📞 LIVE CALL-INS: Agents, STOP Wasting Money on Marketing — Here's What Actually Works

Summary

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Podcast Summary: Stay Paid Podcast

Episode: 📞 LIVE CALL-INS: Agents, STOP Wasting Money on Marketing — Here's What Actually Works

Release Date: December 8, 2025
Hosts: Luke Acree & Josh Stike featuring Stephen Acre and Cody Smith
Format: Live call-in Q&A with real estate and business professionals

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Episode Overview

This special live call-in edition of Stay Paid explores the real-world marketing and business challenges facing agents and entrepreneurs. Hosts Luke Acree and Josh Stike, joined by Stephen Acre (Acree Brothers Realty Team leader) and Cody Smith (Director of Operations), answer live questions from agents striving to grow wisely without falling prey to wasted spending or ineffective tactics. Through practical advice, operational insights, and motivating authenticity, the episode aims to arm listeners with clear, executable strategies for marketing, client retention, and handling complex sales obstacles.

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Main Discussion Themes

• Avoiding Wasted Marketing Dollars: How to invest in marketing that actually pays off—over the long run.
• Operationalizing Lead Sources: The crucial role of processes and accountability in converting leads from platforms like Facebook Ads and Google Ads.
• Non-Paid Lead Generation: Maximizing open houses and circle prospecting for deal flow.
• Nurturing & Patience: Why success (especially with paid ads) often comes much later than expected.
• Professional Partnerships: How and when ancillary professionals can add value in real estate transactions.
• Client Conversations: Tactics for guiding clients toward reality-based decisions regarding pricing and offers.
• Overcoming Fear of Annoyance: Why agents shouldn’t worry about being “annoying” when lead generating.
• The Power of Follow-Through: Success hinges on consistent execution—not just good ideas.

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Key Segments & Insights

[00:04] – Introduction & First Caller: Nancy (Hot Springs, Arkansas)

Topic: How to Choose Effective Marketing Strategies Without Wasting Money

• Nancy’s Context: Seven years in business, leading a successful team ("Doing quite well... 103 transactions this year, $32M volume").
• Pain Point: Overwhelmed by constant marketing pitches; uncertainty over what’s worth spending money on.
• Hosts’ Core Advice:
  • Marketing works—but only with time ("the float") and consistent nurturing.
  • “Everything you do in this business should be about how do I build up the database and build my brand to that database.” – Luke Acree [03:10]
• Paid Lead Wisdom: Deals often close years after leads are generated. Example: Four Facebook deals closed this year came from ads run over three years ago.
• Operational Discipline:
  • Track lead sources rigorously.
  • Don’t adopt a lead platform unless you can systematize follow-up and accountability.
• Specifics on Paid Channels:
  • Facebook Ads: Expect to spend $20–30k/year; patience is essential—returns often lag 24 months.
  • Google Ads: Shows better results this year but requires significant spend ($2–3k/month).
• Sweat Equity Pillars:
  • Open Houses: Acree Brothers team closed 21 deals this year (required activity for new team members).
  • Circle Prospecting: 23 deals closed this year through targeted outreach within neighborhoods.

“The hardest thing about marketing is the, what I call the float ... You spend money, and ... a year in and you’ve gotten nothing. ... But some leads come in from three years ago and close only now. That’s the killer in this business—it really is a database game.”
— Luke Acree [01:59]

• Memorable Moment: Luke congratulating Nancy—“You’re a rainmaker. You’re incredible... especially in this market. This is one of the worst markets in 40+ years, so you’re doing really, really well.” [04:23]

[Actionable Takeaways]

• Pick a few lead sources and commit to them for 24 months, focusing on building and nurturing your database.
• Measure everything—if you can't track ROI or don't have strong follow-up systems, don't invest.
• Don’t give up early: “Most people just quit too soon ... imagine you’re going to spend $20k and not get anything back for two years. Are you willing to do that?” — Luke Acree [08:50]

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[15:01] – Second Caller: Laura (California)

Topic: Adding Value as an Insurance Broker at Open Houses

• Laura’s Context: Insurance broker and licensed real estate agent in California. Facing fallout from deals in escrow due to insurance difficulties (wildfire zones, increased premiums, etc.).
• Her Frustration: Agents not letting her add value by being present at open houses; often too late in the transaction to help save deals.
• Hosts’ Advice:
  • Don’t try to insert yourself during open houses—agents’ goal is to get appointments, not discuss granular insurance issues then.
  • Instead, partner up with agents and—crucially—their preferred lenders outside of open houses. Be ready with collateral and resources that agents can share, but don’t try to take the stage prematurely.

“Seeking permission is to seek denial in sales. ... You’re offering but not doing. ... Instead of saying, ‘Hey, do you want to do this?’ Say, ‘We need to do this.’”
— Luke Acree [19:07]

“I wouldn’t want an insurance person at my open house ... My goal is not to ... sit down, [but] to get an appointment set and then walk them through the details.”
— Stephen Acre [21:18]

• Action Plan for Ancillary Partners:
  • Focus on winning relationships with agents and (especially) their lenders for referrals at the right time in the process.
  • Use collateral during open houses to add value, but save in-person consults for later in the funnel.
  • Demonstrate your value through stories of deals saved by timely insurance action.
• Memorable Quotes:

  “I’m not everyone’s cup of tea. So I understand that—because I’m champagne, darling.”
  — Laura (Caller) [30:05]

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[33:18] – Write-In Question: “How Do You Not Annoy People While Effectively Lead Generating?” (from Kayin)

• Hosts’ Unified Response:
  • You will annoy some people—it's inevitable in lead generation.
  • The process is often: Curiosity → Annoyance → Resentment → Respect ("CARR")
• Key Point:
  • Great salespeople break through annoyance and resentment; the respect and business often come afterward.
  • “We believe in what we’re doing ... we’re willing to inconvenience you a little to make you make the right decision for your business.” — Luke Acree [35:26]
• Operational Tip: Always close calls with a clear next action and scheduled follow-up—this minimizes perceived annoyance.

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[39:04] – Third Caller: Karen (Florida, Fort Myers)

Topic: Managing Difficult Sellers and Stale Listings

• Context: Condo listed 116 days, 11 showings, offers below asking, seller resistant to market realities.
• Panel’s Guidance:
  • Every unsold listing comes down to: Pricing, Promotion, or Presentation.
  • Sounds like this is a pricing issue; reinforce to the seller that holding out almost always results in a lower sale price.
  • Approach price reductions as an effort to maximize their net proceeds, not as “talking them down.”

