How To Be Your Own Brand Ambassador • Monday Market Minute • Carrie McCormick

In our July episode of Monday Market Minute, Carrie McCormick from @properties emphasizes once again the importance of being your own brand ambassador. Carrie discusses social media content and how to grow your channels. Carrie also shares tips on how to behave during the market slowdown. Last, Carrie shares traits she believes brought success to her.

If you’d prefer to watch this interview, click here to view on YouTube!

Carrie can be reached at carrie@atproperties.com or by phone at 312.961.4612.

Please follow Carrie on Instagram by clicking here.

This episode is brought to you by Real Geeks, Quality Builders and FollowUpBoss.

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Transcript

D.J. Paris 0:00
What does it mean to be your own brand ambassador? And more importantly, how do you do it? We’ll talk about that today. Stay tuned. This episode is brought to you by real geeks. How many homes are you going to sell this year? Do you have the right tools? Is your website turning soft leads and interested buyers? Are you spending money on leads that aren’t converting? We’ll find out why agents across the country come to real geeks as their technology partner. Real geeks was created by an agent for agents. They pride themselves on delivering their clients a real estate sales and marketing solution to generate more business real geeks is easy to use. Their websites are fast and built for lead conversion with a smooth search experience for the end user. Real geeks is mobile friendly delivering an excellent user experience on the go. Real geeks includes an easy to use CRM. So once your leads sign up on your website, you can track their interest and have great follow up triggers. Real geeks is loaded with a ton of marketing tools to nurture your leads and increase your brand awareness visit real geeks.com forward slash keeping it real pod again, real geeks.com forward slash keeping it real pod and find out why Realtors come to real geeks to generate more business. This episode is also brought to you by quality builders are you or one of your clients real estate investors who can’t seem to find a trustworthy general contractor. Are you tired of poor communication, excessive change orders and extensive schedule delays. We’ll look no further because quality builders as a Chicago general contractor focused on helping you the real estate investor grow your portfolio. Each and every product decision is based on quality builders core values of transparency, courage, integrity, and uniqueness which produce sustainable and predictable results that successful real estate investors are looking for. Quality builders uses innovative project management technology to keep you up to date on your projects by providing a client portal to view daily logs schedules and contract and change order updates. Schedule a free one on one consultation by visiting quality builders.com That’s quality builders.com to see how they can partner with you to build your real estate portfolio and now on to our show.

Welcome to keeping your real the largest podcast made by real estate agents and for real estate agents. My name is DJ Paris I am your guide and host through the show and today is our monthly series called The Monday market minute with Carrie McCormick from the Carrie McCormick Real Estate Group with at properties here in Chicago. Now Carrie is a top 1% producer in Chicago with over 22 years of experience helping buyers sellers and investors in the last 12 months out of 46,000 real estate agents in the Chicagoland area. Carrie is currently ranked number I actually I didn’t look but I think you’re in the top 10 I think you’re like number seven, which is unbelievable. So out of all those 1000s and 1000s of agents. She’s a true superstar and an expert in everything from first time homebuyers, veteran investors and luxury properties. She also works with a lot of developers and is often chosen to represent their high end developments. Please visit Carrie at Carey McCormick r e.com. And please follow her on Instagram at Carey McCormick real estate. Carrie, welcome once again to the show.

Carrie McCormick 3:36
Thank you for the intro happy to be here as always,

D.J. Paris 3:40
I did want to real quickly mention that you I was out with another monthly guest Joel Schaub, actually, I saw him a week well, I saw him last night, but it’s um, a week ago. And a week ago, he came up to me we were talking about social media and he says, he said Carrie McCormack has the very best Instagram account I’ve ever seen for a realtor. And so he wanted me to make sure I told you that on as you’re

Carrie McCormick 4:05
such a great guy, I just I adore him. He’s He’s such a great guy. And actually that’s a good way to kind of kick off a conversation. I spend a lot of time obviously on my social media as far as curating what I do and a lot of people do ask me you know, questions about my social media and how it came to be and who does it for me etc. And as probably a lot of you guys listening know I do it all myself. And it’s all organically grown. And I always tell people to be your own brand ambassador and really when you are creating social media posts or doing your own branding, it really mine took off because I started to be more authentic to who I am and what I wanted my brand to be and I think once it comes from within and again, who you are, that will shine through. A lot of people will end up kind copying each other, and I get it, I get inspiration from other, you know, brokers or companies or etc what it is, but you really spin it to who you are and what you’re about. It does definitely shine through and clients and people can can see it.

