Today on the Listing Agent Lifestyle we're talking with Chad Pescod from Oshawa, Ontario, just outside of Toronto and it's a pretty interesting story of how Chad and I met, but I'll let Chad share that story in the podcast here.
We had a great conversation. Chad is a brand new real estate agent. He's off to a great start and really getting going to establish himself in a specific area. So today we went through an entire checklist for him to build a plan and to keep things on track toward creating his listing agent lifestyle.
He's already well underway and has been implementing the things we talk about here for about three months now.
It's really exciting to hear his enthusiasm, his experiences so far, and what's been happening as he's takes the information from the podcast and the forums in GoGoAgent.com to build his business.
I think we're gonna see big things from Chad and there's a lot for you to get from this episode, especially if you're in that same situation.
Links:
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Transcript: Listing Agent Lifestyle Ep047
Dean: Chad Pescod.
Chad: Dean Jackson, hello.
Dean: Or special agent Pescod, as we call him in the Gogo Agent community.
Chad: Which I thought was pretty fun, thank you.
Dean: How are you? Well, you earned it. You start experimenting, and you get the field agent title of special agent Pescod, because you're doing and reporting, and that's the valuable thing about growing a learning community. There you go.
Chad: I'm torn about that accolade, too though, Dean, because sometimes my experimentation has been my downfall, and I kind of am my own worst enemy in that way, if you know what I mean.
Dean: I get it. I get it, and I'm going to keep you on track with that.
Chad: I appreciate-
Dean: Yeah, lots to talk about. We're already recording, we've got everything rolling here, but I think it would be worth you sharing the story about how we actually first met, because I remember the experience of doing a very small radio show in Toronto. Then months later, I get this video from you, but maybe you could tell that story, I think that's a good-
Chad: Sure.
Dean: ... that's a good thing.
Chad: I can't remember the call letters for the radio station, but it's 89.5 in Toronto. You were a guest on there, and I had been working my job that I hated, and I had done my one hundredth cold call for the day. I heard about 10 words of what you were saying on that interview, and I stopped the car, turned it off, rolled up the windows, even though it was a really hot summer day, and I was glued to the radio. Within 10 words, I was captivated, I thought, "This guy knows what's going on. I need to know what's going on with this guy."
So I listened with a notepad, I actually still have it written down, I might frame the envelope I wrote it on one day, but I wrote down the time and date. Then I was waiting for you to tell where I could hear more information, and you had podcast. As soon as I heard that you had a podcast, and I went home that night and I started digging in. My education, my reeducation, you might say, has been in the making ever since.
The transformation's not complete, but I have come so far with my way of thinking. Even in terms of my personal limitations and beliefs on my words and all that kind of stuff, which I'm sure is a totally different conversation. But in terms of just business thinking, I'm in a totally different place now, and I really appreciate that, Dean. It's been an interesting journey for me so far. With real estate, I'm just at the beginning, so I'm excited to see where I can take this, if I can get out of my own way and just follow-
Dean: I was just going to say is that you weren't even in real estate at the time, right?
Chad: No, I was-
Dean: You weren't a real estate agent, right.
Chad: No.
Dean: And you decided real estate might be the thing.
Chad: Well, and it was after hearing you, Joe Polish, and a bunch of your guests talk, probably Dan Sullivan, too, I got a few of his books as I was listening to that marketing podcast. It was talking about not trading your money for time, but for results.
Dean: Yes.
Chad: I thought, "What better way than real estate?"
Dean: Yes. I feel exactly the same way.
Chad: And a big part of my decision, too, was, because you had come from Canada, or are still a resident of Canada, and you have a real estate background. There was no, "Will this apply to my situation?" There's no guess work, it's, "Dean has done it, continues to do it."
Dean: Right.
Chad: So then that took the guess work out of it immediately.
Dean: That's awesome. Now, how long have you had your license, now, and you're getting going, we can pick up from what you've been working on and what's happening so far.
Chad: Right. In November of last year, so it'll be a year in this November of 2018.
Dean: Perfect. Okay. What's been the journey so far?
Chad: So far, the first client has been my friend, and that went really well, that was a buyer client. I've had no listings so far, I have a buyer client that I just finished a transaction with, and one in the works right now. So no listing prospects in the works, I've been utilizing getting listings and top 150, even though it's only 50 people, since August.
Dean: So now you're starting to ramp up and get some of the ... and implement some marketing here. This is a pretty good place to go through a little checklist, because there's a lot of people who are in your situation who are going. Now you've learned the moves, kind of thing, you've gone through a transaction, you know how all the paperwork works. You know how all the logistics and stuff, the technicalities of helping somebody buy a house, you've gone through that now.
You're competent now, in a way that if somebody wanted to buy a house, you'd be able to help them, or sell their house. Now it's a matter of, you've gotta start finding some people to work with, right? That's really the thing that everybody's at. Are you doing something else at the same time? Or are you full in on real estate right now?
Chad: Full-time with the real estate.
