle in a haystack. And you’re paying someone to find that needle for you. So that they’re right. So they’re saying, Okay, this is a person out of this community, this person is interested, what if I had the whole access to the whole community? If I had access to everybody in the community? What would you do?

Just second, if you’re paying attention, if you had everybody, if you had access to everybody in a city, in San Diego, and your your neighbor, I’d be all over him, you’d be all over him. Right? So So then would you buy a lead? No, no, because you don’t need to, you don’t need to. So that’s my point to everybody is you can create your own leads, because you know, where those people are coming from, they’re coming from, let’s say, your neighborhood, your community, wherever. And so if you can get access, which we have access to that now, I can get access to everybody in my community, and I can get data on those people, which is available, very low cost. And if I can just then figure out a way to get in front of them with content. Like I said, What now we’re calling we’re setting appointments, we have a cost, so I invested in the call center stuff. So my cost is like stupidly low man, like, it’s, it’s so low, I can’t I mean, it’s like, so low, he can’t even share them no matter how low it is. So

it’s more about not so much like we’re not paying for the leads, I’m paying for the systems and management of how to manage those contacts from the community that we’re targeting. You could probably sell those leads and turn pretty pretty promptly to

your you’re giving them to your team members. And you’re writing an awesome model doing that keeping them busy. Systems is all Yeah. Can I plug one thing, man, God, yeah, so um, so obviously have a brokerage marker real estate. And we’re basically looking to grow with great people. So that’s another goal of mine is to try to connect with with agents. And we’re rolling out a rev share plan, rev share model. So if anybody’s interested in learning about how to become part of our team, or you’re receiving leads, and we’re setting appointments for you with sellers with buyers.

That’s another thing you know, I don’t want this to be like a pitch fest. But no, I think that’s a pretty damn good offer. If you guys are having struggling with business or acquiring business, then you got to surround yourself with someone who’s had acquired for you until you learn how to do it on your own. And he’s offering JOIN US team if you’re interested and I’ll supply you with leads. Simple, it’s pretty fair offer to me. Whether you’re an agent or a team, you have a team or brokerage, whatever, I think we have a solution for everyone. And so that’s that’s my that would be my my thing. So I just want to say thanks, Mike. Dude, I really respect you, man and appreciate everything you’re doing. Thanks, dude. Appreciate it. And we appreciate you guys listening to other episode the real estate market do podcast folks, you know where to find us. If you are thinking about getting on video next year. You don’t need more leads, you need more dudes, all you need to do is go to real estate marketing do.com Schedule a demo with me. I’ll show you how it works. And I will promise you that people will stop forgetting what the hell you do for a living and you’ll start running and attraction based business. That’s www that real estate marketing do.com go and connect with us on all of our social sites as well and keep leaving those reviews and tell people about this show. I appreciate you guys listening. We’ll see you guys next week. And we’ll talk to you then peace out. Thank you. 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 schedule a 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.

Getting Personal With Video Email

Today people don’t want fake they want personable and using video is one of the ways to do it. What we’re gonna talk about today is how to get personal with video one on one. We brought on one of the founders of BombBomb, Darin Dawson. BombBomb is a video email platform, probably the leading one in the industry if and it’s a great product. What these guys did really good is they personalize the relationship process through email and put a face with a name and that’s why they’re succeeding. 

Darin believes that human beings have intrinsic value. Each person deserves to be seen, heard and understood. That’s why he co-founded BombBomb. They enable everyone in your organization to easily record, send, and track personal videos so that they can break through the digital noise, build human connection, and get a “yes” faster and more often. Stop relying on plain black text on a plain white page to communicate your most important and valuable messages. Start enjoying the benefits of face to face communication through simple, personal videos.

Three Things You’ll Learn in This Episode

  • The best easy investments to make for your business
  • How to use video to your advantage
  • What BombBomb is and why you need it

Resources

Learn More About Darin Dawson & BombBomb

Real Estate Marketing Dude

The Listing Advocate (Earn more listings!)

REMD on YouTube

REMD on Instagram

Transcript:

So how do you attract new business? You constantly don’t have to chase it. Hi, I’m Mike Cuevas to real estate marketing. And 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 market interview podcast today we have a great episode for you guys. If you’ve been following the show last few weeks where we’ve been focusing on his personal branding. What the hell are you going to be doing in 2022? So many guys who subscribe and listen to the show constantly doing the exact same thing? Hey, Mike, I’m gonna get on video Mike, I’m gonna do video I’m going to get on video but then you kick the can down the road. Because the market is good right now and you forget the whole video thing to begin with. And then we end up back at square one. So what I’ve been preaching for the last two months, probably for the last five years actually is you have to build your personal brand through video. No one cares about what fucking brokerage you work for. Everyone cares about one thing, do I trust this person? Since COVID, it’s O or COVID COVID COVID. It’s okay to be personable. I’m in my garage. Right now, the guest is usually probably prior to COVID you’re probably in a nice fancy office. But today people don’t want fake they want personable and using video is one of the ways to do it. So how we’re gonna talk about today is how to get personal with video one on one. And we brought on one of the founders of bom bom, which all of you guys are very familiar with Bom Bom is a video email platform, probably the leading one in the industry if that. And it’s a great product. But what these guys did really good is they personalize the relationship process through email and put a face with a name. And that’s why they’re succeeding. So without further ado, let’s go ahead and introduce our guest today. Mr. Deron Dawson. How you doing, buddy?

Good, man. What’s up, Mike, thanks for having me. I love everything you’re just talking about. Yeah, I think every year I’ve been I’ve been doing this since 2006. And every year, it’s been the year of video, right? Like, every year, every real estate conference, I go to a mall and let’s like this year’s the year a video and I think, you know, every year it gets better. But yeah, I mean, people want to adopt it, but then they then they just don’t for whatever reason they get busy. I mean, that’s the it’s hard I get I’ve been in real estate, it’s hard, you got a lot going on. You’re dealing lots of transactions on moving parts. But I think if you make some easy investments in these relationships that you’ve had, because, you know, let’s face it, you know this that real estate is a personal relationship business. Referrals are important to you. Repeat business is important to you. And you are in a business where you are involved in the transaction, right? A human is involved in the transaction, that means trust is needed. And so that’s where human beings, that’s how we communicate as humans comes into play in a different way. And you’re right, that video is a great way to build trust, and to build a human feeling of trust and gratitude to one another. I think that’s where most people need to be focusing right now.

Absolutely. Why don’t you tell everyone who you are and how you know about this stuff a little bit and then we’ll get into all kinds of questions for you. Is it the NCI bom bom

I started bom bom it’s a video messaging platform allows you to send videos from anywhere to anybody. So you know, if you’re in Gmail, because videos in Outlook, you can send videos if you’re in LinkedIn, if you’re in the CRM that you’re using. If you’re in mortgage or title, you’re in real estate, we integrate with the CRM you’re using, I can almost guarantee it. We’ve been we probably have about 100,000 realtors and loan officers and a bunch of other folks everything in between kind of on our platform and so we’ve been doing this long time and and I get that I’m just in San Diego now a couple weeks ago and they are national association Realtors Conference, I missed you a little talking about this. And you know I’ve been doing this for a long time. My only investor that we have as a business is the National Association of Realtors. I’m actually on there and you know part of their second century ventures portfolio so they invested in us and saw this is a big need in the real estate industry in general so yep, yeah. So

let’s get into it I got all kinds of stuff so are you guys you know you got most of you’re listening to the show are familiar with what we do if you’re not we script that distribute video content for people but what we do is more on a production type level and we focus on building your personal brand. I want to go through how I’ve used bom bom how we coach our clients use bom bom because everyone always asked me how to use video and you’re going to use video in different ways based upon the purposes that you’re using video for. So let’s break down all the different applications of bom bom because by the end of this podcast you guys should all get a subscription to Bom Bom if you haven’t already. You’re losing money and I’m gonna share with you why throughout the next 30 minutes. First and foremost is what I want to focus on is the transaction on the experience that we provide. I’m gonna tee you up first, when we are in a transaction No one remembers what the hell we did for them. They remember how we make them feel. They remember the conversation points we’ve had. And I’m giving you guys a very tangible example. I used to buy people for closing gifts. Darrin, there, I used to pick up their attorneys fees and their home inspection, which amounts in the city Chicago back that up to $700 a transaction. Not one time, did they ever remember the monetary costs I gave you $700. That sounds like a nice gift. But it went in one ear out the other, you want to know what made a bigger impact during the course of the transaction was how I use video to inform them along the way of every step of the process. What that ended up doing guys was allowing me to remove having to spend $700 on the client, I focused on the experience because customer service is lead generation, the goal is not to sell your house, the goal of average three to five transactions off of the sale the house, please decline then sell the house in that order. So

now I have a this is how I think about this, Mike, that if you have two companies, company A and company B and I don’t care what they do, okay, let’s just whatever service you’re you, you know, if you’re listening to this watching this, put yourself and you’re choosing a service, company A and company B, they are both basically cost you the same. They basically deliver in your as far as you can tell the same service, they cost the same same service, everything seems the same. If that’s the case, how do you make a decision on who you’re going to go with? Right? It’s typically who you kind of like the most right? Or how you feel about them as a person are they going to have you feel like they’re going to take you through and deliver the services you want. And same thing in real estate, like you’re competing against all these other people. No matter what we think we think we’re different. We think that we provide this better, we can say have more experience, but the consumer doesn’t know or just not as informed about that. And so how you make me feel about how you how you deliver this process differently than your competition is how I decide I’m going to go with you right, like, so if you show up before, send a video, introduce yourself. Tell him tell him where you’re from Holleyman doing it all the great things about you before you show up to the presentation. After you leave. recap everything you talked about the show them you listen to them, send them a video, this is the way you know, you said it create a different customer experience than other people competing for that business.

But Darrin, I have a real estate license and 35 years in the business. These people need me. What’s your answer to that?

I think the other one is that, you know, I’ve been doing this forever. And I want to do this. I’m doing the same way. Yep. And it’s worked for you. I would challenge Look, I know. I’ve worked with all the coaches, Brian Buffini, Tom Ferry, Jared, James, everybody. We all think about this the same way that you you got to reinvent yourself a bit. Okay? Even if you’ve been doing it forever, everything’s always worked for you. There is always a way we get comfortable there too. Like you make the same income. You’re not challenging yourself anymore. Think about it’s 2022. What are you going to do differently this year? Just what’s the new goal? You’re raising the bar? How are you going to incrementally push yourself to get that higher number than you’ve ever gotten before? I would challenge that simply using video could be one of the ways to do that. Like I had a customer Michael Thorne he’s a great customer out of Vancouver. been a customer for like 10 years, right? He just called me and said how can I just I want to up the ante. Because I know what using Bom Bom has done for my business. I know if I do more. I’m gonna make more money this year. So he’s always he’s already thinking about like, how am I gonna, like push this for 2022 and his goal, it’s gonna send 1000 videos in 2022 I personally I own the business. I’ve sent like 8000 videos. Okay, that’s a lot of one to one with. I’m talking one to one to people videos. We have some sales reps. I’ve worked for a long time over 20,000 videos, Michael thorns, probably he’s earning a 10,000 category. But if he does 1000 In one year, he knows what it’s gonna do for his business. And it’s just these simple little things like I just said like before listing presentation, after listing presentation. Yep. During the holidays. Thank you for your business. It’s gratitude. It’s being that if you bumped into them at the grocery store, a past client? Yeah, would you say send that to them over a video and whatever medium you choose in watch the gratitude component back from that client he hadn’t seen in the year two or three or four or whatever

on a percent. Let’s go through specifically and experience I’m going to share some some of the lenders we work with actually we’re building out a guy’s 12 Step transactional campaign right now and we’re doing all like really funny, cool, entertaining videos, but what he’s doing is that each step in the transaction as a lender, he’s got a touch point. So for example, guys, and especially if you’re a lender listening to this, you guys are being shocked everyone everywhere but sideways, let’s be honest, and the only one who ever wins the deals the one that reaches them either a first or makes the biggest impact. So how a lot of lenders are using this as so many different ways you guys, they’re using it a pot. Hey, nice to meet you. I just want to congratulations on getting that offer expected. My name is Mike Cuevas real estate dude, I heard I’m gonna be doing your financing. So I want to at least put a face to the name let you know there’s a living breathing human being and that we’re not like this Quicken Loans type company with a bunch of fucking robots. Right? I’m going to go in there and personalize it based upon my brand. Now we have other people that clear to close, congratulations, you have a clear to close. What does that mean? Well, and these little touch points, you guys, you have to remember that when people are transacting, that’s the largest chance for referral. And when because it’s such an emotional process, people are talking about it with everyone, which means they’re walking billboard for your business, if you make an impact with it, and 100% of the people you come across this year will have a referral whereas 10 to 15% of the people will be moving themselves. So this is not we’re talking about making an impact and differentiating the brand. What I found Bom Bom for very beneficial is that so many of these, like 2012 ish. Some of these agents are sending up real estate market updates, and then they send out Hey, turn back the clocks No shit, Sherlock. I’ve heard that like five different times today. And the entire you almost could tell when people come from conference, they all send the same email out, right? And what we started doing is like how I just ripped off hallmarks greeting card strategy, instead of Homer can make an entire business model, often holiday greetings. Well, what can I do with video holiday greetings. So we ran this for three years. And all we did was talk about the history of each holiday. And I’ll tell you the number one subject line, the number one holiday to send out guys, it’s Valentine’s Day and the subject line is I love you, you’ll get about an 80% open rate. And the content is so easy. You might be wondering why Realtors wishing I love you? Well, you might not know this, but you are responsible for 98% of my business. So therefore, yes, I love you. And then I lead into something else different. But the point is, guys, you don’t have to talk about real estate, as a matter of fact, I will tell you not to the more you talk about it, the more gonna be tuned out. You need to remind

people, people work with people they know like and trust, that’s still true. And what you’re doing there is building that know, like and trust. And only you can do that in your own unique way. And especially in your past clients. I think that the idea of referrals and the idea that, you know, I think often too many times real estate folks are everyone, loan officers as well. They think about the transaction, and that I always like to point out the lifetime, what is the lifetime value of a customer to you? What is it?

Right, it’s actually 25k, but there’s not a number you can put on it.

