📞 LIVE CALL-INS: Why Most Agents Stay Stuck at $4M (And How to Break Through)

Summary

Stay Paid Podcast – Episode Summary

Episode: 📞 LIVE CALL-INS: Why Most Agents Stay Stuck at $4M (And How to Break Through)
Date: March 16, 2026
Hosts: Luke Acree, Josh Stike, with Stephen Acre and Cody Smith
Main Theme: Helping real estate agents identify and overcome the operational and mindset roadblocks that keep them stuck at modest production volumes, and providing live, practical coaching for breaking through to the next level.

---

Episode Overview

This episode of Stay Paid Podcast features a series of live call-ins from real estate agents & listeners, each presenting their current business challenges. The hosts, with decades of real estate marketing and operational experience, tackle practical questions on lead generation, database management, farming strategy, and growth mindset. The episode weaves tactical advice with motivational and personal development guidance to help agents and entrepreneurs scale beyond plateaus—especially the common “$4M” ceiling in residential real estate.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Sicily from Texas – Overcoming the $4M Plateau & Unlocking Lead Quality

(Timestamps: 00:49 – 13:17)

• Challenge: Sicily has strong community presence and engagement through ReminderMedia’s magazine but is stuck around $4M in annual volume (average sale ~$250k). Seeking ways to increase high-quality, time-efficient leads and hit her $6M+ volume goal.

Hosts’ Recommendations:

• Know Your Numbers:

  • Luke Acree stresses the importance of moving “from producer to business operator.”
  • Track all lead sources: “It is very, very, very hard to improve something that's not tracked because you don't know where to begin.” (05:10)
  • Clean and expand your database: “Even top producers like Stephen and Cody’s teammate need to routinely clean up their database—it’s the cinder block work nobody wants to do, but it’s absolutely necessary.” (05:41–06:55)

• Set Clear, Mathematical Targets:

  • Calculate required transactions for goal (e.g., $6M / $250K = 24 deals/year).
  • Use industry averages (7% of your database transacts per year) to determine database size needed (e.g., ~342 real relationships for 24 deals annually) (07:28)

• Database Action Plan:

  • Clean up your CRM (Moxie) and add all relevant contacts.
  • Track referral numbers, conversion, and database size.
  • Focus first on maximizing referrals from your sphere before building new lead pillars.

• Referrals & Magazine Drip:

  • Actively ask for referrals when engaging your sphere, especially when gifting the magazine.
  • Luke suggests adding a QR code—such as for an instant home equity report—on the magazine cover to create an easy call-to-action for homeowner leads. (10:12–12:16)
  • Scripted call: “Hey, Stephen was thinking about you... just want to check in... by the way, I included a QR code for a free home value... Do you have any real estate plans this year?” (10:28)
  • "Most people don't refer not because they don't want to. They don't refer because they're not top of mind." – Luke Acree (12:20)

• Intentionality:

  • Stephen emphasizes: “Intentionality in everything you do… is the difference.” (12:31)
  • Aim to be proactive and deliberate at each stage—open houses, adding every attendee to your database, asking directly for referrals.

Notable Quotes

“Go from producer to business owner. That’s your goal this year.”
– Luke Acree (13:07)

“You can easily take this with your talent to $6M… and beyond. Set it higher.”
– Stephen Acre (12:31)

---

2. Patricia from New York – Postcard Farming Effectiveness in Low-Turnover Markets

(Timestamps: 14:03 – 27:15)

• Challenge: Patricia is sending farming postcards in a rural New York market, but is unsure the audience and territory are optimal given low turnover, small population, and modest average sales price (~$175k).

Hosts’ Recommendations:

• Master the Metrics of Farming:

  • Research turnover rate (aim for 5–6% annually per Tom Ferry’s guidelines).
  • Use MLS data and census/postal records to calculate: # of homes, annual sales, competition.
  • Evaluate budget versus commission potential. Dedicate 20–30% of expected commission if growing share (e.g., Patricia could spend ~$475/month to farm 500–600 homes).

• Check for Market Dominance:

  • Avoid heavily dominated farm territories unless you’re prepared for significant, multi-year branding efforts.
  • Prefer distributed markets where no single agent/team is entrenched.

• Build Brand as 'Community Farmer':

  • Move beyond transactional touches. “You have to become the mayor—connect the community, not just transact.”
  • Layer sweat equity (door knocking, event hosting, open houses) over check equity (mailers).

• Postcards + Multi-Channel Touches:

  • Combine mailers with door-knocking (phone calls are restricted in NY), “circle prospect” with reference to the postcards for familiarity.
  • Host community events, both to create face time and as topics for further mailers.

• Farming Timeline Reality:

  • Farming is NOT direct response; the average ROI is 12–18 months out.
  • “You’re going to spend $5,700, get nothing in return and feel like you wasted your money, but you can’t stop.” (25:05)
  • “All marketing is brand building and trust building with the consumer’s mind.” – Luke Acree (25:25)

• Bonus Tip: Community-Focused Facebook Group

  • Cody Smith suggests creating a town Facebook group to become the digital connector as well, with the agent as host and community resource, not just a seller. (26:13)

Notable Quotes

“Be a community farmer, not a transactional farmer… the connector, the local mayor of that town.”
– Luke Acree (22:52)

"It's a long-term game. You want to be in it for the career, not the year."
– Cody Smith (23:06)

---

3. Stephen from California – Mindset, Self-Coaching, and Business-Related Life Advice

(Timestamps: 28:26 – 40:15)

• Challenge: Stephen wanted to know what advice hosts would give to their 12-year-old selves and what struggles they’ve faced to become top producers.

Reflections and Insights:

• Advice to Younger Selves:

  • Don’t worry about others’ opinions—stop performing and be authentic. (Luke Acree, 28:59)
  • Develop public speaking and social skills early; don’t wait until adulthood. (Josh Dyke, 31:26)
  • Take more risks while young, before life responsibilities increase. (Cody Smith, 31:56)
  • Build confidence and resilience—adversity is universal, but you keep moving. (Stephen, Caller, 32:41)
  • Notable personal moment: “Just keep waking up and put one foot in front of the other.” – advice from Luke’s wife’s grandfather (34:00)

• Biggest Business Struggles & Lessons:

  • The gap between expectations and results is in "inspection": “You get out of life what you inspect, not what you expect.” (Luke Acree, 35:10)
  • The importance of strategic partnerships—make sure your goals align deeply; direct, honest communication is crucial.
  • Communication is always your responsibility as the leader/agent.
  • Recruitment/talent: Finding and deserving “A-level” talent is a huge challenge for business growth.
  • Real estate agent as counselor/advisor—“You’re part psychiatrist as much as sales.”

