Today's interview is with a very, very special guest who in the past 12 months has actually procured a hundred plus listings and she's done it all through. Sweat Equity Marketing and a whole bunch of hustle pillars that we're going to dive into today. her name is Sandy Payne and she's a rock star agent in Central Texas Fort Hood area Sandy Welcome to this week in Marketing! I Am so glad you're here to have this conversation about what you're doing that has just created such tremendous results in your business. Yeah, thank you for having me.

It's always a pleasure. it's always a pleasure. So I know that like everybody's asking you like Sandy Oh my goodness, what's really working in your marketing? because I want to give the context to the viewer that you've done and maybe you can give the context that you've done about a hundred listings in the past. Call it 12 months.

Can you just kind of give us a quick little snapshot of that? and then I'm going to Parlay that specifically into the marketing that really got you there. Yes, So yeah. so a little over 103. I think we're at 107 listings in the last in the last calendar year.

Um, you know, Really, it was important for me to really focus on. You know, it was doubling my business. Really? that's what I did that last year was doubled my business and so I had to really focus on what was I already doing. How could I improve upon that? And then what was it that I needed to add to kind of connect all the dots between all the lead Gen pillars, all the social media, everything that I had going I had to double down.

Literally double down to make that yeah, that a possibility. Now it's an interesting phrase. you had to connect the dots. Can you elaborate more like what is it Because I think a lot of people can probably feel the sense of well I do this over here and that over here.

but maybe it's not all integrated and connected in building the brand Which tell us more about what you meant by that statement. Yeah, so I think you know we hear all these different things you have to be on. Instagram If you have a community do community videos you know hold all these events and I mean if we really looked at the number of things that we had to do, there's probably I'll say 20 25 Really good kind of lead Gen Focus pillars. If we just now, if we narrow it down, um, and I think we tend to get tunnel vision thinking that each one of those is a completely different avenue needs to look different.

It's just sound different and needs to be kind of distributed Different. But what I really was able to find out is okay. How do I how do I tap into all of those opportunities? But how can I do it? And how can I streamline it Where if I'm making a campaign so to speak, for Geofarming and it is about um, homeowner maintenance for example, you know it's an in-between one. It's not like want to know the value of your home you know, click the QR code and all that, but kind of an in-between homeowner maintenance.

That's something that's really Broad and it covers a lot of people who maybe aren't thinking of buying and selling, but just shows me as an expert in the area on you know, best improvements in your kitchen that bring the most value or just things like that, but it's great for um, Geofarming. It's good for all kinds of social media posts because people want to know people love DIY They love design and updates and so it's just giving them a little piece of that. It's good for um, absentee owners to know what things are happening or maybe things they can consider in their properties to bring value in the ready to sell. So really, it's a how can I have take these 25 lanes and kind of squeeze them together and make the effort.

like the effort and the design and the marketing and the creation of what what I'm making. how can I get it where I can kind of spread it across all those channels, but maybe one fifth of the workload. see I I Gotta definitely want to unpack that a lot more throughout our conversation today, because I think what you're saying is fundamental to a lot of Agents I Would agree: there's like you could run this play or that play or this player. It's like 25 different ways and we're making that number up.

but I think we're I think you're with me. There's there's a finite number of ways to generate business for all intents and purposes. Everybody does it in their own unique way and things do change. But I think when you find a way to integrate this and this and this and you bring it together, it actually creates more of like four strands of rope where they're not only in concert, more reinforcing your brand in your local Marketplace but it's also a streamlining on your time and energy.

How do you find an overlap between those things? so you can you know cross off more than one thing with half the effort or whatever? It is like a fifth of the effort. Like you said right now, I Know in particular, social media is for so many agents, this sort of untapped. How do I tame the Beast of social media? There's so much pressure to do what they're doing or do what they're doing and be somebody that maybe you're not comfortable being. but at the same time you hear people like me saying all the time.

Well, marketing without content is like a bow without arrows. and so without having content, It almost in a way negates all your marketing. So talk to us about how you sort of put like social media Instagram all that stuff in the center of your marketing, your content, and how how you found your voice and all of that in a way that ultimately positioned your business to generate over 100 listings. Yeah! so I think for look at a lot of like you said we see CMD You know that that classic rip-off and duplicate but I like to look at it as being B Use that for inspiration, not for replication.

Like if you see someone with a cool topic like you don't have to do it exactly the way there to stand. The way they do use the same bubbles that they use, but use it for inspiration to speak your voice. And that way if people do comment, you know people are going to start commenting. They're going to start asking questions on your social media and you know you.

