On September 12th, real estate professionals from across the country will come together for a virtual conference unlike any other. It’s your chance to grow your business, learn from the industry’s best and support a cause that touches the hearts of many.

Bruce Johnson is on a mission. Over the years, Bruce has raised almost $900,000 for the SickKids Foundation, helping fund the world-class care and groundbreaking research that SickKids is known for. But now, Bruce is facing his toughest battle yet: stage 4 lung cancer. Despite this, his goal is clear — to reach $1 million for SickKids.

 

Why you should attend

 

Not only will you walk away with practical insights to drive your business forward, but 100 per cent of your ticket purchase goes directly toward Bruce’s incredible cause. This is your chance to learn, grow and give back in a meaningful way.

We’ve lined up top-tier speakers who will deliver actionable strategies for success in today’s real estate market. And as a bonus, everyone who attends will receive exclusive offers and resources to help take their business to the next level.

The virtual event will run from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. EDT on September 12th, giving you plenty of time to soak in the knowledge and connect with other like-minded professionals.

 

Here’s how you can make an even bigger impact

 

For those who want to do more, we’ve got something special. If you donate at least $500, you’ll get a private 1:1 session with one of our expert speakers. Whether it’s a consulting call or a training session for your team, this is an exclusive opportunity to get personalized advice that will take your business to new heights.

 

Why this cause matters

 

For Bruce, the journey to raise $1 million is personal. It’s a cause that hits close to home, and we’re all rallying behind him to help get there. Every dollar raised during this virtual conference will go directly to SickKids, ensuring that the hospital can continue its life-saving work.

Bruce has been a fixture in the real estate world for decades, and now is our chance to give back to someone who has given so much to our community.

 

How to register

 

Tickets are just $20, and it’s all going to an incredible cause. Visit Real Estate Magazine to grab your spot today. Together, we can help Bruce hit his $1 million goal and make a real difference for kids in need.

This September 12, be a part of something bigger. Get your ticket and join us for a day of learning, growth and giving back. Bruce’s mission is nearing its final chapter, and your support will help write a story of hope, resilience and generosity.

 

Sign up now and help us make history.

 

“The leads are sh*t.”

A phrase we hear all the time in the real estate industry.

Sure, almost every industry says the same thing but it’s especially popular in real estate. People invest a lot of time and money into leads and many are not seeing a return.

Paying to generate leads online can be like buying a boat. The famous adage, “The happiest days in a boatowner’s life are the day they buy the boat and the day they sell it.” For many, that’s how their experience is with real estate.

 

Yes, you can find success with online leads

 

Yet, there are a lot of people having great success with online leads. Taylor Hack is one of them. His team does 140+ transactions a year in Edmonton with an average production per agent of 31 deals and a remarkable amount of five-star reviews.

Hack has a strong background in sales and it shows with a team that logs thousands of dials each quarter. With a significant amount of their business coming from online leads, Hack has worked with industry leaders in conversion to build a healthy and sustainable business.

 

We looked at why people think online leads are sh*t and how to solve that problem 

 

We started getting to know each other at industry events and then online and became fast friends. He looks at things more from a sales-first angle and I, the marketing-first angle. We’ve had a lot of passionate conversations over the years — often about the intersection of sales and marketing in real estate.

We’ve looked at why people think online leads are sh*t and how to solve that problem. We started talking this year on Zoom about it more and more and inviting people on to listen to our conversations.

These conversations started getting great feedback from those who came to listen. So, we started promoting it a little bit here and there. The more people who attended live, the better the feedback we got.

We’ve brought a few other great people from the industry on and have had great conversations with them, too.

 

Now we’re taking it up a notch with a hybrid podcast, live talk show & radio call-in show

 

This show will be called “The Leads are Sh*t with Taylor Hack and Andrew Fogliato.”

Every week we’ll talk about different aspects of the business. Sometimes we’ll bring guests on with subject matter expertise. We’ll even give Hack things to put in place in his real estate business and he’ll report back on the results.

This isn’t a traditional podcast. It’s a hybrid podcast, live talk show and radio call-in show. If you join us live you can interact over the chat and ask questions, or you can even come on camera and ask a question live.

Have a problem in your business you’re stuck on? Ask.

Have an idea you want to brainstorm? Ask.

Have a topic you want us to discuss? Tell us.

Our goal is to have this be a place you can join every week to help your business. We also want it to be an open book. If we’re talking about an idea and it gets tested, we’ll tell you the results. If it’s an untested idea, we’ll tell you that too.

If we invite a guest on, it’s someone we know has something of value to contribute and does real business. We’d rather find the people running a great business — it’s not about who’s famous and “in”. Instead, we want to find great operators and learn from them.

 

So come join us, every Thursday at 2:00 pm EST. Attend live to see what we’re working on and what’s getting results. Ask questions, engage and have fun.

We’ve set it up as a recurring webinar so you just need to register once to get the link sent to you every week to join. We’ll be posting the replays on the Real Estate Magazine YouTube channel.

Click here to grab a spot and start joining us live. Looking forward to seeing you there!

 

Ever get those missed calls from unknown numbers? You know, the ones you ignore and then Google to see who called? Well, guess what? This is what your leads are doing when they’re not picking up the phone. And it’s a golden opportunity knocking at your door.

 

Turn missed calls into clients

 

Imagine turning those missed calls into clients. Have you ever actually Googled those numbers to see what shows up when the leads Google the number?

This isn’t some far-fetched idea — it’s a real tactic that can boost your business. It’s a micro-moment that’s oft-neglected, especially when it comes to phone numbers tied to a CRM. CRM-based numbers are more likely to seem like they’re fake when calling. They’d have no history or results most of the time, which for many people is a clear sign of a scam call.

So, that snap judgment of, “Is this spam, a scam or a call worth answering?” is a critical moment. You don’t have long to convince someone.

 

Do these two things

 

You should do two things — the first is setting up a branded call display.

The second … Imagine this for a moment. They type your phone number into Google and the first result is:

“Did XXX-XXX-XXXX just try calling you? That was me!”

They’re going to click on that.

 

What to include in your call

 

The same way you respond to online leads, you approach this with:

1. A polite opening
2. A mutually agreeable fact
3. An easy-to-answer question

Tell them who you are, point out why you’d have been calling and then ask them a question.

So, that opening could be: “Hi, I’m Andrew with JSH Realty. You got a call from XXX-XXX-XXXX, you typed it into Google and now you’ve come here. Are you curious why I called?”

Then, you can list out the ways you collect leads and go into a call-to-action. These will be specific to your business.

This is a really easy backend page to put on your website. It will also be easy to rank at the top for your phone number since no one is trying to compete with you.

