← Estate of Mind — The Art of Selling Luxury Real Estate
Estate of Mind — The Art of Selling Luxury Real Estate
Becoming the "Go-To" Luxury Agent: Visibility, Data, and Authentic Branding
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In this episode, we break down how luxury agents can increase visibility, build trust, and position themselves as the obvious choice in their market. From using data strategically to showing up authentically online, this conversation explores what actually moves the needle for agents working at (or moving into) the luxury level.
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- [00:00]
A
We'll talk not just about the the home and the location, but all the experiences associated with that home via the neighborhood, the community it's in, or the larger community in terms of retail, restaurants, bars, walkability, greenways, all the things in the area. Each one of those aspects of a community is a topic all to itself and each one becomes a social media piece. And everywhere you go, you got a phone in your pocket, you have the tools with you. You don't have to have camera crew, you got your iPhone or whatever you droid, whatever you have with you, you've got your tools right in your back pocket.
- [00:34]
B
Yep. And that gets back to that word that we like to use all the time, and that's authenticity.
- [00:39]
A
Yeah, sure.
- [00:40]
B
Right. And so something on the fly and today's podcast is brought to you by Interlux Auctions. Your solution to guarantee competitive offers on your luxury listings with no compromise to commission. Visit interluxe.com today to find out more. That's I N T E R l u x e.com foreign. Welcome to Estate of Mind, a podcast series all about motivating, inspiring and educating you in the art of selling luxury real estate. The podcast is brought to you by the Institute for Luxury Home Marketing. I'm Tammy Sims, lead trainer for the Institute and a full time real estate professional in St. Petersburg, Florida for more than two decades. In today's episode we're going to talk about positioning yourself as the go to luxury agent in your market. Joining me is my co host, Jack Miller. Welcome Jack. It's great to see you.
- [01:40]
A
Good to see you too, Tammy. As always, excellent.
- [01:43]
B
I'm excited about today's topic. We've covered a lot of year end planning, nuts and bolts kinds of topics over the last several months, but I think that this one is good any time of year. But also as we're in the first quarter of a new year and that is how to position yourself, particularly if anyone in the audience set a goal for themselves that they want to increase their purchase price or their average sale price in the year ahead if they want to break into a new market. A lot of people struggle with the how. And so I want to explore some of the things that have worked for you and I, Jack, and suggestions that we may have for others. I know a lot of times when I teach the Institute's class, agents will come to me and say I'm intimidated, I need to build credibility in the upper tier, but I don't have production to back it up. And I know that for me I automatically revert to data, understanding the market. And I wonder what comes to your mind first, Jack, Maybe something that you think sets you apart and defines you as you relate to your marketplace. Something that maybe was an aha moment.
- [03:05]
A
Yeah, I think obviously dad, I mean any of us can do research and become more knowledgeable. And at the end of the day, that's really what I think consumers want. They want somebody who understands and knows the market. And certainly it starts with knowing the data. But I think for me personally, I think the exposure to the luxury market. So if you're an agent who is perhaps experienced in real estate, but not really experienced in the luxury market, I think networking with other agents, that's the first part of it is being there, being present. So when there are opportunities in your local marketplace, a broker open is the first thing that comes to mind. Sometimes they're by invitation only, but oftentimes they're made public, or at least from the standpoint of public to other agents in the marketplace. That's a great place to learn the product, learn neighborhoods and also learn who the players are is meeting the listing brokers and their teams who are typically present at the broker open. It's a great way to start. Really engaging is getting to know the who's who in the marketplace.
- [04:19]
B
I love that. And it makes me think of, you know, you and I are both positioned in our market, both with our peers and some of the developers and the folks that are producing luxury inventory. But we have in my marketplace a new pre construction sales center for the Waldorf Astoria residences, which is a huge deal for us. Right. That's a first. And it is high dollar. And when you mentioned invitation only broker events, I had to think about the fact that the Waldorf Astoria is doing invitation only preview events and that sort of thing. And one of the agents in my office actually was asking me questions. She says, how do I get, how do I get invited to that? Because I want to learn more about it. I don't have any clients for it right now, but I'd love to know about it so that I could try to attract some. So the next time that I got an invitation only event, which I kind of suspected was a, you know, it wasn't just myself and three other real estate professionals in the room. I asked permission if I could bring her and they were delighted, of course. So I sent her the invitation, she got to go. She was super impressed. She started doing social media posts and about the product and about that sort of thing. And when I ran into her recently, she told me that she's actually had some inquiries from her sphere of influence, and it's because she was present in that space. So go back to the value of interacting with the other realtors who are present in that space. And I think that the benefits can be untold in that respect.
