Starting over is hard. Physical fitness or business. It's hard starting new habits.

Print this 30 day challenge and stick it on your fridge. It's to create a game of your new habit.

The idea is simple: Spend 20 minutes a day on your new habit (could be prospecting clients or a simple walk around the block). The rule is you gotta aim for 30 straight days. If you mess up you start over.

Once you hit 30 days in a row and truly try... it'll be amazing to see and feel the difference that daily focused effort will produce. 90% is just showing up and taking action.

I include 20 minuets of cleaning to help shape daily discipline. It snowballs a sense of pride and accomplishment.

This is a total clean program. A chance to restart you, your business and your overall health.

We have a lot to unpack after that 12 week tour I just did. I'd say before you get distracted... the first thing you should do is book a free discovery call so we can chat ideas and direction.

​You can also call or text me anytime: (905) 903-5442

I'm a real guy and I'll really answer if you call. I'd love to hear your ideas and questions. It's not a sales pitch.

We can keep this conversation going. Please connect with me on my other social media...

Hey everyone! Danny Wood here. During todays webinar on "getting more listings" I shared many ideas and links.

The first was my script for calling your database. Download it here. 

I also shared a door knocking letter template. You can download that here.

I mentioned "done-for-you" marketing options such as Google PPC and Facebook ads. For that it's best if we just talked on the phone. My cell is (905) 903-5442.

If any of you are going geographic farming I mentioned a webinar interviewing top agents killing it at farming. Both those recordings are here.

Speaking of farming. I suggested running Google banner ads for $50... BUT I only suggest that if you already do direct mail, door knocking, outdoor billboards and community involvement. If you do... 100% check this: Farming banner ads.

Want to go deeper on any of the ideas I shared? Book a free coaching call here.

Watching this recording in the future? Pretend it's live and just text me your questions: (905) 903-5442

I appreciate being part of your board and speaking with you today. I hope you get some ideas that inspire you.

Dan Wood

Discover how the top teams in the world use the power of radio to dominate local markets! Matt Wagner will take us threw the journey of becoming a local powerhouse and how power brokers are using airwaves to get more listings.We’ll be talking with Rob Golfi and Goran Todorovic who have both exploded using the radio to generate leads and massive mindshare when using radio advertising.

Matt Wagner is a radio / television expert who has helped many of the top teams in the world with mass media plays in local markets.

​Rob Golfi is the #2 large team REMAX worldwide! Last year they sold over 1,100 homes?! Yep.

Goran Todorovic #1 broker owner team in Canada with REMAX!.. and #9 large team for REMAX worldwide.

I wanted to open this one up to anyone interested.

Book a FREE 1-on-1 coaching call to talk about more ideas: Claim a free call - here

http://brokeragenation.com/30minsession

Want to look your best on a Zoom call (or when self filming video)?

I discovered a company called SmallRig that makes modular attachments so you can build a portable recording studio like mine!

I’ll list links to all the gear below…

Chelsea Peitz and Danny Wood talked ideas during a webinar on how real estate agents can use Instagram. This is a summery of the 1 hour session they did. Highlights include:

• How to get Instagram swipe up link to website
• How the Instagram algorithm works
• Linktree and Shor.by
• Instagram story strategies
• Instagram Business Vs Personal account
• The Instagram highlight section
• Instagram analytics
• Adding a contact button and more!

Chelsea has a new book titled: "What to Post" and it covers how real estate agents can use Instagram to gain new business and reach a wider audience.

Add Danny Wood: https://www.instagram.com/calldanwood
Add Chelsea Peitz: https://www.instagram.com/chelsea.peitz

Buy her book: www.whattopostbook.com
More real estate training: www.patreon.com/DannyWood

Below is a transcription... 

Hey, what's up? My name is Danny Wood, this is blog number three. And today we're going to be covering Instagram tips and tricks. Now I was really fortunate to have Chelsea on my show. We did a full one hour webinar on Instagram marketing for real estate agents. This will apply to any industry, regardless of what you're in, but we focused on real estate just because. And one of the main things we want to have you do is work smarter, not harder, because a lot of people are spinning their wheels with Instagram. They don't feel like they're getting anything from it. So this is what we're going to cover it today.

Now if you want to go deeper, she does have a book, it's called What to Post. It's just released. WhatToPost.com is where you can get the book, and it's all about Instagram's strategies for the real estate industry. So I definitely encourage you head on over to that. But I want to uncover what we did for the webinars.

So we did a one hour webinar. I'm going to shrink it down as much as possible to just the highlights. The first thing she starts with is the user name and field name. And this name field, if you look at it, if you go to your account, you probably have a picture of you and then your name. It makes a lot of sense. But she says, "Instagram has two fields that are searchable, the name one and put the top and then the one underneath your profile picture." So the one under your profile picture, you should actually probably use for keywords, if you want free organic growth. So her example is better than my example. Her says, "Instagram for real estate."

So think of what are the things that you do. Toronto real estate? Maybe you want to put that in there because it's searchable. The rest of the bio is not searchable. So you really want to leverage this for all that you can. The main thing she's going to ask a person when she's doing an audit with them would be, "Are you on a business account or a personal account?" And a lot of people fear this because they don't want to be on a business account because we all know what happened with Facebook, with the business page. It's just like everything tanked, right? And you like the way it is.

Well, she says there's no negative impact on having a business account over the personal account. There's just a bunch of extra positives and bonuses that you get. So why would you want to miss on that? So there's no algorithmic difference whatsoever. So you should be on a business page. The only difference I found was if I posted something on my personal Instagram and I shared it, it would go to my personal Facebook and I liked that that was a good feature. But once I use the Instagram for business, then it wouldn't link the two. It wouldn't go into my personal Facebook. And that's the only drawback that I've found. But everything else is way worth it.

So first of all, you get a contact button. So you can add a contact button on your Instagram account now, and it's not new, but it might be new for you. Wouldn't you like to have people calling you? You can add a call, a text, or an email button right on at the top of the page. So I use this and I'm getting calls, right? And I'm not saying that you're going to use it and you're going to start getting calls, but if you're not using it, you're definitely not getting calls, right? So take a look at that. You can add a contact button, because you're using the business page.

During the live webinar. I was shocked to discover this, that it shows analytics of all of your content, and you can really slice it many different ways to look at it. But the main thing that I got was of my top three posts, all three of them were IGTV videos. Well, you know what that means to me? I need to make more IGTV videos. So it will show you what's working and what's not. And I'm not saying your answer is that you need to make Instagram TV videos. That's what my audience tunes into. But maybe your audience will tune into pictures of cats versus dogs, as an example. So you'll see the common threads and then you'll be able to maneuver strategically, working smarter and not harder.

In the bio, you should have a unique value proposition. So she's going to say, for example, her says, "I share real estate marketing tips that help you grow your biz & make more money doing what you love. DM me for free Instagram audit, helpful downloads, click here." So I love the two step process where she has two call to actions. One is for a direct message for a free audit and then the other one is to take action to go somewhere else. So I literally just copied her basically word for word, because if it works rock it.

So I said, "I help brokerages with recruiting and real estate agents with marketing message me for a free audit/consultation if you want to grow." And then I give them the link to take more action. So I really like that two step process where you add two unique value propositions into your bio. If you're not, then you're not getting anything right? So take a look, use what we're doing, modify it to be your own.

One of the things I discovered is that the Instagram stories, I thought they were all just deleted. They'll have a 24 hour shelf life and then they're gone. They're archived. So you can go back to all of your past stories, pull them together, and group them into different groups, like a highlight. At the top of this page here I have a banner and it has the different icon. So I put speaking, recruiting, marketing and blog. But maybe you want to highlight friends, family, food and fun, or whatever, right? Think of it as like a mindshare mission of all the things that you're up to in life and somebody goes to your Instagram account, what's the thing that you want them to know about

So that's what these groups are all about. And the fact that they're archived, you can go back in time and create a clean slate of a whole bunch of little groups of archived stories. It's pretty cool. You should be doing it. I don't know why you're not if you aren't. And you can head on over to Etsy and search Instagram story highlight icon, and there's hundreds of thousands of them already made. You can just buy them, $5, or $10, download a pack of them and then you've got concise, clean branding across the top of all of your highlights, like little buttons. And you can see mine here. There's a real estate example I put on the screen. There's tons of real estate examples that are already done for you. You don't even have to design them.

Now for our Instagram stories, we're using this approach. It's a strategy. We're looking at the screen size and then we're dividing it into three sections. The very top section is a banner for your branding, or a call to action, or whatever. And then we use negative space. That way we could add things like buttons and texts and stickers. And then underneath that is going to be the photo of the actual post. So when we post something, we actually break it up into three sections and we make sure to include lots of room for negative space. That way we can add things like hashtags and user names, or we could add things like interactive buttons. Otherwise, you're putting your content on top of other contents. So pre-build your story with the thought of having a negative space in mind.

