Real Estate Uncensored - Real Estate Sales & Marketing Training Podcast

How do you connect with people and convert them into clients in a digital age? Chris Smith, co-founder of Curaytor, joins us for a wide-ranging conversation on lead conversion, using social media to build relationships, building your online presence and generating word-of-mouth through old school personal touches,

We started with Chris’ background in boiler room environments, how he put himself in a positive state to make calls and how he built trust with prospects to close them in one call. “Sometimes in sales we forget that we can be really helpful. Educate people, and whether they work with us or not, they can value that time they spent with us.

Chris explained that building trust has to be done through his words and, more importantly, tone of voice, “In the book I call it a Black Labrador mindset, that you’re happy to see every lead, every dial, every person.”

Chris then shared how his motivation has changed over the years, “When you focus on that number, and when that’s what drives you is that number, it’s not nearly as powerful a driver. When I stopped focusing on 100k and started focusing on my responsibilities as a man, the 100k came very quickly...What you focus on is what you find”

Next we dig into the mindset of sales and lead conversion, “You’re going to have  a few conversations a day that you’re going to win or lose if you’re hitting the phones,” Chris pointed out, “so if you’re kind of beat up going into the three that you get, you’re in tough shape.” Greg shared how you can use little rewards to keep yourself in a good mindset for those critical conversations, and Chris gave his perspective: “I’ve found that it’s way easier to help people than to sell people. And if you help people more than what you sell costs, that’s actually sales.”

Then we dig into lead follow up and social media, Chris explained, “If you commit to 10x follow up, you need 10x reasons.” Using the example of finding an article that someone in your sphere would enjoy, Chris pointed out that you could send it by DM, private message on Facebook or even post it directly to their wall. Rather than using it as a status update and tagging someone, go the extra mile. “Social is really this amazing opportunity for one-to-one engagement, but most people are blowing it...If you just woke up every day and sent private messages to those people that weren’t about real estate, 1 in 10 or 2 in 10 would bring up real estate themselves.”

“Every lead is an internet lead,” Chris explained, “the question becomes, do the people who look at you online become MORE or LESS confident in you and your abilities.” You have to stack the deck in your favor so that when prospects reach out to you they’re already sold on working with you.

Next we dig into how you can use video online and in customer service, Chris gave a great tip - If you find yourself writing a paragraph-long email or text to a client, send them a video reply instead. Video messages or posts to your client’s Facebook wall are a great way to make your message more personal and memorable.

We finish up with the topic of openness and caring about your prospects and clients. Chris posed a great question, “Are you open to, and do you enjoy, learning from people who are different from you.” “If you’re that cold-hearted business person and you don’t give a $&*# about anything but the bottom line, go hire someone like me who cares and let them by that voice for your company.”

So many of us want an EASY button, but great lead conversion is a combination of many factors - your online presence, your social media content, your reviews and success stories, your mindset and lead follow up. It all starts with CARING. Care about your prospects, care about your clients, care about their results.

Chris Smith is a USA Today bestselling author and the co-founder of Curaytor, a social media, digital marketing and sales coaching company that helps businesses grow faster. In less than three years, he used the blueprint in his book, The Conversion Code, to grow Curaytor to over $5 million in annual, recurring revenue. His work has been featured in Forbes, Inc. and by many other publications.

Click here to download your free PDF, Greg’s Favorite Scripts, featuring scripts for buyer and seller lead follow up, price reduction and objection handler scripts and much more.

Investor, broker, team leader and all-around fun guy Paul Campbell joins us to share what’s working to generate leads for his team, how he’s optimizing his Google Adword campaigns, his daily routines and self-development tips.

We start with a question on Firepoint, a new lead gen/CRM system developed by one of Paul’s friends, Chris Tamm. Paul explained why systems like Boomtown are focused on quantity of leads over quality and how Firepoint does a better job of generating high quality leads.

Then we dug into Paul’s background as an investor, short sale specialist, brokerage owner and how they shifted from short sale to a traditional sales model. Paul still spends a big chunk of his day supervising various investments and commercial properties. Paul also meets with recruits, putting a heavy focus on chemistry, looking for agents who fit into their culture first.

For lead generation, Paul’s team really thrives on Google Adwords, using it to generate leads and add people to their database, where they continue to keep in touch with video marketing and other methods. “We really spend a lot of time on the Google Adwords platform because it’s basically math and it’s really easy to calculate that return...I can’t think of a better way to build your database than the Adwords platform.” They also invest in Facebook ads, where his team is experimenting with more specific targeting options. They use Facebook ads both to generate leads directly and to market specific listings to a buyer profile, and run everything through their lead generation website, which ties into their CRM.

