BLOG

TOP 5 Things Every Agent Needs For Success {Webinar}

top 5 things every agent needs for sucess

In 2021, the real estate industry is a lot different than it was just five years ago. With new technologies and advancements in the field of marketing, new corporate competitors, more companies and agents coming after your business and the low inventory crisis there are a few things that all realtors should make sure they have to stay on top of their game.


The Top 5 Things Every Agent needs for Success in 2021:

  1. Be known as a hyper-local expert
  2. Relevant video communications
  3. Go up-stream with your relationships
  4. Offer all the options for sellers
  5. Teams strategy

WATCH THE FULL WEBINAR BELOW

As the industry changes, we have to change with it. If you want your business to be successful in 2021, then it’s time for a shift.

We can help you navigate these new waters by helping you become known as a hyper-local expert so that people will think of only calling or contacting you when they need something specific.

Leveraging video communications is also critical because buyers are more likely to work with agents who offer this option (no matter where they live).

Additionally, sellers may prefer working with an agent who offers all options and has experience understanding how teams strategy works since some complex transactions require multiple professionals involved throughout the process.

Interested? Give us a call today!

TOP 5 Things Every Agent Needs For Success {Webinar} Transcript

hey everybody I am jason fox

with John L Scott Ballard of The Madrona Group.

Hi, I am joe Kiser with John L Scott Ballard the Madrona Group.

Today we are going to talk about the

Top 5 things that every agent needs for success

in the market in 2021.

You know one of the reasons I got into the

real estate industry is it really looked fun

you know, and I liked working with people

and helping people I had a background in sales and

people always said I would be good at

real estate and you know I was very

intimidated by that but I

started thinking about it and I was like

you know I have sold building products and

I have sold automobiles and you know

why not give that a shot and so I?

started looking at how to get into the

real estate industry

people are like well I love looking athouses

I love working with people and I want to

make a bunch of money

right and so, these are kind of some of

the things that we know about getting

into

real estate and then once you actually

go get licensed and you quickly

uh you know unlearn everything you

learned about getting your license

and you start doing real estate

it is like oh wow there’s

quite a bit to uh learn yeah

where do I get started at what do I do?

do I go work for a firm do I go work on?

my own do I get

go be a part of a team the whole process

is kind of confusing

um you know and even uh with us right

like we introduced ourselves

and we are like john l Scott Ballard and

we say the madrona group and we are a

team but there’s agents and

it can be a little overwhelming it is

and then you talk to us, and we are like

oh, go get your e key you got to get

signed up at the mis you know we got to

get your license with the state

you know it is just where you start

it is really a hard industry to navigate

and get into

so, in this webinar we are not going to

focus as much on some of those

logistical things and

the tasks but we will focus on the five

things that are important that

you must learn to be a

successful real estate agent yeah jason

things

change so fast in this industry things

that you need to know today were not

relevant a couple of years ago

so today we will talk about what it takes

in the market in 2021

it is true joe and I think that we are

in a bit of a shift

right now, we are kind of living in it I am

I am seeing it happen right before us

eyes so

getting these five things down I think

is going to be um extra important

you know the first important

thing I would say is you got to be hyper

local

even though your license allows you to

sell anywhere in the state of Washington

you really need to have a focus you need

to really have a place where you are

branded

where you are the expert so when people

come to you they are confident

to trust you in in that market yeah

that is true you know one of the things

that

uh when you get like an estimate for

example on your home on one of those

estimators one of the things that

those big tech companies have not been

able to figure out quite yet is like

neighborhoods right

and so, you know which neighborhoods do I

feel that comfortable

do I feel comfortable in which one’s work?

with our lifestyle where are the coffee

shops what are the schools like what are

the parks like

this is the kind of information I think

that people still find

you know especially important, and they need a

specialist for yeah you know and if you

know the area and you know the

neighborhoods you know okay this is the

type of house I am looking for and maybe

it is not available in this neighborhood

but this is a like neighborhood in that

same community and so you are still going

to have that same vibe

they are really looking for that that

tour guide so to speak so

joe is it so important that you know I

grew up in the area and I knew

that there used to be a little corner

store

and what gas station used to be

there or is it

more just kind of how we learn to market

ourselves hyper locally right and

one of the big ways that we can do that

which brings us to number two is

you must be a master of video yeah

video is especially important you know and

that is one of those tools that was not

when I first got in the industry really

was not used and

people would talk about you know you

really should start doing a little video

here video there and

you know now we are on video everything

and you know to get comfortable in front

of a video

to understand the subject matter that

you are going to put in front of that

video it is especially important

every sales meeting we do every uh

role-playing session, we do

I am like always pounding like gosh guys

you know what could really work well

in this scenario doing a video so

um we need to practice what we preach a

little bit more I think that

you know you can hardly spend too

much time in front of the video camera

but it is really

it is one of those mediums that we can

use it is inexpensive

you can pop up your phone that is all you

need these days

and maybe a little editing software but

you can pop up your phone on a Facebook

live on an

Instagram live and you can put yourself

out there right now instantly and it is

I mean um if we are talking about, we need

to make sure that we are in front of as

many people as possible

how else do I do it yeah with the hyper?

