Have you ever wondered what lies behind a successful real estate team? On today's episode, we had a chance to dig into this mystery with the dynamic Melinda Bastable, a key figure in one of the most thriving real estate groups. We kicked off discussing how blending experiences on a team and exploiting resources provides a consistent support system, making you a top-notch agent. We explored how listing success takes an upward trajectory with access to marketing and administrative departments, RISO, and a skilled real estate photographer.
Our heart-to-heart conversation took a twist towards the tried-and-true strategies that put us on potential clients' minds. We highlighted the age-old art of face-to-face communication, the undervalued pop buys, networking, and community involvement. Melinda and I delved into how our careers took a leap by keeping an eagle eye on increasing the average sale price, setting tangible goals, and harnessing the team's support. She shared how her leadership journey has been instrumental in scripting the team's success story.
Finally, Melinda and I shared our experiences on nurturing long-lasting relationships in the industry. We detailed how a strong support system helps clients sail through challenging transactions and why we insist on our agents attending 52 training sessions annually. We are firm believers in equipping our agents with top-tier tools to provide unparalleled customer service, and that's why our clients keep coming back. We left no stone unturned in emphasizing that our philosophy revolves around doing right by our customers, educating and advising rather than imposing decisions. Join us for an insightful discussion about the real estate world!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Okay, so first episode of the Best of the Best
show with Therese Brittenhamfrom Collegeville, broker and
owner.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Therese, you have a guest today.
Let's hear it up for you two.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
I have Melinda Bastable here with me today and
she is one of the best of thebest.
She manages one of the bestreal estate teams in our
business and I thought it wouldbe nice to talk to her first to
see what it is that it takes tobe part of such a high producing
team.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
So we do look for a variety of people.
We have extremely experiencedpeople to brand new people,
interns and really what we arelooking for is people that want
to grow together, grow theirbusiness.
They're inspired and they wantthe help of learning skills and
knowledge from other people andthey're willing to learn.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Yeah, I think that's one of the things that you bring
to the table is you have thisreally nice system in place to
help people, whether they'rebrand new to the business or
they're at a high point in theircareer where they need
something different and theywant to take it to another level
.
So I think bringing that andthat structure is what a lot of
real estate agents need.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Absolutely, and it's also the leverage, I think a lot
of agents who are very topproducing Therese.
They find that they're runningaround and they're spending
their time on things that don'tnecessarily make a lot of money
or it's not their expertise.
So, being on the team, we canleverage that for them.
We have a marketing department,we have an admin department,
and so they can go and do whatthey're good at, which is
getting listings and servicingtheir buyers, but you have all
(01:33):
the marketing out there andhaving somebody taking care of
their paperwork and actuallyalso having leads coming in as
well, so you know they get alittle bit of everything and
that way, at the end of the year, they're able to have looked
back on the year and being ableto think I've made great money.
They've netted a lot of moneyafter they've paid all their
taxes and everything, but yethad more balance in their life
(01:54):
as well.
They can spend time with theirfamily, they can go on vacation.
The beauty of a team is thatyou have teammates that can
actually take care of yourbusiness while you're away and
you know that the board is notgoing to be dropped.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Yeah, I think when I talk to agents that are getting
to a point in their career wherethey're really stressed and
they're not quite sure how tofix that, it's because they're
doing everything and theyhaven't learned that leverage
piece that you offer.
So I think that's really great.
We have the Leverage Center too, which I think is something
that's very nice to help agentsnot do those mundane tasks that
(02:25):
just isn't their personalitymakeup.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
Right and it's also so time-consuming.
You know, the girls are greatat putting everything into the
MLS for us.
We have photographers that takethe photographs.
We have somebody that comes todo the marketing for us, create
the flyers All those things foran individual take so much time.
I know when I was doing it as asolo agent myself, every time I
got a listing I was spendingabout four or five hours just
doing all the back end of it.
(02:47):
Our time was much better spentlead generating, servicing our
sellers, going out with ourbuyers and then putting time
aside to do family activitiesand things for yourself as well.
So we have that on the teamwhere we are leveraging that.
We have the marketing personthat does our social media for
us.
We have the great use of RISO.
We have photography as well,and all of those things help to
(03:09):
make us stand out, so that whenyou're going for a listing, you
have all these special skills toshow and you show that you have
a team behind you to help you,and it helps us win the listing
every time.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Yeah, I agree with that.
