Lab Coat Agents Podcast

During this episode of the Lab Coat Agents Podcast, host Jeff Pfitzer speaks with Krista Mashore, a coach, speaker, and best-selling author of five books who has ranked in the top 1% of realtors. They discuss the amazing results that can come from embracing video, showing up where your audience is on a consistent basis, and positioning yourself as an authority.  Episode Highlights:  Krista Mashore has been in real estate for 19 years and was formerly a teacher. Teaching and coaching are her passion. She sold 69 houses her first year. Her best year she sold 169 homes. Now she spends 95% of her time coaching. Start embracing and adapting to technology and change. After 4-5 months of creating content consistently, realtors can establish the know, like, and trust factor. Start thinking about how to show up as the authority figure. Be willing to do what people aren't willing to do now so that later you don't have to. We can be victims of our excuses or we can be someone who takes action. One video can translate into seven or more pieces of content to use across platforms. Show up where your customer is even when it’s uncomfortable. You are also adding value to your listing presentation by demonstrating how you leverage video. If people aren't using social content correctly, it means nothing. Just get started by talking about anything community or real estate related. You might need to hire someone who teaches you how to properly distribute the video. Take old tactics and bring a 21st-century twist to them. People will know you're the authority figure when you expose yourself to the masses on a consistent basis. One idea for content creation is to share what you learned today. Instagram Stories is your own reality tv show. Document your life and sprinkle in business. You will get over your fear of video by getting out of your head. Use your platform to connect with your community. Commit to consistently producing content. The hardest and most important part of the sales cycle is lead nurture. You can convert leads more easily when you have established a relationship. Krista describes how her coaching system works. Learn more about Krista’s books and where to find them. 3 Key Points: Understand the power of leveraging video correctly.  Re-purpose video content across different social platforms to maximize reach and efficiency.  Be willing to invest in your education. Learn from others who have already done what you hope to achieve. Resources Mentioned: LCA Marketing Center: LCAmarketingcenter.com Lab Coat Agents: LabCoatAgents.com Krista Mashore website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn Sell 100+ Homes a Year (book) The Fired Up Podcast Rev 3clientsin30.com (coaching challenge) F-I-R-E: Financially Independent Retire Early 3 Clients in 30 Days (book) Connect with Lab Coat Agents: Lab Coat Agents on Facebook Lab Coat Agents on Twitter Lab Coat Agents on Instagram Lab Coat Agents Facebook Group

During this episode of the Lab Coat Agents Podcast, host Tristan Ahumada speaks with April Hunter, an Atlanta, Georgia broker with one assistant, whose business is thriving on expireds. They discuss the exact system April uses to capture expired listings. You’ll also hear about the specific tools April uses to achieve her amazing results.  Episode Highlights:  When April Hunter started her real estate career, she didn’t even know what an expired listing was. When she did learn what they were, she began practicing scripts nightly in bed. Using scripts and a dialer changed her life. April preaches the importance of practice. She practiced and practiced until she became confident. If you want to succeed, you need to practice at an extremely high level. Practice will differentiate you from the amateurs. From 8:30-11:30 M-F she dials expireds and follows up using Espresso Agent. She types notes in the dialer as she is speaking to them. Get your scripts. Practice your scripts. Make the calls. Take the notes. Follow up. You’ll need to keep your hands free. Use a simple headset from Amazon or AirPods. Mornings are better for her to call. Weekends are awesome. April and Tristan role-play a simple script. She asks at the end of the call if she can do some homework and call them back. April does not go to appointments if she does not pre-qualify. She asks directly, "When we get together, if everything was good and you feel confident I am the right agent to sell your property, are you going to hire me when we meet?" It's all in the approach and tonality. When you're on the phone make sure you have the best number for them and get their email address. April sends an intro video so sellers can put a face with a name. She also asks if they are interviewing other agents. She asks them where they'll be moving when they sell this property. Another question is, “What pricing are you thinking you would like to list your property for realistically?” April knows she's going to hear “no” more often than “yes”. She also knows that someone on the other end needs her help. She understands that they're not mad at her. They're mad at the situation. In her intro video, April will recap what they said and let them know she's excited to meet with them. She'll usually include an attachment of references. Try to keep it under 30 seconds. At the closing table, she gets a client testimonial on video. If you start off bubbly, happy, and matter-of-fact, your clients will be willing to do video. April shares where you can find her online and reminds us which tools she uses in her amazing system.  3 Key Points: When calling expireds, get some great scripts and then practice, practice, practice. Consider the power of using video throughout the process, from your introduction to the closing table. Remember not to take rejection personally. The sellers know nothing about you. Believe in yourself, knowing that you can help people sell their home. Resources Mentioned: LCA Marketing Center: LCAmarketingcenter.com Lab Coat Agents: LabCoatAgents.com April Hunter website, Facebook, Instagram espressoagent.com/labcoatagents Bomb Bomb Realty Juggler Connect with Lab Coat Agents: Lab Coat Agents on Facebook Lab Coat Agents on Twitter Lab Coat Agents on Instagram Lab Coat Agents Facebook Group