Dean: Yep.
Chad: I was only able to start full-time in September, because my youngest started JK.
Dean: Okay, perfect. Now you've got everything in place, we're 60 days in here, almost, to your first full-time endeavor here. I look at this, the reason that I put the Listing Agent Lifestyle elements in the order that we put them is, because there's some progression to it. If we look at element number one of getting listings, if you're going to pursue a Listing Agent Lifestyle, then you've gotta have a system in place for getting listings. You're at the point right now, you've chosen your area. What's the size of the area that you chose?
Chad: 1,360 homes, about that.
Dean: Okay. How did you happen to choose that area? What was the-
Chad: I chose the-
Dean: ... thought process that you had?
Chad: I'm sorry, didn't mean to cut you off.
Dean: No, what was the thought process that you went through to choose these 1,300 homes?
Chad: I chose the school boundary of the area that I'm in where my kids go to school, because I really like this area, and it was a nice way to define that boundary. I don't know if it jives with everybody who lives here, if they even know that I call it Sunset Heights neighborhood, I don't even know if anybody else does so or not.
Dean: Yeah, why not. You can name it, somebody has to name something, right? There's no tribunal that you've got to go through.
Chad: Right.
Dean: How do you think all these things in New York, all these neighborhoods, all the new Nolita and all the things somebody just starts calling them, and that's what they become? Good for you, take the lead, and now everybody will relate to Sunset Heights, why not? You've been doing the getting listings postcards into the area. What's happened so far, you're up to seven responses so far you said?
Chad: I started in August with 180 postcards.
Dean: Oh, 180, okay.
Chad: Yeah, and I got a pretty good response for 180. I could look at it, but I don't have it off hand, I think it was four opt-ins from that. Then in September was a thousand and then this past mailing of October was 1,360. From that, I'm up to ... I'm just looking at my notes here, 12 opt-ins.
Dean: Okay.
Chad: I believe only three of those were people who I met along the way.
Dean: Okay.
Chad: As I was delivering the postcards myself, I bumped into them, and we chatted.
Dean: Perfect, that's great. You start getting yourself seen in the territory there.
Chad: The unofficial mayor of the neighborhood, yeah.
Dean: That's what you're doing, it's great. Why not? You're going to learn as we go around, and you'll hear me talk about that a lot, is it's one of the greatest skills that you can master, or develop, is the ability to just unabashedly appoint yourself to the mayor of something, and not worry about who's officially supposed to make these appointments. Right now, you can appoint yourself and I can second it, completely now become and embody the person who is the self-appointed mayor of Sunset Heights. You can do that because you named it Sunset Heights.
Chad: That's true.
Dean: Right? Yeah, it's just your job now is to let everybody know that's where they live, and you're the mayor. That's really what it comes down to.
Chad: One of the funny things is, the mayor of Oshawa actually lives in my neighborhood, so it's funny.
Dean: Ah perfect, I love it. You're on track right now. Have you done any of the Facebook ads that we've been showing for that neighborhood, as well?
Chad: I did, I tried it last month twice.
Dean: Okay.
Chad: I got two opt-ins the first time, which is great. Then I did it again and I got no opt-ins, and I don't know if something changed in the ad, I don't know if it's a user error, like it's a Chad thing, but I wasn't able to just repost that ad. This user thing, when I'm able to, I'll gladly hire them out to Diane, right?
Dean: Right, exactly. So-
Chad: I don't even have to worry about that.
Dean: Yeah. The great thing is, what we've discovered with these micro-targeting, and we've got new ones going out right now as Diane is ... her postcards, for Cypresswood and Lake Ashton here in Winter Haven, are arriving as we speak. They started arriving this week, so we have now the micro-targeted video ads that are really becoming an amplifier. Did you see the video ad that we did at the entry to those areas? Like the Ruby Lake and Lake Ashton where-
Chad: I saw the one that Diane did, yeah.
Dean: Yeah, so Diane, that's exactly it. Diane's standing there, she's appointing herself, now, the ... When you look at Sunset Heights, with the Facebook micro-targeting methods that we're using right now, you really have the ability to have a television station, a broadcast station that only broadcasts in Sunset Heights. That is a powerful thing, because what we're learning in doing this is to treat it like a postcard delivery, in a sense, right?
We monitor what the reach is and what the frequency is, and we're finding that the best thing we can do is to treat those little ads that we run as one time postcard deliveries, kind of thing. We only want everybody to see it once. There's no value, that we've seen, right now, in continuing to let the ad run, and run, and run to such a small micro audience. We just want it to come across their newsfeed, and the people that are interested respond, and it's so inexpensive, when you look at it. Do you remember what your opt-in cost was for the-
Chad: I do. Yeah. Well, for the ones that did opt-in, there were two and it was $10.
Dean: Yeah, perfect.
Chad: Basically $5 each.
