Leslie Melton (Texas), Jennifer Kitchen (Ohio), and Amanda Kerstetter (Oklahoma) share how they all generated warm listing leads in the first 90 days of using the "Platform" marketing strategy.
Leslie Melton (Texas), Jennifer Kitchen (Ohio), and Amanda Kerstetter (Oklahoma) share how they all generated warm listing leads in the first 90 days of using the "Platform" marketing strategy.
Leslie Melton:
Just so you all know, in my market the average home sale is $250,000. I had this home buyer reach out to me right off the bat and she's 2.6 million which is ... I mean, that's huge in my area. I've known her forever but I would've never thought in a million years that she would've picked me as her agent and so I was really shocked. But she 100% reached out to me due to the ad, which I thought was crazy, so I can contribute that to that 100%.
Tim Chermak:
This is The Platform Marketing Show where we interview the most creative and ambitious real estate agents in the country, dissect their local marketing strategy, and get the behind-the-scenes scoop on how they're generating listing leads and warm referrals. We'll dive into the specifics of what marketing campaigns are working for them, how much they're spending on those campaigns, and figure out how they have perfected what we call the Platform marketing strategy. This is your host, Tim Chermak. I'm the Founder and CEO of Platform, I love marketing, and I talk too much. So let's dive in.
Tim Chermak:
Hey, guys and welcome back to another episode of The Platform Marketing Show. This episode is going to be a little bit different. Rather than interviewing one agent ... I think this is the first time we've had multiple realtors on the show because we're going to be having a conversation about what to expect or what success looks like in your first 90 days with the Platform marketing program.
Tim Chermak:
We actually have three realtors that we're going to be having a conversation with today, and that's Jennifer Kitchen in Ohio, Leslie Melton in Corsicana, Texas, and Amanda Kerstetter in Creek County, Oklahoma, which is the outer suburbs of Tulsa. And so all three of these agents started the Platform strategy within the last 90 days. And I think Jen and Leslie, you two might have been just in the last 30 days almost. You're almost brand new to Platform, the ads haven't been running that long. And all three of you, I would say in my opinion, had pretty good results for the limited amount of time that you've been implementing this Platform strategy. The first thing I want to do is just really quick introduce yourselves. Jen, let's start with you. How long have you been a realtor? What marketing were you doing before Platform? And then just let us know what your goal is with Platform?
Jennifer Kitchen:
Okay. It'll be actually 10 years I think next week so 10 years this month that I've been licensed and doing real estate. Before Platform, I mean, I tried some Facebook ads here and there, they weren't working too good. The last few years they were working a little bit better, four or years ago, but really not as much doing them by myself on my own. So I dabbled with that a little bit but I wasn't consistent, didn't do a whole lot with that. I've got a couple listings here and there over the few years, but that was basically it as far as social media ads.
Jennifer Kitchen:
When I first got started I did a lot of open houses, back when there was a lot more inventory. I did open houses for other agents. I got my first two listings my first month doing just open houses. Mailers. Just all the general things that everyone tells you to do. Open houses, mailers, your sphere of influence. So after a few years then I started getting more referrals from people that I know, just my sphere. Past coworkers, friends, and family, stuff like that. And that's basically where most they've came from the last few years. That or just office calls. We take turns in the office duty. If someone calls in and wants to buy a house, sell a house, and those calls go to whoever's sitting in the office. And me, it seems like I'm the only one that really wants to do or has done that because I like to come and be in the office and not work from home as much. But basically, that's where my businesses came.
Tim Chermak:
That's what you were doing before and you're about ... We were talking just before the show. You're about 45 minutes away from Columbus so you're in a smaller town, rural area, the Hocking Hills area of Ohio. Like I said, you're 45 minutes from Columbus but you're not selling homes in Columbus, you're focusing more so on this Hocking Hills area, which is a smaller town, even though Columbus has, obviously, a large population.
Jennifer Kitchen:
So that's where I'm focusing now. That's where I'm from, that's where I grew up. The biggest town in the county is Logan, it's about seven or 8,000 people. The whole county itself is just around of maybe 28,000. So that's where I've been focusing with Platform and the marketing now, just going back to the area because everyone ... It's a town where most people stay. Some people moved away but most people live there. My family is there so that's where I've been focusing my marketing with Platform is doing the Hocking Hills area.
Tim Chermak:
Cool. And then Leslie you're in Corsicana, Texas. And how long have you been a realtor? What's your career looked like up until this point? And then what was the reason that you decided Platform might be something worth trying?
Leslie Melton:
So I will be in real estate seven years in August. I currently run a team of three. As far as marketing goes, I've really not done very much marketing. I've been more prospecting base. Believe it or not, I actually did a lot of cold calling when I first got in business and things like that, which no way would I do that anymore. But anyways. I've just tried to stay active on social media. I put a lot of my stuff out there as far as closings and things like that. Just post myself out doing business, out showings, things like that. Show myself out there being just active, in general. As far as marketing goes that's pretty much it.
Leslie Melton:
I've noticed that business has just really slowed down lately for us, it scared me a little bit. And I've noticed that it was picking up for a lot of other people that seemed to be doing more marketing so I thought you know what? I better get some help. And that's when I just so happened to see someone post in Lab Coat Agents about you guys and I thought, I'm going to look into this. As soon as you and I hopped on a call together I had no hesitation, I just knew this is what I wanted to do.
Tim Chermak:
Cool. Amanda.
