KGCI: Real Estate on Air - Break Into Luxury in 5 Steps

Episode Date: October 1, 2024

Welcome back real estate rock stars. If you are considering getting into the luxury space, this show is just for you. Here's what you can expect to learn. How to package yourself in a way that speaks to the luxury client. One of the most overlooked forms of marketing to luxury clients. Why you should stop paying attention to what other luxury agents are doing online and code words that are used within this community. Today's guest, is Danielle Garofalo. Danielle founded Think Billion Dollar, and today she is going deep into her methods on brand building and engagement, specifically for the luxury client. So if you've ever been interested in raising your average sales price point, this show is what you've been waiting for.

Rockstars, please welcome Danielle Garofalo. What luxurious and I've never worked in luxury, real estate. It's always fascinated me. And so let's pretend. Let's Let's just pretend I'm an experienced agent. I've got deals under my belt. I've got years of, you know, experience on my belt, maybe like 100 transactions. And I'm ready, I think, to make the leap to luxury. What do I do? You know, it's funny the question you should ask.

First of all, I disagree with you not being luxurious. So we'll just get that out of the way. Luxury is not a price point. It's not a price point. But this is by far, like I said, I speak about eight to ten conferences a year. between my Instagram and email and all of that, it is the first question that I am asked by any new client. Everyone wants to kind of raise their price point from wherever they are to wherever the top price point is in their market.

So obviously that price points looks a little different from Pittsburgh to Manhattan, from Miami to Kansas City. So this is not kind of advice that I'm giving you just for the top 20 luxury markets in the country. This is whatever is in your market, whatever luxury, whatever the price point is for luxury in your market. The reason why most agents are not there is because they are not what I will, the phrase I'll use is kind of put together. They have a bunch of touch points, whether that's a newsletter or it's mailers or its social media. And none of these points match. So the branding is either off. I'm not, you know, I'm not certainly not talking about,

um, just logos or anything like that, but maybe they have different headshots, wherever, like your, your brand and your message is not consistent across all touch points. So what you want is a business that's put together. And that is by far the easiest, like, and first step that you should take when you are looking to raise your price point. Get it together. I think is the best is like, get it together. It's the best piece of advice that I could give if you were looking, you know, baseline. Where do I start? Start there. Get it together. Okay. In my journey to get it together. You mentioned, you mentioned headshots.

You mentioned brand, you know, the message, essentially. So can we, because, you know, if I'm going to take this advice, I'm like, oh, man, do I, do I need new headshots? Do now I need to like go into the most expensive penthouse and spend a million dollars and rent rent the runway like to do so i don't know can we go a little deeper into getting getting our shit together here be consistent is the number one thing i think you know it's very funny i i sat down with a client um you know i work with clients typically in three month blocks i don't want to you know have you as a client forever i want to teach you so that you can do it so this client came to me and i was looking at all of her photos and one photo was like of her with sunglasses on the phone. And that was the headshot that she used for a couple of different things.

And then she had this really professional headshot. A headshot, you don't have to run out to Peter Hurley and get the best headshot in the world. You can. It'll look amazing. But what you should do is, you know, if you're a low on a budget, find someone who is a photographer that is looking to build their portfolio. Get that picture to, you know, a professional looking shot of you right now, not of you 20 years ago. I have a really great story of a client who I had met her. She emailed me a bunch of stuff. I looked at her headshot. She had this really pretty jet black hair. And so I was meeting her out for coffee. I sit, you know, I sit down and waiting. I'm looking for this woman. And she texts me and she's like, are you, are you coming? And I said,

no, I'm actually here. She said, oh, so am I. So she goes, I'm going to raise my hand in the text. I'm going to raise my hand. She raised her hand. And this lovely silver-haired woman raised her hand. And I said to her, I am so sorry. She said, I know. My headshot's a little out of date. So the point is, you don't have to go out and get the most expensive headshot. Like I said, you can go to someone who is building their portfolio, do it that way. It needs to be consistent. It needs to be current. It needs to look like, again, you've got it together. Because if you can't get yourself together, what hope do I have that you will take my home, which again, I'm at the top of my market now. Do I have faith in the fact that you can't market yourself at the top level? How are you going to do that for my listing?