But if you say take that 25k It’s really time that because of the referrals, if you build in the process for referral, and like I love what you’re saying about especially in loans, because you have a lot of these points of interaction like loans been funded or you’ve been approved, there’s all these points. And what you did there as you did that you never say anybody’s name, but that’s okay, because that can be an evergreen video. But again, that experience you’re providing is a feeling that you’re giving to the customer, okay, but back to LTV, lifetime value of your customer. It’s not just the transaction is actually could be three to five times that over the lifetime of your relationship as long as you keep a relationship with them. And I think we all know that we need to do a better job at that. Okay, loan officers. You’re so busy right now you’re like I don’t got time for one more damn thing. Okay. And a lot and some folks in real estate are feeling the same way. Some art some art, right? Some are struggling with buyers who they just can’t dammit, I can’t get it done. I get it. Look. All of this requires relationship building you need to be doing if you’re busy right now you need to square away 10 minutes a day to nurture relationships of your past clients. Because the day that that shifts on you and I have been in this long enough that it has shifted okay, like I’ve done I’ve seen it will shift again. But you’ve got to hedge that. Look, you always are backing money away in this business. Because you never know when other shoes gonna fall right? I get it. So hedge it a little bit. Take 10 minutes on your day, send some simple gratitude videos like you’ve been describing, thanking people for their business checking in on them, how’s the wife? How’s the house? How’s the car? How’s the kid whatever it is, just send a simple video like that. Build that build that relationship over time again and nurture those things because it can be worth five times the original transaction really 10 times. How many repeat transactions can you get from them? How many referrals can you get from them in a 10 year period? That I need to think about your business both in both sides of this we’re talking about loan loan officers we’re talking to real estate professionals any any of the

any referral based business this will work for our kids. And the more stuffy the business, the more it stands out like this businesses I love like for this type of stuff is like the attorney business or the CPA business. Imagine getting a video like I hate my CPA, we have a love hate relationship. And can you imagine like, how much human would your CPA be? If he sent you a video email? You’d be like, You know what, I actually don’t hate you anymore. Okay, great. Like, because it’s huge. If I say

it like this, if long term relationships are key to your success in your business video, yeah, especially now, in this post COVID thing, right? Like, we’re more remote people are working from different places. The other thing I think that video helps with is, sometimes when we’re calling people to check in on them, you just want to check in on a phone, I’m interrupting you, right? Like, I’m going to call you, but I’m going to interrupt you in your day with a video you can send it, they can receive it on their time, you can send it on your time. And that’s called that’s asynchronous video, right? That means that the two recipients in the center are removed from the time being the same so that they get the feeling of bumping into me at the grocery store. And they can be like, Oh, I like them. They’re great. I remember working with them. That was fantastic. But I don’t interrupt them when they’re busy. And they’re doing a bunch of stuff during your day. Does that make sense? Yeah,

here’s what I never understood was like, I don’t understand why real estate agent or even any business for that matter. But especially in a referral based business like real estate, because it’s so simple. Like we all live somewhere last I checked unless you’re sending it to someone’s box. I mean, we live somewhere renting, buying or whatever. But agents will go out there and farm a bunch of strangers before they’ll start farming their own relationships. Right that very early on in my career. And here’s I’ll give I’m gonna give you guys a very pragmatic, easy approach. What is Bom Bom run right now? It’s gonna do an ROI and everything. How much does it cost me to get a subscription on bom bom 500 bucks, that 500 bucks a year. Okay, we’re going to 1000 access right now, I’m gonna give you guys a very simple format to follow, I’m sure exactly I do. It’s gonna take you 10 minutes a month. If you have 10 minutes a month, you don’t have a fucking business. So here’s all I did, to video emails a month, nothing to do with real estate, follow the subject, follow the holiday greetings. And here’s how I want you to do the math, you guys. If you send we would average a 40% open rate plus on our video emails, the national averages, what they’re in 13%, give or take. Yep, so let’s look at what impact is, if I’m hitting 40% in my email list is 200 People, I’m gonna give you the statistics on that. And if I average of 40%, that means roughly 80 people are seeing me each and every year, every month, twice a month, okay? Now if you do that for 24 or 12 months, it’s 24 videos over the course of time of those 80 people this is what’s happening with them statistically 10 to 15% of them are going to be moving themselves. So that’s about eight to 12 transactions, but 100% of them all 80 of them have a referral for you. 88% of transactions come from the first person you meet. That happens to be people you know used in the past or you fucking run into on your Facebook feed. It doesn’t matter. We’re not fighting for anything else other than the attention of our network. And it’s how you nurture not what I do better. I do better on my videos when I dress up as Alec Baldwin and I recreate a scene from frickin Glengarry Glen Ross and I’m talking about a B are always be recording that generates five sales. Me talking about video marketing generates zero, it’s the same thing in my business. So you guys nurture and farm your relationships with content. Now take that and do the same thing on social and run ads to the same damn people. You won’t have a lead generation problem which you’re going to have as a hiring problem. This is not rocket science. And if people don’t like you, it’s the only time it doesn’t work.

I didn’t Well, you’re preaching to the choir. But you know, I think one of the ways that everyone on this call or is listening this understand it’s like compound interest. Yeah, you make an investment. As long as you consistently drop that in your 401k or your all of your are in real estate you’re buying this property because it’s going to increase in value over time. The property is your database and that doesn’t mean it needs to be 1000 people I love that you said 200 Thank you. Because a lot you don’t need a lot you don’t pick up the if I can’t pick up the phone and call a person on my list and they don’t know who I am. I should not be emailing them okay, like you don’t have a relationship with these people you have a relationship I think that’s why it’s so effective. That’s why you have a 40% so it’s your home and it’s increasing in value 6% 8% 12% Wherever you live, but it’s I got to keep it up I got to paint it I got to make sure the lawn whatever you got to think about your database that way like a home right I think you could all relate to that and then the interest compounds and your investment or the investment grows and you sell it you make money.

Here’s another way to think of your databases your significant other the second you stop talking to him you’re on your way to a divorce and she starts cheating on you with another agent or do this because it’s the exact same thing. Let’s get into some creative ways I want to share some creative ways I use bom bom in the past. I remember this one we’re in a multiple offer otherwise sticks out but we’re in a multiple offer situation And the realtor was like getting hammered in Mexico like I call them ahead of time and I said hey dude, I’m he was drunk at the pool and I needed my offer to stand out and I was in multiple offers so we use bom bom put the freakin sombrero hat on or whatever and I was like Cheers The him I said listen dude I know you’re on vacation it’s the thing I’m gonna make this transaction extremely easy I get it bla bla bla bla who won the deal guys because no one else did it on a video people are doing this every day and it’s the differentiation factor is all that you get noticed and when you get noticed you get more eyeballs get more eyeballs that’s all it’s about in this business I believe.

Yeah. Standing out man. I think this car thing I think the pandemic did more. Okay, I call it digital pollution. But when I get off this time with you, I’ll have no less than 10 cold emails I’ll have somebody call me spamming me on my phone LinkedIn are knocking you guys it’s just a constant assault I think it’s it’s like this proliferation of like stuff coming at you now. And look I am dealing with that so if I’m You’re someone’s customer and I am I just rebuilding the house for we’re refinancing stuff like I’m your customer okay? If you’re trying to get my attention for anything. Yeah, you got to stand out a little bit because I get so much Senate me I think video helps you be uniquely yourself. Every human beings different or fingerprints or faces everything is different. Right? I have twins. I can tell them apart. No one else can but they’re different. Funny. That’s the point right? Humans are different. We stand out just by simply being us. So if you’re afraid of video or you haven’t done before, because of whatever reason, you got to be standing out you got to be unique in a way that’s only it’s not hard because you’re uniquely you and uniquely unique and and you can do this easily with video, but you got to start he’s gonna start sending simple videos. Don’t overthink it, don’t over produce it. Don’t worry so much about what you like, here’s the deal. We sound different to to ourselves. When we hear the video back. Is there a problem that people face? So right now the way I hear myself is not how you hear me? Right? Like the way I hear you is not how you think you sound? It’s because we hear ourselves in our heads. Oh, yeah. Let me tell my look at myself now a lot because I’m on video a lot, but it’s when I’m brushing my teeth in the morning. So a lot of times when people turn on the video camera and they record it and they play it back to get freaked out. I don’t like how I sound in your brain is kind of saying that. That doesn’t sound like you rightly gotta like get over that a little bit. Because what is how you sound okay, but encourage yourself, it’s not it. It’s not a bad thing. It’s okay thing, but send the video. And that’s why I was telling people when they’re getting started, send gratitude videos, send thank you videos. Thanks for your business. Thanks for the lead. I appreciate you. It’s easy to do. And it almost always elicits a response from the other person to say, I thank you so much for sending that. So you get to feel good. Sending gratitude. You get the feel good receiving gratitude, and they get the feel good because you did that for them. So it’s a reciprocation that happens only humans have that type of exchange. By the way, it’s a human thing that you can do very easily and really help your business. It’s very simple. Yep.

What would you say? All industries you guys were doing? What would you say the? To me? It’s any any personal one on one? I mean, it works with everything. I don’t know, I can’t even really name something that wouldn’t. But yeah, your goals, it’s very simple guys stand out, like quit being like everybody else. And the only thing that ever stands out is your personal brand. Because God only made one of you as Darrin just said, That’s pretty damn cool. We just have to embrace it. Note, I always tell

people though they go like, I will say you don’t have to send a video every time. So if you’re trying to think like when should I? If it’s better said in person, if it would be better. To say it in person, and I can’t send a video, I think that that loan is funded, you know you’re approved. That’d be better in person. They’re gonna be pumped. You can deliver that message better in person or accepted like our we were accepted, like our offers accepted. That’s a great one. If you could be in person, but often you’re too busy. Send an exciting video, guys, and then like holed up aside, you’re approved or, look, we’re accepted offers accepted. I think that’s huge. Celebratory makes it easy, by the way to share that video with other people. Oh, we got the house forward. Yeah, they get to see you their realtor. They get to see you their loan officer, what am I whatever it might be? Those are the fun things that people want to celebrate and tell other people about in their lives, which gets you more referrals, right?

Yep, that’s it. Well said dude. Don’t overthink it, guys. Darrin any other points that you want to make anything else you think?

I think the one thing that we do that we didn’t touch on though was screen recording. So we actually allow you to record whatever’s on your screen. So here’s where this comes into play. Now, I know you don’t want me sharing any financial information on this video, okay for Oregon title, but I mean, when you’re walking through things that you need them to do. Again, this could be an evergreen video, a lot of times and these businesses begin to these repetitive things that are new to me as a consumer, but you’ve done 1000 times, right? So shoot a quick video with a walkthrough. recording the screen helped me understand the things you need me to do. Yes, you don’t need to show right, like walk through the document, walk through this disclosure form, whatever it might be, of course, again, not sensitive information, but things that you’re doing all the time, record a video once send that to them. And then you can use that video again and again and again. saves you a ton of time.

Yep. 100% transactional, there’s so many ways use a transactional guys like your, your process. People do rave about them, because they just they like you, they just turn into referral sources, but also the database nurturing was game changers for us. And we do over we create nearly 100 people’s videos a month, two to four a month, and we’re sending a video email to every single one of them. So I could tell you guys exactly what the statistics are and how it works. It freakin works. And we’re doing edited videos, you don’t need superduper edited videos you could the transaction on a one on ones are better not edited unless you’re using. I agree I

owe you an edited video. There’s definitely a place for both of those campaigns. Right. Like you said this the beginning. It’s what is the end goal of this communication? What is it being used for? And that’s how you decide, right? Yep,

totally. Dare launch you go ahead and tell them. I’m sure you guys know how to get there. But go ahead and tell them where they can go. Because he has webinars maybe up on your site or something to check it out further. And here’s the homework.

It’s easy, just get a free trial free, get it 14 day free trial, check it out. Bom bom.com. In my homework for you, you’re listening. My challenge to you is to send 10 videos to past clients. If you’re a loan officer, it could be to your real estate friends and beginning a lot of business in the last year. If you’re in real estate, it’s your folks you transact with and 2021 and just tell them thanks. Thanks for business. I appreciate you. Appreciate you always calling me and giving me the business you are. Send a gratitude send 10 Gratitude videos with a 14 day free trial. after that. I don’t think you’ll look back. Okay, and one more thing I got a book out. It’s called human centered communication. And you can buy it on Amazon it’s easy to get our chief evangelist wrote Ethan Buettner Chief Marketing Officer see personality it’s great book kind of break down breaks down some of these ideas again that we’ve been talking about gives you some tactical ways to implement them in your business. I think you’d love it.

Yep, awesome, dude, appreciate it. Great show and folks, thank you for listening to other episode real estate marketing podcast. Because I think we can help you with you want to build your personal brand to come to look celebrity your market, feel free to reach us real estate marketing do.com We script edit and distribute your videos and make you look pretty damn cool. But more importantly, we don’t let anyone forget about you, which is why we generate more referrals. If you’re interested in looking at a new strategy to market your listings and stand out quit being like 99% of the other people out there visit listing advocate.com listing advocate.com Appreciate you guys subscribe, and stay tuned to next week. Peace. 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 video content creation simple and do everything for you. So if you have any additional questions, visit the site, download the training, and then schedule a time to speak with a dude and get you rolling in your local marketplace. Thanks for watching another episode of the podcast. We’ll see you next time.

Your Personal Brand Is Your Unique Selling Proposition with Tonya Eberhart

If you were to open up a taco stand, would you not be screaming the fucking name of that taco stand throughout the top of your lungs in every city you are to get people to buy your shit? But you don’t do the same thing with your real estate business. Why not? It’s because you haven’t identified your brand. What we’re gonna chat about today is all about your personal brand, why it matters, then how you identify it, and how you market it.  

Today we’re bringing on a branding expert from brand face, Mrs. Tanya Eberhart. Tonya is the founder of BrandFace® and Branding Agent to Business Stars. She’s also the author of four books on personal branding. Tonya’s humble career began while selling vacuum cleaners door to door to pay her way through college. That led to a job in radio, where she observed local business owners who were featured in their own advertising and positioned as local celebrities in the market. That’s when she realized the power that personal branding has on a business. Almost two decades and many successful brands later, she founded BrandFace®, a personal branding firm consisting of a book series, speaking series, and personal branding program that is designed to help business stars differentiate themselves.

Three Things You’ll Learn in This Episode

  • The importance of your personal brand
  • How to identify your personal brand and what to do with it
  • The impact you can leave on everyone you meet

Resources

Learn more about Brand Face

DiscussYourBrain.com

Real Estate Marketing Dude

The Listing Advocate (Earn more listings!)

REMD on YouTube

REMD on Instagram

Transcript:

So how do you attract new business? You constantly don’t have to chase it. Hi, I’m Mike Cuevas to real estate marketing. And 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. We are joined here today by unbelievable gas somebody that I’ve seen over the last few years and finally we did fucking show together. Should have done this a long time ago. But yeah, we should. Where have you been? I don’t know, just some of these things. That’s just one of these things. But um, anyways, what we’re going to be chatting about the summer books. So one of the things I know everyone’s talking about is like, you know, the last two weeks of the year, what do we do we sit around, what are we gonna do next year? What do we do differently, and I got a newsflash for you. Nobody is hiring you based upon the broker you hang your license with. I will just go ahead and tell you that, let me repeat it one more time. Nobody is going to hire you over the broker that you’re associated with, quite frankly, no one gives a shit who your broker is, or what the hell they do. And quite frankly, neither do you. Because today, more than anything, brokers are not really earning their splits, so to say, but that’s why they’re as 100% brokerages and companies like exp have been growing so much is because agents are looking for more, but that’s another episode. So what we’re gonna chat about today is all about your personal brand, why it matters, and then how you identify it, how you market it. And first off, what is it the problem that so many of our own clients have a lot is? Well, what do you mean, I’m a brand, I’m just a human being? I have a family, I have kids, I have a breeding? Well, let me ask you a question. If you’re open up a taco stand, would you not be screaming the fucking name of that taco stand throughout the top of your lungs in every city you are to get people to buy your shit. But you don’t do the same thing with your real estate business. Why not? It’s because you haven’t identified your brand. So what we’re going to be doing today is bringing on a branding expert from brand face. And let’s go ahead and introduce her name is Mr. Mrs. Tanya Everhart. Welcome to the show.

Thank you so much, Mike. I’ve also been following you and so happy to be here today.

Thanks. Yeah. Finally, why don’t you tell everybody a little bit who you are and what you do? And then let’s get into this.

