February 5, 2025 • 32 mins
In this episode of Real Estate Distilled, host Scott Hack sits down with industry veteran and real estate coach Neil Mathweg to discuss why so many agents struggle, and how to fix it. Neil, the founder of Agent Rise Coaching, breaks down the shocking statistic that 82% of agents didn’t close a deal in 2024 and reveals the key missing piece: a clear, consistent plan.
He shares his proven Three Pillar approach... Sphere of Influence, Chase, and Attraction & explains how agents can stop spinning their wheels and start gaining traction. From building a strong referral network to leveraging open houses, online leads, and social media (especially YouTube), Neil provides actionable strategies to create sustainable growth. He also dives into the importance of engagement tracking and day blocking to maintain momentum and avoid the feast-or-famine cycle that plagues so many in the business.
Whether you're a new agent, a struggling agent, or simply looking to refine your approach, this conversation is packed with valuable insights. Plus, get a sneak peek into what’s in store at the upcoming Real Estate Distilled Conference in March 2025, where Neil and other top industry experts will be sharing even more business building strategies.
Tune in now and start building your roadmap to real estate success!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Neil Mathweg (00:00):
We're gonna break all of the all of this down at
(00:02):
Distilled and help agents getthat clear plan because it is
it's the reason why agentsaren't flourishing is they don't
have a plan that they need towork according to, and they're
just spinning their wheels. AndI I wanna fix that. I I have the
plan for you, and I wanna helpyou.
Announcer (00:18):
Welcome to the Real Estate Distilled podcast. Get
ready for a smooth pour oninsights on sales, marketing,
lead conversion, and technology.All shaken, stirred, and
perfectly balanced to help yousucceed in real estate. Mixed.
(00:40):
Just for you.
Scott Hack (00:43):
Hey, Scott. Hey, Liz.
Liz Hack (00:45):
Ask me how I'm doing.
Scott Hack (00:46):
How are you doing?
Liz Hack (00:47):
Actually, I'm kinda bummed. I, I'm really bummed
that I I was sick on the daythat we recorded with Neil
Methweg for the Real EstateDistilled podcast, but, no. It's
gonna be a good one.
Scott Hack (00:59):
Yeah. So those that are not familiar with Neil, Neil
is the, owner and, coach atAgent Rise, Coaching, and Neil
is in, Fort Myers, Florida. AndNeil is one of the OGs, real
estate, podcasting. So Neil hashad, a podcast. I was looking at
(01:20):
the episodes and I referencedthe number in our discussion,
but he's got 400 somethingepisodes, that he's done.
And, he's actually, you know,gone through a rebrand. It used
to be called the Onion JuicePodcast. So Yeah. Yes. Neil Neil
has been at it for a long time,and he's also, he's one of our
(01:40):
friends and, basically, family.
Liz Hack (01:43):
He's called the OG of the Real Estate Distilled
Conference.
Scott Hack (01:46):
100%. Yeah. And when I think about, people in general
so Neil's, not just a friend.He's actually he's one of my
favorite people.
Liz Hack (01:57):
He's pretty awesome.
Scott Hack (01:57):
Yeah. He's pretty awesome. So we're excited to get
into this and have, Neil sharehis expertise with everyone.
Liz Hack (02:02):
And we can't wait to see him in March. It's gonna be
so good to see him. Where are wegonna see him at?
Scott Hack (02:07):
We're gonna see him at Real Estate Distilled on
March 5th 6th 2025 in here inLouisville, Kentucky for the
7th, annual Real EstateDistilled.
Liz Hack (02:17):
In 8 years.
Scott Hack (02:18):
Stupid. Stupid. Stupid COVID. Yeah. So but yeah.
So we're gonna see Neil. Sowithout further ado, Liz, do you
wanna introduce Neil?
Liz Hack (02:26):
Yeah. You guys have have a great day and enjoy this
podcast interview with NeilMethweg.
Scott Hack (02:34):
We're here today to, dive into, one of, I believe,
Neil's probably passions. Neiland I have known each other now
for, I think, 7 or 8 years, andNeil has been, a regular
occurrence at, Real EstateDistilled. So he's part of our
our family and part of thecommunity. So really excited to
dive into this conversation withNeil today. Neil, how are you
doing?
Neil Mathweg (02:54):
I'm great, Scott. It's so great to be here. I'm
fired up for this new RealEstate Distilled podcast, and
I'm proud of you for getting itgoing. It's this is gonna be
great.
Scott Hack (03:02):
Yeah. You know, so it's it's a process. So we're
running a couple of minutesbehind because I I was still
learning the equipment, and Ijust got through having some,
some tech issues. But, we'rewe're we're powering through and
we're we're making it happen. Sowe're definitely going to, have
progress and and not perfectiontoday.
So appreciate everybody comingon this journey with us. Neil,
before we hit the record button,you and I were kinda talking,
(03:24):
and you shared a stat with me,which, I found pretty, pretty
amazing. And, I don't rememberthe exact number, but it was
somewhere around 80%.
Neil Mathweg (03:33):
Yeah. 82% is what NAR is reporting that did not
sell a house this last year.
Scott Hack (03:39):
82% of agents did not sell a house in 2024.
Neil Mathweg (03:44):
Yes.
Scott Hack (03:45):
Wow. That's, that is certainly a very eye opening
stat, and I guess that, youknow, there's obviously multiple
reasons why that took place.We've got, you know, everywhere
you turn, there's discussionsabout interest rates. So rates
were not that they're high andthat, someone can't afford it.
It's just they're not what we'reused to.
(04:08):
And then there's a certainpercentage of the population
that has a, let's just say, asub 4% interest rate, and it'd
be a pretty big difference insomeone's monthly budget to move
up in house or change theirhousing situation to take a
almost 7% interest rate. What doyou think that to speaking
(04:30):
directly to those 82% or someonethat doesn't wanna become the
82% for 2025, what do you thinkthe agents need to concentrate
on?
Neil Mathweg (04:39):
I think the biggest thing that's missing out
of these agents' lives is aclear plan. Like, they don't
know what to work on everysingle day. They have ideas, and
they have a lot of ideas becausethere's so many different ways
to do this business. So theyhave a lot of ideas, but they're
not putting them to practice.They're they're maybe trying
(05:01):
them 1 month or maybe 2 months,and they're not seeing the
results.
And so then they go trysomething else. And that's the
typical shiny object syndrome,and they're just constantly
spinning their wheels. And ifyou ask an agent, what do you
work on every single day to moveyour business forward? I bet you
the 82% don't know the answer.And the the the 18% that is is
(05:24):
flourishing, they know theanswer.
They know what to work on everysingle day and and and and what
their plan is because, you know,consistency is everything. But
if you don't know your plan, howdo you stay consistent?
Scott Hack (05:40):
Yeah. So, in in agent rise coaching your
company, you have the 3 pillarsthat you, coach on and, the
chase and the attraction and thesphere of influence. And I've
guessed that, you know, sphereof influence is something that
is pretty easy for people to tounderstand and and kind of work
on. There's a lot of differentways even to work with their
(06:00):
sphere of influence. And withthe the chase and the attraction
pillars, what do you think issomething that of those pillars,
which is the most important foran agent to start with?
Neil Mathweg (06:13):
Yeah. Definitely. It's sphere of influence. You
know, the the 3 differentpillars are sphere of influence,
influence, chase, andattraction. And that's what I
that's what I want to helpagents define as their clear
plan.
Like, once they know what theirplan is, they can start working
according to that, and they canput that into a day blocker. Now
to back up a little bit and lookat the 3 different pillars and,
like, what is the makeup of the3 different pillars? The first
(06:36):
one is your sphere of influence.And to answer your question,
that one is the most important.I every year I pull agents and I
ask them, where did yourbusiness come from?
