Live Coaching Sessions with Tara Baylis, March 29, 2022
6:52 - 9:11 - Tara’s Time Management Hacks10:03 - 12:26 - Take Time to Get to Know Your Lead
15:43 -18:25 - To Automate or Not?
20:22 -23:04 - This Is How You’ll Be Different From Other Realtors
29:34 - 30:32 - Here’s What to Do With Leads That Aren’t Active
34:47 - 35:44 - The Secrets of Drip Campaigns That Convert
36:10 - 37:12 - Email Hacks
37:49 - 38:48 - Mission: Showing
39:13 - 43:57 - Real Estate Marketing 101
45:12 - 47:50 - Why You Need to Have a Plan for Every Pillar of Your Business
Transcript:
Crystal: 0:03
We can definitely send you all a copy here. But I wanted to thank everyone for coming back. If it's your first time here, great. These are, you know, they're progressive, but we're looping back. There's, you know, with this coaching, Tara does her own lead coaching program: That Crazy Thing Called Lead Gen. So, she's been successful herself with online leads. She now guides and coaches other realtors on how to do exactly the same. And so she's here with us discovering and, you know, talking about topics that would be beneficial for you guys when it comes to managing nurturing, how to correspond with them, when to correspond with them, and so on. So, perfect, Aylina, it's your first time here. Great, great. Now you guys, as always, all of our recordings, we record them; you should be getting a copy of this recording 24 hours later. So typically, you're going to get that in your inbox right from Zoom. We also throw that on our YouTube channel. So, I suggest, if you haven't already, go to AgentLocator's YouTube channel and subscribe. That way, if you ever missed a webinar or content that we feel is valuable that we posted, you're always going to get that notification so you can watch it when you have a moment. Perfect. So, today we are covering a couple of topics. For the most part, we'll see what we get through depending on, you know, the length of the conversation, even showing people how to go about doing it, questions, things like that. I see, Jag; you have your hand up. Did you have a question? Did you want to talk about that question? Or did you want to use the chat or the Q&A?
I don't know if he's going to say anything. We'll wait, we'll wait.
Tara: 2:07
Hi, he says.
Crystal: 2:08
Oh, hey. Yeah, he's waving at us. He's waving at us. Awesome. Perfect. So, today, one of the topics we wanted to talk about, or I suggested talking about, was organization. It is, I feel like, a major component and contributor towards the ultimate whatever job we're in, and especially in the real estate world, you're all over the place, right? There's no, like, you go to your office from nine to five, and you sit down, and you do your job. You've got several different components that make up your daily routine. And so, figuring out how to stay on top of that and manage your schedule to be the most efficient that you can be. So you're not finding yourself feeling super overwhelmed, right? I come across two different types of realtors, the one that can, or individuals, not even necessarily realtors, the one that can take on a lot and still have that ability to take on more, then you have the ones that, let's say that if it was real estate, have one buyer and one listing and that's enough. They can't take any more. They're going here, there, and everywhere. They're overwhelmed with that. So, Tara, is talking to your clients that are signing up for your program, is talking about organization and daily habits something that you guys focused on to achieve their ultimate success when they're working their leads and just real estate in general?
Tara: 3:47
Well, I think, you know, when we talked about this earlier, Crystal, this to me is the key to being successful at conversion. I can't stress enough that until you become a realtor, you truly have no idea how many directions you're pulled in on any given day, right? And I will tell you, I learned very quickly from when I became a brand new realtor that if I wanted to be successful, I had to figure out how to time-block myself and stick to my systems and my plans. So, I'm going to give you an example. On the weekend, I decided on Sunday when I was finally driving home at almost 7 pm, and I had left the house at 7:35 am. How many hours have I worked this weekend? And I figured out that between Saturday and Sunday, I literally worked 23 and a half hours. I put 600 kilometers on my car. I taught a real estate course for our brokerage, for new agents or pathfinders. I had four separate sets of buyers, and I showed 14 houses. That being said, I still followed up with my leads. So, it takes a really good mindset to go: Okay, I can be on the road. But guess what, when I stop at a house, I can still check my email really quickly to see if a lead has asked me a question. And I can reply and say: I'm just with clients right now. Thank you so much, Sue. I'll get back to you as soon as I get in the door. So, that's all about mindset, time management, and understanding the value of getting back to them very quickly.
Crystal: 5:50
Absolutely. I imagine all of us have been in situations where we want that information, and we're not getting a response, right? It definitely can be very aggravating depending on our moods or the situation, really, depending on what it is that we're looking for answers for. So, yeah, absolutely. Like being able to mentally know to check those things or having those daily habits already in place. Knowing that this is part of my job, I need to regularly be checking my email, even if I'm not at my desk. I need to be, you know, or my messages or whatever it is. I need to be responsive. Do you keep a schedule for yourself? Like, do you time block? Do you suggest time blocking and creating like a calendar for yourself where you might even color-code it to get into those habits and routines? This is my conversion time. This is my free time. This is family time.
Tara: 6:49
Yes, yes. Do I do that now? To a certain degree, but I don't need to time block and color code now because it's all here. I know what I have to do on a daily basis to continue to work all the pillars of my business. So, when I'm coaching others, and then we talk about time management, and we talk about mindset, which I believe the two go hand in hand. You either want to do a deal, or you don't. Realize that you have to work to get the deal, or you don't. And if you're part of the don'ts, then don't complain if you don't have business, right? So, going forward, I think that everybody has to kind of evaluate what their day looks like. Are you a realtor that stays up really late and maybe wakes up at 10 or 11? You know? Can we adjust that so that your day starts earlier? Because I believe, with my experience only, and the people that I coach, and the agents that I'm teaching, when somebody gets up earlier, I like to call it; actually, it's not even me that calls it, it's one of the owners of our brokerage. They call it the 5 am club. Let's get up a little earlier. Let's do our workout. Let's have our shower. And let's start our day, even if that means you're starting your day at your home office, right? Whatever that is for you. I think that's absolutely key. And when I start my day, Crystal, in the morning, what I do is I open up AgentLocator. That's my time. For me, it's between 7:30, and usually, 9:30 or 10 am. That's my choice of time, where I'm now going in; I'm following up on my tasks that I'm creating for myself for each and every lead. And I'm going in and taking a look at Tracy, Bob, Sue, Devin, all the leads. That's what I'm investing. So, for the rest of my day, when I'm flying like crazy, all I'm doing after that is continually checking my email to see if somebody has replied to something that I need to take care of.
