How To Get Real Estate Listings and Keep Them
Tony Ray Baker:
So, today we’re going to do a couple of classes. We’re all going to talk about real estate law, everybody good with that? That face is awesome. She’s like … yeah. So, today we’re going to do two sections of my Marketing on a Dime series. We’re going to work on newsletters for clients and we’re going to do listing and sellers. Is that good?
Tony Ray Baker:
So, for the first part of the morning, I’m going to work just with you on newsletters, and then I’m going to give you a break, and then we’re going to put new SD cards in the camera or check them, and then after break, we’ll come back, finish up some newsletter stuff.
Then, we’re going to go on and we’re going to sellers and all the systems that I know of that we use to get listings, how we keep our listings, how we get price changes, anything you want to know about listings, I’m going to encourage you to ask me any question. I do not know all the answers.
I just know mine. Right? Because I’m not … let’s just go back to this.
Tony Ray Baker:
My way is my way. Your way is your way. There is no right way. It’s only what’s right for you. So, today, I’m hoping just to give you a whole bunch of ideas and things the maybe you’ll think of that you could maybe integrate into your business, or tweak in your business, or maybe you have a better way that you’ll share with the class, and then we can all learn from each other.
I have been teaching classes for real estate agents, now on my 20th year. I teach every month, and I’ve been doing this for free for 20 years, to give back to this community. Thank you.
Tony Ray Baker:
And, I say that not to get applause, but I say that because I want you all to realize that we all need to share with each other. We all could be helping each other, and I’m hoping that by role modeling this for you, that you’ll reach out to others and help them in the business.
And, there’s that new kid that just started, that needs somebody. Or, there’s the old kid that can’t catch up to technology and could use the new kid’s help.
Tony Ray Baker:
So, why aren’t we in this crazy time, helping each other, especially the young ones and the older ones, or I’ll say wiser ones. Or, we’ll say longer in the business ones, because we all have different experiences, coming from different parts, right?
And my team is all different ages and that’s by design because they know things that I don’t know about different … like Instagram. How many of you are using Instagram? A couple are using Instagram.
How many use Facebook? Let’s see, the hands get higher when you talk about Facebook.
Tony Ray Baker:
And, that’s because there’s a different demographic on Facebook than there is on Instagram, right? So, am I out? Did we just die? Nice. So, now I just have to yell really loud. Oh, we’re back. Maybe it’s where I stand. Maybe I can only be right here with Rosemary.
There you go. So, I’m hoping that you’ll all reach out to each other and help each other, and one of the cool things we’re going to talk about on newsletters today, is there’s actually some people in the room who’ve figured out a way to help each other from my last class. Who are the folks in the room that were working with me or in my last class?
Tony Ray Baker:
So, everybody here was in my last class. Michelle has actually done a newsletter, you implemented it from last class, and Laurie and Veronica, you implemented, right? You guys are ready to go? And who else? Hi Gil. You’re like, “Don’t talk to me.”
I was a waiter at one time. So, as long as you’re chewing, I’m asking questions. That’s how we get good answers. We don’t get bad answers when you’re chewing, right?
Tony Ray Baker:
Okay, so, we’re going talk to you guys a little bit about what’s happened since the newsletter class, and interesting because Laurie, was it you that had the idea to share? So, Laurie had a great idea to share, so we’re going to talk about that too, because I think it’s amazing.
Tony Ray Baker:
So, can’t go further, obviously … now? Okay. Can’t go further without thanking some folks in the room, so let’s do that right now. Who’s new in the business under a year? Oh wow. Let’s raise the hands way high. Yeah.
Under a year and already in classes. That’s awesome. So, one of the imperative things that you need to know, and it doesn’t matter how long you’ve been in business, but my business coach told me, in 1995, he said, “Tony Ray, build your team.” He said, “Make sure it’s spot on.
Make sure you’ve got the best people to take care of you and your clients, and everything else goes smoothly after that.”
Tony Ray Baker:
So, you’re today going to meet my team, and they have all graciously come here and paid for all this food and this event, and wine and all the fun things you’re going to get on your table and all that stuff is paid for by these folks.
So, I want to first talk about Kristi Frank over at American Family Insurance, who knows Kristi Frank? Wow.
Tony Ray Baker:
So, Kristi Frank, how long have we known each other? We’ll go with 24 years. And, Kristi … well I was 10 or 15 when I started in real estate, nah, I was 12. So, Kristi Frank and I go way back. I will tell you it’s very interesting.
I was with one of the top insurance companies in the United States for pricing, and I got in through a special deal because I knew the right person and I got in.
Tony Ray Baker:
And, no one could beat their prices. Then, I met Kristi Frank and she’s only person who beat their prices. And, not only did she beat their prices, but she gave me more insurance than I already had with the other company.
So, I started sending clients to Kristi Frank and saying, “You got to at least check her out. Let her do a comparison for you, because you’re getting a house, so let’s see what Kristi Frank can do.