Now, of all the tips and tricks that you're going to learn from anybody on any social media platform, the answer is always going to come down to engagement. So if for example, you have 500 friends on Instagram, and all 500 of them post something today, are you going to see all 500 posts? No, you're not. And so how does Instagram determine whose posts they're going to show you? Here's an example of how I did that strategy. I posted this on Facebook and I said, "Hey, we're doing a webinar. We're going to record it. You can join live. Who's interested?" That's basically what I said. And 180 people commented saying, "I do, I want it, this is my email", whatever. So I used it as an opportunity to build and grow my database and my sphere of influence.

Now had I just posted on Facebook saying, "Hey, I'm doing a webinar. This is the date and time. This is the link to register." Do you think I'd get 180 people? No, I'd probably get like five, or 10 or something. But because I got really interactive with it and I would comment and tag them back and then thank them and private message them, it's all part of the algorithm. So now when I do another event like this, I'm going to be higher on their awareness radar. It's awesome.

So the four main ways that you can increase your engagement would be direct messages, that's probably the biggest one. If you can get a real conversation with a real person and it goes back and forth multiple times, that's huge. So now when you post in the future, there's a good chance that they will see your posts. Comments, likes, story replies. Those are all easy little touches that don't cost you anything. It's just like, here's the thing, it's called social media for a reason. You got to be social with it. If you're not going to be social with it and you don't want to do it, that's fine, just don't waste your time not doing it. I'd rather you not even try, instead of you saying, "Yeah, I got Instagram. It doesn't work for me." It's cause you're not working it. You have to actually be interactive with people and not be shy.

Now of all the questions I was asked, this is the biggest burning one that people have, and that is how do you get that swipe up feature in your story when a person can swipe up and it will link them to your website. Instagram has a rule that you need a 10,000 followers before that will unlock and even some people that have 10,000 followers, that's not even unlocked for them yet. I'm going to share with you the answer, but I'm not going to give it to you. What I want you to do is I want you to go to Chelsea's Instagram account. I'm going to point to her name. Underneath her name. If you scroll down when you're on her profile is a IGTV button, Instagram Television. Click on that tab and then scroll down even further. And you're going to see this little video called Insta Story Swipe Up Hack Free, Under 10,000 Followers. So that video is going to break down how you can get that for free when you're under 10,000 followers.

So when you're there tell her I sent you, or tag me. I just want to know, did anybody actually go and watch the video? Because this is probably one of the biggest questions people have and I want to share it with you, but I don't want to give it to you. This is more like an Easter egg hunt so hopefully you appreciate it if you want the answer.

Now remember in the link description in the bio, you only have room for one link. Well we use tools, I use Shorby. This allows you to consolidate your call to actions, essentially. Because if you send people to your website, it's like a choose your own adventure. Who knows where they go. But with this, I can be way more tighter with my call to actions and the products and services that I'm offering. So these tools are really cool. I really encourage you to take a look at it, only if you have a lot of engagement, traffic and followers. If you don't, then save your money. You probably don't need these tools whatsoever.

However, if you do like free advice and you want to hang out a little more, this is my Instagram account. This is the Chelsea's Instagram account. You can take a picture of the screen by scanning the code, or just look us up by typing our usernames down below. That's it. That was video number three. This is the third blog I've done. Number four is coming up. I do a bi-weekly vlog and I encourage you to comment below. This is the only thing I care about. You can like and you can share and do all that other stuff. Awesome. But if you comment nothing makes me glow better than that, so thanks a lot.

Hey, what's up? It's Danny Wood here. I wanted to do vlog number two, which was going to be on relationship marketing. And a lot of real estate agents, they feel awkward when they're calling their database and I can totally relate. I'll tell you why. One of my life's goals is to have joy with everything that I do, and if I don't have joy doing it, I don't want to do it. Especially when it comes to work. We're trading time for money. It's one of the most valuable things. Time. And we're just wasting it on things that we don't like doing. So if it's not bringing me joy, I don't want to do it. And the joy totally was sucked out of me. As soon as I got into the real estate business, I walked in the front door and they gave me a wadded up crusty bunch of pieces of paper glued together.

I think they call it a phone book and they wanted me to go through such a book and cold call these people. I'm like, "Hold on, cowboy. I'm out on the middle of a desert, but that doesn't mean that's what I want to do. Anything else you can suggest for me?" And they're like, "Yeah, we got a couple more brick walls for you. How about you bug your sphere of influence? I mean, call your sphere of influence?" I'm pretty sure it's what they said. Yeah. I had to call my sphere of influence, my friends and family, Hey Joey, it's Danny Wood here. I haven't talked to you in 20 years, but I got my real estate license now and I'm really eager for that commission. How are the kids?" It didn't sit well with me. I didn't want to do that. So I'm like, "Okay, what else you've got?"

And they're like, "Well how about you prospect complete strangers for sale by owners and inspireds" and I'm like, "Oh my gosh, this is not why I got into business. I don't feel good. I don't want to show up and do this sort of thing." And this is the truth. It's hard for you to be inspired when you feel like an ass and if you don't have a good reason for why you're calling people you feel like ... and it wasn't until I discovered I needed a why that was bigger than me. Before with all the other past sales training I was taking, it was all about business first and it didn't sit well with me. So what I started doing was calling people for bigger reasons, that was more about them than it was for me. I came up with a two plan system. Plan A was the reason for the phone call, A stands for awesome.

Anything that was fun, positive and share worthy. That's why I was calling them. Plan B was business and I would pepper that in the conversation when, if and where it felt fitting. I never force the business conversation, I just let it flow. Let me show you a couple of examples.

You should gather a couple of agents from your office and do a yearly clothing drive. It's something you can all add to your marketing calendar as a yearly event. You'll be able to reconnect with everybody in your database with a positive touch point. It's easy. You just call them up and say, "Hey, we're doing a clothing drive. I'll swing by and pick it up. Would you participate? Just put it in the bag." A lot of people will say, "Yeah". And now what's happening is you got a face to face conversation because you're going to swing by and see them.

You're updating your database with their mailing address and their home address, which is key for a real estate agent to have and it's something you can do even quarterly if you wanted, but at least yearly do it as a group. You'll get positive press release. You can have a blog, social media and a whole bunch of stuff out of it. Above and beyond, just you connecting with people on a positive level.

Now we've all gone through these calling programs and coaching programs where they have us burn through our database for the first time and it's a blitz and you're like taking selfies of you doing and that's great. However, if you ask most agents three months later, if they're still doing it, they aren't. Most aren't. And the reason for that is because the second, third and fourth phone call, you run out of ideas.

Now remember I said everything I do is all about joy and it's inside me. Well on a quarterly basis I would set something in the future that was fun and totally random and experiential like a Segway tour or a fishing trip or poker, wine, beer tasting, it doesn't matter. It was always experiential and fun and that gave me another reason to connect with people and it was always different.

One time it might be a self-defense class, another time it could be a CPR course or maybe it's a make and take where it's a seasonal thing and we all show up, make stuff and then take it home based on that holiday. Be creative but have something on your horizon at all time because that's what makes it easier to pick up the phone and enroll people. Now as a self-employed professional, you obviously know other self-employed professionals and a lot of people in your database are going to be self-employed as well.

So why don't you do a share intel where everybody shows up at a restaurant or something and they go around table and talk about who they are and what they sell, like their product and service and then they tell one example of how they generate business. That's going to create cross pollination between other people in the room. So not only are you going to be the key player, the person in the center that organized the whole thing, but everybody else is going to get value from it and maybe you can do it on a quarterly basis, maybe even monthly if it gets big.

Now the whole time I'm calling people about my plan A in the back of my mind I'm thinking of plan B. When it's fitting, I'm going to slide in the business conversation depending on who the people are and more importantly depending how the conversation is currently going. If it's uplifting and I feel like they have time to talk a little bit longer, I'm going to go into plan B.

So an example of plan B is the homeowners. If you know somebody who owns a home, which I hope you do, you can call through your database and let them know, "Hey, we got this nosy neighbor alert and it will keep you updated on all the homes that hit the market. Just in your neighborhood. You'll see the pictures, the price, the home renovations, that sort of thing. It's free and it's easy. What's the best email?"

And now you're updating your database with homeowners, getting their email and their address, so that you can let them know of what's happening directly in their neighborhood. It's free for you, it's free for them, it's relevant to them. If you are going to create a drip program, this is the first one that you should do and it's absolutely free. A lot of people that you know are in business and or self-employed and into investing maybe. And if so you could do a monthly tour looking at duplexes, triplexes, fix and flips, power sales, that sort of thing.