Okay, sorry. I don't know what that was.
Crystal: 9:17
Someone just didn't have their microphone muted. It's okay.
Tara: 9:22
Okay. That makes sense; what I'm saying?
Crystal: 9:25
Yeah, no, absolutely. Absolutely. Now, are you, when you're going in, and you're checking your leads in the morning, you're looking at your tasks that you're accomplishing, are you hammering out any emails at seven o'clock in the morning? Obviously, if it's a call, I don't imagine you're calling somebody at seven o'clock in the morning. You're kind of handling what you can handle now. These are all the things I can do regardless of whether this person's awake or not. I can shoot them an email, let them know I'm there, so it's right there when they wake up.
Tara: 9:58
I think it's good, and this is what I say; this really is one of the reasons why I've been so successful at converting leads. And again, this has been for 15 or 16 years that I've been successful. It's because I invest part of my time into each lead. And when I talk about investing time, I mean open up the lead, double click on the lead's name, go in and take a look at what they've looked at. Just making yourself invested a little bit more into who they are, you may not need to send them an email or a follow-up based on what you're seeing. But at least you've taken the time to open up that lead and get a little bit more familiar with their activity. So, there could be my tasks are based on at the end of the drip, do I maybe want to follow up with them? Do I maybe want to call them or text them? But first and foremost, it means opening them up and looking and seeing what they've been doing? Then I might need to, or I might not need to. If I don't need to do another follow-up, then that time in the morning, I'm just looking up another task. I might push it another 30 days, so I can redo it again. In all honesty, when I'm looking at my leads early in the morning, I have a lot of tasks waiting for me because I have 1000s of leads. And I'm continually pushing a task later so that I can look at Bob again, right? So, what I'm doing every morning is I'm consistently investing my time into a lead that I've already paid for, right? And now I know that lead a little better going down the road.
Crystal: 11:50
Yeah. No, absolutely. Just staying on top of it and knowing your database, right? Knowing their behaviors and then learning those behaviors because they're constantly changing, right? And that's how, you have mentioned in the past, is how you also initiate a conversation, as you're watching that activity, whether it all of a sudden starts to pick up a little bit more often than, you know, things might have changed. So, that's going to prompt you to reach out and perhaps spark up a conversation and, again, just see where they're at now in the process, or maybe things changed or whatever it may be sure.
Tara: 12:27
For sure. You know, I know for me, and I believe this as I help others, I see them progress and start doing deals. And at the end of the day, the biggest thing of all is that you're starting to interact, right? You can't do a deal with somebody that's not answering you. So, when you're investing a little bit more of yourself, now you're really invested more into Bob than Bob even knows you are. And I think that just helps along with your mindset to know that all you have to do is show these people that you're here. But you can't show it to them if you never open up AgentLocator.
Crystal: 13:08
Yeah, exactly. Exactly.
Tara: 13:12
And then people, they're like: Oh, you know what, I got 500 leads in there, and I haven't looked at them in two months. And I'm like: Then what are you complaining about?
Crystal: 13:18
Yes, absolutely, you get that a lot. Or you look; and so, tracking is key and knowing not only what the lead is doing, but what you're doing in those, you know, for those leads over that period of time, as well. So, that's one of the, you know, most common things that we'll see when somebody's saying they can't find success. We look in, and nothing is logged. There's nothing, no history of that person doing anything in their system. And, so well, you know, why do you think, like, how are you supposed to remember all this? You can't remember or, even honestly, tell me you remember talking to this person? Because I know you don't. I've had people that have told me: Oh, no, my memory is so good. I'm like: No, it's not that good. It's good. But it's not that good. Everyone out there. So, that's also, again, why, when you guys are running through training with us, where we really keep talking about logging your calls, putting your notes, and logging your calls, you know, because we do so much of that. And, like, Tara is an example where we're tracking the lead and their activities. Why wouldn't we do the same for ourselves, right? So, it's all connected, right? It's all connected. And they both complement each other at the end of the day. So, you do your AgentLocator in the morning. Has it always been like that for you? Or, you know, previously were you just, kind of, fitting it in wherever you could fit it in, or did you always have a set time for yourself that you're managing that?
Tara: 14:53
In the morning is when I like to get into the dashboard, right? Because I really do fly during the day. However, you know, I've taken on additional roles. I'm the manager in my brokerage now as well. So, there was a time when a lead would come in that I would open up the dashboard throughout the day. But for me and my job commitments in real estate, because not only am I a really busy realtor, I've learned, and this was not easy, Crystal, because my leads are this important to me. I've learned that when a lead comes in, if it's after or later in the afternoon, it's okay for me to open up the dashboard first thing in the morning and do my revisions and add them to my drip and so forth. I'm not a believer; Gosh, don't hate me, in the automatic assignment. I still assign myself the drip to each of my leads personally. And the reason I do that, going back to what we were just saying, is that when a new lead comes in, I want to go in and look at that lead. I want to revise their search and set them up the way that I think they need to be set up. And I want to add them to my drip without the automatic assignment. So, that means right from the get-go, I'm investing myself already into Sue, if that makes sense. So, I'm super busy. I do a high volume of homes. I am working seven days a week, like all the other realtors. But I still take the time for each and every lead that comes in, and I buy a lot of leads. So that, right from the get-go, I'm investing myself without relying on automatic assignment.
Crystal: 16:46
It kind of creates this new habit for you, right? So, or helps it; it complimented your habit or forced you to continue on with that habit. Because now you're not relying on something to do it for you. You're going in there. You're getting a first-hand look at that lead. Most people do get that first-hand look, but it's prompting you. You got to do this a little sooner. Otherwise, they're not going to get your emails until you actually assign that campaign.