Tony Ray Baker:
I’m telling you they just started converting like that. They would all call me, thank me for sending them to Kristi and they started converting to Kristi Frank. So, if anything, it is worth it to you to be the hero and refer business to Kristi Frank and let the client at least do a comparison, side by side because she’s going to look at the policies, look at what they’ve got and she’s going to help them out and the service is phenomenal.
Tony Ray Baker:
When Darren, my partner, anybody know Darren? Two people, good. Darren is that guy. That one right there. So, Darren had a little bit of an accident, was that a year ago? Two years ago, a year ago, Darren was driving my Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo and a car hit him on the back end and it flipped Darren in air three times and spun him.
So, I arrived at the scene to find a squashed car with Darren upside down in it, and paramedics trying to pull him out.
Tony Ray Baker:
And, Kristi Frank was there within minutes after that accident occurred. Not saying that that happens all the time, because she can’t be everywhere, but I am saying that’s a level of care that you don’t get with a lot of insurance folks out there, and Kristi cares. Whether it’s showing up then, or just showing up in your lives and checking on your or whatever, that’s Kristi Frank.
Tony Ray Baker:
So, Kristi, could you please stand up and wave to everybody. Thank you. So, Kristi provided your wine, happy hour question session today. So, that’s even more that I know. Lots of wine over there. Nice. Kristi also left some … there’s little fun things. A couple of people get a fun thing, did anybody open them?
What is it? It’s a silicone straw. We can help save the planet. I love those things. Are those not cool? Now we’re going to fight over them.
Tony Ray Baker:
Kristi has more, so if you want one, make sure you talk to Kristi Frank, okay? Next, let’s talk about Heath team, Mr. Tom Heath, woo hoo, stand up my friend. He’s standing, I swear. He’s here, I swear. Tom, oh, there he is. Tom Heath, Nova Home Loans, and his team is here. Who’s here? Lusana and Haley, right? I don’t see both of you. I’m missing … oh, right there. Nice. Stand up and say hi. Woo hoo.
Tony Ray Baker:
These guys, when you get to lending, Tom is again, he cares, and that makes a difference, because he’s going to do the research, and he’s going to go through the process with you to make sure, with your client especially, that they’re getting the right loan and everything correct.
And, I will tell you, Tom has rescued me from a couple of very precarious positions that we didn’t think somebody could get us out of, and Tom … so, we had a builder, yea, with their own mortgage company, and their appraiser, not local, yea, right, showed up at a house for a new … was it Polty?
It was one of those subdivisions, I don’t remember what it was, but anyways, there’s 10 of these houses being built.
Tony Ray Baker:
The appraiser shows up and says, “It’s worth 15,000 less than all the rest.” Yeah, it was crazy. He never went into the property. He never looked at the house. We found this all out later, called and said, “It’s okay.” I just said, “Let’s just get him to reevaluate,” and they said, “No.” So, I called the bank manager who is in bed with the builder, and they said, “No.” So, they said, “Your kids can come in, and what they can do is just pay 15,000 more cash down, and we’ll all be okay.” House is done. Yeah.
Tony Ray Baker:
And, by the way, they’re supposed to be moving in two weeks. And so, I had a little bit of words with management on all ends, and I finally basically convinced them that we were going to have a problem with probably some legal issues going on. We called Tom, Tom jumped in. Tom’s team actually got an appraiser out there. We appraised okay, right?
Tony Ray Baker:
We came in at value at that point. Yeah, we appraised at value, and Tom rescued it and they closed only a few days late, only a few days, and Tom got the kids through the process, and he got them out of that mess, which was awesome.
So, thank you Tom for that. That’s the kind of stuff you get when you got to the Heath team, so I encourage you to talk to Tom and his team at some point. Lusana, Spanish? Mm-hmm (affirmative). Fluent Spanish speaking, so se habla espanol. Enchilada and taco, that’s what I got.
Tony Ray Baker:
So, she’s good at that, much better than me, and so I love that about you two, that you can help us with those folks, because I am not comfortable ever working with a client that their first language is Spanish.
We want to help them, but they understand the contract differently, and it’s not right for me to even try. I need to have somebody that’s an expert at helping interpret, and that she’s got that going on over there, and, she’s cute as could be. Nice.
Tony Ray Baker:
Okay, so, let’s give it up for Tom Heath and his team. We thank you. Haley, Haley’s been organizing all this, so she’s the one who keeps me knowing how many people are coming and what’s going on, and she’s sending out … did everybody get an email from Haley at some point? So yeah. Thank you Haley.
Tony Ray Baker:
And then, we’ve got my Fidelity National Title team here, woo hoo. Tina Banks is in the room somewhere, over there. How long have we been together? I don’t know. Yeah, it does. So, here’s the thing about title.
You don’t know you have a bad title agent until you have a good one. I’m just telling you, because what you think is okay and normal in title is not. And, I run into it over, and over, and over, because when we get into a transaction with a different title agent, every single time, my whole team’s has to go, “Wait, what?