Notable Quotes

"The burden of communication is on the communicator. Present it in a way and frequency that is heard."
– Josh Dyke (38:02)

"For me, every stage of life, you just look and wish you would have done more before you had more responsibilities."
– Stephen Acre (32:18)

---

Memorable Moments & Quotes

• Luke on Producer vs. Business Owner:

  "You’ve got to move from producer to business owner. Business owners know their stats; they know exactly where deals come from." (13:07)

• On Referrals:

  "Most people don’t refer not because they don’t want to—they don’t because you’re not top of mind." (12:20)

• On Farming Reality:

  “Most people give up too soon. You should farm for at least a year; most people don’t see return until 18 months.” (24:55)

• On Taking Action:

  “You can listen all day long, but if you don’t take action, it won’t do anything for your life. The difference between top producers and mediocre producers is they take action.” (42:53, closing remarks)

---

Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:49 – Sicily’s Question: Generating More, Better Leads
• 04:19 – Data Tracking, Database Clean-Up Importance
• 07:28 – Math: Transactions Needed to Hit Volume Goals
• 10:12 – Magazine Referral System (with Scripts)
• 12:31 – Intentionality in Lead Gen & Referrals
• 14:03 – Patricia’s Question: Postcard Farming in Rural Market
• 17:05 – How to Calculate Turnover Rate & Farm Viability
• 23:06 – Building “Community Farmer” Brand
• 24:55 – Farming Timelines: Expectation vs. Reality
• 26:13 – Facebook Group Farming Tip
• 28:26 – Stephen (CA): Self-Advice for Young Agents & Overcoming Struggles
• 35:10 – “You Get What You Inspect, Not What You Expect.”
• 38:02 – Communication: It’s On the Agent
• 39:10 – Stephen (CA): Transaction Goals & Perspective

---

Summary Takeaways

• Track, Measure, and Inspect: Improving your business requires diligent tracking of leads, conversions, and referral sources. Clean and expand your database as a first priority.
• Set Data-Driven Targets: Use local stats and industry averages for goal-setting (transaction numbers, database size, and budget for farming).
• Referrals & Sphere Marketing: Be intentional, proactive, and direct in staying top of mind and asking for referrals in both direct communications and value-add touches.
• Farming Is a Long Game: Postcards raise brand awareness; sweat equity (events, open houses, community-building) is essential; commitment over 12–18+ months is required for return.
• Mindset & Personal Growth: Authenticity, risk-taking, and resilience are recurring themes among high achievers. Emphasize communication, alignment in partnerships, and lifelong learning.
• Take Action: Listening is just the start—execution and intentional follow-through differentiate top producers.

---

For Listeners Who Haven't Heard the Episode

This episode provides a robust mix of strategic, tactical, and mindset advice for agents stuck at industry plateaus, especially around $4M annual volume. You'll hear real-life coaching on measuring and maximizing your sphere, how to correctly approach farming and farming math, and the kind of personal growth and self-accountability all great agents embrace. Elite quotes, concrete scripts, and frank stories from the panel will equip you with actionable steps to break through stagnation in your real estate business.

---

Transcript

[Luke Acre]

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 questions answered live here on the show, follow us. On social media, we are at staypaid podcast. Shoot us a direct message there on Instagram or you can go directly to remindermedia.com ask. Submit your questions there and we will get you scheduled for the show. My name is Josh Dyke, Chief marketing officer at Reminder Media, joined as always by Luke Acrey, president of Reminder Media and from the Acre Brothers Realty team founder and team lead Stephen Acre and director of sales Cody Smith. We are going to bring on our first caller today, Sicily. Sicily calling out of Texas. Sicily, can you hear us?

[Sicily]

Yes, I'm here. How are you?

[Stephen Acre]

There you go.

[Luke Acre]

We are doing fantastic. How are you doing?

[Sicily]

Good, good. I can't complain.

[Luke Acre]

How can we help you today? What's your question or thing you're trying to solve in your business that we can help you and hopefully take you to the next level? Sure.

[Sicily]

So of course I've been doing the. Let me turn you up a little bit here. I don't know why it's so low.

[Luke Acre]

No problem.

[Sicily]

And let me get my question here. But I've been doing the, you know, the magazines for almost a year now. So it's really fun. It's a great way to connect with the community, local businesses, you know, getting co branders also, you know, targeting the audience that likes to read. Right. Because everyone's not just social media. Some people still like to read. And so my question is how can I generate good quality leads? I have great local presence. I feature five to six co branders every, every magazine.

[Luke Acre]

Awesome.

[Sicily]

And I run out of magazines every time. But the leads are mainly company approved leads. How can I get more leads and in less time?

[Luke Acre]

Love that question. Get this lady some more magazines. We can't have you running out, Sicily. We can't have that. Okay, so give me a little background of how long you've been in real estate and then what does your transaction count or volum volume look like? Like what range do you kind of produce every year?

[Sicily]

Well, pretty. Pretty. You know, I don't know if you know anything about southeast Texas. The average home that sells here is about 250,000. So I sell a, a quantity of homes, right?

[Luke Acre]

Sure.

[Sicily]

And then I also deal with a lot of relocation clients that are traveling and because we have like a lot of the comp oil companies here and all of that. So they Come out here and I help them. So last year, just to put a number on it, I, I did what, 4 million last year.

[Luke Acre]

Awesome.

[Sicily]

Which I was. My goal was 6 million, so I didn't, I don't think that's awesome, but I'll take it. My goal was 6 million.

[Luke Acre]

I take it back though. Not awesome.

[Stephen (caller from California)]

Boo.

[Luke Acre]

You know, mediocre. Mediocre.