Tara: 17:11
And let me tell you, it gets done. Because here's my thought process always, as realtors, you know, we don't get paid until the deal closes, right? So, I'm always aware that I've already paid for that lead, right? If you're on a team, I was on a team for years. I was always respectful of the fact that the team leader has paid for this lead, right? So, the money has been spent. So, why would you let it go, right? And I think that goes along, as well, with mindset. I think it goes along with knowing that if you just ignore these leads, there's living proof there are millions of dollars in these Google Pay-Per-Click leads. Millions. This is how they search. They go on Google. This is how, and one of, in my opinion, one of the best ways to get business to come to you. So, that's why I do it myself so that I can reinvest my mind into them without using the automatic assignment.
Crystal: 18:26
Okay, that makes sense. That makes sense. It's probably not for everyone, but it does make a lot of sense that it is creating, it's forcing you to create those habits for yourself, which, you know, for some of you, it could be even just transitioning and turning off the automatic assignment for a little bit. Or if it's an email, so if you still want the text messages, but maybe you have a specific buyer campaign that you want to throw on those buyer leads, that you're not doing that portion as automatic. You're forcing yourself to go in and do that for yourself, which makes you, you know, at least open up the lead and take a look at who they are and a little bit more about what they were looking at, and perhaps, you know, reaching out or responding to them. Hopefully you've already responded to them if they responded to your text message. You'd be surprised, to be honest with you.
It's mind-boggling, you know, one of the things that we get: The leads never respond to my texts, and then you open it, and it's like: Look at all these text messages that you didn't respond to.
Tara: 19:29
Yeah, that causes me great anxiety, talking about this. And I, you know, I probably sound like such a freak. Well, I just understand the value. This is a major pillar to my business, and as realtors, we all know that we have to run a business with pillars, right? It's like legs on a chair. And so when it comes to responding, like I gave you the example of the weekend where, you know, there was no time for me to eat. There was no time for me to get gas. It was that busy. But there's always one second for me to quickly check, walk up to a door and see that a lead has replied to one of my drips. And it's easy for me to say: Listen, I'm just with clients. I'll be back in about eight o'clock tonight, and I'll get the research for you, right? The biggest thing when I've converted leads, and my leads tell me why they use me; because a lot of them will. When they say to me: You kept replying to me, and others didn't. I just am so baffled by that because if we're going to get the leads, and if we're going to pay for the leads, why would we not reply?
Crystal: 20:45
Yeah. It's mind-boggling, sometimes, to be honest.
Tara: 20:49
It's mind-boggling. And I think that we all have to remember that we're commission salespeople. And this is how we get the deal. When you start replying, especially when you reply very quickly, then that makes a difference to them. And now you've opened up the lines of communication. You know what you do best. Get these people in the car, right? And that's always my mindset. Always, always, always. If I don't reply, they're going to go somewhere else.
Crystal: 21:25
Yeah. They don't know what you're thinking you're going to do. You have to tell them what's happening, right? People will respect your boundaries when you put them in place or let them know. And then when you follow through at eight o'clock and actually send them that email: Hey, got you, your stuff; that, for a lot of people, that means a lot. That shows a lot about how you work as an individual and that you're respectful of these individuals that are reaching out to you, and you want to provide them that service. It is, you know, I think a struggle. And I think even a lot of you people, like, realtors out there, can even send some frustrations when you're trying to get ahold of another agent, right? It's not always easy. They're not responsive all the time. And you're waiting for answers for your client. It's just, like, it's, you know, you're pulling your hair, what's going on? It happens. It does. And that's, you know, again, customer service. When you are working your leads is something that we push on all of you in that initial lead turning down that some of you may have done. Because it's definitely an area in which, especially in the lead gen side of things, that's missing. A lot of individuals also are lacking in that customer service aspect of the role with these online leads. And so the leads are asking questions or, you know, even responding to a text that was sent out, but the agent can't even respond back or acknowledge that that person took the time to even say: Hey, well, we're just looking, you know, probably not for a year. I see those messages, like, unresponded to. It's, like, they're not garbage. They're just not ready. They're not on your timeline to move. They're on their own timeline.
Tara: 23:05
That's okay. We'll go back to the webinar that we did a couple of weeks ago. This isn't our show. This is their show. We can't tell them when to buy. But I certainly advise, and this is what I do; my leads know that when they're ready, I will be here, which is why I do have a high number of leads that it might take them two or three years. And they've used me. Also, never forget, when you're working stellar, and you're very prompt in your replies, your leads will refer you because my leads constantly refer me to their friends and family. And I said this a couple of weeks ago, my biggest thing was, half of these leads still haven't used me. And I still have yet to meet them face to face. But I've done deals with their friends and family because they liked the way I worked when they started asking questions, right? So, this is how, you know, the Google Pay-Per-Click leads give you the ability to reach millions of people, even beyond the people that are registered.
Crystal: 24:11
No, yeah, absolutely.
Tara: 24:12
And you've got to always remember that. And that's another thing that I never lose sight of. Ever. Which is why I appreciate the value that I'm spending.
Crystal: 24:21
And you can tell, as well, and then we can jump in a little bit here and kind of look in the system. But you can tell when, even when somebody has sent a listing that they've received from you to somebody else, which then they registered. So, you can actually see it because it's not showing you that that lead came from Google. It just has the website URL, which means that they came as essentially a direct entry. It wasn't through any kind of link advertised or anything like that. We do have some questions here. So, let's kind of go through some of those here. Yeah. So, Elena is asking: Do you have a script that you have for each lead? Or do you write the emails automatically? So, kind of going back to the emails, when you're talking or doing that in the morning and sending communications out, if necessary, do you have ten messages? Or do you take the time to reach out personally with a handwritten type email?
