Episodes
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What are the responsibilities of a real estate professional? These days, the answer isn’t so simple. From designing websites and logos, to blogging and social media, to managing all kinds of software, today’s real estate pros have a wider range of tasks than ever before. Sometimes, with all that extra work, agents lose sight of their most important priority: to grow their business.
But Vija Williams has her eye on the prize. For Vija, the devil isn’t in the details: it’s in the big picture, with every transaction, every interaction, measured against a clear, long-term vision of success. As a real estate coach and leader to an award-winning team, Vija has helped dozens of agents build a more methodical, more thoughtful business.
In this far-reaching interview, Vija Williams offers her tips for building a clear, confident real estate brand, and explains why long-term planning is the best way to achieve short-term success. -
When asked why they don’t use content marketing to promote their businesses, real estate agents have all kinds of explanations. They say they’re too busy, or they tried it and it didn’t work, or their market is too competitive. But Katrina Benton is here to debunk all these excuses, and then some.
A lifelong resident of Anchorage, Alaska, Katrina comes from a long line of real estate professionals. But unlike her father and grandfather, Katrina has invested heavily in digital marketing. That investment has helped her build a sustainable year-round practice in a highly seasonal market. Now, Katrina is taking her show on the road, helping agents in Texas, California, and Colorado use her content and tools to grow their own businesses.
In this interview, Katrina Benton describes how agents can turn their content and tools into a full-fledged marketing system, and explains why being busy isn’t the same as being successful. -
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Real estate agents face a unique challenge in deciding where to hang out their shingle. Do you join a franchise for the brand recognition and resources? Do you opt for an indie brokerage with more flexibility and local authority? Or do you strike out on your own and start a new business? As it happens, Lindsay Reishman has done all three.
Lindsay has worn a lot of hats in the real estate business. After years of working closely with consumers, first as an agent, then as a broker-owner, Lindsay sold his company to Compass, stepping out of day-to-day operations and into a management role. Today, he’s back in the saddle with a new sales team and a renewed focus on helping agents provide better service to their clients.
In this interview, Lindsay Reishman discusses the process of reinventing his brand for a new venture, and offers up some words of caution and advice for brand new agents. -
When it comes to advising new or aspiring agents, there are two persistent myths. Some folks say you can start earning right away in real estate. Others tell rookie it’ll be months before they make their first deal. But for Melissa Boucher, the first six months weren’t for making money: they were for learning.
A year ago, Melissa left her first career as an oncology nurse in Seattle to become a full-time real estate agent. Instead of taking on clients right away, Melissa decided to spend time seeking out mentors and learning everything she could about her new trade. Not long ago, that decision paid off in a big way when Melissa landed a sprawling 99-acre listing in the San Juan Islands worth twenty million dollars.
In this interview, first-year agent Melissa Boucher takes us through her journey to 20 million, and explains why open houses can be an untapped resource for connecting with sellers. -
Real estate is built on personal branding. Whether you work for a major franchise or an indie brokerage, your first responsibility as an agent is growing your own list of clients and prospects. And with all that branding comes ego. It’s everywhere, from bus stop ads to websites and everywhere in between.
Some would argue that ego is an asset—project confidence, they say, and your audience will take notice. But for Pat Hiban, ego has a way of coming back to haunt you.
Pat should have something of an ego himself: he’s one of a few agents to have sold over a billion dollars worth of homes over the course of his career. But in an industry as speculative as real estate, Pat preaches the value of being conservative, as well as building strong systems behind the scenes to capitalize on every opportunity, no matter how small.
In this interview, Pat Hiban reveals the potential costs of ego in real estate, and explains how an ego-killing decisions like price reductions can actually make your business stronger. -
For many real estate agents, the 2008 housing crash was a disaster. Yet even in the darkest days, there were still corners of our industry that found a way to thrive. Distressed sales, for instance, made up almost a third of all real estate transactions in 2009, with real estate owned properties taking the biggest chunk of that market. And that was good news for Steve Jolly.
