The BER Months Mistake That Costs You a Whole Quarter with Karlton Utter

Q: What are the ber months, and why do they wreck so many real estate businesses?

A: The ber months are September through December, and Karlton says they’re when real estate businesses go cold. Agents close their spring deals in August, ease off as kids go back to school, then use Halloween, Thanksgiving, and the holidays as reasons to wait until January 1 to restart. The problem is that prospecting on January 1 means going under contract a month later and closing two months after that, which locks you into only having closings in May, June, and July. Instead, he says the ber months are when you keep filling the pipeline and set up closings that hit in January, February, and March.

Q: If you’re behind on your goals mid-year, what’s the one thing you should focus on?

A: Karlton says start by writing down your goal, because you have a much higher chance of accomplishing anything once it’s on paper. Then figure out how many transactions you need to have closed by this point in the year to stay on pace. If you’re not there, you have one job and one job only: fill your pipeline by getting in front of as many potential buyers, sellers, and referral sources as possible. If you’re not talking to five to ten people a day, he says building a pipeline becomes really hard.

Q: What’s the math that turns conversations into closings?

A: Karlton breaks it down as one transaction for every 100 people you meet or talk to. Of those 100, about 25 will have an in-depth conversation about real estate, seven to eight will go into your CRM as active follow-up, and two to three will want to buy or sell right away, which becomes your one transaction. Hand out 100 business cards in a week and he guarantees one immediate buyer. The compounding is what builds the business: by month three or four you’re actively working 30 to 40 people while the weekly conversations keep producing immediate deals, which is how agents get to five or six transactions a month.

Q: How do you run your business on purpose instead of hope?

A: Karlton describes himself as a hunter who woke up every day knowing exactly what he needed to accomplish to move his business forward. When his manager handed him an internet lead or a walk-in came into the office, he treated it as gravy, not as the plan. He’s optimistic by nature, but he says you can’t run a business powered by hope, waiting for leads to come your way. Instead, every morning starts in the CRM deciding who to follow up with, how many people to talk to, and which activities will move the business forward.

Q: How should you segment your database for follow-up?

A: Lauren segments the database into three buckets: hot means talked to in the last 30 days, warm means the last 90, and cold means no contact in over 90 days. Karlton did the same thing old school with A, B, and C folders in his briefcase. His A folder held hot, ready-to-transact people he talked to daily, the B folder got contact once or twice a week, and the C folder was the long-term nurture plan.

Q: Why do most agents end up with buyer-heavy pipelines, and how do you fix it?

A: Karlton points out that the activities that attract buyers are usually free, which is why so many agents fall into buyer business: internet leads, open houses, and referrals are mostly buyers. Getting in front of sellers requires spending money, because sellers want an agent who’s good at marketing themselves and their listings. His fix is to reinvest in your business by taking either a flat amount like $300 or 1% out of every commission and putting it toward seller-facing marketing. He’d spend $1,000 all day long to earn one transaction when his take-home per deal is around $4,500 to $5,000 after split.

Q: What marketing actually works to attract sellers?

A: Karlton recommends farming a neighborhood with multiple touch points so you become the true neighborhood expert, not just a monthly postcard. Community events work well too: pay for a branded booth, run a $100 raffle, and put check boxes on the tickets asking if people are thinking of buying, selling, renting, or investing, then call everyone. Social media advertising is probably the easiest on the wallet and the best bang for your buck, and open houses work for sellers, not just buyers. His underlying point is that perception is reality: people need to see your name out there, whether you sold one house or 50.

Q: What happens when you stop prospecting at your peak?

A: Karlton learned this the hard way in his second year. He prospected hard all year, and by August and September he had four or five deals booked and a bunch of listings, so he stopped prospecting because he thought he’d made it. Everything closed at the end of the year and his pipeline was empty, so he spent the next three months doing nothing but prospecting to rebuild. He still finished with 24 transactions in about 75% of the year, but he believes he would have done 30-plus if he’d kept the ber months full with closings in January, February, and March.

Q: How many people should you be meeting every week?

A: Karlton’s challenge is 50 people a week, or 200 a month, which breaks down to 10 a day, five days a week. An open house alone can produce 10, and the rest comes from everyday life: hand a card to the dry cleaner, leave one for your server, and skip self-checkout at Target so you can chat with the cashier. The script is simple: here’s my card, and if you know anyone thinking of buying or selling, please think of me. He adds that you can’t be afraid to tell people you’re in real estate, because the parent you talk to every day at pickup who lists with someone else and says they had no idea you were an agent — that’s on you.

Q: Should you try to sell on the phone, and how do you get better at it?

A: Karlton says don’t sell yourself on the phone; use it to build the relationship, then push for face-to-face, which is where everyone sells themselves better. When you’re close, go for the appointment: you can’t wait to see their home, so are they available tonight or tomorrow. He’s also realistic that nobody is good at prospecting calls at first — the first FSBO call usually involves stumbling, getting yelled at, and not knowing what to ask. The key is being internally driven, wanting it, and pushing through the comfort zone until the skills catch up.

