Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Welcome to Real Estate Profits. I'm Griselda and today we're taking your business from busy to brilliant. You're watching now Media Television.
Well, welcome to Real Estate Profits, the show where we go beyond the sale and into the systems, the strategies and the soul of building wealth through real estate. Today's guest, Veronica Diquez, is more than a realtor. She's a movement.
From helping first time buyers and luxury investors to flipping homes and serving even domestic violence survivors, she brings strategy and empathy into every one of her transactions. She's here today to talk about what happens when your leads are random, inconsistent and honestly, a bit overwhelming. So how to turn that chaos into consistent, high quality clients?
Veronica welcome to Real Estate Profits. Let's talk about building a pipeline that actually works because many people struggle with that. The lead generation, it just feels chaotic and random and they feel like they're spinning their wheels. But I know you have some great insights to share with our audience. So what are some of those common mistakes real estate agents make when trying to generate leads without a system?
[00:01:19] Speaker B: Yes, I think one of the most common mistakes is they try to do everything all at once. And they don't just narrow it down and concentrate on two or three ways to create leads, to generate leads and then have a system, a CRM, which is a customer relationship manager system in which to put all your leads in, make sure that you have a follow up system and that you're consistently getting in touch with these people in different ways.
But when you try to be jack of all trades, a master of none, then that happens. Chaos.
[00:01:52] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. And you have to be diligent about maintaining the CRM, making sure that you're updating information is current, otherwise things can go stale and you lose your leads. Now can you walk us through how you built a lead generation system that brings you and your team consistent results?
[00:02:11] Speaker B: Yes, absolutely. So to be honest with you, the people that I work with are either people that I know or people that I know who referred me to somebody else. So I created a system in which I was able to get in touch with every single person that had ever crossed my path in a positive way.
[00:02:27] Speaker A: Wonderful.
[00:02:28] Speaker B: Long, long ago.
[00:02:29] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:02:30] Speaker B: I put them in a CRM system. I'm with Keller Williams, so I use commands. So I put them in my CRM system. I okay, monthly newsletter, I send them a happy anniversary, happy birthdays, send them educational material, just make sure that you're always providing value to them instead of just reaching out and asking, do you want to buy or sell a House, I never do that. That's not something that I believe is genuine. I think that value to your leads, that they're going to come back at you. So we constantly stay in touch. We call it our sphere with our sphere and we constantly follow up and we keep adding people to our sphere. We do events, we get the referrals from the sphere and it's just something that is continuously growing.
[00:03:15] Speaker A: So it's that personal touch, that social connection. Right. You have to, you know, be friends, you know, get, get involved and really learn about them and their business and what they're looking for. Well, wonderful. Thank you so much. Now how does having an H inconsistent flow of leads impact your mindset and your energy as a business owner?
Not yours, of course, because you got it all intact. But how do you see maybe some others that have an inconsistent flow of leads? Tell me about their struggles that you see.
[00:03:44] Speaker B: Yes, I mean, no, it's happened to me. Absolutely. I mean there are slow months sometimes people, you know, are waiting. Big news have people, you know, scared and then they slow down a little bit. But in general it, it can wreck your confidence when you don't have a constant flow of leads. And I think what happens and what I've seen other agents do is they get a couple of leads, they get busy with those leads, they get distracted and they stop doing the follow up that they should continue to do in order to continue to get that pipeline filled. So whenever they two transactions, then they start from zero again. Now is when they start contacting their leads again. Instead of constantly having a system in which you get busy, you help your clients, but you continue to reach out to your leads so that you don't have that gap in between transactions. When you help the people that said, yes, I need help right now, and then you fight your lead generation, that's when you get into trouble.
[00:04:43] Speaker A: And to get that constant pipeline going, you can do it all yourself. Right? I mean there's some team members that you have to delegate to, to really help you get that consistent pipel going. Otherwise, you know, like you say, you're a jack of all trades. You're trying to do this, you're trying to do that, and before you know it, you're reaching to no one. Have you had that experience where you're just overwhelmed? And so tell us about how you utilize your team members to help you with that lead generation and keeping them warm.
[00:05:10] Speaker B: Yes, I noticed that when I started in real estate, I started getting really busy and then I saw a couple of friends were selling Their homes and I hadn't reached out to them to let them know that I was in real estate and I freaked out.
[00:05:22] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:05:23] Speaker B: The first thing I did was to hire a transaction coordinator that somebody who's going to help you throughout the entire transaction. And it takes.
So you get so much of your time back when you have a transaction coordinator because they deal with all the documents, the signatures, the follow up scheduling, inspections. So all of that time that you free up gives you leverage to continue to working on your lead generation and your pipeline. And I strongly recommend that you also get a virtual assistant and make sure that this person is doing all of your designs of your educational materials, your social media posts because social media searching, staying in front of your.
