CIRCLE PROSPECTING for Real Estate: How We Closed 25 Deals Using THIS Script!

Summary

In this episode of Stay Paid, hosts Joshua Stike and Luke Acree dive into the world of Circle Prospecting in real estate, a lead generation strategy that has resulted in 25 deals for Stephen Acri and Cody Smith of the Acri Brothers Realty Team. Circle Prospecting involves selecting a neighborhood, collecting homeowner data, and making calls to offer home evaluations and explore potential listings. The strategy emphasizes proactive outreach and highlighting recent market activities to initiate conversations. Despite the challenges, the success of this tactic lies in identifying motivated sellers and maintaining consistent engagement.

Highlights

• Stephen and Cody discuss their success with Circle Prospecting, closing 25 deals in 2024 already, with 12 more expecting by March 🔥.
• Circle Prospecting requires selecting neighborhoods with a good turnover rate and having a value proposition to offer homeowners 💡.
• Outgoing outreach includes making hundreds of calls daily, using a script to gauge homeowners' interest and motivation 💬.
• In Circle Prospecting, it’s important to have data about neighborhoods and recent sales to initiate valuable conversations 📊.
• Utilizing tools like Deal Machine can aid in managing outreach and ensuring compliance with the 'Do Not Call' list 🚀.
• The episode emphasizes that proactive marketing, like Circle Prospecting, complements passive strategies to fill in downtime and grow the business continuously 🌟.

Key Takeaways

• Circle Prospecting is an effective lead generation strategy that involves selecting a neighborhood, gathering homeowner data, and making outreach calls 📞.
• The key to success is identifying motivated sellers who might be open to listing their homes 🏡.
• Stephen Acri and Cody Smith attribute their result of 25 deals to persistent calling and engaging with homeowners based on recent market activity 📈.
• Circle Prospecting can be done for free, requiring only a proactive attitude and willingness to engage with potential sellers 💪.
• The strategy can also involve leveraging platforms like Deal Machine to filter out the 'Do Not Call' list and manage outreach efficiently 🛠️.
• Consistency and persistence are crucial, as demonstrated by making thousands of phone calls to secure deals over time 📅.

Overview

In the engaging episode of Stay Paid, hosts Joshua Stike and Luke Acree introduce listeners to the compelling world of Circle Prospecting—a proactive strategy for real estate agents looking to generate more leads and secure listings. Welcoming Stephen Acri and Cody Smith from the leading Acri Brothers Realty Team, they unpack the steps and tools involved in Circle Prospecting, sharing insights on why this method is a game changer for their business.

Circle Prospecting, as discussed by Stephen and Cody, is all about knowing the market and the neighborhoods. By selecting areas with high turnover rates and compiling detailed homeowner data, agents can make informed outreaches. Stephen and Cody's team specifically use platforms like Deal Machine to organize their call lists and streamline their outreach process, making hundreds of calls daily to find motivated sellers and set up appointments.

The success of Circle Prospecting lies in the numbers and persistence. From managing thousands of calls to tracking conversations and setting appointments, Stephen and Cody highlight the importance of being both proactive and patient. The episode not only sheds light on their methodical approach but also underscores the value of blending proactive and passive marketing strategies for sustained real estate success.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Introduction to Stay Paid and Circle Prospecting In the introduction chapter of 'Stay Paid and Circle Prospecting', the hosts Joshua Stike and Luke Acree address the effectiveness of circle prospecting as a lead generation strategy. They highlight that many agents tend to overlook this method despite its proven success in generating leads. The hosts emphasize that circle prospecting is beneficial for finding new listings, maintaining a presence in neighborhoods, and building relationships with homeowners even before they consider selling their properties.
• 00:30 - 01:00: Guest Introduction and Achievements In this chapter, the hosts welcome Stephen Acri and Cody Smith of the Acri Brothers Realty Team, who are recognized as the number one realty team in Lynchburg, Virginia. The conversation kicks off with a professional greeting and a compliment on their appearance. The topic of focus is Circle Prospecting, wherein the guests are poised to share their strategies and successes in this area.
• 01:00 - 02:00: Circle Prospecting Strategy Overview In this chapter titled 'Circle Prospecting Strategy Overview,' the speaker discusses their success in using circle prospecting as a real estate strategy. They mention achieving 25 deals in the year 2024 and already having 12 under contract by March of the current year. The speaker explains circle prospecting as selecting a geographic area and gathering detailed information about the neighborhood to facilitate real estate deals.