Amanda Kerstetter:
So I'm a little bit different in that I've only had my license for eight or nine months. My husband is a former Platform account manager so he tried to convince me for years and years and years to become a realtor, I was a teacher previously. I finally relented and decided to do it. So as soon as I got my license, and got things settled, and got out of brokerage, and started working I was ready to join Platform because that was the ... I don't know. The spark behind wanting to even become a realtor was knowing, well, if I use Platform I can be successful. Joined very early on in my real estate career but it's been great.
Tim Chermak:
Cool. We actually have a pretty good mix for this podcast conversation of agents that have been agents for a long time versus newer agents. I know that all three of you are actually in different phases of your career in terms of a production too because Amanda who ... You just said Amanda, you're brand new. I mean, you haven't even been licensed for a year yet. You're, you're very new to real estate. Jen, I think you said you've been an agent for 10 years, is that right?
Jennifer Kitchen:
10 years next week.
Tim Chermak:
Okay. And then Leslie, did you say how long?
Leslie Melton:
Seven.
Tim Chermak:
Seven. There's a pretty good mix here of the past experiences that you're bringing into this conversation and just rapid fire. I want to hear where your production was at in your last year versus what is your goal at some point in the next year or two to hit? So, Amanda, we'll start with you. And, obviously, you're a brand new agent.
Amanda Kerstetter:
So I got my license in August. No, at the very end of July. And then by the end of the year, I had done I think four closings and three of those were family members so I didn't really do a whole lot.
Tim Chermak:
So you've basically gone through all the cousins you could possibly sell a house to.
Amanda Kerstetter:
Exactly. Did my cousin and her fiance and my uncle. So this year, obviously, the goal is to keep using my COI but go beyond that and get business outside of family members. And my goal for this year is to average about two closings a month. The start of the year was slow so didn't do that at the start of the year but it's picking up.
Tim Chermak:
Cool. Jen, what about you?
Jennifer Kitchen:
So 2020, my GCI was around 75,000 and then last year it was a little ... I didn't have quite as many closings. It was around 50,000 is what I made then. So, obviously, I want to do a whole lot better than that this year. So with Platform, I think I can at least triple. Triple is the minimum that I want to do so to start. With what I've [inaudible 00:10:28] that can happen.
Tim Chermak:
And Leslie, where were you at before Platform?
Leslie Melton:
My business is all over the place because before I started my team, my personal production, I was doing about 50 deals a year by myself and then I started-
Tim Chermak:
And that's 50, is that five zero? Am I hearing that right?
Leslie Melton:
By myself. And then once I started my team, my personal production took a backseat. And then my team production is really what I'm focusing on now. So last year our team production was 70 deals. And really there's no reason why this year we shouldn't be able to hit 100 at the rate we're going. That's what I'm shooting for this year is 100.
Tim Chermak:
Cool.
Leslie Melton:
For sure.
Tim Chermak:
And how many people are on your team again?
Leslie Melton:
I have three.
Tim Chermak:
Okay, cool. That's awesome because, obviously, that's not hey, we're doing 100 deals but it's spread amongst 20 agents or something.
Leslie Melton:
Right.
Tim Chermak:
That's still a pretty small team so those are really impressive numbers if you only have three team members. Like I said, I think this is going to be a really interesting conversation because all three of you have completely different backgrounds and contexts that you're bringing into this. You're not all at the same stage in your real estate career. What you all have in common, obviously, is that you've started the Platform marketing program in the last 90 days. So, Leslie, we'll just go right back to you. What results have you seen so far in... It's your first month basically, right. You signed up about a month ago. What have you seen so far in terms of conversations or any potential leads in your first month or so with Platform?
Leslie Melton:
It's been crazy. And first, let me just say that I actually think my results would be much better if I personally was better with the follow-up and I have not been so I will say that. But I have had people reach out to me that I actually did not think would use me. We're in a really small area where we have so many agents. I mean, seriously, we all know the same people. But anyways. I had this buyer reach out to me and ... Just so you all know, in my market the average home sale is $250,000. I had this home buyer reach out to me right off the bat and she's 2.6 million which is ... I mean, that's huge in my area. I've known her forever but I would've never thought in a million years that she would've picked me as her agent and so I was really shocked. But she 100% reached out to me due to the ad, which I thought was crazy, so I can contribute that to that 100%.
Tim Chermak:
What ad was that if you remember?
Leslie Melton:
That was the acreage ad.
Tim Chermak:
Okay, cool
Leslie Melton:
That was the acreage ad. That one's actually been the one I've had the most success with. Also, from that ad I am potentially picking up a listing which is a $1.5 million listing. Which again, in my area of $250,000, that's a big deal.
Tim Chermak:
Absolutely.
Leslie Melton:
She opted in on that, and she responded to the auto email that went out and she said, "No, I'm not interested in buying I was just trying to comp my house." And so I picked up the conversation and went from there. I actually talked to her a little bit again this morning and we're going to try to set up a meeting this week.
Tim Chermak:
Awesome. I mean, you're already essentially in your first-month setting listing appointments and you have millions in the pipeline from your ads and you're one month in. That's awesome. All right. Amanda, how have things been going for you? For everyone listening, I know all these agents fairly well because I talk to you on the phone. Amanda is a newer realtor, she hasn't even had her license now for a full year. How have things been going for you once you started running some of these Platform-style ads?
Amanda Kerstetter:
It's been really good. I actually just had my first closing last week for a Platform lead. They opted in to one of my homes list. It was a roller coaster working with these buyers but we got them to closing and that was really exciting. So that was a big milestone. I've started having people recognize me when I go to the doctor and stuff. I was recognized at the OB/GYN. I'm not sure how you want to take that. My nurse was like "You sell houses don't you?" She's like "I've seen you all over my Facebook."
