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No Leads Falling Through the Cracks: Nick Harris' 3-3-3 System
00:37:36
He didn’t go viral - he just closed over 100 homes. Here's proof that consistency, daily engagement, and personal touches will always beat chasing views. In this episode, Nick Harris, a top-producing agent from Michigan, breaks down how he...
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- [00:00]
Nick Harris
Foreign.
- [00:04]
Joshua Steich
Welcome back Stay Paid listeners. Before we bring on our guest today, we would love it if you take a minute to subscribe to stay paid on Apple podcasts or Spotify. While you're there, drop us a five star review along with the comment. We will read it here on the show and make sure you subscribe to the YouTube channel. You get to check out the new studio.
- [00:19]
Luke Acre
Look at the lights we don't have. I want a ton of views on YouTube, dude, but we are starting to get way more hundreds.
- [00:28]
Joshua Steich
We have 13000 subscribers guys.
- [00:30]
Luke Acre
Help us help a boy out man time help a boy fulfill.
- [00:33]
Joshua Steich
I want everyone listening to this or watching this to comment on the new.
- [00:36]
Luke Acre
We used to push Apple podcast constantly because that's where all of our listeners were. And then Spotify and you'll get the vanity metrics. No, exactly. And then I was like, you know what, I'm too vain of a person. We need YouTube and also YouTube is just so much more practical, honestly. Yeah.
- [00:51]
Joshua Steich
Make sure to search Reminder Media on YouTube. You can subscribe to us there and follow the stay paid podcast playlist. Joining us today is Nick Harris. Nick is a top producing real estate agent with Best Life and company, the number one exp team in Michigan for homes sold. And over the past four years Nick himself is averaging over a hundred homes a year. With today, Nick is committed to sharing his knowledge and expert experience with other agents to help them scale past 300k in GCI with the wealthy realtor method. Nick, welcome to Stay Paid. Thanks for being here.
- [01:21]
Nick Harris
Yeah, thanks for having me guys. I'm excited.
- [01:23]
Luke Acre
I'm going to hold you to that commitment, Nick. You have to share your secrets now. So we're at the end of April here. How has the beginning of the year been for you? Like what type of volume or transactions? Because a lot of people are complaining about the market. But where do you, where do you find yourself?
- [01:38]
Nick Harris
Yeah, beginning of the year has gone really well. I have closed, I believe to date I've closed 24 transactions for a little over 8 million in volume.
- [01:46]
Luke Acre
Get out of here.
- [01:48]
Nick Harris
Yeah, going really well. Michigan. So I'm in the, you know, I'm in the Michigan market and the Michigan market is very seasonal. Spring and summer is, you know, a lot like most markets is really where we see an uptick. But in Michigan specific, specifically due to primarily the weather, most people don't want to move in the dead of winter. So usually quarter one and quarter four a little bit slower, a little bit tougher. So you know, I'm, I'M blessed.
- [02:07]
Luke Acre
So you've done well. Yeah, if that's slower for you. So what is working, like let's get real kind of into the tactics, like what is working to produce 8 million in volume, 24 transactions. Where do you see the leads coming from? And then we can talk about maybe how you're nurturing them or how you're getting them.
- [02:24]
Nick Harris
Yeah, right now, I mean the majority of my business is coming from especially quarter one of this year, majority of my business is coming from sphere of influence and just repeat referrals, but also social media and some circle prospecting. So the big three, you know, if you, if I had to put a percentage on it, I would probably say like 33 for each lead source across the board. So you know, that's, that, that's nice to have a few different things. But yeah, I mean sphere of influence, social media and then circle prospecting are the primary drivers right now.
- [02:55]
Tim
And how is social media organic or is that like paid ads?
- [02:59]
Nick Harris
Yep. So primarily organic. I do run, I do run some paid ads on the back end, but it is not the bulk. I kind of do it to supplement the, the organic because I, you know, I specifically target people in my demographic, but also my client avatar. So you know, through meta, Facebook and Instagram, I find that the, a lot of people go into it and think that the ads will boost organic, which is true. And I also see it on the opposite end. Right. Like I see that my organic actually boosts my ads and it just, it gets people more familiar with me. So I would say most of it is coming organic just because one reason or another people. What I'm seeing a lot right now is that people will see your ad, but rather than opt in, they may go to your page. And now they're, and then they're contacting me directly through my direct message, which is great because now I'm not going through an ad. Right. But they're coming to me direct just to go to my page and search who I am. And these people are, you know, coming more familiar, becoming more familiar with me due to the information that I put on my organic outreach. So they, they're building a little bit more know like and trust rather than just listening to a 60 second long ad.
