Hey guys, with the trade war heating up, renters are concerned about inflation. This is a great opportunity to have a conversation with them, and really put it out there on social media. You could do a video, or send out mailings about inflation likely rising again.

We can say, "Hey, if you're concerned about the trade war and inflation starting to rise again, remember we all lived through COVID when rents skyrocketed. A lot of experts are starting to say that this could happen again. So, if you're worried about that, one of the best ways to hedge is to buy your own home."

I know buying a home can seem like a stretch if you’ve never explored that route, but here’s what buying a home does for you. Even though you might have to stretch a bit for that payment, it locks in your payment for 30 years.

Your payment might seem expensive today, but five, 10, or 20 years from now, it won’t be. If you stay a renter, your rent is guaranteed to increase every year. It’ll keep getting higher and ...

Okay, guys, if you're a brokerage owner or team leader and you want your team to remember one key market statistic this week, what would it be? Something like:

• "Home sales are up 10%"
• "Pending sales are up 6%"
• "Listings are up 55%"
• Or "Home prices are up X."

How do you get people to actually remember those stats?

I'll tell you what you shouldn't do. When you have your next office meeting, don't do a "data dump," which is what we often do as brokerage owners or team leaders. We throw out 25 different stats, and guess what?

Nobody remembers any of it.

Instead, share just a few key stats—maybe three to five—and then clearly state what you want them to remember.

When you tell them what to remember, they actually retain it because you've set the expectation.

At the beginning of the meeting, I might say, "Hey, I want you to remember this: The list-to-sell price in our market has dropped from 100% to 98%. That means sellers are getting 98% of their asking price, which is still ...

Quick question for you—since the beginning of the year, how much time have you invested in lead generation? Whether it's with your sphere of influence, open houses, FSBOs, expired listings, absentee owners, or geographic farming, where have you focused your efforts?

To maintain a consistent income without the ups and downs, you should be dedicating at least an hour a day to lead generation. But remember, we don’t do what we don’t schedule. If it’s not on your calendar, it’s unlikely you’ll actually do it. There will always be distractions pulling you away from this essential task.

Let me give you a simple strategy to ramp back up into regular lead generation. Because if you’ve been doing little to none for the past three to six months, jumping straight into an hour a day can feel overwhelming.

The solution? The Plus One Strategy.

It’s simple—just do one of these activities today:

• One call
• One text
• One video text
• One handwritten note
• One social media post

If you really wan...

Did you know that 74% of consumers base their hiring decisions on branding? That means nearly three out of four people are making choices based on how a business presents itself.

So as a REALTOR, how strong is your branding right now? If you looked at all your branding—your website, business cards, presentation materials, and stationery—does it all feel cohesive? Does it represent who you are and what you offer? Or is it a mismatched mess, completely inconsistent?

If your branding is all over the place, it’s time to fix that. Since branding plays such a big role in decision-making, we need to ensure yours is dialed in. Let me share a couple of branding tips I’ve learned from top marketing experts over the years.

One of those experts is my friend Tiffany Wilkerson. She taught me that a brand shouldn’t just be some random, funky logo. Even though she creates incredible logos, the best branding advice she gave me was this: for REALTORS, the most powerful brand you can have is your own ...

Here's a question for you:

If I were to look at your website today—pull it up and review it together—would it truly represent the market or niche you serve? Would it showcase what you actually sell?

Or would it just be a big, beautiful picture of you, with no clear indication of your market? If your website doesn’t clearly reflect your niche, that’s a mistake. Your website should visually and contextually align with the market area you serve. The photos, the language, and the messaging should all match your target audience. This is key to becoming a hyperlocal agent.

A hyperlocal agent is someone people immediately associate with a specific market. So take a moment today and analyze your website—does it truly reflect the area you serve? Making this small adjustment can significantly improve engagement.

Now, let’s take it a step further. Look at your social media. Are you a strong representation of your market there? Are you showcasing all aspects of your local area? Do you have a Y...

