How To "Borrow" Listings In A Low Inventory Market

 Sandi Smith:  I got out of the pool and sat in a chair or something. And she was like, “Get back in there now,and dive in that pool.”  And I was like, “Okay.”  And so, I went back and I literally, in my clothes, dove in the pool. And I was on the swim team years ago. And so I, I've got a decent dive. And I think,  I think people were like, “Oh my gosh, this girl dove in the pool with her clothes on!”

And so that one got 30,000 over 30, 000 likes and 14 or 15 shares. It went pretty wild.  

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.  

Hey guys, it's Tim Chermak and welcome back to another episode of the Platform Marketing Show. I'm joined today by Sandi Smith in Panama City Beach, Florida. Sandi,  welcome to the show. 

Sandi Smith: Hey Tim, how are you doing?  

Tim Chermak: Good, good. This is going to be a fun episode because this is a case study and a story that we get to dissect where you're still in the middle of it.  But it looks like you're going to be yet another case of an agent who joins The Platform Marketing Program and doubles their business after doing so. So you signed up with Platform last year. I think you've been with Platform at the point of this recording, like the day we're recording this. I think it's been around a year?  

Sandi Smith: Fourteen months. 

Tim Chermak: Okay. So you've been with Platform now for 14 months. I know last year you ended up selling about 25 homes. But you were actually a part time agent last year. So you still sold 25 homes, which is impressive in and of itself. And yet you weren't even necessarily all in on real estate because you had a career as a hairdresser, and you had a big book of clientele.

You were very successful in that. And so that was the regular income paying a lot of the bills, and you didn't officially leave that and cut the cord entirely until October of last year. So really this year, 2023, is your first full time year as a real estate agent. And as of right now, you are actually on pace to finish the year with pretty dang close to 50 transactions.

So in other words, you would have doubled your business from last year to this year. In your first full time year as a realtor, you're on track to have 50 closings. That's pretty awesome.  

Sandi Smith: That was my goal. Being in part-time, I just was like if I did this many part time, I know that I can do this many full time.

It was not an unrealistic goal, but I know that I had to push to get there.  And I'm excited because I can see it all coming into fruition now.  

Tim Chermak: Being 14 months into the Platform Marketing Strategy, how many months, Sandi, do you feel like it took you to have a sense of momentum where you felt, “Okay, this is working.”

Sandi Smith: Okay. I did not live in Panama City Beach before. I would only come for the weekend. So I'm not from here originally. We just started as a short term rental investor down here. I would come every weekend, but this is, I knew, where we would eventually move. And that's where I want to start my marketing, and it was open where nowhere else where I lived in Georgia was. I knew it was meant for me to have Panama City. So I started down here not knowing anybody. It really took about a year.  At the mastermind in December, y'all really talked about opening the ad spend. And I did. I have always, from get go, consistently done everything that Jacqueline asked of me. But in January I did the bold with Keller Williams.

I'm not with them, but I did the Bold with them. And we had to get out in town, and do face-to-face with a hundred people. And I literally had two or three people say, “I follow you on Facebook.” And I was like, “it's working. It's finally starting to, I feel like, yes, get recognition in town.” A year into it now, I feel like if I were from here or lived here for a while, then that would be different.

Of course, anybody that knew me personally would say stuff to me, but, people who really had no idea.  It really did take about a year. 

Tim Chermak: And again with the context you owned a business as a hairdresser, a hairstylist, back in Georgia. And so it's not like you were born and raised in PCB in Panama City Beach, but you weren't even living there. You were actually living in Georgia and basically driving to PCB to show homes and be a realtor on weekends. You didn't really have any local connections or a sphere there to fall back on. In a very real sense, you were relying on Platform to build your brand in Panama City Beach from scratch, because not only did you not live there, you weren't even living there at the time you were living back in Georgia. 

And after doing that for a year, quitting the hairstyle business back in October. It's now, as we record this, it's early May of 2023. So you've really only been  all-in on real estate for seven months now.  And again, I say that because it makes it even more impressive that,in your first full time year, you're on track right now to do 50 transactions in Panama city beach in 2023.

That's phenomenal. So what type of ads have you done with your Facebook ads that seem to have been the most effective in building your brand, getting people to follow you, getting people to respect you as a real estate agent? Because again, like this isn't just a normal story or a normal case study of a realtor building a brand in a community. 