[Josh Dyke]

No.

[Sicily]

You know, but I work really, I work hard. I do, I work really hard. I'm a part of everything. The Chambers, the bni, the, the Rotary. Rotary. I, I'm a part of the community really heavily. I, I do events and so I, you know,

[Luke Acre]

so you're doing a lot of the right things. So let me ask you this question then. This is more of an operational question, but it helps us know where you need to focus. Do you know out of the 4 million how many came from your, what I would call sphere? But some people's like referral, repeat business. Yes. So how many came out of that and then how many referrals on average a year do you believe you get? Oh gosh, that's from your database.

[Sicily]

I'll tell you that. This is, that's a really great question. And that's one of the things that I'm trying to focus more on is measuring all of those things. And I think that's what I'm missing. I think a lot of times I just don't pay attention to that.

[Luke Acre]

And so do you have a CRM you're using?

[Sicily]

I do, I use Moxie and then

[Luke Acre]

I have, yeah, love moxie, they're great.

[Sicily]

So Moxie. And then I also use like I have an Excel spreadsheet with all my Sphere leads and all their contact information and all of that.

[Luke Acre]

You're the real deal, meaning you're doing great volume in a sense of a solo producer compared to the market. If I was comparing you across the industry, I mean, I hate the stats, but it's like 90 of real estate agents aren't really doing anything. And so you're actually having the volume. But yeah, you're, you're basically already self identifying what your issue is. You need to go from producer to an actual business operator. And even to be a better producer than you are, you need to know your numbers because it's very, very, very hard to improve something that's not tracked because you don't know where to begin. So the, the function always is you take action, you track your results or measure it and then you improve. Right. So you iterate on the results that you have so first step for you would be you got to know where your leads are actually coming from. So how many referrals you're getting. And, you know, and then how many of those are actually closing? And then that leads to really. What's the size of your database? Do you know how many people you have in your database?

[Sicily]

Well, it's not a true number because that's another thing I need to stop and add people.

[Luke Acre]

And I love you. You know exactly what to do. I love it. You just need a little bit of what I call it hard love. Come on. What are you doing? If you didn't hit your 6 million goal, I know you got 4 million. You're disappointed in yourself, but you know exactly what you need to do is you're basically going to. Well, I need to make sure that the database I have is actually real. And I want to make you feel comfortable here, too, in the sense of this is not uncommon. I was just yelling at Steven and Cody's top producer on their team. He did 95 deals last year. And his database that we're. Yeah, we're. We are send out the magazine to his database and stuff. And we. I was just. I say yelling. I was just, you know, having a coaching session with him the other day, and he's just getting that cleaned again, because it's not clean. You know, he has 192 people in there that he's sending this magazine to, but it's not. He just got rid of, I think he said, like, 15 of them, because they're not real relationships. And it's like, it's the hardest thing to do. You know why? Because it's the picking up the cinder block and laying down the cinder block. It's not sexy. It's hard. It sucks. Nobody wants to go to the gym. Nobody wants to do the mundane work, but that is what you need to do. So it's like, you got to first get your database in order and make them real.

[Sicily]

Okay.

[Luke Acre]

You then need to track how many referrals that you're getting. You need to then track your conversion. And then the goal would be if you want to do 6 million in volume. And let's do some math for you real quick. And this will be helpful for everybody because, you know, all this is. Is just math. So you want to do 6 million. Is that your goal this year?

[Sicily]

Well, yeah, I mean, that's the goal I would like to do.

[Luke Acre]

Oh, I don't like. I don't like that attitude there, but is that what you're committed to doing.

[Sicily]

That's what I'm doing.

[Luke Acre]

Okay, so 6 million divided by your $250,000 listing, you know, price, you need 24 transactions. Okay, right, so 24 transactions. If we know, let's say 7% of your database sells a year, right. Or turns a year according to Tom Ferry stats. Right. So let's say it's around 7%. You need about 342 people in your database. Okay, right. Because out of 342 people now 24 of those are transacting, you know, over the course of the year. If you, if you buy into the 7%, you know, stat. So that just gives you a number that goes, okay, well how do I get, if I'm known in my community, if I'm part of bni, if I'm part of the, you know, different clubs and organizations that you talked about? Well, how do you get 342 real relationships in your database? Because, you know, 24 deals can come from just that. And I'm not even talking about when you get that listing and you do the open house and then you go, door, knock, the 50 closes. I'm like, it's an exponential factor that grows, but it starts from, hey, the goal is 24 deals. Two deals a month. Where do those two come from? That's the question we've got to answer. We know it should come from your sphere. We got to get our sphere in order and then, you know, then we can move to these other. First focus all your attention on the sphere, getting that database in order and then we can focus on other pillars. But I'll throw it to you guys, Stephen and Cody, if you want to add to that, because I think we can get some tactics here for you, Sicily, of how to actually get referrals out of your database. But anything you guys would want to add?

[Stephen Acre]

The only thing I would add is like Sphere obviously is your long term healthy business. But if we're talking about sphere is not necessarily bottom of funnel. And especially when you're adding people to the database. And so, I mean, all you need to really do is add six people, six more transactions to your goal for next year.

[Sicily]

Right.

[Stephen Acre]

For going from 4 million to 6 million or 8 deals or whatever it's going to be. And so then I would just go, hey, we're a little bit behind the game. We're in February here. And so I would just do some activ. Lead pillars as well to that. I would do open houses. Right. Because those people will al. Ultimately be in your database. They'll Be sphere. They'll be on the magazine drip, all that good stuff. But you can get some active business and really ramp up what you need to do to get to two deals a month for your goals for next year.

[Sicily]

I have three deals closing this month, so.

[Luke Acre]

Yeah, let's go. Yeah, you are. I see. You got it. You got it. Are you doing open houses for those deals that closed? Okay, perfect. So do you. Have you mentioned you hand out the magazine? Do you send any of the magazines to your sphere? Is it purely hand out? Okay, perfect. So I would have you called behind the magazine and asked for referrals?

[Sicily]

I'm actually gonna implement that. I just.

[Luke Acre]

Yeah, let's go. Let's do. Let's do a call to action on the COVID of your magazine.

