Today on the Listing Agent Lifestyle Podcast we're talking with Marguerite Crespillo.
I've known Marguerite for over 22 years now! She's in Placer County, California, up near Sacramento, and she's a doer! She gets stuff done.
She's been running the getting listings program in her area, focused on country properties and estates. She's been getting some great results right out of the gate, so we talked about some of the opportunities to really multiply what she has going on and be a Market Maker within the country property market.
I think you're going to enjoy this episode, and let's see what would be a great opportunity for you to be a Market Maker in your market.
Links:
GoGoAgent.com
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Transcript: Listing Agent Lifestyle Ep015
Dean: Marguerite Crespillo. How are you?
Marguerite: Good, Dean Jackson. How are you?
Dean: I'm fantastic. Did you hear that? This call is being recorded.
Marguerite: I heard that.
Dean: So you know what that means.
Marguerite: I was cracking up at the music that was playing. It was kind of funny.
Dean: Oh you like that?
Marguerite: Yeah.
Dean: Don't tell anyone because that's a secret. We have to leave that for people to be surprised when they are a guest on Listing Agent Lifestyle.
Marguerite: Yeah. I'm excited to be here today.
Dean: So-
Marguerite: You know, it's bright and early here in my neck of the woods.
Dean: I was just going to say, you are up with the roosters here, for us.
Marguerite: And you'll literally hear roosters because you know I live out in the country and I have roosters.
Dean: I know, that's why I said that.
Marguerite: You might hear them in the background.
Dean: So this is exciting because I've known you for over 20 years now. Isn't that something?
Marguerite: Yeah, it been.
Dean: Amazing how time flies.
Marguerite: It's crazy. You know my ... I say when I met you guys at where I met you, I was pregnant with my youngest son John, who will be 22 in July.
Dean: Isn't that amazing?
Marguerite: Yeah.
Dean: Wow.
Marguerite: Crazy.
Dean: Well we missed you in Orlando. We had fun.
Marguerite: I know, I know.
Dean: It was fantastic.
Marguerite: I can't wait to hear all about it. I was trying to make it work, and I just couldn't pull it together.
Dean: I know.
Marguerite: When are you going to come out to the west coast? The left coast?
Dean: Well, some day. Someday we'll come out to the west coast, but next up we're doing ... I've got an event in Toronto coming up in September that is going to be a big one actually. We're looking to have ... I'm doing this with Giovanni Marsico who does the big Archangel Academy, so like last year the speakers were Simon Sinek and Seth Godin and-
Marguerite: Ohh.
Dean: Yeah, and Gary Vaynerchuk. This year we're trying to get similar, same things. And I gave him the idea last year of ... You know, because it's a one day event. Like 3000 people were at this event, and I gave him the idea of doing a ... making it a two day summit, but having people bring their own groups to do day two with just their group. So we're going to do that big event, and then on the second day have all of our GoGoAgents. Only for a ... So make it a two day real estate specific event. It's all very exciting. So we're super stoked about that.
Marguerite: Well, I've never been to Toronto.
Dean: Well now's your chance.
Marguerite: I know that I have a couple speaking engagements in September, so maybe I'll be able to work around it, I hope.
Dean: Awesome. So tell me what's going on here with you? Have you had a chance to listen to some of the Listing Agent Lifestyle podcasts yet?
Marguerite: Well, I've listened to all of them with the exception of, I think, the last couple that have gone out.
Dean: Oh cool.
Marguerite: But I binge listened to them ... Well, I listened to them when you first came out.
Dean: Yeah.
Marguerite: I listened to the first couple. Then I got behind. And then I binge listened to, like, seven of them.
Dean: That's so great. Good, good.
Marguerite: In one night. And I think they're fantastic. And it's been funny because, like, you did one with Zach Pasman-
Dean: Zach Pasmanick, yeah.
Marguerite: Pasmanick. And you know, I have literally not seen him in 20 years, and right after I listened to the podcast, I was in Texas for CRS, and he was there.
Dean: Isn't that funny?
Marguerite: It was so bizarre. I go, "I just listened to your podcast, Zach. It was awesome."
Dean: He was just down here in Orlando, so that was great.
Marguerite: Yeah. Yeah, he's awesome. Some of those people I obviously have known from back in the day and they're great.
Dean: Yeah.
Marguerite: Chuck Charlton and stuff like that. They were fantastic. It's a great podcast. I recommend it all the time.
Dean: Oh I appreciate it.
Marguerite: I tell people all the time, you need to listen to it. Yeah.
Dean: So tell me, what's going on with you? What kind of things are you using right now? Or where do you think that there's the big opportunity for you? If we were to look at the business elements of the Listing Agent Lifestyle, because we focus on getting listings, on multiplying your listing, on getting referrals, on converting leads and on finding buyers. Which ones, for you right now, are kind of firing on all cylinders, and which ones could we focus on a little breakthrough here?
Marguerite: So, I used to run a big team, and last fall I went through some stuff where I basically went all the way back to the beginning, so to speak.
Dean: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Marguerite: I decided to completely start over. I let me entire team go and thought, I'm going to rebuild this. And ... So I know I talked to you a while back and I'm like, okay, what are some options? Because I've had a database for a long, long time. I was like, oh, I don't want to change ... I was fighting you on it. I'm like oh, I don't want to change my database and, you know, this kind of stuff. And then, of course, you came up with a brilliant idea. We talked about well, why don't I just start a fresh database with GoGoAgent.
Dean: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Marguerite: And basically utilize your whole system, test it, and everything brand new would start with GoGoAgent.
Dean: Yes.
