Guys, can I tell you a story? If you don’t like it, don’t watch.

My wife and I are shopping for investment properties in different parts of the country. As we’re looking, of course I’m calling REALTORS. How am I finding them? In these markets, I don’t personally know any, so I went to Realtor.com—just like most buyers would.

I searched for agents, looked at their stats, found a few who looked good, and started calling. I wanted to see if they’d answer or call me back.

Well, no one—and I mean no one—answered their phone.

I get that people are busy or in meetings, but I left voicemails and still… nothing. No callbacks. Crazy.

So then I thought, this is what buyers go through. Everyone assumes agents are hungry, but most aren’t.

Then I tried something different. I filled out the Realtor.com lead form as if I were just another lead. Technically, I am a lead—a big one, actually. I could give these agents tons of business because I’m looking to buy multiple investment properties.

Gues...

Did you know that half the listings in America aren’t selling? Yes—half.

That takes us back to the old-school days. When I first started in real estate with Century 21, I proudly wore the gold coat. I had to buy it myself, so it was a big accomplishment. Back then, I attended a class called the Two-to-One Class. The theory was simple: for every two listings you took, only one would sell. A 50% sales rate.

Now, imagine meeting with a seller and saying:

“Good news—I’ll do my best to get your home sold. Bad news—I’m only successful about half the time.”

How do you think they’d respond? Probably not too excited. I realized quickly I didn’t want a 50% failure rate—I wanted 100% success. That meant changing the conversation.

Here’s the script I used:

“Mr. Seller, you may not realize this, but in today’s market only about 50% of listings are selling. That’s unacceptable to me. I want to sell 100% of the listings I take. But that requires us to have a different kind of conversation. I ca...

I just interviewed my good friend Garrett Maroon, who’s going to be on my podcast soon. Garrett shared a powerful concept called, “The Recipe Approach.”

Here’s how it works:

We all probably have a mom, grandma, aunt, or someone in the family who’s a great cook. They make delicious meals because they have a recipe that works. For example, when baking a cake, they use the right mix of eggs, chocolate, flour, salt, and so on. They follow the recipe, put it in the oven, and after a set time, they get a delicious result.

Top real estate agents operate the same way.

They’ve each figured out a recipe for success. For some, it may be like baking a cake. For others, it’s more like muffins, pies, or cookies. The point is: they’ve found a formula that works for them.

Once they have it dialed in, they keep baking the same cake over and over. Why change something that works?

Of course, when people start out, they don’t have their own recipe. They experiment, make mistakes, or follow someone e...

How do you get consistent with lead generation as a real estate agent?

This is the greatest challenge most agents face: consistency. That’s the word we’re at war with every single day: consistently showing up, consistently generating leads.

If you want to take control of your business, it starts with committing to one hour of lead generation every day. And the only way you’ll follow through is by scheduling it.

You don’t do what you don’t schedule. You don’t prioritize what you don’t schedule.

So, take out your calendar right now and block one hour every working day to lead generate.

That’s step one.

Step two: know exactly what you’re going to do during that hour.

What’s your goal? What specific actions are you taking?

These are your KPIs (Key Performance Indicators). They’ll vary based on your strategy, but here are some examples:

• Call 10 people in your sphere
• Call 10 FSBOs
• Handwrite and mail a few notes
• Post on social media
• Schedule an open house and start farming or n
...

You are at war with a real estate company or agent in your marketplace. I want you to think—who is that person right now? Who is that company?

If I asked you, “Who’s your number one competitor in your market today?”

Now… what if I told you you’re wrong?

Here’s why: The number one competitor in every market in America isn’t who you think. It’s Zillow.

Why Zillow?

Because Zillow is winning the war, not of market share, but of “mindshare.” And many would argue they’ve already won.

They don’t sell homes. But when people hear the word "real estate," they think of Zillow. That’s mindshare. It’s the first thing that comes to mind.

They’ve spent billions of dollars in ads. They’re everywhere online. So when someone wants to sell a house, they check their Zestimate. When they want to buy, they go to Zillow.

Here’s what happens: someone says, “I want to buy or sell a house,” they end up on Zillow, start browsing, and get prompted: “Want to talk to an agent?”

Then they fill out a form. A...

As a REALTOR, you've heard the word farming, right?

Well, I want to give you a different thought process on farming that I think will be really unique:

Instead of doing a shotgun approach where you're sending out a generalized postcard or letter (which can be effective if done right), I want to introduce you to what I call “Vertical Farming.”

So instead of reaching out to 200 people, reach out to 20. And with those 20 people, go deep.

Here’s how: I might send them a CMA or a neighborhood report (both of which you can generate for free at NAR.com if you're a REALTOR). That system allows you to create a beautiful 81-page report on someone’s home anywhere in the country.

You can choose between a seller report or a neighborhood report (which might be shorter, maybe half the size).

Then, add a cover letter that says something like:

“Hi, my name is Jim. I'm with ABC Real Estate. I'm reaching out to a select handful of people in your neighborhood today to give you a quick update on you...

Let’s say you meet a buyer at an open house, online, or at an event, and you think, "Hey, I’ve got a hot lead here." Then they cool off. Ever have that happen?

Here’s the issue: Most buyers are not immediate buyers. About 75% of buyers are in the buying cycle for six to nine months before they actually close. Only around 25% of the people you meet will buy within the next 30 days.

The problem is, most agents don’t have a strong follow-up plan.

Your follow-up process should have at least five touchpoints during the buying cycle—and for many of us, it probably needs more.

Think about your follow-up: How often are you reaching out? And how many different media channels are you using?

Sure, you can just call. Or just text. Or send video texts. Or rely on social media. Or mail letters.

But really, you should be doing all of it.

The one thing I want to emphasize today is the concept of a video drip campaign.

This is a system anyone can implement, yet almost no one is doing it.

Even ...

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...

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...

How many of you are using cold emails to reach out to neighborhoods or farm areas?

If you’re not doing it yet, it’s something you might want to add to your toolkit. You don’t need to send thousands of emails—maybe just 50 or 100 at a time. Keep it manageable.

You might be wondering, “Jim, where do I find these email addresses?”

There are plenty of places to find them. One of my favorites is REDX. They often have email addresses for homeowners in certain neighborhoods. They might not have them all, but they have a surprising number. Once you have those email addresses, you can send out emails to solicit listings or at least start a conversation about potential interest in selling.

Here’s an idea: use the same script you’d put on a postcard or mailing and adapt it for email. Then, take an integrated approach—send both the physical mail and the email. You can also add “layers” by sending a text and running a social media ad targeting that neighborhood.

REDX has a system called Ad Bui...