E 74 | PROVEN Agent Strategies to Get You Back in Production FAST! with Mie Yamashita

[00:00:00] Suneet: Welcome back to the Reside Platform Podcast. I'm Suneet Agarwal. Today's episode's gonna be a little different. We're pulling straight from a live webinar our head of training and agent development, Carlton Utter, just ran. It's called No More Excuses, and it's about internet leads, specifically why most teams convert at 1 to 1.5% when they should be closer to 9 or 10%.

[00:00:26] Suneet: Yes. Carlton's been in the business for 26 years. He's worked with independent brokerages, franchisers, and some of the best teams in the country. In today's session, he breaks down exactly why leads go cold, what to do the first five minutes after one comes in, and the systems that separate teams converting at 1% from teams converting at 10%.

[00:00:52] Suneet: If you're spending money on leads right now and not converting them, you need to hear this. Here's Carlton

[00:01:03] Karlton: All right. Well, good afternoon and good morning, depending on where you are in the world. My name is Carlton Utter. I'm the head of training and agent development for the Reside platform, and I am excited to be on with you today doing a c- a program I call No More Excuses, right?

[00:01:22] Karlton: Because when we're talking about internet leads, it's real easy to let things get in the way. It's real easy to ignore them, to just think the next one's coming. So what I'm gonna do today is really just deep dive into some strategies, approaches, help you understand the mentality of an internet lead, help you understand the different ways that internet leads can come in, and why we need to look to take some different approaches when it comes to that.

[00:01:49] Karlton: Um, so a little bit about me before we get going. Uh, I've had the privilege of being in this incredible industry, uh, for 26 years now. Started right out of college and was doing marketing, recruiting, moved into sales, moved into management, and since then has had the privilege of moon- moving into some corporate and executive positions as well as doing consulting.

[00:02:14] Karlton: So I've been lucky enough to work with some of the largest independent real estate companies out there. I've been able to work with international franchisers, and I've been able to work with some of the, the best teams in this country and team leaders. So I know today we have a lot of team leaders on.

[00:02:30] Karlton: We have some brokers. We have some agents. I'm gonna try and hit topics that are gonna be relevant to all of you. and at the end of the day, we're gonna really deep dive into how top teams can convert, close, and scale with these internet leads. Spend a lot of money to generate internet leads, right?

[00:02:48] Karlton: This is the painful truth. We spend a lot of money to generate internet leads, and we need them in this day and age. Why? Because the days of hunting are kind of over in real estate. When I came into the business in the early 2000s, I was just talking about this with somebody else today, we didn't have social media.

[00:03:07] Karlton: We were actually still using newspapers, little tiny black and white ads where everything was abbreviated to the point where you had no idea what they were even talking about on there. Um, we didn't have social media. We, we didn't have text messaging at the level it's at now. We had, you know, our QWERTY keyboards on our little flip phones, right?

[00:03:27] Karlton: So- Our old school tactics, like w- we were picking up the phone and we were dialing. We were doing every activity known to mankind. We were doing everything we could to get out there just to meet people to try to generate leads. And then with the emergence of the internet and everything else that came along with it, social media, all those different things, we now have the opportunity to take a little bit more of a passive approach, and we can buy leads.

[00:03:53] Karlton: And there's a lot of different companies and programs out there. We'll be addressing a few of those. I'm gonna be sharing some different techniques and strategies and things that I've learned along the way from watching independ com- independent companies invest millions of dollars into an entire call center and a totally different approach to try to convert these leads and do warm handoffs, to a team that's just buying a ZIP code and has leads coming in that they need to convert, to teams that are maybe partnering with Zillow and generating leads coming in through their preferred or flex program, what it used to be called, right?

[00:04:29] Karlton: There's a lot of ways that we're generating these leads. At the end of the day, though, it's all costing us money Internet leads, they cost us money. Now, the benefit is it helps our agents have somebody to immediately start, start talking to and working with. Um, it helps agents that have moved to the area that don't have a sphere of influence that are trying to build their business, right?

[00:04:53] Karlton: it gives brand new agents in the business, uh, an opportunity to start talking to people, working with people, and building their confidence as they go. But here's the reality is that it costs us money if we don't convert them. So the typical cost for an internet lead, right, is probably gonna be somewhere around 50 bucks if you're advertising on social media or with programs that are pretty passive.

[00:05:18] Karlton: Maybe you're doing AdWords, some retargeting, things like that, that are generating you internet leads. Maybe you're investing in a landing page, your own website, doing pay-per-click with Google. maybe you're, you're generating additional SEO on your website to drive lead flow in. That's gonna be a little bit on the cheaper side.

[00:05:36] Karlton: Then you have some different luxury programs and things that you can really get involved in to try to generate those luxury leads that are coming in. And then you have a lot of the in between. You have a lot of programs where you're gonna be paying upfront to generate these leads and here's my investment every month or here's what I'm paying to buy a certain amount to start working.

[00:05:54] Karlton: And then you have programs where it's gonna be costing you when the deals close, right? You're gonna be paying a success fee or some sort of a transaction fee or referral when they close, and those could end up costing a lot more. But here's the reality is you're not paying them until it actually closes, so you're getting the conversion first.

[00:06:15] Karlton: So it all depends on am I doing the upfront fees, then trying to convert, or am I working with these warm handoffs in these programs where I'm paying the success fees? Either way, it's gonna cost you money, and you wanna maximize the conversion on that and make sure that you are getting an ROI on that investment Here's the problem is the typical internet lead, a conversion rate on a typical internet lead is, and this number constantly fluctuates, but according to NAR, it's gonna average somewhere around 1 to 1.5%.

[00:06:49] Karlton: Guys, that's very low. Very low. And if you have agents that don't have a system or you as a team leader don't have a system in place to get that conversion rate up to 5 to 10%, like, you're missing out. And it's just gonna come back to a few simple strategies and approaches to get it there. But there's some key ingredients, which I'll talk about on the next slide, that I've seen firsthand.

[00:07:14] Karlton: I've had the privilege with, with working with an absolutely incredible team here in North and South Carolina, and I've seen firsthand that if you put the right program in place, you can be converting at 9 to 10% on a pretty consistent basis every single month, right? To me, that 1.5%, that, that's an accidental return.

[00:07:37] Karlton: anyone should be able to do that. It's so low. Think about how many internet leads and how much money we spend. Do you... Are you really okay with 1% conversion? The answer should be no. The answer should be no. And the average agent response time, 47 hours. Guys, they're gone. If we wanna know why we're not converting them, it's just look at how long it's taking us to just have somebody pick up the phone and check in and call this person.