And then I would create a smaller list of just the people in my database who are investors and once a month we could meet up and do a little tour looking at property. The cool thing about investors is that they don't have any loyalty. And the reason why that's cool is because they don't have loyalty to the other agents either. So unless they're under contract, don't step on that, but most of the time it's just a relationship game and you got to be the one that has the relationship with them. This is an easy touch for sure. The other thing is anybody who is an investor in your database, they have two homes, the one they live in and the one they rent out. You're in this game for another five years or 10 years I hope, right? While that person is probably going to be buying or selling more property in the future, and this is a great touch.

A lot of the people we speak to are tenants and they're not a lost hope. If a person is a tenant, I would be like, "Hey, what's current rent go for where you're at?" And they would tell me, "Oh, it's around $1,400 or $1,600 or $2,200" and then I would respond, "Well that's crazy because I actually have a list of homes for sale that you can own and the monthly mortgage is the same as what you're paying in rent. Would you be interested in that?" Now I would only say that if it's true, I don't know what your market is, you might not be able to do that approach, but I can in my market, hopefully you can in yours. Now in the back of my mind the whole time I'm tuning into one of these business related reasons and the list goes on.

I just gave you three. There's more pillars. Some of you do pre construction, some of you do military specific property like cottages and waterfront and condos, anything. So, have all these business pillars in the back of your mind and then when you're having a conversation, just go with the flow and fit it in. It's more important to pick up the phone and be consistent with dialing than it is to like hammer them down to be a buyer right on the spot or a seller right on the spot.

Now, if your office wants to set up an accountability group, just let me know. I can do that in house. We can do it remotely. You can do it with the team or with the entire brokerage, so just reach out. If you don't want to pay me, you can just steal my ideas right here. Idea number one is that your agents should be calling three people a day, three a day, three a day, three a day.

It's slow and steady. I'd rather a person call their database for the next three months, then burn through their database in one month and then just never touched it again. See, you can't win a marathon if you don't know how to tie up your shoes. So three a day you don't have to readjust your time blocking. It's easy. Just call three people and then move on.

Idea number two is anybody that you're touching, you should be adding to your database with updated notes. So as much information as you can, their phone number, their email, their address, what you talked about. Now, of all the ideas, this next one is the most important. If anybody is important enough to be in your database, they're important enough to have a next call date. If you put somebody in your database and there isn't a next call date assigned, what's going to happen is three months goes by, six months, a year, two years, three years, and now you're like, Oh, my database sucks. It doesn't work."

Well, it wasn't that it's you weren't working it. So I like doing the manual approach where I'll manually add a next call date to a person, because if you try and automate this, your whole database gets out of whack. You'll know what your gut instinct. Should I call this person in a year? Should I call them in six months or next week? So you set the next call date and that's the most important tip that I have of the day. So everything we've covered so far, it gives you three or four touches that's face to face that you can build and grow your database with people who know, like and trust you and it's not annoying. It's something you can do consistently and I hope that you do. Anybody who is a coaching member of mine is going to get a copy of all the downloads and the templates.

I have agent versions. If you want access as your office, your whole office can have access and your team as well. But anybody who is a coaching member currently, they're going to get the full download of the game plan of what we just covered step-by-step. I'm even going to give you a tracking sheet so that you can make a game of it and have fun and bring joy back to your business.

A lot of people, they don't have a database. I'm like how many people you got? 60? What? 60 you're over the age of 18 you know more than 60 people. So what I want to do is I want to take you through a program that goes through your phone to find all the contacts, goes through your email to find the contacts through your database, through your social media and there's memory triggers where you have to fill in the blank, takes about an hour for you to do this.

But at the end of it you're going to have a fresh updated call list. Now you can work towards your relationship marketing. On top of all of this I'm going to give you my real estate scripts. If you want to get more business heavy where you are calling for sale by owners and that sort of thing. So, I want to throw it in as a bonus.

Hopefully you watch this whole thing. The sun is literally about to go down over this hill, and I don't know if you know anything about the desert or not, but when the sun goes down, it gets cold, and I literally tracked way the hell out here. I'm in the middle of nowhere. Often the distance is a tailgate party. It's a full moon tonight and they're going to howl at the moon. So hopefully I make it.

See all vlog posts with video (and written).
Watch all vlog posts on the YouTube playlist.

Hey, what's up? It's Danny here. I want to try something totally new. I just heard fireworks go off in the background. It's the new year and I have a pretty cool setting. It's a prison, an old prison, and it goes with the theme of today's video, which is going to be about feeling trapped. My example of failing started with this vlog, but your example can be totally different, whether it's losing weight or trying something new or anything in general. We've all failed. So if you've ever been on that failed train, you'll totally appreciate where I'm coming from. When I failed with my vlog, there was three primary things that did that to me.

The first one was the gear and the process. So I overcomplicated all the gear that I needed and the process to actually edit the video and stitch it all together. It's just like really paralyzed me. Nothing ever felt natural and candid. It was very scripted, robotic and just shit is basically what I ended up thinking. Speaking of the script, I could never memorize a script. So I tried so many different things where I would put bullet points and tape it onto the tripod underneath the camera. But you could see me looking down and not looking into the camera. And then other things I tried was actually writing up a script and using a teleprompter. That one actually works really good. But the problem with it was my videos turned out to be just me talking into the camera and nobody wants to see that. So me doing a talking head video just wasn't going to cut it for today's modern world, we just don't have the attention span for that. So the teleprompter idea is awesome except for boring.

Now, whatever your project is that you're working on that you keep failing at, a lot of times we let stuff get in the way. So my example here is I'm looking at a GoPro. I actually loved the GoPro. I think everybody should have one. However, we all experience it where you buy something brand new thinking it's going to solve your problem and you take it out of the box, and you shoot your first little shot or you do whatever you do with it, and it's just like not what you expected. Everybody else made it look so much better than how you are doing it. And it's kind of embarrassing. When I see all the other footage that people are capturing with it, the clarity of the audio, the crispness of the scene, just like the whole cinematic sequence. And then I get it and it's just like, terrible.

So the process or the end result is never what you expected. I mean especially when you compare yourself to different people. So I just threw up three people in the screen here. There's Casey, Peter and Jessie, and these are three guys that I really, really, really look up to. The problem with me looking up to these guys is that I pale in comparison. I never cut it when I look at the quality of the work that they do. These are three YouTube. But it doesn't matter if it's three YouTubers that you are inspired by or if it's like a star that you look up to, an industry leader or a colleague down the hallway. What ends up happening is we get so distracted and blinded by the polish and the fake social world that we live in that we expect what we do to be the exact results as what they do. And if it's not even close, we're just kind of depressed and sad with ourselves. I definitely found myself in that boat because I just never found my groove.

So I got this video up here and it's showing behind the scenes. So a lot of the people that are ahead of you, there's usually a team behind them. And that team has a collective experience, whether it'd be like 20 years in that industry or 10 years or 15 or 30 and you're trying it for the first time, you have a collective experience of zero. We always forget this. And when I'm trying to do self filming like I am now, and then I want to go home and I want to edit this little video, I have to realize I don't have the army which is flying by right now. There's literally an air base and that's an army helicopter. So the army is flying away without me and I'm standing here by myself doing it.

So it's easy for them to look all high on their horse when they got a crew of people that can make them look good in any light. And then here we are over in the corner. If anybody can relate, you're like a horse, just a toy horse walking in circles and people are just walking by. They're not even like offering to help us. Right? So my problem initially started with the fact that on YouTube I'm over 500 videos right now, which is awesome. That's not the problem. I got about 300 that are public and 200 that are private. Now, there's an algorithm that YouTube really looks at and it's called audience retention. That's the play through rate. So if it was a 60-second video, what's the percentage of time people will stick through? Is it 10 seconds, 40, 60? Obviously, the higher the better.

Now, my problem with this audience retention is that I have really long format videos. They're like 40 minutes to 60 minutes, and ideally on YouTube, it should be more like 3 minutes to 12 minutes. So that's a huge problem for me. And because of that, YouTube is going to be penalizing my videos organically when people do searching. So I thought to fix this problem would be to just make shorter format videos, three-minute to eight-minute videos. So what I could do is take all of my old format videos, repurpose them into fresh content. So I thought I'd flipped the switch and create my own lane. I mean, I kept trying to compare myself to other vloggers and compare myself to other people that are doing things that just aren't my strengths and skillsets.

So I thought, why can't I just create my own lane? One thing I've discovered in my public speaking endeavors, when I'm on stage and I'm doing a presentation, the presentation that everybody is looking at actually isn't for them. The presentation is for me, it's a visual reference and a visual cue as to what I should be saying and keeping me on track for my story. So why can't I do the same thing where I just use my phone to tell a little story for you? So I'm using Keynote right now. Keynote is an awesome tool. It allows you to create presentations directly on your phone. Everything that you've seen in this video so far, I made on Keynote. All the animations of the text, all the actual videos that you're watching, it's just playing on keynote and I'm recording my screen as I talk to you.