Marguerite: And then once they become a long-term client, I'd move them into my database. So I started with that back in December. So I'm kind of starting fresh. Now I've used a lot of your stuff over the years, but, you know, I was always trying to reinvent the wheel because of the crazy person that I am. And I said, "All right. I'm not going to reinvent the wheel. I'm not going to do anything. I'm going to do exactly what Dean says." And so in December, I set it up. I went through your little checklist, and picked my target area that I've wanted to focus on for a long time. And I sent out my first postcard, and I got four people who filled out the information.
I thought, huh, well, clearly that works. Like, duh. And so I got those four people and started communicating with them. I've just been going back and forth a little bit. I haven't had a listing appointment yet, but starting with it.
Dean: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Marguerite: So then I was getting a little overwhelmed because like I said, I went all the way back to being by myself. So I didn't have an assistant. I don't have anything. And then I noticed the easy button, and I was like, well, let's just click on that.
Dean: Ah let see what that happens.
Marguerite: So let's-
Dean: What happens if you click on this? Yeah.
Marguerite: If I click on that. So I clicked the easy button, got connected with Dianne, and started setting stuff up. And then I did the flyer box, the InfoBox flyers.
Dean: Yes.
Marguerite: On two of my listings. And I have one buyer that I'm currently working with as a result of that.
Dean: I love that.
Marguerite: So we've got that going. But I want to tell you kind of a funny story my last postcard, when it went out the beginning of January. I got it sent to me for review. I was super busy, so I didn't review it like probably many agents. I'm like, "Oh yeah, it looks great. Send it out." And it went out with the 555 number on it.
Dean: Oh no.
Marguerite: We forgot to change the numbers. But here's the funny thing. So people always get stressed out about mistakes, and I'm going to tell you why they can sometimes work out. I get an email from a guy on the list who says, "Hey, I really want the report, but the number you gave me doesn't work."
Dean: Hmm. That is so funny.
Marguerite: I know. And so he sent me his information and I've been talking to him the last couple weeks. He's trying to get some stuff going. And I said, "Oh my gosh, that's hilarious. I'm sorry. Here's the correct number." And finally-
Dean: This is one of your ... this is for your Getting listings mailings you mean?
Marguerite: Yeah, for the Getting listings postcard, right.
Dean: Yeah, yeah.
Marguerite: But you know, I just wanted to point that out because I know people get super whacked out about when things go out wrong or mistakes. And one other time I sent out a newsletter, one of my monthly "Letter of the Hearts."
Dean: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Marguerite: And when my assistant did it, the address and the names were off one line. So everything when to like your address, but my name on it. Or-
Dean: Oh boy, it was somebody else's name.
Marguerite: My name and your ... Yep.
Dean: Yeah.
Marguerite: And I got so many calls, "Gee, Marguerite, I got your letter, but the name on it is wrong. My address ..." I got like 30 calls.
Dean: Yeah, that's so funny.
Marguerite: And I'm like, oh my goodness. So anyway. So I've been using the InfoBox part and the Getting Listings right now.
Dean: I love it.
Marguerite: Is what I've been using. And-
Dean: So there you go. So that's the order. I mean, just like what you talked about. Like the way that describe them, that's the order that we kind of go in if you're starting from scratch to set things up ... If you're going to take this listing-centric approach to building a business, then we got to have a system that gets listings. So you got to focus with that first. And you set that up and go. Now, the funny thing is, you had that story of the guy telling you that the postcard had the wrong number. Well, we had, and I played at our GoGoAgent Academy that we just had here in Orlando, one of our guys, Kenny MacCarthy, who you heard on an earlier episode-
Marguerite: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Dean: He had a call from a guy who lives here in Florida. But Kenny does Getting Listings for oceanfront homes on Cape Anne, just north of Boston. So they're all over a million dollars. But this guy calls Kenny and leaves him a voicemail, and says, "Hey, you've been sending me all this stuff for a few years now, and my brother and I, we own two beach houses up there, and we're ready to sell one of them." And goes on and then says, "Anyway, I must have gotten cut off the mailing list or something, and I haven't seen anything in a while. I had to call another broker up there to find you." But the guy's like chasing Kenny down because for three years he had been mailing this guy the Get Top Dollar newsletters, right? And that was a 2.7 million dollar house that the guy was...
You know, it's so funny Marguerite because this ... what happened was that Kenny moved from one company to another company and when he made the move, he decided, okay, I'm just going to purge some of, like, the oldest ones. The people who I haven't heard anything from. I've been mailing to this guy for three years, and nothing, you know? And then literally, like, you know, four months or so after he stopped, this is the guy calling him up. But we joked the whole weekend.
It was funny, because Chuck Charlton and I, when we were talking about this idea of the video of this guy riding a boat down a canal and just shining the light on the water, and the fish just jumping in the boat. And that was the way we kind of talked about what running the Getting Listings program is actually like. Right? Running it and shining the light, and when they're ready, they just jump in the boat. And we were joking all weekend that it's actually Kenny ... Kenny's guy was actually like chasing the boat, going "Hey wait! Wait for me!" Right? And coming to other boats, "Are you Kenny? No? Where's Kenny?" Waiting to go jump in that guy's boat, you know? So funny.
Marguerite: Can you imagine being that other broker? He's like, you know, "I'm looking for this other agent. Not you. I don't want you."
Dean: Well it was a good thing.
Marguerite: "I want that guy."
Dean: Yeah, I guess, though, that all the information that he had for Kenny was for Kenny's old brokerage, so it was his old brokerage that they ended up telling him where he moved or whatever. But that's kind of ... that was a nice courtesy. But I wonder if they tried to convert him first, and the guy said, "No way, where's Kenny?"
Marguerite: Yeah.
Dean: But that's an interesting thing. A 2.7 million dollar house, that pays for a lot of mailers, you know?
Marguerite: Oh yeah. Crazy.