A former home improvement contractor with a background in selling to businesses, Steve realized in 2005 that the REO market was a strong fit for his experience. Over the next few years, Steve closed hundreds of deals. But as the market recovered, the REO market began to shrink. Today, distressed sales are at a nine-year low nationwide. Yet Steve’s business is still booming, and it’s all thanks to clever marketing.
No fan of traditional outbound marketing methods, Steve developed a direct marketing strategy that’s helped him close dozens of REO sales every year. He’s even written a book: “Kill Cold Calls.” In this interview, Steve Jolly explains his system for using digital marketing tools and content to generate and convert more leads, without resorting to cold calls. -
One of the first lessons we learn when entering the working world is what it really means to start at the bottom. Whether it’s writing parking tickets as a police officer, sweeping floors at a hair salon, or processing endless data at a corporate job, working your way up the ladder is an often unpleasant reality of most careers. But real estate is the exception.
Irina Kim Sang has a great analogy for this. Irina started her real estate career by diving right into Miami’s luxury scene, and managed to build a highly successful business. For Irina, the real estate industry is like a high rise apartment building. In most careers, getting to the penthouse means taking the stairs from floor to floor. But in real estate, you can take an elevator straight to the top. The challenge, of course, is adjusting your business to fit a new perspective that’s much different from the ground floor.
In this interview, Irina Kim Sang details how agents can accelerate success by focusing on one perspective, and explains why the best marketers are open to ideas from every industry. -
In the age of digital marketing, where there’s so much choice and so many distractions, It’s easy to find a reason why a listing or a lead didn’t go your way. Maybe that buyer wasn’t actually ready. Or maybe that seller decided to list with an old friend. But for Tim and Julie Harris, there’s only one reason why your real estate business isn’t what you want it to be: and that’s you.
Tim and Julie know a thing or two about what it takes to succeed in real estate. In their first year as real estate agents, they managed to sell more than a hundred homes, bringing in over ten million dollars. That success propelled them to a thriving real estate coaching business that’s helped thousands of agents improve their craft by taking ownership of their strengths and weaknesses.
In this interview, Tim and Julie Harris describe the benefits of living a media-free life, and explain why taking responsibility for everything that goes wrong in your business is the key to building a successful real estate practice. -
In an industry that runs on commission, it’s easy to see why a lot of real estate professionals have a hard time making a significant up-front investment in clients the may not lead to a sale. But that investment is a cornerstone of Brad Allen's business, from marketing to personnel and everywhere in between.
Armed with the belief that one agent can’t be prolific and provide a high level of service, Brad started The ART of Real Estate to provide a superior end-to-end experience for clients. With a full staff that includes a listing coordinator, videographer, photographer, closing coordinator and more, Brad has built a modern, successful brokerage that’s greater than the sum of its parts.
In this interview, Brad Allen discusses the importance of setting clear expectations with potential clients, and explains why a first-year agent’s top priority shouldn’t be selling houses. -
Living in Hawaii is enough to make anyone a dreamer. But Matt Beall has his feet planted firmly on the ground. With a long-running television show on HGTV and an award-winning brokerage that encompasses all the islands, Matt has spent years building Hawaii Life, an incredible real estate business and a celebrated brand.
But as polished as Hawaii Life’s image comes across, underneath that brand is an engine fueled by necessity and hard work. Years ago, Matt faced a dilemma: how would they connect with potential buyers on the mainland, thousands of miles across the ocean? The solution, of course, was online. Today, Hawaii Life has the most highly trafficked real estate website in Hawaii, and sits at the top of Google search results for Hawaii real estate—ahead of Zillow and Realtor.com.
In this interview, Matt Beall explains why there’s no magic formula for building a great real estate brand online, and talks about why agents overlook their most precious resource: previous clients. -
For most real estate agents, selling homes in the high six figures sounds like a pretty sweet gig. But Ben Bacal wanted more. As a young, hungry agent in Los Angeles, Ben decided that the the city’s most affluent neighborhoods were actually undervalued.
But there was a problem: Ben, a Toronto native, didn’t have many connections in the luxury market. So, he went back to basics, driving door to door in Beverly Hills, Bel-Air, and the Hollywood Hills, promising homeowners he could deliver a buyer. All he needed was a shot.