How are you going to do that for my home? So it's a very, very basic principle that most agents, surprisingly, you know, you think, oh my gosh, everybody, it's the year 2024. Everybody has the ability to do this, that, and the other thing. Everybody's got it together. No, it's actually not. So. Yeah. I was going to say no one has it together. But Daniel, I know you have it together. So an inspiration. Nothing wrong with it. It's an inspiration for all of us. You know, get it together. Okay. So we're getting a headshot. We're getting it updated. It's professional. It's consistent across all of our platforms. And you also mentioned logos and message. So let's let's start with message. How do we get, how do we get a luxurious message? What is that? The most important thing that I think everybody should be. walk away with today, whether you hear nothing else, you never heard, you didn't pay attention to the headshot point, you pay attention to nothing after, you didn't hear me say, get it together. The thing that I think you have to take a look at and have a third party do this, whether it's a

friend or a family member or, you know, a former client, someone, you're making people, most agents make people burn too many calories to figure out what it is that they do well and what it is that they're going to do for you. We're stuck in this age where, again, it's social media and we have the ability to kind of sit here and in our living room come up with these amazing pieces of content. But most of them are about the agent. And what people want you to talk about is, number one, what do you do? What do you do really well? And what are you going to do for me? What does that mean for me. So these pieces of content that you put out, they're most likely very confusing. Our noise in this world in 2024, excuse me, our enemy in this world in 2024 is noise.

So if you are making too much of it, people, and you're not saying anything, people are checking out. You don't have to use a phrase like, I have sold the most expensive home in our market. And I mean, it's certainly wonderful if you do. But again, if I'm going to hire you, that's great that you've done that. Now, tell me what you're going to do for me. That is what you really need to focus on is what you're offering what that means to the future seller or the future buyer that you're going to be working with, the luxury, you know, the luxury client. Don't make me work hard to understand what you're going to do for me. Do you have, is an example, something that you could pull out of nowhere and share with us.

Well, you know what? I'll use an example actually from my neighborhood. So I get this, you know, flyer like all of us do. We get, you know, flyers all the time from the mailers, excuse me, all the time from agents. And on the cover is an agent who's like, you know, in a really funky pose. And they're talking to me about how, you know, they've got a lot of spunk and they're, you know, a lot of spark and that the real estate example that they're doing will, we'll do real estate together in a holistic way. I don't even know what that means.

So on the cover of this, this thing that's supposed to catch my attention is 100% about the agent. And on the back, because I flipped, because I'm a marketing nut, and of course I'm going to pay attention to the marketing, right? So I flipped to the back and it shows that she sold a home in my neighborhood, broke a record overask in three weeks for someone not like a couple of months ago. That is what she should have led with. I don't as somebody, you know, listen, as a seller, I'm going to sell my house. I don't care that she has spunk. She could be the most boring human being in the world.

That's totally fine. Are you going to sell my house for overask? And then another line that she had in there that jumped out at me was she made the buying process simple. She could literally get everyone in the neighborhood as a seller if she told us, first thing out of the gate, I sold a house around the corner from you and I broke records. Overask in three weeks and I made the process very simple for the seller. Now, do I care that they have spunk? Like the, you know, like the whole, the missed opportunity because I'm a marketing nut, I focus on the marketing piece of it, but if I'm a seller, the first thing you just told me is something that is a bunch of noise.

Like I'm holistic at doing my real estate. I have Spark. That doesn't make me want to give you my home where you could potentially break another record. You've got my attention. Now what are you going to do with it? You need to tell me the thing that you are going, you've just done. I sold this and what that means that I've sold this at a breaking record, I'm going to break a record for you. So that for me, that is a perfect example. And I actually, you know, I use this

example in, you know, my experiences with my clients. I certainly, I would never want to embarrass anyone, but I show them the messaging and how the messaging, you know, on front to back was completely the inaccurate. So that is a perfect example of, you know, an agent having the forum, the opportunity. She's got everyone here in the neighborhood paying attention. And what she chose to do with it was talk about Spark and Spunk. Okay. So hit him, hit him out the gate with what's in it for them. And as simple as possible, take the work out of it. So now that we have this message. So this in particular example was on a flyer. And I know we're all about consistency as we're getting ourselves together here in 2024.