- [04:03]
Tim
Yeah, we, we just talked to a top producer over in like Waynesboro area and he has, I think he closed 175 last year. He said 95% of his business was organic social media. But I looked, he like pulled up his, his DMs and I'm like, why are you getting DMs and we're not getting DMs on our stuff? So I'm curious about that. Like, what are you posting?
- [04:23]
Nick Harris
Yeah, so a lot of it is, a lot of it is the call to action, right. And where I, where I get most of my DM communication is interactive posts on my, on my stories. So it's polls, it's questions, it's the this or that polls where people are engaging with that. Like I do a, I do a this or that post every Thursday and it can be, you know, it can be seasonal, like, you know, fourth of July coming up soon. So it's like, are you a hot dog or a hamburger person? Something completely outside of real estate. Right. Or very specific to real estate where it's, you know, do you prefer this style home, a ranch versus a colonial? Do you prefer this flooring over that flooring, these cabinets over that cabinets? And I get a ton of, a ton of engagement out of that. I think where most people fall short is they just take the engagement as great. You know, people are commenting or posting or picking a poll, but then they don't do anything with it. So like, I make a conscious effort to actually reach out to those people and start conversation. Most of my conversations are just very, very personal, not real estate related. Even if they're, you know, even if they're, they're picking a poll on a real estate related post, I just take it right back to something personal and I feel like that helps a lot. So, you know, and I'm not afraid to go out and actually start the conversations myself. Right. So if people are liking your posts, I mean, it's a very small factor. Likes and follows are a small factor. They're not a very clear indication of like, you're doing business. We can go down a whole rabbit hole with that. You know, I can't tell you how many times I've posted something, I've gotten very minimal likes on it. Whether it was a just close, just listed client story, a reel about a property, whatever it might be. I mean, pick any of them, you get very minimal likes. But then, you know, I go to a wedding and it's, you know, 10 years removed from college and I'm seeing 20, 25 people and 50% of them are, haven't liked a single post, haven't, haven't said anything to me. But make a comment of like, looks like you're crushing it in real estate. And then they're, they're saying, we're actually thinking about Buying or selling in this timeframe or, hey, my parents are gonna do this. Like, people notice. So it's a very low percentage that like follows. And likes don't really amount to anything. It's how interactive are you in the DMs and messaging and commenting back when people comment. And I think the more that you can set a. Set aside some time to do that on a daily basis. You know, for me, it's. I do it in the morning, the afternoon, the evening. I take like 10 minutes each time, so 30 minutes a day just to respond to poll, and then I'm done, and I'm not doing it until the next morning. And do you have any other cadences, like you said Thursday, you do polls? Yeah, yeah. So general rule of thumb, what I do right now and what I. What I teach a lot of agents to do, and I think it helps with social media pretty dramatically, is I call it my social333. So three different categories, three follows, three direct messages, three comments minimum per day. Now, you can pick whatever you want to do with that, right? If you're not super busy and you have the time to do it, or you're super heavy on social media, follow 10people direct message 10people and comment on 10people's post. I kind of treat it as like, my minimum is social333. I'm gonna follow three people direct message and then comment on three different people's posts. So I do that on a daily basis, Monday through Friday. And, you know, it helps the algorithm a little bit. The algorithm sees that, hey, you know, Nick and Cody are now in a conversation. I should probably put Nick's stuff in front of Cody. And if you're doing that to nine new people a day, it's. It's constantly moving that algorithm in a circle to put your information in front of them. And again, even if it's. Even if it is, you know, you hear all the back and forth. I'm like, don't post just listed, just sold. I don't think there's anything wrong with it, personally. You guys may argue with me, but the more experience and the more transactions that you're showing, you're no longer a secret agent, right? Same thing with, like, Day in the Life videos on your stories and in reels. Like, show people that you're. This is what you do. If you're making cold calls to help a buyer find a home because we can't find anything on the market, and you're showing the extra effort to call around a specific neighborhood that they want to be in. And Susie on the other end of the phone sees that. It's like, well, I've never had an agent who's done that for me, like take videos of that stuff. Did.
- [08:20]
Tim
You're so much like an agent on our team, Tim. Look, the way you coach Tim, it's like identical to what you just said. That's awesome.
