← Estate of Mind — The Art of Selling Luxury Real Estate
Estate of Mind — The Art of Selling Luxury Real Estate
Luxury Real Estate: Finding Your Niche and Thriving
00:39:39
In this episode of "Estate of Mind," Tami Simms and co-host Jack Miller discuss effective strategies for targeting niche markets in real estate. We discuss the path of transitioning from being a generalist to a specialist, highlighting the need for strong branding and market knowledge. Join us as we cover various techniques, including direct mail marketing and geographic farming, as well as identifying specific niches within the luxury market, such as historic properties and new construction.
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- [00:00]
A
Foreign welcome to A State 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 20 years. In this episode we're going to explore targeted marketing strategies for finding your niche market. Today's podcast is brought to you in part by Real Marketing, the only marketing firm recommended exclusively by the Institute. Real marketing utilizes over 25 years of expertise and their products are built and customized for you to dominate any neighborhood anywhere. Go to realmarketingforyou.com that's real marketing. The number four you.com also look for past as state of mind episodes with CEO David Collins as our guest. Now I'm here today with my co host Jack Miller, a 25 plus year veteran luxury agent with Onward Real Estate in the Greater Nashville, Tennessee market. Hi Jack, it's great to see you.
- [01:26]
B
Hi Tammy, Good to see you too.
- [01:29]
A
So in preparing for this episode, you and I, Jack talked about the importance of being a specialist rather than trying to be all things to all people, particularly in the luxury space. So share your thoughts on that concept to get us started.
- [01:45]
B
Well, I think first of all, some of us are fortunate enough, I think, and I'm not in this category, but as real estate agents that they, that they more or less enter the market starting out in the luxury space. For example, some folks join a team where the team leader is already an established presence in the luxury market. Some folks might start their business working as an on site agent for a luxury builder, for example. And so once again, they're starting their career in the luxury space. But the vast majority, I think, of us who work in the luxury market did not have that advantage. And so you have to make the leap from kind of, you know, being a generalist into being a specialist in luxury. And so there's several layers to this, I think, Tammy. I mean really you have to one, first establish yourself in the luxury space. And then once you get there, you realize there are so many very qualified agents and brokers who are already there. And so it's segmented into much more, much more specific categories. And you really do have to be a specialist to stand out once you do become a luxury broker. But the hardest thing I think is for most agents is really how to make that leap. We've talked about this some in the past, but part of making that leap before you can really Define yourself is to make sure that all your branding is on point and that you're really establishing yourself as a player in the luxury market in general. That's the first and most critical point. And part of that means you're going to lose some business probably because as you start to be more and more identified by your branding as a luxury agent, you'll have some folks who may not call you for their buy or sell because they don't think it's the right fit. And the reality is if you're trying to be a luxury agent, that's the way you want to be perceived. And so you will lose some business. But the other part of that too is understanding that as you're making that leap, I think understanding that, you know, as you are working with buyers and working with sellers perhaps in a lower price range, you know, we're not saying don't take that business, but we are saying that as you're putting ads out there and developing your website and things of that nature, that everything has to contribute to your overall brand. So I think that's kind of the first step, if you will. At least that's the way I see it.
