Hey welcome back to the podcast super excited to have jeff and renee punk in the house. We're live in orlando. I guess we're not technically live we're recording this, but we're in orlando. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you so much for being here for being you and being on the podcast.

Welcome to orlando. Yes, it is great we're actually literally just talking off camera that, like the orlando magic, never closed down, so you've been going to nba, i'm a huge laker fan and i've. I've just been watching the bubble and it just continued so talk. Okay, first of all, you go first jeff, i'm i am a i'm.

I was raised by a very good mom, who would say, ladies first, but we're gon na go to 21 years, then seven years and then we're gon na get this whole thing wrapped up. So jeff tell them who you are: why did you get into real estate? What does the team look like today? What do you do and then i'm gon na go to your wife? Absolutely. My name is jeffrey funk here in orlando, i've been licensed now since 1999.. Actually kind of a backup plan, yeah really full time into the business in 2007, after running a property management company, doing short-term vacation rentals in the orlando area, um renee said you're not doing that anymore.

I said: okay, we'll do real estate right all right. We launched a website in 2007 realty in orlando.com that um we really focused on hyper local content on there, so realty in orlando.com. That feels like a long url. How did it work out? It's worked out great still going still going yeah.

It is still going. We had um, we we get about a thousand people a day on the site, unique visitors a day, so it works out well for us, okay, so for everybody listening right now, that's a big number, we're gon na get it all the we're gon na get all The crazy details first, so so, when did your wife join? Why did your wife join and then i'm gon na have renee and then i'm just gon na keep bouncing back and forth through the two of you so jeff? What was the original inspiration? Hey, honey? I need help or what were you thinking? It was hey. I need help. Uh really had such an influx and the models changed so much over the years back.

Then you know if people weren't calling we i just didn't, have time right and we didn't know about the team model from where we were so. I started going to renee saying you need to get into this real estate thing and she said no and i yeah, but it wasn't even you, you've been the spouse of it you're like no. Thank you. Yes and i kept on saying.

Well, you can do different things. You can do social media, you can do this and right it's one of the beauties of our business is that you can do so many different things. Yes, yes and then um. I guess you got into the database one day and she had her customer service and saw that so so renee backstory, because you know you guys - are on inman like peop anybody.

That's that's watching the real estate industry. If they're paying attention they're going to see you guys right, they're going to see you on an inman platform, they're going to see you with me they're going like you got clubhouse for days right, but what's your backstory? What did you do before real estate and then why did you finally say? Yes, my back story is customer service oriented. So i worked for the walt disney world company. I worked for disney cruise line and then i even had some time as a flight attendant.

So the bulk of my time was coming from that customer service orientation, yes, and for a few years jeff would say, come and work with me come and work with me and, i would say, heck no yeah yeah and to this day he has a couple. I told you so's and he gets this one because it was the best decision i ever made. I sat down at our computer in the kitchen one day and finally listened and said i'll. Take a look at the database.

Looked at the database - and i said oh, my gosh he's onto something huge and he needs help yeah and they're in lies. I stepped right in and haven't looked back since and it's the best decision. I've ever made 2014 2015. yeah.

Well, i've been licensed seven years. So i worked with him for a couple years, unlicensed just from a supportive role before i finally said yeah, i'm jumping in with both feet got it got it and now how the roles evolved over the last seven years very interesting, yeah we um well, it was Two of us for a long time and then uh we decided, i did mostly mostly sales. She did a lot of the customer service stuff behind the social media and at one point we decided we needed to grow a team yeah and start needing to. We didn't even really know team, then we was told we need just an agent to help.

You need support, we have more leads and we have time right, the classic. You know every everybody wants that problem. I got more qualified buyers and sellers than i have time. What do i do, but if we think about traps to avoid by the way we want to avoid traps, we made the mistake that i hear a lot of agents make and that is going for the agent before a support role.

Like a transaction coordinator uh, we made that mistake right. Do it all over again, absolutely not one of the first people you want to go to. Is your transaction coordinator to help lift up some of that right, so i would even argue today just kind of talking out loud that it's it's get your operations right and that that's everything from what software you're going to use is it going to be? Is it going to be everything on a google doc or is it like? I don't care, but like have your process transaction process marketing process then add sales people 100. I agree with you a hundred percent and we did it all wrong.

Well, i think another honest conversation on tom ferry's podcast. We did it all wrong. Yes in the industry, though, the inclination is that you would go right to well. I have incoming business bring in marketing.