They didn’t do this and they didn’t do that, and they don’t do this and they don’t help us with this? How do we do this?” So, we have to pick up the pieces every time. And, you know it once you’ve had it.
Tony Ray Baker:
So, Tina Banks has always been amazing. She makes sure everything is taken care of. Also, we do about five million a year in relocation business from websites, which is a whole another class we could do. But, one of the things about relocation coming in from websites, is most of my folks are actually not in Tucson when they sign.
Tony Ray Baker:
So, Tina has roving notaries ready to go, all over the United States, and she takes care of us by making sure that they’re all taken care of and we always close on time. So, it’s a really big deal. Fidelity has a lot of cool toys. Who’s the toy expert? Stand up and say hi. Woo hoo, Shannon is our toy expert.
I don’t know what all those toys are, but there’s some really cool stuff.
Tony Ray Baker:
I use your cost sheet app, which has just been upgraded. So, I have the premium version of that. It rock and rolls. I sent it off to an agent who sent me a client, and I sent the cost sheet because it was her mom, for her to review with her mom, and she said, “Where the heck did you get this,” because she loved that cost sheet, because it really is … it’s got a little graphic going on, so it’s visually pleasing to the eye.
But, it also really is clear and simple for your customer, your buyer or your seller to understand that cost sheet.
Tony Ray Baker:
That just updated this last month, and it is a great upgrade. So, I was really happy with it. Also, it was clunky and slow because it was an app on your desktop. It is no longer that, so I got to delete it, which I was very excited, and now you just click on Fidelityagent.com
Speaker 3:
Fidelity one.
Tony Ray Baker:
Fidelityone.com and when you go to Fidelityone.com, that app is amazing. It’s not an app anymore. It’s a desktop version, so it’s a website, right? Everybody’s nodding, so I think I’m good. So, talk to them about that. There’s some other cool … you got it?
There’s some other cool products. Oh yeah, for your cellphone, that thing does really cool stuff for your cellphone if you’re with the client and they ask you those questions that make you turn a little green. Yeah.
Speaker 4:
You hit the button and you can’t mess it up.
Tony Ray Baker:
Yeah, you can’t mess that up. It’s really intuitive. I love that. So, then you have another toy out there. They’ve got some other cool toys as far as delving into neighborhoods and people and targeting, right?
You really, if you’re going to go after listings, which is what we’re going to be talking about later, you really, really should be talking to them about their toys. So, they have the toys. So, thank you Fidelity, for being here and sponsoring us, we really appreciate it.
Tony Ray Baker:
Okay. Home inspections, woo hoo. Who loves that home inspector that kills the deal, right? I just had two female home inspectors on one of ours, where we represent the seller. It scared me to read that report.
It was so off base, it was like they took two 16 year old kids and said, “Hey, go be home inspectors.” Nothing was correct. Was the worst home inspection, and when we demanded another home inspection, everything they did was violations against … I can’t even explain it to.
Tony Ray Baker:
So, having a great home inspector is a big deal. We only, only ever worked with Rick. We met Rick because he was here. Did you know that? You were here. You were here set up, just like that, and I was in the class, and I was there, and you were there and you talked about having insurance. Tell me about your insurance, why you’re different.
Rick:
So, we’re [inaudible 00:16:08] probably don’t realize the Arizona district requires [inaudible 00:16:11] to carry a bond. A bond is real good if I were to steal something from a home. [inaudible 00:16:17] there was a major water leak [inaudible 00:16:22] something [inaudible 00:16:26]. 30% of the home inspectors in the market probably [inaudible 00:16:34]
Tony Ray Baker:
So, licensed, bonded and insured. There you go. Is that not our favorite three words? Licensed, bonded and insured? Can you do me a favor, can you shut that door. I have ADD and anything moves, I’m like watching it. I don’t have ADD, but I feel like I do.
So, thank you Rick, the inspections are always beautiful and I’m not saying that he doesn’t disclose anything, he disclosed everything, but the way he does it is not to terrify the client. That’s different, right?
Tony Ray Baker:
And, as a buyer’s agent, I want to know everything going on so the client can make a good decision about buying that home and what to ask for, but, in a way that it doesn’t terrify them. Who’s had the emergency inspector that sky’s falling, that guy?
Have you had that guy? Yeah, was he this big? Because I had one this big, yeah. And, it’s not good when you get that inspection, because how do you back out of it with the client? How do you calm them down and how do you … you become a psychiatrist more than you already are, right?
Tony Ray Baker:
We all have to do it. The couch comes out. You have to lay them down and you have to give them a shot of wine and it’s a mess. So, building a good team, Rick Johnson, I highly, highly suggest you talk to him. Rick, I think it’s been 10 years, maybe? I don’t … yeah. All I know is, Rick’s on speed dial. Every week, “Can you give inspections on these dates?”
Tony Ray Baker:
And then, Darren runs out and takes care of it. So, thank you Rick for sponsoring. Rick has got all that food snack stuff going on over there, so you can thank him for your munchies. Thank you sir. And, you’re going to be here through breaks to talk to folks, so I suggest you get his card and everybody else’s cards as well.