- [04:06]
A
Yeah. And, and, and I agree with that definitely. And I, I personally, I have the, the, the, the privilege now after this long in the business of working just by repeat and referral and you know, those kinds of organic business and I work in a variety of price points. If my A list client comes to me and says hey, my mom needs to sell her condo or you know, something like that, I am glad to take that on and I, and I appreciate that, that I've bu. Rapport and trust with those folks that, that they know that I'll help them regardless. But to your point, if, if you're doing just solds, right or taking an ad in a publication, you may not want to include the one that doesn't fit the rest of the picture. Right. Like which of these doesn't belong? So what, what I took away from, from our conversation previously was, was all about maintaining that consistency, giving yourself permission to focus on the type of business that, that, that, that you want more of. And it's not just your marketing to attract higher end clients. Right. It's backing it up with the knowledge and the, the expertise. Right. About, about what you're focusing on. One of, one of the things that comes to my mind as a technique for that. Right. If any, anybody in the audience is thinking how do I push myself to that next, that next phase, educating yourself about the luxury market. And how it performs differently than the regular market is absolutely crucial. And in the Institute's training, we talk about the price banding concept, really paying attention to market activity and how things behave in different price points because it changes. And so breaking a market apart by specific geography, very specific geography and price ranges really gives tremendous insight into where the opportunities are too. Right. So if we're talking about targeting the upper tier, you have to know where the opportunities are, you know, how market areas are performing differently and where that opportunity is. Right. So there may be some neighborhoods that just don't turn right. Or you could find, if you're looking at a particular segment that if you want to target properties that are a million plus or 2 million plus or 5 million plus, whatever is relevant for your market, that it takes so much longer to get those transactions closed that, that may not be the smart decision for you because you're going to have to carry all of your expenses, your general expenses for, for that period of time. But let's talk about farming particular neighborhoods. Right. And price points to, to build your luxury business. So direct mail marketing, right. So if we're talking about reaching people that you don't know already, direct mail marketing that, that shares that market knowledge can, can absolutely be a way in to demonstrate your knowledge even without having those kinds of sales. So, Jack, I'm curious, have you done any geographical farming like that, or do you have particular strategies that have helped you stay top of mind with, with a certain type of clientele? Maybe it's not geographic.
- [07:26]
B
No, I think no. Geographic can definitely be a good way to do it. I think what's key though is a lot of agents do this. A lot agents, you know, you talked about doing expires, you know, for example, for sale by owners, expires, withdrawn listings, that sort of thing. I think that's a natural go to. For a lot of agents. The problem, I think is that, and here's, here's what happens. I see it happen all the time where an agent starts targeting expired listings and they pick the, you know, the price band. They say, okay, here I want to price, or look at the, the million half to $3 million price range. That's my target. That's terrific. And then they start making phone calls and sending messages and direct mail pieces and etc. To target that price range for expired listings. And then they get a phone call. Well, the next logical thing that happens is assuming you get the appointment, you know, the seller is going to be investigating, doing some background work on who you are as an agent. So if all you're doing is doing the expired listings, but you're not looking at the rest of your branding, your website, your print publications and everything else that you do, it's all got to happen simultaneously. I think that's really important. In addition to doing the, you know, doing the withdrawns and expires when we, you know, you know, currently I rarely ever look at expired listings or withdrawn listings from a, from a, you know, trying to develop business. We do that typically now more because we can't find what we're looking for. So we'll see. Has there been recently expired might be a good fit for my client. That's a different kind of thing than what we're talking about. Yeah, but early in my career we did a ton of that. And then there's been certain times in my career where we found that, you know, inventory was low, listing inventory was low. We need to build it back up. That's our first go to. But again, it's a multifaceted front. We go in with, you know, on our website. The way that my website looks today looked that way 20 plus years ago because we were targeting the luxury market. So I made sure that my website was focused on luxury listings. So when someone went to my website, it looked like the same brand I was positioning in my conversations with them and also with our direct mail pieces going after the expired or the, or the withdrawn listing. So I think all of it has to kind of happen together. That makes sense.
- [09:37]
A
Yeah. Yeah. And I think that effective, effective farming and I do we farm two different distinct geographic areas. There's one waterfront neighborhood, single family residences, one, one neighborhood of about 500 homes. And then our audience who's familiar with us knows that I also farm downtown condos in St. Petersburg. And that's about, it's about 1800 households. And so we do regular mailings, quarterly mailings that are all focused on the data. It's not focused on, hey, list with me, list with me, list with me. It's. I'm just sharing good information with you. And, and that price banding comes into play in, in each of those arenas and you can, you can further break that down to properties with pools or condos. Is it water view or not? And, and providing that data, that's super relevant instead of just gathering general data.
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B
I will tell you how important that is. This. You'll love this. Tame as you're saying this. So when people wonder, does this work? Okay. I've been a real estate broker for 26 years. I get Those mailing pieces in my mail just like every other consumer does. Because agents send things out they don't realize on your list or on their list, they've got an agent or a broker on their actual list. Because a lot of them, quite frankly, are newer in the business. They don't have the name recognition yet. They haven't figured it out. And so we'll get those pieces ourselves. Do I pick it up and install in the trash can now? I look at it, I read it, because I'm kind of curious. What are they saying? What are they saying my home is worth? What else is sold in my neighborhood? What else is going on in my area? That's interesting. I mean, it's genuinely interesting to me to see what somebody else is a quote, expert is saying about my home, my neighborhood. And I'm in the business, I don't need that information. But I still fascinated by it. And so I think you're, I think you're right. I think providing good content, not just the flashy, hey, call me, everybody gets tired of that. And most of our mail looks just like that from. Yeah, you know, every, every corner.
