CIRCLE PROSPECTING for Real Estate: How We Closed 25 Deals Using THIS Script!

Summary

Stay Paid Podcast Episode Summary
Title: CIRCLE PROSPECTING for Real Estate: How We Closed 25 Deals Using THIS Script!
Hosts: Luke Acree and Joshua Steich
Guests: Stephen Acre and Cody Smith of the Acre Brothers Realty Team
Release Date: March 24, 2025

---

1. Introduction to Circle Prospecting

In this episode of the Stay Paid Podcast, hosts Luke Acree and Joshua Steich welcome Stephen Acre and Cody Smith from the Acre Brothers Realty Team, the leading realty team in Lynchburg, Virginia. The discussion centers around the effective use of circle prospecting—a strategic lead generation method that has enabled the team to close 25 deals using a specific script.

2. Understanding Circle Prospecting

Stephen Acre begins by defining circle prospecting:

"Circle prospecting involves selecting a specific geographic area and gathering information on homeowners not listed on the Do Not Call list. You then initiate contact through calls to introduce yourself and provide value, such as a home valuation."
(01:24)

Cody Smith compares it to traditional door knocking but executed over the phone:

"It's the same idea as door knocking—reaching out to unfamiliar homeowners—but scaled up through dialing."
(03:37)

3. Selecting Target Areas

The selection of target neighborhoods is crucial. Stephen Acre emphasizes choosing areas where the team has substantial data and understanding:

"We focus on neighborhoods we are already farming and know well, including factors like higher prices and turnover rates. This allows us to provide relevant information, such as recent listing prices, which adds value to our outreach."
(02:03)

4. Data Sources and Tools

Obtaining accurate data is fundamental for successful circle prospecting. Stephen Acre discusses their preferred tools:

"We utilize platforms like Deal Machine and Pioneer Data Solutions to gather accurate homeowner information, ensuring we filter out those on the Do Not Call list. This data is then integrated into our CRM for efficient management."
(05:01)

Cody Smith adds that circle prospecting can also be done for free using parcel viewers and the White Pages, allowing agents to manually filter and call without incurring costs:

"You can perform circle prospecting without paying for data services by using publicly available resources and your brokerage's Do Not Call list."
(05:40)

5. Dialing Strategy and Metrics

The dialing process involves significant effort, with Cody Smith outlining their approach:

"We employ two Inside Sales Agents (ISAs) who each make 200 calls a day, including double dialing. Our goal is a 5-10% conversation rate and securing at least one appointment daily."
(06:31)

Cody Smith further elaborates on their metrics:

"So far this year, we've made 12,000 calls to 3,000 unique individuals, resulting in 300 conversations and 12 closed deals."
(14:30)

6. Effective Scripting

A well-crafted script is vital for engaging homeowners. Stephen Acre shares their script approach:

"Our script centers around offering a home valuation without being overly salesy. For example, 'If you've received an offer on your property, would you be open to looking it over?' This soft close invites homeowners to consider their property's value without feeling pressured."
(07:16)

During a live role-play, the effectiveness of the script is demonstrated:

Stephen Acre:

"This is Stephen Acre from the Acree Brothers Realty Team. I have a lot of buyers looking in your neighborhood for a property like yours. If you've received an offer on your property, would you be open to looking it over?"
(09:57)

Luke Acree:

"Yeah, but what are you saying? You have somebody that wants to buy my home?"
(10:16)

Stephen Acre:

"Absolutely. Zillow is showing a price range of about $250,000 to $310,000. Does that sound about the range you're looking for?"
(10:39)

This interaction showcases how the script transitions from introduction to offering value and setting up an appointment.

