← F.I.R.E.D UP with Krista Mashore
F.I.R.E.D UP with Krista Mashore
This Realtor reveals how to DOMINATE Your Local Market, Ep. (941)
00:22:34
Heather Jones is living proof that when everyone else is pulling back, you go ALL IN. In this episode, Krista Mashore sits down with Heather to unpack exactly how she turned 2024—one of the toughest markets since 1995—into the best year of her...
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- [00:00]
A
And ever since I made that move and joined your program, business has just been consistently going like this.
- [00:07]
B
Hey everyone, are you ready to be fired? Because I've got Heather Jones. She is in San Diego, Corona, California and she is a top agent, had the best year of her career in 2024, which everyone says is a rough market, but not for Heather. She's going to give away all the secrets. And by the way, she is one of the authors in Top Producer Secrets. Hello, Heather, how are you?
- [00:31]
A
Hi Krist. I'm doing great. Thank you for having me.
- [00:35]
B
Oh, so good. So give us a little bit of backstory. So first of all tell everyone where they can find you at because sometimes they don't listen to the whole thing. You know, that's, that's first and foremost how long you've been in the business. Kind of talk about your journey, where you were at, where you're at now and then what you are doing to see the best results and what helped you have your best year in 2024.
- [00:56]
A
Yeah, so I have been licensed for almost seven years. I am here in Corona, California, Riverside county, about five miles from Orange county lines. So we like to call our Corona the new Orange county because you can get a lot of house for, well, somewhat affordable in Southern California. I started out at a local small brokerage and I kind of worked my way up, increased my business and then made the move to exp. And ever since I made that move and joined your program, business has just been consistently going like this.
- [01:36]
B
So by the way, she was giving an upside. Her business has consistently gone up in what they are saying, the worst years in real estate since 1995, which is crazy, is last year, according to Inman, 71% of agents did not even sell one house at all last year, which is crazy. So, so tell us Heather, like what are you doing? What are you seeing the most successful success in, in real estate right now?
- [02:01]
A
Yeah, so I would say video. All of my video content. It has been tremendous for my business and then really targeting in location domination in my farm. I have been consistently doing postcards, targeted videos to my farm community videos for the last 18 months, probably consistently. And that has made a dramatic impact on my business, not only just from people in my farm, but people seeing me saying, oh yeah, you're the agent in Mountain Gate and I want to refer you to so and so. Do you serve other areas? Of course I do. But at least it has opened up the floodgates for me and I am about to launch my very first in person Community event. So super excited about that. I've been hosting a coloring contest for the kids in my farm for the last this year will be seven years and now I'm going to pair that with an in person event. So.
- [03:05]
B
Oh, so good. So, so video content, let's start there because I know that was the kind of a segue to everything. I have the best before and after video. In fact, I'm going to tell the team to put your before and after video in the notes. So if you want to see before and after, you're going to be shocked because I think some people, you know, video is hard for people because they're afraid of what they look like. They're afraid that they, you know, of their color of skin, they have an accent, they're too thin, they're too heavy, they're worried about their experience level, they're worried about people judging them. They don't know what to say. There's so many different things about video. And what I always tell people is that, you know, there's, there's one minute of video is equivalent to 1.8 million words. And visuals are processed 60,000 times faster in the brain than just text alone. Right. And so there's just so many different reasons. I mean there's a stat about from Orion that landing pages with video can convert at 800% more than the same landing page without a video. I mean there's just so many stats about how powerful video is. And especially research shows that during times of economic uncertainty, which we all would say we're in now, right? The worst real estate market since 1995, the more trust that's needed. And when you create video content and you're adding value and you're giving information, you're serving, not selling, you're really just helping people. They start developing a relationship with you, they see you as the authority, they develop more trust and it just makes the transaction so much easier. So kind of talk about your process with that. And while you are, I'm going to make a note right now to make sure we get that before and after in the show notes.
- [04:44]
A
Oh, the before video is horrendous. But guess what? I started somewhere. So yes, still did it. I did not like the way that it came out, but I still posted it and it is still up there on my YouTube page and on my Facebook videos. And I just progressively got better and better and better and I would mess up and it's okay. I would still sometimes post the video or just refilm it. So I've gotten. I'm not perfect on video. Still to this day, I still only use my phone for recording. And I have a tripod here. I have a green screen or I'm out, you know, throughout the community or in my house, and I just use my phone. I don't worry about all the fancy equipment.
- [05:29]
B
One that is so important, she just uses her phone. That's so good.