- [11:40]
A
And I have, I have heard from some of some of my colleagues that do have effective withdrawn and expired strategies in the upper tier. But, but, but, but for me, it's just part of the whole organic piece, like you were saying. Right. So really, really, really focusing on everybody in general. But so beyond geographic farming. Right, because that's the easy one. This is, you know, real estate. Real estate. This is the way you're supposed to do it. Right. Pick a farm area, go after it. Right. Work it, work it, work it. But beyond that, geographic farming, how about finding a particular niche that appeals to you within the luxury segment as a whole? Right. You mentioned to me that in your market area, you've got some very specific categories that can be focused on. So tell us about that kind of thing. How do we really drill down on those niches?
- [12:32]
B
Absolutely. When you look at the, the greater Nashville market, for example, so not Nashville proper alone, but Nashville proper and also the little, you know, suburban communities around Nashville, there's a lot of wonderful areas I see a lot of my colleagues specializing in. They really drill down into some of these categories. So for example, you mentioned condos with. When I think of condos in downtown Nashville, there's about a half a dozen agents that immediately come to mind that I think if I need to find out about condos, I'm going to call one of those guys to ask a question. And that's the way the public perceives them too, because they've worked so hard to establish themselves in a luxury condo, typically high rise condo market, rooftop living. So not just condos, but also you look at mid rises and what we call the tall skinnies, for example, that you'll see in some of the close in suburban, kind of within the urban core, but still very expensive luxury market. Rooftop living is a really wonderful category. When you step outside of downtown Nashville into the suburbs, then you have all kinds of opportunities. For example, equestrian communities. So Williamson county, where we're located, there's some really wonderful equestrian communities and what we call gentlemen farms. So in other words, it's not a ranch. We're talking, we're not talking 500 acres. We're talking the 5 acre, 10 acre, 15 or 20 acre tract where somebody can have horses and a fenced in property if they want to, to have that kind of rural experience, you know, when they might have actually moved here from California, Chicago. What they're looking for, what they perceive that experience to be golf and gated communities. I know that we've got those. You do. They're all over the country, people who are big golfers, the golf communities, gated communities. These are very specific target areas within the luxury brand that really speak to people. One Tammy, I'm going to ask you about this. So in our, in our market, both in the urban core and also in the suburbs, one of the really interesting markets to me that you don't necessarily think of when you think of luxury market, but it clearly is, is the historic market. You've got to have some really wonderful historic communities. I know where you are.
- [14:44]
A
We do, we do. We have quite a lot of, of historical properties and I think every, every little pocket has theirs. And for somebody who's an absolute history buff, right, Somebody who really appreciates those properties themselves, it's a perfect thing to focus on because like pick any of these niches and I think ways to build your business on that is to educate yourself about the nuances of that particular type of business. So getting engaged in the preservation society, right, knowing which architects and contractors work on historically specific properties, right, you build an entirely specialized vendor base. You network with the other real estate professionals who are focused in that particular niche. I have built relationships with the, the city staff that manages the historic designations. And I have gotten some great information that helped me build a story by reaching out and saying, hey, this, this house feels kind of special. Can you tell me anything about it from your records that I can't get to. And really, really building those resources and those networks. And so there's a whole different perspective there. It's a great example of a niche that you might focus on. And you've got new construction too, right? So you got the historic and then new construction.