[00:08:08] Karlton: Because what happens is you get the lead, you're busy, you don't call them. You're like, "You know what? I'll call them tonight when I get home." And then you get home and you're busy, and you're doing other things, and you're like, "Oh, I'll call them tomorrow." And then tomorrow comes, you're like, "You know what?

[00:08:21] Karlton: I'm sure they already got somebody else," or, "They're not gonna be interested." Or something else gets in the way, too much time goes by, and just nobody even follows up with them. Or then you throw them into passive mode and, "Oh, I'll shoot them an email," or, "I'll shoot them a text message or throw them into my email database."

[00:08:39] Karlton: That is not going to help with conversion. So the problem isn't the lead Right? These internet leads we're getting, these people are clicking to take action. they are looking for information or they wouldn't get to that point where they clicked, right? They are clicking or getting a warm transfer because they're ready to take action.

[00:09:00] Karlton: They want information. They put in time, energy, and effort to research the market, and they're finally at a point where they wanna talk to somebody, and this lead is going into no man's land. And everyone is just trying to make excuses of why not to follow up with them, when what we need to do is make excuses to why I need to drop everything I'm doing right now, pick up the phone, and call this lead within five minutes of it coming in.

[00:09:26] Karlton: So the problem isn't the lead, it's us. And I'm gonna start this webinar today with the answer. I'm not gonna slowly build until the end and make you guys wait. I'm gonna give you guys what the answer is right now to fix your internet conversion problem, right? And to make sure that you have strategies and systems in place that you can scale your team.

[00:09:50] Karlton: If you are good at generating internet leads and converting internet leads, your brokerage, your team, it becomes a destination. People are going to wanna come work with you because they know you have, what they perceive, the good leads. There's no good lead and bad lead. It's how we work them and the systems that we put in place to make sure that we're converting them.

[00:10:13] Karlton: All internet leads are gonna convert or take action at some point, right? It's just do you have the patience, the time, the energy, the effort, the system, the strategies, the approach, everything put in place behind it to make sure that once I get that person in my database, I am working with that person.

[00:10:30] Karlton: I'm gonna stay in front and make sure when they're ready to take action, I'm the person they're gonna reach out to. Because the first person that talks to them, the first person that gets that opportunity, has a much higher chance of converting that lead So I'm starting with the answers, and then we will validate what I'm showing you on the screen right now as we go.

[00:10:48] Karlton: Number one, accountability. It's okay to hold... If you're an agent or a team leader, it is okay to hold yourself accountable, and we all should be holding ourselves accountable to this. And if you're a team leader and you're providing leads for your agents, then you need to hold them accountable. Those are your leads that you are buying.

[00:11:11] Karlton: They're your leads, and you should have expectations of conversion and how they're being worked, and what's being done to make sure that we are handling these leads correctly. And that will help you cal- calculate the ROI that you need to have on this so you know what kind of level of investment I can safely make for my business.

[00:11:32] Karlton: And I can set up goals and say, "Going into next year, this is how much profit I wanna make and how many transactions I wanna make based on what I have in place, the agents I have in place." So the accountability piece needs to be there. You need to hold yourself t- accountable to your internet lead conversion system, and you need to hold your agents accountable to a program that you want them to work.

[00:11:57] Karlton: And accountability comes back to you looking in the mirror and saying, "What am I doing to make sure I support my agents and this program to get the conversion to where it needs to be?" Am I doing one-on-ones? Am I working with them specifically? am I creating an environment that, that's inclusive to get everybody to come in and make calls together?

[00:12:21] Karlton: Am I creating an environment where everybody understands that, hey, this is an internet lead team, and we're all working together to increase our conversion, which is gonna give us... We increase conversion, we do more transactions. More transactions, more money. More money means a higher budget for us to invest in more leads.

[00:12:38] Karlton: So whether you're buying leads straight up or you're looking to convert more Zillow leads, or you're in a program where the more conversion you have, the more lead flow you're going to generate, it comes back to the team all having the same vision, the same approach, working the leads the same way. And that starts with you as a leader, right?

[00:12:58] Karlton: That starts with how am I putting this together, and how am I holding everybody accountable? And accountability's not a bad thing. Accountability is, "Hey, let's look through these leads. Where are you at? What are you stuck on? What can I help you with? What dial, what dialogue are you using?" What do we need to maybe change up the dialogue, change up the approach, right?

[00:13:17] Karlton: What follow-up program do I have in place? How are we reaching out to these people? What's the cadence of doing it? How much trainim- training am I doing in the office based on, what I need to accomplish, and how we're going to get there? And then that is all tying into the system. Like, what's your system?

[00:13:36] Karlton: How many one-on-ones are you doing with your internet lead program? How often are you doing the training? What is the dialogue that they're using when making their initial phone call out to an internet lead if they get it through email or text? What does it look like? What's your system and your approach to working internet leads if they're warm handoffs, right?

[00:13:55] Karlton: You want everybody on the team to be working them the same way, so you can constantly evaluate it and track your ROI. It also lets you evaluate, do you have the right people on your internet lead team? Guys, it's okay if somebody is not good at converting internet leads. It's an art, right? Some people, your top converters or your top agents I should say, they, they may not be the right person to work internet leads, right?

[00:14:25] Karlton: And maybe you have brand new agents coming in that don't have any habits or preconceived notions, and they're just, "Give me the dialogue, give me the approach, give me the system, and I just need to get into business and I'm just gonna follow it because I don't know any different." So that system's going to allow you to evaluate, do I have the right team in place or don't I?

[00:14:48] Karlton: And then how do I recruit to that? Recruiting is a huge opportunity, like I said before, when it comes to internet lead generation. People are either gonna fit in that system and wanna be a part of it, or it's not the right, the not, not the right system, not the right team, not the right brokerage for them.

[00:15:06] Karlton: And then the last thing I wanna share is value, right? Everyone needs to see value in the leads. nothing hurts me more than when I hear somebody complain about having to p- pay a referral or they're upset they gotta pay this much. You wouldn't have had that lead if you didn't do it. And if you don't wanna pay the referrals, in real estate you have every opportunity.

[00:15:29] Karlton: Go sit open houses, go put your own budget together, go spend your own money to generate lead flow. You have every right to do that. But this is a lead, typically a high intent lead if they're at the point where they've researched and now clicked or made a phone call and got connected to an agent. I want agents that see value in these leads.

[00:15:50] Karlton: These are high intent leads coming in from various different sources that are going to buy or sell, and you have that first opportunity. You need to understand that working internet leads, it's a privilege, it's not a right. And I want folks on my team that are excited to get these leads, they see the value in them and they wanna work 'em, and they wanna build a business that incorporates working these internet leads.