You didn't really know anyone there. You didn't have friends or family. You weren't even living there, right? All this time you've been rolling the snowball, building your brand. You were actually living back in Georgia. And so you really were relying on these social media marketing campaigns to build a personality and build a brand for you there.

So  they were really important, right? They weren't part of the marketing strategy. This was the marketing strategy for you. What ads have worked? What ads have worked the best?  

Sandi Smith: The best ad was in October. So this was right when I started full time here. This was a friend of mine we had met when we first were coming down here.

And so we had developed that relationship, but she decided to list her home and she had a pool.  And I was gonna get in the pool, but it was starting to get cool. And me and Jackie had talked about it, but I just didn't.

Tim Chermak: And just for those listening,  I'll just mention that when you say, Jacqueline or Jackie, she's referring to her account manager at Platform that manages all of her ads.  And it's her personal marketing coach at Platform. So if Sandi mentions Jacqueline again, like that's who she's referring to there. 

Sandi Smith: That's right. We were talking and when I started to leave,I didn't dive in. And I got in the pool and sat in a chair or something.

And she was like, “Get back in there now and dive in that pool.”  And I was like, “okay”.  And so I went back and I, in my clothes, dove in the pool. And I did. I was on the swim team years ago. And so I've got a decent dive. And I think.  I think people were like, “Oh my gosh, this girl dove in the pool with her clothes on!”

And so that one got 30, over 30, 000 likes like 14 or 15 shares. It went pretty wild. And so that was  like the first one that hit off really good. Some of the other ones have gone good. I did one for short term rentals. Because, here on the beach, we have a lot of properties that are short-term rented, and that's how we started.

And so that's the niche that I like to promote. 

Tim Chermak: With that listing video where you jumped into the pool, I just want to sprinkle in a little bit of context here that this is one of our favorite strategies at Platform that we teach agents. If you're ever lucky enough to get a listing that has a pool, a fun way to just draw attention to that listing video and make it different than all the other listing videos that people typically see on YouTube or Facebook, whatever is, jump in the pool with all your clothes on.  Like, just unexpectedly do a cannonball or do a dive into the pool.

Because when someone's watching what is typically a boring video of a realtor giving a tour of a house, the last thing they expect is for you to jump in the pool. So it just very quickly grabs the attention. Usually what we do when we edit those videos is that's the very first clip of the video that someone sees.

So that kind of grabs their attention and then hopefully they keep watching because you've set the precedent that, Oh, wow, this realtor is funny. They're interesting. They're willing to be creative.  They're not, they're maybe not as boring as other real estate agents are.

And if that gets them hooked in and now they click the video and now they're on your retargeting list, they're going to start seeing all of your other content too. So that's just a strategy we love. And I know that you absolutely nailed it. Like that video worked really well for you and helped build your brand even months and months later. 

Sandi Smith: Yep. And so now, I'm not for getting wet. I did another one just last week. There's a big dump bucket at a splash resort and it, dumps out the water on you. So I got under that last week. Today I have one. I'm getting back in the pool.  

Tim Chermak: Okay. So you have another listing video.

Sandi Smith: Yes, and this one's actually borrowed. I have been really working in this one community and I have listed several on the villa side. But the homes are more luxury homes and I definitely  want to tap into that market. I have my certified luxury home marketing specialist seal and our designation.  Jackie said,  Get a borrowed listing over there and let's do a listing tour in the home.

And so I reached out to somebody that I had worked with before and got that. I think a lot of people are scared to ask people like that. They're going to say yes or no. So I think that's important if you are newer to Platform and I was, I've borrowed multiple listings. So  yeah. And when we listing tours are really. 

Tim Chermak: Yeah, when we say borrowing a listing, just to clarify. What we mean is that you go out and film a listing video, so we run a social media ad campaign promoting a house for sale. And, usually it's  you giving a video tour of that house, but it's not even your listing. You borrowed the listing from another agent, either in your brokerage or maybe it's an agent at a different brokerage. You just know them and your friends or whatever, or maybe you don't know them, but you just called them up and asked and said, “Hey, I saw you have a gorgeous listing. Would you mind if I gave you some free advertising?”

 Because  we'll say in the video and we'll say in the ad, “Hey, this listing is courtesy of Bob Smith at Remax”, or whatever. So we'll give all the legal credit. It's not like we're trying to lie and make it look like it's your listing. It's just that what we know secretly is that every person who watches that video and watches you giving a tour of that video just subconsciously assumes it's your listing.