- [05:33]
A
I have an iPhone 14 and it does perfect videos for me. So. Yes. Never had somebody say, man, your videos don't look professional. So. And then when I go and highlight local businesses, they are just so excited that I'm highlighting them. They don't care what I'm filming with. So in this day and age, with all the technology we have on our phone, I like to tell people, don't overthink it. Just do it. You can always rerecord or post it anyways if you mess up. Because people like to see that we are human. And I'm. I'm not a machine. I'm human. I film video sometimes with no makeup on, or send my video messages to people fresh out of the gym. And people love that because it's still just putting that personal touch on all of the communication.
- [06:22]
B
Yeah, it's you. It's real. It's raw. Okay, so what kind. So you're doing with this? Your phone? No fancy equipment, no special anything. Although that video that you did in Corona, which was gorgeous, that was definitely from videographer, but that was because you had like a. I mean, it was, it was. It was a. Showcasing the community and. And all that, which was great.
- [06:41]
A
Yes, I do do a few with my videographer. Yes.
- [06:44]
B
Yes. Tell me what kind of videos you think are working the best for you right now. And what, what advice would you give to somebody who is like, first of all, why. Why do you think video content is so important to do, really?
- [06:55]
A
Because, you know, a. They get to know me, they see me, they get to know me, they get to see that I am an expert in what I'm talking about. They get to see that I'm out in the community. If I'm going to say, oh, I live here in Corona, if I'm not doing anything and I'm just a hermit shell in my house behind my computer, they're not actually seeing that I'm anywhere. But if I'm out to eat, I'm at the park with my kids, I'm at the hockey rink with my boys, and I'm doing content and footage, they're seeing that I am actually out There. I do live in the area. I do know what I'm talking about. I do know where to go to get the best sushi or the best pizza in our town. So I think that that really speaks volumes. And then just to showcase that for people who don't know the area, maybe someone is coming from LA or Orange county and they hear, you know, Corona's a little bit more affordable living, so they want to come this way, but they know nothing about it. Now I could just send them to my neighborhood funnel in addition to talking to them and they can watch a slew of videos about the neighborhood and the area and really get to know me that I am an expert. It builds trust and it's. I mean, it's been amazing for my business. Yeah.
- [08:05]
B
So, so good. Okay. And so, so the types of videos that you're doing give us some ideas about the type. So you obviously, you said you're doing community videos showing you out, you know, in the local hotspots and, you know, restaurants and community type of events. Are those mainly the ones that you're doing that you're seeing the most results for or what other type of videos?
- [08:23]
A
So, no, I do all of, like, national market updates. I do, you know, educational videos for sellers and buyers. My local market updates seem to get the best traction, I want to say surprisingly, but not surprisingly, because everybody wants to know what's going on in the area. Those get the best traction along with my community videos. And it's. I used to go in and interview business owners and I don't even do that anymore. I really just go with my family or my friends and I'll get footage and I'll create a video just highlighting, oh, here's my favorite taco or here's the new sushi place in town. And I'm not even worrying about trying to get the business owners on because people get nervous. Yeah. To do that. But now it's like people like, quick, concise what's going to be attractive. So highlighting the food, highlighting the coffee, the drinks, whatever. Wherever I am in our town, the parks have just gone under. Many renovations. And I'm a mom. I have two young kids who are very involved in my business, so I do use that to my advantage. So we go to the parks and I highlight all the new stuff going on at the, at the parks and all the events that they have. And I think that that really, really helps.
- [09:38]
B
Oh, good, good, good. Okay, so now talk a little bit. Location domination. Actually, one of the, one of the things that I teach it's actually called digital location domination, which basically is. Is kind of taking some form, you know, marketing in a farm, but putting a digital twist on it and really having an omni presence. Talk to us about that, like, what? How are you doing that? How is it working for you? And you know, I know that you are really involved in the community, in the events, kind of go into that as well.
- [10:08]
A
So I started with door, like not door knocking, but dropping my flyers personally, just printing flyers, dropping them off to the farm. Slowly got into doing EDDM postcards, which is your every door. Direct mailers. I still do that every single month like clockwork.
- [10:27]
B
How many are you sending out?
- [10:29]
A
My farm is 680 homes.
- [10:32]
B
Okay.
