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Run the Business, Not the Admin · Unstoppable Real Estate Agents

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Did you know that the minute you stop doing something for yourself in your business and you let somebody else do it, you are growing.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: Your business is growing every time you delegate a task, a project, something like that to someone else to help that's going to benefit you in your business.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: Because what it's going to do, it's going to open up an opportunity for you to have more ideas.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: It's going to give you more of a peace of mind.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: And it's going to open up an opportunity for you to meet new people because you now have time to get out there and do that, right?
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: So this is where a real estate virtual assistant can really benefit you.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: And we're going to take a deep dive here today and talk about ways that a VA can help you, but maybe in some ways that you never thought that could really happen, okay?
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Unstoppable Real Estate Agents Podcast.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host and real estate productivity expert, Kim Hughes.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: Join me as we focus on real strategies and implement real solutions designed for you to achieve major success in your business and life while getting you organized.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: So the first thing I always say is you've got to take a look at your business because everybody is going to need help in their business in different areas and in different ways.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: Also, depending on where you live, because where you live, there may be rules that we don't have in other states.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: So always keep that in mind as well.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: If there is something that you that is a law or is a rule with your brokerage or with your state, you always want to make sure to share that with your virtual assistant because she's not going to know unless she goes and does a deep dive, you know, or has been in the business, you know, as long as we've been in the business.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we already know pretty much what states expect, what brokerages, you know, expect, what do they need, etc.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: So just make sure that when you are planning out what you want someone to help you with, that you have a very clear picture.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: And this is where Chat GPT would come in real handy.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: So you as an agent could go into Chat GPT and say something like, My goal is to, well, first what you would do is tell them who you are.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I am a, you know, 50-year-old real estate agent that's been in the business for 10 years.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: I've closed X amount of homes, I've made X amount of money.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: This is my market.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: This is what's going on in my market right now.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: What can a virtual assistant help me do in my business to help me grow?
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: And then see what it tells you.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: Because sometimes I'll just go in and just give it a blank, like kind of a, I don't give it a lot of direction.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: I kind of want to see what it's telling me because sometimes Chat GPT will rem, it'll trigger something and oh, I never thought about that.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: Or, you know, that's a great idea.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: I could do that too.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, so it's going to help you kind of figure out what do you need.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: So you could tell it, um, I am not a good planner.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not good at writing content, but I'm really good at sitting with my clients.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: And every time I sit down with a listing, I always walk away with it because I am that good at and and promoting myself as the best real estate agent in the market.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: And then it's going to start telling you things, and you can even say to it, ask me questions as we put this together, you know, so that way it's asking you questions that you don't know what to tell it, and then you can answer.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: So it's really kind of a cool thing to do.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but here's some areas that I want you to really focus on for the new year, because I think that if you focus on these items, it's going to help you grow as well as help you achieve your goals for the next year.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: So always say, first thing you do is let's kind of get through this year.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: And what do we need to finish out this year that we can help?
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe can't finish out, we got to carry it over.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: In my previous podcast, we talked about that.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: But this is where if you have a really good real estate focused virtual assistant, this is where they can help you because they're gonna sit there and say, Well, let's look at how many ways you generate leads.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm gonna sit down and I'm gonna say, okay, I'm gonna give you five.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: So here's one, two, three, four, five.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um, this is what I see not working.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: This is what I see is working.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: So let's get rid of what's not working and maybe we look at something else to replace it, or we don't replace it at all because we do so well with lead generation over here.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: This is where your VA is going to be different.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: Because with us, I mean, I have, gosh, I mean, I've been in real estate since I'm dating myself now, 83, 82, 83.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um, everybody on my team has been in this business for multiple years.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: So we can come to the table and help you grow your business.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: Where a lot of VAs, they're more of give them a task, tell them how to do it, and they do it.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: They don't think outside of the box.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: They're not there to help you grow.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: They're there to help you do this and then move to the next project.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: Where we come in and we look at your business.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: We want to see what's going on in your business, what have you been doing, what's working, what's not working, what can we bring to the table to help you grow?
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: So, some of these things that we want to immediately look at is your systems.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you you hear me talk about systems probably every podcast.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: And so, you know, a system is only good if you're gonna use it, right?