- [08:28]
Luke Acre
Yeah. Well, what's interesting is like, I think you should do just listed, just solds and those that type of content. I think it's a mistake not to do that. But I think where majority of agents fail is that's all they do. And it wouldn't work if you didn't have the engagement of the DMs and you didn't have the polls. Because essentially it's like a just listed, just sold is advertisement. But when they know you personally, it's actually productivity. Does that make sense? It's like unless people know you personally, they will not make the switch from ad to personal production, like personal productivity. And so like I always tell people, you have to do the personal connection because it takes all your advertising and puts it on steroids. It takes everything else you're doing and actually makes it relevant. And now every other piece of marketing you do, it stands out. I actually spoke at a conference where Brad Lee spoke before me and he was teaching everybody about social. And my thing was, and I told people is basically, look, you're not going to be the next Brad Lee. The amount of people who are going to be Brad Lee or going to be a Grant Cardone or going to be an Alex or Mosey is very little. And you don't even want to be. And so Instead of taking 20 minutes to film a perfect video, take 20 minutes to actually go talk with people on social through comments DMs because it influences the algorithm anyways. And that is where the real gold is. But I think people are so focused on the content that they're missing the engagement. And unfortunately you can produce content all day long. And I see this with people, they produce content all day long, but it doesn't get any engagement. It's. Yeah, because these people don't know you, like you or trust you. And you have to do the work through social and very. We've even had this happen for us. You'll have a viral video and you. That's what you're waiting for. Like, I have a video. I think it says like 1.9 million views on Instagram. It's like, but it didn't do anything it gained, maybe it gained a few thousand followers, but it didn't do anything for my social. So it felt like that's what I was chasing. All chasing, chasing, chasing. It happens. You're like, ah, shoot, I really should have just been picking up the cinder blocks every day and engaging with people on social. So here's a question for you when it comes to sphere, because I think this is the struggle every agent comes on and the majority of their businesses sphere. And everybody knows you got to stay top of mind. Is the sphere coming to you or are you asking the sphere for business to get that 8 million or was it truly just all the keeping in front of them led to that? Because I'm just curious, do you have a proactive ask on your sphere that generates leads for you or is it just, hey, out of the first quarter? Not that you got lucky because it's all the brand building you did, but it just happened in the first quarter for you versus you were proactively asking.
- [11:27]
Nick Harris
Yeah, I would say it's all the above. So, you know, I think it starts with, I think it does. I think it starts with your organic social. And I, you know, I couldn't agree more with any. Everything else that you were saying on social. And everybody, you know is, is after that, just the content wants to go viral. I can say, you know, to any agent out there, I have not had a single, real single post, not one go viral. And I'm closing, you know, a hundred plus deals a year. Not one post has gone viral. And that's okay for me. Right. And as far as sphere of influence, I think it's a combination of everything. So I do have an intentional, intentional plan of, of outreach. So in addition to my social 333 that I do on a daily basis, I do what I call an SOI 5. I know that these are really creative. I love them.
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Luke Acre
That's great, dude.
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Nick Harris
So I do a social five where Monday through Friday, I reach out to five people within my sphere and I send them a personalized video text message. It's nothing fancy. It's me sitting here in a T shirt and I pull out my phone and I record myself for 15 seconds.
- [12:26]
Luke Acre
That's gold.
- [12:28]
Nick Harris
Only. Only personal information. I'm not asking them for business, not telling them, not reminding them that I'm in real estate. And you know, for most people it's like, where do I start with that? Right? I would go to wherever you have the most, most of your sphere, whether that's your phone, contacts, is that your Facebook friends Is that your Instagram followers and just go A to Z? That's what I do. I go in, my phone contacts, A to Z. So if I'm going to start with today being day one, I'll start at A. I'll pick out the first five, I'll send them a video text message, 10, 15 seconds of, you know, hey, was just scrolling through my contacts, cleaning them out, came across your name, realized we haven't talked in like, what feels like years. I hope you're doing well, hope the family's doing well. If I know something through social media or I know something just happened, I might bring it up. But then it's just, hey, we'd love to connect with you, hope everybody's doing well and let's chat soon, right? I like video because people see a video come in and they're going to be intentional about watching it and it's much harder than a text message to ignore. Right. If you see a video come through from me and you can't watch it right now, you're going to wait, keep it on, read, and then watch it when you can and respond. But most people, they get a text message and they're busy, they'll look at it, be like, ah, Snick, I can't take care. You know, I can't deal with that.
- [13:35]
Luke Acre
So true, man.
- [13:36]
Nick Harris
What's your response rate on that? Like, is it. I mean, I can't say 100%, but it is very close. I mean, just depending on the day and then I'll get a response, you know, you might not get a response day one. Like, what I have found is if I send it out and I'm not getting a response, they're responding within like 24 hours. And it's a, hey, completely forgot about this. Sorry, I was busy. Wow. Then they get back.