Next Paul shared his average day, how he weaves in managing his investments and commercial property, forecasting profitability, setting strategy for the team, etc. Paul pointed out, “I also like to spend an hour a day reading someone smarter than me so I learn something.”

Paul has built a successful, multi-faceted business in real estate, both in sales and investing. He is a great example to learn from in order to build real wealth in real estate rather than just a sales career.

Paul Campbell is a real estate investor, broker and co-founder of Stellar Realty, with offices in Portland and Bend, OR. To send referrals to Paul’s team, contact [email protected] or 503-380-8142.

Click here to download your free PDF, Greg’s Favorite Scripts, featuring scripts for buyer and seller lead follow up, price reduction and objection handler scripts and much more.

First Kevin explained the differences between Australian and US real estate, which mostly involves the lack of buyer agents. Most agents represent both sides of the transaction for an average commission of 2.5%.

Then we dive into the best habits Kevin has observed in top agents he’s worked with and interviewed on his shows. We start with short-term mindset and the focus on transactions. The top agents focus on relationships first and the deals come as a byproduct.

Kevin shared how top agents are their own hardest critics, constantly striving and looking for ways to improve their performance and their outcomes. They never believe they’re the best just because someone told them that or because they had one great transaction. They are always planning, looking ahead and picking up new skills for their future.

Last we touch on a few reasons agents don’t become successful investors. Kevin explained that agents don’t focus on developing multiple income streams and don’t have a long-term plan for their business or their life.

Exploding your business may not be easy but it can be simple. Write down the 10-15 things you want to improve in your business. Focus only on the top 1-3 things and get those changes implemented. By focusing on just those few very important changes you’re more likely to follow through and see real results.

Kevin Turner is a real estate veteran and host of Real Estate Uncut and Real Estate Talk in Australia. Learn more about Kevin’s shows at http://www.realestatetalk.com.au/ and http://reuncut.com.au/.

Click here to download your free PDF, Greg’s Favorite Scripts, featuring scripts for buyer and seller lead follow up, price reduction and objection handler scripts and much more.

Social skills are critical to any salesperson or consultant, but many agents struggle to meet new people in social situations. In our latest episode Jordan Harbinger shares simple, practical tips for building good social habits and confidence so you can meet and attract new clients in everyday life.

Jordan is the host of the Art of Charm and regularly coaches men on how to build social skills and confidence, in addition to interviewing many successful people on those same topics. We kicked off the show with a rant on internet marketers and real estate coaches who make their money teaching people how to do something they don’t currently do (and may never have done).

Then we move into how to build social skills, and Jordan shared an amazing insight - that your first impression is when you become a blip on someone’s radar - NOT when you first open your mouth. So often people spend a lot of time on a clever line, a joke or icebreaker, and completely forget that your first impression is how your body communicates before you even open your mouth.

Jordan explained that when he teaches social skills at his live events, he teaches guys to delegate good body language to the level of habit. He explained the Doorway Drill - where every time you walk through a door you stand up tall, shoulders back, put a smile on your face, etc. This builds an subconscious habit that will serve you well in social situations because it puts good body language on autopilot allowing you to focus on other people.

Focusing on yourself in social situations is one of the reasons we struggle to remember names of people we meet. We’re focused on how we look and sound - inward focused - rather than focusing on who we’re meeting.

Nothing happens overnight, and working on body language and social skills needs to be done in conjunction with other  work, such as handling your bad habits, getting in shape, eating right. These things make a huge difference over time.

If you’re looking to sharpen your social skills and become more comfortable in social situations, go back and listen to this episode and listen to Jordan’s podcast, the Art of Charm. Nothing happens overnight, but social skills can be learned and confidence can be built. As Jordan said, “Even if it takes a year, great. This is a life-changing type of event. Because it’s going to change the way people treat you, which will change the way you act.”

Jordan Harbinger is the host of the Art of Charm podcast and conducts in person bootcamps teaching social skills to top performers. Subscribe to the podcast and learn more about the bootcamps at http://theartofcharm.com/.

Click here to download your free PDF, Greg’s Favorite Scripts, featuring scripts for buyer and seller lead follow up, price reduction and objection handler scripts and much more.

Once you understand the power of social media, often the next question is, What do I talk about? Our latest episode gives you the tools and tactics to produce your best content and then repurpose and repackage it into multiple forms for other social media platforms.

Tim started by emphasized again that there are real people behind the social media profiles, and as soon as you forget that, you start sending out content no one cares about. It’s critical to know who your ideal client is and what they care about so you put out content that is valuable, otherwise they will unfollow and unsubscribe. SUPER important!

Next we went over 3 questions you can ask yourself to help generate content:

1. What are you reading that’s interesting to your clients?
2. What do your clients ask you?
3. What is it that I’m doing that’s successful, and how can I share it?

By answering questions you actually receive from clients, you get into the conversation already taking place in your prospect’s head.