 

Turning missed calls into clients isn’t just possible, it’s a simple way to boost your conversion rates. By creating a dedicated phone number page, you provide potential clients with the information they need and make it easy for them to reach out to you. Start implementing this today and watch your missed calls turn into valuable client interactions.

By the way, if you want a PDF template of how the page on your site should be structured, just DM me on Instagram with PHONE SEO so I know what you’re looking for, and I’ll send you the PDF.

 

 

“First and foremost, let me be clear: there is no privatization happening with Realtor.ca. Realtor.ca will remain completely owned by CREA, and realtors will continue to own it through their membership in CREA.”

This is something Janice Myers, the new CEO of the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA), stressed during our recent time together in Ottawa.

Aside from pressing issues — like the “privatization” of Realtor.ca, the Realtor Cooperation Policy and the commission lawsuits — we had the opportunity to discuss her career trajectory, her first 100 days in the role and her vision for the future.

The full video interview is available to watch. For transparency, only minor edits were made to ensure you can see the complete conversation and form your own judgments.

 

An industry veteran

 

Myers comes highly qualified for her role. Her background in association management and experience working with a real estate team in Vernon, British Columbia, paved the way for her position at the Okanagan Mainline Real Estate Board in 2001.

In 2014, a new opportunity arose: “My husband and I decided it was time for a change, and literally the next day, I got a call about the CEO position in Ottawa.” So they relocated, and for the next decade, Myers served as the CEO of the Ottawa Real Estate Board.

Prior to this interview, I talked to people who have worked with her in the past to get their perspective on her leadership.

Without exception, every single person had nothing but effusive praise. It’s a feeling of excitement for what she can do in her new role and trust in her ability to do it well.

At a time in our industry where it seems many are divided on leadership at different levels and trust in the organized side of the industry, Myers seems to buck that trend.

 

The focus as CEO

 

“My first 100 days have been focused on listening and learning,” she shares. “I’ve embarked on a listening tour, meeting with colleagues across the country, both virtually and in person, to understand their challenges and opportunities.”

While she does come with a wealth of experience, Myers has spent the last 10 years at the local board level. Now, she has to get up to speed on how it changes when it comes to the national level. For the CEO of CREA, there are three critical components of the role.

The first is advocacy.

There was no time to go slowly. Out of the gate, the team at CREA had policy recommendations in the government’s 2024 housing plan. When The Hill Times put out its list of The Top 100 Lobbyists for 2024, Myers made the list. She was very quick to point out that the team at CREA, not her, is the reason for inclusion on the list.

Enhancing and protecting the reputation of realtors is another key focus for Myers. “Reputation is vital in this environment, especially as consumers continue to press for transparency,” she states.

The third pillar of Myers’ focus is realtor and consumer technology, with Realtor.ca being a primary asset.

 

New structure for Realtor.ca 

 

“First and foremost, let me be clear: there is no privatization happening with Realtor.ca,” Janice states unequivocally. “Realtor.ca will remain completely owned by CREA, and realtors will continue to own it through their membership in CREA.”

This clarification addresses fears that Realtor.ca might be sold off or opened to outside investors.

Myers assured me that this is not the case. Instead, the focus is on maintaining control while enhancing the platform’s capabilities and ensuring it continues to meet the evolving needs of both consumers and realtors.

She emphasized three main points solidified by a special task force and endorsed at a special general meeting:

1. Ownership. Realtor.ca will remain wholly owned by CREA, ensuring that realtors retain ownership through their membership.
2. Governance. The platform will be managed with an independent board and as a taxable entity, allowing for greater operational flexibility.
3. Revenue reinvestment. Any profit generated will be reinvested back into the platform for the benefit of realtors and consumers alike.

“The idea is to provide Realtor.ca with the operational independence it needs to thrive and compete against heavily financed competitors,” Myers explains. “This structure allows us to diversify revenue streams, reducing our reliance on membership dues and ensuring the platform’s long-term viability.”

One of the main concerns among realtors has been how CREA plans to generate revenue from Realtor.ca without compromising its integrity or the interests of its members. Myers was clear that Realtor.ca would not sell leads to realtors. Instead, the focus is on exploring other revenue opportunities.

“We’ve identified about 30 different revenue opportunities and are narrowing down to five key areas,” she says. “These include leveraging our best-in-class data distribution capabilities, always ensuring that any data shared externally maintains the Realtor.ca brand and benefits our members.”

When pressed on whether allowing the data-distribution feed on third-party websites could lead to those websites selling leads to realtors, she emphasized that they’d make it part of the contracts not to allow that. The data-distribution feeds don’t contain member emails or contact information, and all consumer inquiries flow through Realtor.ca. This is the way it works currently, has always worked and will continue to work.

Myers highlighted the importance of maintaining transparency and cooperation with boards and associations across the country. “We want to ensure that everyone understands where these revenue opportunities are coming from and how they will benefit the entire realtor community,” she says. 

While they’re making the case for five specific revenue opportunities, Myers declined to provide them until she’s had the chance to bring them to the boards and associations first.

“We’re listening to our members and ensuring that any steps we take are in their best interest,” she assures. “Our goal is to keep Realtor.ca as the premier consumer portal in Canada, owned and operated by the industry for the industry.”

“Realtor.ca is a crucial asset for our industry,” Janice concludes. “By giving it the independence to innovate and compete, we’re ensuring it continues to serve the needs of consumers and realtors effectively. This is about building a sustainable future where our platform can grow and adapt alongside the industry.”

Keeping Realtor.ca within CREA as it currently stands as a non-profit could jeopardize its not-for-profit status. By removing Relator.ca from the not-for-profit arm of CREA, the association has more flexibility on how to generate revenue — revenue that Myers affirms will be reinvested back into the platform.

 

The Realtor Cooperation Policy

 

In addition to the potential changes with Realtor.ca, the new Realtor Cooperation Policy, which limits the use of exclusive listings, has sparked significant discussion. Few topics at REM generate as much commentary as this policy.

So I wanted to ask her about it.

“The primary driver for the new exclusive listing policy is consumer demand for transparency,” Janice begins. “We’ve seen a growing call from buyers and sellers alike for more openness in the real estate process. This policy is a response to those demands.”

The new rule mandates that any property marketed publicly must be listed on the MLS system within three days. This move aims to ensure that all consumers have fair access to property information, levelling the playing field for buyers and maintaining the integrity of the MLS system.

The policy has sparked a range of reactions from the real estate community. Some agents fear it might drive exclusive listings further underground, while others worry about the impact on marketing strategies. Janice acknowledged these concerns but emphasized the policy’s benefits.

“We understand that there are scenarios where exclusive listings can serve a purpose,” she says. “However, the policy doesn’t eliminate the possibility of exclusives. It simply ensures that once you start publicly marketing a property, it gets the broad exposure that only the MLS can provide.”