D.J. Paris 5:14
I was the I’m on the Young Professionals Network committee for the Chicago association here locally, and I’m on this group text, and we’re always chatting back and forth with ideas. And one of our members mentioned, oh, there’s this walking tour of a neighborhood here in Chicago called McKinley Park, which I’m not that familiar with. And so this group text, the one of our committee members was saying, Hey, there’s this, there’s this walking tour this weekend, great opportunity to learn the neighborhood. And also for social media. Content, you know, you can take pictures or videos of of the tour, and I was thinking, Wow, what a smart idea. Yeah, and I know, you do this a lot, too, when you go to showings, or you have a listing, you know, you’re constantly showcasing features of the house, or the property that you’re visiting, and putting it on social.

Carrie McCormick 6:08
Yeah, I mean, it’s every day is realtors, we’re out and about, so why not kind of document what we’re seeing what we’re feeling, you know, what’s out there. So it’s, it’s a fun way to continue to grow your social media. But actually, that’s kind of what I wanted to talk about, on, you know, this, this monthly podcast is, you know, we’re headed into August, July was a slow month, you know, due to a variety of things, and not to keep talking about rising interest rates, and inflation and all that stuff that we know that’s going on the entire market has slowed down across the United States. So it’s, we’re seeing it in all different markets. And because I’ve been doing this for 22 years, I’ve been in and out of a lot of different markets. And it really is a great time for everyone to reevaluate their business and kind of pivot, right. And it’s not a bad thing to slow down, it’s not a bad thing to adjust your business. This is the time where I think is growth happens, and you learn different skill sets. And you really now need to start energizing and working on your business to set up working in your business. A lot of people told me that throughout the years, and I’ve listened to them and say like, yeah, yeah, no problem, I’ll do that. But really, when you think through it in working on your business, instead of in it, it really is a time for growth, and a few things just to share with you guys of what I’m doing through this time is revamping my database, which is a daunting task. I’m going through some of my systems and automating a few things. Again, you hear this all the time to do it, but really sit down and think of the tasks that are redundant or that take up time and really try to automate it. There’s so many different tools out there to do that. And anyone listening, I’m happy to share some of the things I’ve discovered, not to say it’s right or wrong, that what I’m using, but I definitely find it useful. And then reaching out to clients. You know, it’s it’s great to reach out to people for no reason at all, except to check in on them and say hello. You know, instead of asking them for referrals or asking them for something, it’s a great time just to reach out because so, you know, just again, working on your business and pivoting some of your marketing as well. A lot of times during slow times like this agents will do, they’ll step back in their business to the back, okay, no one’s buying no one’s selling, you know, I’m just gonna kind of take it easy, which sounds great, you know, just to kind of take a little bit of a break. And I you know, sometimes there’s days, I want to do that too. But it’s really important. I call it doubling down, you know, really work really hard because I think and this is my small prediction is that we’re going to have a very healthy fall market. I think we’re going through a slow slow time here. Interest rates will probably ease up a little bit I think people will get used to the new norm that we’re in. And I think there’s some buyers on the sidelines that are going to come back to the market so be ready. Take this time to revamp your business. pivot a little bit but be ready for the full market.

D.J. Paris 9:24
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Carrie McCormick 12:34
Yeah, I agree with that. I think that’s another point of your partnerships and your relationships in this business. Because make sure that you nurture those, like you were just talking about mortgage rates, you were talking about Joel, who’s with guaranteed rates, you know, leverage your relationships with these with these folks have, even if they’re not in position to buy or sell a home, they may be in a position to refinance. And because you’ve you know, given them that information that rates have ticked down, and you know, again, partner with your mortgage lender, they will find you to be a value resource. And again, it’s not just always about buying and selling real estate, but now you become, you know, more of a fiduciary which we are to them, and they find value in what you’re bringing them. I was actually talking with another broker. She was from Atlanta, very sweet woman. And she asked me also to be on her podcast. And it was funny, because I said, How did you find me? You know, because it’s just, you know, when I get calls from people from California, or wherever, it’s just, it’s so interesting. And she’s like, Oh, your social media. And I thought that that was spectacular. And she said, you know, give me your secret weapon. We all want to know what it is of how you became successful? And I thought, well, that’s a loaded question. Because we all know, in this industry, there’s no secret sauce, there’s no one secret weapon, and it’s truly a lot of hard work that goes into this job. But I said, if I had to pick one to answer your question, it would definitely be my network of people around me, you know that. Looking back to everyone who has supported my business and who I’ve networked with, and used and leveraged in my business really, has paid off and those relationships are key. So I would suggest to anyone out there, you know, have a key network out there, grow those relationships, maintain them, and always look for new opportunities with them as well.