Karl: [00:00:00] I want you guys to start thinking about if you’re really looking to fill your pipeline, take your business to another level, you have to start thinking about, what am I doing to get in front of potential sellers? Now, here’s the challenge, is that for you to get in front of sellers, you have to spend money to make money.

Karl: You have to be marketable. Sellers wanna work with realtors that are good at marketing themselves and marketing other properties- Mm-hmm … which means that you have to have a budget, 

Lauren: Here is the truth that nobody in real estate wants to say out loud. An empty pipeline is a choice. Maybe not a conscious one, but every day you did not pick up that phone, and every week you skipped out on your lead gen block, every month you told yourself the market was slow, that was a choice. And today we’re gonna talk about how to make a different one Welcome back to the Reside Plat- Platform Podcast.

Lauren: I am Lauren Holland, director of client [00:01:00] experience at Reside Platform, and I have someone with me today who I genuinely believe is one of the best in the business when it comes to agent training and coaching. We have Carlton. Hi, Carlton. 

Karl: Hi, Lauren. How are you doing? 

Lauren: I’m good. I’m good. I’m excited to be back here with you.

Lauren: So, you and I, before we hopped on, we were just generating some, you know, what would be the most, impactful things to bring our team leaders, operators, agents today. and you had some really insightful comments, so I’m just gonna let you take it from there, and we are gonna get into it. 

Karl: Yeah. I feel like the last time we did a podcast, like, we hit on so many different topics- Yeah

Karl: and just got caught up in this great conversation, and now what we need to do is kinda unpack some of that and break it down and get hyper-focused on a few topics for today. There you go. Again, Carlton Utter. I’m the head of training and agent development here at Reside, and super excited to be back on the podcast.

Karl: And today what I was hoping we could talk about is I heard something, the other day that I’d never heard it before, but the ber months. Yeah. Somebody mentioned, “Oh, the ber months are coming,” [00:02:00] and I was like, “The ber months?” The ber months. And then I realized, oh, you have September, October, November, December.

Karl: And in my mind, being as creative and nuts as it is, especially when it comes to real estate, started thinking like, “Well, the ber months in real estate are when our business gets cold,” right? That’s like- Yeah … we h- we hit the spring market, we load up- Yeah … our pipeline fills up, we put over all our deals together.

Karl: They all close in August. We go on vacation, and then it’s, “Oh, well, the kids are going back to school. I’ll kinda get back into it in September.” And then- 

Lauren: Mm-hmm … 

Karl: we don’t really go all in, and then we get to October, and, “Oh, no, October has got Halloween. I can’t work. It’s got, I gotta get the candy, and we gotta- I can’t work.

Karl: get through Halloween.” And then, “Oh, and now we got Thanksgiving, and now we have all the December holidays. And you know what? I’ll just wait for January 1st, and I’ll start my business over then.” But here’s the problem, is [00:03:00] you need right now to just continue to load up and fill that pipeline because as everything closes, you can’t be out of business in the ber months.

Karl: You can’t let- Yeah … your business get cold, right? You need to keep filling that pipeline. You need to have closings, and even more important than that is you have to set up closings that are gonna hit in January, February, and March. Mm-hmm. Because if you start your business over January 1st- That means you’re prospecting January 1st.

Lauren: Yeah. 

Karl: You’re spending a month or two loading up on people that you’re gonna be working with that aren’t gonna go under contract for another month, and then aren’t gonna close for another two months, and you’re right back in that vicious cycle of only having closings in May, June and July, which is, you know, a terrible trap to fall into.

Lauren: Yeah, and it’s just not sustainable. I just think to myself of, okay, if I’m only working three months a year, that’s great if we are making seven figures, [00:04:00] right? Or more. but, you know, how are you sustaining your business? How are you putting food on the table for your family if you’re only working three months a year?

Lauren: Now, everybody’s circumstances are different. We’re not talking about part-time agents here, we are talking about full-time in the business, this is your career. and I think heading into June is the most perfect time to be talking about this because we’re heading into the burn months or we’re heading into the holiday season, where a lot of people start to make these excuses.

Lauren: So Carl, where do you want to take this first? how do you wanna unpack this? 

Karl: Well, think, first, I think you need to look at where are you at in your business right now. 

Lauren: Mm-hmm. 

Karl: Right? Whether you’re a team leader, whether you’re an agent, whether you’re a brand new agent. You need to like stop and look at, okay, where am I at and where do I need to be?

Lauren: Mm-hmm. 

Karl: Right? So everybody should have a goal, right? We get into real estate, we like working with people, but we like making money working with people. And i- in order to obtain anything, you first have to write it down. You have a much higher chance of [00:05:00] accomplishing anything by writing it down. 

Lauren: Mm-hmm. 

Karl: And you should have a goal written down of where you wanna be, and then you need to know, well, how many buyers and sellers do I need to have closed at this point of the year?