Ben’s good old-fashioned door knocking finally paid off with a 20 million-dollar sale. Today, he continues to thrive on the high end with help from his new company: Roofshoot, a real estate video platform that promises to make rich media accessible to any agent.
In this interview, Ben Bacal tells us the story of his road to $20 million, and offers up Roofshoot’s recipe for easy, effective real estate video. -
When I was starting out in real estate, I learned pretty quickly that there’s a big difference between knowledge and experience, between earning your license and being an expert in your craft. In fact, most of the agents I’ve talked to have a similar story of realizing that they knew plenty about real estate, but next to nothing about running a real estate practice.
That’s where Lee Davenport comes in. A former agent and broker in Atlanta, Lee faced the same hard truth when she was starting out. Today, as a leading real estate coach, Lee has made it her mission to fill that gap and help her clients develop the skills they need to do the real work of marketing and managing their businesses.
In this interview, Lee explains why success begins with knowing what sets you apart, and why hiring outside help is actually one of the smartest decisions an agent can make. -
In the world of digital marketing, content providers have something of a mixed reputation. On the one hand, real estate agents are struggling to find the time and the know-how to create great content that attracts prospects online. On the other hand, content providers are often dismissed as little more than “content mills,” promising front-page placement while churning out low-quality blog posts and articles.
But Chris Craft begs to differ. As founder of Atlanta-based Nao Media, Chris has built a successful and ethical company that delivers high-quality, search-optimized content to real estate agents and other small businesses owners.
In this interview, Chris takes us inside Nao Media’s content creation process, and offers some valuable strategies to help real estate professionals get more mileage out of their marketing. -
Real estate agents and consumers take many of today’s online search tools for granted. But back in the early 2000’s, before Google Maps and Zillow, there were few solutions for harnessing the power of the web. So Garron Selliken decided to take the initiative. An agent based in Portland, Oregon, Garron developed a set of tools that eventually became Homequest, one of the first map-based technology platforms for real estate.
Today, Garron is bringing his problem-solving mindset and love of tech to M Realty, one of Portland’s premier real estate companies. Unlike most brokerages, M Realty offers its agents a a full in-house marketing platform, supporting their relationship building and listing promotion from start to finish with a dedicated team of professionals. And Garron’s approach seems to be working: the company currently supports 140 agents, and continues to grow quickly.
In this interview, Garron tells us how his experience as both an agent and a developer has helped him craft the perfect practice for his team, and explains why you don’t have to go to extraordinary lengths to give clients an extraordinary experience. -
Real estate agents are constantly told that they need a great website. And for the most part, they’ve listened. Today, over half of REALTORS say they’ve had a website for over 5 years. But that’s only part of the story. Once you have a website, how do you convince consumers to visit and use it? That’s the million-dollar question, and Lisa Archer has the answer.
For a lot of folks in the real estate industry, Lisa needs no introduction. She’s been a favorite speaker, panelist, and tech geek on the conference circuit for years. But Lisa also has a killer real estate business that’s generated over a hundred million dollars in sales volume over the past three years.
In this interview, Lisa reveals her secrets for driving website visitors, offers some surprising open house tips, and explains how social media can either be a major asset in your business, or hazardous to its health. -
For many real estate agents, leads and deals are the currency of success. But we’d propose another, more valuable currency: loyalty.
In this business, earning your clients’ loyalty can make the difference between one paycheck, and a lifetime of rewards. And if you run a team, loyalty isn’t just for consumers: it’s also for your agents and staff. That kind of trust can be hard to come by. But Jenny Wemert has it figured out.
Jenny is consistently ranked one of the top 50 agents in Orlando, Florida, and now supports a team of 36 real estate professionals. Her success is all about loyalty, both from clients, who have given her over 400 five-star reviews on Zillow, and from team members who have been with the organization for years.
In this interview, Jenny Wemert shares her secrets to earning loyalty in real estate, and explains why running a successful team often means taking a step back. -
Between easy consumer access to tons of data, better tools for targeting prospects, and the culture of instant gratification on the internet, real estate has never been more competitive.
