$5M to $20M Game Plan, Social Media Strategies, & the Power of Branded Magazines

Summary

Stay Paid Podcast – Episode Summary

Episode Title: $5M to $20M Game Plan, Social Media Strategies, & the Power of Branded Magazines
Date: August 18, 2025
Hosts: Luke Acree & Josh Stike
Guests: Stephen Acree, Cody Smith (Acree Brothers Realty Team), plus live callers: Craig (Louisiana), David (Ohio), Steve (Illinois), Ronald (California)

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Episode Overview

This episode of the Stay Paid Podcast is a dynamic Q&A session featuring live calls from real estate and insurance professionals seeking advice on scaling their businesses, navigating social media, and leveraging branded magazines for lead generation and referrals. The hosts, along with guests from the Acree Brothers Realty Team, provide candid, step-by-step insights and actionable strategies to help agents and entrepreneurs overcome common barriers and unlock the next level of growth.

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Key Topics and Insights

1. Overcoming Listing Price Obstacles and Client Expectations

Caller: Craig from Louisiana
Key Discussion Points:

• Craig, a third-year agent experiencing a strong year ($2M+ in volume), struggles with listing clients who insist on overpricing their homes.
• Stephen and Luke emphasize the importance of honest, data-driven conversations with sellers:
  • Show (don’t just tell) comparable sales and market stats.
  • Set clear expectations pre-listing: if showings/interest aren’t present, price adjustments will be recommended.
  • Seed the pricing conversation early using comps, possibly in a pre-listing video or email.
• Notable Quote:

  "The truth is sellers just don't trust you when they're saying they don't want to drop price… you gotta explain that to them."
  – Stephen Acree [06:36]

• Luke references Tom Storey’s listing strategy: preemptively send a personalized video + comps before a listing appointment to frame the pricing discussion and build trust.
• Action Items:
  • Hold firm to your values as an agent; quality listings > “crappy” listings.
  • Focus on effective pre-listing communication (“pre-marketing packet”) to improve presentation quality and seller expectations.

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2. Scaling Your Solo Real Estate Business

Caller: David from Ohio
Key Discussion Points:

• David, a solo agent, is “drowning in clients,” torn between servicing active clients and nurturing potential future business. Recent production: 15–16 transactions/year (~$5M), aims to reach $10–15M+ and eventually build a team.
• Hosts identify lack of precise metrics and systems as the main barrier:
  • Know your numbers intimately—every deal, lead, and dollar must be tracked.
  • Without clarity on transactions, volume, net profits, and lead sources, it’s impossible to design effective systems or scalable solutions.
• Notable Quote:

  "Your first step to freedom ... is you need to know your numbers immediately."
  – Luke Acree [13:05]

• Stephen outlines an agent's scaling path:
  1. Get a showing assistant (which David has done).
  2. Next, hire a transaction coordinator (preferably licensed) to free up time for higher-level relationship-building and lead generation.
  3. Only then consider adding a buyer’s or listing agent, ensuring your profit margins can sustain it.
• Cody and Stephen caution: Don’t “step out of the business” too soon. Rushing into building a team without SOPs and solid systems can collapse your business if key people leave.
• Notable Quote:

  "A business owner has a goal, knows their numbers, and then develops a strategic plan based upon what historical activity is the best thing to tell you what you can do in the future."
  – Luke Acree [20:33]

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3. Achieving More Referrals with Branded Magazines

Caller: Steve from Illinois
Key Discussion Points:

• Steve sends ReminderMedia’s American Lifestyle magazine to 100 clients/prospects but wants to maximize referral generation from this investment.
• Luke and Stephen distinguish between passive and proactive marketing:
  • Passive: Waiting for recipients to respond (e.g., just sending a magazine).
  • Proactive: Taking action after sending (e.g., follow-up calls, texts, pop-by visits).
• Make the magazine a reason for outreach:
  • Call clients shortly after sending the magazine: thank them, ask if they received it, reference recipes, segue into offering a free home valuation using the QR code/landing page featured on the cover.
  • Use ReminderMedia’s "Likely to Move" tool to prioritize efforts but supplement with manual review.
• Notable Quote:

  "Even for referral generation, the best referral generators have a proactive outreach, man."
  – Luke Acree [37:01]

• Cody reframes the referral ask:
  • Instead of asking specifically about buying/selling, ask, "Is there anyone else I can add value to, just like I do for you?"
    – Cody Smith [31:26]
• When activity (calls, pop-bys, events) dips, expect results to dip—track and increase proactive outreach to boost deals.
• Key tip: Diversify lead generation (open houses, circle prospecting, Facebook ads, client events) for consistent pipeline growth.

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4. Building a Consistent Insurance Lead Pipeline Online (Compliance Challenges)

Caller: Ronald from California (Health & Life Insurance)
Key Discussion Points:

• Ronald desires a steady, self-generated lead flow via Facebook and LinkedIn, but is “terrified” of compliance restrictions and uncertain what/how to post.
• Hosts clarify, especially for regulated industries:
  • Compliance only cares about product/financial claims, not personal or non-product content.
  • Shift focus to personal branding (“who you are, not just what you sell”) to create rapport and trust.
  • Document your day: post stories, updates, relatable experiences.
    “Gary Vee calls it like ‘document, not create.’” – Luke Acree [44:07]
• Use CRM to organize and segment (A, B, C list).
  Communicate:
  • Email at least once a month (ideally twice).
  • Connect with all clients/prospects on social.
  • Direct mail (branded magazines or value pieces) to your VIPs.
  • Quarterly or semiannual calls to maintain relationships and uncover needs.
• Humorous, Memorable Moment:
  Ronald mentions he’s considering “this branded magazine” (ReminderMedia’s), not realizing he’s speaking to the founder on the podcast!

  “I heard the guy that runs that business is like the best looking, smartest, most intelligent guy ... Ronald, this is going to be the clip of the episode.”
  – Luke Acree [53:06]

• Biggest lesson: Activity is king. Compliance is not an excuse for inaction; reach out to compliance for pre-approved content and just start. The more frequent and personal your touches, the higher your conversion.

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Notable Quotes by Timestamp

• "The truth is sellers just don't trust you when they're saying they don't want to drop price… you gotta explain that to them."
  Stephen Acree [06:36]

• "Your first step to freedom ... is you need to know your numbers immediately."
  Luke Acree [13:05]

• "Everyone wants to get out of this business and retire, but ... you're throwing splits and stuff out there just wildly. ... Your next step, honestly ... will not be the buyer's agent. ... Your next one's going to be your transaction coordinator."
  Stephen Acree [17:14]

• "Even for referral generation, the best referral generators have a proactive outreach, man."
  Luke Acree [37:01]

• "You will get no likability and no really rapport building by just talking about health and life insurance."
  Luke Acree [43:33]

• "That's the difference between top producers and mediocre producers: they take action."
  Luke Acree [57:32]

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Key Timestamps

• Client pricing expectations & pre-listing strategy: 04:51 – 10:48
• Systematizing & scaling as a solo agent: 11:10 – 21:25
• Leveraging branded magazines for referrals: 22:16 – 36:32
• Social media lead flow & compliance for insurance: 37:45 – 56:08
• Memorable magazine “founder” moment: 53:06 – 54:47

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Actionable Takeaways

• Show, don't tell: Lead listing clients with hard data (comps, stats, showing feedback). Establish price-drop expectations up front.
• Track everything: Know your numbers—volume, leads, net income. Build scalable systems before building a team.
• Be proactive, not just passive: Every mailing, email, or ad is a cue for outreach. The real value is in the direct, personal follow-up.
• Leverage social, compliance or not: Focus on personal branding and frequency over perfect “approved” ads.
• Segment and systemize: Use CRM segmentation to increase relationship “hits” per month—more touches, more business.
• Referrals come from action: “Don’t rob people of the joy of giving”—ask specifically and authentically for help or connections.

