Next Level Agents: The Kevin & Fred Show - Interviews with the best and brightest minds in the real estate industry

Gary has an extensive background in Law Enforcement and as a Security Specialist. Kevin – What is the number one common problem most people make concerning personal safety?Gary – Situational Awareness. In general people go around not paying attention to their surroundings. People cannot go from Point A to Point B without looking at their phone because they are so reliant on them, thereby making themselves a target.Take a Lioness on the Serengeti, she’s hungry and looking to get food in the fastest way possible with as little trouble as possible so she looks for the weak, the sick, and the young. Criminals are the same way – they don’t want you to resist or fight and are surprised when you do. They want to get away quickly, they know what works, and that’s why they do what they do. Our lives brush up against criminals daily so Situational Awareness - keeping your head on a swivel - is a huge part of personal safety.Discussion of the Beverly Carter CrimeKevin – What was it that caught your attention about this particular crime?Gary – The whole totality of the crime and how it went down starting with a female caller posing as a Buyer and wanted to see a home in the late afternoon/early evening. No red flags here as this happens all the time. Agents get calls all the time to show homes to strangers at odd hours. So I questioned if this was a unique situation or is this happening on a large scale. NAR had statistic for over a ten-year period and reported that 100 agents (10 per year, almost 1 a month) were killed while performing their duties and 940 assaults were reported although many go unreported.Kevin – How much time did it take to research and develop your training?Gary – Countless hours and my research continues every day. I spent a summer going to open houses and entering very quietly. I was astounded at how easy it was to catch an agent unaware. I teach how to perform a perimeter check on vacant homes, open house safety – example do not lead a Buyer through a home with your back to them.Kevin – recaps open house safety, vacant home entry, perimeter checks.Gary – yes, these are real simple things an agent should add to their repertoire to keep themselves safe.Kevin – how long is the course you teach to Realtors?Gary – About 75 to 90 minutes; it covers pre-planning, creating a safe work environment, situational awareness, improvised weapons (cellphone for one), and quick exit self-defense. Q & A as I make myself available for discussion.Kevin – What if the 1.2 million Realtors took your course;  what do you think the percentage of crimes would be decreased?Gary – Possibly 75% but there are no guarantees but if we are inherently safer there would be less crimes. (Discussion of showing a home with basements and not having your back to a Buyer.)Kevin – We can make a difference in our own safety and that of our peers. How can someone reach out to you for training?Gary – on Facebook, Instagram, gmail, and through my have a website.Gary – in closing, criminals mimic other criminals so again, Situational Awareness is crucial in keep agents safe. It’s also good business for Brokers to keep your people safe and it’s also smart business to limit liability in the event of an unfortunate incident. Bring in a safety expert and keep a good record of trainings.gvtabke@gmail.comhttps://tabkeandassociates.com/https://www.instagram.com/tabkeandassociatespi/  https://www.facebook.com/Tabke-Associates-Private-Investigations-620441224692146/

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Kevin: How have things changed in the last 10 years with digital marketing and consumers?Howard: It’s a mix of things that are the same and things that are different concerning consumer behavior. When it’s time to buy or sell consumers want the same thing – to see homes and they want a great place to search for homes. What is different is how we get in front of the consumer and stay in front of them. 10 years ago, the consumer was not checking Facebook 12.2 times a day. Now, it’s more effective to send alerts through social media rather than email.AI is changing everything. We must leverage the heck out of AI. We can tap our agents on the shoulder with a text letting them know what their clients are doing because we are watching their database all the time. We can send a pinpoint message to the agent so they can send a message to their clients about a home or price reduction. We are getting 30 to 40 % response rates doing this.Tech is on an exponential curve of development. You must embrace it through companies who can automate your systems and leverage that to compete with the big companies without spending 100 million dollars.Kevin: Great answer. What have you seen that is happening with the great Real Estate teams?Howard: 1. Never put all of your eggs in one basket. Do an inventory list of your dependencies such as Zillow or Realtor.com. Their models are changing constantly and you need to have a redundancy system. We are seeing big successful teams whose business is going to dust because they have not developed a redundancy system. 2. You have to embrace the iBuying thing and use it to your advantage. There will be a correction to the market and corrections correct an irrational market. What will happen is the iBuying thing will flush out and leave a few of the companies standing. Become an expert in iBuying and get it out in front of your clients. Going back to nurturing the client relationship; the personal touch.Kevin: Where do you look for knowledge or mentorship to push yourself forward?Howard: In general, I prefer Biographies. We can learn a lot from the most successful people, from their mistakes and zigs and zags. I also refer back to a small, easy read book called ‘Clarity’ by Bob Bohlen – real simple stuff about Lead Gen, Time Blocking, etc. I read everything in detail such as Zillow’s most recent quarterly earnings. Don’t take everything for granted. Follow the money. Turn your brain on, think more on your own.Kevin: I personally enjoy opposite viewpoints in order to make adjustments to my own point of view.Howard: Yes, have people around you that you can listen to and argue with. We are an industry of talkers and it’s hard to listen. We can be very opinionated in a constructive way. Put egos aside to allow so much more. We need each other to be great, to develop our skill sets. Surround yourself with people who are infinitely smarter than you for unparalleled success.Request a demo of Ylopo: https://www.ylopo.com/Howard’s book recommendation: Clarity by Bob Bohlen