Tara: 25:23
So, what I did quite a few years ago was I created my own drip email. I wrote my own emails. And what I did was I started this process about 18 years ago when realtor.ca first came to fruition. For some of us old-timers, do I say that? No seasoned, that's it, we remember before. Yeah. So, realtor.ca first came into existence, and back then, we only just were introduced to the internet. So, we were more used to people calling us because of our signs or newspaper ads, right? When realtor.ca first came into fruition, you were able to click on a listing and click on a little button that said: Ask for more information here. And then, we started getting requests via email. So, it was at that point in time that I now had to learn how to make an impression on somebody through email instead of the phone because they didn't always give us their phone number back then. And that's where I started playing around with emails, and how to email them and how often in order to get them in the car and get them responding. And this is where the series of emails that I have, and I currently use all of these years, started way back then. So, I've got my own emails that I know work. I create them in AgentLocator as a drip. I go into the campaign template editor, create the drip, and that's what I assign to all of my leads. And now somebody asked about a phone script. I do have what I call a phone script, bookish. Basically, it's just the different scenarios I use in order to, what I say, introduce my voice to these people. And years ago, I did it right away, as soon as the lead would hit the phone, I would call them. I would call them right away. I noticed that that actually started changing, or I wasn't able to reach the people about six or seven years ago. So, now I've learned, there are certain scenarios that I have in my head that I'm now going to introduce my voice to some people. But I want to create trust with them first through the soft emails that I send out.
Crystal: 27:53
Perfect, perfect, perfect. Maria is asking: Are your leads coming from Google or Facebook?
Tara: 28:00
I do Google. I do the Google Pay-Per-Click leads through Sunny. I know others do Facebook leads. I do my own Facebook boosting posts. I do that just through my own Facebook thing. But with AgentLocator, it's strictly Google.
Crystal: 28:16
And you're doing buyers only, correct?
Tara: 28:18
No, I just started sellers as well. And I just wrote the seller drip as well. So, yeah. So, I'm still working on it myself, getting myself, kind of, into that groove to see if the drip's working or not. I think it will. I think it'll be interesting to see how it plays out.
Crystal: 28:40
Yeah, no. It'll definitely be, I guess, a new and additional pillar in your business, right?
Tara: 28:48
Yeah.
Crystal: 28:49
Now, Sherry is asking, for those leads that, excuse me, once they sign up, and then they're never active, how would you handle a lead like that? You know, you put them on your drip. Maybe they're not active. Are you calling them? Are you waiting for them to become active? What do you do in a situation like that, personally?
Tara: 29:10
Well, when you go into AgentLocator, there's two different leads. So, I'm not sure which one she's talking about because you can get leads that come in, but they haven't looked at anything. They're not active. And then you've got leads that come in, and you set them up because they have looked at properties, but they've never opened anything, right?
Crystal: 29:28
I think that's probably what she's referring to. Like, they sign up. They're getting listings, or you know, I may have…
Tara: 29:34
I keep them on, you know? You can try to text. You can try to call. I'm not a deleter, but here's my crazy mind. I'm like: I've already paid $10 for this lead, or $7 or whatever it is. So, I'm not going to. But what I do with those is I keep a close eye on them. Because sometimes as it gets further and our market changes, whatever they've been set up to get, you may need to really wide note that search a little bit. Because as budgets tend to go up and our prices have gone up, they may not even have been sent anything. Which is why really, they're not opening a whole lot. So, there's been times that I've gone way back onto the leads that have been there forever. And I've now really widened their search, and all of a sudden, they're active. And I get the notification: Oh, they're active now after so long.
Crystal: 30:31
Yeah. Yeah. And if people want, they'll speak up. Because if they're not ready, they don't want to have that conversation yet, necessarily. Or they don't want to feel obligated or like they're bothering somebody because they're not ready yet. So, they just keep quiet, right? They're not necessarily responsive. I know, I'm that kind of behavior. I avoid. If I'm not ready for something, I avoid it, for the most part, rather than continuously saying: I'm not ready for it. I just, you know, I feel like me not answering your three calls is a signal that I'm not ready yet. But everyone's different, right? We all act and behave differently depending on the situation. Elena has just made a comment that if you don't call, you wouldn't know the criteria. But Elena, you can see essentially what your leads are looking at when they're on the website. So, that gives you, kind of a, in some cases, in the majority of cases, it paints somewhat of a picture for you. You will have some of those leads that go in, and they're looking, like, you can't figure out what the heck their criteria is. They're looking at anything and everything all over the place, right? So, those ones are a little bit trickier. But most people stick to similar areas, price points and, like, types of homes, things like that. You kind of see consistency in what they're looking at. So, Chris is just asking what a drip campaign is? So, Chris, a drip campaign is a series of emails or email and text messages that are scheduled to go out to a lead. So, when you're applying a drip campaign to a lead, the emails associated with that drip will go out based on how you set that campaign up, whether it's based on when you assign the campaign or if you have specific dates for those actions.
Tara: 32:37
It really is, in my opinion, and I started using drip campaigns probably about 14 years ago because we really didn't have the ability to set them up in different programs. But it really is the best way to get what you want in there, very softly, and then be on the road and work really hard and show houses and now know that your leads are hearing from you very gently. It's a good feeling to know that they're being looked after if you do take the time to use the drip campaign for sure.
Crystal: 33:14
Absolutely. And that's a valid, excellent point that it does allow you to stay in touch or let that person know that you're there, you know, still working for them, even though they may not be ready to pull that trigger just yet. Someone asked what drips are you using? Tara has her own drips. So, she's developed her own emails and drip campaigns for her incoming leads. She has, and I'm going to share with you all shortly, here, some of those samples. She gave us some samples, one from her buyer campaign and one from her seller campaign. So, you can kind of see what they look like. But she's developed them herself. So, she does, again, if you missed it in the beginning, Tara runs her own lead coaching program: That Crazy Thing Called Lead Gen, where if you are signing up with her to run that, you know, run through her program, she does give you those drip campaigns to start utilizing for yourself. Yeah, go ahead.
Tara: 34:20
People do have the ability to just take a minute and create their own. They just have to give it some thought. Whenever I'm dealing with a lead, or actually, in all honesty, with any of our clients, right? I'm very much a relationship person in real estate. I'm not transactional. I build relationships with all of my people and my leads even before I meet them. So, I think that if you put yourself into the position of: If I were them, how would I want to hear from these people? You can easily create your own drip, right? Just think. Put yourself in their shoes and never forget, when people are signing up, they're signing up to see listings. They want to see houses. So, first and foremost, you have got to have the listings sent to them, and you have got to make sure that the criteria are large enough so that they get some volume every day. Because the more volume they get, when you start sending them emails and a drip, they're going to reply and tell you what they want. The two go hand in hand. Not a really small search, but a very wide search. Because, so, and that's how you can, kind of, get people talking to you.