I think one of the thingsthat's also interesting is you
can do a lot of research for theagents so that they know what's
the market of the moment.
Are they focusing their effortsin the right places?
And also the stats right nowwith you mentioned it video.
Having video in anything thatyou post is so important and we
do have that really greatopportunity here.
(03:39):
So talk to us a little bitabout the YouTube channels and
the house tours and the thingsthat we do, the photos.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Yeah, so we have a fantastic photographer that we
use who actually his backgroundwas real estate himself, so he
used to be a realtor, so he getsit.
The majority of the time.
We try and get out to theseller beforehand, tell them how
to make their house stand outfrom the crowd, because
obviously how we live in ourhouse to how we sell our house
is so different.
So we have those skill sets totell them how to get their house
(04:07):
to look perfect for thepictures.
He comes out and does a greatjob.
He's able to make it look sunnyif it's been raining, all those
sorts of things, and then dodrone shots as well.
So the team has that expertiseof somebody who can do the
photographs A lot of the time.
I think when you look on the MLSyou can see that sometimes an
agent's done the photographythemselves and you might have a
(04:28):
great camera.
But if it's not your wheelhouse, if it's not something you're
doing all the time, then itshows.
So they have that to help them.
We also get the use of Rizzo,so he comes through with us and
he does videos with us andthat's where most of the
consumers are looking to us.
Most of the consumers arelooking online first of all to
see if there's a photograph thatstands out, if there's a video
that stands out, and reallythat's their first showing.
(04:50):
If they've seen that and lovethat, by the time they come
through the listing it really islike their second showing and
at that point they're prettymuch ready to make an offer.
And I think a lot of peopleduring COVID got very lazy and
stopped doing those things andalso with the kind of market
that we had, where things wereflying off the shelf, people
stopped doing flyers, theystopped doing marketing online,
(05:11):
they stopped doing the videos.
All of those things make youstand out and they help your
client.
It's not just one offer.
You really want your client toget the best so they can
actually look at everything thatcomes in and choose.
And by putting all of thosethings out of there, you're
helping the people that are moretech savvy.
They're looking at it on theirphone, they're looking at it on
their computer, they'retraveling.
(05:33):
They can still see it ifthey're out of the country or if
they're in a different state.
So we're helping our clients andour agents on our team get
maximum exposure and thereforeget the best deal for their
client and really what we'relooking for is return business.
You know we don't want to haveto keep going out and finding
new people.
Most of our business is basedon referrals, so if we're doing
a good job for them, they'regonna come back to us, and most
(05:56):
of us on the team have foundthat that we are working with
clients that we worked with acouple of years ago and they
refer us to their family membersand that's what it's all about.
We want to have referrals andby doing these great things that
we do on the team, that givesus the repeat business.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
Yep, totally agree.
I think the other thing that'sreally nice that I noticed about
how you run your videos is it'snot scripted, it's not boring,
so it keeps the tension of theconsumer, which is great for the
seller Right.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Right, and really that's it as well.
People don't want to see usnecessarily.
We want to introduce theproperty and then it's pointing
out the best features andhelping the consumer imagine how
they could make that their home.
You know, the kitchen is theheart of the home.
What's the backyard like,what's the basement like?
And just doing little pointersto kind of, you know, tip the
icebergs there for them to piquetheir interest so that they
(06:46):
want to make that appointment.
They want to get in the house.
They have that excitement thereand all we're doing is really
our videos like a minute tothree minutes long, longer than
that.
We want them to come and checkout the house for themselves and
fall in love with it.
Awesome.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
So switching gears a little bit.
I noticed that your team isalways keeping a very consistent
or increased amount of business.
Even when people are talkingright now about this market's
really difficult, there's not alot of business why do you think
that is?
Speaker 2 (07:13):
I think it's a lot to do with competitiveness.
We have boards out, that sortof show how many listings we
have under contract.
I give out certificates as wellat the end of the month for
people who've done more than acouple of transactions, and I
think all of us have a littlebit of a competitive side, and
when someone else is doing well,you want to be around those
people.
So, being on the team, it giveseven brand new agents the
(07:35):
chance to take those knowledgeand skillset and go out there
and learn a little bit more.
The team's very sharing.
All of our listings we're happyto share, so that makes them
look like they're busier too.
And then things like openhouses.
A lot of agents don't want tonecessarily sit their own open
house, so we have a team full ofpeople that can sit them and
they have the opportunity thereto pick up a buyer.