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Tone & Language

• The hosts and guests are candid, energetic, and highly practical—sharing “in the trenches” wisdom with both encouragement and a no-excuses attitude.
• Humor and humility are present throughout.

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Final Words

Luke Acree:

“That's the difference between top producers and mediocre producers: they take action.” [57:32]

Take Action: Don’t let analysis paralysis, compliance fears, or passive marketing hold you back. The leap from $5M to $20M and beyond is built on relentless execution, honest communication, and proactive relationship-building.

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Connect & Learn More:

• Submit questions or listen to past episodes: staypaidpodcast.com
• Follow on Instagram: @StayPaidPodcast
• Explore ReminderMedia: remindermedia.com

Transcript

[Luke Acree]

Foreign.

[Josh Dyke]

Welcome to Stay Paid. Today we are answering your burning questions in real estate, business, marketing, and more. On these episodes, we take live calls from listeners of Stay Paid. And if you want to have your questions answered live on the show, make sure to follow us on Instagram @staypaid podcast. Shoot us a DM as well. You can visit remindermedia.com ask and submit your questions there. As always, my name is Josh Dyke and I am joined by Luke Acree, president of Reminder Media, Stephen Acree, and Cody Smith from the Acree Brothers Realty Team. We're going to bring in our first caller here of the day, Craig from Los Angeles. Craig, welcome to Stay Paid.

[Craig]

Hey, guys.

[Luke Acree]

Hey.

[Craig]

I'm good.

[Luke Acree]

Yeah, I can hear you. It's great to have you on the show, man. Welcome to Stay Paid. We'd love to hear, you know, what you have going on. What's your kind of struggle right now in the business that you think is preventing you from the next level?

[Craig]

I'll do it, man. Look, I'm not in Los Angeles, but I am in. In Louisiana, so I guess it has.

[Luke Acree]

Okay.

[Josh Dyke]

Talk to our producer.

[Craig]

We're the.

[Luke Acree]

We're the.

[Craig]

We're the other la, man. That's all it is.

[Luke Acree]

Yeah. Yeah, that's probably what it was.

[Craig]

Oh, man. Love being on. Thanks for having me on here, guys. I. I just love. First of all, love your podcast, man. I've learned so much about it. I've only been a realtor now about working on my third year, but awesome. Got hooked up with you guys a couple months ago and I've really loved it. Love it a lot. It's been great.

[Luke Acree]

Thanks, brother.

[Craig]

Yeah. And, you know, shout out to my. My account manager, Kyra. She's been great to work with. She's helped me.

[Luke Acree]

Let's go.

[Josh Dyke]

Hear that a lot.

[Craig]

You should hear that a lot. I tell you what, whatever y' all paying her, it's not enough, I promise. Cs, she has helped me like you cannot imagine. I'm telling you, she's a big part of my success this part of this year. But, you know, some other things that I've done. And if I'm having a banner year, I'm gonna be honest with you. I. I didn't. I've never been in real estate when it wasn't hard. Right. Because I got in. Right. Right. As Covid was ending.

[Luke Acree]

Okay.

[Craig]

And so it's always been like this. And I'm hearing this year is, you know, it depends on who you listen to. You know, last year was worse than this.

[Luke Acree]

Year.

[Craig]

No, this year. It just depends on who you talk to. I'm gonna tell you I'm having a great year. I mean, that's how it's going. Fantastic, you know, but it's things that I've done over the years, building businesses, right? Personal growth, development. All the things I'll talk about. Very important to me. You know, when I wake up in the morning, it's a. You know, I do something to help my mind, my spirit, everything, my relationships, my sobriety, whatever it is I've got to do to make sure that my headspace is in the right space so that I can go out and help people, you know, and so I've done that for years in other businesses. And, you know, to get into real estate when I did is just sort of pulling some of that in. So it's been good. Had a great year. Double what I did last year, about six months.

[Luke Acree]

Well, what do you think is holding you back from the next level? Like. Well, I guess tell us, just for data, like, how much volume have you done this year?

[Craig]

This year? Well, 1.4 million. It'll be over 2 million in about three weeks. I've got some closings right up.

[Luke Acree]

Yeah, that's fantastic, man. So 2 million and so awesome start to the year. What do you think's holding you back from, you know, doubling that, as they say, or 10xing that?

[Craig]

Oh, man, it's. It's okay. It's making the calls. It's making the calls. You know, it's. It's doing what I know I need to do now.

[Stephen Acree]

I do them.

[Craig]

I just don't. I'm not consistent with them, right. And I. And I've run, but I. But I've got a question for you about something.

[Luke Acree]

Yeah, right.

[Craig]

Run into. In terms of the listing side of the transaction. So can I go there? Is that okay?

[Luke Acree]

Yeah, yeah, please do. Yeah.

[Craig]

So what I. What I've had, you know, I've had several listings, right? And, you know, it doesn't matter if they're, you know, at the medium range, a little bit below, a lot higher in the middle, anywhere. People are people, you know, as I go and working with them. I have some, not all, but I got some that just think. Oh, I guess they all think, you know, it's worth a lot more than what the market will bear. And so I'm dealing with. With listings that are way up there. And, you know, I did a. I did a pot. I did a. For example, I did Open house last weekend for one. That's way up there. And of course, we had very little people show up, but thank God I'd listen to you guys. I. I took my. My magazine and a flyer that Kyra had helped me with a QR code in it and went door to door saying what y' all said, you know, oh, by the way, we're having a. We're having an open house here. People may be parking in front of your car. Oh, by. And here's my stuff. So that's been good. I got from that, but. But it's lit. I'm having trouble with the clients that I'm listing houses for that just won't budge on what they think.

[Luke Acree]

Yeah, they want a higher price, in essence. And so you're kind of torn. Do I just take the listing with the higher price, or do I stand my ground, you know, and tell them what they need to hear? I'd be curious, Stephen, your opinion, right? You've had live in the trenches doing this. Like, what's been your experience there?

[Stephen Acree]

Yeah. Well, the good news is you've only been three years in the business. Probably took me, you know, six, seven years to really get through this. And, you know, now we're closing 250 deals. We deal with the same exact problems, you know, the same exact problems, right? People want the most money that they get in the pocket, and that's a good thing. And so the really, like, a shift in thinking is they don't make money if it doesn't sell. And you don't make money, Greg, if it doesn't sell. And so really, you just got to sit back and go, dude, I have to have these truthful, hard conversations with individuals right now. You have to pitch it and present it in the right way, which. The right way. The motivation is to make the most money. And so everything needs to be framed to your seller. This is what I've experienced is I always frame it with a positive of, hey, my goal here is to bring you the most money. Right. And with that, I've got to be completely transparent with you. Right? These are the stats that I'm seeing, and just make sure you're showing, not telling. These are the stats I'm seeing on your property. We've only got 500 views on Zillow. We've got 10 saves on Zillow, and we got zero showings. Yeah. So we know right off the bat that we are priced a little bit aggressively to the market in order to get up to what I think we can get up to, you know, which is X. I think that's going to net you the most money that you can make in your pocket. We need to act fast in this market. And so you're framing it in a positive and you got to get them to shift their thinking to back to their motivation, which is to make the most money.

[Luke Acree]

They just.

[Stephen Acree]

The truth is sellers just don't trust you when they're saying they don't want to drop price. They don't trust that that's the decision that should be make made. And so you gotta, you gotta explain that to them.