Dean: Yeah. So there's the thing is establishing that sort of beachhead. No pun intended as far as Kenny's thing was. But for you, establishing your baseline area where you want to be the dominant listing agent, and getting started with that. So where did you choose? How did you choose the area that you're doing the Getting Listings in?
Marguerite: So as you know, I live out in the country.
Dean: Yeah.
Marguerite: I live in a town called Lincoln. But I live in kind of a quirky little triangle, so to speak, where I live at the border of town called Penryn and Newcastle.
Dean: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Marguerite: And so what I came up with was country property and estates-
Dean: I love it.
Marguerite: Because I had that domain name for a long time. I've had a Facebook page for a long time, and I've wanted, for a long time, to farm and market this area. And it's just one of those things I just never got around to doing. And so I actually chose ... and during the time when I was looking at getting it started, I actually had a listing for a million-one that was about a half mile from my house, but it was in that other county.
Dean: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Marguerite: And so I decided, okay, well, I'm going to start off with that. So I immediately started ... because that had just sold, so I thought, okay well, I'm going to do a "Just Sold" in that whole area, and then start the monthly Getting Listings campaign.
Dean: Yeah.
Marguerite: And so right now it's a small little area of about 300 homes, but I'm planning on expanding that to 1,000.
Dean: Okay, perfect.
Marguerite: I'm just working on the list.
Dean: Yeah. And what's the average price in there?
Marguerite: So the average price is around $700,000 right now.
Dean: Oh this is so great.
Marguerite: It's right around seven-ish. Yeah.
Dean: Yeah.
Marguerite: And I'm only focusing on properties that are on an acre of land or more.
Dean: Yeah.
Marguerite: So they need to have at least an acre of land because that's what we consider kind of a country property here in the area's acreage.
Dean: I love it. Okay, so that's great.
Marguerite: And it's been really interesting because-
Dean: How many are there?
Marguerite: Right now there are only 273.
Dean: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Marguerite: But I only did within a two mile radius, and I'm going to expand that to about five miles.
Dean: And how many do you think that would bring it up to?
Marguerite: I think it'll bring it up to about 12 to 1,500 is what I'm hoping.
Dean: That is so perfect. Okay, so that's awesome. And so this is the perfect thing now that ... you know, you look at this as the long-term, that this is your ... You know, we talk about select a single target market, right?
Marguerite: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Dean: And so your idea now of country property and estates, that's the baseline of it. And the good news is that once you get that list together, right, you identify where those houses are, those are the 1,200 country properties and estates in your five mile radius, right?
Marguerite: Right.
Dean: So that's where it all starts. And you're now established where now you've identified people who are thinking about selling their country property. And you've got this kind of underground, secret list here right now. And so we'll talk about some things to do to now start looking for the buyers for those properties. But the next thing is this multiplying your listings. And so I think you and I talked about the listing multiplier index when you invited me on your podcast. Was that something that we-
Marguerite: Yes, I loved that.
Dean: That we talked about.
Marguerite: That's one of my favorite things.
Dean: Yeah, me too. And it's really ... We were discussing the value of how much you would pay for the type of lead that an InfoBox is generating. You know, like, that's one of the things. We've got this super easy instant open house, the landing page and the InfoBox flyer, and the property PDF and setting up a nice autoresponder message. We've got a really nice system for that. But what's been happening since you started using the InfoBox? Have you done it on one listing so far?
Marguerite: So I put it on two properties that I currently have.
Dean: Okay.
Marguerite: Two listings that I have. And one I haven't got ... It's a difficult property. It's a unique property up in the hills and I haven't gotten a ton of activity.
Dean: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Marguerite: I haven't gotten a ton of activity on that one. But the other on is in an over 55 community, a Del Webb community.
Dean: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Marguerite: And that one I've actually received five people who have filled out the-
Dean: Yeah.
Marguerite: You know, gone on and gotten the InfoBox flier.
Dean: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Marguerite: And that's where I have one buyer I'm actually communicating with.
Dean: I got you.
Marguerite: And I just put those on a couple weeks ago.
Dean: Well this is what I want to talk-
Marguerite: On that particular property.
Dean: This is what I want to put in perspective. We were doing some of the math from ... some of the people at the academy were doing Zillow leads or doing Realtor.com leads or buying leads. And they established that the value of the leads that they're generating, or they're getting the leads for ... about $50 to $70 is about what it cost them to buy leads from Zillow. And so when you look at what the level of interest that somebody would have to have to be an InfoBox lead ... First of all, they're driving through the neighborhood. They're already out on the street. They have to stop the car, get out of the car, go and pick up an InfoBox flyer, go to the website, or text their email address right to you. And voluntarily do that, right? Leave their-
Marguerite: Right.
Dean: Information. So if you've got five of those, you could argue that that's a legitimate $250 or $350 savings, I guess, or a win, right? Because it costs you-
Marguerite: Exactly.
Dean: Whatever it costs you for 100 InfoBox flyers, it might cost five dollars, you know? I'm just so-
Marguerite: Well and the interesting thing is-
Dean: I'm such a fan of InfoBoxes as an opportunity, and they're so rarely used.
Marguerite: Well the interesting thing, too, is that particular listing is a $630,000 listing.
Dean: Yeah. I don't think it matters.
Marguerite: Mm-hmm (negative). It doesn't.
Dean: Yeah, I think that's the reality is that when you want the information, you're going to get out and get it, you know? And that's really something. And then so now you're out working with one of those people. That's awesome.
Marguerite: Exactly.
Dean: When you did your listing multiplier index, did you calculate out what your pre-focusing on it index was?
Marguerite: So I would say that I wasn't focusing on it at all, you know?
Dean: Right.
Marguerite: What I'm interested in is figuring out a system to really track it, right?
Dean: Yeah.