(07:57):
So I know open houses have beenextremely successful for our
team and I think that's helpedus.
You know, do so well and keepour numbers up.
Where we've picked up buyers,we've picked up other sellers
that are in the neighborhood.
We walk neighborhoods, we doflyers, we go back to the odd
thing.
We do a lot of belly to bellyas well.
I think there's a number ofpeople that try and hide behind
(08:21):
texts and emails.
Those work to a certain extent,but people still want the face
to face.
We're very big on pop buys.
We're very big on kind of goingout for coffee with your
clients, go into networkinggroups.
We often walk neighborhoods, wedo flyers, we go to community
events.
We just did a community eventrecently.
So all of those things help tokeep us top of mind for people
(08:44):
and I think that's why we don'tsort of have the peaks and
troughs and we're pretty steady.
Of course we have months thatare better, like this month is
fantastic for us but we reallyhaven't been affected by a lot
of the things that some peopleare scared about and we keep
picking up the phone and we keepgoing back to past clients to
ask for them, for theirreferrals, and we're not scared
to do that.
We do it in a nice manner andwe also recognize our clients
(09:08):
that have served us and doclient events too where we thank
them for their time in theirbusiness.
We get involved in their kidsactivities.
We often sponsor football teamsand things like that and just
being involved in the community.
I think it just keeps us top ofmind.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
Yeah, I think the communication is so big and
that's if we listen to what NARputs out as stats from buyers
and sellers.
It's the one thing.
They want more of morecommunication.
So that's really good, goodstuff.
I think the other thing to talkabout, too, is the opportunity
that comes from being on ourteam.
We've built some pretty awesomecareers.
You want to talk a little bitabout that?
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Yeah, so what I've noticed I've been the team
leader now on the Brittinghamand Couch team for four years
and I think what I've noticed isI've been able to increase
people's average sale.
So a lot of the people on theteam that initially were brand
new things like that would oftenbe in a certain price range and
there's as much work involvedin every price range that you do
(10:07):
.
So if we can kind of get theminto a slightly higher price
point the 400s, the 500s, the600s, you know that's just a
nice thing for them to be ableto do a great feather in their
cap and that's one of the thingsthat I help them work on.
So at the beginning of the yearwell, really the year
beforehand, in October andNovember time we start looking
at what their goals are.
So it's what their goals arefinancially, how many
(10:30):
transactions they need to do,what their average sale price is
, and sometimes their financialgoal is really really high.
But yet if we can increasetheir average sales it's not
going to be that they're goingto have to work, you know, five
times harder than they were lastyear.
So we really focus on that andhitting specific neighborhoods
and doing repeat things, so it'snot touching a neighborhood
(10:50):
once, it's having a differentmessage and touching that
neighborhood every three to fourweeks.
So those are the things that Ibelieve helped the team and the
individuals to grow.
And we've had a number of peopleyou know that have grown from
the team and then created theirown teams, because obviously
they've got extremely successfuland that's really what we want
in this business.
But a lot of people areextremely successful and doing
(11:11):
very high end and they stillwant to stay with the team.
They like that and they don'twant to take on the
responsibility of the team.
So we're happy either way.
Either you want to grow andproduce your own team or you
just like to stay with us and,you know, have all the support
system with the admin, with themarketing, with all the videos
and everything that we offer aswell.
So there's something foreverybody.
(11:32):
And it's really important for meto kind of meet with the
individuals and find out reallywhat makes them tick, and
sometimes it is.
You know that they have a goal,that they want to take their
family somewhere.
Sometimes it's what that theyjust, you know, want to have the
freedom.
It can be so many differentthings, but it's finding out
what makes that individual tickand then trying to kind of
(11:53):
connect them with somebody inthe team that they work well
with.
So even though we're a big teamof 15, there's still people
that work particularly well.
Or if I see a particular skillthat somebody else is lacking,
that they might need to improveon, I try and pair them up as
well.
So it's really leveraging who wehave on the team and
everybody's happy to share and Ithink that's a great thing.
(12:13):
And I think that also comesdown from having you and Tom as
leaders, because you guys arealways willing to share and
you're very like ying and yang.
I mean, you're both suchdifferent personalities and you
both bring so many great thingsto the table and I think that
filters down.
So you know, for me it's aprivilege to be able to be
underneath the two of you andhelp the rest of the team, and I
feel that they feel that thedoor is open and you know I
(12:35):
check in with them, whether it'sto do with business or whether
it's to do with personal thingsas well, and just, you know, if
I haven't seen them for a while,I'm checking to make sure if
they need us for anything, and Ithink they appreciate that.
And sometimes this business canbe really tough because we are
dealing with people that arebeing dealing with the biggest
asset that they probably everhave.
It can be extremely emotionaland, no, it's never black and
(12:57):
white.
There's a lot of gray in thisindustry and every transaction
is different, and just havingsome people to talk to sometimes
, I think, just helps them toclear their mind and to get
through the process, and that's,you know, that's the plus of
being on a team that you havethat support system there.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
Yes, yes, I definitely think we have a great
way of supporting agents, but Ithink a lot of what you're
talking about also translatesinto why we're so successful
with our clients.
You know our sellers, ourbuyers.
We have clients for life.
They come back because I thinkyou're teaching the agents the
skills that it takes tocommunicate, to have the
difficult conversations, to makesure they're explaining the
(13:33):
market to the buyer or theseller, and we're giving them
all those tools to bettersupport the consumer.
So, at the end of the day, Ithink it comes full circle back
to why anybody out there in theindustry should want to work
with this team because they'reknowledgeable, they know how to
get it done, they have a ton ofsupport and we're doing whatever
is best in the industry.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
So I think you're doing a really great job making
sure that the agents are in tuneto what it is that the consumer
really needs to meet their goal, and I think another thing as
well that we point out whenanybody joins our team Therese
is that our expectation is thatthey do 52 trainings a year.
52 trainings sounds such a hugeamount because obviously that's
one a week, but really allwe're asking them to do is
(14:14):
connect, whether it's coming toa team meeting, which we have by
monthly, or whether it's cominggetting onto a Zoom call or
coming into the office or goingto a networking group.
Our industry is continuallychanging from week to week, from
day to day, and we need to beon top of that.
So by asking them to do that,we're just helping them to grow
(14:36):
continually.
We also recommend certain booksthat they read, and it's all
things that we've done ourselves, or if we've read a book, or if
we've heard a podcast, or ifwe've been on a Zoom call and
we've learned something, we'reall happy to share that, and I
think that's one of thestrongest things that I've
noticed, specifically withKeller Williams and also with
our team that there is thisethos that there is enough for
(14:59):
all of us, there's plenty outthere, and that the more that we
do together, the more it'sgoing to bring in.
I know in a number of companiesand a number of other realtors
that are out there.
Often they're scared to sharethings because they think
someone's going to take theiridea and run with it and then
they're going to lose out.
We have no problem sharing ourlisting and presentation with
people.
We don't have any problemssharing any information that we
(15:22):
have because we believe that themore that we give out, the more
that's going to come back, andI think that trickles down
through everybody and we have agreat turnout.
When we do do things in thecommunity, it just I truly
believe, what you give out comesback, and that's always what we
think about is doing the rightthing.
It's not always about closing adeal.
(15:43):
It's always thinking about howis this going to affect the
consumer, the seller, the buyer?
Is it the right thing to do?
And giving them their choices?
We are there to advise andeducate them and they ultimately
they're our clients.
They make the end choice and Ithink a lot of consumers really
appreciate that.
They don't think that we arethere just to close a deal.
(16:05):
Sometimes it's not the bestthing for them and they need to
take a break, or maybe they needto rent for a while, or maybe
they just need to take a pauseand not carry on looking for a
house for a moment.
Or they decided that it's notthe right time to sell, and
that's okay.
We might have taken photographs, we might have done all the
prep work, but they're like Ijust need to put the brakes on
for a moment.
We're never going to forceanybody to do anything that they
(16:27):
don't feel comfortable with,because we believe in long-term
relationships, and I think thatshows through all the business
that we've done and all therepeat business that we get as
well.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
Yeah, I think we think of ourselves more as
educators.
You know helping the publicreally understand what is the
best option for them at theplace they're on their life.
I talked to a client yesterdayto list their home and they
potentially would do better ifthey lease it.
You know, I don't know if a lotof agents would actually take
that potential listing out oftheir own opportunity to do
what's right for the client andat the end of the day, I think
(16:58):
that's what you do really greatwith our team and I think Kelle
Williams does a great job withthe Y4C2 teams and you know
doing the right thing andwin-win things like that always
come back, you know, for thebetter all the time.
So I think that is a lot ofinformation.
Is there anything else you'dlike to share out there?
Speaker 2 (17:16):
I would just say that everybody just needs to kind of
at this time, think positive,keep your chin up and believe
that you know, even when you getknocked down, it's how you
react from that and pickyourself up and get going and
move forward.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
Yeah, Melinda, thank you so much.
That was awesome.
So if you need more information, reach out to Melinda.
She will give you everythingyou need to hear about the
Burning Hand McCow sales team.
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
How was that?
Was that okay?
Speaker 1 (17:41):
I wasn't too much talking.
No, no, that was perfect.
Okay, so first episode of the Best of the Best
show with Therese Brittenhamfrom Collegeville, broker and
owner.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Therese, you have a guest today.
Let's hear it up for you two.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
I have Melinda Bastable here with me today and
she is one of the best of thebest.
She manages one of the bestreal estate teams in our
business and I thought it wouldbe nice to talk to her first to
see what it is that it takes tobe part of such a high producing
team.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
So we do look for a variety of people.
We have extremely experiencedpeople to brand new people,
interns and really what we arelooking for is people that want
to grow together, grow theirbusiness.
They're inspired and they wantthe help of learning skills and
knowledge from other people andthey're willing to learn.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Yeah, I think that's one of the things that you bring
to the table is you have thisreally nice system in place to
help people, whether they'rebrand new to the business or
they're at a high point in theircareer where they need
something different and theywant to take it to another level
.
So I think bringing that andthat structure is what a lot of
real estate agents need.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Absolutely, and it's also the leverage, I think a lot
of agents who are very topproducing Therese.
They find that they're runningaround and they're spending
their time on things that don'tnecessarily make a lot of money
or it's not their expertise.
So, being on the team, we canleverage that for them.
We have a marketing department,we have an admin department,
and so they can go and do whatthey're good at, which is
getting listings and servicingtheir buyers, but you have all
(01:33):
the marketing out there andhaving somebody taking care of
their paperwork and actuallyalso having leads coming in as
well, so you know they get alittle bit of everything and
that way, at the end of the year, they're able to have looked
back on the year and being ableto think I've made great money.
They've netted a lot of moneyafter they've paid all their
taxes and everything, but yethad more balance in their life
(01:54):
as well.
They can spend time with theirfamily, they can go on vacation.
The beauty of a team is thatyou have teammates that can
actually take care of yourbusiness while you're away and
you know that the board is notgoing to be dropped.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Yeah, I think when I talk to agents that are getting
to a point in their career wherethey're really stressed and
they're not quite sure how tofix that, it's because they're
doing everything and theyhaven't learned that leverage
piece that you offer.
So I think that's really great.
We have the Leverage Center too, which I think is something
that's very nice to help agentsnot do those mundane tasks that
(02:25):
just isn't their personalitymakeup.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
Right and it's also so time-consuming.
You know, the girls are greatat putting everything into the
MLS for us.
We have photographers that takethe photographs.
We have somebody that comes todo the marketing for us, create
the flyers All those things foran individual take so much time.
I know when I was doing it as asolo agent myself, every time I
got a listing I was spendingabout four or five hours just
doing all the back end of it.
(02:47):
Our time was much better spentlead generating, servicing our
sellers, going out with ourbuyers and then putting time
aside to do family activitiesand things for yourself as well.
So we have that on the teamwhere we are leveraging that.
We have the marketing personthat does our social media for
us.
We have the great use of RISO.
We have photography as well,and all of those things help to
(03:09):
make us stand out, so that whenyou're going for a listing, you
have all these special skills toshow and you show that you have
a team behind you to help you,and it helps us win the listing
every time.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Yeah, I agree with that.
I think one of the thingsthat's also interesting is you
can do a lot of research for theagents so that they know what's
the market of the moment.
Are they focusing their effortsin the right places?
And also the stats right nowwith you mentioned it video.
Having video in anything thatyou post is so important and we
do have that really greatopportunity here.
(03:39):
So talk to us a little bitabout the YouTube channels and
the house tours and the thingsthat we do, the photos.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Yeah, so we have a fantastic photographer that we
use who actually his backgroundwas real estate himself, so he
used to be a realtor, so he getsit.
The majority of the time.
We try and get out to theseller beforehand, tell them how
to make their house stand outfrom the crowd, because
obviously how we live in ourhouse to how we sell our house
is so different.
So we have those skill sets totell them how to get their house
(04:07):
to look perfect for thepictures.
He comes out and does a greatjob.
He's able to make it look sunnyif it's been raining, all those
sorts of things, and then dodrone shots as well.
So the team has that expertiseof somebody who can do the
photographs A lot of the time.
I think when you look on the MLSyou can see that sometimes an
agent's done the photographythemselves and you might have a
(04:28):
great camera.
But if it's not your wheelhouse, if it's not something you're
doing all the time, then itshows.
So they have that to help them.
We also get the use of Rizzo,so he comes through with us and
he does videos with us andthat's where most of the
consumers are looking to us.
Most of the consumers arelooking online first of all to
see if there's a photograph thatstands out, if there's a video
that stands out, and reallythat's their first showing.
(04:50):
If they've seen that and lovethat, by the time they come
through the listing it really islike their second showing and
at that point they're prettymuch ready to make an offer.
And I think a lot of peopleduring COVID got very lazy and
stopped doing those things andalso with the kind of market
that we had, where things wereflying off the shelf, people
stopped doing flyers, theystopped doing marketing online,
(05:11):
they stopped doing the videos.
All of those things make youstand out and they help your
client.
It's not just one offer.
You really want your client toget the best so they can
actually look at everything thatcomes in and choose.
And by putting all of thosethings out of there, you're
helping the people that are moretech savvy.
They're looking at it on theirphone, they're looking at it on
their computer, they'retraveling.
(05:33):
They can still see it ifthey're out of the country or if
they're in a different state.
So we're helping our clients andour agents on our team get
maximum exposure and thereforeget the best deal for their
client and really what we'relooking for is return business.
You know we don't want to haveto keep going out and finding
new people.
Most of our business is basedon referrals, so if we're doing
a good job for them, they'regonna come back to us, and most
(05:56):
of us on the team have foundthat that we are working with
clients that we worked with acouple of years ago and they
refer us to their family membersand that's what it's all about.
We want to have referrals andby doing these great things that
we do on the team, that givesus the repeat business.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
Yep, totally agree.
I think the other thing that'sreally nice that I noticed about
how you run your videos is it'snot scripted, it's not boring,
so it keeps the tension of theconsumer, which is great for the
seller Right.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Right, and really that's it as well.
People don't want to see usnecessarily.
We want to introduce theproperty and then it's pointing
out the best features andhelping the consumer imagine how
they could make that their home.
You know, the kitchen is theheart of the home.
What's the backyard like,what's the basement like?
And just doing little pointersto kind of, you know, tip the
icebergs there for them to piquetheir interest so that they
(06:46):
want to make that appointment.
They want to get in the house.
They have that excitement thereand all we're doing is really
our videos like a minute tothree minutes long, longer than
that.
We want them to come and checkout the house for themselves and
fall in love with it.
Awesome.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
So switching gears a little bit.
I noticed that your team isalways keeping a very consistent
or increased amount of business.
Even when people are talkingright now about this market's
really difficult, there's not alot of business why do you think
that is?
Speaker 2 (07:13):
I think it's a lot to do with competitiveness.
We have boards out, that sortof show how many listings we
have under contract.
I give out certificates as wellat the end of the month for
people who've done more than acouple of transactions, and I
think all of us have a littlebit of a competitive side, and
when someone else is doing well,you want to be around those
people.
So, being on the team, it giveseven brand new agents the
(07:35):
chance to take those knowledgeand skillset and go out there
and learn a little bit more.
The team's very sharing.
All of our listings we're happyto share, so that makes them
look like they're busier too.
And then things like openhouses.
A lot of agents don't want tonecessarily sit their own open
house, so we have a team full ofpeople that can sit them and
they have the opportunity thereto pick up a buyer.
(07:57):
So I know open houses have beenextremely successful for our
team and I think that's helpedus.
You know, do so well and keepour numbers up.
Where we've picked up buyers,we've picked up other sellers
that are in the neighborhood.
We walk neighborhoods, we doflyers, we go back to the odd
thing.
We do a lot of belly to bellyas well.
I think there's a number ofpeople that try and hide behind
(08:21):
texts and emails.
Those work to a certain extent,but people still want the face
to face.
We're very big on pop buys.
We're very big on kind of goingout for coffee with your
clients, go into networkinggroups.
We often walk neighborhoods, wedo flyers, we go to community
events.
We just did a community eventrecently.
So all of those things help tokeep us top of mind for people
(08:44):
and I think that's why we don'tsort of have the peaks and
troughs and we're pretty steady.
Of course we have months thatare better, like this month is
fantastic for us but we reallyhaven't been affected by a lot
of the things that some peopleare scared about and we keep
picking up the phone and we keepgoing back to past clients to
ask for them, for theirreferrals, and we're not scared
to do that.
We do it in a nice manner andwe also recognize our clients
(09:08):
that have served us and doclient events too where we thank
them for their time in theirbusiness.
We get involved in their kidsactivities.
We often sponsor football teamsand things like that and just
being involved in the community.
I think it just keeps us top ofmind.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
Yeah, I think the communication is so big and
that's if we listen to what NARputs out as stats from buyers
and sellers.
It's the one thing.
They want more of morecommunication.
So that's really good, goodstuff.
I think the other thing to talkabout, too, is the opportunity
that comes from being on ourteam.
We've built some pretty awesomecareers.
You want to talk a little bitabout that?
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Yeah, so what I've noticed I've been the team
leader now on the Brittinghamand Couch team for four years
and I think what I've noticed isI've been able to increase
people's average sale.
So a lot of the people on theteam that initially were brand
new things like that would oftenbe in a certain price range and
there's as much work involvedin every price range that you do
(10:07):
.
So if we can kind of get theminto a slightly higher price
point the 400s, the 500s, the600s, you know that's just a
nice thing for them to be ableto do a great feather in their
cap and that's one of the thingsthat I help them work on.
So at the beginning of the yearwell, really the year
beforehand, in October andNovember time we start looking
at what their goals are.
So it's what their goals arefinancially, how many
(10:30):
transactions they need to do,what their average sale price is
, and sometimes their financialgoal is really really high.
But yet if we can increasetheir average sales it's not
going to be that they're goingto have to work, you know, five
times harder than they were lastyear.
So we really focus on that andhitting specific neighborhoods
and doing repeat things, so it'snot touching a neighborhood
(10:50):
once, it's having a differentmessage and touching that
neighborhood every three to fourweeks.
So those are the things that Ibelieve helped the team and the
individuals to grow.
And we've had a number of peopleyou know that have grown from
the team and then created theirown teams, because obviously
they've got extremely successfuland that's really what we want
in this business.
But a lot of people areextremely successful and doing
(11:11):
very high end and they stillwant to stay with the team.
They like that and they don'twant to take on the
responsibility of the team.
So we're happy either way.
Either you want to grow andproduce your own team or you
just like to stay with us and,you know, have all the support
system with the admin, with themarketing, with all the videos
and everything that we offer aswell.
So there's something foreverybody.
(11:32):
And it's really important for meto kind of meet with the
individuals and find out reallywhat makes them tick, and
sometimes it is.
You know that they have a goal,that they want to take their
family somewhere.
Sometimes it's what that theyjust, you know, want to have the
freedom.
It can be so many differentthings, but it's finding out
what makes that individual tickand then trying to kind of
(11:53):
connect them with somebody inthe team that they work well
with.
So even though we're a big teamof 15, there's still people
that work particularly well.
Or if I see a particular skillthat somebody else is lacking,
that they might need to improveon, I try and pair them up as
well.
So it's really leveraging who wehave on the team and
everybody's happy to share and Ithink that's a great thing.
(12:13):
And I think that also comesdown from having you and Tom as
leaders, because you guys arealways willing to share and
you're very like ying and yang.
I mean, you're both suchdifferent personalities and you
both bring so many great thingsto the table and I think that
filters down.
So you know, for me it's aprivilege to be able to be
underneath the two of you andhelp the rest of the team, and I
feel that they feel that thedoor is open and you know I
(12:35):
check in with them, whether it'sto do with business or whether
it's to do with personal thingsas well, and just, you know, if
I haven't seen them for a while,I'm checking to make sure if
they need us for anything, and Ithink they appreciate that.
And sometimes this business canbe really tough because we are
dealing with people that arebeing dealing with the biggest
asset that they probably everhave.
It can be extremely emotionaland, no, it's never black and
(12:57):
white.
