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Stay Paid Podcast
How Olyvia Salyer Sells $40M Solo | Referrals, AI & Relationships That Scale
00:46:31
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- [00:00]
Olivia Salyer
Foreign.
- [00:04]
Josh Dyke
Welcome to Stay Paid, your number one sales and marketing podcast, on a mission to help you close more deals, keep more clients, and live the life of freedom you're working towards. But that can only happen if you're willing to take action today. My name is Josh Dyke, Chief marketing officer here at Reminder Media, joined as always by Luke Acree, president of Reminder Media, and from the Acree Brothers Realty team, founder and team lead, Steven Acree. Our guest today is Olivia Salyer. Olivia is a standout luxury real estate professional whose journey took her from the fast pace of New York City to serving clients in coastal Virginia. With an extensive background in marketing, media and personal branding, Olivia brings a unique ability to craft compelling stories around the homes she represents, helping clients connect not just with a property, but with a lifestyle. Olivia, welcome to Stay Paid.
- [00:47]
Olivia Salyer
Gosh, Josh, that. Thank you. What an intro. I'm going to have to have you send that to me so I can update my bio.
- [00:54]
Josh Dyke
Yeah, that was.
- [00:55]
Luke Acree
Josh didn't even read it. That was a hey, Gen AI of Josh.
- [01:00]
Olivia Salyer
Hey, you know, if it does it better in less time, I'm here for.
- [01:03]
Luke Acree
It a hundred percent. I'm excited to have you on the show. For those listening, right, Olivia just crushes. She's an incredible top producing agent. I've been following her on social since we connected back at Bam Mania in Vegas about a year plus ago, which is amazing. Conference and obviously shout out to Bam. Love those people. But you have been. Everybody should go follow her on Instagram. But the amount of deals that you are doing is blowing my mind. Like, it is crazy. You are crushing in this market and everybody needs or everybody knows the frame that we're in right now. It's like one of the worst markets in history. It's been three years, kind of downhill. People are struggling. It's like, I wouldn't be surprised if this year it's 80% of agents haven't closed a deal because it's just wild out there and. And you are excelling in this market. Can you give people an idea of either your volume transaction count kind of frame up your. You and your whole operation and what you're doing?
- [01:59]
Olivia Salyer
Yeah, absolutely. So I've been in the business about 8 years now. Just crossed over into my 8th year. I am an individual agent, so I do not have a team. I am Olivia seller comma real estate, and that is my llc. You know, I run everything through my brokerage, Berkshire Hathaway. Technically, Berkshire Hathaway Home Services are w towne Realty for the full. You Know, franchise name. But I, you know, like you mentioned, I. Before real estate, I was in marketing, and I was in marketing in New York City. So I'm gonna preface this with I took my New York City hustle, brought it down to Williamsburg, Virginia, and it has served me well. But in terms of volume, I typically sell. Last year, I sold about 60 houses for 30 million in volume. This year, I am on track to beat that. Looking at hopefully closing the year, you know, between 60 and 70. I'm trying to. I'm trying to pass that 40 mil mark. We'll see if we make happen.
- [02:57]
Luke Acree
But amazing.
- [02:58]
Olivia Salyer
I. I'm grateful every day for. For what I get to do, and I really get to just help people. And I think that's the spirit that I bring to my business through everything that I do. And I'm gonna tell you right now, if you're a new agent and you're not out there to do the work, you're not out there to. To help people in any way you can, not sure this is business for you. So that's really the underlying basis for how I've built my foundation. But I was.
- [03:27]
Luke Acree
I was watching a Tom Ferry video this morning, and he was speaking. I think it was a clip from his summit.
- [03:33]
Olivia Salyer
Oh, I saw that one. Yeah.
- [03:35]
Luke Acree
Okay. He was basically saying, though, on this, he basically goes, hey, you know, it's about relationships, about communicating with your people. And if you guys are thinking right now, I don't have time for this. I don't have time to call all my people. I don't want to talk to all my people. He goes, why are you. Yeah, why are you in this business? Why are you in this business? That is what this business is.
- [03:54]
Olivia Salyer
Yes, that is what it is.
- [03:55]
Luke Acree
You got the New York City hustle and the southern hospitality of Virginia. You to be nice and care about your clients. So I love it.
- [04:02]
Olivia Salyer
Well, I have another ace in the hole, too. Growing up, my mother was a lady contractor. She built houses, she renovated houses. She is a nationally known designer. I was never going to get into houses. I was like, absolutely not. I'm leaving. I'm going to New York. Nope. Nope. And here I am today. But that knowledge, knowing about houses, knowing what luxury finishes is, you know, and what creates value, that's really too another just, like, knowledge bucket that I was able to throw into my career right from the beginning.
- [04:32]
Luke Acree
So that's incredible. Do you leverage that just on that train of thought? Do you leverage that and how you do your listing presentations, how you do your showings and Stuff like that. Are you, are you including that skill set in.