Dean: Exactly. That's what we're looking at, is to do a little microburst into that area that might cost you $10 or $20 to run that for 24 hours, just showing it to people in Sunset Heights, or like we do for Cypresswood and Lake Ashton, and treat it as if it is a postcard. Except, the rate to deliver them is three, four, five cents each, as opposed to what it costs to send postcards into there.
Chad: Right.
Dean: We're finding that as an amplifier, it's effecting the response to the postcards, because when Diane is standing out in front of the gate saying to people, "Hey, this is Diane Litsey reporting live from Cypresswood, and you may have seen this postcard come through your mailbox offering this report," and show them the report. That's an amplifier that now their awareness that this exists is very high. I'm all about experimenting this way with the micro-targeting, and I think we're on our way to having some real breakthroughs with that.
I think you've discovered it with that initial thing. Now, we've had one round that we did of that where we didn't get any response, but we spent $10 in Garden Grove and didn't get any response, but that, granted, is one of the smaller geo areas that we had. But still, it's making those impressions, and I'm excited to see how we'll use those as a market maker, and how we'll use those as updating all the time, as things are happening in Cypresswood for Diane to be there every time she's about to show homes or she's with somebody, right?
Chad: Oh, okay.
Dean: If you imagine doing a video in the car, at the gate saying, "Hey, we're coming in," or a Facebook live to that audience, or whatever. Say, "Hey, we're here, we're showing. We're going to look at villas, and this is what we're looking for, so if you want us to come see your villa, give me a call." That kind of thing where she's getting known as being the source for the information in that area, right?
I think you become a media star in there, right? Because there's no difference now. Even kids now, people look at ... What's more important is that you have this awareness, and when somebody's on your screen, and you're very good on video, that somebody you could totally pull that kind of thing off. If you're walking through Sunset Heights and you did that, when your next postcards arrive, doing that same thing, modeling that, I think that'll make a difference.
Chad: I love it.
Dean: Yeah.
Chad: The question I have is, so you're doing a blast once a month for 24 hours and that's it?
Dean: Yes. That's it.
Chad: Okay, that makes so much more sense.
Dean: Right, same thing we're doing it to support the postcards.
Chad: Right, okay.
Dean: That's what we do. We've got this little trifecta going where we mail the postcards to arrive around the middle of the month, we do the video to coincide with the delivery of the postcards, so where we're anticipating the peak time that the postcards are going to arrive. We'll do the video for those 24 hours, and then on the first week of the month, we post up the new, prior to sending the postcards, we'll post up the digital version of the postcard in the newsfeed. That kind of thing, but I could see spending, like if my mind, the way I'm thinking about this, is to set a budget of $20 a week for Cypresswood specifically, for Lake Ashton specifically, to spend...
I don't think we could over ... I don't think spending a thousand dollars over the course of a year in there, to do something like that type of a video or a different variety thing, including when we do the Just Listed videos, and Just Sold, and the neighbor open out. Once she starts getting listings in there, then we'll have other opportunities to spread the word about Cypresswood, you know?
Chad: That is having your own ... that's amazing.
Dean: Right. You get to be the mayor and the celebrity. I mean, that's really it. When you look at those videos, when she's in there, in front of the gate, that gets somebody's attention, right? Because it's totally recognizable.
Chad: That was so simple and powerful, I couldn't believe that.
Dean: Right. Yeah, and so you could do that same thing. You could even get some Sunset Heights sign made and start really spreading the word about Sunset Height being the names.
Chad: I love it.
Dean: That can be cool. You've established this, you've got a really great thing, now, going for getting listings. You've established that, and that's just going to take on its own momentum here, right? We've seen it enough, you've seen enough people go ahead of you to know and have confidence that this is going to work. You just need to stick with it, and part of the thing, this is where I was saying with you about the special agent Pescod, that you had gone through a process of adding a video to your landing page, as an experiment, right?
Chad: Yeah.
Dean: That's something that you are an experimenter, and I wanna encourage it, and also put it in perspective for you, right? Some of the things that I was mentioning to you about why we make that opt-in page so simple and so unassuming, let's call it that, right? Where it feels like somebody can just get the information without being singled out, right? And without being too revealing, and so I think overall, that that's a ... It's just such a sensitive time, when you're sending out 1,300 postcards, right? If we put this in perspective of what we're really trying to do here. There are 1,300 people who live in Sunset Heights, 1,300 homes. What's the turnover rate?
Chad: That, I honestly, don't know.
Dean: How many homes sold there last year?
Chad: I don't know, I've never actually looked.
Dean: Oh. Okay, okay.
Chad: I'm still busy trying to get listings, everything else.
Dean: Okay.
Chad: I know that's such an important number to know, and I've heard it so many times when you're talking, but I never have actually taken the time to learn that.
Dean: Well, let's pick a number and let's say that it's 5%, so let's say that there's going to be 65 or 70 homes that sell in there, in the next 12 months. Does that sound reasonable, like how many would sell in that area?
Chad: Yeah.
Dean: Okay.
Chad: In fact, I should know if I've done the monthly report, right?
Dean: Yeah, that's why.