- [06:07]
A
Well, that's a good segue, too, because if you think about our colleagues who've been very successful in luxury and there's exceptions to all this, but a lot of us have some gray hair. You know, we've been in the business for quite a while. Not you, Tammy, of course. I mean, the rest of us.
- [06:22]
B
I've got it. I've got them.
- [06:24]
A
But there's a lot of people who, typically who. Who sell luxury homes have done it for a long time. They tend to be an older demographic, a more experienced demographic. And then you have agents who are really, you know, enthusiastic, and they're. They're soaking up the business like a sponge and perhaps working a lower tier and want to get there. But they've got some skill sets, too, that they bring to the table that we don't necessarily have. And a perfect example is when you talked about the social media piece. I'm really present on certain parts of social media, but not all. And some of our younger agents are really, really strong with social media, but they don't have the product to promote. So they can partner with more seasoned agents than the luxury and promote that product when they're networking at events like, that's a great way to, again, be very present and visible and networking with top brokers and asking permission to promote their listings. And at the same time, you're promoting and branding yourself in the luxury space. I think it's a great way to do it. I've seen some agents in our market who have done some amazing social media pieces, and I've seen, you know, a lot of depth to the pieces and a lot of variety to what they're profiling. I'm like, man, who is this? They're amazing. They're doing a great job. And I look up production like, wow, they're really not producing very much, but they're definitely going to be there because they're. They're opening up that market for themselves. And so even if you don't have the production or you don't necessarily have the listings in the luxury market starting, there is a great place to do it, at least I think so. I've been very impressed with some of the younger agents in our marketplace.
- [08:03]
B
Yeah. And I'm seeing some of the broker to broker events, actually publicizing the fact that there will be opportunities for social media.
- [08:11]
A
Yeah. Very common here as well.
- [08:13]
B
Yeah. And, and, and that's an interesting thing. So that's, that's visibility in the space. Right. But I think then to convert that into being successful in actually working in that space, it has to come down to knowledge. Right. So you can be there. But I think understanding the product and you know, we've talked a lot on various episodes about understanding luxury finishes and that sort of thing, what to expect when you're in luxury properties. But I think if we want to talk about how to gain market share and position yourself as a go to, for, for a specific niche. Right. Like I think it's important that you don't go after the whole luxury market. Right. Pick a neighborhood. For me, it's the downtown condos in my marketplace. And as I was thinking about, as I was thinking about our topic for today and what we might talk about, I realized that I was knee deep in analyzing year end market statistics that go out in a quarterly market report to, you know, a couple of thousand households in the downtown market, in the downtown condo market. And I think about the number of times that I've been invited to visit with someone about listing or people who have questions, who called me because of that market report and the fact that I had positioned myself as the expert. I may not have had a transaction in that zone for, you know, for a while. I certainly don't, I don't have the sales production of some others that are doing gangbuster business in there. But I've positioned myself on the expert on the data and that has yielded absolute results and also gives me a comfort level if I'm talking to somebody that I know what's happening in the market. I even teach some of the other agents in my brokerage about the downtown condos if they're new to the area. Talking about like the flavor of different buildings, which ones have private elevator lobbies, which ones have active social environments, which ones are better for people who, who may be maybe the wealthiest people in town and really don't want people in their business. Right. And those are subtle nuances that, that don't come from general information.