So where are the areas that I need to think through where my message is consistently? So put yourself, again, we all, you know, the pieces of content we put out there, you really need to think of your audience first when you're putting it out there. And I wouldn't necessarily think, well, I just want every seller in the world to see this. Nope. If you're going to, especially the luxury piece of things, put yourself in the shoes of a person who has a $10 million, $20 million. In certain markets, it's a different price point, you know, $2, $2,000, whatever that is at the top of your market. You have that home to sell. Look at your message. Is it clear? Do I understand it? And two, is it enough to make me say, I trust you with selling. my house. Remove yourself from it and see, if you were presented with this messaging, are you going to go out there and hire me? Is it be realistic with yourself? No one never does themselves any favors by being like, this is great. I can't do wrong. This is amazing.

Nope. Be your worst critic and say to yourself, because people will be your worst critic. So you might as well be your own first. Before it gets out of the gate, you should should be harsh on yourself first. Okay. This is something that I think will absolutely resonate with the seller of a one to ten, $100 million home. And so when you mentioned putting yourself in your audience's shoes and if they're this luxury client that we're talking about, are we also putting that messaging because I'm trying to figure out, I guess, where to put it. I was thinking more of like, are we doing website, social media, like signature block? Like, are you having, a consistent message in that way or am I after that?

It's a message across all touchpoints. So whether that's social, whether that's mailers, whether that's newsletters, whether that's, you know, in person. One of the most overlooked ways of marketing is actually word of mouth marketing. We all tend to think that whatever we put on social media is talked about to everyone as soon as it's out there. That's actually not the case. So you and I are text messaging.

That's word of mouth marketing. You know, is there something that is going to be so memorable that you're going to put out as a piece of content as a real estate agent that I'm going to talk to my friend about it. There are certain things. But typically the content that goes out there that is more of like, hey, everybody, you know, there's a strawberry festival and stuff like that. That is not the stuff that people talk about. So I am a huge fan, huge fan of LinkedIn. You know, obviously I love Instagram and TikTok and all the ways that these things can work for you.

But if you're talking about a luxury demographic, there are 90 million decision makers on LinkedIn. that C-level executives on their active on the platform and growing because LinkedIn year over year is growing like crazy. Also, four out of every 10 millionaires is on LinkedIn. That's your demographic. If you want to talk about TikTok, only 25% of the people who are on TikTok make over 75,000 a year. That's not necessarily a luxury demographic. So if you are thinking about, hey, where do I go first? And if I have one place where I can make an impression, get yourself started on LinkedIn. it's already understood that you're talking about business there. So nobody's going to scroll by and be like, you know what?

Hey, I wanted to look at a couple of memes and laugh today. So, you know, this is why I'm here on Instagram and I'm going to scroll past everything else. LinkedIn, you're there for one purpose and it's business. So what you're, like what you're worried about posting is actually the welcome thing that you should be posting there. So that is my, that is my moment about LinkedIn. I'm a very big, very bullish on what LinkedIn is going to become, you know, certainly, It's one of the oldest social networks and, you know, gosh, we've been there forever and ever. But as it evolves, it certainly is exciting to see more people taking advantage of it in the correct way.

I think that's great. We rarely talk about LinkedIn on this podcast. So that was very exciting. You know why? You know why? It's boring. It's very boring. LinkedIn is one of those places where you go to you're like, like what's here.

However, if you're posting consistent, good. useful, like valuable and useful content. That's, you know, what does that quote? Do you know, you strive to be a value? Like that is what you should be to all of your clients. You should strive to be of value to them. And I promise if you start bringing valuable content on LinkedIn, LinkedIn has an incredible way of giving things reach and sharing it throughout. I mean, there are things that pop up in my feed that I'm like, this is awesome. And it turns out that it's someone who I'm connected to that they're liking and that they're commenting on. and it pops up in my feed. So LinkedIn is really great at sharing reach. I'm not saying,

oh my gosh, this is it, you know, ditch your Instagram, ditch or whatever. But like LinkedIn gets overlooked because it's not the shiny fun object. We're not dancing there. We're not, you know, there's not a ton of memes, which thankfully, but yeah, it's it's a place where people are expecting to do business. So why aren't you doing business there? Okay. And I want to, I'm going to come back to that and just a second. I have one more question on LinkedIn. But first, I need to make sure I tie a bow on this, getting my together in 2024 package. We have talked about, we talked about the headshot. We talked about the message. The other thing that pops to mind is that I think people get hung up on and it's like, do I need to create a luxurious logo? Is there a specific

color scheme that's going to give me away that I'm not actually? Like, you talk to logos and anything else we might have missed in like packaging. So one of the things that I do is I, I sort of take everyone, I pull everyone out of this merry go round of paying attention to top agents in every single market and seeing what they do. Okay. Like that's, it's great. But then what happens is, it's like, you know, when there's an agent who does really, really well on like TikTok and Instagram, all of a sudden, there are a million different copycats and no one stands out because they're doing exactly what that top agent is doing. So what I want people to focus on is I want people to focus on what luxurious, what other luxurious brands are doing.