Let's find the sales associates to help service that business and the temptation is there every mistake that could have been made in the transition? Well, i shouldn't say every but most of the mistakes in the transition from he and i to a team yeah made it right, but there is a lesson to learn in that which that's a gift. Yes, so i'm great i'm grateful now that we made those mistakes. We can help others try to avoid it right. Right, listen people - this is all said from love, but you know, but there is an argument um one of my mentors guy mike vance is speaking of like so he launched orlando.

He was he. He is the project manager of the geodesic dome. He was the first disney uh dean of the disney university and i was blessed to knew my entire life, but worked for him. The last, like four years before he started to pass and - and he would always say you simply can't learn from experiences you're not having right and there is just something to greg schwartz saying last week - i've got all these scars right.

This, i think, was actually the jeff bezos quote about all these scars. You see this is experience. This is all these lessons. I've learned.

So so, let's, let's go down that more. What are the other mistakes you guys have made, and i want to hear from a husband and wife's standpoint because you were the face and i get the sense that renee is now the face and how does that feel for a man's ego like you know what I mean like talk with it. You're like maybe i don't care, keep selling houses. It's all good.

I will sit here behind the computer and generate the leads. Let's go, i'm renee's husband, but that's that's i get listen. I get it, but that's that's a beautiful dynamic because one of the mistakes not a mistake. One of the challenges that i've seen is when you've got two alpha dogs and they're, a husband and wife or they're.

Just two alpha dog partners. They don't figure out roles and responsibilities, so they eat each other up instead of supporting one another. Absolutely so, how did you guys figure that out? What were the mistakes along the way we've worked together, the better part of 20 years of being together, so we've been together. 20 years, we've worked together about 18 and a half yeah.

I wish i could give you some magic answer of how it works. It works for us. If i look at the whole time that we've had together, i would say that we both know our lanes. We stay in our lanes, our coach, emily by the way she's helping us further articulate yes, what that lane actually is yes, but we also support each other and it's a yin and yang, where i know where he has strengths, and i want to go all in On his strengths - and he supports me and mine and then know where to pick up when a weakness steps in yeah, but also we tell each other the truth - that's okay! I don't want to sugarcoat it.

I want the truth, because i'm going to learn from that and he's probably one of the few people that will give me the truth and it's it's not always that easy, because you're living together you're thank you morning, noon night. Thank you and you have to separate business and personal, sometimes so so before we go deeper in that give people context how many transactions did you do last year during covid, and what will you do this year? So people get the scope of like this? Isn't just you know a beautiful couple that have figured some of this stuff out, but you you have a sizable business, so give us context there real fast. So when, when we quote our business, i quote the team that we operate for, of which we're rain makers. For in 2020, we did 115 transactions.

We came in at 55 million uh this year, we're on track four we're on track for about probably 140 and hitting around a little higher than that 60, and but it's at the same time rearranging things and me becoming more out of sales and bringing that into So it it's a it's a shift this year, yeah in a lot of ways yeah, so people are growing well, and i also like to i like to tell it like it is and say that when some agents are so focused on year over year over year And it must triple double. I think that's amazing and there's nothing wrong with that. Yeah. The reality is.

Is that what got us here is not going to get us there and we are in a total shift, underneath the hood really analyzing, because of 2020, we identified some key parts of our business that we needed to put more attention on yeah. Like our website. We grew our website more and also knowing that we're gifted now to be able to cascade more out to our agents and we're stepping out of business yeah yeah we're stepping out of business. It's an so there could be like a brand new agent.

Listening to this right now, who's like stepping out a bit like what is that even like? Can you do that? And you know we, we see it because we run in these interesting groups of last line of dinner, like i was selling real estate for a year, and then i was like nope. My expertise is helping my sales team, not an owner of a company, just running a team big shout out to tom and killing it now go back to. You said something earlier. You said: okay, this is another year where we're getting under the hood, and you, you mentioned your site.

What give us the three four five sort of big rocks that have your concentration. What you're thinking about? How do we make it better? Like talk, give me the list sites one, so the site is one that we increased the site by about 330 communities, but we are now doubling back to interject a video into each of that hyperlocal content right because the written word's amazing. It's served us well for over 15 years, but we're going back and doubling down on video. Absolutely what do you have up your sleeve we're growing agent count on on the team? We um how many, how many agents now jeff so we have contest right now.

We have 10 agents, okay, so at 10 and if you're out of production and you're out of production and you're gon na do 140 transactions, like that's, that's decent per person, productivity for anywhere in the country. So where do you want to go to? What's the? What's? The sort of magic number do you think for the next level. Well, i think we we always thought it was five. Now i always say that, like sales teams, especially at this level, it's a math equation right people aren't math, clients are not math leads, are not math, but business is math right, like if i'm at a close, i'm just making this up three out of 100 transactions.