[00:16:16] Karlton: And if they get to a point where they outgrow it, that's great. I built up somebody's business on my team with internet leads, and now they're ready to move on or cut back on the lead flow. You know what that lets me do? It lets me now recruit somebody else onto the team that can fill in and take on that lead flow, right?

[00:16:33] Karlton: So I want folks that see value, and I need people that are comfortable on the phone. I show an old-school rotary phone. If you ever wanna have fun with a, with a teenager these days, give 'em an old-school rotary phone and tell 'em to make a phone call. Those things were the worst. I remember when I was young, and you get all the way around, you miss it, you'd have to hang up and go all the way back around.

[00:16:54] Karlton: But, you k- you know, we have a lot of different ways that we communicate these days. To me, the answer is pretty simple. You pick up the phone, and you have a conversation with them. It's the fastest way to lock down an appointment, build up the relationship, and increase your conversion rather than, they emailed me, I email them back, then I email 'em again.

[00:17:17] Karlton: Now three days have gone by. Just pick up the phone. "Hey, I got your email. I just wanted to reach out right away. I know that home. I'm so glad to see you guys are interested in it. I showed it the other day. It's absolutely beautiful. Tell me, what's your schedule look like tonight? Are you available at 6:00, or would tomorrow afternoon work better?"

[00:17:34] Karlton: I can't do that through a text message or through an email, but I can do that through a phone call, and I just closed 'em on an appointment rather than waiting three days to get back and forth with them to try to lock something down. So we want them comfortable on the telephone, practicing their dialogue, practicing their approach.

[00:17:53] Karlton: So let's change how you think about internet leads. Why are they different? Um, a lot of agents get this wrong right from the start. They just don't see the value in the leads. They don't understand the different approaches. They don't have the right dialogue that is going to increase that first showing, and that's the key, is we got their interest up here.

[00:18:13] Karlton: They clicked. They called. They're connected. Their interest is up here. What you don't wanna do is now bring 'em down, slow it down. These are folks that if they've, if they're connecting to you through the internet- They've done their research. They've looked, and they've spent time, you know, going through properties, and they're finally at a point where a property, like, really caught their attention that they wanna see or they want more information on it.

[00:18:41] Karlton: Their motivation's up here. The last thing you wanna do is, "Oh, well, why do you wanna do this? How long have you been looking? Do you have an agent? Are you appro-..." no. My goal is straight up. It's simple. I need to get the appointment and build the relationship. That is the goal with internet leads. Now, referrals, open houses, friends, family, sphere of influence, yeah, close them on a buyer consultation.

[00:19:08] Karlton: Internet leads are different. The approach is different because their motivation and the research that they done is different Five killers of internet lead conversion. Speed, scripts, follow-up, systems, mindset. I want you thinking about them differently. The fix. What to say, when to say it, how to track it.

[00:19:28] Karlton: Tracking. Tracking these leads, understanding how do I generate conversion? How do I move them through processes and systems? Almost every program that you buy internet leads from, what do they want? They want updates. They wanna know where you're at in the process. It's a key ingredient. Number one, it forces your agents to make sure that they are following up, checking in.

[00:19:50] Karlton: They have that system working for them. Because you don't wanna get an internet lead, call them once, email them, text them, and that's it. "Oh, well, they weren't interested. Let's just move them m- send them back. They don't wanna do anything." That's only three follow-ups. We're gonna talk about how many follow-ups it takes in order to get to a conversion, 'cause it's a lot more than three.

[00:20:11] Karlton: And quite honestly, you should be doing three a day for the first three days when you get these leads. And then we'll have some time for Q&A at the end. So internet leads are different. Their motivation's up here, they're excited, but they don't know you, they don't trust you, and they don't owe you anything, right?

[00:20:30] Karlton: So you gotta build a relationship, and you've gotta build up some trust and rapport. And to me, the best way of doing that is to get face-to-face with them. I don't know about all of you, but I am always more successful when I'm shaking hands, handing a card to somebody, building a relationship. that's where I'm most successful.

[00:20:51] Karlton: When I try to do it over the phone or through text, you're almost, like, just a key at that point. And I, I wanna get in front of them. I wanna show them the property, show them I'm the expert, build a relationshi- relationship, and start working towards getting that exclusive buyer agency agreement. Or if it's a listing opportunity, like, I wanna win that listing over, and I'm gonna do that in person, not over the phone, right?

[00:21:17] Karlton: So it's trying to build up that tr- that trust. The three to six months out, that's the average timeframe that an internet lead is from transacting Right? most buyers and leads that we're getting, quite honestly on average, are seven to 14 months out from the point they contact a realtor.

[00:21:35] Karlton: Internet leads are a little bit quicker. And actually, when I was at the Unlock conference, which is the Zillow conference that they have every year, phenomenal conference, they shared a stat, uh, last year that said 50% of the leads that go under contract every month through the Zillow Preferred program are leads that were generated within 30 days.

[00:21:59] Karlton: So think about how fast some of those leads are converting. Half of the leads going under contract with Zillow are leads that were generated within 30 days. That's quick. But not every lead is gonna be like that, and if we're constantly getting sucked into, um... If you read the book The Compound Effect from Darren Hardy, phenomenal read, very quick, easy, but he calls it the microwave effect.

[00:22:23] Karlton: It's that need for immediate gratification. And this is a trap that our agents fall in, is that we're always looking for that lead that has a briefcase full of cash that wants to go look at the luxury property, and they wanna buy something this weekend. could it happen? Yeah. It could happen in any activity in real estate, but we have to understand that we need to cultivate these leads, right?

[00:22:47] Karlton: Our job is to try to get them in properties as soon as possible, and start building a relationship, but not every lead is gonna wanna go do that immediately. So typically they're gonna be three to six months out, but we have an opportunity to speed that up through some dialogue approaches and systems.

[00:23:04] Karlton: it could be that they're shopping you. Uh, they may have worked with other realtors in the past that weren't meeting their needs. they may know some other realtors that just weren't available. Um, sometimes you get people that don't really know what they're doing, and they don't understand how real estate works, so they just reach out, and they have friends or family or other realtors they've talked to.

[00:23:24] Karlton: Well, I don't discount them. I, that is... I like competition. That's why I love real estate. Competition, I, I love, I- competition drives me and pushes me to be better. Like, if, if I know that they are talking to other realtors, that's okay. I'm not gonna just crawl in a sh- I'm not looking to make excuses not to work Right?

