Real Estate Uncensored - Real Estate Sales & Marketing Training Podcast

Technological advancements scare us. What if we will be replaced? Should we look at new tools as helpers or enemies? Will administrative work be mostly replaced by AI? How will technology impact the way people socialize? In this episode, Gene Volpe shares his insights on how agents will be forced to embrace the technology or get left behind.

I don’t think we are really that far off that day of Alexa taking care of initial stages of buyer consultations. -Matt Johnson

Three Things We Learned

Google assistant might replace some of the admin work

Some assistant and admin work might disappear because Google is working on an assistant that will speak to service providers, clients, etc. Alexa is also not far behind from dealing with the initial stages of buyer consultations.

Adobe Capture CC takes photos of designs and saves the font and colors

If you’ve ever had someone design a brochure, you know how hard it is to recreate it. First you have to look for a similar font and then you need to pinpoint the right color. Adobe Capture CC helps you find both the font and the color just by taking a photo of a design you like.

Social media will be a shield against direct contact

Nobody answers to phone numbers they don’t know anymore, but everyone reads their texts. Social media will work as a shield between aggressive salespeople who want to push their services and prospects. You will no longer give a phone call unless the prospect gives you their contact information and is ready to move to the next stage.

Technological changes will force real estate agents to go full-time and learn more about technology and how people want to be contacted. Some people may lose their jobs, but those who learn how to use technology as tools to sell more and make their lives easier will thrive.

Tools such as Google Assistant and Alexa will only get better in time, but they won’t be able to replace human contact.

Converting leads over the phone is getting harder and harder. But why does this happen? Do people no longer want to be contacted over the phone? What is the best platform to be on right now as a real estate agent or team leader? On this episode, we discuss the death of phone prospecting in the near future and the rise of social media.

Now we are starting to use the phone as an insular so we don’t have to talk with the people we don’t know. -Matt Johnson

Three Things We Learned

Prospect on the right platform

Newer platforms make people more open and willing to look at content published by strangers. Facebook has already become a place where it’s harder to go viral and create business accounts that thrive. The reason behind this is that it’s users are more interested in the posts of their friends and family as opposed to content pushed by businesses. Instagram is now the platform where you should be promoting your business. It’s both new and popular enough to expose your content to a large audience.

Calling prospects will disappear in the near future

Calling prospects will either become illegal or it will no longer be culturally accepted. Most people don’t pick up the phone if they don’t know who is calling. Social media, on the other hand, is a safer way to interact. Platforms like Instagram attract through their novelty, and they don’t make people uncomfortable either.

Don’t ask people to buy from you

Nobody wants to be sold to. As a result, messages where you ask people to contact you if they need your services rarely work. Focus on building rapport first. You can’t ask for somebody’s trust and hard earned money if they don’t know who you are and what you do.

People are attracted to novelty. In the past, we were more open to picking up the phone and interacting with strangers. Today, we are no longer comfortable speaking with people we don’t know. Social media platforms are the same. In the beginning, we are attracted by its novelty and are more open to connecting with strangers. As time passes, we are less likely to connect with people outside our family, friends, and business contacts. Platforms like Instagram, where there is still novelty, are the places to go and push content to promote yourself.

Negotiating skills are something that you can’t survive without in this industry. But who are the people you shouldn’t try to negotiate with? Is there a subtle way to market yourself to home sellers? How do you kick start negotiations with expired listings? In this episode, we answer questions on how to become a better negotiator.

We can say pretty firmly that 1 to 2% of the purchase price is at stake during the negotiation phase. -Matt Johnson.

Three Things We Learned

Don’t waste your time with sellers who overestimate the value of their home

There are some sellers out there that can’t be convinced that their home is worth less than their estimate, no matter how many market reports you show them.

Many agents hope that after the demand is increased and the price of the home will go up, the home will be easier to sell. Unfortunately, these type of sellers keep an eye on the market again and if the prices go up, they will overestimate their home once again.

Share your marketing plan

Give them a peek into what you do to sell homes. If you are a good writer, make a brochure with some surprising or little-known ways you can sell a house. This way, you don’t push your services but you give them a taste of what the whole process looks like.

How to approach expired listings and for sale by owner

The best way to approach expired listings and FSBOs is to go to their house and bringing information of value. It could be a report about the current state of the market, an estimate regarding the repairs that can be done, etc. The idea behind this to show that you are there to help them out, not necessarily to take the listing.