Guys, I’ve got a great strategy for working with buyers. One of the biggest concerns buyers have is understanding the paperwork involved in real estate. It’s a real fear point—not just for buyers but for sellers too. But let’s focus on buyers for now.

Let’s take a different approach when handling paperwork with buyers. Here’s the worst thing you can do as an agent: You take a buyer out, show them homes, and they get excited about a specific one. Then, you bring them back to the office and say, “Okay, it’s time to write the offer.” You pull out 30–40 pages of paperwork, and suddenly, that excitement turns into hesitation. It feels like a bucket of cold water being dumped on them. They start second-guessing everything.

So, how do we prevent that? You take the sting out of the paperwork early. Here’s how:

During your initial consultation with the buyer, you say:

"One of the biggest value points I bring to the table is guiding you through the paperwork. There’s a lot—typically 30+ page...

Hey guys, I want to give you a strategy as we head into the busiest season of the year for listings—February, March, April, and May. This is when the most homes hit the market, so it’s the perfect time to ramp up your efforts.

I’ve got two strategies that can help.

1. Create a Real Estate Resume

A real estate resume highlights your background, skills, education, and successes. Keep it simple—just a one-page document. You can use Canva, where you'll find plenty of great resume templates. Pick one, customize it, and build out your real estate resume.

Once it's ready, send it out to your entire database with a cover letter. The letter should say something like:

"As we enter the busiest season of the year, I wanted to share my real estate resume in case you know any buyers or sellers looking for an agent. I’d love to interview for the job of helping them buy or sell their home."

This positions you as a professional and keeps you top of mind with potential clients.

2. Build & Share Y...

Okay, guys, here’s some great language to use with buyers who are on the fence. When you’re following up—because we should all be following up—you can say something like this:

“Hey, I just wanted to touch base with you and let you know I’ve been thinking about you. Now that we’re in a new year, I wanted to talk to you about all the new listings starting to hit the market. February, March, April, and May are when we see the most listings, which means the most opportunities. In fact, we have 10% more inventory on the market this year compared to last year. So, I wanted to reconnect and see if we could start looking at some properties together.

“Now, I know you might have some concerns about pricing and finding the right value. Here’s the key message: When you work with me, we’re not buying the market—we’re buying a specific home. My job is to ensure you get the absolute best pricing and value on the home that fits your needs.”

You can also add a personal story to connect with them, li...

Hey guys, you know what everyone’s starting to get right now?

Their property tax statements.

When people get those statements, they rush to open them and think, "My home’s worth more than that," or "My property’s worth less than that," or something in between.

Here’s an opportunity for us. Why not reach out to all of your clients, your sphere of influence, and your social audiences with this message:

“Hey guys, you’re probably getting your property tax statements around now. If you look at that assessed value and disagree with it, or just want an updated value of your property, give me a quick call or text. I do this as a free service for all my friends and family, just to keep you in touch with your finances and your equity position.”

That’s it! That’s the messaging. People will absolutely take advantage of this, and it opens the door to conversations.

You might wonder, "Jim, why would I do this if they’re not interested in selling?" You’re doing it because friends refer friends...

Hey guys, are you afraid of ghosts? A lot of us are, but let’s put aside the spooky ghosts and talk about your business ghosts.

What are business ghosts?

If you dive into your CRM, your phone, or even your social media and see people you don’t recognize, you might think, “Maybe I should delete them.”

These are the ghosts in your machine—people you’ve forgotten. Don’t delete them!

Instead, I want you to rekindle that relationship. Here’s how: reach out via text, phone call, or direct message. Say, “Hey, I’m cleaning up my records and came across your name. I’m just trying to remember how we connected.”

They’ll respond with something like, “Oh, Jim, we met at an open house,” or “We met here or there.” Then you can say, “That’s right! I remember now. How are you guys doing?”

From there, you’ll rekindle the relationship. This could lead to a sale, a referral, or even a valuable connection that you would have deleted otherwise.

So, make sure you seek out these ghosts. If you spent on...