Partner & Profit Podcast

Luke Acree runs Reminder Media, a marketing company that has helped over 160,000 small businesses stay top of mind with their database through print and digital marketing. His own real estate team is the number one midsize team in Virginia, and 54% of their deals come from referrals.

In this episode of the Partner & Profit Podcast, Grant and Luke get into why most agents are losing clients they already have, why marketing transactionally is killing relationships, and the exact playbook Luke uses to turn a database into a referral machine.

Here's what we got into:

• Why 80% of clients say they'll use their agent again but barely 13% actually do - 02:46
• Why 81% of people who left their insurance agent cited lack of regular communication - 03:19
• Why 44% of an insurance agent's database hasn't heard from their agent in 18 months - 03:19
• Why marketing transactionally destroys relationships and what to do instead - 04:52
• The 6 frequencies of marketing Luke uses with his own real estate team - 18:54
• How to ask for referrals in a way that feels natural through an item of value - 20:10
• The North Carolina agent who posts her annual goal publicly and why it works - 21:37
• Why most people do all the work to build trust and never ask - 22:24
• How to request a free sample of Reminder Media's magazine and co-feature your partners - 23:52

Connect with Luke Acree:
remindermedia.com - request a free sample of their magazine and learn how to co-feature your partners.

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Tara Limbird told her husband starting a real estate team in 2010 was an absolutely terrible idea.

He did it anyway. She came along. And together they built one of the top real estate teams in Arkansas with agents who have stayed on the team for 9 and 12 years in an industry where retention is almost unheard of.

In this episode of the Partner & Profit Podcast, Grant and Tara get into what it actually takes to build relationships that compound over time, a team that stays together, and a business that keeps growing without burning everything down trying to do everything at once.

Here's what we got into:

• Why relationships are a long play and why most agents quit before they pay off - 04:19
• Why doing everything means you're not great at anything and how to find your lane - 04:55
• How Tara keeps agents for 9 and 12 years when most teams can't hold anyone - 05:44
• Why most agents are scared to ask for business from the people who already like them - 15:35
• The iPad contest story and what it taught her about just asking - 16:35
• Why your clients should be calling you when the light bulb burns out - 17:42
• Why realtors give referrals to everyone but rarely get them back - 17:05
• How partnering with home service providers creates a new revenue stream agents are leaving on the table - 18:57

Whether you're a solo agent, team leader, or home service provider, this conversation is a reminder that the long game always wins.

Connect with Tara Lindbergh:
Find the Limbird Team on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. Looking to buy, sell or invest in Arkansas? They also offer property management and mortgage services.

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Daniel Beer didn't like his job at 23. So he ran straight into real estate, spent years making mistakes, not being in the right rooms and not understanding what he could actually build.

Then he figured it out.

He built what became eXp Realty's number one producing team across 60,000 agents. Then partnered with the team that eventually passed him. Last year Whissel Beer Group sold over 1,100 houses in San Diego.

In this episode of the Partner & Profit Podcast, Grant and Dan get into what it actually takes to build a business on relationships, why value alone never closes anything, and what the best teams in the country are doing differently.

Here's what we got into:

• How relationships with the right lenders and title partners made his business run smoother and reduced his staff - 03:52
• How Dan and Kyle Whissel went from San Diego competitors to partners at Whissel Beer Group - 04:21
• Why they started Fast Forward Movement and what a 13,000 agent network actually looks like - 05:21
• Why being a great vendor isn't enough if it doesn't match the size of the business - 00:14
• The home selling workshop story and what Dan Kennedy taught him about precise instructions - 19:28
• Why everyone's trying to get a yes and why the best move is trying to get a no - 16:24
• Why value alone is never enough and what a multi-pronged campaign actually looks like - 17:49
• How to get a free invite to Dan's weekly mastermind with $100 million to $800 million producers - 21:23

Connect with Dan Beer:
DM Dan Beer on Instagram or Facebook for a free invite to his weekly mastermind. 400 to 500 agents attend every week and it costs nothing.

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Geoff Talbot started as a veterinary surgeon, ended up in the entertainment business in the U.S., and eventually built a business using the internet to build relationships, help people tell their stories, find their audience and grow their businesses. 

In this episode of the Partner & Profit Podcast, Grant and Geoff get into how to use social media to start actual conversations and turn those conversations into relationships, clients and partnerships.

Here’s what we got into:

•  Why remembering there’s a real person on the other side of the screen matters - 01:45
•  The best and worst thing about social media being the same thing - 02:31
•  The 3 ways Geoff gets people talking through content: ask, inspire and provoke - 04:40
•  Why conversations matter more than likes and shares - 05:40
•  Why looking for the client too quickly can make you miss a bigger relationship - 11:31
•  How one strong partnership can open a lot more doors - 15:56
•  Why personal content can help you get people’s attention before talking business -18:59
•  Why personality can help you stand out as AI-generated content becomes more common - 20:53
•  How to move from a casual conversation into business naturally - 21:50

For real estate agents and business owners using social media to grow, Geoff’s approach comes back to something pretty simple: get people talking, then get good at the conversation that follows. 