Yeah, okay. All right. So I’m going to take you back just for a moment, way back to my early days in in my career, I was selling vacuum cleaners door to door to pay my way through college. And that’s really where the first taste of personal branding came into play. And I realized I can’t just walk up to the door and say, Give me your wallet. Right, I’d be arrested. So

my vacuum cleaner in your hand.

arrested with a deadly weapon. So I had to kind of come up with my own story. And when I realized how impactful that was when I just kept getting these sales awards, and then I was discovered, if you want to call it that by a guy in the radio industry, he was actually an engineer at a radio station, and I sold him he and his wife a vacuum cleaner, and shampoo, or I might add, it was a nice combo. And they called me a couple of weeks later and said you need to apply for a sales position in radio. Well, I did, I got the job very quickly, I saw that there were these people walking into these networking meetings or in events. And they were like rockstars. And I thought Who are these people? My God, you know, they’re, they’re just business owners. But what they all had in common was they were all the voice and the face of their own business. In other words, they put their personality, their personal brand out there as a representative of or spokesperson of their business. And that’s really when I began to understand how much of an impact personal branding had on business. So fast forward many years later, actually comes with the idea of brand face because I had had a common thread throughout all of my experiences throughout the media world of bringing clients into a studio helping them create their own commercials become more of a face of their business. And then brand face began in 2013. It started out as just a book and about halfway through the book, I thought, this is a business. This is my passion. And so that’s when I met my now business partner, Michael Carr, who was in the real estate world. And I worked with him on his brand very quickly. He shot to the top of his market. And I thought hmm, you know what, this works in any genre. And so, but that’s kind of how we got headed into the real estate space. was really was Michael’s industry. He was a real estate auctioneer, a broker and an investor. And my challenge at that time was pulling all of those brands into one to say, here’s what this human being has in common with these three businesses he created. Here’s why He created him. What is his why, you know, and that’s what we’ve been doing together ever since and enjoyed every single day on it.

Love it. Um, I need to go back and ask you a question. All right, folks, you selling vacuum cleaners door to door like you guys are complaining about going out and like lead generation like to try selling a vacuum cleaner door to door, you sell a vacuum cleaner door to door in Chicago, like you’re getting shotgun put in your face, you can knock on my door, maybe in San Diego, might be able to get a company will open the door. But that’s a tough sale. What was your story refer to? At that time, she mentioned, people fell in love with my story. So I might as a vacuum cleaners at your brand face at this point, right? Your vacuum cleaner salesperson door knocking pushing vacuum cleaners? What story did you have that copy would be like I really liked her vacuum cleaners.

It wasn’t about the vacuum cleaners at all. And I think I’ve heard you say that in previous podcasts. It’s not about what you’re selling. It’s about you, right? And it was, hey, you know what, I’m a student, I go to Florida State University. So I wasn’t selling in Chicago. So it wasn’t cold. I can’t you know, say I went uphill, you know, to sell a vacuum both ways in the snow. But, but it was hot. So, so it was I’m a student at Florida State University. And I would like to demonstrate this vacuum shampoo for us no obligation. You don’t have to buy it. But I do get points toward school. If you could help me out. I would greatly appreciate it. Lesson number one people want to help you. If you ask for help people instinctively want to help. I was a young person, I was very young girl. I obviously wasn’t a threat to anybody. So it was a little easier for me than it might be you know somebody else. But it was easy because they understood Hey, this girl just needs some help. She’s in college. Then when I got in the door, I knew my product backward and forward. Nobody was gonna beat me not rainbow, not Kirby, nobody.

And gotta get in the door first, how to get

in the door first. And it’s not about the product that gets you in the door.

We have a lot in common. In college, I sold soap to get through my daddy Sona soap factory and these three packaging soap. So my dad’s like, Hey, you want to stay in college? I’m going to drop you off about 100 pills of soap. And you’re gonna have to repackage and shut up and go sell them door to door restaurant to restaurants to sell $5 gallons 25,000 gallons of soap. And you’re right. That’s why people hired me was because of the soap. They felt sorry for me because I was a broke college kid hustling and they appreciated it very much. So it wasn’t the soap I was selling. They were they knew my story right? Just made me think of that. Love it. What do you think? Let me just say this first, I want to get your opinion on it. So guys, when when you’re talking about your nobody hires you because you have a real estate license like that just gives you the legal right to collect money. They hire you because of how you practice your real estate license. But like she said, You got to get your foot in the door first. And nobody’s remembers who’s a real estate agent unless you’re always out creating content or you have a brandy of something that they remember you by so people don’t hire you for what you do that how you how you do it. How do you identify one’s brand and let me just tee you up with an example. I’m a agent 33 years old been in the business for three years. I work for Keller Williams. I’m just a salesperson chasing a check. What do you mean, I have a brand. I don’t have a brand. I’m working a job. I’m trying to make my ends meet here if you my kids, brand, Keller Williams has the brand. How do you answer that?

I would answer Keller Williams does it does have a brand but it’s not yours. And you come at life with your own story with your own unique points that differentiate you from everybody else. So when we look at where do you start, we have a process that we call our 3d freedom formula because once you figure this out, the world is your oyster right? It does give you freedom and is called define develop and display and we can go into that in a minute. But I did like the first part of what you’re asking here belongs in the Define space and that Define Phase. Because what you’re doing is you’re taking a look at two things when you’re trying to define your brand. And you’re taking a look at okay first of all, who is it you’re trying to attract? Because that is truly important if you say well, I just want to you know, sell sell a home or to anybody who fogs a mirror. We’ll get out of this business because that’s not going to get you very far. That’s a that’s, you know, a 1,998,000. Right? So what you got to do first is define who it is you’re trying to attract? What is important to them? What are they seeking? What phase of life? Are they in? What lifestyle? Do they want all a lot of those things, then you take a look at yourself and you say, Okay, what is it about me that makes me unique? What things that are different about me that also appeal to that person that I’m trying to attract. And so that’s kind of where you put the basis of your brand. It has to meet those two criteria, it has to be both important to your ideal customer, and unique to you in the marketplace. And so once you determine what that is it really like that’s the starting point. And I think it’s you your brand, at first glance has to be enough to just kick open the door for somebody to say that looks interesting. Let me learn more. Or even better yet, that looks interesting. But it’s not for me. That’s perfectly okay. Brands are great brands are polarizing. You are not for everybody. Right? So I don’t know if I answered your question there. But

um, two questions. You’re right. The problem and people have tried to cater to everyone, you’re not the jack of all trades. You’re not God, you’re not perfect. I don’t ever try to be because you resonate with zero. But I also think you can’t fake your brand too. So for example, like I get one of the things I always get questions, oh, I want to trust me. And when I was in real estate, I’m 22 years old, I got my license was doing a keg Stan seven days before I found myself walking down Michigan Avenue in a suit, work in a new job, like a graduate college awesome shit happen fast and like, oh my god, what the hell just happened. And trust me at that point years old, of course, I want to sell million dollar properties. But folks, you know, like I only start selling higher end properties to my friends start making more money, period. That was it. It wasn’t I can’t I couldn’t pick my brain. I couldn’t just plot myself at that time into the luxury market, because I had nothing to do with luxury. So people have to also in real estate, would you agree that people have to like also be true to whom they are naturally before you can’t pick your brand, God’s picked it for you already, all you can do is embrace it and scream it from the damn rooftops.

Couldn’t agree more with that. It’s what we call authenticity. And that authenticity. I mean, it’s not like you’re creating your brand from the ground up. But I also want to say what’s interesting is a lot of people say your customers will decide your brand. I say that takes too damn long. It takes too long. And innocence that is correct. Right? That that because that’s the authenticity coming out in you and your customers will know either you’re a kind soul, you’re very approachable, you’re very action oriented, you’re there’s certain characteristics about you that formulate that brand. But what if you could say okay, here’s the essence of me, based on that. This is really what I want to be known for. And you can create that create what it looks like sounds like feels like and, and that’s what we call your brain preceding you. That’s when you send a video to somebody introducing yourself and introducing yourself as hey, I’m the lifestyle um, your lifestyle locater. Right, that’s who I am. I know this lifestyle and Whistler British Columbia better than anybody else. This is what I do every day, and my videos are about this. And all of those things. And and that’s authentic. And it’s also drawing in the kind of people who are seeking that type of lifestyle. So, so you’re absolutely right, the authenticity is a big thing. But you can also create your brand as well create what you want it to look like, instead of waiting three years for your customers to finally tell you what your brand is. I don’t agree with that.

Totally. I remember. I it’s funny. So I had a guy we brought on today. And he had like a cartoon character. And I was telling him the story about in 2012 when I switched into a cartoon, and I start calling myself the Chicago real estate dude. And people are like, You’re nuts. You’re crazy. And I’m like, I don’t really care. I’m burned Dallas, either at work, or it’s not. But what gave me the confidence to do that was because I averaged my last 10 clients. And there’s a reason why I became beer guzzling drinking buddies with all of them. It’s because we all attract like people. So whether you guys want to admit it or not, you have a brand, you just have to learn what it is, and embrace it. And but you can’t be scared either to like, be it and it won’t work. You have to have a theme. Like for those of you that we create video content for somebody, we build your branding strategy off of your theme of who it is, if you’re servicing your military, I’m focusing on the top three military friendly neighborhoods, name my shows called salute some. If I’m focusing on I’m pcse, right people PCs going into a market if you’re a dad or a mom that focus on schools, focus on kid friendly stuff. like you are the brand, like don’t overthink the, the whole aspect of it, it’s usually would you agree? It’s usually what you’re doing on the weekends?

You absolutely would because who you are as a real human being you can never hide and you shouldn’t want to write it because I don’t want to be somebody on Facebook or Instagram or Tik Tok, that I’m not when I’m sitting with my family at dinner. I don’t want to be somebody different. Do you show different things? Yes. I mean, in the content that you show is different things. But you’re the same person. And they should see that all the way through, you know, and I’ll give you a case in point. So and I also heard you say this on a on a podcast, and I absolutely loved it. When you said people do not remember the boring professional things. They remember the personal things about you. So a lot of times when I go speak in front of a crowd, I wait until the very end. And I say okay, I want to somebody around here to shout out what will you remember me for when I leave this room? Do you know what they are? It’s vacuum cleaner sales. And it’s coming from the family of moonshiners. They remember those two things about me? Because those are the things that are interesting, right? And the fact that we do personal branding is awesome, but that’s not the most interesting. That’s not why they’re gonna remember me, which is why it’s called Personal Branding. Yeah, so so that’s what makes it so unique is the pulling in those other sides of you that you want people to remember because there are a million real there are 2 million real estate registered real tours, over 2 million in the United States alone.

Yeah, 90% of them don’t do any business. 10% do the vast majority of it. But what are those 10% all have in common? They have a brand? Yes, they

do. They know what that is? And they they get in their lane and they stay in their lane.

Why do you think generally, people struggle, it’s just a real estate thing. Any referral based business. I mean, this goes for contractors, lenders, attorneys, real estate agents, any local business is really the same thing. Like the, the it’s all the same stuff. People in real estate, 80% of them meet with close with the first person they meet with, but you have to be remembered. And we remember the brand. We don’t remember the individual like, people always say to me, like, trust me, everyone I know knows what I do for a living. And I’m like, really well then why did fucking you just lose that $1.5 million dollar listening to little cousin Billy who just got his license.

So true. I’ll give you another story about this. So about seven years ago, I was on the phone with a lady and she said, you know, Tanya, I mean, every everybody. I think I’m really well branded in my area. When I walk into a restaurant. Everybody knows I’m a realtor. And I said, You know what, Sherry, that’s wonderful. And you’ve got a great start, and I’m really proud of you. But let’s say I walk into that restaurant and I say oh there Sherry, the realtor. I know she’s a realtor. But you look two tables to the right. There’s Mike the realtor three tables to the left. There’s David the realtor. Yeah. Now who do I choose? Why do I choose that person? Who’s the best fit for me? What do I remember about them? When I leave? All of those things are left unanswered if you are content with just being a realtor.

Very well put. So let’s say we find the brand. Okay, great. I figure out who my brand is. We name it. Some people like to come up with fictitious other people come up with their name as their brand, which is fine, right? But it’s it’s what’s the imagery, right what the brand stands for. So I always like to say like, when we we don’t do any logo, we do logos and all that stuff. No do anymore. Too much. Just really lot of videos service. But when I would do a logo, I’m like, it has to do three things. One, it’s got to tell story. Two, it’s got to reflect personality. And three, it’s got to remind people all you do for a living, right? Because your logo and your brand is the number one most it’s the most important marketing piece you have, like, I don’t have real estate marketing dude without the dude. Right? Right. It doesn’t even take off. Like there’s no brand behind it. I don’t have this damn podcast without to dude, I had to sit down and figure out what the brand was. But how do you market it? Like once you have it? And once you define define it, how do we bring attention to it?

Okay, so there’s one word that will answer all that. Everywhere. Everywhere. Yeah, we call it Brandon fusion. So, so stop, stop projecting it and be it. Okay, so so so I’ll give you a great example. And she’s actually works in Michaels office and she’s a young young lady who came in into his office as an intern and she’s been here about five, six years now she runs now, she is runs three divisions of his company and if $4 million in real estate last year. She watched us put together brands on brand face for a few years. And then she when she got her license, one of the first things she did, came to us and said, I want to brand because she had seen what it had done for other other people. And so when we started to pull her brand together, she was a young, beautiful, super sweet military spouse, she and her husband had just gotten married, he was going to be in the military for at least the next couple of years. She wanted to help first time homebuyers. She wanted to help people in the military. And so for most of the people in our program, you are correct. Some people just kind of use their brand, their name for their brand. But we really like to add that extra, what we call a brand identifier, because your brand is your name is not necessarily what differentiates you. What differentiates you is is what we call the brand identifier. Now, you might call it a tagline or slogan, but her brand identifier is American Dream agent. And so she became the American Dream agent. And when I say she became the American Dream agent, this girl is the American Dream agent. So everything that she does, she does she considers her brand colors red, white and blue. She considers who she’s talking to, she considers how she contributes how, you know, any kind of involvement in the community. Every single thing she does down to every single gift she gives to a client everything it is from the American Dream agent. And so it’s just being that brand more than anything else. And and you know, and if you take a look at that American dream agent, a lot of people expect a brand identifier or slogan or tagline like real estate marketing dude, right? They expect that, to say everything about who you are the why that everything the whole story needs to be wrapped up in a logo or a name. Nonsense, forget that. of it. What that needs to do is command attention from the very beginning. It just needs to say what’s that? Right? It needs to evoke a question, tell me more, what’s that? I want to learn more about you. And that’s really all it can do. You can never expect three or four words to communicate an entire brand. But as you Case in point of what you do the video marketing, infusing that brand and all of those videos and being that brand and all of those videos. Over time, people will begin to learn more about what you stand for. But that’s a good like shot in the arm. Right?

I love that. So let’s tie this in. Let’s tie the video stuff in and she mentioned something about gifts, which is really cool. You have to look at your brand. Or let’s switch gears. If you go into a restaurant to go eat. There’s a couple different restaurants that we could choose for. Let’s say I’m really hungry and it’s noon. But I only have half an hour and I’m going to eat tacos. That’s what Mexicans do eat tacos. That’s my favorite. If I’m in lunch hour, like right now and I have to run I gotta run to the taco stand on the street. I only got 20 minutes. I’m gonna eat that tacos. Good. Tastes really damn good, right? But if I’m hungry, and let’s just say it’s 435. And then some of the dudes here in the office are like, Hey, let’s go out to grab a bite. Well, we’re probably going to go to this other place down the street. That’s grand margaritas, going to tacos, both are going to fill my my belly. But I’m looking for a different type of experience. Right? So it’s yes, I’m eating but I’m going to look for a different experience. Now. The reason why I’m going to the other restaurant is the ambience I want to be served. I want to get margaritas, I want to get margaritas with 18 I want to watch the game a little bit I want to enjoy and spend 45 minutes with my family. But what I’m really looking for is the experience. So I like to tell people’s like your brand identity is like the menu for your restaurant. Right? And it’s like the drinks you serve like when restaurants go out and they actually go if you guys watch Vanderpump Rules I’m I’m a fan. Okay, don’t make fun of me. But Tom and Tom right now are creating a new restaurant. And part of the restaurant they have to create is a drink menu. And they can’t create the drink menu because they haven’t figured out what their mission statement is for the restaurant yet which means you have to that’s what your brand is so she’s what she’s saying here and she’s getting all these awesome things I want you guys to pick up on this because when you once you identify your brand you have to live it out and that’s in the experience you provide. Okay, that includes right now it’s the end of the year So an easy way to give people stuff right? What would a let’s take the American dream girl What does she get for her clients is like a Popeye gift or something like that like a gift like that? It would just give out once a year.