When it comes to finding your platform, Tim shared a great piece of wisdom, “If you’re new to social media, you have an awesome opportunity to try EVERYTHING...if the numbers go up, stay in that vein...Don’t worry about the numbers falling off. Don’t get too attached to your content.”

To repurpose and repackage, start with your best content, usually email content, and the break it up into smaller chunks for social media. You can also boil your content down to key foundational elements, find the commonalities and then expound on those commonalities in different ways. Greg shared that one of his strategies is simply to document his life, share what he’s seeing and learning every day, and sharing different chunks of it through different social media platforms in different modalities.

Now that you’re armed with a system for producing content, it’s time to implement that system! If you have questions or need help creating a system that works for you, book a free 30-min phone consultation with Dr Stafford here.

Get Tim’s course, Ultimate Periscope Mastery here, and use the code REUPON at checkout to get 50% off the course.

Dr. Stafford has more than 20 years of experience working with corporations, non-profit organizations, educational institutions and private research think tanks in instructional forensics. His knowledge is sought out from some of the largest non-profits in the US and around the world including, the Int’l Mission Board, Baptist Global Response, the Kentucky Baptist Convention, Voice of the Martyrs, and many others. Get a free 30-min phone consulations with Dr Stafford at http://bookdrtim.com/.

Click here to download your free PDF, Greg’s Favorite Scripts, featuring scripts for buyer and seller lead follow up, price reduction and objection handler scripts and much more.

We can all agree that the real estate industry has shifted in the last 10 years. As consumers have become more educated and tech-savvy, client’s expectations of agents has changed. But have we as agents adjusted?

We start with a question on hiring an ISA to make prospecting calls when you as an agent have not done them yourself. Greg and Matt agreed that you should double down on your strengths but disagree on how that applies to this situation.

Then we dive into the 4 types of service, pulled from David Maister’s fantastic book True Professionalism:

Pharmacist

Nurse

Brain Surgeon

Psychotherapist

It’s important to understand the differences because our industry has shifted from a sales industry to a consulting industry. This means that the willingness to do what’s best for your client - even when it’s not in your best interest - will separate you as a trusted consultant instead of a salesperson. People hate to be sold - but love to buy.

Most real estate clients are looking for a Nurse - someone who can execute a proven treatment and walk them through the process. They already know what their problem is (need to buy or sell) so they don’t need diagnosis, creativity or innovation. They want to know that you’ve solved this problem before for people just like them. It’s also the reason clients often choose agents based on price - they’re assuming the “treatment” is the same from any provider, so they want the best price. It’s our job to better communicate our value and prove that we’re a better provider in order to justify our fees.

Most agents, and most service providers in general, think of ourselves as Brain Surgeons - high level problem solvers with high technical skills. Nothing wrong with having great technical skills, but problems come up when we think of ourselves as Brain Surgeons and clients just want a great Nurse. Completely different value proposition - completely different expectations from the client. This results in communication issues and low referrals because clients expect something different than what we’re providing.

So what’s the moral of the story? Understand what YOUR ideal clients are looking for. If they aren’t looking for a Brain Surgeon, don’t sell yourself as one. Sell what your clients are looking for, and use leverage to become more profitable.

Click here to download your free PDF, Greg’s Favorite Scripts, featuring scripts for buyer and seller lead follow up, price reduction and objection handler scripts and much more.

Andy Green is both team leader and part of the Five Doors expansion network, and shares his experience building his team, setting up systematic, referral-driven lead generation systems and leadership tips for real estate teams.

We started with a question on how to manage and lead ISA’s, Andy explained that it’s really hard to find ISA’s who can hit 40 appts/mo consistently and still maintain a high quality of appointment. They focus on quality over quantity, and are fortunate to have one ISA who can hit both.

Then we dive into Andy’s story, how he restarted his business in 2011, and how he figured out his lead gen and database marketing system.

Andy explained that his team is everywhere, getting involved in youth sports, fun runs, sponsoring local teams and events. They also market to their database through video, which generated 65 home sales from their database last year alone.

We also went deep into how Andy structures and leads his team, including why he went away from the traditional model and allowed all his agents to work with buyers and sellers. Andy explained the initial dip in listings they went through and how he pulled them out of that dip through great training and support for his agents. The result is that Andy is no longer required in production and is not beholden to one listing partner leaving and forcing him back into production.

This allows Andy to focus on long-term growth, such as growing their ISA team, which already has 4 members, one of which is taking a leadership role as the team grows.

Andy is a great example to follow in building a lead generation system that focuses on their database and community first, rather than relying on cold internet leads. If you’re currently a rainmaker or team leader looking to exit the business, Andy’s experience also shows a path to exiting the business by allowing all your agents to list, rather than bringing in a high level (and expensive) listing partner.