[00:05:57] Speaker A: Oh absolutely, yes.
[00:05:59] Speaker B: Your leads. And you. All you want to do is make sure you invest in somebody that's going to buy back your time so that you can continually generating. In this business, if you're not lead generating, you're dying.
[00:06:12] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. And it's not just any lead. Right. It's got to be someone that is interested in buying a home, you know, an investment or flipping or something. But they got to equal some, some growth and some revenue and obviously some prosperity so that he can help them. And obviously they're helping your business as well. Yeah. Now you mentioned referrals. So what role do referrals, social media and paid advertising play in your overall strategy and how do you balance all that?
[00:06:42] Speaker B: Referrals is my main thing. Again, most 99% of my business is people that I know and referrals from people that I know. And you'd be surprised when you contact the people that you know. They may not need help, but they know somebody who does. Okay, so girls is absolutely huge. I follow up with the person who referred them, I send them a thank you note. You just got to be very grateful because that you're not paying for anything for a lead in order to get that business. Somebody literally thought that you should work with her. And once you get a referral, it's so easy to convert them because somebody that they know recommended you.
Social media is huge because all of these people, if you have them on your social media, they see that you're constantly providing good content. Now do good content. Yeah, yeah, Material.
They see that you are working hard at what you do and you're standing out as an agent. You're not doing just what every other agent is doing. So, so you're top of mind. And whenever they need to either buy, sell or invest in a home, they're going to think of you immediately. And paid ads just help you have a broader reach. Whenever you're doing paid ads, you can target a certain area, a neighborhood, if you're doing what we call farming, which is you target a specific neighborhood and it's typically where the agent lives so that it's easier to connect with people.
And you want to make sure that you target that. So you can do paid ads in that area. You can host events, you can share an educational material for free. You can post something educational about an issue that buyers or sellers or investors are having.
It gives you really that authority as an expert in the field?
[00:08:24] Speaker A: Absolutely. And testimonials are huge, right? Because I know I've seen you in action and just having the testimonial. So there's something. When you do your own social media post, and obviously it looks fantastic and you're attracting some leads there, but when someone else says what an awesome experience they had working with Veronica and her team, now that's huge, right? That really gets people's attention because it's not just your own bias testimonial, it is someone else that felt the experience.
[00:08:51] Speaker B: Absolutely. And every time I have a closing, I ask my clients if they're comfortable with it. We take a video and I just ask them to be honest about what they thought of my services and if they would recommend me to somebody else. And those videos speak a thousand, I mean, a thousand times stronger than me.
[00:09:06] Speaker A: Saying, I'm great, I'm wonderful, come to me. But yes, absolutely, and I've seen it in act action. So, so wonderful and kudos to you and your team. Now, if someone is starting from scratch, what's the first step you recommend to create a steady and sustainable lead funnel? What would you recommend to our audience out there?
[00:09:25] Speaker B: Start with one lead source.
If you have a good sphere, if you know a lot of people, which I guarantee you know more people than you think you do, start with that and contact them one by one.
Pick your CRM. If you're. If the firm that you're working with offers one, use that one because they're not going to charge you for it. And make sure you input them. Create smart plans. Smart plans are automatic, automated emails that are going to be going out, automated texts that you don't even have to think about it, and you're staying in front of them. And make sure you follow through with these people. Take notes. Do they have children? Are they grandparents? Do they have pets? Do they want to invest in?
And make sure that you concentrate on that because when you really get good at one source of lead and you start getting business from that, everything else will come into play and all of the pieces will come together. And then you can start a second way of generating leads, maybe do events.
You can put together seminars.
You can even invest in a cold lead system. You can start buyers, whatever it is. There's so many ways to generate leads.
But I would say master one first. Pick one, master that one. And try not to do five ways of generating leads because it's going to drive you insane.
[00:10:45] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. And you probably won't do good at any of those five. Right. But absolutely. So you've mentioned a lot of the personal touch and making sure that you get to know your clients, your customers. But you also mentioned automation, too. Right. So it's a little bit of everything. And really you have to master the art of trying the automation, the, you know, events, the personal touch, the, you know, birthdays and all of that. It's really all packaged into really kind of your personality and who you are. And obviously, when that comes out, people know you as authentic. They love the help that you bring to them. And off you go, finding them a great place for either investing, flipping or for, you know, for their family and their lives. Yes, Veronica, thank you. That was a segment packed with great insights. Greatly appreciate you sharing with your audience as always. We're off to a commercial break, but we'll be right back.
We'll be right back with more ways to optimize, scale and succeed. This is Real Estate Profits on NOW Media Television. And we're back. I'm Griselda, and this is Real Estate Profits on NOW Media Television. Let's keep building smarter together.
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And we're back with Veronica Dikes, an industry leader known for not just generating leads, but actually converting them. And in this segment, we dig a little deeper into where most agents drop the ball. And that is the follow up right so they take a lot of care and time to get a lead and then they miss the ball on the follow up and obviously that goes to nowhere. Right. So loss for their business and obviously their client is struggling to find their perfect place. So Veronica, why do you think most agents drop the ball after a very strong first impression? They don't go all out and then something happens after that. What are your thoughts?
[00:13:24] Speaker B: Yes, I believe if they don't have a good follow up system, they're not going to know what to say and they're afraid of sounding salesy or being annoying so they just stop following up.
I believe that creating a good follow up system in which you bring value to your client and you provide good information, educational material, not just hi checking in, just make sure that you again, give them good information, that's not going to be annoying and it's not going to be salesy. You're solving a problem that, that they have and whenever they are ready they will call you.
[00:13:56] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. So adding that value in terms of you're getting to know them, you're getting to know what it is that they want, what locations they're looking for and then obviously when you find that you give them value with find, you know, this is what I found. What do you think now what are the follow up systems or scripts or any other tools that have helped you build trust and move the conversation forward? So obviously they keep coming back because they trust the information that you're giving them.
[00:14:22] Speaker B: Yes. So some of the things that I do is I try to figure out what problem or what questions they have in mind and I try to solve it before they ask me about it. Great. If it's a buyer, then I'm going to create, if it's a first time home buyer, for example, I'm going to create educational material around that and what the process is and I start sending them that information little by little. I'm going to create an automated email in which they get everything that's happening in the neighborhood where they want to live while selling, how long they're in the market. Just make sure that you provide again valuable educational information to them. And once you do that again, you're standing out as an agent. They're not just seeing post of under contract. Close. Yes. Okay. I'm busy. That's not really. Yeah, you know what you want to know is how can I help you? What value can I bring to you? Because it is a very nerve wracking transaction, real estate in general and.
[00:15:18] Speaker A: Oh absolutely.
[00:15:18] Speaker B: Make sure that you're working with somebody who's an expert. So if you come across as an expert and you can do this in many different ways, some of them are automated, some of them, you follow up yourself, then you build that trust that's necessary for somebody to actually become a client.
[00:15:33] Speaker A: Wonderful. Absolutely. Now, like yourself and your team, you manage so many different leads and let's face it, every once in a while when you have hundreds of them out there, some of them may be not as warm, right? I was going to say go cold. But. But how do you balance persistence and professionalism when leads go cold on you?
[00:15:52] Speaker B: I don't ghost people, I don't chase them either. I just provide value. If we have a system in our CRM in which we put a little tag if it's going to be a buyer or a seller or an investor so we know what kind of information we're sending them. I've had that happen before. Somebody showed interest and then I didn't hear from them for a year or two because they were just not ready and they were too busy to reply or they're just not the reply kind of person. Some people don't like to waste their time just saying I'm not ready. Or to be honest with you, some of them are embarrassed. But I stayed in front of them, I stayed top of mind and whenever they were ready, they actually reached out to me. So it is important for you to have that mentality of I'm not bothering them, I'm just going to check in every now and again to provide something of value. And whenever they are ready, if they trust you and they like you, they will call you, right?
[00:16:49] Speaker A: Absolutely. So, so many reasons. Right. I mean they could not be ready at that moment, but obviously they have you in mind and whenever they are, you're going to be the very first person that they come to to obviously go find their perfect place. Now what tools or platforms do you recommend to automate? You had mentioned some automation before and I know that you use some of the AI tools based on what you're tell us in the last segment, but, but you know, to keep it personal. But still automated, how do you work all that in your follow up process?
[00:17:17] Speaker B: Yes. So if you work with companies, and I'm just going to mention Keller Williams because this is the only firm that I've actually they're amazing. But there are automated systems. For example, there's Smart plans, they're called and you input the person's information. I'll give you an example of one thing that I do monthly that I don't even have to move a finger. They get a monthly neighborhood update of wherever they live, of everything that happened. Real estate. And it's one time a month. I don't have to do anything. You put it in the system once and the email goes out automatically. The majority of the people click that email because I can see the activity. And homes that sold, they check out what stayed in the market and it is just one way to stay in front of them. So whatever CRM you use, make sure that they have automated emails that can come out that are related to real estate.
Then I use mailchimp and we input everybody's information there because it's easier to do some of the designs. And I newsletter that's also automated. I do have my assistant help me do the design and everything. But once you do the design once, all you have to do is then just change whatever information you want to send monthly to your clients. And it's not only real estate. Right. You want to make sure that you show yourself as a community leader. So I send food reviews of restaurants that are local to the area.
[00:18:34] Speaker A: Oh, nice.
[00:18:36] Speaker B: Local businesses. I testimonials. I do a lot of things there that are not just, you know, real estate. I always do a market update that's monthly so that people know. Again, I'm the expert in real estate. If you want to send out a mass text, for example, if you're hosting an event or you know, something that's coming up, that's important. I use an application called Reach in which you create groups of people and instead of having to send a text one by one, it groups it up and you can send a text to a bunch of people at the same time. Those are some of the things that I use. And your phone, I said personalized video, text. There's no need to overcomplicate it. Honestly, just make sure that you find something where you can input their information and they get something that's automated from you. Yeah.
[00:19:22] Speaker A: And there's so many different softwares and platforms out there. Right. So it's really, you know, what is Keller Williams using or what is, you know, your team using and what is it that you pick and then kind of staying consistent with that. Right. So that you don't confuse your team or yourself with just using so many of them.
But they all have different capabilities. So obviously you mentioned some that work very well for you. Thank you for sharing that with our audience. Now, let's talk about the golden rule in real estate. So if you could give One golden rule for turning a warm lead into a client. What would that be?
[00:19:55] Speaker B: Stand out.
Win. Before you arrive, make sure that you go above and beyond with valuable information.
So if they ever have to pick somebody between you and somebody else, it's automatically you. Print something with their name on it when you see them. Send them a guide by email before you meet them. Send them a video explaining the process before you even get together with them. And make sure again, bring whatever problem they have or whatever questions they have from your initial conversation. Because it's a warm lead.
Make sure to provide valuable information on that. Don't just check in and say, are you guys ready? Send them something. Give them value. Whenever you give somebody value, they are going to pick you over and over and over again.
[00:20:43] Speaker A: Absolutely. Well, thank you so much. So golden rule from Veronica Dickers. Stand out.
[00:20:48] Speaker B: And.
[00:20:48] Speaker A: And by that, it seems like you're creating some raving fans that keep coming back to you and your team for more opportunities for investing or finding their perfect phone. So, Veronica, those were golden nuggets for every agent watching. Thank you so much for sharing with our audience. Now, where can people follow you to see how you stay top of mind for your audience?
[00:21:08] Speaker B: Absolutely. You can find me on any social media under Veronica's homes or Veronica Dickes. I think there's only one Veronica Dick is. You can go to my website at Veronica. It's www.veronicasholmeskw.com and you'll find all my information there.
[00:21:26] Speaker A: Well, thank you so much. Thank you for sharing all those wonderful insights and golden nuggets and strategies and even platforms and tools. Greatly appreciate all that you bring to our audience. We'll see you back in our next segment. For now, we're going to go to a commercial break.
We'll be right back with more ways to optimize scale and succeed. This is real estate profits on NOW Media Television. And we're back. I'm Griselda and this is real estate profits on NOW Media Television. Let's keep building smarter together.
Well, hello. And we're back with Veronica Dquez whose reputation goes beyond results.
Her clients remember how they felt when they were working with her. Not just the final price of the final transaction. Now let's talk about building standout client experiences. So the problem facing many in the audience is that they link their service and they think that it's all going fine, but it often feels like they're not creating raving fans who refer and return and give those awesome testimonials. Right.
So, Veronica, how do you Intentionally design a client experience that goes beyond just closing a deal.
[00:22:42] Speaker B: We have a follow up system. So we map out the entire process from day one until even after they close. We make sure that they get specific information in between. Again, we're trying to stand out. Right. So I send them a video and a text on every single step of the process of what's going to happen before it happens. And, and that eliminates a lot of the anxiety and the stress on the transaction. We consistently, me and my transaction coordinator stay in front of them. We make sure that we address any issues before they come into play.
We want to make sure that we, it can be a very stressful transaction.
So what we do is we make sure that we take away all the stress possible that we can take away from them.
[00:23:28] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:23:28] Speaker B: So that the experience becomes something that is pleasant instead of something that can be horrible and traumatizing in the end. Because it has happened.
[00:23:37] Speaker A: Right? Yeah, yeah.
[00:23:38] Speaker B: We want to make sure we provide them a great experience and that they feel supported. One of the biggest complaints people have about real estate agents is a lack of communication. So even if there's no news to give, we're just waiting for the process to go through. We stay in front of them.
[00:23:52] Speaker A: Okay, wonderful. And so now as you're going through that, it sounds like so much, but it really isn't right because you have your templates, like even your videos probably have pre recorded videos and things that you have in your library of stuff that you can send and you just kind of click, click, click and send it out to your audience. So although it feels like it's a lot of work to set it up, maybe obviously some hours of work, but once it's set up, it's just reaching out and keeping that warm touch and the personal touch with them. Right?
[00:24:22] Speaker B: You're exactly right. Once you set it up, you create your videos, your script, it's just literally putting their email address and sending the.
[00:24:29] Speaker A: Email and off it goes. And it's several. Right. Hundreds of emails or whatever number you have in your CRM. Now, what little touches or details have made the biggest difference in how your clients remember you?
[00:24:41] Speaker B: Honestly, it's the personalized things. If I pay attention to them and I send them handwritten notes, all of my closing gifts are different for everybody. I pay attention to what's important for them. If they have pets, I put little dog toys. If they have children, I make a sign for the children's room. Make people cry at closing.
[00:25:00] Speaker A: Yay.
[00:25:01] Speaker B: In a good way. They're very excited.
It's an investor, then I give them, you know, like a hammer with their name. It's just that it's the celebration. I had one client once, and I'll never forget that told me that they felt that every step of the transaction was a fiesta, which is.
So I want to make sure that the experience is positive.
So we personalize everything. We pay attention to what our clients are saying, to what's important for them, and we make sure that we provide a personalized experience.
And, you know, my. My tagline for my business is making real estate a luxury experience.
And I truly do that with every single one of my clients, no matter what type of transaction. It is wonderful.
[00:25:44] Speaker A: And that is awesome because in today's world of automation and emails and all of that, that is absolutely necessary. But sometimes it feels like very routine. Right. So you add that personal touch of whatever they shared with you. Right. You know, I'm running late to pick up my child, and they give you the child's name or the puppy's name or something, and you personalize it to that. You're like their best friend. Right? Because you care. You bring that heart factor. Right. Loas es con, you know, passion and corazon. And so obviously they will remember you. So absolutely. Thanks for sharing that. Now, have you ever received feedback, whether it's positive or negative, that reshaped how you do business? It is just, let's say, whether it's constructive feedback or something, that maybe you can give us one of each, Right. Some positive feedback or something that says, maybe you should do this a little bit different.
[00:26:33] Speaker B: Yeah. So I'll be quite honest with you, and I don't want to sound like, you know, blowing smoke up my whatever, but I've barely gotten any negative feedback. I'm truly trying to think negative feedback, and I have. And I think that the only thing that I can think of is just, I wish you communicated more. Which is, again, it's a constant complaint that clients have okay things. We do get caught up in the process of just waiting. We're just waiting on to process. We're waiting for the time to pass by before we have to close. And sometimes we forget to just follow up and say, hey, no news is good news. We're good to go.
I would say is one feedback. So because of that, I created this automated emails with the videos and the text to make sure that we're constantly in front of our clients, even if they communicate. And the. The most thoughtful comment that I've. That I've gotten besides the person that told Me that everything felt like a fiesta with me is that I was a. She told me, you're the most thoughtful realtor I've worked with. And this was a person whose cousin is a realtor. And she decided to work with me, not with her.
[00:27:39] Speaker A: Wow, wonderful.
[00:27:41] Speaker B: The reason was because I knew what she was worried about and what she needed. And I kept. I told her, you don't have to work with me. I know this is going to be useful, so I'm going to send it to you anyways because I have anyways sending her information because she was very nervous about her transaction or what she was going to do in the future. And I kept sending her information, educational material. And she just called me and said, I can't work with my cousin. I have to work with you. You're so thoughtful and you've given me so much help already before I even start my transaction that I just have to go with you. And, you know, I felt bad for the cousin, but at the same time was the cousin, you know, not doing to win her his own cousin's business. So that meant to me, yeah, they're.
[00:28:26] Speaker A: Not a number, they're not a transaction. They're a person with emotions and feelings looking for their perfect place. Right. And when you help them with that. So tell us about our experience, because you mentioned it earlier, where someone was in tears at the closing. I mean, I know several of your clients are, but what was it that brought him to that point of like, oh, my God, this is emotional and fantastic. Can you share one of those experiences with us?
[00:28:49] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. This was a beautiful family. I actually met her at the gym doing Zumba together.
[00:28:54] Speaker A: Ah, there you go.
[00:28:55] Speaker B: And again, I stayed in front of her and I stayed in touch for years. It was years before she wanted to sell her house and buy a house. And they bought their actual dream home at the place where they wanted to be at where they wanted the kids to go to school was just beyond beautiful. And they have a child that has autism.
So I got them a little sign for their kids room that said, why try to blend in when you were born to stand out.
[00:29:26] Speaker A: Oh, wonderful.
[00:29:28] Speaker B: Their name. And I mean, I still remember and I still almost cry. And she just started bawling and crying and saying, that is so thoughtful. And you know, it was the emotion of them getting their dream home.
And it's hard for somebody to have, you know, a child with autism and what they have to go through and everything. So I knew that that was important for her because I would see her deal with that on a constant basis. And, you know, and she actually opened this park for kids with autism, and it was something that was very dear to her heart. So that transaction really touched my heart. And we're still, of course, in touch all the time.
[00:30:03] Speaker A: Oh, absolutely. Yeah. I mean, it almost brought te to my eyes, because I can definitely relate. I mean, I've had my husband and I have had our pair of challenges with our. Our special awesome boy, but no realtor has ever even mentioned that or, you know, you know, bring that to the transaction or to the, you know, ambiance of closing one of our real estate deals. So. Absolutely. Obviously, you're creating raving fans out there that are going to refer you over and over right now. Tell us about the difference between a satisfied client and a truly loyal client. And how do you build the ladder? How do you get that loyalty into the people that you work with?
[00:30:41] Speaker B: Yes. So a satisfying client, you close the deal, you did your job, they're happy and they moved on. And they never really reach out again. There's no communication again. They're dissatisfied. And maybe two, three, five years down the road, whenever they want to sell the house that you help them buy, they're not going to remember you. They're probably going to look for another realtor at that time.
A loyal client is one that's going to refer everybody that they know who needs a realtor to you, and they're going to tell them, you have to use this person.
Not just, oh, here, this is the realtor that helped me and introduce you. On a warm introduction, they either do a phone call together with the person they're referring you, or they do a group text to make sure that they introduce you to them. And they say on the group text, this has happened to me. She's the best realtor you'll find. You have to make sure they work with her. I mean, how can that person say no before they already picked me?
[00:31:37] Speaker A: Absolutely. Wonderful. So it's really the difference between a transaction and a relationship. Right. One of them is just procedural. What's the process? Step one, two, three. And the other one, which is your style, obviously, is building that relationship, getting to know them, getting to know about them, to put personalize every step of the way.
[00:31:56] Speaker B: Yes. I'm happy to say that I truly create friends along the way. And over 90% of the clients that I've helped, we always stay in touch. I put little notes to remind myself to, you know, reach out to them whenever I know something big is happening with their lives. I always Send them happy birthdays, happy home anniversaries. I send them a gift every year anniversary and it's that relationship and they come to my events and they share everything that I share and it's just so much fun.
People will never forget how you make them feel.
So if you make them feel special, that's always going to stay with them.
[00:32:31] Speaker A: Absolutely. Absolutely. Now, if someone wanted to elevate their client experience tomorrow, what's the one thing that they could start doing right away?
[00:32:41] Speaker B: Build a simple follow up process from when you start just talking to them. Have a process until they become your client.
Have a series of videos, have a series of emails that you can send them educational material, have buyer guides, seller guides, investment guides. So if they're the type of client who wants to do any of those transactions before they pick you, you send them the guide, you give them good material.
[00:33:05] Speaker A: Okay?
[00:33:06] Speaker B: They pick you have another system to make sure that you update them throughout the entire process of what's going to happen, what to expect.
Just again, my thing is always to say stand out because they are going to remember you forever because they're going to remember how you make them feel. You make them feel important, you made them feel special, you made them feel informed and you made them feel like you took that stress away from them of the entire transaction. Just build your follow up systems and it's going to sound repetitive, right? It's going to feel repetitive. Just remember, the success is in the mundane, the success is in the repetition.
Make sure that you do that with every client. Everybody needs to have the same experience from you, whether it's $100,000 home or a $3 million home. Once you do that, create your system, you are going to just keep getting referrals over and over again.
[00:33:58] Speaker A: Fantastic. Well, thank you for sharing all of those great insights. So your heart for service really, really comes through and I can see why. Your personality, your energy, your passion and really your heart comes right in through how you work with your clients. So working agents or clients follow you for more insights or how to level up their own experience.
[00:34:19] Speaker B: Absolutely. You can go to any social media platform except TikTok because I'm too old for that.
Under Veronica Dickes or Veronica's homes, either one of them or you can go to my website at www.veronicashomeskw.com.
[00:34:36] Speaker A: Wonderful. Well, thank you so much for being on our show once again and for sharing all of those fantastic strategies and tips with our audience. Until next time, we'll be right back with more ways to optimize scale and succeed. This is Real Estate Profits on NOW Media Television. And we're back. I'm Griselda, and this is Real Estate Profits on NOW Media Television. Let's keep building smarter together.
Welcome back to Real Estate Profits. If you're loving what you're watching, don't miss a moment of Real Estate Profits or any of your favorite NOW Media TV shows, live or on demand, anytime, anywhere. Just Download the free Now Media TV app on Roku TV or iOS and enjoy instant access to our full lineup of bilingual programming, both English and Spanish. If you prefer to listen on the go catch the podcast version of the show right on the Now Media TV website at www.nowmedia.tv.