Chad: If I could give people what the specs are.
Dean: Right, exactly. What kind of Sunset Heights expert are you? Don't even know the basics, I mean, really.
Chad: Exactly. No.
Dean: Mayor Pescod, come on.
Chad: Yeah, some mayor. You're fired.
Dean: Some mayor, that's right. That's part of the thing. When I look at it, you've chosen that area, and you don't want to be the guy that picks the horses, because you like the name, right? At the horse races, you're picking the area that has the highest yield.
Chad: Yeah.
Dean: When you look at that, what's the average price range in there?
Chad: So, it was 89 homes in the past 12 months.
Dean: Okay, there you go, so I wasn't too far off, so it was a little better than 5%, you got about 7%. Okay. So there's 89 homes sold, and what's the average price of the homes in there?
Chad: I don't know.
Dean: What's the range? What would be...?
Chad: Oh, I would say 5, 550, 5.
Dean: Okay. So 500,000, so you're in the ... What would be the high end of-
Chad: 1.5 million.
Dean: Okay. All right.
Chad: Of the low end of probably 430.
Dean: Okay. When we look at, let's say that you're looking at about a 15,000 commission, probably, on average, right? That's what we're looking for one for the listing side of a transaction there. Okay. We're looking at that as ... times 89, that's what the total initial, just the listings side yield will be in that area, right? So quite a lot of money at stake here, and you're investing in being the one who's the guy, is going to have big payoffs. You've seen it with Tony Kalsi down the street from you, right?
Chad: Yeah, and I've talked with him on the phone actually, yeah.
Dean: Yeah. The five year numbers on that, if you fast forward, for you, he's generated over 700 leads from the area that he focuses on, and has sold 65 of them, or something. So that, almost 10%, he's converted 8% of the leads that he's generated over that five year period, which is a really strong number that can only be accomplished by zero letdowns in the consistency of it, right? He's stuck with it for that entire time, never missed, not stop and start kind of thing. That's a valuable model for you to watch, right? You're at the very early stages of this. Your third mailing is just going out you said? Or just went out?
Chad: It did just go out, yeah.
Dean: Okay, perfect. Now, when we look at this, you're, now, role is to ... You've got 11 or 12, or however many you said, people, who you've already identified 1% of them right now who have responded, and you're the source of the information for them, right? You're the guy who's connected with them, now. Have you got the pinned map set up yet on Google?
Chad: I'm halfway through pinning.
Dean: Okay, okay.
Chad: Yeah.
Dean: Then you'll have your layer where you can now see where those people are, and that puts another dimension to it. Right now, these are not invisible prospects. These are people who live in Sunset Heights, were proactively seeking out information about what the market's doing there, and you're sending them information. So they know who you are, you haven't pestered them, you haven't been calling them up, trying to convince them to sell their house. You are patiently and systematically educating them and motivating them. That's going to go a long way, for you, because just, I think I saw on the forum today, that you had posted a market maker message. Was that in Sunset Heights or was that to your sphere that you sent the message?
Chad: That was someone who just opted in two days ago.
Dean: Perfect.
Chad: In Sunset Heights, yeah.
Dean: Yeah.
Chad: And I didn't know if I-
Dean: So basically-
Chad: ... was getting ahead of myself with trying to do a market maker kind of thing with them, but-
Dean: No, that's-
Chad: ... their group, when I looked at it, looks similar to what my current buyer's looking for.
Dean: That's the whole point, right? What you really want to do is, you want to absolutely associate the name Chad Pescod and a communication from Chad as being completely either valuable information or an opportunity to sell our house right now. Not, "Hey, just checking in. Are you getting the reports? Is everything okay? Do you have any questions for me?"
Those kinds of things are useless. The best thing, if every time they hear from Chad, it's because you're saying, "Hey, I'm showing houses this week from a couple from Ottawa, and we're looking for a house that is just like yours. I looked it up online when I sent you the Sunset Heights report. I'm not sure what your plans are, but I thought I'd check in and see if I can tell them about your house."
That's a good thing, but what you did, because they're so early on is saying, "If you hear someone talking about selling, can you let us know?" So you've even removed it one more layer, that you're not trying to pin them down. The response that you got was great, right? Just a very friendly, "Oh, yeah, we'll definitely keep our ears open. Don't know of anybody yet, we're not ready to sell yet, but we're getting there. Feel free to come by and take a look, if you want." That's a pretty good outcome, that you can get, you know?
Chad: And I wasn't expecting that, and now I'm not really sure what to do with that, and I'm so glad that we're actually on the phone together, because-
Dean: Well, you go see the house. Go see the house, and that's the thing. I mean, of course, there's the thing, is like, "Yeah, I'd love to, let me pop by," and it's not a listing presentation. You're not going over there to convince them to sell now, you're playing the long game here, right? And by the long game, I mean the dominating Sunset Heights game. Not the, "I'm brand new and I need to get a listing and a sale right now," game.
Chad: Right.
Dean: That's the thing that you have to maybe go counter to your instincts, as you want to get some action right now, but you've got to have that patient understanding that they're going to move on their timeline. But what does motivate it, what does speed it up, is sometimes if you've already got a buyer for them, that may make it easy for them, right? That's why the best thing that you can do is start acting like you're already on the job for them. Right? It's just not listed publicly. You know that there are 12 or 13 people in Sunset Heights right now who are either within the next 6 months, 12 months, 24 months, sometimes from now, are much higher likelihood to sell their house than the general population.
Chad: Yeah.
Dean: You've got that secret inventory right now, and so the best thing you can do is to start finding buyers of people who want to buy in Sunset Heights. When we go down our Listing Agent Lifestyle elements here, number one is getting listings. I know that you've got that locked in, right? We've got your executing, you've already gone through all the stuff to get everything set up; you've got your landing page, you've got your formats, you've got your newsletters, you've got your cover letters. You've got all that stuff, so now you're just in orbit with that, and it's very easy to mail the postcard, and what I'd love to see you start adding is adding the micro-targeting Facebook. Just using that as a distribution channel to own the media in Sunset Heights, you know?
Chad: Right.
Dean: Yeah. There's never been this opportunity that we've had before, you know? We've never had this opportunity, and the kids now ... I mean, you look at it now, media, being on video, is an important thing, and you've got ... If you look at the digital native, kids now, they have no idea who the TV stars are. Their top celebrities are all YouTube or Instagram people, right? They don't know about the broadcast network person, right? That's what their parents watch in the living room while they're in their bedroom watching YouTube, and playing Fortnite, and watching true TV at the same time.
Chad: Right.
Dean: So being on that screen, I mean, Diane Litsey is going to be known, and probably already is by now, after the third time of doing these videos, she's getting known in that area. She's already gone off to see two people about selling, and so one of them will probably be in the next couple of months here, and another one might be sooner than that. But the fact that she's acting as the mayor of Cypresswood and Lake Ashton and moving forward from there.
When we get that established, if I'm going through the checklist there, that's job one, because that's going to be the longterm foundation of your Listing Agent Lifestyle. Then, number two, is multiplying your listings, and since you don't have listings right now, then we move on to number three, which is getting referrals. We need to bump up. I know for a fact, Chad Pescod, that you know more than 50 people. I find it inconceivable-
Chad: I was amazed, too. I was amazed, too. I've been adding to it regularly, but I was shocked that it was so low, I don't understand what's happening. Are we thinking of people who aren't even in the city?
Dean: No. I think we want to get people in the area.
Chad: Just in, local areas.
Dean: Yeah, the people who can be the... because what we're looking, is we're looking to get referrals, right?
Chad: Yeah.
Dean: We know that referrals happen as a result of conversation, and we want the people who live locally, who are having conversations locally, to think of you whenever a conversation about real estate comes up. So we start programming them, because if you can't think of them, what are the odds that they're thinking of you?
Chad: You're right.
Dean: Right. If you go ... Did you go to your Facebook page and look through your Facebook friends to see who lives locally, who you recognize, you know? I would start with the basics, right? You would go with, and this is the kind of thing where, do you have family in Aurora? Or you're Oshawa.
Chad: Oshawa, yeah.
Dean: You're in Oshawa.
Chad: My roots are on the west side of Toronto. I moved here 15 years ago, and I have been establishing a network since then, but it's nothing like it would be on the Cambridge side.
Dean: Okay. Well, if you've been there for 15 years and you have 50 people, you may be the world’s worst networker.
Chad: Or a hermit.
Dean: In addition to being the mayor. Yeah.
Chad: Right.
Dean: Good grief.
Chad: Okay, I'll double down on that. I get it.
Dean: We start with your ... Does your wife have family in Oshawa?
Chad: Yeah, very limited, very limited, yep.
Dean: Okay.
Chad: But she does, and work friends that I know, as well.
Dean: Yeah. Anybody that if you saw them at the grocery store, you'd recognize them by name, that's the people. That's who we're talking about, right? If you stand out on your driveway, do you know the names of your neighbors to your left, and your right, and across the street, and a couple down?
Chad: Yeah, yeah, some of them, yeah. For sure.
Dean: Okay.
Chad: Yea, by any means.
Dean: Those people should all be on there, your kid’s teacher, any of the other parents. Do you know any of the other parents?
Chad: Oh, absolutely, yeah. They're on the list, as well. That's what bumped it up from 40 to 50.
Dean: Okay.
Chad: So, if someone like the teacher, and I look up her name, and I find her address, and send her a postcard, is that a little bit off putting to them, maybe?
Dean: I don't think so.
Chad: Okay.
Dean: Why would it be?
Chad: Well, because why would I know their address otherwise, if I hadn't looked them up, right? So I don't know if that would be off putting to people or not.
Dean: Well, you have to make that judgment. I don't think so, I mean, especially ... it depends what kind of relationship you have with them, right? If you're a friendly guy ... it's a postcard. It's pretty harmless, right? I think that that would be a line that you have to make the decision on, right?