Tim Chermak:
I promise our ads PG just for anyone listening who's like what the hell ads is Platform running now
Amanda Kerstetter:
Right. And then I was noticed at the OBGYN, I was noticed at the chiropractor. I've had a few different people in my COI say things about my ads. One thing I will say, every time somebody has specifically said something about noticing my ads, they make a point to say the silliness that I was doing in the ad, that catches people's attention.
Amanda Kerstetter:
At the start of a listing tour, I did a flip on a trampoline and said, "I'm flipping out about this listing." On another one, it was during a sleet storm that I went to film it so I sledded down the driveway. And I did the ducks video. And people are like "Oh, I saw your video throwing ducks it's so cute. And you're sledding down driveways and flipping on trampolines, it's so fun."I went to a launch party for someone I know, not super well, but he's launching a home inspection business and he said, "I love your social media. I don't see other realtors sledding down driveways." The things I've done in my ads that are silly and whatever, that's what's caught people's attention and people have been saying things to me about it.
Amanda Kerstetter:
And then another really big success I had recently is I actually had someone reach out to me and say, "My house is currently listed with another agent but I'm not happy. I'm releasing that listing contract and I want to talk with you." They sent me that message at midnight, I didn't see it until the morning. Within 13 hours of them sending that message they had their listing doc signed with me, and it was all because of my social media presence. So because I'm a newer agent too, this can be encouraging to other newer agents, I didn't have listings on my own to film listing tours but I asked ... I'm on a team, I asked my other teammate agents, I asked other people in my brokerage if I could film their listings, and that's been able to get me exposure. And the people that ... Oops. The people that called me about-
Tim Chermak:
It's probably a listing lead.
Amanda Kerstetter:
No, it's my mom. The people that called me about wanting me to list their home, they actually specifically said, "Well, it looks like you list higher-end really nice homes, do you think you'll have a problem selling ours, ours isn't as nice?" And so I'm getting this reputation as a high-end listing agent without even those being my listings. It's so funny.
Tim Chermak:
You had never had a listing at that point, right?
Amanda Kerstetter:
Yeah. I had a reputation of high-end listing agent and I'm like "Technically you're my first listing," but I'm not going to tell you that.
Tim Chermak:
That's amazing. And so some background on that. Being Amanda's married to Sam, and Sam actually worked a Platform. How long did he work at Platform? Was it five-
Amanda Kerstetter:
Four years? Four and a half years.
Tim Chermak:
Almost five years. Sam really understood just the strategy of, when you can get a listing, whether it's your listing or not, film a video and then spend a lot of money on that listing video because if ... To your retargeting list especially. If a video pops up and it gets 30,000 views or 40,000 views, 50,000 views, just a really, really impressive amount of views, that's much more likely to lead to someone choosing to work with you than if you film a listing video but it gets 2000 views or 3000 views. Because when someone sees something with 30,000 views they're like ... Because it says that in the Facebook ad. It'll say 30,000 views or 40,000 views whatever.
Amanda Kerstetter:
Oh, yeah.
Tim Chermak:
They're like holy cow, this agent clearly must be a social media marketing expert. So what's been going on behind the scenes where Amanda I think has had three listing videos that got 50,000 views I think. Something like that.
Amanda Kerstetter:
50 to 70, all in that range, but it's because we spent money.
Tim Chermak:
50,000 views. Amanda had basically built up a savings account where she's like when I start running my own ads I don't want to just gradually do this over a year or two I want to hit it big the first six months. Every time she's filmed a listing video, she's actually invested $1000 just into that listing video, on top of all of her other ads. And so that's how she's getting 50,000, 60,000, 70,000 video views.
Tim Chermak:
But then you see, even as a brand new agent, the immediate listing business that creates where she gets a phone call saying, "Hey, you clearly are a luxury listing expert, can you list my house?" And she's like "Yes, I can" but I've never even had a listing before but I'm not going to tell you that, right. It's because she's invested so much in her previous listing videos. And again, none of them were actually her listings, she was just borrowing them from other agents. And then we would say in the ad, "Hey, thanks so much, this listing is courtesy of whatever" but no one remembers that. What they're seeing is they just assume that it must be Amanda's listing.
Tim Chermak:
So that's a cheat code if you're a newer agent or if you're an experienced agent and you just don't have any listings to film because let's be honest, as we're recording this episode it's spring of 2022, insanely low inventory market, right. Listings are an endangered species right now. So most agents, even if they've been in the business a decade, don't have listings because no one has listings. Borrow them from other agents, film the video, and that's how you get listings. The surest most predictable way to get listings is filming listing videos, whether they're your listings or not, and then spending a bunch of money to blast those out so that you cultivate the reputation of hey if you list with Amanda, she will get your home more exposure than any other agent in the area. Here's the proof. Look at the past listing she had, even though wink, wink, nod, nod none of those were actually her listings.
Amanda Kerstetter:
And find a way from the beginning of your video to catch their attention. I would slide down a driveway, I would flip on a trampoline. Find a way because then not only does that get them curious and have them to keep watching, but then that's what they remember too and that's what people are saying to me when they see me. I love how you're sledding down driveways and flipping on trampoline, you're so fun.
