KGCI: Real Estate on Air - Knowing the Psychology Behind Marketing to Get Business & Clients

Episode Date: April 10, 2025

Welcome back to the agent goldmine. Here is what you can expect to learn in today's show. How to use psychology to create the highest converting social media content, how to build a business where 89% of your leads come from Instagram and Facebook, and exactly when to start a team and if you even should. Today we have Hannah Smith, who is Hannah the property geek on Instagram. Instagram. She has built a huge following. And 89% of her business has come from Facebook and Instagram. And we're going to dive deep into that today. Hannah Smith is out in the Twin Cities in Minnesota. And in case you don't know what that is, that is Minneapolis and St. Paul where actually I'm moving to. And she's actually helping me purchase a property out there. We're actually under

contract right now. So she's my agent. She's a badass. Go follow her in case you haven't already. you probably already are. Hannah the property geek, she started out being a real estate agent as a single mom, a young single mom. And therefore, she, you know, a lot of advice is typically, hey, just to start postcards and, you know, like geographically farmed that way. But she was like, no, I have no money. So I'm going to start with social media, which is free. And so we cover a lot of social media on this episode. And the, like her evolvement going from, one platform to another. And so she started out from Snapchat, went to Facebook, and now is mainly primarily on Instagram, although she still uses Facebook too. And she tells us exactly how she

uses her Facebook. And we go over how her team is structured and when to start a team, if you even should, because there are a lot of people, as you know, if you're a team leader listening, there are a lot of people that start a team and you realize that you just bought yourself a whole other job in addition to the homes that you're selling. So with her theater background, this girl has so much personality. I love her. You're going to love her. Reach out to her in case you know of anyone moving to the Twin Cities.

Hannah the Property Keak. And one more note, Ellie and I are adventuring to Austin, Texas in the beginning of March for the Real State Rockstars Mastermind Conference Shindig thing. Super fun. So if you are listening and you are headed to that mastermind, we want to know. we want to meet up with you. So hit us up, let us know. And ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Hannah Smith. Hannah Smith, thank you so much for joining us on the agent goldmine. Thank you for coming on. Absolutely. I'm excited to be here. Okay. You have a marketing background,

which I want to get into. I've done my research girl. You're probably like, oh, okay, creep. You have a marketing background. I have, I want to start it off there. Being that a lot of real estate agents don't realize how much marketing is involved with being an agent, getting business, getting clients. They think that once they get their license, oh, my friends and family, they're going to call me. No, you need to market yourself. With your marketing degree, what specific skills, like, have you transferred over to being a real estate agent? That's a really good question. So I would say, honestly, for me, when I was in school, which not a school person, I'm

right? Like authority is difficult. But like I think one of my biggest fascinations in the whole process of, you know, school and marketing was like the psychology behind everything. And like I was always like geeking out about my psychology classes. And I think that part's the really like fascinating part of marketing is that there's so much psychology behind it. And so for me taking marketing, it was just like, okay, so it's all about knowing how the other person thinks or how the other person feels and how you can connect with that and how you can basically add value to them and not just be, here's me, me, me, me, me, right? And so that's kind of how like what I took the most out of it, I guess, is like just knowing the psychology behind marketing and that I need to make sure that if people

think of real estate, they think of Hannah Smith, as generic as that name is. And if they think of Hannah Smith, they think of real estate. Right. And like that's, that was like the key that I took away or kind of came into real estate with from marketing is like I need to have that click in people's brains. And then from there I need to, you know, kind of bounce off of how are my clients feeling when they leave me? How are they, you know, how are they benefiting from me or working with me? So I don't know. I guess that's kind of what I took the most out of it. Yeah. I wish that I got a marketing degree. My degree is in psychology, which like pretty much as you're saying goes hand in hand, what, like, I guess, can we go into more specifics? So being that you generate majority of

your business, I think, from social media, what kind of marketing are you doing? Like, what is it call to action that's like, you know, that covers the psychology aspect? Is it the, I don't know, I'll let you talk about it. Yeah. So I was specifically told at one point, one of my skill sets, which I thought was kind of weird to hear at first, was being able to come up with analogies that to help people understand a topic that they might not get right away with using more simpler topic or something that's more relatable. And I didn't realize I was even doing that until someone around me was like, Hannah, you're really good at making analogies. And I was like, huh, okay. And so if my clients feel like that's what helps them understand the process in real