What's really awesome about this little format, I feel, it gives me an organic script. I'm not reading something word for word and feeling like a robot and unnatural. It allows me to just tell my story and kind of bounce around, but stay in the lane. It also gives me the B-roll overlay footage for you so that it breaks up the monotony of being so boring and just staring at my face the whole time that I talk. And then also the cool thing about keynote is that you can do it in portrait mode. So I can create this presentation the size of my phone and then therefore I can upload it to things like Instagram stories and Facebook stories. And even Facebook and YouTube now allow you to upload in portrait mode, and when a person watches that, it takes up the whole screen. Basically, you're storytelling on the go.

This is going to be my new format and I want to know, if you stumble, will you make it part of the dance? Because I've literally been stumbling for years. I just stumbled on that word and I've been stumbling for years. Like literally, I bought my Sony DSLR camera like three or four years ago to make a vlog and then I was going to do another vlog of me doing adventures and having fun, and it just took the fun out of the fun by having to create all this content. Is just not why I wanted to do it. Now I have a real reason. My YouTube channel, the numbers are going to start to go down because of that audience retention rate and people just don't care for long format videos. So part of my stumbling enabled me to fail forward and find a solution. I think will work.

I don't know anybody else who's doing these types of videos where they're using a presentation on their phone to keep them on track, but I think you could do it as well. Let me share a couple ideas with you. Monthly videos. So if you were a real estate agent, you could create a presentation on your phone for the market stats of what's happened in your market, property types, that sort of thing. And then it could be a monthly video that you do and it only takes like a minute or two minutes to make. A product or service highlight video. So I could easily create, if I was in the car industry and a new car comes out, just like even in real estate as well. Kind of like going through a presentation, talking about all the highlights and you're like flipping the page of the magazine or flipping the page of the brochure or flipping through the listing photos of that property and you're just kind of talking about them.

About you, all real estate agents and all people in business should have an about you, about the team and/or about the company. So maybe you could start off with making that as your video. And then the client process. So a lot of the videos that I make, I intend on re-purposing for multiple reasons. I never make a video just for uploading a video's sake. I always have a reason for it. Many times it's either for a landing page or for like a followup sequence to educate a person as to why they should maybe enroll in that product or service. Hopefully, I just gave you a couple ideas. I don't know. I'm just kind of ... Time's up. They're shooting the cannons.

So we're standing in front of the prison here. Hopefully, you don't feel trapped. Hopefully, you fail forward. Onto the next vlog, I'm going to tell you a little secret. When you watch videos, there really is a trick that if you like that person's video or comment or share it, then the next time they upload a video, the algorithm will put that in your feed. So if you like this video and you like the idea, do you think this is a format I should keep rolling with? I want to try it out for a couple and see how it goes. So thanks a lot.

See all vlog posts with video (and written).
Watch all vlog posts on the YouTube playlist.

Brand Building
Many prospective clients said they use social media to choose which services and products to use. Over 30% of them said this is how they decide which new brands they’ll try next.
They know your brand is good if it’s well-used and popular. It will have excellent customer feedback and more active conversation surrounding it, the more social media posts on the more forums you have.
Increased conversation, by the way, will increase your SEO, raising your ranking in Google. This moves you closer to the top of the Google search results and gives you more of a chance of getting clicked. Therefore, the more social media presence you have, the more business you’ll receive.
 
Customer Loyalty
When you regularly update in social media, your customer satisfaction will increase. Due to this, 53% of Americans said the brands they are the most loyal too are the ones they follow on social media.
Businesses who are utilizing this marketing strategy are stealing clients out from under you! If you want to grow your business, you need to get on the bandwagon of regularly posting to social media!

​TIPS When Posting to Social Media:

• DON’T SPAM!—Spamming would be emailed blasting, putting out random friend requests, and overusing page links.

 

• Don’t overdo the business side on social media.—Post more than just the ideas I’ve listed below. Your posts should be 80% personal and 20% about the business. Remember, “social media is supposed to be social.”¹

 

• Before you post something, think of your “why” behind it.—Think client-first. “What’s in it for your potential client?” If there’s nothing in it for them, they essentially don’t care. Remembering to follow the 80/20 rule is vital in social media marketing.

 

• Choose things you can repurpose in the future.—Think yearly or, better yet, monthly. A post that you can reuse is said to be “evergreen.” You should be able to use it in at least a few of the following ways:

 

• To speak to your client in person

• In a social media post
• As a landing page
• In a listing presentation
• In a blog
• In a DRIP page
• In a video—Video can be repurposed in several different ways.
• And More!

 

• You can embed social media posts on your website to be viewed by visitors.--It will have the number of likes listed as the Facebook post does.

 

• Mostly, I said all that to say DOUBLE-DIP YOUR CONTENT!

 
 
 
Here’s How:
125 Real Estate Post Ideas
 
Videos:

• Video for seller page—Make it 30 sec to 1 minute long and embed it on seller page. Also, put it on Facebook.
• Video for buyer page—Post the video on social media, then put on buyer page.
• Video for about us page—This builds trust. Post an updated one once a year. Also, send it out in the DRIP email!
• Video for the community (or image post)— You could do a video of the area/transit/businesses/schools/parks/or coffee shops. Break them down into segments. Also, put the content on your blog! Google won’t find your Facebook video, but it will find you on your website!
• Video for vendor partners—Ask them the “5 Ws” in an interview: “Who they are, what they do, where they serve, when they started, how they can help others, and what’s in it for the viewer.” If you were to feature a home inspector, you would start with something like, “Why would a viewer want to use a home inspector?”—If they don’t want to do a video, do a picture of you and inspector side by side.

 
 
Drip:

• Introduction Email—Tell them who you are and why you are emailing them.
• How to use the site and tools--3 days later, send video  (I use “SNAGIT.” It records the computer screen, actually showing people how to use the website.)
• Expectations—This includes how frequent I will be in touch, what actions I should be taking, etc., clearing the air on expectations. You can do this on social media too. For instance, post something like, “When working with an agent, they should be doing _________. You should do ___________.”
• Content Emails
• Market Match—You can also repurpose this as social media content, posting it as market updates (i.e., the average days on the market, etc. Remember, post what’s in it for them.)
• DRIP: Cross-sell buyer/seller—Make it local and relevant to the market. Put both sides of the coin on Facebook.

 
Buyer Objections

•  “My credit isn't good.”—Do a video post on FB. If you don’t know how to help someone with credit, get help with it from a mortgage broker! Create content WITH people.
•  “I have a friend in the business.”--This is dicey! It can ruin a friendship. Post about this on Facebook. Blog about it. Do a video on it.
• “I’m just looking.”
• “I need to sell 1st.”—Help them find out the home value. Tell them about getting put on the market now and how getting out and looking now and selling after is important.
• “I’m buying private.”
• “I need you to reduce the commission.”
• “I’m going to wait.”
• I’m looking for a friend.”—This is a shield they use— Say something like, “We generate a lot of real estate leads. A lot of people are looking for a friend. Reach out to me. We can email you a daily and alert you of anything that matches your friend’s criteria.”

 
Open Houses

• Pros & Cons
• Keep you in the loop—Keep your people in the loop of all the open houses in the area based on their criteria.
• Open House Alerts

 
Questions and Answers

• How’s the market?—Do a monthly post on this.
• When to sell?
• Rent versus Buy?—Pros and cons on each.
• Buy or Sell 1st?-- Break it down depending on circumstances
• Deposit size?
• Pre-approved?—What is pre-approval, and what’s the value and benefit of it?
• Average DOM? (monthly)
• Buyer Contract?--Answer the question, “What is it, and why do we need it?”
• Land transfer taxes?—Tell them how works in your area. Also, chart it in a few price ranges.
• Closing costs?—Demonstrate them in three property types in three different price ranges.
• Investment taxes?
• Foreign buyer taxes?—Some foreigners are buying up properties and not living in them. Instead, they are holding them as a shelf for money. This is driving up costs in the area. Do a video on it!
• Zoning & rezoning
• Future developments (new Highway/subway/etc.?)—Do a blog covering this. Not many talk about future developments! You WILL get found on Google!
• Condition on financing—Define this for your future and present clients.
• Condition on inspecting—Explain the process. People don’t like the 5-7 day wait period after their home is sold. They need to know why it’s there.
• Condo VS Freehold—They are different. Tell them how.
• Rent to own—Tell them why it works or doesn’t work. Find a company that does it and do an interview.
• Title insurance—Explain what it is and how to get it.
• Fixed versus variable
• Mortgage rate holds
• Grow-ops & stigma
• POS & Foreclosures—Many times, they don’t really want a POS and Foreclosure. They just want a great home that matches their criteria. However, people who search POS will get your page when you post about it and explain it.