- [10:40]
A
That's right. And there's an endless supply of topics. I mean, you talk about data. A lot of people think of data as talking about the number of closings and average price points and things of that nature. But there's a lot of other information that surrounds luxury homes, luxury condos, when you dig really deep and I've seen agents again. And we do this, you know, we'll talk not just about the. The home and the location, but all the experiences associated with that home via the neighborhood, the community it's in or the larger community in terms of retail, restaurants, bars, walkability, greenways, all the things in the area. Each one of those aspects of a community is a topic all to itself. And that's again, our data points. You know, where can you go walk? You know, where can you go out for a nice date, date night, dinner? You know, it's walkable or close by the local. There's just an endless supply of topics and each one becomes a social media piece. And I think that's what I really like, using social media, particularly for ages, breaking into the market because one, it's essentially free, you know, and if you're a younger age and you don't have deep pockets necessarily to spend on a marketing, big marketing budget, that's a great way to get a big bang for your buck is through social media and gaining followers and really becoming very, just, you know, very present in the various platforms that are available to us. I love that one. And again, like I said, there's all these. Everywhere you go, you got a phone in your pocket, you have the tools with you. You don't have to have camera crew, you got your iPhone or whatever you droid, whatever you have with you, you've got your tools right in your back pocket, you know, and hit, you take it, you record your, you know, you record your piece and you put it together later. Yep.
- [12:23]
B
And that gets back to that word that we like to use all the time, and that's authenticity.
- [12:27]
A
Yeah, sure.
- [12:28]
B
Right. And so something on the fly. And one of the things that I have heard over the years as an effective way to position yourself as an expert on a particular neighborhood or town. Right. All of our geographies are different, but when you talk about the restaurants and the shops to do like short little authentic interviews with the shop owner, or how about even the server who has been there for a long time at the place that does the best sidewalk cafe brunch. Right. Those are the kinds of things that can give content and can really pull those algorithms into the number of times that you are associated with a particular location.
- [13:12]
A
Yeah. I think the other thing, going back to your opening example, Tammy, is when you talk about that broker open, the agent who's networking and learning who the power players are in the luxury market. Every time you meet somebody, that's an experience to do a social media piece on that relationship. You're talking to so and so from so and so firm, who's a top listing agency, you know, with high rise condos or Four Seasons or the waterfront market or whatever it is you're trying to promote. Promote, helping to promote other agents because you're making them look good, you're making yourself look good by association. You're co branding in a way which kind of elevates your, you know, the way that you appear in the marketplace. And I think that's important too.
- [13:59]
B
Absolutely, absolutely. And you know, offering assistance for some of the, some of the things that some successful brokers don't have time for. Even let's say the entry level of the luxury marketplace, you've still got a lot of open houses, broker opens, that sort of thing. And so offering up to assist with those can be helpful. Right. Like that changes at the very top of the luxury marketplace when a seller doesn't want anybody but the agent that they've chosen to sell there. But let's just say that you're doing a broker event as a listing agent in a multimillion dollar and your sellers have given permission for that. You need people stationed throughout the house. One realtor cannot cover that alone. And so offering up assistance for that, finding a way to build those relationships. I think that's a great point.
- [14:59]
A
Yeah. And I think another thing is, you know, when you think about again, the broker open, there's typically a lot of people moving around constantly in this space. If you're that agent who's wanting to build your brand and become the go to agent in a particular market, you know, offering to help that listing broker set up, be there on the front end when there's nobody in the house and shoot some video while you're there, or help on the back end, you know, clean up on the back end, shoot some video before you leave when there's not people all over the room. So you really get to put your spin on the way you approach the room and the way you video it or you know, shoot the space. These are, these are ways that you can help the listing broker, you know, command their attention, particularly within your own firm. You know, it's so easy to put yourself out there in your own firm. And you know, I just know that at onward, there's a number of agents who routinely approach me about doing, hosting open houses or assisting with a broker open or assisting with an event. They're wanting to help and they're doing, they're doing what I'm talking about right now. They know they're getting the opportunity to position themselves in that space with my listing. And that's okay. I love doing it, you know. Yeah.