- [16:13]
B
Yeah. When you think about. Sorry. When you think about Williamson county again, where I'm sitting right now, Williamson county, which is the, which is the wealthier suburb just south of Nashville, it's one of the wealthiest suburbs in the country, actually. And most of what's here at one time was primarily pasture. So it made a perfect opportunity for new construction. So we've got a ton of new construction in our area. We also have some really wonderful historic communities, little small towns like historic downtown Franklin and. But when you think about this area, again, you see certain agents who really focus on new construction in our market and their names become synonymous with builders and new construction and development. And it's. And I think the agents who have been the most successful that I see in our market and when I speak with agents in other markets as well are those that clearly take it to the next level like we're talking about. It's not just that they say, hey, I want to be a luxury agent and I really want to work in luxury, that's terrific. But they, they take it to luxury. If they really want to be successful, their name becomes synonymous with one of categories where people know this is the go to person. If you want luxury experience, want to have somebody who understands historic communities, historic homes and preservation. There's only a handful of names that come to mind when you think about that and for all the other categories. And so again, if you're a newer agent trying to get into the luxury space, or perhaps you've been around for several years, you're seasoned, but you want to make that leap in the luxury. Becoming a specialist in one of these areas and being able to brand yourself that way, I think is critical. You talked about, I don't get too far ahead of ourselves here, but you talked about somebody in your market that's. Those that are dog friendly. Dog friendly, right?
- [17:57]
A
Well, actually it's not in my market, but it's a colleague and I remember hearing about this years ago. And the point that I want to make here is if there's, if there's something that you are passionate about, that can be the trigger for the niche that you develop. So this particular gentleman is in the Chicago area and he was a dog fanatic. Right. He is a judge for competitions. Right. He's all into the dog world, right? The show dog world, the support dog. And so he found himself attracted to finding condos in Chicago and becoming the expert on their rules, right? So he built this reputation for himself. He built a website called chicagodogpads.com and I remember at one point, if you Google that, you'll find that the Chicago Tribune did a story on him and how that particular niche developed. And so at his, his business, his name became synonymous with anybody who was looking for urban living that had dogs. He was the absolute go to. He knew where the dog parks were, he knew what the rules were, he knew which of the buildings had, you know, dog friendly facilities, all of that. And, and that really kind of stemmed out of a passion that he had personally. And I think that anybody who's listening can. Can take a passion, right? We talked about golf courses, right? What better than somebody who enjoys golfing to dig in and do the research? But I think that's what it's all about, is learning everything that you can about that particular niche so that people know, so that you know, you'll call them when you want to know the certain thing. Just like you were saying, Jack.
- [19:55]
B
Well, it's interesting too, because, you know, when you talk about the dog lovers, sometimes we have to turn this around a little bit. We talked previously, you and I did, Tammy, where sometimes it becomes less about the product. So, for example, you know, new construction as a product, or historic homes, if you want. It seems somehow not perhaps not called a product, but it is in the day. It's a product for us, our business. But instead of talking about the product is talk about the person. Because we're in a business where so often they tell us, when you're marketing properties, it's got to be about the house. It can't be about the people. You can't say this is perfect for the married couple, can't say this is great for families. And we understand all that. But the reality is we can't target people as we're looking into the luxury marketing and branding ourselves in luxury. Here's an example. I know agents in our market. We've got Vanderbilt University Hospital here. We're a huge health care town. There are agents in our marketplace who don't necessarily brand themselves aligned with one of these categories we've talked about in the last few minutes. They brand themselves with the people. So, for example, they become specialists, you know, in real estate for physicians, and they work in conjunction with certain hospitals or certain elements of health care. And that's where their focus is. And so they align themselves with lenders who have special doctor loans, new docs as bankers. And lenders love to loan money to physicians even while school. They got huge amount of debt and they don't even have any income yet. They're about to have great income, but they don't have any yet. The banks know what that trajectory looks like, so they're happy to loan, to make big loans. And so there are agents who partner up with lenders who do that sort of thing and really target that community. So it's not about the house, it's about the person. And then they know that since it's, you know, I'll use Vanderbilt University or Vanderbilt Hospital as an example. You know, if Vanderbilt is a target, then they know they need to be within a certain distance of the hospital.
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A
Right.
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B
So they really focus on, okay, what communities are within a reasonable driving distance of the hospital, what condos are terrific for a quick overnight. So these are staying when they're on, you know, when they're doing rounds or whatever. And so they become a, they really start to focus on those communities associated with health care.
- [22:10]
A
Yeah. And that makes me think in my market, you know, we have waterways and all of that, we have drawbridges. And I know that there are certain types of doctors in certain facilities with certain responsibilities that are prohibited from, from living in a community that requires going over a drawbridge to get there. Right. Little known fact.