“You’re not talking him down to $185k—you’re actually talking him up to $185k. ... I want you to make the absolute most money on this property. ... Houses sell for more when they spend less time on the market.”
— Stephen Acre [44:22]

• Additional Tips:
  • Tie the price conversation to the emotional pain point (in this case, a hostile HOA and threat of financial losses).
  • If the client remains fixated on a high price, you’re doing your job by having the tough conversations—even if it means letting them walk away.
  • “You’re hurting everyone [if you don’t have the tough conversation].” — Luke Acree [49:28]

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Notable Quotes

• “Most people just quit too soon ... imagine you’re going to spend $20k and not get anything back for two years. Are you willing to do that? And I’m telling you—it’s worth it. Think bigger.”
  — Luke Acree [09:17]

• “If you don’t have the operational execution nailed down for handling the lead, don’t do it. Fix that first and then do it.”
  — Luke Acree [13:48]

• “[In lead gen:] You’re always going to annoy people ... but it really does start with your belief. If you have that belief, there’s nothing that stops you.”
  — Stephen Acre [35:51]

• “You’re in this business for a reason, and you’re doing great things ... Go have that conversation.”
  — Luke Acree [49:51]

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Actionable Takeaways

• Marketing: Invest only in what you can track, systematize, and commit to for the long haul (especially paid ads and mailers).
• Nurturing: Every lead is an asset—don’t stop nurturing, even if you haven’t seen results after a year or more.
• Accountability: Every new channel or lead source requires explicit plans for follow-up, management, and measurement.
• Leverage Relationships: Ancillary service pros (insurance, mortgage, etc.) should focus on building relationships at the right stage—not crowding the top of the funnel.
• Seller Conversations: Address price reductions as a way to maximize sellers’ profit, not as a loss. Tie recommendations to real pain points and market realities.
• Lead Generation: Don’t be afraid of being persistent. Respect—and results—follow persistence and clear value.
• Above All: Action and execution trump theory or intent: “Top producers take action.”

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Timestamps of Key Segments

• 01:08 – Nancy: Navigating marketing ROI and “the float.”
• 05:09 – Stephen Acre: Building and tracking lead pillars.
• 09:52 – Cody Smith: Open houses and sweat equity strategies.
• 14:32 – Onward: Laura: Insurance in the transaction and open house value.
• 33:18 – Answering: “How do you not annoy people in lead gen?”
• 39:07 – Karen: Pricing tough listings, client conversations.

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Tone and Style Highlights

• Voice: Direct, motivational, sometimes playful (“You’re champagne, darling!”), and always rooted in actionable, boots-on-the-ground experience.
• Vibe: Honest, relational, focused on real-world challenges—no magic bullets or sugarcoating.
• Host Approach: Deeply empathetic with both listeners and callers; willing to share their own business successes and stumbles in service of truth.

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Summary for Non-Listeners

This Stay Paid episode is an essential listen (or read!) for agents and entrepreneurs frustrated with “shiny object” marketing, slow ROI, or tough sellers. You’ll come away with clear frameworks for evaluating marketing spend, maximizing both digital and community-based lead sources, and building operational discipline into your business. Through candid live Q&A, the hosts bring tactical know-how, humor, and, above all, the encouragement to stop overthinking and start executing for long-term success.

Transcript

[Caller (Nancy, Laura, Karen)]

Foreign.

[Josh Dyke]

Welcome to Stay Paid. Today we are answering your burning questions in real estate, business, marketing and more. On these episodes, we take live calls from listeners of Stay Paid. If you want to have your question answered here live on the show, you can go to remindermedia.com ask. Submit your question there or follow us on Instagram @staypaid podcast and send us a message. My name is Josh Dyke, chief marketing officer at Reminder Media, joined by Luke Acree, president of Reminder Media from the Acre Brothers Realty Team founder and team lead, Stephen Acre and director of operations, Cody Smith. We are going to go to our first caller today. Nancy. Nancy, I believe calling out of beautiful hot Springs, Arizona. You got hot springs.

[Luke Acree]

I'm thinking Arkansas.

Josh, you insulted her right out of the gate. You know what happened to the show?

[Josh Dyke]

You know what happens the. The show notes. I don't think our producer knows st.

[Luke Acree]

Yeah, yeah, I don't think either. Yeah. That's so great.

[Nancy (Caller)]

It's called editing, right?

[Luke Acree]

Yeah, exactly. That's a great. Editing is for.

[Josh Dyke]

I love it. Nancy, thank you for calling in. How can we help you?

[Nancy (Caller)]

Well, you know, I, there I was, I'm new to the business, sort of seven years in, but we're very. Doing quite well. We have a team of six or seven of us right now. My husband and I work together as a team. But the biggest thing is we get bombarded with so many different marketing platforms like, we can do this for you. We can do this for you to make your agent agency and you be the number one agent. But you know, the ROI is. Is it a payoff? Is it really worth spending all this money on marketing materials that may or may not pay off? And so I know Reminder Meter has some great assets that you use. I do use your, your magazine and thank you, Nancy.

[Luke Acree]

That's all that matters. All right.

[Nancy (Caller)]

And that's a fairly new thing for me. I just started it a couple months ago and so far I'm loving it. My clients are loving it.

[Luke Acree]

Awesome.

[Nancy (Caller)]

You know, it is all about, you know, client facing and being reminded of who you are and what you do.

[Stephen Acre]

Yeah.

[Luke Acree]

It's brand awareness. So if I'm understanding your question correctly, which we we've all gone through and it's the shiny object syndrome. Everybody promises you the world when you're brand new in the business. All of a sudden it's seven years in, you start remembering or you start learning. Wait a second. None of this stuff is paying off that these people are selling me. The hardest thing about marketing is the, what I call the float that you have to do in order to give it the amount of time it needs to work. And where most people lose in this business is they spend money. And I'm not talking about a little bit of money, I'm talking about thousands of dollars. And they're a year in and they've gotten nothing. And then it's like, wait a second, am I doing something wrong? And they stop and it's like, Cody and I just went through this and we'll break down for you our marketing strategies that we're doing that's working for the team. But we just were talking about this this week, Cody, on Facebook ads. And you guys have closed 11 deals this year from Facebook ads. But what was so funny about the 11 is that I think it was four of them, if I'm not mistaken, were three plus years ago the lead came in from a Facebook ad. So we, we spent money three years ago on a Facebook ad and those deals just closed today or this year, I should say. And so it's like that's the float I'm talking about, that's the killer in this business is that it really is a database game. And everything that you do in this business should be about how do I build up the database and build my brand to that database and then start viewing every lead source, whether it's geoforming, Google Ads, Facebook open houses as just a way to fill that database that you're going to nurture forever and ever and ever. One quick question that I want to throw it to Cody and Steven to talk about kind of their lead pillars and what they're doing and where they're spending their money. But how much volume are you doing as a team or how many transactions? Just give us an idea so we know what your spend should be.

How much volume, Nancy, are you doing?

[Nancy (Caller)]

Oh, I'm with, I'm with the Bergeron Group, Keller Williams and Hot Springs, Arkansas. But we, you know, we. Well, the return on investment right now is coming into the sphere, but it took putting.

[Luke Acree]

Well, that's going to take time. But how much like are you guys going to do, you know, 20 million this year?

[Nancy (Caller)]

103. 103 to this year. I've done 70% of that. So I'm trying to back.

[Luke Acree]

You know, you're a rain maker. Yeah, you're, you're incredible. Okay, so you've done 103 transactions. How much volume will that be in?

[Nancy (Caller)]

We're looking at around 32 million in the end of the day.

[Luke Acree]

When we get to the end Of Gary, congrats. Seriously. So you're crushing it, especially in this market. I mean, this is one of the worst markets and 40 plus years. So you're doing really, really well. All right, so, Stephen, I'm going to throw it to you. I know you guys have done, you know, 200 plus transactions already. Similar, probably seven agents, eight agents on the team. Can you walk through the pillars that you guys have and then we can get into the details. It seems like Nancy's killing sphere, so we don't probably have to spend much time there. Let's talk more about open houses, circle prospecting, Google Ads, Facebook ads.