So case in point, one of the things, if you look about art and one of the like the first people in this industry that I ever had who was a really smart manager, this gentleman had a big, big presence and influence with some of the auction houses in New York, you know, global auction houses. but they're based in New York. And one of the things that he had told me was a word that stuck out, was sort of like a code word for luxury, were not words that were like luxurious and grand and deluxe and like all of these cheesy words that you think. But see how the auction house talks about a piece of art. So one of the top artworks that they'll have auctioned off, it's called Important. And he's like, if you pay attention to these words like important and special. And these are words that are used in other industry, other luxury industries, and they, you know, carry over to,

you know, if you carry them over into real estate, the people who are with these, you know, purchasing art or whatever it is, they'll recognize that. And it will be sort of like, oh, yeah, I understand that. It's important. It's special. Like there are, I mean, as crazy as it sounds for those two words to be like jumping out at you, uh, there are words that have been describing, you know, big-time works of art for a long time. So that is something that, you know, look outside of real estate, I think, is kind of what I'm trying to say, is take a look at how other industries, you know, whether it's art or whether it's jewelry. One of my first clients ever was Christy's jewelry, which, I mean, we could talk a whole other podcast about what

it's like to have a $4 million pink diamond ring on your finger and kind of go through all of that. But I was so taken by how they actually, you know, marketed their brand to their clients. And it's helpful to kind of incorporate into real estate and how I help my clients. So, Chrissies is just one example. You know, my goodness, there's Arme, there's Gucci, there's Chanel. There's a million different brands that you can look to who have been doing this since the dawn of time. and how they've marketed their brands. So that's where I think you should pay attention, not always jump to the agent who's got this logo or doing whatever. Nope, because then you're

going to be just like them. It's going to be inauthentic. So take little pieces from each of these luxury brands and incorporate it into the brand that you already have. So it's authentic and it's luxurious. It's a really good tip. There are a lot of tips in there that I would not have thought of. So very helpful. That's why I'm really. Yeah, for real. And zooming it back up to the beginning, that first question where it's like, I'm leaping to luxury, what do I do?

And at this point, I've kind of got, you know, a little bit together. And I am not copying the trends I see on, you know, Instagram or LinkedIn of what these other, you know, luxurious agents are doing. But instead brands that are tried and true in that space. So what else do I need to be thinking of and doing to make the lead. One important thing that you've got to focus on is that there is not going to be kind of like a line in the sand, right? So I was selling, you know, homes at a certain price point. And today I am no longer selling that and I am luxury. Like there is not going to be

that line in the sand. However, for your brand, what you need to do is you need to start transitioning the look immediately. So like I said, the headshot, when you start going out and kind of understanding, I would say if you're going into luxury, well, you need to understand that price point. You need to understand the market. You need to understand when someone comes to you and says, hey, you know what? I have a four million. You never know what somebody is going to say to you. You know, I have this $5 million home that my family is going to put up for sale. Great. What would your next thing be that you say? You have to be prepared in a way of my marketing is all together. I have this look of, of consistency. I have this look that I am prepared and I have the knowledge behind me because really

to say that you want to do it is just not enough. You need to know the market so that when you get that opportunity, we learn this from every agent who comes our way. These opportunities come up when you least expect it. So you need to be preparing for the moment when that opportunity is going to come your way and for the opportunity that you will create down the line. So, you know, getting it together is one thing. But having the knowledge so that you are ready when it comes your way is is another huge. I mean, that's a necessity. And I think that's something that's really intimidating. If, you know, you're having conversation and it's like, oh, I do have a $4 million house and I'd like to list it. And then they just look at you. Like, I can just send, you know, listeners, oh my gosh, I wasn't ready. Right, exactly. So do you, besides, of course, doing your homework, which, you know, diving into the MLS and seeing what the luxury market is doing, like, do you have any other