Crystal: 35:45
Yeah, no, that makes complete sense. But yeah, creating an email drip isn't overly complicated. It's pretty straightforward. It's just putting together an email and how you would want to speak to somebody through that email, and short and sweet and to the point, right? Not long exhausted emails because no one's going to read that. Nobody taught you that, right?
Tara: 36:04
Yeah. I've had some people that, coaching, are now getting into putting some blogs on, you know, embedding blogs in an email. You do have the BombBomb that you can work with as well. I think that's; I don't use it. That's way too much technology for me. It kind of freaks me out. But I think doing that as part of your drip campaign is brilliant. Creating emails and having people put, you know, your Instagram and your Facebook, follow me at… Also a really great way of getting your leads more invested into you. Just some tips.
Crystal: 36:52
Yeah. And one side suggestion with that, when you're like: Follow me on what have you, tell them why they would want to follow you on that, as well, right? So, giving them a reason why they would want to follow that. There's, you know, whatever incentive it might be to follow that. If you are active on your social platforms, for sure. We do have, okay, so this is kind of a little bit, not on this topic, but a little bit slightly different. So, for your buyer clients, when you are showing them properties or talking about home pricing, just with today's market, almost everything is going over asking, would you, if they want to go look at that property that's listed at X amount of dollars, are you educating them beforehand that this is what you feel the property might go for? Before you go and show it to them?
Tara: 37:46
Yeah, absolutely. But I'll tell you, one of the ways I've been so successful is I am not a Debbie Downer. My biggest thing is this: Okay, Tara, we want to see, you know, a house at 599. You know, of course, you're going to ask what their budget is. If their budget is 625, of course, I'm going to say: Listen, you know, this is probably going to sell around the nines or, you know, whatever it may be. But if they still want to see that property, I'll show it to them, especially if it's a new lead. I want those people to meet me face to face. I want to create that connection that will then continue their journey with me. You can get them to be committed to you over email and phone. Sure. But starting to show them houses is key to really solidifying your relationship. So, I will never lose an opportunity to get out there and hit the pavement with them. Ever.
Crystal: 38:50
Okay. Yeah, no, it's getting yourself in front of people. Like, kind of brings me into the topic of door knocking. Is that something, like, I don't know what the situation is out there, you guys door knocking or not? I know, the last couple of years kind of changed the way we would do that. That's for sure. What is your thought process on that?
Tara: 39:11
I love, love it. I love it. I'm a big believer that if you want to be successful, you have to envelop all of the real estate 101. I think farming is good within, you know, whatever your budget is, I think door knocking is good. If you've got a listing, there's nothing more impactful than your face in the neighborhood around your for sale or sold sign. At the end of the day, I always do, and my team goes door-knocking as well. I always do this. All you have to do is just show your face. It's about the branding. Don't go with the intent of: Okay, I have to get a listing. Go with the intent that: I just want to show these people who I am because my name is right there.
Crystal: 40:00
Maybe spark up a conversation, right? It's, again, it's that impression, that first impression that you have with them. They may not even be thinking about moving anytime soon. But you might spark up a pretty good conversation with them, and you leave that lasting impression. So even if it is 5-10 years down the road, they're going to remember that. And then you're probably doing pop-by's or reaching out to them every so often anyway. It really sets that foundation to, you know, it solidifies it, really, for when the time is right. They already know who you are, a little bit about your personality, and you either hit it off, or you didn't, right? So, you can tell. Like, when you hit, you know, you're talking to someone, you hit it off. You're chit-chatting, and it might not even have to do with real estate. You could be talking about flowers in the garden, and, you know, where they got those flowers, for example, right? Anything.
Tara: 40:51
Yeah. I was on a listing appointment last night. And that was from me door-knocking two years ago. You know, she's communicated with me ever since. And I was finally in the house last night. I know there's an agent here at our office that, you know, she called me and she said: Guess what? I just got a call to go list a house here in Whitby, and she door knocked two years prior in the pouring rain. And she was like: Tara, I knew I shouldn't really be out. But she goes: I need a business. And sure enough, when this guy called her two years later, he said: You're the only realtor I've ever seen door knocking in the rain, and I knew I was going to use you. It still took him a couple of years to call, but you know what I mean? You never know. You never know.
Crystal: 41:37
It does impress a lot of people, though, that you get some people like: Uh, door knockers, like, you know? They feel like the realtors are a nuisance, or the realtors feel like they're being a nuisance, one of the two. But then you get those individuals out there like that, that can see what you're doing to help build or generate business and that you're working hard. And I did it many years ago. It was like 36 degrees. I was: I'm dying. And people are recognizing that you're out there, you know, hustling when everyone else is sitting inside air conditioning, right? And they're like commenting, and you know: Here, let me get you some water. Like: Wow, this is amazing that you're out here doing this, right?
Tara: 42:19
The other thing is when I'm door-knocking if I do end up talking to somebody, you know, maybe they're gardening or whatever, you know, you're always, my big thing with door knocking is you always want to compliment, you know, the house. You know? Very much not a Debbie Downer. Everything's all bright and cheery, and butterflies and all that stuff with them, even if I'm feeling the polar opposite. People don't see that. But if I do say, you know, somebody's like: Ah, I'm not really thinking about selling, but you know what, I'll take your info and I'll keep it. When I get past their door, then I'll kind of send myself a note that says, you know, 123 Main Street. I can go on GeoWarehouse when I get back, find out what his name is. And I'll send them a - I really appreciate you taking the time to speak with me card. And then what I do is then I'll put them on my newsletter farming list, you know? So, it's just sort of thinking outside the box.
Crystal: 43:21
Yeah. Well, exactly. You're building your database, and you're constantly thinking about that with every action you are doing. It's how can I expand this? How can I generate more business? Whether it's right now or down the road. It's keeping ourselves top of mind, and really, again, it goes into your mindset, right? It's just like: I now have to do this, and it becomes a habit, really, right? It's the same as when you jump into your system every day. You have your habits, your daily habits of what you have to do. We do every day in everyday life things; it's just got to do with your leads and your real estate too. With the door knocking, we have Priyanka just asking, is there anything specific that you would bring with you? And then, if you are just kind of doing, you know, canvassing, just generalized, maybe you don't have a listing, maybe you don't have a sold, or maybe you did, how often would you go back and hit that neighborhood again?