[Stephen Acre]

Yeah, absolutely. So, I mean, obviously it is Sphere. We're about 50% of our business is sphere. And then it goes down to, like, open houses, Google paid ads. We have Facebook ads going. The key to. Because I did the same thing early on in my career where it's just throw money and, you know, at all of these shiny objects. And the key always is, do you have an sop of execution on each and every one of those that you can hold people accountable? How many people are on your team, Nancy?

[Nancy (Caller)]

Well, it's my husband and I, and then we have three agents, buyer agents, and one coming on. But again, I'm just learning at this point, because I didn't know any better in the beginning, is that I had to pay attention to this stuff and tag your, you know, tag your database so you know where they came from. So we're really drilling down. This is the year we're like, okay, we got to figure out where our money's going because we're spending money on all kinds of things, right? Like you said, throwing spaghetti against the wall to see what'll stick. But we are noticing and slowing down a little bit to figure it out.

[Stephen Acre]

And the truth is, is most of these lead platforms do work, right? So, like, they're giving you a pitch, and most of the time their pitch is someone's using it and seeing success on it. And so I always backtrack and go, okay, what are they doing to be successful in that lead venture? And then it's, I know I'm not going to have the bandwidth, the capacity to execute myself on this lead that comes through. And so if it's going to be someone else that's doing the execution, you have to have a way of holding that accountable, the actions accountable to seeing the results from that lead platform. And so if you backtrack and you go, you know, everyone runs hypothetical numbers. They're like, yeah, if we just plug this lead platform in we're going to see these results, but in reality there's 20, 30 different actions. There's so many nuances that have to happen for the conversion to happen. And so you have to go back and go, am I going to actually truly hold my people accountable to this standard that I know is going to need to be there in order to close? So for Facebook leads, right, we know we're calling them 18 plus times before we actually see any conversion on those Facebook leads. Well, I know I'm not going to be able to call 18 times and so therefore I have to have an agent call 18 times. Right. But if I don't have a manager to hold that sales team accountable to the 18 times, we just immediately ask that lead, you know, someone selling us on their, you know, lead platform. Right. And so you just, you have to look at it that way in order to see the results and you definitely have to track them.

[Luke Acree]

I, I would share, Nancy, just give you kind of an, an overview. Let's take like the one that's killing it for us right now. The most from a paid standpoint is Google. So Google is doing way better this year than Facebook. Facebook was about even with Google last year, but for some reason our Google has done a lot better this year. And you know, your spend is decently significant there. Doing Google, you're, you're going to be spending, you know, at least two to three grand a month is probably where you're going to be at to go after Google. So better conversion. Facebook, we usually spend between 20 and 30 grand a year. Last year we closed 26 deals from Facebook. This year is trending less. I mean, I'm not positive where we'll end at the end of the year. I'm hoping for 20, but that might even be a little high at this point. But our volume of leads and cost per leads has retained. So I really think it's a market issue. If you choose to go Facebook, you're going to get the leads. But remember what I said when I opened this up, we're closing deals that came in or leads that came in from two years ago, three years ago. And then some have come in from this year and some, you know, have come in from last year. But it's a nurture game. So whatever you do, if you choose to spend on Facebook, just don't give up. Have a 24 month run rate at least for your Facebook because it's a branding play plus a lead gen play. And we can talk to you about that offline if you want to know what we're doing, we have, you know, free videos that you can watch to set it up yourself. If you want us to run it for you, we can do that, but we can walk you through that. Just. Most people just quit too soon and I just don't want you to go spend money on Facebook and quit too soon and imagine you're going to spend 20 grand and not get anything back for two years. Are you willing to do that? And I'm telling you it's worth it. Think bigger.

[Stephen Acre]

But.

[Luke Acree]

But only if you can execute what Stephen and Cody have, which is the, the operational nuance of what it takes to work a Facebook lead. And then you have the non costing pillars, which are, you know, open houses. How many deals, Cody, have you guys closed from open houses this year?

[Cody Smith]

You think 21.

[Luke Acree]

21. So 21 from open houses. So big. How many open houses you guys run a week across the team, you think?

[Cody Smith]

Yeah, I mean, for this weekend, I think we have seven open houses. So almost every agent on the team has it. So we're at least doing. It's a requirement for our team that when you join until you hit a certain level that you have to do one every weekend. So, and then any new listing and then any listing that has an improvement price on it has to have an open house. Um, so that's how we kind of run our strategy now. Once you hit a certain level, you know what it takes to be a really successful agent outside of the. You have to hold it for the new listing and improve price. It's up to you whether you want to hold open houses or not. But until you're on a certain level of production, you have to hold an open house.

[Luke Acree]

The second sweat equity strategy that we've implemented is circle prospecting. And circle prospect, I think you guys are over 26 deals, right? On circle prospecting?

[Cody Smith]

Yeah, we're at 23 this year.

[Luke Acree]

Oh, 23.

[Stephen Acre]

Okay.

[Luke Acree]

So 23. And that's if you're not familiar with circle prospecting or open houses. We don't have time to go into it now, but we have a podcast recorded that break down Acre Brothers open house. Acre Brothers circle prospecting that you can follow and try to implement. But the key to those strategies is the same as Facebook and Google. Google is probably the highest quality lead now outside of like a Zillow or something like that. Zillow is just very expensive and they're moving to the flex teams. So if I was putting kind of a summary on for you, you're the talent, you're the rainmaker. You're shifting to trying to be a little bit more of the business leader and the business owner, which is fantastic. You already know. Okay, we got to start measuring and tracking what we're doing. It would probably make a lot of sense for you to start building a geo farm and then target your Facebook ads in Google towards that geo farm. That's, that's where if I was coming into your business just at high level, hearing what I'm hearing from you, I would start investing into a geo farm and doing, you know, Google, Facebook towards this area. You're going to be limited in how, you know, you can target through that, but you know, it still gets your brand out there. And I think what you'll see is over the next 24 months, you'll be very thankful you kept with it. But it will feel like no investment or no return for the first 24 months because you'll get some deals, you know, a couple deals here and here, but it will barely pay for it if that. But keep going. So whatever you choose to do, just do not give up. I literally, I shared this on a podcast the other day. It's like, I have a client that I'm talking to and it's like, I feel so bad for her. She's in Virginia. She feels like she's gotten nothing from what we're doing with Facebook. She's spent, I think it's like 2000 something dollars she's gotten. She's gotten 348 leads for seven something a lead. And I'm trying to convince her and say, hey, no, no, no, it's that you've only been doing it 10 months. It's keep going. But if you do stop now, at least nurture the 348 leads for the next five years because some of those will pay way more. You'll be shocked. But you're going to miss out on the exponential factor that comes. And that's the pain for all of us in this business. And here, I'll translate it to Reminder Media. We spend millions of dollars on advertising every year for our own business. Now, we're a much bigger company than the normal real estate agent, but there are so many things we do that it's like we cannot track. We're just like, okay, it's like we have a partnership. We do sponsorships. I spend almost a million dollars a year on going to conferences. It's like these conferences, it's like, are they going to pay off? Are they not? But I Know if I just do it one time, it ain't gonna pay off. You better be all in. And what Stephen said is so valuable, which is if you don't have the operational execution nailed down for handling the lead, don't do it.

[Stephen Acre]

Yeah.

[Luke Acree]

Fix that first and then do it.