[00:23:46] Karlton: That to me is a challenge. "Oh, I gotta win them over." So unless they say who that realtor is, I have an exclusive buyer agency agreement with them, it's not up for three to six months, I love my realtor, there's no way I would deviate from working with them. Unless that comes out of their mouth, I'm, I have a chance.

[00:24:04] Karlton: They have a non-exclusive agreement. Maybe they don't have an agreement. Maybe their realtor isn't even in the same state and can't service them, right? I'm not giving up on that right away. I am putting every possible ounce of effort and energy into being a salesperson when it comes to these internet leads and trying to win business, especially if I'm spending money to generate these leads.

[00:24:28] Karlton: You don't want agents that are finding reasons not to work with them, not to follow up with them, right? You want folks on the team in a system where they are going to be continuously following up and taking advantage of the opportunity they have in front of them with this lead being gifted to them. slow response is instant disqualification.

[00:24:48] Karlton: Speed to lead, guys. The faster we get back to this lead, the better off we are. The one company I worked with, they built an entire inside sales associate program. Every single internet lead that they were receiving through SEO, through buying leads, through every possible avenue came in to a call center that if it was an email, within 30 seconds of getting the email somebody was calling them, and if it was a warm lead or anything being transferred in, they immediately were scrubbing them and handing it off to an agent out in the field.

[00:25:23] Karlton: Now, I will tell you that this was a program that was put in place, I wanna say, geez, it was probably around 2007, maybe even 2005. It was a while ago. And, it increased the internet lead conversion to probably about 4 to 5%, and I still think we could do better. But if you're at an average of 1.5, it's baby steps, right?

[00:25:46] Karlton: So that entire program, which they've probably improved, it's probably even better now since I was at that company, but, like, th- that's what they put into it. If we can get our agents to treat the leads the exact same way, we don't have to have that middleman or that other resource in place, we are gonna be in a great spot.

[00:26:04] Karlton: But with that call cen- center, and the reason they were so successful, it was speed to lead. Instantly, 30 seconds to an email. Every phone call, email, text, anything that came in, boom, somebody was on the phone with them talking to them, getting ready to hand them off to somebody in the field to book that appointment So speed to lead.

[00:26:24] Karlton: Most agents, this is the number, 47 hours. 47 hours before they get back to an internet lead. Um, they check on the leads when it's convenient. They don't have any systems in place that are gonna instantly notify them or pop up. And I mean, guys, what, what can't our phone, phones do these days? I'm sure that there is a way for every internet lead program that you have in place that your agents can get a notification letting them know instantly that they have a lead that they need to check in with.

[00:26:57] Karlton: they do the whole, "Well, they called about a low-priced lot," or, you know, the, it's land or whatever that, that no one's gonna want, and they're just gonna be tire kickers, and they'll call me if they're serious. I'll just shoot them an email with my contact info and the information that they want.

[00:27:16] Karlton: And they just discount them right away. Like, why are we discounting leads before we have a chance to have a conversation with them? And a- in a lot of cases, they just don't have a system. they're, they are reacting to the leads. it's real hard to convert leads higher than one, 1.5% if you don't have a system, if you don't have an approach, if you don't have a specific way that you are consistently working and following up and tracking these leads.

[00:27:46] Karlton: And they end up just losing the deal without even knowing it. They're not giving them the info they want. They're not building a relationship quickly. they're not getting back to them fast enough, and they're moving on to the next person on the list. top converters, these are the folks within five minutes, boom, they are on it, on the phone having a conversation.

[00:28:06] Karlton: Um, they have the instant phone alerts set up. They have a text template ready to fire off. They get the lead instantly. A text message goes off, maybe even a video message. "Hey, I appreciate you reaching out. I'm gonna be responding to your, your phone call or your email or your text, um, within the next 30 minutes."

[00:28:25] Karlton: Right? Something is ready to go that's immediately going out to that lead, so you're, you're creating that moment of truth with them. I share a quick story. I worked at, at Chili's, Chili's restaurant. Uh, loved working at Chili's. Great restaurant. I still love the food at Chili's. Uh, one of the few chain restaurants that, that we like to go to.

[00:28:45] Karlton: Uh, but what I learned working at Chili's is they had this thing they called, and I don't know if they still do, we're talking when I was 19 years old, so over 30 years ago. they had this thing they called the moment of truth. The moment of truth is that first opportunity you have to wow a consumer. So the second somebody walks in the door, how are they being greeted?

[00:29:04] Karlton: When they're sat at a table, how quickly is a server coming over to greet them? So as a server, I had 30 seconds from the point somebody in my section, and we never had more than three to four tables, but from the moment that somebody got sat, I had 30 seconds to just be like, "Hi folks, my name's Carl. I'll be taking care of you today.

[00:29:22] Karlton: I just gotta drop a few things off. I'll be right back." It's just to let them know who their server is, who's taking care of them, and to let them know that they're important, and that we're excited that they're there. Because I don't know about you guys, have you ever gone to a restaurant and, like, the server or the host didn't look happy you walked in?

[00:29:41] Karlton: And then they sat you in a section and you're, like, looking around. You're like, "Well, those guys sat after us and they already have their dr- and where's our... How come nobody wants to take care of our table?" Your experience is already shot. Now the food's really gotta, like, kill it in order for you to wanna come back, because you're already, like, in your mind, like, "Nah, the service is not what I want here."

[00:30:02] Karlton: it's the same thing with real estate. Speed the lead. Moment of truth. How quickly are you getting in front of those folks just with something saying, "I'll get back to you after my appointment today," or, "I'm gonna call you in the next couple of minutes. When you see this phone number, it's coming from me so you don't think it's spam."

[00:30:21] Karlton: Right? Whatever it is, it's something right away. You have a system that runs without thinking. You have habits and you have time blocks. So you know every morning I go in, I do a CRM audit. I'm looking at who I need to follow up with. I look at my touch points. I look at where I'm at in the process with each client.

[00:30:39] Karlton: I'm making sure I'm moving each client through the process, right? So I'm reporting in, and at the same time, I'm holding myself accountable to making sure that this lead is going through the proper channels and the right lead flow, right? So it's all those systems that run without thinking, right? And it's, they win more deals.

[00:30:59] Karlton: They close more clients just because they take this serious. They see value in these leads, and that's the big thing. An agent that doesn't see value. I've had folks on my team that have come and said these, these, I, "This 40% is ridiculous. Why am I paying for this?" A- and I'm like, "You're not the right fit." Y- you have to see value because if you're already discounting these leads and you're already putting them down, i- it's...