Marguerite: And, okay, how can I track that? Maybe in GoGoAgent. How can we start to track that?
Dean: Yes.
Marguerite: But I can tell you that before I ever even did any of the Getting Listings stuff, last November ... No, no, no wait. Last September, I had a listing ... because I think it was after we had talked about it on my podcast. I had a listing that I tracked. It was a listing in Rockland, and I said, okay, I'm going to track this listing. And I put ... I didn't have your InfoBox flyers at the time. I was just tracking what I got.
Dean: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Marguerite: And from that particular listing, I got three listing appointments, one new listing. I didn't get the other two. They weren't ready and something else came up. I got one listing out of it, and I got one buyer out of it. So that one that I did track, I got one buyer and one listing out of.
Dean: Nice, right? Sometimes even just paying attention to it.
Marguerite: Totally. That's the biggest thing. So I'm really tracking now that I have the Getting Listings program that I've implemented. I'm really paying attention to it now. Like I said, I have this one that is in the Del Webb community that I've received on buyer off of.
Dean: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Marguerite: And it hasn't closed yet, but I have one buyer off of that. So I'm tracking it now for moving forward, but when I look back over the history, it's so sad how much money you lost, you know?
Dean: Well that's the truth. That's the way I talk about it. When I share it with people, you know, looking historically. We look back at the last 10 listings that they got, and most of the time people are, with pride, saying well, I don't have to do "Just Listeds" or "Just Solds" or I don't have to do InfoBox flyers. Our market's really hot. All my listings sell in seven days. And what they're really meaning is that I put it in the MLS, somebody else sells it, I get one side of the commission. So they end up with ... You know, let's say it's $10,000 per side. So on the last 10 listings, they end up with $100,000. But they don't realize that by not getting any of the other four opportunities, they've lost $400,000.
Marguerite: Well, and you know, so here's the tragedy is that during a financial crisis in our industry, I was selling a ton of REO properties, right?
Dean: Yeah.
Marguerite: I was getting a lot of bank-owned during that time because that's what the market was. And I literally ... We got so overwhelmed with the listing side that we really did nothing on the buyer side.
Dean: Right.
Marguerite: And when I think back to how much money we lost ... and you got paid more. On back on property you get paid more on the buyer side than you do-
Dean: I know.
Marguerite: On the listing side because of all the expenses, and the banks cut your commissions on the listing side for volume.
Dean: Yeah.
Marguerite: And it just, oh, it just kills me when I think about that. I could have, you know, crushed it. But 20/20 hindsight. We all do it.
Dean: Well we had such a great program then. I created a program in finding buyers for ... We created a Bank-owned Weekly program. Where it was all Craigslist ads and print ads, finding people who were looking for bank-owned homes. And we also did a tax credit guide. Because that was when Obama came out with the tax credit for first-time home buyers. Which was a big thing. So we had people who ... you know, Kurt Nielsen who was on the Listing Agent Lifestyle podcast. Really, their business thrived in that period of downturn because, just like you said, that's where the market was. You have to be able to shift, right?
Marguerite: Well so the funny thing is, is that I know you remember back in the days when we did the internet marketing weekend?
Dean: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Marguerite: Remember those days way back in the-
Dean: I do.
Marguerite: Late 90s, I think it was.
Dean: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Marguerite: Early 2000s. And I remember getting the domain name, "Bank repo hot list," and this was all before the financial crisis.
Dean: Right, of course.
Marguerite: And getting that domain name, "Bank repo hot list." We used to go on the HUD website, and print out the HUD list, right?
Dean: Yes.
Marguerite: And we would literally fax and snail mail and have the listings available at the office. And this was ... I was doing 100 plus units a year back then with that bank repo hot list that we created. This was all well before the financial crisis.
Dean: I love it. Well that's awesome.
Marguerite: It's exciting. But now I'm just so fascinated by this whole Getting Listings program, and I'll tell you what I'm even more fascinated by was one of the first conversations we had. I think it was on the podcast. You were talking about the ghost kitchen.
Dean: Oh yes.
Marguerite: And I love that concept because now that I've simplified and kind of downsized, I don't really want to run these big teams. But what if I can get the system dialed for myself and then start to create these other locations with other agents.
Dean: Yes.
Marguerite: Because I have agents come to me all the time. But I don't really have anything in place for that. And when I heard that ghost kitchen, I was like that is the most brilliant thing I've heard in ... I mean, that takes the place for me of the whole expansion team.
Dean: I was fascinated by it immediately. So let me just, for people who've never heard me talk about it. The basic idea is that there's a venture funded group in New York and Chicago that have created nine restaurant brands that only exist on Grubhub and Seamless. They're only online. There's no actual dining room. You can't go there. They operate all nine brands out of the same commissary kitchen. They prepare all the foods, and then they have a staging area where they package it up in the appropriate branding for that restaurant. And then the deliver guys from Grubhub and Seamless take it wherever they want to go.
And you know, it's a brilliant concept. The article headline that I saw, and you can just do a Google search on "ghost restaurants." The headline that I saw was "Nine Restaurants, One Kitchen, No dining room." And you start to see that that's really the ... I immediately saw that as an opportunity for leverage, the way we're thinking about it. Because so much of the real estate stuff, you know, running a real estate business, the transactional, the during unit part of stuff can be centrally managed from the same kitchen, you know? Which is exactly what we're doing with our easy button program that you mentioned earlier.
We got a program for all of the things that we talk about. Getting Listings, the InfoBox flyers, the Finding Buyers, the Worlds Most Interesting Postcard. All of our GoGoAgent programs are set up so that we are able to execute them for people remotely. And I just think, man, there's so much opportunity there. More so than there's ever been, you know? This is why ... I mean you've been around long in real estate. Same kind of thing. You remember what it's like pre-internet, you know?