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: And so what I want to see agents do is to say, hey Kim, I need you to create a system for me on when I get a lead from Zillow, this is what happens.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: When I get a lead from my website, this is what happens.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: When I get a lead from Realtor.com, when I get a lead from my brokerage, a referral.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: And then I'm gonna sit down and I'm gonna look at all of your programs, all of your software and everything.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: Then I'm going to look at everything and say, okay, well, when he gets a lead from a referral, this is what we do, and we map it out.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: And then we do that for every way that you generate a lead.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of people can't do that, but this is where the thinking and the experience and the knowledge comes to help you grow.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: Now, you may not need this person.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you are that agent that can do it all, and you've got a VA and they just handle your flyers and they do your newsletter, and you know, they do a little bit of your social media.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: But that's all great and good, but you need to get focused on your systems because the more focused you are, the better organized you're gonna be and the more you're gonna grow.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's just in any business.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't matter what business you're in.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: I am only successful because one, I always give credit to my team.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: I have the best team in the whole wide world, but I also have systems and I know what I'm doing when I get a new client.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: Or if this client decides, oh, I want to add another service to my um monthly retainer, or I need, hey Kim, I've been using you for this, but now I need you for this.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: Or, hey, Kim, I'm having problems trying to figure this out.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: Can you schedule a call and we try to figure it out together?
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe y'all take this off my plate, you know, kind of thing.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: So we are the ones that are always looking at your business on how how can we help you grow and what areas do we need to focus on?
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: So growth doesn't mean putting money in your pocket.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: Growth means how are we able to move the needle in your business to make it better?
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: How can we make you have more time so that you can close more deals?
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: What can we do to make your listing stand out above everybody else's?
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we're always looking at what ifs, how what if we could do this?
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_00: What if we did that?
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um we are strategy people.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_00: We're looking at all the strategies that we can, you know, figure out.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: If you wanted somebody to run your social media, then we would sit down and you first thing we're gonna do is go in and then take an accounting of all of your social media.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: What are you currently doing?
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: Is everything updated?
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: And then once I have that analysis done, then I'm gonna sit down and I'm gonna map out a new social media strategy just for you.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: Because you have a market, not everybody has that same market.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you have different goals than everybody else.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of people in the real estate industry all have the same goal.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_00: It's just how are you going to achieve it?
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: You know, is the is how you're gonna get there.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: So we have to understand who you are, how do you think, what is your personality, and then what do you enjoy doing and what do you not enjoy doing?
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: And then we can come in and just take it all off your plate, right?
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: And so when you do that, what we want to see you do is that extra time that you have every day, then, or maybe it's like, oh, by her doing this, I'm getting two hours back a week, or I'm getting an hour back a day.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: Or maybe I can, you know, actually leave and go have lunch with one of my kids at school and not be, you know, thinking about something else instead of being present for my child, you know, that kind of thing.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: So basically it's having a conversation and really just diving deep into your business.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes when I'm having a call of um, you know, an inquiry wants to schedule a call with me, and you know, I usually schedule, you know, maybe 20, 30 minutes to talk to you because I can get a real good handle on what's going on.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_00: But if I need to go longer and figure it out with you because I think that we can help you, and I feel like that you would be a good candidate for us as well as I think we would be great for you, then we're gonna spend more time on the phone, get some more information, and then we're gonna bring in one of your team, the team members, because that team member is gonna be working with you as well.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: So we want to make sure that everything is covered.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_00: We wanna make sure that everybody has a clear picture of what our role is.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um, some of our agents only use us maybe for one or two things.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: And then we have other agents that use us as office managers, director of operations, systems, uh, strategy analysis, social media, listing coordinator, transaction coordinator, lead generator, uh, website manager.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: You know, so the list goes on.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_00: And one of the things that, you know, I take great pride in is when I started this business, there was nobody doing what I was wanting to do.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_00: So I was having to learn how to do everything.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_00: And it was real interesting.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um made a lot of mistakes, cried a lot, lost a lot of sleep.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: But you know, one thing that I always stayed true to was my family.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_00: I always said, you know, um, because at the time my children were young, and I was, even though I stayed home, I worked from home, but my husband worked out of town.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_00: So there was a very different family dynamic because of my husband working out of town.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: He wasn't here to help us or help me as much as I needed.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: So I had to be very organized and very systemized with the way that I ran the house.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_00: And so, you know, one of the things that I always wanted to do was have lunch with my kids at school.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um, as they got older, um, I wanted to be available when they had a football game, a baseball game, basketball, track, you know, if they were in a play, if they were in the band, you know, whatever they were doing, I wanted to be present and it was important.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, probably for the first 20, not maybe the first 15 years of my business, I always had Friday at 12 o'clock.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_00: I left.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_00: I was, it was in my contract that I was not going to be around on Fridays after 12 o'clock.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_00: And the reason being I live in Texas.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_00: My three boys, they played football or they played basketball, whatever the sport was at that time, they were playing it.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: And so I made myself available, and my clients never missed a beat.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_00: But what I did was I made sure that I was very organized in what I had to do for that week or for that day.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes I had to plan out the month, you know, just to make sure.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_00: So that's where I want you to kind of start thinking is, and and I'm sure you've heard this before, but in case you haven't, what I always say is you want to get your calendar, your month out, and look at your entire month and put in all of your personal appointments.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: Doctor, your kids, you know, I'm having lunch on Friday with the kids, I'm doing this, I've got a field trip.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_00: You fill in all the personal stuff, and then you go back and you add your business, okay?
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um, that way you sound you stay very grounded and you can be balanced, okay?
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_00: And without feeling guilt.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_00: You know, as parents, we always feel the guilt.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_00: So make sure that you kind of work your calendar that way.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_00: And that's a good routine to get into.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_00: And I usually will start working on mine uh my week, depending on what I have on the weekend.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_00: If I don't have anything going on, I'm working on it on Saturday because I don't want to have to wait till the last minute and then have to do it.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: Now, if I'm busy, usually my Sundays are pretty free.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: So usually Sunday afternoons, I'll sit down or Sunday evenings and plan out my week.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_00: But my week is pretty much already planned out because I've done it for the month.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_00: All my personal stuff that I can get on that calendar, ASAP, goes on the calendar.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: And then anything, and then what a lot of people don't think about is if your appointment is at one o'clock, you've got to think, how long does it take for me to get to point A to point B and put that into your schedule as well?
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_00: So if I have a listing appointment at two o'clock and it's gonna take me 30 minutes to get there, I'm leaving my house or my office around 1.15 to be at that location by two o'clock.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_00: And then I've got to allow time to leave.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it went over.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_00: I got to allow that.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: Now I've got to allow the drive time back, you know.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_00: So what may take an hour may end up taking two hours.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_00: So you make sure you put that on your calendar so that you don't feel that pressure in case that appointment ran over or they were late and you had to wait, you know.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_00: So always know where you are in your planner.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, um, maybe not your planner, but your calendar, okay?
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_00: Or in your daily schedule.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: Now, um, lead generation, you know, um, you can hire people to do that for you.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_00: We do not offer lead generation.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um we're very funny about the way we feel about it is if if you, the agent, call me and talk to me about you being a real estate agent and interested in what my goals are to buy or sell, I'm gonna talk to you.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_00: But if you send somebody to me that is not you uh and try to book an appointment with me, I'm gonna probably just hang up and move on.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um, not interested because I look at it this way.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_00: If you have to hire someone to call me, then you are not invested, or as invested, I should say.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not trying to knock anybody that hires people to make phone calls.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_00: If that works for you, then you do it.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_00: But I am a relationship person.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_00: I want to build the relationship with all my clients.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_00: So that's why I'm saying if you want lead generation, you can go find somebody to do that for nickels on a dollar.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I would not recommend it.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_00: But what I would do is decide how many phone calls am I gonna make every day.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you may say I'm gonna make one, I'm gonna make 25 phone calls once a week on Tuesday at from 10 to 12, you know, something like that.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_00: Then put it on there and put it for the whole month.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_00: Every Tuesday from 9 to 12, you're busy, okay?
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have drive time, but you might have overage, okay?
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_00: So if you say I'm gonna do it for two hours, but you get on the phone with somebody and they talk to you for 10 or 15 minutes, that's taking time out of your two hours that you've devoted.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_00: So you've got to allow a little extra in case it ran over.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_00: So that way you can achieve the goal.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_00: So if you say I'm gonna make calls from 9 to 11, I would probably write down to 12 and then stop at 11 if I can, but if I have to, I'll go to 12.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_00: And then my appointments start after that.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_00: Make sense?