Karl: How many transactions do I have to have closed to be on pace to hit that number? And I think everyone has to just stop right now, and just say, “Look, we’re at the end of May. We’re in the summer months now. we’re kind of past that spring market, now we’re getting into closing season. Where am I at?”

Karl: Mm-hmm. Because if you’re not where you need to be with your business, you have one job and one job only. It is to fill your pipeline. Mm-hmm. It is to get out there and introduce yourself and talk to as many potential buyers, sellers, just as many people in general that could also- Mm-hmm … create referrals for you.

Karl: Like if you’re not talking to five to 10 people a day, right? You’re gonna have a really hard time building up a pipeline and being in business. 

Lauren: Mm-hmm. So really what I hear you saying is diagnose [00:06:00] before you prescribe. So name it. You can’t fix what you haven’t named. So that is really setting the goal.

Lauren: So ha- and, you know, as we approach, you know, quarter three is in a couple days, right? I’m doing the math, right? and then we’re heading into quarter four after that. and then that’s when you get into your business planning. So, and ask yourself honestly, when did you have, when did you last have a real pipeline conversation, not a touch point, but a conversation?

Lauren: So, you know, three co- questions that I like every agent, to answer is how many people did I talk, to this week about real estate? How many people in my database don’t know that I’m still in business? And when was the last time I asked for a referral directly? So, this is when we get into like strategy, right?

Lauren: Of on social media. Don’t be a secret agent. Do, does your sphere know that you’re still in real estate? do they know that you’re hosting open houses? Do they know that you’re [00:07:00] actively, out in the community and trying out new restaurants and just being relational, whatnot? if not, Aunt Sally might go buy with somebody else ’cause she forgot that you’re in the business.

Lauren: Right. And she doesn’t see you being professional either. She’s gonna go wanna work with professionals. So once you give yourself that, validation online and the,I can’t think today, like of words. But once, once you give yourself that credibility, that’s the word I was looking for, online, people are gonna start to wanna work with you more 

Karl: Absolutely.

Karl: And it, it also is gonna come back to kind of looking at how strategic are you with your business- 

Lauren: Mm-hmm … 

Karl: right? Because if you’re just, if you don’t have that number in mind and you’re like, “Well, I’d like to do 50,000,” and you’re kinda hoping for stuff to come your way, and you’re just sitting, going on your email every morning like, “Boy, I hope Warren gives me some leads,” you know?

Karl: It’s, that is not a good way to- Yeah … run your business. I like to tell the story that I was a [00:08:00] hunter, right? I woke up every day and I knew exactly what I needed to accomplish that day to move my business forward. 

Lauren: Mm-hmm. 

Karl: And if my manager came and said, “Hey, I have an internet lead for you,” I was like, “Great, that’s gravy.”

Karl: Or if I was in the office and somebody walked in and it, I was the next person up to talk to a walk-in, like that was gravy. I wasn’t banking on that. 

Lauren: Mm-hmm. 

Karl: And unfortunately, if you’re running a business on hope, it’s real challenging. 

Lauren: Yeah. 

Karl: Right? and I like hope. I’m a very optimistic person, but you can’t- Me too

Karl: run a business powered by hope, right? Yeah. It’s nice to let those things kinda come your way when they do, but the reality is, like, when I wake up, what do I need to accomplish today? Mm-hmm. How am I going to talk to 10 to 15 people? How many business cards am I gonna hand out? What activities am I going to do?

Karl: Who am I following up with? Who’s on my list? Yeah. Am I in my CRM first thing in the morning going through and saying, “I need to follow up with this person”? Like, running your business [00:09:00] on purpose, right? Not- 

Lauren: Yeah Say that again, running your business on 

Karl: purpose Running your business on purpose.

Karl: Right? I’m not the first person- Who loves that? … to say that, but it, nothing hits harder than recognizing, like, am I doing this as a hobby or am I really, am I working this job? Is that- Right? This is my job. I am my own boss. I have to hold myself accountable. Well- And so when I wake up, like, what do I need to do today to run this business successfully?

Karl: And it can’t be, “Oh, I’ll get to that tomorrow. Oh, I’ll get to that tomorrow.” 

Lauren: Yeah. 

Karl: It’s like, you know, I fall in the same thing. I like to work out, but then I get out of these… I start- Mm-hmm … to fall out of it a little bit, and it’s hard to get back in. Mm-hmm. And it’s like, “Oh, I’m still in decent shape. I haven’t put on that much weight.

Karl: I can have the ice cream and wait another day.” But every day you delay, it’s just making it harder to get back into it. 

Lauren: Mm-hmm. 

Karl: Right? So you’ve gotta make a conscious decision one day and be like, [00:10:00] “Look, this is my approach. I am all in,” and just go with it. Like, when I go to events, I’m pretty jealous of the folks that are like, “I’m up at 5:00 AM and hitting the gym because I have to keep doing it.”