life when I'm helping them, then how can I relate that back to my marketing? Because I want them again to, when they meet me in person, to be, to have the same person they expected, right, or who they were learning from and why they connected with me because I think that's what you had from the marketing. So I was like, all right, so like my reels, for instance, a lot of them are pretty goofy, right? Pretty like more entertaining side as far as like the video takes at face value. But I try to swing that in my caption to something that's educational. So a lot of my marketing is based on something that's goofy and funny because that's just who I am. But I also am swing into an analogy that has something to do with real estate and ideally something

about my specific clients and what they deal with. and then using my caption as a way to educate them on that topic further. Right. So, like, that's kind of how most of my content, at least, is kind of based around because I saw that skill set. Well, I was told that skill set myself. And that's how I work my clients in real life. So I kind of equated that back to my marketing.

I feel like we all agree on the thought of just do it, you know, like, who cares what you look like, you know, like how, how rough you look that day, like just, but you also have a theater background. For those that are more shy, you know, like for those that don't, you're, you're naturally bubbly. And you're like that, like you mentioned, you're like that in person where so many people are not. You know, they're putting on this like persona behind the camera and like, you know, taking shots or whatever it is that they need to do to make them relax or funny or goofier. And then in person, they are so not. And just like, as I'm thinking about this, I don't know if you guys have ever met Bill Nye, the science guy.

That's like what happened to me, like when I realized, wow, people that like portrayed themselves a certain way are not always like that in person. When I met him, he was like, not friendly. And I was like, oh my gosh, that, yes. And it was so surprising. This is Bill Nye, the science guy. So I guess. Yeah. Well, I was like, okay.

And now I know. you know and it can be such a turnoff so those okay you have a theater background for those that don't have a theater background maybe are not bubbly like by nature what is your advice like just fucking put a smile on your face or is it what yeah what would it be yeah you know I think it also goes the opposite way where some people that are super bubbly and energetic and expressive in person they have a camera in front of them and they're like hello right and like they lose personality so it can go both ways and a lot of agents like they tell me they're like Hannah I don't know what to do like a camera touches me or like touches me like shows me and I can't I can't

I can't do it anymore and I think one one thing that I always tell people is you shouldn't act differently it's easier said than done right act until you talk to your clients so one way of doing that is like when you're actually using your camera stop looking at yourself in the camera because when you talk to people you're not looking in the mirror right you can't be like oh as you're talking right like that that's not happening in real life look at the actual camera one that's actually gonna help your video content too because people can see you know when like someone's like well us is women you know and you can tell when someone's not looking at your eyes we can tell when you're not looking at the camera versus

looking at the screen right so look at the camera and then really actually think about talking your best friend or your client or whoever you're comfortable with talking like that's who you're talking to you're not talking to the worldwide web you're not talking to yourself on the screen, you're actually speaking to someone the way that you would speak in person. So if you are more mild, more chill, you're going to have to talk like that because that's what you're going to get when you get in person. Can you imagine if someone actually connected with you well because you're super chill and you're super mild on and then you get and you're like,

hey, hi, how's it going? Oh my gosh. And you're like super excited. They'd be like, holy buckets, right? Like, who is this chick? So I think it's important that although, yeah, like are you going to maybe catch the attention of everything right off the bat if you are not this, you know, what you expect this personality to be online. Sure, but you're going to connect with the right people. You know, I mean, you're going to want to be exactly who you are in person. Sometimes that's really hard and you don't mean to be anyone different, but you just, you clam up or you are like me and you're entertainer. So you see a camera and you're like, let's go, right? Like whatever, however way you are, I think it's important just to remember how you actually

speak to your clients and stop obsessing over what you look like in the camera or how you sound. because how you sound is how you sound. Like my Minnesota accent, it comes out. I know it does, right? And that's how it's going to be when I talk to in person, so I'm not going to try to hide it. I think that's like the big thing.

And so having those little tactical things of like looking at the camera, not yourself, you know, and just really calming the F down and being like, okay, if I was talking to my client, this is how I would describe it. And then take the extra take.