[Stephen Acre]

Yeah.

[Luke Acree]

So hopefully that's helpful for you, Nancy.

[Nancy (Caller)]

Yes, it is. Great advice. I appreciate that lots. I gotta get back to work. Got lots of things to do.

[Cody Smith]

If you wanna send me like a DM or something on Instagram, we can meet and I can kind of go over operationally. Exactly. Do As a team. That could help you kind of build out some structure or, you know, kind of just review what we do and if it helps. Helps.

[Luke Acree]

Yeah. What's your. What's your Instagram handle, Cody?

[Cody Smith]

Yeah, it is. I think it's C. Cody Smith.

[Stephen Acre]

Yes.

[Luke Acree]

Yeah, I think so too.

[Cody Smith]

Yeah.

[Josh Dyke]

You guys never know you're in.

[Nancy (Caller)]

All right. If you're thinking of an investing, come to.

[Luke Acree]

They're real estate agents, AR closing deals.

[Stephen Acre]

Yeah.

[Luke Acree]

Hot Springs, Arkansas.

[Stephen Acre]

All right.

[Josh Dyke]

Thank you.

[Luke Acree]

Appreciate it. Appreciate you, Nancy. Thank you betcha.

[Nancy (Caller)]

Thanks for having me on. I appreciate it.

[Luke Acree]

That was fantastic. Yeah. And she's crushing it. You can tell. She's so talented because 100 deals. Yeah.

[Cody Smith]

You can tell she's like business. Like, this is a business call that I need to get done.

[Caller (Nancy, Laura, Karen)]

Yeah.

[Luke Acree]

Yeah, I love it.

[Josh Dyke]

Awesome. All right, if you want to have your questions answered here live on the podcast, you can go to remindermedia.com ask. You can follow us on Instagram. We are a paid podcast. Shoot us your question there as well. Our next caller that we're bringing in, Laura.

[Luke Acree]

Hi, Laura.

[Josh Dyke]

I'm gonna. I'm just gonna guess California. We're gonna guess we don. So we're never sure where anyone's from California.

[Luke Acree]

Laura, are you from California? Calling in from California.

[Laura (Caller)]

I am calling in.

[Luke Acree]

Thank you so much for calling in.

[Josh Dyke]

How can we help you?

[Laura (Caller)]

It's nice.

[Luke Acree]

How can we help you, Laura? What is the problem that you have?

Is it great weather in California? Because it's terrible in Philly.

[Laura (Caller)]

Well, I guess I'd rather be in Cali then, but. So when it comes to insurance, right, there's so many issues, especially we're finding how many of clients are falling out of escrow due to they either cannot secure it or it throws their D. They throw them over. Correct. So when that throws them over and you don't have an insurance broker like myself at your open house that could possibly, in real time, provides you a snapshot of what this looks like. So now you're not qualifying for 500,000 right now. You have to qualify for the 500 5,000 that is now your insurance for the year. The other problem is, is that here in California, predominantly now, because fire season is always fire season here, never not fire season. And the issue with that means new areas that were. Weren't considered fire areas are now fire areas. So you don't qualify for a regular insurance plan. Right. You have to get the California Fair plan, and that's not helping either because that's two plans that you have to connect. So it is a little trying over here in California.

[Luke Acree]

So is the. I'm sorry, is the problem, Laura, is the, is the problem that, like, you're struggling to get, like you mentioned, open houses? Is it you're struggling to get in with the real estate agent at the open house is can you frame up for me like, what's the actual problem with the insurance or the offering?

[Laura (Caller)]

Right.

So basically the issue is that real estate, in my, in my professional opinion that I have, I cannot speak for everyone.

[Stephen Acre]

Right.

[Laura (Caller)]

I'll just. For me, the issue I've had is that they don't want to. And it's not, I'm not even in.

[Luke Acree]

The same real estate agent does not want you at the open house.

[Laura (Caller)]

Yes.

[Luke Acree]

Okay. And sorry for everybody listening, there's a little delay. So I think there's a little delay between us. So sorry about that. But okay, so if I'm hearing the question appropriately, the pain point is there's agents hosting these open houses for these listings, and they don't realize that the buyer is not going to be able to get that listing because they think they're covered, but they're not going to be able to get coverage. And therefore that makes the deal fall out. And you're trying to offer to the real estate agent the ability to say, hey, I can help you save this deal. I can help you prepare even for this deal before you get even into this mess. But the agents aren't partnering up with you for that.

[Laura (Caller)]

No. And then the other issue is, is that we do get what we call the rush two, three days prior to closing, and then that's when we find out we need a difference in conditions. There was a fire on the home previously. It's. There's so many things that we find out that they don't understand that it takes time. And now with all of the districting, a fire and flood, it's three days prior to. Is not going to be helpful.

[Luke Acree]

Yeah, you're really in a tough. You're in a tough market too because so many of the insurance companies in California, you know, they've pulled out. There's. I mean, it's just very complicated in California because I have a lot of insurance clients out there. So I understand your question now. And you're struggling with the pain of dealing with real estate agents. Man, they are just so unorganized. They're so difficult to deal with. Some of them are very just rude like Stephen and Cody. I'm just kidding. So I get your problem now. But the truth is that is one of the issues, like one of the issues is, is you're dealing with people who are at the becking call of their clients. And so they're spending all their time and energy trying to deal with their clients that they're not actually stepping back and building their business and strategizing and building operations. And this is why you're seeing a huge movement in real estate towards teams because teams actually see this and they're putting in operational structures to try to take care of this flow. But I know even Acree Brothers struggles with this. My challenge to you would be it feels like, and I'm a little bit assuming here, but it feels like you're offering but you're not doing. And the problem with offering, it's like seeking permission is to seek denial in sales. Here's what I mean by that. So if you go to Stephen and Cody and you go, guys, let me come to your open house, you know, I can be there to answer questions, I can be there to help make sure your client knows what they need. That is awesome. It's a great offering. But it's seeking permission. And by nature of human beings, they just deny because they don't have any other. They have such limited bandwidth. They don't even have the bandwidth to tell you, do I want you there? Do I not? Do I want to investigate this? Do I not? What I would challenge you to do is actually just assume the close and literally go and try this with the top teams. This is what I would do. If I'm in your shoe, you have such value that you're offering, so you just need to assumptively close these real estate agents. Instead of saying, hey, do you want to do this? Say we need to do this and put together the kit for them that's dual branded with you and them, bring them the kit, say, hey, I put this kit together for you for your open house. Hey, I'm going to show up on Saturday with you at Your open house and show up. I would start assuming because you have a value proposition that's so valuable. But Cody and Steven are so focused on their client, they're just not going to take the time to spend the energy to figure out how that offering is going to play in to their system. That would be my take is that you're just not assuming the clothes.

[Stephen Acre]

I'm still Luke struggling with like holding an open house. Why we would want you there, Laura at the open house with the. Understand like the marketing side. Right. Piece where you'd have that as a handout to people that insurance and get you through the door and you call the clients and you send those clients back to the real estate agent as the professional. Right. But I wouldn't want an insurance person at my open house because I'm there, like Luke said, to sell the client. Right. On buying the house. I'm actually not going over details at the open house because I don't want to sit down. Like this is a buyer's consultation. If I started to consult with someone at the open house, I would lose them. Right. So my goal is not to, you know, start giving them overload of information, but to get an appointment set and then walk them through the details of the transaction. And what you're wanting is it.