Karl: And I’m kinda like, I don’t know, when I’m at these events, like- … it’s go. I’m like, I need a little bit of downtime. I don’t know if I’m getting up at 5:00. But, like, those folks are the top producers because- Yeah … they’re regimented, and they follow that schedule, and they hold themselves accountable to- Mm-hmm

Karl: everything they do. And look, I keep myself in good shape, don’t get me wrong, and I hold myself accountable to it, but it just, it says a lot for you when you- Yeah … can hold yourself to that level and have that set schedule every day of prospecting, following up, meeting people, doing the activities, preparing for the weekend, just knowing what you need to accomplish.

Lauren: Yeah. And Suneet, I remember when I first started working with him, he called it the win the day list. So what do you have to do personally and [00:11:00] professionally to win every single day? So, if we wanna look at the full week ahead, you know, we can do kind of that, It’s not gonna be the 30,000 foot view.

Lauren: Let’s do, like, a 5,000 foot view. Right. So you have… let’s break it down into monthly, weekly, and daily goals. So in order, if you set up, let’s just use an easy number. you’re gonna do one deal a month, okay? So that’s 12 year, deals in the year. How many calls do you need to make based off of who you are as an agent in the season you’re in of experience, how many calls do we need to make?

Lauren: How many meaningful conversations do we truly need to have that day? or, if we’re… So if you’re like, “Okay, I’m gonna do one deal this month,” okay, two should really be the bare minimum, but we’re gonna do one deal this month. How many people do you need to talk to? So that is how many phone calls are you gonna make?

Lauren: how many in a week meaningful conversations are you going to have? And then you… Are you getting what I’m saying, listeners? Yeah. I know Carl’s getting it. But, [00:12:00] breaking that down then into your win the day list of, okay, I need to make, what would you say, like 50 phone calls, 20 phone calls that day?

Karl: So I tend to break it down. I do it by how many people do I need to talk to get to one transaction. 

Lauren: Yeah. 

Karl: Right? And then you can look at it a couple of other ways. So I look at it for every 100 people you meet or talk to, you will do one transaction. Yeah. So if you wanna do two transactions a month, you need to talk to 200 people.

Karl: Yeah. Now, that doesn’t mean

Karl: 200 phone calls. that means I have to introduce myself to 100 new people- 

Lauren: Mm-hmm … 

Karl: to get to one transaction. So it starts to snowball a little bit, because I break it down this way. For every 100 people you talk to, 25 will have a more in-depth conversation with you about real estate. Mm-hmm. Of those 25, seven to eight will wanna take the relationship and the conversation to the next level.

Lauren: Mm-hmm. 

Karl: Right? So meaning I have now about seven to eight [00:13:00] people for every hundred that I talk to or introduce myself to. 

Lauren: Mm-hmm. 

Karl: I have about seven to eight that are going in my CRM that I’m now actively working Of the seven to eight, you will have two to three that immediately want to start looking at real estate or want to talk to you about selling a home- Mm-hmm

Karl: which will turn into one transaction, right? Sure. So that’s how I break it down. And then what I do is I look at, all right, so as I’m building my pipeline, ideally if you wanna fix your business- 

Lauren: Mm-hmm … 

Karl: start with fixing your pipeline. 

Lauren: Yeah. 

Karl: I don’t start with, “Oh, I have to pay my bills,” and, “Oh, I have to get ready,” and, “Oh, I need a website,” and, “Oh, I have to go- 

Lauren: Overwhelming

Karl: on social media,” right? Just start with- 

Lauren: Mm-hmm … 

Karl: how many people am I talking to and how many people am I putting in my pipeline? Because yes, you’ll meet 100 people. If I- if you went out this week and you handed out 100 business cards- Mm-hmm … in the next seven [00:14:00] days, I am telling you, you will get one immediate buyer.

Karl: Right. If you put yourself out there and talk to 100, that’s one immediate buyer. Right. Now that means that of those 100, seven to eight are going in your CRM, you’re actively working, and two to three might be taking immediate action. 

Lauren: Mm-hmm. 

Karl: And so now as that s- that kind of c- compiles, right? Mm-hmm. Now you’re in month three or four, you’re up to 30 or 40 people you’re actively working.

Karl: Yeah. And you’re also continuing to get the immediate business. Do you see what I’m saying? Like- 

Lauren: Yeah … 

Karl: it builds if you stay on, like, if you look at it as, “This is what I need to do to keep my business moving forward. every week I need 100 people, or every month I need 100 people,” and then it builds.

Karl: So you’re always getting that one for every 100, but then those seven to eight in the CRM are turning into the- Right … additional business that’s getting you to two or three a month on top of that additional 100. So before you know it, you’re at five or [00:15:00] six transactions a month just by really focusing on talking to people and filling your pipeline.

Lauren: I love the way that you just broke that down because y- we both heard it’s simple, not easy. So it’s, the way you just described it, that’s it, guys. Like, that’s how you get to three to five deals a month, and thinking bigger, and not just stopping, I mean, if you’re doing… How many deals, Carlton, would you say is okay for you to go take those two months off 

Karl: that we were talking about before this call?