Janice highlighted that the policy strikes a balance between transparency and consumer choice. “If a seller has privacy or security concerns, they can still choose to keep their listing exclusive. The key is that once you start public marketing, it should be accessible to all potential buyers through the MLS.”

For realtors navigating this new policy, Janice advised open communication with clients. “It’s crucial to have honest conversations with your clients about their options and the benefits of MLS exposure. Realtors have an ethical duty to act in their clients’ best interests, and this policy supports that by promoting transparency and competition.”

 

Commissions

 

In the United States, there are several high-profile class-action lawsuits challenging the way real estate commissions are structured and disclosed. As a result, the U.S. real estate industry faces significant legal and regulatory challenges that could reshape its commission practices.

Myers pointed out that while the real estate industries in Canada and the U.S. share similarities, there are critical differences. “In Canada, we have a much more transparent environment regarding how buyer agents are compensated,” she explains. “Over 80 per cent of transactions in Canada involve written service agreements that clearly outline how agents are paid, ensuring transparency for all parties involved.”

One of the key distinctions Janice highlighted is the regulatory environment in Canada. “Our regulatory framework is robust and designed to protect consumers,” she says. “This includes clear guidelines on commission disclosure and the roles of buyer and seller agents.” 

The structured regulatory approach in Canada helps mitigate many of the concerns that have fueled the lawsuits in the U.S. In Canada, the existing lawsuits have not been certified as class-action to date either. 

 

Going forward

 

Janice Myers’ first 100 days as CEO of CREA have set a strong foundation for the future. Few could have stepped into this role with her level of qualification and understanding of the industry’s challenges.

Leaving the meeting, I felt confident that CREA and the industry are in capable hands. Even on issues where there might be disagreement, Myers’ openness, transparency and willingness to engage are reassuring.

I understand why those I spoke with before this interview were excited about her becoming the CEO of CREA. I’m excited to see what she can do. She’s got her work cut out for her, but all signs point to success.

 

If we do a follow-up interview with Janice Myers in 12 months, what would you hope she accomplishes in that time? Let us know in the comments.

 

Disclosure: To maintain transparency with our readers, it is important to note that CREA is an advertising partner of Real Estate Magazine. This relationship does not influence our editorial content, and CREA has never requested any specific coverage.

 

We recently had the pleasure of sitting down with Aditya Soma from Windsor. His story is an inspiring one. Raised in India with his family, with very little to their name, Soma came to Canada as a student. He started out by investing in real estate himself, then, a few years later, getting his license in 2019. In 2023, his team had their best year ever, coming close to the 200 transaction mark. 2024 is on pace to beat those numbers.

When you speak with him you can feel his passion and energy for the life he’s built. For what real estate has done for him. You can see why he’s been successful. He found a system that works for him, and he executes it. He wasn’t chasing shiny objects. He was doubling and tripling down on what had provided the most success. 

Growing up in India, Soma didn’t have much time with his family. They didn’t have a lot of money, so his family was rarely together, with his father having to go as far as Dubai for labour work. Over 25 years, his entire family was never together for more than a month.

 

The drive for financial freedom

 

“I was driven by the need to provide a better future for myself and my family,” Soma explains.

He was working in IT and read Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki. It changed his perspective completely. Soma started investing in real estate before he ever got his license. Starting in 2017, he began investing in real estate with the money he made in IT. By 2019, he owned four properties, but he was also seeing trouble starting to brew.

Between paying for his sister’s wedding and one of his projects failing, he had a problem. Soma was almost $190,000 in debt, and he needed to do something. That’s when he started thinking about sales and he decided to become a realtor. He powered through the courses as fast as he could and got licensed that same year.

By the end of his first year in the business, Soma had done 55 transactions and paid back the entirety of his debt — every single dollar. 

So how did he do it?

 

Sharing the journey

 

He started a YouTube channel about his journey to get his real estate license. He talked about the process, from the investing he was doing and everything he could that didn’t need a license to talk about. By being open and honest about what he was doing, he ended up with three clients waiting to hire him once he finished his licensing. Soma recalls, “Each post was crafted to showcase my learning process, challenges and victories, making my journey relatable and engaging.”

One of the keys to his videos doing so well, according to Soma, was that he shared everything. “I don’t take things out. I’d even share projects where I lost or didn’t do well. I share very transparently.”

 

An action taker

 

Throughout our interview, it was clear Soma didn’t think it was anything unique that he had done. He took action. When he got his license, he consumed content all the time. He learned from the best and then took action on that — books, podcasts and any other content he could get his hands on.

Soma credits these books for having the biggest impact on him:

• The Millionaire Real Estate Agent by Gary Keller
• Sell it Like Serhant by Ryan Serhant

They provided the blueprint, and he executed it.

 

The power of YouTube

 

During Soma’s entire first year, he struggled to get even 1,000 subscribers on YouTube. Most of his videos never got more than 55-100 views. Very few ever went over 500 views. He did 55 transactions though, with most of those leads coming through YouTube.

It’s not all about volume, but the quality of the people viewing the content. His content targeted the Windsor area and what people there might be thinking about when it comes to buying and selling homes. 

Soma’s focus was to make sure anyone searching Windsor on Google would have his videos show up. He’s putting up longer-form videos every week and shorts daily.

To figure out the best content, he kept it simple: “What questions were people asking me? What questions did I have when I started investing? What challenges did I face? For the Indian immigrant, it was important to show people the possibilities. You could buy with as little as 5 per cent down which was unheard of at the time in India.”

Every video needed a hook, which was in the first 3-5 seconds. Something to grab their attention, which Soma says is the most important part of each video. Then, he’d give the content and at the end tell viewers to call him. 

This strategy worked so well that he later had to take his phone number out of the videos. Soma was getting too many calls and couldn’t handle the volume anymore. So, he pivoted to sending people to Instagram where they could DM his account, and he has assistants who help to answer all the messages. When the prospect is ready to speak to an agent, they get passed to the team. Think of these assistants as Instagram-focused inside sales reps (ISAs).

 

Building his team

 

“(My) first hire I didn’t pay; I hired my wife. She was a bank teller at the time. She used to write offers, book appointments and then slowly take the calls.” 

Any task he could pass off to someone without a license, he started getting his wife to do. Soma noted that he wanted to spend all his time doing two things: generating leads or converting them. Everything else he wanted other people to take on.

He shares his journey over and over, and it continues to inspire people to take action. During our interview, Soma would light up talking about the people who have joined his team. He told the story with particular pride of a man who lived in Barrie, Ontario, about four hours away, and was inspired by his videos. He quit his job, got his real estate license, packed up his life and moved to Windsor. 