7. Handling Objections and Building Relationships

Not all conversations lead directly to transactions. Stephen Acre acknowledges the presence of unmotivated sellers but emphasizes focusing on those ready to sell:

"The goal is to identify motivated sellers through consistent outreach. While not everyone will respond positively, the motivated ones are the gold in a challenging market."
(11:37)

Cody Smith discusses strategies for nurturing relationships when immediate transactions aren't possible:

"If a homeowner isn't ready to sell, we shift the conversation to their dream home and future plans. We offer value by inviting them to events or sending helpful information, keeping the relationship warm for future opportunities."
(22:26)

8. Measuring Success and Results

The team's persistence in circle prospecting yields tangible results. Cody Smith provides detailed statistics:

"With 12,000 calls to 3,000 individuals, we've had 300 meaningful conversations and closed 12 deals. Additionally, we've set 18 off-market listings and secured over 50 appointments through these efforts."
(14:30)

Stephen Acre highlights the importance of consistency, especially in a "mud market" with high interest rates and low demand:

"In a tough market, circle prospecting is essential to maintain a steady pipeline. Even though the conversion rate might be low, the volume ensures that we find motivated sellers who can lead to successful transactions."
(13:40)

9. Leveraging Circle Prospecting for Investment and Off-Market Deals

Beyond direct sales, circle prospecting opens avenues for investment opportunities. Cody Smith explains:

"Circle prospecting helps us find off-market properties ideal for investors. By supplying investors with exclusive inventory, we create additional revenue streams and opportunities for both the agents and their clients."
(17:16)

Stephen Acre adds that securing off-market listings enhances their value proposition for buyers:

"Having exclusive off-market listings allows us to offer unique opportunities to our clients, differentiating us from other agents and building stronger relationships."
(19:54)

10. Transactional vs. Relationship-Focused Approaches

The discussion contrasts transactional scripts with relationship-building methods advocated by experts like Ricky Carruth. Stephen Acre and Cody Smith present a balanced approach:

"While our script initiates with a transactional offer, we seamlessly transition to building a relationship by offering additional value and staying in touch for future needs. If the immediate transaction isn't feasible, we nurture the relationship for long-term opportunities."
(21:46)

Cody Smith emphasizes the importance of understanding the homeowner's motivations and dreams:

"By asking about their dream home and offering resources, we shift the conversation from a single transaction to an ongoing relationship, ensuring we remain top-of-mind for when they're ready to sell."
(22:26)

11. Conclusion and Final Thoughts

As the episode wraps up, Luke Acree underscores the necessity of combining passive and proactive marketing strategies:

"Top producers not only leverage passive marketing like postcards and social media but also engage in proactive activities such as circle prospecting. This dual approach ensures a robust pipeline of leads and sustained business growth."
(23:46)

He encourages listeners to adopt consistent, action-oriented prospecting techniques to differentiate themselves in the competitive real estate market:

"If you're not actively prospecting, you're missing out on potential deals. Embrace the 'mud' of circle prospecting to uncover the gold of motivated sellers."
(24:08)

---

Notable Quotes

• Stephen Acre:
  "Circle prospecting involves selecting a specific geographic area and gathering information on homeowners not listed on the Do Not Call list. You then initiate contact through calls to introduce yourself and provide value, such as a home valuation."
  (01:24)

• Cody Smith:
  "We employ two Inside Sales Agents (ISAs) who each make 200 calls a day, including double dialing. Our goal is a 5-10% conversation rate and securing at least one appointment daily."
  (06:31)

• Stephen Acre:
  "Our script centers around offering a home valuation without being overly salesy. This soft close invites homeowners to consider their property's value without feeling pressured."
  (07:16)

• Cody Smith:
  "Circle prospecting helps us find off-market properties ideal for investors. By supplying investors with exclusive inventory, we create additional revenue streams and opportunities for both the agents and their clients."
  (17:16)

• Luke Acree:
  "Top producers not only leverage passive marketing like postcards and social media but also engage in proactive activities such as circle prospecting. This dual approach ensures a robust pipeline of leads and sustained business growth."
  (23:46)

---

Connect with the Guests:
Stephen Acre: Text or call at 434-2165
Cody Smith: Available for presentations on circle prospecting and investing

Additional Resources:
Visit staypaidpodcast.com for show notes and episode videos. Follow Stay Paid Podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, and connect via social media at @StayPaidPodcast.

Transcript

[Luke Acree]

Welcome to the Stay Paid podcast where we help agents and entrepreneurs master the latest business trends to unlock growth and create a life of freedom. Brought to you by Reminder Media.

[Joshua Steich]

Welcome to Stay Paid. I'm Joshua Steich.

[Luke Acree]

And I'm Luke Acree.