[Sicily]

Okay.

[Luke Acre]

Where you are offering a free home equity report or, you know, home value. Want to know what your home's worth when you call Stephen? Okay. Beautiful. So when you call Stephen. Perfect. Look at that sexy magazine. I love that.

[Josh Dyke]

Hold it there just a little.

[Luke Acre]

Everybody go to remindermedia.com. get your own magazine sponsored by Reminder Media. But you want to send something to where you're calling, Say, hey, Stephen was thinking about you. You just popped into my mind. The reason why I got my latest magazine. I'm sending you as a gift. I sent it all my best relationships. Just want to check in. We haven't caught up in a while. How's life been? And then the transition is very easy. It's. Hey, hey. I wanted to point out, also on the magazine, I put a kind of item of value for all my friends and family. So many people are wondering what their house is worth. And I just want to make sure that, you know, hey, if you ever want to know, I want to give you kind of a professional cma. You can just scan that QR code right there on the front cover. Your magazine. We'll tell you Sicily if they scanned it right. So you'll know immediately who to call. But then the key here is that you reference the QR code and then you immediately go, you know, because I don't know. Are you. Do you have any plans for real estate this year, Stephen? Like, a lot of people want to get into, like, investing and stuff like that. You know, some people are trying to think about when they want to list their home. I didn't know where your kind of real estate goals were this year. Did you have any plans buying, selling, investing in real estate this year? And they're probably going to say no. And then you can go, perfect. Hey, well, I just want you to know, whether it's this year or five years from now, I'm your person. If you need anything, you know, let me know. I want to be here for you. And then go. The other thing, I want to make sure, you know, because a lot of people think I'm too busy for their referrals. And I just want you to know that I so value. Yeah, I'm trying to grow my business this year. I want to help more people, and if I could work with more Stevens, I would love it. I would really hate that, but I would love it. You know, and then. And then from there, ask them for. Do you know anybody that you could introduce me to? Maybe they're not looking to buy, seller, invest right today. But I just want to be there for them like I am for you. And I so appreciate our relationships, this city. And that's why, you know, I wanted to touch base. And if you do that, ask. Oh, my gosh, do that, ask every quarter, you know, maybe biannually, and you will get tons of referrals. Most people don't refer not because they don't want to. They don't refer because they're not top of mind. That's the reality. That's.

[Stephen Acre]

That is the difference, though. It's intentionality. Just get that word in your head when you're doing anything. When you're at the open house, it's, you know, go for the appointment. That's being intentional. I'm going for the appointment. I'm not just going to hold an open house and meet people. I'm going to get them through the door. I'm going to be intentional about adding every single person to my database. I'm going to be intentional about asking for that referral. So you just got to get that. That word's got to stick in your brain because everything you do, I mean, you can. You can easily take this with your talent to 6 million. I mean, you will crush it. And it sounded like your goals wanted to be higher, so set it higher.

[Luke Acre]

Go from producer to business owner. That's your goal this year. 26. You got to be. Yeah, you got to become a business owner. Business owners know their. Their stats. Business owners know where their deals come from. You can do that, too.

[Sicily]

Okay.

[Luke Acre]

Appreciate so much, Sicily, you being a client, you coming on the show. Let's. If we're not already, let's connect on Instagram and chat me up if you need help. But really appreciate you coming on. This is awesome.

[Sicily]

No, thank you for having me. And this Information is, yeah, I'm gonna take it and, and apply it. So I appreciate you for having me here and thank you so much for your time.

[Stephen Acre]

Let's go.

[Cody Smith]

That's the attitude.

[Stephen Acre]

Thanks, Sicily.

[Josh Dyke]

All right, there you go. Make sure to get your questions answered live here on Staypaid. You can go to remindermedia.com ask and we will get you scheduled here for some time on the show. Our next caller is Patricia. Patricia calling from New York. Patricia, welcome to Stay Paid.

[Patricia]

Thank you. It's a pleasure to be here.

[Luke Acre]

How are you, Patricia? Glad to have you. We are doing fantastic. Hope you're doing well as well. What is your question? What can we help you with?

[Patricia]

Oh, my question is that I sent out some postcards and I wanted to know if my target audience, if it's. How do I know that it's the right one?

[Luke Acre]

Okay, can you give me a little background of, you know, one. I'm assuming you're real estate, right? Josh mentioned you're New York.

[Patricia]

Yes.

[Luke Acre]

Can you give me a little background of your business and kind of where you're located in New York and what you're trying to accomplish with your postcard farming? Like, what's your ultimately goal with that?

[Patricia]

My ultimate goal is to get some listings, but I'm, I'm in New York about an hour north of Syracuse, New York, and it's very rural and in the population that I chose is a very small town. But I noticed that there's not been a lot of turnover in the homes there. People haven't sold in a while. So I decided that I would, you know, go into that territory because there doesn't seem to be a lot of people there.

[Luke Acre]

Okay. So my golden rule for farming, usually I look at a couple different things. The first thing that I look at is what you just mentioned, which is turnover rate. And turnover rate for those listening is purely the amount of homes that sell in a given timeframe. So usually I use a year to two years. And you can get that data usually by going on your MLS and kind of looking at the area you want to target and seeing how many homes actually sold and then going to Google and Googling how many homes are actually in that area. So I think you can get that from the U.S. postal Service, if I'm not mistaken, and there's a couple other sites. Say that again, Cody.

[Cody Smith]

AI could get it for it, too.

[Luke Acre]

Oh, yeah, awesome. Great point. Yeah. So AI can help you get that. So then what Tom Ferry would suggest, right. He's the number one coach in real estate. When we had him on the show, I asked him the question, what turnover rate would you suggest? He always was saying like 6%, 5%. You want to see at least a 5 to 6% turnover rate. So the only times I've seen people farm places that are less than that is for the listing price is a lot higher. So it affords you to be able to market for longer to get one deal because that is a million, $2 million home or whatever it is. What's your average listing price, Patricia? In this area?

[Patricia]

In this specific area, it's about 175,000. It's not very high.

[Luke Acre]

So, yeah, low listing average, which is fin, I think Acre Brothers, what are you guys? 280 or something like that. Right. Somewhere in red. So, so this is a lower listing price. Do you know the turnover rate off the top of your head?

[Patricia]

I do not. I would, I would say it's probably. It's not 5%, it's lower than that.

[Luke Acre]

Okay, so that would be an action item for you is get on your MLS and just do some research of like how many homes are actually selling a year. Because that gives you your tam, your total addressable market in a way. Like, you know, if 20 homes sell a year, then you can at Most get probably 20 sales out of this area. But then you have to factor in. Well, Patricia's probably not the only agent in this area. And so you're probably never going to get a hundred percent of that 20. You can get maybe 20% of that 20. So then that tells you your realistic expectation of how many deals you're going to get, which then gives you what, the commission potential, the GCI potential, which that then tells you the money spend that you're able to spend. So if you're, you know, if we do the quick math here, I'm not good with math, but I'll use my calculator. Let's say 20, for the sake of this example, are going to sell a year in your area. And let's say you can get 20% of that 20. That's four if your average listing price is 170. Is that what you said, right? 170?

[Patricia]

Yeah, 170. 175. Yep.

[Luke Acre]

Right. So that's 680,000 in volume. What's your average commission, Patricia? Is it 2.53%? What's your, what's your average commission?

[Patricia]

No. Three and a half.

[Luke Acre]

Okay, good for you. Awesome. So, okay, so that's $23,800. Now, I'm assuming you probably have A brokerage split that then has to be done out of that $23,800. So I don't know what your brokerage split is, but let's say are you giving 20% to your brokerage or something like that? 30% to your brokerage. Okay, so I'll take away now, you know, that's minus, you know, about $4,760. So let me go back and basically say you basically have about 19,000 coming in. So then that 19,000, if everybody is staying with me here, 19,000. So how much should you spend in marketing in order to, you know, make it a viable business? A rule of thumb would be if you're trying to maintain, you spend about 10%. If you're trying to gain market share, which is what you're trying to do, if you're trying to get your brand known, you can be 20 to 30%. So let's go high end and say you're going to spend the maximum 30%. So you can spend $5,700 to go farm this area. So then you go, well that means I can spend about 3, $475 a month to farm this area. And then you go well what can I send I. E. Postcards? And you go all right, well our average postcard, what is 80 cents, John, 81 cents somewhere in there. So you can farm about 500 homes, 593 homes once a month, and you will spend about 5,700 for the year. And your goal is obviously you're trying to get. Now all this is off of a fake number. I don't know if 20 homes are selling right, right here in your area. You got to go find that out in your mls. But that's how you strategically do the math that goes, what am I trying to do here as a business owner? I want to look at my target audience of Syracuse, New York in this neighborhood that I'm farming, how many homes sell a year? What's my potential? 20% I can maybe capture of that. How much money is that going to net me? Okay, here's my marketing budget. I can spend and you can go after that area. And then the other things I look at when you're choosing your farm, first is turnover rate. Then the second I just walk through which is, well, how much money, you know, can I actually spend to farm people consistently? Because most people do not hit their farm enough. Once a month is the bare minimum. So I would actually encourage you have check equity, which is that once a month mailer, then you have sweat equity. So I want you to pick up the phone and actually call everybody in that farm. I want you to go out and door knock if you have the time. Everybody in that farm. I know you're in a rural area, so calling is probably better than door knocking. Yeah, but that would maybe be your second touch that you're doing over the course of a month or two months to that farm. But here's the other thing I would look for in your mls, look for the competition. So if you go to your farm area and you pull up your MLS and you see that Acre Brothers realty is selling, out of the 20 listings, they're selling 15 of them. That happened over the course of a year. You know, Acre Brothers is dominating that farm and it is going to be hard for you to break in. It doesn't mean you can't. It just means think of it as branding. They have a brand established. People know their name. 81% of sellers choose the first agent they talk to. So Acre Brothers has established a brand. You've got to get your brand in the mind of consumer in front of Acre Brothers brand. And they've planted all these seeds because they're getting 15 of the transactions. So it's going to be harder for you. It's not impossible. But you got us. Okay. I'm going to have to spend more money. I'm going to have to do more touches, more sweat equity, build more relationships, hustle more, kiss more babies, as they say. Or is it kiss more babies? No, shake more hands babies. I don't know. But the point I'm trying to make here is you look on the MLS and go, is there a single agent or team that is dominating this farm area? If not, if it's spread a bunch, a bunch of other agents, like it's just a myriad of names. Perfect. That's a great farm to go into. And then last but not least, when I look at farming, I go, you should be a community farmer, not a transactional farmer. A community farmer is someone who gets known as Gary Vee would say, as the local mayor of that town. They're the connector. They build the relationships. They're in it for the long haul. I think it's, Cody, you like to say, they're in it for the career, not the year. Which is a great saying of you're trying to build that brand. So those are the things I would look at with farming, starting with getting into your MLS and looking at your turnover rate.

[Sicily]

Beautiful.

[Stephen Acre]

That's a.

[Cody Smith]

Such a. The ending is a Key because you can send postcards out all day and in my opinion they're not going to do anything. But what will they will do is get your branding in front. So when you call they have another reference point. The call that he mentioned, the circle prospecting is key to postcards. It's both combined together. And yeah, I would do any open house that's in the area, I'm calling the agent, I'm doing whatever I can to do that open house. So any event, I might even do like, oh, let's get a food truck

[Luke Acre]

out there and do a little event

[Cody Smith]

in that community, invite everyone to it with a postcard. Like you're just, you're, you got to be the person of that community if you're going to farm it. It can't just be postcards.

[Luke Acre]

So that was, look at the low hanging fruit.

[Patricia]

I think I would have to knock on the doors because New York doesn't allow you to phone call. No phone calls.

[Luke Acre]

Okay. Yeah, you'll have to knock on the doors. The one thing I was going to say, look at the low hanging fruit. So in your farm, Patricia, what FSBOs are, are popping up and what expired listings are happening within your farm? Right. So it's like those are low hanging fruit, those are people in the farm that are trying to actively sell and you can reach out to those people, go door knock those people in essence because they're low hanging fruit in your farm. Remember with farming though, and for everybody listening, farming is a long term game. It's a brand building game. It is not a direct response game usually. So that means you're trying to essentially plant the seed, water it and just you know, take care of that, you know, harvest or essentially that plant that crop until the harvest. And most people give up too soon. I always tell people you should minimal farm for a year, but most people don't see return in their farm for like 18 months. And so you just got to keep that in mind. And not here say what Cody?