- [16:13]
B
And we've talked about before that it's super important that you get inside every luxury listing that you can. Right. So that you're feeling it, you're experiencing it. And I think that goes back also to the data. You know, one, one of my big things is not to hit the CMA button, right? Not to automatically generate reports. I am hand calling data because I learn more. I see anomalies even when I'm utilizing AI to, to kind of do like an overall evaluation. I have learned enough about the market to know when AI's assumption is wrong. Like, for example, there is one downtown condo building right now that there are four units for sale. And the AI analysis categorized that as one of the buildings that had low inventory. But I know that typically in any given year there's only one sale in that building. And so that is incredibly high inventory for the building, not for statistical overview. And so I get to pick those things out and then, and then comment on that. But, you know, I'm spending a lot of time doing that. But I also. Any of our audience who are members of the Institute have access to those North American luxury market reports, right. That, that not only compare a metropolitan area that saves you from doing some of that work from a bigger picture perspective, but also drills down to, to an individual market area. And I think that one of the things that I love best about that tool is when you're interacting with someone who owns real estate in more than one market. Right. Think about the clients that you have that also have a ski resort or a condo in Park City. Or from my perspective, it could be a gentleman's, a gentleman's ranch or a gentleman's farm. Right. Tennessee is gentleman's farm. Florida. Florida, you'd have a gentleman's ranch. Right. Isn't that weird? But, or, or something in, you know, a lake house in North Carolina. That the idea that you have at your fingertips that information to show them, here's what's happening in our local market in a big snapshot. And then here's also what's happening in the market where you own other property. I think that's a huge differentiator piece and that's just easily at the fingertips of anybody involved with the Institute. But it goes back to that data. I can't say enough how important I think that is for positioning.
- [19:04]
A
No, I agree. And I think too, when, you know, when agents are incorporating all this in the social media. You talked about, you know, profiling, you know, a restaurant or something in the, in the area. The other thing is having that experience, you know, when there's a wine tasting or there's an art show, something you think is going to attract the same audience that you want to attract as a real estate broker by bringing those same people to you by way of here's a wonderful art show that's happening right here locally, or they're pro, you know, there's a wine tasting event, blah, blah, blah. There's all kinds of special things happen in every community. And being that go to guy for the experiences can vicariously bring people to you as the go to guy or gal for luxury real estate. Because you kind of partner those things in your social media. They get there and they like you and what else have you done? Click, click. Oh, look. And you're profiling a number of homes right there in that same area or condos in the same building, or you're always profiling, you know, high rise condos or waterfront properties. You're branding yourself and becoming the go to person, but you're hooking them to another type of experience.
- [20:13]
B
Sure.
- [20:14]
A
And all these things are things you can do. You don't have to be the, the, the agent with a listing to be able to put that together, to position yourself as the go to. And that's really what we're talking about, you know.
- [20:25]
B
It sure is. It sure is. And then that made me think about if you've got something cool going on in your area that's approachable in terms of cost. So I'm thinking like a theater in the park or something like that, as opposed to art Basel with VIP tickets that, you know, cost $10,000 a piece. But even within your sphere of influence, if you invite maybe six people to be your guests at, at a function, right. Set up a picnic at the movies in the park or, or that sort of thing and just kind of build, build, build that sphere of influence in that positioning zone. I love that.
- [21:07]
A
One of the pieces of advice that was given to me many years ago, before my real estate career, I was in sales and corporate sales and I had somebody who was coaching essentially talk about how to develop relationships. And one of the pieces of advice they gave, I don't recall if we've talked about this before, but they said, you know, if you've got an event where you're, where you have tickets to an event, for example, let's say it's a sporting event or a theater or whatever it is. Don't go to the person in your database that's going to say yes. You know, pick your top five and start with the one who's least likely to say yes and work your way through. Because by doing that and do that repeatedly over the course of, you know, year, because you keep hitting those same people up that, you know aren't going to say yes, but you're making contact with them.
- [21:55]
B
That's right.
- [21:56]
A
You're drawing yourself closer into them and you're becoming top of mind for them. And particularly if you're inviting them to something that's going to appeal to the folks who have luxury residences, you're again starting to align yourself in that space. So it's not that they have to attend.
- [22:16]
B
Right.
- [22:17]
A
They have to feel welcome and invited and you're starting to become present in their mind, you know, where luxury branding is concerned. So.
- [22:24]
B
Right. And that goes back to perception. Right. And I mean, the timeless adage, think you can or think you can't, either way, you're right. Right. If you put yourself in that mindset where you think you can and you're going to be creative in ways to put yourself in that space, I think absolutely you can.
- [22:45]
A
We have a. We have a Christmas party that we host here at Onward. Not a corporate party, but just for our office. It is an amazing event and a couple of my colleagues are the ones who put this together every year, and they do a wonderful job. And it's limited as far as number of guests we can invite. It is an incredible event. You know, open bar and dinner and just, just a really, really nice event hosted in downtown Franklin, which is very charming.