Chad: Right.
Dean: Is that stepping over the creepometer, you know?
Chad: Right.
Dean: Right.
Chad: Yeah.
Dean: You have to say that, like is that person going to... You have to know what kind of a relationship. If you have a friendly, that they know you, you know them, I don't think that that would be a problem.
Chad: Right, and it's not like their names are secret, I know their names, yeah we talk at school.
Dean: Exactly.
Chad: I get what you're saying, okay.
Dean: Yeah. We just need to get that up there, you know? We don't wanna create problems that aren't there. You look at what's the alternative, okay? I always do, in my mind, just a quick little matrix on these kind of situations, right? The possibilities are that we send the postcard, or we don't send the postcard, and then on the top of the matrix is they get creeped out or they don't get creeped out. Right?
Chad: Right. Yeah.
Dean: If you don't send the postcard, there's zero percent chance that they're going to get creeped out, but there's also zero percent chance that they see all of these programming messages that we're going to do, right?
Chad: Right. Yep.
Dean: Right. So the odds of them thinking about you when the conversation comes up are also zero, or very, very low.
Chad: Yes.
Dean: Right. All the good outcomes are if you send them the postcard. Even if you send them the postcard, and they get creeped out, and what's the very worst thing that could happen?
Chad: They put it in the recycling box.
Dean: That would be one thing, that's not the worst thing that could happen. The worst thing that could happen would be-
Chad: They ask me to stop sending them?
Dean: Yes, they get a lawyer and send you a cease and desist and get a restraining order on you.
Chad: Right.
Dean: That would be the worst thing. What is the likelihood that that would happen?
Chad: I would think-
Dean: Because you sent them something called the world's most interesting postcard.
Chad: Yeah, I'd say zero percent.
Dean: Absolutely. So that's the thing, right? When you wanna be the mayor, you gotta get out and meet people, and kiss babies, and get known. You've gotta be proactive.
Chad: Right.
Dean: Yeah.
Chad: Part of my challenge in life is knowing to draw the line between being obnoxious and in people’s faces, and not disrupting their process.
Dean: Right.
Chad: And that's something else that I've been learning since I've been listening to you. Like I said, the transformation's not complete, but it's so awesome to hear the way you break things down and it's really helping me refrain those things and just look at them differently. It's not imposing to do that.
Dean: No, not at all.
Chad: It's a postcard.
Dean: Right. I look at this, yours, the end result of this is that we have at least a hundred people that are, every month, getting the world's most interesting postcard, and getting a suggestion that if they hear someone talking about, insert high probability conversation here, to know what to do. To call you or to text you and get a copy of your book, or get a copy of this, or get a copy of that to give to them.
Chad: And-
Dean: That's all we want, right?
Chad: Right. Do you wanna hear a quick story about the reception-
Dean: Sure.
Chad: ... I got from the first time I mailed those out?
Dean: Yes, tell me.
Chad: Somebody I hadn't talked to in four years-
Dean: Oh, I forgot, you've already mailed. How many have you mailed out so far?
Chad: This is three months now.
Dean: Three months for 50 people.
Chad: Yep.
Dean: Or bumped it from 40 to 50, okay.
Chad: Yeah, that's right.
Dean: Okay, so tell me what's happening.
Chad: Big increase.
Dean: Yeah.
Chad: She called me up, I would have no awkward feelings about seeing her and talking to her in public, but we just haven't hung out or talked in four years.
Dean: Yeah.
Chad: She calls me up as soon as she got it, she said she loved it. She said now when other realtors call and bug her, she said she has a way to get them off her back. She's going to say, "I have a real estate agent, thank you very much."
Dean: Right. Ah, so great.
Chad: It took down ... I actually had two calls like that, very similar, and it took down all of the barriers of them calling me and reconnecting.
Dean: Right. Because now they feel like, "Oh yeah, I hear from him." You're in contact, you know? That's exactly it. So you look at it, and again, we're talking about something so, so cheap. A hundred people, and you look at it that ... You're in Canada, so the postage is approximately a million dollars to send-
Chad: Yep, that's right, yep.
Dean: .... individual postcards, but let's say you're spending a hundred ... Oh no, you've only got 50, but you're sending less than $100 to go to 50 people.
Chad: That's right.
Dean: Yeah. So you look at that over the course of a year of that, you've spent $1,200. You could do that for 10 years before it even reaches what one average commission would be in your area. It's a no brainer, it's a no brainer, you know? It confuses people that it's number three on the list, but I always wanna start with the fastest things. If you've got a listing, then the fastest thing we could do is start multiplying your listings, and as soon as you get one, that's the thing that we'll do, because now you've got so much opportunity there.
Then, number four is that we start looking at converting leads. All the leads that you've generated, now we've gotta have an established way of communicating with those people every month, consistently. You've got that now, you're sending your Get Top Dollar newsletter, and you're sending the monthly reports to the 12 or 13 people that have responded so far?
