Relationships drive business success.
Business owners, especially Realtors, must have a strong connection with their community. The strong the connection, the stronger their business.
Transcript:
Chris Lesak
Our plan looks a little bit like 2020. When COVID started hitting, I felt it was kind of important to go back to the basics. It’s kind of similar theme that others have said is, talking about relationships, going deep with people. One of the things that we did was, we made sure that we were human and that seems kind of strange to have to say that but we stopped trying to sell people and we stopped trying to tell people about real estate. What we try to focus on was just being there for people.
People were scared, they were freaking out, they didn’t know what was going on. There was so much uncertainty in the marketplace, there was uncertainty with jobs and health and all these other things. I took the first step it was like, I just reached out to people were like “Hey, I’m here, if you need anything.” I didn’t mention anything about real estate. I didn’t even put my real estate info on anything that I sent out.
So, there’s a text message and email, phone call, whatever it was Facebook messages, it was just like “Hey, I’m here if you need anything.” I think that really helped because people were like “Oh,wow! Someone’s genuine and they’re not just trying to sell me something.” As you know, COVID started kind of going through the market, we noticed that if you just were out and engaged people, you could be out on a walk or riding a bike with the (Inaudible) early on, and you would just start to meet people. Right?
We get through 2020 and we’re going into 2021, we’re a month in now and our focus is still the same as engaged with people, check on people, make sure people are okay. While we’re going to deepen our database and it’s not just people that live around us that we need to focus on. Right? I know so many agents across the country and what’s everyone doing in California, New York, New Jersey, Michigan and other places.
They’re moving to Texas, they’re moving to Houston and they’re a referral source. I think a lot of people are missing that relational aspect of “Hey, you got a friend in California that you need to check on.” You know, we have an aunt that lives out in California and like “Hey just listed a $30 million house and if we’re gonna move in Texas maybe one of the places.” Right? It’s good to know people like that. I don’t know if they buy a $30 million house if they move to Texas, but hey, you’ll never know. Right?
Chris Bounds 03:18
Well, I mean that’s a $600,000 house here. Right?
Chris Lesak 03:22
Probably. It’s just one of those things where first off, right out of the gates and we’re still continuing to do is, focus on just being there for people and providing value and being of service, even if they don’t need to buy or sell something. Right? Because a lot of people don’t need that right now but they need to know you’re there. They’re gonna know, they know you’re in real estate.
That’s our main thing is focusing on that and kind of like others have says- “You got to focus on marketing your listings right.” And, you know its the basics, but if you focus on marketing your listings correct, pricing them right, marketing them right. People are looking to sell their house are going to notice that and they may call you to list their house. In our geographic farm and in other areas we always do that but we kind of forget about it in other areas is like “Hey, answer the phone, talk to people, they have a house to sell.” I had a listing we sold in a day. At 35 showings we stopped taking offers, at the ninth offer, we had plenty add tons of stuff.
We sold it over asking price, all that stuff. It was just a homerun deal. I had people calling me about it, I was like “I hadn’t had sign call in a while.” Right. We get people calling about it and the longer I talked to him, they were just looking to buy a house. They had a house to sell. I appreciate your time, we’re ready to sell, we’re going to call you. Then hey, we’re gonna stay in touch with him and follow up whether we have a listing or not. Still in the fundamentals like I said taking the base dates, and doing those things that have always worked. They really work in markets like this.
Chris Bounds 05:20
In even without COVID, it works. It’s increasingly working because of the digital environment that we’re all in. The human connection, I think becomes even more and more important. Like, Zoom is great. Facebook Live is great, Stream yards good. YouTube, all that good. Actually, within six feet, I guess. Maybe with or without a mask depending on pandemic levels. Actually, shaking hands and talking with people and “Hey, what do you need? What can I help you out with?”