And far majority, maybe 90, 95percent of them will say that
majority of their business camefrom Sphere and from personal
referrals. So that's why theSphere of Influence is the most
(06:57):
important pillar and the onethat's up in the very beginning
that you need to work on. Andand and so we have the agent
rise steps, not to get into thistoo much here, but we have the
agent rise steps, and the firstthree steps are around building
that sphere of influence pillar.So you wanna build a database of
around a 100 people, and theseare people that you know. These
are your friends, your family,your past clients.
(07:19):
These are your peeps. Then youwanna send an announcement
letter and then follow theannouncement letter by mailing a
monthly newsletter. And that'sthose first three steps to
building that sphere ofinfluence builder. And then
there's more to it. You can youcan add, you know, VIPs, you can
add Popeyes, you can add thankyou cards, you can add, I mean,
(07:39):
the list goes on of the things,you know, deal of the week and
CMA a day.
There's so many things that youcan add to your sphere. So start
your plan out and get thatsphere of influence pillar
dialed in, and it'll be a partof the majority of your business
as you go. Then the secondpillar is the chase pillar, and
that's meant to launch yourbusiness. That's meant to get
you out of your comfort zone.It's meant to go chase business.
(08:02):
It's like open houses, onlineleads, FSBOs and expired, circle
prospecting, door knocking,whatever it is that's gonna make
you go out and get it. Anotherone is is is different niches.
So working with first time homebuyers, working with seniors,
that's the chase pillar. Andthen the 3rd pillar is the
attraction pillar, and that'sbest known as social media,
(08:24):
YouTube, blogging, anything thatyou can do to attract people to
your business.
Scott Hack (08:31):
You know, going back to, the sphere of influence
pillar and just in general,because this is something that I
was actually having aconversation with in my own
personal business. What Inoticed with my sphere of
influence is that I think that Iwaited a couple years too long
to really, work a little bitmore heavily on my sphere of
influence. And the reason, whatI'm trying to say about that is
(08:54):
I recognize that a lot of mysphere of influence is very
comfortable. They are in housesthat they're probably going to
be in for the next decade.They've done the move up
process.
We were able to take advantageof low interest rates. They're
in that house that they, like Isaid, they could be in it for a
decade, maybe even 2 decades,but those are also the people
(09:15):
that are my past clients.They're the people who know me.
They like me. They trust me.
I need to figure out a betterway of leveraging my sphere of
influence to do introductionsfor me and use my sphere of
influence as leverage to newbusiness. Not necessarily doing
business with my sphere ofinfluence. Can you talk a little
bit I know that newsletterobviously stay on top of mind as
(09:36):
part of that component, but I'dlove to hear you expand on it.
Neil Mathweg (09:39):
Yeah. This is the area where the newsletter does
come into play because what Ihave learned is that if somebody
sees you being referred, theynaturally will begin referring
you as well. And so we have athank you section that I
recommend putting in thenewsletter. Thank you. Thank
you.
Thank you to the people thatrecently referred me, and it
(10:00):
just breathes life into morereferrals. The other component
to this that I think is the bestway is client events. When you
are putting on client events andyou are thanking them in this
fashion of having this big eventand inviting everybody and just
showing your love and yourappreciation for their business
(10:22):
and the business that they'vereferred to you, that just
breathes life into morereferrals. And then the 3rd, and
this I take out of JeremyAllen's playbook because he's
really good at this, and this isan area that I I'm not not I was
not strong in in my days. ButJeremy Allen's an agent in
Virginia Beach, and Jeremy is sogood at asking for referrals.
(10:44):
When somebody is raving abouthim, they, you know, like, this
transaction was just amazing.You were fantastic. He will ask
them, hey. Can you do me a favorand leave me a 5 star review?
And can you do me a favor andrefer me to your friends and
family?
Because that's how I've built mybusiness. And when you plant the
seed in the beginning of yourtransaction of saying, hey, my
(11:05):
you know, I I wanna make surethat I'm doing a great job for
you. My whole business is builton upon referrals. And so I
wanna make sure that I'm doing afantastic job for you. What is
the most important thing to youto make sure that I'm hitting
that mark?
And by asking that question,you're planting the seed in the
beginning of the relationshipthat referrals are really,
really important to you. And ifyou get into a position too
(11:28):
where they're thinking about,you know, choosing a a discount
broker or a discount, you know,service, compared to your
service and you're wondering,you know, like, why would they
go with you versus the cheaperversion? They're gonna go with
you because you care so muchabout their business because
it's built on referrals. And ifyou don't satisfy them and take
care of them, they're not gonnabe referring you. If you're not
(11:49):
happy with the discount service,well, they have priced their
whole business based on pricing,so they're gonna get more
customers.
So it's in conversations likethat that you're constantly
planting the seed that referralsare important to me. And if you
never mentioned referrals andyou never asked for referrals,
you will not get them unlessthey really go out of their way
(12:11):
to help support you. So to me,it's all in planting those
seeds, constant reminder. Andthe newsletter is just another
layer of that. Right?
It's the constant seeing it inthe mail month after month, year
after year of all the peoplethat are referring. And you're
exactly right. The people thatare comfortable in their home
and are not going anywhere, youhave to be looking to them for
(12:32):
referrals and any investmentopportunities if they were to
invest. But a lot those peoplethat are comfortable don't wanna
invest too. So, so you know?
And and don't give up on yoursphere no matter how comfortable
they you you think they arebecause they have a lot of
family. They have other friendsand family that are moving, and
you could be in the right placeat the right time.
Scott Hack (12:52):
So, Neil, real quick, I'm curious. One of the
things I've always heard, andI've not not done a good job
with it personally, but, whatare the opportunities during a
transaction to ask forreferrals? So you were saying
that, you know, Jeremy does areally good job of during the
process. So I'm guessing thatmost people are waiting till the
transaction's done. They're atthe closing table or it's a week
(13:14):
later, and then they're askingfor a review or a referral.
But there's a lot of times wherepeople's emotions are running
really high. You know, thatcontract gets accepted. You
negotiate, you know, repairs.There's a lot of other
opportunities to ask forreferrals that we probably
should be taking advantage of.Any off the top of your head
that you think we shouldleverage?
Neil Mathweg (13:31):
To me, it's just whenever they're raving,
whenever they're excited,whenever they're super happy,
and they're already telling youthank you so much for everything
that you've done for me, that'sthe trigger to to say a great
thank you. You know, in a waythat you could repay me or a way
that you could help me is is toto to give me referrals. And
anybody that, you know, that'sthinking about buying some, I'm
never too busy for yourreferrals. As cheesy as that may
(13:53):
sound, I'm never too busy foryour referrals. It really
resonates with the consumer, andit helps them think of you when
it when the time comes.
So I I'd say I'd say in thatplace, I also love it at the
listing appointment and at thebuyer consultation appointment.
Just by asking them, you know,you know, customer service is
the most important to me. Whatcan I be doing that is so good
(14:16):
that you would be referring meto your friends and family? And
I used to even take thatquestion into a 3 part segment
where I would ask them, hey.Let's build an ice cream sundae
together.
What is the one thing that is soimportant to you that I gotta
make sure that I'm doing throughthe entire transaction so that
you would refer me to yourfriends and family? And they'll
tell me, usually, it'scommunication. I want great
(14:37):
communication. I'll say,awesome. Well, the communication
is the ice cream.
Now let's put some chocolatesyrup on top. What else is
important to you beyondcommunication? Getting my home
sold fast and for top dollar.Alright. Great.
Well, what's the cherry on thetop? You know, and then and then
you just you're you'reexhausting that question so much
to hear what's most important tothem, but in the same sense to
(15:00):
hear what's important to them sothat you can be the agent that
they're looking for in additionto the agent that they start
referring. So I love it at thatplace, and you can do that both
in the listing appointment andin the buyer consultation
appointment. And then throughoutthe entire process, one of the
systems that we teach at agentrise is called matchmaking, and
it's where you you set yourcustomer up for the automatic
(15:21):
searches. They're gonna get theautomatic listings and
notifications, all of that.