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_00: I hope so.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, here's here's something that we always talk about is with your clients, and you've heard me talk about this in the previous um podcast because we're talking about end-of-year stuff.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_00: But as you are sitting here trying to figure out, oh, I've got so much going on, how can I use a virtual assistant?
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I'm giving you the chat GPT.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_00: You can talk to that, tell it, tell chat what you have going on.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I'm a mother of two kids, I'm a father of five, and I am, you know, I'm a runner, or I, you know, do kickboxing every Thursday.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_00: You've got to tell ChatGPT who you are, what you got going on, and where you need help in your business so that it will talk back to you and give you suggestions on areas of your business.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_00: So you could say, ask me questions about what type of systems do I have.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_00: Or you could say, give me a checklist of systems or SOPs that I should have in my real estate business, being a one-man show, or I am a team leader, or I'm a broker, or whatever, you know.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_00: The more you tell it to about you, the more it's going to help you in areas where you don't even know you need help.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_00: I do it all the time.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's shocking what uh Chat GPT can do for us.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so then, you know, one of the bigger areas that we see um agents wanting help with besides systems.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_00: Systems are big.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um we offer our agents three ways to work with them when they come to us and say, I need SOPs, I need you to help me create systems.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_00: We can do it with you, meaning we will guide you through it and you're doing it yourself, which is a good way to do it.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um, or we do it all for you.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_00: So if you came to me and said, Hey, I need a lead generation system for all the ways that my leads come in.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, great.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_00: We'll create, we'll do that for you.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_00: So we've got it done for you, done with you, or we just tell you everything you need to know, and then you just go do it yourself.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_00: We don't guide you through it or anything.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_00: So there's several ways that we can help you in your business to get you organized so that you can grow and quit running into the wall.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_00: Or, you know, it's like I say, some people can take two steps forward and take five backwards.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_00: They can't get out of their own way.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_00: So, some other areas is let's talk about your website.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_00: Website is huge.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you need a website, whether it's a custom, a leased, whatever.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but you need to keep that content fresh, and that content has got to be written for SEO.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_00: And the only way that you can do that, you cannot you, if you're using, let's say you're using somebody like iHouse Web to build you a website.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_00: You know, they give you the the the uh canned content to use.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of agents don't even read that, they don't pay any attention to it, they don't change it or anything.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_00: So what I do is when we are doing these websites, we're definitely rewriting the content and we're writing it about your market, with your market in mind, with you in mind.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, so that if you did an iHouse website and then Joe over here had an iHouse website, they're gonna be totally too different because you work in one market, he works in another, and we have to write for those markets.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_00: So that is something that.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_00: Your virtual assistant can do.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_00: They can manage your website, even though it's a leased website.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_00: So we always take care of the content.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_00: We make sure it's fresh, updated, we write the blogs, we make sure the listings are syndicated.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_00: We make sure that we get those leads out of there and put them in your CRM and put them on the right email sequence, put them on your newsletter, put them on whatever it is that needs to be sent to them.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have to touch it, you know, um, because the goal here is if we're doing all of that and we're taking those leads and putting them in the right places and they're on the right campaigns, and we're giving you that list of those leads so that you can also decide.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_00: So we're not just putting them in your CRM, we're giving you a list.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_00: So let's say um we go in every day or every other day and we pull all the leads that came in, then we're putting that together.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm sending you those five people that came into the website yesterday or this morning or whatever, and I'm saying, hey, you need to call these people.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_00: They came into your website at five o'clock yesterday, and here's their phone number, you know.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_00: So you have a number.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_00: If if we have this information, we're giving it to you.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_00: So then all you have to do is pull it up, sit down, make the phone calls.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have to do anything than that, and make notes of what they're telling you.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_00: And then those notes, you take a screenshot, you send it to us, we're gonna take those notes, and then we're gonna put them into your um CRM under that client's name.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_00: Now, there's other ways we can do this.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_00: Very simple.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of different ways to capture that information, but that kind of gives you an idea.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but that's one of the things about the website is that a lot of agents just, you know, put it together and walk away from it.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_00: And you really need to make sure it's being utilized and it's got good SEO and it's doing everything that it's supposed to be doing for you so that it can give you a return of investment.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_00: You're paying a lot of money each month for that website.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_00: Put it to work, make it work for you.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_00: Then if you have um your transactions, you know, as a transaction coordinator, we have the services that you need.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_00: We are not the cookie cutter transaction coordinator.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_00: Again, we are the relationship builders.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_00: We want to help you build the relationship with your clients.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_00: So as your transaction coordinator, we're engaging, we're talking to them, we're texting with them, we're hoping that we can get them to the closing table on time.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_00: And then we're following up with them and we're putting them on a past client sequence now.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_00: And we're doing all of the things to nurture them so that you have a good rapport with them.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_00: You may not be doing any of this, but they think you are, and they know that they can depend on you because they because of the way that you have shown them how you can be a serious business owner, but also be a person at the same time.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_00: So building the relationship, that's what your business is all about, and it's got to run very smoothly.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_00: If you're if your business doesn't run smoothly, you're probably sitting there going, nope, I don't do that.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_00: Nope, I don't do that.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_00: And if I did, my business would run smoother.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_00: So that's what I'm talking about is, you know, let's help you achieve what you need to do to get your business going in the right direction.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_00: And being at the end of the year, what a great time to do this so that we can start off January 100% focused.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_00: Wouldn't that be great?
