Running Teams in Two States Without Losing Your Sanity with Chad Leonberg

[00:00:00] RPP - Chad Leonberg - Guest: The ones that are solely doing social, I'm never very impressed. I think they look huge. You know, I'm like, oh my gosh, this agent must sell a ton of real estate. And then I look up their production and I'm like, whoa, that's not clearly getting the results I'd expect.

[00:00:15] Suneet: What is up everybody? Welcome to another episode of the Reside Platform podcast. My name is Sun Aggarwal and I'll be hosting. Show today, and today I'm sitting down with Chad Berg, team leader, badass agent, and all around good dude. Berg team over at xp. I think it's super interesting. Chad started his team originally in Pittsburgh, so then he had his team in Pittsburgh and then he moved to Florida in 2020 and rebuild from scratch.

[00:00:52] Suneet: While also having a steam cell in Pittsburgh. So Chad, I'm super excited to meet with you. How's it going, brother?

[00:00:58] Chad: Living the dream man. I'm excited to be here. Thanks for having me.

[00:01:01] Suneet: Yes. What took us so long to have you on?

[00:01:04] Chad: Probably me and my schedule and all that good stuff, but you know, it's, I think building a team in general takes a.

[00:01:12] Chad: Two markets is interesting, and then having kids at the ages of like 11 and eight is just, you know, you don't know which way is up.

[00:01:19] Suneet: Yeah. I feel you. I feel you. So you have the team in Pittsburgh, you and your wife and a couple agents, right? How many agents did, did you have down

[00:01:28] Chad: there in Pittsburgh?

[00:01:29] Suneet: Yeah.

[00:01:29] Chad: Right now we're at two. We actually have kind of gone down a little bit over the past year or so.

[00:01:34] Suneet: But How many did you have be before you left? Before I left? I'd say eight. Eight. And then what you said, man, I wanna move to Florida.

[00:01:43] Chad: How'd

[00:01:43] Suneet: it go down?

[00:01:44] Chad: Yeah, so, well, we held the eight agents for a while. I, I know the way I said that there, but we honestly, we went down to talk to somebody, to actually about joining exp Realty.

[00:01:54] Chad: And we landed, my wife said to me, 'cause every time we come to Florida, she said, don't start the Florida stuff. don't start the move to Florida stuff. That's so funny. We should move here, babe. Every time. Every time. So every day. I said it anyway, and I kind of obviously won that battle. But yeah, we came back about a month later, looked at places and another month later had sold our house and moved here.

[00:02:18] Chad: So like it was real fast. You know, we just, we knew what I knew what I wanted to make sure they were okay with it. And once we got the go ahead, we, you know, I mean, I think real estate agents more than anybody know we do what we want to do. That's why we do real estate. So we have that freedom and flexibility.

[00:02:33] Chad: So why not do it, you know?

[00:02:35] Suneet: What'd you tell the team in Pittsburgh when you decided to move?

[00:02:39] Chad: I haven't had somebody ask me that. I don't know if ever, but at least for a while, you know, I mean, honestly, obviously. So it was around COVID, so we were doing things virtually, but we had done that anyway. We were using Zoom for all meetings prior.

[00:02:52] Chad: So, you know, I told them really the day-to-day shouldn't change at all. You guys know thatyou'll see that we'll still have our huddles, we'll still have our stuff, our events. I'll still be back around for those quarterly type events that we do anyway. and I don't think anybody, I don't think that was any bit of an issue with it at the time.

[00:03:08] Suneet: Yeah. 'cause you were a virtual business like already. I haven't, I've only left my house once all week and that's to go to the freaking chiropractor 'cause I hurt my back. Work it out. So I ain't left the house all week and I still did all my stuff. So, you know, it's just prove to what you're saying that it can be done.

[00:03:25] Suneet: Right. Good.so you tell the team, Hey, I'm moving to Florida. Go down and get your Florida real estate license.

[00:03:31] Chad: It uh, well that took me like six months 'cause I just kept managing what we had up there and, you know, it's, it's a really good lesson looking back now, especially for this case here on a podcast because like.