But by you going the extra mileand calling them and saying,
hey. I saw this new listing thatjust popped up, and I thought of
you. Or I saw this coming soon,and I thought of you. All of
that helps create the ravingfans. And again, that helps you
like, I had a I had a situationwhere I had was working with a
buyer, told, found them a house,called them and told them I saw
(15:44):
this house and I thought of you.
The guy right next to him thatwas working at the same position
as him right next to him said myagent doesn't ever call me, and
that's how I ended up getting areferral, just by going the
extra mile and creating thoseraving fan types of moments. And
when you do, you become soreferable.
Scott Hack (16:04):
I was actually just checking my podcast app because
I just listened to an agent riseepisode where you were talking
about matchmaking, and I thinkdid you do one in December that
was about
Neil Mathweg (16:13):
I did.
Scott Hack (16:14):
Yeah. Yes. So, I think it was this one here, the
agent rise podcast you droppedon December 10th. Stop losing
leads, the follow-up system realestate real estate agents swear
by episode 460, by the way.Whoo.
460. That is crazy, as we are on
Neil Mathweg (16:32):
track. Over there.
Scott Hack (16:33):
Yeah. You've been doing it a minute. So, for those
playing along at home, we areon, this is gonna be episode
number 4. So you you can have usbeat by just a just a smidge.
Neil Mathweg (16:42):
A little bit. A little bit.
Scott Hack (16:44):
So, yeah. So going, you and it's funny you were
talking about the sphere ofinfluence about people, also
being investors. And I haveactually, had some conversation
with my lenders about, you know,potentially positioning people's
houses as an investment and thenkeeping that and not necessarily
selling it because the wholething is like that interest rate
(17:07):
actually does help them buy morehouse even on the next property
if they keep it because thenthey get a blended rate with
that total buying power andborrowing power essentially. But
going back to our 82%, say we'vegot a good system with the
sphere, what would be the nextplace where people should kind
of branch out?
Neil Mathweg (17:29):
Yeah. If the next pillar is the chase pillar, and
the chase pillar again is meantto to launch your business. It's
meant to get you out of yourcomfort zone. It's meant for you
to get your engagements going.And the 82% of agents that did
not sell a house last year, Iguarantee they're not tracking
(17:51):
their engagements.
And we always recommend that youtalk to 30 to 60 people a week,
and the chase pillar is one ofthose areas that can generate
those that many phone calls. Webreak it down in other areas.
You know, you got your sphereand your your attraction, and
you also have matchmaking thatalso creates a lot of phone
calls. But the agent that thatdoesn't have a Chase pillar
(18:14):
dialed in and the agent that isnot reaching 30 to 60 people a
week is the agent that's in thatcategory of 82%. If you're
reaching 30 to 60 people a week,depending on your goals, like,
if you wanna sell a 100 homes ayear, I get that number closer
to 60.
If you wanna sell 20 to 30 homesa year, keep that number right
around 30. So depending on yourgoals, you wanna be between
(18:36):
3060. And you might be askingyourself right now, where the
where am I gonna get thesecalls? Where am I gonna how am I
gonna call 30 to 60 people?Well, if you set your eyes on
your 3 pillars and specificallythe chase pillar, if you were to
just call for sale by owners,you would have 30 calls a week.
No problem. If you were tocircle prospect around a current
(19:01):
house that just sold and hadmultiple offers, and now there's
2 buyers that missed out thatare also looking for a house in
that neighborhood, and you calland tell everybody that in that
neighborhood and circle prospectaround that, you can get those
30 calls in in no time. And thepeople that are really good at
calling, 30 is like what they doin a day. Right? So it also
(19:24):
depends on the warmth of yourleads.
Right? So if your if your chasepillar is open houses, your
leads are gonna be warmerbecause there's already been a
face to face. If your chasepillar is online leads, they're
gonna be much colder. If they'regonna be Facebook leads, they're
even colder. Right?
So so how do we how do we warmthem up? How do we make those
better engagements? And then howdo we get our engagement numbers
(19:48):
up? That's the that's thechallenge. So agents that are
not selling any homes, when Iasked them how many engagements
they had last week, they can'tanswer the question.
They don't even know. They don'teven they they because they're
not they don't have a plan thatthey're working according to
that's giving them theengagements. So the bottom line
to all of it is stayingconsistent and having the number
of engagements, but you use the3 pillar plan to help you with
(20:12):
that.
Scott Hack (20:13):
Tracking is probably the the one thing that has been
discussed through our themehere, but that you're just now
really kind of hammering about.How do, successful agents track
that activity? I mean, you go tothe gym well, I don't go to the
gym, but some people go to thegym, and they're writing down.
(20:34):
Like, they did, you know, 10 10curls. They did, you know, bench
press, and here's what theirnumbers were.
And and they're tracking theirprogress and doing how many sets
they did. You know, the activitythat we're doing for real estate
isn't any different. We've gottatrack it so we can see those
leading indicators of thatactivity to see results. Are you
(20:55):
a, like, a paper person?
Neil Mathweg (20:57):
I'm a paper person. I got the old binder in
the yeah. Yeah. Put the put theengagement tracker in there.
It's got it's got 60 slots thatyou can fill in.
So we put the engagementtracker. Anybody listening to
this episode, if they wanna copythe engagement tracker, we can
get it to them. No problem. Soyou have an engagement tracker.
You have one for every week.
So you wanna start out go go getyourself a nice binder. I got
(21:19):
myself a nice binder here, but Igot other stuff on. I'll I'll
knock my pile down if I grab it.But I got a nice binder, and in
that binder, I have 52engagement trackers, one for
every week. And then I also have12 lead trackers, one for every
month.
What are the difference? So theengagement tracker is my day to
day engagements. I'm working ongetting 60 engagements a week.
(21:40):
That's 5 that's 12 a day over 55 days. Right?
Work 5 days a week, get 12engagements. So, so that's gonna
get me and I and there's a box,and I just write in there every
person that I engage with, Iwrite their name, and I count
that as a point. Now anengagement is gonna be a phone
call, an engagement is a text,an engagement is a Facebook
(22:02):
message. You set your own rulesand you keep them. I have some
agents that that have a pointsystem where they if it's a face
to face, it's 3 points.
If it's a phone call, it's 2points. If it's a text message,
it's one point. So just createyour own system. Here's the key.
There's no right or wrong way ofdoing it.
It's, it's all about competingagainst yourself. Right? So just
(22:24):
create a system that you competeagainst yourself. Call it your
engagement tracker. Work ongetting 30 to 60 engagements
every single week.
And then the lead tracker isevery time you get a new lead,
somebody raises their hand.Neil, I wanna buy a house. Neil,
I wanna sell a house. They godown as a lead. No matter the
level of interest, you don'twanna pour in a bunch of cold
leads that you got Internetleads.
(22:44):
Those you don't wanna fill inthe lead tracker. But the people
that raise their hand andthey're definitely interested
and you have a a decentconversation with them, you put
down as a lead and you and youfocus on your leads. Now in this
area here, you're competingagainst yourself. So you got the
engagement tracker. Last week, Igot 43 points.
This week, I wanna beat that.Last January and January 2023 or
(23:07):
January 2024, I got, you know, Igot 16 leads in that January.
I'm gonna see if I can beatJanuary of last year. And so now
you're competing againstyourself around your
engagements.
Scott Hack (23:19):
Not just competing against yourself too, but,
you're actually identifying gapsbecause if you only have 3
contacts this month, you know,that 30, 60, 90 days, you are
going to have a trailing impacton your, your revenue and it's
not going to be as high. So, Imean, I think that's one of the
things that, a lot of people arenot prepared for in this
(23:42):
business, even when they do sellsomething, is that up and down
process that takes place whereyou you get a full pipeline, you
have something that's, you know,going well, and then you're
spending all your time doingtransactions and fulfilling
those. And then, literally, youyou put yourself out of business
by taking care of thosetransactions, and then you're
starting over again.
Neil Mathweg (24:02):
Yeah.
Scott Hack (24:03):
I mean, that that's the part that I think is
sometimes challenging forpeople, to really embrace and
understand that there'sdifferent functions that you
have to be doing every day tokeep the pipeline consistent.
Otherwise, you have these startsand stops and these, you know,
high up, highs, lows, andeverything in between. It's it's
(24:23):
a challenge for sure.
Neil Mathweg (24:25):
Yes. Yes. And and to add to that, what we do to
help stay on track, So once youhave your 3 pillar plan dialed
in, you got all 3 pillars dialedin, you, you you you then wanna
go on to what we call as dayblocking. So time blocking was
something that I that neverreally resonated with me. I
would be on and off, and I justcouldn't really stick to it.
(24:46):
I wasn't disciplined enough. Imean, looking back on it now, I
just wasn't it wasn't in my, DNAto to do that. But what I did
learn is day blocking. So onMondays, I call all of my hot
leads, and I clean up mydatabase. I clean up all of the
leads that came in and all thepeople that I gotta talk to.
The people that I didn't talk tolast week, they're on Mondays.
(25:06):
Tuesday is my client updatecall. So I call all of my
current listings and pendingsand give them an update. On on
Wednesday, I work on my sphereof influence. On Thursday, I
work on my chase, and on Friday,I work on my attraction.
And at the end of the week, Iknow that if I hit my my my KPI
of the number of my engagements,if I hit that number, and if I
(25:30):
hit my day blocker, I know for afact that I'm moving my business
forward. And no matter whathappened, no matter how many
accepted offers I did and didn'tget, I know my leading
indicators. I took care of whatI need to do, and that's that's
a result of it.
Scott Hack (25:44):
Alright, Neil. So we've been talking for, let's
just say, 25 minutes, and I feellike that anyway listening that
paid attention during those 25minutes has a plan of what they
need to do. And, obviously, it'sjust scratching the surface, but
they've they've got an idea ofwhat they need to do. So I want
to actually go back and justspend a few minutes and dig a
little bit deeper on a veryspecific question related to
(26:06):
this, sphere of influence. And,not to tell your story for you,
but you were in one market, andnow you are in another market.
And let's say that there's anagent out there that have found
themselves in a similarsituation. They either relocated
or whatever life circumstance,you know, happened to them. They
(26:27):
really don't have a local sphereof influence. And I know you
mentioned, Jeremy earlier, and II know a little bit of Jeremy's
story. So, I know this issomething you can speak to, but
let's let's talk a little bitabout the agent that really
doesn't have a local CRPinfluence.
Neil Mathweg (26:42):
Yes. And this is a common thing. Jeremy Allen, you
know, he moved to Virginia Beachand had knew one person, and it
was his sister. And he moved allthe way from Washington, the
other side of the country, toVirginia Beach and knew one
person. And so what we recommendin this situation is number 1,
start your sphere of influencepillar.
Even if it's one person, startwith that one person. Mail that
(27:04):
one person a monthly newsletterand just start there. Because if
you start there, then nextmonth, there'll be 3 people on
that list. Then there'll be 8people on that list. Then
there'll be 24 on that list, andyou'll be just like Jeremy.
And 7 years later, there's over300 on that list. And Jeremy
sold almost 50 homes last year,with to have no sphere of
(27:26):
influence, to be 100% sphere ofinfluence. Actually, he got 2
sales from his new YouTubechannel that he just launched.
So, you know, 48 of thetransactions was from his sphere
and 2 was from YouTube. So, and,and what Jeremy did and what I
coach other agents to do is youuse your chase pillar and the
attraction pillar to build yoursphere of influence.
(27:49):
So Jeremy, back in the day,called FSBOs and expireds
religiously and and met a lot ofpeople that way. And then
eventually his fear and hisattraction, he did really well
on social media as well, hisfear and his attraction took
over his chase pillar. So hedidn't need to call anymore.
When I first started, I poundedopen houses like crazy to build
my business. I did an open houseevery single Sunday and we only
(28:12):
did them on Sundays back then.
But I did them every singleSunday. And I did that to meet
people, to build my sphere. AndI already knew a lot of people.
I had a I was blessed when Istarted my business. I had a a
large sphere from the verybeginning.
But I built it even more byusing my Chase. So when you're
new to a location, here'sexactly what I'd recommend that
(28:32):
you do. Start building thatsphere, get really hardcore on a
chase pillar. You've gotta dialin your chase pillar. Pick one
that resonates with you, thatfeels right, and then go all in
on it, like all in on it.
And then get really strong onyour attraction pillar. And for
the attraction pillar, I highly,highly, highly recommend YouTube
(28:54):
because I've never seen anyother attraction pillar change
the lives like YouTube has formany real estate agents. So with
YouTube, it's all around theliving in and moving to. And I
know what you're thinking. Idon't know anything about this
city.
I just moved here. Why would Istart a YouTube channel? Well,
ask Karen Carr who wrote thebook on YouTube for agents,
(29:16):
literally. That's the title ofher book. And and her book is
that exact same story becausebecause Karen moved from,
another place in Georgia toSavannah, Georgia and had never
lived there ever before.
Her husband got transferredthere, PCS ing, and got
transferred to Savannah,Georgia, and she started writing
blogs and YouTube videos aboutSavannah, Georgia. And here's
(29:39):
the thing. You are gonna learnthe city with the other people
that are learning the city aswell. So that's what I'd
recommend. That's my overallthat that podcast episode that I
recently put out, that's it inabout 2 minute version there, 5
minute version.
Scott Hack (29:53):
That's a perfect segue, Neil, to go actually
into, a little bit of discussionfurther about Real Estate
Distilled because you're gonnabe there talking. And I think
we're gonna be, you're gonnatalk a little bit about some of
the stuff we were talking abouttoday, because your passion is
helping the agents that arestuck and the agents that
aren't, you know, doing, workinga plan that is concurrent to
(30:14):
their life. Yes. And you broughtup Karen and through an
introduction at your conferencethat you host, I met Karen and
we've got Karen coming into townas well. So she's gonna be
helping you to backfill and,work on your YouTube channel and
doing some videos.
So really excited to, again,host real estate distilled on
March 5th 6th in Louisville,Kentucky. So this will be the
(30:37):
7th event that Liz and I have,executed and produced for the
real estate community. So ifyou've held with us this long
into our podcast, we'll allprobably also drop some info in
the beginning, but, please visitour website real estate
distill.com and, considerjoining us and seeing Neil and I
and, Karen and the rest of ourabout, I think it's about 20
(30:59):
different speakers that we'regonna have over the 2 days.
Right. So That's amazing.
Yeah. Excite super excited aboutthat. So this episode should
actually go out on, February1st. So, you've got a little bit
of time, to, like I said, grabyour ticket and come join us.
Neil, for everyone listeningthat does not know who you are,
now they have a little bit of anidea and they've got questions
(31:21):
or they wanna reach out and getthat tracker.
What's the best way for peopleto get in touch with you and
have a conversation?
Neil Mathweg (31:27):
Yeah. My website is agentrisecoaching.com, and
you can book a a call there. Youcould also reach out to me. I'm
on all socials, Instagram,Facebook, anywhere. Just search
Neil Mathwig, and you canconnect with me.
Just send me a message, or myemail address is
neil@agentrisecoaching.com. And,I can't wait to meet people at
(31:48):
Distilled because we're gonnabreak all of the all of this
down at Distilled and helpagents get that clear plan
because it is it's the reasonwhy agents aren't flourishing is
they don't have a plan that theyneed to work according to, and
they're just spinning theirwheels. And I I wanna fix that.
I I have the plan for you, and Iwanna help you.
Scott Hack (32:07):
Awesome. Really appreciate your time, Neil,
jumping on the podcast with Lizand I. And so we'll see you in a
couple months.
Neil Mathweg (32:14):
Sounds great. Thanks. Keep up the great work.
I'm so excited for you guys, andI can't wait to see you at
Distilled.
Announcer (32:21):
That's a wrap for this episode of the Real Estate
Distilled podcast.Visit https://realestatedistilled.com
for more tips, and jump into ourFacebook group to keep the
conversation going. Here's tomaking every transaction a
smooth pour. Cheers.
We're gonna break all of the all of this down at
(00:02):
Distilled and help agents getthat clear plan because it is
it's the reason why agentsaren't flourishing is they don't
have a plan that they need towork according to, and they're
just spinning their wheels. AndI I wanna fix that. I I have the
plan for you, and I wanna helpyou.
Announcer (00:18):
Welcome to the Real Estate Distilled podcast. Get
ready for a smooth pour oninsights on sales, marketing,
lead conversion, and technology.All shaken, stirred, and
perfectly balanced to help yousucceed in real estate. Mixed.
(00:40):
Just for you.
Scott Hack (00:43):
Hey, Scott. Hey, Liz.
Liz Hack (00:45):
Ask me how I'm doing.
Scott Hack (00:46):
How are you doing?
Liz Hack (00:47):
Actually, I'm kinda bummed. I, I'm really bummed
that I I was sick on the daythat we recorded with Neil
Methweg for the Real EstateDistilled podcast, but, no. It's
gonna be a good one.
Scott Hack (00:59):
Yeah. So those that are not familiar with Neil, Neil
is the, owner and, coach atAgent Rise, Coaching, and Neil
is in, Fort Myers, Florida. AndNeil is one of the OGs, real
estate, podcasting. So Neil hashad, a podcast. I was looking at
(01:20):
the episodes and I referencedthe number in our discussion,
but he's got 400 somethingepisodes, that he's done.
And, he's actually, you know,gone through a rebrand. It used
to be called the Onion JuicePodcast. So Yeah. Yes. Neil Neil
has been at it for a long time,and he's also, he's one of our
(01:40):
friends and, basically, family.
Liz Hack (01:43):
He's called the OG of the Real Estate Distilled
Conference.
Scott Hack (01:46):
100%. Yeah. And when I think about, people in general
so Neil's, not just a friend.He's actually he's one of my
favorite people.
Liz Hack (01:57):
He's pretty awesome.
Scott Hack (01:57):
Yeah. He's pretty awesome. So we're excited to get
into this and have, Neil sharehis expertise with everyone.
Liz Hack (02:02):
And we can't wait to see him in March. It's gonna be
so good to see him. Where are wegonna see him at?
Scott Hack (02:07):
We're gonna see him at Real Estate Distilled on
March 5th 6th 2025 in here inLouisville, Kentucky for the
7th, annual Real EstateDistilled.
Liz Hack (02:17):
In 8 years.
Scott Hack (02:18):
Stupid. Stupid. Stupid COVID. Yeah. So but yeah.
So we're gonna see Neil. Sowithout further ado, Liz, do you
wanna introduce Neil?
Liz Hack (02:26):
Yeah. You guys have have a great day and enjoy this
podcast interview with NeilMethweg.
Scott Hack (02:34):
We're here today to, dive into, one of, I believe,
Neil's probably passions. Neiland I have known each other now
for, I think, 7 or 8 years, andNeil has been, a regular
occurrence at, Real EstateDistilled. So he's part of our
our family and part of thecommunity. So really excited to
dive into this conversation withNeil today. Neil, how are you
doing?
Neil Mathweg (02:54):
I'm great, Scott. It's so great to be here. I'm
fired up for this new RealEstate Distilled podcast, and
I'm proud of you for getting itgoing. It's this is gonna be
great.
Scott Hack (03:02):
Yeah. You know, so it's it's a process. So we're
running a couple of minutesbehind because I I was still
learning the equipment, and Ijust got through having some,
some tech issues. But, we'rewe're we're powering through and
we're we're making it happen. Sowe're definitely going to, have
progress and and not perfectiontoday.
So appreciate everybody comingon this journey with us. Neil,
before we hit the record button,you and I were kinda talking,
(03:24):
and you shared a stat with me,which, I found pretty, pretty
amazing. And, I don't rememberthe exact number, but it was
somewhere around 80%.
Neil Mathweg (03:33):
Yeah. 82% is what NAR is reporting that did not
sell a house this last year.
Scott Hack (03:39):
82% of agents did not sell a house in 2024.
Neil Mathweg (03:44):
Yes.
Scott Hack (03:45):
Wow. That's, that is certainly a very eye opening
stat, and I guess that, youknow, there's obviously multiple
reasons why that took place.We've got, you know, everywhere
you turn, there's discussionsabout interest rates. So rates
were not that they're high andthat, someone can't afford it.
It's just they're not what we'reused to.
(04:08):
And then there's a certainpercentage of the population
that has a, let's just say, asub 4% interest rate, and it'd
be a pretty big difference insomeone's monthly budget to move
up in house or change theirhousing situation to take a
almost 7% interest rate. What doyou think that to speaking
(04:30):
directly to those 82% or someonethat doesn't wanna become the
82% for 2025, what do you thinkthe agents need to concentrate
on?
Neil Mathweg (04:39):
I think the biggest thing that's missing out
of these agents' lives is aclear plan. Like, they don't
know what to work on everysingle day. They have ideas, and
they have a lot of ideas becausethere's so many different ways
to do this business. So theyhave a lot of ideas, but they're
not putting them to practice.They're they're maybe trying
(05:01):
them 1 month or maybe 2 months,and they're not seeing the
results.
And so then they go trysomething else. And that's the
typical shiny object syndrome,and they're just constantly
spinning their wheels. And ifyou ask an agent, what do you
work on every single day to moveyour business forward? I bet you
the 82% don't know the answer.And the the the 18% that is is
(05:24):
flourishing, they know theanswer.
They know what to work on everysingle day and and and and what
their plan is because, you know,consistency is everything. But
if you don't know your plan, howdo you stay consistent?
Scott Hack (05:40):
Yeah. So, in in agent rise coaching your
company, you have the 3 pillarsthat you, coach on and, the
chase and the attraction and thesphere of influence. And I've
guessed that, you know, sphereof influence is something that
is pretty easy for people to tounderstand and and kind of work
on. There's a lot of differentways even to work with their
(06:00):
sphere of influence. And withthe the chase and the attraction
pillars, what do you think issomething that of those pillars,
which is the most important foran agent to start with?
Neil Mathweg (06:13):
Yeah. Definitely. It's sphere of influence. You
know, the the 3 differentpillars are sphere of influence,
influence, chase, andattraction. And that's what I
that's what I want to helpagents define as their clear
plan.
Like, once they know what theirplan is, they can start working
according to that, and they canput that into a day blocker. Now
to back up a little bit and lookat the 3 different pillars and,
like, what is the makeup of the3 different pillars? The first
(06:36):
one is your sphere of influence.And to answer your question,
that one is the most important.I every year I pull agents and I
ask them, where did yourbusiness come from?
And far majority, maybe 90, 95percent of them will say that
majority of their business camefrom Sphere and from personal
referrals. So that's why theSphere of Influence is the most
(06:57):
important pillar and the onethat's up in the very beginning
that you need to work on. Andand and so we have the agent
rise steps, not to get into thistoo much here, but we have the
agent rise steps, and the firstthree steps are around building
that sphere of influence pillar.So you wanna build a database of
around a 100 people, and theseare people that you know. These
are your friends, your family,your past clients.
(07:19):
These are your peeps. Then youwanna send an announcement
letter and then follow theannouncement letter by mailing a
monthly newsletter. And that'sthose first three steps to
building that sphere ofinfluence builder. And then
there's more to it. You can youcan add, you know, VIPs, you can
add Popeyes, you can add thankyou cards, you can add, I mean,
(07:39):
the list goes on of the things,you know, deal of the week and
CMA a day.
There's so many things that youcan add to your sphere. So start
your plan out and get thatsphere of influence pillar
dialed in, and it'll be a partof the majority of your business
as you go. Then the secondpillar is the chase pillar, and
that's meant to launch yourbusiness. That's meant to get
you out of your comfort zone.It's meant to go chase business.
(08:02):
It's like open houses, onlineleads, FSBOs and expired, circle
prospecting, door knocking,whatever it is that's gonna make
you go out and get it. Anotherone is is is different niches.
So working with first time homebuyers, working with seniors,
that's the chase pillar. Andthen the 3rd pillar is the
attraction pillar, and that'sbest known as social media,
(08:24):
YouTube, blogging, anything thatyou can do to attract people to
your business.
Scott Hack (08:31):
You know, going back to, the sphere of influence
pillar and just in general,because this is something that I
was actually having aconversation with in my own
personal business. What Inoticed with my sphere of
influence is that I think that Iwaited a couple years too long
to really, work a little bitmore heavily on my sphere of
influence. And the reason, whatI'm trying to say about that is
(08:54):
I recognize that a lot of mysphere of influence is very
comfortable. They are in housesthat they're probably going to
be in for the next decade.They've done the move up
process.
We were able to take advantageof low interest rates. They're
in that house that they, like Isaid, they could be in it for a
decade, maybe even 2 decades,but those are also the people
(09:15):
that are my past clients.They're the people who know me.
They like me. They trust me.
I need to figure out a betterway of leveraging my sphere of
influence to do introductionsfor me and use my sphere of
influence as leverage to newbusiness. Not necessarily doing
business with my sphere ofinfluence. Can you talk a little
bit I know that newsletterobviously stay on top of mind as
(09:36):
part of that component, but I'dlove to hear you expand on it.
Neil Mathweg (09:39):
Yeah. This is the area where the newsletter does
come into play because what Ihave learned is that if somebody
sees you being referred, theynaturally will begin referring
you as well. And so we have athank you section that I
recommend putting in thenewsletter. Thank you. Thank
you.
Thank you to the people thatrecently referred me, and it
(10:00):
just breathes life into morereferrals. The other component
to this that I think is the bestway is client events. When you
are putting on client events andyou are thanking them in this
fashion of having this big eventand inviting everybody and just
showing your love and yourappreciation for their business
(10:22):
and the business that they'vereferred to you, that just
breathes life into morereferrals. And then the 3rd, and
this I take out of JeremyAllen's playbook because he's
really good at this, and this isan area that I I'm not not I was
not strong in in my days. ButJeremy Allen's an agent in
Virginia Beach, and Jeremy is sogood at asking for referrals.
(10:44):
When somebody is raving abouthim, they, you know, like, this
transaction was just amazing.You were fantastic. He will ask
them, hey. Can you do me a favorand leave me a 5 star review?
And can you do me a favor andrefer me to your friends and
family?
Because that's how I've built mybusiness. And when you plant the
seed in the beginning of yourtransaction of saying, hey, my
(11:05):
you know, I I wanna make surethat I'm doing a great job for
you. My whole business is builton upon referrals. And so I
wanna make sure that I'm doing afantastic job for you. What is
the most important thing to youto make sure that I'm hitting
that mark?
And by asking that question,you're planting the seed in the
beginning of the relationshipthat referrals are really,
really important to you. And ifyou get into a position too
(11:28):
where they're thinking about,you know, choosing a a discount
broker or a discount, you know,service, compared to your
service and you're wondering,you know, like, why would they
go with you versus the cheaperversion? They're gonna go with
you because you care so muchabout their business because
it's built on referrals. And ifyou don't satisfy them and take
care of them, they're not gonnabe referring you. If you're not
(11:49):
happy with the discount service,well, they have priced their
whole business based on pricing,so they're gonna get more
customers.
So it's in conversations likethat that you're constantly
planting the seed that referralsare important to me. And if you
never mentioned referrals andyou never asked for referrals,
you will not get them unlessthey really go out of their way
(12:11):
to help support you. So to me,it's all in planting those
seeds, constant reminder. Andthe newsletter is just another
layer of that. Right?
It's the constant seeing it inthe mail month after month, year
after year of all the peoplethat are referring. And you're
exactly right. The people thatare comfortable in their home
and are not going anywhere, youhave to be looking to them for
(12:32):
referrals and any investmentopportunities if they were to
invest. But a lot those peoplethat are comfortable don't wanna
invest too. So, so you know?
And and don't give up on yoursphere no matter how comfortable
they you you think they arebecause they have a lot of
family. They have other friendsand family that are moving, and
you could be in the right placeat the right time.
Scott Hack (12:52):
So, Neil, real quick, I'm curious. One of the
things I've always heard, andI've not not done a good job
with it personally, but, whatare the opportunities during a
transaction to ask forreferrals? So you were saying
that, you know, Jeremy does areally good job of during the
process. So I'm guessing thatmost people are waiting till the
transaction's done. They're atthe closing table or it's a week
(13:14):
later, and then they're askingfor a review or a referral.
But there's a lot of times wherepeople's emotions are running
really high. You know, thatcontract gets accepted. You
negotiate, you know, repairs.There's a lot of other
opportunities to ask forreferrals that we probably
should be taking advantage of.Any off the top of your head
that you think we shouldleverage?
Neil Mathweg (13:31):
To me, it's just whenever they're raving,
whenever they're excited,whenever they're super happy,
and they're already telling youthank you so much for everything
that you've done for me, that'sthe trigger to to say a great
thank you. You know, in a waythat you could repay me or a way
that you could help me is is toto to give me referrals. And
anybody that, you know, that'sthinking about buying some, I'm
never too busy for yourreferrals. As cheesy as that may
(13:53):
sound, I'm never too busy foryour referrals. It really
resonates with the consumer, andit helps them think of you when
it when the time comes.
So I I'd say I'd say in thatplace, I also love it at the
listing appointment and at thebuyer consultation appointment.
Just by asking them, you know,you know, customer service is
the most important to me. Whatcan I be doing that is so good
(14:16):
that you would be referring meto your friends and family? And
I used to even take thatquestion into a 3 part segment
where I would ask them, hey.Let's build an ice cream sundae
together.
What is the one thing that is soimportant to you that I gotta
make sure that I'm doing throughthe entire transaction so that
you would refer me to yourfriends and family? And they'll
tell me, usually, it'scommunication. I want great
(14:37):
communication. I'll say,awesome. Well, the communication
is the ice cream.
Now let's put some chocolatesyrup on top. What else is
important to you beyondcommunication? Getting my home
sold fast and for top dollar.Alright. Great.
Well, what's the cherry on thetop? You know, and then and then
you just you're you'reexhausting that question so much
to hear what's most important tothem, but in the same sense to
(15:00):
hear what's important to them sothat you can be the agent that
they're looking for in additionto the agent that they start
referring. So I love it at thatplace, and you can do that both
in the listing appointment andin the buyer consultation
appointment. And then throughoutthe entire process, one of the
systems that we teach at agentrise is called matchmaking, and
it's where you you set yourcustomer up for the automatic
(15:21):
searches. They're gonna get theautomatic listings and
notifications, all of that.
But by you going the extra mileand calling them and saying,
hey. I saw this new listing thatjust popped up, and I thought of
you. Or I saw this coming soon,and I thought of you. All of
that helps create the ravingfans. And again, that helps you
like, I had a I had a situationwhere I had was working with a
buyer, told, found them a house,called them and told them I saw
(15:44):
this house and I thought of you.
The guy right next to him thatwas working at the same position
as him right next to him said myagent doesn't ever call me, and
that's how I ended up getting areferral, just by going the
extra mile and creating thoseraving fan types of moments. And
when you do, you become soreferable.
Scott Hack (16:04):
I was actually just checking my podcast app because
I just listened to an agent riseepisode where you were talking
about matchmaking, and I thinkdid you do one in December that
was about
Neil Mathweg (16:13):
I did.
Scott Hack (16:14):
Yeah. Yes. So, I think it was this one here, the
agent rise podcast you droppedon December 10th. Stop losing
leads, the follow-up system realestate real estate agents swear
by episode 460, by the way.Whoo.
460. That is crazy, as we are on
Neil Mathweg (16:32):
track. Over there.
Scott Hack (16:33):
Yeah. You've been doing it a minute. So, for those
playing along at home, we areon, this is gonna be episode
number 4. So you you can have usbeat by just a just a smidge.
Neil Mathweg (16:42):
A little bit. A little bit.
Scott Hack (16:44):
So, yeah. So going, you and it's funny you were
talking about the sphere ofinfluence about people, also
being investors. And I haveactually, had some conversation
with my lenders about, you know,potentially positioning people's
houses as an investment and thenkeeping that and not necessarily
selling it because the wholething is like that interest rate
(17:07):
actually does help them buy morehouse even on the next property
if they keep it because thenthey get a blended rate with
that total buying power andborrowing power essentially. But
going back to our 82%, say we'vegot a good system with the
sphere, what would be the nextplace where people should kind
of branch out?
Neil Mathweg (17:29):
Yeah. If the next pillar is the chase pillar, and
the chase pillar again is meantto to launch your business. It's
meant to get you out of yourcomfort zone. It's meant for you
to get your engagements going.And the 82% of agents that did
not sell a house last year, Iguarantee they're not tracking
(17:51):
their engagements.
And we always recommend that youtalk to 30 to 60 people a week,
and the chase pillar is one ofthose areas that can generate
those that many phone calls. Webreak it down in other areas.
You know, you got your sphereand your your attraction, and
you also have matchmaking thatalso creates a lot of phone
calls. But the agent that thatdoesn't have a Chase pillar
(18:14):
dialed in and the agent that isnot reaching 30 to 60 people a
week is the agent that's in thatcategory of 82%. If you're
reaching 30 to 60 people a week,depending on your goals, like,
if you wanna sell a 100 homes ayear, I get that number closer
to 60.
If you wanna sell 20 to 30 homesa year, keep that number right
around 30. So depending on yourgoals, you wanna be between
(18:36):
3060. And you might be askingyourself right now, where the
where am I gonna get thesecalls? Where am I gonna how am I
gonna call 30 to 60 people?Well, if you set your eyes on
your 3 pillars and specificallythe chase pillar, if you were to
just call for sale by owners,you would have 30 calls a week.
No problem. If you were tocircle prospect around a current
(19:01):
house that just sold and hadmultiple offers, and now there's
2 buyers that missed out thatare also looking for a house in
that neighborhood, and you calland tell everybody that in that
neighborhood and circle prospectaround that, you can get those
30 calls in in no time. And thepeople that are really good at
calling, 30 is like what they doin a day. Right? So it also
(19:24):
depends on the warmth of yourleads.
Right? So if your if your chasepillar is open houses, your
leads are gonna be warmerbecause there's already been a
face to face. If your chasepillar is online leads, they're
gonna be much colder. If they'regonna be Facebook leads, they're
even colder. Right?
So so how do we how do we warmthem up? How do we make those
better engagements? And then howdo we get our engagement numbers
(19:48):
up? That's the that's thechallenge. So agents that are
not selling any homes, when Iasked them how many engagements
they had last week, they can'tanswer the question.
They don't even know. They don'teven they they because they're
not they don't have a plan thatthey're working according to
that's giving them theengagements. So the bottom line
to all of it is stayingconsistent and having the number
of engagements, but you use the3 pillar plan to help you with
(20:12):
that.
Scott Hack (20:13):
Tracking is probably the the one thing that has been
discussed through our themehere, but that you're just now
really kind of hammering about.How do, successful agents track
that activity? I mean, you go tothe gym well, I don't go to the
gym, but some people go to thegym, and they're writing down.
(20:34):
Like, they did, you know, 10 10curls. They did, you know, bench
press, and here's what theirnumbers were.
And and they're tracking theirprogress and doing how many sets
they did. You know, the activitythat we're doing for real estate
isn't any different. We've gottatrack it so we can see those
leading indicators of thatactivity to see results. Are you
(20:55):
a, like, a paper person?
Neil Mathweg (20:57):
I'm a paper person. I got the old binder in
the yeah. Yeah. Put the put theengagement tracker in there.
It's got it's got 60 slots thatyou can fill in.
So we put the engagementtracker. Anybody listening to
this episode, if they wanna copythe engagement tracker, we can
get it to them. No problem. Soyou have an engagement tracker.
You have one for every week.
So you wanna start out go go getyourself a nice binder. I got
(21:19):
myself a nice binder here, but Igot other stuff on. I'll I'll
knock my pile down if I grab it.But I got a nice binder, and in
that binder, I have 52engagement trackers, one for
every week. And then I also have12 lead trackers, one for every
month.
What are the difference? So theengagement tracker is my day to
day engagements. I'm working ongetting 60 engagements a week.
(21:40):
That's 5 that's 12 a day over 55 days. Right?
Work 5 days a week, get 12engagements. So, so that's gonna
get me and I and there's a box,and I just write in there every
person that I engage with, Iwrite their name, and I count
that as a point. Now anengagement is gonna be a phone
call, an engagement is a text,an engagement is a Facebook
(22:02):
message. You set your own rulesand you keep them. I have some
agents that that have a pointsystem where they if it's a face
to face, it's 3 points.
If it's a phone call, it's 2points. If it's a text message,
it's one point. So just createyour own system. Here's the key.
There's no right or wrong way ofdoing it.
It's, it's all about competingagainst yourself. Right? So just
(22:24):
create a system that you competeagainst yourself. Call it your
engagement tracker. Work ongetting 30 to 60 engagements
every single week.
And then the lead tracker isevery time you get a new lead,
somebody raises their hand.Neil, I wanna buy a house. Neil,
I wanna sell a house. They godown as a lead. No matter the
level of interest, you don'twanna pour in a bunch of cold
leads that you got Internetleads.
(22:44):
Those you don't wanna fill inthe lead tracker. But the people
that raise their hand andthey're definitely interested
and you have a a decentconversation with them, you put
down as a lead and you and youfocus on your leads. Now in this
area here, you're competingagainst yourself. So you got the
engagement tracker. Last week, Igot 43 points.
This week, I wanna beat that.Last January and January 2023 or
(23:07):
January 2024, I got, you know, Igot 16 leads in that January.
I'm gonna see if I can beatJanuary of last year. And so now
you're competing againstyourself around your
engagements.
Scott Hack (23:19):
Not just competing against yourself too, but,
you're actually identifying gapsbecause if you only have 3
contacts this month, you know,that 30, 60, 90 days, you are
going to have a trailing impacton your, your revenue and it's
not going to be as high. So, Imean, I think that's one of the
things that, a lot of people arenot prepared for in this
(23:42):
business, even when they do sellsomething, is that up and down
process that takes place whereyou you get a full pipeline, you
have something that's, you know,going well, and then you're
spending all your time doingtransactions and fulfilling
those. And then, literally, youyou put yourself out of business
by taking care of thosetransactions, and then you're
starting over again.
Neil Mathweg (24:02):
Yeah.
Scott Hack (24:03):
I mean, that that's the part that I think is
sometimes challenging forpeople, to really embrace and
understand that there'sdifferent functions that you
have to be doing every day tokeep the pipeline consistent.
Otherwise, you have these startsand stops and these, you know,
high up, highs, lows, andeverything in between. It's it's
(24:23):
a challenge for sure.
Neil Mathweg (24:25):
Yes. Yes. And and to add to that, what we do to
help stay on track, So once youhave your 3 pillar plan dialed
in, you got all 3 pillars dialedin, you, you you you then wanna
go on to what we call as dayblocking. So time blocking was
something that I that neverreally resonated with me. I
would be on and off, and I justcouldn't really stick to it.