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_00: You know?
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um, now, one of the things that I did when I first started in my business was I put together CMAs for my clients.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um, the a VA can do that if they know what they're doing.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_00: Don't just rely on anybody to do that because you'll go back and redo the whole work and then you've paid them to do it, and then you've then you've taken the time.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_00: So, what was the point?
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_00: You could have done it yourself to begin with.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_00: Because you need to make sure that these people that are working for you understand your business, they understand the markets, they understand what your goal is.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, things that you need to do for your, you know, um for your clients.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_00: So maybe you're sitting here and you're thinking, how can I have a VA help me, you know, get better with my buyers?
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe we create for you an outline of videos that you need to create that talks to buyers.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_00: And then we're going to give you a series of videos to create for sellers.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_00: And they could be at the beginning, you know, when somebody first reaches out to you to either buy or sell, it could be, I'm sending you here to watch these videos.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_00: Once you've watched these videos, come back to me and we'll go to the next step.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's stuff like that that you need to be very organized in.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_00: And I will say this the agents that have these videos that help the buyers and the sellers understand what's going on are the ones that are the most successful.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_00: They're just saying they they know what they're doing, they know what to say and they know what they're doing.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_00: And then when they create the video, then what we're doing is we're taking those videos and we're uploading them to your website.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_00: We're putting them on YouTube, we're taking them and making shorts and putting them into um um reels and things like that for you.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_00: So that would that's really a big deal.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_00: If you could get somebody to help you with that, that would be awesome.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_00: So here's a couple of things that you can think about to get clarity when you're um looking to hire a on on-site assistant or a virtual is one, what is the role that they're going to take in your business?
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_00: Are they just gonna be that person that when you need something, you just send them a text or an email and say, hey, I need a flyer, hey, I need you to put this in my CRM.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_00: That's good.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_00: That helps.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_00: And if that's what's gonna get you started, that's where you start.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_00: You start where you need the help.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_00: Doesn't matter how small or insignificant that task is, if that's going to be something that you have to do that you don't have to do, then let's put that on the list to give it to your virtual assistant.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_00: You know, um so when I say what does their role look like, if that means, you know, them sending you a message every hour on the hour saying, you know, call your call your husband, that's what they do.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_00: If that's gonna help you stay focused, we've that's the goal here, okay?
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_00: And then um why does the role exist?
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_00: Is it because you don't want to do it, you don't know how to do it, you don't know how to find the right people to do it, so we're putting it on the list.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um the person that you're looking for needs to have a very good understanding of the English English language.
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_00: And so we all know there's VAs overseas that you can hire for certain tasks.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_00: So you've got to be very mindful of what that person can do.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um you've got to make sure that they know how to write, they know how to under, they understand what you're saying.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um that is very important because sometimes they may, you know, somebody, let's say in the Philippines may say, Oh, I do understand the English language.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um, if they don't know the difference between two, to, and two, that's a problem, okay?
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_00: Because that's a reflection on you if you don't know the right words to use or prepositions, adjectives, whatever.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um, that is something that's very, very important.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, does this person have an attention to detail?
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_00: And here's something that I will give you.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_00: I'm always testing the waters.