[Joshua Steich]

And today we are diving into a tried and true lead generation strategy that too many agents overlook. Circle prospecting. If you've ever struggled with finding new listings, staying top of mind in a neighborhood or building relationships with homeowner. Homeowner. Excuse me. Before they're even thinking about selling, this is the episode you need to listen to. And joining us today to talk about their strategies and the success that they've had are Stephen Acre and Cody Smith of the Acre Brothers Realty team, the number one realty team in Lynchburg, Virginia. Welcome, gentlemen.

[Stephen Acre]

What's up, gentlemen?

[Cody Smith]

Thanks for having us back.

[Joshua Steich]

I like the coats. We got the jackets today.

[Luke Acree]

Professional.

[Joshua Steich]

Check out the YouTube video.

[Luke Acree]

Hey, let's talk about circle prospecting. How many deals do you guys do in 2024? Circle Prospect.

[Cody Smith]

Yeah. So 2024. We did 25 deals. And this year we're actually at a better pace already with 12 coming.

[Luke Acree]

Okay. And we are in March right now. So 12 already by March from circle prospecting. So can you break down what circle prospecting is in your mind? I have my idea of what it is, but kind of how you describe it. Circle prospecting.

[Stephen Acre]

Yeah. So a lot of data points there, like of the neighborhoods that you picked, a circle prospect. But basically you're just picking an area and you're pulling information of the homeowners in that area that are not on the do not call list. So that's an important one because you can be sued pretty heavily. But you just populate those numbers and you just start dialing, smiling and dialing.

[Luke Acree]

So let's then talk about how you select the areas that you're going after because that's probably just like geo farming. You know, you want to select an area with a good turnover rate because you don't want to market the homes that never sell. But what about circle prospecting? How have you gone about selecting the areas? What drives that for you?

[Stephen Acre]

Yeah, what drives it for us is just what's the value proposition? Right. So if we have. What I want to pick is something that I actually have data on. So if we're already farming a neighborhood, I'm going to know that area super well. So if I know there's higher prices, there's high turnover in that neighborhood, I'm going to pick that and go, hey, we Just had a listing that came on the market or just had a listing sold for X price. You know, so someone's going to have. There's some value proposition there because they're excited about the price that that property just sold for. But you're really just picking something that is personal to you, that you have data on that you can call people and let them know that information. But it's all about the principle of it. Right. And we can dive into that.

[Luke Acree]

So it's essentially, you know, the way I've always thought about it is there is an action that has taken place, an activity that's taken place in a neighborhood and you're using that, you know, activity that happened in order to reach out. So maybe it's a listing came on the market, a sale just happened. Maybe it's even something where you're targeting that area because the. Let's say you've measured the equity that people have in their homes and rates have just dropped or whatever it is. You're using activity based upon a certain market to use that as your reason to reach out.

[Cody Smith]

Yeah, yeah. My thought of it too is like the traditional door knocking. You're doing the exact same thing, but through the phone. So door knocking is the same idea. You're going through doors of people that you don't know and asking if they want numbers on their house. You're doing the same thing through the phone. You do it at a bigger level.

[Stephen Acre]

Yeah. And the principle of it is basically we have to understand what is like, what's the value add that everyone is going to want. Like, that's what I want to dive into first is like the, the principle of it is everyone wants to know numbers on their house and everyone wants the highest price that they can possibly get. And so obviously the consumer is undereducated on the market, but they also don't want to be sold. So you're calling, you know, to get your foot in the door with getting them that that home valuation is the biggest thing.

[Luke Acree]

Have you ever been circle prospected?

[Joshua Steich]

I've never been circle prospect.

[Luke Acree]

I was thinking the same thing. I've never had a real estate agent.

[Joshua Steich]

Never had my door knocked on. I've never had an agent call. The closest I ever got was about a year ago, after a year of living in our house. I got a letter from an agent of saying, hey, there's home buyers in Worcester Township looking for houses like yours. It's the closest I've ever gotten.

[Luke Acree]

I got a newsletter the other day from an agent like, you Know one of those trifold or bifold newsletters and I was like, gotta call them. Get him on a magazine. It's like this thing's going in the garbage. No. Okay. Anyways, that. That tangent thought, let's get back to how do you guys get the data? Because. Right. So I'm picking the area. Maybe a listing came on the market. I'm going to use that as my reason to call. There's a certain geo farm or area, neighborhood I want to be in because it's the right price point for me, whatever it is. How do you get the data?