During this episode of the Lab Coat Agents Podcast, host Jeff Pfitzer speaks with Matt Plumer, a real estate coach that emphasizes physical and fiscal fitness. They discuss how Matt lost over one hundred pounds, paid off massive debt, saved his marriage, and conquered his addictions. You’ll also hear Matt’s inspiring approach to coaching that focuses on stabilizing the present so you can structure your future.  Episode Highlights:  Matt Plumer was addicted to gambling, drinking, and eating. He was making a lot of money but had no time. When Matt created enough margin in his life to see his problems, that created awareness. Awareness can be transformational. Deciding to lose weight put Matt on a trajectory to change many things in his life. In 2012-2013 he lost 100 pounds, became sober, and quit gambling and smoking. Matt believes that physical and fiscal fitness are identical. The only way you can ever lose weight is to create a caloric deficit. To pay off debt, you have to spend at a spending deficit. Making healthy lifestyle changes compound over time. 75 Hard was an internet-based challenge Matt participated in at the end of last year. During that time he followed an intermittent fasting diet. People choose plant-based diets for a wide variety of reasons. Matt and Jeff discuss the discipline required to become physically fit. Mental discipline is how you can conquer pretty much everything. Handling money poorly is not a problem that is exclusive to real estate agents. Going from consistent income to inconsistent income is a big struggle for many agents. It’s easy to get caught on the transaction treadmill. When he works with clients, Matt begins with an exploratory call to get a sense of whether they’re pursuing someone else’s goals or their own. He focuses on helping clients create awareness around their habits. We must acknowledge the shame, blame, and guilt that comes with wherever we are. Unlike many coaches, Matt doesn’t focus on increasing income and increasing transactions. The first thing they address is spending. Financially fit agents are extremely clear and aware of when and how they spend their money. When working with Matt, you need to have a crystal clear cash flow plan of how you'll spend your next thirty days of money. In their first five minutes of the day, his students check their budget, check their bank account and look at whether what they spent was allocated in their budget. Most people feel restricted when they think about budgets. Do you have closings scheduled for the next month? If the answer is no, start planning for that month. Stabilize the present to structure the future. Fun is a line item in your cash flow plan. Ask what you can control. Pick one to focus on first: money or weight.  Allocate money in an app before you spend it. 3 Key Points: Awareness can help you transform your life.  Mental discipline can help you conquer many of your problems. To become a financially fit agent, you must choose to be aware of where your money  goes and how that fits into your cash flow plan.  Resources Mentioned: LCA Marketing Center: LCAmarketingcenter.com Lab Coat Agents: LabCoatAgents.com Matt Plumer Instagram, Facebook Financial Peace University 75 Hard Challenge The Game Changers (documentary) What The Health (documentary) Joe Rogan Podcast myfitnesspal Connect with Lab Coat Agents: Lab Coat Agents on Facebook Lab Coat Agents on Twitter Lab Coat Agents on Instagram Lab Coat Agents Facebook Group

During this episode of the Lab Coat Agents Podcast, hosts Tristan Ahumada and Jeff Pfitzer speak with Damion Lupo, a serial entrepreneur who has started over fifty companies and written ten books on personal finance. They discuss why relationships are everything, and connecting with people matters more than automating systems. You’ll also hear Damion’s innovative approach to retirement savings and designing your life in this inspiring episode.   Episode Highlights:  Damion Lupo is a serial entrepreneur. He bought 150 homes as an agent investor. Then he lost 20 million dollars in the 2008 crash. When he started investing, he found martial arts. He has since created his own martial arts system that involves both healing and self-defense called yokido. Damion feels that emotional intelligence has everything to do with success. Left brain mechanisms are being automated by technology. We must focus on building relationships and connecting with others. Until we're still, we're not present enough to actually know what's going on. The easiest way to learn how to be still is to learn how to meditate. Damion has a “no ding” policy. Most people are chasing the ding. Damion speaks about how chasing the ding is self-sabotage.  