[Luke Acree]

It's almost like you want Laura at the appointment, not at the open house.

[Cody Smith]

Yeah.

[Stephen Acre]

You want Laura at the appointment for sure. And then you want Laura on the back end to. We can send. I would send. We. We do. We send our leads to our insurance person right off the bat under contract. And they start working on the file so that they can make sure they have that upfront before closing. Way before closing, so that we can actually get this deal closed. But open house doesn't sound like it's a value proposition. From the insurance side to the real estate agent.

[Laura (Caller)]

So this is how I look at it. And of course, when you're looking at open houses, I remember when I was a buyer, I was looking at, not only can I afford this home, but I was looking at, oh my goodness, I'm going to have to knock down this and do that and do this and do that. Right now I don't even know what's in my homeowner's insurance. You know what I mean? So this is how I bring up. See this? Hello.

[Stephen Acre]

Hey.

[Luke Acree]

For everybody listening to this, she's holding up one of her magazines.

[Stephen Acre]

Yeah.

[Laura (Caller)]

So it gives you an idea of what is in homeowners. So I understand you're saying you would not Want me at your open house. However, you've never had me at your open house, so you wouldn't know.

[Stephen Acre]

However.

[Laura (Caller)]

I'm very good at what I do and I'm not one of those who tries to browbeat a bar. I'm just letting you know, period, point blank, this home is here. If you have questions, I'm more than happy to answer. If not, I'm just here to assist, that's all. And honestly, when you see how much value it does bring, and the closing, which means that you close on time.

I mean, and you're in one stop shop because we're all together in it, I mean, wouldn't you look better in a package?

[Luke Acree]

Yeah, but you're missing the point. You're missing the point of what they're saying, Laura, is you will, you have potential to mess up their ability to close an appointment. So they need you and they need your value. But if you come in at the beginning of the funnel, you could have a chance of throwing in info that now they have to weave and bob around and they don't know your industry. So now you're, you're throwing the salesman off its game. It's kind of like this. If I was selling you the magazine and I brought my digital magazine salesman or social media salesman onto the call, it's not that they don't bring value. It's not that they're not really good. It's that you're introducing another variable that messes up the funnel of the sales pitch. To get them to appointment, where it feels like you should be going, oh, how do you actually sit down with the real estate agent at the appointment? And you provide them the collateral for their open house. You provide them that you're there for them, but you really want to almost, you're almost coming in too soon, where it's like you want to come in at the appointment and go, okay, how many people showed up at the open house that you booked an appointment for and you sit down with the agent at that appointment?

[Stephen Acre]

Yeah. It's also like the mortgage lender is really the partnership that you want to be in with.

[Cody Smith]

Right.

[Stephen Acre]

But you need to understand the agent is the one that really dictates who the mortgage lender or the client is going to use as a lender. And so you need to be in with the real estate agent to find out who their preferred mortgage person is going to be in order for that mortgage person to refer you out as their top vendor. That's where your best time is spent. Not at the open house with the real estate agent to find out who their preferred lender is. And then that lender should be going, here's my top three person. Even better. You know, here's my top person. Right. But most likely they'll probably do here's my top three insurance people. But it's just. It feels like it's the wrong timing for you to focus, like on open houses, because it's just not the right place point in the sale. And you don't actually need to be there. You need to be the one getting to them under contract. Not even. Not before under contract.

[Luke Acree]

I just feel the open house is a great avenue for you to give your collateral right to them. Like, I would go back to what I said in the beginning of going, like, you have value. It's immense value. Assume they want your collateral at the open house. Provide it for them. Don't make them think about it. But you actually being there to your point, Steven, I think is almost pointless because you're actually interrupting where they need to shine and they feel like, oh, gosh, I have another salesman here that I. I have to now bob and weave, where it's like, if you just get in with the lender, you get in at the appointment level. Now you've added the value at the open house, which is collateral, which solidifies the relationship. And you've added the real value at the actual time they need it in.

[Stephen Acre]

The flow of the sale, which, like, Laura, I love.

[Cody Smith]

Like, your angle at this is like, what can I control and what can I do? Being in an open house gives you that control because you seem like a badass saleswoman, which is sick. And what we're saying is like, where you can focus. That badass salesperson is in a different stage because. But I love what your action is like. How can I take action? We talk about extreme ownership all the time. I can blame a ton of on a lot of things, but what can I focus in on you? And that's what you're trying to figure out. And what we're saying is take that action and partner with appointment at a different stage. Instead of the front stage, have it be at a more important stage. So they've already captured that client. So then you can do your work to then. Well, we always say we own a mortgage company, we partner with insurance, and you need to be our biggest salesman to that client.

[Stephen Acre]

That's right. Yeah.

[Cody Smith]

Like, you're boosting my name. You're making me feel awesome. And that's when you come in and you kind of Save the day in a sense of encouraging me and then helping the client.

[Stephen Acre]

So your action items are to call every single real estate agent, have a one on one meeting with them, find out who their preferred lender is and call that lender and be that preferred insurance person for that lender and then you're in relationship with both parties. So the real estate agent and the lender and then you'll capture way more insurance business.

[Laura (Caller)]

Right. So I do also want to preface, maybe I should have started with this. I am also a realtor, real estate agent, however you want to call it. So I do belong also to that. That's where this came in first.

However, I am also an insurance broker because all I offer everything in one stop shop. So I have actually done little trial runs with this and how it works is basically I'm there with.

They have the open house thing and then I have my insurance thing and they see the house, what is being insured and they walk around with that along with the open house. Now we do know. Now I know it's worldwide I guess. Now you can't even say anything until you sign that you're going to work with me.

[Nancy (Caller)]

Right.

[Laura (Caller)]

So therefore.

The issue becomes they don't even know they're going to work with the client or not. Because now the clients right now are a little off with that. So the insurance broke. I have found, I've come in and said hey you know what? We offer a one stop shop. I'm an insurance broker. Hi Laura Ashley, the agent. It has helped out a lot in this issue right now when. When real estate is trying to figure out what documents do we need to sign? How am I going to tell the bar, the client now when they're walking in like you can't see it. I can't tell you anything until you sign with me. Like you know what I mean? So I don't have to sign that I can help you. And that's how I've been bringing value and that's how I've seen with the real estate agents that I've worked with that know me and the escrow companies that know me because they know I will get it done. But I just saying that I know that there's other avenues. I'm not going to everyone, I'm not everyone's cup of tea. So I understand that because I'm champagne darling. But besides that.

I'm really here just to provide value and assist. That's really all it is.

[Luke Acree]

That's why you're killing it.

[Josh Dyke]

I would 100%. Lean into that. Lean into those success stories. Show the pain of the deals that have fallen through when that didn't go that way. And really use that as your value proposition. If you've done it, you've had success with it, make sure that that's front and center. And every single time that you're approaching one of these agents to come to their open houses, 100%, just use that proof.

[Luke Acree]

Putting a tack on it for you, Laura. And I love it. I love what you're trying to accomplish and do I think it's the right thing. My advice to you would be you're swimming upstream when you don't have to. You have the value, the values there. If I was giving you the action plan, it would be create the collateral. Like you said, here's the house, here's what it's insured. Do that for the realtor. That gets you solidified in relationship. You don't have to show up to the open house, but your variety of value. And then do what Steven and Cody said, which is call those real estate agents who's your number one lender. Call out to those lenders, become their number one insurance agent. Spend your time on that. I promise you, you'll get better results than trying to get the agent to let you into their open house. Because you'll do it, but you'll only do it with a punch.