- [13:56]
Tim
So people like you, though, so I don't know if they like it.
- [13:59]
Luke Acre
Yeah, they'll respond to you, Steve, with the middle finger.
- [14:03]
Tim
We haven't talked in years. You're trying to sell me.
- [14:06]
Nick Harris
So do you have like a CRM database that you're keeping track of all this stuff too? Yeah. Yep. So I use, I use follow up boss. It's, it's what I have used. It's what I like. I, you know, I did it. I didn't go into research mode on the CRM. I just, if I had something and I knew how to use it, so. But I mean, to go back on that, I mean, when I first started, I used a Google spreadsheet. I mean, that, that was literally what I used to and productive, but not optimized for sure. I mean, you know, a lot of leads fell through the crack, I can guarantee that. But I got so I got so accustomed and used to working with something that was very low grade, just using an Excel or a Google spreadsheet, that once I actually had a CRM in place to set tasks and follow ups and you know, to nurture different leads, it made it 100% better. But the nice thing about that soi that soi 5 is that again, you're going A to Z Monday through Friday, you're reaching out to five people. What I have found for the number of people that are in my phone contacts, it takes me about a quarter to get through when I'm just sending five. And the reason I pick five is because I don't want to get overwhelmed with you know, having starting 15 conversations in a day. If you have the bandwidth and you have the capacity to send out five or 15 of those a day, great, right. But what this also allows is that I'm going through every single person in my contacts at least once a quarter, just sending them a personalized message. And I make a, I make an intentional effort to check their social media on Facebook or Instagram, see if anything has happened. Did they get married? Did they go on vacation? Did they have a baby? Did their kid graduate?
- [15:36]
Luke Acre
Do you do video every time?
- [15:38]
Nick Harris
Video every time, Yeah, I like doing video every single time. And so that just keeps me top of mind. You know, in addition to that it's the social media outreach, just staying in contact with people. And then obviously all of my, I still consider my past clients to be my sphere of influence. And so I have a follow up system with them too. You know, I'm reaching out a week after they close, I'm reaching out a month, three months, six months, 12 months after that. I run three, you know, my team runs three client events a year. And so, you know, I'm pretty much in contact with people once a month. You know, I mean it just the way that my system flows and it's. Everything is just personal, it's not real estate related. And then what I have found is that that opens up the door to ask the question, ask for the business, whether it's them or someone that they know. But I never bring that up. Right. The only time, and it might be like a backdoor move is if they're not asking me, I get to the position and ultimately, you know, it's a big piece of what people do. It's their, it's their, their family, their hobbies and what they're doing for work. And so I ultimately structure that conversation around, hey, you know, even if I don't know, like, hey, remind me again, what are you doing for work these days? Like, what's going on? Like, once that conversation gets rolling, inevitably they're going to ask you. And what I always recommend to people is obviously answer in regards to real estate, whether you're brand new or whether you're experienced and you're in real estate. But where I think most people get stuck on this is that they, if it's, if you're going back and forth on a text message or even if you're just on the phone, they stop the conversation at real estate, rather than jumping into the next thing. Now that person feels like all Nick reached out to me about, yeah, that's so good, right? So you might say, hey, yeah, you know, they may say something to you if they know you're in real estate. Yeah, I see real estate's doing great. How's, how's the market so far? Make a slight comment about it and then immediately within that same text message or within that same breath, jump into, hey, what do you guys got planned for the, for the summary? Kids busy with sports or what do you know, like, what's going on this weekend? What do you got planned for Mother's Day?
- [17:28]
Luke Acre
Because that's what you would do in an actual real combo.
- [17:32]
Tim
That's right.
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Nick Harris
Well, that just happened. Real estate for so long, that's the conversations that happen. You have normal conversations and they're typically always going to ask.
- [17:39]
Luke Acre
Yeah, because you're not trying to sell, you're just, you know, having a relationship with somebody.
- [17:44]
Joshua Steich
What are you doing for your, you said three client events a year. What, what type of events are you doing?
- [17:49]
Nick Harris
Yeah, so our team, So I, I coach and mentor agents on our team and we, we have about 45 to 50 agents depending on, on the day. But we do three client events a year. We do one in the fall, one in the summer and one in the winter. We just finished our winter one. Couple of months ago we did a place out by us, it's called the Hub. So they have golf simulators, axe throwing, foaling food provided, you know, a lot of that is sponsor driven. You know, our lenders are our title companies, different partners, inspectors. But we have, you know, free reign to invite all of our past clients or people that have closed or right on, right on the line of working with you. So we do that for the, we did that for the winter. For the summer we do like a, a splash pad or an outdoor park, so it's a little bit more kid friendly. So the winter one was adults only. Drinks, food, games. Summer is kid friendly, so it's a splash pad or an outdoor park. They have like a petting zoo. We do food trucks for that. And then usually in the fall we do a cider mill. So there's a cider mill around us that has pretty much everything with, you know, petting farm, pumpkin patch, different rides, different stuff.
- [18:59]
Tim
Sweet.
- [19:00]
Nick Harris
So those are, those are the three that we do and people really like them.
- [19:03]
Tim
Quick question. How many people are in your database? So if you're closing, 33% instead of 28. So you're like what, seven sphere. How many people are actually in the database?
- [19:13]
Nick Harris
So I treat my database maybe different than what someone would. So I consider, like, I consider my actual database to be people who I know are going to transact within the next 24 months. If they're not going to transact within the next 24 months, then they're not technically in my database.
- [19:30]
Luke Acre
Interesting.
- [19:32]
Nick Harris
So, you know, I.
- [19:33]
Luke Acre
Because why do you do that? Why do you exclude out the other people?
- [19:38]
Nick Harris
So I keep the two separate. Right. So like if, if you wanted to think of one, like the, like the broad database being everyone that I know, everyone that knows me, like that's my phone contacts, I'm hitting them once a quarter. Right.
- [19:49]
Luke Acre
Okay.
- [19:50]
Nick Harris
But for my actual database or like my CRM, these are people who are highly intentional. I need to be highly intentional about reaching out to them because again, I don't want anything to slip through the cracks that makes sense. Through my process, through my social media content, through my daily outreach, through my social five videos, I mean, I'm getting in contact with my, these people consistently. And as soon as they hop in and show any signs of buying or selling within the next 24 months, they get transitioned into that narrow database. But what I have found is most people overwhelm their database with too many leads and that's when you get stuck in. Too busy with follow up, don't know what to do with follow up. Too broad of content. You're just trying to get stuff out there and in front of them and it doesn't. It's not good. It's not good content. It's not good value.
- [20:32]
Tim
That's a great nugget, Luke.
- [20:33]
Luke Acre
That's a. It really is. Yeah. I was gonna say it make. I, I figured that's why you were doing it, because the number one mistake Josh and I were joking before we got onto the podcast about, man, the biggest mistake we made was too many focuses for reminder media with products and stuff like that. And it's, it's a similar trap, right? What you're talking about is put everybody in your database and say, yeah, in theory it makes a lot of sense. You, you should have everybody, but you can't actually do that well. And so being real with yourself and actual intentional is so key in business. But a lot of times you only learn that by experience. And that's the problem. What's the narrow focus?
- [21:12]
Tim
Like, how many people are in that narrow focus?
- [21:17]
Nick Harris
Within my narrow focus, within my narrow focus, it's probably, I mean, I would have to look, I would say it's probably no more than about 600. But if you were to look at like the total, it's, you know, it's 5,000 plus, right? Just people, acquaintances that I've come in contact with. You know, I think another thing with treating it like that, what that has done for me, at least mentally, is like my database isn't as big as what I think it is, right? If I'm going after, if I'm like, I have this, I have this database of 5,000 people, like, I'm set, I'm good, something's going to happen. But if I know I have to feed that narrow one, I'm constantly trying to pull people from one to the other to get them in there. So now it's a conscious effort to say, I need to build this up, but they need to be serious. I can't. You know, I think too many people, especially in real estate, get lazy with a great. You can have a, you know, you can make 200 dials a day if you're doing outbound outreach or you can knock on 50 doors. But really, what was it? It was just busy work. Like, what was the actual result of that? And so I just funnel the people in who are actually serious. And that's why I don't let that get overwhelming. Because as soon as they transact, they're out of there, right? Like, okay, now my, now my contact, I have a follow up for them. But I'm not treating them as like, hey, these people are going to transact within the next 24 months. Sure, something can happen where they need to sell within the next year. But I'm constantly trying to funnel that smaller database and the smaller it stays, the more motivated I am to get people in there.
- [22:35]
Tim
Yeah, small nuanced question, but do you Use like your FUB number for those people and then your personal number for the other. Are you just using your personal number?
- [22:44]
Nick Harris
I tried, I tried using the two and I got completely overwhelmed with it. So I just use personal number. I found that like for people I, I found when I tried to make the switch because I, I, before joining fub, I had, my business had started before then. Right. And then I would try to reach out through follow up boss with that follow up boss number and people weren't responding. And what I, what, what ended up happening was people thought that it was like either a fake person, someone that was, was trying to imitate me, or they just didn't respond. They saw it come in differently rather than my main, my main number. And like, well, why is Nick texting me off this one? I have his number saved. So like I, I, I wish from the start, if I had to do it all over again, I would keep the two completely separate. But where I was in my business at the time, it just, it didn't function properly for me to have two separate. But if I had to start over, I would.
- [23:37]
Tim
Yeah, we just went through the pain. I was just like, you know what? This is my new personal number. So like I give out that personal number to friends, you know, whoever it is. It's Subdivor.
- [23:46]
Nick Harris
Yeah.
- [23:47]
Luke Acre
That's actually super smart. It's, that is such a nuanced golden nugget of like when you get into real estate, get yourself a CRM and choose a CRM number.
- [23:57]
Tim
Yeah.
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Luke Acre
To update all of your sphere and everybody. Like this is your new number. So you can actually track system wise what's happening with that number.
- [24:05]
Tim
You're closing a hundred off of using your phone and the CRM together. Like my, my brain doesn't work like that. It's like I have to have the inbox, you know, or else it's like.
- [24:15]
Luke Acre
You'Re a freaking assassin. I'm curious because I think this would be super valuable is if I come join your team. Right. Or I want to be Nick because that's where I think most agents would be. And I want to shadow and mimic you for a day. What does a normal. I know every day is a little different in real estate, but a normal day look like of how much time I'm prospecting, how much time I'm posting, how much time I'm like, what would my schedule look like?
- [24:42]
Nick Harris
Yeah. So I am very calendar oriented. I've been that way. So I've been an athlete my whole life. I play college baseball and Everything was like you were here at this time, you were at study at this time. You were a class, you're at practice, you're away training, you're at food. Like everything was structured. So for me that was like super easy. I needed some type of structure in my business. And for me, if I don't have that, I completely forget what the hell I'm supposed to do. Yeah, that's just, that's just how it is. Like if it's, if it's not in my calendar, it's gone. So like all of my, I start with all of my personal things. My family life, my wife, my child, whatever we want to do. Everything goes in, it's color coordinated, it's purple. Purple for personal. Right. And if it's not there, I completely forget. So if my wife has to go and do something and I'm supposed to be watching my daughter, it's in my work calendar. I need to know that. But a typical day in the life, I mean I have everything, I have everything in my calendar. The biggest chunk of time that I have in a calendar is my prospecting time. Everything outside of that is no more than 30 minutes. So you'll see little 30 minute increments throughout the day. And I'm, I like that because I lose focus after a while, right. If I'm working on one thing for too long, I'm picking up my phone, I'm checking my email, I'm wanting to walk outside to the fridge or whatever it might be. So I put everything in 30 minute increments. I wake up early in the morning, I do what I call my deep work, where I work on the business rather than in the business. So from 5:00am until about 7, that's my, that's a big chunk of time. But within that I have a list. I do it the night before where I put a list of. These are the two, three, five things that I want to get accomplished where I'm working on the business rather than in it. That might be content creation and coming up with different things that I want to do that might be updating my social media, that might be updating my signature. It might be, you know, having conversations and trainings for my ISAs or VAs, or showing agents and buyer's agent like things that are actually going to grow the business. So my, my first two hours of the day, five to seven is what I call my deep work or working on the business rather than in it generally. From there I like to spend a little bit of time with my wife. And my daughter. So breakfast time, hang out, gives me a break, a little bit of a mental break. Then I go to. I started by going directly to the gym and then I would find that by the time I'm back from the gym, showered, I didn't have the quality time that I wanted with my wife and daughter because things started to come up. So I then go to the gym, put my phone on, do not disturb. I'm at the gym around like 9 o' clock, workout from 9 to 10. It's usually a still, still a safe spot for me where my phone's not blowing up. And then once I'm back, it's right into prospecting. So I feel good. I'm, you know, I have endorphins going, I feel good and I usually jump right into prospecting. Everybody's a little bit different with this, just pick what you like. But it's kind of that eat the frog mentality where again, as you go, as you, as you experience real estate, you think that you're going to have a flexible calendar. You come to realize that like your calendar is completely dictated by the clients that you're working with. You're going to show up to the listing appointment when they're ready, you're going to go to the showings when they're ready. You're going to schedule the inspections when they're ready. So what I found is that the morning is the best time for me to actually get the prospecting done. So I like to spend at least two, if not three hours up until lunch where I'm intentionally prospecting and that might look different. And right before that I should go back. Right before that is when I do my after the gym, before my proxy prospecting is when I do my social media 333 and my social five, five videos. So that's done. Then I jump into cold outreach. For me, it's been a lot of circle prospecting. I've had a lot of, of success from that. And as you, as I've grown, you know, it's it that can be. And if you're in that position, that can be delegated to an isa, a va, a showing agent, a buyer's agent, get them some, some reps as well. So then lunch and then I open up the afternoons for appointments for new agents who are not consistently seeing business right after that lunch, like give yourself that mental break. But you should be jumping right back into the business of prospecting, whatever that looks like for you. Whether it's a different method. If you Spent the morning calling. Maybe you spend the afternoon on social media, or maybe you spend whatever it might be. I mean, there's every traditional method in the book of door knocking or networking or whatever it might be for you. Find what you like and what works and give it time to actually work. So after lunch, I set my day up for appointments, usually pretty busy. I don't go on many showings anymore. I would say maybe 10% of my showings. And it's usually determined by the client themselves if I feel like they need that little extra push or because you.
