Latest / Unstoppable Real Estate Agents / The Empty Room That Runs Your Market
Transcript
- 0:00SPEAKER_00: Hi everybody, it's Kim Hughes, and today we're going to talk about the empty room that runs your market.
- 0:07SPEAKER_00: Do you know which room it is?
- 0:09SPEAKER_00: I bet you do.
- 0:10SPEAKER_00: So stay tuned, we're going to talk about it.
- 0:13SPEAKER_00: And I want you to take notes.
- 0:14SPEAKER_00: So grab a piece of paper and a pencil.
- 0:16SPEAKER_00: Empty room that runs your market.
- 0:20SPEAKER_00: Do you know which room it is?
- 0:22SPEAKER_00: I bet you do.
- 0:23SPEAKER_00: So stay tuned, we're going to talk about it.
- 0:25SPEAKER_00: And I want you to take notes.
- 0:26SPEAKER_00: So grab a piece of paper and a pencil.
- 0:30SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Unstoppable Real Estate Agents Podcast.
- 0:34SPEAKER_00: I'm your host and real estate productivity expert, Kim Hughes.
- 0:38SPEAKER_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.
- 0:52SPEAKER_00: So we all know that there is a room in your city that's probably maybe 10, 20 minutes away from where you live.
- 1:01SPEAKER_00: And that room is usually empty.
- 1:03SPEAKER_00: It has bad lighting, it has bad seating, cold, hot room, stuffy, mildewy smell, all the good things about that empty room.
- 1:14SPEAKER_00: But there is something that's going on in that meeting that you need to be aware of, and you're not doing it.
- 1:21SPEAKER_00: And so this meeting is going to be every Tuesday at six o'clock once a month, and it runs for a couple of hours.
- 1:29SPEAKER_00: Do you know what it is?
- 1:32SPEAKER_00: Well, that room is where all the decisions get made about your market.
- 1:37SPEAKER_00: Okay.
- 1:38SPEAKER_00: These are not the rumors, these are actual decisions that are being made, and you should be involved and you should know exactly what's going on so that you can share it with your community.
- 1:50SPEAKER_00: So today I want to talk about why that is and what happens when you change it.
- 1:55SPEAKER_00: And I'm going to give you an actual system that you can implement today to go to your next meeting.
- 2:02SPEAKER_00: Okay.
- 2:03SPEAKER_00: Now that next meeting is going to be your planning and zoning meeting with your city council.
- 2:09SPEAKER_00: Okay.
- 2:10SPEAKER_00: So I want you to go to your city website.
- 2:14SPEAKER_00: I want you to look at the calendar.
- 2:16SPEAKER_00: I want you to look and see when is the next planning and zoning meeting.
- 2:22SPEAKER_00: And I want you to put it on your calendar.
- 2:24SPEAKER_00: I want you to make sure that your calendar is cleared for you to do that.
- 2:29SPEAKER_00: If your children have something to do, get the spouse to help you out there.
- 2:33SPEAKER_00: Get the babysitter in.
- 2:35SPEAKER_00: Get the oldest child if they're it's an appropriate age to babysit.
- 2:39SPEAKER_00: But you need to be in the room at these meetings every single month.
- 2:44SPEAKER_00: This is something that I see over and over with agents.
- 2:47SPEAKER_00: And that is, you know, they're they're posting, you know, to their social media about the community events, they're posting about their new listings, they're talking about the next football game, the next baseball game, the, you know, the next dance competition, all the things that are going on in their market.
- 3:06SPEAKER_00: But the one thing that really will get their attention is what's going on with the planning and zoning.
- 3:13SPEAKER_00: And that gives you an upper edge against your competition.
- 3:18SPEAKER_00: So when you go to these meetings, you're the one that's going to know exactly what's going on.
- 3:24SPEAKER_00: Because when you see something on Facebook, whether it's your community, you know, group or just a post anywhere, something about, hey, what are they doing out there on the west side of town?
- 3:34SPEAKER_00: There's 10 acres.
- 3:35SPEAKER_00: What are they putting up out there?
- 3:37SPEAKER_00: And then that's when you find out what's going on.
- 3:40SPEAKER_00: That's not the way it should be.
- 3:42SPEAKER_00: You should be putting that information out there when it is appropriate.
- 3:46SPEAKER_00: Okay.
- 3:46SPEAKER_00: So that's why you should be going to the planning and zoning meetings.
- 3:50SPEAKER_00: And I want you to go with your notebook.
- 3:52SPEAKER_00: I want you to go with your pens.
- 3:54SPEAKER_00: I want you to take detailed notes of what's going on.
- 3:58SPEAKER_00: Because you may sit in that meeting, you know, for three months and nothing be brought up.
- 4:04SPEAKER_00: You know, you're hearing about somebody wanting to put in a new pool and they need a permit.
- 4:08SPEAKER_00: Or, you know, something like that.
- 4:10SPEAKER_00: And you're sitting there going, This is the biggest waste of time that I have ever spent.
- 4:16SPEAKER_00: But I'm going to tell you that the more you show up in these meetings, the more you're going to pick up information that you will have firsthand knowledge of to share with your community, to share with your buyers that are moving in or moving down the street, or maybe the seller who wants to sell their home, but they don't know what's coming up behind them.
- 4:40SPEAKER_00: Where we live, there's a lot of construction going on.
- 4:44SPEAKER_00: But what's going on out there, nobody really knows.
- 4:47SPEAKER_00: And so everybody goes to the community groups to find out.
- 4:50SPEAKER_00: Why not shift that to where they come to you and where you share that information in your newsletter, in your social media, in your pick up the phone and call your buyers and call your past clients and share with them what this information is, what it means to them, and how it's going to benefit them, or how it's negatively going to benefit them.
- 5:13SPEAKER_00: And then they can make a decision on what they want to do if they want to buy or sell.
- 5:18SPEAKER_00: So the more the agent knows, the more the business you're going to get, and the more the authority level you're going to be respected at.
- 5:27SPEAKER_00: Okay.
- 5:28SPEAKER_00: So you spend money on leads, you spend money on the farming.
- 5:33SPEAKER_00: You know, that's where you send out your postcards to a farming neighborhood.
- 5:36SPEAKER_00: We spend money on booths at festivals.
- 5:40SPEAKER_00: We buy the pins, the cups, the t-shirts, the baseball hats, and we hand them out.
- 5:44SPEAKER_00: But the one thing that actually makes you the person who knows something is the one thing that cost you nothing.
- 5:52SPEAKER_00: Think about that.
- 5:53SPEAKER_00: Think of all that money you're out there, you know, spending, which I'm not knocking at.
- 5:57SPEAKER_00: I mean, I say, you know, hey, if you want to build your sphere of influence and you want to build your database and your leads, then you need to do something.
- 6:07SPEAKER_00: You need to do farming.
- 6:08SPEAKER_00: You need to, I don't recommend buying leads.
- 6:11SPEAKER_00: The leads are out there.
- 6:12SPEAKER_00: You just got to know where they are.
- 6:14SPEAKER_00: And this is one way that you're going to get them by posting what's going on in the community that is of interest to the homeowner, not to the parent, not to the kids down the street.
- 6:27SPEAKER_00: This is the homeowner that you're talking to or the buyer that's moving in.
- 6:32SPEAKER_00: Okay.
- 6:32SPEAKER_00: So this is information that you really should get and be on top of it and ask questions.
- 6:39SPEAKER_00: If you're not sure what's going on, ask the people who do know and become, you know, become friends with them and get to know what's going on so that they can share what they're learning as well.
- 6:52SPEAKER_00: What I want to share with you is a story about an agent that I had that, you know, was complaining that the market was dried up, there were no leads, and they were looking to, you know, do some kind of a side hustle.
- 7:07SPEAKER_00: So, you know, I could tell that they did not want to do that, that their heart was in real estate.
- 7:11SPEAKER_00: So I told them, I said, let's create some ways to do this.
- 7:14SPEAKER_00: So we started looking at their business and we made some adjustments in the newsletter.