Tony Ray Baker:
And then, also today, I’m going to talk to you about staging and we have a stager here that does our staging, so I’m going to talk to you about Elizabeth later on when we get into listings, and we’re going to do that. So, that all being said, any questions before we get started, burning in your minds, you want to ask. Good?
Tony Ray Baker:
So, after class today, there is a one hour happy hour question and answer session. So, you can talk to me about anything, and if I don’t know the answer, Elizabeth will help me. What?
Elizabeth:
The only question I’ll asking is if we have enough-
Tony Ray Baker:
Okay. Yes, and it’s right there. You talk to Kristi Frank over there. Okay, so, let’s get started then on newsletters and oh, really quick, what you’re seeing is my Facebook page up there, and it’s Facebook.com/seetucsonrealestate, is the address, so, let’s make sure everybody’s phones are off, or on stun or silent or something.
But, I’d really love it if you can go to that page and then what I’ll have you do is, everybody like the page.
Tony Ray Baker:
I am going to start putting … the reason we have cameras, and oh, by the way, let’s all thank James, hi James. James works with me. He’s video and website and SEO and creative content and music and that’s a guy full of talent, right there.
So, what we’re going to do is we’re going to start taking all the classes we teach in case you missed one, we’re going to start putting them all online. We’re going to start a YouTube channel, and we’re going to put all of this up.
Tony Ray Baker:
So, you can go back and watch it if you miss something and then you’ll see yourself sometimes maybe on the videos. That’s cool, right? Very cool. That’s why I’m miked up and we’re doing all this fun stuff. Okay?
So, if you go to Facebook.com/seetucsonrealestate, and like that page, you’ll see then when I post stuff there, if I’ve got stuff that you need to copy, you’re going to steal from me, and put it on yours.
Tony Ray Baker:
Don’t share from mine. Steal from mine. Okay? So, you can always … I’m giving you permission. Just use my stuff, if it makes sense. But, rewrite it and don’t put my name and phone number. I had somebody do that.
They copy, pasted right over, and it said call Tony Ray Baker on his page. It was cute. I helped him fix it.
Tony Ray Baker:
But, you have my permission to do that. So, remember if you’re going to steal my stuff. You have my permission but, you need to rewrite it if it’s website material, that it is your original content. So, you have to change it, but you can take the page I write, and rewrite your own words, right? So, you can make your own website pages.
Tony Ray Baker:
If you went right now, I have 2000 website pages up and running that I wrote. You can go in there and start … they’re your script. You can go build a website right now and just start taking my stuff. So, do it. Go out there.
Okay. But, we’re going to talk about newsletters first. Who’s doing a newsletter? Michelle, I got it. Newsletters? Let’s go up high. Who’s doing newsletters? Awesome. When did you start doing newsletters?
Elizabeth:
Maybe eight years ago, a class I took with you and [crosstalk 00:21:27]
Tony Ray Baker:
Oh, that was my class eight years ago. Nice. You’re still doing it? How’s it doing for you?
Elizabeth:
It works really well when you do it.
Tony Ray Baker:
Right? So, being … everybody, we’re going to be totally transparent. You can ask me anything and I like that back. So, how often do you really get the newsletter out the whoever you’re sending it to?
Elizabeth:
The last five months, I’ve just [inaudible 00:21:53]
Tony Ray Baker:
Oh nice.
Elizabeth:
Before that I’ve [inaudible 00:21:56] for a year, and before that I did through, gosh, I forget what it was called, it was a web thing where you could send an electronical email, and I really liked that, because then I could have active links for people to comment, and things like people who are … a lot of stuff in their emails so they can [inaudible 00:22:24] go back to the things [inaudible 00:22:24]
Tony Ray Baker:
Sure. Did everybody hear that? So, the problem is, is that we all used to love mail, not. We all used to hate mail, remember? We also get, what did you get in your mailbox? Bills and junk.
The paper kept piling up and you had to weed through it and hope something important did not get stuck inside the little pamphlet thing, right? And I accidentally through away my tags. Yeah, that’s a pain. And, I got a ticket for not having tags. That’s awesome, right?
Tony Ray Baker:
So, those little things happen right? When we had mail. And then, what happened, the internet came about and we had email. And, we all loved email, why? Because we got what we wanted in there. There was fun things in email, and we could click on things, and it was … you could see color photos, and we could do everything for really cheap and it was really a fun thing.
Tony Ray Baker:
And then, we all did what? Signed up to get our bills sent to us now by email, because we hated mail. And then, mass corporations figured out how to spam the heck out of us, and then what happened? Tons of crap coming in the inbox, right? And, then we also saw that paper in the mailbox was going down.
Tony Ray Baker:
So, in today’s society, people don’t like email anymore. They actually like snail mail. Because, what’s now arriving in snail mail?