If you don't like the first one, there's a delete button and you can just redo it. You know, it's that easy. It's video. easier than in person. In person, you got one shot. You can't be like, you know what, let's back up, rewind, delete that. Let me start again. You know, it's actually easier. Yeah. And I, so I am that person who you're talking about who's like, oh, they have lots of personality in person. And then

you put the camera on them. They're like, what? So I very much resonate with that. And something that helped me, I'm still not great at this, but reps definitely helped too. It's like, you know, kind of like what you just said, you know, an alley two where it's just, just do it. And then what you'll find is after you do it a lot, you won't like the ones in the beginning, but it will become more natural. After you do, a freaking shit ton of reps, you're like, oh, wow, just like anything, the more I practice it, the easier it gets. Yeah, I mean, I literally started on Snapchat, and I kid you not, I cringe thinking about it. I can't believe I'm sharing. But like, I used to, I was a brandy agent. I would talk on Snapchat on my stories because before we didn't have stories,

you know, on Instagram and whatnot. And I had the damn like dog. face like bleh like every time your mouth open and like the tongue would roll out you guys remember those are like some stupid ass filter on my face like what was i well what stop it right like what was i doing but like that's how i started and because of that it made me comfortable right and i got more comfortable with this just even this like this feeling of like having a camera in front of me and it does it just you have to i know it sounds stupid but you just have to do it because every time you do it you're going to get better. And you'd be amazed because of people that aren't in real estate or don't have to do video to get business, they're going to be like, wow, that chick has balls. Like she,

like some of my friends are like, Hannah, I can't even, I don't even know how you do video. Like, it's insane to me. And I think people have a lot more respect for it than people give themselves credit for. So just getting on video, even if it's not perfect, even if you look stupid or you feel stupid, like it's, you're doing it and someone else isn't. So, it's easy that. When, so I'm still thinking about your talent in creating analogies. Because I know like Alex Ramose does it and it catches me every time where he'll do some sort of an analogy and I'm like, oh my God, that makes, you know, so much more sense now. And there's just something about creating it with a simple example that makes whatever concept you're trying to explain a lot easier. And so I was curious,

could we go through an example of kind of an analogy so that way maybe listeners can understand your formula if there is one and replicate it? Sure. Okay. I'm trying to think of one that would be one that I've used with my clients. I guess, well, one that I was using the other day, it was the first time homebuyer and we were talking about earnest money. And, you know, for us, it's like, oh, well, I guess not every state, but for us, it's like, it's, you know, a good faith deposit, right? And like, when you started real estate, did you even know what good faith deposit meant? Right? You were like, oh, yeah, this is a good faith deposit. And then, like, everyone was just supposed to know what that meant to. And it was just a totally different word for the same.

thing. So the way that I try to describe it to a client is like, okay, so imagine your earnest money. Let's say your dad's going to help you buy a house, right? Your dad's the bank in this way as a mortgage company, right? But like your dad's going to help you buy, I'm sorry, not a house, a car. It doesn't help you buy a car. So you've got to go check out the car first. And he's like, all right, when you find one, let me know. And then I'll decide if I'm going to help you or not, right? So you're going to go and find a car and you're going to find that car and be like, okay, I really like your car and I have full intention of buying it. But I'm not. I do have to get my dad to approve that I can buy it because he's helping me.

Right. So I'm going to give you a little bit of money now so you can hold onto the car for me. And it's like showing like you're holding out of my money. I'm going to go get my dad and show him the car and then we'll give you all the money. Right. It's kind of like that. Your dad is the bank. Your dad has to approve the property and you have to be approved to buy it.

But they're holding on a chunk of that money saying, hey, she's going to buy this. So we'll hold it. We're not going to just go and sell it to someone else right away. and that money will then go towards your purchase, but your dad has to come and approve it. It's not just you. You don't just have every right to say, yep, I'll buy it and here you go. Here's the money by. Ernest money is just saying, yep, hold on to it.

I'm going to promise to buy this, just I have this and this and this I have to take care of. And that makes all of that makes a ton of sense. The example makes sense and I love listening to it. I'm thinking of how, do these things just come to you or, you know, when you're trying to think of an example? or if there's someone listening, like, do you have any tips on coming up with analogies that are so clear? Yeah, I think that not all of mine are great, but I think that if you really,

and they most of them, unfortunately, they do kind of come more naturally. I think it's just the way that I think. And I always think, like, how can I relate this? How can I relate this? But I think one thing is, like, if you were to look at the situation, look at it from like a big picture, right? Like, don't get into the nitty-gritty of every, everything. Like if it is about inspection contingencies, like back up and think, what is,

what am I actually saying? Or what is the contract actually saying? And I think a lot of times, one of the biggest things I was talking to a new agent the other day is I was like, so your first step in like figuring out contracts and how to describe them to your clients is to read the contract. Because you'd be amazed how many agents don't actually read the freaking contracts, right? And then they go off on a tangent about something that's literally not true. And I was stickler with the paperwork. Like I love paperwork. I love the, I love the legal jargon. I love it. Right. So for me, read the contract and then step back and like, what is this actually saying? Right. Like what is a contingency? A contingency is just a fancy word of saying

if. Right. I want to buy your house if I inspect it. If I can get a mortgage, right? Or whatever those ifs are. So if you just kind of step back from whatever situation you're trying to think of an analogy for and look at it a big picture of what's actually happening in like kind of a very simple manner, then it's easy to kind of manipulate it into a different topic that has a similar kind of flow, if that makes any sense. But that's really like half the time it's just knowing how things work and stepping back and seeing it as big picture. How much of your business comes from social media and which medias?

Oh, yeah. I was like, which what? Okay, so when I was looking at my spreadsheet the other day, it was 89% of my business was from social. I would say the majority of it is Instagram, but I also do a lot on Facebook. I think virtually because most of my things are tied from Facebook to Instagram, but Facebook is more leads that are from like groups and things like that, like, you know, moms groups or things that are on Facebook that Instagram just doesn't have.

So that's how I kind of utilize the two platforms is Instagram is where a lot of my content is housed. And of course, a lot of it gets shoved to Facebook like stories. and things. And that's where a lot of people connect to my content. On Facebook, I use it more connecting with community and having those certain groups and things and like referrals that people are like, oh, someone in a group, you know, we all know those. I need a realtor. And then like a hundred billion people comment. I get leads off of those a lot because if someone comments my name four or five times, you know, better chance than the one time that someone gets tagged. So I do use it and I do, I have my cheerleaders. So if I do see a post out there, someone's asking for a realtor, I do have my like,

my front rowers, right? That will, I'll be like, hey, I just got tagging something. Would you mind tagging me too if you have a second? And that's how I kind of use Facebook. But I would say majorities from Instagram, just from like content and whatnot. Are you, are you manning this? So you mentioned cheerleaders. And I'm guessing those on Facebook. Those are like friends or actually you explain. So you have cheerleaders, but also do you have an assistant or are you personally managing those platforms? So as stubborn as it sounds, I have never given any responsibility over my socials on anyone but myself. I personally, I know everybody does things differently, but I personally have gotten too many icky feelings from feeling like a high

of like, oh my God, someone that I follow that I really like message me back just to find out like it was their assistant or like someone that I know in real life messages me this like total cold call message of like, hey, I would love to chat with you. And I'm like, that's not it. Like that's not her. You know, I just hate that icky girl's feeling because I think social media is so personal and you are getting so connected with people that I have refused to give any responsibility to anyone but myself. So I do man it myself with everything. So if you do DM me, it is me. So if I do take a day or so to get back to you, that's because it is me. I am doing all of it. I do have an assistant that helps more in like my backend marketing, you know, like my email marketing and all that kind of stuff and my pop buys and whatnot. And then as far as like the cheerleaders are people on, you know, Facebook and Instagram too. But those are, some are some are just past clients, like repeat clients that I just know it's more, it's not necessarily how close I am to them. It's, it was really finding those people that want to scream your name from the mountaintop, right? Like, and it's not because people like you or dislike you

anymore. It's that there's certain personalities that are sharers. They love to refer people. They love to say, I've got a guy, right? Like, you have those personalities. And then you have some people that love you and will always use you no matter what, but would never be the one to speak up in a room. If someone says, I'm looking for real, they're just not that person. It's not in them to do that. So my cheerleaders are either friends or past clients that I have seen myself, them speak out and say, you should use Hannah or I love Hannah and this is why. And I've asked them of like, hey, this is, and I've just straight upset it. I think that's so funny when people get so like weirded out and like, oh, I can't have.

people to do stuff for me. It's like, I'm sorry, they love you. Right. So like, I've just sent a message. I was like, hey, you know what? This is a big part of my business. And maybe it was some way that I met them too. So I mean, I met you on a Facebook group. A big part of my business comes from this. If you ever see me, if you ever see a real estate post or someone looking for a realtor, it would mean the world to me for you to tag me or mention me in somewhere how usually their response 100% is always, oh my God, yes, 100% I will. Like, yes, tell me when. So I think it's easy to just finding those people. And that really goes back to explaining the terms of our business.

