A (2:13)

I mean, fairly new? I would say probably. Probably like four or five years now. But I've been in real estate for about over 10 years, but before as an agent, about four to five years. Yeah.

D (2:27)

Okay, four to five years. And what was your volume in 2025?

A (2:32)

Not too great. I would say maybe. Maybe about five. Roughly.

D (2:38)

Okay, so just around five million and where did the majority of that volume come from?

A (2:44)

Well, I'm sorry, when you said 5 million. I'm not sure when you said 5 million.

D (2:47)

Sorry, when I say volume. For clarification. Sorry, I should have clarified that for you. I was just looking for, like, what was the volume number like of the homes you sold? Like, how.

A (2:57)

Oh, no, no, I was just going by, like, listings.

D (3:01)

Okay, so you did five listings. What was that? What did that volume look like? Was it a million dollars? 2 million?

A (3:09)

I would say. I would see. Yeah, yeah. You know what? You're right. Yeah. I would say a little bit over to. Roughly between 2 to 3. Yeah, roughly around that. Yeah. Because they were selling at five. Yeah, yeah. Some were selling 600 chains, some were selling 500 chains. Okay. Yeah.

D (3:27)

So the majority, like, where did you get those from? Was it referrals? Was it these leads that you're talking about and the ones that were actually qualified?

A (3:35)

Where did you get, I would say referrals from the community of people. Me knowing people in the area and the treatment that I would give them. Instantly referred. And I got a phone call.

D (3:49)

Fantastic. Okay, awesome. So two things. I can throw it to you, Cody and Steven, to give you guys thoughts. We do a lot of lead generation through Facebook, and they tend to be top of funnel leads, which are. Would you call that like, not even aware phase? Top of funnel, Josh. Like, we're interrupting them and kind of making them aware of a desire and a pain point. So they're. They're interested, but they're not really that interested yet. And our normal Facebook lead takes about 10.8 months to close. And so it's a lot of nurturing. The two tips I would give you right away, though, and this applies to everybody listening, but to you, Louis, as well. You is, you gotta know your numbers, right? So you gotta know exactly where your deal is coming from, how much volume you've done, how many listings you've done. It shouldn't be something hesitant. You're very hesitant when you're answering those questions. And I totally get it. We've all been there. But my challenge to you, man, is you want to be a professional, right? You're not just a salesperson, you're a sales professional. Professionals show up, they know their numbers, they know the game. So you got to get there. That's going to help you tremendously because it plays into what I want to say next, which is you need to get in your expectation that almost all leads in real estate is a long nurture cycle. So where you got to get really good is taking leads that are top of funnel and in the awareness phase and staying with them over long periods of time, 12 months, 18 months, 24 months, and just never stop following up with them. Because 12 months from now, the looky lose today will be real. Right? Or 18 months, they'll be real. And you'll be so thankful that you stayed with it in the amount of drips you were doing to them every month, what the amount of phone calls you made to them. And here's the key point of all of this is if you just treat it as like ah, they're just not real and they're not ready to buy and you're looking for the buyer, you're looking for the seller, you're never going to get the buyer and seller except the like random lottery winning that happens. And so if you want to take it from five transactions to 25 transactions, all those leads that you've gotten so far that have been looky lose, they, they're semi interested, they need to go into a nurture stream and you need to stay consistent with them. Which gets to my point of that's why you got to know your numbers, know your touches. I'm going to throw it to you, Stephen and Cody, to give, you know, kind of your thoughts on how you guys qualify leads.

E (6:14)

Luke, that was perfect. We always say career focused, not year focused, and that's exactly right. That was beautiful.