Connect with Geoff Talbot:
Send him a friend request on Facebook and tell him you saw him on the show. No pitch. No agenda. He'll take it from there.

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Bill Davis spent nine years as an agent on someone else’s team before starting his own. Now 16 years into real estate, he’s built one of eXp’s top teams but the path there wasn’t quick or straightforward. 

In this episode of the Partner & Profit Podcast, Grant Wise sits down with Bill to talk about what he learned from those nine years, why chasing the commission early in his career hurt his client relationships, and what changed when he started focusing on the people instead of the transaction. 

They also get into building a stronger pipeline, focusing on fewer lead sources, client consultations, training agents, and why trying to do too many things at once can keep you from getting really good at any of them.

In this episode:

•  Why Bill spent nine years on a real estate team before building his own - 02:11
•  How chasing the commission affected his client relationships and referrals - 06:08
•  Why a deeper pipeline takes pressure off individual clients and deals - 07:15
•  The lead sources Bill’s team focuses on and why he believes less can be more - 08:44
•  Bill’s approach to client relationships and why consultations matter - 11:21
•  How one agent pushed through nearly nine months without a closing before going on to sell roughly $25 million - 14:29
•  Why Bill believes trying to do too many things can keep you from getting great at one thing - 16:54
•  Why Bill says he actually made more money as an individual agent than he does running a team - 22:57    

Bill’s story is a good reminder that real estate growth doesn’t always happen on the timeline you expect. Sometimes it’s getting good at one thing, sticking with the process when the results aren’t there yet, and building relationships instead of chasing the next commission.

Connect with Bill Davis:
Follow Bill on Instagram to connect, collaborate, or learn more about his team and the Fast Forward Movement group at eXp. 

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Nelson Quest built AgentFire from a mattress on the floor of his parents' house. No employees until 2015. Today he has thousands of clients and 80 employees.

But this conversation isn't really about that.

In this episode of Partner & Profit podcast, Grant and Nelson get into what most business conversations avoid entirely. The loss of authenticity in a world drowning in AI content, why people can feel inauthenticity even when they can't pinpoint it, and what it actually takes to show up as a real person in business today.

Here's what we got into:

• Why social media has become the furthest thing from social - 03:25
• Why copying and pasting AI content is automating you out of real relationships - 04:18
• Nelson's personal shift from self-focused to service-focused after becoming a father to twins - 04:53
• Why getting really good at something is the only path to discovering who you actually are - 06:10
• Why people are afraid to be themselves online and what to do about it - 17:00
• How to get to a point where people receive you the way you intend - 17:55
• Why you can feel inauthenticity even when you cannot explain it - 19:20
• Why being uncomfortable in the right ways is still the move - 22:13

Whether you're in real estate, home services, or any relationship driven business, this conversation is a reminder that the most powerful thing you can do right now is just be a real person.

Connect with Nelson Quest:
Facebook: facebook.com/ImNelsonQuest
Website: agentfire.com

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Aaron Wuthrich once got a lead, called them within minutes, and got told to stop calling. That's what happens when you're one of ten companies bidding on the same purchased lead.

In this episode of the Partner & Profit Podcast, Grant Wise talks with Aaron, owner of Absolute Moving and Delivery out of Calgary, Alberta, about the difference between chasing bought leads and building real referral partnerships. Aaron's company has pulled in 28 leads from a single real estate team, Justin Havre's group, one of the top teams in Calgary, and he breaks down exactly what it takes to build and keep a referral relationship like that, from showing up every week to knowing which crew to send out so you never embarrass the person who recommended you.

Here's what we got into:

• Aaron's path from working as a contractor for other people to running Absolute Moving and Delivery 100% independently - 00:56
• Why buying leads from platforms means competing with an unknown number of other companies, and the time a customer told him to stop calling because she'd already gotten 10 other calls - 05:18
• The real story behind how his partnership with the Justin Havre's real estate team started - 03:02
• Why staying "top of mind" and showing up to every weekly meeting matters more than being the cheapest option - 04:22
• What happens when you put your "C team" on a job that came from a trusted referral, and why that's the fastest way to lose the whole relationship - 09:06
• Whether the math actually works on co-marketing partnerships compared to paying for leads the traditional way - 11:17
• His advice for any home service company wondering if partnering with real estate agents is worth the time and effort - 12:20

Whether you're in home services, real estate, or any relationship-driven business, this conversation is a real look at why referral partnerships tend to beat paid leads, and what it actually takes to keep them alive.

Connect with Aaron Wuthrich:
Aaron and Absolute Moving and Delivery serve Calgary, Edmonton, and all of Alberta, plus long-distance moves across Western Canada. He's open to connecting with any realtors or home service providers interested in co-marketing or referral partnerships.

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Real estate sales, communication and trust-building take center stage in this episode with Renee Funk, co-founder of The Funk Collection in Orlando, Florida, and a sales communication coach who trains real estate agents and teams across the country.

In this episode of the Partner & Profit Podcast, Grant Wise sits down with Renee to unpack what most agents get wrong the second they walk into a listing appointment, and why the ones who slow down and get curious end up winning the business anyway. Renee shares a real story from her own team where an agent talked a seller OUT of listing, and still walked away with a glowing review. She also breaks down the four real factors that drive someone to buy, sell, or hire you.

