Try This Simple Idea to Connect with Agents
We could all use a really cool way to connect with realtors, right?
My dear friend, Paul Dolan, has a great idea to do just that. He calls it the Virtual Holiday Exchange. They tested it over the last few weeks of 2022, and it had phenomenal results.
Paul has been with our Freedom Club for eight years as a leader and coach. He helps loan officers grow their businesses with great tools and ideas and systems. He has his own mortgage branch physically located in Georgetown, TX (near Austin), but they do virtual loans in all 50 states.
Here’s his idea:
A Virtual Gift Exchange for Real Estate Agents
You’ve heard of a white elephant gift exchange where you steal gifts from people, right? Well, Paul has taken that idea and turned it into a virtual gift exchange for real estate agents. Instead of stealing gifts from each other, he and his team called a bunch of realtors and asked them to give one great idea for how to grow their business. Any idea, big or small, that would help another realtor get more deals (on the buy or sell side) in the next 30 days.
So, if I were a realtor, Paul would call me up and say, “Hey, Carl, it’s Paul Dolan with Dolan Mortgage Group at Premise Bank. Happy holidays. It’s so awesome to work together. I’d love to just pick your brain for a minute today. Do you have a second?”
If they say yes, then continue. “I would love for you to give me your best idea for growing your business. I’m an abundance mindset guy. I believe there is plenty of business out there for those of us who are using our brains and connecting with people.
If you had to get just one more deal, if your life depended on it—like maybe some pirates are going to come take your kidney in 30 days if you don’t close a deal—how would you get one more buyer or seller? Give me your best idea, and I’ll give you a couple dozen of other folks’ best ideas in return. And you can pick an idea to implement in the next 30 days.
Because my goal is to really be a true business partner with you, Carl. I really want to be by your side.”
You can make these calls to agents you know and agents you don’t know. But you want to call higher producers. A smaller, just-getting-started agent may not have a great idea. If you get an agent who sold 50 homes last year or helped buy 30 homes last year, they’ve got some ideas.
The Follow-Up Is Where It’s At
Paul told me that collecting the ideas and sharing them with all the realtors is just the tip of the iceberg. The three weeks of follow-up afterward is where the money is going to be. After you call all the agents and collect the ideas, you’re going to email the list you’ve collated to all the real estate agents who contributed. “Hey, here are 25 ideas for selling and buying more homes. I’d love to meet you for coffee!” Blast that out.
Then the next week you make a phone call, “Hey, did you get the list? I’m here to be a partner. Let me know if you need anything.”
Then the next week, you follow up again with another call. “Hey, which idea did you choose? Which one resonated with you? Which one are you going to implement in the next 30 days?”
Then the third week, what’s the phone call? “How are things going on implementing the idea you chose? Are you seeing any results?”
And you’ve got three weeks of fairly easy calls set up.
What Else Do We Need to Know to Make This a Success?
So to sum it up, you reach out and tell agents you’re doing a virtual holiday exchange. You can call them or send a text or a Facebook message. Paul said he actually emailed out a BombBomb video first to explain what he was looking for, then made phone calls.
The whole point is to show that you want to be a true partner with the real estate community. You’re here to give them value whenever and wherever you can. That’s what we’re looking for. That’s what we’re here to do.
You compile the ideas in a Word doc and blast it out via email.
And now you’ve also got 25 different ideas to work with. Now you’ve 25 different videos that you could drip on. You’ve got 25 emails you could drip on. “Hey, here’s #3 of 25 great ideas!” They know there’s going to be a #4, #5, #6. Who’s going to opt out of great ideas?
Paul said he did have an agent opt out, and he was glad she did, because she was probably somebody he didn’t want to work with anyway. If someone’s going to walk away from this, they’re probably not the right fit.
I love the idea of calling agents that I know and agents that I don’t know. A long time ago, a guy taught me a thing he called the rule of 65. Every day call 6 people you know and 5 people you don’t know. What a great, simple, easy way to reach out to people.
Paul told me that the number one idea they’ve gotten from real estate agents so far is this: I would actually make my calls. That made me smile. You know I’ve been telling people this every day for years now. We know this works. Whether you’re a realtor or a loan officer, making your phone calls works.
I love Paul’s generous spirit. He firmly believes that if everybody shares their best stuff, then this industry is going to be a better place. I believe that too.
If you want to know about other follow-up mechanisms we use in our Daily Success Plan, we’d love to map it out for you step by step. Click HERE to set up your FREE call TODAY.