Chris Lesak 06:03
One of the things that I’ve done is, I kind of went old school. For someone that’s older like me, I turned 40 last year so I’m like-Alright, I’m getting up there, my hair’s falling out before it can turn gray. I feel a little older than some but, one of the things that we used to do years ago is we would just go to a friend’s house and we’d sit out in the front yard on the tailgate, and you have a beverage of your choice and you just chat. I started doing that with people and we’re out in the (Inaudible), we’re out in the driveway.
Sitting on the tailgate, we’re 6, 8-10 feet apart, talking and hanging out. One of my friends have been doing that with, we just wrote an offer on a $530,000 house yesterday. I think we’ve made stuff too hard and yes, the zoom is great and we needed it for a while. I do like Streaming or better than zoom but we do need tools from time to time. You know what, we found people are getting zoomed out. There’s only so much that people want to sit in front of the screen and listen to someone go on and on.
Like this format is great, you and I talked about it is. You don’t have to listen to Chris, poor Chris talk for an hour or two and so and on and on. You’re getting other people, you’re getting different viewpoints. This is a great format and I think it’ll really work with people. Talk to people. If you don’t want to be within, 10 feet up and go sit outside in the driveway, or patio, and market the heck out of your listings.
Collect all those leads, you’re going to get leads. Forgetting a lot of lease, people are wanting, they’re wanting stuff so bad. They’re going straight to the source and you’re going to get leads out of it. I’m getting more leads now that we’ve gotten over the past couple years.
Chris Bounds 08:01
Yeah, it’s amazing. One one last question, in these leads that you’re getting. Is there any behavioral trends that you’re seeing that’s a little different this year versus in prior? Because you’ve been in the industry in a while. You’ve seen a lot of change possibly in needs, wants, desires. Is there anything that, maybe would say not as unique but also kind of understandable of what buyers or sellers are looking for now?
Chris Lesak 08:36
I think the thing of buyers are looking for-One, I think buyers are the most realistic they’ve ever been. I think the the previous guests kind of touched on that as, as an agent you need to help keep them stay focused. I think they’re very realistic they’re like-hey, there’s no inventory. If we see something we like, we have to act. There’s no more that-oh, we’re gonna wait a couple days and submit an offer.
No, we’re gonna submit the offer in the house. Possibly, or go do it right after. Which technology helps, DocuSign and stuff like that. We’re seeing buyers have the sense of urgency that they’ve always needed to have, so that’s a really good thing. There’s no more of Hey, let’s think about it. They’re there, this house works for me let’s make an offer or let’s go to the next one.
I really like that as far as sellers, as much as we’ve been able to push the price sellers are actually being realistic about their prices. I think that’s why stuffs moving even faster and faster is because sellers are going like Hey, I know things are moving fast there’s not a lot of inventory, but they’re like-I think this is where we need to be on price. I’m not having to fight with sellers on price at all, and I’m really liking that. We have realistic buyers, realistic sellers and I think that’s why the market keeps moving at the speed that it’s moving. I like that, that’s a good place to be in the market.
Chris Bounds 10:04
Yeah. Sellers, they’ve got a nice home. Moving ready in this price right, like that’s when you see three days on market.
Chris Lesak10:14
All right. Hey, Chris, it’s been nice to connecting with you. Mainly, I know you get to experience the live and in person version of this a couple years back. So we’ll get back there and enjoy barbecue sometime.
Chris Bounds 10:31
Yeah. It’d be nice to have some barbecue again. Y’all take care and have a great day.
Chris Lesak 10:37
All right, the takeaway from Chris.
Chris Bounds 10:41
It’s a recurring theme of engagement and being real, being sincere and leading with value. So I just, I love that and you’re able to set yourself up for success.
Chris Lesak 10:56
Yeah. I’ve seen that to what he said sellers and buyers are being more realistic with these days. I mean even with, some of our sellers that we’ve had. I mean when we had to come back to them or hey, this is what you should list your house at it. There’s really no pushback because everything’s moving really, really quickly. So, like everybody has been saying now is the time to buy, sell, the market for sure.