The man then showed up at Soma’s office, and he had yet to speak to him at that point. He told him what he did and that he was all in. Soma recounts him saying, “Just tell me what to do!” 

Soma hires more and more people who come from similar backgrounds. The playbook worked for him and it has been easy to create the same playbook for his team members. In fact, it’s a requirement for anyone joining the team to do videos. 

He even employs a content team to help. Soma has a content ideator come up with video ideas and film them, and an editing team as well. All new team members need to do is shoot the videos. The content team handles the rest, from editing to even posting on their accounts for them. 

 

Reuniting the family

 

As mentioned earlier, Soma and his family never spent more than a month together in 25 years, as his dad often had to travel to get work. But due to the growth of his sales and investment in properties, he was able to reunite his family in Canada.

Now his parents live with him full-time in Windsor with his wife and daughter, and a few of their cousins, too. They’re even getting in on the team with his mom having the unofficial title of “Team Chef.” Almost every day, she hosts the entire team at the house and cooks food for everyone. 

Soma saw how hard his family worked to make ends meet and provide him with the best life they could. Now, he takes great joy in being able to repay them.

 

The negative side of living publicly

 

With over 30,000 subscribers on YouTube and over 47,000 followers on Instagram, it’s not all positive. By sharing his success and his journey, Soma attracts negativity in comments and DMs. For example, people telling him to “Go back to India” or asking “What could you possibly know about Windsor?”

Soma admits that in the early days, a lot of those comments would get under his skin. Sometimes he uses comments criticizing the content to improve it. The racist ones he knows aren’t about him.

Soma told us about a moment that changed things for him. He had helped a Canadian buy a six-unit building as a first-time home. She was a big follower of his content. He’d looked through comments and found some nasty ones, but she was there in the comments defending him with passion.

“All the negative comments were about their insecurities. After that fight, I never thought it was about me. I’m doing what I’m doing … It’s their own insecurities.”

 

A client-first approach 

 

Even when there’s negativity, those who support Soma do so with passion. They have his back. There’s a simple reason for that: he has theirs, too.

A lot of people say they work for the client, but they think of short-term commissions. Soma sent eight deals to his realtor before getting licensed himself, as he knew that thinking short-term would hurt him in the long run. He sent referrals and bought more through her because he trusted her judgement.

Every time a call comes in, he wants to get to know them, to learn their motivations, where they are in life and the why behind calling, and then help them figure out the best option for their situation — even if that means telling them now isn’t the right time.

“In the South Asian culture, trust is hard to build, they often don’t trust as easily as people in Canada do.” That’s why he credits so much of his success to YouTube. He was able to gain people’s trust through his videos by showing everything. The results speak for themselves. 

With his approach, Soma and his team had their best year yet in 2023, doing more transactions than ever before. Now in 2024, they’re on pace to beat the record set last year.

 

Photo source: adityasoma.com

 

A big thank you to Tamara and Shannon Stone. After our original March feature fell through, the Stone Sisters — who we were going to feature later in the year — agreed to move up their interview and accommodate us at the last minute. That’s why our March feature and Backstage Pass Q&A for March is coming in early April. 

Ultimately, the story of the Stone Sisters in Kelowna is the story of innovation, adaption, trust in family and relentless focus. Tamara and Shannon Stone have turned their business into a Kelowna household name built on the power of relationships. 

Let’s dive into their story.

 

The early days — laying the foundation

 

“29 years. I got my license in 1995,” Tamara reminisced about her start in the industry. Both her mom and dad were already successful realtors. They didn’t want Tamara riding their coattails, so they made her a deal. She could shadow them for six months and then she was on her own.

She started shadowing them and doing what they told her for six months. It went by so fast that she didn’t even realize that six months had already passed. “I showed up as I had for the prior six months, dressed in my business suit, and I said, ‘Okay, so what are we doing today?’ and my dad said, ‘Your mom and I are going golfing. I don’t know what you’re doing but you’re on your own.’ I had no idea what to do. It took me five months to get a deal and I was literally starving.”

She started doing open houses every single weekend. “I would do two on Saturday, two on Sunday. And I did that every weekend, with the odd exception, for two to three years because that’s how you met people.” 

Between her network and open houses, she started to build a nice business for herself. For the first 10 years of her career, Tamara built a business on her own, separate from her parents. That’s when, in 2005, her sister Shannon decided to get licensed.

 

Trial-by-fire

 

Tamara made Shannon the same deal she got from her parents: get trained for six months and then you’re on your own. She’d learn the ins and outs of the business. After the six months though, Tamara wanted to take the month of August off, thinking she could leave her sister in charge of her business during one of the slowest sales months of the year.

As the old cliche goes, “If you want to get busy, book a vacation.” That month, with Tamara gone, Shannon did almost 40 transactions — more than one a day. There was no question that Shannon’s ability to handle a month like that after only six months in the business meant she’d be an invaluable asset.

So, they took a Tamara-led “Stone Team” and formed the “Stone Sisters.”

 

Adapt to thrive

 

From even the early days, the pair has focused on leading when changes are happening.

“The big thing I did when I started that was revolutionary and wild was get a website. It was the first real estate website in town and it was shocking to many, and cutting edge. We still own the original domain name, too,” recalls Tamara. 

With a renewed energy for the business, the sisters continued innovating and adapting. Shannon’s marketing background brought a lot of ideas to both marketing and client engagement.

Spend time talking to the Stone Sisters about the evolution of their business, and you realize quickly they’re proactive about change. They’re looking ahead to see what challenges are coming and they’re getting ready.

 

See change coming, come up with a plan, execute with purpose

 

In British Columbia, you’re no longer allowed to double-end a transaction, a change that was hinted at for a couple of years before it came into effect. If implemented, they realized this would have a massive impact on running a team where you often have a buyer’s agent sell the team’s listings.

They looked at what that might mean and they came up with a plan. Shannon got her broker’s license. When the change happened, they completely shifted their entire model, going from being the Stone Sisters at Re/Max Kelowna to forming their own sub-brokerage, Re/Max Kelowna Stone Sisters. 

Now, instead of a traditional team model, Shannon and Tamara run the brokerage and the agents run their own business, with the Stone Sisters providing services and coaching along the way. This way, they act as the designated agents for their clients.

The sisters were able to completely shift the model and not miss a beat. They don’t sit back and complain when change is coming — instead, they see it coming, come up with a plan and execute with purpose. 

 

Marketing that works

 

Shannon had a background in marketing when she joined and, with that, brought fresh ideas and promotional efforts. With Tamara’s experience and her sister’s background, they came up with regular ideas that brought real business. Things that few others were doing.