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B
I'll take your word for it. We don't have a big drawbridge issue in Nashville.
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A
Right, Right. And that just goes back to how diverse our geography is.
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B
Sure.
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A
But when I have worked with healthcare professionals here, the fact that I am aware of that has been really, it's something I can see the people, you know, they're reacting to that. They're like, whoa, I didn't think of that. Right. But, but, but you're right. I knew that ahead of time. And so I think if you're going in a direction like that, not just the vendors that you talked about, the lenders for those specific products, but I think it's really a great idea to, to, to make connections with the folks that do the hiring and the staffing in those healthcare facilities or higher education facilities. Right. That is, that is a great way to build that niche, is to position yourself as a resource for those, those folks. I know I have, I've spoken before about the relationship that I have with my alma mater that happens to be here in that if they're interviewing for a higher level position, relocating someone in, they'll have me do the dog and pony show, show them neighborhoods and you know, sample price ranges and that sort of thing. And I actually report back to, to the, the institution about whether I think that they would be a good fit for the culture of the college. Right. So that's building a whole win win kind of thing. But I think these are some of the ways that, that you might approach building a niche. Right.
- [24:11]
B
Yet it changes too. I know early in my career, one of the things that jump started my business, my business partner Robert and I both came from a corporate sales background prior to real estate. And, and we've kind of moved the flow of business obviously, as most of us do. But early in my career I recognized the opportunities that were in corporate business and real estate and what a big piece relocation plays with that. And so early on I started doing something that wasn't common for agents to do. But we did corporate calls. I would go out and target, find out who the human resource officers were, who were the recruitment team, who the players were and be and greet and come by, say hello and take them to lunch and drinks and dinner, whatever, and really networking that, that HR community because they were the gatekeepers to the folks coming in. And corporate relocation was such a big piece of business then. And that's changed a lot.
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A
It has Covid.
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B
But there was a time when corporate relocation was big. And so for, for us we landed a number of accounts but the big one we landed at that time years ago was WebMD and we moved hundreds of individuals, you know, high level executives with WebMD for several years and generate and, and by doing so that helped us jump or catapult into the luxury space much faster than we would have otherwise. And so over course, over the course of time we really market ourselves aggressively as corporate relocation specialists. And, and at some point in time, Robert and I started evaluating our branding and I said, you know, it's interesting because over the course of time the corporate relocation seems to, it's really kind of going away. It will always be a part of the market, but it's not the big part like it used to be because now the big part is lifestyle, you know, this lifestyle move.
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A
And so, and especially as the price point goes up and especially.
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B
Exactly right, especially as price point goes up. Matter of fact, you'll find, I know you guys have seen this. We've seen entire companies move to another market simply because the top talent, the top leadership wanted to live somewhere else. The CEO wants to live closer to his kids, they're going to college in the South. So they moved to the south, you know, or whatever. The compelling reason is they want to live somewhere else, so they bring the whole company with them and they relocate the company. And so it's very interesting to see how that works. But. But, but, yeah. So there's a. The lifestyle motivation is a bigger part of that. So we had to kind of work on a rebranding where that was concerned. But there's all these different levels, which is so fascinating, I think. And also to your point, Tammy, it varies depending on where you are, when you. Where you're located. Because you just talked about drawbridges being such a critical piece for your market. And it makes me laugh because I grew up on the water, and I remember that being a very big deal. And I haven't thought about drawbridges in many years as being a big deal, but it is, you know, you're knowing how that impacts it.
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A
And. And that. That also makes me. I want to drill down into waterfront, because we're going in that direction, naturally. But in my area, we have navigable water, right? So that's anything that you can put a boat on. There are some neighborhoods that are sailboat water, meaning that they don't have fixed bridges and they can get out to the bay. And then, of course, so you have the water for boaters, and then you have lakes and ponds and that sort of thing that are more for somebody that wants the view. But in any of those ways, understanding the different types of waterfront, somebody calls me, says, hey, I'm moving from Cincinnati and I want the waterfront lifestyle. You've got to dig even deeper than that to help them. And waterfront is one of the areas that my mother built her business on, and so she built her database of all of the best seawall engineers, dock building companies, right? All of those very specialized things. And one of the things that I always think about, in every market, I see properties that are marketed as room for a pool. And that is such a dangerous thing because you have no idea what's underneath the ground. And if you're in a waterfront community with seawalls, there could be mass tiebacks underneath. And so even knowing when not to talk about something is really valuable. But having those specific vendors knowing the details about the different types of seawall and their lifespan and all of those different engineers, that's been absolutely crucial in positioning ourselves in that space as specialists.