You better be able to answer them and sound like you know the topic that you're having. You know we see a lot of stats. We hear a lot of data, especially now with like interest rates. Yeah, on a national level it's great to speak the data.

but then say let me break that down, let me tell you what that means for you here in: Bell County Are you here in Fort Hood This is what it looks like in our Market because I think sometimes it's a little overwhelming I don't know all the data I I wouldn't comfortably be able to speak on every single mortgage rate flow in the year. but what I do know is that mortgage rates are going up and what does that mean and how do we strategize that for our buyers and our Sellers and speak it through words that I know I can repeat again. if a client calls me and says hey, I saw a video when you were talking about buyer strategy and all the ways you're winning, you know what would that mean for me I I need to be able to talk about that and what that means in my relevant Market Yeah I think it's super smart and I think like when you talk about like the expertise of an agent. ultimately an agent is being hired based upon their competence, their expertise.

but the word expertise is dynamic. So for you, just for example, I know you have a really strong staging, background, interior design, and sort of the Aesthetics of home is something great for you. Now if it were me, that would be a completely missing subject because it's just not in my Wheelhouse in terms of competence but like the data is right up my alley. So I think there's also this element of appealing to your like your Vibe attracted tribe and so ultimately just being comfortable with? Well, where am I skilled? What is my most appropriate content mix so that I'm talking about the subjects most relevant to me and my expertise versus trying to be somebody? Maybe I'm not.

Is that sort of along the lines of what you're sharing here? Yeah, exactly because I mean I've gone on listing appointments through my social media because they see me and they say oh, you know she's got a lot of things You know they they like you said it, they're attracted to me and I'll you know these days I'm very upfront like well what made you choose me like what why was I an option and a lot of times they'll say like we follow you on social media you're so good with design, you're always sharing tips and Trends and we know that our home needs those things and we we see you do it for other people, We want you to do that for us and so again, that just kind of goes back to you know we we walk around all day like we are literally walking from the time we wake up. content creators in our industry. um the conversations we have, the people we meet with the properties we visit, good, bad or weird, you know, whatever and I think sometimes we get so wrapped around the the exactly what to say rather than just saying what it is that we do behind. I like it's not really behind the scenes because it's it is.

we're out there and we're doing it. but I think sometimes we get very. you know, just kind of tunneled into look at my new listing. you know, or just sold.

just listed. but where are all the things in between? How did you get to all of those things? The stories. So I think that's super true and when I look at your content on Instagram for instance, you know I've seen an evolution. it's you know.

not only have you in the past 12 months ish listed over 100 properties, but I've also seen your social media presence change. and I've also seen you take real command and ownership over your subject matter expertise. And so I guess my big takeaway from what you're saying right now is it's so easy to rely upon this notion of ripoff and duplicate as a crutch that would prevent you from going after and creating your own voice, finding your own voice. and ultimately I think that stems from, uh, insecurity like at the end of the day your Vibe does attract your tribe and so I think there's this sort of underlying sense of well I have to do what everybody else does because I saw it work for them and it what I do on my own I don't have any proof that's going to work, but the reality is once you start talking on social and your videos in the same way and capturing the same stuff you talk about in the field with Buyers with sellers in the marketplace is going to naturally attract more of that kind of business, right? right? And I Think it makes you more able to be that authentic person like just trying to when you were talking earlier about merging everything.

all my long-form video I Write it out in a script I wanted to be my voice sometimes. I Do find Tips or tricks on the internet, you know, but of course you rewrite it. You do it how it would sound as if you were talking to someone at their kitchen table. and you take that long form video, you can turn it into a Blog.

Since you're talking about what you know, you go around, you take pictures of what it is you're talking about. Now you've got a Blog if you do it in little chunks like little tidbits of information. Now you have all your little short forms and you just remember to take cover photos like it's I Can sit down and do one content piece so to speak. and it creates postcards.

It creates mailers. It creates door knocking pieces like all in one little sit-down session of one topic. How did you get to the point of realizing that? Because I think like this is something I Want to talk about with you. Today is how do you get I call it content mileage if you're going to put the effort into making a piece of content.

for instance, a long form video like you shared a second ago, how do I maximize the mileage? Get more use and efficiency out of that one piece of content. But what? I see all the time is I see agents who are hardly keeping up with the demands of these algorithms and social media and they're on to the next thing. And I think they're maybe prematurely walking away from their most recent post. That could have become, you know, Like you said, a Blog it could have become an ad strategy.

It could have become part of a nurture sequence. It could have become a part of a lot of different things. How did you get to the point of realizing like, hey, wait a minute, slow down. It's not always about making more content, it's about sucking the life out of every ounce of this content and putting it everywhere.