 
Seller Objections

• List & buy… save—Do NOT use this for Social Media!! Use it for a blog post and something to share with your clients in the office. You can also use it as a video.
• What makes you different?--One thing you can point out is all the marketing you do with your sellers.
• Price is low versus others?--The difference is that the other realtors are giving the clients are high prices, and you’re giving them the market price. The others give the higher price hoping to win the potential client’s business and then do a price reduction. Do a video and a social media post on this.
• “I’ll sell when the market goes up.”—Post with concerns of the market / current market you’re in.
• Teams versus single agent—This will lean a different way depending on who makes the video.
• “I want to buy before I sell” –This makes an excellent social media post.
• “I need to net ___.”--I totally get that! They need that much! Don’t make them go for less!
• “I’ll sell it myself.”—They don’t understand that they may save $5,000 on commission, but they may lose $30,000 on the sale price of the house. Not to mention, it’s not on the MLS. Then there’s the concern of not having the marketing power behind you, not being part of a brand and not being part of a relocation program. Point these out in a social media post, video, DRIP, and blog post
• “I want to list high and test the waters.”—Some agents aren’t well-scripted in this and will go with the flow even though they already know what the market looks like. Explain why this won’t work in a post.
• “I need to finish projects/renovations.”—Sometimes they do, but they can finish up while you’re prepping the house for selling and doing the exterior photos and paperwork.
• “Other agents cut their commission.”--Tell them everything you do.
• “I want an open house every week.”--Doing this can be draining. Make a video on why it’s not a good idea to do open houses every week. Talk about an “Open House Agent Program” for those who insist on having them every week. This would be where you have a different agent coming in to do your open houses so you don’t have to be there every week.
• “I never heard of your company.”—Talk about your company, why you joined, and the benefits.
• “We’ll list after the holidays.” –Make a post and a video of why it’s not a good idea to wait.
• “We’re going to wait for the market to come back.”—Show histories of when the market took a dip and how long it took to come back again.
• “The offer is too low. I’ll wait for the next.”—Explain how that sometimes the first offer is the only offer. You can check out scripts in the online coaching community online for that.
• “We have a unique home and want to list higher.”—They try to say that their house is worth $50,000 more because it’s unique. Do a post explaining why this won’t matter in real life.

 
Facebook / Instagram Live or Stories
**These are short-lived. When you post, it’s forever. It’s to build mindshare and remind people of what you do. If you’re going to spam, do it in stories or do it live. Some spamming posts might be:

• Coming soon
• Just Listed
• Open house
• Just SOLD

 
Buyer:

• New buyer, “I’m just looking.”—Do a video post. Transcribe that into a blog. Use in follow up drips. Do your own twist and explain things to people.

 
Property Feature (Make these images or videos, and do them weekly):

• Luxury—Let people vote between four kitchens in luxury areas
• Income
• Condo
• Waterfront
• Bungalow / Ranch—Older people seek these
• Homes Under $___ --If the average sale price is $400,000, the top 4 under $300,000. The readers will be saying, “Danny” has all the deals! This builds mindshare!

 
Social:

• Memes Photoshopped As You—Put them on Instagram. @movewithmichael does memes on point. Whatever is happening in pop culture and in the news, he’s on it right away!
• Use polls and quizzes –Get interactive, but don’t overdo it. When people interact with you, it brings awareness up, which enhances the chances that for them to see more of your posts and videos.
• Giveaways—Get local businesses to contribute. They’ll be self-promoting too, so it’s a win for both sides. If you have another business or your spouse has a business, be sure to cross-pollinate with that!
• Local News & Events
• Industry News—Leverage the boards and associations. Read through the information they send out. Does anything relate to your consumer? Relay that!
• Before & After—This would be staging images and videos.
• Company news—If you’re working with a new brokerage or franchise or if you’ve updated your website, app, CRM, or anything else to better serve your client, post about it.
• DIY Seasonal Tips—Spring. Winter.  Easter. Halloween. Think Holidays.
• Seminar/Conference Recaps—Recap what you’ve learned or are learning and how it helps your buyers and sellers. Tell them in a video or post, “This is what we’re learning!”
• Staff Features—Post about new staff, staff having a baby or another big event. Show them the behind the scenes footage. Sometimes they don’t realize you have a village behind you
• New Branding—Update new banner for your Facebook page and Facebook profile every season.
• Most Expensive Listings—(GET PERMISSION from the listing agent first!) People love to see this stuff!
• Monthly Market Snapshot—This would be a graph of the market year over year and month over month. Give them the average DOM, average price-point, etc. You can outsource this on Upwork or Fiverr.
• Top Things to Do—Attractions/Hikes
• Top Restaurants—Local Must-Tries
• Top Schools—Include their contact information and the details about them.
• Top Contractors: Roofer, Painter, Construction Worker, and more. Include a list of three of each. Don’t forget to include their contact information and the details about them.
• List of Utilities—Include their contact information and the details about them.
• Quotes—Get inspirational quotes from all sources.
• City Fun Facts—Go to the library or museum and spend time finding twelve fun facts about your city. This will give you one post per month. You could use these photos to do “Local Throwback Thursday.” Find fifty-two old pictures of your city to post.
• Animals--People love animals.

 
Business:

• Listing Presentation
• Buyer Presentation
• Seminars—Partner with a mortgage broker or bank. Let them do the seminar. Post the day and time to get ppl enrolled. Post behind the scenes footage before it starts. After it starts, post pictures of people having a good time.
• Cost of Living Comparison—This is best if you list in a place where the cost of living is low. You might want to skip this one otherwise.
• Book of the Month—Pick a book and summarize all the best points of that book. Although it doesn’t have to be a real estate book, they are the best
• Buyer Checklist—Go to Google to see what others are using. Post about it on soc media.
• Seller Checklist
• Open House Scorecard (buyer)--Create a notepad for them to take notes on the property they’re looking at.
• Open House Checklist (seller)—This way, every time there’s a showing, they’ll know what to do.
• List of Real Estate Definitions and abbreviations—Consumers don’t know half of what they’re reading. This would be a cheat sheet, per se.

 
Tips:

• Energy Saving—Make a checklist with ideas and contacts.
• Child Home Safety
• Home Staging
• Fire Safety
• Gardening and Landscaping—This makes a great photo op!

 
Loans:

• Bank Versus Broker—List the pros versus cons, contacts to both, and the breakdown of who’s who and what they do.
• Repairing Your Credit—Do posts on things like, “The Top 10 Ways to Repair Your Credit Score,” and give contact information for someone who can help.
• Credit Scores--Explain what they are, how to find them, and what not to do.
• Different Types of Loans—Explain what they are, how to find them, and who to contact.

 
Random:

• Top 5 Apps for Moving--Curation is key. Try home-searching apps, room measuring apps, open house apps, and more. If your company apps or you have an app, include those, and include a link to each
• List of Famous People Who’ve Bought and Sold Houses in Your Area.
• Chamber Spotlight—Do a weekly spotlight on each member in the Chamber of Commerce. You can do live videos. This also builds your contact list!
• Testimonials Trades--Connect with 20 or more friends in the business and write positive reviews for each other.
• Tour Local AirBNB--Create a list of the top AirBNBs in your area. Feature them. At the same time, build a database of people who own the AirBNBs Have fun with this!
• Mayor Interview—Ten Reasons (city)—You can ask things like, “What are the top 10 reasons to live in the city?” “…to do business in the city?” “…to invest in the city?” You can do a new Facebook post each time you get a new mayor!
• List Community Facebook Groups--Think Farm area, special interests, and events. List those relating to your city.
• List of Yearly Events—Create a list of all of the major events that happen in your city. List the dates. These might include the parade, the farmer’s market, etc. Link them to the blog post and update the list yearly
• Top 5 Lists (Coffee, wings, pizza)—This gets you out in the community, builds a database, and creates neat content for people to engage in all at the same time.
•  Broker Corner--Meet monthly or quarterly with your agents to talk about pressing issues in the industry and summarize—what’s happening with ____________?

 
 
Political: (just kidding)
 
**Most of all, use the content on your website to help people. It’ll pay off.
 
 
¹Chicago: 3 Ways To Create Authentic Connection Through Social Media, https://www.compeltraining.com/3-ways-to-create-authentic-connection-through-soc (accessed June 15, 2019).

Recruiting Real Estate Agents (the book).
BY DAN WOOD ​

**Chapter One Concept (A Working Draft – please provide feedback, ideas, and corrections coaching@danwood.ca or 905-903-5442)**

Thanks for being a book ambassador – www.brokeragenation.com/ambassador

——————--

Recruiting real estate agents can be a real grind for many managers. It tends to be a “relationships over a long haul” business model.