[00:31:30] Karlton: And if, if the 40% is, is a hard amount for you to swallow or whatever the referral fee may be, well then, go hunt and find a way to balance your business. But these are the conversations as a team leader that this is how you're gonna hold them accountable. They either wanna be a part of this and what you're building or they don't.

[00:31:52] Karlton: So 21 times, right? this should wake you up. a 21 time higher opportunity to qu- if you qualify a lead within 30 minutes compared to, or within five minutes compared to 30 minutes, right? So you're not losing the better agents. You're losing the faster ones. I don't know about you, but I don't want my odds to start to go down to a point where, you know, I, I'm missing out on business because I don't have a system or approach or anyone to teach me or hold me accountable to how to, how to put a better follow-up program in place.

[00:32:29] Karlton: And how to really understand the value of these leads and what they're looking for. What are they looking for in the first five minutes, right? What's that dialogue going to be? So the wrong first contact. Let's start with what's wrong. "Hey, I saw you're looking at homes. Are you currently working with an agent?"

[00:32:50] Karlton: Right? We're just, right from the get-go, we're using the wrong dialogue. And it's just gonna come down to, do your agents know what to say and what to do? If you're an agent on here, what is your dialogue? Do you even know? Do you have it set? Or have you tested different dialogues to see which one works best for you to convert the leads and tracked it?

[00:33:12] Karlton: I used to do that all the time, open houses. I probably had five or six different approaches. Everybody that came through, I used a different approach until I figured out, well, which one is getting me the most appointments? It's the same thing with your dialogue. Now, I'm gonna share a dialogue that I think will definitely lock down appointments for you, especially on warm transfers.

[00:33:32] Karlton: But with any contact, when you're following up with somebody, the- you don't wanna go right into, "Okay, how do I bring them from up here down here? How do I... Hey, I saw you're looking at homes. Are you pre-qualified for a mortgage?" Guys, why are we doing that? Keep them excited about the property.

[00:33:49] Karlton: "I saw you're looking at 123 Main Street. That's an awesome home. Let me tell you about that home. Beautiful hardwood floors. They just redid the kitchen. Got a nice fenced-in yard. Right? Great property. You available tonight or would tomorrow work better?" Do you see what I... I'm keeping them up here. You don't wanna bring them down.

[00:34:08] Karlton: So it actually gets the response, "Hey, I saw you were looking at homes. Quick question before I set up your search. Are you thinking of moving in the next 30 days, or are you really looking immediately? Like, do you wanna get out today? If so, let's go look at some properties." And what that might do is give you a little bit of idea of how much pressure you can put on them to lock them down for an appointment.

[00:34:27] Karlton: Or you say, "Hey, looks like, you know, you're interested in this home. Are you available tonight or tomorrow?" You go right for it. And that's that ALM. Guys, I've been using ALM my whole life. I never called it ALM until we s- I was with a company where we really started partnering with Zillow, and, and this is a Zillow approach.

[00:34:46] Karlton: Uh, so much so that they listen to the calls, and they'll actually rate you to make sure that you're utilizing this because they believe so heavily, and I'm a true believer as well, that this gets you instant conversion. So if you guys are doing internet lead programs and you are receiving warm transfers, this is the dialogue.

[00:35:06] Karlton: This is it. It is, "Thank you so much for calling. My name is Carlton Utter with the Reside platform. I see you're rest- interested in 123 Main Street. Are you available tonight at 6:00 or would tomorrow work better?" "Oh, well, well, I, I'm just, I'm just calling. I had a few questions." No problem. I'm gonna be happy to address those questions, but, you know, which time would work best for you?

[00:35:32] Karlton: I wanna make sure I have it in my calendar and blocked out before somebody else puts something on there. I wanna make sure I have that time set aside for you guys, whether it's to do research or show you the property. You are locking something in your calendar to do follow-up. And then they may something, "Well, I'm, I'm actually out of the area, and I'm actually calling from Jersey."

[00:35:53] Karlton: Meanwhile, I'm in Wilmington, North Carolina, one of the most beautiful places in the world, by the way. If you guys ever wanna come visit, let me know. Happy to give you the tour. But anyway, they're calling from Jersey. They're like, "Oh, I can't see it tonight. I'm in Jer-..." No problem. I'm gonna block that time out, and if you guys are interested, I'm gonna run over, and I'm gonna, I'm gonna do a FaceTime with you and do a virtual walkthrough.

[00:36:13] Karlton: I am locking down the appointment. That's it These warm transfers, these people hit a point where not only were they interested in a home where they clicked, but now they agreed to be transferred to you, and they actually picked up the phone when the transfer happened. Because a lot of these, these warm transfers, they actually, will hang up.

[00:36:33] Karlton: They'll get jittery. It's kinda like I was talking about this earlier in a different scenario, but remember the first time you went on a rollercoaster? And some of you maybe went on a rollercoaster 'cause you couldn't get past us. But, like, that first time you went on a rollercoaster, how many times did you, like, go to get in line and like, "No, no, no, no.

[00:36:50] Karlton: I'm, I'm, I'm not gonna do it. Okay, I'm gonna do it." And you get in line, and, "No, no, no, I'm not gonna do it. All right. All right, now I'm gonna do it," right? And that anxiety kinda gets in the way. Well, a lot of times people, they're being transferred. Now that it's like it's real, and it's, that handoff is happening, like they get a little bit of anxiety.

[00:37:06] Karlton: It's like, "Oh, I'm not really ready to have that talk," and they back off. And then they'll try calling them back, and sometimes they get them on, sometimes they don't. But when you get them to come over, like you wanna lock them into that appointment, and then address their questions and their concerns. But if they're coming from out of the area, which let's face it, most of our markets that we're in, we're attracting a lot of people from out of the area.

[00:37:28] Karlton: Those virtual showings are the best way to immediately start building a relationship, get some time, get that appointment locked in. Next question is simple: "What areas are you focusing on?" Or, "What was it about this property?" Or, "Are there other properties that you've seen that you'd be interested in?"

[00:37:45] Karlton: Because I've seen a stat that says if you show somebody the first time out with an internet lead, if you show them two to three properties rather than just the one, so any time you show multiple properties on the first appointment, you have a 30% higher chance of converting them. Don't know why that is, but I guess just by building the relationship and spending time with them and showcasing you're the expert and getting them in multiple properties, you have a higher percentage chance of actually converting them over.

[00:38:17] Karlton: And I'm assuming it's quicker because you're giving them more options and getting them more excited about buying a home. So you wanna just ask, "Are there any other properties you're interested in? If I know of a few other homes that match up your needs, can I get you scheduled to see those as well?"