- [23:11]
B
It is very charming.
- [23:12]
A
Yeah. And so I've done for that event the last few years. That's what I've done is I've gone through my list. I picked the people, I think they're probably not going to come and said, vitamin, see if I get them to come. And. And. But this year was interesting because I probably had eight or 10 guests who showed up this year who told me they would come for the first time and did. And did actually come. And so it's taken several invitations year after year. Now. Granted, already had a relationship with these folks. These are past clients or they've been in my database, but they're people. I want to keep that relationship, you know, close because they're my future business. It was so nice to see them show up for that event. And we had just a wonderful time. It was terrific.
- [23:55]
B
And that's what we're talking about today is positioning yourself. Right. It's not necessarily about generating the sales or the listings or all that in a short term. It's about positioning yourself. And it makes me think of. So in the fall last year, somebody in my sphere of influence wanted to connect me with a young woman that she had met who was going to be interested in purchasing real estate. And so the connection was made and we were at a community event, and the young woman, when we met, she said, oh, I'm talking to lots of different real estate agents. I'm just starting this. It was very, very standoffish, if you will. And I was like, okay, no problem, not at all. And I didn't think another thing of it. And she reached out to me just last week and said, Tammy, you may remember, we talked. I said, yes, of course I do. And, and so she wanted to meet for coffee and, and I said, okay, that's fine, that's fine. And so we met and as we were, you know, getting started with the small talk, I said, I know that when we last spoke, you said that you were going to speak to a number of agents and you were going to do some exploration and, and, and learn more about what you wanted. And she said, well, I really didn't do any of that. She said, I was going to do that and then I got sidetracked. And so quite obviously it wasn't my top priority at that time. She said, but since then, and now every time that I talk to someone and mention that I'm going to purchase real estate in this area, everyone tells me that I should call you. And she said, so I finally came to the conclusion that I didn't necessarily need to spend the time talking to lots of other real estate agents when so many people in my sphere of influence came up with your name off the top of my head. And, and I think that's. That's positioning all over the place.
- [25:57]
A
Oh, yeah, absolutely. You know, I know for me personally there's a lot of agents who do. We've talked about databases, have huge databases and market to huge numbers of people, and some are very successful at doing that. I've never had a huge database, and for me it's all about the personal experience. I think I generate more business by being top of mind through genuine or authentic experiences. Dinner, meet for a drink, let's go meet for coffee, talk about their kids, talk about their careers, talk about what's happening with them. Talking about my own career and because I always want to know how real estate is Going, that's always a topic. It's one of their favorites, typically, is how the real estate market is doing. And so we have that to offer. Of course, there's your data points. And then of course, they'll ask about how my family is doing. So that type of authentic exchange goes a long, long way, you know, and again, that's something that any, any agent can do. If you're focused, if you're completely laser focused on production and getting the sale, I think a lot of times you can miss the long term opportunities that come from planting the seeds. And that's really what, when you're talking about being, becoming the go to agent, it's not something you do with one touch. It's something you do with multiple exposures that become closer and closer in proximity. So people start to see your name become top of mind. That's what you just described. Tammy, this prospect talked to you about interviewing a lot of different agents and made it very clear that's what the process would look like. But then they start hearing your name with frequency. They're realizing, wait a minute, maybe I should rethink my strategy here. And that's really what it's about, becoming top of mind. And that is we become the go to agent. It's how you become the go to anything, really, if you think about it. How, if you think about the things we watch on TV and the restaurants we go to and the theaters we go to, whatever it is that we do, they. A lot of these venues, a lot of these media companies, they become top of mind for us because it's by a strategic plan.
- [28:05]
B
Yeah.
- [28:06]
A
By frequency. So, yeah, I think it's critical.