You know, like I, one of my icks is when people say, my business runs off referrals. I'd love a referral. Like, no one knows what that means. I had been investing in real estate and I didn't know what that means. You know, before I became an agent, I was like, what the fuck are you talking about? How explain that, you know? And so like you have to, and that's exactly what you're doing. It's like help training them like what the term, what the phrase my business runs off referrals means.

You know, that is a referral. So I like that a lot. Don't be afraid to ask. Being that you don't, you're the only one that runs your social media. How much time per day are you, or weak are you spending on it? So I'm a millennial. I grew up my space than Facebook. So social media is kind of a part of my life in general, just being when I grew up and how I grew up, right?

Like I naturally check socials and it's, it is something that I don't necessarily consciously have to be like, oh, I got it. I mean, of course, if it's a really, really busy day, right? But most of the time, like I use the system of kind of micro moments. So I, I time block some things, but I'm not a huge fan of time blocking everything. So I don't time block like, oh, I'm going to be on social for an hour at this time. Like some agents do that are very successful at that. Me personally, like I find micro moments in my day.

So when I have five minutes of I'm waiting for my coffee to brew, right? Like I'm going on social and I'm checking it. I might be engaging a little bit or messaging people back. If I have a second, I get, I'm early to a showing. I'm sitting in my car. I'm checking my social real quick and getting back to people that I need to get back to. Right. So it's kind of like I just use moments.

in my day to check it throughout the day. So it's not so overwhelming when I get to the end of my day. And I have to check Instagram for the first time. You know, and it's like, oh, my God, a flood of this or a flood of that. I really just kind of check it throughout my day when I have a moment. And then of course, I normally, I'll probably spend, especially if I'm like, if I'm making a real or putting it together, I also chunk that out. So if I'm, I kind of take advantage of my creative moments. So when I am feeling more creative, because we all have those times where or not, I'm ADHD. So my creativity typically comes out late at night. So if I do feel creative, I will sit and maybe write a caption about a certain topic that I know I want to get out there. Maybe I have a real idea on the

back of my head. And I might type that out and save it. And then the next day, I might actually make that real and go to post it and I've just taken my caption that I wrote later, you know, earlier that I should say the day before. There we go. So I don't sit down and just do everything all at once. I really chunk it out, be like, okay, I want to post a reel. This is the kind of idea. Like, all right, so tonight I'll work on my caption. I'll get that figured out. And then the next morning after my appointment, I'm already going to be cute and done up, ready. I'll make the actual reel. And then I'll put it together and post it. Right. So things like that, I'm probably a lot more off the cuff than most people would want to know. Okay. Yeah, that totally makes sense.

And I think Shelby and I behind the scenes, we have like a doc and we're like, yay, us too. Well, about millennials. Okay. So as far as tempo goes, like clients, or reaching out to you on Instagram, you're getting tagged on Facebook by your cheerleaders. At what point do you take them off? What does that look like? You know, like, do you immediately add them to your CRM or do you immediately try to see them in person? What's your strategy? Yeah.

So it kind of depends. But for the most part, first and foremost, what I'll do is just so things don't get lost in the shuffle because, again, we are renting the space on social, right? We are at the mercy of what Facebook wants to show up. us. And I don't know about you guys, but notifications have literally been lost. Like at one point I see it and then I go back five minutes later because, oh, yeah, so-and-so tag me on that. I didn't click on it yet and I thought, oh, this is gone. I'm like, what the hell? So what I do, I don't know if this is like, probably gums up my photos, but I, if I get tagged in something, I immediately,

if I don't have a time to look or whatever, I take a screenshot of it. And then at least I know I have it, right? At least I have someone's name. I have the context. I have who, you know, tag me in it, whatever. So I take a screenshot of it. And then most of the time, if it is someone that's just like reaching out and like wants a realtor, I always add them to my CRM or I use Trello too. So as like one of the systems that I use to kind of track things and like where my leads are at and my clients. So I even have a Trello for like new leads. So I typically will add them there.

And then in the description I can put who even referred me or yeah, referred me to them. I usually send an immediate thank you to that person that referred me because that's really, really important. So I send them a thank you message immediately. And then usually I reach out and I'll ask, hey, you know, I would love to hop on a call, right? Have them hear my voice or I'll send a voice message. That's usually obviously a good connection. I don't like all people do that lately as like connecting with your voice is a lot more important than typing out a bunch of crap. So I'll usually send some sort of message that I try to personalize it.