[Craig]

Yeah, well, that makes sense.

[Cody Smith]

Is there a way to prevent that? Like. And before you get the listing, I think is what he's kind of pointing towards too. Like the beginning conversation, not during. What kind of. How do you frame it to get them to not do the higher price or do you.

[Stephen Acree]

From the beginning? Yeah, getting the listing appointment.

[Luke Acree]

Yeah.

[Stephen Acree]

So usually, I mean, you got the comps in front of you, right. So we always say here, show, don't tell. And so we get them to look at the comps and then they make the decision or where they should be in the comps. You want people to make the decision on the price, but you're leading that through showing them you know where they should be. The second thing is setting up expectations with guys, if we don't get X amount of showings in the first week, I'll come to you guys, I'll tell you when we need to do a price drop. I'll be the one to do that and I'll tell you when we don't need to do a price drop. But I'm going to be the one. I'll make sure that you know where you're at on price and then we'll, you know, we'll do a price drop from there. So you always want to set up, you know, know the price reduction because we don't decide the market, buyers decide the market. And so you just want to frame it in the way of this is the expectation I will be coming to you if we don't get X. Yeah, super.

[Luke Acree]

Well said, Craig. I have a great podcast for you to listen to on Stay Paid. I think it was Tom's story. Am I getting that right? So Tom, I don't know if you listen to that one or not, but Tom has an incredible listing presentation and shout out to him. I think he's like one of the number one agents in Canada or something like that. But one of the things he does that's very similar to what Steven and Cody are talking about is the Night before the listing presentation, he sends that client, that or prospective client, a video from him and a bunch of comps and he basically encourages them. Hey, I'm looking forward to our meeting tomorrow. I just wanted to send you some information what I want you to check out. These aren't exactly like your listing, but they're very similar. And, and I want you to see what the price was of those because I'd love to get your thoughts on that when we meet tomorrow. So he's already seeding the pricing combo into the mind of the prospective client and that's the key. I'll close with this just to encourage you is that my experience in business has been is if you do not hold to your truth and values, you will regret it because in the end you just end up wasting your time and their time. And the only exception I ever make to that is for a brand new agent that just needs to get their teeth, our teeth kicked in to actually learn the business. So never take crappy listings unless you're a brand new agent because you need any listing you can get and you got to learn. But at your stage of the game, already a few years in, already doing 2 million in volume at this point you've got to hold to your values and hold your truth because you're just wasting time. But in order to do that, you got to be a professional. It seems to me my advice I would give to you is what is the pre packet, pre marketing preceding that you're giving to that potential seller before you show up at their house? And I would focus some attention there. I would go check out the Tom Story interview and he has a whole training on BAM X. If you're not a member of bamx, shout out to Eric and the team there. But he walks you through his whole listing presentation. Everything he does. I bet you if you do that you will have less of that problem. I love that because you are leading with the data.

[Craig]

My broker, I got an awesome broker, man. He's been there for me and all of this and he, he talks a lot about Tom Ferry.

[Luke Acree]

He.

[Craig]

I know he does. I don't look at Tom Ferry as much. I have other things I do. But I definitely will, will check that out.

[Luke Acree]

Well, Tom Ferry is great. I'm talking about. I believe it's Tom Story. Yeah, stop. Sorry about that. But yeah, for everybody listening, sorry if I said Tom Ferry I meant Tom Story. But he is and incredible agent out of Canada. I'll hook you up, I'll send you the episode so you can have that. But, Craig, really appreciate you, man, coming on the show. I know this question is super helpful for a ton of people. And let's connect on social, man. I really appreciate it. And you're kicking butt, dude. So keep kicking butt. Let's double it. Let's 10x it for you guys.

[Craig]

Thank you, guys. Appreciate you.

[Luke Acree]

Yep. See you. Bye, man.

[Josh Dyke]

All right, there you go. You can get your questions answered live here on Stay Paid. Head on over to remindermedia.com/ask and submit your questions there. Next we've got David. Let's see if I can get the location right this time. David from Ohio.

[Luke Acree]

David, welcome to Stay Paid. We got Ohio in the house, man. And Sharp Video, man. You got clearer film than us right now. I love this guy's a video pro. David, man, welcome to Stay Paid. Would love to hear just what your big problem is right now that is maybe preventing you from the next level in your business.

[David]

Yeah, so I have a good problem, and my problem is that I'm having a hard time keeping up with my current clients, let alone keeping up with and staying on top of my clients that are not quite ready now, not quite in contract right now to be able to follow up with them and. And really keep them on that process. So I guess my question is, is what would you recommend to help solo agent? I did just recently start getting a showing assistant to help me with showing, so that's been helpful. But what else would you all recommend for a solo agent to help in growing that business and handling the client load? So I don't absolutely lose my sanity.

[Stephen Acree]

A little bit about your production. Like, how many transactions have you done this year? You know, what's your volume? What's your gross? What's your net?

[David]

I'm trying to remember. I haven't had a ton already this year, but so I had. I want to say it was like five or six closings already this year, and then I had one yesterday, and I'll have five more the second half of this month, plus a se. Several more buyers who are in contract with, like, new builds, you know, from dirt, but just a lot of inbound leads. So it's. It's people. You know, it's not like a Zillow lead where I'm chasing people down, but it's people who've reached out to me and want me to help them. And then it's just, again, a matter of staying.

[Luke Acree]

How long have you been in the business?

[David]

Uh, I just passed four years, so this is my fifth year now.

[Luke Acree]

Okay, awesome. And what was your volume last year? Like, number of transactions volume last year?

[David]

I want. I want to say it was 15 or 16 transactions for a little under 5 million.

[Luke Acree]

That. That's your issue, man. Your issue is you need to know your numbers immediately. And obviously, I mean that respectfully, not beating you up, but I want to help you. The best I can is like, it shouldn't be, I think 15 to 16. I think this like you're you. Your first step to freedom. And just this is what I guess I've learned in my experience is normally when I'm growing something and it's not executing at the level I want, but it's doing great. Right. I think about reminder media and, you know, I think about like our postcard division and when it was first scaling up and we were trying to build it, like we're known for our magazines, we had people asking us about, you know, doing postcards. So we just were like, man, we're overwhelmed with business. Clients are asking us, let's spin up postcards. And we started running postcards. Josh is laughing because, you know, we got it up to, I forget, 3 million or something like that in revenue at that period of time. But the problem was we didn't take it actual seriousness in tracking our P. L for the postcards. And just like you, it was like, oh, it's going well. Like, we, you know, we're overwhelmed. Like, this is business coming in. Turns out as we started to track the P. L, we weren't making really any money, and we ended up having to readjust the whole business based upon the numbers. And that's what I am sensing from you is going, oh, you're crushing it. You're. You're naturally talented. You've been in four years. You're doing incredible, man. So kudos to you. Most agents aren't closing what you're closing, but if you want to go to that next level, you have to have certainty around what your numbers are meaning. Oh, I've closed this much this year. This is the exact number of leads I've had, I have that have come in and. And this is my then process to handle those leads. Because until you almost like know the number, you can't develop the systems.

[Stephen Acree]

That's. Right.

[Luke Acree]

In order to help you leverage against that number. So I'm curious your thoughts, Cody, as the ops guy, what your, you know, kind of experience has been in this.

[Cody Smith]

Yeah, no, I love that because I was also thinking my first thing was like, all right, what is your goal or your plan that you want to get up to. Do you want to build a team? Do you want to stay solo? Because all those answers have to do with what you should do next. So I've got, like, three different ideas. I could tell you right off the bat, but I want to hear what your goals are and what you're trying to get to.

[Luke Acree]

Sure.

[David]

I mean, eventually, I'd love to be less in production and more so just bringing in the leads that way, because I have. I have five little kids, and so that way I could make sure I get time with them and not running out doing showings. But. Yeah. So, I mean, like, last weekend, I had a new listing while I was at my son's baseball game, and I'm fielding phone calls the entire time, and I'm like, this is a hot mess. You know? So I think eventually, whether it be a team or just referring the clients out to someone else, even if they're not technically on my team, something like that would probably be the goal.

[Stephen Acree]

Okay.

[David]

Yeah.

[Cody Smith]

So bring in a buyer's agent. It's like an eventual goal of yours you would like to get to.

[David]

Yeah. And potentially even a listing agent as well.

[Cody Smith]

Would you know what kind of volume you would need? And this is going back to what Luke was saying that you would need to get to in order to financially make that make sense.

[David]

Yeah. I mean, I would probably need to.

[Luke Acree]

Be.

[David]

At least 10. 10 to 15 million probably to, like, start feeling where I'd feel comfortable with that.

[Cody Smith]

Yep.

[Luke Acree]

Okay.

[Cody Smith]

So we need to double our production in order to bring someone like that along.

[Luke Acree]

Right.

[David]

Which I think. I think I'll probably get at least pretty close to 10 million this year, I think.

[Luke Acree]

Okay, that's awesome. Yeah.

[Stephen Acree]

But I mean that. Is this the essential problem? Luke, you know, brought it up. It's like, we just. As real estate agents, for whatever reason, and it took me so long to do this as well. We do not know our P. L. And, like, so we always ask, like I ask volume numbers. Transaction numbers. Right. I want to get to that. But then I'm just like, okay, but what was your gross. And everyone okay with gci? They're just like, yeah, I made this as much in gci like, B and L. It's like I'm running out of 5%, you know, profit margin.

[Luke Acree]

Right.

[Stephen Acree]

And it work because, like, you want to get out of this business and retire, but you'd have no. You're throwing splits and stuff out there just wildly. You're hiring a showing agent. You decide to hire a buyer's agent on your team and you realize your profits just drop on through the rope. You have to start with that because you got to go, what's it going to take? Volume wise, then gross income wise, then profitability to be able to pay for that buyer's agent, you have to get there because your next step, honestly though, your next step will not be the buyer's agent. Keep with the showing agent. You're going to find out, you're going to go, dude, I'm only paying my showing agent this much. Great job. Right? So then the next one's going to be your transaction coordinator. And the biggest thing with transaction coordinator, you're going to go, what's it going to cost me to get this in the industry? Right? And then you go out and hire a badass transaction coordinator and put the whole transaction on their plate. I'm talking writing contracts, right side, setting up inspections, taking it all the way to closing with, communicating with your client. That's going to take the time off your plate. And I would encourage you, do not step out of the business too soon. Right? Everyone wants to go from I want to start a team and jump out of the business. Right? You've got it sounds discouraged. You got a five year period at least to ramp up to get the team so that you can pull out a production.

[Luke Acree]

Because we literally made that mistake. We got up to what, 14 agents. You pulled yourself out of the business. Steve depended on John and Lolly at the time. Shout out to them, hope they're doing well. But they ended up leaving us for splits. The team crumbled. Now you're down to five agents that are doing, you know, amazing, like a SEAL team and totally turned it around. But that was our experience is like we made that literal mistake of Stephen crushing it. You did 35 your first year, 78 your second year. I think it was higher. Hired Kelly on as kind of an assistant, similar kind of David to what you're saying, although she was doing more transaction coordinating, I think at the time, started to scale the Team320 transactions by her fifth year and then boom.

[Stephen Acree]

The reason it's five years because until you get SOPs, you know, like this is what a buyer's agent does, this is transaction coordinator does. And you can present that you're going to live in chaos. So when you pull out of production, to my point, you is the agents hold the leverage. So when an agent's doing, you know, 30, 40 deals in your team and you're not producing, if they walk out the door, what happens to your P and L and where I was. And so then I made bad decisions. Commission breath on, you know, going, oh, I can't change the split here. You know what I mean? I can't not send personal lead when I shouldn't send them a lead because I need the profitability. So start with your numbers. You gotta know those, and then you can ramp up. And I would encourage you to hire a transaction coordinator after the showing assistant.

[Cody Smith]

And then a buyer's agent volume and the lead flow. So P L admin first.

[David]

Yeah. And Steven, to your point, were you suggesting it being a licensed assistant, that way they can actually help with contracts and all that kind of stuff, too.

[Stephen Acree]

And I don't. I don't know what state. I think you said Ohio. I'm not sure how difficult it is there, but it's so easy to get a real estate. All of our ISAs have real estate. Every single.

[Cody Smith]

Every single employee on our team has to get a license.

[Stephen Acree]

Even our marketing coordinator is getting one right now. Okay, background here.

[Luke Acree]

David, man, fantastic question. You know, we got to get on to our next caller, but I want to, like, summarize for you is you're doing extremely well. So you're. You're naturally talented. The activity that you're doing is fantastic. But my ID is just now focus on becoming the business owner, not just the salesman. Right now you're in the salesman role. You must get into the business owner role. A business owner has a goal, knows their numbers, and then develops a strategic plan based upon what historical activity is the best thing to tell you what you can do in the future. So you need to track your numbers, know them based upon that target, set the targets. Let's talk. In a year, I guarantee you you're going to be at 20 million if you do that. If you don't do it, we'll talk to you, and you'll still be at 8, but if you do it, you'll be at 20 million. But, brother man, thank you so much for coming on the show. Really appreciate it.

[David]

Thank you very much for your time. Love the podcast. Appreciate it, guys.

[Luke Acree]

Thanks, David. Have a good one.

[David]

Bye.

[Luke Acree]

Bye.

[Josh Dyke]

All right, there you go. Make sure to get your questions answered live here on Stay Paid. Head on over to remindermedia.com ask shout out to reminder Media. They're the ones to pay the bills around here.

[Luke Acree]

When I brought up the postcard, P and L, he said, yeah, yeah, we need to make sure we're actually making some money here, you know.

[Josh Dyke]

All right, we are going to bring in our next question. Caller we have Steve from Illinois. Steve, welcome to Stay Paid.

[Steve]

I'm doing great. Thank you.

[Luke Acree]

Yeah, thank you for coming on Stay Paid, man. Really excited to have you on the show. Would love to hear from you. You know, what is the big maybe problem that is happening in your business or blocker that you think is preventing you from getting to the next level that we can help with?

[Steve]

I guess I wanted to figure out how to. So I do the magazines.

[Luke Acree]

Yes, sir.

[Steve]

Out to about 100 of my past clients and current prospects. And I guess the big thing that I wanted to try to understand is what's the most effective thing that I could do after sending out the American lifestyle magazines to try to get referrals.

[Luke Acree]

From these people, man.

[Stephen Acree]

Love it.