[00:38:33] Karlton: Right? So that's the location piece. And then the final piece is the motivation. "So what's driving the move here? You know, what was it about this home? Was it the proximity to something? Are you guys moving to the area, family lifestyle? What is it? what is it that's bringing you, you know, to Wilmington, North Carolina?

[00:38:51] Karlton: Is it our beautiful beaches? Are you retiring? You know, what is it that's driving you down?" And then I'm off the phone. It's a two and a half minute conversation. I'm like, "Thank you so much. I appreciate you giving me that info. Here's what I'm gonna do is let me go make my calls. Let me go check availability.

[00:39:07] Karlton: Let me lock down this appointment so we can see it tonight. I'm gonna call you right back and let you know which properties we're gonna go see at what time." And that's it. Then when I call back, I might get into more things. Now, could this go sideways? It could. Guys, it's not gonna go perfect every single time.

[00:39:23] Karlton: You... Right? You're gonna have people to throw wrenches, wrenches into the conversation. They just have a question. You're gonna get, "Hey, are you the listing realtor?" You're gonna get, "Hey, I, I'm already working with a realtor, but I wanna see this home." You just overcome that. "Are you the listing realtor? Uh, we may very well have this listing.

[00:39:41] Karlton: I'd have to double check. But let me ask, um, you know, what was it about this home that caught your attention," right? You just keep asking questions and moving on. You don't do the, "Oh, no, I'm not the listing realtor. Let me give you their information." You... What... You maybe ask, you know, "What... May I ask why you'd be looking for the listing realtor?

[00:39:59] Karlton: Because I have all the information, if not more, and a great relationship with that listing realtor to be able to fully represent you as a buyer's agent through this, which I think you should really take advantage of." Right? It's all about just asking questions and working right through the dialogue.

[00:40:15] Karlton: LP Mama. We should all be familiar with LP Mama, right? LP Mama has been around the block a few times. But LP Mama works really well when you're following up with somebody, and you're trying to build a little bit of a relationship as you're locking them into an appointment. So the warm handoffs go right to the close, get them in the property, right?

[00:40:34] Karlton: When you are getting an internet lead through email or even text message, you may wanna have that initial phone call. Do a little bit of a mini conversation. But guys, this isn't, this isn't like a 10-minute conversation. This is just some quick info hitting on these specific topics to move the relationship along and be able to lock them in to getting that face-to-face appointment.

[00:40:56] Karlton: So location, what areas are you looking for? You know, what is it about this area that caught your attention? Do you have a price range in mind that you're looking to be in? Right? What's driving the move? Um, what's bringing you to this market area? Right? And there's various reasons, but it's good to know this.

[00:41:14] Karlton: You're starting to understand their wants and needs, right? Next up, agent. You don't ask them, "Are you currently working with another agent?" I don't wanna know that yet. So the question that I would ask is, "What expectations do you have of me as your real estate agent?" Or, "What expectations do you have of a real estate professional in this transaction?"

[00:41:36] Karlton: Right? So maybe I'm just trying to find out what they're looking for. Instead of asking, "Do you have an agent?" I'm asking them a question that could lead to them answering that question if they want to. I'm not gonna hit them with, "Hey, have you talked to a lender? Well, you need to be pre-approved before we go do a..."

[00:41:51] Karlton: No way, no way. I'll tell you guys a quick story When I was, like, 19 or 20 years old, I was working at... I wasn't at Chili's anymore. I had moved over to Outback Steakhouse. I was in the big leagues now, right? I worked at the world's busiest Outback Steakhouse in Old Bridge, New Jersey. We were on two, two and a half hour waits every night.

[00:42:13] Karlton: I thought I had made it. Now, I was still a full-time college student, but I was working full time to pay through college. I was making, like, 30, 35 grand a year waiting tables. It was incredible. And I, I got in my mind I wanted to go invest in real estate. I was thinking of moving out, didn't wanna rent. Went to the local real estate office that was nearby me.

[00:42:34] Karlton: Um, they sat me in a conference room. I was all excited. Beautiful Saturday. I wanted to know what I could afford. I wanted to go look at real estate. And an agent came in and s- put a sheet of paper in front of me. Now, this is before you could get pre-qualed like that and you do it online. Uh, literally put a sheet of paper in front of me and said, "Yeah, fill this out, mail it in.

[00:42:55] Karlton: Um, they're gonna let you know. They're gonna mail you back or call you, let you know what you're approved for, and then come let me know, and then we'll go look at real estate." And I'm like, "Well, what can we see today? I wanna see something today." "No, we, we can't show you any properties." And it completely, like, just brought me down.

[00:43:13] Karlton: And I said, "I'm never gonna do that in real estate. I'm gonna keep the motivation here. If we have to adjust, like, now that doesn't mean I'm gonna take five weekends and 50 properties before I find out if they're approved. But that initial showing, what's the worst thing that happens if they don't buy a house or if they decide to work with another realtor or they can't get approved?

[00:43:33] Karlton: What's the worst that happened? I just showed a few properties. I got to know some inventory, and now I have a reason to call people in my pipeline and tell them about a few homes that I just looked at, try to kickstart some business there. Right? So I'm not gonna ask them if they're approved. I may say to them, "Hey, are you open to speaking with a loan officer to discuss your financial positions?"

[00:43:54] Karlton: Now, here's a term I love to use, your buying power. "Hey, before we go any further, before we go see properties, did you wanna talk to somebody and learn more about your buying power in today's market?" They say, "No, not quite yet." "No problem. Let's go look at a few homes. Then we can talk more about that." But I wanna know where they're at in the process.

[00:44:12] Karlton: And then the appointment, it's not, "Can we schedule a call or a meeting?" I don't can we. No. I'm telling you, "Hey, are you available tonight? We gotta go see this home. It's gorgeous. You guys are gonna love it. Let's go see it right away. I can't wait to go see it with you." You're locking them down for the appointment.

[00:44:30] Karlton: So here are some real numbers for you. 48% of agents never follow up more than once. How scary is that? Uh, 80% of deals require five or more touches, and we are not even getting close to that. And on average, the agents only make two attempts before they quit. So 48 don't even follow up more than once. On average, agents are, are making two or less approaches to getting hold of the client.

[00:45:03] Karlton: Meanwhile, we know that 80% of deals require five or more touches, and the real sweet spot is going to be eight to 12 touch points in a follow-up approach and system approach So the question is why? Why aren't we doing it? why don't we hold ourselves accountable to this? Why don't we hold our agents accountable to this?