[Josh Dyke]

I believe in you.

[Luke Acree]

Yeah. Josh believes in you, but he's wrong. You'll do it, but it will only be for the people that you build great relationships with. And I'm saying if you want to scale it faster and a faster way to get relationships, provide the value at the open house with the collateral and then get them on the back end and then they might actually let you into their open house. But it will be because of the relationship.

[Josh Dyke]

Show the pain, show the proof. You will.

[Luke Acree]

You have been amazing. Friend us on social. We really appreciate you coming on. Sorry for the delay. I know it's a little bit delayed back and forth, but really appreciate you coming on. And thanks for being a client. You are awesome.

[Josh Dyke]

Thanks, Laura.

[Luke Acree]

Thanks, Laura.

[Stephen Acre]

Yeah, she's great.

[Luke Acree]

I mean, the delay made it a little hard, but you could tell. Like, I don't know if she'll follow our advice or not, but, like, she is a killer salesperson. But that's actually what's killing her. She's having so much success when she's at the open house for her, she thinks it's going to translate to the other person and she's not Realizing it will. Except that there's one variable that you can't control, which is the other salesperson. You can't control that.

[Josh Dyke]

It depends. We. I don't know if we got like she sounds like she's had success with other agents. That's what.

[Luke Acree]

No, but she hasn't. She's had success like. Like she's had success with agents that already work with her.

[Stephen Acre]

Sure.

[Luke Acree]

The relationship.

You'Ll never do. But she's trying to do it, attack it from a way that's not working, which is, hey, let me come to your open house and show you what I can do.

[Stephen Acre]

Yeah.

[Luke Acree]

Versus the opposite is like let me help your clients on the back end and give you collateral at your open house to provide value.

[Stephen Acre]

It's a mistake that everyone makes at open houses too. It's like you're trying to provide information and it's just information overload. Like no one's in a setting where you can sit down and explain over an hour period. Right. Like a buyer's consultation.

[Luke Acree]

You got to get the appointment.

[Stephen Acre]

You've got to get the appointment. So it's like a false like value proposition. It's just the wrong timing for it.

[Luke Acree]

So right offering. Wrong timing. Y.

[Josh Dyke]

If you want to get your questions answered here on Stay paid go to remindermedia.com ask and of course you can follow us on Instagram, send us your message there we are at Stay Paid podcast.

This is a write in from Kayin. So Kayin asks how do you not annoy people while effectively lead generating?

[Cody Smith]

Just do it.

[Luke Acree]

You don't, you can't. You're going to annoy them. Well, there is some truth to it and love to hear obviously you guys thoughts is there's this buyer's journey that I call Car C A R R which is curiosity, annoyance, resentment, respect. And it's essentially that you'll find that when you are prospecting someone, they are curious, why are you reaching out to them? Maybe they're curious in the product and service that you have, they're curious. Like think of it as a phone call. I call you, you don't know my number, you're curious who's calling me. And then you move into a lot of times if you don't buy in the initial engagement, you move into the annoyance phase because guess what, I need you to make a decision, do you want my product and service? And you're kind of annoyed because people don't want to make a decision. And then here's where most people stop. The average salesperson stops there and which is why they're mediocre and they make no money. The great salespeople, they just ignore that. They don't care because they know their value is worth it. So they even will progress. And sometimes you can skip to the last R, which is respect. But many, many times you're going to go from annoyance to almost resentment, where they're just like, almost like frustrated that you keep calling them, that you keep reaching out. I've had so many times people come up to me at trade shows, at conferences and be like, you know why I'm here? You know why I'm here? Because you, yes, you email me every day. You called me 18 times and it's like this annoyance and resentment. And I literally joke and I go, well, you're here, aren't you? And they end up signing up and it turns into the respect, which the respect is. It's what they always felt they wanted the product and they did want to do it, but you know, they just weren't at the right place in the right time. And unfortunately for us, if I knew the exact right time and place when I should call them for them to buy, I would do that. I don't want them to have to go through that annoyance and resentment phase. But I don't know. And a lot of times they don't know and they need that nudging. And I'm telling you, the amount of people that have said, Luke, I just want to tell you I respect so much your follow up. I respect you guys hustle and how much you have followed up and stayed on me. I really appreciate it. And that is, you know, a testament to a. We believe in what we're doing. We believe in what we're doing that we're willing to inconvenience you a little to make you make the right decision for your business. Because all of us know you have a pile of good ideas that you want it to do that never executed on because you need somebody to prod you and push you and get you to actually step out and do it. So that's my feeling on it. I don't know you guys, I mean.

[Stephen Acre]

I don't know if I could have said that better, that the short answer is yes, you're always going to annoy people. It's going to start with that. But it really does start with your belief. You got to understand your value proposition. What I always dig into with new agents is spend your time understanding what you do and how valuable it really is to people. Because if you have that Belief. There's nothing that, there's nothing that stops you, you do not want to stop calling people because you have something of such value to give them that you just break through that barrier of the annoyance stage. Right? The car that you just.

[Luke Acree]

Hopefully they won't be annoyed because you're providing the value. Hopefully they won't be, but if they are, I hate to say. Who cares? Who cares? Yeah, Provide more value. Keep calling.

[Cody Smith]

Like, there's two different, like, things I think we're talking about here too. It's like calling until they pick up, that is like just annoyance. Like, you can't help it. You need them to pick up. You call, have a, a frequency to it, obviously. Like, you know, for two weeks we're calling twice a day, you know, then we'll start maybe every other day, then a week. Like, that's, that's one thing. That's just annoyance. Like you just have to do it. But when you actually have them on the phone, what I teach all of our agents is have a next action plan at the end of your call. They should already know at the end of the day, at the end of the call, when I'm calling next. So we do this. Let's say they don't do a buyer's consultation with me. I go, okay, awesome. Well, this is what I'm going to do because you gave me, you know, some stuff that you're interested in. Your house. I'm going to get two or three houses. I'm going to text you as soon as this call's over. I'm also going to send you in our Drip campaign and I, I'm going to text you those and I want you to give me the feedback on those so I know what I'm looking for. And then I'm going to plan on calling you in three to four days. Let's say this. Does this time actually work for you for a call? It's three o'. Clock. Yeah, three o' clock works for me. All right, I'm going to call you Thursday at 3 and just get your feedback on it. So I know exactly what we're working with. Because this is about you and your game plan. Let's do that. Oh, no. You know, Thursday at three won't work. Okay, fine. What about Monday at three?

[Stephen Acre]

Yeah. Because if they've given you permission, then the annoyance goes.

[Luke Acree]

Yeah, so good too, because you're controlling the ball in the offense. You're, you're prefacing what you're going to.

[Stephen Acre]

Do, but we mistake it all the Time. But this was early on the podcast. Luke is like, we're not trying. Everyone wants to over explain. Everyone wants to explain what they've Learned over a 9 year period in the business on the phone.

[Luke Acree]

Right.