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_00: And so I went over to a um a company that has VAs overseas, and I was interested to see if they could take a simple task that I had and recreate it.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_00: I had I had created an ebook, and it has nothing to do with real estate.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_00: So I took everything that I had put into the ebook and I found the person to do it, sent it to them and gave them my instructions and everything.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_00: And when I got it back, they were supposed to have it back in four days.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_00: I got it back in six days.
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, they told me they got sick, but nobody told me they got sick.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it was like when I started going, hey, where's my ebook?
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_00: She said, Oh, I've been sick.
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_00: I haven't been able to work on it.
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_00: Well, if she had told me that two days uh prior, I would have said, Oh, okay, no problem.
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_00: I get it.
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_00: You know, everybody gets sick, but she didn't tell me.
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_00: And that kind of raised a red flag with me because I hadn't heard from her.
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_00: And I could tell that she wasn't working on it because it was in my Canva account.
• 32:17
  SPEAKER_00: So you gotta monitor these people.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_00: You've got to understand that they work at a different time, they have different work ethics, um, they have different rules, they, you know, may be really inexpensive, but they could cost you a whole lot of money if it if something got screwed up.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_00: Now, can these people do simple tasks?
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_00: You just got to teach them how to do it.
• 32:41
  SPEAKER_00: And when you're when you're hiring, you know, it's kind of like when I have a client talk to me, and it's real funny because when they finally get a hold of me, it's a different conversation than what they've had with others.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_00: And they may not have even had a conversation.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_00: It was fill out a form and we'll email you.
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna ask you questions and you're gonna ask me questions, and you're gonna ask for references and examples and things like that, which is great.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_00: But there is a difference between hiring someone with my expertise and then then somebody oversees, okay?
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_00: And you you probably already know that, but a lot of people are kind of surprised by that.
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_00: But here's another thing that you can have somebody do is if you have designations, certifications, and you're not keeping up with them, then you need to make a list of those, give them to the VA, and then they need to go in and to make sure that your picture is updated, your profile is updated, your website, your links, everything is maxed out.
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_00: Because when you have that maxed out on your own profile, that's feeding into your website.
• 33:52
  SPEAKER_00: That's inbound linking to your website, and that's gonna give your website SEO.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um, if somebody is doing a search and they're looking for real estate agent in Tyler, Texas that has a CRM, well, they're gonna pull up all the CRMs.
• 34:09
  SPEAKER_00: So then you need to have that on there.
• 34:11
  SPEAKER_00: So by having these profiles updated on the certification designation websites, as well as making sure that those designations and everything are on your website.
• 34:22
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um of the things that, you know, um like keeping a calendar, um, scheduling your your transaction, you know, when you're in transaction, you can schedule appointment, you have to have schedule, you know, um your inspections, the appraisals, and all of that stuff.
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_00: And that's where your VA can plug it into your calendar so that you know where you need to be on what given day and go from there.
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_00: But at the end of the day, um, you know, the things that I really would like to see agents focus on for the new year is get really focused on your systems.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_00: If you were to take a couple of hours and worked on that and get it to a place where you feel like, okay, now I feel like I can move forward and not have that little voice in the back of my head telling me, oh, you have to do this, you know, and turn it over to someone with the ide with the understanding of what they know, what they're doing and how it's supposed to help you, then that's a win-win.
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_00: Your business will go grow so fast and so much better and be so much smoother and give you a lot of peace of mind.
• 35:41
  SPEAKER_00: So really focus on what systems do you have in place and what systems do you not have in place that you really need to put some effort into.
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_00: Then I want you to look at what is your listing procedure look like?
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_00: What is that checklist?
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_00: You know, your transaction checklist, your newsletter checklist, your social media, you know, these are things that need to be implemented into the company, but you also need to know how do they work and how are they updated and what do you need to focus on?
• 36:15
  SPEAKER_00: And have can you have somebody else, can you delegate that to someone else?
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_00: And when you do that, so let's say you have hired this great person and they're doing you know, five things for you.
• 36:29
  SPEAKER_00: How do they communicate with you?
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_00: How do they let you know when they have a question?
• 36:35
  SPEAKER_00: How did how do you know when um they have finished the project?
• 36:39
  SPEAKER_00: You know, so how do we know um if you need to make revisions to something, how does that how does that work?