Karl: But how many deals- Yeah, we were talking about, you know, if it’s, if you’re at a point, like, you hit August, you know, everything closes in June, July, August. People go on vacation in, in, in August. 

Lauren: Mm-hmm. 

Karl: but look, I don’t think anybody should take that much time off. You should all definitely… You need time off in this business.

Karl: You, you have to celebrate your success, right? You should take a nice vacation. Spend- Spend time … your hard-earned money on what you need to. I mean, be fiscally re- responsible for your decisions, right? [00:16:00] Don’t be like- Mm-hmm … “Well, I didn’t make that much this year, but Carl said to go on a nice vacation.” But, you know, take some time yourself, but don’t fall in that trap of, I spent all this time putting these deals together, and I stopped prospecting- 

Lauren: Yeah

Karl: and now the deal’s closed, and I’m out of business. And, oh, geez, it’s gonna be so hard to build that pipeline back up. I went through that. My first year, I worked my tail off prospecting all year, and I got to the point where I remember it was, like, August and September, and I had, like, four or five deals I booked.

Karl: I had a bunch of listings. Mm-hmm. I was closing everything. And the end of the year came, and everything closed out, and I’m like, “My pipeline’s empty.” Like, I stopped- Yeah … following up and working people. I stopped prospecting because I thought I made it, and everyone’s just gonna come to me. Mm-hmm. And I had all these checks coming in, and then I had to spend the next three months…

Karl: Now, I ended up having a phenomenal year, but when I tell you I spent three months doing nothing [00:17:00] but prospecting- 

Lauren: Mm-hmm … 

Karl: and it got me to 24 transactions, which I basically did with only 75% of the year, right? If I would’ve spent the burr months- … doing nothing but prospecting and- Yeah … having closings in January, February, March, and not spending those months just prospecting, I might have done 30-plus transactions that year 

Lauren: Was that one of your first years in business?

Karl: My second year. Your second year. I did 24 transactions. 

Lauren: So it is possible everybody. and this is just like one of the most common things that we see all the time too. I was talking to one of my friends locally, not part of Reside, and I was just like, “So how’s it going?” We always talk about real estate.

Lauren: And she goes, “I just had four deals, at once, and that was just so much.” And it’s, I was like, “Yeah, it can be a lot.” That’s normal for a w- especially if you don’t have leverage and you’re doing your own administrative work. Everybody has their own goals. and, we talk about their own [00:18:00] version of success.

Lauren: So it’s okay if you wanna do five deals a year. It’s okay if you wanna do 75 plus a year. we’re here to get you to that. However, the only way to get to these deals is by filling your pipeline. And so I love what Carl’s saying is we get so, so busy, and then we just stop doing the thing that made us busy because then all the deals close, and you’re like, “Oh, dang, the money’s running out,” or, “I gotta…”

Lauren: Like, my why is, I gotta get my kids braces so they don’t have crooked teeth, you know? how are you gonna pay for all these life expenses? Life is expensive. I think we can all agree on that. So one thing I do wanna get into is, you know, how we segment, segment, building our pipeline into our database, your CRM, into three buckets.

Lauren: So Carl, let me know if you, agree with this. Hot, talked to in the last 30 days. Warm, talked to in the last 90. And then cold, they haven’t heard from you in over 90 days. Yeah. 

Karl: Yeah. I always had my A, B, and C. 

Lauren: Yeah. 

Karl: Like, I’m so old school, I carried a [00:19:00] briefcase that had folders in it, and the folders were, A were like my hot, ready to transact, daily conversations.

Karl: the B folder, those were my once a week- Mm-hmm … if not twice a week. And then I had my C, which was my long-term follow-up plan. 

Lauren: Yeah, your nurturing. Well, didn’t you say, too, we were talking about the MLS one day, when you had a, was a, you had a pr- the MLS was an actual book? 

Karl: Yeah, I, it, so, I- Sorry … it was a computer system when I started, but I had heard stories.

Karl: Realtors told me- Oh … that they used to get a book that came, the MLS came in a book. Mm-hmm. It was delivered I guess like once a week, and you had realtors, like, if they had a buyer for that property, they would rip the page out so nobody else in their office could see the book. And then I also, heard, too, that you used to have, brokers, their agents would have CBs.

Karl: Have you ever heard of a CB? A 

Lauren: C- yeah, like the, is it that, that the floppy disk? 

Karl: No. Oh. That’s a CD. So we, they released them called- No, 

Lauren: I know what a CD is. I’m talking about, [00:20:00] like, the square floppy disk. 

Karl: No, it’s like, in your car, truckers used them. They were called CBs. They were, like, built-in walkie-talkies in the car.

Karl: Oh. Right? On a certain radio frequency. Okay. And so you could talk to other truckers. And my grandfather had one that he used to use, and the people on the road would tell you where the cops were and things like that so you wouldn’t speed past them. But brokers used to use it because you were always out in the car showing properties with your clients.