[Stephen Acre]

Focus.

[Cody Smith]

Not your focus.

[Luke Acre]

It is because you're gonna, you're gonna spend $5,700, get nothing in return and you're gonna feel like I've wasted my money. You're gonna feel like, what am I doing? I, I. But you got to keep going. And most of the time this is that way for all marketing. For all marketing. The leads you generate on Facebook, they take us 10.8 months to close when we generate a lead from our Facebook ads.

[Cody Smith]

Right.

[Luke Acre]

I think Google is a little less than I think Google was Like seven months. Farming is over a year. Referrals. It's hard for me to know because you've known that person for years. You know what I mean? So you've really been building brand with your friend for years. Right. Trust with your friend for years. It just happens that they need it, you know, real estate today and they chose you. But all marketing is really brand building, trust building, I should say, with the mind of the consumer. And you're displaying that. So. Any questions on that, Patricia? Hopefully that helps you as you. It does.

[Patricia]

It helps me immensely. You've given me many things to think about that I hadn't thought of before. So I plan to go to the MLS and do exactly as you suggested. And I appreciate that. Thank you so much.

[Luke Acre]

Yeah. Thank you for joining the show.

[Josh Dyke]

Yeah.

[Cody Smith]

Is for farming that has produced really well for a lot of agents. Is creating a Facebook group for that community. A place where you can talk and all that. It's an easy, free way to then add a bunch of people in that community to Facebook as your friend and get them in talking that you're like leading. That's where you can also post that event that you might do there and. And all that. But it's an easy way, free way to connect with that farm. In addition to that.

[Patricia]

I appreciate that's a great idea.

[Luke Acre]

Yes.

[Patricia]

I didn't even think of that. I've actually been going to other community pages and posting on there and I could create the community page, which I don't believe there is one for this town. So that would be beautiful.

[Cody Smith]

One posting about what's going on in that town events and like, not make it about you at all. You're making about the community event, but you're the person that's, you know, starting it all. And you're seen as like the mayor of that town because you're creating this community.

[Sicily]

Right.

[Luke Acre]

So that's beautiful.

[Josh Dyke]

Awesome. Thank you, Patricia.

[Patricia]

Appreciate you so much. Thank you so much. I appreciate you as well. Have a great day. Thank you.

[Luke Acre]

I won't.

[Patricia]

Thank you. Bye.

[Sicily]

Bye.

[Luke Acre]

All right. Yeah, she's awesome. Farming is so hard because it is the long game. And I only say that because we've been in it now for what, four years with postcards? Maybe longer. Six years. And you know, we do millions of postcards for agents. She's one of our clients. It looks like sending out postcards and it's just. You realize that, wow. You know, it is not. There is direct response within real estate for sure, but the majority of industries would get you know, yeah, we do a lot of other industries besides real estate and they're way more direct response than real estate services. But dentists.

[Josh Dyke]

Real estate's all about timing the relationship that you're building there.

[Luke Acre]

So that's 100%.

[Josh Dyke]

All right, make sure to get your questions answered live here on Stay Paid. You can go to remindermedia.com ask, submit your questions there. We'll reach out to you. Schedule some time here on the show. All right, let's go to our next caller, Stephen. Stephen calling from California. Stephen, welcome to Stay Paid. Thanks for being here.

[Stephen (caller from California)]

Hey guys, what's up?

[Luke Acre]

What's up, Steven? Hey, man. It's early in California. Well, I guess not too early. I guess it's 12 o'. Clock. He's close now.

[Stephen (caller from California)]

So 8:49, 8:50. Yeah, not too bad.

[Luke Acre]

Yeah, yeah, you've been up since 5:00am Right, man, hustling, you know, getting it done. Not today.

[Stephen (caller from California)]

Not today.

[Luke Acre]

But I don't blame you. What's your, what's your question, brother? What can we help you with?

[Stephen (caller from California)]

Yeah, I was gonna ask you guys, you know, you know, what advice would you give yourself like at 12 years old, you know, going back in time. It was one of my questions and then I had another one, but that one first.

[Luke Acre]

What advice would I give my 12 year old self? Geez, be harder on your little brother, Stephen. He's gonna grow up to be weak. I was not too hard on you, bro. Yeah, that's great. I don't know, it's hard to say. I think the advice I would give, I was homeschooled. I mean, Steven, you were homeschooled too. I was homeschooled all the way to college. And I would probably go back and tell that kid, stop worrying so much about what others think about you and stop being so much of a performer. Because I've been such a performer my whole life and it has, you know, it's helped me a ton. Right. Performance is good, but it makes it really hard to have authentic relationships when you are just constantly in a performance mode because you're worried you're going to come across the wrong way or, you know, people aren't going to like whatever it is that you're doing. And I think that stem from me. Steven and I grew up in a family band. So we had this band and we used to travel around kind of up and down the east coast and stuff like that. And you know, so from my first show I played at 12 years old. So I think that is like if I think you Know, if I was talking to a psychiatrist, I think they would say, you know, that's probably what happened is you got so performance. So I got so like, sensitive on like, what people thought of my voice or music. And then that translated to everything else I did in life. And that's has followed me in my business career. I wish so bad today I could be way more like just raw. But I, But I'm constantly. My EQ is like, well, how's this person? How's Stephen going to perceive me right now? I don't want to offend them. I don't want to come across the wrong way. And that just doesn't help you in life. Build authentic relationship. I, I envy the people who can just be like, boom. This is, this is what I think.

[Josh Dyke]

That's so funny. I don't see you as a person

[Luke Acre]

because I'm a performer, dude. Yeah.

[Stephen Acre]

If anyone wants to watch it on YouTube, it's still there.

[Cody Smith]

Feel free to go check it out.

[Josh Dyke]

Yeah, it is the Acre Brothers Battle of the Bands.