Tara: 44:16
Well, I believe you should do it at the minimum once a month, at the minimum. If you can do it biweekly, I think that's good. I love Vistaprint. I do a lot of orders that way. I actually just ordered a couple more versions of door hangers. So far, the door hangers I'm kind of into right now. I used to do mostly postcards. And the door hangers are very non-evasive, you know? You can get shorter ones or longer ones. I just do the short ones. And I think they're great. And I try to do very generic, so that I continue to use the same ones rather than really having it - Just sold 123 Main Street. If I want to order, you know, 750, then I can use them in all the areas that we want repeatedly over and over again. It's just like anything else, you know, in order to be successful, you have to create a plan for your pillars of your business. And for me, in my business, I have a plan for my leads, my pay-per-click leads, and I have the same version of the plan for my farming areas and my door knocking, right? And that's just basically what it is. And if anybody hasn't done a business plan with their pillars, they need to get that done. Because once you put it in writing, and you say: Okay, biweekly, I'm going to target First Street, Second Street, Third Street; when it's in writing, you'll be more apt to do it.
Crystal: 45:53
Yeah. Yeah. I find there are even areas where I would door knock. I know there's one realtor out there in the Oshawa area, Suzanne, and she, her farm area, may have roamed. But then she had a very distinct farm area, community, and she would go door knock it constantly. She basically goes to her roots, right? Constantly goes through her cycle. So, even, like, I was doing once, and it was just advertising for an upcoming open house of one of the houses in the neighborhood, just letting everyone know. And even the lady right away, she says: You know what, I really appreciate this. You might check by, but just giving a heads up. Suzanne is going to be a realtor, you know? She is so dedicated to the community. She comes by all the time, you know? She'll periodically run an event in the park. And she's like, our business, you know, regardless, we can, you know, respect and value her efforts, and that's who we're going to use. So, it does lead. People recognize your efforts when you're doing that consistently.
Tara: 46:53
And that's the big thing, is it's about branding. And if you go into these neighborhoods, if you go into these leads, it's about your name, right? In order for these leads to want to use you, in order for you to have success in farming, they need to know who Tara Baylis is, right? The more you see the name, the more when they're ready, you're going to be at the top of mind. And that's what all of this is about. All of it. It's the same for the Google Pay-Per-Click leads. I want them to get a lot of listings, a wide range of listings, so that they've got volumes every day. Because it's Tara Baylis in their inbox every day, along with a drip campaign, right? So, when they're ready, they're going to be more apt to think of Tara, rather than, you know, somebody that maybe has only talked to them once.
Crystal: 47:47
Absolutely.
Tara: 47:49
Anything applies.
Crystal: 47:53
We have more of a comment from Mario. Patience is key with your online needs. I have many leads coming back on the site and looking at properties. They don't answer their phones. I keep following up with some texts and emails on a daily basis. No responses yet. Constantly following up. It's a waiting game.
Tara: 48:14
Good for you. Let's applaud him because he understands what, exactly what we were talking about. This isn't his show. This is their show. So, continue to be in their inbox, and your name will be part of them eventually. I love that.
Crystal: 48:35
And you can let them know you know that they're not ready, right? I understand you're probably just looking right now. I'm okay with that, right? Is there anything I can do, though, while you are in this early stage of your home search, right? It's letting them know that, what I feel like some agents out there will again: Oh, they're not moving right now, delete or stop the listings or whatever it is. And, so, a lot of these leads are encountering that when they're signing up places, so when you're letting them know: I'm going to keep the listings going, you know? Whenever your time is right, but I'm here. It's okay. Like: I don't expect you to move right now because you just want to look at listings today.
Tara: 49:13
Yeah. Yeah.
Crystal: 49:17
Yeah. Now Sherry's asking how long you've been with AgentLocator and what your conversion rate is?
Tara: 49:24
Okay, so I'll give you the same numbers because I'm not really big on conversion rates. I started with AgentLocator; I can't remember who I was using before that, in 2016. So, I've always been doing Google Pay-Per-Click leads since they came into existence, which I want to say was about 16 or 17 years ago, when they really got big and more companies opened up. So, I started in 2016. Way back from 16 years ago on, my highest conversion was 5%. But I was on a team that, and I didn't get as many leads as I do now. So, I'm going to give you basically what I did this year is I figured out the percentage of my business. So, I'll give you an example. Two years ago, I converted, 72% of my business came from AgentLocator. Last year, it was 75%. This year, my total cost for AgentLocator that I spent was 24,000. My income alone from AgentLocator, alone, this is one pillar of my business, was 294,000. So, when you apply yourself gently and nicely to these leads, treat them like you would want to be treated, there is so much money in here. Now, I buy now a lot of leads, but I have a team that I also feed, and there are other agents in different locations that I also work the leads, feed them to, and I get a percentage.
Crystal: 51:11
Perfect. Yeah, no, it's time, patience, consistency. It all pays off. One person had a question about, you know, we don't delete leads, don't do that. Now, what if they expressed to you that they have an agent? What do you specifically, what do you personally do in that situation?
Tara: 51:30
That's a really good question. That's a really good question. So, I still don't delete. So, because I never know for sure if they've really signed a BRA or not, this is what I say. I say: Okay, you know what, I'm going to keep you on the system. If anything changes between you and your agent, just let me know. I'm always here to help. If they say: No, you know what, I definitely don't. If they reply back, then I'll delete them. But nine times out of 10, they still stay on.
Crystal: 52:01
They still stay on, right?
Tara: 52:04
And I've already paid for the lead. So, I'm always thinking: Well, you know what, maybe I won't get them, but maybe I'll get their mother.