local focus and using video as a

platform to engage with your

with your sphere with your clients when

you meet them face to face

there is that level of familiarity that

you have already created and so there’s

already a level of trust there

yeah, I mean we cannot tell you how many

times we have been out somewhere or we’ve

met with a

friend or somebody and they start

talking about some piece of our business

that we did a video about we really

would not think

you know you never know who actually

watches these things but it is shocking

uh how much people pay attention you

know in consumers you know usually they

start their research on their own before

they have even reached out to an agent and

so, they are

they are on YouTube they are on all these

other platforms they are doing them

research and so

you know this day and the day of I

got to be in front of you to consult you

is that being old thinking you know and so

if we can actually

reach the masses through video content

and putting ourselves out there

you know we are going to reach a lot more

consumers that are starting those early

stages and it is going to put us in a

position for them to reach out to us

when they do have questions but

even besides doing YouTube and Facebook

live and whatnot I mean we are using zoom

platform to do virtual meetings and

which is a form of video, so it is kind of

becoming the norm, it is part of everyday

business now

you know here at general Scott

Ballard it is our culture it is the norm

that is how we engage with each other

with our clients you know you mentioned

zoom we have our sales meeting on zoom

we are always popping on videos

you know and the way we started getting

comfort our agents comfortable with it

is even just doing video text back and

forth you know

one thing that’s interesting joe

I think is that we are

doing listing presentations

where we used to go physically to the

house and we are taking sales of homes

we are doing video home video tours so

people that are in other states and

countries

are only looking at a house via video or

via a 3d virtual tour

or even sometimes recruiting agents on

video

you know and even there has been some

changes in the forms that we use today

and

I was just on zoom with one of us

agents going over those changes you know

it has made a real powerful

tool that we have access to all the time

so, we talked about being a hyper local

expert we talk about the power of video

let us talk about what it means to market

upstream

that is what Zillow uses to get

people

to come to their website where it is the

idea that we are not actually trying to

find people that are ready to buy or

sell

right now, today although that is nice as

well but we are trying to find

people that are just still kind of like

thinking about it like what would it

look like to move what would it look

like to sell

right up the stream before

they are in the buying process

because those are the people that you

know are going to kind of pop back into us

lives in six months to a year

maybe even two years when they are ready

to buy that’s exactly right jason that’s

like these tools that we are talking

about being hyper local and

being on video is all part of that

upstream marketing you know I do not know

how many times I will be at a dinner party?

a football parties

um and someone just happens to have

Zillow or redfin on their on their phone

just because

something to do and they are like hey

check this out you know and so people

think real estate whether they realize

it or not and you know so

that is one of the great things about

some of the tools we have here you know

is to be able to

uh send listing updates and them

desired neighborhoods and

to stay in front of them all the time

yeah, and you know to

further that you know what we would like to

do is uh housing market update reports

we like to send out listing

notifications

both in the form of email and in text we

like to make sure that we have tools

available that you can constantly check

the value of your home so you are always

knowing

exactly what your equity and your buying

power is

also even doing the educational videos

that we talked about earlier so you

are familiar with the process and you

understand what it is going to be like to

move forward with the purchase or sale

yeah, you know life changes on a dime and

you never know what is going to change in

someone’s life and if they are already

participating with you

you are going to be that person that they

think of if you are in front of them

one of the things that we promote at

john Scott Ballard is providing a market

update every year for

all our sphere of influence right so

that they are always aware of exactly the

value of their home

and you know we can just kind of keep

updating that year after year so that

we are always staying in front of them

and uh being prepared which is also a

great way to build our referral business

right because

we are constantly sending notification

we are constantly sending emails we are

constantly sending this quality

information

that people find useful and so they are

going to want to share that with the

people that they know

and help us you know build our business

that way

hi everyone, this is Ashley Rodriguez

with john l Scott real estate, I am sure

you have been hearing how crazy the real

estate market is right now

if you are a homeowner, it is really

important for you to get an updated

market analysis of how much your home is

worth in the spring of 2021.