Marguerite: Oh, completely.
Dean: Yeah. And that's a ... How long have you been in real estate, by the way?
Marguerite: It'll be 25 years in December, so 24.
Dean: So this I 30 years for me.
Marguerite: Yeah.
Dean: And when I look at ... You know, I say that the subtitle of Listing Agent Lifestyle is "The future of real estate is better than you think." And this is the kind of thing I'm talking about. That if you are future-minded, you take this listing-centric approach, and all of the leverage exponential tools and technologies that are available for us right now, there's ... The opportunity to thrive and have a life are really amazing, you know? I just love that.
Marguerite: It's so funny because like you were saying, I've been around a long time. We've been around a long time. And I think back to even just the process of helping a client back in the day. We didn't have cell phones.
Dean: Right.
Marguerite: We didn't have digital signatures, DocuSign-
Dean: Right, DocuSign-
Marguerite: We didn't have any of that stuff, right?
Dean: Exactly, yeah.
Marguerite: And so when hear an agent complain now, I want to say, really? You know?
Dean: Yeah.
Marguerite: I mean, I've literally written contracts on properties I've never seen, first of all, you know? With a client who happened to walk through an open house or driving past or something. And you know, been able to represent them and take extraordinary care of them, write contracts in seconds on my phone, get it signed within seconds by them. You know, get the entire process negotiated in a few minutes as opposed to old school days when we drove to the property, then we'd drive back to the office, then we'd write the contract. We had to get original signatures. We had to drive the contract over to the ... you know?
Dean: I know.
Marguerite: So it's amazing, which means...
Dean: Multiple copies, yes.
Marguerite: That to me, there's more opportunity now to really build that relationship and the Getting Listings campaign is you're really building a relationship. You're not just being a one night stand, so to speak.
Dean: Right.
Marguerite: You're building that connection and that relationship and by the time they're ready, they're like your guy chasing Kenny down, you know?
Dean: Yeah.
Marguerite: Their hunting you down, and to me-
Dean: That's exactly right.
Marguerite: That's the best of both worlds. And then I think that what I love about that whole system is it's so duplicable, and it doesn't really matter, to be honest with you, who the face is, right?
Dean: You just hit it on the head, there. Like, that's the thing that ... What I get out of this is that, you know, you look at exactly how the program works. That Kenny had never spoken to that guy. Tony Kalsi never speaks in advance to any of the people that are calling him. Chuck Charlton, same thing. All these people, it doesn't matter. You could put anybody on there, and you know, this is so ... it's immediately why I was so, kind of, attracted to that whole ghost restaurant idea. I realized that that's really what we're doing with the easy button. That we can do it for somebody.
I was just having a conversation with a guy from San Francisco yesterday who ... I laid out the whole thing. I said, "Basically, dude, you just like point on the map to where you want to get the listings, and we can literally do every other element of it for you." And you don't have to do anything aside from go see the people who say, "I want to get a pinpoint price analysis." Or, "I want to get a room by room review." Or, "Tell me about your silent market." You don't have to do anything until they raise their hand.
And it's so counter to what most people are used to doing. They're used to thinking that you got to go out and hustle and chase down listings, you know? And be out there beating the streets and stuff, but this is so much more-
Marguerite: I kept wanting to try to reinvent the wheel, right? I kept trying to think, there's got to be a better way, you know?
Dean: Ahh.
Marguerite: And you know, when you finally just kind of relax and concede that ... I think that with the whole ghost kitchen, I'm sure that there are a million people who thought, oh that can't possibly work. Right?
Dean: Right.
Marguerite: People want to go in, sit down and you know, meet the chef, and all of this kind of stuff.
Dean: Right.
Marguerite: I mean, I just think that that's why things are changing so dramatically.
Dean: Yeah.
Marguerite: Is you know cloud based environments and a lot more of that's happening that makes it possible. And I just want to give a huge shout out before we finish today to your easy button Diane. They're awesome over there. Stuart is awesome, and Diane. They're fantastic, and they put up with us real estate agents. I'm not sure how they do that, but-
Dean: Oh yeah, absolutely.
Marguerite: They're great.
Dean: But there's the thing, you know? It's like we've got the whole ... You know, we've been doing this for a long time. I mean, I've spent 30 years chasing that idea of how do you get listings. Because the moment you get in real estate, you know that the first thing you've got to get is listings, right? That's how you get a foothold in the business. That's when you know that you've really made it, when people start describing you as a listing agent, right? Other than ... because people think, who are starting out, that well, I got to pay my dues, and work with buyers and, you know, get that stuff kind of ... get myself established. And then someday I'll be able to do listings.
But I think one of the greatest things that we have now as real evidence is the four year case study that we documented everything with Tony Kalsi. That was really ... It shows what happens.
Marguerite: Yeah, that was really-
Dean: You know, that's really ... Yeah, and that's where the thing is. Like I say to people that you know, there are other ways, maybe. But I don't think there's anybody with a documented track record that this way works in multiple markets with multiple people without any changes to it, you know? You don't really ... there's nothing that's going to ... I look at it as taking an area, like country properties and estates, like what you're talking about, which is on the high end of the market, and it's a desirable thing ... Just like oceanfront properties on Cape Anne is at the high end of the market. And you've got this opportunity to establish yourself as the listing agent for country property and estates in this five mile radius.
And guess what? Five years from now, the homes that are the country properties and estates right now, are going to be the country properties and estates in five years. They're not going anywhere.
Marguerite: Exactly, exactly.
Dean: So the faster you start building that relationship, the better.
Marguerite: The one interesting thing about the area is that there is quite a bit of development coming in to this area.
Dean: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Marguerite: So with that you have kind of a double-edged sword. Many of those people don't want to live that close to the development.