In the nurture 97, until they percolate back up and i'm generating 5 000 leads in a month, it's a math equation. I need enough people to take care of those individuals to find the three. So is that the process to go from 10 to 20? What do you guys do? Well, we we try and keep the agent's database capped at a certain number right now we have it capped at 150, which we still think is probably a high number, but unpack that. What do you mean you? They only have they're allowed to have 150 friends or 150 leads that you guys would give them 150 leads out.

Okay, given their spoi can be as vast as they want. Yes, that's. We want them to bring that portion of the business, but the um, the raw customer inquiries that come in and not raw, because we do the first scrub on them to make sure that there's a live person there. We want that at about 150.

Now, orlando historically, has been a little longer the sales process, just because we deal so much transit, yeah resort style, so resort and transit and yeah. Yes, so we're about 220 days from time somebody signs up on the website till the time they close on average. So we want to give that time for nurturing on there right, but we figure out of every 150. They should always have probably about 15 people that 10 of those people should be buying yes, and then they can, as they weed through those they can give back.

They can go back into what we have a pond for warm leads. They can always go fishing in the pond looking for leads and do prospecting through there, so they can keep on replenishing all the time. So we're going to come back to recruiting and onboarding and going from 10 to 20, but before i do when when people hear leads like they immediately go through, you know that could be six eight ten things so so tell me the primary ways: you're generating clients And prospects now and i wan na, come back to you because you just made me cringe how much i don't like that word. Yes, but i love it and i want to go deep into the cringeworthy stuff because that's where you're going to win everybody listening, so we're going to come back that don't think i'm not leaving you hanging, i'm not living hanging so so jeff.

Where did the leads? Come from uh website and referrals, but how do you get the web traffic? The web traffic is organic seo for the majority majority: okay, you're getting a thousand uniques a day with seo organic. That's going to make a lot of people go whoa because that's a big number yeah right! That's a big number, a lot of work! No facebook ads, no instagram, there's no there's mobile apps, it's probably less than five percent. If we look at 2020. okay, but so when we look at you talk about putting a moat around the business.

Yes right, yes, listen to tom! He talks about that. Moat future proof. Your business, one of the best things an agent can do, is to go super micro, and i think we've shared with you previously that we've gone pretty micro in our business with the hyper local content. Yes, even we need to go more microsoft that will serve you year after year after year.

So that's where you're getting that thousand yeah your visitors a day. How big is your email database uh we're about to cross over thirty thousand? That's bonkers, like think, uh, think about that and how many people we talk to like 30, 40, 80, 100 and then some 1500 they're, like i'm a loser, i'm like no, you have 1500 people you can nurture with. You can create more, no, like trust with, like it doesn't matter the size, that's what you do with it right, so we're going to pack that one a minute, but i want to go back to the site, video hyper local content, so renee funk in the house, Tell us tell all what are you hallucinating you're going to do? What are you actually going to do? What are you committing to right here on the tom ferry podcast? Well, we know we're going to do there we go number. One is you've issued a little challenge as of recently video testimonials.

Yes, just keep an eye on it, we'll be continuing that explain what that means. So people have context - and this is a you - didn't see the force through the trees rene. That's the moment i had when, when you issued out a challenge, saying, go to your previous customers, go to your database, people who know like and trust you and say i'd like you to bring send me a video testimonial. Yes, so pull your phone out just like you're asking the contact to do and say hey, bob and sue.

I recently represented you in the listing of your windemere area. Home would be very grateful for you to shoot a minute or two sharing some feedback and the solution that we brought to your family. When you moved from the pacific northwest to windermere florida yeah send those videos out they're coming back, and it was a limiting mindset, belief that they wouldn't send them and the buyers and sellers and previous customers, and by the way, even asking those who we've had phenomenal Days of showings have my team members going out: did you have a great day of showings? Ask yes, how today was yes all of it captured on video capture it on video? So so, if you haven't well, no one else has heard this, because this was a very private team plus you know facebook conversation i'm like sitting in my like out of the gym all right people listen to me. So here's the challenge.

I said the next evolution of your marketing. Is you don't sell anymore sit on that one for a second, the next evolution of your marketing? Is you don't sell anymore and you actually let your customers do the selling for you - and i understand this - you guys understand it, but it's we. We go through these layers right, like in the early days of launching your website. First, it's this and it's that.

Then it's this well, it was i'm old school. It was letters on a piece of paper on somebody's letterhead telling someone else how great of a service i did. Then it was, we finally got online. Then it was zillow and then it became zillow yelp.

And now it's google and i'm like the biggest fan of your google, my business pages, you know now. The next evolution is video by category by product type, hyper local content from your customers on your website on your google, my business page and listen to me. People if you're, listening or watching, however you're consuming this, and all of that, can be used in your marketing, so tell back up and tell them what you did, though, because this is like we just talked about this last night. We did talk about it uh when you issued the challenge.

I decided in that moment to not get ready to get ready. Yeah, don't get ready to get ready just get into action mode, so i wasn't ready. I turned my phone on and just started, sending out about a 90-second video to each of the contacts like my top 10 top advocates right right, and actually it was 12.. Give us the give us the like give us this like give us, because people always want to know what did you? What do i say because they're looking for like this, this magical thing that you said that got you know 80 of the people to send you a video.

I said, hi bob and sue. It's renee yeah haven't chatted in a minute. I have an ask yeah. I wanted to put it right on the table.

I have an ask from you: would you please send over a video and share the following hi? This is bob and sue. I worked with jeff and renee funk when we purchased our windermere area home and then a sentence or two that shares your feedback on the experience and the solution that we solved in your move to the windermere area. Yes, yes, simple, as that you sent out 12 how many people have responded well, actually and i'm wrong. I sent 14 and i received 12 back within a matter of about an hour and a half to two hours and okay.

Let's look so, let's all be honest, like think about it, like um, my son comes comes home every night and says dad i'm in love. I was like whoa whoa right, but he didn't follow up on that lead for four days, and he said you know i just i don't know like we made a great connection, i'm afraid it's the same thing like you send these videos out. Did you have any moments in your head, as you were saying, the video like no one's going to respond, no one's going to send me a video. This is going to be horrible.

People are going to think 100. Yes, that's why i was referencing limiting mindset, belief which all of us have at one time or another, and when i look back at it, the customers i reached out to were probably the customers. I would have expected least to respond interesting. I had excuses in my head why they wouldn't why? What were the excuses? They're too busy they're, they wouldn't be honest.

They wouldn't be on a camera. This i love video yeah. I know i don't have a challenge turning the camera on, because this is me - and this is who i am yeah, but in my mind i thought every single one of them would say. I can't turn the video on right, but in the video i was very specific to say, just use your cell phone yeah right, just hey, see how i'm doing this right now do exactly this and they're like oh okay, but they did give us an example of One of the videos: what did they say? How did it make you feel uh i well i i cried with one of them right, very dear friends of ours who recently moved see it's going to happen now.

They recently moved out of the orlando area due to some health challenges and they, both within a matter of a few minutes, sat on the couch and they had a printed map. By the way, i was so impressed that they actually had a map yeah and they were the first to respond, and within about 15 minutes, they held up a map and said this is where our heart was, and this is what we did while we were in Orlando and we had a vacation home here, they responded immediately yeah and it just it gets to your heart. And then we had another customer who brought their kiddos and sat by the pool in the backyard during sunset right and shared with us. Why they love their new home and the sunsets they get to enjoy every single day yeah because of jeff renee, funk right, i'm at a basketball game and she's texting me like holy cow.

You got ta. I can't wait to tell you what i'm doing what i want to read like listening or watching is sometimes it's the simplest thing when you, when you actually say like who's the most you you guys met my buddy ken right, so ken has done 31 infomercials a Year since, like 1989 and his first one was hooked on phonics 1800 abcdfg, they didn't talk about the product. He just had a bunch of kids get up and say i was really uncomfortable and i didn't know what to do and i knew i was falling behind and i was embarrassed and i just thought like. Oh, i didn't want to go to school, and then my parents got me this product and all of a sudden, oh and like you're, i'm watching an infomercial and it's my friend and i know i'm watching it and it's.

I know it's going to sell me, but i get hooked by the stories, so stories is where it's at, and this is really so you said, hyper local content yeah. Is it the same? The stories and this the stories are about the relationship, the hyper local content. Can include relationships within yes, but hyper local content isn't always directly correlated to a story. Okay, so so, what's the hyper local content play? You said you added 330 new communities and some people like what does that even mean for the website? Yeah? We we have orlando.

We have cities and you have subdivisions and some of them might be like gated communities and things. We had broken down a lot of cities already, but we just decided to really blow it out and just keep on going with it. Yes, what does that mean jeff? So if i'm on your website, like what am i going to see, that's different from zillow redfin realtor, someone else's site when you say you got breaking down these communities, we're going to have descriptions on each communities on there, it's going to tell you probably a paragraph Or two specifically on that community that we've researched it's going to tell you how many homes are in that community. It's going to show you all the current listings in there.

It's also going to give the user a opportunity to to see all the sold homes in that community. Okay, so it just it really breaks it down. We look at everything saying when, when a user starts their their real estate search, they're, probably looking at one of the big three, it's probably already on their phone there yeah, but when they really start to dive deep they're going to go into maybe six or eight Local sites and that's where we want to capture them when they start really looking and trying to get the nitty-gritty, and we call you know we call it: how long do they stay on our site? Is it sticky right, yeah right? How do you um? How do you measure like back up back on this individual community? First, how do you keep the content fresh? How do you keep it like, ready and ripe for google, because things are changing, so is that just an mls feed on listings and sales yeah, so there'll be an idx feed on there um so that that keeps that fresh? We everybody asked us a lot about seo and what to do on top. Ultimately, i think the best practices right for the consumer - yeah - google - really you know they're gon na figure out your tricks over the years and we have content from 2007.

That is still relevant. It's yeah: we don't want to touch it because it still ranks right. You know right, two yeah yeah, so why? Why are you going to touch something there? But if you write the content for the customers, it's evergreen yeah and that will stick there. I would agree with that that i hear that a lot with seo people are trying to figure out the structure of key phrases and all of these different words we're going to pack into the content, write it as if it's something that someone will find a value On what do you want to share about the story of being in that community right, but i would say the biggest differentiator about the data that we have on the site.

Is it's not something the portals have yeah? What is it? It is more hyper local. It is more the the nitty-gritty of the number of homes, the data on the hoas, the schools, all of the things that um that's another thing that we haven't chatted about is our website has accurate school data. Actually, that's geo-tagged, based on each of the home location. Rather than data that is provided by a human ie listing agent yeah, so we're getting into that information that can't be found on a portal.

So our goal, even though we know the consumers on the portal, is to get them off the portal and keep them in our world. I'm going to throw an idea. No one else. Listen just turn this podcast off.

No one else: listen uh, i'm an advisor for a company called go milly right, so it's military moves. There's a millionaire every year last year was obviously not that case, but it was it's and it's a horrible experience if you've ever had any anybody's ever worked with. Like they just you get your pcs orders and you go home and you go honey, i'm going to afghanistan or we're going to virginia or we're going to japan and pack it up. Let's go yeah like and it's a horrible experience.

So these guys say we they're. All they're all west point: grads they're, like we pcs, like once 12 times once 11 times in a 20-year career. That's how many times they picked up their lives and wives and kids and families and everybody moved, and they said we want to solve that problem. They came up with a concept where we said: there's 150 military bases in the u.s right 15, that are the big ones and then they they get smaller and smaller and smaller.

As you progress and what we did is we found men and women - the spouses, usually the spouses, men and women, who became our ghost writers in town and they wrote about the bases they wrote about the communities they wrote about the schools, they wrote about everything and That site just blew up thoughts on that, like people in the community. Writing for you not even as ghost writers writing for you guys, we well. We have five writers. Just when i thought i had an idea for him: oh no right, right living and experiencing all the things that's relevant and when we say community, it's probably good for context to say what we mean by community in orlando.

It's very subdivision: yeah subdivision yeah. So it's drilling down to the subdivision right right yeah. So we have writers on staff. Now that didn't start back in the day.

So can you talk about scale? Because i don't want those watching? You don't need a writer no right like in the beginning. It was jeff and then another writer right yeah, and then it was the two of us yeah and oh, by the way who back in the day, took the photos right, hello and then, as you develop and grow, then you need five writers and you need photographers Going out to capture the content for you for scale yeah, i love it. I love it. I think the interesting thing too is things, have gotten so much easier.

I mean when we were developing a website. We were doing it in dreamweaver and now you got wordpress and you got yeah everything everything plug and play no problem. Absolutely so it's it! There's it's the barrier. The entry is so much easier than it was back then, and even giving you know.

We talked about agents and giving content to when we talk about video we'll do a lot of video that'll be evergreen for the customer that we can send them. If we have somebody looking at you know, maybe a winter garden prop in the winter garden area. Maybe it's a video of downtown winter garden and it's just a quick video about downtown weather garden. How many times can you send that out to different people, different customers and again it's evergreen unless the community is like? Suddenly you know changing because it's an older community and it's aging up or getting younger whatever it is so so back on video the video side of this renee.

So what are we gon na expect to see in the next year? I go to your site. What am i going to see differently than what i see today? Each of our communities will have supporting video embed into that community page. Yes, so supporting video will be a combination of re re-sharing, the information that we have in the written form, but also providing a video depiction of that particular community yeah and we'll have agents being involved so that it's not just he and i we want our agents Who are also out, you know in the field sharing their awesomeness and what it means to be there and our video testimonials? Yes, yes, and a lot of it will be in 360.. Explain: 360 video, where you take a video and it's a dual fisheye camera and it will.

You can move around the video right, so you could be describing something and you could be over here, but they could be looking over there yeah and seeing what you're describing so, it's a much more immersive experience for sure it's just like a yeah. It's like the best yeah virtual tours, etc, um! So back on, so we're i'm gon na close the loop on the on the video testimonials. So what is your hallucination kind of knowing what you have a hypothesis as to why you're doing this wasn't? Just because i put a challenge out, but i know you guys are like crazy, competitive and you're, not the only ones, by the way, there's a lot of people committed to this challenge. Um, what's your hypothesis, why are you doing it? Because we know in our career, when you put forth any type of content, that's relevant to your brand or to the hyperlocal community.

That content is the foundation you stand on year after year after year, and when we look at the video testimonials and the way we can segment them orlando. Obviously we have a lot of second home right purchases, we're a second home market. We will be dividing it up into niches, regions, second, home primary residents, short-term rental communities, and it's going to stay with us forever. It cascades out not just for us but for our agents.

Yes, yes, so again, i think you guys heard it there. It's it's! The more narrow you can go, whether it's waterfront oceanfront lakefront, hey just near this school homes near this school right like the more local you can go and the more context specific right, because the person that's searching today isn't going like four bedroom house in huntington beach. No they're going super long form, i'm looking for all these things in this community. What do you got your site shows up.

You are the authority, you put it on video. We all see the same stats 81 of consumers now watching videos to make their decision people. Don't read anymore right and i'm like i'm a writer, and i love it. I love writing, but people don't read anymore well.

The other benefit to that is that when you do start that relationship based on a long-form search, yes they're deeper in the funnel yes right, yeah, so it's the same thing. We say we may not be interested in ranking for orlando real estate. That doesn't really do us any good yeah we're looking to get into the local areas and even down to the subdivision names, yes exactly, which is not on the portals, exactly key distinction there, guys, okay! So let's go back jeff to uh going from 10 to 20 sales. People help me understand, do you have to add? Are you adding a recruiter? Is it all on you? Are you gon na? Do it all at once? Is it gon na scale it over time? Do you have onboarding? How do you train them? What's the success like what are the mistakes to avoid them a little bit? Okay? Well, i got ta get to work here, people, so here we go um.

Well, we want. We want to bring it in over time. We don't want to just be ten, and because culture is really important and you you want to make sure as you're bringing agents in that the culture stays. Yes, so that that that was last year, we actually rearranged the team a little bit and we went after culture on there.

Yeah, if you don't have somebody showing up people on the team, realize it of course, so that that's the most important thing throughout this is keeping the culture on there. So how do you maintain culture when you're adding 10 10 new faces hiring slow, yeah hiring slow? But if we go back to where we were talking about scaling in the wrong direction? And we look at the early part of our team growth. We are focused on recruiting right now, but our first next hire is going to be in marketing because we want to go more into support yeah, to have the support in place yep and then go into the recruiting from the agent count. Now for those out there.

That are rock stars, of course, we're still having the conversations from a recruiting standpoint, but our focus right now is to make sure we have the marketing support and to make sure we have some additional support, point people in place so that we are overflowing yeah. Everybody understands that they have everything they need from a team member perspective. Agents are going through a lot agents, have a tough job, yes and agents need to be supportive. So that's our number one focus that is.

We could just look at that. That's a cell phone mic dropper most and i'm not going to say most too often, i run into team leaders in 2015 right. I came out and said the next evolution is it's all teams. We have been helping team since 1993..

So it's not an it's. Not a new thing for people to get an assistant and have buyer's agents and processes, but you saw that sort of evolution coming out of the 78910, where some of those teams became reo teams and then they just vanished. And then all these new super groups are showing up getting people to understand when you're, a leader, it's it's either hero in the minions right or it is the hero serving the heroes and that distinction, i'm going to say to you again. It's the hero in the minions and there's nothing wrong if you want to just surround yourself with a bunch of people that just serve your brilliance or insanity um, but it's kind of hard to scale and you'll never sell that business versus what you guys are saying Is our job is to help them get what they want, like that? That's leadership, help remove your you know, stressors, remove the resistance help you get.

What you want, where did that come from is that corporate america stuff? Is that battle tested? I would say it's a combination of things. I think learning from your mistakes is number one. I i really mean what i said a few moments ago is that we made the mistake to go all in agents first, we we are focused right now to make sure that when we say we're stepping out of the business that that's a big scary phase, that Doesn't mean that we don't serve the consumer? Yes, all of my contacts, all of his contacts they still call us and the beauty of it is - is that when we are cautious about our growth, we know that the agents can be trained to help step in as we cascade that business throughout all the awesome Agents that we have yes and the way that that's going to be solidified is by making sure they all have the support and the training that they need. So as much as it's tempting, because we do have business coming in and it's really tough.

If you don't have the resources and the head count to serve it right, we have to have the discipline to say who's the hire to make sure they're supported and put that first, it's a hard discipline. It is, it is, and again when they say they're getting out of the business like the government's stepping out they're, stepping out of production and spending all their time on the business right versus the the client. Interaction go, take a listen, go, make a sale, show property. You've removed all of that um, you did it first, so jeff was it weird when you made that transition, and now you see your wife doing it now, both of you like wait, a minute honey who's selling houses wait hold on here.

It is, i mean it. It's it's scary, yeah. Frankly, it's scary and you worry how people are going to take that, but you have to assure them that you you're still there yeah you're, really there and you're you're you're building yeah so, and i think most people understand that. Ultimately, most customers understand: hey you're, you're, expanding your business right, you're, not always going to be the you know.

Not people don't need me necessarily showing houses. No, you know they. They need me and they need renee for marketing and doing all the other things and making sure that the process is perfect for them. I i would argue that that most agents would disagree with you and say no.

No, they need me to like they ask me say: i'm going to give you this listing, you have to show it every single time, and - and i'm just saying it because you know there's one person that yeah exactly right, but it is a story right if you Operationalize properly and you set proper expectations like like, i don't want the pilot of the flight. I'm taking this afternoon back to dallas to then come out and say: would you like a drink right right, dude? Is there anything else? I can do? No! No! No! You! You go, fly the plane, yeah and i don't want him like checking on every other airplane and how they're going to land. I want to make sure he's focusing on my airplane landing right like, and i think, if you, if you keep it simple with that, that kind of metaphor, most consumers today, don't have that expectation. It's the agent, i'm going to say this and please don't be offended.

I'm just keeping it real, it's the agent's weakness and a inability to present how they do what they do. That's why you go, i got ta. Do it all i'm gon na over promise? And you know 24 7.. You you need me any time.

I got your back and then they then they abuse you i'm guilty. I i've felt that way in the past um i'm coming out of that when i realized that the the freedom of stepping out of feeling you're the only hero that can fix it right, is the ability to show others and cascade it throughout to others. The key component, though, which we're learning every single day is communicating to our customers to our soi and letting them know right we're still here. Yes, we're still your first call, yes and our promise to our referral partners to all of our contacts.

Is that we're going to partner you up with an agent that specializes in the hyper local area, who are very likely at times to even be able to serve? You at a higher level than we can yes, because, but by the way, they're trained by us right, right and staying in the mix. As far as updates has been key, our referral partners, i'm very proud to say, our referral partners share feedback, often at how much he and i are in the midst, so that we're updated throughout the process. Yes and that's been a key for us in the segway in the business, so are you a matchmaker, absolutely yeah? Absolutely we are not road warriors yeah and i get it there's going to be agents out there who will say, but i'm licensed in florida. I can drive four hours: yeah yeah yeah, it's my high-end client.

They want to buy. You know x million, whatever yeah right. The beauty of real estate is there's pathways for all of us and if that really fuels you that's amazing. I don't agree if that four hour drive you're leaving dallas to go to sell that house in houston, you're crazy and that's not referencing agents who actually farm in two separate markets for sure perfectly okay, but that's a model that is a model and a process.

I'm talking road warrior yeah. We have always built our business on hyperlocal. So when you call me with a referral - and you say it's 45 minutes from an area - i know - and i'm living in and raising my family in i'm not the best person for you. I have the best first person for you.

That's that's good jeff. I was gon na say even when we were when we were transitioning from showing properties ourselves. What we started doing with our team is we started having our friday team meetings at the properties, the new listings, so we'd have the at the property we go live on thursday, friday morning, team meeting at the property and at the end, we'd show everybody the property. So they knew how to show the property.

We would always leave a lock box that only our agents have access to and we'd go live on. Facebook too, which was great, and we hit what 20 000 plus people right on. You know hey, i'm at the new listing and the whole team would do it, so it was awesome, so it was a great way for us to start transitioning out of the showings and they're coming back by the way they're coming back. Sellers are starting to welcome us back for the last year.

We stopped doing it. Of course, sellers are welcoming that, if you all aren't doing that in your strategies, when your sellers will allow you bring your whole team right, learn the product cascade it out. That was probably the first step of coming out. You know just not doing everything in the listing yeah from there yeah for sure and again it's it's peeling back the layers or just going to that proverbial next level of next level isn't doing more.

It's helping more clients doing less letting go of more and more so so three things every agent should do, and you both need to give me three knowing what you know today about the business where it's going what's next, what are the three most important things at Any level, what does an agent need to do to continue to be dominant as the world continues to shift a saying that i use often is consistency in good habits. So if we look at the number one thing all agents need to stay focused on is guess what it all works. It all works, all the lead sources, all the things they all work. The key is to find what you have passion in.

If you want to be a door, knocker be a door knocker, do it with consistency and good habits. So it's the beauty of the industry that we can choose the pathway, but you have to do it with consistency and good habits. If we go to the amazing advice of tom ferry that you remind us of often is build the moat around your business again, nothing wrong with the portals, but i really recommend creating content that will be evergreen from day one. When we have a new agent, we talk about morning in the on the phones afternoons out in the field with discovery pick a community go out, learn the product, create the content, use the content now or don't use it have a library right, but always be compounding Your your efforts that, while you're out you're creating content that you can even use later because here's the other thing the customers are going to have the questions and then you'll have the content to look back on.

Even if you do nothing with it yet yeah and then the final thing i would just say, is that really partner with the tribe yeah get together with agents in your office. You mentioned it earlier when we were downstairs yeah. If you're a newer agent, don't go to a listing appointment alone, partner up success leaves clues, find others in your office find others in your tribe and lean into one another, because everyone wants to help right. They want to help right and they'll go with you.

Don't don't lose a potential sale because you were afraid to say let's partner up on this yeah, i don't want to lose half the commission, i'm like well, a hundred percent of zero is zero. One is always greater than zero right. I would take. I take a 30 referral fee, bring in the best agent, win the business and learn and learn and learn and learn.

So you never go at it alone. Love it jeff. Three things yeah, but consistency and good habits is like the motto of our team, but yeah. Ultimately, i think it's serving your customers, you know we're in the relationship, business and everybody worries about the eye buyers and all these technologies that are going to come along.

But ultimately, if you provide value to your customers and you develop a relationship with them, they want to do business with you. Yeah, so follow up with those people call them get on the phone call them email them, send them. Videos there's so many different things, but just keep that relationship going. People can get the information.

Now they can go to zillow, they go the realtor, they go trulia. They can get the information that you you're, providing them you setting them up on a saved search, isn't earth-shattering anymore, no back in those seven that people thought we were sending them. How do you have all these listings you're like they're, not all mine, but now it really becomes. Can you can you get them the information? Can you find out what they're looking for ask them the questions that people aren't asking yeah and that's going to win the relationship yeah, let's give a tactical piece of advice please.

This is something that we're talking a lot about over the last six months when you receive an email or a text reply with a phone call. Oh, i love it. Yeah you receive an email or a text with a phone call. Why not stay in digital rapport? Give yourself a fighting chance to earn a strengthened relationship, and i know it's really tough.

We have different age groups in the industry now that all want to rely on the text. Stop it. The text in the email is a tool. So when you receive an email or a text call and when you receive a voicemail, send a video text, bingo no more voicemail messages when you receive a voicemail, so i'm calling you tom, you're busy, you're, not accepting my call at this moment, i'm going to send You a video text instead of a voicemail.

I don't know about you about how many voicemail messages do you listen to none right, because what you would do is probably pick up the phone correct. So why not send a video text yeah yeah you're, going to go on that when we, after you're done with the phone call, if you're sending them information, put a bombbomb video with that bingo and because you're you're not always getting the relationship by the conversation. Of course, or by the text message, but when they can put a face and see you talking and even if your kid runs through the back even better, even better, we pay the kids too and take one freddy v bucks right yeah. I like that.

I, like it all right, so we got to be mindful of time, because i actually have to go. Do another seminar now um, you two are fabulous. So, first of all, thank you, and i know we could probably this is. This is one of those like what do i say every time.

She's like this could be like an 11 hour. Podcast they're meant to be like take two on this one um, but i want to just say: congratulations. You guys have built such a beautiful business and a great brand, and you can you could hear it all its values, its culture, its take care of the client, its customer service, but its also jeff, all that early stuff and staying with it right. The the consistency and good habits is building a website in 2007 and keeping the content fresh and keep evolving and getting better.

So it's it's not a shocker. If somebody wants to find you, where do they find you uh jeff realty in orlando dot com or you give me a call at 321-340-6125 love it, i'm at renee, funk renee, funk, renee, funk everywhere, yeah, maybe not everywhere, but at least on the yeah yeah. You can find me yes well, thank you guys so much and for my friends you know make sure you drop a comment. Connect with them follow them on social, see what they're up to i mean i've been following them now for a while, and you could see like video is definitely where it's at, like whether you guys are at the orlando game or you're at your house.

You got a hat on and you're, just like hey just you know like keeping it real like not always polished and perfect, which is just fine, because it's just being authentic. So that's me yeah! That's who we you so much we'll see you guys soon on the next podcast take care. You.