you might be shocked at how much it is

increased in just over the past six

months

I am providing this market analysis by

zoom so it will only take

15 minutes and well worth your time

there are so many buyers out there right

now with extraordinarily little inventory

because of the incredibly low rates so

simply respond to this email

or write a comment to this video and we

can schedule it

this might be the year for you to make a

move and take advantage of this

incredible

market looking forward to connecting

with you soon

so, one of the things that we do that’s

somewhat unique at the office is we do

invest in a lot of different lead

sources right we use Zillow leads and we

use redfin leads and we give them to us

agents and

one of the things that we coach and

teach is that those

sales are generally not right now sales

they are generally

anywhere from 60 to 180 days out

and so, you know you must have a

system in place to nurture

those leads

because they are upstream leading you know

another example is like open houses

we know that most people go to an open

house because just out of general

curiosity what is going on with them

neighborhood

you know they are just starting to plant

that seed and they could be a couple

years down the road before they are

really ready to do something but

we get them into our system we stay in

front of them and then you know they see

that we are locally focused they see us

videos and

you know when the time comes, they reach

out to us most agents do not uh have

follow-up systems and

we are surprised by how many

agents do not even take the contact

information

at open houses and have a system in

place to get those upstream leads

so, we have talked about three of the

things needed in today’s market let us

talk about the number four

and it is demanded by the consumers is to

have programs to help them

in these markets that are changing so

quickly yeah so, we

we consider ourselves to be full

service

a full-service real estate team right

what does that mean to be a full-service?