Dean: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Marguerite: So you've got kind of this exodus of people that are moving out that have been here for many years. So there's this turnover that's ironically going on right now while I'm doing this, of people who want to move further out, right?
Dean: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Marguerite: And it's pretty interesting kind of what is happening. So I have a question for you.
Dean: Sure.
Marguerite: Are you familiar with that ... I'm sure you are, that app Nextdoor? The Nextdoor app?
Dean: I am, yep.
Marguerite: Is anyone doing anything with that with regards to their area?
Dean: I'd love to hear about it. You know, I just signed up for my neighborhood, and I start to see ... you know, there was one person in there asking does anybody know a real estate agent I can trust, basically.
Marguerite: Right.
Dean: Which is really kind of funny, because that all happened probably in the first two weeks of me signing up for it. It's just starting to get some traction in my neighborhood, but there may be like nine or 10 post a day, kind of thing, in there.
Marguerite: Right.
Dean: Because they send an email summary of the posts. I think it's great, but I think that what has to ... I think where people can ruin it for themselves is to go into something like that thinking that they're going to use it as a tactic kind of thing, you know?
Marguerite: Yeah.
Dean: And go in and try and like carpet bomb it for business. But I think that part of the thing would be to use it as a way that people get to know you, you know? There's a lot of talk about this phrase that people have to know you, like you, trust you.
Marguerite: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Dean: But the way that they talk about it is reading it as one thing: knowyoulikeyoutrustyou, right? One thought. And I look at it as a stair stepping thing. It's a win if you can go from somebody not knowing you to they know you, full stop. And then they get to where they like you. Full stop. And then they get to where they trust you. Not having it all happen in one thing. So I think that if I were looking at Nextdoor, my strategy would be to be helpful, right? To be in and a participant in being a good neighbor. Not necessarily just looking to extract business from it, you know?
Marguerite: So, that's ... I love that you say it that way. That's fascinating that you say it that way because when you actually think it through, that's what we do as human beings, right?
Dean: Yeah.
Marguerite: Like I don't instantly trust you the minute I meet you.
Dean: Right.
Marguerite: First, I'm like, "Oh, you're Dean Jackson," right?
Dean: Right.
Marguerite: And then you kind of get to know them. And then you maybe have some in depth conversations or like in Getting Listings you start to receive information from them. You're like, oh I kind of like that guy. He's sending me good stuff, and he's helping me out. And then it gets to a point where like, okay, for 30 years now I've known you, but it doesn't have to be that long. But I've been getting your stuff for the last year, and I think you're the real deal. I think you're legitimate because that consistency is what creates that, right?
Dean: Yes. Yup.
Marguerite: And that sense of trust that oh, well ... because you get it one time and you're like, oh I don't really know who that is, but after you've gotten it the 12th or the 15th time, you're like okay, that guy knows what he's doing-
Dean: Right.
Marguerite: And he's sending me good information, and now I think I want to chat with him more and see if I feel comfortable with him. So that I think is brilliant to look at it that way. It makes way more sense.
Dean: Yeah. And that way I think that when you're doing that, then all these people in your neighborhood at least know you and like you. You don't want to jump to where they know you, and then you're coming off as a used car salesman, right?
Marguerite: Right.
Dean: Where you're just there to take business. It's almost better, in a way, if people discover that you're in real estate rather than you overtly kind of telling them that, you know?
Marguerite: Well and in looking at Nextdoor, why this came about for me, is because ... I just mentioned that there is a development coming into our area.
Dean: Yeah.
Marguerite: And so there's this whole thread going on, right, in Nextdoor where people are either complaining about it or happy about it or don't know enough information or that kind of stuff. And so I had just posted in there, "Hey, I've lived in this neighborhood for 24 years. I've lived here and I've seen what's going on, and while I'm in the real estate industry, I'm not that excited about there being a 1900 home subdivision across the street from me."
Dean: Right. Yeah.
Marguerite: So to me it was kind of like, okay, well, I'm not really going in and promoting that I'm a real estate agent and I'm here to sell your home.
Dean: But that's your perspective. You're adding your unique perspective to this because, in a sense, you're one of them. You're one of both.
Marguerite: Right. I'm affected by it.
Dean: You're one of ... Yeah, you're one of them. Meaning, I'm one of you, the people who live in the country here.
Marguerite: Exactly.
Dean: But I'm also a real estate agent, which you would think I would be excited about a new development coming in to my marketplace. But as a country property owner, I'm not that excited about ... Yeah, I get it.
Marguerite: Exactly.
Dean: And that's the kind of thing that that's where you're really going to be very helpful. And I think that's the kind of thing where those impressions are really going to be the ones that make a difference. Because those neighbors are going to be there. If they're invested in this idea of participating in this community, it's going to go a long way when it does come the time and they go, "Oh yeah, I know Marguerite. Yeah, Marguerite, she's great."
Marguerite: Well and if you take it back to that, "know you, like you, and trust you," I think human nature is typically, naturally apprehensive when they first get to know you, right?
Dean: Yeah, that's right.
Marguerite: Especially real estate agents. They think that, you know, we're car salesmen. So they're afraid that you're going to come in and force them to sell their home and charge them a fortune.
Dean: Yeah.
Marguerite: Just the knowing you is not enough.
Dean: Right.
Marguerite: It's got to be the time to really build that relationship, and I think that's where some of the best real estate agents that I do know are exactly like that. They're people who are taking that time to build and develop a relationship and connect with people. But I think the apprehension for many people is, "I don't have time to do that. I don't have time to build those relationships." Or they want the right now. The quick, I need the business-
Dean: Yeah, that's the whole thing.
Marguerite: Right now.