[Stephen Acre]

Yeah, go check it out on YouTube.

[Luke Acre]

That's crazy.

[Josh Dyke]

I would have told myself I would have similar, like, you know, to not be so hard on yourself, but also like to get in situations where it's kind of like what I'm telling my daughter right now. She's 17 and so. And. And my son, because they're picking electives and they're trying to get into different things. I was like, get into situations where you have to. Because I was always a very, you know, and still you guys can tell I don't talk as much on the podcast as everybody else.

[Luke Acre]

I wish you would talk more.

[Josh Dyke]

I would get in more situations where you'd have to present or sell or, or get into more groups, like learn how to, to relate, you know, and build relationships and things like that. Because it's one of my weaknesses is I'm more of a thing oriented person, not a people oriented person. So I would have done that much earlier and tried to build it because it's so hard to do that at 44 years old. It's much easier to do that, you know, whenever you're, whenever you're still growing and learning.

[Luke Acre]

Yeah, that's good.

[Josh Dyke]

More risk.

[Cody Smith]

That would be mine.

[Luke Acre]

Take more risk.

[Cody Smith]

Yeah, take more risk. Don't play this safe. Especially like when you're single, no kids, you know, no wife. You can do whatever you want. Your expenses and costs.

[Luke Acre]

Oh, the freedom. Before we were all institutionalized with marriage. What a great institution.

[Cody Smith]

No, the opportunity to take more risk.

[Luke Acre]

What about You, Steven?

[Stephen Acre]

Yeah, I mean, for me, every stage of life you just look and wish you would have done more right because you get more responsibilities, like you said. So getting married, having a kid, like, oh man, I should have been wealthy at 12 years old.

[Luke Acre]

That's too good. I'm curious, Stephen. I appreciate you calling and asking that question. I'm curious what you would tell your 12 old year year old self, man.

[Stephen (caller from California)]

Me, you know, I would just tell them, you know, I guess build off confidence, you know, and, and go through things, you know, one step at a time. You know, there's going to be. The ball's not going to be away all the time, so you have to just, you know, you deal with adversity in life and, and things will come up and then, you know, like, for instance, you know, it's going to happen. Just play it out and just kind of go through the, the struggles and the up and downs and, you know,

[Luke Acre]

and then there is a. I love that because there was a great post. I think it was Jay Shetty. I reposted it and it was like, I forget if it was an image of like Times Square, but it was just people like going over this crosswalk and just hundreds, you know, of people going through it and it had over their heads what was going on in their life. Like, you know, this person, a miscarriage, this person got fired, this person struggling with anxiety. And you just was such a great image, like a reel of like, yeah, you're exactly right, man. Like crap is going to happen to you and it is happening to every single person. And perspective helps so much to realize, hey, it's going to happen, you're going to get through it. You guys got to keep going. My wife's grandfather just passed away and we were at his funeral and I remember he was, you know, one of these guys that was, you would not know he was successful, he was a farmer. But this guy, I mean, more successful than me, probably than what I will even be from a monetary standpoint or anything like that. But you would never know that. Just unassuming, humble. I didn't really even know it till, you know, the end of his life. And I asked him, you know, a year, two years ago, something like that, I asked him what his best piece of advice was and he said, you know, the truth is you just got to keep waking up and put one foot in front of the other. You just got to keep putting one foot in front of the other. And as long as you do that, then you'll get there and then he made a joke and said, in partnerships, if you want to have great partnerships, don't do them. I think he was half joking about that one, but he was dead serious about the first one. But what's your other question? I know you said you had two questions. What's your other question? A.

[Stephen (caller from California)]

What's a struggle that you. You come across in life or business, that. That you want to share, you know, to get to where you are right now or something, you know?

[Stephen Acre]

Yeah.

[Luke Acre]

Struggle that we've come across in life and business. There. There have been so many. I'll take a different. I'll take a different route on this one because there's the. The obvious ones that we kind of just even touched on a little bit. But for me, it is, you get out of life what you inspect, not what you expect. So you get out of life what you inspect, not what you expect. And you could take it a step further and go, you get out of life what you accept, not what you expect. And I have lived my life in a way where I have not inspected enough. And so you got to inspect. You got to be in the details. You've got to follow through. And you can't just hope people will do things. You must inspect that they actually did the thing. And the best thing you can do in your life, I think, is have somebody that is inspecting you, that is inspecting you on what you're setting your expectations to be that will hold you accountable to it. And most of us, we go through our lives setting big goals and targets and doing all the goal setting, but we never actually focus on the actual thing that matters, which is, did you actually do the thing? Did you. Did you actually do the work that was required of you and did that get inspected of the other people that you expected to do the work? And so that's where I would go with it.

[Stephen Acre]

Yeah. And I think, like you had alluded to this earlier, Luke, but like, partnerships and relationships, those are the hardest things in life, but they're also the most fulfilling things. So for me, in relationships, I'm a salesperson, very energetic when I'm leading, but I've learned to be more direct with people on what I want out of life and being clear on that, but also being clear on getting out of them what they actually want in life and making sure that those goals truly align. Because if goals don't truly align, you actually shouldn't. It's not that you shouldn't be in relationship with the person, but you shouldn't be in partnership with those people. You can be in relationship, but you shouldn't be in partnership. And I think it's just for me, it's, it's being direct on what I want, but also asking the right questions and pulling that out of people, pulling out what they truly, what, what their motivations are, what their desires are, and then not being unreal on connecting the dots of whether or not you can provide that to people. So before it's like for me and my business journey, it was like I can accomplish anything I want in life. And I believe that's true. But there's only a certain amount of focus, time capacity that we have. And so what am I actually going to fulfill in my life? And is that going to get that other person what they truly want fulfilled in their life? And so that's, that's how I'd answer that question.

[Luke Acre]

Josh, Cody, anybody else?

[Josh Dyke]

Well, I said communication. I think that's the most challenging thing. It's like in both ways. Like in terms of, of keeping communication open and frequent. But also in terms of the thing that I struggle with is people don't hear you when you say something the first time. Like, and, and you've, you've said this multiple times, Luke, where it's like the burden of the communication is on the communicator.