- [10:32]
A
So that's where I focus on for the postcards. And then I have now gotten, well, to know a lot of the homeowners and gotten their information, but also build off of what I'm able to capture from the farm. And then I target them with my videos and I retarget my videos to them and I put them in my Homebot and I put them in my CRM and my email newsletter. So they're getting a little mix of everything from, from me. And then to piggyback off of that to really get involved with the community and just bring fun and value. I do host a coloring contest for the kids in my area twice a year. And I have really taken that and went from a traditional paper here, color this, bring it to me, to creating video footage, promoting all of the entries online and really building social media engagement. Social media presence during those times of year. And it has grown my social media presence drastically. I have homeowners asking, when's the next contest? So that has grown tremendously. And every postcard has a QR code leading to the contest or the list of concerts in the park for the, for the summer, or to my Mountain Gate neighborhood funnel that I highlight or to a specific video. So it's always tied with something online and that's been, I mean, huge. Doing all of that brings presence of, you know, Heather Jones homes a little bit of everywhere. So they see me in their mailbox, they see me on their doorstep when it's contest time, they see me on homebot, they see me on Facebook and Instagram, they see me everywhere. And so it's just a matter of time. When they're ready to make a move, you know, sure enough they're going to call me. I've generated over $2 million strictly from parent homeowners that have participated in my contest because get all your stuff. But our kids participated in the contest and we just love that you do that for them. We want you to sell our home. And it's been over $2 million. So. So.
- [12:43]
B
And see, that's on top. So think about it. I mean, you're doing something for the community. You're getting to know people, you're adding value. You also, when. When they win the coloring contest, don't you drop off and everybody wins? Right. So you personally drop offs and send a little gift.
- [12:54]
A
Oh, yes, yes, yes. So I do go. We have three top winners for gift cards. But I do put together a little treat for every participant. Yes, they get a participation trophy. But it is a fantastic way for me to personally knock on the door, meet the parents. I capture their phone number, email address, their address, home address for this contest. So I'm building my database like crazy over the last six years doing this. I mean, I went from my very first year doing it strictly on paper. I had seven entries. Two of those were my kids. Two of those were my best friend's kids. So I had three people participate to last Easter, I had 73 participants.
- [13:43]
B
Oh, see, that's so good. That just shows you the power of consistency. Right. By the way, if you go to kristamayshore.com listingsnow kristamaysh.com listings now you can learn about a lot of what Heather's talking about. She's been my student for many, many years. And we teach all this kind of stuff. And you'll be getting a huge glimpse of the neighborhood community funnel and how we use that to really, really attract sellers. Stand out as the go to agent. It's a three day virtual event. You can do it right from your own home. And we talk all about digital marketing, social media, video, how to stand out as the go to expert in your area. Heather, you went to that, right? I mean, and you're obviously one of my students, but that's how you became a student.
- [14:20]
A
I went to that and I became a student. Gosh, yeah, four years ago. Yeah, four years ago. And I mean, it's been. My business has taken such a tremendous growth and it has not always been easy. I want to, like, everybody sees all this stuff, hears all this stuff and says, oh, yeah, that's great. But then they expect it to happen like that. And it has not always been easy. And you just have to be consistent. I mean, like I said, I've been doing this contest for six consecutive years. I could have given up after the first one because I only.
- [14:55]
B
Oh, yeah, you had three people. I mean, my gosh, most people would give up. And that's what a joke.
- [15:00]
A
I got my kids to color it and my friend's kids. I'm like, I'm gonna make this look bigger, you know, all that stuff. But it builds social media engagement. And they see it consistently. They see my videos consistently. They see my postcards consistently. So that's probably my biggest piece of advice for everybody is don't give up. Just keep going. Because this business is really hard sometimes. Yes, that's just the reality. It is so.
- [15:28]
B
And input equals out. But like, one of. Yeah, one of the things we were talking about today on the, on the. Today's class was like, people give up so quickly and you know, you can't. You got to keep on going. You've got to keep putting forth the effort. You've got to keep trying. You've got to. You know, it's like most businesses, there's such a huge financial investment to start, start and invest of resources, of time, of energy. And most agents just don't understand that you have to give things the time it takes. And especially in real estate, because people don't just wake up one day and say, hey, I'm ready to buy or sell. Right. It takes more time than that. So we were going over a concept this morning about, you know, 97% of. Of buyers are in an informational state all the time, meaning they're seeking information. Right. With any industry, there's only 3% of buyers in any main industry that are ready to buy right now. Okay. Most people, including agents, just go after the 3% instead of going after the entire rest of the population, the 97% that aren't ready. But if you show up and build your brand, you make sure it's impossible for them not to know who you are. You add value and position yourself as the authority. All of that 97% will eventually turn into the 3%. But you've got to give it the time that it takes. And that's why you've seen such instrumental growth just going up year after year after year, because you didn't go up. And your main. Your main thing was marketing, branding yourself on video, running Facebook ads, you know, creating your community funnels, doing the location domination both digitally and with the contests and things like that. Like, you have given the time that it takes. And man, there's so much money that can be made in real estate. It's such a great career. People will just learn how to do it right. Give it the time that it Takes and input equals output. Right? The more you do, the more that you will. You will, you know, but you'll, you'll see the results. So I, I love seeing, I love seeing that about you.