How did you get there? Yeah, Well, I think when I looked at my time, you know we we're always supposed to know how much are we worth an hour, you know. And in our business, some of us are worth a lot of money in an hour. and I have to look at that hour of time and say okay, Am I gonna get You know if what? what I'm spending my hour on Is it for the it was for the good of my client, right? Is it going to bring them value? Is it going to be something that they're going to want to watch and ultimately is it going to have a return on that hour? Yeah. So if I know and I can look at my insights and say okay, it took me two hours, four hours, six hours whatever to create this piece and I have, um, just say on YouTube the long form has three hours worth of viewing time total.

the Instagram has a thousand views. So I'm like okay, that's some time So if I kind of look at all of the time across all of the platforms was it worth my time creating? because if you create one video you stick it on Instagram it gets 20 views I'm sorry it probably wasn't worth my time. and when you have a goal like 100 list 100 listings, that's not 100 appointments, that's not anything to do with buyers that you you just have to be so intentional with every minute that you spend in that creation. and I think planning the creation and then doing the creation.

So I know I'm going to create a piece on selling your home for the holidays. Okay, I'm gonna do a long form I'm gonna do a short form I need to have five little nuggets between that and I like you can flow chart it out almost so that when you actually film the content, you know what you're filming is going to fill all of those little spaces that you that you need it for. What do You mean those little nugget for spaces? What kind of spaces are nuggets like I Want I want to have five reels that I'm gonna throw into captions with the words and the Emojis right? So I'm gonna have five little pieces out of this I Also want to have um, you know the long form video with b-roll overlay I want to have it written in the in the uh blog with six or seven photos of what I'm talking about. You know that kind of break up the writing and if you know what you want when you go to capture the creation, like capture what it is, you're taking all of those things into consideration.

The the difference would be I'm gonna make a video on decorating your house for the holidays when you're selling like how much is too much you know? yeah and then I make this whole video and then I go to try to edit it and I'm like oh I wish I had a picture of this or I wish I said yeah made it more every tip. So kind of planning out what you want from that content that you know you're going to spread across all of your platforms and your postcard. If you're doing Geofarming and you want to send out two postcards this month because it's Christmas on you know, selling your home for the holidays like know in your mind what that postcard is going to look Like and what the message is so that when you create a big piece in the beginning, you have it. You break it up multi-purpose everywhere.

So a couple of things if I could interject a couple of things. One, it really does sound like when you have that challenge given to you a hundred listing appointments you're thinking must have completely changed where I think a lot of Agents look at Instagram or social and they're like I want to get more views But there's not The question of well, why how's that going to help you get more business and it seems like everything got prioritized to. Is this going to help me achieve my goal of more listings or not was the first thing. So in a lot of ways that's sort of like a permission to ignore I'm no longer gonna give into the constant.

Do this. Do that. Do this. Do that.

Be like this person. Be like that person kind of I don't know. Stuff that we get from social media. It creates this sense of well.

if you don't do this, you're obsolete or you're a dinosaur. You're falling behind. You're gonna let go of that baggage. That's the first thing because you have a goal.

That's the power of a goal that aligns you to doing things that are in accordance with the Fulfillment of that goal. Second thing that stood out to me was now that you've been liberated from social media's influence over you and controlling of you, you can start to think objectively and say like, okay, well I'm going to create my content in a laboratory and I'm going to make a topic about X what are all the different ways that X could be communicated Postcards, emails, blogs, ads, this many reels, stories and then all of a sudden you're like, well, okay, now I'm not. Now my time is being multiplied exponentially because I'm not spending an hour creating one video. I'm spending an hour creating 30 pieces of content and that scales way better, right? right? What would you say to an agent right now who's like okay, I'm feeling like I'm on the hamster wheel of social media right now I'm trying to sell houses I'm trying to make videos I'm trying to be a good agent on social and Market myself.

Where do I begin to get myself streamlined and operationalized with my content creation across my marketing I My suggestion would be like just pick the one thing that you deal with all the time. like if you're big on Instagram like forget about Google my business and like if you're just not on that platform, don't get overwhelmed by it. like stick with what you know and where you're comfortable. and if Instagram is where it is, create content for Instagram just go all in on it and eventually you'll find wow, that piece I could probably use like your brain will eventually help you realize that you can start to multi-purpose it I Think when we feel like we have to make make it real for for Facebook make it, make it take, make it Instagram Real.