Dean: That is the whole thing. That's exactly it, that people are so shortsighted that they're trying to convince people to do something right now, when that's the ... You know, you're taking this long approach here. Okay, so if I look at your country property and estates as the foundation, the thing that you're focused on. Now the very best thing that you could do is to start looking for people who are looking to buy in that category. Not about specific listings, per se, but are looking for country properties. Because that's your real chance to be what I call a market maker.
And by focusing on finding a way now to find people who are looking to buy country properties, you're building this amazing list now. Have you heard me talk about the Molson?
Marguerite: The what?
Dean: So there's a Canadian beer company called Molson.
Marguerite: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Dean: And in the GoGoAgent blog, if you do a search on market maker, you'll see this come up. But there's a beer company in Canada who they run, or they did, ran an ad in Cosmo magazine with the Cosmo "dream guy" up there. Like a guy with this sweater, really model-looking guy with puppies in a field. Like the Cosmo pinup guy, right?
Marguerite: Right.
Dean: Like an image ad. Total image ad. But it's the idealized version of what the Cosmo dream guy would be, right? And the ad just says, "His address: the intersection of masculinity and sensitivity. His beer: Molson Canadian." And it's got the Molson logo there. And they ran that ad in Cosmo magazine just so that they could run ads in men's magazines that said, "Hundreds of thousands of women pre-programmed for your convenience."
Marguerite: Oh my goodness.
Dean: And they say, "While you're reading this ad, hundreds of thousands of women are reading a completely different ad." And they show a picture of the ad that they're running Cosmo that's scientifically designed to enhance the attraction they feel towards men who drink Molson.
Marguerite: Oh my goodness.
Dean: And it was just the most ridiculous thing ever, you know?
Marguerite: And so this morning-
Dean: And it shows the illustration of-
Marguerite: You sent out-
Dean: Yeah, the woman's brain like being activated. Like she sees this guy drinking Molson. Right? All you have to do to activate it is order a Molson Canadian.
Marguerite: Oh my goodness.
Dean: And it's like so brilliantly thinking about what their customers' desire is, right? Because the guys, they just want ... when they're going to a club or they're going somewhere, if they're single guys, that's their target audience, right? They want to be attractive to women.
Marguerite: Totally.
Dean: So them understanding that and doing the things ... They would do things like buy the back cover of the men's magazine, and on the inside back cover, they would say, "Think of it as a $90,000 investment in our relationship." And they would call it "twin cover technology," right? So they would take the back cover of Maxim Magazine or Stuffed Magazine or, you know, the men's magazines, and they would turn the cover into Trust Fund Magazine, or Puppy Lover, or Private Jet Travel magazine, you know?
Marguerite: Oh my goodness.
Dean: To make it look like the magazine, when you flip it over, upside down, you flip it and it looks like it's Trust Fund Magazine, you know? So you're now when you're cleaning up your apartment or you're cleaning up your place, you just flip the magazine over, and now it's got like you're interested in something that is appealing to who you're trying to attract, right?
Marguerite: That's right.
Dean: Well how we use that strategy for your country properties is the same way we did it here in Winter Haven for lakefront properties and the same way we do it on Cape Anne and in South Beach and Paradise Valley is by running ads in Homes & Land or in any of the print publications or on Facebook looking for people who are looking for the idealized version of what it is that you are trying to find. So the one that we have ... or there are two or three on the member's blog that show the examples of this. We've got a great ad. It says, "If you're looking for an amazing oceanfront property on Cape Anne, read this." And it's got the picture of like the dream view of exactly what you're looking for, what you would be imagining, why you want this oceanfront property. Same thing with the lakefront houses here in Winter Haven, "If you're looking for an amazing lakefront property, in Winter Haven, read this." Then offering the Guide to Winter Haven Lakefront House Prices.
And that would attract people who are looking for lakefront houses without having to have any lakefront listings to find them.
Marguerite: So an example might be people that are looking for country property are typically people that might have horses or want to have horses or sheep or goats or-
Dean: Yeah.
Marguerite: Like one of ... The mini horses and mini donkeys are becoming kind of popular in our area. And being able to have that kind of country area where you can have, you know, chickens and get fresh eggs and have your goats and sheep and horses and that kind of thing is-
Dean: That's exactly it. Yup.
Marguerite: Typically they've got children and they want their children to grow up with fresh air and fresh water and that type of thing.
Dean: Yes.
Marguerite: So help me understand this a little bit. Is creating-
Dean: So what's the name of your account ... Okay, I'm going to help you exactly.
Marguerite: Okay, perfect.
Dean: What's the county? Or how would you describe the area?
Marguerite: Placer County.
Dean: Okay. And so, when you look at it, what you would ... The way I would see this is, you know, a big picture of what would be the idealized ... If you could ... you know, a picture says 1000 words. What would be the picture that would resonant with the person who is looking for that country property, you know?
Marguerite: I would say-
Dean: Would it be-
Marguerite: Maybe like an open field, you know, with horses in it, or-
Dean: Open field, with horses-
Marguerite: What came to mind...
Dean: Yeah.
Marguerite: Is a picture of a horse with a little girl standing by it, or something like that, a little boy.
Dean: Yeah. Hey, Marguerite, did you move? You're kind of muffled up.
Marguerite: Oh, can you hear me better now?
Dean: Or digitized here.
Marguerite: Can you hear me better now?
Dean: That's good, thanks.
Marguerite: Can you hear me better? Okay, sorry.
Dean: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So, if I look at that ... So the horses in a field. That's kind of what the dream scenario, for certain people. That's what they would want, right?
Marguerite: Yes-
Dean: So then-
Marguerite: Like a field where their kids could run or something like that.
Dean: Yes. So, "If you're looking or an amazing country property in Placer County, read this." Just something like that, right? And then we offer the Guide to Placer County Country Properties. So you're showing that somebody looking for that kind of home, that this is the place. That they can get access to the resource. Like, how much are country properties? What's kind of information would people looking for a country property need to know or want to know? Like a very handy guide for people who are doing the research, right? They're starting this hunt for a country property.