- [28:55]
B
You know, I'll tell you something else interesting. The I've. I've shared, you know, outside the real estate realm, I've told young People, you know, if you want to do really well in life, look for a problem and look for how to solve that problem. And if you find a really good solution to a very common problem, that there aren't solutions out in the field or easily accessible, you can make a whole career out of that. And one of the things we did many years ago, I bought a home in our market that was stucco. I know you got tons of them in Florida and there's tons of California and Texas and Nevada and different places, but in some markets, you know, they're pretty. You'll see stucco homes just about everywhere, but you don't see a ton of them in our market. But when you see them in our market, they're typically high end neighborhoods. Okay. And all stucco is not created equal because you've got, that's right, synthetic stucco and you got mortar wash. There's all these different varieties. And then within this various stucco elements, you've got to understand who the right players are, who's really good inspectors and who are the good repair people who aren't. And understanding how to review an inspection report. And for stucco, because for us in our market, you know, gosh, I would say 90% of the agents were dodging anything to do with stucco because of the relocation. Relocation piece. And there were lawsuits in North Carolina at one point, a lot of big relocation companies wouldn't give benefits to their transferring employees with stucco houses. And so people are just kind of running from stucco altogether. Well, I bought a stucco house years ago, many years ago. And over the course of owning this home that had both hard cut stucco and addition, it was synthetic stucco, I became inadvertently an expert in that product. Okay. Because then I started knowing all the players. As I watched a lot of my colleagues run from. I thought, you know, this is an area that we know a lot about. So we started pursuing expired and withdrawn stucco listings in luxury neighborhoods and proclaiming ourselves as stucco experts. Because I had become an expert in that area. We picked up so much business to the point where other agents were calling me routinely to ask for referrals on all the players associated with stucco when they need to repair people or inspectors or whatever else. And so there was a lot of years, not as much now, but there were a lot of years when a big part, big portion of my personal business was luxury stucco. And so anyway, I bring that up only to say, look, for those you just mentioned that have about pools and having. What would you describe the underpinnings? What did you say earlier?
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A
Yeah, there's a Tiebacks.
- [31:27]
B
Yeah, that's totally for. I know nothing about that. But for every one of our markets there are things we don't know. And if you can become an expert in an area that you haven't found your colleagues already on, that could be the area of the. That could be the entree, the luxury piece. We have a, I don't think another area. There's a community, a bedroom community of Williamson county called Leapers Fork. And Leapers Fork is a little rural area. And Robert, my business partner, grew up there and he jokes about now I used to live there when that's where all the poor people live because it's a very wealthy area. A lot of gentlemen's farms are there now and you can't build on anything less than 5 acres in leapers Fork. And it's pretty far out there. We joke about you need a helicopter to get to Leapers Fork because it's not an easy commute. But people don't buy out there for the convenience to get to Nashville. They buy out there because they don't really want to be in Nashville. They want that rural experience, but they want to upscale rural experience. And there's again, a handful of agents that recognize the opportunity early on and really focused on Leapers Fork and horses and the rural experience. And they understand all the ins and outs of that and they made a. Just have made wonderful careers in the luxury market on that very narrow niche. And so that's what I think is kind of the theme of this whole podcast, is talking about how can you define yourself and really become an expert. That doesn't mean you have to say no to other business. Yeah, okay, we talked about that too. It just means that as you're broadcasting yourself out there and you're creating your brand, you know, if you do happen, as you mentioned, the front end of the podcast, if you sell a, you know, a three hundred thousand dollar condo because it's somebody's kid, they need a space to put them in in college and they want investment property. Do you really need to put that on your website as a sold when your web. The rest of your website is focusing on gentlemen farm, Gentlemen's farms and, and rural communities. Does it really fit your brand? So let's maybe we just pull that out and keep that separate. That's kind of, I think the way you gotta look at this strategically.