- [28:09]
B
Yeah. You know, I'm reminded about an anecdote that the institute's founder used to share in the training, and that was using by example Mercedes Benz as a brand. Right. So now an ad for Mercedes Benz likely has no words, and it probably has a picture of just a portion of the car's front end just with the logo. Right. And so some people would say, tammy, where are you going with that? That's, you know, it's the opposite. But in the beginning, when Mercedes Benz was introduced in the United States, they had to convince the American public why they should pay more for a German automobile at that time. And so their ads were very wordy, Right. Thousands of words to try to explain the level of service, the level of expertise, the quality, the efficiency, all of those things. And over time, they have built that brand recognition into something that is entirely visual, with no words. But I joke with people. I don't think that any of us want to have a listing or even a career that's quite that long. Right. To take. So we kind of have to back it up with substance. And, and for me, going back to that, that market report that we mail to these downtown condos, and it's different than a database, right? Because as you and I talk about databases and that sort of thing, I've got the database that, that manages people that I know that, that I'm touching that, all of that. But this database is entirely, or this mailing list, if you will, is entirely households. And the majority of people I don't have a personal relationship with, but I love when I get invited to talk with someone about listing their condo and they've got a stack of my quarterly market reports there, along with magnets on the fridge from all the other agents that are, you know, mailing things to them. Excuse me. I remember one couple said to me, well, Tammy, you don't realize it, but we chose you about five years ago and we weren't ready to sell, but we knew at that time, and especially because of the repeated consistency in that piece.
- [30:23]
A
I've heard this before. I've heard this before, too.
- [30:26]
B
Yeah, we picked you years ago. But it also makes me think of consistency, authenticity, but then consistency. Right. You can't stop the focus on positioning yourself in the sphere that you want to be in.
- [30:40]
A
Well, and that's what I talked about earlier. That's why you can't be laser focused simply on, will I get a listing next week, will I get a sale that closes in 30 days? You know, I think it's particularly true of the luxury market. These are much more expensive homes, oftentimes have longer sales cycles, and people typically think in much longer planning stages as well. You know, it's not a have to right now. It's very rare that we have a have to right now. And you talk about luxury clients. Most of the time it's a want to. When I'm get around to it, yeah, you know, it might become, I want to do it now. And they can, but it's not because they have to, it's because they want to. Right.
- [31:21]
B
And that's when it's important that you've stayed top of mind.
- [31:24]
A
That's right. And so you are. You're planting these seeds. And just like you described, Tammy, I've got some of my best clients shared similar stories with me. They met me several years before they employed me as a broker because they had made that decision a long time before because of some experience where it didn't benefit me directly at that moment, but I was planting the seeds for down the road. So it does require some patience, you know. And I think the other thing too, I think we need to talk about when you talk about becoming the go to agent in the luxury space, you know, you can't put the brakes in all your business and say okay, I'm only going to do luxury business from this point forward, so goodbye. You know, the, the potato business I've had for the last three or four years, you know, you have to make that segue. And so I think what, what you need to think about your business is when you're throwing out the seeds you're trying to grow, your luxury business is be careful about placement. And we have talked about this before. So if you're doing print ads, for example, if you have that first terrific luxury listing, you don't put it in a print ad with homes that are of a significant significantly, excuse me, significantly smaller stature or price point in the same ad because you're watering down your brand. If you're doing social media campaigns or you're doing things on your website or whatever it is, you don't mix these things together because it's not going to strengthen your brand if you put, if you co mingle, so to speak. So you really have to, as you're planting the seeds, create your luxury branding as a separate tool. Separate. Like you almost have mirror images. So perhaps you don't have one website, perhaps you have two websites now that your luxury website and one that your general website and same with your social media pieces and your Instagram pages, your Facebook pages, whatever you start thinking how can I position myself and really brand myself in a luxury space but at the same time I'm still doing business. Right.
- [33:24]
B
You're not alienating.
- [33:25]
A
That's right.
- [33:26]
B
That and you know that makes me think about when I, when I produce the data for the, the downtown condo market report, right. Like we sent to those couple of thousand households and some of them are in like that half a million to 900,000, they certainly do not consider themselves to be wealthy. They probably don't consider their product to be luxury. And I think even pushing into the million, two million dollar range, a lot of those folks don't identify as being, being wealthy. So having a grounding that lets them know that I pay attention to other things I think is important in the, in the data that I was just producing. I always point out when we've got sales like in the, in the downtown condos, we had three, six buildings downtown that had an average sale price that was more than $1,000 a square foot, which is significant. Right. And I list those out. We had nine buildings that had an average sale price over a million, including five of them that were averaging over 2 million. Right. These are big benchmarks. And so I'm listing those out and all of that. And then I made note, just as reference, that there were a total of 69 sales last year of units that were less than 500 a square foot in our same downtown area. This goes back to the idea whenever somebody tells me that they want to analyze my data by zip code, and I say that's not necessarily effective here, but I just pointed out that that included 11 townhome communities, three co ops, and a surprising 16 condo buildings. Now, I didn't list them out right. Because that's not the audience that I'm doing. But in my mind, it's setting a tone with those consumers that I'm not just going after the super high dollar. I'm actually paying attention to all the things that are going down in, going, going on in this hyperlocal community where everybody coexists and a lot of people feel, you know, don't identify themselves as, as luxury homeowners. So it's interesting how you can take that same concept and apply it in a couple of different ways.