Tim Chermak: So even if there's like a disclaimer in the ad that says “listing courtesy of Bob Smith”, they don't remember that. They skim over that.  And what they think is, “Wow, it looks like Sandi has a lot of listings.” And so even if you don't have a lot of listings, because right now it's obviously a low inventory market.There's not a lot of sellers that are wanting to sell right now. Most agents don't have as many listings as they would like to have if they have any at all. 

And so, the more that you can learn to borrow listings from other realtors and just get their permission to film a quick video, you can create the perception in your community that you're a top listing agent. And you have a bunch of listings. And none of them technically even need to be Your own listings. I was actually talking to Jackie this morning and just getting some context about what's worked for you and everything so I would have a little bit of knowledge ahead of This interview of what's worked well for you and Jackie repeatedly said, the thing that's probably worked the best for Sandi is she's just been very consistent in getting listing videos, even when she didn't have any listings of her own, she would always go find an agent who would give her permission to film videos.

And so you've done so many listing videos in Panama City Beach and specifically, is it Bayview? Is that the community?  

Sandi Smith: Bay Point.

Tim Chermak: Bay, okay. Bay Point. Yeah, you've done enough listing videos now in Bay Point, which is like a specific neighborhood there, a community, that people are starting to think of you as the expert there, even though not all the listings have technically been yours, right? You've basically manufactured, you've created that perception that, “Wow, she's the top listing agent in Bay Point, even though a lot of those listings weren't even yours that you promoted. And so how much are you spending right now in a given month on the ads? Do you know what your ads budget is?  

Sandi Smith: I know that I spend a hundred dollars per listing. Some of the ones that I've borrowed, we've only spent about $300 or $350 on. I really, I have no clue.  I just tell her 

Tim Chermak: I'm guessing then off the top of my head, your ad spend is probably, if you're spending $500 per listing video campaign, your monthly budget is probably somewhere between a thousand and $1,500 a month.

Sandi Smith: That's usually where it ends up. Yeah, I think that we’re closer probably to the $1,500 because in my mind we spent around $3,000. I spent, between paying my Platform and then my listing videos, around $3,000 or so.  

Tim Chermak: And obviously that's had a pretty good ROI if you were on pace to sell Hopefully 50 homes this year, because I know that obviously most agents like they sell a lot in the spring and summer, but if you average it out evenly across the year, you're on pace to be selling four homes every month. 

Sandi Smith: Yeah, it is  May 4th  and I've already made 

105. In terms of take home pay.

Tim Chermak: Yeah. How much, when you owned the hair salon, were you making at that job in that career?  

Sandi Smith: I made good money there too. I probably grossed around $200,000 when I was full time.  

Tim Chermak: Yeah. So like you, you had a pretty steep opportunity cost that you were walking away from. It's not, “Oh, I was struggling as a hairstylist and only making $30,000 a year” or something. It's no, that was a successful business that you walked away from. And so, you knew how to be a business owner. I guess that's the point I'm getting at is you were a successful entrepreneur and you applied that mentality to real estate.

So it's therefore not surprising that you're seeing success, because you're thinking about it like a business owner would. I think a lot of realtors, when they get into the business, if they haven't actually been a small business owner before, they're almost thinking of it as a job.

Not as “I own a small business.” And that's why they're so hesitant to invest in things like marketing because people who have jobs don't have to spend money on their job,  right? If you have employees, they don't market the business. You do as the business owner. Employees don't pay the lease or the mortgage or the utilities. You do. 

And so, many people get into real estate coming from a W-2 employee background. And then they just try to spend the absolute bare minimum on advertising and building their brand and just business development in general. Because they're coming from a context where they didn't have to spend any money at all and they got a paycheck every two weeks.

But I'm  assuming that owning your business, like you had expenses. 

Sandi Smith: Yep, you got to spend money to make money. I've always said that. And because of me having my other job, it afforded me to start with the.  I could build my business and when it got to where I needed it to be, then I could leave my other business. It was definitely a hard choice, but I knew that I really enjoyed this.

And that the sky was the limit.  

Tim Chermak: This year you're probably on pace to, if you stay on track, you're probably on pace to make somewhere between 300 or 350 in GCI. 

Sandi Smith: My goal is $400,000 so I've got to push hard.  

Tim Chermak: Yeah. Honestly, that's absolutely doable if the price point comes up a little bit, because obviously if you sell 50 homes that are a little bit more expensive, then absolutely you could get to $400,000. Maybe even more, maybe closer to $500,000 in GCI.  What is the average price point in PCB now?  

Sandi Smith: I would say for a home in Panama City Beach is $450,000 if you're lower. So maybe even 550,000 is the average  but you got condos that, like a studio or one bedroom is $350,000.

It just depends.

My average has probably been $400,000. But I feel like I am now stepping it up a notch. Like, I just got an $875,000 listing.  This listing tour that I borrowed is $1.2 million.  So, I'm hoping to tap into that. I love that every day I'm an everyday country girl.I love your average people. I love helping first time home buyers.I love that. But I also would like a piece of the pie.  

Tim Chermak: Yeah. Obviously if you're going to spend approximately the same amount of time working a $800,000 deal as you are a $400,000 deal, why wouldn't you want the $800,000 deal? You're going to make twice the amount of money. And that actually illustrates a really good marketing point too,I want to point out.  Because you've done such a good job consistently, even when you didn't have listings of your own, still filming videos to promote other agents listings and that kind of built your pipeline and built your brand.

But the type of listings that you selected made a big difference. So you're not just randomly taking any old listing. If it's like a double wide or something, you're not going to go film a listing tour because  you will attract  buyers and sellers based on the type of content that you put out into the world, right?

So if you're filming and you're regularly looking like you're involved in $500,000 transactions or $800,000 transactions that typically determines the type of people you're attracting to your brand. Because, if on social media people are constantly seeing videos of Sandi Smith, touring, let's say $800,000 homes. You just subconsciously start to develop a reputation in the community that, “Oh, wow, if you have a, $700,000 or $800,000 home or a million dollar home,

you probably want to work with Sandi. Because I see that she regularly is selling homes in that price range.” But if all the videos you ever do, and if all the ads you ever do are highlighting $200,000 or $300,000 homes towards the lower end, like the first time home buyer segment of the price range.

Tim Chermak: That's probably the type of deals you're going to attract, so it's important when you go out and film listing videos, film videos, and if you have to - borrow listings that are in the price range that you actually want to be working in,even if it's a somewhat aspirational price range. Where it's like, “Hey, I've never done a million dollar deal before it's cool, we'll go film a bunch of million dollar listing video tours and borrow the listings.”

And guess what? I can almost guarantee you that at some point in the next year, you're going to start getting million dollar listing appointments because people will start to associate you with homes in that price range. You are probably a better example of this than almost any other Platform Podcast episode that we've ever done in the multi-year history of The Platform Marketing Show, because I know that Platform was your show. 

Like you weren't even living in PCB when you started this. And by the way, I remember when you signed up, I have no idea why I remember this. But I actually did the sales call when you called in and wanted to sign up for The Platform Marketing Program. And I remember, I was in my truck - actually in the parking lot of Dick's Sporting Goods in Naples, because I was buying a squat rack for our house.

I was buying all the weights in the squat rack and all that stuff for our garage. I built out like a home gym in our garage. And that day I was at Dick's to get it all picked up and loaded up in the truck. And I was going to bring it back. And you called and you had messaged me something to the effect of “I think I'm ready to go.”

I was like, “Okay, I'm going to take this call in the car here.” So I just sat out while my car was running in the parking lot, and we had a 45 minute conversation and you ended up signing up. It was a very abnormal conversation for me because normally I'm here in my office when I'm doing business calls or whatever.

But I remember that's when Sandi Smith. Signed up and now, 14 months later, you're being interviewed as a success story on The Platform Marketing Show. So that's, it's pretty cool. 

Sandi Smith: It is pretty cool. I'm excited to see what else comes with it. It's been a good journey. I knew with seeing I'm sure you remember this or not, but Bethlehem when I moved, we only lived in Robins for nine months. I bought a house there thinking that I would be there probably a couple of years before we moved down here. And I did not know her. But, yeah, she then, because I had looked for a house there, she started coming up in my retargeting ads. And I was like, this girl is creative.  And long story short, I ended up reciprocating my Florida license to Georgia, and we were in the same brokerage. 

Tim Chermak: Oh, okay. And then her assistant at the time was …

Sandi Smith: my, my realtor's daughter. And now Tiffany has signed up with Platform. And she's inside Augustine. So it's come full circle.  

Tim Chermak: Oh, wow. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. So you signed up because you were impressed with Beth Lynn's marketing and seeing all of her, and she's absolutely blown up too.