recommendations for preparing themselves for that conversation and or tips on how to talk with someone who owns a multi-million dollar house? Yeah, because the other thing that I think I hear from agents all the time is, okay, but when I get that opportunity, I've actually never sold in that price point before, so they would be nervous. So what I recommend and this is what a lot of agents do and what a lot of agents have gotten their start. I'm not inventing this is that they ask another agent who, you know, is well experienced in that end of the market to, you know, co-broke it with them or, you know, help the market or,

you know, just be on the listing. But what they also do that I will tell you that you, you know, agents should do before that is, okay, great. if this is your, you're going to get that opportunity when you least expect it. You can't be in a panic of, oh my gosh, now what do I do? You have to have the checklist ready of what you are going to do when you get the opportunity. Okay, number one, my marketing is all together. Number two, I've been studying the market. You know, I understand what's going on or whatever. Number three, I've already sat with an agent who I know I would have on a listing with me. You prepare them for the moment that you're going to bring to

them down the line so that they're not caught off guard and like, yeah, that's not what I do. So then you're scrambling to fine. You envision yourself being in a luxury market and being at a luxury price point, excuse me, get the agent who you know you want to help. Get two, get three, who you can go to and say, okay, great, I got this opportunity. We're going to go on this pitch. I need you here. I need, you know, I need your help and whatever. Have it ready. Have it ready as if it's happening tomorrow is my point. And then, sure enough, you never know when that will happen. But that is so important is to have it already, have those things in place so that when you get the opportunity, you know how to take advantage of it instantly. Is there any, you already mentioned

like the code words. You know, there's certain code words. Are there any other like tips that you've seen because it's kind of like the, you know, once there's a certain level of money and a there's, that's a culture. You know, there's a whole culture involved in that. So are there any other like cultural, conversational kind of tips that you might have besides other than those code words you've already mentioned? So I think that you shouldn't, I think the worst thing that most agents do think they should do. I wouldn't say they do this. But I think from, From what I've heard and what I've had people ask is that they're like, oh, I just pretend I've done. That is probably the worst idea that you could possibly ever have.

There is nothing wrong with saying. Yeah, there's nothing wrong with saying, you know what? I have an agent who I work with when it comes to this type of listing. Name the agent who's a name you drop. But the worst thing to do is to kind of the fake it till you make it in a sense where you're flat out lying. If you want to say to somebody, you know what? I have been, you know, tearing it up here in this part of the market. You know, we're doing this many deals a year. You know, we're getting toward that, you know, we're working toward that number. But I have an agent who I work with, who I can apply all of the things that I already do to the price point that they work with already. So they'll be working with me on it. Don't pretend you've done it before. Because many clients ask. And they have that right to say, you know what, I'd love to speak with your client before to see how that went for you.

Then what are you going to do? Like you're putting yourself in a position where, you know, there's nothing wrong with confidence. There's nothing. I love a confident agent because confident. Confidence means that they are going to do the work to get there most of the time. But to your point of like, what should I? Don't act like you've done it because that's. that's not going to go well for you. So have the answers. Like pretend, and if you have to do this with a friend or somebody on your team or something like that, walk through the questions that you're going to get. Walk through the questions that you think a seller would ask to someone like you who's never sold in that price point before.

You'll have the right answers for them and being honest and being gung-ho and whatever. You'd be surprised how many people have gotten their. like start from someone because they've been confident and they've done the right thing versus pretending they've been there and that falls apart very quickly. This is like a great moment for chat GPT where it's going there and it's like pretend that I'm a homeowner of a question a $10 million house when your top price point is a half a million. Yeah, sure. Totally.

Okay, Danielle. So we've got ourselves together. We've done our research. We've prepared for the questions. Like if the conversation comes up, we are ready. But how do we put ourselves in more situations where those conversations may come up? You've mentioned LinkedIn. What are maybe networking?

How are we getting ourselves the opportunity to have those conversations? So I'm going to give you a little bit of a secret here that a lot of my clients have before we don't. If you notice, there's a lot of top agents out there who have, and I mean a lot of top agents out there who have absolutely no presence on social media whatsoever. Why? Because they're too busy. They're too busy putting themselves in the right network, in the right places with the right people face to face to where, you may be hoping for an Instagram look or a LinkedIn look. If you're putting all your eggs in that basket, you may be waiting a while. So you have to find whatever, you know, whatever it is, whatever charities, events or whatever friends that you have in common, using your own network to kind of expand to get, you know,