- [29:02]
Luke Acre
Have a showing agent on the team you are giving this to, correct?
- [29:05]
Nick Harris
Yep. So I have multiple showing agents and I, you know, I've learned over time how to pitch that to where it's a benefit for the buyer rather than, you know, a benefit for just me. That, that did take some time and some practice to really relay that information. But then it's open to listing appointments and different opportunities to communicate with people. Usually by the end of the day, again, I'm wrapping up. What am I going to do the next morning for my deep work? What am I going to intentionally focus on that next morning when I have just some quiet time and then the day wraps up? Obviously, again, in real estate, you're going to get, you're going to get people reaching out at different times. One thing that really helped me, for busy agents out there who are having a hard time keeping track of your schedule and sticking to it and having people who do not respect that I have what has changed my business completely. Number one, you set the expectation ahead of time in the listing appointment or in the buyer consultation or just when you're having that normal conversation of here's what, here's what my schedule looks like. Right. If you're, you're a highly paid professional, so act like one. Right. I mean, that, that's the reality of it. And the, the, the correlation is always between, like, us and doctors, right. Different, but similar. Like, you're not telling your doctor when you can go in. More than often your doctor's telling you, hey, I have an opening, two months for now, right. It's okay as a professional to treat your business like that. If you're there every waking moment and you're responding super quickly, they think that that's going to continue happening. Right. And now the expectation is, it is, is, it does. So if you can't get them in for the same day showing, you can't get them in for, you know, you can't respond to them within the first 10 minutes. But you've been doing it for two months now you're the bad guy. Now something's wrong, they're thinking about doing something else. But one thing. So outside of setting the expectations in a buyer consultation, a listing appointment, what I have done is if you call me, my voicemail is very specific to my, my working hour. So if, if you call me and says, hey, sorry, you've got my voicemail, if you're calling me between the hours of this and this, I'm busy prospecting for my buyers and sellers to help them in their current transactions, I'll be available to respond between this hour and this hour. And if you're calling me after 5pm and this is an emergency, please get a hold of myself by text or my assistant, I leave her number, or if this is something that doesn't need handled right away, please send me a text message. And I'm going to get to this as soon as I can. So, like, even just within my voicemail, it's like, here's when you can contact me, here's what to expect. And I did not have that. So, like, you know, you would, you would have somebody call you at 5, at 5 o' clock at night, and then they're calling you again at 7, and then they're calling you Again at 10, and it's like I, that simple voicemail was, hey, if this is after five and it's an emergency, text me, I'll get back to you, or reach out to my assistant, my transaction coordinator, who can help. So that's just, so.
- [31:37]
Luke Acre
Yeah, it's so good. It's so good too, because we touched on that. I forget what episode it was on with another, I think it was Maria Boatsman, if I remember correctly. But we touched on that same concept of like, if you don't, if you set the precedents that you're going to respond and then you don't, you, you don't get any gain, you get all loss and you're setting expectations that are not realistic and the buyer, I think, or seller respects you less subconsciously because you're not actually showcasing that, hey, I'm busy. I'm a professional. This is what I do. And it's a, it's a balance because you don't want to be unavailable, but you want to. And what I love about what you're doing is because you're setting that voicemail, you're telling them, like, people fear that if I don't respond, they're going to think I'm not available. And I can't service them. What you're doing with your voicemail is the complete opposite. I'm so professional that I'm actually working right now. I'm actually. And it actually removes that excuse of the reason why they wouldn't want to work with you and makes them want to work with you more. Because I love how you're prospecting for your buyers and sellers, which is fantastic. I freaking love that. So good.