Your life can change if you shift your environment. He moved to the mountains for a month to escape the pattern of stimulation. Jeff describes how impressed he was by the box Damion’s book arrived in. Relationships eliminate competition. When we can figure out how to put our DNA into all the work that we do, people recognize us. Do work that matters and connect with people. Damion spends a lot of time thinking about how to do something that is remarkable or exciting. He speaks in favor of humanizing over automating. People can feel energy. They can tell when you are just concerned about yourself or about making money. The EQRP is a retirement account that you have control of. When it comes to retirement, hope is not a strategy. Think about designing your own life. The EQRP can play a role in that. The EQRP allows you to start putting money into a vehicle that you can start directing. Start talking to your clients about this as an investment opportunity. You're serving them with new tools and resources. Whenever money comes in, reserve some for yourself and reserve some for the IRS. Damion pays off his credit cards every day. Figure out simple ways to develop habits and rituals. Don't try to start fifteen different habits at once. Damion gets help for the habits he wants to create. If you respect somebody, you're more likely to do what they suggest. Why not apply the same mindset you have about paying your cap to paying your taxes? We tend to fall in love with the outcome rather than the process. Fall in love with the process and that will take the stress away. If you want something to happen, go public with it and ask people to hold you accountable. Focus on the best principles and make sure your life is in alignment with those. Damion writes books to clarify his thinking. Reinvented Life is about how he reinvented himself from a hedonistic person to someone who lives to help others. Unicornomics is based on starting over fifty companies. When you do something over and over again, you tend to learn what not to do. Structure is extremely important when you're starting something. Hire a coach immediately when you start a new business. Find someone who will see your blind spots. Today the most important thing is the relationship. Social media is temperamental. Ultimately we are social beings that want loving connections. Mindfully decide to give your relationships your energy. 3 Key Points: We must focus on connecting with others and building relationships if we want to succeed. The EQRP is a potentially life-changing retirement account that allows you to direct where your money is going. Focus your energy on relationships that go beyond social media.  Resources Mentioned: LCA Marketing Center: LCAmarketingcenter.com Lab Coat Agents: LabCoatAgents.com Damion Lupo website, LinkedIn Receive Damion’s book about  the EQRP by texting 72000 EQ (book) Reinvented Life (book) Stillness is the Key (book) The Power of Habit (book) Principles (book) Unicornomics (book) Peak Prosperity (YouTube) Connect with Lab Coat Agents: Lab Coat Agents on Facebook Lab Coat Agents on Twitter Lab Coat Agents on Instagram Lab Coat Agents Facebook Group

During this episode of the Lab Coat Agents Podcast, host Jeff Pfitzer speaks with John Pyke, a talent genius who has assessed, coached, and hired over one million clients. They discuss how to make the best hires in real estate using John’s strong model for success. If you have goals for growing your business by adding talent in 2020, you this week’s show is a must-listen. Episode Highlights:  John Pyke, at a young age, started working for the largest sales training company in the world. In that role, he saw that there was no causal link between the sales training and an increase in sales. He wanted to find out what the 20% of top performers had that the 80% of lower performers didn't have. Self-awareness is the foundation of all personal growth. A seven-year research study evaluating over 200,000 people in 23 different countries found that there are only two common characteristics of the most successful people. Only 9% of this group of 200,000 achieved all of their performance objectives in a given year. You need self-awareness and authenticity to succeed. The more authentic that we are, according to how we're gifted, the higher the level of performance because we don't have to try to be someone that we're not. In order to achieve your goals and to scale quickly, you have to build a team. There's an art and a science to even simple things like writing an ad to attract the right people for your team. When writing an ad, using the right keywords is critical. If you use the wrong keyword, you're out of luck. No one will find your ad. The second thing that is really important is the amount of money you're offering. The niche you want to go after are people that are interested in making at least $80,000. The thing the highest performers shared in common was a high economic motivation. When you're placing an ad, less is more. Make your ad stand out by making it really short, very succinct and impactful. The most important thing is for each person to know what their unique selling propositions are and also to be able to articulate them. If you're placing an ad, video is critical. It's a differentiator. ZipRecruiter and WizeHire will allow you to embed video in your ads. These tools push your jobs out to many different job boards to give you maximum reach. Hire fast and fire fast. If you drag your feet and call it being selective, your candidate will get another