[Stephen Acre]

Yeah, so we have actually a multitude of platforms that we get our data from. There's so many different data providers out there, so you just want to pick one that has accurate numbers. One of the ones we've been using lately is Deal Deal Machine to populate the numbers. Because we do a lot of investing and so we're sending out postcards through you guys. We're compiling data through Deal Machine. Pioneer Data Solutions is another one we pull. But we like Deal Machine because we can, you know, filter out the Do Not Call list. Just makes it easy. And then we just pushed all those numbers into our CRM.

[Luke Acree]

So they have that feature built in, the filtering of the Do Not Call us. That's nice. They had. Yeah, that's.

[Cody Smith]

Yeah. But what's nice about Circle prospecting is you can also do it completely for free. So you can go to your parcel viewer and select the neighborhood that you want to go through and then go to White Pages and find the numbers and you can run them across your own Do Not Call Us. That's provided our brokerage provides it to us. And then you just run it through that. And then you can make the calls yourself and then enter into a CRM and do it that way so you don't have to pay for any. That's the great thing about Circle prospecting. It's just like door knocking. You can do it completely for free and it doesn't cost you anything besides your time.

[Luke Acree]

So how many dials after you get the data? What's a normal session look like for you guys? And can you kind of elaborate on number of dials you'll do in like a session? Like a day or, you know, a couple hour session, whatever. And then cadence of lead, like how long you keep it open? And then we can get into what happens when you get them on the phone.

[Cody Smith]

Yeah. So another great aspect of this is that you can do it yourself or you can get ISAs to do it for you as well. So we have moved to the model now that we can pay for some ISAs. So we have two ISAs, and their requirement is 200 calls a day or 100 people double dialing. So calling them twice. And the goal is to at least get like five to ten conversations through the. A hundred calls. So about a 5%, 10% conversation rate and going for at least one appointment a day. That's. Those are like our metrics for the ISAs to do. And so that's within about like a six hour, let's say, timeframe of them working out of an AR day, let's say six hours of it.

[Joshua Steich]

And what is their script like? What are they saying to get that person?

[Stephen Acre]

Yeah, so like it. It's kind of like the absentee owner script. Like, we love the. If you've received an offer on the table, would you be open to a conversation? I love that because it's such a soft close. Because no one in their right mind is not going to want to know their home's value. That's the whole proposition, right? You're giving someone their home's value and so would you be open to an offer? The first thing that goes through someone's head is, well, they're not at my house, they can't sell me. We're over the phone. And so, yeah, I would be, I guess. You know what I mean? I guess I'd be open to an offer. So then the key after that is like, we want the data. So we go, you know, well, what exactly do you want for your house? You know, and some people are actually going to respond and be like, well, you know, it's in this price range, right? Or if I were to sell it, it'd have to be X. And then we immediately. We're already looking this data up on Zillow, we're looking this data up on the mls. Obviously, we know the area, so we know they're going to be in a reasonable price range or not a reasonable price range at that point. If they go, no, you know, or not, no. But if they go, well, you tell me, right, what it's worth. Well, Zillow is showing a price range of X, right? Because Zillow is going to have a price range of 30, 40, 50,000. And so we just give them that price range and we ask them, is that, you know, around the range that you were thinking as well. And they're going to give us that data again, right? And then it's just appointment right after that.

[Luke Acree]

Do you have that built into. I know you guys use Follow Up Boss as your CRM. Do you have that built into the CRM where your ISA knows how to respond based upon Zillow? Are they constantly clicking up Zillow and trying to enter in the address?

[Cody Smith]

Yeah, they're looking up Zillow because, like, when you're doing it, you're not even. That's like, the second piece is if they're like, well, what do you think it's worth right now? Then you can throw that number out. But typically we're. We're wanting them to give us the number of what they think their home is worth.

[Stephen Acre]

Yeah. And it's such. I mean, like, it's so easy. Like, you just do it without thinking. When you're on the phone call after you do a couple of these, it's so easy just to start pulling up the data.

[Luke Acree]

Can we role play it in the sense so people can hear? Like, even how your intro is of like, you're calling me at 1100 First Avenue. You know, it's like a ring. I answer hello.

[Stephen Acre]

I just go, hey, Susie. Well, this is.

[Luke Acree]

Hey, you calling me? You could call me Lucy if you want. Okay. Ready? Yeah. Susan doesn't live here. I bet you get that a lot. Yeah, this is.

[Stephen Acre]

By the way, you just go, I'm looking for the owner of one two three First Avenue.

[Joshua Steich]

Are you the owner?

[Luke Acree]

Yeah, yeah, I'm the owner. Who's this?

[Stephen Acre]

This is Stephen Acre. I actually work for the Acree Brothers Realty Team. The reason for my call is I have a lot of buyers looking in your neighborhood, looking for a property like yours. And I was just curious, if you've received an offer on your property, would you be open to looking it over?

[Luke Acree]

Yeah, but what are you saying? You have somebody that wants to buy my home?

[Stephen Acre]

Absolutely. Yeah. We have a lot of buyers that are looking for your exact house. And I was curious if you've received an offer, if you'd be open to looking that offer?

[Luke Acree]

Yeah. Well, what. What's the offer?

[Stephen Acre]

Absolutely. Well, we can definitely determine that. What exactly are you looking for? What kind of price?

[Luke Acree]

Well, I don't know. What's. What's the offer that you guys have?

[Stephen Acre]

Zillow is showing a price range of about 250 to 310. Does that sound about the price range you're looking?

[Luke Acree]

I mean, that. Yeah, that's close. I mean, I would want to be way up at the top end of that.

[Stephen Acre]

Okay, Sweet, man. Well, we definitely can do that. What does your schedule look like this week to go through for like, 15 minutes to where we can see if we can get you that 3:10.

[Luke Acree]

Well, do you have someone that wants to give me 3:10? Absolutely.

[Stephen Acre]

Yeah. So we just need to see the house first and take a look through and, you know, determine the price from there. But if we could get you that 3:10, would you be open to looking over that offer?

[Luke Acree]

Yeah, I mean, if you guys could, you know, I'd be open. I mean. I mean, I'm not going to not look at the offer.

[Stephen Acre]

Sweet. Well, what does your schedule look like? I just, you know, we'll just go through 15 minutes and take a look, and then we can send out that offer. What does your schedule look like on Tuesday or Wednesday of this week?

[Luke Acree]

Are you going to bring Chick Fil a with you? Not good stuff. Okay.

[Stephen Acre]

Yeah, good stuff. You understand, too, like. So this is. The pushback that you'll get is. Well, not everyone's going to respond that way. Right. You're actually going to have some pretty terrible conversations. The terrible conversations are okay because the person's motivation isn't there. I don't care about the person that's not motivated to sell. I care about the person that is motivated to sell. And so the good conversations are all the ones where the person has some sort of motivation and you'll find it in that script. So of course you're going to run through, let's say that Susie or Luke, you know, on this call, wasn't motivated at all. They're going to be like, well, you know, that that script wouldn't move that person, you know, to the finish line. You're right. It wouldn't move them to the finish line. But I don't care. I'm looking for the person that is motivated. And what I go back to is, like, it's all a numbers game. We have 12 people under contract this year from Circle prospecting with that script because we're getting to the people that are motivated.

[Luke Acree]

Do you know how many dials you have made to get those 12. Is that something you can look up Cody in front of you or. No, but is that unique people or is that just dials?

[Stephen Acre]

Double dials? Yeah.

[Luke Acree]

So be a hundred unique people.

[Stephen Acre]

Yep.

[Cody Smith]

Yes.

[Luke Acree]

Let's do the quick math.

[Cody Smith]

It could be like that same person three days later. So.

[Luke Acree]

So what? How many days in the year are we? Like 60? Something like how many currently? Because you guys, you're five days a week, right?

[Cody Smith]

Yeah. I could pull it up real quick. Give me one second.

[Luke Acree]

Yeah. Because it'd Be, you know, essentially 21 working days times 2:40. You know, maybe you're at 50 something days or something like that. But I'm just curious of like, so people get an idea of, because I'm with you guys, of anybody listening to this, I'm going, you know, the problem that most people have is they just don't aren't willing to go through the mud to find the gold. And that's essentially what this script does is you're calling to find the motivated seller and you have to go through a lot of mud to get it. You have found 12 people already this year, 24 last year.

[Stephen Acre]

And we're in a mud market. Right. So people got to understand this too is like right now you're at six something interest rates, right. Where demand is pretty low. There's no inventory on the market. As soon as you get a listing, you're going to sell that listing. There's, you know, we've gone from 6 million transactions down to like the 3.84 million, 4 million transaction range. We're in a mud market. These are the people that are gold. Like you got to go and get these people. In a different market, we'll have different numbers. Like in 2021 we crushed circle prospecting because it's easier. 3% interest rates, super high demand, super low inventory. Everyone's wanting to sell at that point. And so you just got to realize like, look at your transactions, what you're getting. Look at what we're getting. We're in a mud market and this is the route to take to get transactions.

[Cody Smith]

Yeah. And here's the numbers for you. So we've done between our two ISAs, 12,000 calls so far this year. Out of those 12,000 calls, 3,000 of those were individual people. And then as far as conversations, out of 3,000 people that we've called, we've had 300 conversations. So talking over two minutes long and 12 conversions. Yep. And then 12 conversions so far. And then addition to that they have set 18 plus that 50 appointments have been set through that.

[Luke Acree]

Okay, interesting. Yeah. So it's a lot of effort, but it is still netting gains. And then what I always say to people too is like, obviously the ideal lead is the bottom of funnel lead that's easier to work with and the lead that doesn't take a lot of time. That's why referrals are gold. For the real estate business, it's the best lead. You didn't pay for it. It usually comes to you a lot of times, bottle or at least Bottom or middle of funnel. And you know, it's a great lead. But the problem is you're not getting referrals. You're not getting 3,000 referrals or even 300. So you get your referrals and then guess what you have left. You have time. So what are you doing with the extra time that you have during the day? In most agents, they don't put in any activity. No offense to you guys out there listening to this, but you're just waiting for the next thing to come in. And you're hoping that if you post on Instagram or go in, like, have a. Just. I don't even know the other example I was going to give. But if you just like, literally just market yourself, the deals are going to walk through and it's like, yeah, marketing's great. It's one half of the equation. But the other half of the equation is the actual activity.

[Stephen Acre]

Yeah. And Luke, we can't forget too. It's like, what are you doing for your referrals that come through the door? So I have a referral from a guy that I closed. He came from California, purchased a house here. He refers me out to his mom, and they can't find a listing. Well, what are you doing to go out and find a listing for this guy's mom? Great point. To solidify the relationship. So, like, the compounding effect of this, it's not 12 transactions. Now we probably have six. I don't know the numbers we'd have to look, but we probably have six of those that are double transactions from finding our client a listing. Right. We have countless people that we have an exclusive right for off the market deals that we pitch at open houses that we won them purely because we go out and find the listing. So it's just. It's more of a compounding effect than just 12 listings. How much marketing can we push by getting 12 listings to the market? There's so much gold in there. It's like you. You've got to do activities for your clients to compound your database, your pipeline to fuel this engine.

[Cody Smith]

Yeah.

[Luke Acree]

Are you. Go ahead, Cody.

[Cody Smith]

I don't know if we want to go this route, but it's also the way to build your own wealth is circle prospecting is like a whole nother tangent we can go off on. But this is how you find properties off the market. Good deals to buy. Investment properties like, this is how you do it. If you want to work with investors. This is how you get investors, is by supplying them with the inventory that can't be found which are off market things that need to be fixed up.

[Luke Acree]

Because not everyone essentially how wholesalers are doing it too.

[Stephen Acre]

Right.

[Luke Acree]

Like, and we did a whole podcast on absentee owners which is extremely similar concept. It is the concept of circle prospecting in a way, but you're using it around the niche audience of absentee owners. You guys should go watch that episode if you haven't. Because we've done a. I forget how many deals we. It was for absentee, but it was even more than what you've done through circle prospecting. I want to make sure I didn't miss one point that you said. Are you saying when you're circle prospecting, you're finding Cody the 123 Main street and he doesn't want to sell, but he said he'll be in or an off market listing for you if you found him the right offer and you're getting him to give you the rights. What does that mean? Explain that.

[Stephen Acre]

Yes. I mean we're just signing the contract with him the same way we would do to list it. But we're signing it for selling it off the market exclusively to kw. Right. So KW agents can show it. KW agents can sell it. We're not going up on the Internet or anything like that. And then we just send it out to our. Our team. You know, obviously, what's the motivation of.

[Luke Acree]

That seller to do that? It's because they don't really want to sell. But if they got the right price, they would.

[Stephen Acre]

It's more about a pain point. Right. So like most people don't want to sell right now because they're afraid that they're going to go up on the market and not get what they want for it. Right. They don't quite maybe believe that they can get X amount. And so there's nowhere for them to go because they have a. Maybe they have a small amount of equity in their property and they need that full amount of equity to make a move to another property. Right. With. With a 6% interest rate. And so, you know, it's just a value proposition to them, Zero pain. Then it's a value proposition to our buyers that they get an exclusive list that no one will compete with.

[Luke Acree]

How many do you think you have of those right now?

[Stephen Acre]

We can tell you if you're going to pull the list.

[Cody Smith]

The whole list? Yeah, of you're talking about ones that don't want to list.

[Luke Acree]

I'm just like curious for myself. Like I'm thinking as an agent, if I was starting doing this Tomorrow I would want kind of some benchmark of like, is it realistic that I get 10 of those? One of those, three of those?

[Stephen Acre]

Yeah, I'm pulling it up right now. Or could use.

[Cody Smith]

Yeah, yeah. So for properties that don't want to list on the market but is willing to sell with us off the market, we have 18.

[Luke Acree]

Yeah, get out of here. Wow, that's amazing. Yeah, that's so good too because now you have a value prop to all of your buyers. And we talked about this again. I'm plugging another episode, but go listen to our open house episode, right. Did 18 deals last year from open houses and you guys use the off market exclusive list as a value item of value to get that person into. Into the appointment with you.

[Cody Smith]

We have 21 off market properties that are going to be listings on live, but right now they're off market. So in total we have about 30 something listings that are off the market, not on the market that we can offer to clients. And the back your open house, we just. I have an off market listing coming up this Friday. We had an open house that was similar, but it wasn't fixed up. The one we're going live with a little bit more fixed up. And he had 23, 20 people through his open house and he used that off the market property coming up to then secure these clients that came in to say, hey, I actually have an off market that's just like this. If you don't like this one, we have something that you can get but you have to work with us obviously to see this off market.

[Luke Acree]

Yeah, that's so good.

[Cody Smith]

Episode we've been doing is really building on each other. Open houses are building off of off market listings. So yeah.

[Luke Acree]

What do you guys will close with this? I'm curious. Like Ricky Carruth, right. He's a huge fan and coach on circle prospecting. But when I've listened to him talk and we've had him on the show a couple times, we should get him back and maybe have this discussion. He talks about going in. Not even really focused on the transaction at all, but focused on just getting an email address and building a relationship with the homeowner and dripping on them for the rest of the time. And I could be a little bit off there because I have been studying in nuances stuff, but that's the overall macro that I get from him. What do you guys feel about that? Because it feels like you're very transactional in mindset of how you're doing circle prospecting.

[Stephen Acre]

What I would say is if you can't win from going for the approach of the transaction first, if you can't move that into the relationship, then I would go for the relationship first. But you should be skilled enough to move it from, you know, a pitch of knowing their home value in transactional. Like, it's not transactional. You're, you're, you have a value proposition that's obviously, that's super relational. You're providing so much value to them. But if you can't move that to this person's two years down the road, and I just want to be in relationship with you, well, maybe just go for that first because you should be able to move it in the same way that Ricky Cruz is talking about, because it's not about the transaction. It's about providing value. And I think that's what he would say about that.

[Cody Smith]

And my thing is, as soon as they say they don't want numbers, my immediate response every time is, okay, so this is your dream house. And then if you say no, then I go, oh, okay, yeah, okay. So this, what is your dream house? Like, what would be that? And then start having them dream about their motivation, because that's the biggest thing we want, motivation. Why would you sell all that stuff? All right, if I get the dream house, they say yes, then. All right, awesome. Well, do you, do you need a contractor? I like to just add value. Just like with the numbers I was going to give you. I have a bunch of contractors. Do you have any fixes or updates you're thinking about doing? Nope, I don't have any. Okay, yeah, that's fine. We have an event coming up I would love you to come to. It's a pie event coming up this Friday. Free pies, completely free. Just wanting to add value. I would love for you to send that cat. Send you some information on that. Last one would be the magazine. Hey, I sent out a magazine that has like updated articles about how you can renovate your house for certain seasons. It's also got things about recipes. Can I send you one of those, too? I would love to just add value in any way possible. So if they're not going to sell, I'm going to start building the relationship for the eventual. Because Ricky's like thing. If you can get even think about one seller a week, you have 50 sellers in your database that you can drip on that. You can follow up with that. You know, have a house that will eventually sell. So that's the game plan. First we're going for the immediate. And then if that's not working. We're going to build a relationship up to go to that next step.

[Luke Acree]

Yeah. That's so good, man.

[Joshua Steich]

Fantastic as always. Gentlemen, thank you so much for coming on the episode today and sharing that knowledge before we close out. How can people connect with y'all?

[Stephen Acre]

Yeah. Um, in any way, honestly. We're meeting with someone tonight on Zoom to go over our seller script just like this today. So if you want to schedule a time to meet with me, we're more than happy to go over all of our information. You can text me, call me 434-2165.

[Cody Smith]

I would add to that too. We've gone to brokerages and teams and done this presentation. So we have about a two hour presentation on circle prospecting and then also how to invest for yourself. So it's like a one, two combo. So we can obviously talk about how we can help your team and your brokerage up.

[Joshua Steich]

Awesome. Thank you. And thank you all so much for listening. You can get all of the information as well as the show notes and the video of this episode [e-mail] and if you enjoy this episode and want to show your support, head on over to Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Drop us a five star review along with a comment. And the best way to support the show is simply share this episode with somebody that you know. If you want to get hold of me or Luke, you can email [e-mail] and of course you can follow us on social media. We are at Stay Paid podcast for this episode of Stay Paid. I'm Joshua Steich.

[Luke Acree]

Guys, I'm Luke Acre. Share this episode with your office, with your other agents. It is extremely valuable. You know, the difference between top producers and mediocre producers is they take action. And if you think about it, you have a lot of time that you're not really taking advantage of to do active prospecting in your business. So passive marketing is really, really good, right? Josh and I are in that business of helping you with passive marketing. So that would be sending out a magazine postcards, posting on social. We do all this stuff, email marketing. This is what reminder media does for clients. But it's passive because you are waiting for the prospect to take action through your marketing. What you also have to add on and what all top producers do. And this is what you're hearing just from Cody and Steven. They go and they do proactive. So Stephen and Cody are doing all the passive marketing as well. Then they add the proactive component, which is the outreach and so that's calling behind your magazine that you send, that's calling behind the postcards, doing door knocking behind the postcards that you send, or DMing people on social from the social post you're doing. That's the component of proactive marketing. So you just heard about circle prospecting. They've made 12,000 calls to 3,000 people, 300 combos and 12 deals. That's a lot of mud that they're walking through. But it's getting them 12 deals. So if you're sitting here at March, you know, whenever this comes out, it's March 11th when we're recording it. But if you're sitting here in March, you don't have 12 deals. Think to yourself, have you made 3,000 calls and talk to. Or 12,000 calls, talk to 3,000 people? I shouldn't say talk to them. Reach 3,000 people, talk to 300 and convert at 12. Yeah, it's a lot of math there. A lot of numbers. Have you done that? And if you haven't, that's your. That's your solution? It's not rocket science. That's your solution. Go lift the cinder blocks, go put them down and do that over and over again until you have a better use of spending that time. Because that is what will happen to you as you close deals, easier deals will come, referrals, and you might not have to make that many calls anymore. But if you have the time to make those calls, go make them. Because the difference between top producers and mediocre producers in every business. Stop producers. Take action. Take action on that today.