For example, in Kelowna, where many properties are sold to people from out of town, the team tracks not only the percentage of properties sold to out-of-town buyers but also where they came from. This informs their next steps when it comes to marketing.

This tactic worked well during a big Alberta oil boom when the pair noticed a lot of business coming from buyers in Fort McMurray. They had some connections there and set up a learning seminar about buying property in the Okanagan. 

They flew into Edmonton, got this little rental car and made the drive up to Fort McMurray. A client that worked up there told them, “Don’t show up in your white suits and be fancy to people. Jeans, beer and pizza.” 

So, they rented the back room of a Boston Pizza, bought pizza, wings and beer for everyone, and started promoting the Okanagan. Little did they know, due to the big boom and undersupply of housing in Fort McMurray, there weren’t even hotel rooms available. They had to make the drive back to Edmonton at 3:00 am.

But it was worth it. The sisters sold a tonne of properties to people there until the downturn in the oil industry.

Today, they go to cities like Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto because that’s where a lot of their buyers come from. They do group seminars and 1:1 consults with potential clients to promote their book on the Okanagan. 

Social media advertising plays a big role in making trips to cities where they don’t have brand recognition a success. The sisters invest in it and see a great return. In a market where almost 50 per cent of buyers come from out of town, the Stone Sisters regularly see over 70 per cent of their buyers come from elsewhere — a testament to the success of their marketing strategies. 

 

What you measure, grows

 

Nothing happens by accident at the Stone Sisters. Much like tracking where buyers come from, the team tracks everything in their business. They look at where leads originate to evaluate the success of each marketing channel they try, and then what percentage turn into clients. They monitor the volume of phone calls, emails, social media messages and every other way that people reach out to the team.

Aside from the volume and nature of inquiries, the number of showings, traffic to and time on the website, social engagement and everything else that helps inform their marketing and get a pulse of what’s happening is tracked.

And no fancy dashboards needed — the team tracks it all across simple Excel spreadsheets. They can tell you at any time exactly what’s happening in their business and where the trends are going.

At the volume of deals the Stone Sisters are doing (300+ annually), their business metrics can say a lot about the greater Kelowna real estate market trends as well. 

 

The white suits

 

Since my earliest days in real estate, I’ve known the Stone Sisters. They were presenting at a conference on negotiation the first time I saw them. At that conference and to this day, they often stand out by wearing white suits. In fact, their entire team wears all white — it’s their uniform.

I asked them about this because they do stand out when you meet them. It went back to a Re/Max conference they attended in Las Vegas. There were so many agents there, they wanted to find a way to stand out from the crowd. A way to make them more memorable.

The sisters went with white suits. Now, the entire team does and it’s become a signature look. If anyone on the team, and now at their sub-brokerage, goes out in the community for their business, they wear white. This has become an integral part of their branding. 

 

The ‘Buyer Book’

 

Early on, Tamara and Shannon created what they call the “Buyer Book” for their business. When they got leads, they’d print out the email, hole punch it and put it into a binder. Any time things were either quiet or they had some downtime, they’d open up the binder to where they left off and “shake the tree.” 

The sisters would call everyone in the book. When they finished, they’d start over, back at the beginning. They made handwritten notes to send by snail mail to people they had good conversations with, a practice they still do to this day. There were people in that book for 3-5 years before they ended up doing a deal with the Stone Sisters — a testament to their consistency.

Today, the team follows a very similar practice, leveraging Follow Up Boss as their CRM. With organic buyer leads coming in, they convert them at a rate of 23.5 per cent. (During our interview, without having asked them ahead of time to be ready with anything, they had all the data at their fingertips. Like I said, they track and monitor their numbers.)

The most impressive stat? They convert 94 per cent of the website contact forms for a home evaluation to in-person appointments. As of our interview on March 20, 2024, the team had received 78 home evaluation requests and had done 74 in-person appointments as a result. 

That’s how strongly they’re seen as experts. Tamara mentioned that early on in her career they tried a series of TV commercials. “They were light and fluffy, like Cinderella, the Stone Sisters. It wasn’t us doing it; it was someone else’s perception of us. It gave the impression of, ‘It’s so cute they dress the same.’ Now, we have a much more serious reputation.” 

 

A little bit ‘hardass’

 

The sisters admit they’re known for being a little bit “hardass” at times, as they put it. They’re serious about the business and they get the job done. They’re not afraid to tell their clients what they don’t want to hear, and they won’t take a listing if the client is unrealistic about the price.

This brand they’ve built since 1995 is a huge factor in their conversation rates. On top of that, they work the phones, send out automated emails and encourage everyone at their brokerage to make as many phone calls as possible.

They find that even young people, who are often derided for not wanting to be on the phone, regularly have great phone conversations with their team. And when things get slow or quiet for a time? Everyone is encouraged to “shake the tree” as they do with the Buyer Book but with people in their Follow Up Boss database.

 

Systemized success

 

Like our previous monthly features this year, Mark Faris and Alex Wilson, it’s no surprise after talking to them why the Stone Sisters are so successful. They’ve built the systems, they follow them and they keep their agents accountable. 

The sisters are looking ahead at what’s coming and getting ready to adapt. They’re closely watching the commission lawsuits with NAR in the U.S. and Canadian equivalents. Despite verdicts likely being a ways out, they’re ready in case of changes. 

No matter what happens, one thing is certain: they won’t be caught unprepared. 

 

Dive into the remarkable journey of Alex Wilson, the visionary architect behind a niche-focused real estate team. This article unfolds the strategic blueprint that propelled Wilson from a serendipitous elevator conversation to dominating pre-construction investment properties. 

 

As part of our ongoing Backstage Pass features into the people who run some of the top real estate businesses in Canada, we’re turning to Alex Wilson of Re/Max Wealth Builders.

Alex Wilson’s path during his career in real estate unfolds like a masterclass in adapting and innovation. Starting his career amid the 2008 financial crisis, Wilson’s foray into real estate was less about chasing a passion and more about seizing an unexpected opportunity. He was planning to take a corporate job after moving back to Toronto from Vancouver. Real estate wasn’t a passion. 

 

Skepticism turned to appreciation and slow progress

 

His initial skepticism about a career in real estate sales gradually transformed into a profound appreciation for the value and respect the profession commands. The turning point came in 2009, with his first significant breakthrough. That February he made his first deal, but in April 2009 alone he made five deals.

Wilson recalls asking himself, “Why am I wasting my time trying to get a steady paycheque when I could apply that work to running a successful business in real estate?” He wanted to invest his energy and time into making himself successful, not someone else.

By the end of his first year, he was already #4 in his brokerage for production. He credits the idea of giving up his pursuit of going for a corporate job and putting 100 per cent of his energy towards being successful as a realtor. His advice for new agents is you can’t be desperate for money in the first six months because you aren’t going to be making any — you need a stockpile until you start getting income.

In years two and three, he didn’t see a meteoric rise. He increased his overall business by about five deals a year and made approximately 30 deals in his third year.

 

The elevator moment

 

Wilson has always been a people person, talking about everyone he could. He hosts fun events for friends and maintains a large social network. He loves talking to people. Conversations create opportunities you never knew existed and he focuses on having lots of them.

In December 2012, living in his first condominium, he was in the elevator and chatted with a woman in it, too. As it turned out, she specialized in pre-construction and had units coming up in the building across the street. Wilson asked if he could be involved.

He wrote up an analysis of the project for his database after buying a unit for himself and made a business case for his clients. Over the next two weeks, he sold 12 units. That was the moment he knew where he wanted to focus his attention.

Over the years that followed, Wilson started getting a reputation with builders and their sales & marketing departments as an agent who could deliver. More and more deals started coming his way.

 

Niching down

 

Wilson says that when you’re dealing with people and the roof over their heads, it carries a lot of emotion. He would even tell his clients, “Put those emotions on me and I’ll carry them on my back.”

When it comes to investment properties, it’s purely a math-based decision. It also allows a scale you normally don’t have in resale. Most agents on their own will start to burn out doing 50 resale transactions a year without help. The time involved in showings plus the emotional fatigue can add up quickly. 

According to Wilson, you can double that by doing pre-construction deals. One of the big factors was how much time he was spending on the road in his resale business. He thought, “How can I condense my market area since I only have so much time each week to do business? If I’m on the road, how can I be focused on growing the business?”

It became clear that for Wilson to scale, pre-construction investment properties were his future. The decision to niche down paid off: in 2022 Wilson and his team did 650 transactions. Even in 2023 when the market was slow, especially in pre-construction, his team still did over 350 transactions.

The other big benefit Wilson has found in pre-construction that most see as a downside is you usually don’t get fully paid until a building is completed. Typically, you’ll get some commission within 6-12 months of the transaction and then another when it closes. That means for Wilson, he already knows his baseline revenue for the next 4-5 years. He recounts talking to realtors who say “It’s January 1, we’re back to 0, let’s hit the grind again.”  Wilson never feels he’s back to 0 anymore. 

 

The approach

 

Wilson has a very simple model with his database. Once he finds a project he likes, he buys at least one unit himself. He does the due diligence, invests and then reaches out to his database with the simple premise of “follow my money.” 

In doing so, he educates them on the entire process. He doesn’t want anyone buying a property without knowing all the implications. Especially in a down market, people seek out experts’ advice. They are scared to make the wrong move. With a focus on being an expert, even in a down market, you can attract clients. For Wilson, it’s his recession-proof business plan.

You have to be knowledgeable, not just about your niche, but about world events. When you’re with clients only about 5 per cent of the time, you’re generally talking about real estate. But, you want to be able to hold an interesting conversation the other 95 per cent of the time, and staying up to date on world events is part of the business. Try to be as well-rounded a person as possible, Wilson says. 

The educational approach regularly brings him clients. For example, in early COVID when the Ontario government made it impossible to evict tenants, he launched a webinar for landlords on what their options were. He brought on a paralegal for it and years later, that webinar replay still brings him leads. He’s also brought in an accountant to talk about how to build a tax-efficient portfolio. 

When you educate people, you increase their certainty in their decision-making and reduce their anxiety. This makes those who are transaction-ready reach out to him. Wilson lets people come to him.

 

The big pivot

 

Wilson says he doesn’t sell anything he doesn’t believe in. That’s why he buys and does due diligence for himself first before bringing anything to clients. And that’s what caused the next big pivot in his business.

Running the numbers in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), with 20 per cent down you can’t have a cash flow-positive property anymore. Wilson doesn’t believe that you should put yourself in a situation where you can lose money, and you only lose money when you sell. So, he says, don’t put yourself in situations where you have to sell. He believes that appreciation shouldn’t be the only way to make money on an investment property — that’s a recipe for losing hundreds of thousands. 

Wilson’s personal philosophy was that he didn’t want active investments — the more passive the better. Rehabilitating old properties, the “BRRRR (Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance, Repeat) method” many advocate for, was too active. This is why he likes pre-construction. Newer buildings require less involvement from owners and maintenance is covered by the condominium or strata corporation. 

Wilson had to look outside of Ontario to find investments that fit his philosophy, and his due diligence brought him to Calgary. So, he did what he did in Toronto and started buying units for himself. Then, he went back to his database with his “follow my money” messaging.

In 2019, Wilson and his team started focusing a lot of their attention on the Calgary market. It was a market they believed had great fundamentals with cash flow-positive units when you put 20 per cent down: appreciation upside, better tax situation for investors and landlord-friendly regulations that don’t exist in Ontario.

He launched webinars for his database on “Why Buy Calgary” where he would open by showing his own portfolio, and walk through market fundamentals from his due diligence. Wilson would bring up factors like the population being set to grow by 48 per cent over 20 years (double the rate in Ontario), the fast-growing economy and the city having the second-most corporate head offices in Canada. 

His clients followed him. From December 2019 to the end of 2023, Wilson and his team sold over 1,000 units in Calgary to investors.

 

Building a replicable foundation

 

Wilson spent 2023 building systems and processes for his team — he wasn’t as focused on growing their sales the same way he had in the past. As a father of three young children, he wanted to build systems that allowed him to spend time with his family, his most important piece, while still consistently growing the business.

Wilson built a replicable system for his team members, helping a couple of them reach over a million in GCI on their own. A lot of his focus is on how to simplify that process as much as possible. 

He has his team members follow the same approach that built his business. They invest in a unit on a particular project, invite their database to a webinar on why they did so and then call each attendee after the webinar. The rest of their time is about adding people to the database so the next webinar is bigger. Online leads are a large part of this. If his team members do that and consistently make 30 touchpoints a day, Wilson sees averages of 5-10 sales per month per team member.

He found this easiest to do initially with new agents that didn’t already have businesses. It was more difficult to make that jump for people who didn’t specialize in investments and still focused a lot of time on their “legacy business”, as Wilson puts it.

 

The next big leap

 

With that foundation built, Wilson is turning his eyes to another period of growth in 2024. He believes the next big leap is solving the challenge for those with a legacy business.

Instead of moving their license to his team or even to their brokerage, he has partnered with them. They collaborate and do the deals as referral fees. This is basically the same process he has for his team members, who buy a unit and promote a webinar to their database about why they bought it. From there, Alex and his team get on follow-up calls with the agent and the people who attended the webinar. This way, the agent can still focus on their database, the resale business and the commitment that this requires.

 

When you listen to Alex Wilson talk about business and his approach, he’s never deterred about a new initiative not working. He also doesn’t write something off that didn’t work the first time. Rather, he looks for why it didn’t work and what adjustments would solve that, and then tries again.

The little details, being improved consistently, have led Alex Wilson to be one of Canada’s top teams. 

 

Photo source: ReMaxWealth.com

 

When you sit down with Mark Faris, it doesn’t take long to see why his team has done over 1,700 transactions in a single year. Even in 2023, when the market was down for many, his team still did over 1,000 transactions.

Kiran Gandhi and I sat down, over Zoom, with Mark recently to get a backstage pass to how Mark operates. We didn’t want to just break this down into what he’s doing now. We wanted to go back to the beginning, and then see how that approach has changed over the years.

Here’s a glimpse into how Mark built his business. His approach was shaped by necessity and ingenuity. Let’s dive into the journey.

 

In the beginning

 

Looking back to 2007, Mark brought up the piece that most don’t talk about early in their career: “There’s always a race when you start in real estate, a race before you run out of cash. You have a certain amount of money and you’re going to burn through that. And so, for me, there was a race there because we were burning through our credit cards and we had a limit.” 

Mark looked at the cost-effective methods for building his business when he didn’t have a lot of money available.

“Cold calling and door knocking, which a lot of agents don’t like, but I didn’t have any money for anything else. I’d bring them a little calendar. But I didn’t knock on every door. I’d only knock on the doors of the leads that I had from cold calling. It was a more targeted approach. (In) some cases I did full streets if it was in an area that I liked.”

Mark did 12 deals in his first six months and decided to set a goal of 40 deals for the next 12 months. He fell short and did 38. Then, he jumped from 38 to 100 in the next 12 months. Since then, he hasn’t looked back.

 

The script

 

We asked Mark what he did when he was cold-calling and door-knocking. What was he saying to people that contributed to his success?

Mark kept it simple. He’d call or knock and say: “Hi, it’s Mark Faris from Royal LePage, we just listed a home down the street from you. We’re really excited about it, we’re curious and we’re working hard for our sellers and want to get it sold. Do you know anyone looking to move to the neighbourhood? Any friends or family? Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to pick your own neighbour?” Then, he’d follow up with, “Oh, by the way, have you thought about selling?” 

The ice was broken and he already started to prove to potential clients how hard he works for his existing ones. That made him get in enough doors to gain the traction he needed to win the new real estate agent race.

 

The listing presentation

 

When someone is passionate about something you can tell. They lean in a bit, their face lights up and the enthusiasm shines through. Get Mark Faris talking about listing presentations and you’ll see the passion.

He likened how much he practiced listing presentations to how he used to practice shooting hundreds of pucks a day. “I can still pick the corners because I did it so much. The more you do something, the more fun it gets.”

Mark had his listing presentation fine-tuned. He’d start by telling the sellers he’d arrive within a 30-minute window. That way, if there was traffic or other issues causing delays, he wasn’t panicked about a few minutes here and there. He’d try to always arrive at the beginning of the window, but he had a buffer.

Then, he’d get himself enthusiastic and excited because enthusiasm sells. He’d walk in, pay a compliment about the home, take a tour of the home and then sit down to deliver his listing presentation. The focus is on being very clear about what differentiates him from other realtors and adds value to the seller.

Mark doesn’t believe in skipping the listing presentation, especially for friends and family. It will help save your relationship down the road. If you skip the regular procedure because they’re a close personal relationship, you put it at risk. You need to avoid the “What are you doing for me?” question that’s answered during a great listing presentation.

When Mark was still selling homes, he was personally selling 150 a year. It was starting to hold back his team’s growth. At its size, he needed to be focused on the business, not working in it. “That was a hard thing to give up, the listing appointments, because that was my baby,” he recalls.

 

Reputation is everything

 

“Reputation is built by leaving sparks and seeds of hope, love and care.”

This is something Mark shared in the interview, when he expressed there’s nothing more important to him and his team than their reputation within the community. It’s everything. It encourages more referrals because people put their reputations on the line by referring their contacts to you. They need to be confident you’ll protect that.

Mark understands that not everyone can be perfect — no one is expected to be. Your reputation is just as much built on what you do in those scenarios. Even if it means writing a check sometimes to cover a client’s loss when you weren’t legally required to. Don’t think of those situations as losing money in a deal; think about them as investing in your reputation.

When you fix mistakes, it shows people that you’re stepping up. Investing in your reputation is always the right move; it’s more important than money. Admitting, “I was off on that, here’s what I’m doing to make it right,” will cement you as their agent forever.

 

Focus on scale

 

Now, Mark’s time is spent mostly focusing on scale: how to scale the business up and make it better. 

When he was selling 150 homes a year and his team was doing 1,000, he was doing four to five listing presentations a day. He described it like he was a madman during that time. He was also asking himself how companies scale and why they hit ceilings. 

Mark is constantly reading books and looking for advice on what he can do to improve his business. For example, more than once during the interview that focused on us writing stories about him, he stopped to ask us questions that might help him improve his business. His care and passion shine through.

Mark doesn’t believe there are any silver bullets in this industry. Instead, he believes there are what he refers to as  “golden bee-bees” — the little things you do consistently over time. Just keep doing them better, that’s what creates and grows a brand. It’s the boring minutiae of the day that most get bored by.

He’s also not afraid to still get his hands dirty. When building out their ISA (inside sales) department, Mark’s team went through several iterations to figure out what worked. He jumped in while acting as the CEO to take lead calls to help refine the system. It was a lot of trial and error.

An avid believer in the systems and processes from the book Traction, by Gino Wickman, Mark sees himself in the visionary role. One of the pieces that really helped him scale was finding his vision. Then, he focused on the 20 per cent of processes that drive 80 per cent of results. 

 

The culture

 

Mark likes to ask his team members, “What’s the number one thing about working here?” The responses are always interesting but often vague — from “the people are great” to “there’s just something different here.” 

Mark views culture as a living, breathing challenge and is constantly asking himself about how to formulate a better team culture. You keep a high threshold for people coming in, and sometimes you have to “liberate people to the marketplace”, according to Mark. 

 

One thing was clear in talking to Mark: he knows what it takes to succeed and he focuses relentlessly on how to do so at a high level. Despite his success though, Mark could only be described as confidently humble. He knows he doesn’t know everything and is constantly trying to learn more.

Spend time with Mark Faris and you’ll see why he leads one of the top teams in the world. 

 

Photo source: FarisTeam.ca

 

You need to post on social media every day to stay relevant!

You’ve heard it time and time again from agents, trainers, influencers, etc. … It’s well-intentioned advice, and much of its original meaning was right at the time. However, I believe that, over time, the original intention has been lost. As social and online marketing has evolved, so should the advice.

 

Do you need leads from an organic social media pipeline?

 

The phrase “You need to post on social media every day to stay relevant” in its full form would be, “If you want to build a pipeline of business from organic social media, you need to post on social media every day to stay relevant.”

But, you may not actually need that pipeline. Any pipeline of leads that helps drive your business should be able to get you at least 25 deals a year. Organic social media is one of them. Even within organic social media, you could build strategies to drive clients that don’t require daily posts. 

On top of that, as social media has evolved, our feeds are flooded with content every day that people post for the sake of posting. It’s a common joke in real estate conferences, one I’ve said on stage before, that people don’t need that email with the latest pumpkin pie recipe or a reminder to change their clocks. Well, guess what? They also don’t need to know that it’s National Talk Like a Pirate Day on social media.

Let’s look at a few of the reasons NOT to post daily anymore.

 

Quality over quantity

 

When people post daily, they regularly struggle with what to post so they look for anything they can post. That means a lot of what goes out is just bad content. They’re jumping on the “I have to post something today” bandwagon.

Take the Daniel Day-Lewis approach. He doesn’t take every role he can just for the sake of being in another movie. He takes one when he feels it’s right. Roles that ignite his passion and he feels connected to. He puts everything he can into them.

You can go for the take-every-role approach and make a career, or you can choose the Daniel Day-Lewis approach, opt for the highest quality content you can and put everything into it.

 

Engagement over frequency

 

Let’s compare two scenarios.

Agent 1: Super organized, spends a day creating a ton of content and then schedules it out a month ahead of time. Now, they can move on to other important tasks and not look at social.

Agent 2: Posts maybe once a week, every other week, and some months only posts once. Throughout the week they spend time on social. Mostly engaging and talking to people.

I would be willing to bet that Agent 2 is the one who actually pulls clients from social media. They’re out there engaging with people. Building relationships. Agent 1 just checked the social media box and then threw the content into the void.

 

The brochure presence

 

Regular posting is a great strategy for many. It works for a reason. But, it’s not the best use of time and money for many others.

Some agents only need what I call a brochure presence. 

This means when people look them up on social, it acts like a brochure that shows the agent is good at their job. It shows their professionalism, what they offer and some social proof. A living brochure instead of a static printed one. 

This doesn’t need daily posting to achieve it. You can do this with a weekly or even bi-weekly post, plus your listings. This way, if someone looks you up, it won’t make them not want to hire you. If you still want to get business from your social media with a brochure presence, you’ll need to spend time engaging with people.

 

Opportunity cost

 

When you’re spending all this time thinking about what to post, worrying you’re not posting enough, then creating the post, figuring out how to post, then posting … then checking constantly to see what kind of engagement it got … that’s time you could be spending on other activities.

What other opportunities are you overlooking because you’re spending a lot of time doing these things? All of that time could have been spent taking a referral source out to lunch or being helpful in a local Facebook group. Those activities could potentially drive more business.

 

I hear from agents all the time about getting so stressed with social and how they’re dropping the ball. Except, they don’t even know where social fits into their marketing strategy. Take a step back first and map out your strategy. Then, figure out where social fits in for you.

Just because so many of us are saying you should be posting daily on social media doesn’t mean it’s true for you. Step back. Evaluate your marketing strategy, look at what time and resources you have and think about where they’re best spent. 

Your answer may be that you’re going to post daily on social because that’s the best fit for your business — but, it doesn’t have to be.

 

“If you’re not doing video, you’ll be out of the business in 5 years!”

That was over 10 years ago when I got my license. One of the first training courses I attended outside of my brokerage. The speaker went on to say that agents who do video would push the rest out of the business. Hindsight is 20/20 but quite obviously he was wrong.

 

Video is powerful when done well

 

I’ve heard this about video marketing and so many other trends in the industry. Don’t get me wrong, video is a powerful tool that when done well can change your business. I’ve used it a lot over the years and it has served me very well. So has blogging, so have podcasts and so have many other methods of content creation and distribution.

There are teams doing 100+ deals a year, and you can attribute a lot of it to their video marketing. One of the most successful agents in Canada, Mark Faris of the Faris Team, you could argue got there by leveraging high-quality video marketing. There’s way more to his success than just video, but that is a key pillar.

You can also find successful agents like Melanie Piche and Brendan Powell, who run the BREL Team in Toronto. They do so mostly through blogging. There’s video in their marketing, but blogging is their key pillar.

 

But it’s overrated

 

Video has become one of the most overrated silver bullets touted by – well, let’s be honest – people like me. Not everyone needs to make videos. You can run a successful business without ever making a single video. There’s a time and a place for it and for some, that time might be never.

Picture this: a few months ago before it got blocked, you saw a news story on Facebook. You thought it sounded interesting and wanted to get the whole story. You click on the link and instead of a written article, it’s a 3-5 minute video. How many times do you just exit because you just wanted to read (or skim) the article?

 

Consider changing situational preferences

 

Some people prefer to read, some prefer to watch, while others change their preferences based on the situation. Sometimes at home watching the big screen and scrolling on your little screen, you’d rather read so there’s no noise interrupting.

In an ideal world, you’re doing a mix of all different types of content. When you’re getting going with your content marketing, pick one and focus on it. If you’re a great writer, then write. If you’re not comfortable on camera but love speaking, do a podcast. Over time, add in a mix.

I’ve heard speakers talk about this strategy for SaaS companies. Pick one offer, and present it over one channel to one audience, until you make a million dollars.

 

Find what works for you, grow, then diversify

 

There are lessons in that for real estate, too. Pick a way to grow your business that works for you, and then double down on it. Don’t get distracted by shiny objects and that new shiny thing you heard about.

As you grow, you’ll need to look at diversifying. I firmly believe any agent can get to 30-50 deals a year through a single method done well. It’s about finding the one that works for you. If you hate doing something, it’s going to feel like a grind. You’re better served doing the method you enjoy.

When done well, video marketing can blow up your business. For the people who put a lot of effort into video and grow their business, it’s because they spend hours doing it. They’re always looking at how to improve it.

Do you know what else could blow up your business if you put consistent time and effort into doing it better every day? Almost anything.

Video can be powerful and I’ll continue to use it, but you don’t have to.

 

Let it go if you need to

 

If video has been this daunting thing you felt like you have to do but keep putting off and it’s stressing you out, consider this your permission, as Queen Elsa of Arendelle would say, to just

via GIPHY

(That one was for my daughters.)

 

Next time, one of my favourite topics: why some of you don’t need to post to social every day.