May 21, 2025Chris Snow, team leader of the Florida Coastal Team, returns to share the real strategies behind scaling a 40+ agent operation without relying on portal leads. Chris dives into the power of PPC lead conversion, explaining how he shifted away from expensive platforms like Zillow and built a nurture-based system that generates long-term clients from cold leads. Listeners will discover the tech stack, recruiting systems, and team training frameworks that support consistent monthly onboarding—and how Chris is getting 30–37% open rates on cold email campaigns. From AI texting to 90-day training cycles, this episode is packed with actionable strategies for growth-oriented real estate leaders. If you’re looking to **scale your team, increase conversions, and improve retention—without burnout—this conversation is a must-listen.
Chapters:
- 00:00:00 – Kicking Things Off: Real Talk from Reside
- 00:00:23 – Meet Chris Snow: The $10 Lead Guy
- 00:01:12 – Why Your Leads Aren’t Converting (Yet)
- 00:04:59 – How to Actually Nurture (Without Being Annoying)
- 00:07:40 – The Magic of Value-Based Messaging
- 00:10:18 – Tools We Use to Win at Scale
- 00:12:37 – Recruiting 5 Agents a Month (Every Month)
- 00:16:23 – Coaching Agents That Stick (Not Just Join)
- 00:19:29 – Why We Left eXp for LPT Realty
- 00:22:13 – How to Reach Chris + Final Thoughts
Links and Resources:
- Reside Platform
- Reside Platform Website
- Website: Florida Coastal Team
- Christopher T Show on LinkedIn
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Episode breakdown: converting PPC leads and growing the team
Chris Snow leads the Florida Coastal Team in St. Augustine, Florida, and coaches other teams on the Reside platform. On his second appearance with Suneet Agarwal, he explains how his team converts pay-per-click leads instead of buying portal leads, the tools behind that, and how a trainer and a full-time recruiter turned recruiting into a monthly routine.
Treat PPC leads as early in the funnel
Chris got off Zillow eight or nine years ago. He was tired of paying $150 to $300 a lead, and he kept seeing people already in his database sign up on Zillow a few months later. Someone he’d generated for $10 was now costing him $300. His answer was to convert those leads earlier so they never reach the portal.
The mindset shift is that a PPC lead doesn’t know they’re moving yet. Portal training is built around booking an appointment and meeting at a property. For someone 12 to 18 months out, that approach scares them off. Chris’s view is that people researching a move don’t tell anyone they know. If his team catches them early and nurtures them well, they never get to the point of asking a friend for an agent.
Nurture with value, three personal touches to one real estate touch
Chris defines nurture as bringing something of value every time your name shows up. When he cleans out his pipeline, he looks for a text he could send a few hundred times without annoying anyone. It’s often close to personal, like what his family is doing at a festival this weekend, ending with a question about their plans. He leaves links out of texts so they don’t read as spam and get flagged.
I’m gonna pick up the phone, I’m gonna send a text, I’m gonna send an email. If I’m not doing one of those three things, I’m not nurturing that person.
Chris Snow
New agents get a running document of value ideas sorted by funnel stage. Leads close to moving get a market analysis on a property or the five best deals in a neighborhood. Leads further out get the best restaurants, ice cream shops or dog-friendly parks in the area. The target is at least a three-to-one ratio: three personal or event messages for every one about real estate. His advice to agents is to stop overthinking it and text the way they’d text a sibling.
Keep the brand in front of the database
The team runs Follow Up Boss as its CRM and uses an AI texting tool that lets any agent assigned to a lead pick up a conversation, which fixed the weekend gaps they had with a single ISA. Chris sends a weekly email through Constant Contact, rotating four templates. It goes out Wednesday at 12:05 and resends Saturday at 8 AM to anyone who didn’t open it. The list is about 40,000 people, and he averages a 30 to 37% open rate.
That repetition carries into the phone calls. Agents say the brand, not just their name, because the lead has hopefully seen it in their inbox many times by then.
Some of our best referral customers are people that we said. You don’t need to sell. You don’t need to buy. You need to stay exactly where you are.
Chris Snow
Hire the trainer before the recruiter
For two or three years, Chris and his sales manager did the recruiting on top of production and training, and it wasn’t consistent. They started running Indeed ads and kept adding budget as candidates trickled in. Faced with the choice of hiring a trainer or a recruiter, Chris hired the trainer first. That gave newer agents a dedicated point of contact three days a week, five or six hours a day. Once that was running, he hired a full-time recruiter.
The team now brings on a cohort every month. Seven joined in March, five in April and three more the week before the recording, and three to five prospects visit the Thursday team meeting each week. The team finished last year at 27 or 28 agents against a goal of 50 and was at 41 or 42 at the time of the episode.
Recycle 90 days of training in 30-day layers
Training runs on a 90-day cycle delivered 30 days at a time. Agents in their first 30 days are onboarding. Those in days 30 to 60 hear the same content a second time, and those in days 60 to 90 hear it a third time and may start teaching it. Chris also plans to turn the recruiter toward re-recruiting the agents already on the team, since he has to earn them again every year.
Key takeaways for team leaders
- Treat PPC leads as 12 to 18 months out and nurture them before they reach a portal.
- Keep a shared list of value messages by funnel stage, and aim for three personal touches per real estate touch.
- Send a weekly email and resend it to non-openers a few days later.
- If you can only make one hire, consider the trainer before the recruiter.
- Onboard in monthly cohorts and repeat a 90-day curriculum so senior new agents help teach it.