• 36:47
  SPEAKER_00: You know, so you really need to understand the expectations of your VA as well as they need to understand your expectations, and they need to be able to work with you in a capacity that is beneficial to you.
• 37:01
  SPEAKER_00: Now, you might have two VAs because they both specialize in different things.
• 37:07
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you might have a transaction coordinator that's a VA, and that's all she's gonna do for you.
• 37:13
  SPEAKER_00: And then you might have a director of operations VA, which is handling everything else, which is not uncommon.
• 37:20
  SPEAKER_00: You know, um in my company, we have divisions.
• 37:24
  SPEAKER_00: So we have the listing division, we have the transaction division, we have a marketing, we have divisions, and the people that are in these divisions, that's where they shine.
• 37:35
  SPEAKER_00: That's where they really shine.
• 37:37
  SPEAKER_00: When we um when I bring somebody on, I really focus on the personality, making sure that that personality goes into the right position because I want them happy.
• 37:49
  SPEAKER_00: I want them giving me 150%.
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_00: And you should want that too.
• 37:53
  SPEAKER_00: But you have to understand what does that person have that's going to help you?
• 37:59
  SPEAKER_00: What do they really get excited about?
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_00: Are they real analytical?
• 38:03
  SPEAKER_00: Are they real creative?
• 38:05
  SPEAKER_00: What do they like to do so that you can map out what you need them to do for you?
• 38:11
  SPEAKER_00: So those are some of the tips that I'm gonna recommend.
• 38:13
  SPEAKER_00: And then I'm always going to say have a conversation.
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_00: You have to have conversations.
• 38:19
  SPEAKER_00: We try to have, when we start out with a new client, we are talking to them all the time, you know, trying to make sure that they understand what we're doing, what we need from them, the urgency that they need to take when we send them an email or a text.
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_00: And then, you know, that way, as we are starting out, we're getting a rhythm, we're getting momentum, and we're learning who you are so that we can help you thrive in your business.
• 38:49
  SPEAKER_00: So it helps us to thrive when we're helping you, because we always say we're not in business unless we have you as a client.
• 38:59
  SPEAKER_00: And so therefore, we're gonna give you the white glove treatment.
• 39:03
  SPEAKER_00: Everybody, every business out there should be giving their clients or their customers the white glove treatment, and they should not expect any less.
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_00: And that's what we do.
• 39:15
  SPEAKER_00: We give you that white glove treatment, and we want you to know that we appreciate you and we want you to thrive.
• 39:25
  SPEAKER_00: And we want to be here to help you do that.
• 39:27
  SPEAKER_00: So hopefully, this has helped you kind of think about what if you were to hire someone, what is that, what was, what would that look like?
• 39:37
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm gonna tell you, start off with Chat GPT.
• 39:40
  SPEAKER_00: Go in there and tell ChatGTP everything about you on a personal, and then how do you work?
• 39:47
  SPEAKER_00: What does your business look like?
• 39:48
  SPEAKER_00: What do you lack in your business?
• 39:50
  SPEAKER_00: What do you need help with?
• 39:51
  SPEAKER_00: And then that will put together a really good starting point for you to start working towards having a fabulous new year and thriving that entire year because now you've got momentum and you're putting systems in place and you're building a business like a real entrepreneur should.
• 40:10
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 40:11
  SPEAKER_00: So if you enjoyed this podcast, please let me know.
• 40:14
  SPEAKER_00: I would love to get a review.
• 40:16
  SPEAKER_00: If you're watching me on uh YouTube, please make a comment and give us a like and subscribe.
• 40:23
  SPEAKER_00: We are putting out uh content every week.
• 40:26
  SPEAKER_00: So if there's something that we can help you with, please let us know.
• 40:29
  SPEAKER_00: See you later.
• 40:31
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for tuning in.
• 40:33
  SPEAKER_00: And if you know someone, and I bet you do, who would appreciate this podcast, please share it with them.
• 40:39
  SPEAKER_00: As a reminder, this podcast can be delivered directly to your favorite device by using the subscribe links you can find in the show notes below or over at Unstoppable RealestateAgents.com.
• 40:53
  SPEAKER_00: Remember, it takes as much energy to wish as it does to plant.
• 40:58
  SPEAKER_00: Have a great day.