Stay Paid Podcast Episode Summary

Episode: How to Get Free Leads, Social Media Struggles, and Team-Building Truths
Date: September 29, 2025
Hosts: Luke Acree & Josh Stike (ReminderMedia)
Guests: Stephen Acree, Cody Smith (Acre Brothers Realty Team), plus callers Matt (Nebraska) & Olivia (California)

Episode Overview

In this lively call-in episode, the Stay Paid team tackles real-world questions from real estate professionals and entrepreneurs, focusing on no-cost lead generation, common struggles with social media, and the often-overlooked realities of team leadership and building an effective real estate team. The conversation is candid, laced with honest advice, tactical strategies, and relatable anecdotes from both the hosts and the featured callers.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. How to Generate Free Leads as a New Real Estate Agent

(Caller: Matt from Nebraska | 01:00 – 17:34)

• Matt’s Backstory & Team Challenge (01:39 – 04:56):

  • Small team of three buyers’ agents plus admin; Matt personally handles 60-70 transactions out of ~100 per year.
  • Struggles with helping new agents generate business without buying leads from big platforms like Zillow or Realtor.com.

• Luke’s Advice:

  • Leverage Your Sphere:
    "The number one lead source in all of real estate... is your sphere, right? Sphere is free. They know, like, and trust you. But... What is your proactive outreach plan?" (05:18)
  • Proactive Outreach:
    Don’t just rely on passive social posts or email newsletters; directly call people in your sphere and explicitly ask for real estate referrals. Track these calls in your CRM.
  • Sweat Equity over Paid Leads:
    Circle prospecting, open houses, FSBOs (For Sale By Owner), and expired listings are all “free” if agents are willing to put in the time and effort.

• Cody & Stephen’s Perspective:

  • Minimum Standards:
    New agents are challenged to hit 50 contacts/day or 100 calls with double dialing. One team member recently made 400 calls in a day (07:40).
  • Team Structure Realities:
    Leaders must decide if they want to enforce high standards (and possibly lose weaker agents), or maintain a smaller, elite, more manageable team focused on sphere and open houses.
  • Knowing Your “Why”:
    Before imposing new standards, get clear on your team’s goals; the “messy middle” of scaling may not be worth the profit loss and management headaches.

• Memorable Quotes:

  • “If you want to live in the 1%, you can’t be like the 99%.” – Luke (06:18)
  • “No one will follow you if you’re not living and dying by the system you’re preaching.” – Cody (11:31)
  • “You’re the producer, you’re not the business owner yet for that portion of your business.” – Luke (18:33)

2. Team-Building Truths & The “Messy Middle”

(Ongoing throughout Matt’s call & after, 08:44 – 19:15)

• Pain of Team Leadership:
  Agents leaving after becoming successful; risk of enforcing new standards and losing people.
• Defining Team Vision:
  Decide between an elite, small team with personal oversight or a scalable larger team with operational complexity.
• Profit vs. Scale:
  “Most people don’t want to go through the messy middle... Just choose the route that’s going to make you a lot more money, higher percentage wise.” – Cody (13:50)

3. Improving Conversion from Cold Leads to Appointments

(Caller: Julian, write-in question | 19:15 – 22:28)

• Problem Statement:
  Low conversion rates from cold calls/door knocking to actual appointments.
• Benchmarks Provided:
  • For new agents: aim for 10% conversion from conversation to appointment; as skills improve, 15-20% is achievable.
  • Of four appointments set, expect one to actually show.
• Stages of Mastery:
  Agents progress through three stages:
  1. Bad (learning, lots of mistakes)
  2. Knowing but still not great
  3. Competent and efficient
     “You can never get there [stage 3] without the first stage.” – Stephen (21:35)
• Coaching and Reps:
  Improvement comes through repetition and possibly outside coaching.

4. Social Media Struggles: Building an Audience & Getting Business from Instagram

(Caller: Olivia from California | 22:39 – 37:56)

• Olivia’s Challenge:

  • Has strong engagement from personal sphere but little follower growth or inbound deals from outside her network.
  • Wonders if she needs to change tactics to attract more business via Instagram.

• Hosts’ Diagnostics & Advice:

  • Perspective Check:
    Most agents’ main ROI from social is engaging their sphere, not generating cold inbound leads. “Your main goal should be your sphere on Instagram.” – Luke (25:13)
  • Content & Audience Growth:
    • Leverage local collaborations (tag local businesses, talk about local news).
    • Share hyper-localized, “clickbait” content: “What can $500,000 get you in [your area]?”; neighborhood spotlights, upcoming developments.
    • Avoid comparing yourself to the outlier stories of mega-influencers.
  • Learning from Top Performers:
    • One local top producer gets 20 deals a year from social, but most of her posts are about her life, not real estate.
    • YouTube strategy: posts with a controversial angle (“Why open floor plans are overrated”) sparked the most engagement (over 5,000 views).
  • Long-Term Mindset:
    Real ROI from content and branding comes over months/years, not days.
  • Offline to Online:
    Use real-world relationships to drive social following, not just the other way around.

• Memorable Quotes:

  • “The main use case of Instagram is your sphere… that’s actually a direct correlation.” – Luke (29:43)
  • “If you want social to be your thing… it’s got to be like your life that you’re showing… all-in.” – Stephen (34:00)
  • “It almost challenges your offline to feed your online.” – Luke (36:11)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “It’s 20 years of overnight success. That’s what it is.” – Luke, on perception of ‘lucky’ agents (03:43)
• “If you start enforcing standards like that that you haven’t enforced before… you will go through losing the agents.” – Cody (12:55)
• “The enemy of progress is comfort. Maybe you’re a little too comfortable.” – Luke, challenging Matt’s complacency (16:59)
• “Most people don’t want to go through the messy middle… Just choose the route that’s going to make you a lot more money, higher percentage wise.” – Cody (13:13)
• “For cold calls, as a brand new agent, I’m looking to get you to 10% conversion [conversation to appointment].” – Stephen (20:21)
• “I really know of just one [agent] that does it at a high level that gets, let’s say, 20 deals from social—and all she posts is about her life.” – Stephen (34:00)
• “Focus on its relationship… all the people that follow you on Instagram, you should be following up with them in other categories.” – Cody (35:06)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Matt’s Question about Free Leads & Team Building: 01:00 – 17:34
• Discussion on Team Structure and Management: 08:44 – 19:15
• Julian’s Question on Conversion Rates: 19:15 – 22:28
• Olivia’s Social Media Struggles & Advice: 22:39 – 37:56
• YouTube & Instagram Example Results: 34:00 – 35:40

Actionable Takeaways

• Free lead strategies:
  Tap your sphere intentionally, commit to “sweat equity” (calls, open houses, circle prospecting), and track everything in a CRM.

• Managing (& Growing) Teams:
  Decide your desired lifestyle and profit goals before building or growing a team—don’t get caught in the "messy middle" if you don’t want to manage many agents.

• Social Media:
  Be consistent, showcase your authentic life, mix in local and “clickable” content, and remember most deals come from relationships, not pure online visibility.

• Conversion Mastery:
  Track your ratios, get coaching, and understand improvement comes in stages as you get more reps.

Overall Tone & Style

The hosts and guests were down-to-earth, using practical language and candid humor. They promoted no-nonsense advice and continuously stressed the value of personal relationships and clear intentionality in business planning.

“The difference between top producers and mediocre producers... Top producers take action. Take action on that today.”
– Luke Acree (38:39)

For further resources or to get your questions answered, visit staypaidpodcast.com or follow the show on Instagram @staypaidpodcast.