[00:03:42] Chad: When I did it, there was fear of starting a new business in a new area where I didn't have

[00:03:48] Suneet: That is scary. It sounds like I'm all Okay, so I'm wanna do this again.

[00:03:52] Chad: Yeah, it's, I just wanted the living part, you know, I didn't wanna change the rebuild it part. I just wanted my palm tree outside my window, you know what I mean?

[00:04:01] Suneet: Okay, so the plan was to move to Florida, but still just run the team in Pittsburgh and let it and do it like that.

[00:04:07] Chad: Yeah. Well, I thought I would sell a little down here too. I just, I probably didn't give that much enough thought, to be honest with you. Like, everybody's like, oh, was that a good business move?

[00:04:14] Chad: I was like, it wasn't a business move at all. It was a personal move. And to that point, like I probably took six months to even take my test. 'cause I just stayed in comfort. You know? I just stayed in what I knew. I knew I could. We had a good ship running at the time, so I just kind of stayed in the comfort zones.

[00:04:28] Chad: And you know, in the short term, that wasn't a big deal. But I would definitely say you do that for two years, all of a sudden. Actually, Glen exp, CEO said it once and I'm sure it's probably been sentiment, but the first step in pain is coasting. You just haven't felt the pain yet, and that's a lot of what happened in that first two years.

[00:04:45] Chad: But a good lesson.

[00:04:46] Suneet: Yeah, so you say, okay, so I got the team there. Okay. I finally got my license. I'm gonna start slinging some houses and Florida. I am already an xb, so. You know, I just gotta sign up with a local office or however that works. I don't, I've never sold real estate in two states. So you sign up with the local office,

[00:05:03] Chad: that part was cool.

[00:05:04] Chad: So from, and honestly, any brokerage could do this. But from a cloud brokerage perspective, right, they're all, there's no really that like. Regional aspect. So for me or any cloud brokerage, I just logged onto the trainings they had. I actually watched a replay of the sales contract or two, you know, some of the addendums, and I felt like I got the Florida stuff real fast because I was able to just access the trainings real quick.

[00:05:24] Suneet: So now you got your license. How do you get those first couple of deals in Florida? Would you buy some leads?

[00:05:29] Chad: Yeah, that's what we did. Honestly, I had that. Oh, I'm not in sales anymore. Mentality, you know? So I had an agent or two. I actually had an agent who moved with me.

[00:05:38] Chad: Six months later he moved down. That's the whole story in and of itself. But he came here and he was kinda my first team member. I had somebody in my revenue share who was already in Tampa. I said, why don't you join the team? So I kind of just. I got two team members out the gate and yeah, we had worked some internet leads, same old stuff, you know, calling all the good old stuff that we did up, up there, but I didn't really do it.

[00:05:59] Chad: I just managed it and plugged them into the existing structure that we had and it, it did work pretty well. But I was pretty hands off in the beginning. I was just. Enjoying the Florida life,

[00:06:08] Suneet: then you're all, well, it looks like I better get to work. Sounds like by now we're in 2022 and the market got a little different.

[00:06:14] Chad: I think in, I hear it a lot in the, in this environment, you know about the getting out of sales, not necessarily being a badge of honor.

[00:06:22] Suneet: Yeah. I'm the one that says that. Yeah,

[00:06:24] Chad: it's so true. It what and what the, not so much just even from a profit perspective, but like. You just get out of touch with what matters and what doesn't.

[00:06:32] Chad: And that's what really happened for me was just like all of a sudden you're focused on things that don't really move the needle. And you know, and I finally realized, well, hey, it's time. You know, I gotta sell a couple too. That's where really everything started to shift around. We started partnering with agents who really were doing the work that the only thing that worked in the new market, you know, and

[00:06:51] Chad: We've had a big turnaround over the last, about year and a half or two years. And, and a lot of part of that is from the leadership of Reside. So it was kind of just getting real with myself on, you know, leadership and being in the trenches and plugging in.

[00:07:05] Suneet: Yeah, dude. So when did you get your real estate license?