Speaker 7:
Phish [crosstalk 00:23:44]
Speaker 8:
Passports.
Speaker 9:
Cards.
Tony Ray Baker:
The passport, your license plates with that tag, grandma’s card with two dollars in it, that says happy birthday, and thank you notes, and newsletters, magazines, the stuff you want is now back in the mailbox. The stuff you don’t want is in email.
Tony Ray Baker:
So, what you’re talking about is exactly what’s happened. We all can send out newsletters by email and you can click and they’re pretty and they’re fun. What was your open rate? Do you know? Average open rate on this kind of stuff is at probably nine to 12% of your folks are opening those up, maybe. Yeah. If you get up to that 17% mark, you’re doing really well.
Tony Ray Baker:
So, now, when you look at newsletters coming in the mailbox, they actually keep them. Who’s got a sample of a newsletter? You guys have one you can hold up? So, see the bright yellow newsletter?
That one comes in the mailbox, people see it, they keep it. Why are they keeping these to read them? They’ve got personal stuff in them. They’ve got really awesome things in there from you. Right? From Chris, from Rosemary, and who do they care about? Laurie, Chris, Rosemary, you, right.
Tony Ray Baker:
And so, why is that important? That’s a little piece of you went out in the mail, and they get to know you more. And, that’s probably the hardest part of doing a newsletter that we’re going to struggle with today, is getting to know you. She’s smiling really big back there Michelle.
Michelle:
What happens is I did my core this time, a little more, so I didn’t have to spill myself into [crosstalk 00:25:26]
Tony Ray Baker:
Yeah. How did it feel when you were doing it?
Michelle:
It felt good. It’s nerve wracking because you’re wondering if they’re going to give a hoot, but like you said, it’s about us, and we’re sending it to people that we know and hopefully they will give a hoot.
Tony Ray Baker:
Right. Okay. So, this is super important. So, who does not know the FORD formula, F-O-R-D. Just tell me who doesn’t know FORD formula. Okay, so we’re going to do FORD catch up. Who knows what FORD stands for, what’s F? Family, occupation, I heard it, yeah, oh my gosh, you have to be able to spell.
Recreation and dreams. Oops, see, D-R-E … there, how’s that? I love it.
Tony Ray Baker:
Okay. So, these are the things that people care about when we’re having a conversation. I’ll bet you almost every one of you had this conversation already today with somebody on the phone, if you actually had a conversation on your phone today.
Tony Ray Baker:
When your friend calls you, ask about their family, about the kids, the dog. You ask about family, right? Isn’t that pretty much the first thing you go to, right? Occupation is very normal. We talk about the job, more like we complain or bitch about the job.
You hear that a lot. Not me, I love the job, but you get on phone with your friend and she’s like, “Oh my God, the boss did this today,” and you get that, right? So, that’s occupation.
Tony Ray Baker:
Recreation, what’s recreation? Does anybody get recreation in this room?
Speaker 11:
Yes.
Tony Ray Baker:
Yes. Nice, I like to hear. I’ve been in rooms where no one gets recreation, because we’re realtors, right? Dreams, what are dreams? Tell me somebody’s dream? What’s your dream right now Michelle? Tell me a dream? Give me one little dream?
Michelle:
Mine is to lose weight and get healthy.
Tony Ray Baker:
Lose weight, get healthy. Somebody else, a different dream?
Speaker 12:
A new house.
Tony Ray Baker:
You want a new house? I’ve got a realtor. Give me a dream. Vacation.
Speaker 13:
To spend a month on the west coast.
Tony Ray Baker:
That’s the great dream, right? It doesn’t have to be a dream though, we can make that happen. Right? Right. By doing things like this. So, when we talk to folks, we’re going to talk about family, occupation, recreation and dreams.
We ask those questions. If you put FORD, up by your computer or on your phone and someone calls, you have an immediate conversation starter right there.
Tony Ray Baker:
You always know what’s most important to them is right there, and all you have to do is start asking those questions, and that’s what they want to talk to you about. If it gets too hot or cold in the room, let me know and I will call that techie back.
Tony Ray Baker:
So, with FORD, one of the things it works with is, the premise that people don’t know how much you know until they know you care. And, by knowing you care, how would you know they care? Because you do what?
You’re asking questions. Isn’t the person always thought of most in the room the one that probably spoke the least? Because everybody says, “Oh, my God, I love that woman. She’s so amazing, such a good listener.
She’s so in tune with me.” Why? Because she was really good at asking questions and listening.
Tony Ray Baker:
Isn’t that what we should be doing? How many people have been on a listing appointment and you’ve been up against somebody else, another agent, and they went before you? Anybody had that experience?
Yeah? Come on. Everybody raise your hand that’s been on a listing appointment second after the first agent. How many of us. You want a trick? Don’t present anything.
Tony Ray Baker:
The first person walked in and laid out a book, and they actually presented a ton of stuff, all about them and the company and how great they are. So, when you see that happen, your first trick is, don’t do it.
And, we’ll go into that later. But, that’s because they were not listening and you’re going to listen in a listing appointment.
Tony Ray Baker:
So, I’m going to tell you now, the law of reciprocation says that if you and I have a conversation, anything I say to you, you want to give back, right? So, if I were to ask you about your family, you’re most likely going to ask me about my family.
That’s the law of reciprocation. We all want to do that and accidentally do that with compliments, which is bad. We say, “Oh my God, I love your blouse. I love that color on you.” And she typically says …
Speaker 14:
I love yours too.
Tony Ray Baker:
Yep exactly. What did she just do, what did she just show us? It’s not genuine when you compliment right back, because what’s happening is, is you’re actually negating the compliment because I made her uncomfortable, right? Because she’s like, “Oh, me?” And, we all feel uncomfortable getting compliments.
Tony Ray Baker:
I’ve started newsletters in 1995. I did it because I had met a lady named Diane. I don’t know if she’s still in Tucson or not, but I was told by my business coach, “Interview three successful realtors, and ask them some questions.”
And, I asked Diane, I said, “If I could do only one thing that you do to be successful, what would that be?” And, Diane said, “Do a newsletter, honey.” I said, “Okay,” and so we talked about our newsletter, and it was interesting because it was on blue paper with black ink. I don’t even know if we had color copiers then. Wow. It might have been thermal.
Tony Ray Baker:
I don’t even know. That’s crazy, right? So, she showed me her newsletter, and Diane was handwriting a newsletter, the front page and the back page, and then she folded it over, an eight and a half by eleven sheet of paper, and she would stick a sticky on it and mail them out to a farm.
Back in 1995, she was doing eight to 10 million a year, with no internet. No phones, no cellphones, no fax machines, no pagers. She was doing what? No advertising. She was using a newsletter, not paying for any … she wasn’t paying for other ads.
Tony Ray Baker:
So, I thought that was just amazing. So, that got me on this thing about newsletters. And, she was using it for a farm, and it was working beautifully for a farm. So, my business coach, also at the same time I met him, and he was teaching that we should be doing newsletters to our COI, or SOI.
Everybody know what that is? Perfect. Or, center of influence. It depends on if you want to draw graphs or not.
Tony Ray Baker:
If you want to draw graphs, you use center, because you can put arrows in. Just kidding. So, COI gets a newsletter, and what do they get to hear? They get to hear about your family, your occupation, your recreation and your dreams. Everybody have one of my newsletters in front of them? Is anybody missing a newsletter.
Speaker 15:
Yeah we don’t.
Tony Ray Baker:
It’s got an elephant I think. Elephant? Everybody got an elephant? Yeah, anybody not got one? Okay, and then does anybody not have a giant sheet of paper? Anybody missing paper? Okay. We’re all good? Okay.
So, the reason we’re going to play at the paper is, I’m going to take everybody, take out the big piece of paper. See what you did. Do we have more big paper? Some people have played with their paper and made origami already.
Tony Ray Baker:
Yeah, Roger needs his … you’re welcome to have more paper if we’ve got it. Everybody take the big piece of paper, and fold it in half. One half, a line down the center. This is hard, isn’t it? It’s like you’re in grade school again.
No, other way. All right. Everybody, you just made a newsletter. Woo hoo. Right. Everybody just made a newsletter. This is so simple. It doesn’t look that way though, when you print it.
Tony Ray Baker:
If you look at my newsletter, that’s the four pieces of paper that are going to create that newsletter. Does this make sense? So, can I see yours? You did such a nice job. So, when you print the elephant page, and you print the back page, you lay them both on the copy machine and they print out on this big piece of paper.
Then, you put it in the copy machine again, and the other two pages, and they print back out and you have a four sided newsletter.
Tony Ray Baker:
When you get this, it says, “At home with Darren and Tony Ray,” and then you fold it in half, you put a little sticky on the top, a stamp, and it gets mailed out. Right? We have samples of this.
You have those? Laurie, do you have some folded sample, a folded one? I know this seems really primitive when I’m teaching you this, but every class I have, everybody asks me how to make the paper, so I want to make sure we’re all good on it.
Tony Ray Baker:
Okay. So, ooh, this one’s fancy and has an insert. Don’t get confused. Hold on. See how nice? And then, she’s got the inside pages, which you have page two and three of mine, and then she’s got a back page.
This page can stay the same all the time, or it can constantly move, but this piece right here is going to stay the same.
Tony Ray Baker:
And then, she folds it, and she puts two … what do you call those dots? Wafers. You put two wafers up there, right? And then you can do bulk mail or put a first class stamp. Everybody got that? Super simple. Okay. Thank you, can I keep this up here? Okay.
She went and actually made an insert, so she could put it inside. This is a good place for a color paper insert if you have a little HP at home. Who has an HP? Who knows how much their cost per copy is on an HP? Nine cents.
Tony Ray Baker:
Full color copies on your HP printer run around nine cents. Yeah. So, I have a HP printer. It’s an 8600, all in one. That thing cranks out more copies than … it just cranks them. We do thousands of copies. I can crank these out all day long.