- [04:43]
Olivia Salyer
I am. And you know, even in my listing presentation, you know, if we want to deep dive into that later, I do put a whole section on staging design, presentation for the marketing. Especially in, you know, Internet marketing. Pictures for the Internet are different than pictures. Pictures for advertisements like print ads, things like that. And you know, I have the eye for both. And so when we're staging a house, you have to think about, especially if it's a 2,3 million dollar house, you want to be able to be prepared to have, you know, luxury magazine ads and you know, viral Instagram videos. So, you know, it is a thought process for both that her design, her staging advice brings to the table. And now I get to work hand in hand with her. You know, I hire her as my stager. Some of the biggest properties, properties that I got this year were fully staged. Her name is Catherine Sile Design, if you want to follow her too. She's great. I get everything from her. Got to give her the shout out. But you know, love that her, her expertise I've been able to integrate into my business. But even if you don't have that, you know, just become an expert on, on marketing design. It's, you know, there's so many resources follow this podcast. You know, it's. There's so many things that you can just learn, have that growth mindset that's really too a foundation of my career. You know, I'm, I'm a sponge. I learn as much as I can to be best for my clients.
- [06:06]
Luke Acree
Yeah. And the key there is your ability to articulate it and communicate that value to the client within the presentation or within, you know, the combo that you're having is that you have the knowledge and then you can articulate. Here is like even saying to a consumer there's a difference between how you do an ad for social versus print immediately puts you in a position of authority, a position of competence. Exactly. And that's what people want because the consumer wants advisory. Right. So they want advisory. And that's what you're bringing to the table. Can you break down the 60 to 70 homes you'll sell this year? You know, 40 million. Where are, where's that deal flow coming from? How are you capturing that right now?
- [06:48]
Olivia Salyer
Absolutely. So I am a big Buffini fan. The very first book that was passed.
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Luke Acree
Love Brian.
- [06:54]
Olivia Salyer
Love Brian. Watch his podcast every day. I mean that's goals. Would love to be on that podcast. You know, I. The very first, very first real estate related content Anyone handed me was his book how to, you know, work by referral, live the good life. And so I, you know, consumed that, you know, within a couple hours of being given it. And truly, it's just the basics put that to the test. So throughout my entire career, that is how I grew my career. My first year in real estate 2018, you know, we weren't at the COVID Craziness. Craziness. It was a very even market here in Virginia where I'm at, you know, lots of negotiation and I just hit the ground running. It's about relationships, it's about building rapport, it's about showcasing yourself as that expert. And so I started a year long pop by schedule even then to be able to reach out to people, get some facetime with people, position myself as an expert. And so many of my clients come from my referral program and, and that's me, like for example, and I can even go grab one really quickly. I'm about to pass out beautiful, tiny little pumpkins. And the card says, you know, I thank you for helping my business grow. I love a cute little like double entendre, you know, whatever. Thank you for helping my business grow. The best compliment that you could ever give me is a referral. You know, let me know, you know, please give me referrals. Let your friends and family know. And I'm passing out 75 to my top past clients. And you know, I've already got about 50 done. I do have help with that. My amazing like ride or die assistant slash license license agent who helps me do some stuff, you know, she helps me pass them out. But again, like, I can't. I get a text every, from every single one of those clients being like, oh my God, this is so cute. I do have a friend who wants to buy or I gave your name out to my, my neighbo. They're thinking about next year. And so, you know, even if I don't get to see them too, take a picture of you dropping it in their mailbox on their front door and text it to them. Right?
- [09:07]
Luke Acree
Oh, that's genius.
- [09:08]
Olivia Salyer
Yeah, you know, say, hey, just thinking of you, Happy fall. You know, and the message is in the card on the pumpkin, which is much better received through gift, you know, and you have to do the direct ask. You must ask for referrals.
- [09:24]
Luke Acree
Reach it, Olivia. I hate these people out there that say you can just do good service and get referrals. It's like, it doesn't work that way.
- [09:32]
Olivia Salyer
If you liked my business, please refer me Tell your friends, tell your family, tell your neighbors, tell your co workers, hey, that's how I get more clients. That's the best thing you could do for my business. Please get my name out. And so I do that, you know, six to eight times a year. I can run through really quickly what I do for each one, but it leads up to December, and I live in the most adorable Hallmark town, Williamsburg, Virginia. If you've never been here on a class trip to learn about history, you should come down. You know, it's adorable here. We have a very robust Chamber of Commerce, which I am a part of. If you're not a part of your local Chamber of Commerce, as a realtor, you should get involved. I really recommend it. That's been a huge source of leads and referrals and networking for me as well.
- [10:21]
Luke Acree
But can I ask you on that Chamber of Commerce? Because I just talked to Noah Kessler, who's a agent on our team, about this concept, and I said, his sphere, he hasn't grown, right?
- [10:32]
Olivia Salyer
And he.
- [10:32]
Luke Acree
And he doesn't do any activities. Like, he just. His church is really the only place that he could maybe start leveraging his fear. And I said, you should go to the Chamber of Commerce. Literally, this is the past week, but I wasn't sure myself because, quite frankly, I haven't done it. Like, what. How. What. How does it work for you with the Chamber of Commerce? Like, how have you used it to network? Like, what did that look like?
- [10:55]
Olivia Salyer
So our Chamber of Commerce is pretty robust. I think it's about 900 businesses in the direct, and it's called the historic Triangle. That's Williamsburg, Jamestown, Yorktown. Now, they. It's called the Greater Williamsburg Chamber. They essentially, the way a chamber operates is they create opportunities for businesses to connect, often through events. And so there are advertising opportunities at these events. And so the big one that I'm about to talk about is they, like, my Chamber of Commerce literally puts on our Christmas parade every year, and it is, like, 160 floats. 30,000 people come to this. It is, like, a big deal. And, you know, like, Santa turns the corner in a huge semi truck, and it's like a whole deal. It's great. It's really fun. It's family friendly, but also, like, it's fun for all the ages. So I. I lucked in, and this is like my final. We'll roll back around at the chamber. But I lucked into my house being a excellent position for client events, you know, meetings. I'm currently in my office at my home that's where I bring clients. It is downtown next to Colonial Williamsburg. That's like all of those things kind of come together in terms of marketing and positioning me as an expert in this area. But what I do is I corral my front yard. And it is the very first house on the parade route. And so I throw a huge party. All of my clients come in, they can set up.