Interview by Kevin Kauffman, co-founder of Next Level Agents (facebook group and mastermind). Kevin and Fred's Next Level Podcast, and The Group 4610 Real Estate Network.

It’s one of the the immutable laws of marketing...  So stop being a jack of all trades!  Learn to specialize so you can grow your business to new heights...

Monica’s journey in real estate began in 2009 with a “I hope this works moment.” There were times when she called her mom and best friend to ask – ‘Tell me I can do this” and the answer was always ‘Yes, you can do it’ - underscoring the importance of a community who believes in you which Monica creates with her clients through her excellent customer service.Monica’s business model is a simple family-based one with her as the Lead Agent, her husband who is a licensed agent, and a full-time unlicensed assistant. With her background in Public Relations and her husband’s background in health care, they are a dynamic duo providing excellent service to their clients. Her model is efficient and very hands on. YTD this team has sold 42 homes worth 14 million and the goal is 30 million for the year 2019 which is looking very good.Monica’s Core PrinciplesKevin – What have been the core principles that define your business and who you are that you’ve developed over the last 10 years?Monica – Good question. I am a business-minded numbers driven person and my husband, whose background is in healthcare, is more client driven. He has helped me focus on the people we serve. We call it ‘loving on our people’. We do special events several times a year such as parties at our home, renting a theater for movie time, renting a game place for bowling and arcade games. It’s a time to socialize and create community and a high level of customer service.Discussion on Reciprosity and ReferralsKevin – in humans there is an innate subconscious prompting to provide value to others. How do you bring value to your real estate clients?Monica – We create a high level of customer service; we are all about the warm and fuzzy community because it’s so much more fun and enjoyable.Disney and Agents of ExcellenceKevin – What is this Disney thing? How do you tie the two into real estate?Monica – I’ve always loved Disney, I grew up in Florida and have been a student of what Disney’s principles are for many years. I formed a member network based on the spirit of Disney for Real Estate Professionals teaching them to apply the Disney principles to the practice of real estate. The Importance of the NicheKevin – What speaks to me is you have a niche, a community you can get into at a deep level with customer service. Niching down, as explained in the ‘22 Immutable Laws of Marketing’ by Al Ries and Jack Trout, creates a big business. This is the Golden Nugget you have created with your love of Disney combined with your real estate practice.Monica – it took awhile to get Disney on board, but they did it! We love the brand and the culture of Disney and the conference is full of authentic Disney. We get to go behind the scenes of Disney guided by Disney Characters with a graduation ceremony. It is a rich, authentic Disney experience directly applicable to real estate.Kevin – Why go through the time and pain to create this curriculum and this 3 day class being heavily involved in your real estate business?Monica – It’s to build the community. I get personal satisfaction and have a lot of fun with our fellow agents who have fun with Disney. I’m committed to World Class Excellence, which Disney teaches. And it is very enriching to me to bring everyone together in addition to raising our professional standards.Kevin – Do you have any closing thoughts?Monica – Thank you for having me on and please get the word out about the D23 conference to any agents who also love Disney. We have room for about 25 more attendees.https://www.theagentofexcellence.com/  https://www.facebook.com/theagentofexcellence/719-659-2613 monica@PeakHomeSearch.com 

Do you have the magic script? If you don’t (hint: no one does)... Check out this quick episode where we discuss ✅ key objectives to making a script work like magic. ✅ when and how to change them. ✅ some new scripts you’ve not heard.