Karl: And so when a new listing came on, they would announce it over the CB- That’s cool … to all of their realtors like, “Hey guys, we got a hot one just came in. Make sure you show it today.” And it’s so interesting that how technology is now, you wouldn’t even think that it was so crude back then on how you would let people know about new listings.

Lauren: That’s so fun. I love these kind of stories. It’s so good. okay, so we’ve covered the mindset piece of it and the why. So I- And to really wrap this up and take action, ’cause that’s what we like to do- Mm-hmm Tell us a few things, few [00:21:00] activities I should say, that actually move the needle forward so that you can build the pipeline back up.

Karl: Yeah. So I’m big on the activities, right? So let’s talk about where you can find buyers and sellers. Mm-hmm. And the first thing is you wanna think about what kind of business you’re running, right? A lot of us work with buyers. Why? Because the activities and the things that we do to attract buyers are typically free.

Karl: Mm-hmm. So I want you guys to start thinking about if you’re really looking to fill your pipeline, take your business to another level, you have to start thinking about, what am I doing to get in front of potential sellers? Now, here’s the challenge, is that for you to get in front of sellers, you have to spend money to make money.

Karl: You have to be marketable. Sellers wanna work with realtors that are good at marketing themselves and marketing other properties- Mm-hmm … which means that you have to have a budget, and that’s why a lot of us, like, we kind of fall into business with buyers because we get the internet leads handed to us.

Karl: They’re primarily buyers. We do open [00:22:00] houses, which are free. Those are primarily buyers. A lot of the referrals we get are buyers. I want you starting to think about if you have a full pipeline and you’re doing business, now you could take a percentage of that money that you’re earning, you could either take a flat amount, 300 bucks, or you could take 1% out of every commission, put it back into your business to try to market yourself to get in front- Yeah

Karl: of potential sellers. ‘Cause when you’re filling your pipeline, guys, it’s not just about who you’re immediately meeting, but you also have to think about, okay, this is why marketing is important in real estate, right? You are a marketer And so what am I spending money on? How am I getting my name and information out there in order to now self-attract people that are gonna go into my database?

Karl: So when you start spending money, right, now you have a system that’s driving people into you. Mm-hmm. So you’re out handing out your 100 cards, it’s not absurd to think you could have another 50 leads [00:23:00] self-generated if you’re spending money the right way. Mm-hmm. So when it comes to that, are you farming, right?

Karl: And not just sending a postcard once a month, you’re doing multiple touch points in a community so you are showcased as that true neighborhood expert, right? Mm-hmm. So if somebody in that neighborhood is thinking of selling their home, are they thinking of you first and are you getting that opportunity?

Karl: That could be a handful of ops every single month, right? Are you putting your name out there, in any local publications, right, that might be out there? Are you sponsoring local events? Are you doing community events? 

Lauren: Yeah. 

Karl: Right? Which you typically have to pay a little bit of money to have a booth and a table that’s branded by you.

Karl: Mm-hmm. But then you’re doing a $100 raffle or giveaway, and on the raffle tickets you’re asking people for your name, number, info, but then you also have check marks saying, “Hey, are you thinking of buying a home, selling a home, renting a home? Are you looking to invest?” Right? So now you’re weaving- Yeah

Karl: those community [00:24:00] events with a bunch of potential leads, and you should be calling everybody anyway. Open houses, not just for buyers, but also for sellers. How are you using social media, and are you spending money to advertise on social media? 

Lauren: Mm-hmm. 

Karl: Right? Are you being smart about that? Now smo- social media marketing and advertising, quite honestly, is probably the easiest on your wallet, 

Lauren: Yeah

Karl: or the bang you get for your buck when it comes to that. Mm-hmm. And let’s face it, that’s where a lot of people are. So, you know, perception is reality. You wanna fill your pipeline? People need to think that you’re out there, whether you only sold one house or 50, right? Yeah. If people are seeing your name and info, they’re gonna be reaching out to you.

Karl: Yeah. So handing out cards, open houses, I mean, the old school way of doing things, it’s still the best way. Mm-hmm. Just get out there and meet as many people as possible. 

Lauren: Mm-hmm. Well, yeah, Brooke and I were talking about [00:25:00] earlier getting back to the basics, because we’d been talking a little bit more about things that, we used to do on our real estate team.

Lauren: So we talked about events yesterday. A few weeks ago we talked about reviews and referrals. And,I just had this aha earlier, and I was… I said to her, “You know, we used to do all this, and I feel like we’ve gotten so far away with it because our minds are on so many other things.” And I feel like that is so relatable to a lot of us, just as humans and agents out there.

Lauren: Because it’s like, okay, you’re really busy now. Now you have to meet an inspector. You have to maybe go to the title company, think about the closing. Am I gonna get them a closing gift? Like, all these things. Like, oh, did we meet the deadline? Like, when is all this stuff? Especially if you don’t have the leverage and a transaction coordinator doing this for you, your mind just forgets to…

Lauren: Or no, maybe not forget, and I don’t even think you’re necessarily being lazy by not doing what you need to do, but this is why we need to carve… And, what I mean by that is picking up the phone or door knocking, open houses, like, just doing the activity to get the business. but I think that’s why it’s [00:26:00] so imp- important for you all to at least have a number on your win the day list of I need to talk to this many people.