better, like, you have to put yourself in those positions because that's what those top agents are doing. They're not, they didn't get here by becoming, you know, hey, I'm just putting all of my eggs in the Instagram basket. I'm not saying that's one way they, you know, my gosh, of course, it's, it's a, it's a tremendous tool, but it's not all they use. And so when you do see someone who has sold, you know, like one of my clients for forever, sells about $700 million. worth of real estate a year. He's not tremendous on any social network. I mean, he's there. He has a presence. He certainly puts up everything, but his thing is in person. And so it's putting yourself in those. If you're not like a like me, I'm not necessarily a, um, an extrovert and going out

and whatever. Um, this industry may not be for you if you're not like in that regard. If you're an agent or in that regard, if you're not in a, but, um, if you are, there are a ton of different ways where you can put yourself in front of the people who are in this demographic where you are going to have the opportunity to sell their home. But you got to be there. You got to be in it to win it. You got to be there. You got to put yourself in those opportunities and not put your eggs in any one basket too much. Not put your eggs in, you know, my gosh, all just in social media and I'm not being out there in the world. Okay. Well, that's one way of doing it. But to, yeah. No, For sure. And I said this, I don't think it was on this podcast yet, but I recently had my Facebook

account disabled. And I tried for like a couple months to get it back. And like, no, it's permanently disabled. And so like hypothetically, if I had built my entire business off of a Facebook group or, you know, just, you know, using Facebook as a CRM, which I hear people all the time, they're like, Instagram is my CRM. And I'm like, you're not in control of it. They can shut you down. that is not your data. Just a, yeah, you have to diversify. That's a huge. I feel terrible for you because that is such, oh my gosh, that is such a heartbreaking thing. I mean, I've heard it happen. A friend of mine happened with LinkedIn. And forever she was, you know, oh my gosh, her, her following on LinkedIn was impressive. I mean, she had whatever. And then all of a sudden,

through some sort of glitch, LinkedIn felt that she was doing spam behavior and they locked it down. It took her a couple of months to get it back. And so that was like a really painful lesson for her that I will tell you that, you know, my gosh, learned from all of this that's happening now. My gosh, you have to diversify. And you have to keep your data in a place where it's yours. To your point, using a social network as a CRM, I mean, it's not your data. Because at any point to, you know, my gosh, I feel so bad for you. But any point, I only cried twice. It's fine. I'm like, man, like my high school prom pictures, gone. No.

It's so. It's okay. Oh, my God. It's fine. Yeah. Okay. We could talk about that after because I had a client and we fixed it so we can talk on. Oh, my God.

That would be amazing. I would love to. Yeah. Yeah. It's really funny because I finally like created a new account yesterday and I like invited one person and my friend, she texted me on the side and being like, is this spam. I'm about to mark you spam. And I'm like, do not get my new account to say this too.

No, no. Don't do it. Please. Yeah, don't do that. So we could talk about it after. We had, we can talk about that offline. Yeah, I'll be glad to help if I can. Okay, perfect. Okay, so we talked with networking, putting yourself physically in those positions. You mentioned charities, which I think is really smart. Are there any that like pop to mind that are consistently good places for the luxury clientele where they might be hanging out physically? You know, I will say, you know, I, the charities that I'm involved with, um, I've not used them for that purpose. The charities that I have a charity that means the world to me. I, you know, my gosh, galas, this, that, the other thing. Well, I mean, I could just say St. Jude, like I ran, I donated so that I could run in the New York City Marathon at St. Jude in 2018. You know, I donate to them regularly.

But I don't, I don't use that just for that. So if there's something that you're involved with, if you have a charity, that means a lot you actually attending a gala or an event where, you know, people are. That is usually a great way to meet a lot of people. But really, you know, it's start spending time where you see. So if you're, you know, like, moonshot, if you're like, oh, hey, you know, like there's one billionaire who I love to whatever, what organization are they involved in? Okay, great. So, you know, like attracts like. So I'm sure they're not the only person there that's a billionaire or the only person there. that's whatever. But, you know, it's just one of the things that you can do. I think for me,

you know, I use the charity that I love and I see there's agents who would take part in it as well. I don't think that's the main reason, but I do think, and it shouldn't be the main reason, but certainly if you're involved in something, a gala would be a great place where there's silent auctions and stuff like that. You know, never know who you're going to meet. Okay. And with LinkedIn, I just want to circle back to that real quick, before we move on to the next little chunk. You mentioned consistently posting useful, valuable content. And I am trying to imagine if I'm a luxury agent, like, what would that be? So something of value. So I find, you know, a couple of things when I teach in my class, what I do is I teach people how to simplify their message, how to tell a great story and how to tell a great story and how to share properly. So telling a great story is by far key. If you go through any, any luxury brand on