A poor negotiator can’t survive in the real estate world, where everything is based on interactions between sellers and buyers. The agent is in between it all and has to make sure both sides don’t compromise too much, so much so that they would lose interest in the deal. Even a slowed down process can cause the loss of large amounts of money. As an agent you have to be persuasive enough to convince buyer to make the move now. Otherwise, the homeowner may have another mortgage payment to make next week.

From digital marketing tactics, to door knocking, every agent chases the same thing- the listing. But how can you stand out when the competition is fierce and often times more experienced? How do you attract buyers before the home hits the market and how can you stand out at a listing presentation? In this episode, bestselling author and top agent, Ray Wood, shares his tactics for winning listings.

The gestation time when somebody thinks about selling and until they actually get the market is give or take, the average time, 12 months.- Ray Wood

Three Things We Learned

Use direct mail to let attract buyers

Send out mail asking if someone is interested in buying a certain house before it even hits the market. This will not only help you get buyers easily but also show people who want to sell in the future how active you are in the area.

Go door knocking if you want to crack a new area

Door knocking works even against experienced agents as long as you come with news and information that others will find useful. Don’t be aggressive about it, just inform everyone about the average home prices of the market, ask them if they want to find the value of their home and so on.

Don’t go only after the sale

Many agents pay attention only to seller who want to sell now. But what about the home owners who want to sell one year from now? The gestation time from thinking about selling your property to actually getting it on the market is around 12 months. So if someone is coming on the market in 12 months why you wouldn’t want to give them any attention?

If you are just entering the house of the homeowner and getting to look around and give them an estimate, you won’t stand out. They will decide if they want to work with your based on your commission only. Have a talk with the seller before you start looking around the house. Ask them directly what are the things an agent can do to serve them better. What are their motivations? Also, make sure you provide free value to get tap into the law of reciprocity as well. It could be in the form of a free professional photo shooting of their home or a free estimate of repairments that need to be done from a professional.

Guest Bio

Ray Wood is a 4th generation of real estate agents, an serial entrepreneur, bestselling author and podcast host. He is currently involved in Jigglar ( a creative marketing tool for real estate agents), LockenOn.com ( real estate software) and Online Real Estate Coach. Go to http://onlinerealestatecoach.com/downloads to get some great content.

Your business is just a small part of a bigger puzzle. The way you think about life, about your own potential and capacities, is all expressed in the way you handle your business as well. But what do you when your own mind stands in the way of succeeding? What happens when you don’t really know what you want, what your goals are, and how to reach them? Is criticism and loneliness at times part of the journey? In this episode, Kathleen Black shares the tactics she uses on her coaching clients to help them succeed.

Sacrificing for success is usually not one of the things that we think that are bad for us. It’s giving up the good in favor of the great. -Matt Johnson

Three Things We Learned

Write down your goals as detailed as possible

The purpose of writing down your goals is to find two things: your own idea of success and the roadmap to get there. You will be surprised how many roads lead to the accomplishment of your goal. Experiment and find what works for you.

Sacrifice the good to achieve the great

One of the biggest mental roadblocks is the idea that sacrifice is deprivation. When you don’t feel deprived, there is nothing to sacrifice. But the truth is that you often will have to sacrifice the good, your comfort zone, to achieve the great.

Be ready to face criticism and loneliness

Whether we like it or not, some people don’t want us to succeed. This would be only a reminder for them that they settled for less. Many times you will face criticism from your family and friends for not taking the “traditional” route, the route they took. Using positive affirmations and reviewing your goals daily will help you cope and focus on the things that matter to you.

What if you could travel into the future and see yourself succeeding? Letter of the future is a visualization process for an ideal future. You write a letter back to yourself as if it happened the way you wanted and encourage your present self to keep on going. Depending on your goals, you can write letters like this with 1, 5 or 10 years of vision statements. Seal the letter and read it when after 1 to 5 years, depending on how you determine your vision for the future. The goal of this exercise is to give you a taste of your own success and to keep you motivated to reach it.

Guest Bio

Kathleen Black is a top coach and team leader. Over 80% of her agents are in top 1% nationally. She was featured on Entrepreneur magazine, ABC , NBC and Fox News. You can find more about her at https://kathleenspeaks.com/

Building a team is more than giving them leads and the access to technology. How do you help your team stay on top of things and continue to be productive? What happens when you find out that a small majority does all the work? What do you think should be the selling point of a leader who is looking to hire more agents? In this episode, Lee Barrison shares his experience and tactics that helped him build and nurture a superstar team.

If an agent has call reluctance, one of the first things I tell them to do is to call 5 people that like you, know you, trust you, and want to do business with you. - Lee Barrison

Three Things We Learned

Don’t leave your agents wondering what they should do next

Create a curriculum for new agents. Make them memorize the scripts and learn the systems. Next, give them an everyday schedule organized by hours. Don’t leave them wondering what they should do next, as it wastes time and scatters their efforts.