[Luke Acree]

Okay, so great question. And one, thank you for being a client. Thank you for calling into the show and hopefully, because I know we have a ton of clients that listen to this. So hopefully this will be very applicable to everybody who uses the magazine, but not just if you use the magazine. This will really translate to any of the touch points that you're sending your database. So when you send marketing, what I always encourage people to understand is the difference between passive and proactive marketing. So when you do marketing, whether it's a mailer, an email, a social post, a billboard, doesn't matter. You're in the passive category. And what does that mean? It means that you have to wait for the consumer to take the action in order for you to get the lead. And so what you want to try to do is do a lot of passive marketing, because that is marketing a lot of times in general, but you want to try your best to turn it into proactive marketing. So ways you can do this in marketing is having call to actions, where you get them to take an action based upon the piece that you sent them. So for your magazine and. And I'm not sure if you're doing this or not. I would love to look at your account, but we released a new feature not too long ago where you could put call to actions on your front cover and QR codes. So I know, like Acre Brothers, we did a mailing like 2 issues or maybe 3 issues now ago where we did Home prices have gone up 30k in Lynchburg. Want to know what your home's worth? Scan this QR code we sent into 429 people, got 33 scans on that mailing. So what did that do? It took a passive piece, gave a call to action. That gave people a chance to be proactive. And we had 33 people scan it. But what I really want to encourage the audience to do, because even in that scenario, you're still hoping. Yeah, hoping. And you're still kind of handcuffed to that. Your call to action is good enough to get someone to do something. And I want to put the ball in your hands. I want you to be on the offensive, not the defensive. And that really is the outreach. And so I encourage agents use the magazine as your reason to call your clients. In Reminder Media's interface, we try to make it even better for you and easier to know who to call. Have you used Steve Likely to Move at all in your interface? Yeah, no, I'm sorry, I was talking to the other Steve. But yes, I know you have, Stephen, but Steve, have you used Likely to Move?

[Steve]

I've looked at it. I have not taken any action on it. Some of them felt like it wasn't 100%. I know, it's.

[Luke Acree]

Yeah, no, you're spot on. They're definitely not 100%. Yep. So what likely to move is. It's. This idea is like whether you're using the magazine or not. The idea is when you send a touch point, have you reached out proactively with a phone call, text message, pop by, which is face to face to your database. And if you haven't, that is the number one thing you can do because it allows you to engage your client and it allows you to now have control of the ball, to take it to the end zone, to get the referral, to get the lead. Likely to Move is just an algorithm that we run on your database. It's not Perfect. It's about 24% accurate. It uses public data to try to go what life events are happening on your database. I call it the D list. Like death, divorce, downsizing, you know, diamonds, dumpsters, diamond rings, diapers like these signify life events. And this is public record data. You can get consumer purchasing data, property data, all that good stuff. We're taking that data, putting it into an algorithm, and then allowing it to go against your addresses to score them. Who's likely to move? Steven, can you share? I know you did a call night not too long ago, calling your likely to move list. What was your kind of feedback on that? And more importantly, what would you encourage Steve here on the call to say when he's calling his sphere based upon the magazine or a touch point?

[Stephen Acree]

Yeah, absolutely. So, I mean, we did a call night, as you alluded to. You know, I probably called 100 people that night. And of course, some of the Data is off. I'd say the scores that I saw, unlikely to move. You know, the. The higher the score, it might mean they're already on the market, but they were pretty extremely accurate if they're the high scores. And then it ticks down from there. So anywhere really in the 80s is where I wanted to be. Those are the leads that I got. But my call to them is simply like, I'm not asking anything of them off the bat. I'm calling. These are my sphere, you know, I'm calling the check in. So, you know, hey. Hey, Susie. How's it going? You know what you been up to all that good stuff, right? Hey, I just want to make sure you receive my magazine. I'm sending that out, you know, quarterly to you. Got some cool recipes. Everyone reads the recipes in there, so I got some cool recipes. They'll say they received it. Awesome, by the way. And this is the ask, you know, by the way, you know, we're giving out some free valuations. Everyone wants to know what their home's worth.

[Luke Acree]

Worth.

[Stephen Acree]

And I just wanted to see if you knew what your house was worth and if you'd want some numbers on that. And of course, like, sure. And then you go, great. Hey, any plans of moving in the future? You know, and then they'll go from there and it'll tell you data of what's going on. We already know likely move is helpful because we already know there is some data point there that they have some intentions of selling in the future. And so that's why I like it.

[Luke Acree]

Yep. So if you notice, the idea is you're just calling to check in, have a conversation, and then you leverage some data point that you have or some item of value that you are offering. So, like, Steve, and we can huddle, you know, offline Steve, to set up your magazine with this call to action. But I would encourage you, Steve is like, let's put a want to know what your home's worth Call to action on your front cover, linking out to the landing page in your system. And then when you call behind the magazine just to check in on Cody and you're saying, hey, just wanted to check in. Reason why you popped into my mind today as I just got my latest magazine and wanted to make sure you got it. I hope you've been enjoying it. It's something I send to all my best relationships. That's a key point. Always tell people they're your best relationship because that's how to win friends and influence people. But then go, you know, how's life? You catch up and then you say, hey, by the way, I also wanted to point out one of the things that I'm offering on my magazine, just as an item of value for people, is a lot of people are asking me for what their home equity is, like, how much equity they have, what's the value of their home. So I put a free tool right there on your magazine. It's a QR code. You can scan it at any point and get just a free home valuation. I can always follow up with you to give you a professional cma, but you can scan that QR code now. I mean, do you know what your home's worth right now? And then that's the transition that makes it super easy to have a conversation about real estate. The other one I would share with you is if you don't want to have the direction, ask to Cody the client, than to ask Cody if he knows anybody you can help. And the way that I do that is I always go, you know, hey, Cody, love being your agent. Just want to say thank you for allowing me the opportunity to serve you and go, hey, I have a lofty goal for my business this year. I really want to help, you know, whatever your goal is, Steve, let's say it's 25 people. I want to help 25 families find or buy their dream home. And not to be funny, Cody is. I think about people I would want to work with. If I could work with 25 codies, you might think I'm crazy, but it would be awesome. So I don't know if, you know, any friends, maybe they're not looking to buy or sell right now, but my business is just all about relationships. I would love to just get to know those people, and maybe I can send them my magazine. But does anybody pop into your mind that I could reach out to now? And that framing is so important because people want to help others out. Don't rob people of the joy of giving. It's better to give than receive. So when you ask somebody for help with your goal, you're giving them a chance to give to you. And so it's really important to go, man, I have a lofty goal for my business this year. I want to help this many people, you know, and then you praise them. You lift people up, man, if I could work with 25 of you, Josh, you might think I'm crazy. You make a joke out of it, but, man, it would be amazing, you know? Do you know anybody that you could introduce me to now? What's the main objection. When you ask somebody for a referral, they immediately think, well, I don't know anybody that needs to list their home right now in the second today or wants to buy right now. And so you got to take that objection away from them and you got to go, hey, they might not be looking to buy right in this second and minute, but my whole business is relationships. I just want to get to know more people and would love to get to know. Do you have any. Maybe it's family in the area or friends that you do things with that I could introduce myself to? And then you're building your database. Yeah. So hopefully that makes sense.

[Cody Smith]

Hey, is there anyone else I can add value to? So, like, instead of asking, is there anyone looks, is there anyone else I can add value to that? Just like with me and you, you know, giving you updates and, you know, sending you the magazine, I'm just looking to add as much value to as many people as possible. You know, make relationships. Is there anyone you know I can add value to? Not seller list, you know, you know me. I'm just trying to help as much as I can. Is there anyone that you know that I could do that for? And that's a way easier. Ask for them to think of someone to give you a name that you can then contact and connect and build your pipeline up.

[Luke Acree]

Steve, how many deals have you done this year?

[Steve]

I've actually only closed one so far.

[Luke Acree]

One so far. How long have you been in the business?

[Steve]

I'm in my 10th year.

[Luke Acree]

10Th year. Okay, so it's a tougher year for you. What did you do last year?

[Steve]

I guess I was just under 10.

[Luke Acree]

Okay, just under 10. What type of volume did that produce for you?