Andy Green is CEO of the Green Group in Wilsonville, OR, a member of the Five Doors network of KW. To connect with Andy or send referrals to his team in Oregon, email [email protected].

Click here to download your free PDF, Greg’s Favorite Scripts, featuring scripts for buyer and seller lead follow up, price reduction and objection handler scripts and much more.

In a unique show, we share some of our favorite inspirational and thought-provoking questions, while answering several sales and marketing questions from agents on Facebook.

We start with a question on how to get over the fear of sitting in a coffee shop with a sign offering to answer real estate questions. Greg’s brief and inspirational answer was to man up and grow up. We also tackled a couple questions on how to invite someone to an Open House and set appointments while calling Expired listings.

Then we went into questions you can ask yourself that can yield some life-changing answers.

“Are you doing what you truly WANT to do?”

“Did I execute my plan and follow my rituals today?”

“How many promised have you made and how many have you fulfilled?”

“Did I push myself through any fear or discomfort, was I mentally tough today?”

The right question can change your life. Asking yourself key questions every day and every week is a powerful way to stay on track toward your goals.

Click here to download your free PDF, Greg’s Favorite Scripts, featuring scripts for buyer and seller lead follow up, price reduction and objection handler scripts and much more.

Fellow podcasters and real estate brothers Casey and Corey Wright join us to share smartphone hacks for productivity and effectiveness, as well as some apps that have changed their life.

We started with a question on how to get started as a new agent, especially when you don’t have 6 months of reserves.  Greg pointed out that if you’re in that situation, every spare second should be devoted to doing something outbound to generate response and uncover potential clients. Corey and Casey shared their perspective, gleaned from years growing up watching their successful Realtor parents and the agents on their team.

Then we jumped into smartphone hacks, starting with some basic tips on how optimize your device, including grouping your apps, limiting your screens and scheduling time each month to clean up and organize your smartphone.

We also covered on-demand apps like Postmates, Amazon Prime Now, Purple and much more. Corey and Casey shared how they use keyboard shortcuts, and improved functions on the iPhone like Search and Siri that have snuck up and improved a lot while most people haven’t noticed.

So take advantage of these smartphone hacks and make your smartphone a true productivity device, not just something that lets you browse Facebook!

Casey and Corey Wright are co-founders of Wright Brothers Inc which provides real estate education and placement services to new real estate agents as well as helping top brokerages and offices around the country recruit new agents. Learn more about their services at https://www.wrightbrosinc.com/ and check out their podcast on YouTube.

Click here to download your free PDF, Greg’s Favorite Scripts, featuring scripts for buyer and seller lead follow up, price reduction and objection handler scripts and much more.

How do you double your business in one year? For Rochester, MN agent Andy Mulholland the answer was focus. By eliminating distractions and getting clear on what each team member needed to accomplish each day, Andy’s team went from 112 deals in 2014 to 248 deals last year, dominating his city.

We start with a question on how to manage ISA’s, Greg and Andy agreed there need to be standards you manage to, but how you arrive at those standards differs if you’re experimenting with ISA’s for the first time.

The Andy explained the growth he’s experienced over the last few years, going from 78 to 248 in just a few years. Andy attributes his success to focus, eliminating distractions and understanding what needs to be done each day.

Andy allows his agents to set their own goals and then holds them accountable and gives them support to reach their goals. Andy recommended the book The 4 Disciplines of Execution as a great blueprint for this type of team goal setting and accountability.

Then we dive into how Andy takes listings appointments in the office without ever seeing the home in person. He explained how they respond to inbound requests from sellers and set the appointments in the office, as well as how they position the appointment to get the seller to come in. What’s even more interesting is that through their radio, billboards, TV and past client referrals, they don’t have to make any outbound prospecting calls for sellers. It’s only responding to inbound requests.

Next we cover the shift Andy’s team made from buyer-heavy to seller-heavy when they started on radio. Andy also shared their process for getting homes ready for listing, including a paid pre-inspection, a visit from their home stager, pro photography and an HWA extended warranty.

Andy also reveals an unheard-of twist on the Guaranteed Sale program, which they position as a benefit for buyers and not their seller clients. In other words, sellers are attracted to the offer, but the Guaranteed Sale is actually aimed at buyers who are hesitant to make an offer because they haven’t put their own home on the market yet.

Once this benefit is explained to sellers, they often are not concerned with the Guaranteed Sale on their own home.  

Andy is a great example of providing massive value to sellers and clearly communicating that value through mass media and past client referrals. We hope you implement some of the tips and tactics Andy shared to build your listing business!

Click here to download your free PDF, Greg’s Favorite Scripts, featuring scripts for buyer and seller lead follow up, price reduction and objection handler scripts and much more.