offer. Taking a long time is off-putting to the candidate. Streamline your recruitment process so it is very quick. When you fire fast, you're actually doing that person a favor. Another option is to move them to another place in the company where they can thrive. Personality instruments have limitations. Over 100 years of collecting data, they've found that if you use just a personality instrument alone for hiring, you have only a slightly better chance of making a good hire than just looking at a person's resume alone. People are much more complex than just their personality. Personality assessments are the least important of the dimensions John uses in recruiting. John uses a three-dimensional profile. Why do you do what you do? What motivates or drives you? They have a tool that measure's someone's economic drive. The second most important driver is achievement drive. The third tool measures innate talent. It's about getting the right people in the right seat. John feels that references are very difficult. If you go down that road, try to get in touch with other people that worked with or surrounded that individual. You should not discount anyone. You can't rely on a resume. Advanced analytics and science are the only way to move the needle from just guessing in hiring. As entrepreneurs, we need to protect our confidence above all. 60% of candidates that go on an interview have a negative experience in the interview. John recommends asking candidates to come prepared with questions. Begin with their questions. When it comes to interviewing and hiring, every other company around you is your competitor. 99% of their clients use John’s “done for you” hiring program. They handle everything except interviewing the candidate. They handle the ad copy and publish the ad to all the different job boards. They evaluate and assess all candidates that apply. Then they cherry-pick only the best of the best. 3 Key Points: Self-awareness and authenticity are defining characteristics of top performers. When building your team, how you write the ad matters. Use the right keywords, offer the right compensation, and use recruiting tools that will extend your reach. Data shows us that the traditional hiring process amounts to a lot of guessing. Never discount anyone and use the best data and science available to evaluate candidates. Resources Mentioned: LCA Marketing Center: LCAmarketingcenter.com Lab Coat Agents: LabCoatAgents.com John Pyke LinkedIn, Facebook The Talent Genius website Receive John’s book, The Talent Genius, for free by emailing him at john@thetalentgenius.com What’s Your Genius? (book) ZipRecruiter WizeHire Connect with Lab Coat Agents: Lab Coat Agents on Facebook Lab Coat Agents on Twitter Lab Coat Agents on Instagram Lab Coat Agents Facebook Group

During this episode of the Lab Coat Agents Podcast, host Jeff Pfitzer speaks with Stephen Wible, a Marine Corps veteran with extensive experience in real estate who is now the Director of Business Development for Credit Suite. Stephen is an expert on the subject of business credit. This episode will teach you how you can build business credit that is not tied to your social security number.  Episode Highlights:  Stephen Wible is originally from Philadelphia. He was in the Marine Corps, then started a printing company which he later sold. He then became a real estate investor and a realtor, then found his position at Credit Suite. Business credit is credit that's tied to your business and not to you personally. With business credit, your business can generate credit in the business name that you do not personally guarantee or sign for. If you're a real estate agent and don't have an LLC or an S corp, you should get one. When naming your LLC, you never want to pigeonhole yourself. Lenders and creditors have what is known as high-risk industries and real estate is one of them. If you put real estate in the title of your company, you will be pigeon-holed as high-risk right away. Make your LLC name as vanilla as possible. If you're getting paid personally from your broker, deposit everything in the LLC. You have to have a mind shift. It's the company's money and you need to then pay yourself.  Decide whether you want to have credit for that company. If you want credit for that company, there are some steps you need to take. The business credit world is looking for fraud. They start with your email address. They are looking to see if you have an email address set up for your business. The second thing they will catch is virtual phone numbers. Your number needs to be listed with the national 411 database. If you're not listed with the national 411 database you're not considered a legitimate business by lenders and you are denied. The third thing is the address. A lot of real estate investors like to use P.O. boxes. That is a big red flag when borrowing money. Go with either your home, a virtual office, or a commercial building. A commercial building would be the best, virtual is next, your home is ok. Everything else fails. If you can pass those tests you'll get approved quickly. You'll be approved for $1k initially and you could build up to $50k-$100k within six months. Why not get that car in the company name? Typically you will even get better terms. Your limits will be higher. When you're audited, you can hand the IRS all your business credit statements and show them all of your expenses. Talk to your accountant about how you can make business credit work for your particular