My goal with this book is to shorten that so you have quick leads today, ongoing prospects monthly, and balance out over time.  

The problem with recruiting is this: “agents in” production doesn’t usually move brokerages. I mean, even if you are cheaper, it’s easier for them to be complacent--until something drastic happens.

I’m writing this book primarily for broker-owners and office managers, but many of my ideas will work for teams and agents looking to grow too.

So, please share this with anyone you know looking to grow. They can become a book ambassador for FREE and download the complete PDF version of the book as it’s written: www.brokeragenation.com/ambassador.


Below is the first draft of the first chapter.

Chapter 1) Recruiting Coaching Calls

**A shrill whistle sounds through the crowd.**
“Pull it in!”
The team huddles around the coach.
“Great play, guys,” he cheers them on as he pats the closest player on their shoulders and looks them all in the eyes, “but we can do better. Here’s how…”

This is what I do with my recruiting coaching calls. I leverage what’s working for you. For some, it’s technology and lead generation. For most, it’s relationships and prospecting.

Far too many come to me looking for a magic bullet when what they really need is a better way of holding the gun and enhanced ammo.  
*I’m not violent, but that was a good analogy.

Typically, on our first coaching call, I’d throw mud at the wall to see what sticks. For some, it’s paid ads and social media. For others, it’s the traditional prospecting and relationship building.

I like to give a good mix of ideas to see what sticks. That’s what I’m going to do with this book.
Pretend we’re doing a recruiting coaching call. We’ll cover a handful of ideas to get the recruiting blood flowing.

Our first call starts now.

Our First Call
Hello? Is this Mr. Broker? Hi, this is Danny Wood! You requested a free coaching call about agent recruiting?
I’m going to give you a few ideas that cover both brand new agents and seasoned ones already in the game, ok? I’d like you to listen with an open mind to the end because sometimes it’s my twist that makes all the difference.
I don’t want you missing out by saying no and not hearing what’s possible. We can always adapt the plan, and it’s important for me to see what works for you and what doesn't and create a clear path going forward.

Do you have pen and paper? You’ll want to take notes.

Ok. To start, I’m going to talk about attracting new agents, but, before you shut the idea down because you only want existing agents, just hear me out. I can show you how it’s a lead generation tool for your business too. It will generate buyer leads and seller leads.

Sound interesting?

Good. For $100 you could do a Google Pay-Per-Click campaign that gets triggered when people are searching the subject of getting into the business. They might be searching:

• real estate job
  
• real estate career
  
• real estate school
  

• real estate college
  
• joining ___________ (Keller Williams, REMAX and other franchises)
  
• getting into real estate
  
• Etc...
  
• (For a full list of keywords call or text Dan direct: 905-903-5442)
  

A hundred dollars would get me about 16 leads a month. It’s not a super competitive search term, and the average cost was $6 per lead. This is just one source of leads.
I always liked the visual of the old man in a boat with 15 fishing rods. He’s sleeping, and his dog is looking over the edge. Clearly, one of the lines has a bite. I always wanted to be that guy. Sitting back as the leads came to me.

During the course of this book and podcast, you’ll see different approaches you might like.
The Google leads approach I looked at as ongoing fresh conversations that helped build my database… but let’s face it - the 80/20 rule applies to everything. So 80% (more like 99%) of leads won’t become a producing agent.

So how do I turn a negative into a positive? One simple script. I’d call the leads back and say something like this:
“Hi, is this Joey? My name is Danny Wood from ABC Realty. You filled in an online form thinking about getting into real estate?”
Pause and let them answer.
“Hey, that’s really exciting! Do you know anyone already in the business?”  
They most likely already have a family member or friend who’s a REALTOR or broker. You’re just trying to feel out your competition here and make mental notes. If they do have family in the business, chances are they’ll go work with them. Regardless of their answer, you should continue with your conversation.
“Great! Since you already have an awareness and radar about real estate, I’m sure you’re going to want to hit the ground running. So let me ask this, do you know anyone right now who’s thinking of buying a home or selling a home in the next few months?”
This question leads many to answer with ego, showing the world what and who they know. It’s amazing! Even if you never hired them, you would at least have a fresh source of buyer and seller leads. Let’s face it, referral leads are the best, and they only cost you $6!! It’s kind of a referral? Right?
When I ask this question, you can almost hear their chest puff out. You can hear the pride in their voice. “Well, yeah! I know my mom is looking to buy, and this friend of mine wants to sell down the road. My neighbor, too… and ….”
By doing this, you’ll at least get an idea that they have an “inventory” already.
Now you can continue.  

“You don’t want to miss out on anything, and you’re not yet in the business. How far along in your schooling are you? Have you looked into the costs or time required to become an agent?” Pause, let them answer.  

At this point, I don’t get into the full details. I defer them by saying, “I have a word document that shows the schooling you’ll need, the costs involved and the time it takes. It’ll also show you how much you can earn as a real estate agent here in ______ (city).”

The word document I send them has the names of the local school(s), boards and associations, industry resources (like access to our online training), and a chart showing how much you earn if you sell X number of houses. Doing this saves time over the phone so I can get back to those buyer/seller leads they just mentioned.
It’s also a future follow up touch... “Hey did you get that email I sent? Did you have any questions…?”

Ok back to the call:

“You can’t actually help these people till you finish school… but I have an idea! What if I help them and you come in and shadow me from beginning to end? Like your own personal boot camp. I can show you the beginning of the transaction to the paperwork, marketing, and of course the closing. I can show you how to set up the prospect and do the CMA—all of that. I’ll even give you a game plan on how to launch your business. From building a database and working it for referrals to prospecting and generating leads. Sound good?”  

Usually, they’ll be really excited! You’ll get a possible, future agent, having established a good working relationship and a few prospective clients! And, for just $100 a month! Talk about a win-win!

Let’s say you start getting these “getting into real estate” leads. This keeps your pipeline full of possible recruits and possible buyer/seller leads too. In six months, these recruits will start finishing their courses and begin interviewing brokers. Who do you think they’ll be reaching out to when that time comes? Yep, you. Now, keep that up for six to nine months, and you’ll see a steady flow of people getting into the business every month!!

Question? Do you need to hire them all? Nope, not at all. Be selective. But, at least you get first chance, and, if you do what I said above, you’ll have gotten paid along the way too.

Synopsis

I always look for ways to get paid for building my database. When I started as a single agent, I worked rental leads because they closed in a month and I looked at it like I was getting paid to learn the business. I learned the paperwork, prospecting, follow up, showings, negotiations… all of it.

Advertising for new agents is kind of the same thing--only the buyer/seller referrals pay a much bigger commission.

It’s funny. I was actually on a coaching call last week with a BIG team leader. He currently has over 2,700 job applications to be his buyer agent!? Most of the leads are from the general public basically looking for a regular job thinking it’s hourly pay, and they don’t have the proper education.

Sources include: Indeed, LinkedIn, Monster, CareerBuilder, local classified ads, facebook marketplace, Glassdoor, ZipRecruiter and social media ads (I’ll get to this in another chapter), etc.

So, now, he has a new problem. It’s not getting the leads; it’s, “How on earth do you sort and process that many people?”

One-hundred percent of his leads all get funneled into a survey that asks them DISC profile questions because he’s looking for a specific person. It’s like 1% that make it through to talk with him. Before they even talk to anyone, the leads get redirected to do an interactive video interview.

The candidates watch a video asking a series of questions that have countdown timers before moving to the next question. Each question plays a different video of him asking the questions and showing his personality. Basically, it’s short, 30-second clips built into a survey. He makes it more interactive and personal during each question.

Now, what question do you think was a game changer? You guessed it! “Do you know anyone thinking of moving in the next 3 months?”

If answered yes, they get tagged as a “follow up” regardless of the DISC profile. These are really warm leads to pick up the phone and call. You have the right name, phone number, and email… and you know they have prospects for you!

Do you see how one approach can lead to many outcomes? You just need to change the way you look at things. I suggest you read this book with a beginners mind. Be a kid again and make your own rules. Experiment, play, and be creative. Get your hands dirty and start building ongoing systems that work. We’ll make this entire thing called “recruiting” actually fun.

Many times in this book, I’ll write out a how-to for my ideas. If you don’t like the idea, please skip the how-to part and move on. I don’t want to lose you on the details. At the same time, I want this to be a major resource for you, so I’ll go deep when I can.

The how-to parts might even change over time. For example, Facebook might change its dashboard, so my written text may become outdated or something. Don’t stress it. Just do what I would do--become a professional problem solver. Google search for the answer. Ask for help and fail forward. The winners will take my ideas and make them your own with whatever experience, drive and capacity they currently have.

Trust me. Small action is better over no action.  

So, if you liked this “Google ads recruiting” idea, read the how-to section. If not? Skip it, and I’ll see you in the next chapter as I carry on our coaching call.

