Stay Paid Podcast: Episode Summary

Episode Title: Struggling to Recruit, Burned Out, and Losing Listings | Your Questions Answered
Release Date: June 23, 2025
Hosts: Luke Acrey and Josh Dyke
Featuring: Stephen Acrey and Cody Smith from the Acre Brothers Realty Team

Introduction

In this insightful episode of the Stay Paid Podcast, hosts Luke Acrey and Josh Dyke, alongside Stephen Acrey and Cody Smith from the Acre Brothers Realty Team, engage with listeners by addressing their pressing questions related to real estate, business growth, marketing strategies, and personal challenges. The episode emphasizes practical advice, motivational insights, and actionable steps to help agents and entrepreneurs elevate their businesses.

Caller 1: Aaliyah from Colorado – Recruiting Challenges

Timestamp: [00:29 - 04:35]

Background:
Aaliyah, a director of operations for a large real estate team in Colorado, has been in the industry for five years and holds a real estate license for two years. She faces significant challenges in recruiting agents to her team.

Key Points Discussed:

1. Current Recruitment Strategy:

   • Aaliyah: "Begging and bleeding." (01:49)
   • Operating in a small town with approximately 500 real estate agents in the MLS, Aaliyah finds it challenging to stand out and attract new recruits despite having a strong market presence and team culture.

2. Team Performance and Goals:

   • The team handles around $80 million in volume and closes approximately 300 transactions annually.
   • Aaliyah aims to expand her team to 20 agents and achieve 500 units within the next two to five years.

3. Strategies for Effective Recruiting:

   • Stephen Acrey: Emphasizes the importance of maintaining high standards to naturally filter out unsuitable candidates. He states, "We have a deep dive into making sure we got our standards together to make sure that looked good, because it's an easy sales pitch from there." (03:07)
   • Cody Smith: Shares his experience of scaling back the number of recruits to focus on quality over quantity, resulting in a more profitable team.

4. Building Relationships and Leveraging Partnerships:

   • Establishing strong relationships with brokerage partners, such as their affiliation with Keller Williams, proved crucial. Stephen notes, "Building that relationship is super important." (03:35)

5. Cultural Consistency:

   • Maintaining a consistent team culture and clear accountability standards helps in recruiting agents who align with the team’s values and goals.

Notable Quote:

“You have to hold to those standards. One of the things that we focused on this year is getting each agent's net profit up... everybody on the team right now is making over six figures.” – Stephen Acrey (03:07)

Caller 2: Bobby from Tennessee – Lead Generation Strategies

Timestamp: [07:51 - 21:04]

Background:
Bobby, a real estate agent based in Middle Tennessee, specializes in residential and vacation lake properties. Despite strong relationship-driven marketing, he struggles with generating and converting new leads.

Key Points Discussed:

1. Current Marketing Tools and Challenges:

   • Utilizes ReminderMedia’s “Good to Be Home” magazine, branded social media posts, email campaigns, and landing pages.
   • Bobby: "Consistency and authenticity are just keys for me personally." (08:48)
   • Despite these efforts, converting leads into actual sales remains a hurdle.

2. Performance Metrics:

   • Last year was slow with only five closings, totaling approximately $1.2 million.
   • Bobby's Goal: Double the previous year's performance in the current year.

3. Effective Lead Follow-Up:

   • Hosts emphasize the importance of immediate and strategic follow-up post-open houses.
   • Stephen Acrey: "First off, when at the open house, you have to set up expectations that you're going to follow up and you have to go for the close at the open house." (16:00)
   • Cody Smith: Highlights the necessity of a robust follow-up system, mentioning their own open house playbook with specific scripting.

4. Balancing Passive and Proactive Marketing:

   • Luke Acrey: Advises investing in long-term brand building while simultaneously engaging in proactive lead generation. He states, "To be rich, you do direct response. To be wealthy, you build a brand." (14:17)

5. Increasing Daily Engagement:

   • Encourages maintaining a high volume of daily real estate conversations to boost lead conversion rates.
   • Luke Acrey: "If you're having 25 conversations a day, just keep doing that and you will be successful." (18:27)

Notable Quote:

“Consumers are educated enough to know, no, you want to be my real estate agent. No, you want to sell me this product. You’ve got to be straightforward in your communication and give the education and give the value.” – Luke Acrey (18:04)

Caller 3: Christina from Kansas – Balancing Business Growth and Personal Challenges

Timestamp: [21:04 - 35:25]

Background:
Christina has been in the financial advisory business for 17 years, navigating significant personal challenges, including supporting her sons who have been diagnosed with mental health and medical issues. She seeks advice on scaling her business efficiently while managing her personal responsibilities.

Key Points Discussed:

1. Personal Struggles and Resilience:

   • Christina shares her journey of overcoming a job loss and managing her sons' health issues, which have impacted her ability to focus entirely on her business.

2. Business Efficiency and Ideal Client Acquisition:

   • Aims to streamline her operations to attract more ideal clients without overextending herself.
   • Christina: "I want to be working more on it than in it sometimes." (27:09)

3. Strategies for Work-Life Balance:

   • Cody Smith: Emphasizes the importance of time blocking and tracking to maintain focus and efficiency.
   • Luke Acrey: Highlights leveraging community support and building a strong personal support system to alleviate business pressures. He advises, "There are only really two ways you get leverage in business. It's through people and through systems." (32:37)

4. Leveraging Community and Support Networks:

   • Encourages Christina to build a local support network, possibly through community groups or churches, to gain both personal and professional support.
   • Luke Acrey: "We can talk about people and systems, but I would also first want to start with the more personal aspect because personal ultimately drives the business." (31:58)

5. Utilizing Systems for Business Growth:

   • Focus on implementing systems that allow Christina to delegate tasks and manage her time more effectively, thereby reducing burnout.

Notable Quote:

“If you are coming into your day and you're time blocking and your day is just totally packed, the only thing you can do is either hire somebody else to actually give you some of your time back.” – Luke Acrey (28:57)

Hosts' Final Advice and Encouragement

As the episode concludes, the hosts reiterate the importance of taking actionable steps based on the insights shared. They emphasize perseverance, strategic planning, and the continuous pursuit of growth despite challenges.

Closing Quote:

“The difference between top producers and mediocre producers in every business is top producers take action. Take action on that today.” – Luke Acrey (35:25)

Key Takeaways

1. Recruitment: Focus on maintaining high standards and leveraging strong team culture to attract quality agents.
2. Lead Generation: Balance passive brand-building efforts with proactive lead generation strategies, and ensure immediate and strategic follow-up with leads.
3. Work-Life Balance: Implement effective time management systems and build a supportive community to manage personal and professional responsibilities.
4. Action Over Knowledge: Success hinges on the ability to take decisive action based on learned strategies and insights.

Engage with Stay Paid Podcast

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• Website: remindermedia.com
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• Email Submissions: Visit remindermedia.com/ask

Thank you for tuning into the Stay Paid Podcast. Remember, taking actionable steps today can transform your business and life tomorrow.