Chad: Yes.
Dean: Okay. Then are you doing anything to generate buyer leads? Number five is now finding buyers-
Chad: No, and-
Dean: ... so that's the catalyst for all of it.
Chad: No, and because of getting all the other systems in place and the additional financial cost of doing that.
Dean: Yeah.
Chad: .That's actually what I was thinking, one of the things I should work on next.
Dean: Yes, absolutely it is.
Chad: Because I have been paid one commission so far, I have another one coming at the end of the month, I have no problem pouring it all into marketing, because I know where it's going.
Dean: Now we wanna start look, let's lift up our heads a little bit here, and let's look at the whole market, where you want to be, right? We want to pick ... you've chosen an area where you want to start your domination, that's your core area. We've got your Sunset Heights there, we've got your top 50, soon to be 100, soon to be 150 that are getting the postcard. Now, the next step now is to pick and look at what do you have in Oshawa that you could focus on as a segment of the market that would be a good place for you to get into?
Chad: I'm not sure I understand your question.
Dean: Okay. Here, in Winter Haven, we look at the segments, what we've got are; there's golf course communities, there are adult communities, there are condos, there are lakefront homes. What would be the categories that you have available? Townhouses, for instance. Certainly townhouses would be one segment of that. Is there anything that Oshawa is known for? Or is there anything that's more ... what's the most desirable thing in Oshawa?
Chad: Anecdotally, I can say that, for someone looking to come out of Toronto and move into a more family friendly neighborhood or home, it has the best value for their dollar. That's compared to Barrie, compared to Milton, you know?
Dean: Yes.
Chad: I don't know if that's one of those things that you're talking about or not, but that's something that comes to mind.
Dean: Okay. When you look at it, then, what would be the specific things within Oshawa that would be ... Certainly you have townhouses, I know that, because all of the suburbs have townhouses in Toronto. That is a good identifiable thing, because it's a category, right? Do you have condos there?
Chad: Absolutely, yeah.
Dean: Like condo high rise buildings?
Chad: Yeah, in Oshawa, not in Sunset Heights.
Dean: No, no. Yeah, no, in Oshawa.
Chad: We're just looking at Oshawa, okay.
Dean: Yeah, because you want to expand outside of Sunset Heights, too, right? That's just your core, but we're going to ... What's our million dollar plan? You're not going to make a million dollars in Sunset Heights, we need to-
Chad: Okay, I see what you're saying, okay. So I should pull a macro and look at Oshawa.
Dean: Right, right, right.
Chad: Golf courses, townhouses, condos-
Dean: Okay, now are there golf courses?
Chad: Sorry, I'm sorry.
Dean: Are there golf course homes, are there homes on the golf courses? Or is golf course communities?
Chad: I don't know that they're categorized as being on the golf course, but they're obviously adjacent to the golf course.
Dean: Okay. Are there homes that back onto the golf courses?
Chad: There are, yep. Yeah.
Dean: Okay. Now, some of these things, when you look at it, with the lakefront homes here in Winter Haven, that's a manual list build, right? You have to go and look at the plat maps, and look at the tax records, and individually build the owners of the lakefront homes in Winter Haven, and there is about 2,000 of them. But, that list is super valuable, because now you can mail postcards directly to that list, and it amplifies, because they own lakefront homes, and the thing is there. But for you, townhouses or condos might be a good category, especially because in Toronto, in the hold GTA, the prices are so great that ... What's the range on even town homes in Oshawa, and condos?
Chad: 4-800, I would say.
Dean: Yeah, so you've got ... I mean, even that is like ... that's so great, you know? Did you see the ad that I just worked on with Zach Tazmanick for Atlanta?
Chad: No, I didn't.
Dean: Okay, so Zach came to the event in Toronto, and Glen McQueeney was there, and we were talking about the selecting target markets like this. Zach decided that he was going to really zone in on the high rises in Midtown and Buckhead in Atlanta, and so he ... There's a whole forum thread in the Gogo Agent blog that is dedicated to this, and you see that the evolution of it from it being all about Zach to now being all about the buyer who's looking for those high rises. That model, I think if you were to take the condos, how many condo buildings would you guess that there are in Oshawa?
Chad: 15?
Dean: Okay. That's great, and they probably average a hundred or more units, so-
Chad: Yep.
Dean: That's a really good start.
Chad: But yeah, okay. Yeah.
Dean: But even that. Whatever it is, you've got 15 buildings, right? That that's a ... For somebody looking specifically for a condo, this is an advantage that you have, for categories, you don't need a listing to find buyers for condos.
Chad: Right.
Dean: That's a good start, right? Is that now you've got this opportunity to triangulate. You've got an opportunity to start looking for people who are looking for condos by putting together the guide to Oshawa condos. Now, you know who Brad Lamb is, right?
Chad: I don't think so.
