Stay Paid Podcast — “Recruiting Funnels, Cold Calling Scripts & Beating Slumps”

Release Date: October 13, 2025
Hosts: Luke Acree (President, ReminderMedia) & Josh Stike (CMO, ReminderMedia)
Episode Theme:
This episode dives into business growth for real estate agents and entrepreneurs, with a focus on building effective recruiting funnels, honing cold calling scripts, and pushing through business slumps. Hosts Luke and Josh take live, unscripted audience calls and provide hands-on advice for recruiting agents, connecting with cold leads, and sustaining motivation during downturns.

1. Recruiting Agents: Funnels, Messaging & Masterminds

Guest Caller: Rick from Georgia, HomeSmart Broker
Segment: [00:52-16:24]

Key Discussion Points:

• Recruiting in a Competitive Environment

  • Rick outlines his HomeSmart brokerage’s $500/transaction model and the growing competition (02:00).
  • Struggling to stand out, communicate value beyond cost, and consistently connect with desired agents (5–15 deals/year).

• Applying “Customer Funnels” to Recruiting

  • Luke emphasizes treating recruiting like marketing: “The same effort we put into creating funnels for consumers, we need for attracting agents.” (05:12)
  • Questions Rick on whether he has a real recruiting funnel—answer: not really, mostly traditional outreach (06:27).
  • Suggests leveraging landing pages, email, social, text, event invites—just like for client lead gen.

Building an Effective Recruiting Funnel

• Define Ideal Candidate: Rick already targets agents closing 5–15 deals/year.

• Craft Value Proposition: Go beyond cost savings—emphasize full-service support, coaching, training, hands-on brokerage culture (08:17).

• Use Storytelling: Share current agent success stories to offer “proof over promise” (08:44).

  “Proof always sells. ...Whether it’s a success story—proof over promise, as they say.”
  — Josh Stike [09:08]

• Leverage AI: Use ChatGPT to draft agent personas, stories, comparison messaging (09:31).

Multi-Channel Outreach Tactics

• 6 Key Marketing Channels (11:55):

  1. Social media (organic & paid)
  2. Email (has list of target agent emails)
  3. Phone and text
  4. Face-to-face: Events & Masterminds
  5. Drip campaigns/sequences
  6. Mastermind events: Offer value-focused, “brand agnostic” gatherings for agents to build community and demonstrate leadership (13:54–15:35).

  > “If I’m you, I would think about doing a local mastermind where your offices are at and bring in some outside speakers and do it once a quarter and make it free or pretty cost effective for people to come. Make it brand agnostic.”  
  

  > — Luke Acree [13:54]
  

• Consistency is Key: “Whatever you’ve done to help your agents succeed…apply that to your recruiting funnel and that will change the game.” (15:12)

2. Breaking Out of a Business Slump: Mindset & Environment

Written Question: Kimberly (Experienced Agent)
Segment: [17:23–21:17]

Key Discussion Points:

• Commonality of Slumps

  • “If you’re in a slump, you’re not alone.” (17:46)
  • Conferences help by reframing your mindset, building motivation, and exposing you to shared struggles.

• Environmental Change & Self-Audit

  • “If you’re in a slump…think about your environment. The famous saying is, ‘you can plant a flower in the desert and it dies; plant it in good soil and it blossoms.’” — Luke Acree [18:31]
  • Audit your current life, revisit definitions of success, visualize your desired future.

• Accountability & Mentorship

  • Seek out mentorship or accountability partners for support and follow-through (19:25–19:40).

  “Just remember, the ones who win are the ones who kept going… You can never lose if you never stop.”
  — Luke Acree [20:55]

3. Cold Calling Scripts & Earning Trust with Leads

Guest Caller: Jay from Florida
Segment: [21:35–35:08]

Key Discussion Points:

• Main Pain Point:
  Jay finds building trust difficult with cold leads—many hang up quickly, possibly due to spam overload (25:44).

• Hosts’ Key Insight:
  The challenge is often scripting, not suspicion. Agents can get better results by structuring opening questions differently.