real estate team versus maybe a discount

broker or some of those others

is that we do have services that we can

provide

meaning that like if somebody comes to

us and they say hey

here is here is our house or here is what

we want to do

you guys kind of take over and make

take all the stress out of it for me and

so having those programs available are

key for our sellers so what you are

referring to is market ready plus an

instant purchase plus and that really

puts

the consumer in the driver’s seat it

gives them the power to get a house

ready to

sell and go out on the market and not

take anything out of their pocket up

front

or it gives them the ability to have a

cash offer and I buy or offer on them

home

without having the inconvenience of

opening their home to the public

so, any real estate agents out there that

are not aware of programs like this or if

you are a new agent you are already at a

disadvantage

right so that is were working with a

company like john l Scott gives you sort

of this

unfair advantage it gives you this extra

power but having these programs are so

important right now especially the way

the market is today and because of these

programs we are getting more leads we are

consulting more people are

curious about these types of options and

so, we are really in front of more people

with tools like this

your right joe I mean these programs

are not for everybody but I think that

they are worth looking

and so, it gives us an opportunity to

consult and be that trusted advisor for

our sphere of influence and be able to

present these options whether they

work out for them or not so quickly

market ready plus is a program that

helps you get your home ready to put out

on the market

through partnership with john Scott and

it does not take any money out of your

pocket

and instant purchase plus is a program

that partners with eye buyers and

investors that will bring an

all-cash offer to sellers without the

hassle of putting it on the open market

well and finally the fifth

thing that you need to know to be

successful in real estate in 2021

is all about teams yeah well you know

you and I know that

very well as we started our team uh what

about four years ago

uh we called it the Madrona group

initially it was just the two of us but

the team concept was already in place

and

um we kind of understood and understand

that

to really compete in real

estate today

because of just how complex it is that

you need

a bunch of people and systems in place

to make sure that you have

as you know repeatable process that

brings that high level

of expertise to our clients

in fact, all our clients love the fact

that we are a team

we can handle the referrals that they

send to us they are confident and

that we are going to deliver

and uh we can serve in a way that

we could not as a single agent

yeah, so let us look at what does that

mean to have a team right

and obviously it is a lot bigger than

just the two of us now but

we can go right down to having a

transaction coordinator

you know having somebody that helps us

keep all the paperwork together keep all

the

timelines together because it gets a

little confusing

our lender team right yep, we have a new

agent development coach that helps when

new agents come on board to understand

uh the landscape of all the tools that

john Scott has to offer

the title and escrow right so we have

people that we like to use in certain

places we have all our vendors

in place right we have our stagers and

our photographers and

and everybody lined out our sign

companies’ um so that

you know we can quickly and agile and

move forward towards you know a

successful closing

yeah, you know when we were really kind

of our feet were held to the fire we met

with these clients on a Tuesday and they

asked how quick we could get their house

sold

and I said we could have it live

Thursday and contract on Tuesday and me

did not know if we could really do it but

because of the systems in place

we did it if all this team stuff sounds

a little confusing as a new agent

that is what we are here for we are going

to help you either

create your own team or maybe you want

to join our team

maybe you want to join a different team

we have so many things in place to help

make sure that that transition is real

smooth and easy

including a whole new learning system

that we have just started to incorporate

you know it used to be jason that Keller

Williams really was the name of the game when it came to teams

you know but their systems are old and

dated

you know today you know systems have

developed and evolved and you know we

have tools today that

are going to create a win-win

situation for everybody nobody is going

to be on a team feeling like they are

getting taken advantage of or

or they lost that you know and that’s

really important to us here

yeah, indeed and um there is a whole

program that we have access to that you

know we are taking

a lot of time and effort in rolling out

the jls elevate program that

specifically built around

helping people join teams and making

sure, that we create win-win scenarios

so that everybody feels like they are

getting you know the

structure that they need you know so if

we do not want you too necessarily just be

on a team if you are a team

leader great we will help you do that heck

even if you want to try to open your own

branch of john

Scott, we will help you do that you know we

have everything in place to

help you succeed at that level yeah

that is really at the core of what jason

and I

built with the madrona group is you know

we had a lot of roadblocks, and you know

we wanted to

grow and continue to grow and so when we

took the leap to open in our own

franchise we really wanted to create a

place that

would feel facilitate every person’s

growth whether they just want to be on a

team and show houses

like jason said they want to lead a team

and you know we want to be there to help

you walk through those steps and see you

grow

so, we do have a mission statement at

john Scott Ballard and you can find it

on our website

possibly on the link down below this

video but it pretty much correlates to

living life as a contribution

and that is something that joe and I both

take very seriously

we try to make service a real big part

of everything we do

not just in our real estate business but

in our personal lives as well

um you know giving time and money to

multiple charities and

um and our agents you know I am just

trying to be there

and in a way that is not self-serving but

in a way that we

really want all our agents to succeed

and I hope that

you know they will become better agents

than I ever was

yeah, one example is the last couple of

years jason and I have aligned ourselves

with us

with different charities that are near

to our heart that are local and

we have leveraged our contacts and us

sphere um

to bring awareness to these local

charities that are dear to our heart

so last year we focused on something

that was uh real near

dear to my heart autism speaks as my son

is on the spectrum and so uh we donated

a bunch of money and created a team for

the autism

walk and uh this year we partnered with

Seattle weld or weld of Seattle which is

a

program that helps to give people a

second chance that I have been

incarcerated

for years I spent my Monday nights

going down to the

streets of Seattle with the union gospel

mission I sponsored a van going out

every Monday night handing out blankets

and

necessities and connecting them

with resources to make a transition so

that is just a couple examples of how we

exercise our core value of living life

as a contribution

it really is the forefront of what we do

and it is what motivates us to come and

and be the best agents’ thanks for

watching this webinar

we love real estate, and we really look

forward to the opportunity just to sit

down and talk with you and seeing kind

of what your goals are in life and in

real estate and

how we can support and help you grow

yeah so, we talked about the five things

that we think are important for a real

estate agent to succeed in the market

today and

if you would like to schedule a time

with either one of us to discuss those

in more detail

we would love to do that we can do it via

zoom if that is where you are more

comfortable we can meet live if you like

it that way as well

or you can give us a call at 206-899-5155

or you can check us out at

www.themadronagroup.com

Share this post!

About the Author

Jason Fox

Facebook Twitter

"The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others." ~ Gandhi [ Recognized as a top 3.5% agent in the United States. ] [ Jason Fox was born in Everett, WA currently lives in the Meadowdale neighborhood in Lynnwood and has lived in different parts of the Puget Sound area in between. He has been in the real estate industry for 20 years in many different capacities. From General Manager of a real estate CRM engagement business, Founder of 2 real estate marketing agencies, nationally recognized blogger with the Jason Fox Real Estate Marketing Blog, Marketing Manager for a top title and escrow service. ] [ Jason is now an award winning residential real estate sales agent, Co-Founder of The Madrona Group, Co-Owner of John L. Scott Ballard and John L. Scott Westwood. ] [ Active in the community, Jason is a proud part of the Autism Speaks effort to raise awareness for autism. This project is very dear to him as he has an 8 year old son, Hudson, diagnosed ASD. Jason is also involved with Neighbor's in Need, the Forgotten Children's Fund, WELD Seattle and the Union Gospel Mission assisting the homeless population in the greater Seattle area. ] [ "My passion is being able to give back to the community that has given so much to me." ] [ When he is not assisting his friends and family with the services of home ownership he loves being a dad to his 4 children, Carter, Rowen, Tyler and Hudson and being a husband to his amazing wife Sarah. Hiking, working around the house, cheering for the Seahawk's, Mariners and Huskies and golfing. ]

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *