The BER Months Mistake That Costs You a Whole Quarter with Karlton Utter

Karl [00:00:00] I want you guys to start thinking about if you're really looking to fill your pipeline, take your business to another level, you have to start thinking about, what am I doing to get in front of potential sellers? Now, here's the challenge, is that for you to get in front of sellers, you have to spend money to make money.

Karl You have to be marketable. Sellers wanna work with realtors that are good at marketing themselves and marketing other properties- Mm-hmm ... which means that you have to have a budget,

Lauren Here is the truth that nobody in real estate wants to say out loud. An empty pipeline is a choice. Maybe not a conscious one, but every day you did not pick up that phone, and every week you skipped out on your lead gen block, every month you told yourself the market was slow, that was a choice. And today we're gonna talk about how to make a different one Welcome back to the Reside Plat- Platform Podcast.

Lauren I am Lauren Holland, director of client [00:01:00] experience at Reside Platform, and I have someone with me today who I genuinely believe is one of the best in the business when it comes to agent training and coaching. We have Carlton. Hi, Carlton.

Karl Hi, Lauren. How are you doing?

Lauren I'm good. I'm good. I'm excited to be back here with you.

Lauren So, you and I, before we hopped on, we were just generating some, you know, what would be the most, impactful things to bring our team leaders, operators, agents today. and you had some really insightful comments, so I'm just gonna let you take it from there, and we are gonna get into it.

Karl Yeah. I feel like the last time we did a podcast, like, we hit on so many different topics- Yeah

Karl and just got caught up in this great conversation, and now what we need to do is kinda unpack some of that and break it down and get hyper-focused on a few topics for today. There you go. Again, Carlton Utter. I'm the head of training and agent development here at Reside, and super excited to be back on the podcast.

Karl And today what I was hoping we could talk about is I heard something, the other day that I'd never heard it before, but the ber months. Yeah. Somebody mentioned, "Oh, the ber months are coming," [00:02:00] and I was like, "The ber months?" The ber months. And then I realized, oh, you have September, October, November, December.

Karl And in my mind, being as creative and nuts as it is, especially when it comes to real estate, started thinking like, "Well, the ber months in real estate are when our business gets cold," right? That's like- Yeah ... we h- we hit the spring market, we load up- Yeah ... our pipeline fills up, we put over all our deals together.

Karl They all close in August. We go on vacation, and then it's, "Oh, well, the kids are going back to school. I'll kinda get back into it in September." And then-

Lauren Mm-hmm ...

Karl we don't really go all in, and then we get to October, and, "Oh, no, October has got Halloween. I can't work. It's got, I gotta get the candy, and we gotta- I can't work.

Karl get through Halloween." And then, "Oh, and now we got Thanksgiving, and now we have all the December holidays. And you know what? I'll just wait for January 1st, and I'll start my business over then." But here's the problem, is [00:03:00] you need right now to just continue to load up and fill that pipeline because as everything closes, you can't be out of business in the ber months.

Karl You can't let- Yeah ... your business get cold, right? You need to keep filling that pipeline. You need to have closings, and even more important than that is you have to set up closings that are gonna hit in January, February, and March. Mm-hmm. Because if you start your business over January 1st- That means you're prospecting January 1st.

Lauren Yeah.

Karl You're spending a month or two loading up on people that you're gonna be working with that aren't gonna go under contract for another month, and then aren't gonna close for another two months, and you're right back in that vicious cycle of only having closings in May, June and July, which is, you know, a terrible trap to fall into.

Lauren Yeah, and it's just not sustainable. I just think to myself of, okay, if I'm only working three months a year, that's great if we are making seven figures, [00:04:00] right? Or more. but, you know, how are you sustaining your business? How are you putting food on the table for your family if you're only working three months a year?

Lauren Now, everybody's circumstances are different. We're not talking about part-time agents here, we are talking about full-time in the business, this is your career. and I think heading into June is the most perfect time to be talking about this because we're heading into the burn months or we're heading into the holiday season, where a lot of people start to make these excuses.

Lauren So Carl, where do you want to take this first? how do you wanna unpack this?

Karl Well, think, first, I think you need to look at where are you at in your business right now.