  “You led with a yes or no question…like walking into the retail store and the person says, ‘Can I help you?’ and the immediate answer is no.”
  — Luke Acree [26:26]

Actionable Scripting Advice:

• Use “Would you be opposed to…” to elicit the natural ‘no,’ which opens doors (27:14).
• Scripts should be more value and curiosity driven, less about direct selling right away.
• Example: “If you received a cash offer on your house today, would you be opposed to taking a look at it?” [28:00]
• Use pattern-interrupt openers and be careful with assumptive language.

Changing the Narrative:

• Mindset matters: “You’re creating a narrative and excuse for yourself that’s not true.” (26:20)

• A great salesperson’s goal is to bring value first, not just push for a sale.

  “If you just wake up today and just try to help people and not worry about the sale…and you don’t worry about the rejection because you’re already at zero…You don’t have to buy from me…but I have value.”
  — Luke Acree [33:42]

• Resource: Watch Ricky Carruth or ReminderMedia’s own circle prospecting videos for real-life modeling (34:27).

4. Growing an Online Coaching Business: Content, Funnels & Lead Magnets

Guest Caller: Daryl from Arizona, Online Transformation Coach for Moms
Segment: [36:17–49:59]

Key Discussion Points:

• Current Situation:

  • Runs a virtual program with 3 clients (all from TikTok).
  • Wants to attract and convert more moms but uncertain how to scale via content and funnels.

• Strategy Recommendations:

  • Lead Magnet is Essential:
    Create a free PDF (e.g., “30-Day Challenge for Moms”), collect emails for download, start email drips. “You need to develop that list—and that comes to offering items of value, like a lead magnet.” [44:44]

  • Practical Tools:
    Use LeadPages or ClickFunnels for quick, easy landing pages.

  • Crafting the Magnet & Story:
    AI (ChatGPT) can help brainstorm value props and create challenges/content that speaks directly to your target (43:01). Ensure lead magnet is hyper-specific to your ideal client (44:46).

  • Building Momentum:
    “Focus on building your email list…Josh made such a good point of sharing the stories of transformation that will bring people into your funnel to want to work with you because it’s proof for them.” [48:13]

• Conversion-Oriented Content:

  • Josh: “Really focus on telling those transformational stories…documenting where they started, the journey, and the success.” [45:38]
  • Use Instagram polls, Q&As, stories to spot and nurture highly engaged potential clients.

• Free Resource Offer:
  Luke offers 90 days free of ReminderMedia’s custom digital magazine “Start Healthy” to help Daryl drip value to new leads (49:05).

5. Core Takeaways & Notable Quotes

On Recruiting Agents

• “You need to apply that same effort and methodology into how do I recruit agents…both new agents and veteran agents…”
  — Luke Acree [07:03]

On Building Trust in Outreach

• “The challenge isn’t spam, it’s the script. Approach it from value—not from trying to get a yes right away.”
  — Summary of [28:00–34:03]

On Breaking Slumps

• “You can never lose if you never stop.”
  — Luke Acree [20:55]

On Funnel Fundamentals

• “Your main goal in business…is how do I get the list of the people who need my service so I can market to them.”
  — Luke Acree [43:48]

• “The only thing you’ll own is that list. Everything else is fleeting.”
  — Josh Stike [51:07]

6. Additional Resources Mentioned

• Circle Prospecting Podcast with Steven & Cody (YouTube.com/remindermedia)
• Ricky Carruth: Live cold calling/materials
• AI Tools: ChatGPT for messaging, content planning

Memorable Moments

• Luke to Rick on Masterminds:
  “Bring in some top agents to speak that are brand agnostic…It’s all about the community of agents because that’s what will play.” [15:52]

• Luke to Jay on Rejection:
  “You’re already at zero. Jay’s not working with me now, so I can’t lose.” [33:42]

• On Online Coaching:
  “It is very difficult to get clients organically through social…Just focus on building that list.” [48:13]

TL;DR for Listeners

• Recruit agents like you generate leads: with funnels, storytelling, and events.
• Don’t let industry “noise” (like spam) sap your cold call confidence—sharpen your openings and focus on value.
• Break out of slumps by changing environment, visualizing success, and leaning on accountability partners.
• Online businesses must have a compelling lead magnet and an email-focused funnel—document client stories to drive engagement and conversions.
• The only thing you truly own is your contact list—build, nurture, and target it relentlessly.

For more actionable tips, resources, and the full episode, visit Stay Paid Podcast or their YouTube channel.