Make it like we wind up feeling like, well, how am I going to get any other work done I see what you mean now about connecting the dots That you said earlier in this conversation where it's like I'm just gonna focus on Instagram I'm freeing myself up to be focused on Instagram But then you're also I'm assuming sending postcards to your farm and you're like, you know what? Why am I Why am I doing two things when I can do one thing that can feed both? Correct? Yes, Correct. So anytime I take a video I make sure that I have like four or five um, cover photos like you know here and like these you know all these little things so that I'm like okay I'm in the same place in the same outfit I'm gonna use these somehow and you can have yourself there with this cute picture on a postcard that says want to know what I'm thinking about mortgage rates or you can really start to multi-purpose but I think it's wrapping around that that time block and that time block is scheduled I mean that's something we haven't talked about yet? Is having a Time block of scheduling solely specifically for for that content creation I think we get I call it squirrely. You know you think you're going to do one thing. your phone rings.

Next thing you know, you're at an inspection. like what happened, What? what just happened I was supposed to be making video right? Um, and I I am very intentional with my time and I batch everything on. Wednesdays So Wednesday is my media day I Don't schedule anything else with any clients I don't show houses I don't go on listing appointments Wednesday and I start at nine o'clock in the morning and I have an entire list of everything that I'm gonna film. I bring changes to clothes, changes the earrings you know I'm constantly changing.

but I have a whole I have a plan I have a whole plan I Don't just wing it I don't just show up one day and be like oh, I need to make a video today and expect it to actually turn into anything useful or valuable. It's that planning way ahead that helps me stay on that task knowing what's coming up, knowing what I have to have written, knowing the script, making sure it's in the teleprompter like all the things that's already ready to go. So Wednesday is just bringing it alive and then it's all done for the following week. Do you have another day or a set schedule for when you actually start to devise? Well, what are those scripts and doing all the pre-work that precedes actually filming the videos? Yes! so beginning of the year I Create a Content calendar that, um, pretty much is the entire year.

Yeah, I'll say it covers probably about 70 of the content for my year because there are going to be trending things and you know things that are going to come new that you want to add in, but the Evergreen will call it that content. You know tips about homeowner maintenance like those don't change so you can plan those out. So at the beginning of the year, I sit down and I just say okay, what are my topics? What are my direction of Am I Going to do a sit down with Sandy If I'm going to do sit down with Sandy Am I going to do it every week and what's going to be the frame of reference of the topic and if I'm going to do it every week, that's 52 topics I write out all 52 topics at the beginning of the year. So I'm never chasing like what am I going to talk about today and they literally go on a desk calendar yeah with colored tabs like a little old school but that allows kind of move things around and then also with that I say well, what? how am I going to film it? What color is it going to be? What font am I going to use like it's a game plan I Just plan for every one of them and then I know that consistency just stays consistent because I think I think the brand and the look.

If you're constantly trying to do something new, you lose that um, recognizable. Yeah, it's frequency. it's familiarity. So the point of marketing is to be remembered.

and so if you're constantly changing the thing people are remembering then nothing's being remembered right I Like to use the example: if Nike decided they were tired of their swoosh and the just do it and they decided to turn the swish around and say do it all of a sudden we would all be like that's not Nike that's not the Nike We know that's not the Nike that we're branded to recognize. All we have to see is that solution. We know it's them 100 so it's good stuff. yeah and so don't like I just picked the whole year.

The little fun in between trending stuff is where I can experiment with new things that work. but getting that familiar piece where people come to expect to know this is what I'm gonna get from her I think is really key. Yeah and I would I mean I think Whether you plan it out a year in advance or at the month in advance, having a process where you get ahead of schedule is what really matters. Otherwise, you're going to feel that pressure like I have a weekly quota I Know that I've got to Output a certain number of video topics, a certain number of outlines, a certain number of things that are going to support my content.

So when the day comes to actually shoot my content, I've already got all that pre-work done. Whatever works for you, it's about getting ahead of schedule. and and I think what stops a lot of Agents from getting ahead of schedule is, well, they're constantly trying to do what everybody else is doing versus what you did which was committing to what I'm doing. This is my plan.

this is what I'm building and you know why. Because all I want to 100 listings and so all that other stuff that's minutia and unimportant flies out the window because I'm here to attract sellers now I'm curious. Just one more question for you today. How is your marketing influencing sellers point of view and sellers decision? How is all that marketing actually attracting business? Yeah.

so I think I think the biggest piece of that is that there's when the market shifts and everybody kind of goes away. We're in it right now. It's quiet, it's you know, our incomes are affected and I think we all start to we stop marketing, we stop getting in front of people. I I think for me just continuing this, Cadence Knowing that this is just a little bump in the road and I'm gonna keep going when others are kind of stopping shows people that one I keep going and two will she must not be affected by the market.