[Stephen Acre]

You know, and it's like, that's why I say it starts with the belief. Because your belief will exude through the phone. You'll hear it in tonality. Like even your body language, you can hear that through tonality. It comes out if you're smiling on the phone, you're going to hear that smile coming through. So really just starts like understand your value proposition. Believe so strong. Because you'll have way better of a response to that rather than, you know, explaining things away. And you know, you always go through that.

[Cody Smith]

The next action plan, I love about it for agents is it gives you the confidence to make the next call. Because now, because a lot of times HRs like, I don't know what to follow up about. I don't. I called him, I left my notes, but I have no idea. But if you have that next action plan, like you know exactly why you're calling, your confidence is there to make the call and then if they don't answer, we call the next day.

[Stephen Acre]

That's good. That's super good.

[Josh Dyke]

I hope that gave you some encouragement there in terms of. Keep going. All right, to get your questions answered, you can go to remindermedia.com ask or you can follows on Instagram. Send those to at Stay Paid podcast.

All right, we are going to bring Karen on.

[Luke Acree]

We got her.

[Josh Dyke]

Karen, welcome to Stay Paid.

[Caller (Nancy, Laura, Karen)]

This.

[Josh Dyke]

This has been a journey. A little behind the scenes. This has been a journey with Karen today.

[Luke Acree]

We had her in earlier in the episode but her. The mic wasn't working. But we can hear her now.

[Caller (Nancy, Laura, Karen)]

Okay, good. Okay, good.

[Cody Smith]

Stephen figured it out.

[Caller (Nancy, Laura, Karen)]

I apologize. I apologize for.

[Luke Acree]

Oh, you're fine. We appreciate you coming on. What can we help you with? What's your. What's your question?

[Caller (Nancy, Laura, Karen)]

Okay, so I know you guys know I'm a realtor. I'm here in the Florida Fort Myers area and I've got a condo that has been challenging. Now, the condo market is challenging overall for most realtors right now. Prices have gone down a little bit and my condo in particular has been on the market as of today, 116 days. Wow, that's a long time. Yeah, yeah, yep. And some stats. I know you guys wanted some stats. I have some, you know, localized stats. I've had 11 showings in the 110, 16 days. I've even had an offer.

[Stephen Acre]

Okay.

[Caller (Nancy, Laura, Karen)]

And got one in last night too, but they're all coming in rather low.

[Luke Acree]

So what's the feedback like? What's the. Obviously you've had 11 showings, been on the market a long time. What's the feedback you're getting on the property?

[Caller (Nancy, Laura, Karen)]

Property shows well, conditions good.

You know, there's, there is some inventory. It's a three bedroom condo in a community, in a very desirable community called Gateway, actually. And it's a very desirable community. People want to live there, people want to send their kids to school there. So it has all those, you know.

[Luke Acree]

Key features, but the offers are coming in a lot lower than what you want.

[Caller (Nancy, Laura, Karen)]

The office, Karen.

[Luke Acree]

It's usually pricing, promotional presentation. Pricing, promotion, presentation. That, that's usually why a listing, you know, doesn't sell. It's priced wrong, it's presented wrong, or it's promoted wrong. Yeah, um, you know, go ahead, Stephen. What were you saying? Sorry to cut you off.

[Stephen Acre]

You said you had multiple offers on it and you just got one in.

[Caller (Nancy, Laura, Karen)]

Yes.

[Stephen Acre]

Yeah. So, I mean, it sounds to me like you've done your job right as a real estate agent, which is the mark. You know, you're doing the marketing. You don't decide the market for the market value for the property. Marketing. Right. And so the only thing I would say that maybe you haven't done is it sounds like the seller's not going with these offers on the table, which could be for a lot of good reasons, but it just sounds like it's priced too high. Would you agree with that?

[Caller (Nancy, Laura, Karen)]

I definitely agree with that.

[Luke Acree]

Okay, so I definitely agree with that.

[Stephen Acre]

What have your conversation's been with your seller? Because it sounds like the real question is how do I get my seller to accept the offer that is on the table.

[Caller (Nancy, Laura, Karen)]

Exactly. And that's where we're at. And you know, like, life always complicates things because that's what life does. And unfortunately, they're dealing with a death in the family right now. So I don't think I'm going to make much headway. Probably not until maybe the end of the week tomorrow. But the.

The interesting thing is that, you know, we had a bubble here for last year or two, like after, after Covid, during COVID after Covid, you know, prices just went up, skyrocketed. And I think he was, he bought seven years ago. So, you know, he, he, you know, he, he knows that he's got some equity in the home.

[Luke Acree]

Are you telling me the seller wants to sell for the highest price possible? Is that what you're telling me, Karen, I love it.

[Caller (Nancy, Laura, Karen)]

That's what I'm telling you. That's what I'm telling you.

[Luke Acree]

But what are, what are you saying to him? Have you, have you had a conversation? What do you want to tell him? How would you tell him? Well, that you price too high.

[Caller (Nancy, Laura, Karen)]

Yeah. So it's interesting. I. He did. He finally. He's been telling me how to price this thing, how to market this thing, all that up until just recently when I said, you know, I have some suggestions. Let me know when you're ready to hear. So he was ready to hear about a week ago. And I, I did some research and, and sent him the choices. I gave him choices because there's always choices.

[Luke Acree]

Yep.

[Caller (Nancy, Laura, Karen)]

And my favorite I said, though, was the market based approach, which is you look at the market and you try to determine what the market is saying your home is worth. And the market in Gateway right now is saying that home is worth 180,000, maybe 185 if he throws in some furnishings, which he wants to do.

[Luke Acree]

And what do you have it priced at now?

[Caller (Nancy, Laura, Karen)]

215. We just lowered it. I got him to lower it from the listing price, which was 225.

[Luke Acree]

Okay, so you were 225.

[Caller (Nancy, Laura, Karen)]

Right. And we're still way over. So the offer came in last night at 180. And, you know, I could easily come back and say, look, we're throwing in the living room, the bedroom, you know, all the furnishings. Yeah. I mean, you open up the drawer, your silverware is there, your dishes are there. I mean, all you gotta do is bring a toothbrush, as we say. So maybe you could, you know, throw in an extra five grand, you know, to cover that, and I think we'd probably have a deal. But his is just like you said, he wants it for the highest price possible.

[Stephen Acre]

Yeah. So do houses sell for more when they sit on the house the market longer or when they sit on the market for a shorter period of time?

[Caller (Nancy, Laura, Karen)]

In my experience, you're best going with the first or second offer that comes in because the longer it sits, the worse it gets.

[Stephen Acre]

That's right. So that's your belief. Right. Which is a true belief. So do you want your seller to lose money?

[Caller (Nancy, Laura, Karen)]

Absolutely not.

[Stephen Acre]

Absolutely not.

[Cody Smith]

Right.

[Stephen Acre]

So like, if you have that, then it's like internalizing, going, man, I really got to get my seller to make this move on this price because it's what's in best interest for my seller. And so you're not talking him down to 185. You're actually talking him up to 185. And that's how I always approach every price reduction, price adjustment conversation is, hey, seller, I want you to make the absolute most money on this property. Right. I don't decide the market for market value for this property. I decide the marketing. And here's where the market's saying, right, we're at. If we sit on the market for longer, we will lose more money. We will. And so it's more of a certainty, because we know that's a truth based on statistics, that you go to them and you go, I want you to make the most money. I just don't want you to lose on this thing. And that's why I'm having this hard conversation. That's honestly why I'm the best agent that's out there, is because I'm willing to have these difficult conversations with my seller. And of course, I want to make you 200,000. I want to make you 300,000. Heck, if I could make you 400,000 for this property, you better believe I would want to make you 400. Would you call me crazy if I said, let's price this thing at 400? And I'm like. And he said, yeah, I'd say you're crazy. Well, that's what I'm saying we're at. At 200,000 is we're crazy. That's what the market's saying.