[Steve]

About 4 million, I think.

[Luke Acree]

Okay, about 4 million. So not bad. Okay, so in your goal this year, you're trying to hit around 10 again.

[Steve]

I want to exceed that, you know. You know, look into if you're more for, like the teens to the end of the 20s.

[Luke Acree]

Okay, awesome. So then I would look at. If you've only done one so far, you want to be in the, you know, teens to the 20s, right. You're. You're off. And obviously your trend where you need to be, you know that. So the number one thing you want to look at is your activity that you are doing proactively. And this gets into the heart of your question, which is why I'm saying it is going, hey, the magazine is amazing. I love it. I send out thousands myself to my list, and, you know, we're doing it for Acre Brothers and obviously a ton of other agents, but it's still passive marketing. We also at Reminder Media, I've built a call center of 100 plus people on the phones. So that's a proactive activity. So I have thousands of magazines going out. I mean, how many emails do we send a month to our prospect list?

[Josh Dyke]

Our prospect list? 3 million.

[Luke Acree]

Yeah, there you go. So, but do you know how many? I mean, we're not sending 3 million different ones. How many different emails we're sending?

[Josh Dyke]

How many?

[Ronald]

Unique.

[Luke Acree]

Like, unique. Like we're trying to prospect our database.

[Josh Dyke]

We will hit them at least once a month and then depending on if we have, you know, another product based on seasonality to 2 to 3.

[Luke Acree]

Okay, so if you think about it, right, we have magazines going out, two to three emails, a hundred callers, making thousands of calls a day now on our database, right in our databases, we're marketing to real estate agents, insurance agents, financial advisors, that type of idea. But that same concept translates to you, Steve, of going, all right, man, I'm only at one transaction. So the activity that I am doing daily is not producing the results I need. It doesn't mean what you're doing is bad. It just means that you probably aren't doing enough activity to generate the results. Because if you look at businesses like ours or Acre Brothers, Acree Brothers does open houses every week. Basically. They do circle prospecting every day. They have Facebook ads running that generate leads out of Facebook and their agents call those. They have the 700, I think, plus magazines going out to their sphere. They have four client events. They do a year. And so what I would encourage you also to think about is this is probably a lot of info for you is take the magazine and add the proactive outreach of the phone call and then step back and go, okay, what else can I do daily to get lead generation happening? And there's a great podcast you can listen to that we all did together on circle prospecting. It's a free way that you can prospect. You're pounding the phones a little bit, but it is working right now. And we've heard this not only from Acre Brothers, we interview, what was it? Nick Harris out of Michigan, if I'm not mistaken. And he's doing the same thing and having very similar results. So it's a very popular thing that's going around right now. So, Steve, I hope that helps you, brother. And please, please, please, let's get in touch because I want to make sure that you have success with this because, you know, at the end of the day, that's what this is about. So you can friend us on social at Stay Paid podcast, shoot us a message. You can friend me at Luke Acrey, but would love to connect, brother. Sure.

[Steve]

And I'm definitely interested in the putting something like the QR code on the COVID because I do have something like that already, but I like to talk with you about that. Call to action.

[Cody Smith]

Yeah, that QR code's not gonna do anything, so it's gonna help you, but what's going to help you is making the calls. So I just, like the first thing you said from that answer is, I only get the QR code, which is great. It's an add value. But don't forget, the main thing you should walk from this is like, you got to make calls to these people about the magazine. That's the only way you're gonna up your business.

[Luke Acree]

Yeah. Okay. And if we do that, we will win, Steve. I know we will, because we're doing it in our business. And I have a ton of other agents that I talk to every day that are winning that way. And this applies to everybody. If you're not doing a magazine, you're doing an email. You're doing an item value that you're sending. Are you calling the clients that you send it to? If you're not, you're missing out on the most important step of the actual process in the buyer's journey. So let's make it happen, Steve. Appreciate you coming on, man. I hope you have a great one. Thanks.

[Steve]

Me too.

[Luke Acree]

Bye.

[Josh Dyke]

All right, there you go. Reminder media.com. you know, if you're interested in what these magazines look like.

[Luke Acree]

Yeah. Wait, we got to pay for this show, man. Got to remember that Steve was a setup. No, I want to get Steve. We couldn't see him, but I could tell he's a little beat up, a little down. So I want to, you know, get with him. See, make sure I can tell he's not doing nearly enough activity. And he's thinking, you know, not in a bad way. You're gonna close one to ten deals a year from pure. Just referrals. Yeah. And just relationship. If you're just a relationship person, you'll close that many deals a year, but you'll never get out of that because you have to have a proactive outreach. Even for referral generation, the best referral generators have a proactive outreach, man. Brian Buffini, who, like, literally has lived and breathed referrals his whole career. Like, go check out what he Encourages agents to do with the handwritten notes and the popeyes and everything else. Like, it is proactive outreach. That is the key. Yeah, you mark your rent, you got.

[Cody Smith]

To make the action. It's not you can just send stuff all day, but you got to make the calls.

[Josh Dyke]

Awesome. You can get your questions answered as well. [e-mail] ask, We've got Ron. Ron from the beautiful state of California calling in. Ron, how you doing? Welcome to Stay Paid.

[Luke Acree]

There you are.

[Ronald]

Good morning.

[Luke Acree]

Hey, good morning, Ron. Welcome to Stay Paid, man. And glad to have you on the show. Would love to hear what your big problem or blocker is that's keeping your business from going to the next level.

[Ronald]

Well, basically, I'd like to have a pipeline with leads coming through, like all the time and basically, you know, set it up on LinkedIn and Facebook to have a steady flow of leads coming in. And I not really sure how to do that. So that's why. That's.

[Luke Acree]

Wouldn't we all want a steady flow of leads? Everybody, please. I've been saying that, I mean, reminder media, how many leads do we produce a month? You think, oh, I mean, thousands. And I'm just like, we still don't have enough leads.

[Craig]

We need.

[Luke Acree]

We need way more leads. Everybody needs more leads. So the question for you for clarifying, are you talking about paid for Facebook and LinkedIn stuff? Are you talking about organic or both? Because we could go down two different routes.

[Ronald]

I'd like to probably do both. You know, definitely have to start off paid, probably, you know, to get in front of people. But yeah, like to do both. Exactly. Do both. And have organic leads as well as paid leads to get out in front of people to start.

[Luke Acree]

What has your volume been this year in your business? Like, how many transactions or how much volume have you done this year so far?

[Ronald]

Oh, it's been pretty low. Probably, like, because I've been buying leads, but it's been spending like about a thousand dollars a month on leads.

[Luke Acree]

Okay, so you are spending a thousand a month. But I meant. Sorry, clarification of the question. I meant, like, how much real estate have you sold this year?

[Ronald]

Oh, I'm not in real estate. I'm in life insurance.

[Luke Acree]

Life insurance. Okay, so how many, like, how has the year been for you in terms of deals done?

[Ronald]

It's been pretty slow. As far as life during open enrollment with health insurance. I sell the health insurance as well with covered California. So that was very busy. Health insurance has been very busy, but it doesn't pay as well as life Insurance.

[Luke Acree]

So what is that? Can you give me some idea? Because this will help me frame up also how much you should be spending. But what's been. What's like your revenue that you will produce or for you, you know, your commissions that you will make at the end of the year that your business will profit about?

[Ronald]

It's been pretty low, like five, six thousand a month.

[Luke Acree]

Okay.

[Ronald]

Yeah. And we're paid differently with health insurance.

[Luke Acree]

Sure.

[Ronald]

You know, as opposed to life insurance.