Yeah, I think I don’t I don’t know if she does anything for Christmas specifically but I know she does for New Year’s she does her own private labels on champagne that are red, white and blue big you know fireworks surprises the American Dream agent label,

probably big big marketing event. Fourth of July Memorial Day, Veterans Day,

unfortunately, I wish I had it here. I don’t have it handy. But she puts little flags out in three different communities that she farms. And she puts them out with her card attached to them beautiful is very beautifully done. But the flags about probably a two foot flag, it’s not a little dinky thing. She she really goes all in on that. And she has definitely gotten business off of that.

So let’s say I wanted to create a video series for her I would create a buyer bootcamp that I’ve created seller bootcamp, which would just price it would just be strategies on that if I would create a video series I’m talking about PCs seen in around Fort Benning. I’m talking about the top three neighborhoods near Fort Benning, I’m talking about what you need to do on a military budget, the top five neighborhoods PCs veterans move to, but that’s just content, building the brand, but you can’t create the content until you first identified the brand. Otherwise, it doesn’t stick.

Okay, bravo. Because, because that is the biggest challenge that we find with real estate agents, they begin to market before the brand is built. And and you really need to understand to build that brand. First know what it is you are communicating. There’s a big difference between building a brand and promoting a brand. Yes. And so you’ve got to know what it is you’re putting out there before you it’s kind of like, why would you pack all your suitcases and go stand by the door and think I’m going on vacation? But you don’t know where you’re going? How do you know what to pack? Right? So or how much money to take, or who’s going to go with you or how you’re going to get there? You? You know, that’s what’s missing a lot of times, and that’s why people cry and complain and whine about marketing doesn’t work. Right? It does work. Videos are the number one marketing tool right now by far there’s no question. There’s not even anything close to it. Other than podcasts, videos, podcasts, right? Sometimes both in one, right? So you need to know a direction before you just go all crazy, which is why I love what you guys do it you go into it with a direction and a theme and a purpose. And there are so many people who don’t do that.

You have to be smiling in the content you create. Otherwise, it doesn’t like I’m sure the the gal we’re talking about here at American Dream. Trust me, guys. I guarantee you she’s snapping photos of her placing those flags on social media. I guarantee you she’s doing stories and reels about it. I guarantee you she’s capturing different stuff around there, which is just micro content. But it’s very hard to determine what to create when you first have it. So that’s around. Part of that reason though. I’m going to blame the gurus I hate the gurus like the gurus You guys suck. Because teach people to go out there and chase a bunch of leads and do a bunch of old school vacuum cleaner salesman shit, that doesn’t work anymore today, unless you have a brand.

That’s actually what I had to learn the hard way. That’s where I had to develop one along the way. And then later when I got to the radio world, I realized, hey, that’s what I just did. I just, I just developed my own brand. Now I’m gonna go help all these other people do the same thing. Because I learned from them. You know, I learned from those that went before me. If we’re not learning, we’re dying. So, you know, I learned from everybody I’ve learned from you today.

I think there’s a good way to think of yourself when it comes to content creation as your brand spokesperson, you’re just the host of your own show. The guy for our examples, easiest one, he’s diners, drives and drives his theme as grease pit food for dudes, diners, drives and drives is the show. He’s the host. You’re the host, you name a show, and then you that determines how you create content. And that way you never run out of stuff to say, but you should never run out of things to do just by you know, some people aren’t gonna videos, be honest. Either cost, you’ll be too scared. Or you just don’t know how to schedule a demo with the real estate marketing, do WWW dot real estate marketing do.com Schedule a demo Big Blue Button. Or I don’t know, I don’t know what it is. But it doesn’t mean you can’t build a brand. But you do have to create content. I don’t think you can build a brand without content. What’s your opinion?

No. Well, in my opinion, is this. You can build the greatest brand in the world. It’s kind of like setting up for this elaborate birthday party in this gigantic Victorian mansion is perfect. All the forks are in line everything super shiny. They’re earning the lipstick stains on the on the wine glasses. You did not send out the invitations and tell people here’s the party here’s what’s going to be there who’s going to be there the music, the food, everything. That’s your content. You can’t have a party without the content.

And today folks, you’re in the business of content creation. If trust me if someone’s if you’re not marketing your network someone else’s I guarantee you we said it earlier is 2 million real estate agents out there. And your your network juice has been infiltrated every day not only other agents like in your guys’s market, you got the ibuyers You got not Zillow anymore, but you still have open door, you have all the alternatives you have Nokia vz, knock it all of these companies have way more money than you guys do. And trust me, they’re in the business of building their brands right now to steal that attention away from you. And the only way you’re going to ever compete back is by having your own brand because where you will win is the relationship you already have with the audience you already know. That’s what big tech interruption none of those people will ever be able to infiltrate. And I’ll give you guys one more example of this. And I’m gonna do a giving back brand. What’s the take the same thing? So here’s how you here’s an unfair competition. Let’s just take the American girl girl, okay, I guarantee you she has a near and dear heart. What if we created a program for her called salute? And every time she had a closing 10% would go towards the Wounded Warrior Project. Sorry, you don’t stand a chance. Come compete with me next time. Go home. Fuck off. I won.

She would do it. And she would feel the same way. I know her. Yeah. I love that idea.

You can’t compete. You cannot compete. No, you can’t.

It’s standing behind your word to you know, it truly is. And and Mike if I’m if I may I like to address something that you asked you asked why why aren’t people doing this? Why don’t they schedule a demo and hit that big blue button? Why don’t they do more video? Why aren’t they doing content? And I think that having done this for so many years and and walking CEOs into a studio, where they’re like shivering and wondering what on earth they’re going to do, right? It’s like, make me do it’s like I’m gonna make you rich. So I’m just

gonna shut down and take notes.

Just do what I say. Right? Yeah. Wouldn’t it be nice? But But I think it’s a lot of that is just intimidation. And I think we were as a society, we’re raised to be very modest people, we’re, you know, we still have guilt when we have, you know, when we make more money than somebody else, there’s a lot of guilt going around in the world. And there’s a lot of modesty. And those are great things to a degree to a degree, they ground us, right. And I think a lot of people feel like, well, if I come out here, and I develop this brand, or if I start doing all of these videos, then people are going to think I’m arrogant, narcissistic, egotistical, that all I care about is my face on another billboard, or whatever it is. And what I say to people is you need to, that’s it. That’s definitely an antiquated way of looking at things. You need to think of it. As we tell people. We don’t this is not about Look at me, look at me, this is about look at what I can do for you. And if you approach it with that kind of spirit, that this is not about me being on video, this is about me helping people, like whoever like like soldiers, like first time homebuyers, like people that have lived in their home for 35 years, and don’t know what to do with all that stuff that they need to move out to go into assisted living, right. And there are some real situations out there where people need your help. And if you can express to them why you’re the person to help them. Not only does that genuineness come out, but your competitors will never never win. They’ll never win against Real, true intent. And I think when you look at it that way, the videos don’t seem so daunting. Yeah.

Well, it also at the same time, if you truly believe in your heart, that you’re the right person for the job, it actually becomes your obligation to scream it from the rooftops. If not, you’re a dick. That’s just the truth of it. Right? Like I think I’m one of those people for fucking video right now. Like, you don’t want to do video with me school? No, I’m just joking. Um, listen, I can help you like I just I’m screaming it from the rooftops. That’s why I have this podcast. But I don’t feel like I’m selling you anything. You don’t have to hire me if you don’t want to. But I’m here if you do, right and it’s remind, remind, don’t tell, get out of the salesmanship, like Quit hitting them right over the head with your damn lockboxes. No one wants to buy or sell real estate. So they’re the time to buy or sell. But that doesn’t mean you stop communicating with them. Quit being a salesperson chasing the check and start building a brand and a long term. This is a business you’re an entrepreneur, you cannot run a business without having a brand. And yeah, that’s all I got.

No, I love it. And I think I love your approach because I feel I always every time I listened to you, I feel like it’s so refreshing. It’s like, it’s like, okay, stop the nonsense. You know, this is what’s really happening. If you need to do this. You can do it with me. You can do it by yourself. You can do it with somebody else, but you need to do it period and I’m the guy you need to do it with. Right because because I know these things, and that genuineness comes out, you know from you. And I think that obviously no doubt is you know, real estate marketing dude. The dude is like, Okay, I’m a laid back guy. I’m intense. Right. But I’m also laid back I’m easy to get along with, we’ll go out and have a beer after this. But let’s get, let’s get moving on these videos right now, because this is gonna change your life. Right? That’s how I see the dude.

Yeah, trust me, there’s a lot of people don’t like to do it either, like, great, you know, like, I guess I’m not, I’m not supposed to get along with everyone, and neither is anyone else out there. But I guarantee you, I have a lot more attention than my than some of my competitors. So, you know, it’s, it’s my job like, so it’s my obligation. This is awesome, awesome show, why don’t you go ahead and any other closing tips you want to add or anything else you want to mention?

No, I just want to say you know, it, it truly is it comes down to one thing, unveiling your inner star. And I think that everybody has a star inside of them. I don’t care who you are. And a lot of people will come into our program and say, well, there’s nothing really special about me, I don’t know, good luck, if you can find it. And I say nonsense. First of all, that’s your first problem, right? You need to understand that there truly is there’s more than one, we just have to figure out which one we’re going to lead with. So there is an inner star inside of you. I think it’s you, you deserve getting it out there. And not only that, it’s not all about you. Okay, it’s about your clients, because the people you set out to help they deserve to have somebody like you to help them. And I love what you do. And thank you for everything you do. I appreciate you having me on this show very much.

Appreciate it. Why don’t you tell everyone where they can find you, folks, if you guys are looking, if you’re stuck on figuring out what the hell your brand is, give them a call called Brand face. I’ll give you the website right now. And when you get done with that you come visit me put you on the map, Portugal had Donya tell him how to find you

will work in tandem. Alright, so the main website to learn more about us it’s brand face star str.com. And then if you are sitting there thinking, Hey, I just want to talk to these people I’m in I know enough, go to discuss your brand.com and we’ll jump on the phone with you and have a chat with you about exactly what it’s going to take to get you where you deserve to be

cool. And folks make an investment in your brand. Like do it. There’s no you can’t, you can’t start a restaurant without building out the restaurant or creating a menu and you can’t start a bakery without getting your recipes. You can’t start a store without picking up inventory and then naming it so like you have to look at that with your business like you cannot start a real estate business without first identifying how you’re gonna practice real estate business so don’t be a salesperson chasing a check be someone that serves first and you only do that you have a brand so awesome show love it. Thank you folks for listening another episode of real estate marketing Do feel free to follow us on all our social channels YouTube, Facebook IG and subscribe to the show. We appreciate you guys each and every month and if you need any help with your video marketing please give us a ring seven are not seven so not give me my cell phone number real estate marketing dude.com real estate marketing do.com But my cell phone number is 773-988-6599 to go shoot me a text we have an answer it and talk you into video. Appreciate you Tanya Have a great week and it looks like I’ll be doing a show with you guys at the end of the month here to be cool so appreciate you awesome show and you guys take the advice you had here there take action you got 30 days to plan out next year. Do it. Peace everybody. 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 schedule a 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.

PPC Vs. Facebook Ads, Vs,. SEO

if you’ve been following the show, or following our blog, or noticing some of the products we built, not too long ago, we launched a product called listing advocate. The reason why we launched this product was because everybody in the world wants a cash offer today and we just created a solution for you to compete back against big tech assholes like Zillow, and all the above.

So what we want to do is bring on a guest today, who’s an expert, and we’re going to talk about the pros and cons of different digital marketing. Brandon Bateman has been in the game of generating motivated seller leads for almost four years now. He’s spent over 10,000 hours just generating motivated seller leads and today he is going to give us his expert insight.

Three Things You’ll Learn in This Episode

  • How you can crack seller lead generation in your business
  • Differences between Facebook, pay per click, and SEO on website
  • What works when it comes to advertising

Resources

Schedule a call with Brandon

Real Estate Marketing Dude

The Listing Advocate (Earn more listings!)

REMD on YouTube

REMD on Instagram

Transcript:

So how do you attract new business, you constantly don’t have to chase it. Hi, I’m Mike way ambassador, real estate marketing. And 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 what we’re going to be doing today, folks since December what we’re talking about all month long shit we need to be getting into for the following year. And if you’ve been following the show, or following our blog, or noticing some of the products we built, not too long ago, we launched a product called listing advocate. The reason why we launched this product was because a lot of real estate agents. Everybody in the world wants a cash offer today, you have ibuyers infiltrating every single offer. And we just created a solution for you to compete back against big tech assholes like Zillow, and all the above. And amongst that, one of the hottest tickets and one of the things if you can crack, if you can crack seller, lead generation in your business is very advantageous because that’s what everybody’s trying to do. So what we want to do is bring on a guest today, who’s an expert, and we’re going to talk about the pros and cons of different digital marketing. We’re going to talk about Facebook, we’re gonna talk about pay per click, and then we’re gonna talk about SEO on website, we’re gonna disguise or call it, divide the differences between all of them, so that you can get an idea you know, off of which is right for you. Once everything goes digital things change. The truth is that 99% of you don’t have the skill set to even know what the fuck we’re talking about. That’s why guys like this exists, because he does a lot of this stuff for you. So we’re gonna get into it and show you exactly what he’s doing.

And see how this rolls. Brandon. Say hello to our guests. This is Brandon Bateman, ladies and gentlemen. Yeah, thank you for the introduction, Mike. Happy to be here. Why don’t you tell everybody a little bit about who you are, where you’re from, what you do. And then I got a bunch of questions for you. Yep, let’s do it. So my name is Brandon Bateman. I live in Utah, good old coastal Salt Lake City. Anybody knows that crazy market. I have been basically in the game of generating motivated seller leads for almost four years now. A little bit less seriously at first and a little bit more seriously, in the past few years or so. And I am proud slash embarrassed to admit that I’ve spent over 10,000 hours just motive generating motivated seller lead myself here that makes me an expert, but it also doesn’t reflect highly on my work life balance. So that’s, let me just ask you a question. So he’s gonna share within the next 30 minutes what he’s learned in 10,000 hours, but how much of that 10,000 hours of trial and error cost you?

Oh, man, I mean, like my life. And then of course, like we’ve spent, gosh, our company like through through the consulting projects, and companies are working with spending their budgets, like literally over $100 million in advertising spend. So folks, the students spent over $100 million in digital ads, pay attention, take notes, because we’re going to sort of figure out, when you get to that level, you actually really do see what works, what it’s very hard to determine what works when you’re not spending a lot of money on ads, especially nowadays. So what we’re going to do is dig into that. So what would you like to start with, cuz I want to hit all three of these. And I want to dumb all of this stuff down. I’d like to start with pay per click if you’re cool with that. Yeah, of course. Let’s talk about it. Better. Yeah. What did you start with?

What did I start with? What was your What was your first and what do you think is actually it was putting this to you? What do you think is the easiest channel to start with? If you’re starting in the motivated seller? If you had to pick between SEO Facebook ads, or pay per click your top three here what you’re an expert in? Which one would you choose?

You know, it’s gonna depend a little bit on the individual situation, I think a blanket statement that would apply to the most people would be Facebook ads as a place to start. So to give you a little bit of context on that maybe we just dipped super late because I’m sure there’s into all three of them because I’m sure there’s some people here that don’t even understand what these things are. Right? So that’s uh, at least give like a high level overview.