- [12:25]
Luke Acree
Yes, such a good idea.
- [12:27]
Olivia Salyer
They have a safe space for the kids because I have the little fence up. The parents aren't worried about the kids running into the street. We've got prime frontage for watching the parade. But, you know, I can't just take. I want to give as well. And so we get. Two years ago, I came to the Chamber of Commerce again. They throw the parade. I was like, I need to give back. This is such a huge source of leads for me every year. Such a huge source of advertising. I want to be a part of the parade. And so I went to the. Her name is Lauren, VP of the Chamber. And so find your VP too. Talk to them, you know, find a unique way that you can give back that also connects to your business, you know, so if you don't have a parade, maybe there is a fall festival. Maybe there's something very community based. That's where I would get involved with the chamber. And so, you know, I went to them. I'm now the merriment sponsor of the parade. And you know, it's not a huge. It's not a huge spend, but I did spent, you know, 15, 1600 bucks a year to be that position. But they gave me my own title sponsorship. And like, I'm not the top one, but I have my own. And I wanted to be like parade start sponsor. But that, like, we didn't want to take away from like, the ribbon cutting of the parade, which is a whole moment. So I made my own, right? And not only that, but the chamber asked me to be on the parade committee to plan the actual parade and to leverage my network to help more people get involved with that, to help run smoother, obviously, at my house, because it's the start of the parade, all of the floats line up on the side of my house. So I can then use my house to give, like, support, storage, bathroom while they're setting up, you know, like, things like that. In addition to this party and all.
- [14:11]
Luke Acree
Those other people that are helping you plan the parade, that are part of it now, they're meeting you. They're giving you.
- [14:16]
Olivia Salyer
They're meeting me, right? They see me I use my real estate email for all parade activities. They. They see what I'm doing, but, you know, we're not talking about real estate, so that is subliminal. Like, look at this top realtor giving back in this way. It's, you know, it's something that the community loves so much. And so, you know, and everybody, you know, again, all ships rise with the tide. Everybody benefits, right?
- [14:39]
Luke Acree
Yep.
- [14:39]
Olivia Salyer
And so, yes, there is a monetary spend, but man, what I get for that is huge. I. So my Buffini set up for referrals throughout the year, ends at this parade party. And so all of my clients come year over year. It's been growing. Every year I've got a title company who comes in and they run the hot cider bar. And so for the parents, you've got any. Any of the beverages you might want to add to that cider or, you know, have a little. Have a little nip. But also for the kids, we do a full candy bar. Right. And so they run that. I have the. I have a radio show, so I do a local seven minute segment with. With the local RA but that also came from the chamber. When I joined the Chamber of Commerce, they give you a quick radio shout out at the local radio station. Well, guess what? I developed a relationship there. They didn't have a realtor speaking about real estate in Williamsburg, Virginia. I was like, well, what does that look like? Okay, I can do a seven minute segment each week to give you guys local updates. So then that happened from the Chamber.
- [15:41]
Luke Acree
That's incredible. Stephen, do you have a relationship with the local Chamber of Commerce there in Lynchburg? I don't have a relationship with them. I did do it one year, but it was like five years ago. Okay, yeah, we need to look into that again because that is brilliant. Especially the radio connection, too.
- [16:00]
Olivia Salyer
Oh, my gosh. Well, and I sat down in the radio and it was great. And now I have Instagram content too, because I record the radio stations. I do. And then the radio station for free. DJ is my Christmas parade.
- [16:15]
Luke Acree
That's sick. So you do six to eight pop buys a year. How many people are you doing the pop by for? Like, how big is that database or.
- [16:24]
Olivia Salyer
Doors you're knocking or so minimum 40 to 50. That's. That's my top line. And that's direct from Buffini. You know, keep your A B rate, all your client rate, all your past clients, abcd, your A's, get your regular Popeyes. And it is the. What it's supposed to be is a reminder. Hey, I'm a real estate agent. Olivia Salier is a real estate agent. Anybody needs real estate? Real estate. Real estate, right. But it's something thoughtful. It's not just, you know, hey, give me leads. I don't, you know, care about you. I just, just give, give, get, you know, like you need to be giving to receive. And so, you know, start of the year, I actually start the year off. I'm a big fan of, of handwritten notes as well. Start the year off with a direct call to to action in January. Top 50 past clients. Thank you so much, you know, for supporting my business in this new year. If you know of anyone looking to buy or sell, I would love to help them the same way I've helped you send those out one on the land first week of January going into February. You know, tie into super easy events. Obviously we've got Valentine's Day. So, you know, I send out just like a cute little 2, 3 candy Valentine's Day gift. 50, 60 people drop them off in mailbox on the front door. I do not knock on the door, you know, post Covid people don't. I don't do door knocking or cold calling. I, you know, in my area that is not something that's really received well, you know, people want their time, they don't want to be bothered. You know, I don't like people to knock on my door if I'm not like ready to receive them. So you know, just drop, drop and go take a text picture. You know, say hey, thinking of you, left you a little something. It's about getting the conversation going. Hey, February, you know, anyone gearing up to spring. But you know, and I sit the note says something like, my clients are the, the heart of my business. Right. You know, let me know if I can help any of your friends and family sell or buy this year.
- [18:26]
Luke Acree
And then interesting how you don't even like majority of the people you would say you don't even talk to when you're doing the Popeye. That's a real a key point for people to take away is I think so many people are scared of the pop buy because they don't know how to approach the door or they don't want the awkwardness and you drop and go take a picture.
- [18:47]
Olivia Salyer
It makes it a lot faster to drop them too because if you're caught up in 10, 15 minute conversations, drop.
- [18:52]
Luke Acree
Them on the front porch or the mailbox or whatever.
- [18:55]
Olivia Salyer
Or mailbox depends on the weather. You know, I. There's a lot of newspaper boxes where I live. That's a safer option. You know, again, if it's somebody that, you know, might have somebody selling soon or that you want to do a direct connection to, just text them a picture of it, be like, hey, thinking of you. Don't miss it. You know, something like that. It takes three seconds. Every single Popeye I do, I get at least five to seven leads. Every single time that. Every single time.
- [19:24]
Luke Acree
All right, Steve, we're starting to do Popeyes. That is. Yeah, it's funny because we do. We do four client events a year. We do, obviously, our magazine going out. We do, you know, phone calls.
- [19:35]
Olivia Salyer
You know, it's a great way to stay relevant, I think. I do yours quarterly, I think, or six times a year. And so, again, I mean, we can get into the magazine separately. That. That's another layer of my business. But.
- [19:48]
Luke Acree
But we're not doing the Popeyes. We need to add that and don't.
- [19:52]
Olivia Salyer
Spend a lot of money. I. I try to keep it below $5 per Popeye, and, you know, that's the goal.
- [19:58]
Luke Acree
And so you pick the top 50 people because it's so doable.
- [20:02]
Olivia Salyer
Those are more impactful. And the way that you choose your. Your top 50, you know, are these people who have given you a referral in the past. Absolutely. Put them on the list. Right. Those are the people who deserve to get the gifts. Those are the people who do want to shout your business from the rooftops. Right. And then, you know, is it a new client? All of my new clients throughout the year get a pop by as soon as they close. You know, I want to keep fresh in mind. Hey, still your Realtor. Hope everything's good. Right? You know, like, want to. Want to get them primed to be giving me referrals. And so, you know, then pick and choose. Haven't heard from somebody in two, three years off the list, you know.
- [20:41]
Luke Acree
Did you say they're every month or how.
- [20:43]
Olivia Salyer
No. So I. It. It's really four to eight a year, depending on my year. I tried. I think monthly is a little too much. You don't want to get into the. Oh, here she is again. You know, like. Right. I think. I think every two to three months is appropriate. Taking breaks where you need. So I do Valentine's Day, then I hit the end of March, and this I do every year with Girl Scouts. So Girl Scout cookies, I do spend a little bit more, but we have a local scout here who I support their, you know, mission and buy probably 80 boxes of Girl Scout cookies, and.
- [21:20]
Luke Acree
I give out 30 yeah. And you get out 30.
- [21:24]
Olivia Salyer
It's not a lie. I probably eat at least five. You know, it's fine. We build that in. We build that in. It's a tax write off, y'.
- [21:31]
Luke Acree
All.
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Olivia Salyer
Okay, it's fine. But, you know, we. We put a little card again on the girl scout cookie box. Box that says it's something about. Hold on, I have to pull it up. It's like the. It's about cookies and how it crumbles. One second. I'm just gonna read it to you girls.
- [21:51]
Luke Acree
I love that too, though, because you're supporting a local.
- [21:54]
Olivia Salyer
Well, and I try. Yeah.
- [21:55]
Luke Acree
I want to support local.
- [21:56]
Olivia Salyer
Right, right.
- [21:57]
Luke Acree
Yeah.
- [21:58]
Olivia Salyer
Give back.
- [21:59]
Luke Acree
That's what you find with all the top producers. That's what it is. They. They naturally build relationships with the people in the community. And it's not just this relationship of business. It's like you're giving to them. If you want more referrals, ask yourself, how many people have you referred business to this year? Like, that is a great gut check for everybody. How much have you given of business to somebody else? How many referrals have you given for somebody? And, I mean, it's like karma. It's like what you put out there, you're gonna get back. And you find that the greatest top producers are ones that they refer a ton. They connect. They're just connectors. They influence. They give, and then they just get it in referrals.
- [22:35]
Olivia Salyer
Right? And so this card, it says, no matter how the cookie crumbles, your referrals are the best part of my business. Right. It's cute, right? So that gets great. It's a little corny, but not too corny. And you're like, heck, yeah, I'll get cookies. So. So that one, we go out to 50, 60, you know, sometimes maybe 70. I do actually give. Give that one to my servicers. So just relevant, like home inspectors, you know, all. I have a Rolodex of any possible contractor you may need. So, like my. Go to painter, you know, give them a box, too, because that does. You know, I give them business, they give me business. Right.
- [23:16]
Luke Acree
That's so good.
- [23:17]
Olivia Salyer
A lot of times, painters, movers, those people are in the home getting, you know, your proactive seller ready for market before they've talked to a real estate agent. Hey, have you talked to realtors yet? I work with this realtor. You should call her. Her, my cleaner, my best cleaner, has given me, like, five referrals this year. And I mean, like, I get her to do a deep clean at all my listings. So she's getting business, but she's in these people's homes, these luxury properties as they're getting ready to sell. And she'll pull up, pull up my little Instagram video while she's cleaning their house and say call her. Right. And so she gets some cookies.