[Luke Acree]

Is that take home? Like you're making essentially five, six thousand a month. Okay. So that gives me an idea of how much you. And that's after spending a thousand dollars right now?

[Ronald]

Yeah, I'm paying $36 lead. So.

[Luke Acree]

Okay.

[Cody Smith]

What's your main lead choice right now, Ronald?

[Ronald]

Well, I work with health markets, so I buy leads directly from them.

[Luke Acree]

Yep, that makes perfect sense.

[Cody Smith]

Yeah, I'm thinking of like, why are you focusing in on Facebook and LinkedIn? Like, how did that come up to like a focus point for you?

[Ronald]

Basically, they encourage us to, you know, get out there on LinkedIn and Facebook and, you know, get yourself out there. But it's very. It's like a dicey situation because they have very strict limits on how you can advertise. And you know what I mean? It's like, you know, I'm kind of confused. They want us out there, but they don't let us say anything.

[Luke Acree]

Welcome to the world of financial services. That is.

[Ronald]

Yeah, I mean, we have very strict limits of what we can say and how we can, you know, market ourselves and everything like that.

[Luke Acree]

Because we, we joke here at Reminder Media that compliance is the sales prevention department. So a little bit of our, A little bit of our story is we work with, you know, we got started in real estate and, you know, obviously work with tens of thousands of real estate agents. But we then got into financial services. And so we have thousands of financial advisors that use our marketing platform. And then we're probably up to 4,000 or so insurance agents at this point that are using our marketing as well. But the one thing we have learned in the insurance and finance space is that compliance is a tricky component that you have to abide by because it. Yeah, it stops you from doing a lot of stuff. I always encourage people when it comes to Facebook and LinkedIn or any social platform is the concept of social media was meant to be social. And most people get the media part, but they don't get the social part. And where I always try to encourage people when it comes to their social media is that, hey, Right now, are you at least doing the basic, which is you have the profiles, they're up to date, and that they are consistently being posted on with both educational content and personal content. So where would your answer be on that? Are you hitting at least that, Ronald?

[Ronald]

No.

[Luke Acree]

Okay, so it doesn't, we don't even really have to go to the next ones, but it's like, like if I was going to do an audit and Josh is going to try to pull up your info right now and like audit your social. But if I was going to audit your social, first thing I would look for is, is it up to date? Do you actually have a, you know, picture, a good picture on there? Do you have your contact information on there? Do you have postings that are going up consistently that, you know, how often are you posting a week?

[Ronald]

Right now I'm not posting because I'm. I'm basically kind of a little terrified to, you know, you know, with the compliance part of it, you know, so it's like. But I do have a picture.

[Luke Acree]

Compliance will only hit you. Compliance will only hit you if you are talking about a product or talking about advice around a product. Like that's truly what they're looking for. On the personal side, they're not going to hit you for sharing what you're doing today. You know what I mean? Helping clients, doing stuff like that. So. And that's what ultimately, from the social standpoint of social media gets people connected to you. It's like, I want to know who Ronald is. There's a ton of people that can sell me health and life insurance, so why would I want to go with Ronald? What's the old Zig Ziglar saying? I've got to know like and trust Ronald. And most people, what they get wrong about, you know, this whole know like and trust is that they only focus on the informational side of their products and services. But 99% of your client's life has nothing to do with health or life insurance. So you will get no likability and no really rapport building by just talking about health and life insurance. So the stuff that compliance will hit you for, which is talking about health and life insurance and not doing approved stuff and all that good stuff. That's the stuff that, you know, clients won't even connect with you on what they're going to connect with you on, is who you are and your journey and what you're doing. And so what you want to do is start posting kind of about your day. Gary Vee calls it like document, not create. So it's like just document. Like today, hey was on Staypay podcast today learning how to grow my business and help more of my clients. And so it's. You're just documenting. That's a piece of content that now your followers will start seeing. And in psychology activity makes consumers think productivity. And in buyer psychology, buyers want to buy from people they look up to, not people they look at. Meaning I know as much about, you know, insurance as Ronald does, or I know more. I want to see that Ronald's a hustler. I want to see that Ronald works night and day to help his clients. I want to see that Ronald is passionate about what he does. Because why that builds my trust in ronald. And so 100% and. Right. And so like compliance, what firm are you with?

[Ronald]

Health markets.

[Luke Acree]

Okay. Health markets. So, so like they probably in their marketing department can give you some more guidance because compliance is a little tricky because it's. I found it is different. Every firm that we talk to, but in general sense is you. They probably have pre approved marketing collateral that you can use pre approved stuff on products, stuff like that. They have pre approved or I should pre approve. They have disclaimers that you can put in your posting. But I would just focus even more on how do you friend all the people that you have done business with. Because your best deal is in the deal you just did. Like that's your next deals in the deal you just did from the referral. So I would do that. And so look and go, are you posting every day? Are you posting some personal content to connect with people and then go get pre approved content from health markets? And if they can't help you, talk to reminder media, we could probably help you. We do social content for people and stuff like that, but we can help you with getting content and all that good stuff. And then on the paid side, you know, there's a bunch of different things you can do, but you can narrow it down to do you want to do direct response to get leads or do you want to do branding? And my question to you right now is, you're buying leads, are they doing it off of Facebook? Are you buying straight from health markets.

[Ronald]

Directly from health markets? Okay, yeah.

[Luke Acree]

Have you ever won?

[Ronald]

I think the branding thing, that's what, that's what has been suggested to me more is like, you know, it's all about branding, you know, as opposed to, you know, any other way. That's what one of my co workers, because I'm fairly new, I'm I'm, I've been with health markets for a year, but I've only been licensed, you know, I'm about to redo my license for the first time in August.

[Luke Acree]

How big, how big is your list right now that you have of, well, your contacts in your database, both business cl, like clients you sold stuff to and then prospects you're working about?

[Ronald]

It's a little under 600 people, but I, you know, haven't sold.

[Luke Acree]

Yeah, but that's not bad. How often do you keep in touch with those 600 people?

[Ronald]

Well, I'm going through my book of business right now and contacting, you know, after the six month period because it was enrollment and you know, October to December. So now I'm going, you know, to read, you know, reconnect and try to upsell. And I don't know if I should be saying that on here. So, yeah, I'm gonna try to upsell, you know, at the six month period, you know, for, you know, vision, dental and life insurance. Insurance for the people that have sold health. Health insurance.

[Stephen Acree]

Yeah.

[Cody Smith]

Add some more value to them.

[Ronald]

Exactly, exactly.

[Luke Acree]

But your other people, how many clients out of the 600? How many clients out of 600?

[Ronald]

Well, my book of business is about. It's a little under a hundred.

[Luke Acree]

Okay.

[Ronald]

You know that, you know, so there's.

[Luke Acree]

Maybe 500 other people. How often are you hitting those 500 other people?

[Ronald]

Well, I'm just starting to now and I want to incorporate, you know, hitting them with the Facebook, you know, having some, some type of content on Facebook, which I can say that I have this now. So, you know, I was on the, you know.

[Luke Acree]

Yeah, I was on State paid. Exactly. You can go post about that, the 500. So like, as I step back, I know your question is how do I, you know, build my brand on social media? You know, I think you have some action items there of you got to start posting and you got to start posting personal stuff and you got to post every day and you got to be on your stories and you know, all that basic stuff. But I think what's actually going to help you more even than that is you have a little less than 100 clients, but you have 600 people in your database. And so those 500 other people, how are you prospecting them? Like what email are they getting from you every month? Because email is better than social media. So you need an email going out to them. You need a cadence of phone calls that is happening to those people. Because I'm assuming those are leads that you've Purchased, right?