How-to: Google Pay-per-Click Campaign

Before you even consider doing a Google PPC campaign, you basically need to work backward. You need a website, blog, or landing page to send them to, right? You’ll probably want a video at the top of that page explaining “who you are and what they’ll get for filling in the form?” After that, you’ll probably need an autoresponder and database to reply and follow up from.

My trick to setting up new systems is to break it into smaller parts like that and knock them down like dominos. One at a time.

So, let me help. In this case, we’re going to start with the video first. It helps to create the call to action and written text from the script. This can be used on the landing page, plus it can be repurposed as a social media ad.

Video Script:

“Hey, it’s Danny Wood from ABC Realty. Are you thinking of becoming a real estate agent in the ________ area? Fill in the form below, and I’ll email you the schooling you’ll need and the industry contacts you should have, and you will see how much you can earn as a REALTOR. I’ll be following up to answer any questions you have about getting started. Then, we can even invite you to our next training event!”

The Gear:

To be honest, any modern camera or phone will work, including what’s in your pocket. You can always switch out the video later with something polished and produced, but, for now, just get something done so we can work with it.

I suggest going in early when the office is quiet, turn on all the lights and turn off any fans. Humming appliances don’t sound like much until you replay the video. I’ve even unplugged refrigerators before. Set up a tripod at eye level by the front desk and stand with your company logo behind you on the wall.

The lighting and mic are almost more important than the actual camera you use. A lapel mic is best for the quality of sound, cost, and ease of use. The iRig lav mic (order the two-pack one here- https://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/irigmiclav/ ) is great because you can later use it for doing interviews. Two sound sources go into one video with no editing required.

As for the light, check out Amazon for the Aputure AL-M9 LED light. It’s super small and can be used on the go. It’s also cheap. It’s black, plastic and the size of a credit card. Don’t go for the newer red metal one. It’s overkill and heavy. I’d rather two of the cheap ones over the newer one.

Are you going to use all this gear as a reason to wait? Please just do a video today with the best of what you have. You can always update things later. I 100% get ahead because I don’t let limits stop me. I’ll always do the best, with what I have and improve over time. So, set a date now to start recording.

The video should be 30-60 seconds long. Don’t go over that. 1) People don’t care to watch you talk for that long. 2) You need the clip under 60 seconds if you plan on doing paid ads on many social media platforms (YouTube video ads can be longer).

Once you’re through, upload the video to YouTube, Vimeo, or your Facebook business page. You can embed these videos into the landing page you’ll be making next.

Check out my example of a video embedded. I like how it shows social proof. This makes it more real: www.brokeragenation.com/ambassadors  

The Landing Page:

Most of you already have a website. Ask whoever you pay for that service, “Can I (or you) make a landing page, new page, or a blog and, if so, how?” The answer should be yes. I assume they’ll send you instructions.

I suggest a new page on your website so the URL is clean. For example www.abcsample.com/joinus.  

If you use a blog, the URL will be a lot longer. If you use a landing page, it’ll be a hidden page on your site and won’t get any organic reach.

Do whatever works for you. My vote is adding a permanent page.  

The 3 things you need on this page should be the video, a call-to-action, your contact information, and a form they can register on. I like giving my information so it’s not behind a wall. I’ll actually type my phone and email so they can click it. Many people use a photo of the contact information, but that’s not clickable. Your goal is to make it as easy as possible to make contact.

One really cheap landing page builder is www.Weebly.com. If you don’t have anything, start with that. My book ambassador landing page is a good layout example: www.brokeragenation.com/ambassador. Do you can see how I have a video, my contact information, a registration button, and other resources? All your landing pages should follow that lead. It’s nice and clean, mobile friendly, everything is clickable, and it’s all related to one topic.

Most websites have a form builder. I suggest using one that ties directly into your database. That way leads get to be created as contacts and set on the proper follow-up list.
If you don’t know how, ask your database, “Can I make a custom form and embed it on my website? If so, can I set them on a specific follow up drip? If no, do you work with Zapier?”

If they do, great! If not, hopefully, they work with Zapier. If you don’t know what Zapier is, let me tell you all about it. Zapier is like a robot that takes data from one app and triggers action in another.
*This is too complicated for a book. Just know it’s game-changing if you never used it before. It works with over 1,400 apps & programs now. Ask me for a video on this. I made a tutorial on how to use it.

If you receive two “no’s” in a row (no custom forms and no zapier), no worries. Just get a new database… lol, just kidding.
Ok, next option. Find something that does. For example BombBomb can build forms, trigger drip plans, and is video based. This link www.bombbomb.com/?bbref=BROKERAGENATION gets you a 14-day free trial and my 90 business plan on calling buyer-seller leads.
MailChimp allows you to make contact forms that embed on a site.

Agile CRM is free and allows you to embed forms with an auto drip.

Whatever you use, the form should be simple. It should basically include a space for the name, phone number, and email address. You don’t want a lot of other gibberish on there. The more you ask, the less you’ll get. People get overwhelmed easily. In fact, if I go to a website that wants me to fill out a form or a survey and find that it’s two miles long, I’ll back out and say, “Forget it!”--even if I really wanted whatever it was they were offering for free.

Still feeling stuck? Call 905-903-5442 and we’ll “unstuck” you. ?

Follow Up:

Once you have a working form, you’ll need two things. One is to bucket, tag or label the leads so you can pull a list later and manage them. Depending on the CRM you used, they’ll title it differently. So, make sure you set that.  

I suggest naming it “Recruiting Prospects.” All recruiting leads get this so that you can pull a master list. You need this for doing mass emails, retargeting ads, pulling calling lists, etc.

I also suggest creating subcategories so you can manage the database better versus one big mashup. It’s better to break them down into smaller categories:  

• “industry leaders” – this could be speakers, coaches, regional owners, and anyone of influence
  
• “producing agents” – top of the market--say the top 20%
  
• “active agents” --  anyone doing average--the other 80%
  
• “new agents” – not yet in the business, but thinking about it
  

Having a clean database that works should be your top priority. Everything you do branches from it.
*I know that at every turn we discovered more and more to-do’, making it easier to say “F this.”

To me “F” stands for “Fun,” because it’s fun to get ahead of the competition! Some brokers let stumbling blocks like this totally stop them. Not you! You build from each checkpoint and realize everything you do snowballs so long as you keep failing forward.  

Consistent movement is the key, so be an adult and take action on the hard things. It’s amazing what you can do when you try. Don’t be like the others.  

Thank You System:
You’ll need a “thank you” screen or email of some kind when people register, right? Spoiler alert: YES.
Send them something like this:
Thanks, NAME, for registering. As promised see attached for the document on getting into real estate, the schooling, the contacts and how much you can earn.
We are actively growing and hiring new agents. How far along are you at becoming a REALTOR? Did you want to meet at my office for coffee and to chat about the business?
I hope to help,
Dan Wood of ABC Realty
PS: Do you know anyone thinking of moving? I can show you an exercise I did so I hit the ground running.

PPS: No questions are stupid. Please feel free to text me directly. I don’t want you feeling alone in this business. 905-903-5442
Access our online training at www.abcsample.com/training – my gift to you.

Test Before You Pay:
Now, that it’s all set up, I want you to test the landing page. Register with a spouse or partners email. You want to test two things: 1) that the lead received the thank you email, and 2) that you actually got notified about it and that the contact was saved properly in your database.
If everything is looking good, it’s time to advertise!
Setting up Google Ads (skip this chapter if you aren’t setting up the ads):
We can actually do this for you. Go to www.brokeragenation.com/recruiting or call me direct at 905-903-5442.
However, if you still want to set it up yourself, these are the basics.
Start by going to https://ads.google.com. It will walk you through step-by-step, but I have suggestions below for each part.
When you create a new campaign make sure you have display ads TURNED OFF. You only want Googles search ads, not the display ads.
I suggest $100 a month. I doubt many of you will need more unless you live in a super large city like Toronto or New York. Even then I say start low and build up when I’m ready. I’d rather you spread your marketing budget to multiple sources versus spending it all on one thing.
Save money for your events, Facebook ads, appreciation marketing, etc. Spending $100-$300 a month targeting new agents on Google is a good spread.
Ok, ready? These are my points to watch out for: [https://ads.google.com]
1. Location is everything:
Google will give you the ability to choose your geographic location for your ads. Delete any other geographic location it already has set for you. It might default you to targeting the entire country! Use your business’ address. You’re going to tell Google to set up a radius around your business of X amount of miles.
“How many miles?” you might ask.
That depends. How many miles can you travel from your brokerage in a half hour? That’s how many miles you want your radius to be.
If you’re not sure on the mileage, Google maps would be more than happy to help you. Unless, of course, you serve rural markets and agents drive long distances or work remotely.
When I targeted the $100 getting 16 leads a month, it was targeting a city that had a population of 300,000 people. I didn’t target the next city over because those agents would probably work at a brokerage in that area. Could I recruit them? Yes, but I’d rather target the best fits and not worry about the fringe.
2. Define and Promote:

Next, it’ll tell you to define your product or service.
Type in “Real Estate Agency.”
You use a long laundry list of real estate keywords to promote your ad. Some you might want to consider may include:

• “real estate”
  
• “real estate job”
  
• “real estate career”
  

• “real estate employment”
  
• “real estate school”
  
• “real estate college”
  
• “joining Kelly Williams”
  
• “joining Re/Max”
  

• “joining all the franchises”
  
• “getting into real estate”
  
• I have a full list of keywords available for download. Call or text 905-903-5442 so we can chat about the direction and the best fits. I’ll give you the full list.
  