situation. Most business credit lenders are only going to look at your business, not your personal finances. They will be looking at the credibility issues. Have a business bank account. Do not run it through your personal account. You are a business the day you open your business bank account. Your bank actually gives you a credit score based on that bank account. You'll go to Net 30 lenders first. With Net 30, you get approved for credit with someone and then they give you Net 30 terms. You have thirty days to pay after receiving an invoice. Once you begin paying, they'll begin reporting that to business credit reporting agencies. Once you have three tradelines, Duns & Bradstreet will generate a paydex which is like your FICO score. In the business credit world, if you have nothing reporting, Experian reports that you are borderline bankrupt. Having tradelines changes how other businesses and vendors see you. The first thing liability insurance companies due is to pull your business credit report. All the things that you need to run your business day to day, you can buy utilizing business credit and never touch your personal credit. 35% of your score is utilization. Steve shares how someone took his utilization on his personal cards, transferred them to the business cards that he knows do not report on his personal credit, and now his utilization went down to nothing. He now has six-figure credit available personally and another six-figure credit available business-wise. Business credit is fast-moving and changes constantly, thus Steve’s book is outdated. Updated information is available for free at www.creditsuite.com  This strategy is scalable. You can open five LLCs and build a credit profile for all five of them. This is not a replacement for bad personal credit. This is one of those vehicles that will give you more opportunities to invest in more real estate. Steven used business credit to get into flipping properties. If you don't have the cash and you always wanted to get into flipping properties, if you have a strong business credit profile and you have high-limit credit with the type of companies you need it with, you could rehab a property without putting any money out of your pocket. He would get estimates from vendors and then negotiate so he could make a profit on construction. Business credit is reported based on your address, not your social security number. Sam's Club will give you a traveling MasterCard with a $25k limit in the business name not tied to you personally. This is valuable information that you have the opportunity to get for free. 3 Key Points: With business credit, you can generate credit in the name of the business that you do not personally guarantee or sign for.  Once you open a business bank account, you’ll want to establish tradelines that will legitimize your business in the eyes of other vendors.  Business credit can be leveraged to pursue opportunities in real estate.  Resources Mentioned: LCA Marketing Center: LCAmarketingcenter.com Lab Coat Agents: LabCoatAgents.comBusiness Credit (book) Credit Suite website, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, podcast Contact Steve at info@creditsuite.com or stephen@creditsuite.com Grasshopper Ring Central Quill Connect with Lab Coat Agents: Lab Coat Agents on Facebook Lab Coat Agents on Twitter Lab Coat Agents on Instagram Lab Coat Agents Facebook Group

During this episode of the Lab Coat Agents Podcast, host Jeff Pfitzer speaks with Chris Prefontaine, Founder of Smart Real Estate Coach, real estate investor, and author. Learn how real estate agents can create a secondary income by becoming a niche expert, and new solution provider for clients who need financial options when buying or selling homes. This is a fascinating episode with lots of great takeaways. Episode Highlights:  Chris Prefontaine started his career building homes in the 90’s. He then practiced real estate, then pivoted after the market crashed to become an investor and coach. He no longer operates as a realtor. Chris buys and sells his own properties exclusively. Almost all of his exits are rent-to-own. They make sure that their mortgage-ready date coincides with the terms they have with the seller. There's an enormous pool of buyers who can't walk into a bank and get pre-qualified. This is who they serve. They have a 2-10% drop out rate vs. a 2-10% finance rate. Most dropouts happen due to life events and most of those are quite amicable. If that happens, they sell the property conventionally with a realtor. Or, if the term allows it, they just do another rent-to-own. Coming out of the '08 crash Chris wanted to buy without using money or credit. His wife had the idea to help people who needed to recover their credit. They carry 50-60 rent-to-owns at the same time. Mostly they find buyers online. The important thing once you find buyers is the pre-qualification process. They must understand that they are acting as if they own the property. The buyers will come if you are priced right and meeting your monthly, and you're fair on your sale price. What does it mean to buy and sell a property on terms? These are often properties that have expired. Maybe they're over-leveraged or they can't afford to pay a commission. You can buy it either on a lease-purchase or owner financing. Not many agents know how to do this skill-level wise. First Jeff and Chris talk through a Lease Purchase deal. If the seller has a home worth $300k and they owe $250k, you guarantee them the $50k