- [23:56]
Luke Acree
Okay, so this is amazing. So I'm just curious like, all right, so you know, 60 transactions, how are you doing the pop buys, doing the client events? And you're solo agent. I think you mentioned you have an assistant.
- [24:09]
Olivia Salyer
Yeah, so I kind of have. I have two, three people that help with my business. We can call them assistants, we can call them whatever they want to get called. So my 1 8, my, my licensed agent assistant, let's call her. She's Jen, she's awesome. She also does her own business but she doesn't want to do, you know, the production level. She doesn't want to do like the hust of a full time agent. And so she helps me prep the Popeyes. She's the one who helps me like make them pretty, print the tag, put it on there. She helps me deliver them. And so I do still try, I mean I love to do these deliveries. So I do still try to deliver, but I'd say half and half. She does them for me. She's out delivering pumpkins right now. And so, you know, she, she also helps with like lockbox pickup signs, holding open houses, doing a lot of those things. Sometimes if I'm out of town or double booked, she'll show.
- [25:02]
Luke Acree
Is she like a salary employee for.
- [25:04]
Olivia Salyer
You or are you paying hourly? Hourly. And then I actually have another hourly transaction coordinator. So I, my least favorite part of my job is prepping the contracts. Hate, hate doing that. So she, she now knows how to write a contract in a way that I would like it written both listing and selling. And so I'll get her to do the full prep. So then when I get back to my desk, all I to do is, you know, go through review, make sure it's fine, send a client, talk to client. I use my people and AI any way I can to keep me as the client facing person. My clients do not speak to anyone but me and they are reassured by that. They want the concierge service, they want the white glove treatment and that's what keeps them strong. That's what keeps them clients for life life. That's what keeps them giving my name out. So I, that's kind of how I structure things. I'm not gonna lie, y'. All. I Do wake up most mornings, especially in like fall, spring, around 5 or 6am and so wake up early if you haven't read it. The 5am Club, great book will change your thinking about how to seize the day. And you know, I get up, I have a morning routine, I get highly caffeinated and then I go after it. And so, you know, I like to get all my documents, all my paperwork out of the way in the morning before any other agents awake. And it also, it's just this reassuring of your expertise to the client at every step of the way. If they get an email from me at 6:20am about all of the things that we talked about, you know, yesterday afternoon, that's before they can ask again. You need to be proactive.
- [26:46]
Luke Acree
Such a golden nugget that most people think is in as important as it is. No, it's like I always tell my agents actually send out. I know it sounds weird, but like I would send clients a text at 5am 5:30 in the morning because it early. It says that you're disciplined, it says that you're on top of, you're after it, you're doing what you said you were going to do and you're doing it early. And then what you said too, of getting that off your chest, like getting the weight off your shoulders, it sets you up for such success throughout the.
- [27:15]
Olivia Salyer
Day, every single day. Yeah. And you know, with real estate, I think the, the biggest comments I get back are how do you stay on top of it? I'm getting hit from all sides. The negotiations are going haywire. Well, if you start your morning, the morning routine is, is, is essential. If you start your morning, get all that paperwork off your plate, get ready for the day, you're being strategic, you're being proactive. And then you get that haywire, you know, crazy structural issue that's coming on the inspection report. You can focus, you can nail it. You know, you can be your best negotiation tool for your clients. And so, you know, those are the things that take time, those are the things that take focus throughout the day that you need to be present for. You can't be dealing with some like price for change reduction or you know, piddly paperwork stuff while you're trying to focus on that. And so also what it tells other agents in your market is that you are organized and that sets you up too for success in negotiation. And so you know, all my agents, like I love, I love to hit all of the other agents in this market back at 5am I really do. And Y' all, like, with the technology we have, you don't have to wake up at 5am to do that. If you've got an iPhone, you can send later. Send later, 5:20am, maybe 5:21, to make it look like, you know, you're up and actually working. Right. You know, send later, do that sometimes if I've like, got the energy. And like a lot of this is about motivation. Like when you feel primed to, you know, the pump is primed, like, let's get the work done. Sometimes that's at 9 o' clock at night for me, you know, and I'll just get that done. I'm not sending that stuff at 9 though, because I like to have healthy boundaries with my clients. So I will send early morning, I will send daytime texts, but I will not, I will not respond to anything after 9am and or 9pm Excuse me.
- [29:06]
Luke Acree
And I was like, wow, you're killing.
- [29:08]
Olivia Salyer
It after 9am, then you got more PM. Yeah, I only work for 5 to 9. That's the secret sauce. No, y', all, 9pm, sorry, after 9pm we're not texting. You know, what we're setting here is the tone to also give me a good wind down at the end of the day so that I can get good sleep. You know, I don't want to have major issue at 9:30pm come through, stress me out. You know, can't do anything about it till the morning anyway. So, you know, like we shut down 9,9ish PM and I say that.
- [29:41]
Luke Acree
How are you using AI? Yeah, yeah, well, yeah, to help you in because you have the two hourly, which is awesome. How are you finding AI right now to help you from an efficiency standpoint.
- [29:54]
Olivia Salyer
So that's really. All of my other stuff is AI. I use ChatGPT daily. It is on the phone, it is on my laptop. I use it instead of Google. I have it proofread, like literally anything. Any marketing materials I make, it proofreads. I actually, I stole this from another really top agent in the Berkshire Net. She and I can give you her info for the link for the, the podcast. Her name is Allison. She went through and actually made responses to regular emails that she gets. So she has a database of click and paste responses made by AI that are fantastic. And so I did the same thing, you know, and I basically like inspection response. Boom. Don't even have to use two brain cells, you've got it ready and things like next steps, what to do, you know, like the email follow up after an initial first consult with Buyer or seller, a, you know, like all of these things that we could. Anything that's repetitive. Anything that's repetitive. I now use AI for. And so it. To. To the extent that I can. So I've got that database. Instead of spending 15 minutes now on typing that next steps email, I copy, paste, tweak it, two minutes out the door, moving on. Right. And so that's how I'm able to take this volume of clients, volume of responses. I do the same thing now, too, for my reminders. You know, I've got an AI reminder on everything, you know, like. And I use. I use a couple different tools. I'm getting into, man, I just forgot the CRM. Yes. Bull Trail. I'm getting much more into Bull Trail this. This year just to help.
- [31:39]
Luke Acree
I think. I think Berkshire uses Berkshire.
- [31:41]
Olivia Salyer
Yeah, Berkshire uses Bull Trail Trail. So. But it's a good one as well. And so I, you know, this is coming from somebody who previously just had, like, everything on a spreadsheet.
- [31:51]
Luke Acree
Yeah. Well, how big is your database? I'm just curious how many people are in there that you say you actively manage?
- [31:58]
Olivia Salyer
In essence, probably about 500. That's. And so that's.
- [32:03]
Luke Acree
Ladies, gentlemen, wake up. It's not 10,000. I, you know, obviously, I think you should have as many people as you actively can and manage, but 500. She's doing 40 million with 500 people.
- [32:13]
Olivia Salyer
It's 500 people. And again, you know, like, Williamsburg is a small town, but I sell Richmond, Virginia. I sell Virginia Beach. I sell a lot of, like, rural waterfront horse properties. And that's like all over the place. And so.
- [32:26]
Luke Acree
Well, that one property you had people. I mean, right there. What was it on the river or.
- [32:31]
Olivia Salyer
Something like that was on the York River. It was a phenomenal sale. Ultra modern.
- [32:37]
Luke Acree
I wanted to buy it.
- [32:39]
Olivia Salyer
I wanted to buy it.
- [32:40]
Luke Acree
It was over me, though, man, that. That was just like, whoa, I need.
- [32:43]
Olivia Salyer
A couple more years. Selling $40 million worth of volume to buy that house. Unfortunately, that was like 3 million bucks.
- [32:50]
Luke Acree
I thought you did great marketing on that, though. The. The video listing video was fantastic.
- [32:54]
Olivia Salyer
That's the other. So now we've kind of talked about, you know, my Popeyes, the other things I do. American flags for Fourth of July. Just really quick, you know, Thanksgiving, handwritten thank you note. Do not, do not ask for referrals on Thanksgiving. You're just grateful. You're just grateful. Send a thank you note. And then, as you heard, I end my year with the party. And that. That primes my pump again to go into the new year, all of my clients have seen me. 150 people come to that party. So I get to face to face for five minutes each. With all these clients, I'm doing something for them that primes the pump. That's where all. That's where probably 90% of my business comes from.
- [33:31]
Luke Acree
From.
- [33:32]
Olivia Salyer
Right? Wow. Just that. Just that. But the other 10%, we back up with marketing. So you've seen some on my Instagram, if you guys haven't. My name's spelled weird. It's Olivia with a Y, O, L, Y, V, I, A. Go. Follow me. See some of the stuff that I'm doing. But I really upped my video game this year, and really, like, actually, I got to give the Bam guys props for this. Going to Bam Mania last year in Vegas. Like, I was seeing what some other people were doing. I was like, I need to get on this. Like, I need to do more video. But the social media that I do just reinforces the Popeyes. All of my clients follow me. Anytime I get a new client, Facebook friend. Anytime I meet a new agent, Facebook friends. Anytime I'm meeting somebody at a chamber event, Facebook friend, you know, like, get them into that network. It's just a whole nother touch point. And it's free, y'. All. It's free. You know, and so. And I mean, like, I have over 5,000 Facebook friends now, and I am now an approved poet page. But this has just been years of just, like, regularly Facebook friending people. And now they see all my stuff recently, like, and you see it, Luke, you saw what I posted yesterday. So what he referred to at the beginning of this podcast, every single month, I show the deals that I have in. In progress. This month, it is 20 transactions.
- [34:48]
Luke Acree
It's insane.
- [34:49]
Olivia Salyer
It's insane. But, like, that is. That's eight years of just steady, consistent growth, doing all the things that I've discovered, discussed, and then people want to.
- [34:58]
Luke Acree
Work with the best. I just want to make sure everybody understands the psychology. I hate the humble bragging, but it. You have to do it because buyers want to buy. I do. I want to go to a financial advisor who is crushing it in the market. I want to know they're crushing it for their clients. I don't want to go to a financial advisor.
- [35:18]
Olivia Salyer
No, you don't want that. And so you have to advertise it for yourself. And it is slightly unique, uncomfortable, because I don't want to do that. And, like, I have gotten some comments from agents in this market. Oh, wow. You really just like putting it all out there, aren't you? And I'm like, yes, I am. Guess how it's coming back around. I'm getting it over you. But you know, it's, it's something that you need to do.
- [35:38]
Luke Acree
So if that's that New York hustle that just came out of you right there, that's what that is.
- [35:43]
Olivia Salyer
I have been told that I have a hard edge and it's fine.
- [35:47]
Luke Acree
That's funny. Yeah. I mean, you are. What's interesting is like you're all the strategies you're talking about. It's not like it's not rocket science, y'. All. Yeah, it's not rocket. It's not like it's some, oh, earth shattering thing that's been done, but you are an executor at the nth degree. It is amazing. Like your execution.
- [36:07]
Olivia Salyer
Yeah, it's get into. You have to get in it. It is, it is a, it's a grind. But it now year over year, you know, like I said, I'm in my eighth year of doing the same things. It's easy. It takes me one third less time. Time. I now have AI, I have chat GPT to like do the, the things that take longer time. You know, all of my going back to AI, you know, like I do a custom listing, appointment, presentation now for every single client, which just blows people out of the water because it's their house specific. It's beautiful. I use gambling.
- [36:40]
Luke Acree
This is what I was just talking about. That, that is super easy. Yeah, y'.
- [36:45]
Olivia Salyer
All. It takes 20 minutes. Minutes. It's less time than when I would just do pull the comps before.
- [36:50]
Luke Acree
But you're literally. Let me make sure I'm understanding what you're doing. You're using AI to help you craft basically a presentation for that specific property, that specific profile of person. Right. That seller. You go to Gamma and have it basically take what you got in AI to craft a presentation.
- [37:08]
Olivia Salyer
You could put. You could plop data. You can plop.
- [37:11]
Luke Acree
You know that right there is worth the whole episode to you guys right.
- [37:14]
Olivia Salyer
There listening to that Gamma app. Check it out, try it out. I gave it a prompt that was like, I need a five page presentation for this property through the MLS data and threw the pictures in, you know, uploaded 30 seconds. And I need you to take a step by step process through why staging this house is important to get the highest price. And it threw it out in five minutes. And I, I tweaked a couple of things, but I was like, damn, this is even better. Than I could have written. Right. Like Brent.
- [37:46]
Luke Acree
Well, we just had Olivia. We just had J. Flurry on. He's out of California. Rockland, California. His episode hasn't come out yet. Maybe it will have by this time. But he is doing similar stuff. But he also is asking AI who is the ideal buyer for this property. He gives it the address and he says he's been a hundred. AI has been 100% on predicting basically the type of buyer that's going to buy the property. And then of course, he uses that in the language. And Stephen and I were talking after the show that it's not as much about. Yes, that is helpful. And that's going to help you craft your marketing. It's about the impression you're giving to that when you're the expert. Yes. When you show up and you give them that info.
- [38:31]
Olivia Salyer
You thought about this.
- [38:32]
Luke Acree
Yeah.
- [38:33]
Olivia Salyer
You've done the research.
- [38:35]
Luke Acree
And we're in a gold rush right now. Because soon AI everybody will be astute to wait a second. You didn't really do that work. And.
- [38:41]
Josh Dyke
But right now, write that intro.
- [38:43]
Luke Acree
It's a gold rush. It's a gold rush.
- [38:45]
Olivia Salyer
A really good intro. Really, really good. I still do want it. I want it by text. Text that to me. But I'm not gonna not use it. It's best. You're gonna use what's best, right?
- [38:57]
Josh Dyke
Yes.
- [38:57]
Olivia Salyer
And so even if that is AI, we are in a gold rush. The agents who are using it now are gonna be leagues ahead by the time everybody adopts it. Rajiv. I've been on his podcast.
- [39:08]
Luke Acree
Yeah, I love Rajeev. Yeah, I just spoke with him at Next Home.
- [39:11]
Olivia Salyer
You need to. You need to follow him. He is so far ahead than anyone else in this space.
- [39:17]
Luke Acree
We're gonna have him on the podcast here soon. But he's. Yeah, he's a master at AI and obviously he's helping butcher out through home services, kind of.
- [39:24]
Olivia Salyer
And well, you gotta.
- [39:26]
Luke Acree
He's local to us because he's Fox and Roach here and we're close by. Yeah, he's local to us.
- [39:31]
Olivia Salyer
Well, and I would just say too, you know, this, this stuff. The other ways I use AI, I do. So my background. One, two. My eye was my. My major was psychology. So everything I do too kind of has that frame of reference. Like, okay, think through this. What's the strategy? What's going to be the negotiation on this home? Who is going to be the buyer for this home? This seller has particularities like, how am I going to work around that? I use AI to do that, I also use AI as my now my coach. I do like a prep call with my AI before a difficult listing appointment. I'll give it the address. I'll give it all the I have about the house again. You just like upload the stuff and it'll. I make a folder in my chat GPT for every house.
- [40:20]
Luke Acree
Are you doing prompting or are you doing voice mode when you're asking it to coach you? Okay. I have found voice mode is so much more effective for me because I. I just.
- [40:28]
Olivia Salyer
You're talking to it. Yeah, really talking to it. So I go on voice mode. And sometimes I do this in the car. Like I am driving so much. I do this in the car. Hey, hey, chat. You know, I'm driving to this address. He already. They already have files. That's why I put like literally everything I have about a house into a file@chat GPT because then it knows it's got it all right there in that file. And so I go to the file and then I ask it, hey, I'm worried about these five specific things with this seller about this property. Ask me questions, quiz me, tell me. You know, like, let's go back and forth in a scenario about listing this property and ask me every possible negative thing that they could ask me. And then I've already prepped. So then by the time I walk in, cool.
- [41:12]
Luke Acree
It's a breeze.