When potential recruits search any of these keywords, you’ll come up numero uno under Google, and it’ll take them directly to your landing page.

3. Words can make or break:

Now, the fun part! You get to write your ad! You’ll be faced with a box filled with three lines: “Headline 1, Headline 2, and Description.”

“What the heck am I supposed to do with that?!” you might ask. Careful! I’ll get to that!

There’s a basic format for writing ads. You want the ads to match the topic they were searching. In this case, a sample headline would be: Hiring Real Estate Agents In The Miami Area (Toronto, New York, Durham Region, etc.).

Because Google limits you to so many characters per headline we put headline one as:
Hiring Real Estate Agents

Headline number two is where we’ll plug in the “In The _______(your city) Area.”

The description is longer. For that, you could put something like: “Thinking of becoming a real estate agent? We are hiring new agents. Training provided. Find out how to get started at ABC Realty.”

Depending on the length of your city and brokerage name, you might need to play around to make it all fit.

Lastly, on this page, it’ll have a place to choose where your clicks will send your “clickers” to. This is very important! Listen to the words that are coming out of my mouth!  

Make sure your destination URL goes to your landing page and not just to your website.

4. Bidding and Budget:

Here are a few extras for you. You don’t want your pay-per-click campaign to be one of the many that fail simply because it’s not set up the best way possible. There are many other tips and ideas, but here are just a few.

After you finish up your campaign setup, go into your page, pick your campaign, go to settings, and set up “manual bidding” for your clicks. Google loves gullible people. They’ll try to fool you into letting you let them automatically bid for you on your clicks. They’ll overcharge you *every *single *time.

Do away with the “Display Network.” Beside it, if you uncheck it, it should just say “search.” It wastes your money otherwise.

Another thing I’m going to hit is the “ad extensions.” Do you want your ads to look more robust and creative? OF COURSE, YOU DO! Ad site extensions.
These are basically links to your other pages, like your “we are hiring” and “free training” pages. You can also add your phone number and things like your address. Doing this will double the length of your ad, pushing all content from your competitors down further on the page, making it even more awesome! You’re doing great!

Pay-per-Click Payoff:

Unfortunately, you’ll have a lot of people who fill out the form during your campaign that just don’t follow through. Smile, though! It’s not a total loss! It’s a great idea to work this into a remarketing worksheet for buyer leads and seller leads. They, too, can be a buyer and a seller.

- - - - - - -  

This is a concept for one chapter of my recruiting real estate agents book. Please give feedback, ideas, examples & stories. I’d love to hear them.

Want the full book as a download? Become a book ambassador: www.brokeragenation.com/ambassador  

More ideas on agent recruiting? www.brokeragenation.com/managers and www.brokeragenation.com/recruiting  

Call or text Dan Wood direct at 905-903-5442 and email coaching@danwood.ca.

It’s basically a stripped down version of the ad manager. You can still run ads, but your options are extremely limited.

Years ago it was simple. Post something on your business page and everyone who likes your page will see it. Now? Hardly any of them will actually see the post unless you boost it.

Boosting posts are great for visibility on your content. Just make sure to pick the ones that have a good return on your investment.
​
Boosting increases your likes, comments & shares.

Boosting is usually best for branding plays with no call to actions.
 
Real Estate Examples:

• Open houses / new listings
• New team member joins your team / you join a team
• New office opening / new branding / new signs & cards
• Monthly market stats
• Local news impacting real estate (new highway, transit, taxes, mortgage, taxes changes, etc)
• Bragging (awards, sold over asking, etc)
• Exclusive listing / coming soon
• Just sold

You have 2 main options….

1. Target the people who like your page.
2. Target people based on demographics.

I’ll use the bragging post as a example for each:
​
********************** Watch video for examples (video at top of this page).

Example of targeting people who "like" my page:

BIG milestone ? and super proud of our team… we sold 168 homes last year! Making us the #1 team in the area based on sold stats below*

Thank you to all our friends and family who keep trusting us with the referrals of friends and family… because of you 80% of our clients came from referrals & repeat business.

#ThankYou for putting us on the map ?

Do you know someone we can help this year? Maybe it you? PM me and I’ll share my home buyer plan and/or home seller plan.

---

?
Dan Wood Sales Representative
905-903-5442 – call or text.
ABC Realty Inc., Brokerage.
Thinking of buying: www.brokeragesample.weebly.com/mls-listings
Thinking of selling: www.brokeragesample.weebly.com/house-values

---
​
* Stats based on residential units sold from January-December 20XX in the Oshawa area. Not intended to solicit buyers and sellers under contract.

Example of targeting based on demographics:

OPEN HOUSE alert ? this Saturday from 2-4 located at 653 Idylwood Crt Oshawa ?

Can’t make the open house? Request a private showing or virtual tour online ? (message us today).
It’s a legal duplex. Live in one unit and rent out the other! It has…

? 5 bedrooms
? 2 washrooms
? 2 kitchens
? 4 car parking
☔️ 1 car garage (attached)
? Listed at $699,000
 
?? Have questions? Want more info? Contact us directly below… or send us a private message.

---

?
Dan Wood Sales Representative
905-903-5442 – call or text.
ABC Realty Inc., Brokerage.

​Thinking of buying: www.brokeragesample.weebly.com/mls-listings
Thinking of selling: www.brokeragesample.weebly.com/house-values
 
---
 
Not intended to solicit buyers and sellers under contract.

Probably not directly, but over time it’s a branding play and the cheapest way to remind your sphere of influence (database) who you are and what you do. A simple rule is 1-2 boosted posts per month running for 2 weeks at a time. Cost? Budget 5-10 per day.
​
You can also boost a ad directly from the ad manager. 

​Take a look at this cheat sheet. It shows the advantages with running ads using the facebook manager.

Click here: www.facebook.com/ads

Running ads using the ad manager is ideal when you are trying to generate leads.

Real Estate ideas:
 

• Open house list
• Video views
• Featured listing types (bungalows, townhomes, condos)
• When do I know if I should be running ads?
• Buyer seminars
• Seller seminars
• House Value Reports
• Just solds *example below*
• Buyer email alerts
• Investing in real estate info (listings, webinar, course)
• eBooks & giveaways
• Out of area listings (bait and switch, but in a good way)

Another home sold in the L1G area! [Oshawa, Ontario]

When one home sells it creates a chain reaction in the area. We are specifically looking to match up future home sellers with current home buyers in the L1G area.

Resent sales impact your homes value and because of the sale you now have a lower supply of listings in the area (and this is a good thing for you).
 
Curious if selling is your next option? Ask us for our home seller report. It’s a free information package that covers how much your home is worth, shows you homes you would be competing with and a copy of our home seller plan. We’ll also match you up with homes that fit your criteria if you are thinking of buying in the area. It’s like a passive way to do your information gathering.

It’s worth a talk. Our consultation is free and you only pay if your home sells. We have no up front costs and can go over everything in person, over Skype or simply by phone.

Call or text me at: 905-903-5442
Or email agentsemail@email.com
You can also private message us today. We’ll follow up.

---

?
Dan Wood Sales Representative
905-903-5442 – call or text.
ABC Realty Inc., Brokerage.

Thinking of buying: www.brokeragesample.weebly.com/mls-listings
Thinking of selling: www.brokeragesample.weebly.com/house-values

---
​
Not intended to solicit buyers and sellers under contract.

Sorry, I didn't mean to yell. It's just that I see a missing opportunity with your business cards.

Why hand out your cards, when you should be capturing other peoples info and building your own database?
​
I use to use these free templates (you can download and have today)! See below...

These are great at open houses and door knocking. People feel comfortable writing on these cards VS a big sheep of paper. The paper subconscious feels like a contract... but these contact capture cards just feel more natural.

They also fit in your pocket so you have them at all times. They are also universal. Use them at events, networking, door knocking, open houses... basically anytime you are asked for a card.

* You still need business cards with all your info, but these are better 80% of the time (unless the other person has a business card. In that case just exchange cards).