Real Estate Uncensored - Real Estate Sales & Marketing Training Podcast

Many agents believe that having a database of thousands of people makes them successful, but they mistakenly focus on quantity over quality. What makes a database more likely to lead to more transactions? How do we properly classify a lead, and what should we be doing to stand out from every other agent? On this episode, Beverly Ruffner is back to talk about common database mistakes agents make, and the simple but effective ways to correct them.

In real estate, it’s tough to build a competitive advantage that withstands somebody else being more convenient. -Matt Johnson

Three Takeaways

Why a database isn’t enough

A database is great but it can just be a glorified phone book of names, phone numbers and emails. You want a database that is organized so you know every person you’ve ever spoken to and exactly what their situation is and why they are buying.

Why a list of names doesn’t automatically mean more business

There’s no exclusivity with online leads, and even with your database. Every lead that is in an your database is in at least 3 other databases of your competitors. No one is going to do business with you out of loyalty. What they care about is you being convenient. Your goal should be to position yourself to be convenient when they are looking.

Leads vs. respondents

Online respondents should not be confused with a lead. A lead is when you’ve built a relationship and there’s a level of trust between you and the person. A respondent is just someone who took action on an ad.

The assets of a real estate company are the relationships you have and your systems. A database without any real, detailed information about why they want to buy or sell or when is really just a list of names and numbers. In order for our databases to actually move the needle for our business, having the conversations that give us information is key. You need to aim to be different from everyone else by actually putting effort into regular communication. Even with the best brand, if you don’t have a strong database, your business won’t survive any shift on the horizon.

Guest Bio

Beverly Ruffler is the CEO/Founder of Balance Business Consulting and real estate team owner licensed in Virginia. Go to https://www.balancebusinessconsulting.com/ for more information.

Real estate agents around the country are dealing with the issue of low inventory. How do we generate ‘Come List Me’ calls in this climate? Who do we need to hire to help with referrals and why? How can we use events to encourage referrals? In this episode, Josh Anderson joins us to talk about about shifting how we do certain things so that we can generate a consistent stream of referrals.

We got more intentional about reviews and, different from everyone else in the real estate agency, we started using Google reviews focusing on local business. –Josh Anderson

Three Takeaways

How to deal with low inventory

When we run out of inventory, we need to be proactive. By shifting our lead generation towards agents who have properties coming onto the market that aren’t out yet, we can get ahead of property listings. Our relationships with agents are important and we need to maintain them.

Who we need to hire and why

2019 is the year of video and we need to keep with where the market is going whilst filling a gap within that. Hiring a marketing professional who specializes in social media platforms like Instagram and resources like video is an asset to our team. 

Tailoring events for referrals

Hosting events helps us get referrals when it caters to the client and when it’s something they look forward to attending. If your clients are married and have children, a catered event at home would work much better than after-work drinks.

We need to be proactive about the shifts we make so that we can address the issue of low inventory in real estate. Maintaining relationships with agents, making hiring decisions that align with the current market and hosting events that cater specifically to our clients are ways in which we can increase referrals and, by extension, grow our inventory. We should also focus some effort on encouraging reviews as they can take on the function of referrals. Through harnessing these overlooked spaces, we can tackle the issue of low inventory and our businesses can thrive.

Guest Bio

Josh is the owner of The Anderson Group Real Estate Services and Nashville’s most trusted realtor, is ranked in the Top 1000 Real Estate Agents in North America by the Wall Street Journal and consistently ranked in the Top 10 Keller Williams Southeast Region Groups for monthly closed volume. He is a business savvy professional with a strong desire to cater to his clients' particular needs. Josh is skilled in Negotiation, Luxury Goods, Budgeting, Sales, and Entrepreneurship and has a BS focused in International Business/Trade/Commerce from Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College. His market expertise coupled with his superior negotiating skills set him apart from the rest. For more information visit http://www.joshandersonrealestate.com or email [email protected]. You can also connect with him on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/nashvillesrealtor/.   

Rockstar Agent Marketing Toolkit - Featuring our favorite scripts, tutorials and quickstart guides to marketing strategies like Facebook Live, door-knocking, remarketing advertising, open houses and referrals. Get actionable ideas and tactics you can use in your career right NOW.

Real estate agents around the country are dealing with the issue of low inventory. How do we generate ‘Come List Me’ calls in this climate? Who do we need to hire to help with referrals and why? How can we use events to encourage referrals? In this episode, Josh Anderson joins us to talk about about shifting how we do certain things so that we can generate a consistent stream of referrals.