Crystal: 52:10
Yeah, you never know, right? Or who they share a listing with. Someone, they sign up, right? It's, again, you never know what that lead brings with them, what their baggage is. It is, and a lot of individuals out there, again, unless they're directly saying: Hey, I'm already working with somebody, but thanks, that's fine. But when we ask a question directly, if somebody has an agent, it's very easy for any of your leads to say yes, because they know so many people that are realtors. I always suggest asking that question if you feel it's necessary in the conversation for you to ask that question, to do it indirectly. I'm asking, you know: How long have you guys been looking for? You know, have you gotten to see any houses yet? Are you primarily just looking online? Those who are just looking online, you're pretty much in the green, safe zone, right? If they've gone to see some houses already, that's when you might want to dig a little bit deeper if you feel it's necessary for your own mental state and well-being. But asking it indirectly is a softer approach as well. It's not as, you know, direct as a lot of your competitors are doing. They're asking the direct hard questions. Whereas the softer approach, indirect, is definitely a softer approach to those types of questions. How long after lead signs up would you call them? Like, what do you typically do on that?
Tara: 53:39
So, I'm still on the fence a little bit because I've really been laying off the calls because they just weren't working. So, now what I've been doing is, you know, I use the different scenarios in my head. So, we talked last time about the re-login notifications. I'm a massive, massive, massive follower of people when they come back on. So, I do think everybody should contact AgentLocator if they haven't already to make sure that they have the re-login notification. So, when a lead comes back on, you're notified that they're on, and they're looking. I think one of the biggest things is, is if I see a lead start to make significant changes, so, maybe when they came on, this particular lead only came and looked once or twice a week at stuff; if I happen to notice that Bob now is looking five or six times a day, I know something has changed with Bob. And I base that on the re-login notifications. That might be a scenario where I'm going to introduce my voice to Bob and just say: Hey, it's Tara calling from begintosearch.com. I just wanted to thank you so much for coming often on my site. I really appreciate it.
So, when I always start my phone calls with a thank you, I'm catching them off guard. And I'm always getting the same response where they'll go: Oh, no problem. Good to hear from you, you know? I like your site, right? And then I can say: Listen, you know, now that I've got you on the phone, do you want me to make any changes? Is there anything I can do? I know another agent that I coach. He actually says to me, when he starts off that way, he'll then simply say: Do you have any questions for me? I mean, I think that's brilliant, right? I don't ask them a lot of questions. I don't want to know everything about these people. I allow the lead to direct the call. And I really am specific when I make those calls. So, if I don't see any activity, I want to wait until around day 20 - day 30 because they're getting a series of emails from me before I now introduce my voice to them. I'm feeling now I just want them to build the trust already, that I'm very non-threatening so that when I introduce my voice, as I call it, they've gotten to know a little bit more about Tara through my drip campaign and through the listings that they're getting.
Another thing I talked about last time is the market is starting to change, knock on wood. We're entering a buyers market. We all know it. And I've had the team and the people that I'm coaching start to call people and say: Guess what, I have good news, you know? We're entering a buyers market, and I just wanted to personally let you know. I mean, these buyers right now, on AgentLocator, for the last two years, and who blames them, are extremely frustrated. Many have lost hope about ever being able to buy, so I think introducing your voice and bringing them the heavens have opened up, you know, the markets changed, you might want to think about getting out now, is a brilliant way to solidify yourself with these people.
Crystal: 57:04
Perfect. We'll go through a few more questions here. I don't know if we're going to be able to get through everything today. A lot of, everyone's chatty today. My Gosh, how many questions?
Tara: 57:17
I get nervous.
Crystal: 57:18
Yeah. So, Brian is asking what your opinion is on forcing people to sign up to view or versus having a website that would be open, but you would get less leads but higher quality? What would your preference be? Would you rather quantity over quality or quality versus quantity?
Tara: 57:44
Quantity. Quantity. You know, because I don't know how anybody; this is just my opinion. And I mean, believe me, I'm not IT, but I don't know how anybody could really judge somebody that's just coming on a site and say you're not worthy of me capturing, you know what I mean? Because remember, it's not always about that person, but it can be about who they know. So, my leads refer me. So I, you know, Crystal, you are probably a better person to answer that question than me. I'm all about just, if you're going to land in and you're going to register to look at houses, I view that as a very warm lead. Nobody's got a gun to your head. You don't have to. And then and then I'm cool. I'm cool.
Crystal: 58:35
And, really, what it comes to, if you kind of look at it this way, would you rather 50 opportunities that may go somewhere, whether it's three, six, nine, two years from now, whatever it may be, or would you rather one opportunity because somebody is interested in one listing? So, that's one sale or potential of 50+ sales.
Tara: 58:58
I will tell you this. I mean, I know people, when they sign up, they start with a small budget. And I mean, believe me, I get that. So did I. So did I. If you're able to increase your budget with AgentLocator and bring in a higher volume of leads, you know, when you're comfortable, you're going to see, as well, doing the things the right way, approaching the people the right way, answering them right away, you will see a much better conversion rate as well.
Crystal: 59:31
Perfect. Now, Steve is saying he only removes someone if they write a nasty email or text in response to an email or drip email. He writes back an apology and apologizes, and removes them. What would you do? What do you personally do in a situation where someone might respond, you know, nasty or, you know, having a bad day, taking it out on you? What do you do personally if somebody responds to you in a non-polite manner?
Tara: 1:00:02
Okay, so this is interesting. I've learned, you know, listen. You know, I get my feelings hurt too. I do. I used to reply back, and you know, just say: Well, you know, I'm, you know, whatever. Try to defend yourself in a nice way. Now here's my thought: I don't care. I don't care. You know what, you don't like me, you're not happy because I sent you listings, and all of a sudden, this is a problem. Let's move on to the next. And yes, I will delete. You're out. You're gone. I don't do it very often, in all honesty. You do get a couple where you're just like: Wow. I am; you know what I do? I say to myself: You're not even the type of person I'd want to work with.
Crystal: 1:00:58
Keyboard warriors out there, that's for sure. A lot of people say things through text or email that they would never in a lifetime actually say it to your face.
Tara: 1:01:12
Yeah, some people are unbelievable. And yeah, so I just always go - next. Alright, hope you feel better.
Crystal: 1:01:20
Yeah. Do you, have you, so with respect to your seller leads, have you converted any of those?
Tara: 1:01:28
No, but I just started them, Crystal, maybe like two weeks ago, three weeks ago.
Crystal: 1:01:33
Yeah, I know. We just started our last session.