[Caller (Nancy, Laura, Karen)]

Good point.

[Luke Acree]

I like that. Clip it up, memorize it and recite it to him. But that is what it is. That is what it is. The other thing that I'm curious about, just to see what you've gotten with him, is what is his urgenc and pain point of the reason why he wants to sell? What's the emotional driver there? Do you know that motivation?

[Caller (Nancy, Laura, Karen)]

Yes. And you, you probably. If there were a jackpot, you would have just won it because.

[Cody Smith]

That.

[Caller (Nancy, Laura, Karen)]

That has been a pain point for sure. The hoa. Yeah.

[Luke Acree]

Okay.

[Caller (Nancy, Laura, Karen)]

HOA is a major pain point. In fact.

There had been an issue with some leakage into the. From one. From one of the condo units, either his or the one above his.

[Luke Acree]

Okay.

[Caller (Nancy, Laura, Karen)]

There's three levels and we're in the second floor.

[Luke Acree]

And the HOA won't help him with it or as being a pain or whatever.

[Caller (Nancy, Laura, Karen)]

The ho. Well, the HOA has been very interesting to work with and very non stand them.

[Luke Acree]

Basically. Like he can't stand the hoa. He's frustrated with them.

[Cody Smith]

Yeah.

[Caller (Nancy, Laura, Karen)]

It's been an ongoing battle for a year, and it Just. It just cumulated with the HOA sending him a bill for thousands of dollars. I don't want to go into too much. Yeah, yeah, they sent him a bill for thousands of dollars, and it may go to litigation. And so my challenge now is to not only talk him down or talk him up, as you said, to 185, but he's going to probably lose money because he's now got to pay this amount that they say his unit costs on the problem below. And, you know, if he doesn't pay it, it's a lien, and he's going to pay it eventually, either in court or he's going to pay it, as you know, to the hoa, either one, unless he can negotiate something with them. So we're kind of running out of time on that.

[Luke Acree]

Yeah.

[Stephen Acre]

So you're.

[Luke Acree]

You're hitting on the other aspect of what you need to add to Steven's pitch. You always got it like, your job is to help the. The seller. Like, that's. That's your job, and you're going to do what's in the best interest of your seller and help them. And so you're just trying to reiterate for them. It's like, if I'm selling a real estate agent, the magazine that we offer or ads or whatever, at the end of the day, I'm not trying to get you to buy my product. I'm trying to solve a pain point for you in a desire that you have. And I have a solution for that. And I am, I believe, the best in the industry for that solution. So when I get to the end of any pitch and I'm sharing with you in confidence, I'm always reminding you. Here's why, though. Because, Karen, you and I both agree you got to keep in touch with your database. You've got to keep in touch with them. If you want referrals, you know, you have to send something. It's not should you, it's just what do you send? And at the end of the day, the problem is people don't know what to send. They don't have time to send it. The things they're sending don't return. They cost too much. And I'm taking care of all those pain points for you, and I know that's what you want. You want more referrals, right? Karen, it's like you're reminding them of. I'm not talking about the magazine. I'm just talking about the, hey, this is the pain point you have and the solution you want. And you have to do it with that certainty and confidence. I think your lines are gold, Steve, of how you did that. But I would just encourage you, Karen. You're doing a good job by your client when you have the hard conversation with them. And if it's not meant to be, it's not meant to be because you're spending time, energy, and money on this property and with this client that at the end of the day, maybe it's not the right time for them, but you're definitely hurting everybody by not having the difficult conversation and telling it like it is. You're hurting yourself with your time and energy. You're hitting hurting him by not getting the truth to him. And, you know, I'm talking high level here. And so I would just encourage you, have it, move on, take that energy and put it into your next best client because you're a rock star real estate agent and that's what you do and advice.

[Caller (Nancy, Laura, Karen)]

I wish I could. I wish I could put you guys in my back pocket.

This would really, really serve me well if I could do this.

[Luke Acree]

You can do it.

[Caller (Nancy, Laura, Karen)]

Yeah, I know, I know. Because this phone fits in my back pocket.

[Luke Acree]

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. No, you can do it. Go, Go. Literally have that conversation with them. You're in this business for a reason, and you're doing great things. Friend us on social. We'd love to connect with you on Instagram. We'd love to help you out more. You can always reach out. And if you have more questions, you know, bring them. We'd love to have you.

[Cody Smith]

Your energy is contagious, I'm sure.

[Nancy (Caller)]

I love.

[Caller (Nancy, Laura, Karen)]

I love this format, too. I have to say, this was a great idea. When I was talking with the. For the person who was helping me at the time with the magazine, she suggested that based on, you know, our conversation. So kudos to you guys, too.

[Stephen Acre]

Awesome.

[Luke Acree]

Thank you, Karen.

[Caller (Nancy, Laura, Karen)]

Okay, thanks again. Sorry about the technical issues. Take care.

[Luke Acree]

Yeah, take care.

[Caller (Nancy, Laura, Karen)]

All right, bye.

[Luke Acree]

She's awesome. Yeah. Stephen, that was, yeah, Great. Yeah, Great advice, because that's what it is. It's in every sale. It is that confidence and delivery.

[Josh Dyke]

Hitting the pat on the back.

[Stephen Acre]

On the back. You've grown so much.

[Luke Acree]

Cody looked at him and said, you know, don't mess this up, bro.

[Stephen Acre]

Deliver now.

[Cody Smith]

Deliver now.

[Stephen Acre]

You got this.

[Luke Acree]

Now. Great stuff, Karen.

[Josh Dyke]

Get out of here. Awesome. Thank you to everybody who called in, got your questions answered, everybody who wrote in as well. You can get your questions answered here live on the episode. Go to reminder media.com/ follow us on Instagram we are at Stay Paid Podcast. Shoot us a message there. If you like this episode and want to show your support, go to YouTube.com reminder media. Make sure you're subscribed to the channel. Give this video a thumbs up.

[Caller (Nancy, Laura, Karen)]

Subscribe.

[Josh Dyke]

And the best way to support the show is to share this episode with somebody that you know. If you want to get a hold of me, Luke, you can email us a podcast, remindermedia.com and where can they follow you guys on social?

[Stephen Acre]

Yeah, Brothers at Acre, Brothers on Instagram.

[Cody Smith]

Yep, yep. You find us in there.

[Josh Dyke]

All right. Awesome. For this episode of Stay Paid, I'm Josh Dyke.

[Luke Acree]

Guys, I'm Luke Acre. And just remember, like, so many good nuggets here that you can take away, but the key is really implementation. You have to execute. And where all realtors go to die and all businesses go to die is they don't execute. And they execute for one day and then they give up. And so I just want to encourage you, whatever you heard today that hit you in the gut, that inspired you a little bit, go put into the action. Because the difference between top producers and mediocre producers in every business. Stop. Producers take action. Take action on that today.

[Caller (Nancy, Laura, Karen)]

Sam.