THE REFERRAL BUSINESSTune in to this very informative conversation between Dean and Kevin Kauffman. Dean is a 30+ year veteran in the real estate business using his expertise in marketing and applying this knowledge to real estate.HOW MUCH HAS CHANGED in the REAL ESTATE BUSINESS?Dean’s reflection on how much has changed in the Real Estate world and how much hasn’t changed. In the beginning, Realtors had all of the information contained in a book and searches for properties were physical – you had to go to the open house, read the newspapers, talk to other agents. Now, everything is online and Buyers oftentimes know more than the Realtors. Back in the day, people desired getting top dollar in the least amount of time with little to no hassle. This was true 30 years ago and is still true today with the added benefit of more opportunities to make it happen. What hasn’t changed is Days on Market and the asking price percentage.(Kevin) How have you taken your Real Estate experience and your marketing experience and brought them both together? What’s really happening in the Real Estate world? (Dean) I spent 30 years to study how to crack the code of the real estate puzzle pieces of: 1. Getting listings 2. Multiplying your listings 3. Getting referrals 4. Converting leads 5. Finding Buyers. One area that is competition proof is the referral business. Dean employs the Dunbar Number and markets to his Inner Circle of 150 people defined as this – these are the people you recognize by their name, you would stop and have a conversation with them, and you know your position in their life.(Dean) So then the problem to solve is – How can you manage this ‘Relationship Profile’ as an asset for a 20% yield (which is the target and gold standard) to generate 30 referred transactions a year? For example: Take the number of repeat and referrals you had in the last year and divide by the 150 in your inner circle). Fifteen referrals yields a 10% repeat, 5 referrals yields a 3% repeat yet the goal is a 20% Return on Relationship and this requires real orchestration. 80% of referrals are passive and 20% are reactive. This makes up all referrals but leaves out the proactive referrals.What is an Orchestrated Referral Program? Ex: When showing a home in a particular neighborhood call or email a friend who lives in that neighborhood explaining what you are doing and ask if they know of anyone in that neighborhood who is interested in selling their home.This is a proactive referral. Discussion on the psychology of the herd – changing mass behavior, making people feel good to do something for you and elevating their perceived status and giving them opportunities to do so. We are all hard-wired to provide value to people in our inner circle of 150 and are constantly looking for an opportunity to add value.(Kevin) Yes, it’s like invoking the law of reciprocity. How can you make this happen?(Dean) By deconstructing the mechanics of how a referral works and orchestrating the situation in the mind of your inner circle of 150.https://ilovemarketing.com/have-you-tried-a-9-word-email/Reference links: http://www.gogoagent.com/http://gettingreferrals.com/ DEAN JACKSON BIODean’s greatest joy in life is to find a new idea and share it with those around him.This is Dean’s unique approach to marketing. His inspirational approach to marketing is bringing new DNA to the net. His approach is to compartmentalize your business model into three phases: Before, During, and After and using a steady drip campaign finding the multipliers to launch your business into a new dimension.(Conversation is condensed and paraphrased for convenience and flow.)

I’ll never do that!  “Why would I practice scripts? I already know what to say”. ...  Why would I do it that way when I know this other way kinda sorta works 😉.  I think we’ve all been there.. we swore we wouldn’t do something and then we did after all.  We had to eat a little crow...  And it was for the betterment of our goals/life/mission..  Bottom line is that we’ve all been there and if you’ve not found yourself there in a while perhaps it’s time to re asses things because perhaps you’re more committed to the way things look than you are to your goals.

Craig Reger has been a real estate agent for 22 years. In this episode of Kevin & Fred’s Next Level Agents Podcast, he talked me through all of the ups and downs and decisions that have made up his career. Craig is the founder and President of The Reger Group Inc. in Portland. Through the ups and downs, Craig learned how to prioritize his time, build a trusted team, and make big, “out of the box” moves.  During the podcast, you’ll hear Craig share his personal experience in the industry with helpful tips and lessons along the way. You’ll also hear the story of how he responded to a market crash by that involved a bus and getting tons of free press.  If you’ve heard of Craig, you’ve probably heard about his 90 in 90 class (90 Listings in 90 Days program). It’s inspired agents around the country (including me!) to look at things differently and maximize effort to take businesses to the next level. Now, Craig is bringing his skills and experience to a new business. Craig has started a coaching company to help other agents achieve success.  Get a glimpse at the experience and skills he brings to coaching clients during this conversation.   If you want to get in touch with Craig after listening to this episode of the podcast, email him at RegerCoaching@gmail.com.