I think Beth is probably either on pace or has already eclipsed the $500,000 GCI mark. She's absolutely crushing it. And I love to hear stories like that. Because I think the best way for a marketing agency to get clients is by people seeing the results of other successful clients at Platform we shouldn't have to brag about ourselves as much as we just show the accomplishments of our clients. And the people who hire us. And that should speak for itself  if you're a marketing agency. So that's really cool. But the point I was trying to make, is that if you want proof, like a true AB split test, that this marketing strategy works, you are probably the best example of someone I've interviewed yet on the Platform Marketing Show.  Because you weren't even living in the town that we were building your brand in.

It's it's not like you had friends from church or friends from school or other parents of kids or just friends in the neighborhood. Because you literally weren't even living in Florida, but you were building your brand in PCB while you were still living in Georgia, operating a completely different small business there.

Tim Chermak: But over time you started rolling this marketing snowball. And people started to get to know you. You got a couple of transactions there cause I know you were driving there on weekends. And now you've actually bought property there, and you're getting entrenched in the community.

But for the first year, you weren't even living there, and the marketing that we were doing built this brand for you to the point that now you're on pace to do 50 transactions. And who knows what the future holds? Maybe eventually you'll hit  60 or beyond. And I'm sure what's going to happen as you do that too, is your price point is going to go up.

Cause that's just usually what happens when agents stick with Platform, their transaction volume goes up. But also over time, their price point increases. And then the ratio of listings to buyers usually shifts in favor of more listings too, because the type of people that are influenced by marketing are usually sellers. 

We've just found that buyers are influenced too. If they think you're a really knowledgeable realtor and you know the area, then they'll want to work with you to represent them on the buy side if they're buying there. But also a lot of buyers just don't really care which agent they work with and they should, but they don't.

They're like, “Ah, whatever. I want to go look at this house. I'll just request an agent on Zillow.” and they just view the agent as just opening the door for them. Sellers don't think like that though. Because sellers are the ones often paying the commission in the deal. So sellers actually do research.

Tim Chermak: They will Google you and search, best agent in Panama City Beach or whatever, sellers do their due diligence. If they're having to cut the big commission checks. And so the more marketing you do, therefore the more likely it is that it's going to be sellers you attract because they're the ones who are actually clicking on your ads and trying to do research on which agents they're going to work with.

So I want to change the topic a little bit here, Sandi, and ask you about have you featured small businesses and the small business community in PCB in your ads? Have you done any small business highlights or any favorite restaurants that you've gotten to promote? Cause I know that's a big part of The Platform Strategy. We try to teach agents to get involved in your local community, film videos, and do ads.

Just promoting small businesses in your area without asking for anything in return.  

Sandi Smith: Yes, I have from get go. I've always done those. One of my favorites here is Fatty Patties. It's a breakfast and lunch restaurant right here on Thomas Drive. And funny but me and the owner now have become friends.

She reads all my email subscriptions. As a client and always looking for an investment property and stuff like that. Again, I didn't know any and I would have to go in and just tell them I'm a realtor and on my Social media platform. I work with a marketing company that we promote small businesses, and I would love to promote something about their business.

And so then I'd ask a few questions. And, a lot of the time, most of the things I do is about food. I love food. And then we have done just recently, because in the summer a lot of people that come are all the time asking, “What's the best place for seafood?” So I just did five restaurants along the beach that are good places to stop in for different kinds of seafood.

So that was, that one ran really good. 

Tim Chermak: Yeah, you've done a lot of content over the last year, just highlighting the small businesses in the area. Have you had any instances where you go somewhere and you're out in public somewhere in Panama City Beach, and people actually recognize you or they're like, “Hey, I think I've seen you somewhere before”? 

 Sandi Smith: Some people will throw up their hands and wave to me and I'm, “I don't know who you are.”  I'm like, “Hey.”  

They're like, “I follow you on Facebook. I love watching your videos. You're so entertaining, and you really give good information.”

 So yeah, it's really starting now that I live here full time and I'm out and about during the week. I would say, it's really starting to  pick up. And people say stuff to me about it more so than when I was here on the weekends. I'd come in, I was busy selling houses, but then, film and content. Like I would set aside one day, typically it would be Friday to get out and do as much, whatever she told me to do for the list. I only had that day to do it. So  yeah, it's exciting. 