Keep only the agents that bring value

At some point, any teams end up having 20% of their agents doing 80% of the work. When this happens, identify the underachievers and have a talk with them. Look for their strengths and weaknesses, and find out their fears. Give them a 30 day learning plan to improve. If they don’t stick to the plan and fail to make at least one sale per month, let them go.

Providing leads shouldn’t be your selling point

Many agents are attracted to the idea that a team leader will bring them leads. But this creates a relationship of codependency. If the team leader gets out of the business, the agents are doomed. They don’t know how to generate lead sources by themselves. Don’t make leads your selling point. Anyone can provide leads. Give them the coaching necessary to make it in any setting without leads coming from you.

Many team leaders are afraid of sharing all of their knowledge with their agents. But if they avoid doing so, everyone has to lose. If you provide your team with leads only, you will always have to be there, monitoring everyone. But if you train them to become leaders themselves, you can step out of production at some point, simply because you created a system that can function in your absence. Agents won’t leave you as long as you provide the tools and culture anyone would love to be part of.

Guest Bio

Lee Barrison has over 11 years of experience and has closed over 600 transactions during his career. He is currently the Owner and lead coach at Intero Commercial in Bakersfield. If you if you want to join his team, you can contact Lee on his Facebook or via email at [email protected]

The real estate market is very competitive at the moment and it’s hard to get your foot in the door by yourself. How do you prepare yourself for a meeting with a seller when you don’t have experience in that area? How do you build a positive reputation for yourself, and how do you show others you know what you are talking about? In this episode, we answer questions on building an online platform and getting started as a new agent.

You are not necessarily the best person to advise them on the sale of their home if you’ve never done it before. Go get help. Go find a mentor agent. -Matt Johnson

Three Things We Learned

You can avoid questions about your experience

If you are just starting out, you have two choices: You either bring a more experienced agent to the meeting with the seller (a mentor that you split the commision with) or you come out with data analytics that will make you stand out and leave the impression that you know the market well.

Give without expecting anything back

Many agents try hard to convince seller they are different. But what if you actually work towards showing others that what you do is not only work, but it’s also your passion. Helping others for free might not make you rich in the moment, but it will make people trust you and refer you. Plus, you will never have to worry about not being known or not being recognized as a integer agent anymore.

The power of a platform

You don’t have to build a huge platform. You can build your business by having a local podcast or blog. The goal is to be where your audience hangs out most of the time. Your message and personality will build connections with people you’ve never even met.

Building an online platform is one of the strongest tactics when it comes to brand building, getting more referrals, and becoming an authority in your field. Online platforms give you the ability to share your knowledge and get yourself in front of people you haven’t even met yet.

There are many ways you can connect with your audience online. It can be via social media, blogs, podcasts, you name it. Choose what suits your personality.

Guest Bio

Gene Volpe is the founder of GVI Media and has over 10 years of experience in real estate marketing. With over 200 transactions under his belt, Gene is known as an authority in his field and is often invited to speak at events. You can find more about Gene at http://www.genevolpe.com/about-gene/#

Low achievers ask themselves what can they change about themselves to make their work better. High achievers ask themselves how the job requirements can be changed so they can work on what they are best at. Does having awareness of your own strengths mean there is no place for adjustments? How can a sales agent identify personality types and use communication to speak on the language of his clients? On this episode, Jay Niblick, the CEO of Wize Hire, speaks about the D.I.S.C profile and how agents and team leaders can take advantage of this knowledge, both in their business and personal life.

It’s not that you shouldn’t try to grow; it’s not that you shouldn’t always try to improve, but what are the raw materials that you have? -Jay Niblick

Three Things We Learned

Read feedback and mirror the communication style of your clients

Understand how you process things and how you prefer to communicate, and then move on understanding others as well. Your job as an agent is to walk the client all the way through and speak their language. Find out what makes them most comfortable and mirror their communication style, even if is not like yours. You don’t have to change as a person, but you have to understand that in sales it’s all about by reading feedback and being on the same wavelength.

The myth of being capable of doing anything

We work with our raw materials. Being optimistic and driven is excellent, but you are better off not pushing your limits in areas that don’t use your natural talents. You might be able do do it, which is quite rare, but you are going to hate the process anyway You don’t have to be good at everything in order to succeed. Just work on improving the areas in which you have some raw talents.