Marguerite: Okay-
Dean: Now, that then-
Marguerite: Go ahead.
Dean: Yeah, that then becomes your buyer lead generator for this. So you've established, you've got the 1,200, all of the country properties in Placer County or within that five mile radius of whatever it is that you're looking there. You know who those are and you are establishing yourself this list of people who have raised their hand who are potentially going to sell their country property. Now at the same time, you're running these Craigslist ads, Facebook ads ... Do you have Homes & Land? Homes & Land is a bargain right now. That's really a ... it's a great thing. I mean we're running Homes & Land ads at great ROIs because everybody thinks everything's online.
Marguerite: Right.
Dean: But it's not, you know?
Marguerite: Right.
Dean: There are still lots of really great opportunity offline. But what you're doing is you're building now this list of buyers who are looking for country properties, and that sets you up to be a market maker. When somebody now comes and you start looking for country properties with somebody who's responded to your ad, now you've got the opportunity to send an email to the people who've responded for your Getting Listings postcards and you say to them, especially if they've got something that's similar to what your person is looking for, "You know, I'm showing country properties this weekend, and I've got a couple from Modesto that's looking for a property on one acre" or on two acres or five acres or whatever it is. Whatever you know about that person. "And it seems like your property might be a match for them. I don't know what your plans are, but I thought I'd check in and see if maybe I could tell them about your house."
That becomes-
Marguerite: Oh I love that.
Dean: Right. Now you've got this opportunity that you have this whole secret inventory of country properties. And you're not-
Marguerite: So I'm going to get that domain name right now.
Dean: Yeah, why wouldn't you? Right.
Marguerite: No, I love that. I love that idea.
Dean: Yeah.
Marguerite: And matter of fact I'm looking on the blog right now and I see the South Beach, "If you're looking for an amazing oceanfront condo in South Beach, read this."
Dean: Now do you see how beautiful that picture is?
Marguerite: It is.
Dean: And you see exactly why somebody would respond to that, right? If that's what you're looking for, then this is the place for you. So we would run that and get 20 or 25 people who would respond for it. And so we do that same thing ... There are other versions of it you see on the blog there, that are for Cape Anne, and the one for Paradise Valley and the original one, which I did here in Winter Haven for the lakefront homes.
Marguerite: Yeah, I'm looking at them right now.
Dean: There you go.
Marguerite: Oh I just saw the Molson ad with the guy and the puppies. That's hilarious.
Dean: Right. Exactly. It's so beautiful, right? Like...
Marguerite: Okay, so then that's going to be my next step. I'm going check in to running-
Dean: But now, here's the thing, yeah-
Marguerite: Now I can get some right now buyers from that, too, right?
Dean: That's exactly right. Now, that's the beautiful thing.
Marguerite: Exactly.
Dean: Is that you don't have to wait until you get listings to go find the buyers. You can start looking for the buyers.
Marguerite: So where ... You're running this ad in Homes & Land? Is there any place that ... are you also running that same ad where?
Dean: You can do it on Craigslist, on Facebook.
Marguerite: Okay.
Dean: Yup.
Marguerite: Okay. Love that.
Dean: Yeah.
Marguerite: Well I'm going to do that. I'm going to do that.
Dean: Absolutely. Awesome.
Marguerite: I'm going to put that in play. So-
Dean: Well I'm very excited. This is ... it's so great. I think this is going to be a-
Marguerite: I'm so excited.
Dean: Yeah. I mean, this will be ... you know, you started in January, right? The first mailing that you did? Or was it-
Marguerite: I did, mm-hmm (affirmative).
Dean: December?
Marguerite: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Yeah.
Dean: Let's keep your stats, keep everything, and let's start a four year case study on the domination of Placer County country properties.
Marguerite: I'd love too.
Dean: And see how it unfolds, you know? Because I think you've got a textbook example of this, you know?
Marguerite: Well, and that's why, like I said, it became such a smart idea to start this whole thing in GoGoAgent because everybody that's in there is a direct result of what I'm doing with your program.
Dean: Perfect. I love it.
Marguerite: Yeah, so.
Dean: Super excited.
Marguerite: Dean you are amazing, as always. Thank you-
Dean: Thank you-
Marguerite: So much.
Dean: That was fun.
Marguerite: And, I really enjoyed this. I can't wait to re-listen to it. I made a bunch of notes and I'm pushing for you to do a GoGoAgent Academy in the left coast. California.
Dean: There we go.
Marguerite: I got five acres. You guys can do it right here. We'll put up a tent.
Dean: Duly noted. Okay. Thanks Marguerite.
Marguerite: Thank you so much Dean. It's been awesome. I appreciate it.
Dean: Thanks, bye.
And there we have it. That was fun. I love hatching evil schemes, and I think we really have a great opportunity for Marguerite. All the things that we were talking about ... the sample ads, including the Getting Listings program, all of it, is all in GoGoAgent.com. If you want to take part in this and see what we're all about, you can come to GoGoAgent.com. You can get a 30 day free trial. No credit card required. Just come in, take a look, see what we're up to. Look at these samples. Look at all the ads. Join in in the forum to see everybody who's taking advantage of these programs. And join us. We're really building an amazing community of people who are building listing centric businesses for the future.
If you'd like to download a copy of the Listing Agent Lifestyle book, you can go to listingagentlifestyle.com. And you can even be a guest on the show where could talk about and hatch some evil schemes for your business. Talk about where the biggest opportunities are for you. So just click on the "Be a guest" link at listingagentlifestyle.com. That's it for this week. I will see you over at GoGoAgent. Bye.