- [41:13]
Olivia Salyer
Yeah. Already answered those questions. Already did it.
- [41:17]
Luke Acree
And if you're not familiar with what she. Yeah, what she's talking about on OpenAI like ChatGPT. And I know Jim and I and them have the same thing, but we use OpenAI here chat GPT. You can create a project and upload all your files to that specific project. So for like me, I'll do it for like my one on ones. Like I have a senior VP of corporate save sales. When we have our one on one, all of my one on one transcripts go in there from recordings, all of the stuff we talk about. And then I can just ask it, hey, remind me what we talked about a month ago. Remind me, you know this, hey, where did I go wrong in this one on one. It's like create projects for the little things you're doing. Create it for the house. And it's such a good, you know, such a good resource for you. And then you can reference back to it.
- [41:56]
Olivia Salyer
Do you use plod? Plod note pen?
- [41:58]
Luke Acree
No.
- [41:59]
Olivia Salyer
Okay, so you guys need to start using this one. One sec. It is here given people plaid notepen. It is a Wearable. It's a tiny wearable. I now wear this on every single appointment that I go on.
- [42:11]
Luke Acree
This is what you need, Steve. Yeah, yeah. You need.
- [42:14]
Olivia Salyer
You need this. It's about 150 bucks. It will transcribe your meeting notes for you and give it to you and then give you a summary of the meeting notes. And what I do is I take every single note, every single conversation I have, and I put it into my Chat GBT folder. And, and, and this is why I.
- [42:32]
Luke Acree
Realize this is where it's headed, though. This is where it's headed.
- [42:35]
Olivia Salyer
I'm just. They're not connected yet, but they will be. And so this is truly like, we're just building the, the processes that we're going to have, you know, on our phones.
- [42:43]
Luke Acree
Naturally, that's why they hire Johnny Ives or whatever is to create the wearable device that basically.
- [42:49]
Olivia Salyer
And then it.
- [42:49]
Luke Acree
Your whole life is documented. Yeah, your. Your whole life is documented.
- [42:53]
Olivia Salyer
Unfortunately, it's uncomfortable, but like, you need to just, just like either get on the train or. I don't know what to tell you. Go hide.
- [43:00]
Luke Acree
Run over by it.
- [43:02]
Olivia Salyer
You know, like our lives are now going to be. They're going to be documented. I hate to say it. So either jump on and get ahead or don't, but so it's been amazing. Yeah. And so plot. Know that this is really, this is where a lot of my efficiencies come from. Now, you know, I do want to like say a note sometimes if you. Which state? Depending on your state, you might want to say, hey, I have an AI assistant. I'm just going to. You help have this, take notes, you know, or preface it or don't. I don't, you know, I don't care what you do. I, you know, just get those notes. You can also do it with phone calls. And so let's say you have a really difficult phone call coming up and you need to recommend a reduction. You know, use ChatGPT to play that out with. You have, have your phone calls with this. Maybe it's a really difficult client. Record them with Plod Note and then it will be able to give you real time advice of like he. For this particular client. I would recommend taking this approach, saying these kind of words that then will get them to be open to your expertise and advice.
- [44:06]
Luke Acree
Yeah, yeah. Get out of here.
- [44:08]
Josh Dyke
We could talk about that all day. Olivia, this has been amazing. Thank you so much for joining us.
- [44:12]
Luke Acree
It's so good.
- [44:13]
Josh Dyke
Before we close out, let people know how they can connect with you.
- [44:16]
Olivia Salyer
Yes, please. Everything is Livia Salyer. O L Y V I A S A L Y E R Instagram, Facebook. Please connect with me. Also my website, Olivia Salier Real Estate. I'm available for your referrals. I'm available just to help. I love helping people get better at their business. So give me a call anytime.
- [44:35]
Josh Dyke
This has been awesome. Thank you again and thank you all so much for listening. You can get those links and everything mentioned in the show notes as well as all of our episodes@staypaypodcast.com if you enjoyed this episode and want to show your support, go to reminder me or sorry YouTube.com remindermedia give this episode a thumbs up. Make sure you subscribe to the channel Channel. If you want to get a hold of me or Luke, you can email us@podcastmindermedia.com and of course you can follow us on Instagram as well. We are at Stay Paid podcast for this episode of Stay Paid. I'm Josh Dyke.
- [45:02]
Luke Acree
Guys. I'm Luke Acre. Easily a top 10 episode of the year. That was just phenomenal, Olivia. I mean, thank you guys of all time. Probably seriously, so practical. I mean, there's just so many takeaways. I mean, I would tell you, go get the plot pen. You know, I'm gonna get one because that's gold. That's what I need.
- [45:17]
Olivia Salyer
I should get from that.
- [45:19]
Luke Acree
Yeah, you really should. You should. You should start an affiliate deal or something like that. But here's my action item for everybody listening to this. If you realize, like, referrals are the name of the game and every top producer is going to tell you that. But where people fall down is they don't do the activity that actually produces a referral and they don't ask. And so what I want to challenge you to do as your action item is consider doing a pop buy. And if you're not brave enough to do a pop by literally just do a text message or a phone call. But my ask of you is to ask them for a referral is to ask them that. The greatest compliment is to receive a referral. Don't listen to these people that make fun of that out there in the industry. They're not doing any business. The people who do business, they know you have to be intentional. Remember, the difference between top producers and mediocre producers in every business is top producers take action. Take action on that today.
- [46:10]
Olivia Salyer
Sam.