[00:45:24] Karlton: Why are we just throwing money out the window? Think about how much money you spend on internet leads. If you're not going to fix your follow-up plan and your systematic approach, why are you investing in internet leads? You probably could get a better ROI on putting your money in other areas. So th- this is something you need to really look at as a team leader and investigate and find out, are my agents doing this?

[00:45:50] Karlton: Am I doing it? Do I have the right approach in place to make sure I'm maximizing these opportunities? So let's look at the follow-up cadence. High intensity, day one through three. You get this lead, it's three touches a day. Hit them right away. Do not feel like you're bothering somebody. That's the kiss of death in real estate, that fear of rejection, that, "I don't wanna bother them."

[00:46:12] Karlton: Guess what? You got a real estate license. You got a license to bother people, and you're not bothering them. You're, you're helping them out, right, with one of the largest purchases they're ever gonna make. You have to look at this, you're almost like a stockbroker, right? You're helping people with their largest investment.

[00:46:30] Karlton: Uh, they reach out to you, I'm following up three times a day for the first three days. I wanna make sure I'm staying in front of them, showing them that I'm eager and I wanna work with them, getting them the information that they need, and maximizing that opportunity. The sustained approach, this is where you go to three touches per week.

[00:46:49] Karlton: You're rotating text, email, video marketing, phone calls. You're just changing it up, trying to figure out where you're gonna get that reaction from. And then you may have to move them into your pond, your long-term nurture. These are monthly touches at a minimum, right? It's just checking in. But you're not just checking in.

[00:47:09] Karlton: You're never doing, "Hey, just wanted to check in." It's, "Saw this property. It's perfect for you. Call me back. I want you to get more information on it." "Hey, rates just dropped. Your buying power went up. I know when we first spoke you said that you were looking up to 250, but with the rate drop, you can actually go up to 275, and there's a couple homes I don't think you've seen yet that I want you to be aware of that are under that 275 mark.

[00:47:33] Karlton: It's gonna keep your monthly payments are gonna be the same with your down payment. Let's talk." You're finding those warm reasons to create motivation based on what you learned in LP Mama. What's their motivation? What are they looking for? You're taking all of that information from LP Mama, and you're building these warm phone calls out of it.

[00:47:53] Karlton: So without that system, you're flying blind. "I think I called them last. Oh yeah, I think I checked in with. Oh yeah, I think they're gonna wait." It's a lot of I think. I think isn't the answer, right? I think is what your agents say if they don't know what's happening with the client, and they're, they're looking for something to say about it instead of just saying, "Nope, I dropped the ball and I didn't do it."

[00:48:16] Karlton: "Oh, I have that somewhere in my spreadsheet." if you're doing a, a daily audit on your leads and you're looking and taking notes, then it's not somewhere in your spreadsheet, it's top of mind. Now, is it impossible to know what 50 clients are up to all the time? Yes and no. it's, it could be challenging if you have a lot of things on your plate and you can't dedicate the time to that, I get it.

[00:48:41] Karlton: But, like, if you're all in on internet leads and building your business, you owe it to yourself, your business, to know what's going on with your clients and be aware of their situation so if they call or you need to call them, you can reference it. They have 200 leads, zero follow-up system. You wanna know what the top teams are doing to convert internet leads?

[00:49:02] Karlton: You get 20 leads, and if you don't convert one of the 20, you are not getting any more leads until you show me that you have completely exhausted that database and you are able to pick up the phone, have calls, follow up, have a follow-up system, and convert one of those leads. Because if you're, if you're at, at one of 20, now y- y- you're not looking so hot.

[00:49:26] Karlton: You wanna be at that 9 to 10% mark for internet lead conversion, at a minimum five, right? A minimum of 5% on your team conversion. Um, if you don't have a, a system in place, you don't know who's hot right now, right? You see the, the transactions coming in, but where are they coming from? how much do you have sitting there that could transact?

[00:49:51] Karlton: Guys, I'm always doing forecasting. When I ran an office, I needed to know, okay, how many clients do my agents have? How many are they actively working with? How many are in their database? And how many are gonna transact in the next month or two? Because I needed some predictive analytics in place. Now, a lot of these systems that you're buying leads from, they can help track that, and you have admin rights.

[00:50:14] Karlton: But the reality is, like, y- you should be asking your agents pretty consistently, "Who do you have that's going to transact in the next week and the next month?" So in your mind you're able to say, "Oh, these are how many deals I can forecast." And then you have a CRM that nobody actually uses, right? Use the CRM.

[00:50:36] Karlton: Get everybody in the CRM. A program like Follow Up Boss, and there's other ones out there. I'm just super familiar with Follow Up Boss and a huge fan of them. Follow Up Boss, everything goes through Follow Up Boss. I can see my agents' phone calls, text messages, emails. They're recorded. If there's an issue with the real estate commission, I hit a button, I got everything I need, right?

[00:51:00] Karlton: I can also go in and see exactly what they're doing. I can run a leaderboard report and see who's making the calls, who's doing the check-ins, and everything is recorded, so I can go in and see it all. Use the CRM. Use it. what you need, classify hot, warm, and cold leads. Move them through the process. Um, what is the next step and date on every phone call, every communication you have?

[00:51:28] Karlton: Put it in your calendar, next step and date. Set up your automated reminders. you have your dashboard showing pipeline health. Uh, do a five-minute CRM audit every morning. Uh, maybe you look at a system, like YLOPO is a really strong system, and again, there's others out there. But YLOPO will go in and, and put together an automated and AI-driven follow-up system to help with this.

[00:51:50] Karlton: Now, it doesn't replace what the agents and what we should be doing working our leads, but it's just an added touch point, another system in place that can help follow up and try to get these folks to commit to an appointment. stop treating all leads the same. Make sure that you have them categorized.

[00:52:09] Karlton: I used to have my A, B, and C clients in folders. Now what do we do? We can move them through the CRM, move them through our system. You got your hot pond. These are folks zero to 30 days, calling, texting, motivated buyer or seller, ready to go, pre-approved. You got your warm pond. They're one to six months out.

[00:52:26] Karlton: Those are three times a week, text, email, follow-up, invitations to open houses, uh, invitations to team events, things like that. you know, whether you're, you're renting out, doing a barbecue, renting out a, a, um, I don't know, a happy hour or something that you're inviting clients to. What are you, what are you inviting them to to try to kickstart that motivation?

[00:52:49] Karlton: And then you got your cold pond. These are the ones that just you've exhausted. You've called them 50 times, no response. They don't respond to anything. But you wanna stay in front of them, and I will tell you that when they are ready to do something, they will respond. So wrong mindset is internet leads don't work.