(24:46):
I wasn't disciplined enough. Imean, looking back on it now, I
just wasn't it wasn't in my, DNAto to do that. But what I did
learn is day blocking. So onMondays, I call all of my hot
leads, and I clean up mydatabase. I clean up all of the
leads that came in and all thepeople that I gotta talk to.
The people that I didn't talk tolast week, they're on Mondays.
(25:06):
Tuesday is my client updatecall. So I call all of my
current listings and pendingsand give them an update. On on
Wednesday, I work on my sphereof influence. On Thursday, I
work on my chase, and on Friday,I work on my attraction.
And at the end of the week, Iknow that if I hit my my my KPI
of the number of my engagements,if I hit that number, and if I
(25:30):
hit my day blocker, I know for afact that I'm moving my business
forward. And no matter whathappened, no matter how many
accepted offers I did and didn'tget, I know my leading
indicators. I took care of whatI need to do, and that's that's
a result of it.
Scott Hack (25:44):
Alright, Neil. So we've been talking for, let's
just say, 25 minutes, and I feellike that anyway listening that
paid attention during those 25minutes has a plan of what they
need to do. And, obviously, it'sjust scratching the surface, but
they've they've got an idea ofwhat they need to do. So I want
to actually go back and justspend a few minutes and dig a
little bit deeper on a veryspecific question related to
(26:06):
this, sphere of influence. And,not to tell your story for you,
but you were in one market, andnow you are in another market.
And let's say that there's anagent out there that have found
themselves in a similarsituation. They either relocated
or whatever life circumstance,you know, happened to them. They
(26:27):
really don't have a local sphereof influence. And I know you
mentioned, Jeremy earlier, and II know a little bit of Jeremy's
story. So, I know this issomething you can speak to, but
let's let's talk a little bitabout the agent that really
doesn't have a local CRPinfluence.
Neil Mathweg (26:42):
Yes. And this is a common thing. Jeremy Allen, you
know, he moved to Virginia Beachand had knew one person, and it
was his sister. And he moved allthe way from Washington, the
other side of the country, toVirginia Beach and knew one
person. And so what we recommendin this situation is number 1,
start your sphere of influencepillar.
Even if it's one person, startwith that one person. Mail that
(27:04):
one person a monthly newsletterand just start there. Because if
you start there, then nextmonth, there'll be 3 people on
that list. Then there'll be 8people on that list. Then
there'll be 24 on that list, andyou'll be just like Jeremy.
And 7 years later, there's over300 on that list. And Jeremy
sold almost 50 homes last year,with to have no sphere of
(27:26):
influence, to be 100% sphere ofinfluence. Actually, he got 2
sales from his new YouTubechannel that he just launched.
So, you know, 48 of thetransactions was from his sphere
and 2 was from YouTube. So, and,and what Jeremy did and what I
coach other agents to do is youuse your chase pillar and the
attraction pillar to build yoursphere of influence.
(27:49):
So Jeremy, back in the day,called FSBOs and expireds
religiously and and met a lot ofpeople that way. And then
eventually his fear and hisattraction, he did really well
on social media as well, hisfear and his attraction took
over his chase pillar. So hedidn't need to call anymore.
When I first started, I poundedopen houses like crazy to build
my business. I did an open houseevery single Sunday and we only
(28:12):
did them on Sundays back then.
But I did them every singleSunday. And I did that to meet
people, to build my sphere. AndI already knew a lot of people.
I had a I was blessed when Istarted my business. I had a a
large sphere from the verybeginning.
But I built it even more byusing my Chase. So when you're
new to a location, here'sexactly what I'd recommend that
(28:32):
you do. Start building thatsphere, get really hardcore on a
chase pillar. You've gotta dialin your chase pillar. Pick one
that resonates with you, thatfeels right, and then go all in
on it, like all in on it.
And then get really strong onyour attraction pillar. And for
the attraction pillar, I highly,highly, highly recommend YouTube
(28:54):
because I've never seen anyother attraction pillar change
the lives like YouTube has formany real estate agents. So with
YouTube, it's all around theliving in and moving to. And I
know what you're thinking. Idon't know anything about this
city.
I just moved here. Why would Istart a YouTube channel? Well,
ask Karen Carr who wrote thebook on YouTube for agents,
(29:16):
literally. That's the title ofher book. And and her book is
that exact same story becausebecause Karen moved from,
another place in Georgia toSavannah, Georgia and had never
lived there ever before.
Her husband got transferredthere, PCS ing, and got
transferred to Savannah,Georgia, and she started writing
blogs and YouTube videos aboutSavannah, Georgia. And here's
(29:39):
the thing. You are gonna learnthe city with the other people
that are learning the city aswell. So that's what I'd
recommend. That's my overallthat that podcast episode that I
recently put out, that's it inabout 2 minute version there, 5
minute version.
Scott Hack (29:53):
That's a perfect segue, Neil, to go actually
into, a little bit of discussionfurther about Real Estate
Distilled because you're gonnabe there talking. And I think
we're gonna be, you're gonnatalk a little bit about some of
the stuff we were talking abouttoday, because your passion is
helping the agents that arestuck and the agents that
aren't, you know, doing, workinga plan that is concurrent to
(30:14):
their life. Yes. And you broughtup Karen and through an
introduction at your conferencethat you host, I met Karen and
we've got Karen coming into townas well. So she's gonna be
helping you to backfill and,work on your YouTube channel and
doing some videos.
So really excited to, again,host real estate distilled on
March 5th 6th in Louisville,Kentucky. So this will be the
(30:37):
7th event that Liz and I have,executed and produced for the
real estate community. So ifyou've held with us this long
into our podcast, we'll allprobably also drop some info in
the beginning, but, please visitour website real estate
distill.com and, considerjoining us and seeing Neil and I
and, Karen and the rest of ourabout, I think it's about 20
(30:59):
different speakers that we'regonna have over the 2 days.
Right. So That's amazing.
Yeah. Excite super excited aboutthat. So this episode should
actually go out on, February1st. So, you've got a little bit
of time, to, like I said, grabyour ticket and come join us.
Neil, for everyone listeningthat does not know who you are,
now they have a little bit of anidea and they've got questions
(31:21):
or they wanna reach out and getthat tracker.
What's the best way for peopleto get in touch with you and
have a conversation?
Neil Mathweg (31:27):
Yeah. My website is agentrisecoaching.com, and
you can book a a call there. Youcould also reach out to me. I'm
on all socials, Instagram,Facebook, anywhere. Just search
Neil Mathwig, and you canconnect with me.
Just send me a message, or myemail address is
neil@agentrisecoaching.com. And,I can't wait to meet people at
(31:48):
Distilled because we're gonnabreak all of the all of this
down at Distilled and helpagents get that clear plan
because it is it's the reasonwhy agents aren't flourishing is
they don't have a plan that theyneed to work according to, and
they're just spinning theirwheels. And I I wanna fix that.
I I have the plan for you, and Iwanna help you.
Scott Hack (32:07):
Awesome. Really appreciate your time, Neil,
jumping on the podcast with Lizand I. And so we'll see you in a
couple months.
Neil Mathweg (32:14):
Sounds great. Thanks. Keep up the great work.
I'm so excited for you guys, andI can't wait to see you at
Distilled.
Announcer (32:21):
That's a wrap for this episode of the Real Estate
Distilled podcast.Visit https://realestatedistilled.com
for more tips, and jump into ourFacebook group to keep the
conversation going. Here's tomaking every transaction a
smooth pour. Cheers.
Popular Podcasts
Bookmarked by Reese's Book Club
Welcome to Bookmarked by Reese’s Book Club — the podcast where great stories, bold women, and irresistible conversations collide! Hosted by award-winning journalist Danielle Robay, each week new episodes balance thoughtful literary insight with the fervor of buzzy book trends, pop culture and more. Bookmarked brings together celebrities, tastemakers, influencers and authors from Reese's Book Club and beyond to share stories that transcend the page. Pull up a chair. You’re not just listening — you’re part of the conversation.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!