There's a lot of gray in thisindustry and every transaction
is different, and just havingsome people to talk to sometimes
, I think, just helps them toclear their mind and to get
through the process, and that's,you know, that's the plus of
being on a team that you havethat support system there.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
Yes, yes, I definitely think we have a great
way of supporting agents, but Ithink a lot of what you're
talking about also translatesinto why we're so successful
with our clients.
You know our sellers, ourbuyers.
We have clients for life.
They come back because I thinkyou're teaching the agents the
skills that it takes tocommunicate, to have the
difficult conversations, to makesure they're explaining the
(13:33):
market to the buyer or theseller, and we're giving them
all those tools to bettersupport the consumer.
So, at the end of the day, Ithink it comes full circle back
to why anybody out there in theindustry should want to work
with this team because they'reknowledgeable, they know how to
get it done, they have a ton ofsupport and we're doing whatever
is best in the industry.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
So I think you're doing a really great job making
sure that the agents are in tuneto what it is that the consumer
really needs to meet their goal, and I think another thing as
well that we point out whenanybody joins our team Therese
is that our expectation is thatthey do 52 trainings a year.
52 trainings sounds such a hugeamount because obviously that's
one a week, but really allwe're asking them to do is
(14:14):
connect, whether it's coming toa team meeting, which we have by
monthly, or whether it's cominggetting onto a Zoom call or
coming into the office or goingto a networking group.
Our industry is continuallychanging from week to week, from
day to day, and we need to beon top of that.
So by asking them to do that,we're just helping them to grow
(14:36):
continually.
We also recommend certain booksthat they read, and it's all
things that we've done ourselves, or if we've read a book, or if
we've heard a podcast, or ifwe've been on a Zoom call and
we've learned something, we'reall happy to share that, and I
think that's one of thestrongest things that I've
noticed, specifically withKeller Williams and also with
our team that there is thisethos that there is enough for
(14:59):
all of us, there's plenty outthere, and that the more that we
do together, the more it'sgoing to bring in.
I know in a number of companiesand a number of other realtors
that are out there.
Often they're scared to sharethings because they think
someone's going to take theiridea and run with it and then
they're going to lose out.
We have no problem sharing ourlisting and presentation with
people.
We don't have any problemssharing any information that we
(15:22):
have because we believe that themore that we give out, the more
that's going to come back, andI think that trickles down
through everybody and we have agreat turnout.
When we do do things in thecommunity, it just I truly
believe, what you give out comesback, and that's always what we
think about is doing the rightthing.
It's not always about closing adeal.
(15:43):
It's always thinking about howis this going to affect the
consumer, the seller, the buyer?
Is it the right thing to do?
And giving them their choices?
We are there to advise andeducate them and they ultimately
they're our clients.
They make the end choice and Ithink a lot of consumers really
appreciate that.
They don't think that we arethere just to close a deal.
(16:05):
Sometimes it's not the bestthing for them and they need to
take a break, or maybe they needto rent for a while, or maybe
they just need to take a pauseand not carry on looking for a
house for a moment.
Or they decided that it's notthe right time to sell, and
that's okay.
We might have taken photographs, we might have done all the
prep work, but they're like Ijust need to put the brakes on
for a moment.
We're never going to forceanybody to do anything that they
(16:27):
don't feel comfortable with,because we believe in long-term
relationships, and I think thatshows through all the business
that we've done and all therepeat business that we get as
well.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
Yeah, I think we think of ourselves more as
educators.
You know helping the publicreally understand what is the
best option for them at theplace they're on their life.
I talked to a client yesterdayto list their home and they
potentially would do better ifthey lease it.
You know, I don't know if a lotof agents would actually take
that potential listing out oftheir own opportunity to do
what's right for the client andat the end of the day, I think
(16:58):
that's what you do really greatwith our team and I think Kelle
Williams does a great job withthe Y4C2 teams and you know
doing the right thing andwin-win things like that always
come back, you know, for thebetter all the time.
So I think that is a lot ofinformation.
Is there anything else you'dlike to share out there?
Speaker 2 (17:16):
I would just say that everybody just needs to kind of
at this time, think positive,keep your chin up and believe
that you know, even when you getknocked down, it's how you
react from that and pickyourself up and get going and
move forward.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
Yeah, Melinda, thank you so much.
That was awesome.
So if you need more information, reach out to Melinda.
She will give you everythingyou need to hear about the
Burning Hand McCow sales team.
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
How was that?
Was that okay?
Speaker 1 (17:41):
I wasn't too much talking.
No, no, that was perfect.
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