Here's what we got into:

• Why Renee said no to real estate for years before finally getting licensed, and what changed her mind - 00:59
• The industry's habit of showing off trophies and cars instead of the truth, and why that's hurting agents more than helping -  05:28
• The 4 real factors that make someone actually value working with a real estate agent, according to her mentor Phil M. Jones - 09:21
• Why "explaining your value proposition" is a trap most real estate agents fall into without realizing it - 09:21
• The listing consultation where an agent told a seller not to sell, and got a 5-star review for it anyway - 20:13
• Why nearly 51% of U.S. mortgages are still under 4%, and what that means for how agents should be talking to sellers in 2026 - 23:39
• The trust recession happening right now because of AI, and what real estate agents need to do differently to stay human - 16:46
• Renee's one rule for turning relationships into revenue: own the relationship, not the transaction - 17:35

If you're in real estate, sales, or any relationship-driven business, this conversation will change how you walk into your next client conversation.

Connect with Renee Funk:
Find her on Instagram at @renee_funk. DM her the word "exactly" and she'll send you her Exactly What to Say field guide for real estate agents.

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Isaiah Colton's AI agent made 671 phone calls in two hours. It booked 7 appointments, and the follow-up alone generated dozens of additional inbound calls, at a fraction of the cost of a traditional outbound sales team.

In this episode of the Partner & Profit Podcast, Grant Wise sits down with Isaiah, a 14-year real estate veteran who built and exited a brokerage before founding an AI-powered digital marketing and consulting firm. Isaiah breaks down what it actually looks like to run agentic AI agents inside a real business today, not chatbots or simple tools, but autonomous AI employees handling lead generation, lead conversion, and operational efficiency at scale.

Here's what we got into:

• Isaiah's path from building a 200-plus agent brokerage to exiting in 2019 and launching an AI-powered consulting firm - 01:00
• Why an AI agent that's upfront about being AI often builds deeper trust than a human salesperson would - 08:10
• The real risk of companies training AI to lie about being human, and why that damages trust for everyone else - 07:24
• An AI agent's real call results: 671 calls in 2 hours, 7 appointments, and a wave of inbound callbacks - 05:30
• The Utah agent who set a $1.2 million listing appointment while standing in Sam's Club, thanks to an AI whisper-mode alert - 13:53
• Why Isaiah believes the old "rule of 100" hustle-culture advice is already becoming obsolete - 25:31
• How his own company went from needing roughly 70 people to running the same operation with 27 to 30, purely from AI agents - 21:20
• The story of an AI agent that helped a land deal come together, saving $10,000 in research costs and setting up a potential $500,000 to $700,000 profit - 21:53
• Why Isaiah thinks 2027 will be the year most industries, including real estate, finally catch up to what this technology can already do - 22:40

Whether you're curious about AI, skeptical of it or already trying to figure out how to use it in your own business, this conversation lays out real numbers and real use cases, not just theory.

Connect with Isaiah Colton:
Visit R.E.N. AI to explore free tools, request a demo, or learn more about the REN360's AI service.

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Five and a half years ago, Koby Sway's real estate team had about 10 agents doing roughly 300 units a year. Today, that same team runs four separate businesses, real estate, mortgage, insurance, and title, with 60 agents closing around 1,000 units annually.

In this episode of the Partner & Profit Podcast, Grant Wise sits down with Koby Sway of the Briley Team to unpack how a former 20-year corporate America veteran (AT&T, Best Buy, Verizon) applied lessons from the customer service world most people love to hate, and used them to build a completely vertically integrated real estate business. Koby breaks down why he decided to stop handing leads to outside vendors, what it actually takes to obsess over customer experience at scale, and why he believes AI will make agents more efficient, but only the ones who stay genuinely human will survive what's coming next.

Here's what we got into:

• Koby's path from 20 years in corporate America to joining the Briley Team about 5.5 years ago, and how the team grew from 10 agents to 60 - 00:49
• Why he built out mortgage, insurance, and title as extensions of the real estate business, and the moment he realized leads were quietly walking out the door - 01:52
• Why customer experience became an obsession, drawing directly from his years at AT&T, Best Buy, and Verizon - 06:02
• The uncomfortable stat that 70% of real estate agents are part-time and sell fewer than 3 houses a year - 07:18
• How the parallels between corporate customer service failures and real estate translate into more reviews and more referrals - 08:04
• Why he compares a real estate transaction to getting married, and what that means for how realtors should actually build relationships - 14:49
• Where Koby thinks AI is taking the real estate industry, and the risk of agents automating themselves right out of being human - 16:27
• His simple advice for anyone who wants to connect with him directly, and why he offers his time so freely - 20:48

Whether you're building a real estate team, thinking about adding ancillary services, or just trying to figure out how AI fits into a relationship-driven business, this conversation is full of hard-earned, practical perspective.

Connect with Koby Sway:
Find him on Facebook and Instagram, or reach out directly, he's happy to give you a few minutes by call or text.

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