the face of the earth has a great story. And what they do is they make you part of it. And so if anything that you have, that's, you know, I'll, so I'll give you an example. I have a bunch of agents who come to me and we'll, you know, we do the audit of what, you know, they're posting and they're like, well, I have been sharing links forever on LinkedIn. And my question, to them is how does that, how do you think that makes you look like you understand luxury? All that makes you look like is that you understand how to share links. So once you have the story of, and again, if you haven't sold, here's the thing that you can do. Go and preview a home. You know, it's really funny. I have a client who says to me that he walked into an open house for a $10 million home.

And I guess this, this thing had been on the market for a while in Southern California. And he goes there and there's all these people like taking selfies and filming themselves and doing whatever. And what they're not doing, you know, the selling, the seller's agent said, none of these people are going to sell this house. What they're doing here is just taking pictures of themselves to show them in the house. However, if you could turn that around and you could say, not that you have to go in there and film like you are on some show, but if you can go in there and say, give your market knowledge. This home has been for sale for XYZ. Why this is a great deal is this.

So if you want to know the address of this house and you want to know whatever, give me a call and I'll explain to you why this is a great opportunity that I can help present you for in the market. I'm kind of just figuring that I'll say go along. But what I'm saying is you have to give something that's of value. Again, going back to the marketing with the agent, how if you're a seller, if you're somebody who's out there and I just found this, how. how does it help me? So anything that I'm going to see on LinkedIn, how is it going to help me? Tell me a story that at the end of it, I'm more knowledgeable and educated on something and that I have to talk with you about and that, or not that I have to talk with you about that. Talking with you about would make me make a good decision in the real estate. Like give me good information. That is,

don't tell me how wonderful you are. Don't tell me how long. Tell me what. what you are going to do for me. That is the best information that you can put out there on LinkedIn. Like, give me a valuable story. We're at the end, I'm going to contact you with something similar because I need your help to explain, you know, to get me into that scenario. That's my, that's my, that's what I see works. Okay, what did we not talk about that's important for leaping to luxury? Because I feel like we talked about a lot. So what do we not hit? We did talk about a lot. What did we not hit? I don't know. I think that your questions are right on the mark with what I'm asked whenever I step

off the stage, whenever it's one of my favorite parts about speaking is that after I kind of give all this knowledge out there, I have a bunch of people waiting out to ask me, hey, you know, can you take a look at this? I love doing that. And I love helping people understand that, you know, most of the top agents out there did not, do not have like a real estate dynasty behind them. entirely self-made, you know, they either, you know, just worked their way up or got an opportunity that they took advantage of. And so if I can help people, I would say that being prepared for that opportunity is going to make you feel much more confident and kind of like putting, I don't know, this is like kind of hokey, but putting that energy out there that you are ready for

something, when the thing comes your way, you'll be able to jump on it. So I cannot. I cannot stress the importance of being prepared. Like the Boy Scouts here. This is not the Boy Scouts here. This is not the Boy Scout, but this is being prepared. Being prepared is by far the best thing that you could do. And guess what? Being prepared doesn't really cost you a lot, which doesn't cost you a lot. That, well, that teased me up for my next question, because don't you have something for free that's happening in a couple days? So what's coming up? What's up next for you and your company? I do. So you know what's funny. I had a client who said to me, you know, I know that that she was friends with a bunch of agents. And she's like, I don't know if, you know, they can afford to work with you monthly. She's like, do you have another option where you could teach? And I'm like, you know what? Shame on me. I don't. So I created this class called Think Billion Dollar. And I do this, what I call the S3 method, that agents need to understand how to simplify, how to tell a story, and how to share. And so with those three things, as a foundation for everything you do.

It doesn't matter what price point you are. You can go up. You can stay the same. You can kind of expand your business. And so I was talking with Gary Gold, who is top agent in Beverly Hills. He sold the Playboy Mansion. Sold Chartwell Estate.