C (6:21)

Yeah. And I think one of the things you need to hear, Louis, is just like, this is kind of hard, but it's like, welcome to the world of real estate. And the reason I say it like that is because what Luke said, which is every single buyer and seller is a timeline. But the cool thing about it, the encouragement, is you actually want the people to at the beginning of the funnel, you don't want the people at the end of the funnel. It's not that you don't want them, but if you get people at the top of the funnel, you get to build trust with those people. And then when they do transact with you, it's a much easier transaction because you've already had an amount of time that's actually built a relationship with them. Ryan Serhant on his podcast the other day, I was listening to, he said the single thing that has made me in this industry is my relentless follow up. He said it's a single thing. And he gave an example of a guy been following up with like six years and ended up transacting with him. He would send him stuff every single Month. And so if you can change your belief around, welcome to the world of real estate. This is what it is. You can know that this is what it is. That's a good thing, you know, Right. So then you just have to change the game of what is your follow up look like with these leads to build that trust with them. Because what I always tell my agents is I actually, when people ghost me after an appointment, I actually know they're more serious. And the reason I know they're more serious is because it's psychological, right. If someone follows up with me and I, I do want to transact, but I'm not quite ready, what's the number one thing I do? I'm not taking their phone call because I know if Luke gets on the phone with me and he's a good salesperson and I'm kind of ready to transact, but I'm not positive I'm going to be sold. Right. And so I'm just going to ghost him during that time until I'm ready. But the key is if you keep following up that person when they are, they've made the decision, they're going to be, you're going to be their first call. And so that's what I just.

D (8:18)

Let's talk tactics so we can take it from. That's the foundation, Louis, of like belief system that you need and the relentless follow up. So big takeaway is when you, you know, get off this phone call all the leads you've ever had, go ask yourself, what am I dripping on them every single month and how often am I calling them? And then tactically, guys, how long does it take you on average to close Google or Facebook that you're seeing right now? So they're, they generate leads off of pay per click Google. They generate leads off of Facebook. Google's a little lower intent, maybe middle of funnel to bottom of funnel, but still takes a while. What, what's the average timeline you guys are seeing right now for, you know, 2025?

E (9:00)

Yeah, I would say easily. Easily six to six months to a year. Easily, like, yeah.

D (9:05)

I mean, so if you're six months to a year and sorry, it's maybe breaking up a little bit on my side. So sorry about that, guys. But if you're six months to a year, then, Louis, it comes down to, okay, what's the follow up to the leads that you're doing? Steve, Cody, can you guys walk through the follow up that you're doing on a lead that you'll get off of Facebook or that you'll get off of Google. What. What does it look like in terms of how many phone calls or what you're trying to do to them?

E (9:35)

Yeah, what I was going to mention through this is, Louis, what is when you take that call, what's your objective on that call?

A (9:43)

I guess I would say. Guess I'm sorry. More of building a trust. Because I, going by my experience, that's how people are actually speaking to me, and they actually see that I'm relating to them, especially as around the community, around the area. And I know the area very well, so they're open to even tell me everything about them, just with a couple words.

E (10:07)

I love that.

A (10:08)

And once I see that, then they're open to say, all right, you know what, maybe I could try you. Maybe I could hire you. You know what, Let me put my house on a listing, you know, put out on the market. And that's really my objective. I just want to be real because that's, that's how I am, you know, because if you treat the person the way you want to be treated, you know, if I can't trust you, I can't do business with you, you know, so. And that's how I. That's how I see it, the thing you need to know.

C (10:36)

And that's absolutely correct. You have to have that trust. But the truth is, is it's more than trust. People are coming to you for a certain thing that they truly want. And the problem with people, I mean, this is the problem with sales in general, is people don't just tell you what they want, right? You've got to pull that information out of them. And so you have to. That's why we always go for the appointment. If you're doing phone conversations and giving people information, it never works, right? You'll actually. They will ghost you, and then they, you know, won't come back to you unless you have even more relentless follow up. You have to set the appointment. Because what we're truly after, we want to build a trust.

A (11:09)

But.

C (11:10)

But we want that trust to be based on what we can execute on. And what we're trying to execute on is what is their motivation. And so deep down, you're actually just literally trying to pull out of them. What's their true motivator? Not a fluff motivator. It's like, I have to move because I've got three kids and I'm living in a two bed bedroom house at this point. That's a true motivator. And if you can get to that, then you can drive like, then you can go, this is how we can execute on it. And that's when their excitement level goes up to solving their motivator. And because they see you as a person trust. Right. That that can actually execute on it. So number one thing, you have to set up the appointment because you have to have the motivator. Because how are you going to follow up if someone is 12 months out?

E (11:51)

Right.