Tim Chermak:
So creative, so creative. We have clients who, if it's a house with a pool, they'll start the video by wearing their full suit, they're not wearing a swimsuit, they'll just do a cannonball into the pool. And it's unexpected because if you see a realtor video pop up and some dude wearing a suit and tie, you don't expect the next step to be him doing a cannonball into the pool, right, so it grabs your attention and then they keep watching. That's awesome. And all of this again is happening within Amanda's first 90 days using the Platform strategy. So it's super cool to think about what's to come in the future if all that's happened in essentially your first quarter of the Platform. Jen, you are doing insanely well in Ohio, and you signed up basically a month ago. What results have you gotten in terms of messages or potential listings? Or what activity have you got in the first month running ads?
Jennifer Kitchen:
It's been crazy. So I think it'll be maybe six weeks Friday that my ads have been running.
Tim Chermak:
Six weeks, okay.
Jennifer Kitchen:
I have well over 700 leads. These are people that actually clicked on ... The Acreage Home is the most popular one. Two plus acre.
Tim Chermak:
That's crazy.
Jennifer Kitchen:
So I've gotten a lot of people messaging me, asking ... Looking for land. I probably have I don't know several conversations, but probably 10, 12 buyers that are looking for properties, looking for land. They're set up on searches. They're having conversations with me telling me what they're looking for, their price range, and stuff like that. I've had two listing appointments scheduled. So not even two weeks in I got a phone call from a lady that I don't know that lives in the area and she has a house that she wants to sell and someone that I don't know referred her and told her to call me. It's got to be I'm assuming from Platform because I don't know these people. They're in Florida ... Actually, they're back now, but I'm going next week for the actual listing appointment so we set it a few weeks in advance. Very nice conversation. Basically sounds like they're ready as soon as they get back so hopefully next week I'll be talking with them and have that listing.
Jennifer Kitchen:
I had a listing appointment just over a week ago, it was a Platform lead. They actually signed up. I think it was for the Acreage Homes list because they have a property, an acreage that they're going to sell. I went and had a listing appointment with them the Sunday before last, and great conversation, and we're going to be listing that for 550 to 600,000 next month sometime. They're staging, getting things cleaned up, he's got to give his notice for work before we do any marketing, and stuff like that.
Tim Chermak:
That's awesome.
Jennifer Kitchen:
550 to $600,000 listing. And the average home price in this area is just under ... The median is just under 200,000 for the area so great listing.
Tim Chermak:
That's incredible. Again, all of this is within your first six weeks of starting the Platform strategy so imagine where you'll be six months in and you're only it six weeks in. All three of you are still fairly early in the process to where you probably haven't created a ton of retargeting ads yet because you're so early. I know Amanda's been working with Platform now for three months or whatever it's been so you're a little bit further along than I think Leslie or Jen. What have been some of your most memorable retargeting ads, whether they were videos or photos that people have maybe mentioned to you or that you know are getting a ton of engagement in your area?
Tim Chermak:
Because, obviously, a huge part of the Platform strategy isn't just generating leads. You can get leads anywhere, right. I always say if you have a credit card and a pulse you can buy leads from tons of companies. Zillow and realtor.com would love to sell you leads as long as you can fog a mirror, right. Leads are the easy part of being a realtor, it's staying top of mind with all those leads throughout the sales cycle because they might click on your ad in April but they're not ready to actually list until September, right. In the five months between April and September, what are you doing to stay top of mind with them so they don't frankly just forget about you? And then in July, they wander into some random open house, then they end up working with another realtor simply because they forgot about you, right.
Tim Chermak:
A huge part of the Platform strategy that makes this so different from what other companies are doing is this emphasis on retargeting and constantly creating content. Again, I know that you're all at different stages of how long you've been at this, but what has been maybe your favorite or most memorable retargeting ad you've run so far based on how much engagement it's got or if you know people are seeing it, whether it's a video or a photo?
Jennifer Kitchen:
For me, like I said, it's only been six weeks so there's only been a handful, maybe four or five, that I've ... Five or so that I've done aside from the leads. Obviously, the Acreage Home reports to get the first initial leads in, that gets tons of shares, tons of comments, people message so that's a good one. But as far as the retargeting, a good one that I've gotten comments and a lot of people have shared, I don't know how much engaged, but it's gotten a lot is the four reasons not to sell your house in 2020.
Jennifer Kitchen:
And it just goes the reason, and goes through the reasons not to sell your house. And then, obviously, at the end it says, "But if you are moving out of the area, you need to downsize, whatever," and then has ... People like that. It seems honest. It's different from what everyone else is doing. And that's gotten some good ... A few comments and a lot of shares. Another one that I got a lot of organic engagement with was the 20 fun facts about me. It's a picture of me out hiking, which is something I love to do, and then a picture of me with my kids, my family. You wouldn't think that it's a real estate ad and that's the point. You don't want people-
Tim Chermak:
It's just a bullet point list of fun facts about Jen. 20 fun facts about Jen that all of them have nothing to do with you being a realtor. So it's like here's my favorite book, here is my very first car, this was my favorite movie of all time, here's my whatever. My all-time favorite vacation. It's just stuff for people to get to know you at a personal level that has nothing to do with real estate. So like you said, it flies under their BS radar and it doesn't look like an ad.
Jennifer Kitchen:
Right. No. And it's gotten a lot of organic engagement too. People that already follow my page or I'm friends with saw that and they comment, "Oh, hey, we have this in common," and it's just ... It was fun to do. And has a picture of me being a real person and not just selling real estate. I really liked that one too. Those are probably the two that I can think of off the top of my head that have gotten a lot of comments or a lot of share aside from the Acreage Home report things. It's crazy. I can't believe I have over 700 leads in just six weeks. And two possibly four listings because a couple other people were going to be listing hopefully later this spring-summer. It's been great. I'm excited.
Tim Chermak:
You just casually mentioned that. You just casually, so on top of those two listing appointments there's a couple other ones that might be listings too. In the lowest inventory market in five gajillion years you're like oh, I also have a couple listings coming up beyond that. Just nonchalant. Amanda and Leslie, what would you say are some of your most favorite ads that you've run so far that are on the retargeting side of things?
Amanda Kerstetter:
I'd say the four reasons not to sell your home for sure. That one's had I think the most natural engagement. I just pulled it up to look and I've got over 2,700 engagements, 23 comments, six shares. Because people, like you were saying, just like the honesty and the difference going against the flow of what every other realtor out there is saying right now. And then also, my not homeless ad, I like that one. That one got some good engagement as well and it was fun to film or I mean to shoot.
Tim Chermak:
So what is that ad? For those listening to this who don't know what you're talking about when you say the not homeless ad, what is that?
Amanda Kerstetter:
I'm standing on the side of the road and I'm holding up a cardboard box like a homeless person does, and our wrote on it, not homeless need house for buyers God bless, and standing on the side of the road. And tons of the Platform agents have done it and people have done different unique spins on it. Some people have stood out there with their whole family, with their dogs, but it's just a fun one and it's a very good photo headline catches people's attention. What is this crazy lady doing?
Tim Chermak:
It just grabs people's attention. I know that on that ad too, what we often do in the ad copy is we'll list off some of the specifics of what you have buyers that are looking for. So that grabs people's attention, but what the actual Facebook ad copy would say is, "Hey guys, specifically I have a buyer who's preapproved for 300,000, they're looking for a house with at least three bedrooms, two bathrooms in such and such city or whatever." And then you just customize. Because what often happens long term is someone sees an ad like that and they contact you and they're like "Hey, my house fits exactly that description. I'm thinking about selling, give me a call." You would think it might generate buyer lead, but it actually gets listing leads long-term as well.
Amanda Kerstetter:
And then another fun one I've done is I just did ... I live in Jenks and I did 10 things I love about living in Jenks and I featured some local businesses as some of the things. My locally owned gym that I go to. Things like that. And I just featured 10 things I love about my small town. And so that got good shares and engagement as well from people in the community.
Tim Chermak:
Leslie, what about you?
Leslie Melton:
I totally agree. The reasons not to sell has been my absolute favorite ad. The amount of people that shared that just blew my mind. Other realtors were sharing it, in my area. Were actually sharing it and just she's speaking the truth. And I was like oh my gosh. It was so positive and it's so honest. And actually, had a local appraiser call me and say, "I just wanted to say I'm so proud of you for putting that ad out." He said, "I was going to comment and leave this long comment," he said, "But I didn't want to raise any eyebrows in the community so I just wanted to call you and say I'm so proud of you." I was like "Okay."
Tim Chermak:
That's awesome, that's awesome.
Leslie Melton:
It was a real feel good post. And then also, the pack your bags and move to Corsicana, that was another good one. That one's had I think close to 30 shares on my business page which is a lot because my business page really was not getting any engagement before I started working with you guys at all. That one's been my favorite as well.
Tim Chermak:
And that's a great ad where you basically take a picture of yourself with a suitcase like you're walking into town, you're moving to town, and typically you take it in front of the town sign as if you're illustrating, I packed my bags and I'm moving to Corsicana, right. And then you just write out what are seven, eight things about why people should move or why they would love living there. Because it's different for everyone, every town's different, obviously. Whether it's the schools or the many great restaurants you have, or if there's a cool art scene, or if there's close proximity to nature, outdoors. Because, obviously, some cities might be the opposite of all of that but then you find things that are awesome about where you live so you customize it for your town. And people love reading about their own community, right. It just scratches that itch of, oh cool she wrote a list about why I love living in fill in the blank, right. And if you live there, of course, you're going to click on that and want to read it because you want to see what she says.
Tim Chermak:
So all three of you mentioned the four reasons not to sell your home. So there's probably tons of people listening to this podcast right now that are like what are you talking about? You're a realtor, why would you tell people reasons not to sell your home, right, that seems a little bit counterintuitive? So what this ad is, is frankly just reverse psychology. We're trying to grab people's attention with the headline of something they completely were not expecting a realtor to say which is, four reasons not to sell your home this year.
Tim Chermak:
And without going into too much specifics about what the ad is because it's a pretty long essay, I can't summarize the whole thing here but the main point it's making is don't get trapped into selling high and buying high because congratulations if you list your house this year just because you want to make a quick buck. You'll get a really, really high sales price but then you're going to end up buying and paying those same high prices because you're going to have to buy somewhere if you sell your house. And so it's just saying something that everyone already knows is true. It's not groundbreaking information but no one's willing to say that out loud. Because most realtors, all their marketing over the last couple years with the low inventory market has been great, perfect time to sell, perfect time to sell, sell your house, list your house. And so it's a way for you to stand out and cut through the clutter of oh wow, this agent's actually saying something different.
Tim Chermak:
And I think as you said, all of you have had comments and stuff or even people messaging you or calling you in real life saying that was so cool what you said in that post. Thank you for having the honesty to say that because it shows that you're just a little bit more real and honest, and authentic than maybe some other agents are that you're willing to say that out loud. Let me ask you a future-facing question. Because all you are so new to Platform still, which is crazy that you're all having the success you're having, you're all less than 90 days in. That's awesome. What are some of the ads may be that you've seen other Platform agents do that you're looking forward like oh, I want to do that one I haven't done that one yet but I want to do that one because I saw some other agent do it and I definitely want to film that video or take that photo?
Jennifer Kitchen:
For me, well, obviously, what she said. I mean, I'll have a couple listings coming up so I'm really excited to do listing videos. So hopefully if I do a great job, everyone sees the engagement they get, then that brings more listings so I'm really, really excited to do more listing videos. But another one that I think someone here mentioned that they did was the ducks in a row. I saw a lot of agents that have been in Platform for a long time use that. And that looks just super cute and fun and so that's something that I probably will do hopefully soon. Looking forward to doing that. I have a nine-year-old maybe I can get him to help me. I don't know just something fun and he loves to help me make videos so I think that one might be a good one too. Excited about that one.
Leslie Melton:
I'm just looking forward to doing listing videos, in general. I haven't done one yet so I'm looking forward to that. And actually, just signed a listing yesterday and it's going to be perfect. A beautiful waterfront listing so I'm looking forward to doing a listing video.
Tim Chermak:
Cool. When you look at the current Plat fam, all the agents that ... We have this private Facebook group, right, for all the agents who have signed up and are implementing this Platform strategy. Are there one or two people that you look up to? Whether or not this was true before you signed up for Platform or now that you've been in the group for a month or two, are there any agents where you're like wow, I really admire how they've built their business or the videos they've done or the content they've done where they're inspiring to you?
Jennifer Kitchen:
What is her name? Is it Heather? She's in Texas, a little town in Texas.
Tim Chermak:
Oh, Heather-
Amanda Kerstetter:
I was going to say Heather too.
Jennifer Kitchen:
Because she's in a-
Tim Chermak:
Heather Mutz.
Jennifer Kitchen:
The county and the area that she's in is a small area, small town where my market is, and the success that she's had in just what a couple years? It's crazy. And so I want to be like Heather. I want to be Heather.
Tim Chermak:
I do too.
Amanda Kerstetter:
I think everyone wants to be like Heather. She's a rock star.
Tim Chermak:
And I actually recently found out I've just been straight up mispronouncing her name for three years. It's Heather Mutz not ... I've been saying Heather Mutz because it's M-U-T-Z. I'm like oh, oops that's embarrassing. It shouldn't be too hard of a name to pronounce since it's four letters-
Jennifer Kitchen:
Or how to pronounce it.
Tim Chermak:
I've just been butchering it for four years even though I've talked to her tons in person. Heather's one of those agents who's just very involved in the Plat fam community. And she doesn't just work with Platform, she comes to all the Mastermind events and she knows everyone. She's very plugged into the Plat fam community. Heather's super cool.
Jennifer Kitchen:
And Karen as well. Karen Hall, she seems really awesome, and following her just all the stuff that she's doing outside of real estate too so she's very inspiring and motivating for sure.
Tim Chermak:
Karen Hall's in Alexandria, Virginia. I don't know how she fits in everything to her day every day. She just is the busiest, most productive person I think I've ever, ever seen. I mean, she works out constantly. She's doing 57 showings a day, and listing appointments, and finds a way to send VIP client gifts every month to all of her VIPs. She literally sends client gifts every single month. From when she signed up for Platform, I think her business has grown from seven million to I think over 20 million in production which is amazing. She's definitely up there in terms of role models that are worth looking up to and worth modeling your business after. And she's a content machine too. So even with how busy she is, she's always filming retargeting videos and getting new ads done. She just schedules time for it.
Amanda Kerstetter:
I also, I want to give a shout-out to Karen ... How do you say her last name? Biker chick.
Tim Chermak:
Karen Bataille up in Missouri.
Amanda Kerstetter:
Bataille. I love her. She is hilarious. But I want to give her a shout-out because she ... I know one of you said something about follow-up, I don't remember who. But Karen has a really great system in place for follow-up. I know a lot of our agents do, but she actually took the time to Zoom call with me and show me how she does her follow-up, and how she sets tasks in the CRM to remind her, and how she structures all of that. And it has totally changed how I do follow up.
Amanda Kerstetter:
For the first month that I was with Platform, I was like I don't really know how to use the CRM other than if somebody actually responds I can go in and reply to them, but other than that, I wasn't using it to its fullest ability and all of the tools within it. And Karen took the time to Zoom with me and a couple other agents for I don't know over an hour and walked us through. She emailed us all of her saved replies that she uses so that we could stick them into ours. So she is awesome and really helped me figure out my follow-up game.
Tim Chermak:
Karen is in Columbia, Missouri, and she's actually in the Platform Hall of Fame. We inducted her into the Platform Hall of Fame this last year. I can't remember the specifics of her business but I'm pretty sure since she started Platform I mean, it's added $200,000 a year to her GCI consistently. I did an interview with her a couple podcast episodes before, so for anyone listening to this if you haven't listened to that, definitely go listen to that.
Tim Chermak:
But she worked for the U.S. Federal Fish and Wildlife for most of her career and then retired whatever it was five years ago and she just figured oh, I'll sell homes part-time as a agent as I'm retired and this will just be a part-time thing I do because she has her retirement from Fish and Wildlife. And then it ends up as an agent she just blows up and becomes some of the most successful agents in Columbia and is absolutely not working part-time because she's so successful now which is cool. Karen's awesome. Also, one of those agents who is at every Platform Mastermind. I think the last one we did she actually rode her Harley all the way to the event and just made a big American road trip out of it. She's super cool.
Tim Chermak:
So all of you are like I said, less than 90 days in. So for those listening to this who are maybe considering signing up for Platform or those who already are in the Plat fam listening to this, what would you say is the most important thing that you've done in your first couple months with Platform that's been necessary for success? Because I think you all know now that you've been in it for I should say as long but as short as you have been, that it's not as easy as oh, leads come in and business happens, right. Your effort is required, right. Platform is not as easy as just buying Zillow leads. You have to create content, you have to follow up with the leads, you have to film videos to stay top of mind, right. What would you say is, in your opinion, the most important thing you've done to be successful? Where maybe someone's listening to this and they're thinking about signing up, what would you tell them? Hey, if you sign up make sure you do fill in the blank. So, Amanda, I'll start with you on this one.
Amanda Kerstetter:
I would say you have to produce the content which is not always easy. I have a 20-month-old so finding the time to go film videos, take pictures, and figure out what to do with my 20-month-old is not always the easiest thing, but prioritize getting the content done that your account manager sends you. I don't know if all account managers do it this way, but mine sends me a monthly to-do list. I literally print it out, tape it on my desk, and I check things off as I do them, and then I write on there, do this one this week and do this one this week, and I have to schedule it out to make sure I get it done. My goal is to try to get almost everything, if not everything on that to-do list, done every month. And then once you produce the content, Tim will let out an amen to this, spend money behind it and it will end up being worth it in the long run.
Tim Chermak:
Amen.
Amanda Kerstetter:
It's a little stressful to spend $1000 on a listing tour when you're not making that money yet but it'll be worth it.
Tim Chermak:
Basically when you spend more money on your ads ... So actually right now we just had a Platform, a leadership team meeting down in Florida so all of the owners of Platform got together and were just talking about strategy for the next year and the new ads that we want to roll out for clients and all this stuff. And one thing came up about ad spend and how much clients are spending on ads every month. And we realized that in a very literal sense when you increase your ads budget you're buying time. Because people say this expression, "Oh, they bought time I did this or you're buying time," right, that's a common expression people use.
Tim Chermak:
But when you increase your ads budget, here's how you're buying time. Let's say that you wanted to do the bare minimum and spend I don't know $600 a month on ads, you would have success. I could look you in the eye and guarantee you will be successful at Platform if you just stick with it for one to two years spending $600 a month. But the problem is, most people don't have the patience to wait 18 months to get results. Because typically if they don't have a bunch of closings by months seven, eight, nine, they're going to be like this isn't working I quit, right.
Tim Chermak:
So what you do is you literally buy time. It's like well, I'm going to double my ads budget so that way rather than having to wait 12 to 18 months to get results, I'm going to start spending $1000 a month on my ads and so I'll essentially fast track all those results to happen in the first nine months. Either way, for the same amount of money you'll typically get the same amount of results. But if you spend more than that you're going to have results faster, if that makes sense.
Tim Chermak:
If you were to spend I don't know, I'll just take a random number like $10,000 on ads but you spread that out over two years, you'll probably have the same amount of closings as if you spent the $10,000 in the first three months. $3,000 a month basically in your first three months. But either way, you're going to spend the same amount of money. You'll get way more faster closings though by spending all that money in the first three months, right. And what's more appealing to you? Getting closings in your first six months and getting a bunch of listing leads and stuff in your first six months or having to wait 12 to 18 months for all this to kick in, right.
Tim Chermak:
That's why I say in a very literal sense when people increase their ads budget they're buying time. They're just accelerating the timeline at which they'll have to wait for results because it's a lot more likely that you'll take a long-term approach and mentality and be patient with it. Ironically, it's a paradox. The people who spend more and therefore get results faster take a more long-term approach because now they're not like oh if I don't have anything closing by the sixth month I'm going to quit. Or anything closing by the eighth month I'm going to quit, right,` so you literally buy time by doing that.
Tim Chermak:
It's like Amanda, perfect example. Newer realtor, totally could not mathematically justify spending. Oh, I'm going to borrow this listing from another agent, it's not even her listing and I'm going to spend $1000 on this campaign just on this specific house. Because if I do this, and let's say she got 50,000 video views, 60,000 video views, that's 50,000 people in the area that are looking to her like wow, she's an expert marketer of her listings. And voila within a month or two at doing that she gets a listing lead phone call who it's a listing already listed with another agent and they're like we're not happy we'd like to move with you. Clearly, you're a luxury listing expert. And she just created that reality. Perception is reality, right. Then you-
Amanda Kerstetter:
Oh, and with that listing where they were like we're not happy we want to list with you, it had been listed with this other agent for 30 days, had only had three showings and no offers. And I did a listing tour video, spent $1000 on it, and within two days we got a full asking price offer. It works.
Tim Chermak:
You manufactured that reality. Perception is reality by just increasing the ad spend, right. You're just rolling the snowball bigger sooner, right. That's super good advice. I'll say this at our private Platform Masterminds. If that means you have to go to a bank or borrow money from a friend or family to bankroll ad spend, do that. Get a bank loan so you can spend more on ads early on and then when the first closing comes in whatever if you go get a $10,000 loan whatever, pay the loan down to zero that's fine. If that gives you a huge chunk of money to invest in the ads early on, you'll roll the snowball way bigger sooner and you'll be happy that you did. Cool. Jen, Leslie, what would you say is your number one piece of advice of, if you're signing up or you're early on in your Platform journey, what is the most important thing that looking back at what you've done you have to do this fill in the blank or else it won't work?
Jennifer Kitchen:
For me, I would say following up with the leads that come in from the reports. The Acreage Home or whatever lists that people are signing up for, I would say definitely following up with them. The general email goes out, people to sign up, and it'll say, "Hey, just checking to see if you got the list." And if they respond, you need to follow up and ask open-ended questions.