He's broken all of these records. Man just loves selling homes over $100 million. And Gary created a course called Compete and Beat the Best. And so I said to him, wow, our classes really go together well, don't they? And then I was speaking with having dinner with Glenda Baker, who's another dear friend. And she has over a billion views on all of her social media, which has expanded her business considerably. And so I thought, wow, like we all three of us were kind of like, they're friends, we know each other, we're putting this together. So we put together a webinar called the Ultimate Agent Success Plan for 2024.

for. And we're doing a webinar on the 26th. If you go to think billion dollar.com, you can register. We discuss kind of this. It's very timely that we're talking about this because this is the question that all of us get. How do we raise our price point? How do we break into the luxury market? How do we become the best in our market? And so each of our pieces create this whole plan. I mean, it's literally three weeks to changing your business forever. That's really what our goal. is. And so we're pretty pumped about it. Gary and I had just spoken at something else. And, you know, we were sort of overwhelmed with questions and we're like, we got to keep this momentum going. So, yeah, if you go to think billion dollar dot com and register Friday the 26th is our webinar.

I'm pumped. I think it's because the three of us, we love answering questions. You know, we really, we love it. So my gosh. In confirming, it's Friday the 23rd. of February. I'm sorry, Friday the, Jesus, I can't speak English properly. It's hard. It's hard. I apologize. It's Friday the 23rd. Do I not, I don't have a calendar. So I'm sorry about that. Friday the 23rd. Thank you for knowing more about my week than apparently I can even, and I'm like, no, it's fine. That's what I'm here for. Between the green screen here that I know everybody's going to be photoshopping, please Photoshop a whole dinosaur scene behind me. That would be so damn cool.

But and not knowing the days of the week. So yes, you're right. It is February 23rd this Friday. And the three of us, you know, certainly bring your questions because we'll have the answers. It's, I don't know. It's exciting. It's pretty exciting what we put together here. It's certainly never been done before where three people like us have put our heads together

and come up with a full package. it's usually, you know, pieces of things here and there. But this is the full package of the foundation, which I'm giving you that will launch you into Glenda's part, just to help you get more views. We can't promise that you'll get a billion. Glenda's gotten a billion. But my foundation is my clients have a lifetime sales total of almost $75 billion of real estate. So this is a foundation that I'm really confident in. It works. It worked over and over again. Glendell will teach you hers, and then Gary is going to teach you to take what we've given you and compete with the best and beat them in your market. I can't, I don't know, that's,

it's pretty sweet. It's free. So exciting. And guys, we will have that linked in the show note for you. But again, it is Friday, the 23rd of February, which this will be coming out on the 22nd. So it will be tomorrow is when this is happening, 3 p.m. Eastern San-Morrow. Come join us. Come join us. Exactly. Okay. Five. around wrap up questions. Question number one. What is your favorite app or tool? I love Canva. I know that's not like a, you're looking for a new one, but man, Canva can do everything. I love it. I will accept that answer. Okay. What events are you going to in the next 12 months?

So in the next 12 months, you're real estate related, like fun real estate stuff? Yeah, let's do that. yeah. So I am going to Inman luxury. I will be a Colbel Banker luxury again. Engage. You know, so there are, I always have a great time at Inman. Even if you don't kind of go to every single session, what I would say is I think agents should use Inman luxury for making connections with other agents who are in the luxury market and sort of build their own, you know, someone who's in your feeder market in another place that you can connect with and you can kind of talk to. Like there are so many ways that you can use that. So, you know, we'll be speaking there, but I use that as a great opportunity to connect.

So those are two things right now that I am solid with where I will 100% be going to those two. For sure. And how can listeners help you in your business and where can they go to find you? Oh, well, you can email me at Danielle at Think Billion Dollar. If you want to ask questions, I'm always there. You can go to Danielle Garofalo, which is Instagram. And then you can go to my LinkedIn, of course. I'm always on LinkedIn. I love LinkedIn. I'm very bullish on LinkedIn. And then ThinkBilliondollar.com. There's that site is always changing with different opportunities. and um but i i just mostly love when i get i get great questions and sometimes i think like yeah you know i've i feel like i've been asked everything i could possibly be asked by a luxury agent or a potential

luxury agent no there's always always more so bring it perfect love it and guys you know the drill if you want to hang out with me and aaron we are the shelby show and erin and mouchisagie on the gram we love to hear from you keep it up and otherwise guys that is that is all we have for today. Danielle, thank you for coming on the show in real estate. Thank you. Yes. Thank you. Yes. Great. And real estate rock stars, thanks for listening.