- [35:42]
A
Well, it's also interesting with the Institute that we don't define luxury as a specific price point across the country. Luxury is defined by the market that you're in. I'm reminded that of that often because I've joined so many very specialized real estate groups that focus on architecture. For example, historic homes. That's a biggie for me is historic architecture. I just love looking at older historic homes. And we'll see these spectacular homes. I'll see a home pop up on my screen and at first glance, like, oh, that's a four or five million dollars home based on the market that I work in. And it'll pop up and say it's available for, you know, $380,000 and some in some really rural area and town I've never heard of in Iowa or in, you know, Georgia, wherever it might be. But it's a spectacular home. And so luxury is really defined where you are. It's a very local word when you think of in that respect. Yep. But. But again, I like to profile all those types of pieces on my own social media because I think it's interesting to people at least I hope it is. I get lots of, I get a lot of comments. You're on my Facebook page too.
- [36:52]
B
Yes. And I was going to say, I love when you post those things.
- [36:55]
A
Yeah. And I think, I think a lot of folks do. They're not local, it's not local real estate. It's not something you purchase here. But again, reminds people that I'm focused on real estate. I'm focused on luxury.
- [37:04]
B
And interesting that you have an appreciation for architecture and historic homes.
- [37:09]
A
Yeah, all the above. Yeah. And so it's always staying somewhere, revolving somewhere, you know, the targets there. Everything's kind of gravitating around that target about luxury. But we kind of get off in small, different areas. It's kind of fun. So again, and that's all part of the plan. You know, I make a point that my social media always has real estate as an ongoing theme. And, and you know, we've talked about this in the past. You know, since we're talking social media here, you know, we make sure that our social media isn't inundated with divisive pieces, you know.
- [37:45]
B
Oh, gosh, yes.
- [37:46]
A
Religion right now. There's so much of that out there. You know, I think it's nice for. That's another thing I think, I think a lot of folks really appreciate going to a space that's not volatile, it's not controversial, it feels good and has something of interest to them. And if you're. Something of interest has to do with luxury real estate, you're going to find some folks who are going to pay attention to that.
- [38:07]
B
That's right. That's right. I love it. I love it. So there's, there's so many ways, I think that, that agents can, can push themselves into the luxury space, into a higher tier. I think the desire has to be there. I think that the business planning has to be there. What are you going to do to, to keep the, the lights on and the bills paid as you're, as you're getting to, to that zone. Zone. But it has to be deliberate. Right. And, and I think one of that is managing, managing your time as a realtor. Right. We work a lot. We work lots of days. People ask me on Monday how my weekend was and I'm like, oh, was there that. Was that what that was? I, I don't know. But I think it's about also just filling in the gaps instead of thinking, oh, look at that, I don't have an appointment until 2 o' clock clock. Thinking to yourself, okay, how am I Going to utilize the hours before my appointment to position myself in the space where I want to be. Right. Has to be a conscious business decision about growth and visibility as opposed to simply managing time as if it was a part time job.
- [39:24]
A
For sure.
- [39:25]
B
Yeah. And that takes discipline.