cash out. Here's how it works: At the end of 36 months you pay them their $50k, you pay off the underlying debt. That accrues to them. They carry the note. Make the deal contingent on finding the tenant-buyer first. Then 30 days after the tenant-buyer occupies, the company takes over the mortgage payment. They're collecting higher rent from the tenant-buyer. You're relieved of maintenance, repairs, and your mortgage payment. Go into the home and ask what's best for the seller. With this strategy, there aren’t too many sellers you can’t help. Another example: They took many properties in 2013-2014 that were in theory over-leveraged. They pushed the term way out, 9-10 years so they have time to have that principal paid down. That usually takes care of it. You can target free-and-clear owners. There are plenty of people that want to do this for estate reasons, tax reasons, and cash reasons. They want to push the term out if it's free and clear. Payday #1 is the non-refundable down payment from your buyer. Payday #2 is the monthly spread. Payday #3 is the back-end markup in price and principal paydown. They average around $78k per deal. They have students as low as $45k per deal and as high as $200k. Their average price point is the $280k-$680k range. Jeff and Chris talk through a Free and Clear deal.  If you have a home that's free and clear and $200k and higher you can structure an owner financing deal, with principal-only payments, four-year term or better, and you get a six-figure deal on all three paydays. Free and clear are more profitable than lease purchases. So many people are tied ego-wise to price. They'll give people fair market value as long as they get their terms. To get recession-resistant they push their terms out longer. As a real estate agent, you need to open up more options for sellers. Their contract will be with you, with your right to assign it or sublet it. You might as well wealth-build. There's a lot of free stuff online to help you become a real estate entrepreneur. Find a niche that will help your business online. Then find someone you can relate to.  Follow that and integrate it into your business for three years. Invest in a platform, get into it, and commit to it. You'll expand how many deals you can do. In those, you'll create wealth, not just one pay-off. If you acquire twelve of these, you're looking at potentially $500k in income. A new investor should prioritize the lease/purchase. A twist to that is a one pay-day model where you reassign the renter-buyer to the original seller. You've got to have the right forms. If you're not using the right forms, then you're just setting yourself for a lawsuit or a headache. If you don't have a personal assistant, you need one, even if it's just eight hours a week. The personal assistant will take care of your forms and with light follow-up. Put aside some time to learn in the morning or evening. A lot of their system is automated. They've grown their online course through social proof. If they do deals with their students, there's revenue sharing. It's important to show students what might go wrong and how they might pivot. Get as close as you can to recession-resistant. Diversifying is a cool way to become resistant. Learn where to find out more about Chris and Smart Real Estate Coach. 3 Key Points: You can structure deals with terms that create a win for sellers, a win for renter/buyers, and a win for yourself. When you’re in real estate, you should get into real estate investing to build your wealth and to diversify your income streams. There truly aren’t too many sellers you can’t help. You can provide out-of-the-box solutions to financial problems. Resources Mentioned: LCA Marketing Center: LCAmarketingcenter.com Lab Coat Agents: LabCoatAgents.com Smart Real Estate Coach website, YouTube, Facebook Real Estate on Your Terms (book) -- Get a free copy when you mention this podcast! The New Rules of Real Estate Investing (book) Email questions to chris@smartrealestatecoach.com Connect with Lab Coat Agents: Lab Coat Agents on Facebook Lab Coat Agents on Twitter Lab Coat Agents on Instagram Lab Coat Agents Facebook Group

During this episode of the Lab Coat Agents Podcast, host Jeff Pfitzer speaks with Michael Maher, real estate thought-leader, best-selling author, and national speaker who shares insights on growing your business with referrals. In this episode you’ll learn how you can orchestrate your referrals using housewarming parties, regular meetups, and strategic introductions. Episode Highlights:  Michael Maher was once a high school math teacher and coach. During the summer he would write grants and curriculum. When he bought a home, he saw what realtors got paid and he wanted a summer job. Michael shares the story of working with his first client. He threw a housewarming party for that first couple and it was attended by 45 people. Michael received eleven referrals from that first housewarming party. When people congratulated him on that first deal, he appreciated the emotional reward as well as the financial reward. Teachers make great realtors. The income is a by-product to our service, to the thing we would do anyway. Housewarming parties were Michael’s differentiation point. Conferences show you what is possible. They force you to work on your business instead of in your business. He knew for two years he needed to write a book. He flatlined and that night he outlined what would become the book. Michael considers his book a miracle. They