Tara: 1:01:37
I think I've got three, maybe, three or four. So, I got them, and then I replied to them right away. Those ones I did try to call right away, too, would leave messages. But then I knew right away that I needed to really create my cellar drip, as I did the same search style with a buyer drip. So, that just got finished because that doesn't happen overnight for me; probably about ten days to really narrow down what I wanted for this trip. So, fingers crossed, there will be business there. But I think I'm going to see that really further on down the road. And I'd love to talk about it when I actually can give you stats and numbers on it. But I'm really excited to see how this works.
Crystal: 1:02:28
Yeah, good. Yeah. Good. All right. I'm just going to ask a couple more questions here. Just, and then we'll have to hold on to the next session, I believe. So many questions today. It's great it's happening.
Tara: 1:02:43
Yeah, this is exciting.
Crystal: 1:02:44
Now, do you; so I know you like to, you'll take the lead out to see a property if they show interest in it, just so that you can meet them face to face. Now, are you taking them out regardless of if a BRA is signed?
Tara: 1:02:56
Yes, but that's me. That's me. You know, I'm not here to tell anybody what they should or shouldn't do. And I don't, you know, I think BRAs are a great, great thing. I look at this first meeting as a kind of like me taking them to my office and really getting to know a little bit about them. And, you know what, sometimes we may not even see a property. We might just meet at Tim Hortons and have a chat. But definitely, for those that want to do the BRA up front, do it. You have to do what is best for you and your business.
Crystal: 1:03:31
Now, are you, you're using the Twilio for texting, and what have you. You text using Twilio?
Tara: 1:03:35
Yeah.
Crystal: 1:03:36
What do you do in a situation where your lead replied: Stop, to that message, to stop your ability to text them? Do you still call them, though? Are you still reaching out and having a voice call at that point?
Tara: 1:03:50
No, not too often. Because remember, most of my conversion is really coming through people replying to my drip campaign. Like, I'm not; again, my whole business changed about six or seven years ago when people weren't responding as well to the calls in conjunction with my drip. So, everybody that I'm getting into the car now is really, slowly, just strictly people that have been answering through the drip. And then any off touches in the scenarios that I call. If they book a showing, I'll reply back right away, you know: I'd like to see it. If I don't hear back from them by the next morning, then I'll make a call and say: Hey, it's Tara. Do you still want to see this property? That's a really good way to introduce yourself to people, is when they do the book of showing.
Crystal: 1:04:36
Perfect. Now I'm just going to quickly share my screen for these email campaigns. I'm going to share it with you guys. It's a little slideshow of two examples of the emails that Tara has. We can definitely go into further discussion, I guess next time on the system and setting it up, but with the recording from Zoom, I'm going to send this slideshow. I'm also going to send the instructions on how you would create a template in your system. So, you guys will have that information. So, I'm just going to, and I think it's actually already open. And, you guys can see this okay?
Tara: 1:05:18
I can.
Crystal: 1:05:19
Perfect. So, this is an example here of a Buyer Day 7. So, the buyer, you know, from Tara's buyer drip. Simple subject: Thank you for looking at the listings. And again, she's thanking them right, and taking the time for looking at those listings. But this isn't overly exhausting. There's not a huge chunk of information, or it's not, like, I don't know, a whole like, I don't know, essay. It's pretty, you know, short and sweet. It's to the point. And it's not invasive, right? It's very; it's a very soft approach. So, this is going on your day seven, that campaign for your buyer campaign. We then have the seller campaign. So, this here is the Seller Day 1. Again, she's thanking that lead, right, and she wanted to, you know, basically indicating that she'd like to take a peek at the house. And, you know, asking about a quick pop by to take a look. So, I'll send those over to you guys that you'll be able to see she does use the shortcodes. I will be sending you the instructions with these recordings so that you can see how to create a template. So, it's not complicated. Once you figure it out, it's pretty straightforward. And then, if you guys need any help, so any of those questions about setting up campaigns or things like that, we won't create campaigns for you. That I can tell you. Sometimes Support might, if you have all the content and you're just not sure if you have the whole how you want that campaign to run. But do reach out to Support. They'll either put you in connection with the training department to schedule a session with your trainer to go over your account specifically. Yeah, it's a skill once you learn it. It's great to have with your system because you can build a variety of different campaigns depending on the situation.
Tara: 1:07:27
Excuse me, Crystal, I just googled it. Like, I just went into the video section of the help on AgentLocator and just said: How do I create? And, honestly, it was so easy to do. Yeah, easy.
Crystal: 1:07:40
Yeah, it's not complicated. For some, you know, we understand you guys are realtors. You're not all tech-savvy. We get that, right? So, we try to make things simple. And if you do need the extra help, we are more than happy to give it to you. And a lot of you will have already existing campaigns in your system. If you don't, we can definitely add them in there. You can edit those campaigns. You don't have to keep them as they are. You can use the emails as the foundation, tweak them to how you want to come across to your leads, and go from there. Awesome. So, I, and then again, if you guys want more information on Tara's lead gen coaching, it's thatcrazythingcalledleadgen.com?
Tara: 1:08:24
Yeah, okay. There's a website. Yeah, there's, you can get more information, all that stuff too. Easy peasy. But in a couple of weeks, we'll be back at this again. And I love the Q&A because it, you know, I don't want to say that over and over again.
Crystal: 1:08:43
I know. It's like trying to figure out, like, what are we talking about now? No one's saying anything. We don't know what you guys are interested in.
Tara: 1:08:52
I will just end by knowing that if you want to convert, you have to invest yourself into each and every one of these leads. I'm no different than you guys. I am a commission salesperson realtor who cries when they're busy and cries when they're not busy. Like, you know what I mean? But you're already paying for it. So, just invest yourself. And you'll find out that it will work 1000 times over for you.
Crystal: 1:09:22
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And trust the process. Be patient and just work your database. Just open up your CRM every single day. Not just when you feel like it. Awesome. Well, thanks, Tara. Thank you to everyone that popped in today. We'll be doing this again in a couple of weeks from now. You can, of course, email myself if you have any suggestions of topics that you may want to discuss further more, but we will see you all in a couple of weeks, and thanks.
Tara: 1:09:53
I love it.
Crystal: 1:09:55
Thanks, everyone. Bye.