[Ronald]

No, not all those. Some of it is my warm market to you.

[Luke Acree]

Oh, even better. So your sphere. Yeah. So perfect. So getting an email that goes out. So, like, if I were stepping in and going to be your marketer, I would immediately start categories in your database. Do you have a CRM?

[Ronald]

Yeah, beautiful CRM that's included. In fact, they just updated it with health markets.

[Luke Acree]

Fantastic. Right? So your, your 600 goes into your CRM. You categorize it by your A, B and C list. Right? And we can define what those are. But let's say A are your actual, you know, people that advocate for you, that are your true clients, they give you referrals, all that good stuff. B are people that maybe they, you know, they like you, maybe they have referred you once or something like that, but they're not like real, real core VIPs, and then C is everybody else that you have a relationship with, but they haven't done anything with you. You need a way to get in front of that list in a cadence that frees you up to focus on the current transaction. But, you know, these people are being tripped on. So you need an email going out at least once a month, ideally two times a month. You. Your social. Your goal should be to friend all these people on social. And your list isn't quite big enough to create a custom list. Most people recommend you need at least a thousand email addresses, stuff like that, to upload a custom list onto Facebook. But that's an idea that you could do. So you want to now grow that database. So if you go, all right, this list of 500 or 600 people I have, I'm hitting them twice a month with a email, I'm hitting them once a quarter with a phone call for all the relationships, maybe my VIPs, I'm hitting six times a year with something like a magazine or a mailer that's going out to them, or I'm inviting them to a client event, right? And all of a sudden what you'll step back and see is Rome wasn't built in a day. So you need to be coming at the end of every month going, well, how much activity did it happen on my database this month? And if you find yourself coming to the end of the month and you're like, oh, I only had like one hit on the 600 people. Yeah, well, no wonder you only have 100 clients. You gotta have multiple hits. And that's the magic. The magic is, how do you build Rome one brick at a time? When you get to the end of the month. What is the bricks? The bricks is the hits on the database. How many calls were made, how many emails were sent, how many mailers went out, how many posts on social. You won't be able to control the result, but you will a hundred percent be able to control the activity. And, and right now you're just getting started. Congrats to you. You're already doing well, so congrats. But you're not doing enough activity because you're, you're scared of the compliance thing. I understand that. Get over the fear, call up your compliance department and say, hey, I need you guys to help me, not hurt me. So what is pre approved right now so I can use it? Cause I gotta go hit this database. Cause what could the list, Ronald, if you don't hit the list.

[Ronald]

That's true. What you just mentioned something that I was looking into. You know that personal branding magazine, have you heard of that? I can't remember the name of the company, but I, I was, you know, about to check in with this guy that offers that magazine that I guess real estate agents use mostly. You know, they have their own picture on the COVID And you're like, I.

[Luke Acree]

Heard the guy that runs that business is like the best looking, smartest, most intelligent guy that. Have you heard this, John?

[Ronald]

You guys know what I'm talking about though, right?

[Luke Acree]

Oh dude, Ronald, this is, this is going to be the clip of the episode. So Ronald, I, I, I actually own that business. That's our business.

[Ronald]

Are you serious?

[Josh Dyke]

Yeah, I thought you were.

[Luke Acree]

Okay, so you just.

[Ronald]

Yeah, we, we've spoke.

[Luke Acree]

I mean you, I don't think, I don't think I've spoken to you before. It's probably one of my team members, but 100% would love to talk to you about that. I'm biased because obviously you know, own it and champion it all day long, but it is the best touch point to send your database because of two reasons. One is it's different, right? And so most everybody is getting marketed to by postcards, emails and all this different collateral. But think about it. Your plumber sends you it, your electrician, your dentist, every other business sends you the same stuff. And the magazine is exclusive, only you can send it. So you immediately get yourself out of the, the pile of noise and, and now you stand out. But more importantly than that, the consumer actually sees it as a gift, not solicitation. And that's key because why? Because in psychology, what you want to trigger is reciprocity. You want the client to feel special you want them to feel like, oh, man, I want to call Ronald to say thank you. And we've seen over 20 years, it generates a 31% referral rate from sending it because it gives you what visibility and credibility gives you visibility in the home. Because it lives for four to six weeks in the home. It gives you credibility because immediately when you're on a magazine, you're elevated versus someone who's on a postcard or someone who's on any.

[Ronald]

Yeah, I guess I can be like Oprah and be on every cover.

[Luke Acree]

There you go, man. We're going to get you. We're going to get you signed up for the magazine. We actually have our next caller we got to get to. But I want to talk to you, obviously, about the magazine, but also more importantly, helping you with your business because already a year in, you already have a hundred clients. You're. You're great. Like, you're doing awesome stuff. I can just tell there's this hesitancy to action, and I just want to push you. I want to push you over that hesitancy. Like you saying, I'm scared of what to post. That's on you. That's not on compliance. That's on you. And because you know why? Because you live with the results of it. Compliance does not. So you can sit here and say, I don't pose because of compliance or whatever. Right. The excuses. And this applies to anybody listening to this. But realize if you're the one that bears the consequence of the result, then it's on you. It ain't on them, man. It's on you.

[Craig]

You.

[Luke Acree]

You're gonna live in that bed. And so if it's me, and this is the difference between me and most people, I'm like, effort. I'm calling compliance. Say, hey, I need today the approval for people. If you want me to be a top producer on your team, which I'm going to be, I need your help with this. And that is the difference separator between average people and great people. And like I said, man, the guy that you know owns and runs that magazine company, man, he's just a great. Ronald. Appreciate you, brother. You've been awesome, man. Go make it happen. We'll talk. Let's connect. We'll. We'll def. Definitely talk. But appreciate you, man.

[Ronald]

Thank you very much. I appreciate it. Thanks.

[Josh Dyke]

Good luck. Good luck out there. All right, there you go. Make sure to head on over to remindermedia.com ask to get your questions answered, too. I really thought he was leading us.

[Luke Acree]

Oh, I Knew the whole time he didn't know who he was. That was amazing. I was. I was like, this is gonna be the opening of the episode. What does that teach you guys? What does that teach you? Do we market enough, gentlemen? No, we do not market enough. We. You think you're getting your face out there? You think you're doing enough touch points? You're not. Because there's guys like Ronald who can be on a podcast with you that is sponsored by the literal company and shout out to you, ronald, because the wake up call for us and still not know.

[Cody Smith]

It's crazy. He knew about the magazine. Now, that's the easy part. Like, he knew of the product.

[Luke Acree]

Yeah.

[Josh Dyke]

That's awesome.

[Luke Acree]

It's amazing. That's. It's awesome. I mean, I can't wait.

[Cody Smith]

How did you hear the show then?

[Luke Acree]

Yeah.

[Stephen Acree]

Referral.

[Cody Smith]

It's so cool.

[Luke Acree]

Yeah, it's awesome.

[Ronald]

Love it.

[Josh Dyke]

All right, you can get all of the show notes. Thank you to all of our callers that called in today. You can get the show notes, the videos, any of the resources that we mentioned [e-mail] if you like this episode, make sure to head on over to YouTube, YouTube.com remindermedia subscribe to us there and give this video a thumbs up. And if you want to follow us on social media, we are at Staypay Podcast. And of course, you can reach us via email as well. Podcast, remindermedia.com and if that's not enough links, you know, I. I don't know what is.

[Luke Acree]

Yeah, I don't know. Yeah. Take action, people. Real advice from real leaders. I should just say real people in the trenches. But remember, you got to take action. That's the difference between top producers and mediocre producers is they take action. Take action on that today, Sam.