That’s why being at the right place, at the right time for your real estate leads is so important—after all, if you don’t stay in touch, someone else will. So how do you track your prospects’ journey, craft the best message, and deliver it where they’re spending their time? It all starts with a great CRM tool.
While you’re probably using CRM already, you may not be using it correctly. For Allen Bonde, Vice President of Marketing at Placester, your CRM isn’t just about pushing people toward a transaction: it’s about developing insights and creating value for your clients that will pay off far into the future.
Allen has spent decades working with CRM technology, first as an engineer in corporate research and development, then as a marketer and marketing consultant for several highly successful companies. In this interview, Allen Bonde explains how your CRM can help you gather “small data” insights, stretch your real estate content, and generate a lifetime of value from your clients. -
Years ago, the vast majority of people were content simply to own their own home. Today, however, more and more people are exploring the possibilities of real estate investing. Even after the harsh lessons of the 2008 real estate bubble, today’s consumers increasingly have access to an incredible amount of data and financing options to invest in a second home, a rental property, or a fixer upper.
Nevertheless, it wasn’t always so easy. Twelve years ago, Joshua Dorkin was a real estate investor struggling to find the tools and resources he needed to keep up with his properties and make smart financial decisions. The pickings were slim. “I felt like there was no credible place that I could go to learn about real estate investing, without spending a fortune with some guy that just got out of some kind of snake oil class,” Joshua told us.
After coming up short, Joshua decided to take matters into his own hands and start his own website. Today, BiggerPockets is a thriving community of over 500,000 experienced and aspiring real estate investors with a wealth of content around buying, managing, and selling investment properties.
BiggerPockets isn’t just for consumers, either, Joshua explained. “I don't think somebody goes into being an agent saying, ‘Hey, I wanna be an agent for the rest of my life,’” he said. “We're all doing this to build wealth. Well, there are ways to use real estate and use the skills that you've got to build wealth through real estate, not just transactionally as an agent.”
Nevertheless, Joshua told us, agents have a lot to learn. “I love agents. We all need agents,” he explained. “But the problem is that many new investors are following advice of agents who are not sophisticated enough to understand how to evaluate [an investment] themselves…You can stand up ahead of the pack as an agent by learning this stuff. It's not hard.”
Whether you’re living from paycheck to paycheck and want for more from your real estate career, or just looking to reach a new audience with your business, Joshua’s content and community can help you do what most of us got into this business to do: build wealth through real estate.
In this interview, Joshua Dorkin explains why a well-developed business plan is crucial to successful real estate investing, and outlines how agents can successfully attract and serve the modern investor. -
At its core, real estate is an entrepreneur’s dream. Agents enjoy incredible freedom to build their businesses as they see fit, facing bigger risks than most professions, but also greater potential rewards. Yet in an industry as diverse and individualistic as real estate, making the leap from agent to leader presents unique challenges.
For Lee Adkins, the key to building a great team or brokerage is understanding that you can’t do it alone, nor should you.
After several years in production as a real estate agent, Lee gave up selling to manage a real estate team full time. Under Lee’s guidance, the Atlanta Sold Sisters doubled their revenue in just two years. Today, with his consulting firm Amplified Solutions, Lee is helping real estate teams of all kinds establish the structure, culture, and strategies they need to break through.
In this interview, Lee Adkins discusses the challenges and pitfalls of expanding your real estate business, and why the key to growth is embracing not just your strengths, but also your weaknesses. -
What does it really take to achieve success in real estate? Is it a great website? More leads? A powerful personal brand? These are all important elements. But Tom Ferry believes the answer is something more obvious, and more difficult to pin down.
A New York Times bestselling author and the top-rated real estate coach on Swanepoel’s Power 200 list, Tom is one of the most influential people in our industry, and a leading authority on what it takes to prosper in this business. For Tom, it all starts with crafting your personal definition of success—what you need, what you want, and what you’re willing to do to make it happen.
As CEO of Tom Ferry - Your Coach, Tom has helped thousands of agents define success and put themselves on the path to achieving it. In this interview, Tom explains how ambition can actually get in the way of a successful real estate business, and points out why so many agents are leaving money on the table when it comes to nurturing leads. - Show more