[Luke Acre]

Right.

[Josh Dyke]

It's not the, the, the listener, the person is. It's your, it's your job to present it in a way and in a frequency that is communicated and is heard. So that's something I'm always constant, constantly working on.

[Stephen Acre]

Yeah.

[Cody Smith]

I think mine would be the biggest struggle is to continue to try to find a talent because they change your world.

[Stephen Acre]

Yeah.

[Cody Smith]

So that would be like the continual and. But what that looks like is you've got to be good enough to deserve a talent to work with you. So that comes on you and you're gonna have to go through CNB talent to get a talent. It's not just like a one off. You're gonna get them. It takes a lot of work to get there.

[Luke Acre]

A lot of frogs. Right.

[Cody Smith]

So that's a lot. That's a big struggle because that takes so much time and attention and effort and heartache and disappointment. Right. And to get through it. But at the end, once you get the eight talents, it's like game changing and changes your world.

[Stephen Acre]

I think Stephen's a counselor. I don't think he's a real estate agent.

[Luke Acre]

Yeah, well, that is what a real estate agent is. It's like a counselor, advisor, psychiatrist. Stephen, what's your business this year. Like. Like, how many. What's your goal? How many deals are you to. Your goal this year?

[Stephen (caller from California)]

I mean, I. I try to get between 12 to 10 a year, you know, get one a month or two. Two every. Or one every month. That's. That's what I try to get. That's great, you know. You know, that's. Strive for that.

[Luke Acre]

What part of California are you in?

[Stephen (caller from California)]

I'm in the Bay Area by Wanna Creek Pleasant over there. East Bay. So suburbish were. I mean, in between San Jose and San Francisco. So it's a good, good idea.

[Josh Dyke]

Location.

[Luke Acre]

Yeah. Great.

[Stephen (caller from California)]

Because the schools are go, you know, suburban, but everything's good over there, you know?

[Luke Acre]

Yeah.

[Stephen (caller from California)]

So.

[Luke Acre]

Love it.

[Stephen (caller from California)]

Yeah, love it, man.

[Luke Acre]

Hey, well, I appreciate you calling in, man. Hopefully some of that advice resonated with you of what we give ourselves.

[Patricia]

But.

[Luke Acre]

Yeah, I would encourage you, like, you know, at the end of the day, you gotta put one foot in front of the other, as my grandfather said, and just keep trucking. But anything else we can help you with.

[Stephen (caller from California)]

That's it, guys. I said my background was a basketball coach, so, you know, coaching kids and then real estate, same way you're coaching, you know, clients. Whether it's selling a house or helping to buy, you want to be coachable, I think, in life, and that's what helps.

[Luke Acre]

So good.

[Josh Dyke]

So.

[Luke Acre]

Yeah, so good. My man.

[Josh Dyke]

All right, thanks.

[Luke Acre]

Appreciate you coming on. Hey, go crush it, man.

[Stephen (caller from California)]

All right.

[Josh Dyke]

See you, brother.

[Stephen (caller from California)]

Take care.

[Luke Acre]

Yeah, great questions. I haven't thought about that. Especially the 12 year olds. I don't even remember what I was doing on 12.

[Cody Smith]

Like to just have fun for a bit, bud. To just go have some fun.

[Stephen Acre]

Yeah, I did nothing.

[Luke Acre]

Yeah, I was yelling at Stephen to play better than he was playing as a musician.

[Stephen Acre]

You should have seen those old days. That was so funny.

[Luke Acre]

So funny.

[Stephen Acre]

He'd like, be smiling in front of the crowd. We'd be up on stage and I'd make one mistake and he'd be smiling. He'd turn around to me and give me like the evil eyes. They turn back and start smiling. Dude, he was hard on everybody, you know, even from 12.

[Luke Acre]

I'll tell you what, it's because you were off tune.

[Josh Dyke]

I don't know why that makes me feel better. I feel okay. It's not just me.

[Luke Acre]

I like to tell myself, I told my wife the other night, I said, every great business owner that I've met, they can't stand imperfection. Can't stand imperfection. That's what I think it is. There Is a truth to that. Because you think of, like, Steve, our uncle, right. And he can't stand imperfection. You think of.

[Cody Smith]

I think of like.

[Luke Acre]

Like Michael Schulson, a guy I know that owns, you know, tons of restaurants. Super popular. And then Mike Nimroff, he owns these. A T shirt company and all these guys. And I could name more, but so weird. They just.

[Josh Dyke]

But they themselves are not perfectionists.

[Stephen Acre]

Yes.

[Josh Dyke]

Such a weird, iconic. Yes.

[Luke Acre]

Yes. That dude. I've never thought about it in that. You have a way with words, but that is exactly right. They. It's almost like hypocritical. It is hypocritical, but yet they're not. They don't care. In their own life, they could have a messed up desk or whatever, but when they see it in other people. Yeah. They can't stand it. They got to fix it.

[Stephen Acre]

A bunch of judges.

[Luke Acre]

Savior complex. A narcissistic savior complex. Maybe that's what it is. Yeah.

[Cody Smith]

And you're, like, trying to associate yourself.

[Luke Acre]

This. This stay paid Q A has turned into a therapy session for Luke Acre. I'm a savior complex, narcissistic,

[Josh Dyke]

and having it evaluated as well. So we'll have our diagnosis.

[Luke Acre]

I love it.

[Josh Dyke]

There you go. If you want to get your diagnosis live here on stay paid, you can go to reminder media.com ask. Submit your questions there. We'll schedule you here a time for you to come on the show and ask your questions. If you enjoyed this episode, please do us a favor. Head on over to YouTube. Go to the Reminder Media YouTube page. Make sure you are subscribed and you've got those notifications on. And specifically give this episode a thumbs up. It really helps the algorithm, helps other people get served up the video. And then, of course, you can share this episode with someone that you know. If you got something out of it, we would greatly appreciate it. For this episode of stay paid, I am Josh Dyke.

[Luke Acre]

Guys, I'm Luke Acre. Thank you so much for listening. Remember, you can listen all day long, but if you don't take action, it won't do anything for your life. The difference between top producers and mediocre producers is they take action. So take action today. Sam.