 Tim Chermak: As you look back at the ads that seem to have worked the best, were there any times where, Platform asked you, or, Jacqueline asked you, “Hey, here's the next ad we want to do.” And you were like, “no, I don't want to do that.”  Like you just felt uncomfortable or you were scared or whatever you were embarrassed, but you did it anyways, then ended up working really well. 

Sandi Smith: No, I'm not really scared to do anything. That one time I didn't want to get in the pool because it was cold, still a little bit cold. But yeah, no, I'm pretty bold like that. So whatever gets attention, I like.  And so to me it works if you're  outgoing and creative. Even if you're not like just be yourself and if you goof up, it's okay.

I think that's what makes it relatable.  

Tim Chermak: Yeah, that is such an important trait in building a local brand over the long term. It's just not really worrying about if you look dumb sometimes or cause no one else cares, right? People aren't expecting you to be perfect.

And also if you are perfect, if your videos or your content is too polished,  it's actually really weird. No one wants to see someone who's just … everything they put out is just immaculate and perfect and polished. Because that comes off as being fake, and people want to feel like they're working with.Like people want to feel like they're working with a real person. Cool. Yeah. I asked that question because it happens all the time. Where an agent signs up at Platform where” Hey, here's a really great ad that's working right now. Or “here's a video you could do that’s going to get a lot of engagement. Here's the script.”

 And then they're like, “Oh, I don't want to do that. That's embarrassing. Or, “Oh, I don't see myself doing that. I'm a little bit nervous about it.  And then it so often happens where we just convince them “Okay just trust us, just do it.”

And then they do. And then the video gets whatever, 50, 000 views or that just goes viral in their community. And they're like, I can't believe I was ever scared to do that. Like seeing how well it works. They're like, I can't believe I ever psyched myself out of just taking action and and going for it.

Tim Chermak: So, what did you do? Cause you mentioned that you didn't really feel like there was strong momentum, that it wasn’t really working until almost a year in. What did you do that first 12 months with Platform to keep yourself optimistic and keep the proper perspective to think long term, even when maybe at first it didn't feel like it was working?

Sandi Smith: Because I was a business owner before, I know any business is long term. And you have  to stay consistent at it.  So I already knew that I had already seen success stories. So that kind of helped and I just knew that this is what I needed. And I had to stick with it.

And I know that I will not let it go as long as I'm willing to work, full time. It's a full time job. I feel like just not Platform in general, but just being a realtor but you have to say, in contact with your people and all that stuff. So it's a full time job. So as long as I'm willing to work full time, I will not let Platform go because people, my face is consistently in front of them, even if I'm not.

So it was never really an option. I just knew it was something I needed. My market was available and I say it was a godsend. 

Tim Chermak: Yeah. Seeing the results you've created just in the last year it's exciting to be a part of.I know it's a really cliche thing to say, but it's fun seeing the results that the marketing we do creates for clients like you, because, everyone will say, “Oh, it's fun making money” or “it's fun signing up more clients or it's fun growing.”

And yes, all of those things are absolutely true. Like it's fun running a successful business. But I think the most fulfilling thing about what we get to do at Platform is seeing a story like yours where it's like. “Hey, I moved to a town that I literally didn't even know anybody and we built a brand from scratch.” And now you're on pace to sell 50 homes there this year and your GCI is going to be somewhere between 300 and 400, 000 and at some day I can almost guarantee you're going to hit 500k and That's very satisfying.

That’s fulfilling to me, knowing that the marketing ideas we come up with and the campaigns that we test and all that are actually having that much of a real world impact. For clients like you. And you deserve it too. Because I know you work hard, you put yourself out there, you always do everything that we ask you to do.

So you are absolutely deserving of your success, because a lot of agents aren't willing to do that. They're just not willing to take the risk and try anything new. 

Sandi Smith: Yeah. That's right. You're right. I've talked to a few who have come on board and haven't because people ask me, “Oh, my God, you're killing it.”

I am. I'm very thankful. But I do think that Platform has played a huge part in my success. And so I'm like, if your area is available, you're a fool if you don't take it on.  

You're a fool. If you don't take it on.

Tim Chermak:  I'll have to put that on a billboard or something and quote you,  if you don't sign up for Platform, you are a fool. Quote, Sandi Smith.  That's awesome. So let's say someone is with Platform right now. So they already signed up. And let's say they've been with Platform for six months, but they're not quite seeing results. What would you tell them to just encourage them or give them perspective? If they're in that initial period where, again, let's say they're six months in, they're starting to get frustrated.Because they're not yet seeing closings. But they're spending all this money on ads, and they haven't yet seen the return. What would you tell them  now that you're 14 months in with that perspective? What would you tell them to encourage them? 