[00:07:08] Suneet: 2014. Okay. When did I get my real estate license? 2013 or 2014 too. Okay. And back then, I mean, the market was, was. Fine. I mean, it was what it was, you know, starting new, it was good to like, you know, make a hundred wrecks your first year. but at the same time, getting out of production was a merit badge in, in like in those teens, right?

[00:07:30] Suneet: It's all anybody ever fucking talked about. Oh, I'm outta production. I'm outta production. Right? And if you hung out on the Facebook groups or were in some kind of coaching environment, everyone was flexing being out of production and it felt good. So like I got outta production. Dude, I opened up a brokerage within being licensed less than five years, not even knowing and how to pay people not even knowing about compliance.

[00:07:56] Suneet: I just opened a goddamn brokerage so it, it was maybe avoidance too, right? Is I'm just gonna do this instead. Like you said, do this shit that doesn't really matter, like open a brokerage. What's wrong with you, Suneet? Right. It turned out working out fine. However, it was a badge of honor and you know. I think even people look at me and they're all Well, Sunni, you're not in production.

[00:08:18] Suneet: Just 'cause I don't sell houses doesn't mean I'm not fucking working. More than 99.9% of the people listening to this, my production has just shifted. I've seen your work. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, yes, you do the work man sitting in this chair since 5:00 AM or But yeah, people lose sight of that and it needs to be a financial decision.

[00:08:38] Suneet: And then the other thing that happens is like you do get disconnected, and if you love real estate. Chad, do you love real estate? I do. You love houses? Yeah. Okay. See, I love business. Real estate is my vehicle. So if you love real estate, the longer you go without being in production, the less you're gonna know about it, right?

[00:08:59] Suneet: The less you're gonna be in the, in the thick of it. My mom asked me a real estate question. I don't know the fucking answer anymore. I'm okay with that because I have the support team, but if you love real estate, you shouldn't be okay with that. So when you first started having agents in both markets, what was some of the. Mistakes you made?

[00:09:17] Chad: The mistake I made is not. Taking a plan and sticking with it. You know, like, I think I just like, well, let's do, let's split 'em up. Let's do PA in Florida. let's do it all together. Let's, let's do challenge, let's do like, just all these different things and just constantly throwing new stuff at the wall to see what sticks.

[00:09:33] Chad: Instead of just like, I'll tell you what's really, really worked for us over the past 12 months is the fact that we have a consistent daily huddle. I've done it every single day, except for Christmas or something. I don't know. There was like one holiday over the past year that I've missed.

[00:09:46] Suneet: Did you do it while you were on the cruise?

[00:09:47] Chad: Oh, okay. you're right. I did not do it while I was on the cruise, but they did. They did. Yeah. Like we, our team has held a huddle every day, four days a week, Monday through Thursday for the past 12 months. And I've been there all but like two weeks. I took a vacation, one for that and one for me, and my wife's 10 year

[00:10:02] Suneet: dude.

[00:10:02] Suneet: That's commitment, dude. Awesome.

[00:10:04] Chad: and it doesn't even matter so much about, for me, like seeing the, I don't think it's the content that's mattered. I mean, there's great huddles and then there's ones that are just like, well, whatever. But it's showing that consistency and I think that it is taught myself, but them too, just the power of consistency, I think, and getting in a rhythm.

[00:10:21] Chad: So, you know, like. So going back to the mistake, it's like, yeah, just bringing something new every week. They don't know what to expect. It's just modeling, doing that in their business, whereas where just having a consistent huddle is modeling what consistency should do in your business.

[00:10:35] Suneet: Yeah, dude. So I agree a thousand percent.

[00:10:39] Suneet: I did a huddle every day, four days a week for years, I think till about till after COVID, and now we just have 'em a couple times a week. Right. But we have a training every day. So there's still that opportunities, but sometimes trainings are later. In fact, it's 10 18 on a Friday and on Friday in lieu of me doing a huddle every day and talk about some general bullshit from nine to nine 30.

[00:11:01] Suneet: I do. This is the lead meeting. Only thing I talk about on here is fucking leads, right? And I open up, so I have nine to nine 30 for buyer leads and nine 30 to 10 for seller leads. So if you aren't on there, number one, you're turned off. But I go through everybody's leads one by one from Met stage down, and ask him for enough update in 30 minutes.