- [33:25]
A
Yep. And I think, I think educating ourselves on, on a variety of different topics is really great. But, but there are ways that anyone who's listening can build that expertise. If they just work at it. Right. Learn everything you need to learn. You know, network in various different communities and with different types of professionals. And ultimately you, you mentioned when we were preparing for this, it's about giving someone a compelling reason to pick you instead of anyone else, right?
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B
Absolutely.
- [34:03]
A
So build that, that brand. Use the resources that are available to, you know, to really, really build that expertise and then put that out there. Right. Like I said in the early part, when you, when you're farming, geographical area, for example, you've always got the data to use even if you don't have a lot of closed sales to market. So that's, that's, that's the avenue. It's, it's your, your, your competence and your confidence about that. Right. That is a mantra of the, the institute's training.
- [34:37]
B
I've told, I've told new agents before when they've got, when they've, you know, gotten, you know, right to the finish line, they've done all this preparation, they've done marketing materials, materials. They've gotten the call and now they have the appointment and they're going on that first appointment to take themselves to the new level in a new place in luxury. And so now they're going into a place that's new to them. They're going, they're going to be doing a listing appointment in a neighborhood in a price range they've never sold in before. But they've gotten it to there based on their research and their branding. What I usually recommend to them. Before you go on that appointment, make a point to preview all the homes in that neighborhood and know them well so that when you're sitting down on that listing appointment, you can talk to that seller and say, oh Yeah, I know, Mr. Smith, they're selling their home two streets over such and such address. They've got a gorgeous home. It has this. And you give them all the details at home because suddenly they're recognizing you as you've got some expertise. You toured the other homes, you know them inside and out. You know how to talk the talk. Because what happens is with a lot of us, we get busy and we get comfortable and that new agent can sometimes come right in there and, and get the business simply because they went the extra mile. I hate to use all these cliches, but truly that they've done the research and really position to win in that business, to earn that business. So you don't have to have 20 plus years behind you to get that 3, 4 or 5 million dollar home. But you do need to have the research under your belt and the understanding and knowing the luxury space and being able to talk competently when you have that opportunity. So don't just go out there and get the expired or the withdrawn listing and get the appointment. Go into it with your. All your tools, because as you get that one, that's your first opportunity to shine, and that's your first soldier. And then you take that one and get the next one. So it's such a great opportunity. I love talking to new agents about this because it's fun, helping them see the vision of it. You can do it. You know, you can definitely do it. You don't have to wait 30 years to get.
- [36:38]
A
That's right, Jack. It makes me think I was teaching a class in South Florida and there.
- [36:45]
B
I met you years ago, by the way.
- [36:46]
A
Right, Right. So I was teaching the class, and there was one realtor in the. In the class that I knew was a seasoned professional. She was from Hawaii. She happened to have Kelsey Grammer's house listed at the time. Right. Like, so she was seasoned, you know, entertainment, you know, celebrity, all of that. And I knew that she had chosen this course to get some CE and to get the designation, and. And it was near where her daughter lived, so she got to see her daughter. Right. So I. I knew all of this, and that was great. And I remember at one point towards the end of the class, she raised her hand and she said, you know, I have to tell you that I. I decided to take this class for all those other reasons. Right. And I knew that it would be an easy wash. I do this in my sleep. I didn't. I didn't need to learn anything here. And she said, but I was so wrong. And she said, I've been sitting next to this young lady who's just a month into the business for the two days now. And she said, what I just realized is that if I get complacent, then this young lady is going to come in and take my business out from underneath me. And I didn't even see it coming. And so your point is so well taken, not just for new agents, but for all of us to really step back and figure out, you know, are we. Are we doing what we need to be doing? Are we staying on top of things, or could we be doing better because we get complacent? So I'm glad that you brought that up. All right, so there's so many niches, so many different types of properties, and. And so many ways that we could. We could take this, but unfortunately for today, our time has come to an end. And so I want to thank all of you so much for joining us on this episod episode of Estate of Mind, the art of selling Luxury Real estate. If you're interested in learning more about the Institute, you can find more@luxuryhome marketing.com if you like what you 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 infoxuryhomemarketing.com Jack, thanks so much as always. And to all of our audience, thanks for listening.