The Facebook ads is basically the the paid advertising inside of Facebook. It’s where you’re actually paying to have your ads show up as sponsored posts on someone’s newsfeed. So if you scroll through Facebook or Instagram, you see these random posts pop up with these call to actions. That’s basically that’s basically what Facebook ads are. And the for real estate. And say for a lot of people, they should start with Facebook ads if they have a small budget. And the reason being a small budget stretches the far this with Facebook ads.

And Facebook is a channel that that tends to get you out

A lot of leads for the money that you spend on it in comparison to the other channels. It tends to get you those leads relatively quickly in comparison to say SEO that just takes a really long time, pay per click will be quick too. But like I said, less leads. Facebook also produces a lower quality lead. But the magic of Facebook ads is you’ll get some junk leads. But there’s good ones in there. And those good ones tend to be your largest deals in your business, we see it over and over again, our clients, our largest deals come from Facebook ads. So if you have a small budget, Facebook ads is great. The problem is if your budgets bigger, you can end up pushing Facebook ads into an area where you’re just getting really diminishing returns with it. And that’s where some of these other channels are better. And also from the lead quality standpoint. Because maybe Facebook ads have a little bit of a better ROI than PPC with a small budget. A lot of times with larger budget, PPC might have a better ROI. And in any circumstance, PPC produces a much better quality lead, which means even though your ROI and your money’s a little bit lower, sometimes you spend a lot less time chasing down bad conversations. That is the brilliant thing about pay per click and SEO. Just so you guys understand why.

We’re better. Yeah. Why don’t you tell them why that is? You’re reaching people that based versus not intent based looky loos. Exactly, yeah, that’s what it is everything else that you do. It’s all people based, you’re looking for people based on their situations, and you’re trying to target them, there is no channel that you have in your business right now, most likely, that’s intent based, meaning you’re advertising to people based on the fact that they have intent to sell their house, which is just a completely changes the game, because now this is like if you could put all marketing channels on a scale from outbound to inbound, you’d have like on the far outbound side, like your text, cold call, and the middle you have like maybe direct mail, Facebook ads, stuff like that. TV, maybe like some of these channels where you like, it is still inbound, because the person is coming to you, but you went to them first still. And then you go far to the other side, you reduce inbound channels, 100% inbound, like pay per click and SEO. And it’s just a whole different kind of lead that goes faster. And they tend to be more motivated. However, the this is where people get screwed up on PPC though, it’s expensive, and highly competitive. So you have to be ready. Like obviously, if these people are just searching on Google and looking for ways to sell their house, and they’re the most motivated leads, which they tend to be

other people want those to you’re not the only person who had that idea? Well, here’s what a lot of times, you’ll pay more. So you’re saying you’re gonna pay more on PPC bringing the higher quality lead Facebook and get a bunch of leads, it’s gonna feel good, it might stroke your ego a little bit, however, just be prepared to work for but in exchange for spending less money. So make sense.

What do you who and how do you target on Facebook nowadays? When you’re targeting these people? And are you writing in being an investor? Are you writing in special ad category issues? With all of that? So let’s do one first.

Yeah, the basically who we’re targeting, it comes down to whoever we believe to be most likely to be a motivated seller. And I know that’s like, really like fluffy. But but when I answer your second question, I understand why that’s so fluffy. And what you’re kind of hinting at here is, I don’t even know when the change has happened. It’s probably a year and a half ago, there was introduced to Facebook, basically, Facebook got sued. And someone said the fact that for a housing ad, you’re showing it to this person who’s older, but not this person who’s younger, or this person who’s a male, but not the female, or the person is a good one. But as it go to all that kind of stuff. They said That’s discrimination. And I think anybody listening this podcast knows that that’s the joke. But that’s not to be PC nowadays.

And in Facebook has to play by the rules, because they’ve gotten in a lot of trouble not doing that before. So if anybody knows to take this stuff seriously, they do. So we have these restrictions, and a lot of people basically mark that time is the time that Facebook ads stopped working for real estate investors, because you no longer can target your target person.

Here’s the thing about what we do. The strategies that we use retargeting on Facebook, we used before that change, and after that change, it didn’t affect anything that we were doing. We did all kinds of hyper targeting based on all these different factors on Facebook, if I can matter is the strategies that we used today, even back then worked better than the strategies that most people were using at that time. And when that change happened, it didn’t affect us one bit because we weren’t doing that stuff. And it might sound a little bit crazy, because I guess I’ll just say it. Our number one audience that we target on Facebook ads, from a performance standpoint is a 100% broad audience restricted only by the boundaries of where you want to get leads.

The the caveat to that is we don’t do targeting through targeting, we do targeting through optimization. So the way that Facebook works Facebook’s a very intelligent platform with some very advanced machine learning built into it. The way that it would work business, say, you know, we equate marketing campaigns to phishing. And you say that, like you’re doing a direct mail campaign and to the entire ocean, what would happen is you would make a cast somewhere, you know, drive the boat down 10 feet, make another cast do that for the entire ocean, that’s what a direct mail campaign a direct mail campaign to the ocean would be, when you might choose to, you know, target the areas with reliefs because you know, that there’s more fish there and whatnot. Right? The The difference is, and this scenario, Facebook doesn’t just cast and then go 10 feet and cast again, Facebook kind of looks at the lay of the land that uses data that you feed it to kind of determine where do we think these fish would kind of hang out. If you’re smart with your Facebook ads, you can kind of put the kind of bait out there that only the right kind of fish would actually bite. And that will attract the right kind of fish. And Facebook starts to learn they when I cast neoreef, I tend to get more bites than when I cast other places. And it starts to double down. So what happens is you target the ocean, but you only fish the leaf. And that’s exactly how it works on Facebook ads. So but to do that, you need to know how to put the right bait out there. And you need to make sure that you’re giving quality feedback on what actually is a fish to Facebook. That’s where 90% of people get it wrong. So you’re saying like on on the actual targeting, you’re just targeting anyone and everyone, but it’s the copy and the imagery that you’re using Facebook’s going out there and finding them for you.

Yes, it’s about the it’s about the copy of the imagery. It’s also about the ad experience after that point.

And it’s about the feedback that you give to the Facebook pixel to Facebook, telling it that you had a good lead. So to give you some examples of where people go wrong with this,

one scenario would be just telling Facebook that you want to get a lot of people that you reach with your ads, you know, you’re gonna get, you’re gonna take a lot of casts in a place that nobody wants to take a cast in the middle of the ocean with Iran bait. one’s ever gonna bite that. But basically, you’re going to look in Facebook, and you’re like, Wow, 200,000 people. That’s awesome, right? Right. But they’ll give you what you asked for, you could do the same thing with link clicks, you will be amazed at how many clicks you get to your website, and how few of them actually turn into any type of revenue for you. You can even do with leads, a lot of people are using Lead forms and Facebook. And what happens is you have this form that when someone clicks on your ad, it just pops up, it auto fills with the information and click submit, it’s extremely easy to do. So it’s a low friction process. And it degrades your lead quality and tends to get you the wrong kinds of leads. And then you’re still giving a feedback signal back to Facebook, that’s not quality. The way that we like to do it is through a dedicated landing page on a website that qualifies the lead appropriately. And only when that happens, do we actually give the feedback to Facebook that it was a lead? So then we’re using quality information to do that. And then it’s also about the ad, like I see all kinds of people because because here’s what marketers do. Marketers put out there and ads, things like get the most leads where a B testing things all the time, right? You know what happens if you do that in this in this industry, you’re going to end up with everything that’s flashy, and aggressive, and tends to say things like will pay more than other investors and stuff like that. And what you end up doing is attracting the wrong kind of seller, because you’re you’re looking for a very specific kind of seller, that’s not most sellers. If you have

that makes I want you I want to repeat that really quick. So that was a big nugget for you guys. He’s saying like, if I’m if I’m like, hey, we’ll buy it for less, or we’ll get you more money, right, you’re targeting the person that wants the highest and best, which isn’t quite the best option for real estate investor trying to find a rehabber flip, right? Yeah. Or even if you make it like all about the offer, for example. And then you complain when you get these leads that are calling you and saying, Hey, will you give me for your house for my house? Like I don’t want that? Would you advertise for you said, everything’s about, you know, let’s just take another hypothetical. So let’s say we’ll just use my market day I’m in San Diego, I want to target motivated seller leads. So I’m guessing the ad is somewhere I have a cash offer something along that lines like that right instant offer, or we’ll get to that next but whatever the ad is, but I’m going to target I live in North County. So I’m going to target all the areas that I want to work in. And that’s other than that, that’s the only targeting I’m using.

In reality, we use multiple forms of targeting. We’re always testing at least three audiences at any given time. But the highest performer that we have, on average across markets is that broad audience and it really is and they find them because I’ve heard that quite a bit.

I’ve heard that with a couple of the last few guests are like dude, just let Facebook do its thing, bro. But people have said that let them do its thing. How long does it take for them to do its thing

It’s astonishingly quick, actually, I’m surprised, and this is a

thing is you have to monitor its thing.

So to give you a little bit of a picture of machine learning, a lot of people assume that if you run the same campaign twice, that you’re going to get the same result. It’s not true. Because the way that the machine learning based targeting works is you could say you’re using the same algorithm. But the thing is, the first data points given to the algorithm determine which way it’s going to go. And from there, it’s a whole different story. So just imagine, you know, your, your algorithms, just trying to walk a straight line, the way that machine learning works, if it starts to veer left, it’s going to spiral left. If it starts to veer, right, it’s going to spiral, right, the fact that it turns left or right at the beginning is completely random, you started out going straight, it could just be like the first people you reach just happened to be of a certain type. So what we see is like, I can get in ruts. So it tends to be it tends to be pretty effective out of the gate. But you have to understand the issues that you can run into, like we commonly run into issues where suddenly, despite the ads being incredibly clear, the landing page be incredibly clear, we start getting a bunch of buyer leads and renter leads and stuff like that it happens. And we’ve had clients get to this point, we get like 80% of your leads are like buyers and renters. And you look at the ads, like I have no idea why some of the things that are looking at this, but it’s the algorithm found that kind of person that misunderstands it and that way, and it started getting that feedback, and then it starts spiraling that direction. And what we do is we pick it up, put it right back in the middle, and we get it going straight again and hope for the best that time. And stuff like that happens all the time. So you have to do that.

Would you have to switch up your ad copy in that? No, you literally would say my ad cuz I’ve seen that on so my answer guys, I’ll target some of you guys. And I’ll be like, Hey, I’m running this ad and I run the same ad. But I’ll get two totally different results.

You can do it because the algorithm learns differently each time. So that’s where a lot of people would say like, I’m not 100% on the side of like, let Facebook completely do its thing always. Because if your feedback, signal breaks, then suddenly your Facebook ad campaigns broken. Right? If it doesn’t get what you’re looking for, that’s the problem you have with lead generation, if you’re an E commerce company, they don’t have to deal with these issues. Because a purchase is a purchase, Who cares who that is. But not all leads are created equal. So you have to you have to be really careful about that. But so it’s about understanding those things. And like what’s just basically quality being what it is and what’s you know, an actual problem that shows the algorithms and misunderstanding something. And as long as you do that letting Facebook do its thing is really powerful, you just have to understand that the feedback you’re giving, it isn’t like closing deals often

monitor it, you give it a week to start. You can we like our standard processes, we meet with our clients once a month. And we kind of review all those things and determine if we need to change course, there’s other little things like you know, tweaking how much money is going to each audience in the creative and stuff like that, that just happens like throughout the time period. As a business owner, I think you need to be in it once a month. And burn from lead quality standpoint, it purely depends on your budget, but most of our clients don’t have a large enough budget that they really even have a big enough sample size to measure lead quality on a weekly basis. Or else you’re just going to end up making lots of like really emotional, non statistically significant, non data driven type decisions. So usually a month like gives you enough data, although we’ll give our clients guidelines like if more than x number of X number of leads is of this category, let us know. And you know, we make an adjustment accordingly.

What are your opinion on look alikes? Yay or Nay? Are they good? Yeah, mixed reviews on the show. Some people said they used to be good. Now they’re not good.

What is your opinion?

They they have come down from their peak look alikes were amazing before iOS 14, they’re not quite as effective since then. They’re still good. In this particular industry, you can even use look alikes, technically, you have what’s called a special ad audience, which is really the same thing. It just doesn’t include, like you picture this model, this machine learning model has these 1000s of different features that it uses as predictors. And among those are just not age, gender, zip code, that kind of stuff, right? So I just remove those. They don’t predict based on those. But the those audiences have been, I can tell you, it’s a in the industry in general on Facebook, they’re good. If we’re talking just real estate, they’ve been hit or miss for us. We have some time to do well with it. On average, our broad audiences are performing better than our special ads audiences. But sometimes they work really well. If you’re going to do one, I think it’s great to do one that’s on a previous lead list. Those are by far our most effective. So you take like for example going to your CRM, every hot lead you ever had upload that make a special as audience based on that. Those tend to be pretty effective

and nice people. Sometimes people like to like copy and paste their strategies from other marketing channels.

Like mail or cold call into digital, and try to make like those look alikes, or those custom audiences based on their cold call lists and stuff like that. That has been for the most part very unsuccessful for us. We’ve seen, we’ve seen a break here or there with like a special ads audience based on that list. Custom Audiences based on those lists have never in like 25 attempts ever produced anything. And that’s

a custom audiences. You’re just saying no?

Pretty much. Yeah, Facebook needs room to do its thing. When you give it an audience you restrict back. Is that because of the special ads? Category? I don’t think so. Because even before then we didn’t have great success with it. It’s, it’s really about audience size, there isn’t. Here, a lot of companies that are like maybe even your company, companies advertising nationally use that stuff a lot more, because you could use a 1% look alike. And that’s going to be 2 million people. And that’s good. But if you constructed that to just a small market, then you’re just dealing with a really small audience sizes, and Facebook doesn’t work well with a small audience size. It’s like some big expense. And you’d like to see what the beginning of a campaign for coal but million, 2 million you want to see that I

I mean, that’s great. Not every market makes that possible.

Population 500,000 markets where it’s literally impossible to have a million or 2 million. So really, like it’s a factor of what you can do in your market. We definitely like to go live, like our clients that go wider, geographically, they get more leads for the money and that leads tend to be higher quality. Narrow can be okay. But it’s uh, yeah, in general, I’d say. Like, for your average, like, wholesaler, I’d say if you have a buyer, if you’re anywhere your buyers run your ads, because you want to get as wide as you can. You don’t want to get a property under contract and not be able to do anything with it. But you want to go as wide as you can. If you’re a flipper, like anywhere that you know, you can comfortably do your business well. Sometimes we have flippers that will be more narrow than our wholesalers are in targeting but in maybe they pay like a 30% higher cost per deal because of it. But they have all the operational efficiencies that more than make up for that because cost per deal is not the biggest problem you know.

So you have to kind of consider it with your with your business but we do have clients doing Facebook ads successfully and markets as small as 200,000 population.

We love to see more than half a million

interesting.

And then I imagine when you’re you have retargeting ads you’re hitting as well on these people. How many retargeting ads are you going deep and then how important is that so everybody understands?

Yeah, retargeting I think is like far and away the best money you’ll spend on Facebook ads. Facebook is the most robust retargeting platform that has ever been created. It’s amazing. And basically that the concept if someone’s not familiar with that, is if someone visits your website, you can basically flag them and then reach them later. So think of retargeting like follow up that you can do even if someone didn’t fill out the form, because all the time you’ll have people coming in through pay per click, and you pay $50 for this click to get someone to your website, and then they don’t fill out the form. And then you can reach them for like a penny or two each time on Facebook to follow up with them. And it’s like no brainer money spent. Where people go wrong with retargeting is assuming that it’s going to change their business from a volume standpoint. It’s a it’s a really realistically for companies in real estate. It’s a low volume play. You don’t get tons of website traffic, or clients from retargeting get a handful of leads a month at PAX usually, it depends on your website traffic, because that’s the thing. You can’t just scale retargeting so you have to think of it like something that amplifies the rest of your marketing, not something where you see that you get a good return, you’re going to 10 exit, because you have to text everything the next year retargeting

but it’s all for free for dollar. It’s great.