D.J. Paris 14:31
Yeah, we’re in the back to school time. So this is a good opportunity for for everyone listening to think about those in your sphere of influence that have kids that are going back to school and maybe, you know, you could work on creating some little, you know, little

Unknown Speaker 14:49
I like that. I’m gonna write that one down like

D.J. Paris 14:51
notebooks, Kranz pens, whatever school supplies or maybe even better asking you’re asking Client, your clients, if the teachers need any supplies, oftentimes teachers, depending on what districts and states, the schools are in, oftentimes are in short supply of things that are needed for the classroom. So anything like that, I think is a great reason to pick up the phone or even just to say, are you excited, the kids are going back to school, having that conversation getting some more, you know, more more mom or dad time alone, versus, you know, the busy summer months. And I will also say something that I use. So Carrie and I are here in the local Chicago market. And I talk to a lot of Chicago realtors, a lot of top producers, people like carrier. And what’s interesting is, is you were talking about your success. And if you had to boil it down to one thing, it would be your network, I will say, a close second will be the way that you are perceived by other agents. And I asked people all the time associate you and I together or associate you to me because of our show, and people will come up to me and they’ll go, Carrie is not only like an absolute superstar. She’s like the nicest person to do a deal with. And I get that across the board. And I think that that matters. Of course, it matters. But it really is something that is probably not coincidental that you’re ultra successful, and, you know, apparently very pleasant to do a deal with, according to everybody I’ve talked to.

Carrie McCormick 16:28
Well, actually now you just reminded me the one thing too is that I talked about when I was being interviewed was, again, some more success stories. And I would say that three other tips would be Have patience. I think a lot of people want to have success, and they want it quickly. And I get it. Because anyone that knows me, I’m a very impatient person. But through the years, I’ve learned to be patient. Ego is another thing, I think in our industry, in sales in general, we’re all type A personalities. And we do have an ego. But my my line is ego doesn’t serve the client. Clients don’t care. I mean, they really don’t, they just they want, you know what they want. So really kind of check your ego and especially to each other as brokers, you know, we’re all in this business together. So you know, set your ego aside is number two. And number three, I say this all the time to people is Be kind, I mean, really be kind to each other. Because you know, I’m sure there were times that I wasn’t kind or whatever it was, but I’ve learned in my maturity of 22 years that again, it sounds so easy, and I truly mean this, you know, authentically is when you are truly kind of people with no, you don’t want anything back from them. You’re just kind to them and you’re giving in you’re doing with best intentions with nothing wanting anything in return, it comes back to you. And that’s again, part of my success is you know, all everything’s been good intentions behind. Don’t have any go work hard. And it’ll come

D.J. Paris 18:14
there you go. Well, it carry you has, by the way we should mentioned carry did was almost 170 million last year, just by herself. So I want to set the stage of just how busy she is. And in fact, she’s so come on. Whoa, my APOP My sincere apologies. I had it backwards. I had 168 which was was very 186 186,000,001 person, no team.

Carrie McCormick 18:41
But I do want to say thank you to my support team. I’ve got the most incredible support team and anyone out there knows we can’t do it without them. It is a team. And they support my vision. They support my brand, and couldn’t do without him.

D.J. Paris 19:00
Takes A Village. It takes a village but but yeah, so Carrie is is truly remarkable. And she has to go right now because she has to do another deal. And she has an appointment right now. So I’m going to say goodbye once again to Carrie, who is just so marvelous to be on our show every year, every month every year since we’ve started. We are so grateful. We’re so lucky to have her. So thank you Carrie Everyone, go follow Carrie on Instagram, Carrie McCormack real estate, find her on Instagram and reach out to her. She’s super helpful and nice and she is wonderful on our show. We appreciate you. Thank you and thank you to all our listeners. Stay tight. Stay stay connected to us and we’ll see on the next episode.

Carrie McCormick 19:45
Have a great day.

D.J. Paris 19:46
Okay