We got more intentional about reviews and, different from everyone else in the real estate agency, we started using Google reviews focusing on local business. –Josh Anderson

Three Takeaways

How to deal with low inventory

When we run out of inventory, we need to be proactive. By shifting our lead generation towards agents who have properties coming onto the market that aren’t out yet, we can get ahead of property listings. Our relationships with agents are important and we need to maintain them.

Who we need to hire and why

2019 is the year of video and we need to keep with where the market is going whilst filling a gap within that. Hiring a marketing professional who specializes in social media platforms like Instagram and resources like video is an asset to our team. 

Tailoring events for referrals

Hosting events helps us get referrals when it caters to the client and when it’s something they look forward to attending. If your clients are married and have children, a catered event at home would work much better than after-work drinks.

We need to be proactive about the shifts we make so that we can address the issue of low inventory in real estate. Maintaining relationships with agents, making hiring decisions that align with the current market and hosting events that cater specifically to our clients are ways in which we can increase referrals and, by extension, grow our inventory. We should also focus some effort on encouraging reviews as they can take on the function of referrals. Through harnessing these overlooked spaces, we can tackle the issue of low inventory and our businesses can thrive.

Guest Bio

Josh is the owner of The Anderson Group Real Estate Services and Nashville’s most trusted realtor, is ranked in the Top 1000 Real Estate Agents in North America by the Wall Street Journal and consistently ranked in the Top 10 Keller Williams Southeast Region Groups for monthly closed volume. He is a business savvy professional with a strong desire to cater to his clients' particular needs. Josh is skilled in Negotiation, Luxury Goods, Budgeting, Sales, and Entrepreneurship and has a BS focused in International Business/Trade/Commerce from Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College. His market expertise coupled with his superior negotiating skills set him apart from the rest. For more information visit http://www.joshandersonrealestate.com or email [email protected]. You can also connect with him on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/nashvillesrealtor/.   

Rockstar Agent Marketing Toolkit - Featuring our favorite scripts, tutorials and quickstart guides to marketing strategies like Facebook Live, door-knocking, remarketing advertising, open houses and referrals. Get actionable ideas and tactics you can use in your career right NOW.

One thing that sets us back as real estate agents is that we’re quick to embrace new technologies, apps and platform in our daily lives, but reluctant to use them in our businesses. What are some of the things we should be paying more attention to? Why does candid video beat polished, professional, over-produced stuff? How do we balance the entertainment factor in our content with the educational factor? On this episode, The Zillow Killer, James Rembert, and Gene Volpe talk about changes to Facebook, tools and strategies we should be leveraging to be more relevant to our audiences.

Agents aren’t failing because there’s a lack of leads, their failing because of obscurity. -James Rembert

Three Takeaways

Why Instagram and Facebook stories matter

Make sure your content strategy includes anything that can keep the consumer or create content natively on the app or platform. This is the real power of Stories and how you can leverage them to be more relevant.

Perfection doesn’t sell anymore  

6 years ago the people we admired on social media were the ones that were perfect. Now we’re looking for imperfection, vulnerability and honesty because that’s relatable to us. Social media has made us more available, so we know that it’s not realistic for someone to be polished all the time.

The huge opportunity with messenger bots

Messenger bots are a force to be reckoned with in the marketing game, and other channels pale in comparison. At its highest, email has an open rate of 23% while messenger bots have up to a 97% open rate.

Digital is an enhancement of everything we do, we have to embrace it. When we think of social media to generate leads and grow our database, we have to look at it through the lens of a business. Advertising and marketing are the lifeblood of our business, they are the key to us becoming rock stars in our local markets. That means committing to creating good content which is relevant and relatable because that’s what audiences are responding to. Ultimately, if you’re not generating conversations on social media, your strategy is outdated.

Guest Bio

James Rembert is the Zillow Killer. Using Facebook, he provides marketing solutions to real estate agents who want to get high-quality leads without investing large amounts of money in platforms like Zillow. You can find out more about James and his work at http://www.jamesrembert.com/.

 
Rockstar Agent Marketing Toolkit - Featuring our favorite scripts, tutorials and quickstart guides to marketing strategies like Facebook Live, door-knocking, remarketing

One thing that sets us back as real estate agents is that we’re quick to embrace new technologies, apps and platform in our daily lives, but reluctant to use them in our businesses. What are some of the things we should be paying more attention to? Why does candid video beat polished, professional, over-produced stuff? How do we balance the entertainment factor in our content with the educational factor? On this episode, The Zillow Killer, James Rembert, and Gene Volpe talk about changes to Facebook, tools and strategies we should be leveraging to be more relevant to our audiences.