had their best year ever when the market had its worst year ever. They were doing a lot of relationship building. Michael talks about his collaboration with author Hal Elrod. His next book will launch in late 2020. Focus on one person at a time. How you greet people determines your future with that person. When someone refers you, they're not looking for anything. They just know their friends are being taken care of. How would you greet everybody for the next thirty days if you knew you were going to meet the greatest referral source of your life? Stack your networking with coffee meetings. Always look for a third-party endorsement or a third-party introduction. There's a way to go to the people who don't know you. The right way is to get an introduction from someone you do know. Become a regular at a nicer restaurant to establish home court advantage. If you could meet someone really powerful, where would you meet them? Orchestrate your referrals. Michael creates regular meetings with his referral sources to show them appreciation that will inspire them to refer more. Out of the people you know, who is the most likely to refer you? Ask them who they should know. You can be strategic around love, appreciation, and generosity. There's so much opportunity for people who are willing to do business this way. You get money by serving someone. Use tech to help you with your memory and your schedule. It can also help you build relationships. The reminder function of your phone can help you do what you say you're going to do. Take action and then evaluate what you did and take the next step. 3 Key Points: Housewarming parties can function as an incredible referral source. Greet everyone you meet as if they will become your greatest ambassador. Look for third-party endorsements to meet the people you don’t know. Resources Mentioned: LCA Marketing Center: LCAmarketingcenter.com Lab Coat Agents: LabCoatAgents.com Michael Maher website, Facebook, LinkedIn The Seven Levels of Communication The Miracle Morning for Real Estate Agents www.housewarmingparties.com Tara Carter website Connect with Lab Coat Agents: Lab Coat Agents on Facebook Lab Coat Agents on Twitter Lab Coat Agents on Instagram Lab Coat Agents Facebook Group

During this episode of the Lab Coat Agents Podcast, host Jeff Pfitzer has an insightful conversation with Jay Lieberman, a Broker-Associate at Keller Williams Realty Westlake Village and Managing Partner at Lieberman & Ross. Jay talks about the keys to helping investors buy multi-family properties with simplicity, accuracy, and speed. Tune in to hear about his ready, aim, win approach and how it can help you create new streams of revenue for your real estate business in 2020. Episode Highlights:  Jay Lieberman is a native to the Los Angeles area. His family members were also in real estate. He got started in real estate after completing law school. In 2010 he opened his own brokerage and a law firm.  In 1995 he went to purchase his first apartment building with his wife and learned a lot of lessons quickly.  There were three problems that he had back then. First, he over-complicated the process. He didn't know if the data he had was accurate. His speed was way off. The three pillars of Jay’s approach became simplicity, accuracy, and speed. Using Jay’s free resource, The Resource Playbook, you will learn what you need to know about buying an apartment building in ten minutes.  The Playbook will give you much more confidence in this space. Jay does both residential and commercial real estate. Around four to five years ago they became a content marketing team and he hasn't made a cold call since. They focus on spotlighting people in the community. They raise money for charity. They had a podcast for three years. They share content regularly and he writes everything himself. He focuses on 3-4 platforms that he knows well. He uses Facebook and Instagram regularly. He posts periodically on LinkedIn and YouTube. He sends a weekly email blast. Jay shares original long-form content. He doesn't care who is reading it or how many likes he gets.  Sometimes he re-purposes his weekly email blast. It's hard to share how you feel. He uses Facebook as a testing ground. If what he posts inspires conversation and comments, he uses that and makes it into longer content later. If there's an important message to share people will read it. Jeff and Jay discuss what authentic content means to them. Jay gives himself thirty minutes to write. He doesn't give himself time to overthink it. He will share a surgery, a death, how he feels about a certain issue in the community. He writes for himself. A lot of people write with others in mind and that skews the content. YouTube should be primarily educational content. He doesn't do charity to get business. It fills the soul. Jay and his wife created a club that met quarterly for one hour. They raised 70-80k for local charities. To build this group he cold-called people. Initially, it was very grassroots. He invited people to come for an hour, quarterly, to help benefit local charities that were directly in his community. 100% of his donations went to that charity without any administration fees. Members got to select who was benefiting from those dollars. Jay’s approach is about helping agents discover multiple streams of income. One extra stream agents can build is this multi-family space. They offer The Resource Playbook and in ten minutes you know enough to talk to a client about multi-family opportunities. Minute details create value. Learn how to talk to clients about minute details.  