Lauren Mm-hmm.

Karl Right? Whether you're a team leader, whether you're an agent, whether you're a brand new agent. You need to like stop and look at, okay, where am I at and where do I need to be?

Lauren Mm-hmm.

Karl Right? So everybody should have a goal, right? We get into real estate, we like working with people, but we like making money working with people. And i- in order to obtain anything, you first have to write it down. You have a much higher chance of [00:05:00] accomplishing anything by writing it down.

Lauren Mm-hmm.

Karl And you should have a goal written down of where you wanna be, and then you need to know, well, how many buyers and sellers do I need to have closed at this point of the year?

Karl How many transactions do I have to have closed to be on pace to hit that number? And I think everyone has to just stop right now, and just say, "Look, we're at the end of May. We're in the summer months now. we're kind of past that spring market, now we're getting into closing season. Where am I at?"

Karl Mm-hmm. Because if you're not where you need to be with your business, you have one job and one job only. It is to fill your pipeline. Mm-hmm. It is to get out there and introduce yourself and talk to as many potential buyers, sellers, just as many people in general that could also- Mm-hmm ... create referrals for you.

Karl Like if you're not talking to five to 10 people a day, right? You're gonna have a really hard time building up a pipeline and being in business.

Lauren Mm-hmm. So really what I hear you saying is diagnose [00:06:00] before you prescribe. So name it. You can't fix what you haven't named. So that is really setting the goal.

Lauren So ha- and, you know, as we approach, you know, quarter three is in a couple days, right? I'm doing the math, right? and then we're heading into quarter four after that. and then that's when you get into your business planning. So, and ask yourself honestly, when did you have, when did you last have a real pipeline conversation, not a touch point, but a conversation?

Lauren So, you know, three co- questions that I like every agent, to answer is how many people did I talk, to this week about real estate? How many people in my database don't know that I'm still in business? And when was the last time I asked for a referral directly? So, this is when we get into like strategy, right?

Lauren Of on social media. Don't be a secret agent. Do, does your sphere know that you're still in real estate? do they know that you're hosting open houses? Do they know that you're [00:07:00] actively, out in the community and trying out new restaurants and just being relational, whatnot? if not, Aunt Sally might go buy with somebody else 'cause she forgot that you're in the business.

Lauren Right. And she doesn't see you being professional either. She's gonna go wanna work with professionals. So once you give yourself that, validation online and the,I can't think today, like of words. But once, once you give yourself that credibility, that's the word I was looking for, online, people are gonna start to wanna work with you more

Karl Absolutely.

Karl And it, it also is gonna come back to kind of looking at how strategic are you with your business-

Lauren Mm-hmm ...

Karl right? Because if you're just, if you don't have that number in mind and you're like, "Well, I'd like to do 50,000," and you're kinda hoping for stuff to come your way, and you're just sitting, going on your email every morning like, "Boy, I hope Warren gives me some leads," you know?

Karl It's, that is not a good way to- Yeah ... run your business. I like to tell the story that I was a [00:08:00] hunter, right? I woke up every day and I knew exactly what I needed to accomplish that day to move my business forward.

Lauren Mm-hmm.

Karl And if my manager came and said, "Hey, I have an internet lead for you," I was like, "Great, that's gravy."

Karl Or if I was in the office and somebody walked in and it, I was the next person up to talk to a walk-in, like that was gravy. I wasn't banking on that.

Lauren Mm-hmm.

Karl And unfortunately, if you're running a business on hope, it's real challenging.

Lauren Yeah.

Karl Right? and I like hope. I'm a very optimistic person, but you can't- Me too

Karl run a business powered by hope, right? Yeah. It's nice to let those things kinda come your way when they do, but the reality is, like, when I wake up, what do I need to accomplish today? Mm-hmm. How am I going to talk to 10 to 15 people? How many business cards am I gonna hand out? What activities am I going to do?

Karl Who am I following up with? Who's on my list? Yeah. Am I in my CRM first thing in the morning going through and saying, "I need to follow up with this person"? Like, running your business [00:09:00] on purpose, right? Not-

Lauren Yeah Say that again, running your business on

Karl purpose Running your business on purpose.

Karl Right? I'm not the first person- Who loves that? ... to say that, but it, nothing hits harder than recognizing, like, am I doing this as a hobby or am I really, am I working this job? Is that- Right? This is my job. I am my own boss. I have to hold myself accountable. Well- And so when I wake up, like, what do I need to do today to run this business successfully?

Karl And it can't be, "Oh, I'll get to that tomorrow. Oh, I'll get to that tomorrow."

Lauren Yeah.

Karl It's like, you know, I fall in the same thing. I like to work out, but then I get out of these... I start- Mm-hmm ... to fall out of it a little bit, and it's hard to get back in. Mm-hmm. And it's like, "Oh, I'm still in decent shape. I haven't put on that much weight.

Karl I can have the ice cream and wait another day." But every day you delay, it's just making it harder to get back into it.

Lauren Mm-hmm.

Karl Right? So you've gotta make a conscious decision one day and be like, [00:10:00] "Look, this is my approach. I am all in," and just go with it. Like, when I go to events, I'm pretty jealous of the folks that are like, "I'm up at 5:00 AM and hitting the gym because I have to keep doing it."

Karl And I'm kinda like, I don't know, when I'm at these events, like- ... it's go. I'm like, I need a little bit of downtime. I don't know if I'm getting up at 5:00. But, like, those folks are the top producers because- Yeah ... they're regimented, and they follow that schedule, and they hold themselves accountable to- Mm-hmm

Karl everything they do. And look, I keep myself in good shape, don't get me wrong, and I hold myself accountable to it, but it just, it says a lot for you when you- Yeah ... can hold yourself to that level and have that set schedule every day of prospecting, following up, meeting people, doing the activities, preparing for the weekend, just knowing what you need to accomplish.

Lauren Yeah. And Suneet, I remember when I first started working with him, he called it the win the day list. So what do you have to do personally and [00:11:00] professionally to win every single day? So, if we wanna look at the full week ahead, you know, we can do kind of that, It's not gonna be the 30,000 foot view.

Lauren Let's do, like, a 5,000 foot view. Right. So you have... let's break it down into monthly, weekly, and daily goals. So in order, if you set up, let's just use an easy number. you're gonna do one deal a month, okay? So that's 12 year, deals in the year. How many calls do you need to make based off of who you are as an agent in the season you're in of experience, how many calls do we need to make?

Lauren How many meaningful conversations do we truly need to have that day? or, if we're... So if you're like, "Okay, I'm gonna do one deal this month," okay, two should really be the bare minimum, but we're gonna do one deal this month. How many people do you need to talk to? So that is how many phone calls are you gonna make?

Lauren how many in a week meaningful conversations are you going to have? And then you... Are you getting what I'm saying, listeners? Yeah. I know Carl's getting it. But, [00:12:00] breaking that down then into your win the day list of, okay, I need to make, what would you say, like 50 phone calls, 20 phone calls that day?

Karl So I tend to break it down. I do it by how many people do I need to talk to get to one transaction.

Lauren Yeah.

Karl Right? And then you can look at it a couple of other ways. So I look at it for every 100 people you meet or talk to, you will do one transaction. Yeah. So if you wanna do two transactions a month, you need to talk to 200 people.

Karl Yeah. Now, that doesn't mean

Karl 200 phone calls. that means I have to introduce myself to 100 new people-

Lauren Mm-hmm ...

Karl to get to one transaction. So it starts to snowball a little bit, because I break it down this way. For every 100 people you talk to, 25 will have a more in-depth conversation with you about real estate. Mm-hmm. Of those 25, seven to eight will wanna take the relationship and the conversation to the next level.

Lauren Mm-hmm.

Karl Right? So meaning I have now about seven to eight [00:13:00] people for every hundred that I talk to or introduce myself to.

Lauren Mm-hmm.

Karl I have about seven to eight that are going in my CRM that I'm now actively working Of the seven to eight, you will have two to three that immediately want to start looking at real estate or want to talk to you about selling a home- Mm-hmm

Karl which will turn into one transaction, right? Sure. So that's how I break it down. And then what I do is I look at, all right, so as I'm building my pipeline, ideally if you wanna fix your business-

Lauren Mm-hmm ...

Karl start with fixing your pipeline.

Lauren Yeah.

Karl I don't start with, "Oh, I have to pay my bills," and, "Oh, I have to get ready," and, "Oh, I need a website," and, "Oh, I have to go-

Lauren Overwhelming

Karl on social media," right? Just start with-

Lauren Mm-hmm ...

Karl how many people am I talking to and how many people am I putting in my pipeline? Because yes, you'll meet 100 people. If I- if you went out this week and you handed out 100 business cards- Mm-hmm ... in the next seven [00:14:00] days, I am telling you, you will get one immediate buyer.

Karl Right. If you put yourself out there and talk to 100, that's one immediate buyer. Right. Now that means that of those 100, seven to eight are going in your CRM, you're actively working, and two to three might be taking immediate action.

Lauren Mm-hmm.

Karl And so now as that s- that kind of c- compiles, right? Mm-hmm. Now you're in month three or four, you're up to 30 or 40 people you're actively working.

Karl Yeah. And you're also continuing to get the immediate business. Do you see what I'm saying? Like-

Lauren Yeah ...

Karl it builds if you stay on, like, if you look at it as, "This is what I need to do to keep my business moving forward. every week I need 100 people, or every month I need 100 people," and then it builds.

Karl So you're always getting that one for every 100, but then those seven to eight in the CRM are turning into the- Right ... additional business that's getting you to two or three a month on top of that additional 100. So before you know it, you're at five or [00:15:00] six transactions a month just by really focusing on talking to people and filling your pipeline.

Lauren I love the way that you just broke that down because y- we both heard it's simple, not easy. So it's, the way you just described it, that's it, guys. Like, that's how you get to three to five deals a month, and thinking bigger, and not just stopping, I mean, if you're doing... How many deals, Carlton, would you say is okay for you to go take those two months off

Karl that we were talking about before this call?

Karl But how many deals- Yeah, we were talking about, you know, if it's, if you're at a point, like, you hit August, you know, everything closes in June, July, August. People go on vacation in, in, in August.

Lauren Mm-hmm.

Karl but look, I don't think anybody should take that much time off. You should all definitely... You need time off in this business.

Karl You, you have to celebrate your success, right? You should take a nice vacation. Spend- Spend time ... your hard-earned money on what you need to. I mean, be fiscally re- responsible for your decisions, right? [00:16:00] Don't be like- Mm-hmm ... "Well, I didn't make that much this year, but Carl said to go on a nice vacation." But, you know, take some time yourself, but don't fall in that trap of, I spent all this time putting these deals together, and I stopped prospecting-

Lauren Yeah

Karl and now the deal's closed, and I'm out of business. And, oh, geez, it's gonna be so hard to build that pipeline back up. I went through that. My first year, I worked my tail off prospecting all year, and I got to the point where I remember it was, like, August and September, and I had, like, four or five deals I booked.

Karl I had a bunch of listings. Mm-hmm. I was closing everything. And the end of the year came, and everything closed out, and I'm like, "My pipeline's empty." Like, I stopped- Yeah ... following up and working people. I stopped prospecting because I thought I made it, and everyone's just gonna come to me. Mm-hmm. And I had all these checks coming in, and then I had to spend the next three months...

Karl Now, I ended up having a phenomenal year, but when I tell you I spent three months doing nothing [00:17:00] but prospecting-

Lauren Mm-hmm ...

Karl and it got me to 24 transactions, which I basically did with only 75% of the year, right? If I would've spent the burr months- ... doing nothing but prospecting and- Yeah ... having closings in January, February, March, and not spending those months just prospecting, I might have done 30-plus transactions that year

Lauren Was that one of your first years in business?

Karl My second year. Your second year. I did 24 transactions.

Lauren So it is possible everybody. and this is just like one of the most common things that we see all the time too. I was talking to one of my friends locally, not part of Reside, and I was just like, "So how's it going?" We always talk about real estate.

Lauren And she goes, "I just had four deals, at once, and that was just so much." And it's, I was like, "Yeah, it can be a lot." That's normal for a w- especially if you don't have leverage and you're doing your own administrative work. Everybody has their own goals. and, we talk about their own [00:18:00] version of success.

Lauren So it's okay if you wanna do five deals a year. It's okay if you wanna do 75 plus a year. we're here to get you to that. However, the only way to get to these deals is by filling your pipeline. And so I love what Carl's saying is we get so, so busy, and then we just stop doing the thing that made us busy because then all the deals close, and you're like, "Oh, dang, the money's running out," or, "I gotta..."

Lauren Like, my why is, I gotta get my kids braces so they don't have crooked teeth, you know? how are you gonna pay for all these life expenses? Life is expensive. I think we can all agree on that. So one thing I do wanna get into is, you know, how we segment, segment, building our pipeline into our database, your CRM, into three buckets.

Lauren So Carl, let me know if you, agree with this. Hot, talked to in the last 30 days. Warm, talked to in the last 90. And then cold, they haven't heard from you in over 90 days. Yeah.

Karl Yeah. I always had my A, B, and C.

Lauren Yeah.

Karl Like, I'm so old school, I carried a [00:19:00] briefcase that had folders in it, and the folders were, A were like my hot, ready to transact, daily conversations.

Karl the B folder, those were my once a week- Mm-hmm ... if not twice a week. And then I had my C, which was my long-term follow-up plan.

Lauren Yeah, your nurturing. Well, didn't you say, too, we were talking about the MLS one day, when you had a, was a, you had a pr- the MLS was an actual book?

Karl Yeah, I, it, so, I- Sorry ... it was a computer system when I started, but I had heard stories.

Karl Realtors told me- Oh ... that they used to get a book that came, the MLS came in a book. Mm-hmm. It was delivered I guess like once a week, and you had realtors, like, if they had a buyer for that property, they would rip the page out so nobody else in their office could see the book. And then I also, heard, too, that you used to have, brokers, their agents would have CBs.

Karl Have you ever heard of a CB? A

Lauren C- yeah, like the, is it that, that the floppy disk?

Karl No. Oh. That's a CD. So we, they released them called- No,

Lauren I know what a CD is. I'm talking about, [00:20:00] like, the square floppy disk.

Karl No, it's like, in your car, truckers used them. They were called CBs. They were, like, built-in walkie-talkies in the car.

Karl Oh. Right? On a certain radio frequency. Okay. And so you could talk to other truckers. And my grandfather had one that he used to use, and the people on the road would tell you where the cops were and things like that so you wouldn't speed past them. But brokers used to use it because you were always out in the car showing properties with your clients.

Karl And so when a new listing came on, they would announce it over the CB- That's cool ... to all of their realtors like, "Hey guys, we got a hot one just came in. Make sure you show it today." And it's so interesting that how technology is now, you wouldn't even think that it was so crude back then on how you would let people know about new listings.

Lauren That's so fun. I love these kind of stories. It's so good. okay, so we've covered the mindset piece of it and the why. So I- And to really wrap this up and take action, 'cause that's what we like to do- Mm-hmm Tell us a few things, few [00:21:00] activities I should say, that actually move the needle forward so that you can build the pipeline back up.

Karl Yeah. So I'm big on the activities, right? So let's talk about where you can find buyers and sellers. Mm-hmm. And the first thing is you wanna think about what kind of business you're running, right? A lot of us work with buyers. Why? Because the activities and the things that we do to attract buyers are typically free.

Karl Mm-hmm. So I want you guys to start thinking about if you're really looking to fill your pipeline, take your business to another level, you have to start thinking about, what am I doing to get in front of potential sellers? Now, here's the challenge, is that for you to get in front of sellers, you have to spend money to make money.

Karl You have to be marketable. Sellers wanna work with realtors that are good at marketing themselves and marketing other properties- Mm-hmm ... which means that you have to have a budget, and that's why a lot of us, like, we kind of fall into business with buyers because we get the internet leads handed to us.

Karl They're primarily buyers. We do open [00:22:00] houses, which are free. Those are primarily buyers. A lot of the referrals we get are buyers. I want you starting to think about if you have a full pipeline and you're doing business, now you could take a percentage of that money that you're earning, you could either take a flat amount, 300 bucks, or you could take 1% out of every commission, put it back into your business to try to market yourself to get in front- Yeah

Karl of potential sellers. 'Cause when you're filling your pipeline, guys, it's not just about who you're immediately meeting, but you also have to think about, okay, this is why marketing is important in real estate, right? You are a marketer And so what am I spending money on? How am I getting my name and information out there in order to now self-attract people that are gonna go into my database?

Karl So when you start spending money, right, now you have a system that's driving people into you. Mm-hmm. So you're out handing out your 100 cards, it's not absurd to think you could have another 50 leads [00:23:00] self-generated if you're spending money the right way. Mm-hmm. So when it comes to that, are you farming, right?

Karl And not just sending a postcard once a month, you're doing multiple touch points in a community so you are showcased as that true neighborhood expert, right? Mm-hmm. So if somebody in that neighborhood is thinking of selling their home, are they thinking of you first and are you getting that opportunity?

Karl That could be a handful of ops every single month, right? Are you putting your name out there, in any local publications, right, that might be out there? Are you sponsoring local events? Are you doing community events?

Lauren Yeah.

Karl Right? Which you typically have to pay a little bit of money to have a booth and a table that's branded by you.

Karl Mm-hmm. But then you're doing a $100 raffle or giveaway, and on the raffle tickets you're asking people for your name, number, info, but then you also have check marks saying, "Hey, are you thinking of buying a home, selling a home, renting a home? Are you looking to invest?" Right? So now you're weaving- Yeah

Karl those community [00:24:00] events with a bunch of potential leads, and you should be calling everybody anyway. Open houses, not just for buyers, but also for sellers. How are you using social media, and are you spending money to advertise on social media?

Lauren Mm-hmm.

Karl Right? Are you being smart about that? Now smo- social media marketing and advertising, quite honestly, is probably the easiest on your wallet,

Lauren Yeah

Karl or the bang you get for your buck when it comes to that. Mm-hmm. And let's face it, that's where a lot of people are. So, you know, perception is reality. You wanna fill your pipeline? People need to think that you're out there, whether you only sold one house or 50, right? Yeah. If people are seeing your name and info, they're gonna be reaching out to you.

Karl Yeah. So handing out cards, open houses, I mean, the old school way of doing things, it's still the best way. Mm-hmm. Just get out there and meet as many people as possible.

Lauren Mm-hmm. Well, yeah, Brooke and I were talking about [00:25:00] earlier getting back to the basics, because we'd been talking a little bit more about things that, we used to do on our real estate team.

Lauren So we talked about events yesterday. A few weeks ago we talked about reviews and referrals. And,I just had this aha earlier, and I was... I said to her, "You know, we used to do all this, and I feel like we've gotten so far away with it because our minds are on so many other things." And I feel like that is so relatable to a lot of us, just as humans and agents out there.

Lauren Because it's like, okay, you're really busy now. Now you have to meet an inspector. You have to maybe go to the title company, think about the closing. Am I gonna get them a closing gift? Like, all these things. Like, oh, did we meet the deadline? Like, when is all this stuff? Especially if you don't have the leverage and a transaction coordinator doing this for you, your mind just forgets to...

Lauren Or no, maybe not forget, and I don't even think you're necessarily being lazy by not doing what you need to do, but this is why we need to carve... And, what I mean by that is picking up the phone or door knocking, open houses, like, just doing the activity to get the business. but I think that's why it's [00:26:00] so imp- important for you all to at least have a number on your win the day list of I need to talk to this many people.

Lauren I need to add this many people to my database this week. I need to have at least two appointments set this week, and actually meet those two appointments. So if you don't have two appointments that you meet every single week, that is just what's gonna convert you to at least those one or two deals.

Lauren We need to reevaluate, how we're doing. So a full pipeline, 90 days from now starts with what you do today. Mm-hmm. And the agents who never have an empty pipeline, Carl, like you were saying, like, those top producers earlier, they're not necessarily any smarter. They're just more consistent than many of the

Karl others.

Karl they tend to become better at marketing- Yeah ... because they have a bigger budget to pull off of. It's real hard, and I'm very sensitive to the fact that if you're new to the business, like, you're already... You've spent months getting licensed. You spend money on, you spent money on testing, and now you have to join the [00:27:00] MLS, and association fees, and maybe errors and omissions, and all of these things.

Karl And y- you're in the red. Like, you're in the red for a while, and then they add up, right? So if you don't have your first closing for three or four months, by the time you get that check, you're almost lucky if you break even.

Lauren Yeah.

Karl Right? So it takes a little... A- and I'm sensitive to that. But when you have a full pipeline, it makes it easier that if a deal falls through or a buyer- Mm-hmm

Karl decides to rent, you're not living and dying off of that one transaction because you have enough people that you're working with to kinda keep your business moving forward. And- Mm-hmm ... what I find is the top producers and your team leaders have gotten to that level that they're at because they've built up a very strong, sustainable, and strategic business, that they know how much they can put back in the business and what the return is going to be on it.

Karl Mm-hmm. For a lot of us, you know, to take $1,000 out to invest it into an [00:28:00] ad or to sponsor something- Right ... without knowing what you're gonna get out of it, or it could take three to six months before you get anything back- It's hard for us to do, but here's the reality is, like, if any one of you gave me $1,000 right now-

Karl I guarantee I could turn that into at least one transaction. My average commission take-home is probably around 45 to five grand. Mm-hmm. 4,500 to 5,000 in my market area easily, right?

Lauren I would- Without split or with split? Without,

Karl After split- Okay ... my take-home would probably be around 4,500 to five grand, right?

Karl So I would spend $1,000 all day long- Mm-hmm ... to make 4,500 or five.

Lauren Mm-hmm.

Karl And that's kind of the way you need to think about what you're doing, but it's hard at first because there's so much unknown. there's a term I like to use that you really need to have, right, in real estate, and if you don't have it, you gotta figure out where it's gonna come from.

Karl You gotta watch [00:29:00] some videos to get you fired up or listen to some rock music or whatever- Mm-hmm ... it takes to get you going or drink five cups of coffee. But you have to be internally driven.

Lauren Yep.

Karl You have to be internally driven. Mm-hmm. You have to want it. If you don't want it, it's real easy to be like, "Well, I, I did my couple of calls today.

Karl What else are they gonna tell me to do?" Right? Yeah. The folks that make it, that have success are the ones that have goals, that are like, "Look, this is my job." Like, I gotta fill... I... There is easily, guys, I'm telling you, there is easily s- enough stuff to do in this business to fill eight hours a day.

Lauren Mm-hmm.

Karl and if you're not doing that, or you're just doing eight hours a day without a real plan or understanding of what that time investment is gonna get, like, you need to know your ROI, your return on investment. Mm-hmm. It's not just what you spend. It's not spending 1,000 to make five. Your time is your [00:30:00] money.

Karl Like, every minute you spend doing something that's not productive for your business is costing you. It's costing you. Mm-hmm. It's like owning a restaurant and having- five menu items, and four of them nobody's ordering, right? Good point. And if they're costing you money, eventually what are you gonna do?

Karl You're gonna take those four off, and you're gonna replace them with something that's going to sell and make you money, right? So you guys need to really look at the activities and what you're doing and what you're spending your time on that is creating production for you.

Lauren Mm-hmm. And,

Karl and that's why for me, it's being in front of other people.

Karl It will 100% always be the best way for you to build your business, is what can I do to get in front of live people? All of us are better at selling ourselves in person- Mm-hmm ... shaking hands, than we are over the phone trying to sell somebody on something.

Lauren No, totally. Totally. Okay, I feel like [00:31:00] you just crushed that, and we need to leave it here because it...

Lauren That was just so good, and they... So Carlton, with the last action item, what I'm hearing is get out in front of people. How many people would you like our listeners to get out in front of in the next 70 days?

Karl I feel like if you could do 50 a week, right?

Lauren Mm-hmm.

Karl So that's 200 a month.

Lauren Calculable.

Karl Figure out a way, how do I meet 50 people? You do an open house, you get 10. That's 10 right there. during the course of the week, right, how many people are you meeting? And this is where you can't be afraid to tell people you're in real estate. Mm-hmm. especially you're gonna be upset when somebody comes to you, and, you know, your kid's friend that you see every day and talk to at pickup, right?

Karl They list their home, and you're like, "Didn't you know I'm in real estate?" And they're like, "I had no idea." Yeah. Like, that's on you, right? And at that point you're kicking yourself like, "Why didn't I tell him?" Yeah. Like, you gotta just... you can't be afraid to tell people you're [00:32:00] in real estate, and it's real simple.

Karl "Hey, here's a card. If you ever have any needs, questions, if you know anyone-" Mm-hmm ... thinking of buying or selling, please think of me." Mm-hmm. It doesn't have to be a... It doesn't have to... you make it worse in your brain thinking about it. Like-

Lauren Mm-hmm ...

Karl and they're gonna take your card, and they're gonna support you.

Karl They're gonna support you. Mm-hmm. So I would say if you can get 10 a day, 5 days a week, that's 50, right? You go to your dry cleaners- Mm-hmm ... here's a card. You go out to eat, you leave one for your server. You go to Target, don't go to self-checkout. Go to the one where the poor person's bored out of their mind- It's crazy

Karl always swiping, and you say, "Hi, how are you? How are things going? By the way, here's a card if you know anyone looking to buy or sell." it just has to start to become habit, handing out cards and talking to people. For sure. Do community events Get involved in, in, you know, supporting Little League or, you know, how can you support if your daughter does dance?

Karl Like, how can you sponsor events for her dance [00:33:00] program or his dance program? you just gotta always look at the opportunity to brand yourself and let people know that you're in real estate

Lauren That is so good. That is so good. Carlton, any last minute thoughts before we jump off?

Karl Be internally driven. Yes.

Karl Just want it. Want it and tell yourself, "I- I'm going for it." Like, if your business is at a point and you're like, it's not where I want it to be" Mm-hmm ... like, really just take some time and stop and think about it. Because we get into real estate, especially new agents, and it's go. We just gotta get to that first commission check.

Karl I'm doing everything they tell me.

Lauren Mm-hmm.

Karl And we don't stop and strategically plan out the type of business that we wanna operate and run. A- and it's also, I, now that doesn't mean don't push your comfort zone, right? You also have to look at, if I'm not where I need to be, and I haven't been calling FSBOs, and I haven't been doing farming, and I tried open houses [00:34:00] and I really didn't go all in on it, like, now is the time to be like, "I'm changing my approach-

Lauren Yep

Karl and I'm doing it." And you may not be good at it at first. None of us were. I don't know anyone that the first time they called a FSBO they got the appointment and they were like, "That was great, I'm gonna do more of these." That's true. Usually we stumble, we get yelled at, we have to, we don't know what to ask.

Karl We have a hard time. and even these days, like-

Lauren Yeah ...

Karl I grew up with the telephone. My wife and I were telling our kids the other day how, like, the phone rang and you didn't know who it was. That's crazy. You just went and, but you had a social obligation to pick it up.

Lauren Yeah.

Karl Right? Even if it was your favorite TV show, you couldn't record it, and you had to wait till the summer for reruns, but you gave it up because it was so important to go answer the phone.

Karl Like, but now, like, we're better at texting- At a

Lauren time ...

Karl and greetings. We're not as proficient on the phone. So i- for a lot of us it's gonna take a little while to learn how to interact and build our dialogue and learn how to- Mm-hmm ... ask questions over [00:35:00] the phone. and the key is just you're always just getting to that point- Yeah

Karl where I wanna meet face-to-face.

Lauren Yep.

Karl Right? I wanna meet face-to-face. don't sell yourself on the phone. Use it to start to build a relationship, and then when you're close be like, "You know what? I can't wait to see your home. Are you available tonight or tomorrow?"

Lauren Mm-hmm.

Karl But don't be afraid to tell people you're in real estate.

Karl Get in front of as many people as possible. Yeah. Start marketing yourself a- and just get out there and take that internally driven approach of I want this, I'm gonna make it happen.

Lauren Mm-hmm. We love hunger. Stay hungry everybody.

Karl Yep.

Lauren Awesome. Carl, as always, so good to have you on here. I'm very excited for the next one.

Lauren So anybody, if you have some, anything else you wanna ask Carlton or do wanna learn more about, drop a comment, reach out to us. we're here to help. Okay. Thanks everyone. Thanks everybody. [00:36:00] Bye.