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Now, in this final segment, we're talking about a huge turning point in any entrepreneur's journey, when to stop doing it all alone. Veronica has done just that, building a support system that fuels her growth and her sanity, honestly, and gives her free time to do all of her personal things as well.
Now, many people out there, they know they need the help, but they're afraid to hire. Or maybe they just don't want to let go of the control and it feels like no one else can do it like they can. Right? And then they get in trouble because they're doing it way too much. And obviously, you know, you're trying to do everything and nothing is coming out okay right now. What was your first experience hiring support for your real estate business?
And what did you learn from that? How did you decide that was what you needed help with right away?
[00:36:53] Speaker B: My first experience was I was getting burned out.
[00:36:57] Speaker A: Of course. That'll tell you, right?
[00:36:59] Speaker B: Yes. I was not having enough time to follow up with my clients to keep doing lead generation, to do the social media posts and the marketing. And I said, you know, something needs to change or I'm going to be burned out and I'm not going to enjoy this anymore.
So I hired a transaction coordinator, was my first hire, and it was the best decision I ever made. I got so much of my time back and just dealing with the documentation and the stressful side of the admin part of a transaction, that she took that away from me and it was fantastic. At first I was a little scared. Is she going to do a good job like I would do? Is she going to take care of my clients the same way I do? And she did it better. So good.
[00:37:43] Speaker A: Wonderful. And it often happens right yes.
[00:37:46] Speaker B: Yes. And it just got so much of my time back. So that's when I really understood the importance of getting leverage. By hiring somebody to help you in your business so you can get to the next level, you don't get burned out.
[00:37:59] Speaker A: Yeah. And it's like they do it better. Obviously, you do a fantastic job yourself, but when you give someone this pointed activity, Right. This is your task. This is what I really need your help with. And you explain, you know, how it is that you would do it. They master that. Right. Because they're not doing, like, you know, 15 different things like you are doing.
So now it's important to define those roles and responsibilities to avoid confusion or overlap. How do you go about in doing that for, like, yourself and maybe that one team member or maybe several? How do you make sure that everyone knows what role they play in the business?
[00:38:35] Speaker B: Yeah. So that's very important. And sometimes you're going to hire somebody who's already been trained on what they have to do. Typically, a transaction coordinator already has that training and they know exactly what to do. But you still have to adapt the service to who you are and what your level of service is. So I write out everything that needs to be done that's important for my transactions so that they have a guide. You can't just assume that they're going to know what to do and how to follow up and what your system is. You have to give it enough time to do it together, write it out so that they can have a clear guide, use the systems, use your CRM, use whatever system you're using to create some of those automated things that they can just handle for you. That's really important. And you got to give it time for that person also to adapt to your personality.
And one thing I am proud to say, I am not a micromanager. Anytime that I tried to micromanage, it was horrible. Because you're just trying to force something on somebody when they can do the exact same thing with the exact same or better results just in their way and in their process. And you have to make sure you trust that you're not working with a robot, you're working with a person.
[00:39:45] Speaker A: Right.
[00:39:46] Speaker B: That's really important. So once you achieve, and sometimes you'll hire somebody that doesn't work for you and you have to look for the next person. But once you achieve that balance of working together and you write down everything for that person, you communicate it clearly to them or what your expectations are and be nice, just be a good person. Yeah, that's important for me. Everybody is going to make a mistake every now and again. I make mistakes, they're going to make a mistake.
I mean, I don't turn into an ogre when they make a mistake. I understand. As long as we fix it, I am good to go. And then you take that stress away from them or fearing. Right. I don't want anybody to fear me when they're working with me.
I do have high standards of what the job needs to be. And if they follow that and we work together, then we're good to go.
[00:40:32] Speaker A: Absolutely. And you mentioned something really important. Right. You let them be. And like you say, sometimes they do a lot better on their own with their own ideas. But you also mentioned the ride it out. I'm an industrial engineer and that's a lot of what we do in our operational excellence strategies. Right. We call it standard work. What is that standard? Obviously they're going to put their own little twist to it, but what is the step 1, 2, 3, 4 that is consistent so they can repeat it over and over in that same way? Right. That's the standard. You document it. And obviously, whether it's that person or maybe like you say, you have to train someone new, they already have the standard process to follow. Right.
Now, what are some common myths about hiring that hold agents back from growing their teams?
[00:41:19] Speaker B: I can't afford it. That's the first one that I hear. And my reply is always, you can't afford not to. You are losing business by not hiring them.
If you expect to have a business and be an entrepreneur, you have to invest in your business. It's not a cost, it is an investment.
Now you have to be smart about your investment. Right. You have to make sure you hire the right person for the right tasks.
Everything has to have a purpose. If you hire somebody to do a certain thing, what are you going to do with that time that you got back? You have to make sure that you apply that time into something that's going to grow your business. You're not just going to take longer naps on go on more vacations because you have an assistant or a coordinator to help you with everything. You have to make sure that you're very strategic. Now in saying that, I will also say this. Another myth is that you continually. You have to be working all the time 24, 7. That is not true. You have to replenish yourself. And reasons that you hire somebody is so that you can have time to do that. Because if you're burnt out, your level of service automatically goes down because you just have the bandwidth for it. So in hiring somebody, you also have to put in your personal time and your vacation time and be purposeful. You have to be a master. Right. You have to balance everything, and it's going to take trial and error. You're going to fail forward doing those things.
But it is important to be strategic about, you know, that I can't afford it is how can I invest this and what is it going to give me back? And I think that's the best thing that you can do for your business.
[00:42:57] Speaker A: Absolutely. An exhausted business owner is not going to be as productive or have all of those wonderful ideas and strategies because you're exhausted. Right. You're just too tired to think. So. So having that little bit of help. And they bring their own ideas too. Right. So you're kind of multiplying your mindset and then obviously using automation and AI and so you're putting all of those tools to work for you, your business, and obviously to support your clients.
Now, how do you train someone to reflect on those standards of service while you allow them to shine in their own way? Right. So there's a perfect, a good balance there that you want to get their Persona, their ideas and all of that in there. But you also have a very high standard of service. How do you balance that? How do you teach that?
[00:43:41] Speaker B: In all honesty, for me, it's all about the why. I make sure that I share why we're doing this, why we're doing all the systems, why is it automated? Why do we want to give this level of service in which we stand out?
When they're behind a mission, it makes it so much easier. And they become passionate about the business as well.
[00:44:02] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:44:03] Speaker B: So I show them how I do it. I give them all of the writing instructions and everything, and I just tell them, you know, the idea here is this. This is why we're doing it. We want to feel. Make everybody feel special. We want to make our clients feel like they can refer us forever and use us forever, and they never need to look for another realtor. We want to make sure we give them a wonderful experience.
And by doing that, you really inspire them to do their best. And they're going to grow if you grow as well. Right?
[00:44:31] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:44:32] Speaker B: And that's something that, you know, we focus on the results. We don't micromanage the method. We change the method constantly, and we see that we're having better results with something else. And once they're passionate about it, like you said, they start Giving you feedback, they start giving you ideas, we can do this better. And I've gotten clients that have actually contacted my coordinator directly just to tell her how amazing she was throughout the transaction and to thank her. And, and I know those comments have made her life so much better in working with me. She absolutely loves it when that happens.
[00:45:06] Speaker A: Oh, wonderful, wonderful. Now let's say someone stuck between the burnout and the hiring. How do you decide what to go out and delegate first?
[00:45:15] Speaker B: Start with what drains your energy the most but doesn't make you money. So for me it was the admin stuff, the having to send documents on DocuSign for signatures. That's not making me money, that's just part of the transaction. Right. Making me money is meeting people, talking to people, doing videos, following up with my clients. So make sure to find, to identify what it is that you're doing that's taking your time away.
Sometimes it is showing homes. To be honest with you, if you have three buyers at the same time and you have to show 25 houses, that is very time consuming. Get a showing assistant. Make sure you meet with your clients for one or two homes and then tell them, listen, I can't be everywhere at the same time. I'm just one person. I'm going to help you through everything, but I'm going to have a showing assistant go open the doors for you. You go see the homes and then the one that you like, we will check it out together, just things like that. Make sure that you find whatever the activity is that is not bringing you money immediately. And try to find somebody editing videos, doing content for social media. You create the content and you record it, but then you can spend hours trying to edit that video and you know, checking the captions and what text should I put? Hire somebody to help you with that so that the good content is coming out. You only record the main things, but then you have somebody else taking over the time so you can continue to do lead generation or whatever it is that brings you money. So identify those activities, then you can get some of your time back and try to hire somebody to help you with those.
[00:46:40] Speaker A: Wonderful. Veronica, this has been an empowering conversation. Thank you so much for sharing your generous journey with us. From the systems and the service to scaling and self belief. Your insight today is exactly what so many agents need to hear. So to our viewers, success in real estate isn't about doing more, it's about doing what matters consistently and with heart, like Veronica and her team. So you've been hustling in chaos, wondering why it's not clicking. It's time to systemize, to really follow up with the intention to serve at a higher level and to really grow beyond what you can do alone.
I'm your host, Griselda Abuseliman. Thank you for joining us on Real Estate profits. Until next time, go build a business that you don't need a vacation from.
Thank you so much. We'll see you next time.