Jay found himself hiring a developer to create a custom program and found he was building against his pillars. He threw it away and had someone program it in Excel. He chose Excel because it is simple and accurate. Jay recently used the analyzer for a client and was able to put an offer in within 30 minutes. You learn not only how to re-purpose this content but it builds confidence with your clients. There's a hole in the market for agents representing buyers in commercial property. Be you and write about it.  3 Key Points: Simplicity, accuracy, and speed are crucial in deals with multi-family units. Create authentic content by sharing your feelings and writing for yourself.  Learning basic information about how to buy a multi-family building can open up conversations with clients you otherwise would not have had.  Resources Mentioned: LCA Marketing Center: LCAmarketingcenter.com Lab Coat Agents: LabCoatAgents.com Jay Lieberman Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube The Ready, Aim, Win Approach Contact Jay at support@readyaimwinapproach.com The Resource Playbook Connect with Lab Coat Agents: Lab Coat Agents on Facebook Lab Coat Agents on Twitter Lab Coat Agents on Instagram Lab Coat Agents Facebook Group

During this episode of the Lab Coat Agents Podcast, host Jeff Pfitzer has an epic conversation with Jeff Fargo, national strategic advisor for digital strategy at North American Title. Jeff has so much experience with social media and shares great ideas for using LinkedIn, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, and how to maximize them as an agent. Episode Highlights:  Jeff Fargo’s family had a real estate portfolio in upstate New York. He was doing organic advertising on MySpace to get people to check out their apartments. He's been active on Facebook for about thirteen years. In title, he leverages the digital presence realtors must have. Periscope is owned by Twitter. Videos go live for 24 hours then disappear. Jeff had real-time conversations with people all over the world using Periscope, showing tours of homes in the Las Vegas area. Facebook jumped onto this concept with Facebook Live. Jeff estimates that he's done 1500-2000 videos with realtors in town. If you are not digitally savvy, you're just not going to reach your maximum potential to help as many people as you want to help. The cheapest real estate right now on social media is Tik Tok. Jeff thinks people miss the point of Tik Tok for a few reasons. The first is that many Tik Toks are simply for entertainment value. The point is to stay relevant to your audience. Video is the way to go. There's no better way other than face-to-face conversations. You need to have somebody in your arsenal who can advise you and let you know what you should be doing on a daily basis to leverage your brand on social media. A good title rep should be savvy with social media. A title rep should become an extension of the marketing arm of a realtor. Most realtors feel that they're too boring to do video. People overthink what they’re doing on video. The worst video you can ever post is the one you don't post. Interview your title rep. If you're not vetting your title reps, you should go seek reviews. You can be connected to 30,000 people on LinkedIn. That's huge. Just keep posting good relevant content. The first way to gain a following on LinkedIn is organic advertising. Share a message. Use a different video than the one you used anywhere else. Use proper hashtags. Go after second-level connections. Paid advertising on LinkedIn will let you right into someone's InMail. It's space a lot of realtors aren't playing in. People love how-to videos on YouTube. Tell a story on YouTube in a series of videos. YouTube videos will pop up in Google search. Hire someone to do YouTube SEO. Be empathetic with your audience. Ask where your audience is, what they want to hear, and then hit them with the right message. Focus in on your community, your town, your city, and deliver content. Jeff recommends creating a blooper reel of your mistakes. People love bloopers. He's a big fan of Instagram Stories. People know who he is and the values he subscribes to and he loves putting that on Instagram with hashtags. A good title rep will be able to give you good hashtags. Your content should build or defend your brand. Stories are where you should share your life. They discuss sharing your kids in your content. Realtors should embrace Tik Tok because there are not a lot of people doing it right now. Jeff uses Tik Tok to create fun memories with his kids. This industry is based on relationships. Form and keep those relationships. Keeping up with people after the transaction is over is critical. Follow up is the most important part of everything you are doing. Your title reps are business partners that can help you elevate your business. 3 Key Points: A good title rep should be savvy with social media. Video is second only to face-to-face conversations in its power to connect. Create a video strategy in 2020 that will send a focused message to a targeted audience. Resources Mentioned: LCA Marketing Center: LCAmarketingcenter.com Lab Coat Agents: LabCoatAgents.com Jeff Fargo Instagram, Facebook Social Storm Rev The Power of Positivity  Client Giant Connect with Lab Coat Agents: Lab Coat Agents on Facebook Lab Coat Agents on Twitter Lab Coat Agents on Instagram Lab Coat Agents Facebook Group