C (11:51)

You don't want to be trying to send them properties every single day because they're 12 months out. They're like, dude, why are you sending me this? I'm not actually interested at the moment. I'm interested in getting what's it going to cost me to make this move, when is my lease up, when do I need to start looking? Right. That kind of thing. And so it's all about that appointment. Because the follow up is all based on their motivator.

E (12:11)

Yeah. So how I simplify it, Louis, you're right. You had one of the three key objectives on a first time call, which is relationship rapport, building. Like you're right on point with that. The other two I add, and Steven hit it right on is motivation and appointment. So I don't care what questions you ask. I tell my agents all the time we have an intro that is a really good intro that you have to stick to. But outside of that, the questions you're asking, I don't care. The main thing you're looking for is motivation. And when I ask for a three bedroom, I'm really asking because I need to know if you've got family, other people living with you to connect with you. But I need to know motivation, relationship, and then I'm going to meet them because like, and it's not even going to. What I didn't say in that is like I'm going. This call is about getting a listing. I actually am just going for an appointment because then we can game plan from there and see if that's the right decision for you. And if you take that, the pressure of like this is going to be a listing and instead just say I'm going for an appointment. It will give you the freedom to do that instead of the pressure of like they have to sell their house with me. Hey, no, I'm actually just want to get a game plan together with you to see if even makes sense for you to sell. Because to be honest with you, you might not want to, but if you do, we'll make a great game plan and make sure you do it.

C (13:20)

Yeah, yeah, that Was our story. Myself, over the head, you know, for the first couple of years in the business, just going after what I thought my value proposition was, getting them a deal. And some people don't want a deal, right? That's not what they're interested in. So you just beat yourself on the head if you don't go for the motivator and find out what they're truly interested in.

D (13:40)

Yeah, well said, guys. So Louis, man, hope that helps you out. To summarize for you, man, get off this call, know your numbers inside and out, set a follow up plan. On average it takes 36 calls for us to close a Facebook lead. Just so you know. So, you know, keep calling, keep smiling and dialing, get the appointments and that's really going to help you, man. Appreciate you coming on the show. And let's connect on Instagram and stuff like that because we can always talk through that as well.

B (14:04)

Thanks.

A (14:06)

Bye, everyone.

B (14:09)

All right, there you go. You can get your answers, your questions answered live here on Stay paid. Go to remindermedia.com/next we have coming on the show, Tamika. Hi, is this Tamika?

D (14:29)

This is me.

F (14:29)

How are you?

B (14:30)

Doing well, how are you? Thanks for coming on. Are you going to do Audi? Are you audio only? We can't see you. Is that okay?

F (14:36)

No, no, no, I'm actually going to come on right now.

D (14:41)

Yeah, we like people's faces, you know.

B (14:47)

Hey, welcome to Stay Paid. What can we help you with?

F (14:50)

Nice to actually meet you too and kind of person. Right, Luca, nice to meet you. Hi, Stephen. Is that cool? So I had a quick question. Loving what Reminded Media is doing. I wanted to know how do you effectively convert the readers into, I guess, buyers for myself or, you know what I mean? Or customers.

D (15:19)

Yes. So for context, you're talking about the readers of the print magazine that you're sending them or the digital magazine through Reminder Media.

F (15:30)

Actually both.

D (15:31)

Okay.

B (15:31)

Both.

D (15:31)

Okay, awesome. So great question. So for the audience, if you don't, if you're not familiar, Reminder Media is our company and we do marketing for small businesses, hence the, the show. It's all about marketing, helping people with marketing. Our flagship product is, is a custom magazine. So Tamika, obviously you're a client. Thank you for that. And the idea behind it is everybody knows as a business you got to get known like, and trust it. So the question is not should you stay in touch? The question is really, how do you stay in touch? How do you stay in touch effectively? That gets you known, that gets you liked by the person that you're keeping in touch with and then ultimately get you trusted. So people buy from you and they don't go to the competition. So that's kind of the whole concept of what we're trying to do. The key to the magazine because the magazine is a branding piece and it's a gift centric piece. So the idea of the magazine is we want to send something that the client will perceive as a gift, as an item of value because that triggers reciprocity. So when someone gives you a gift, Tamika, what do you want to do? You want to send a thank you note? You want to say thank you when someone's doing something nice. So the, the reason the magazine is all about the consumer, right? It's filled with great content for them. It's not just promoting your business and it's a high quality magazine and is we want to trigger that gift and that reciprocity. So here's the way you turn it into business to get to your question. The number one way is to leverage that moment in time where they get the magazine, whether it's the print one and you know, the delivery window or it's the digital and you can actually see they opened it. From an analytics perspective, you want to leverage that as your trigger event to call that person that you've sent the magazine to to check in and touch base. And the reason why you want to do that is because following the psychology, you're hoping to cash in on this. I've done something nice for you. I'm generating buzz and a reciprocity feeling and I would simply call up. And my common script that I give to agents is if I send it to Stephen, it's Hey, Stephen was thinking about you today, brother. You popped into my mind. It's been a while since we've connected. Reason why you popped into my mind. I just got my latest issue of Good to Be Home magazine. I'm actually sending it to you as a gift. I send it to all my best relationships. I just want to check in, see if you're getting it. I try to customize it with like recipes and things like that that I think people would love. I don't know if you've seen any of that or not, but I just want to check in first. How's life been going, man? It has been a while since, you know, we've connected and that's my first, you know, kind of intro in to try to get Stephen and I into conversation in a non salesy way. That really is the key and the reason why that is so critical is because the number one reason why agents don't call their clients and this applies to even people outside of just being a real estate agent. The number one reason you don't reach out to your sphere or your clients because you don't want to be perceived as salesy. I know this is a big pain point for insurance agents, for financial advisors. The magazine's concept is I want to give you a non salesy reason to call. And then here's the key point that I would share with you Tamika, is that you want to use something that you've put in the magazine as a way to turn the conversation to business. So the features on the magazine, you get to customize the covers, the, the front inside cover, the tear out cards, the back cover, back inside cover. So an easy way to do it is utilize the call to actions on the front cover of the magazine. So on the front cover you can put a little QR code right there. You can say, want to know what your home's worth? Want a free home equity report? Scan this QR code. So now in my convo with Stephen to get back to that script, I'm going, hey man, just catch up. How's life been? Hey, I hope you're loving the magazine. Oh, by the way, I put on the front cover of the magazine, a lot of my friends are always asking me what their home's worth. And I didn't know, Stephen, if you had any, you know, idea of kind of what you want to do with the home if you're looking to buy, seller, invest this year or not. But if you ever want to know what your home's worth, you can scan that QR code right on the front cover anytime. It will give you kind of instant valuation of what the Internet thinks. And I can follow up with you and give you kind of a professional, professional opinion of what it would go for on the market. But I just trying to bring things in front of you to give you value. I'm going to make sure that you know I'm always here for you. I don't. Did you have any plans of buying, selling, investing this year, Steven, in real estate?

C (19:41)

Oh hell yeah, I do.

D (19:43)

Boo. Yeah. And that's how they all go, guys. That's how all the conversations they just say, heck yeah, I do. So the point being is now that I've asked that, now I'm solidifying on that relationship. Steven, I'm giving him value. I am tying it to the business and saying, I just wanted to point this out because I'm just trying to bring value to you and help you in any way I can. I want you to know I'm here for you. Oh, by the way, did you have anything? Now I'm getting an update of where my actual client is, and a lot of times they won't be buying or selling. Right. Because they're your client and they're stable, but they might want to invest. So don't forget about the investing word, because everybody's into investing. And then here's the. The second half that you're going for, which is the referral. And the way I usually do that is go, hey, you know, Love it. Awesome, man. I have a lofty goal for my business this year. You know, I'm really trying to help 50 families this year. Last year I was able to help 35 families. So I'm really trying to up my game. I want to help 50 families this year. Either buy, seller, invest real estate. Dude, if I could work with 50 of you, Steven would be awesome. You might think I'm crazy, but it would be awesome. Do you know anybody? Maybe you could help me out and introduce me to somebody. Maybe they're not looking to buy seller, invest right now, but I just want to build relationships. I want to meet as many people as I possibly can. I'd love to send them my magazine. Do you have any, like, friends that you could introduce me to that might need a real estate agent? Now, here's the thing, guys. Most people will say no in that moment because you're putting them on the spot. Just like walking into a store. Are you looking for anything? No, I'm, you know. Or can I help you find anything? No, I'm just looking. So they're going to say no. But the key is you've planted the seed with that client and now they know what you have a lofty goal for your business. You need help getting to 50. You want to be introduced to their friends. You're telling them exactly what you need, and you're framing it in a way where they can what, be the giver? Where they can feel like they're giving and helping, and they're in a position of authority, and psychologically, it's better to give them receive. So you are literally giving them a chance to feel like they're in power to help you. They're. They're really the ones that are in authority here. And guess what? When you make your next phone call with the magazine or a client event you're doing or whatever reason you're reaching out to them, you can water that seed and tell them where you're at towards that goal of 50. Hey, I know last time we talked and told you my lofty goal, I was 50 people. I've already helped 10 people this year. And you could share with them and bring them along on that journey and ask them again. You know, anybody. And the average person a year knows three to five people that need your real estate help. So if you send the 50 people to Mika, that's 250 opportunities over a course of year that you're connected to. Can you get 10% of them? Right. Can you close 25 of those deals? You close 25, you're in top 1% of real estate agents nationwide. So that's really the key to really leveraging the magazine and making it work. I don't know, Cody and Steven, if you guys have anything from your experience of making calls with the magazine or talking to people about the magazine, you absolutely killed it.