And, they’re not a dollar a sheet, when you go to the printer, they’re eight or nine cents.
Tony Ray Baker:
So, what I do, is take this piece of paper, we send out the four sheets to our printer, our printer puts them all together and our printer folds them for us, and our printer puts the little wafers. I like the wafer word, wafers on them.
And our printer mails them bulk mail. And, as long as you have more than 200, you’re probably in a really good spot, because the cost comes way down.
Kristi Frank:
The 8600 does the fold?
Tony Ray Baker:
No. The 8600 is an HP printer that I use just for my color printing and photograph printing for-
Kristi Frank:
… public libraries, it’s five cents.
Tony Ray Baker:
For color? Color copies, public library, for a nickel. That’s better than mine. Wow. That’s a Kristi Frank tidbit. Let’s all thank you. Woo. Wow. Public libraries, who knew those were back in right?
That is so cool. There’s some really cool stuff going on. I just heard about public libraries and what they’re doing now to get people back. So, you may want to go check those out. Yes.
Speaker 17:
I just wanted to ask, do you write your own content and do the layout of your own? Or, do you hire somebody?
Tony Ray Baker:
We’re going to get into it. Yeah, I’m going to get you in there. She just took … you were just in my class …
Speaker 18:
I was there too.
Speaker 17:
… [inaudible 00:37:54] in October-
Tony Ray Baker:
Yeah, and we talked about it, yeah.
Speaker 18:
I did it too, and I [inaudible 00:38:00] Fidelity, [crosstalk 00:38:00]. I got my 200.
Tony Ray Baker:
Got your 200.
Speaker 18:
And, I met Dawn, helped me brand myself.
Tony Ray Baker:
Nice.
Speaker 18:
And she’s going to do the layout. It’s getting a little expensive, and so-
Tony Ray Baker:
So, you went to the extreme line … so, I want, that’s really glad, I’m glad you brought this up. So, you can do what you’re doing, which is spending the money, but my classes are called Marketing on a Dime for a reason. I started out eating Smack ramen.
I was looking at a refrigerator box for a house, I’m telling you, I had no money, didn’t sell a house my first year in real estate, didn’t even know how I was going to survive year number too, let alone what had just happened.
Tony Ray Baker:
And, all the money I had in my savings account was drained out. Now, how many people had no … how many of us that have been through that? How many kids do you see pop in this business and they’re out within one year, because they did that exact same thing I did? Right?
Tony Ray Baker:
No one told us we had to open a business. They just told us we had to pass a test and then some magic company called a broker was going to take care of us and take us under their wings for ever and ever, and pay us paychecks, and give us great benefits, and we were going to be millionaire children and, I don’t know.
Tony Ray Baker:
We’re all lied to. It was all a big lie. No one said, “Hey, let’s start a business,” or all of us probably would’ve rethought that. You’re going to become a CPA and a marketer and an advertiser and you’re going to be your promotions guy, and you’re going to learn how to do real estate, and oh by the way, everything’s your job and responsibility to pay for.
Tony Ray Baker:
So, the reason I tell you that is, because I do this newsletter and it costs me hardly a thing, because I used Microsoft Publisher, a program that has template newsletters already on it, and I just use Microsoft Publisher, and I use one of their templates to get me started. There is a thing called analysis by paralysis, no, paralysis by analysis.
Tony Ray Baker:
We all want to think it out and think it through. I’m going to hopefully encourage you today to not think about a thing and just do it. You don’t have to have anything fancy to start. Let’s just get some money coming in. Right? Let’s just make this happen.
So, I’m telling you … who does not have a program on their computer that has a template of some Word doc, Word has it, they have newsletters, and so does Microsoft Publisher. Who doesn’t have that? Anybody?
Tony Ray Baker:
If you don’t have it and you’re shy right now and you don’t want to tell me, your offices should have something. I know our offices has Microsoft Publisher and Word on every computer, so I know your offices have them. And so, you can go in and sit at the office … you got to not talk to all your friends, and you got to get it done, and go in there if you have to, but just use a template and get it started.
Tony Ray Baker:
Working on branding is great. I never did it. It happened for me on a vacation when an iguana crawled on my head. So, that branding happened, but I never did it intentionally. I never spent the money. Nice.
Speaker 19:
I just didn’t have any cards.
Tony Ray Baker:
Nice.
Speaker 19:
So, I haven’t gotten any cards or I was going to get somebody professionally to do the newsletter because I don’t feel I can really do it.
Tony Ray Baker:
Okay. Who feels the same way? Did … who’s intimidated by it? Perfect. Let’s be honest. And then, who feels that someone else could do your newsletter better? Right. You can’t. Because, I’m telling you that’s not you right there. If Michelle writes this for you, it’s going to be Michelle.