- 7:19SPEAKER_00: We made some adjustments on their website and their social media.
- 7:23SPEAKER_00: We added farming to their um lead generation.
- 7:27SPEAKER_00: We added that um they do videos on YouTube.
- 7:32SPEAKER_00: We put that all together for them.
- 7:34SPEAKER_00: But the reason why we put that all together for them is because I want them to go to those meetings and then do videos, put it in the newsletter, pick up the phone.
- 7:44SPEAKER_00: Like I've said earlier, that you've got to make this a system.
- 7:48SPEAKER_00: So this agent that I had, you know, she started going to these meetings and she would text me and go, Oh my God, this is killing me.
- 7:56SPEAKER_00: I am so bored.
- 7:57SPEAKER_00: I could be doing so much better stuff with my time.
- 7:59SPEAKER_00: And, you know, and I would reply back, hang in there, just hang in there because things will start getting interesting.
- 8:06SPEAKER_00: And sure enough, a few months down the road, I mean, she had to attend several, you know, they're once a month.
- 8:12SPEAKER_00: I always say once a month, two hours of your time.
- 8:15SPEAKER_00: So after a few months of attending these meetings, she was sitting there, and then all of a sudden they started voting on rezoning for an old strip center out, you know, outside of town, you know, they they wanted to take that land and turn it into a uh subdivision.
- 8:34SPEAKER_00: So, what did that tell her?
- 8:36SPEAKER_00: That new homes were coming up and that was an opportunity.
- 8:40SPEAKER_00: And so therefore, she was now invested in what was going on in her community because even though she sat there for several months, two hours a month, and not got anything out of it, that little nugget right there gave her the cutting edge of what was to come in her community.
- 8:58SPEAKER_00: So she was able to do the research and find out more about it and get prepared to talk to her buyers about it.
- 9:05SPEAKER_00: And if this was a neighborhood that she might have a past client who might be interested in selling and buying into this, you know, neighborhood.
- 9:13SPEAKER_00: So I'm telling you, it does pay off to go to these planning and zoning meetings.
- 9:19SPEAKER_00: So here's the thing that I want you to understand is that there is community involvement and then there is community knowledge.
- 9:29SPEAKER_00: And most of the agents know the community involvement, not the knowledge.
- 9:36SPEAKER_00: Community involvement is a marketing activity.
- 9:39SPEAKER_00: This is where you show up, you take pictures, you post the pictures on your social media, your website, whatever, and then you leave.
- 9:49SPEAKER_00: And the community knows the difference, and so do you.
- 9:52SPEAKER_00: But then when it comes to community knowledge, there's the difference.
- 9:57SPEAKER_00: The knowledge is knowing which streets are flooding, which employers are hiring, what parcels get rezoned, and what meet what that means to the people in the community.
- 10:07SPEAKER_00: And when you know this, people will listen to you and they will look at you as that authority.
- 10:13SPEAKER_00: When I talk about these planning and zoning meetings, agents are not attending these.
- 10:18SPEAKER_00: So when you show up, you're gonna be the only one, most likely.
- 10:22SPEAKER_00: And so I would just keep that under my hat and not tell other agents, oh, I got a planning and zoning meeting tonight.
- 10:28SPEAKER_00: Because now you're you're creating that for your competition.
- 10:32SPEAKER_00: Keep it to yourself, show up, do the work, and then it benefits everybody you come into contact with.
- 10:39SPEAKER_00: Okay, so here is where we are going to shift a little bit and we're gonna create a system.
- 10:44SPEAKER_00: So this is why I needed you to get pen and paper.
- 10:47SPEAKER_00: Of course, you can go back and listen to this and take notes then, but I really want you to focus on what we're gonna do here.
- 10:54SPEAKER_00: So, like I said earlier, I want you to get your calendar, your paper planner, your phone planner, whatever you're using.
- 11:01SPEAKER_00: I want you to pull up your city website and I want you to go to where they have their calendars for these meetings.
- 11:09SPEAKER_00: And then I want you to look at the date and the times, and I want you to block off that time.
- 11:13SPEAKER_00: Now, I'm gonna give you a little tip here because we're all bad about doing this.
- 11:18SPEAKER_00: So if I have to be at a meeting that starts at six o'clock, I usually put on my calendar six o'clock.
- 11:24SPEAKER_00: I don't allow that driving time.
- 11:26SPEAKER_00: So I will now put on my calendar 5:30 because it only takes me maybe 10 minutes to get there.
- 11:32SPEAKER_00: But you've got to, you know, adjust your time accordingly so that you get there in time and you should always arrive at least 10 minutes early, find a good seat, sit up the front, let people know you're there, let them see you.
- 11:45SPEAKER_00: If people, if the newspaper's there taking pictures, make sure you're in those pictures.
- 11:51SPEAKER_00: Because when they open up the newspaper, they're gonna go, oh, there's Kim Hughes.
- 11:55SPEAKER_00: What is she doing at that planning and zoning meeting?
- 11:58SPEAKER_00: And then they they may reach out to you and say, What have you learned?
- 12:01SPEAKER_00: So putting yourself out there in that way, that's free advertisements.
- 12:06SPEAKER_00: So make sure that you're doing everything, you're scanning the room, you're talking to everybody, letting everybody know you're there.
- 12:13SPEAKER_00: So that's the first piece is to go to the website, put it on your calendar, allow the driving time.
- 12:19SPEAKER_00: Then prepare yourself for these meetings.
- 12:23SPEAKER_00: Meaning, make sure you have your business cards, make sure you have your QR code on your phone.
- 12:28SPEAKER_00: So if somebody just wants to take a snapshot, they can.
- 12:31SPEAKER_00: Um, take your notepad, take your pen, take your planner, take whatever you need to be in that meeting and to be present in that meeting.
- 12:40SPEAKER_00: And then make sure that when you're in that meeting, your phone is silenced or turned off because you don't want them mad, you don't want that phone quacking at you.
- 12:49SPEAKER_00: Now, if you are not sure which meetings to show up for, the first one I'm gonna tell you is the planning and the zoning.
- 12:56SPEAKER_00: This is where the housing information lives.
- 12:59SPEAKER_00: This is where the city council is going to talk about, you know, what we need to rezone, what needs attention in our housing um areas of planning and zoning.
- 13:14SPEAKER_00: And then the city council meeting is where the money and the big picture live.
- 13:19SPEAKER_00: So, you know, it wouldn't hurt you to go to that one either.
- 13:23SPEAKER_00: School board is where the attendance boundaries live, and the attendance boundaries move house prices in a way almost nothing else does.
- 13:33SPEAKER_00: So start with the planning and zoning.
- 13:35SPEAKER_00: It doesn't hurt to go to these other meetings.
- 13:37SPEAKER_00: I highly recommend it because even in a school board meeting, they may be talking about building a new school, maybe um adding on to the school, you know, things like that, which is very important because most likely and hopefully people are moving to your community because you have a great school district.
- 13:56SPEAKER_00: Okay, that's what makes a community.
- 13:58SPEAKER_00: So make sure you're showing up for these as well as city council.
- 14:03SPEAKER_00: Now, am I going to tell you to show up every month for those other two?
- 14:06SPEAKER_00: No.
- 14:06SPEAKER_00: But I do want you to be available to go to those and really make yourself a presence.
- 14:12SPEAKER_00: I mean, you know, we all do our job and we all love things about our job.
- 14:17SPEAKER_00: And then there's things we don't enjoy.
- 14:19SPEAKER_00: And this may be one of those things, but then once you start going, you might find that this is very interesting and the way that things move and work, etc.
- 14:30SPEAKER_00: Now, I'm also gonna say, if you live in an area where you have multiple communities under one county, you want to go to theirs as well.
- 14:39SPEAKER_00: You want to go to the county meetings.
- 14:41SPEAKER_00: So go to your county website.
- 14:44SPEAKER_00: You know, like with me, where I live, I have I have towns all around me.
- 14:49SPEAKER_00: So if I'm selling real estate in those towns, I'm going to go to their meetings.