The jacks of all trades

There is a category of people who are more flexible. They can fit into a larger variety of roles because they don’t score high on anything. They are somewhere in the middle, and it’s easier for them to be flexible about it.

A common theme found in low performers is looking inside when something is not going as expected on the job. They ask themselves how they can improve and what is wrong with them. This not only channels all of their energy towards their weaknesses, but it also puts them in a negative mindset, the idea that there is something broken about them. On the other hand, high performers ask themselves how the job requirements can be changed to allow them to use their raw talents. They don’t blame themselves. Instead, they try to find out what they are best at and ignore the tasks they know they can’t do properly.

Guest Bio

Jay Niblick is the founder of Wize Hire, a real estate recruiting software with a data-driven approach to the hiring process. He matches companies with the perfect candidate based on behaviour, communication style, and values. If you want to find out more about your own D.I.S.C profile, what kind of roles suit you, and what your values and communication are, you can take a free personality test at https://wizehire.com/#disc-ebook-signup

As you step into the digital realm, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. There are so many ways you can promote your business. It’s easy to get buried in tasks you shouldn’t be doing yourself. How do you handle your online presence without taking all of your free time? Is productivity an issue for you? Did you try building a system before making your last hire? In this episode, social media expert Gene Volpe talks about what cases you may need someone to help you with your online presence and what cases you don’t.

Real estate is insanely boring if you don’t need it right now. People won’t engage with your open house. -Gene Volpe

Resources + Links

RockstarLiveVideo.com - 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.

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For more free tips on digital marketing, check http://www.genevolpe.com/

Organize your emails by topic and content for free using a Folio, an application that has a free version and can be installed directly in your browser.

Three Things We Learned

Let your audience know who you really are

Real estate can be boring for your audience, unless they need help right away. People don’t engage because of your talks about open houses. They pay attention to who you are as a person. They can find agents who are knowledgeable and can help them out everywhere. But if you create a connection with them via video or interactions on social media, they will choose you, simply because they know more about you than they know about some other agent.

Social media will take the place of sales

You don’t have to convince your prospects that you are the best anymore. You don’t have to sell them on why you are the best, because they already know who you are if they follow you on social media. Hire someone (if you don’t have the time to do it yourself) to post content regularly. The more content you post, the more you get rewarded by the algorithm.

Before you decide you are too busy, maximize your performance and build systems

Sometimes we spend hours on some tasks that should take way less if we would be more focused. There is a progression to how you build a service. First, you maximize your own performance. Second, you build a system. Third, you hire someone to free up your plate.

Many agents jump on hiring an assistant, but the first step is to find out whether you maximize your productivity, and then you need to build systems to help you out. Only when when these two steps fail to help you handle your clients, should you look for someone to help. You should also be careful with how many leads you want to attract. Even if you decided that you will hire more people, the process of training and hiring someone takes some time.

Guest Bio

Gene Volpe is the founder of GVI Media and has over 10 years of experience in real estate marketing. With over 200 transactions under his belt, Gene is known as an authority in his field and is often invited to speak at events. You can find more about Gene at http://www.genevolpe.com/about-gene/#

RockstarLiveVideo.com - 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.

You may already be trying to build up an online image for your business, but how consistent are your efforts? Are you using the right lead generation tools tailored to your business size? What do you use to weed out people who are curious about the price of homes in their neighborhoods vs potential customers? In this episode, Matt Johnson and Greg McDaniel answer questions on promoting yourself online, lead generation, and AI.

If you want to appear bigger than you really are, it’s very, very easy. Hop on Facebook live and Instagram stories and just start broadcasting live and share what you are learning -Matt Johnson

Three Things We Learned

Consistent marketing efforts increases your authority and credibility

Publishing content consistently makes you look authoritative. People remember you. It doesn’t take much to make a few videos each week and send them to your database on social media.

This kind of consistency shows people how committed and professional you are, and it helps build relationships with the people who watch your videos.

Single vs. team leaders lead generation sources

Single agents should not copy big team leaders. They have a bigger budget and a team that deals with lead generation, follow-up, etc. If you don’t have those kind of resources, stay away from digital marketing as a lead source and focus on leveraging your database.

Use AI to weed out “lookers” from leads

Invest in softwares that send automated messages to save you time and money when dealing with people who may or may not be interested in working with you. When they do reply, call them or text them personally.

Single agents are better off strengthening their relationships with their sphere instead of trying to invest in SEO or online advertising. These tactics take time to work. Plus, you need a bigger budget and a team to do a proper follow-up with your leads. Being active on social media and  publishing videos and educational content will let people in your sphere and database know what you are all about. As a result, they will contact you when they are in need for help.