Agents aren’t failing because there’s a lack of leads, their failing because of obscurity. -James Rembert

Three Takeaways

Why Instagram and Facebook stories matter

Make sure your content strategy includes anything that can keep the consumer or create content natively on the app or platform. This is the real power of Stories and how you can leverage them to be more relevant.

Perfection doesn’t sell anymore  

6 years ago the people we admired on social media were the ones that were perfect. Now we’re looking for imperfection, vulnerability and honesty because that’s relatable to us. Social media has made us more available, so we know that it’s not realistic for someone to be polished all the time.

The huge opportunity with messenger bots

Messenger bots are a force to be reckoned with in the marketing game, and other channels pale in comparison. At its highest, email has an open rate of 23% while messenger bots have up to a 97% open rate.

Digital is an enhancement of everything we do, we have to embrace it. When we think of social media to generate leads and grow our database, we have to look at it through the lens of a business. Advertising and marketing are the lifeblood of our business, they are the key to us becoming rock stars in our local markets. That means committing to creating good content which is relevant and relatable because that’s what audiences are responding to. Ultimately, if you’re not generating conversations on social media, your strategy is outdated.

Guest Bio

James Rembert is the Zillow Killer. Using Facebook, he provides marketing solutions to real estate agents who want to get high-quality leads without investing large amounts of money in platforms like Zillow. You can find out more about James and his work at http://www.jamesrembert.com/.

 
Rockstar Agent Marketing Toolkit - Featuring our favorite scripts, tutorials and quickstart guides to marketing strategies like Facebook Live, door-knocking, remarketing

When it comes to branding and building up your credibility with buyers and sellers in your market, there is nothing as powerful as a book. What are some of the prospecting problems that are solved by writing a book? What’s a quick and easy way to write a book? How can you leverage the book once it’s completed? On this episode, top Dallas Realtor, Chris Bentley is back to talk about how he used books to brand himself.

Anyone who knows how to deliver a structured listing presentation has a book inside of them, you just don’t know it. -Matt Johnson  

Three Takeaways

The key thing about writing a book is just getting the basic ideas out of your head and onto paper. Don’t worry too much about how long it will be when you’re just getting started.

If you have a structured listing presentation, you can do a recording of it, and get it transcribed into a book.

There are a lot of ways to solve objections that come up in appointment. We can handle them with our words, or take care of them way in advance with a book.

For most agents the ideas of writing a book is immensely overwhelming and intimidating because it feels like a major time commitment, but it doesn’t have to be. It can actually boost your credibility in a way other types of content don’t. If you write a book on a subject, people are going to assume that you know a lot about it, and that will make any appointment and listing presentation run so much smoother, and make it more likely that you’ll get that client.

Guest Bio

Chris is an award-winning agent and author based in Dallas, Texas. As one of Dallas' most aggressive real estate magnates in the making, Chris is quickly growing into one of the most popular people on social media. Through his social media posts and videos, we're able to experience what's it's like to be a Realtor®. His achievements to date include being voted in 2017 and 2018 D Magazine's Best Realtor® and being 4x Multi-Million Dollar Producer. Go to https://chrisdbentley.com/ for more information and follow @ChrisDBentley on LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter. To find him on Facebook, go to https://www.facebook.com/Chris.D.Bentley.Realtor/.

Rockstar Agent Marketing Toolkit - Featuring our favorite scripts, tutorials and quickstart guides to marketing strategies like Facebook Live, door-knocking, remarketing advertising, open houses and referrals. Get actionable ideas and tactics you can use in your career right NOW.

When it comes to branding and building up your credibility with buyers and sellers in your market, there is nothing as powerful as a book. What are some of the prospecting problems that are solved by writing a book? What’s a quick and easy way to write a book? How can you leverage the book once it’s completed? On this episode, top Dallas Realtor, Chris Bentley is back to talk about how he used books to brand himself.

Anyone who knows how to deliver a structured listing presentation has a book inside of them, you just don’t know it. -Matt Johnson  

Three Takeaways

The key thing about writing a book is just getting the basic ideas out of your head and onto paper. Don’t worry too much about how long it will be when you’re just getting started.

If you have a structured listing presentation, you can do a recording of it, and get it transcribed into a book.

There are a lot of ways to solve objections that come up in appointment. We can handle them with our words, or take care of them way in advance with a book.

For most agents the ideas of writing a book is immensely overwhelming and intimidating because it feels like a major time commitment, but it doesn’t have to be. It can actually boost your credibility in a way other types of content don’t. If you write a book on a subject, people are going to assume that you know a lot about it, and that will make any appointment and listing presentation run so much smoother, and make it more likely that you’ll get that client.

Guest Bio

Chris is an award-winning agent and author based in Dallas, Texas. As one of Dallas' most aggressive real estate magnates in the making, Chris is quickly growing into one of the most popular people on social media. Through his social media posts and videos, we're able to experience what's it's like to be a Realtor®. His achievements to date include being voted in 2017 and 2018 D Magazine's Best Realtor® and being 4x Multi-Million Dollar Producer. Go to https://chrisdbentley.com/ for more information and follow @ChrisDBentley on LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter. To find him on Facebook, go to https://www.facebook.com/Chris.D.Bentley.Realtor/.

Rockstar Agent Marketing Toolkit - Featuring our favorite scripts, tutorials and quickstart guides to marketing strategies like Facebook Live, door-knocking, remarketing advertising, open houses and referrals. Get actionable ideas and tactics you can use in your career right NOW.

For many agents, buying leads online has stopped yielding the results it used to, so they have to completely shift their lead generation. What are some of the reasons for the drop in online lead ROI? Why did our guest choose to double down on branding himself? How does he use social media and podcast interviews to build his credibility? On this episode, Dallas top agent, Chris Bentley, shares on the cautionary tale of relying on buying leads, and how to lean into building a brand.

The value of being interviewed on a podcast that is for the industry is it’s a super credible link to your website. -Matt Johnson

Three Takeaways

The Problem With Buying Leads Now

When you buy leads online through Google PPC, a lot of agents go into it thinking that it’s going to turn over very quickly, or at the very least, that they can cherry pick the top leads, but it doesn’t work that way. People are registering for multiple sites, and they are starting their home search online way earlier than we see them, so we might not even be able to get business.

Why going away from the bandwagon can get you more attention

Most people jump on the bandwagon and refuse to do the opposite of what everyone else is doing. The problem is their voice gets lost among the other thousands of people on the same bandwagon.

How to use LinkedIn to target luxury buyers

If you’re targeting luxury listings, LinkedIn is a great place to post really eye-catching photos. High level executives and luxury buyers spend most of their time on LinkedIn, and they don’t just use it after work or on weekends as they do with Facebook and Instagram.

How to generate content that builds credibility  

You don’t just want to have a couple of lines come up when someone Googles you. You want there to be a ton of content because it makes you a lot more credible, and that makes you stand out. 

Through the experience Chris had, the cautionary tale is you have to build up a brand before you do anything else. For a multitude of reasons, the dynamic with buying online leads has massively shifted to the point where it doesn’t make business sense anymore. Having a strong brand in your local area and being micro-famous will yield more results over and over again, and your business will be less affected by shifts and changes online and in the market.  

Guest Bio

Chris is an award-winning agent and author based in Dallas, Texas. As one of Dallas' most aggressive real estate magnates in the making, Chris is quickly growing into one of the most popular people on social media. Through his social media posts and videos, we're able to experience what's it's like to be a Realtor®. His achievements to date include being voted in 2017 and 2018 D Magazine's Best Realtor® and being 4x Multi-Million Dollar Producer. Go to https://chrisdbentley.com/ for more information and follow @ChrisDBentley on LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter. To find him on Facebook, go to https://www.facebook.com/Chris.D.Bentley.Realtor/.

Rockstar Agent Marketing Toolkit - Featuring our favorite scripts, tutorials and quickstart guides to marketing strategies like Facebook Live, door-knocking, remarketing advertising, open houses and referrals. Get actionable ideas and tactics you can use in your career right NOW.

For many agents, buying leads online has stopped yielding the results it used to, so they have to completely shift their lead generation. What are some of the reasons for the drop in online lead ROI? Why did our guest choose to double down on branding himself? How does he use social media and podcast interviews to build his credibility? On this episode, Dallas top agent, Chris Bentley, shares on the cautionary tale of relying on buying leads, and how to lean into building a brand.

The value of being interviewed on a podcast that is for the industry is it’s a super credible link to your website. -Matt Johnson

Three Takeaways

The Problem With Buying Leads Now

When you buy leads online through Google PPC, a lot of agents go into it thinking that it’s going to turn over very quickly, or at the very least, that they can cherry pick the top leads, but it doesn’t work that way. People are registering for multiple sites, and they are starting their home search online way earlier than we see them, so we might not even be able to get business.

Why going away from the bandwagon can get you more attention

Most people jump on the bandwagon and refuse to do the opposite of what everyone else is doing. The problem is their voice gets lost among the other thousands of people on the same bandwagon.

How to use LinkedIn to target luxury buyers

If you’re targeting luxury listings, LinkedIn is a great place to post really eye-catching photos. High level executives and luxury buyers spend most of their time on LinkedIn, and they don’t just use it after work or on weekends as they do with Facebook and Instagram.

How to generate content that builds credibility  

You don’t just want to have a couple of lines come up when someone Googles you. You want there to be a ton of content because it makes you a lot more credible, and that makes you stand out. 

Through the experience Chris had, the cautionary tale is you have to build up a brand before you do anything else. For a multitude of reasons, the dynamic with buying online leads has massively shifted to the point where it doesn’t make business sense anymore. Having a strong brand in your local area and being micro-famous will yield more results over and over again, and your business will be less affected by shifts and changes online and in the market.  

Guest Bio

Chris is an award-winning agent and author based in Dallas, Texas. As one of Dallas' most aggressive real estate magnates in the making, Chris is quickly growing into one of the most popular people on social media. Through his social media posts and videos, we're able to experience what's it's like to be a Realtor®. His achievements to date include being voted in 2017 and 2018 D Magazine's Best Realtor® and being 4x Multi-Million Dollar Producer. Go to https://chrisdbentley.com/ for more information and follow @ChrisDBentley on LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter. To find him on Facebook, go to https://www.facebook.com/Chris.D.Bentley.Realtor/.

Rockstar Agent Marketing Toolkit - Featuring our favorite scripts, tutorials and quickstart guides to marketing strategies like Facebook Live, door-knocking, remarketing advertising, open houses and referrals. Get actionable ideas and tactics you can use in your career right NOW.

People often let ego guide them into expansion prematurely. There are several things that need to be considered when growing a successful and profitable business that has room to expand. How do we hire people who are capable of handling business growth? How do we know when our business can expand successfully? How do we grow and maintain our profit margins? In this episode, Aaron Rian shares his knowledge of and experience in expanding his real estate business.

It doesn’t make sense to go into another market until every market that you’re in is running tight, making the margin, and is profitable. –Aaron Rian

Three Takeaways

Hire people based on where you see your business going

Hire staff who have the capacity to deal with where you want your business to go, not where you’re at today. When you hire people to deal with your current capacity only, they often can’t keep up when growth starts to happen. The most important thing to look for in people is who can handle the growth and leadership of the business into the new markets as you expand.

How to know when expanding is a good idea

Expansion should only be a consideration when you have a consistent 55-65% profit margin for at least 12 months. You must know your numbers, from your top agent to your newest hire, and keep track of what’s being brought in and what you’re paying to support your employees. If you’re not meeting that margin or paying attention to your balance sheet, you won’t be able to expand successfully and run a profitable model.

How to grow your profit margin

When your profit margin is not hitting the mark, you need to decrease your expenses. Examine your numbers carefully, see where you’re bleeding money and either try to get that back or lose that part of your business. You should also know where your ROIs are and focus on what’s bringing in the best return. Don’t make the mistake of trying to expand when your main hub isn’t profitable to the level that it makes sense to operate as a business.

Expansion is a tough but rewarding game to play. It starts with having a healthy business and then figuring out which parts of it are reproducible in other places. It forces us to pay attention to systems in our business and to look inward and consider the construction of our team. To expand and be profitable, our business must have people who can grow with it and a profit margin that enables successful expansion.

Guest Bio

Aaron is the Founder and Operating Principle of The Brokerage House, home to a multi-million-dollar team and currently expanding cross-country. The company is currently the number one real estate team by sold volume and number of transactions in the local market, as reported by the Wall Street Journal. In Aaron’s seven plus years as a real estate agent, he has been a Top One Percent Metro Realtor and a Multi-Million Dollar Sales Producer. Aaron also won back-to-back-to-back “Top Real Estate Agent” awards from the Portland Monthly magazine in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017 and was recently added to the “Registry of Business Excellence™” by America’s Registry of Outstanding Professionals organization. He has appeared in national publications such as “USA Today” and “The Wall Street Journal”, and was recently featured in “Top Agent Magazine”. Aaron is a regular expert on KATU’s AM Northwest Talk Show and has appeared on several television networks including HGTV, CNBC, CNN and Bravo. His first book, “Out Front: The Art of Closing a Deal”, was sold on Amazon.com and made the best-selling authors list. Aaron and his team are on track to close over 650 transactions with a value of nearly 250 million dollars in volume in 2018. For more information visit https://www.thebrokeragerealtors.com or email [email protected]. You can also connect with Aaron on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaronrian/.  

Rockstar Agent Marketing Toolkit - Featuring our favorite scripts, tutorials and quickstart guides to marketing strategies like Facebook Live, door-knocking, remarketing advertising, open houses and referrals. Get actionable ideas and tactics you can use in your career right NOW.