There’s so many golden nuggets in this show. If you guys are paying attention. There’s just a ton I’m taking notes as we go. And we haven’t gotten the PPC yet. So one more question cuz I know this is gonna ask me next video versus image on ad number one.

When you say on ad number one, what do you mean on your cold audience ad? Or in Oh, God, like what are you seeing performing? But we get that question all the time. I my opinion, but I’d love to hear yours. Yeah, I have her. I apologize that this is going to be a more complex answer than you’re probably looking for.

The answer is both. And the reason is, there’s people on Facebook ads that are more likely to respond to certain ads and others where a lot of people go wrong with Facebook ads and when it comes to like a B testing

is misunderstanding the difference between predictive optimization versus an inferential form of testing which is more like statistics that everybody knows and learns about. So with Facebook ads the most powerful

way to do this kind of stuff isn’t just I run ad a and I run ad B and I observed which one works better. It’s to actually like when someone’s going to be reached by an ad predict for that individual person, which ad is more likely to influence them. And you will find that by having images and videos, you’ll get better results than by having images alone or videos. Although, that said, on average videos are performing better for us. I think they, they act, we’ve tracked to videos, an increase in lead quality and in the quantity because there’s something amazing that especially if you’re like us, where we’ve seen, like some brilliant results with this is if you can have like the person who’s going to knock on someone’s door later, be the same person who’s in the video ad. Yeah, because a couple of things happened. Like you build that consistency, you build that trust that credibility, and you qualify, like a lot of people forget that you like qualify as part of your ads, if someone is just going to be because as tough as it is, that this is the case it is the case that when you see someone you generate your own bias about that person immediately. If you reach someone with the ad that sees your acquisitions person and thinks poorly of them because of how they look or they don’t naturally trust them, whatever the case is, they’re not going to fill out the form. Yeah, you can naturally attract the kind of people that you’re going to have success with. So what happens in our business like the video doesn’t create the lead you guys the video creates the humanization

and it gets people to like see you’re like a living breathing being almost always comes our company and say, Hey, we want to get videos we want to generate leads. Like if you start with the mindset you’re gonna generate leads off a video you already shot yourself in the foot. It’s more like you need to generate attention with the videos that we’re creating. And use it as a way to get people not to think you’re such a frickin blood sucking investor a real estate agents with a bunch of commission breath, spitting out fire out of your mouth. That’s what the average consumer feels about us. Like, especially if you’re a distressed if you’re breaking into bankruptcy or divorce or something, and you just get this guy wants to buy your house. Like let’s be honest, the very first impression I have is this motherfucker wants to take advantage of my misfortune. Yeah, I haven’t got there. Right and

yeah, and when you get to know that person, you you start feeling less like that. Right? Like that’s, that’s what you feel. Yeah, the video helps that. Yeah, so there’s a lot of value to video for sure. I think. I think brown belt I guess is the summary. I wouldn’t just run with you and how many ads you have going. Last question. I got them all when you’re running obviously you have your your wide ad so like when he’s saying you cast in that guy’s he’s got ad number one. It’s probably going to like couple million people or a large audience and the people who engage or visit site that’s who he retargets list. So how many retargeting ads you have a retargeting funnel, so to say already just one ad is just like a one two punch. I think with retargeting variety and creative is important. Because when retargeting more so than any other place in the funnel, you’re likely to get fatigue. Yep, because if you’re doing retargeting, right, your frequency, which is the average number of times that each person sees the ad should be usually we’re targeting something like three or four per month. Right? So with that, if you’re showing the same ad over and over again, you kind of become a crazy advertiser, just assuming that you showed on that same ad for a 16th time This time, it’s gonna make a difference. Yes, it’s probably not. So I think I think retargeting having a good amount of variety is important. A lot of people will always think about it from the standpoint of like, I gotta change out my retargeting ads every two weeks or something. I don’t think of it that way. I think of it as like, I need to have like 10 ads in there. You know, cycling through because more evergreen.

One adds a ton. Yeah, and then what? What you do after that, like, I think videos are great and retargeting. I’d love to use testimonial videos, because you have to think like if someone came to my website, but they didn’t fill out the form, but they came there with intent to sell their house, what would be the reason that they didn’t fill out the form. The only reason would be that they don’t believe that we’re credible, they don’t believe that they can trust us. Whatever the case is, so you just kind of have to like you know, feel those things out. And I think your videos targeted around those those things like testimonial videos, review videos, that kind of stuff can be excellent. Even if like someone already filled out the form right? Maybe that video could make your acquisitions appointment later do even better. That’s part of the thing with retargeting like, it’s hard to measure all the impact that it has. But our average client spends less than 50 bucks a month on it. So it’s like it’s a no brainer for what you get.

You know that it’s a bit it’s producing something good. It’s just not a huge volume driver. Got it? But I’m sure the quality though is there and silent about getting as many Alright dude, this was like great any I think you’ve frickin nailed Facebook. Let’s go on to PPC. I noticed with PPC with Facebook but um alright, let’s switch gears guys. So like basically let me put this in real estate layman terms. Facebook people aren’t like checking out to see what the hell you ate for breakfast. But when we go to PPC

We’re switching the game like people are searching you out.

So one of the questions we get all the time is Hey, Mike, I’m going to SEO my website. And I’m always like, dude, do you even know what SEO means? There’s a lot of work there. Like if you just SEO one blog post doesn’t mean you’re going to become the top of the search rankings for the rest of the world. Right and become the number one agent people are under that impression. SEO is a very long term game

of what pops up natural when people are searching, but PPC is what pops up paid. So can you walk us through

PPC? Yeah.

Yeah, so really PPC, called PPC stands for pay per click. The reason is, you basically pay Google to be at the top when someone clicks, that’s when they charge you. So it’s, it’s pretty simple in that sense. So the targeting on PPC is keywords. What are basically what are people searching? Yep. And then what you do is you write ads that are hopefully going to attract those people. And you create landing pages that are likely to turn those people once they click into leads. And that’s the whole game of PPC, biggest mistakes I see people making with PPC, it’s easy to just like sending PPC traffic to the homepage of your website or something. And you get a horrible conversion rate with it, I see so many people just sending traffic to their main page or website. And the problem with that is there’s distractions, PPC is a really high cost, click and you want to contain it the best you can. So we like to use single action landing pages, where the only option is that someone fills out the form where they leave, and there’s not really the there’s not really a second option, you’re going to convert, you’re gonna be gone. And you get a better conversion rate doing that, you get more of those people to give you the information. And then the other thing about PPC where people go wrong, is bidding irrationally happens all the time. And this just happens in a whole bunch of ways. Because when they say pay per click, it’s not like Google tells you what it costs for that click, what happens is you bid what you’re willing to pay for that click, and you hopefully get clicks at that price. And there’s a whole bunch of stuff that happens there. Because the price of anything is just determined based on the competition and what you’re willing to pay. Those advertisers that are number one and PPC, they pay a lot more for each individual click, then the guy who’s at the bottom of the page that steals a click occasionally doesn’t get that much volume, but pays really low for that. So you have to understand there’s like that, that diminishing return and everything. But we have clients telling us like I just want to be number one on it. Yeah, that’s irrational, right? Because it has nothing to do with the value of those clicks. Sometimes the guy number one’s losing money, he might do the most deals, but he’s got a crazy high cost per deal. Sometimes not sometimes that’s a good place to be. It depends on where the prices are. I kind of think could pay per click, almost like Wholesaling Houses. I could go into a market. And I could say I want to wholesale. And I could think well, what do I want to do, I want to make lots of money by selling the houses for top dollar. Therefore, I want to find the most expensive houses in my market that I think will sell for the most. And I’m just gonna pay really high for them. And that would be an absolutely horrible wholesale strategy. But that’s exactly what people do with pay per click, they look at keywords, they think, what are those keywords that are the best keywords, and then I want to be at the top for those and a drag to the top and the price up. Realistically, what you should do in your wholesale is you don’t look for houses that are high value, you look for houses that are undervalued. So it’s not about what the price is, it’s about what the price is compared to what it’s worth. Where does the market believe? So what we do is we look in for each individual click, we’re looking at what is that click worth? What do we think that’s actually going to turn into in revenue. And we’re bidding according to that. And sometimes the whole market is just way too high, you’re gonna see a good keyword, you don’t even show up, because everybody else is just paying ridiculous prices for it. They’re all busy. And sometimes everybody else doesn’t think it’s that great. But our data shows that that’s actually a really high quality click. But the whole deal is trying to like it’s not about the best clicks. I don’t mind paying $10 for clicks that are worth $100 Rather than paying $50 for clicks that are worth $120 What do seller leads? What are seller leads selling for right now.

Right now on on pay per click our average across the whole United States is about $260 across all the markets we’re in. It could tell you San Diego would not be that. Yeah.

Probably, probably honestly, here’s what I was. The person I want to mention this is because like people always like oh want to get a lead gen game lead gen game like you’re gonna have to invest.

And when people are like, like especially in the real estate industry, they don’t realize $260 per lead.

Well, when you’re buying an opt in, you’re not buying a leader buying someone who has requested a cash offer

on their property, so you’re buying almost an appointment or conversation. And yeah, if you guys you guys plan on spending some dough, like it’s not going to be cheap, but lead generation number is as it there’s a reason why Zappos and, and Bed Bath and Beyond like put so much money into marketing their past customers is because that drives more sales and acquiring new ones we talk about this every week on the show you guys. There’s branding and there’s there’s marketing, there’s advertising, they’re not the same, but they sort of work together. We’re talking about today’s advertiser go right at that lead generation. And yes, it works. But you got to have guys like this or you got to have like the right, you got another eight ads, right copy and all that stuff before you dive into it. I’ve seen so many people lose a lot of money pressing like a boost button. Right? Yeah, I mean it and it just like, you don’t want to do that, like Facebook from when I used to be really heavy into Facebook six years ago. And then I stopped it for about four years because I didn’t have anything to really sell is building my business.

And I didn’t mean to build on so when I came back to it, it was night and day different dude. Night and day different. Six years. Yeah, that’s that’s about it. Yeah, and phases, totally reinvented itself. So like what worked back then doesn’t work today. And vice versa. This stuff’s always changing. You just have to know how to change with it. PPC, and when you guys log on to the backend of like Google ad platform, you know, everything you say in here, I’ll verify because I could tell you that my YouTube ads and my PPC ads are more expensive, but they’re way more quality. Like, I’ll spend double or triple the amount of money on those platforms. But I get people they’re like, Hey, Mike, what’s up? Like we get, we’ll get clients directly from it. And we do notice the intent based on our end, and we’re not selling houses, we’re selling video services, right. So um, anything else you want to add on PPC?

No, really, is really just that negative copy magic. The simpler the better, like guarantee, like, walk me through some headlines that people try to get over create this stuff sometimes. And sometimes just the simplest thing is like the best, isn’t it? Yeah, I guess I can tell you kind of where people go wrong. People assume that creative is better than clear. And creative is never better than clear. When you’re searching for something on Google, you’re scanning on the page, that thing that most closely matches what you’re looking for. Yeah, you don’t care if they have like a pond in their headline or something. And that can actually probably confuse you and deter you. Because you’re going to give about two seconds of effort to each one of the ads, if that. So the key point there is it has to be stupid, clear how relevant what you’re saying is to what the person searching for. We use that we do that a lot by putting like the exact phrase in the ad because even if you say the same thing with different words, it’s harder for someone to make that connection. And then you want to do the same on your landing page. Because because you want people to feel like exactly what they find on your landing page is exactly what they searched. Other like little little tricks. We’ve done a lot of taking someone’s precise location on on Google and displaying that to them in their ad. Because let’s just say you search and like I live in Lehi in Utah, right, we’re suburb sort of Salt Lake City. Most markets have a lot of that, right? You have salt lake city nearby the other areas. Let’s just say I search right here. And I search for like how to sell a house fast.

And one of the ad says how to sell your house fast in Utah. The other one says how to sell a house fast and in Salt Lake City. And then the next one says how to sell your house fast and Lehigh. Which one of those am I going to click all things equal? Probably the one talking about Lehigh, because that’s really relevant to where I live. So that’s that’s another trick that we’re using help help improve a lot from a copy standpoint is we will dynamically insert whatever town even if the town of 200 people, whatever town someone’s in, we will insert that into the headline of the ad when someone searches from that precise location. Have you guys done any YouTube ads?

YouTube? Yes, we have. However, for motivated sellers, it hasn’t been our best channel lead cost has been closer to PPC lead quality closer to Facebook. So it has, it has not been our most successful channel. Maybe we just haven’t cracked the code. My hypothesis is I don’t think a lot of the demo target demographic is spending a lot of time on YouTube. And like the target ability, there’s just as isn’t working as well as like Facebook, which sort of has a similar way of doing it. But just I think targeting is a little bit better.

And YouTube’s a little bit tougher as a direct response platform just because the call to actions aren’t quite as obvious. You probably like you think there are other companies you know about YouTube ads, you probably had a lot of awareness. Not quite as many that you’ve actually like, clicked through the YouTube ad to do business with. I think YouTube really shines is an awareness booking platform moreso than like a direct response lead gen platform. Nothing it doesn’t work. It does work. It just in our experience has been more and more expensive. Yeah, yes. I concur.

Without 100% And I’m not spending crazy amounts and I’m not like super duper marketer, digital wise, I’m just I could be all those things are saying our checkout 100% Um, let’s get into SEO really quick and wrap it up.

SEO What the hell does it mean Search Engine Optimization? Guys? There you go do it, how do you do it? You create a shitload of content. And you have to be creating content. And then you have to know how to keyword the content, then you need to know how to structure it. You need to know how to blog, you need to add meta tags, images, link backs, like there’s a science to this. Can you walk us through that? Yeah, SEO is an interesting thing. And just to kind of like summarize what it means Search Engine Optimization. Google exists for the purpose of providing the most relevant results to someone when they search. And there are tons and tons and tons of websites, at least 10,000 that talk about selling a house for cash, or fast or we buy houses or whatever the case is? How do you convince Google that your website is more relevant for someone search than one of those other websites? That’s basically the artists search engine optimization. So you need to think about what does Google want Google wants to put websites goes to the top that are the ones that provide relevant responses. And the ones that they think are, are actually like companies that they can trust. Because if people always have a bad experience with companies that they find on Google, they stopped looking on Google for companies. So it’s all about being relevant and authoritative. being relevant is the content game that you just talked about. It’s it’s about like, like, for our clients doing SEO, we do lots of blogging. Blogging is really effective. And sometimes not even because people read the blogs. But because the blogs add strength to the other pages on the website, and those ones rank. That’s a lot of what it is. There’s a lot of technical stuff, like for example, if your website loads slow, Google’s not going to rank it as easily as someone whose website loads quickly, because that’s a better experience.

It’s, it’s about making sure that you’re technically there, you give Google a sitemap and how to crawl your website. It’s an from an authority standpoint, it’s kind of a popularity contest. It’s about getting backlinks. And backlinks are basically links from other websites to your website. And not just a lot of them, but really good ones. Because a backlink if I have a website that Google considers to be very authoritative, and I decide to link to your website, the assumption is I’m doing that because I see something of value on our website. And I’m the popular guy that votes that this guy is worth looking at. And that tells Google that maybe it really is. Yeah, so isn’t all that stuff. The reason why like like, Brandon wants to even probably appear on this podcast, he wants to link back from my site back to his site. The reason why I appear on another podcast is I want the link backs from their sites back to our so that you get that authority, but it is a long game to play. So it’s just telling you guys for those your SEO, SEO SEO works, I hear it all the time. No, I’m just gonna SEO that fuck out of that page. Yo, bro, I’m just gonna go ahead and SEO the fuck out of my site. That doesn’t mean anything. Like it’s not it just doesn’t work that way and realistic. Like, I’ve been blogging for frickin eight years, I actually had my real estate site up to 10,000 searches a month, organically back in the day, and Chicago.

And even real estate marketing, I had to 10,000 Organic hits a month, why haven’t blogged in a year and a half. So I haven’t had time and my traffic slowed down a bit. Right? plummets, yeah, there’s a game there. You gotta have consistency with it. And it just, most people don’t have the assets or the resources to do it right as my point. Unless you’re gonna pay a team to go out and do it for you. Like, if you’re not a writer, you’re not a content creator. It’s all that stuff. There’s just a lot to consider when you’re doing it. I don’t think it’s anywhere anyone would start. I think it’s a game you play over long term, if you’re going to commit to it. Person, yes. For this topics and purpose. No, I agree. It’s not usually a recommended starting place for a client unless, like, we would start out with an SEO strategy. If we’re working with a client that really has that long term vision. And we have we have a bunch of companies like we’re doing SEO, and I think 30 Something markets are now we do a lot of it, because it does produce like the thing is SEO over the long term produces the best ROI of any jazz we talked about. So it’s amazing. But But what happens where people go wrong is they spend money on SEO for three months. And then they look back at it and they’re like, Oh, the numbers don’t lie. This doesn’t give me a return on investment. And they give up. But they don’t understand that the game of SEO is a really long term game and you have to be consistent with it. And you have to fund it well. So it’s a it’s a channel where like, I it’s not cashflow friendly. But if you compare it to other long term investments, I would invest my money in SEO before buying a rental property hands down. Because SEO compared to the rental properties can perform way way better in the long term. I don’t invest 50 grand

And then to the downpayment on a rental property, and then expect that I’m going to have a 300% return next month. But people do that sweat after March. Yeah, yeah, exactly what equity. Yeah, I agree with everything that you said there. This has been awesome. We went a little bit over, but the content was so good. We just kept on going. So I want to respect your time, Brandon, we appreciate you coming up on the show. sharing all this insight ton of nuggets on there you guys go back and listen to this one more time. If you guys want more about SEO, content, research to the blog and podcast episodes, we’ve gotten Trevor, Trevor mock from Karen, they have an amazing SEO website platform, he’s really sharp and all that we have a bunch of other individuals that you can reach out to if you want to learn more about SEO, or call Brandon here, because these guys do all that stuff, too. But dude, you are a freakin killer, amazing show. Why don’t you go ahead and tell our listeners how they can reach you if they need. They can check you guys out further. Yeah, I appreciate it, Mike. So the best place to check us out would be Bateman collective comm slash our ELP. That’s, that’s a page and the reason I give you that page specifically is you can go right on there you can schedule a call with with me or someone on my team to talk about

to talk about what this is for your market. The really cool thing that we have that no one else has is the largest database that exists in this industry about what generates results for motivated seller lead gen, and how that is different across different markets. So we can give you a lot of insight into what might be the best strategy for you.

And also, I know there’s some people listening here who have tried these channels before, and you haven’t had success.

Our offer for that is basically a free audit. Like we can jump right into your Google Ads account right into your facebook ads account, right into your your website for SEO purposes. And look at exactly what he did. Where people go wrong with this as they keep on just like throwing money at things and then throw money at something different and throw money at something different. And just hope it works. But they never understood why something didn’t work in the first place. The first step to actually finding success, if you haven’t had it yet, is figuring out where you went wrong. And we can help you figure that out. It’s a free service that we provide. Brough I personally will take a look at your campaigns. So that’s uh, yeah, that’s something that we’re willing to do and I’d love to help you out.

Thank you, man. Appreciate it. Appreciate you guys. Listen to other episode of the real estate marketing podcast. You guys know where to find us connect with us on social Facebook IG connect on our YouTube channel, make sure you subscribe, and check out the rest of the content on our site. And if you’re stuck trying to figure out what the hell you’re going to do in 2022 and you want to build your personal brand, get your ass on video and call up a real estate marketing Dude, we will script edit and distribute your video content and we make the process really fucking simple. Don’t overthink this stuff on content creation 80% of your business is going to come from the people you already know videos how you stay on top of them and nurture that audience it’s very simple formula. So appreciate you guys have a great rest of the day and we’ll see you guys next week. Peace. 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 do.com We make branding 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.

Appreciation Is Attraction with Cole Slate

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! First of all, there’s a lot of things that we’re thankful here for, but one of the things we are thankful for and what we’re going to be chatting about on this episode, is how to be thankful for all the frickin referrals that you’re receiving and how to be thankful for all of the different business that we attract versus chase. I’m telling you in 2022 is the year the personal brand and the reason why that is is because let’s face it, you guys are all selling the exact same shit. Everyone’s got access to the MLS, if you’re a lender everyone has access to the same program, so what is really the difference between you and everybody else? Ultimately, the answer to that is going to rely on the relationship you have with the person you serve, or the brand that you have that attracts them to want to be served by you. 

Today we welcome Cole Slate onto the episode. As broker and owner of Slate Realty, he does everything 100% referral base. A lot of brokerage team leaders instantly shift into lead generation mode where they have to give their agents leads and do this and that, but what if you just taught your agents how to fish instead for referrals, and it didn’t cost you anything out of pocket? How much more would that add to your bottom line if you’re a broker owner, so if you’re a broker owner, if you’re a team lead, I think you’re gonna appreciate this episode today.

Three Things You’ll Learn in This Episode

  • How to make your business 100% referral based
  • What marketing yourself as hyper community means
  • Mistakes to avoid when first starting out

Resources

Learn more about Cole Slate

Real Estate Marketing Dude

The Listing Advocate (Earn more listings!)

REMD on YouTube

REMD on Instagram

Transcript:

So how do you attract new business? You constantly don’t have to chase it. Hi, I’m Mike Cuevas to real estate marketing. And 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 to another episode of the real estate marketing dude podcast.

It is Happy Thanksgiving. First of all, there’s a lot of things that we’re thankful here for. But one of the things we are thankful for our for our guests, and in the spirit of being thankful what we’re going to be chatting about on this episode is how to be thankful for all the frickin referrals that you’re receiving and how to be thankful for all of the different business that we attract versus Chase, because I’m telling you in 2022 is the year the personal brand, I’ve been saying the shift last five fucking years before Tom Ferry every set of damn thing about it. And the reason why that is is because let’s face it, you guys are all selling the exact same shit. Everyone’s got access to the MLS if your lender ever has access to the same program, so what is really the difference between you and everybody else? And ultimately, the answer to that is going to rely on the relationship you have with the person you serve, or the brand that you have that attracts them to want to be served by you. So what we’re going to chat about today, I’ve been seeing this dude on Facebook, hosting events. He’s always doing shit and I like indirectly know you from Facebook, and he just opened up. Another brokerage is growing rapidly, but he does everything 100% referral base, a lot of brokerages team leaders instantly shift into like the lead generation mode where they have to give their agents leads and do this and that. But what if you just taught your agents how to fish instead for referrals, and it didn’t cost you anything out of pocket? How much more would that add to your bottom line if you’re a broker owner, so if you’re a broker owner, if you’re a team lead, I think you’re gonna appreciate this episode today. And without further ado, we’re gonna introduce our friend Mr. Cole, slate to the show. What’s up. Cool,

Mike, thanks for having me. I really appreciate it. Big fan of the podcast and it’s cool being on the zoom with you and hear your voice on the interview not coming through my truck speakers

to tell tell us tell everybody who you are, where you’re located. What you guys got going on down there. And then I got a bunch of questions for you in regards to how you’re attracting all this business and attention in your local community.

Yeah, absolutely. Like Mike said, my name is Cole slate, I’m from the Northeast Florida area, particularly St. Johns County. You know, your statistics and research nationally, it’s one of the hottest markets in the country. Every stat that you look at has St John’s in Northeast Florida and the top 10 And yeah, most liberal all referral base really a lot of people talk about you know, their, their hyperlocal Well, I market myself as being hyper community. So you know, building the brand, for doing stuff the right way. And you know, for the right reasons and you know, giving back to the neighborhood first responders to charities and things like that.

I love that hyper community write that down, folks. Um, yeah, let’s get right into it. So first off, when did you get licensed? And when do you start in real estate?

So I got my license in September of 2012. I started I was blessed to be to earn a buyer’s agent position all the top teams in the area, the Welch team with Keller Williams, and after being on that team for a year decided to try it on my own. And it’s been a it’s been a nine year blur, you know, ever since

so one of the things that you like, glad you did, but you’d never do it again. Right? So like every every every career of a realtor would Did you ever buy leads, like in 2012 when you join a team, you’re probably you know, getting fed a little bit maybe through open houses and or whatnot. But when you went off on your own, have you always been more referral based? Did you ever go down the Zillow lead buying platform or any of those things?

So you know, I did it I bought, I got into Zillow leads one time and it was because our zip code that I’m actually from born and raised no a opportunity opened up and it goes so quickly that I kind of viewed it as a calling shotgun and I’m like, let me go and it was like the smallest increment available I think was something like 10% share, you know, five or 10% share something like that. So I did just to say that, you know, I swooped in there, and the whole my spot is a premier agent. But you know, I was so busy I talk about horrible follow up you know, I never did it because I was busy with the the family friends of referrals, you know?

Yep. And a lot of times people just buy leads just to say that they have something inbound, but very seldom do they even call them back. That’s why Zillow went to referral model Why realtor.com went through referral model guys, you guys don’t call back the lead you’re given and you start hurting their brands. So they said, Fuck it, I’m gonna bring it in house and I’ll convert them for these lazy sons of bitches. And then I’ll give it to him and then I’ll charge them triple the amount in the form of a referral fee because I’m selling them an appointment versus a frickin name and a number. Alright guys, so let’s get I want to get into this how big the community first cuz I want to break I want to paint the picture how many people would you say are in your immediate area? If you were to give me a number on the population?

Oh man. I think in our county alone, it’s close to 300,000 people, you know, we’re very suburbia, you know, there’s no there’s some country, suburbs, things like that. I heard um, you know, take it with a grain of salt. It was on a commercial, but I heard the Jacksonville area population, we’re looking at around one and a half million.

That’s a big market,

it’s not gonna remember to that landmass wise, Jacksonville is the biggest city in the country. So that’s 1.5 million over I think everyone by definition, like five counties.

So does that mean like everything’s filling in right now? Building and because a lot of land,

there’s land for a developer to step up. They’re doing everything in their power to to do so.

And let’s get into this. You’re running the brokerage? Are you still in production yourself?

Right now? Those are refer out? My wife is my business partner. And we we procure business, but we refer to our agents good and compete, or do you wanna?

So what I know you have some sort of system in office, you have to have something that your agents are implementing that are generate the referrals, probably something that stemmed off your own success?

What are they doing? How are you doing this? Let’s start at the agent level, let’s take it to the brokerage level. And

then how I’m sure you guys have like company sponsored events, agents ship enough of that, and all that stuff. It’s a team effort. But let’s start at the beginning. What are the agents doing? And what did you do to consistently generate those referrals? Because it’s not like that’s not a small population. If you’re in a town of like, 20,000 people, then yeah, you might see John dick and Mary in the fucking grocery store every other weekend, and say hello to him. And that’s how you’re staying in touch with people. So there’s like the local realtor, but when you’re in a busy area like this, you have to do more than now you have to build a brand and you can’t build a brand without consistently communicating or appearing for people. So what are the agents doing? What did you do in the past that built your brand to stay in front of people?

Yeah, so the first thing that agents are really buying into is my style of farming, you know, you have your stereotypical farming from two decades ago, or it’s a bunch of random mailers and everyone’s sets, everyone’s sending the same stuff. And you know, that, you know, more, let’s call them season agents thing to that’s sufficient, because they’re seeing their their face and their contact information from the mailbox at the end of the driveway till they get to the trash cans, and garage. So we do mailers, for example, but we provide, we provide value, you know, my my neighborhood that I live in, for example, we send out two meal two meals per month, okay? One of them is statistics broken down, not just just sold or anything like that, we send out a average price point for the most for the three most recent sold for each 1000 square foot increments. So under 1999 square feet, the top three average was x 2000 to 2999 heated and cooled square foot, the average per foot was x and just keep going on. So people have some type of idea, you know, my neighborhood, for example, still being built right now but it’s going to be approximately 5000 rooftops. So that’s just an idea of you know, what’s one area the next is, you know, like I said, I’m from the area so I have a lot of relationships with local businesses. So I’m teaming up with these businesses like let’s talk about a coffee shop for example. Go to the coffee shop I said hey, you know, I’m I’m going to design mailers I’m going to pay for the distribution the mailing I’m gonna send them out would you be down for a save 10% off of $20 tab at a you know what you’re paying for them? I mean, for a coffee shop that’s nothing right that’s that’s a free introduction and I’m handling all the distribution so you know talk about a value add you know, everyone everyone in my neighborhood comes up to me on a weekly basis just thanking me for everything not only providing the you know, the valuation statistics for the property but as well as a coupon for a free cup of coffee you know, if

there’s one piece is one piece market driven then and then one piece is just more community Correct? Awesome. All right. So this is really good guys. Here’s what I I don’t know why I honestly cannot stand this about the industry is that every time we fucking communicate, we feel like we have to be selling something or getting something in return and you don’t understand guys like for any of you that have faith like there’s a constant like, it’s very simple, you give and you get in return, right? There’s a reason why people tie in, they set a certain certain things. And if you truly believe your use, what’s the word he saw you see, or whatever it is, what you get, you’ll get back in return. And you cannot like if you’re just always selling, selling, and you’re always like, just so just this or all of your content has to deal with how many listings you sold, your broker sold, instead of like caring about the damn community and actually being a servant of it. You don’t ever obtain anything other than that you’re just a salesperson chasing your next check in the eyes of most people. But when you start creating content, events, or anything that gives you the excuse to have a conversation with people, that’s how you build a brand. I would bet that I could see why those two pieces would serve each other best. I guarantee you that people enjoy the information and the statistics, but the ones that they remember that are the personal ones. And then it Re and it sort of triggers them to be like, oh, yeah, by the way, I did get that one thing like your your sales should is better received because you’re creating value.

Well, it’s everything compounding together like that what I was saying this day and age farming is so much different than it was two decades ago, you know, so you have those mailers. And on top of that, you know, one examples we had, with all the COVID crap going on everything we had a vendor fair but suited to all being at the neighborhood beauty center, it was a tour of people’s driveways on them. I’m not gonna sell a house out of my driveway. So what did I do, I threw a big old block party, I got a food truck, the time I got out houses, got a video game truck to come down a guy playing live music, you know, that’s what people are gonna remember. Now, as a part of, you know, what’s going on, I got more people reached out to me than the freakin president of the HOA, yet all having to do with, you know, coming in all these different ways in regards to farming the you know, the community.

And I like how you’re outsourcing the cost to so like, you’re not just I’m sure these businesses are giving you a couple bucks, and that’s paying for the distribution. You’re just the guy started organizing it, but it’s your brand your face all over it. So what is your out of pocket on the mailers? And how many advertisers? Are you getting to actually cover the nut?

Yeah, I mean, it’s, it’s not much I want to say it’s something like 50 cents apiece, or something like that. And we’re like I said, you know, we’re going out of 1500 houses, you know, so we don’t we don’t put actual sponsors on the mailers. But what these businesses do in regards to cross promotion, as I said, it’s all about scratching the back, right? So where it might be 750 bucks coming out of my pocket for this month, you know, these pencils, drawings, and these coffee shops and everything, you know, they they give back so much to my business. You know, for example, you know, the grand opening that we had on on Thursday, we had, I think seven different restaurants involved and I didn’t spend a penny they’re all giving back to me for helping them promote their business and really, you know, give back to the community in them by providing, you know, sushi boats and case studies and a cornbread bar and you know, stuff like that. And it’s all like he said earlier, it’s all about the giving back and the back scratching, and you know, things like that.