- [17:18]
A
I had the best year the last 12 months, and I'm on, you know, target to even increase that this year. I'm working currently on seven listings and seven buyers right now. I mean, so do me a favor.
- [17:33]
B
Repeat that and say it is. It's 2025. In 2024, I have my. Just repeat that just right there. I want everyone to really hear this, Heather. I want them to understand because people are saying it's the, it's the year and it, the, the interest rate. So just repeat that and then end it with your 7 listings and say it again, girl.
- [17:50]
A
Okay. Okay. So in 2024, I had the best year of my career. I know you said a stat earlier that how many percent only sold one house? In all of last year, I sold 14 homes. So that is the best year that I've had in my career. And now I'm, we're what, first quarter of 2025, and I am currently working on seven listings between now and June, and I have seven buyers in my pipeline. And that's not even including what's to come. I mean, I'm still working it and hustling and getting out there. I'm going to have my event and grow that pipeline even more. But just going into the year with a pipeline full of seven listings, seven buyers, I mean, that's, that's tremendous. It's huge.
- [18:37]
B
Oh, absolutely. And it's, it's good. It's perseverance and hard work. It's like today I was talking to the, to the. In the coaching call saying, you know, you can, you can be a new agent and you cannot be the most skilled agent, but input beats skill anytime. So the more reps, the more tries, the more you do. You just have to do more more often, right? And, and you can beat any top producer, agent, you can outbeat anyone or perform anyone if you just do more. And most people are not willing to do more. So if you're listening, you've had a rough year. Ask yourself this question. What have you been doing? Have you been consistent? What does your day look like? You know, are you setting your day up for success the night before? Are you time blocking? You know, like what, what are you doing for brand awareness and to market yourself and market your business? And if you're not doing it consistently, there's a reason why you're not being successful. And if you would just spend the next 12 months and commit to 100% doing that, you could absolutely have a completely different business in a, in a very, very short time.
- [19:38]
A
You know, being involved in communities like this that are going to support you and help keep setup. Because when you do things and they fail. Right. I had, I'm not going to lie, I had a home buyer seminar this year and it was a bust. And I was just laughing with my group, my business partners saying, well, let's just turn this into a strategy session for the next one. Maybe it was the day of the week, the time of day, whatever it was. And I'm not going to give up. I'm going to just keep, keep doing them because that's what it takes to make an impact.
- [20:10]
B
Well, 100% and that's fine. That's our endeavor right now. That was what I posted this morning on the call. If we're doing a, we're, we're doing a virtual seminar. Yeah, Virtual seminar. How to do it. Heather, that was so good to do me a favor. I always like to end it like this. One piece of advice that you can give both business, personal relationships, health, wealth, success, sex, I don't care what it is. What would be your number one piece of advice that you would give to real estate agents right now? As a top producing agent who had her best year in 2024, which has been the worst real estate since 1995 and you've had your best year, what would your advice be?
- [20:45]
A
Really? Just keep hustling and don't give up. If you really want this, you really have to decide if you want to do what it takes and don't give up. Just go all in and just keep going. Don't care if you look silly out there in the community, just keep going and don't give up because it will pay off.
- [21:06]
B
So will. And remember it's Heather Jones. She is in Corona, California near San Diego, Orange county area. She is a baller. She will take great care of your, your people. I personally know her. I have personally referred people to her. She is your go to listing agent. Where can they find you on socials?
- [21:23]
A
Heather at Heather Jones Real estate on Facebook and Instagram.
- [21:27]
B
Heather Jones Real estate, Facebook and Instagram and remember, if you'd like to learn these types of strategies and many more, I would love to see you at my free event. My event. I'm sorry, it's kristamaysha.com so/listings now. Kristenmar.com listings now. We have it every single month. It is virtual from your own home for the cost of less than a few cups of coffee. And I hope you are just as fired up as I am. Heather, thank you so much. This has been a pleasure. And by the way everyone, Heather is actually in my organization with exp. If you'd like to learn more about that, reach out to Heather or myself to find out how you can collaborate with Heather and me and be a part of our organization and get a lot of these tools and resources at no cost. Anyways, everyone have a great day. Heather thank you. Hey there. If you want to learn how to dominate your market as a real estate agent, how to sell more listings and stand out as the go to obvious choice, sign up for my virtual event. Just go to kristamayshorn.com forward/lessless listings. Do me a favor. This is a three day virtual event. I'm going to teach you how to stand out in your marketplace. Go to kristamayshore. Com Limitless listings and I will see you there.