- 14:54SPEAKER_00: So make sure you look at that.
- 14:56SPEAKER_00: And then, you know, with me, there's five communities that I would sell in if I lived, you know, if I was a real estate agent in this market.
- 15:05SPEAKER_00: But am I going to go to every one of those meetings?
- 15:07SPEAKER_00: Because not all communities are moving as fast as others.
- 15:13SPEAKER_00: So my community that I live in, I would definitely be there.
- 15:17SPEAKER_00: But the one that's 10 miles down the road, they don't have anything going on.
- 15:20SPEAKER_00: I may not go.
- 15:22SPEAKER_00: But going 10 miles the other way, they have a lot going on.
- 15:25SPEAKER_00: They have a great school, they have a lot going on with their school board.
- 15:28SPEAKER_00: So I'm going to pop in on that one as well.
- 15:31SPEAKER_00: So you kind of can rotate, but you've got to kind of understand where you need to be to listen to what's going on.
- 15:38SPEAKER_00: When you put these on your calendar, make sure that you put them on there as reoccurring events.
- 15:44SPEAKER_00: So, you know, if you're, you know, in January, you sit down and you plan out your year, I would definitely put those dates on the calendar if you have them, you know, or at least put them on the calendar as far out as you can plan it based on what they're releasing on their website.
- 15:59SPEAKER_00: But usually it's, you know, a certain day of the month at a certain time at a certain place.
- 16:04SPEAKER_00: So you can pretty much bank on that.
- 16:05SPEAKER_00: But double check yourself.
- 16:07SPEAKER_00: They may change things.
- 16:08SPEAKER_00: And when you go to the website to look for the calendar, make sure that you are looking at the agenda.
- 16:14SPEAKER_00: So, like maybe the day of the meeting, go to back over to the website, print out the agenda, highlight what you really need to focus on.
- 16:23SPEAKER_00: And then that way you're prepared for what's going to happen when you go.
- 16:28SPEAKER_00: When you attend these meetings, make sure that you are taking note of who it's going to affect.
- 16:34SPEAKER_00: So the three questions that I would always ask when I'm going to these meetings is who is it going to affect?
- 16:41SPEAKER_00: What is the timeline?
- 16:43SPEAKER_00: And who do I know that lives in that area that it's going to affect them?
- 16:48SPEAKER_00: Okay, those are the three things that you should always think to yourself, you know, um, who is this affecting?
- 16:54SPEAKER_00: What is that timeline?
- 16:56SPEAKER_00: And who do I know that lives in that area that it's going to affect?
- 17:00SPEAKER_00: This is an opportunity for you to pick up the phone and call that class past client that you haven't talked to in, say, nine months and tell them what's going on.
- 17:09SPEAKER_00: That is an opportunity to pick up the phone to call a past client.
- 17:13SPEAKER_00: That is a touch.
- 17:14SPEAKER_00: And you need to note that in their CRM.
- 17:17SPEAKER_00: So when you do call them and you talk to them about something like this, put it in the notes, you know, the date that you called them and what you discussed.
- 17:25SPEAKER_00: So that way, two months down the road, you can go, now what did I say to John?
- 17:30SPEAKER_00: You can go back, look at your notes and your CRM, and everything is right there.
- 17:35SPEAKER_00: So usually when you make a call to a past client, it's just checking in.
- 17:39SPEAKER_00: How are you doing?
- 17:40SPEAKER_00: How are the kids?
- 17:41SPEAKER_00: How's the family?
- 17:42SPEAKER_00: How's your job?
- 17:43SPEAKER_00: You know, you're looking for some way to have a conversation, right?
- 17:48SPEAKER_00: This information that you're getting from the planning and the zoning and the city council and the school board, this is information that your past client, that you're picking up the phone, you're calling them with a reason.
- 18:02SPEAKER_00: Okay.
- 18:02SPEAKER_00: It's not just a fluff call, it's an important call.
- 18:07SPEAKER_00: Because now you're calling them with information that is valuable to them and it could affect them.
- 18:13SPEAKER_00: So that right there is going to give them the confirmation that you are the authority in your market, just by being able to deliver some information that nobody else has told them about.
- 18:27SPEAKER_00: Easy, easy, easy.
- 18:29SPEAKER_00: Now, when you get home from those meetings, the first thing you want to do is, you know, of course, you've been sitting there in the meeting taking the notes.
- 18:37SPEAKER_00: And then what you want to do is look at those notes and decide how do I use this information to benefit my community?
- 18:45SPEAKER_00: Take that information and put it in your newsletter.
- 18:47SPEAKER_00: Create a social media post.
- 18:49SPEAKER_00: Pick up the phone and call those people that are going to be affected.
- 18:54SPEAKER_00: If you have a listing appointment that's coming up, this is information that you should make sure that you put in your presentation so that you can go over it with them.
- 19:03SPEAKER_00: And I would even back up and say in your pre-listing package that you're sending them, which you should be sending them before the listing presentation, is don't forget to ask me about the planning and zoning meeting that I attended last month.
- 19:18SPEAKER_00: Something like that to give them something to ask you about.
- 19:22SPEAKER_00: And that is to remind you as well, in case you happen to forget.
- 19:26SPEAKER_00: So this gives them like, hmm, wonder what she's wanting to tell me.
- 19:30SPEAKER_00: And then when they mention it, it's reminding you to tell them.
- 19:33SPEAKER_00: So it's it's a win-win right there.
- 19:36SPEAKER_00: So let me recap um your steps real quick to create your system.
- 19:40SPEAKER_00: So the step one is to go to the website, find the uh city calendar, and look for those meetings.
- 19:47SPEAKER_00: And then I want you to pick one to attend, which of course I'm recommending the planning and the zoning.
- 19:53SPEAKER_00: But if you have the time and you have the interest and everything, I would definitely attend the city council and school board meetings.
- 20:00SPEAKER_00: I'm not saying you have to do that every month, but I do want you to show up for those meetings, let people know who you are, especially in school board meetings.
- 20:08SPEAKER_00: You've got parents in there, you've got the school board sitting there, you've got stuff going on, and they're talking, and you need to be front row, front and center of what's going on in those meetings as well.
- 20:19SPEAKER_00: To me, that is equally as important.
- 20:21SPEAKER_00: So step three would be make sure you put it on your calendar as a reoccurring appointment.
- 20:26SPEAKER_00: You've gone to the website, you've got the dates, and now put it on the calendar, and you know which meeting you're gonna go to.
- 20:32SPEAKER_00: And then I want you to pull the agenda the day of the meeting and highlight anything that is of interest to you.
- 20:41SPEAKER_00: You're not gonna be able to speak, but you can at least be aware of what's going on at the meeting and highlight and make notes so that you're paying particular information, you know, attention at that time.
- 20:52SPEAKER_00: And then I want you to take those notes and decide who does it affect, what is the timeline, and who do I know that lives in this area that it's going to affect them?
- 21:03SPEAKER_00: And prepare for listing appointments and buyer conversations.
- 21:07SPEAKER_00: Done.
- 21:08SPEAKER_00: Easy, easy peasy.
- 21:10SPEAKER_00: Now, what I want you to do is go put this in place.
- 21:13SPEAKER_00: This won't take you probably 20 minutes to go look at everything, write it down, put it in place, and then prepare to go to the next planning and zoning committee meeting in your community.
- 21:26SPEAKER_00: I would love to hear your feedback on this.
- 21:28SPEAKER_00: Um, everybody, well, every agent that I have told to do this that have actually done it, come back with such amazing results.
- 21:38SPEAKER_00: So come on, let's pull it together, let's become the authority in your market and give me some feedback on how that worked for you.
- 21:46SPEAKER_00: Talk to you next time.
- 21:47SPEAKER_00: Bye.
- 21:48SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for tuning in.
- 21:50SPEAKER_00: And if you know someone, and I bet you do, who would appreciate this podcast, please share it with them.
- 21:56SPEAKER_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.
- 22:10SPEAKER_00: Remember, it takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan.
- 22:15SPEAKER_00: Have a great day.