C (22:35)

I mean, it's not about the magazine at all. It's about staying in touch with your clients. Right. And if you get out of.

D (22:40)

The.

C (22:41)

Most people just aren't making the calls because they have this belief that they're not providing value. And it's just one extra thing of providing value, giving the reciprocity that you mentioned. Right. I'm staying in touch with clients. So part of it is just changing your belief around that when you make the call, this is for them. You know, people do want to invest, people do want to buy and sell real estate. To get out of your own head and take the action on. Exactly. You killed it.

D (23:06)

And they want to help you out. That's a key component that most people miss. And this applies to social media. We had an interview earlier today with Shannon Gillette, who's like the queen of social media. And one of the key points that she always makes, which is so true, is you must be real on social. You must share your life and be authentic and share with what you're going through and what's happening. Because people want to feel connected to you. And one of the ways they feel connected with you is they understand what you're trying to do. Your ups and downs, your highs and lows, your journey, and they feel a part of that and they get something from that. They either see themselves in you. Right. This is why you always have the older people saying, I love a kid, I love how your hustle, you know, and I love how hard you're working because they want to see themselves in you. And they also want to feel like they are contributing to your journey. And most people just never tell people what they need because they feel salesy where it's actually the opposite. So unfortunately, it looks like we lost Tamika there, but this is recorded, Tamika. So I think your phone call dropped, but we'll get this out. Listen back to this. You'll have to come back on the show and let us know if you took action on it. But for everybody listening to this, whether you use reminder media or not, and I would love for you to sit in our magazines and experience it, but what I would share with you is whatever you're sending to your database, whatever you're doing client event wise, the goal is to use it as leverage to have a conversation because the business is relationships. You get relationships from getting to know people. You get to know people through conversations. You have conversations based upon events that come up, triggers that happen. Make the triggers in your marketing help you have conversations. That's the goal.

B (24:43)

Absolutely. Love it. Thank you all so much for listening. Thank you to everybody that called in. If you want to get your questions answered here live on the show, you can go to remindermedia.com ask again. That's remindermedia.com ask and we will reach out and get you scheduled. You can get all of our show notes over@staypaidpodcast.com and of course you can follow us on Instagram. We are at Stay Paid podcast. Make sure to follow Stephen and Cody's journey as well on Instagram at Acree Brothers Realty for this episode of Stay paid. I'm Joshua Steik.

D (25:14)

How you said shua. I'm Joshua Ste. Yes, you are. And I am Lewis. And guys, your action item from this, as you listen to all of these, right, you see a common theme is, you know, you got to take action. And the key is you got to choose what you're going to focus on and measure the numbers. And that's really the the concept when you think about what we told Louis or you think about what we told Sierra, and ultimately even what we're telling Tamika is you're doing the right activity now. Follow it through and then measure the numbers. So follow the process all the way through. Measure the numbers, act, track and pivot. The difference between top producers and mediocre producers in every industry is top producers take action. Take action on that today.

A (26:04)

Sam.