[00:11:26] Suneet: So this morning in those two meetings, I went through like 400 leads. Nice. Like, what's going on with this person? What's going on with this person? What's going on with this person? What's going on with this person? What's going on with this person? So that's one of my huddles that I still do. I love that.

[00:11:39] Suneet: Because I only wanna talk about leads. Someone says, I got an SY om a bro. Wrong fucking meeting. Right? These are, this is lead meeting. This is focused.

[00:11:46] Chad: I like that a lot. And well, what's crazy when you, I've done forms of that, and when you're digging in, you're. It's crazy. All the micro stuff you see that's, that's missed.

[00:11:54] Chad: Just small things like that. SOPs have, and I'm not saying I never don't do that too, but you know, when you dive into the micro, like that's where the work is. Like that's the stuff that matters to tiny hinges, sw, swing, big doors, you know,

[00:12:04] Suneet: there's also the accountability and public participation in it.

[00:12:09] Suneet: 'cause once upon a time, I had like 90 agents on a frigging team and three managers. I was running all my other companies still at the same time. The three managers full-time job was doing one-on-ones with agents all fucking day, right? And in a one-on-one, you hide from accountability.

[00:12:27] Suneet: If it's you, if it's someone in your business, an employee, an independent contractor, you know, I'm trying not to only say an agent because I hate picking on anybody because. But if you have an independent contractor that works for you or a sales employee, they can tell you some shit in a one-on-one and then fucking, they just told you next week they can give you an excuse.

[00:12:46] Suneet: But if every week they tell you some shit, you're gonna look like a idiot. Yeah. That's important, right? So I learned that from, shout out to Gary Ashton taught me that. Good. So looking back over the last however many years, 10, 11 years, what's the lesson you had to learn the hard way about growing a team?

[00:13:04] Chad: Yeah, there's, well, and you know, I was so scared of like having to make the mistake. I never wanted to make a mistake, you know, like. I kind of had a good rise. The market rose with me too, but Right. 2014 to 2020 or 22 even. Right. It was like kind of a continuous upward, so like I was always like, I can't make that mistake.

[00:13:19] Chad: I'm gonna skip that mistake that everybody else makes. Right? Mm-hmm. When do you finally make some? I'm actually super grateful for it because it's taught me so much. But to the point of your question, I mean, honestly, it's probably the amount of leadership that's required.

[00:13:35] Suneet: Good answer.

[00:13:36] Chad: I don't think I ever really knew what leadership.

[00:13:39] Chad: there's a lot of trainings for lead generation and conversion and scripts and dialogues, but when it comes to leadership training, there's very few of it. And if there is, it's not somebody that's really modeling what they're doing. So like leadership, that's a whole nother game.

[00:13:53] Suneet: So what are some things you did to become a better leader?

[00:13:55] Chad: It's part of a big part of, it's doing a lot yourself, modeling what you expect. And that sounds simple, but like I've seen it translate so much into my personal life from this like. That's a lot of what, you know with Reside and just being around people like yourself and John and Preston and everybody.

[00:14:10] Chad: I mean, Nick, it's just, if you're not who you say you are, you get found out. And when you are who you say you are, you also get found out. And then you have way more influence. And the respect I've gotten from people outside of even the team, just from doing the things I say, modeling what I would want, you know, others to do, it gave me that ability to influence, you know, a person worth listening to because.

[00:14:33] Chad: You know, it's not fake.

[00:14:34] Suneet: Yeah. No, good answer. So you've been in this industry for 10, 11 years, like we just said. Yeah. What kind of fads have you seen, come and go, and what do you think is overrated when it comes to growing a team?

[00:14:48] Chad: Growing a team, or just business in general? Business in general.

[00:14:52] Suneet: Real estate business is fine. Yeah.

[00:14:53] Chad: I'm gonna walk through a bunch of houses and post my Instagram and think they'll have a, I don't know. I mean, you know, we're recruiting to the team. We look at people's production. I talk to agents that do various things. The ones that are solely doing social, I'm never very impressed.