[00:53:10] Karlton: They're all tire kickers. I tried it, total waste, right? That's every agent that gave up after two follow-up attempts. Your agents that have good, strong follow-up attempts, good, strong follow-up programs in place, guys, they're gonna convert more leads, and they're gonna feel good about it. So the reality is that internet leads average 90 to 180 days from that first inquiry to signed contract.

[00:53:32] Karlton: You're not building the pipeline today, you're building it for the next quarter, right? Again, that microwave effect of we all want that client that is ready to go right now, those are few and far between. But when they do finally transact, guess what? You're gonna appreciate the fact, and your business will appreciate it, and your wallet will appreciate it, that you stayed in front of them for a year or two.

[00:53:57] Karlton: And when they did actually buy, you're gonna appreciate that time and effort you put in to get that commission check. And I, I see it all the time. I've worked with teams that are consistently closing people after the two-year mark. And if you're a Zillow team, you don't pay the success fee if you work the lead for over two years.

[00:54:18] Karlton: And I saw pretty consistently that teams have a lot of folks, if they work over two years, that are going under contract and closing. So it's just that mindset. Am I gonna work them, or am I just gonna look for what's next? And that what's next approach, it doesn't work. I had an agent, 25 leads She wanted more.

[00:54:40] Karlton: Kept saying, "I want more leads. I want more leads." And I sat down and I said, "Well, let's go through your list." And we looked at the leads, and I was like, "What's going on with this?" "Oh, they're not gonna go anywhere. I tried following up. They don't wanna do anything." I was like, "I'm gonna call them." And I called them up, and they're like, "Yeah, we're still thinking about buying, it's just the timing's not right.

[00:54:59] Karlton: But, you know, we're probably, like, in the next month or two, we're gonna wanna start going out and looking." I'm like, "Well, great. Do you want me to put something on the calendar right now?" "Well, no, not yet. But can you call us back in, like, a week or two? Because, you know, we, we wanna do something, and we definitely wanna go..."

[00:55:14] Karlton: "Great." Now, why didn't the agent know that? Why didn't the agent have that phone call? Because they just didn't wanna make the call. They didn't wanna follow up. And I'm like, "I'm not giving you more leads. Go back through, call all of these people. That's a conversion sitting there." Like, stop telling me you're, you're working the leads, and you're not.

[00:55:33] Karlton: The business is there. You gotta do it. All right? So the reality of the agents who commit to the long game, they own their market, and they're good with waiting it out. Um, and consistency beats talent, right? Show up when everyone else has quit. So some text scripts that work. Um, "Hey, this is Carlton Hiert with the Reside platform.

[00:55:54] Karlton: Saw you're checking out homes in the area. Quick question before I build your search. Are you thinking of moving in the next 30 days, um, or are you pushing that out a little bit into a quarter?" You're doing the assumptive close. "Hey, I'm building out your search for you. I wanna get you this information.

[00:56:11] Karlton: I just need you to respond to me." Creating a call to action. All right, day three follow-up. "Hi. Carlton at Reside keeping an eye on you, or an eye on the market for you. A few homes hit that I think you'd really be interested in. Can I send them over to you and make some appointments?" Right? Month two, re-engagement.

[00:56:30] Karlton: "Hey, inventory is shifting. Um, is buying a home still on your radar? Call me, I have something important to discuss with you." My favorite dialogue, guys, in any scenario is, "Hey, it's Carlton Hiert with the Reside platform. Have something important to discuss with you. Call me back." "Well, well, what's, what's important?

[00:56:45] Karlton: What's go-" "Guys, we have this home that just came on. I know you said you were gonna wait. I know I haven't heard from you in a month or two, but I had to, like, call people and tell them about this house. It's incredible. Can I send it to you? Do you wanna see it? Can I get you in the car this weekend?"

[00:57:00] Karlton: You're just looking for that re-engagement. Somebody says, "Just send me the listings." You don't wanna be argumentative, right? "Absolutely. Let, let me get those over to you. Do you mind if I, if I see a couple others that would interest you if I could send them, them as well? I want you to look at them.

[00:57:16] Karlton: I want you to get back to me and let me know when you wanna see them. quick question so I send the right ones. What's your price range and how many beds? the MLS refreshers refreshes constantly, so I'll set up a live search. I'll get you the text, um, the second something matches, and what's the best number to text those to?"

[00:57:34] Karlton: All right? So you're just acknowledging, clarifying, reframing, and closing, right? The ACRC approach The five-step fix, right? Putting all of this together to ensure that you're building out a phenomenal program. Respond in five minutes, set up alerts, have the text ready to go off. Use the ALM/LPMAMA approach.

[00:57:58] Karlton: Lock down the appointment. Close the appointment quickly. Classify immediately where they're at in the process, how you're gonna be working them and setting up. Is it those three touch points immediately? Where are they at? How am I moving them along and making sure I'm adding good notes and setting up a follow-up plan?

[00:58:17] Karlton: execute a structured cadence. You know, where are they at? What conversations am I having? Do I know where they're at in the process so I can report back and be held accountable to this? And stay in the game, right? Every day. Build a habit where every day you are picking up the phone and making the calls.

[00:58:39] Karlton: It all comes back to not being afraid of the phone and making the calls. That is your advantage over everybody else that's finding excuses not to, or they're afraid to pick it up. So your action plan, do this right away. Turn on lead notifications, implement ALM, classify your existing leads, set up your cadence, and text.

[00:59:01] Karlton: Test out those text messages. So real quick, just wanna open it up. Does anybody have any questions? And while I'm checking the chat for those questions, just wanted to share with you guys, um, if you're interested, you'd like to learn more about Reside, we have a full service coaching, training, recruiting support, technology support.

[00:59:27] Karlton: You name it, we offer it. Um, we are a full-blown program. We do one-on-one coaching using the CHEPLAK methodology. We have script classes. We have new agent classes. We have experienced agent next-level training classes. We have a full tech stack. We got it all, so if you ever wanna just have a, a strategy call or do a business audit with us and see if we're the right fit, please resideplatform.com, check us out.

[00:59:53] Karlton: We'd love to have that conversation with you.

[00:59:56] Karlton: If there's one thing to take away from this, it's speed wins. Five minutes beats five hours every time. And it's not always about better leads, it's about the system and processes behind them. If you got value out of this episode, hit subscribe so you don't miss the next one, and leave us a rating wherever you listen.

[01:00:17] Suneet: It helps more team leaders find the show. Thanks for checking out the Reside Platform Podcast. We'll see you on the next episode. Peace.