Dean: Okay, well he's in Toronto, he's the condo king, he's developer now, but when we first started doing these guides, Brad, we did a condo guide for Toronto, and that was all Brad did was condos. So he's become synonymous with the condo market in Toronto, but that ability, now, to start finding buyers who are looking for condos and do all the things that we talk about, just kind of appointing yourself to the position of Oshawa condo specialist, or Oshawa townhouse specialist, or both.
Chad: And drill down to specific price categories? Or not even, just keep it open?
Dean: Just keep it open. That's enough of a category that somebody thinking about a condo in Oshawa, you've got what would they want to know, what are the buildings, what are the comparisons, what are the amenities, what are the prices? All that stuff, you start compiling and being the information source, just like we did with the South Beach condos.
Chad: Right.
Dean: If you do a search in the Gogo Agent blog, in the member’s blog, if you do a search on South Beach, you see the South Beach condo guide, and you see how that whole triangulation works.
Chad: It's so funny, because I was looking at condos for somebody in Cobourg, which is east of Oshawa, and I was looking online to see if anyone was the condo king or queen in Cobourg so I could just take their list.
Dean: Right.
Chad: I wish there was at least one person who had done this, so I see exactly what you're saying, just be that person who I was looking for.
Dean: Yes.
Chad: For buyers, yeah. I getcha, it's perfect.
Dean: Yes.
Chad: I love it.
Dean: There you go.
Chad: Once I do compile a list like town homes, or something like that, and start to generate that report, it's a report that I'll be generating for people?
Dean: Yep. It'll be a guide, first. That's what you can offer to the buyers, is the guide to Oshawa townhouses or condos. Look in the forum, and you'll see the one that we just did with Zach, that's the idea.
Chad: Okay.
Dean: Yeah. So much opportunity for Mr. Pescod.
Chad: It's huge, there's so little time, there's so much to do, Dean.
Dean: That's exactly right. I'm very excited. I'll have to tell ... You know how I ended up on that radio show is that Sasha Lalla is Eben Pagan's sister-in-law, and so I-
Chad: Oh, that's crazy.
Dean: Right, so when I came to Toronto one time, she asked me to come on her radio show that she did for Toronto business owners. Yeah, so you never know who's listening, and here we are.
Chad: And lucky me that you did that, so thank you for-
Dean: And I get to know the mayor of Sunset Heights.
Chad: That's a very rich life you lead, Dean.
Dean: It really is, I'll tell you what. Well, Chad, I think you got so much opportunity, the hour flew by here.
Chad: Yeah, it did.
Dean: But I think you got your action steps, the thing for you now is just disciplined execution of a proven plan, that's what we're working on.
Chad: Right. Right. Well, I just want to say before we go, Dean, I really appreciate it, my life is changed so far in such a big way, and I know where I'm going to. On every level, my life is improved and I really appreciate it.
Dean: That's awesome. Well, thank you so much.
Chad: I don't feel judged by you, I feel like you're accessible, and it's been a life changer, so thank you so much from the bottom of my heart.
Dean: Awesome. I can't wait to see it all unfold, I think you got a lot of potential. I think we're going to be having some great conversations over the coming years here about all the success stories. Thanks, Chad.
Chad: Thank you so much, Dean.
Dean: We'll talk to you soon.
Chad: Have a good day.
Dean: Bye. And there we have it. I love talking with people that I just know are going to be a big success when we start to look at this one year, two years, five years down the road. I've seen this happen enough now that I saw it with Chuck Charlton, I saw it with Tony Kalsi. I get to see it now with Ron Reed and people like Chad, who I think have a great runway ahead, and are going to have really successful careers.
I love being part of that, and I think that the plan that we talked about on today's call would really be applicable to anybody in that situation, who's just getting started, really wanting to build a solid foundation. The advantage that we have is that I've been doing this for 30 years. I've seen this unfold. I've seen people go from zero to well over a million dollars, now, and I've seen people coming behind them on that same path go from zero to six figures. Then somebody right behind them go from six figures to a million.
The path has been blazed. The trail's been blazed, we're not trying to figure things out here. We're trying to make things more efficient for people to follow the trail that we've already blazed, and that's really what we've got going on at gogoagent.com. The whole thing I do is spend all of our time focused on how to support people in living this Listing Agent Lifestyle, and applying the plan that we talk about here. Applying all of the tools, all of the systems that we've already created for you.
I invite you to come over to GoGoAgent.com and join us. We start out, again, with a completely free trial. There's no need to give us your credit card, or to talk to anybody, or to go through a sales process. You just go in, you can come on in, take a look, see everything that we're talking about. Come on into the forum, ask your questions, watch the videos, see all of the materials, everything that we're executing.
Then, I know that if we can connect with you, that we can help you. That's all I'm going to say about that, if you'd like to continue the conversation here, you can go to ListingAgentLifestyle.com. You can download a copy of the Listing Agent Lifestyle book, and if you'd like to be a guest on the show, just click on the Be a Guest Link, and we can get together and hatch some schemes for you. That's it for this week, have a great week, and I will talk to you next time.