Lauren: I need to add this many people to my database this week. I need to have at least two appointments set this week, and actually meet those two appointments. So if you don’t have two appointments that you meet every single week, that is just what’s gonna convert you to at least those one or two deals.

Lauren: We need to reevaluate, how we’re doing. So a full pipeline, 90 days from now starts with what you do today. Mm-hmm. And the agents who never have an empty pipeline, Carl, like you were saying, like, those top producers earlier, they’re not necessarily any smarter. They’re just more consistent than many of the 

Karl: others.

Karl: they tend to become better at marketing- Yeah … because they have a bigger budget to pull off of. It’s real hard, and I’m very sensitive to the fact that if you’re new to the business, like, you’re already… You’ve spent months getting licensed. You spend money on, you spent money on testing, and now you have to join the [00:27:00] MLS, and association fees, and maybe errors and omissions, and all of these things.

Karl: And y- you’re in the red. Like, you’re in the red for a while, and then they add up, right? So if you don’t have your first closing for three or four months, by the time you get that check, you’re almost lucky if you break even. 

Lauren: Yeah. 

Karl: Right? So it takes a little… A- and I’m sensitive to that. But when you have a full pipeline, it makes it easier that if a deal falls through or a buyer- Mm-hmm

Karl: decides to rent, you’re not living and dying off of that one transaction because you have enough people that you’re working with to kinda keep your business moving forward. And- Mm-hmm … what I find is the top producers and your team leaders have gotten to that level that they’re at because they’ve built up a very strong, sustainable, and strategic business, that they know how much they can put back in the business and what the return is going to be on it.

Karl: Mm-hmm. For a lot of us, you know, to take $1,000 out to invest it into an [00:28:00] ad or to sponsor something- Right … without knowing what you’re gonna get out of it, or it could take three to six months before you get anything back- It’s hard for us to do, but here’s the reality is, like, if any one of you gave me $1,000 right now-

Karl: I guarantee I could turn that into at least one transaction. My average commission take-home is probably around 45 to five grand. Mm-hmm. 4,500 to 5,000 in my market area easily, right? 

Lauren: I would- Without split or with split? Without, 

Karl: After split- Okay … my take-home would probably be around 4,500 to five grand, right?

Karl: So I would spend $1,000 all day long- Mm-hmm … to make 4,500 or five. 

Lauren: Mm-hmm. 

Karl: And that’s kind of the way you need to think about what you’re doing, but it’s hard at first because there’s so much unknown. there’s a term I like to use that you really need to have, right, in real estate, and if you don’t have it, you gotta figure out where it’s gonna come from.

Karl: You gotta watch [00:29:00] some videos to get you fired up or listen to some rock music or whatever- Mm-hmm … it takes to get you going or drink five cups of coffee. But you have to be internally driven. 

Lauren: Yep. 

Karl: You have to be internally driven. Mm-hmm. You have to want it. If you don’t want it, it’s real easy to be like, “Well, I, I did my couple of calls today.

Karl: What else are they gonna tell me to do?” Right? Yeah. The folks that make it, that have success are the ones that have goals, that are like, “Look, this is my job.” Like, I gotta fill… I… There is easily, guys, I’m telling you, there is easily s- enough stuff to do in this business to fill eight hours a day. 

Lauren: Mm-hmm.

Karl: and if you’re not doing that, or you’re just doing eight hours a day without a real plan or understanding of what that time investment is gonna get, like, you need to know your ROI, your return on investment. Mm-hmm. It’s not just what you spend. It’s not spending 1,000 to make five. Your time is your [00:30:00] money.

Karl: Like, every minute you spend doing something that’s not productive for your business is costing you. It’s costing you. Mm-hmm. It’s like owning a restaurant and having- five menu items, and four of them nobody’s ordering, right? Good point. And if they’re costing you money, eventually what are you gonna do?

Karl: You’re gonna take those four off, and you’re gonna replace them with something that’s going to sell and make you money, right? So you guys need to really look at the activities and what you’re doing and what you’re spending your time on that is creating production for you. 

Lauren: Mm-hmm. And, 

Karl: and that’s why for me, it’s being in front of other people.

Karl: It will 100% always be the best way for you to build your business, is what can I do to get in front of live people? All of us are better at selling ourselves in person- Mm-hmm … shaking hands, than we are over the phone trying to sell somebody on something. 

Lauren: No, totally. Totally. Okay, I feel like [00:31:00] you just crushed that, and we need to leave it here because it…

Lauren: That was just so good, and they… So Carlton, with the last action item, what I’m hearing is get out in front of people. How many people would you like our listeners to get out in front of in the next 70 days? 

Karl: I feel like if you could do 50 a week, right? 

Lauren: Mm-hmm. 

Karl: So that’s 200 a month. 

Lauren: Calculable.

Karl: Figure out a way, how do I meet 50 people? You do an open house, you get 10. That’s 10 right there. during the course of the week, right, how many people are you meeting? And this is where you can’t be afraid to tell people you’re in real estate. Mm-hmm. especially you’re gonna be upset when somebody comes to you, and, you know, your kid’s friend that you see every day and talk to at pickup, right?

Karl: They list their home, and you’re like, “Didn’t you know I’m in real estate?” And they’re like, “I had no idea.” Yeah. Like, that’s on you, right? And at that point you’re kicking yourself like, “Why didn’t I tell him?” Yeah. Like, you gotta just… you can’t be afraid to tell people you’re [00:32:00] in real estate, and it’s real simple.

Karl: “Hey, here’s a card. If you ever have any needs, questions, if you know anyone-” Mm-hmm … thinking of buying or selling, please think of me.” Mm-hmm. It doesn’t have to be a… It doesn’t have to… you make it worse in your brain thinking about it. Like- 

Lauren: Mm-hmm … 

Karl: and they’re gonna take your card, and they’re gonna support you.

Karl: They’re gonna support you. Mm-hmm. So I would say if you can get 10 a day, 5 days a week, that’s 50, right? You go to your dry cleaners- Mm-hmm … here’s a card. You go out to eat, you leave one for your server. You go to Target, don’t go to self-checkout. Go to the one where the poor person’s bored out of their mind- It’s crazy

Karl: always swiping, and you say, “Hi, how are you? How are things going? By the way, here’s a card if you know anyone looking to buy or sell.” it just has to start to become habit, handing out cards and talking to people. For sure. Do community events Get involved in, in, you know, supporting Little League or, you know, how can you support if your daughter does dance?

Karl: Like, how can you sponsor events for her dance [00:33:00] program or his dance program? you just gotta always look at the opportunity to brand yourself and let people know that you’re in real estate 

Lauren: That is so good. That is so good. Carlton, any last minute thoughts before we jump off? 

Karl: Be internally driven. Yes.

Karl: Just want it. Want it and tell yourself, “I- I’m going for it.” Like, if your business is at a point and you’re like, it’s not where I want it to be” Mm-hmm … like, really just take some time and stop and think about it. Because we get into real estate, especially new agents, and it’s go. We just gotta get to that first commission check.

Karl: I’m doing everything they tell me. 

Lauren: Mm-hmm. 

Karl: And we don’t stop and strategically plan out the type of business that we wanna operate and run. A- and it’s also, I, now that doesn’t mean don’t push your comfort zone, right? You also have to look at, if I’m not where I need to be, and I haven’t been calling FSBOs, and I haven’t been doing farming, and I tried open houses [00:34:00] and I really didn’t go all in on it, like, now is the time to be like, “I’m changing my approach- 

Lauren: Yep

Karl: and I’m doing it.” And you may not be good at it at first. None of us were. I don’t know anyone that the first time they called a FSBO they got the appointment and they were like, “That was great, I’m gonna do more of these.” That’s true. Usually we stumble, we get yelled at, we have to, we don’t know what to ask.

Karl: We have a hard time. and even these days, like- 

Lauren: Yeah … 

Karl: I grew up with the telephone. My wife and I were telling our kids the other day how, like, the phone rang and you didn’t know who it was. That’s crazy. You just went and, but you had a social obligation to pick it up. 

Lauren: Yeah. 

Karl: Right? Even if it was your favorite TV show, you couldn’t record it, and you had to wait till the summer for reruns, but you gave it up because it was so important to go answer the phone.

Karl: Like, but now, like, we’re better at texting- At a 

Lauren: time … 

Karl: and greetings. We’re not as proficient on the phone. So i- for a lot of us it’s gonna take a little while to learn how to interact and build our dialogue and learn how to- Mm-hmm … ask questions over [00:35:00] the phone. and the key is just you’re always just getting to that point- Yeah

Karl: where I wanna meet face-to-face. 

Lauren: Yep. 

Karl: Right? I wanna meet face-to-face. don’t sell yourself on the phone. Use it to start to build a relationship, and then when you’re close be like, “You know what? I can’t wait to see your home. Are you available tonight or tomorrow?” 

Lauren: Mm-hmm. 

Karl: But don’t be afraid to tell people you’re in real estate.

Karl: Get in front of as many people as possible. Yeah. Start marketing yourself a- and just get out there and take that internally driven approach of I want this, I’m gonna make it happen. 

Lauren: Mm-hmm. We love hunger. Stay hungry everybody. 

Karl: Yep. 

Lauren: Awesome. Carl, as always, so good to have you on here. I’m very excited for the next one.

Lauren: So anybody, if you have some, anything else you wanna ask Carlton or do wanna learn more about, drop a comment, reach out to us. we’re here to help. Okay. 

Thanks everyone. Thanks everybody. [00:36:00] Bye.