Jennifer Kitchen:
Because the listing appointment that I had a week ago, it was not a buyer and it was me just asking questions, open-ended questions, and getting to know them, and then that's what made me realize hey, they're actually selling their house and I offered. I wouldn't mind coming out, taking a look at the property, give you an idea. And that's how I got that listing was just by asking open-ended questions, which I've gotten a lot better with because before when I would get leads come in I would just say, "Hey, let me know if you have questions." By asking these open-ended questions because that listing appointment wouldn't have probably ... May not have happened had I not been asking those questions and following up.
Jennifer Kitchen:
One of the other potential listings that I might have down later this spring-summer when he's ready was the same thing. He really wasn't offering a lot of information and then I just asked one quick open-ended question and it led him, a few emails in, telling me "Oh, I'm actually retired. We are going to buy but we're not ready yet, but we're going to be"-
Tim Chermak:
What was the question you asked that got him to finally reply?
Jennifer Kitchen:
Oh, gosh, I don't even remember because it's 20 emails in before ... Let me see. Well, first it was like did you get the report? Oh, what did he say? He's like "Oh, yeah we're not really looking. We're not in a hurry. We're not really looking right now. We're just browsing"-
Tim Chermak:
And that's what they say 99% of the time. They just say thanks.
Jennifer Kitchen:
Is what he said. And I'm like "Oh, no." What you guys recommend is oh, browsing for homes is fun, are you looking in a specific ... Are you browsing in a certain area? Then that's when he started giving me all this information. He's retired from the college that I went to down there. Just building this relationship with him just via email, I've never even talked to him on the phone, and he's telling me all this stuff. He's going to have two properties to sell, and then they're downsizing and moving into the county over which is where the ads are being ran. If I hadn't been asking these open-ended questions and really getting to ... Asking these questions, then I probably wouldn't had these two potential listings.
Jennifer Kitchen:
I definitely say following up and asking these questions because they say that they're just browsing or just looking but I've gotten two ... One potentially two listings just from asking more questions. I definitely recommend following up. I mean, you're spending this money for the ads and stuff, you don't want them just sitting there, you want to respond to them. If you can set them up on searches, ask them what they're looking for. Or, if they're end up being sellers, getting more information from them.
Tim Chermak:
Sure.
Jennifer Kitchen:
That would be my number one. I mean, obviously, making the videos is important but you've got to follow up with people otherwise it's not going to work.
Tim Chermak:
Leslie, what about you?
Leslie Melton:
I can't really add to that because they nailed it. They totally nailed it. When they send you the content to make ... Take this picture or do this little video you're like oh, well that's so easy. I was shocked at how hard it is to find time to do those things for some reason. It's unbelievable to me. You have to make yourself do it really. So make yourself do it. To me, that's number one because if you don't put out the content you're not going to get the leads. But then what she said about following up is huge. And following up and asking really good questions because people are just going to blow you off and just give you the bare minimum information so asking those open-ended questions and finding out how you can help is key. Not much I can add to what they said because they nailed it.
Tim Chermak:
Awesome. Well, I think all three of you are worth learning from. And so for any Plat fam agents listening to this, definitely look at their Facebook pages because even though they're all relatively new to Platform, they're creating the content and following the Platform recipe in such a way that is absolutely creating results. I mean, Leslie has what? Several million dollars worth of potential buyers and listings directly in the pipeline that she can directly attribute to Platform that's in her first basically month of running ads. Some of those are million-dollar transactions potentially in an area where your average is closer to 250. That's incredible.
Tim Chermak:
Amanda picked up her first listing and she has some other stuff in the pipeline and she's closed a buyer, all this in essentially 90 days of running the Platform strategy. Again, even in a super low inventory market, she got a phone call who explicitly told her, "I'm calling you because I'm impressed with your social media videos, clearly you know what you're doing." They said that, right. She's not even thinking that's probably why they chose her, they told her that. So that's cool confirmation that what she's doing is working.
Tim Chermak:
And then Jen also, only six weeks into running ads in Hocking County, Hocking Hills area, Ohio already has several listings in the pipeline, potentially three or four. You had 700 leads. I mean, that's almost hard to believe. People are going to assume we're just lying, we're just making shit up at this point. Oh, yeah I'm six weeks in I got 700 leads. People are like okay, that's probably not true.
Jennifer Kitchen:
I promise it's true, I promise.
Tim Chermak:
I mean, that's incredible. That's the thing where it almost sounds too good to be true if someone's listening to this podcast that many people have opted into your campaigns but that's incredible, right. And all this is happening. We're actually recording this in very early April. Almost the coolest thing to just put a capstone on this whole conversation is that, if I were to check back with all of you at I don't know first week of September, right around Labor Day, it's going to be incredible what you guys accomplish over the spring and summer. Because all these results that are already super impressive have happened honestly before the major spring-summer market really, truly heats up. So imagine what the results are going to look for all three of you if we fast forward and revisit, maybe do a follow-up podcast episode in September about how your spring and summer went. That's awesome.
Tim Chermak:
Thank you all three for joining us. This is going to be a super cool episode. I've already think it's really, really valuable and it's going to be encouraging to any agents who listen to this, whether they're already in the Plat fam or not. This is what is possible if you follow the Platform strategy, and you create the content, and you just follow the system. Like we always say, Platform works if you do, and these three are proof of that. Thank you, Amanda, thank you, Jen, thank you, Leslie. And until next time, thank you for listening to the Platform Marketing Show.