• 02:00 - 03:00: Selecting Areas for Circle Prospecting Circle prospecting involves targeting homeowners in a specific area to market real estate services. A key consideration is ensuring that homeowners are not on the 'do not call' list to avoid legal issues, as contacting those on the list can result in significant penalties. The process involves compiling a list of contact numbers and starting the outreach process, often described as 'smiling and dialing.'
• 03:00 - 04:00: Value Proposition in Circle Prospecting The chapter discusses the criteria for selecting areas in circle prospecting, focusing on the value proposition. The speaker emphasizes the importance of choosing areas where there is existing data, especially neighborhoods they are already familiar with due to previous farming. Key factors include higher prices and high turnover rates in these neighborhoods. This knowledge enables them to utilize recent listings, whether new on the market or recently sold, as a value proposition by highlighting the excitement around property prices.
• 04:00 - 04:30: Comparison to Door Knocking The chapter explores the concept of using personal data and events occurring in a neighborhood, akin to door knocking, to connect with people. It emphasizes the importance of personalizing information to engage others, suggesting activities like informing about a new listing or a recent sale as a way to initiate communication.
• 04:30 - 05:30: Obtaining Prospect Data The chapter discusses innovative ways of obtaining prospect data by using market activity as a reason to reach out to potential clients. It draws a parallel between traditional door-knocking methods and modern approaches like cold calling, emphasizing the idea that both involve reaching out to unknown individuals to offer services related to their homes, such as providing estimates on their property's value.
• 05:30 - 07:00: Making Calls and Using ISAs This chapter discusses the fundamentals of making calls and using ISAs (Inside Sales Agents) in real estate. The emphasis is on understanding the value proposition that appeals to clients, namely, their interest in knowing the market value of their property and obtaining the best price possible. It highlights consumer awareness and the general reluctance to be pressured into sales.
• 07:00 - 08:30: The Script for Circle Prospecting This chapter discusses the concept of circle prospecting in real estate, where agents reach out to potential sellers to provide them with home valuations. The narrative includes personal accounts where individuals shared their experiences, highlighting the rarity of being approached through circle prospecting. Despite its scarcity, the chapter illustrates the closest experience of receiving communication from an agent, which came in the form of a letter stating that there are buyers interested in similar houses within their township.
• 08:30 - 10:00: Dealing with Rejections The chapter discusses strategies for responding to rejections in a professional context, particularly in the realm of real estate and sales. It begins with the author recounting their experience receiving a marketing newsletter from an agent, which prompted thoughts about their own approaches. The narrative then pivots to the importance of data acquisition and effective targeting of specific areas or neighborhoods for potential listings. Selecting the right geographical regions or neighborhoods, especially those that match one’s professional and financial goals, is emphasized as a tactical approach to engage with potential clients.
• 10:00 - 12:00: Statistics and Success Metrics This chapter discusses the various platforms used to gather data for investing purposes. The focus is on selecting providers that offer reliable statistics, with Deal Machine highlighted as a preferred provider due to its ability to help filter out contacts from the do-not-call list. Additionally, Pioneer Data Solutions is mentioned as another source of data, but Deal Machine is favored for sending out postcards and compiling investment data.
• 12:00 - 14:30: Challenges in Current Real Estate Market The chapter discusses how technological features in CRMs, such as filtering the do not call list, simplify tasks for real estate professionals.
• 14:30 - 16:30: Off-market Listings Strategy The chapter discusses the benefits of circle prospecting as a strategy for off-market listings, emphasizing its cost-effectiveness and similarity to door knocking. It requires no financial investment, only time. The conversation shifts to inquire about the typical number of calls (dials) made during a session, how the sessions are structured (whether daily or over a few hours), and what the follow-up cadence looks like. Further details will cover how to handle conversations once a potential lead is on the phone.
• 16:30 - 18:00: The Compounding Effect and Client Relations The chapter discusses the flexibility and benefits of managing sales calls, either individually or through the use of Inside Sales Agents (ISAs). The current model allows for the employment of ISAs, with two in operation, responsible for making 200 calls a day or double calling 100 individuals. The aim is to achieve 5 to 10 conversations, representing a 5% to 10% conversation rate.
• 18:00 - 19:00: Building Wealth through Circle Prospecting This chapter focuses on building wealth through a strategy known as 'Circle Prospecting', with an emphasis on the metrics for Inside Sales Agents (ISAs), which include setting at least one appointment every day during their six-hour work period. A key aspect of their success is the script they use when reaching out to prospects. One effective script mentioned includes asking if the potential client would be open to a conversation if they received an offer on their property. This approach is seen as a soft close, appealing because it naturally piques the interest of homeowners who are curious about the value of their homes.
• 19:00 - 20:30: Absentee Owners and Niche Audience This chapter discusses the concept of offering homeowners their house's value, and the approach to potentially purchase or make an offer on a property. The dialogue suggests an initial skepticism from homeowners about receiving offers from buyers who have not physically visited their properties. The conversation emphasizes the importance of obtaining specific data from the homeowners, such as the price range they expect for their house. It seems to be an exploration of strategies for convincing homeowners to entertain offers over the phone, despite their initial doubts.
• 20:30 - 22:00: Exclusive Off-market Deals The chapter discusses the process of identifying exclusive off-market deals, primarily focusing on the accurate evaluation of property prices. It emphasizes using tools like Zillow and the MLS to verify the reasonable price range for properties in a specific area. The narrative includes negotiating strategies such as responding to sellers' inquiries about property worth by leveraging Zillow's price range, which often spans $30,000 to $50,000.
• 22:00 - 23:30: Encouragement to Take Action The chapter titled 'Encouragement to Take Action' discusses strategies for engaging with potential clients through effective communication and technology. It highlights a method where the team shares a price range with clients and seeks their feedback to ensure alignment. The process is prevalent during appointments and involves utilizing their CRM system, Follow Up Boss, to streamline interactions. The internal sales agents (ISAs) are trained to respond accurately by consulting resources like Zillow to verify property values. This practice enhances decision-making, as agents are equipped with pertinent information, allowing them to guide clients by discussing the current worth of properties. The emphasis is on asking the right questions to understand client perspectives and improve service efficiency, fostering an environment that encourages taking action based on informed insights.
• 23:30 - 25:00: Closing Remarks and Contact Information In this chapter, the focus is on the ease of gathering and presenting real estate information through phone calls. It highlights the process where clients express their estimated property value, and emphasizes the importance of practice in easily accessing necessary data during conversations. The chapter includes a role-playing scenario illustrating how to effectively introduce a phone call about property evaluations.
• 25:00 - 26:30: Difference Between Passive and Active Marketing The chapter explores the difference between passive and active marketing strategies. It presents a dialogue illustrating how active marketing involves directly reaching out to potential clients, as exemplified by a phone call technique. The caller, Stephen Acre, actively engages the conversation by clearly stating his business purpose and seeking the owner of a specific property. The conversation highlights the need for a dynamic and engaging approach in active marketing, contrasting it with more passive techniques that might not involve direct interaction.
• 26:30 - 28:00: Importance of Proactive Marketing This chapter discusses the importance of proactive marketing, emphasizing the need to engage directly with potential sellers. It illustrates this concept with a conversation between a buyer's representative and a homeowner. The representative is depicted reaching out to the homeowner, informing them of potential buyers interested in their property. The representative inquires if the homeowner would consider offers if presented. This proactive approach showcases marketing's role in initiating conversations and exploring opportunities, thus potentially leading to a sale.
• 28:00 - 29:30: Summary and Key Takeaways The chapter features a conversation between two individuals discussing property prices. The buyer is uncertain about the offers available and refers to Zillow's price range of $250 to $310. The buyer is interested in targeting the higher end of the price range at $310. The seller is receptive to this and proposes a quick 15-minute meeting to discuss possibilities for achieving that price point. The key takeaway is the importance of communication and understanding of market prices during property transactions.

CIRCLE PROSPECTING for Real Estate: How We Closed 25 Deals Using THIS Script! Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 welcome to Stay Paid. I'm Joshua Stike. And I'm Luke Acree. And today we are diving into a tried and true lead generation strategy that too many agents overlook. Circle prospecting. If you've ever struggled with finding new listings, staying top of mind in a neighborhood or building relationships with homeowner, homeowner, excuse me, before they're even thinking about selling.
• 00:30 - 01:00 This is the episode you need to listen to and joining us today to talk about their strategies and the success that they've had are Stephen Acri and Cody Smith of the Acri Brothers Realty Team, the number one Realty Team in Lynchburg, Virginia. Welcome, gentlemen. What's up, gentlemen? Thanks for having us back. I like the coats. We got the jackets today. Looking professional. Check out the YouTube video. Hey, let's talk about Circle Prospecting. How many deals do you guys do in 2024 Circle Prospecting?