- [39:29]
A
It does. And I think also the more focused we can be as we campaign for top of mind positioning again and being the go to agent is don't try to recreate the wheel every week. You know, find a message and be consistent with the message. Find a look and a brand that reinforces where you want to be and use it over and over. Yeah. You don't have to look like you're coming up something new and flashy every week. That's not what we're doing here. You know, you talked about the Mercedes ad when you just profiled the front of the hood of the car where you captured the logo and it spoke, you know, a million words when you saw it. You knew that was luxury when you saw that. That's really what we're after here, is creating that image and creating that go to branding as simply as we can get that message across as simply as we can get it. And so it doesn't have to be super expensive to achieve it. It doesn't have to be flashy. In fact, it's probably better if it's not. I would agree. It just has to be consistent and constantly being top of mind and intentional. And I think when you talked about that earlier, it's got to be very intentional. You don't just get out here and wander around trying to figure out, you know, oh, here's something I can do today. It has to be intentional. So you do have a business plan, but it doesn't have to require a huge budget to position yourself.
- [40:58]
B
And it also doesn't have to be so rigid. Right, right. It can be, it can be flexible. Because, you know, by the same token, I talked about having control over our time. Sometimes that's a reason why people choose this, this career. But so it doesn't have to be rigid, but it does have to be intentional. And, and one other thing that I wanted to reinforce, I've thought of this a few times in our conversation today is the value of people's previous experience of what they bring to our industry. Right. It is not uncommon for, for people to have had one or more careers before they, before they, they enter real estate. And I think that everyone having that unique skill, skill set of what they, what they did before is an opportunity for that differentiation and positioning people who have a financial background, people who have a design background, you know, whether it's creative or analytical, risk management, gosh, you know, almost anything can lend itself into a unique Persona that becomes part of your. Part of your unique proposition.
- [42:13]
A
Oh, absolutely, absolutely. There was a. My business partner, Robert, and I followed for many years an agent out of. I think he was out of Austin, Texas. Definitely out of Texas. But in any event, he. He was a newer agent, but have become very successful in the luxury market. And we started paying attention because this is many years ago, and websites were really in their infancy. That's how long ago we're talking. Right. But what. What captured our attention was he came from a copywriting background. And so the copy he would write on his listings was absolutely wonderful. And if nothing he wrote sounded like anything else that we saw when we'd read listing descriptions, you know, I know
- [42:54]
B
exactly who you're talking about.
- [42:55]
A
Oh, do you really?
- [42:56]
B
I do. I do.
- [42:59]
A
One that comes to mind, and I know this is probably 20 years old. I remember him talking about a house. It had a small pool and a really small yard and. And which could be perceived as a negative. But he talked about how you could open the door from your owner's suite. One, two, three, splash. You were in the pool. And the way he wrote it, like, oh, my gosh. I mean, he was selling really what was kind of a negative in a way that sounded so fun. Such a great copywriter. I used to love reading his copy and.
- [43:27]
B
Absolutely.
- [43:28]
A
From a prior career.
- [43:30]
B
Yeah. And we actually utilize the principles that. That he shared with us in the institute's training, even to this day.
- [43:38]
A
Oh, that's wonderful.
- [43:39]
B
Yeah.
- [43:40]
A
So to your point, he was bringing his prior career, and how did he use those tools he had in his tool bag to promote himself as a luxury agent, even though he was a new agent doing a great job capturing business because he brought in something new to the table that most agents, quite honestly, weren't particularly good at, wasn't their skill set. And he was a master of it.
- [44:00]
B
That's right. He was. He was absolutely a master. I think. I think AI may have taken. Taken notes from him. Right. The. The good AI. Right.
- [44:09]
A
Yeah, sure.
- [44:10]
B
But you're absolutely right that. That we all bring something unique to the table. And if we set our minds on. On what we want and the positioning that we want to. To create, I think that it is absolutely achievable, whether you're new to the industry or whether you're looking to increase your average sale or, you know, focus on a particular niche, I say just define it, learn everything you can about it, and learn everything about all the players in it, whether it's public or other realtors. I think, I think we've hit on some pretty good principles today.
- [44:49]
A
I would agree.
- [44:51]
B
So with that, I think that I'm going to take the opportunity to thank everyone for for joining us on this episode of A State of Mind, the Art of Selling Luxury Real Estate. If you're interested in learning more about the Institute, you can find more@luxury home marketing.com and if you like what you just heard, please share it with a friend. And don't forget to subscribe, rate and review this podcast. And if you've got a hot topic that you'd like us to discuss in a future podcast, feel free to let us know. Send an email to infoluxuryhomemarketing.com thanks so much for listening and we'll see you next time.