- [32:44]
Tim
This is the podcast that every new agent needs to listen to. Like, this is the one. Like, so it's like that is the schedule that you have to keep and that's almost identical to Tim, you know, shifting times and stuff. But like, he does all of the same things and he's doing the same exact transactions that you're doing. That's crazy, man.
- [33:00]
Luke Acre
It is. It is wild. It's. Real estate is simple but not easy. It's like real estate is simple but not easy. And you could probably say that for most professions, it's just that consistency that is so hard. And most people do not have, Nick, it's. It's obviously been built into you through your athletics or whatever it was. Maybe it's your personality of keeping to your calendar. I know I don't have that. And so what you have to do is you have to find an accountability thing that's. Maybe it's a coach, maybe it's a reward discipline system that you lay out for yourself. But you must find something that forces you to do that. So maybe you have it. And obviously you didn't just have it. You learned, you know, built that skill over years and years of your self development. But it's like that is the winning mentality is that ability to put on your schedule and honor it, do what you say you're gonna do. And that's the first thing I coach agents on or talk to people about is number one skill is to have complete integrity with yourself. And the only way to have that is to do exactly what you say you're going to do to the point where you're confident enough to tell people, I won't do that.
- [34:15]
Tim
Luke's dropping bombs. Like Bradley.
- [34:18]
Luke Acre
Like Bradley. Over here. Someone, Someone make an explosion sound.
- [34:23]
Joshua Steich
Nick, thank you so much for coming on the podcast today and sharing your experience. Before we close out, let people know how they can connect with you.
- [34:29]
Nick Harris
Yeah, you can always follow me on social media. So it's just first name, last name, Nick Harris, underscore realtor. And then I'm happy to have people reach out to me from my cell phone as well. So I get my number out. It's 248-875-2299. Anyway, I can connect with anybody and help. Whether you're brand new, experienced, hit a plateau, whatever it might be, reach out. I'm happy to help.
- [34:50]
Joshua Steich
Awesome. Love is Stephen Cody. Thank you again for joining us. As always, we will include all of those links and how to get a hold of Nick as well in the show notes of this episode. You can get those wherever you listen to this episode. If you listen to YouTube, it's going to be in the comments. If you're on Spotify or or Apple podcasts, it'll be in the show notes. And of course you can get everything @stay paid podcast.com if you enjoy this episode and want to show you support, head on over to YouTube. Give us a thumbs up. Subscribe to The Reminder Media YouTube channel. You can email myself or luke@podcastremindermedia.com and of course you can follow us on social media. We are at staypaid Podcast for this episode of Stay Paid. I'm Joshua Steich.
- [35:28]
Luke Acre
Guys, I'm Luke Acre. Nick, man, phenomenal. Just a beast. I cannot wait to get to know you more and learn more about your journey because you are crushing it. And it is amazing how similar so many things that you're doing to the other top producers that we talk to, which just means success leaves clues. That's what it means. I also want to point out to everybody because this is so applicable to new agents, like we said, we're doing a new version of Stay Paid coming out soon, which I think you guys are going to freaking love. We are doing questions live on the show. So if you're a real estate agent right now listening to this and you're just like, man, I want to ask Nick this question. That is what this show is going to be about is you can call in from anywhere around the country and get your questions answered. The things that you're dealing with, the struggles, the pains. Or if you just want to call into brag, you can do that too. Go to staypay.com ask or DM DM us@staypay podcast on our Instagram. We will line you up to do the show. I think our next show we have like six guests lined up already that are all over the country, agents just calling in and asking us their biggest pain points. But I love it. The reason why I popped in my mind is because Nick just laid out for you such a great template. We're going to have to have him back on one of those Q and A shows where he can actually help answer some of the questions for agents that are struggling or that just need a little kick in the butt, as they say. Here's my action item for all of you guys listening to this, right? Is you've heard it said many, many times that you got to honor your calendar. So I want you to take some time and sit down and actually map out your whole week. Maybe you're not honoring your calendar. Map out the week and commit to following it for the week and put a reward out there for you or put some discipline embarrassment out there for you by getting somebody else involved. Maybe even be really brave and put it out on your social media and say, hey, I'm. I'm going to honor this calendar. Hold me to it. Because that is one of the absolute keys to all successful people. They honor and do what they say. Remember, the difference between top producers and mediocre producers in every business is top producers take action. Take action on that today.