[00:15:08] Chad: I think they look huge. You know, I'm like, oh my gosh, this agent must sell a ton of real estate. And then I look up their production and I'm like, whoa, that's not clearly getting the results I'd expect. But I'll talk to an agent that either. Even works like old school Rolodex and just belly to belly or calling or just doing the hard work.

[00:15:23] Chad: Just having conversations with people about real estate and their productions through the roof. So like, yeah, I mean, I'm not saying social media doesn't work. I've had a lot of sales from Facebook posts and stuff like that, but I think just the whole like. TikTok style, like a bunch of videos that are like funny and humorous.

[00:15:40] Chad: it's just, it's not resulted in much production in my experience.

[00:15:43] Suneet: Yeah. I mean there are some people that definitely kill it from that, but there are many, just like anything else, right? Like. Anna Alvarez, who I've worked with for years, like, bro, she'll make a fucking Instagram post and get an escrow.

[00:15:57] Chad: Really?

[00:15:58] Suneet: It's ridiculous. She'll post a real estate post in her stories and get an escrow not even on her feet. Right. So, and maybe I'm exaggerating, but it sure doesn't feel like it because she's top 50 in Sacramento. But so shout out to Anna, who's probably not listening, but that's okay. And she's not on there dancing or like doing anything like.

[00:16:19] Suneet: TikTok Cheesy. She's being very direct. However, like if you're, I think, you know, content works. If you are consistent as fuck, right. But also the more clever you are and the more original or the more you're following along with the trends. 'cause originality is a myth, right? You following along with the trends that are working than I think you have at shot.

[00:16:42] Suneet: Right?

[00:16:43] Chad: Well, I think there's a higher skill buffer for it, and skills obviously developed are doing it consistently for a long time. But you know, that's my point is when I look at agents that have just done the, there's, it's, there's a higher likelihood that if you work inbound leads, or even just call for sale owners expires.

[00:16:59] Chad: If you do open houses, if you do networking, you know, events or just belly to belly talking about real estate, there's a higher likelihood that you'll find sales then. Post and pray in my, in my experience,

[00:17:12] Suneet: no, absolutely. You gotta hunt. You can't just wait around.

[00:17:15] Chad: And that, that passive versus active, I think is like, yeah.

[00:17:18] Chad: it's just so, all the trends that are very passive, I'm gonna put it out there and it's gonna come to me, and I had an agent, I spoke with a lot about this at. You know, calls are my kryptonite. I can't do, I can't do the calls and Okay. You know, it's fine. what are you gonna do?

[00:17:29] Chad: Well, I'm gonna post this and that. Okay. How are you gonna capture the lead? Well, I'm a lead magnet. Cool. I like meet lead magnets. That's great. You know, what are you gonna do when they fill that out? Text them. And eventually you have to call, you have to have a conversation, you know, so I'm not saying those ways don't work, but I, I think, yeah, just like the passive side of it is what's scary.

[00:17:48] Chad: And you're leaving so much of your. And come up to chance when you're super passive.

[00:17:53] Suneet: Yeah, it's dumb. So as you grow on the team and as any business grows, sometimes that results in dilution of the culture watering down of the team culture. What are some things you found to be effective to keep culture strong as you grow?

[00:18:07] Chad: I feel like it changes every month. You gotta have a constant, like

[00:18:10] Suneet: happy hour.

[00:18:11] Chad: I don't know that those are the best for culture, you know, honestly doing the work alongside them. Doing the stuff they're doing. You know, I had an agent who thought we, we were together in the office in this case, we were doing a meeting and they thought a lead was, went with somebody else and wasn't using them.

[00:18:25] Chad: So I just went straight in the follow up boss and called that lead in front of them and said, Hey, you know, this is Chad with client success. Just wanted to see how. Such and such is doing and that, you know, you, how's the home search going? and everything was fine with that lead, but showing that just speed to action that I'm not afraid to jump on the phone with them, like that just builds up.