Tony Ray Baker:
I need you right there. I need you to pick out the stuff online that you’re going to put in this newsletter, because it’s relevant to you. Because if we all like, love and trust you, we want to know what you have to say. And, if pick out a recipe that you love and put it in here, we’re probably going to like it too, because we’re like minds.
Tony Ray Baker:
There’s an energy. You attract a very specific energy to you. Everyone has a different energy and all of us attract a whole different circle of people to us, and those people like, love and trust us because we’re us. Please don’t take that away from them. They want you. You cannot screw this up. There’s no screwing this up. None. Yes.
Speaker 20:
So, you [crosstalk 00:42:37]
Tony Ray Baker:
Yeah. It totally does not work. Okay. Yes.
Speaker 21:
I did the same the with Prospect Plus and they had a newsletter, and I went and sent things out. I put my own picture, and my own tag line on the top. When the packet came, I had picked the front of one newsletter and the back of another one, it didn’t even match, and that week was Tony’s class, and that was my sign that needed to throw that in the trash and do this.
Tony Ray Baker:
What.
Speaker 22:
When I started-
Tony Ray Baker:
Good. I’m glad we’re all … and that’s why we’re here-
Speaker 22:
I was going to do it quarterly, but I really have concerns that monthly is better.
Tony Ray Baker:
Monthly is better, but I’d rather you start quarterly if that’s where you have to, to get you down to monthly, but yes, monthly’s better. Michelle, any results coming in already off of that first newsletter? People tell you, “Hey, you’re cute?” What?
Michelle:
So, we did one. I liked that it was an opportunity for me to speak to business owners about me featuring them in my newsletter.
Tony Ray Baker:
Nice.
Michelle:
When I talked to the lady about using her in my newsletter, she was like, “Oh, I’m thinking about selling my property,” so I quickly turned it into-
Tony Ray Baker:
A lead.
Michelle:
As she’s looking to buy a property.
Tony Ray Baker:
Did you mail that out already? Your first one?
Michelle:
So, I mailed the first one out, and I just finished writing the second one, so that went out this Sunday to the printing company probably-
Tony Ray Baker:
Any feedback from … how many clients did you mail to?
Michelle:
I did 100 of my sphere and 100 of my [inaudible 00:44:09] like you had recommended and I had 20 loose copies that I carried always and gave them out.
Tony Ray Baker:
Ooh. There’s a good idea to write down, 20 loose copies with you at all times.
Michelle:
More than 200 turned into almost a dollar-
Tony Ray Baker:
Yeah. So, I really … what she’s talking about 200 is, is you really want to do 200 because then you can go bulk mail. I don’t want to do the work.
Michelle:
No. Right.
Tony Ray Baker:
If you’ve got the time, when I was started in business, I had no business, so I had plenty of time. So, my friends and I would drink wine and fold newsletters and play with wafers. Not church wafers like she’s talking about.
Wafers and wine, totally different group of wafers and wine. But, we sat and folded these ourselves because you do what you have to do to market on a dime, right? We’re trying to do it as cheaply as possible to get started, to make money, so we can afford to outsource and not do it anymore.
Tony Ray Baker:
But, right now, what I have discovered is, you can probably make these. You can print these. They’re black on color, so you want to … this is a perfect newsletter, by the way. She did it perfectly. You want yellow with black ink. That’s all you need. Perfect.
Tony Ray Baker:
This costs you just the cost for black and white printing, right? It costs you cost of a stamp. That’s 50 cents per person, so if you have 100 people that you’re sending out to in your COI, it’s going to cost you 50 bucks plus the copy, plus the paper, so, maybe 65 bucks for 100. When you get to 200 … yes.
Speaker 23:
I just want to say, that newsletter is a cost 34 cents to me in the mail, including the labels, the wafers, the paper, the printing and mailing them out, you’re looking at [crosstalk 00:46:00] I didn’t take any one [inaudible 00:46:02], read the articles [crosstalk 00:46:05] did an article.
I put it together in the, using the Publisher program. Just did our newsletter today. I think all of the time was two hours and I have [crosstalk 00:46:22].
Tony Ray Baker:
Now, did everybody hear that? So, about 34 cents is what she’s doing on her own.
Speaker 23:
Bulk mail.
Tony Ray Baker:
Yeah. She used bulk mail, right? So you used it through your company? Yeah? I think everybody’s company probably has a bulk mail thing for you. So, you can get this down pretty low.
For me right now, what it is for us is that we go on our computer program. We grab, copy, paste stuff from websites. We put in what’s relevant to our clients. I write a personal letter on the front. I put in any information I want them to have at the time. And, then, I just hit send and I ship it out to the mailing house.
Tony Ray Baker:
It’s costing me 80 cents a piece, but I don’t do anything. My time is that fast. Excuse me. I just have to make the newsletter and that means just getting that content in there, and they print it and take care of it.
Any extras, they send back to me and then I use them the same way, I give them out. Okay? Okay. We’re needing of a break, so I’m going to give everybody a break and then when you come back, we’re going to get down and dirty as to what these things … why you’re going to do what you’re going to do.