Sandi Smith: Okay. I was there. I'm over here laughing behind the scenes silently.

So what was it from February to December when we had the mastermind. And I was at that point. So what was that, 10 months in? 

Tim Chermak:Yep. 

Sandi Smith: And I was that person. I was like, shit, excuse me. I was getting frustrated and aggravated, although I could still see it coming. And I felt like I was on the cusp of it.

And I remember, like you could see it working, but it wasn't yet actually resulting in closings coming in yet.  

And what is  they were on the the group who got awards this year. And she has a younger dark headed gentleman that helps her 

Tim Chermak: Jill Lightfoot.

Sandi Smith: Jill Lightfoot. Okay. Yep.  It was her. Jill and Dan. She said it was a long time. It took her, she said, “just hang in there.”  It's that it took hers a long time to come into fruition, but when it did, it just started pouring out. And I was like, I'm going to get there.  

Tim Chermak: And we are, again, we're recording this, maybe someone is listening to this episode six months or a year into the future or two years into the future, who knows?  But we're recording this live in May of 2023.

Just five months ago in December of last year at the Platform Mastermind, you were actually frustrated. And you were like, “Why is this not working better for me? Why am I seeing other people having success and seeing all these other case studies? Why is it not happening for me?”

And yet just five months later, you're like,”Oh my God, my business is on pace to have doubled.” And now you're being featured as a success story on The Platform Marketing Show. That's the difference sometimes that just five months can make and a little more money spent, remember? Okay. Okay. So you noticeably then increased your ads budget in 2023.  

Sandi Smith: It's okay. Came home. I said, that's what he said we got to do. We got to up that spending.  

Tim Chermak: So who did you talk to at the mastermind? Maybe outside the sessions, was there anyone that you grabbed lunch with or dinner with that you had really great conversations with that were just either helpful or inspiring to you? 

Sandi Smith. Brittany. She actually reached out to me. So just market her place down here. So  we had just met right before the mastermind. And I ended up getting her condo as a listing. So I had that little connection. I went down there, not knowing anybody, but Jacqueline. So we spent some time together for sure.

And outside of that, we talked at The Mastermind. I love a few other people, but not,  yeah, she was,I love her. She's a sweetie, very helpful and raw and real. She's going to give it to you like it is. So I love that, but so do a few people for sure, but more just in the actual conference itself.

And things that you would say in the stories you would tell and  I think a combination of everybody and then this is just, it is black and white. This is what you need to do. If you do it, you're going to see success. And  you're seeing success.  

Tim Chermak: Yep. That's great. 

What made you pick  Panama City Beach? What was the connection there that you had just vacation there before? Or what was …

Sandi Smith: You would have never told us we would buy down here. Yeah. Absolutely. Me and my husband met in St. Augustine. It's on the other side of the coast but we had a mutual friend that was truly old enough to be our parent who had a place down here and she would post pictures out at Shell Island.

That's like a private beach area here. And I, and it looks like the Caribbean when the waters are calm. And I was like, where are you at? And so three years ago, we bought our first investment property here. And we've come down several times.  Like in the summer, I rented it out a good bit, but the rest of the year we came a lot.

And then just, I told my husband right away, I was like, we're going to end up moving here. And he was like, no, we're not.  And here we are three years later full time, but yeah, so that's how I would say the water sold us.  

Tim Chermak: Okay. Okay. So it was just a place you vacation to and then one thing led to another and now you actually own property there and you're there full time as an agent. 

Sandi Smith: That's pretty much the real simple, easy story of it. Is, and then really why I became a realtor was because COVID shut us down. I had to not work for five weeks. And I was like, I can't believe I live in America. And they're telling me that I can't work. This is bullshit. And and so realtors capital B and a capital S.

And so I was like, Lord, you have got to show me something that I can make the money that I'm accustomed to making, but then also not being behind the chair eight and 10 hours a day, my body wouldn't hurt.  And so I was like, there's gotta be something better. And it really fell in my lap.

Sandi Smith: It wasn't like somebody said, Oh my God, you need to be a realtor. Or we had bought and sold enough properties ourselves that I knew a little bit.  And so I don't know, it just fell into it. And then literally  I got my license in June  and really didn't.  Make my first, I didn't have my first close until October and then in February I signed up with y'all.