[00:18:42] Chad: At least in that case, it builds a culture of action taking and not passive agents. So like, and that's, at least that's the culture that we're trying to build here. I wouldn't say. We've got it all figured out. We've got a long way to go, like everybody, but it's, for me personally, it's when I get in there and get my hands dirty with them.

[00:18:58] Chad: We have a culture I like to see more than when I'm in some other zoom.

[00:19:03] Suneet: Yeah, no, that's a really good answer because you're like there working alongside inspiring, like you said, you did an inspiring action, right? Like, well, lemme just call this person. Really good answer, bro. So me and you talk about this about good old personal development.

[00:19:21] Suneet: You ever hear me talk about that, Chad? Just a little. What's your feelings on personal development and how does that play out with your. Team.

[00:19:30] Chad: It's really everything. I don't think I ever focused on it until I got in this environment, let's should say, like ever.

[00:19:36] Suneet: I didn't give you a choice,

[00:19:37] Chad: and I'm thankful for that.

[00:19:38] Chad: I really, it's always so is my wife and probably my friends and family too, man. I'll be honest.

[00:19:43] Suneet: Yeah, probably. But

[00:19:44] Chad: yeah, it's, you only grow to the level of your personal development. I'm noticing that and everything is a mirror. Everything. Not just for me, but also for our team members. Like what's in front of you is showing up.

[00:19:56] Chad: 'cause of some something that you have to go through and like, that's what's important. That whole time, I was so scared of going through that mistake. gosh, I think the 11 years in the business, you know, eight of 'em, I was just so scared to step on the wrong thing. And when I did and I started to maybe admit that I might have stepped on a few other wrong things throughout the journey.

[00:20:13] Chad: The lesson you get when you go through it, that's how you go up. But like, you have to go through the lesson. So for me it's just, it's not about going around it, it's about going through it. And where that personal development comes in is like, do you want to grow? Well then okay, then you've gotta go through that stuff so you can grow.

[00:20:29] Suneet: what's some go-tos of yours when you wanna get into some personal development? Any books

[00:20:34] Chad: Yeah, I wish I secretly like, wish I read more. I'll read a couple, I've read a couple that like, I'm not good at that for me, to be honest with you. I've just done a really good job at making sure like all my algorithms are dialed in, whether it's leaders in the real estate industry or other spaces that I follow.

[00:20:49] Chad: Like I laugh 'cause I think everybody else's algorithm is dialed in like mine. But like, it's just constant like motivation and personal development and then a random funny video, but, so you keep. Keep it light at the same time. But,so for me it's just been about who I follow, like on that scrolling side of things.

[00:21:06] Chad: That's been a really big deal. But then aside from that, it's times to reflect,

[00:21:10] Suneet: yes,

[00:21:10] Chad: you are really good at push, you know. Pushing me to do the

[00:21:13] Suneet: mornings of the gratitude, which I didn't do this morning. I worked instead. I didn't do it this morning. I woke up and I couldn't work out 'cause I'm like, I think I've said 10 times this podcast to hurt my damn back and it's killing me.

[00:21:26] Suneet: So I wasn't able to work out. So I worked through my gratitude time and just burned at the time and didn't even notice.

[00:21:33] Chad: Well, to your point, I think you gotta have like a tool belt of different ways, right? Like, I always say this, like the shower is a really good spot for me.

[00:21:39] Suneet: great spot.

[00:21:40] Chad: I have a hot tub and our pool, that's just, you know, Lasana at the gym.

[00:21:44] Chad: Like

[00:21:45] Suneet: yeah, great.

[00:21:46] Chad: Walks late at night. like go get the mail like stupid, but just, I don't know, it's, you know.

[00:21:50] Suneet: No. Yes. I love getting the mail too. Yeah, it's great. You gotta walk like, I don't know, not that far, but far enough to get some time. Right. Especially away from the kids. You know, another good time that I've been able to hit every day this week has been just laying in bed, listening to shit as I sleep, listening to like self personal development, self-development stuff as I sleep.

[00:22:12] Suneet: And I like that.

[00:22:13] Chad: I got a hit on that one because you had said that, I don't know. It was probably at this point, maybe nine, 10 months ago where I first started here. You said, you know, to get, you're looking for anywhere you can to get an edge.

[00:22:25] Suneet: Yes.

[00:22:25] Chad: And I'm like, I like that. Yeah. I would like to get an edge.

[00:22:28] Chad: So, but I'm like, my wife will never go for that stuff, so I put some over the ear headphones on and. That didn't seem to bother me too much when I was sleeping and I did some stoic meditations on YouTube. I don't snore, I guess, according to my wife, but apparently once I did that, like I didn't necessarily snore, but I had like the deepest breathing ever.

[00:22:46] Chad: That's funny. And I'm out in like three minutes cold. Like I'll put on the same episode like the next night and try to listen to it and I'm like, man, this is really good stuff.I don't know if I ever heard any of it 'cause I went out in three minutes flat, but it. You know, and I've done some nature noises and stuff since then.

[00:23:02] Chad: All kinds of different things. But honestly, I think the unplugging and just kind of like that reflection type stuff while you're gonna sleep, has actually given me such better sleep. Super important. Is it giving an edge? I don't know, butit's helping me sleep.

[00:23:15] Suneet: Good, dude. Good. What are some challenges, because, you know, a lot of people are having challenges in this market right now.

[00:23:22] Suneet: What's yours right now and how are you tackling it?

[00:23:24] Chad: Yeah, so many, but I would say like the 95 5 rule, right? 95% of people aren't in. Consideration, 5% are that you're talking to, whether it's in your database or your sphere of influence, or you name it at an open house, even like and. That feels like it's less because there's less sales, there's just less people making the move, right?

[00:23:42] Chad: So I think finding those hand raisers that can create a little more of a conversation is like, I'm obsessed with that right now, so how can we drive more traffic to the site, have more things they can do. So just finding action point looking at homes is how are we setting up. A better call list for our agents and not just so much cold call, but like calling people who are more, have more intent.

[00:24:03] Chad: So like, 'cause there's just less intent than there was two years ago, three years ago, you know? So I think that's just, that's. I mean, obviously action always wins. Like, you know, you do enough volume and that solves that. But from a team perspective, I'm like, how can I make the sales process better for them?

[00:24:19] Chad: You know, how can I make it take half the calls to get the same amount of conversation? So I'm not, that's a constant battle, but it's been harder in the past year or two than ever before.

[00:24:27] Suneet: Yeah. I, and who knows, it might get better real soon. Right? Today's. September 12th when we record this, they'll be out in a few weeks.

[00:24:35] Suneet: So let's see where rates are then. Right? Because the whole market is kind of hinging on that right now, at least by appearances. If rates drop, people still don't buy, then there's a whole other thing, but then there's a whole other shoe.

[00:24:48] Chad: Well, and it's really. I've talked to, it's such a shit. I hope that this happens because you know, I said I love real estate because I've watched real estate change my life.

[00:24:56] Chad: Sure. Not the just the business, but we've, we would buy a house two years in one day, live in it, avoid capital gains tax. And we sold a couple. Yeah, we did it like five times probably.

[00:25:08] Suneet: Oh yeah.

[00:25:08] Chad: Sick of doing it now. 'cause the renovations and now that we have kids and they're older, it's like, all right. You know, I think we're kind of good now.

[00:25:14] Chad: Yeah, for sure. But doing that, like we've realized the value of equity and you know, I think the residential real estate business is so emotional and a lot of people will complicate the heck out of a transaction. And when you have this corporate side of things that's buying up stuff for rentals.

[00:25:29] Chad: If the regular human being doesn't get out there and buy a home, even though it's harder and it's not as affordable, but they're still gaining, you know, it's an asset that appreciates as opposed to like those amazing cars.

[00:25:41] Suneet: Giving people opportunity.

[00:25:43] Chad: Yeah. Where are we gonna end up, you know, in 50 to a hundred years if people just have that, that they have that restraint.

[00:25:49] Chad: They don't have a restraint over buying a new car, but they'll have a restraint over buying a house. And so I hope that there's some opening of the floodgates for the regular person to have some more equity in their life.

[00:26:00] Suneet: Love it. Good. So, final question or second to final question. What advice do you have for people out there listening to this episode?

[00:26:07] Chad: It's an important question because. There's so much of it out there.

[00:26:12] Suneet: Right.

[00:26:12] Chad: You know, for me, there's only one thing that changed everything in my life and that was. To accept 100% responsibility for everything that's going on. Yeah,

[00:26:22] Suneet: so good bro.

[00:26:23] Chad: Not 99 though, by the way, like 99. There's a difference I've learned when you just accept a hundred percent.

[00:26:29] Chad: And let me be clear for like everybody listening, that means that even when you could make a case that it's not your fault, right? Like don't even go there. Just always stay. 'cause it's what you can control. And it's really happened for me honestly, about two years ago. That personal responsibility aspect and it's just very freeing because then you have control.

[00:26:48] Suneet: Yeah. Super good. Next question this time the final question. If somebody wants to send you a transaction or follow you on social or send you a referral or chat with you more about all the cool shit you're doing, 'cause you're doing a lot of cool shit, where should they go?

[00:27:02] Chad: Yeah, just go to Chad leonberg.com.

[00:27:05] Chad: So Chad, L-E-O-N-B-E-R g.com. I've got. Calendly Facebook, and so you name it, I just, it's like a virtual business card.

[00:27:13] Suneet: Yes. But if you book a Calendly, make sure you show up. How about that?

[00:27:17] Chad: That'd be great. If not, I'll stalk you.

[00:27:18] Suneet: All right. Well dude, Chad, thanks for sharing on the, on, on this episode. Dude, I thought it was really good actionable advice 'cause.

[00:27:26] Suneet: I know a lot of people wanna move. Right. And you talked about how scary it was and duh, no shit. It was scary. Right? So hopefully everyone listening out there, who is thinking about moving? Use Chad as an example. He got out of Pittsburgh, which I don't even know what it's like, is Pittsburgh where they got those sandwiches?

[00:27:43] Suneet: Manny

[00:27:43] Chad: brothers? Yeah. Yeah. What her Manny brothers that, well, here's the thing. We put fries on our,

[00:27:49] Suneet: I thought it was the Gino's. Gino's.

[00:27:51] Chad: No, that's

[00:27:52] Suneet: Philly. That's Philly.

[00:27:53] Chad: Let's get it wrong. Look, I think you've got Philly and Pittsburgh mixed. I think you've got Orlando and Tampa mixed.

[00:28:00] Suneet: Well, I know Disneyland's in Disney World is in Orlando.

[00:28:03] Suneet: Alright, you're learning. Yes, I know that because I've been there. I've never been to Tampa, but I know what I do know about Tampa and Orlando. There's a lot of fucking suburbs. Yeah. And that's what confuses me. It's true.

[00:28:16] Chad: But yeah, it's funny how, and there's a lot of Pittsburgh to Tampa, like similarities too.

[00:28:21] Chad: There's a lot of people from the northeast in general around here, so it's actually, they actually go well together, even though I'm like, I. A thousand miles apart with these two teams. Now,

[00:28:30] Suneet: how long is the flight when you did have to run in both places?

[00:28:33] Chad: Uh, it's two hours. A little less, I think. Direct.

[00:28:36] Chad: There's a couple. Yeah. Yeah. Southwest.

[00:28:39] Suneet: Yeah. So that's some good advice for anyone who's still listening after we try to end the show, is if you do open a business for making a direct flight, that's quick and not painful. That was part of the calculation. Oh, that was part of it. You're all okay.

[00:28:52] Suneet: We're gonna move to Tampa because, okay, good. Well, that's important. So good. Glad you're able to share that. Everyone listening, make sure you hit up Chad on his socials and hit him up on his website and send him any referrals in Tampa and Pittsburgh, and hopefully you got something out of this episode If you did, awesome.

[00:29:10] Suneet: How about you let us know. Leave a comment, give us a thumbs up or share with a friend and make sure.

[00:29:16] RPP - Chad Leonberg - Host: to come back for our next episode of the Reside Platform Podcast. See you later.