She must be doing really great because I still see her doing all the things she did before when things were great and wherever everyone else kind of pulled back and I think it just speaks volume for um, just my business itself. You know? um I'm not thinking of things, this is my goal for the year right? and and I'm thinking of like this is my goal for my career. like yeah, I'm not stopping I'm not gonna stop today because the Market's a little slower. What can I do with that time? What can I dig into? What can I make better? what app can I invest in that's going to make even better use of my time like captions, app labs that thing is like so fast so yeah, um and then really the other thing I had to do was say like what am I paying for and what am I jumping into that I'm not even using like is are there a few things that I can get really good at and proficient with my time because it is me who's doing this um I do I Just hired a virtual assistant to help with the long form editing because it that is the most time consuming.

So I do have that now where I can put all the raw and he kind of sends it back to me in all the little pieces. um which has been huge, a huge amount of time saved and very affordable. You know to do that. um and I think it's just really what works for me I love the creative piece like that's just I'm good there like I love that I'm not afraid to get in the camera I'm not afraid to be real I've cried on camera I've I've done all those things and I don't have that inhibition um anymore because I find out like when I'm just who I am, it's easier.

Um I don't stumble because I'm not trying to say things that don't normally come out of my mouth right? right? Yeah, and when I'm around people like I hear people that people are starting to recognize me, People stop me. I have a Mini Cooper that I drive around that's completely branded out. it's a bit obnoxious. um I get like pictures of myself driving randomly in messenger like I saw you I was behind you I saw you in the parking lot and it's kind of creepy but it says to me like it's working.

This is all working people are starting to recognize it and staying with that Cadence and that consistency you is the only way you're going to stay in front of them. So when they need you and you're there and it seems like you made a comment earlier I believe about, you know a lot of Agents is just listed, just sold that kind of a thing when I look at your profile on Instagram I see a lot of not what I would call Knowledge broker content. it's you doing you, it's you sharing your point of view and expertise. But I I Do still see you promoting listings and I am intrigued in terms of well, how do you approach making it also about your clients and sellers and inviting them into your marketing mix with you wherever they say I want to work with an agent like Sandy or is it all about they're just attracted to your brand and they just want to work with you because of who you are.

Help me understand like what's that balance as an agent between promoting and marketing listings and then being the knowledge broker being myself building my personal brand that attracts listings I Want to understand that more clearly? Yeah. so I think you know every Market is inundated with Realtors and we have you know, signs all over I Mean if you ask anybody, like who are the top three realtors in your town just any stranger on the street, right? They're probably all going to say the same three people. and it's the ones that have the billboard, the ones that have been around for 30 years. It's just kind of the names that roll off and you know for now they're those names for now.

Um, but at the end of the day I look at that competition and I'm I look for them on social media I looked for them and like who is it? who's even going to show up at their house Yeah, like who are they hiring? are they hiring just a billboard sign? like who is that person and are they gonna love them and so for me I try to just be like look I am the person at your door like when I get to someone's door it's like I'm so glad we finally met in person. It's not high, let's sit at your kitchen table like we've already done all that. or at least they feel like they've already done all that right. Yeah, and there are things that I don't even have to tell people and I'm like, you know we're going to talk about marketing.

Oh, we don't need to talk about that I just I see all your marketing I love it I'm like okay so I think the process and the services and just being very, you know, just transparent. There's no secret to what I do I am not afraid that another agent is going to see what I do in my listing presentation and that they're going to copy it and I hope that I'm up against them when they're trying to give someone my listing presentation. that fear Well, and I think today, it's like okay, your brand as an agent is your voice, your mind, your heart, your face. it's you and nobody does you better than you.

And I think that's like that's my big takeaway. In our conversation today, we talked about some tactical stuff. My big takeaway is you let go of the Dogma about who you were supposed to be on Social and you said screw all that I don't care about any of that I care about achieving my goal and social is a means to an end. That's it.

And then you said I'm not going to worry about trying to be like this person or that person or do that little Trend over there I'm gonna just make content that's true to me I don't want to be worried about saying the wrong thing that I wouldn't normally say so I'll just say what I would normally say and be myself and right all doing that on the basis of I believe that there's a Marketplace that demands an agent like me. And the answer was how many listings did you take over the past? call it 12 months? that was 103 when I actually had the actual year 10 month start date was 103. that is so it was in 10 months. You did it.

Um, that is flipping amazing. Sandy Thank you so much for coming on this week in marketing! Uh I'd love to hear what everybody thinks like what are your comments? what are your top takeaways? Let us know in the comments and let's get a good brainstorm going on. Sandy You're the best! Super grateful for everything today. So until next week.

This is this week in Marketing. All right? No, No, no.