Let’s even pencil this out, though. So it’s just this as far as direct mail pieces and you’re sending to a month you’re seeing your out of pocket costs is about $700 a month on that. Yeah. Alright, so this comes out to be at $400 a year. Okay, so just as just one channel, you guys, that’s why you guys ever, what’s your ROI? What’s your ROI? All right, let’s go fucking talk about the ROI Right Now. All right, $8,400, what’s your average sales price in your market? 400. Okay, so he needs to sell three quarters of a house to break even over the course of the year, three quarters of a house, this is a full house three because it was a full house $400,000 would be $10,000 commission. So you need a quarter of a house you need 84% of a house is what he needs to sell two and a percent to break even. Okay, so, but here’s the thing that everyone’s gonna say. How can you trace back that ROI? Oh, my God, there’s not a direct thing when you’re building a brand, you never will. That’s the power of a brand. Because I bet I guarantee he gets people that just call him from wherever. And it’s the result of a combination of all the multiple forms of communication over time. That individual single one guys look at

you look at what the mailers doing to not only am I providing the value to my neighborhood of 5000 houses, but the business that I’m promoting. Yeah. Do you think they’re the for Who do you think the first firm is that they’re going to call when they have a new employee moving in or someone leaving or you know, whatever the case may be. So it’s about scratching as many bags as possible and creating an excuse to appreciate and promote everyone else.

When people ask us all the time when we do a obviously you guys don’t know yet we script and distribute videos, people and people do a lot of different strategy but a lot of times people would say, Oh, why am I gonna do a business owner strategy? Well, it’s a different your YouTube channel will never blow up doing business owner interviews, I’m sorry, no one’s gonna go to your YouTube channel, like, this guy’s the best business owner views ever, and you’re just gonna become the next YouTube celebrity, doesn’t mean it’s a bad business video to create. So it’s just a different strategy. And why I love that strategies, because when you start scratching the back of business owners, those are the largest referral sources you’re ever going to come across. Because they all share a mindset, which is very entrepreneurial, you’re more likely to get a referral from a business owner that a fucking liberal, put it that way. Alright, that’s just the way it is. Sorry, but that’s true business owners have a mentality mindset where they know how hard it is, and they will scratch your back. And that’s what happens. Business owners always give more referrals than non business owners. I don’t know why that is. I think it’s just the way they’re all wired. They’re wired to serve, they’re wired to give them their natural referral numbers. So when you create a community of these business owners, you’re creating a community of referral sources. And every person’s referral source, no one’s a client. And it’s a mindset thing, like everyone has the ability to refer you. Right, everyone lives somewhere. And everyone knows someone who’s moving at least two or three years if you track but a certain percentage of those people and those business owners are going to be moving this year to and they don’t even know it yet. Some of them are gonna get pregnant, some of them are gonna get divorced. But there’s a move that’s going to happen. And when you’re thought of first 80% of people closing the first one they meet with, that’s why attention matters. I love the mailers what else you’re doing. You’re not just doing mailers in the community, though.

Oh, yeah, for sure.

Let’s go on to channel number two, because that’s just one chat on your you’re crushing it. I love it.

Yeah, it’s doing the events in the neighborhood. You know, every time there’s a vendor fair or garage sale or all the above, find a way to get involved, you know, in my neighborhood and being sticklers about, who was able to be involved with the vendor fair that they had two weeks ago. So one of our raving fans that lives in the neighborhood is a she does she owns a little in house bakery that she you know, she takes out of her home does baked goods, cookies, cupcakes and things like that? Well, when I told her what happened that they wouldn’t let you know, realtors insurance people, they wouldn’t let services like that evolve, she goes cold. Why don’t you just throw me a couple of bucks. And I’ll put your logos on half of my on all these cookies that I make? And I’ll just give out your business card and cookies for free to everyone there. Yeah, that’s awesome. So you know, things like that. But you know,

how many events are you guys do an A in? Are you at an all your agents are inviting their friends, their families and all that, right? So you’re duplicating your efforts? Like you

do probably eight to eight to 10 events a year? No, that’s not necessarily just in my neighborhood. Right? That’s cute. That’s period. You know, we do a crossing guard appreciation, Teacher Appreciation, first responder appreciation. We do. We used to call it a customer appreciation party. But I took the customer out of it and just left it appreciation because I’m wanting to throw, you know, a one big appreciation picnic and water to happy hours for not only the people who have close business with us, but who is referred to as our top preferred partners when it comes to you know, mortgages inspectors, you know, who’s who’s creating excuses to appreciate them. Everyone else in our industry just expects to take them while I’m going to send you a home inspection. Where’s my lead? You know, we need to appreciate them to the site agents that’s in the building industry. 30% of our buyers are new construction. Not a lot of people can say that. So who’s appreciate who’s appreciating appreciating the site agents? You know, it’s finding excuse to appreciate all the people, especially those who aren’t always appreciated.

Yeah. And so I always get like, how does one of my top blog posts honestly, on my website is client appreciation events. And it’s about a couple of different agents doing different things in their markets. And people in agents too, would always say, Hey, dude, I don’t want to do an event that’s going to cost me like $2,000. So I want everyone to change their mindset. If you were to buy in, if I said I’m going to give you 100 leads a month, most agents eyes would light up, we agree that 100 leads a month, but let’s just break down what you’re buying a lead for. What you’re really doing is you’re just buying a conversation, and you’re buying a conversation that happens to be about real estate, which is why the conversion rates only going to be one to 3% Some people are looky loos some people are actually serious. 80% of them already have an agent and trust me, and then that small bit that actually transacts always reserved. So that one to 3% I don’t care how many autoresponders or how good your follow up is. If you converted 4% God bless you. But those guys and gals are really doing well. They have all kinds of technology hidden from every which way to do that the average person isn’t going to have that advantage. But when you’re having a client party, and you’re running into like 400 people at a time or 150 people time, you’re still having conversations now, ever. So what do you mean like? Well, let’s just do statistical because none of this stuff is theory, this is mathematical science, all of the conversations you’re having, regardless if you’re buying them, or if you’re doing them naturally 10 to 15% of those people are moving, and 100% of those people have a referral for you. So we would have a lot of these client parties, we didn’t do eight a year. I love that we do two a year six months. And we would just have mega bashes is like when I was like a total party animal. And I was like literally running out nightclubs, because I didn’t have a kitchen. So I got it cheap. I dropped like 15k on a frickin club event like DJs, like lights, ice sculptures and shit. People would be talking about these events, and we’d had 700 at once was our highest was 800 700 people. But they would roll in and it was just a party. Four years down the road, I was still getting business from these parties because no other real estate guy ever threw like a rave, I guess if you want to call it that, but whatever it was, it was cool at the time would have been my script now. My point is, is that when you get to those, it’s the conversations you have you guys in this whole business is about conversations, I’m gonna always says this is really simple. You got to get appointments, close appointments, get appointments, close appointments, that is horrible advice, have conversations, close conversations, and then add them to your database and then stay in front of them forever, because that’s what it’s not a matter of if they’re gonna move. It’s a matter of when

folks one of the things you said Man, I know like you and I share so much the same, you know, point of view and outlook and all that is, you know, going back to the Zillow of life or whether it’s Zillow, whatever these online leads are that people were lucky to convert 3%. And how much on average, do you think per month, people are putting into leads like that? Do you have any type of idea? Lots. Alright,

so let’s see, let’s even call it didn’t say

1500 bucks. Okay, talk about ROI, where’s your ROI going to go further 1500 bucks a month towards these vs cold leads of people you’ve never met before. Or put that same 1500 bucks into your warm sphere, the people you haven’t met before the people who have already closed or referrals, you know that that ROI is easy, or you should be spending your money?

Well, people try to because they’re chasing transactions instead of referrals. That’s why there’s a major difference if I’m chasing transactions, and I’m going back to that 10 to 15% game, but when I’m chasing referrals, everybody’s referral source it might not be today, but it might be tomorrow or might be in three months. I don’t care when the referrals come in. I know it’s coming though.

100% 100% And like so many people in our business don’t have this you know, this big picture view you know, even if you’re working with a buyer right now and they decided they want to chill out and wait a couple years. Look whether they’re closing with me tomorrow, or they’re closing with us three years from now. I have enough confidence and you know us and what we do and our relationships and things like that I’m not worried about when the closings happening. Yeah, what I mean it’s it’s keeping the relationship Yep.

Three to five houses man that’s what people buy over the course of their lifetime. It doesn’t include any people they can refer you to so yeah, you got to play the long game with us. Let’s take this to social What do you guys do in stand in front of people on social I see the events I love the in person I love the direct mail what’s happening on the social side are you guys doing content guys creating content and create any media and video stuff are you guys running campaigns ads, any any of that?

So I actually just in the past few weeks, got into paying for Facebook ads, I’ve never done it before. And what we are doing is you know my favorite my favorite button to clip whenever you’re filling out your your audience is the targeting your your friends and friends of friends. Because with us being all word of mouth and having such an awesome reputation in the community. Chances are if your friends have followers of our business page you’ve heard of us so all we’re doing is giving you that value to like our page or to click on our website or call our office. Right that makes the most sense over again that’s a warm lead to me versus cold you know paying for lights or you know this these random introductions or whatever. We have an awesome social media following on Facebook. Our Facebook business page has a process Really 9300 likes. And again, same type of thing is my mindset, you know, we do a lot, you know, testimonial Tuesday new listings, open house, you know, the stereotypical stuff that you have to do. But the other half of our strategy is giving spotlights to the businesses that support our business, you know, go check out this restaurant, this is our top lender, give them a call, give them an opportunity. This is our top inspector. So if you go through our social media, I would say probably 1/3, to half of our content is, you know, throwing referrals and throwing spotlights and throw in appreciation to all the companies and businesses that we work with, not only within, but outside the industry as well.

So you’re telling me if you start selling every other people’s stuff for them, they’re start selling your stuff for you.

That’s for me, it’s all about showing appreciation, whether it’s the parties with social media content, whatever it is,

I’m gonna title this podcast appreciation. Someone then in that name? Yeah, that’s awesome. Do you guys have a Facebook group yet? of all your friends and family?

Of course, we have these late real estate community. And how engaging is that? Oh, that’s fantastic. You know, my whole mindset behind that was to not only be a resource for all of our past customers past refers everyone you know, we want to we have over 900 members of it, but we wanted to still give it a sense of exclusivity. Yep. But I also want to take a step further and say, hey, you know, y’all are 900 Something people that we have past business and relationships with? Well, what can we do for dollars to work together and cross promote and network and things like that?

Great. Yeah, I love that. If you notice, like, there’s a theme here and it’s not about us I don’t think cola said I want on the show here. He’s always said you are them. us if it was I reference. And that’s just a lot of this mindset, you guys that you if you if you really want to build your brand, you can’t fake it. You have to actually be compassionate about your own community and compassionate about what you do and all this stuff like that. I think that’s half the reason a lot of people are you know, have commission breath. And they’re just looking for the, they’re looking for the next transaction. But, you know, at the end of the day, what we’re saying here guys, is that you’ll end up with plenty of transactions if you just started serving and stop selling. serve your community and most of your business is going to come from people right in front of you. It’s gonna come from your Facebook friends or Instagram followers and people will follow you on Tik Tok nowadays, it’s not going to come from a bunch of strangers. So I’m gonna come from people you don’t know you’re going to burn out how many agents have you seen burnout just start chasing lead chasing business as a broker and MC trained some of them that didn’t want to invest in themselves? How many of them have you seen just going out of business?

On a there’s so many because I mean all all that these agency and the especially with the market, right and particular market in the Northeast Florida Association of Realtors get approximately 11,000 realtors, okay. Think about that versus 3300 listings active on the MLS those are insane numbers. And all they see is you know the hot market social media and frickin HGTV and all this stuff and they think it’s just something you just go get in and easy money easy paychecks you know, they don’t understand that you don’t treat it like a nine to five you don’t put in you know, I laugh at 40 hours. You don’t put in full time hours. You’re not going to get full time.

Yeah. Yeah. Do you even have listing presentation you just show up inside paperwork?

So show us on paperwork? Yeah, you know, we have you know, over my time you know, I’ve created our presentation based off of just experiences right? And so I have stuff that I will take with me and when the you know you read you read the seller right? So if their mindset is very detail oriented Well hey, you know I brought this packet with you I’m happy to go over it with you word by word. If they just want to hang out have a drink and have a conversation show me what the house looks like they’re just gonna lead the way hey, you know if you can’t get to sleep tonight you need some light reading then read what’s on this folder? Yeah, you know but at this point with you know, our reputation and community and things like that it is Hey Cole something came up we’re getting to transfer come over to paperwork real quick. And I’ll keep those done.

Yeah, it’s actually work man. Well, dude, this is awesome show. appreciate you sharing anything anything else you want to add

on? I’m not necessarily I think you and I could go all day long. You know, such such a similar mindset and and all that. You know, one thing that we are doing actually happened today I have a really close relationship with the Sheriff of St. Johns County, the county I live in he came to our ribbon cutting and everything. One of his community community relations deputies reached out to me said hey, you know when you donate 500 bucks for families? I think it was for families that need a meal on Thursday. By the time I had the time to say yes, he had already got someone else to say yes. So I was like, You know what, I wonder what the deputies are doing on Thursday. You know, the ones that have to work instead of being with their families. So you know, we’re putting together this is literally two or three hours ago I’m getting off with you and taking it down to the sheriff’s office we’re putting together 39 tumblers koozies a $20 Visa gift card for the deputies to go grab lunch and they can be with their families you know that all an investment is $780 It ended up being okay but when these 39 deputies get you know something something like this you know for for the holiday when it can be with their families and just like a surprise token of appreciation you know, all that stuff adds up and do you have now well

here’s what we’re talking about guys that’s mindset he could have easily said oh shit, fine. Could have hung up the phone. You could have stopped but then Cole here says no sports quarter got to find out another way to spend that $800 Because he didn’t care about the costs he cared about the impact well done.

My my buddy that’s the community affairs liaison or whatever. I texted them I said man, you hit me up for 500 bucks. You spent 800

That’s great. That’s good. People support others who care man and serve it’s just you know it’s just a wired Yeah, it’s what we’re wired and if you give you’re gonna get and if you continue to do the right thing by people it’ll eventually pay off for you you know that surely firm believer net? Why don’t you go ahead and tell everybody where they can find you on social if they want to follow you anything if they want you got your website or any of that and then we’ll get the strap?

Yeah, absolutely. Again, my name is Cole slate. My personal Facebook account is called slate. Our Facebook business page is slate real estate. That username is slate real estate 904 Instagram called slate My email address is cold at Slate dot real estate and our firm’s website is www dot slate dot real estate.

Appreciate it man awesome show and appreciate you guys listen other episodes of real estate marketing dude podcasts anything we could help you with script that distribute this video if you liked this concept of attracting business versus chasing it give us a call. I can’t stand chasing business and I know you can’t either and we’d love to help you start attracting it and be just like coal out here can’t build your heart and I can build the attention around your brand and make sure no one forgets about who the hell you are what you do by creating content keeping that in front of people all done for you so you can visit us a real estate marketing do.com real estate marketing comm check out some of our other products listing advocate calm and if you’re a broker owner check out our software all in one transaction management at Sweet assist.com We appreciate you guys have a good one. Thanks for the follows reviews and connect with us on social media you guys next week. Peace 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 schedule a 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.