So just a few months left.  Later is when I found out about Platform and just knew, and so when we started putting in zip codes and this was available, I thought,  deal or no deal.  

Tim Chermak: Yeah. So you basically, again, signed up for Platform as a new agent and you weren't even living in the city you signed up for. You're like if that's available, I guess that's where I'm going to be a realtor, because that's how important Platform was to you, that you picked where you were going to sell almost based off of what markets were available with Platform.  As you look in the Platform group, like the Facebook group we have, and you've seen what some of the campaigns, maybe other realtors are doing. Are there any ads that you have in the hopper that you'll be doing in the next month that you're really excited about ads that you haven't done yet?  

Sandi Smith: What I do is, if I see some, I just screenshot it and send it to Jacqueline and she's girl, that's on your list for May or whatever, so if it is, if I do, I just send it. I'm sure that I have stuff screenshotted and sent to her and then I just refer back. We just got our email at the beginning of the month. What is the 4th? I just go back and look. So yesterday I did a couple of the pictures just because I was like, and what I'll do is I'll take a different shirt in my car and I'll just change out so that I look like, and I might throw my hair down. 

Back. So I look different and I'm not looking like the same picture all the time, a different shirt, but a different picture. I try to change up my wardrobe and just go and spend a day doing things. As far as is one sticking out to me, no, I just, I go by my list, honestly, this is what.

Y'all give us things to do. I'll just do it. But if I do see one that is interested, I like to watch Jessica LaCour.  She makes like big money.  And there's another young 

Tim Chermak: I was gonna say Jess is an example of someone who just. Jess does everything we tell her to do. Like every time we give her an ad, she's cool, I'll do it.And that's why people like that have success is they don't question. They don't overthink it. They just, when we give them marketing instructions, they just take action and they do it.  

Sandi Smith: There's another young girl, I think, that hasn't been on the Platform long at all, and she, I think she's killing it. She's doing a good little job, and I think, again, she's doing You know, if you do what you're told, you do your homework is what I say, then it works for you.  

Tim Chermak: Yep. We literally call it your marketing homework, cause that's how you have to think about it is we're not giving you ideas. We're giving you homework and you should do your homework. So awesome. Sandi, are there any last bits of advice or insight you want to share?  Whether someone is listening to this episode and maybe they're thinking about signing up for Platform, or if they've already been in Platform for years, maybe is there anything that you just want to end with any insights or anything at all? 

Sandi Smith: Sure. Mine would be for someone thinking about it, I would say if your market area is not available, see what nearby is available and don't think twice about it, just put it in your.  budget, cut out something else, cut out going out to eat, sell your car and get something that's paid for, whatever you have to do  to make it work do it.

And then for people who are paying out and not using what you tell us to do and not seeing the return, get back to the basics,  um, and do what we're supposed to do. That's what, we are paying y'all to help us grow our business.  If we don't do it, we're told, then it's not going to work. 

Tim Chermak: How many ads are you typically doing every month? Sandi, are you doing five new ads a month or seven or eight new ads? Or do you know? 

Sandi Smith: I'm upset if we don't got two things a week going out. 

Tim Chermak: Okay. So that's, you're probably averaging somewhere between seven and 10 new.  Yeah.

Sandi Smith: Like I try to, I want at least one or two of something going out each week and then if I can have, my goal is to have one listing tour a week if possible. If not, then at least three a month.  

Tim Chermak: Yeah. And that's really powerful because if you think that there's 50 weeks in a year, because maybe you take a couple weeks off for vacation or whatever, if you're averaging at least two new pieces of content, two new ads going out  every week.

So people on social media are regularly seeing two new ad campaigns from you every week. That's a hundred a year. Like a hundred different photos or videos where they're seeing you every year. So of course your business is going to grow, right? But that's why you have to look at it over the long term. Because if you only do it consistently for a month or two, that's not really enough momentum to where people are going to remember you and refer people to you.

But if you do this consistently for a year, And all of a sudden you have a hundred pieces of content to look back on. It's really not surprising that your business doubles or some people even triple their business. It's really not surprising when you look at the volume of content that you can put out.

With the Platform marketing strategy. So that's a great place to end because you can't really argue with the math of that. That's why you've become successful, Sandi, is just your consistency in regularly putting out lots of content. So the people in Panama City Beach start to view you as the expert real estate agent.

They're not a real estate expert, but the real estate expert there. That's what creating content does. So guys, thank you for listening to this episode, and we'll see you on the next one.