• 01:00 - 01:30 Yeah, so 2024 we did 25 deals and this year we're actually at a better pace already with 12 under contract. Okay, and we are in March right now. So 12 already by March from Circle Prospecting. So can you break down what Circle Prospecting is in your mind? I have my idea of what it is, but kind of how you describe it, Circle Prospecting. Yeah. So a lot of data points there, like of the neighborhoods that you picked a circle prospect, but basically you're just picking an area and you're pulling information of the
• 01:30 - 02:00 homeowners in that area that are not on the do not call list. So that's an important one because you can be sued pretty heavily, but you just populate those numbers and you just start dialing, smiling and dialing. So let's then talk about how you select the areas that you're going after because that's probably just like geofarming. You know, want to select an area with a good turnover rate because you don't want to market the homes that never sell. But what about circle prospecting?
• 02:00 - 02:30 How have you gone about selecting the areas? What drives that for you? Yeah, what drives it for us is just what's the value proposition, right? So if we have, what I want to pick is something that I actually have data on. So if we're already farming a neighborhood, I'm going to know that area super well. So if I know there's higher prices, there's high turnover in that neighborhood, I'm going to pick that and go, hey, we just had a listing that came on the market or just had a listing sold for X price. So someone's going to have, there's some value proposition there because they're excited about the price that that property just sold for.
• 02:30 - 03:00 But you're really just picking something that is personal to you, that you have data on, that you can call people and let them know that information. But it's all about the principle of it, right? And we can dive into that. So it's essentially, know, the way I've always thought about it is there is an action that has taken place, an activity that's taken place in a neighborhood and you're using that, you know, activity that happened in order to reach out. So maybe it's a listing came on the market, a sale just happened.
• 03:00 - 03:30 Maybe it's even something where you're targeting that area because the... Let's say you've measured the equity that people have in their homes and rates have just dropped or whatever it is, you're using activity based upon a certain market to use that as your reason to reach out. Yeah, my thought of it too is like the traditional door knocking. You're doing the exact same thing, but through the phone. So door knocking is the same idea. You're going through doors of people that you don't know and asking if they want numbers on their house.
• 03:30 - 04:00 You're doing the same thing through the phone. You do it at a bigger level. Yeah. And the principle of it is basically we have to understand what is like, what's the value add that everyone is going to want. That's what I want to dive into first. The principle of it is everyone wants to know numbers on their house and everyone wants the highest price that they can possibly get. Obviously, the consumer is undereducated on the market, but they also don't want to be sold.
• 04:00 - 04:30 So, you're calling it to get your foot in the door with getting them that home valuation is the biggest thing. Have you ever been circle prospected? I've never been circle prospected. I was thinking the same thing. I've never had a real estate agent. I've never had my door knocked on. I've never had an agent call. The closest I ever got was about a year ago after a year of living in our house. I got a letter from an agent saying, hey, there's home buyers in Worcester township looking for houses like yours. It's the closest I've ever gotten.
• 04:30 - 05:00 I got a newsletter the other day from an agent, one of those trifold or pie fold newsletters and I was like, gotta call them, get them on a magazine. It's like this thing's going in the garbage. Okay. Anyways, that tangent thought, let's get back to how do you guys get the data? Because right, so I'm picking the area, maybe a listing came on the market. I'm gonna use that as my reason to call. There's a certain geo farm or area neighborhood I wanna be in, cause it's the right price point for me, whatever it is.
• 05:00 - 05:30 How do you get the data? Yeah, so we have actually a multitude of platforms that we get our data from. So there's so many different data providers out there. So you just want to pick one that has accurate numbers. One of the ones we've been using lately is Deal Machine to populate the numbers because we do a lot of investing. And so we're sending out postcards to you guys. We're compiling data through Deal Machine. Pioneer Data Solutions is another one we pull, but we like Deal Machine because we can. filter out the do not call list.
• 05:30 - 06:00 It just makes it easy. And then we just pushed all those numbers into our CRM. So they have that feature built in, the filtering of the do not call list. That's nice. I didn't realize they had that. Yeah, that's nice. Well, what's nice about Circle Prospecting is you can also do it completely for free. So you can go to your parcel viewer and select the neighborhood that you want to go through and then go to white pages and find the numbers and you can run them across your own. Do not call us. That's provided our brokerage provides it to us. And then you just run it through that. And then you can make the calls yourself and then enter into a CRM and do it that way.
• 06:00 - 06:30 So you don't have to pay for any. That's the great thing about circle prospecting. It's just like door knocking. You can do it completely for free. It doesn't cost you anything besides your time. So how many dials after you get the data, what's a normal session look like for you guys? And can you kind of elaborate on number of dials you'll do in like a session, like a day or a couple of hours session, whatever, and then cadence of lead, like how long you keep it open. And then we can get into what happens when you get them on the phone.
• 06:30 - 07:00 Yeah. So, uh, another great aspect of this is that you can do it yourself or you can get ISAs to do it for you as well. So we have moved to the model now that we can pay for some ISAs. So we have two ISAs and, um, their requirement is 200 calls a day or 100 people double dialing. So calling them twice. Um, and the goal is to at least get like five to 10 conversations through the a hundred calls. So about a 5%, 10 % conversation rate.
• 07:00 - 07:30 and going for at least one appointment a day. That's sort of like our metrics for the ISAs to do. And so that's within about like a six hour, let's say timeframe of them working and out of an AR day, let's say six hours of it. And what is their script? Like what are they saying to get that person to move forward? like it's kind of like the absentee owner script. Like we love the if you received an offer on the table, would you be open to a conversation? I love that because it's such a soft close because no one in their right mind is not going to want to know their home's value.
• 07:30 - 08:00 That's the whole proposition, right? You're giving someone their home's value. And so would you be open to an offer? The first thing that goes through someone's head is, well, they're not at my house. They can't sell me. over the phone. so, yeah, I would be, I guess, you know what mean? I guess I'd be open to an offer. So then the key after that is like, we want the data. So we go, you know, well, what exactly do you want for your house? You know, and some people are actually going to respond and be like, well, you know, it's in this price range, right?
• 08:00 - 08:30 Or if I were to sell it, it'd have to be X. And then we immediately, we're already looking this data up on Zillow. We're looking this data up on the MLS. Obviously we know the area. So we know they're going to be in a reasonable price range or not a reasonable price range. At that point, if they go no, or not no, but if they go, well, you tell me what it's worth. Well, Zillow is showing a price range of X, right? Because Zillow is going to have a price range of 30, 40, 50,000.
• 08:30 - 09:00 And so we just give them that price range. We asked them, that around the range that you were thinking as well? And they're going to give us that data again, right? And then it's just appointment right after that. Do you have that built into, I know you guys use follow up bosses, your CRM. Do you have that built into the CRM where your ISA knows how to respond based upon Zillow? Are they constantly clicking up Zillow and trying to enter in the address? Yeah. They're looking up Zillow because like when you're doing it, you're not even, that's like the second piece is if they're like, well, what do you think it's worth right now?
• 09:00 - 09:30 Then you could throw that number out. But typically we're, wanting them to give us the number of what they think their home is worth. Yeah. And it's such, mean, like, it's so easy. Like you just do it without thinking when you're on the phone call. After you do a couple of these, it's so easy just to start pulling up the data. we role play it in the sense of people can hear like even how your intro is of like, you're calling me at 1100 First Avenue.
• 09:30 - 10:00 You know, it's like a ring. answer. Hello. I just go, Hey, Susie. We'll do it. We'll go, Hey, You call me. You can call me Lucy if you want. Okay. Yeah, Susan doesn't live here. I bet you get that a lot. Yeah, this is By the way, you just go, I'm looking for the owner of 123 First Avenue. Are you the owner? Yeah, yeah, I'm the owner. Who's this? This is Stephen Acre. I actually work for the Acre Brothers Realty Team.
• 10:00 - 10:30 The reason for my call is I have a lot of buyers looking in your neighborhood looking for a property like yours. And I was just curious if you received an offer on your property, would you be open to looking it over? yeah, but what are you saying? You have somebody that wants to buy my home? Absolutely. Yeah, we have a lot of buyers that are looking for your exact house. And I was curious if you've received an offer, if you'd be open to looking that offer over. Yeah, well, what's the author? Absolutely. Well, we can definitely determine that.
• 10:30 - 11:00 What exactly are you looking for? What kind of price? Well, don't know what's the offer that you guys have. Zillow is showing a price range of about $250 to $310. Does that sound about the price range you're looking? I mean, that yeah, that's close. mean, I would want to be way up at the top of that. Okay, sweet man. Well, we definitely can do that. What does your schedule look like this week to go through for like 15 minutes to where we can see if we can get you that 310?
• 11:00 - 11:30 Well, do you have someone that wants to give me 310? Absolutely, yes. So just need to see the house first and take a look through and determine the price from there. But if we could get you that 310, would you be open to looking over that offer? Yeah, I mean, if you guys could, you know, I'd be open. mean, I'm not going to not look at the offer. Sweet. Well, what does your schedule look like? just, you know, we'll just go through 15 minutes, take a look, and then we can send out that offer. What's your schedule look like on Tuesday or Wednesday of this week?
• 11:30 - 12:00 Are you going to bring Chick-fil-A with you? I'm kidding. Good stuff. Good stuff. understand too, like, so this is the pushback that you'll get is, well, not everyone's going to respond that way, right? You're actually going have some pretty terrible conversations. The terrible conversations are okay because the person's motivation isn't there. I don't care about the person that's not motivated to sell. I care about the person that is motivated to sell. And so the good conversations are all the ones where the person has some sort of motivation.
• 12:00 - 12:30 and you'll find it in that script. So of course you're going to run through, let's say that Susie or Luke, you know, on this call wasn't motivated at all. They're going to be like, well, you know, that, that script wouldn't move that person, you know, to the finish line. You're right. It wouldn't move them to the finish line, but I don't care. I'm looking for the person that is motivated. And what I go back to is like, it's all a numbers game. We have 12 people under contract this year from Circle Prospecting with that script, because we're getting to the people that are motivated. So you know how many dials you have made to get those 12?
• 12:30 - 13:00 Is that something you can look up Cody, in front of you or no? But is that unique people or is that just dials? There'll be a hundred unique people. So let's do the quick math. could be like that same person three days later. So, you know, how many days in the year are we like 60 something? Like how many? Oh, currently? January. Oh, because you guys are five days a week.
• 13:00 - 13:30 days. five days. Yeah, because it'd be, you know, essentially 21 working days times two 40. You know, maybe you're at 50 something days or something like that. But I'm just curious of like, so people get an idea of because I'm with you guys of anybody listening to this. I'm going You know, the problem that most people have is they just aren't willing to go through the mud to find the gold. And that's essentially what this script does is you're calling to find the motivated seller.
• 13:30 - 14:00 And you have to go through a lot of mud to get it, but you have found 12 people already this year and 24 last year. And we're in a mud market, right? So people got to understand this too is like right now you're at six something interest rates, right? Where demand is pretty low. There's no inventory on the market. As soon as you get a listing, you're going to sell that listing. there's, you know, we've gone from 6 million transactions down to like the 3.8, 4 million, 4 million transaction range.
• 14:00 - 14:30 We're in a mud market. These are the people that are gold. Like you got to go out and get these people in a different market. We'll have different numbers. Like in 2021, we crushed circle prospecting because it's easier. 3 % interest rates, super high demand, super low inventory. Everyone's wanting to sell at that point. And so you just got to realize like, hey, look at your transactions, what you're getting. Look at what we're getting. We're in a mud market and this is the route to take to get transactions.
• 14:30 - 15:00 Yeah. And here's numbers for you. So we've done between our two ISAs 12,000 calls so far this year. Out of those 12,000 calls, 3,000 of those were individual people. And then as far as conversations, out of the 3,000 people that we've called, we've had 300 conversations. So talking over two minutes long. and 12 conversions. Yep. And then 12 conversions so far. then addition to that, they have set 18 plus that 50 appointments have been set through that.
• 15:00 - 15:30 Okay, interesting. Yeah, so it's a lot of effort, but it is still netting gains. And then what I always say to people too is like, obviously the ideal lead is the bottom of funnel lead that's easier to work with and the lead that doesn't take a lot of time. That's why referrals are gold for the real estate business. It's the best lead. You didn't pay for it. It usually comes to you a lot of times bottle or at least bottom or middle of funnel. And you know, it's a great lead.
• 15:30 - 16:00 But the problem is, You're not getting referrals. You're not getting 3000 referrals or even 300. And so you get your referrals and then guess what you have left? You have time. So what are you doing with the extra time that you have during the day? And most agents, they don't put in any activity. No offense to you guys out there listening to this, but you're just waiting for the next thing to come in. And you're hoping that if you post on Instagram or go in like, how about just a, I
• 16:00 - 16:30 don't even know the other example I was going to give. But if you just like literally just market yourself, the deals are going to walk through and it's like, yeah, marketing is great. It's one half of the equation, but the other half of the equation is the actual activity. Yeah. And Luke, we can't forget too. It's like, what are you doing for your referrals that come to the door? So I have a referral from a guy that I closed. came from California, purchased a house here. He refers me out to his mom and they can't find a listing. Well, what are you doing to go out and find a listing for this guy's mom to solidify the relationship?
• 16:30 - 17:00 like the compounding effect of this, it's not 12 transactions. Now we probably have six. I don't know the numbers we'd have to look, but we probably have six of those that are double transactions from finding our client a listing, right? We have countless people that we have an exclusive right for off the market deals that we pitch at open houses that we won them purely because we go out and find the listing. So it's just, it's more of a compounding effect than just 12 listings.
• 17:00 - 17:30 How much marketing can we push by getting 12 listings to the market? There's so much gold in there. It's like you've got to do activities for your clients to compound your database, pipeline to fuel this engine. I don't know if we want to go this route, but it's also the way to build your own wealth is circle prospecting, is like a whole nother tangent we can go off on. But this is how you find properties off the market, good deals to buy investment properties.
• 17:30 - 18:00 Like this is how you do it. If you want to work with investors, this is how you get investors is by Supplying them with the inventory that can't be found which are off-market things that need to be fixed up because not everyone Right, And we did a whole podcast on absentee owners, which is an extremely similar concept. It is the concept of circle prospecting in a way, but you're using it around the niche audience of absentee owners. You guys should go watch that episode if you haven't, because we've done a, I forget how many deals it was for absentee, but it was even more than what you've done through circle
• 18:00 - 18:30 prospecting. I want to make sure I didn't miss one point that you said. Are you saying when you're circle prospecting, You're finding Cody the 123 Main Street and he doesn't want to sell, but he said he'll be an off-market listing for you if you found him the right offer. you're getting him to give you the rights, what does that mean? Explain that. Yes, I mean, we're just signing the contract with them the same way we would do to list it, but we're signing it for selling it off the market exclusively to KW.
• 18:30 - 19:00 Right. So KW agents can show it. KW agents can sell it. We're not going up on the internet or anything like that. And then we just send it out to our team. You know, obviously KW. motivation of that seller to do that? It's because they don't really want to sell, but if they got the right price, they would. It's more about a pain point, right? So like most people don't want to sell right now because they're afraid that they're going to go up on the market and not get what they want for it, right?
• 19:00 - 19:30 They don't quite maybe believe that they can get X amount. And so there's nowhere for them to go because maybe they have a small amount of equity in their property and they need that full amount of equity to make a move to another property, right, with a 6 % interest rate. And so It's just a value proposition to them, zero pain. Then it's a value proposition to our buyers that they get an exclusive list that no one will compete with. How many do you think you have of those right now? we can tell you, going to pull the list.
• 19:30 - 20:00 Yeah. of your time at once that don't want to list, I'm just curious for myself, I'm thinking as an agent, I was starting doing this tomorrow, I would want some benchmark of, is it realistic that I get 10 of those, one of those, three of those? Yeah, I'm pulling it up right now. Our code is yes. So for properties that don't want to list on the market, but is willing to sell with us off the market, we have 18. Yeah, get out of here. Wow, that's amazing. Yeah, that's so good too, because now you have a value prop to all of your buyers.
• 20:00 - 20:30 And we talked about this again, I'm plugging another episode, but go listen to our open house episode, right? Did 18 deals last year from open houses and you guys use the off market exclusive list as a value item of value to get that person into the appointment with you, the open house person. 21 off-market properties that are going to be listings on live. But right now they're off-market. So in total, we have about 30 something listings that are off the market, not on the market that we can offer to clients.
• 20:30 - 21:00 And the back your open house, we just have an off-market listing coming up this Friday. We had an open house that was similar, but it wasn't fixed up. The one we're going live with a little bit more fixed up. and he had 20 people through his open house and he used that off the market property coming up to then secure these clients that came in to say, I actually have an off market that's just like this. If you don't like this one, we have something that you can get, but you have to work with us obviously to see this off market.
• 21:00 - 21:30 Each episode we've been doing is really building on each other. Open houses are building off of off market listings. So, you do you guys want close with this? I'm curious, like Ricky Carruth, right? He's a huge fan and coach on Circle Prospecting. But when I've listened to him talk and we've had him on the show a couple of times, we should get him back and maybe have this discussion. He talks about going in, not even really focused on the transaction at all, but focused on just getting an email address.
• 21:30 - 22:00 and building a relationship with the homeowner and dripping on them for the rest of time. And I could be a little bit off there because I haven't studied the nuances stuff, but that's the overall macro that I get from him. What do you guys feel about that? Because it feels like you're very transactional in mindset of how you're doing circle prospecting. I would say is if you can't win from going for the approach of the transaction first, if you can't move that into the relationship, then I would go for the relationship first. But you should be skilled enough to move it from a pitch of knowing their home value and transactional.
• 22:00 - 22:30 Like it's not transactional. You have a value proposition. So obviously that's super relational. You're providing so much value to them. But if you can't move that to This person's two years down the road and I just want to be in relationship with you. Well, maybe just go for that first because you should be able to move it in the same way that Ricky Cruz is talking about. Cause it's not about the transaction is about providing value. And I think that's what he would say about that. And my thing is as soon as they say they don't want numbers, my immediate response every time is, okay, so this is your dream house.
• 22:30 - 23:00 And then if you say no, then I go, okay. Yeah. Okay. So what is your dream house? Like what would be that? And then start having them dream about their motivation. Cause it's the biggest thing. We want motivation. Why would you sell all that stuff? All right. If I get the dream house, they say yes, then all right. Awesome. Well, do you, do you need a contractor? I like to just add value, just like with the numbers I was going to give you. I have a bunch of contractors. Do you have any fixes or updates you're thinking about doing? Nope. I don't have any. Okay.
• 23:00 - 23:30 Yeah, that's fine. we have an event coming up. I'd love you to come to you with some pie event coming up this Friday. do free pies. Completely free, just wanting to add value. I would love for you to send that, send you some information on that. Last one would be the magazine. Hey, I sent out a magazine that has like updated articles about how you can renovate your house for certain seasons. It's also got things about recipes. Can I send you one of those too? I would love to just add value in any way possible. So if they're not going to sell, I'm going to start building the relationship for the eventual because Ricky's like, dang, if you can get even think about one seller a week.
• 23:30 - 24:00 You have 50 sellers in your database that you can drip on that you can follow up with that you know have a house that will eventually sell. So that's game plan. First, we're going for the immediate and then if that's not working, we're going to build a relationship up to go to that next step. Yeah, that's so good, Fantastic. always, gentlemen, thank you so much for coming on the episode today and sharing that knowledge. Before we close out, how can people connect with you all? Yeah. And anyway, honestly, we're meeting with someone tonight on Zoom to go over our seller script, just like this today.
• 24:00 - 24:30 So if you want to schedule a time to meet with me, we're more than happy to go over all of our information. You can text me, call me 434-216-5306. And I would add to that too, we've gone to brokerages and teams and done this presentation. So we have about a two hour presentation on Circle prospecting and then also how to invest for yourself. So it's like a one, two combo. So we can obviously talk about how we can help your team and your broker job. awesome. Thank you. And thank you all so much for listening. You can get all of the information as well as the show notes and the video of this episode over at stay paid podcast.com.
• 24:30 - 25:00 And if you enjoy this episode, I want to share your support head on over to Apple podcasts and Spotify drop as a five star review along with a comment. And the best way to support the show is simply share this episode with somebody that you know, if you want to get hold of me or Luke, can email us at podcast at reminder media.com And of course you can follow us on social media. are at Stay Paid Podcast. For this episode of Stay Paid, I'm Joshua Stike. Guys, I'm Luke Acree. Share this episode with your office, with your other agents.
• 25:00 - 25:30 It is extremely valuable. You know, the difference between top producers and mediocre producers is they take action. And if you think about it, you have a lot of time that you're not really taking advantage of to do active prospecting in your business. So passive marketing is really, really good, right? Josh and I are in that business of helping you with passive marketing. So that would be sending out a magazine, postcards, posting on social. We do all this stuff, email marketing. This is what Reminder Media does for clients, but it's passive because you are waiting for the prospect to take action through your marketing.
• 25:30 - 26:00 What you also have to add on and what all top producers do, and this is what you're hearing just from Cody and Stephen. They go and they do proactive. So, Steven and Cody are doing all the passive marketing as well. Then they add the proactive component, which is the outreach. And so, that's calling behind your magazine that you send. That's calling behind the postcards, doing door knocking behind the postcards that you send, or DMing people on social from the social posts you're doing.
• 26:00 - 26:30 That's that component of proactive marketing. So, you just heard about Circle Prospecting. They've made 12,000 calls to 3,000 people, 300 convos, and 12 deals. That's a lot of mud that they're walking through, but it's getting them 12 deals. So if you're sitting here at March, you know, whenever this comes out, it's March 11th when we're recording it. But if you're sitting here in March, you don't have 12 deals. Think to yourself, have you made 3,000 calls and talked to or 12,000 calls, talk to the 3000 people? I shouldn't say talk to them. Reach 3000 people, talk to 300 and convert it 12.
• 26:30 - 27:00 Yeah, it's a lot of math. There's a lot of numbers. Have you done that? And if you haven't, that's your solution. It's not rocket science. That's your solution. Go lift the cinder blocks, go put them down and do that over and over again until you have a better use of spending that time because that is what will happen to you. As you close deals, easier deals will come, referrals, and you might not have to make that many calls anymore. But if you have the time to make those calls, go make them because the difference between top producers and mediocre producers in every business is top producers take action.
• 27:00 - 27:30 Take action on that today.