And then my goal is to 100% get them offline. Whether that's at least on a phone call, ideally it's in person. And if they are kind of more, let's say they're like, oh, I'm going to try to buy in the next nine, 12 months. I don't want to act like, oh, get them right now. Like, get them to sign and buy a contract. Right. Like, we don't like that. Nobody likes that.

So what I might do is say, oh, well, you know what? I'm happy to meet you in person. I'm having an event with my team next week. I'd love to see you there. Right. So I usually try to have a reason to invite them. Now, it's easy enough because my team has events throughout the year and I have some of my own. So I try to invite them to something that's less intimidating as like a one-to-one meeting

if I feel like they're just like getting started. Otherwise, if they're ready to go, I'm like, let's hop on a Zoom or let's get in person and just chat. You know what I mean? The conversion rate skyrockets if they can see the whites in your eyes, right? When they can actually see you, you're a real person. So I try very, very hard. And at the very least, they're added to my CRM.

And then I have them on a list and they don't get shuffled away in my DMs. the in-person events, I freaking love that strategy. That's something that was really impactful for me, too, where it's like, if they're not ready, it's so much less threatening to be like, hey, we're doing this fun thing in person where you get to see me, know, I'm real. And like, it's not going to be the one-on-one. And then especially if you have events frequently, like we had monthly events. It's like such a good natural way to touch base without being like, hey, just checking in. Any update on your time? timeline. Yeah. Yeah, nobody likes that. Right. Like it's, it's constant. What? I'm curious what events do you guys do? Yeah. Well, so I have one that I am doing myself that we're scrambling to get the

details figured out because I do a Galantines thing. So it doesn't hit all my clientele because, well, most my clientele is women. So it does hit most, I guess. My follower counts like 77.8% women. So I do a Galantines every year. We do a movie night. So we rent out a movie theater or like an auditorium in a movie theater. I have other women own businesses that join. They'll bring like either their product that they sell or marketing materials or a giveaway. And it's just kind of a way to not only kind of get the girls together for Galantines, but then also like they get champagne toast. They get to, you know, it supports other women own businesses. We also do it as a donation drive. So women can, any guests can bring in women's

clothing. And then the next day me and my assistant drop that off at like a woman's shelter or a nonprofit that supports women getting back on their feet. And then we have the movie. It's usually some rom-com that men wouldn't be interested in anyways. And it's just like a fun night. So I do that for Galantines. We do, we usually do like an Easter egg hunt in the springtime as like a big team event. We do like our Thanksgiving. We do a pie event. So we do a pumpkin pie giveaway. But we also make into like an actual in-person event. So they can either come and pick up their pie and like peace out or they can come and hang out and get their Christmas photo taken and just kind of chill. We also do like a food drive there too. I find that like any event, if you can some way or how make it into a

community give back, it's a double win for everybody, you know, and people want to be involved in as well. So we try to do things like that throughout the year. A lot of our stuff, we try to balance it based off of like kid based things and adult based things because not everybody has kids. And not everybody that has kids want always to do kid things, you know, so we try to get a good balance of those types of events throughout the year. That's funny. I'm like laughing behind the scenes. Okay. Before we shift the topic to a little bit more of team leader stuff, is there anything that we didn't cover with social media? Man, there's so much. I honestly, like you said earlier, like, just fucking do it. Like, you really do. And don't worry about it being perfect right now.

Like, when you start, it just starts. Right. And then you get good and you get, and then it's really, actually it's cringy, but it's fun to look back and see your content from before and be like, who, but look how great my stuff looks now. You know, and seeing that transition, I think, is just as important as watching your entire business grow in real estate. So it really is, and I know people say this all the time, but like, just start. It is, it's, it's overwhelming and it's stressful, and I'll be the first one to admit it. But just pick one and get good at it, you know, and then, and build off of yourself. It's, you're not going to start at chapter 20. you start to chapter one and you're a build up to chapter 20.

So I would just say just like pick one platform that you really want to get good at or that you think connects well with your clientele and start going full throttle on it. I personally do most Instagram and that's what works for me. That's where a lot of my clients are. But that might not necessarily mean that will fit your business, right? Some people are killing on TikTok, for instance. It's just you got to pick one and just like just go for it, commit to it. 100% agree.

So, okay, you've done. well over 200 transactions, and you're now a team leader of 25 agents. When did that structure take place and just talk a little bit more about how you chose, why you chose to be a team leader and just how that came to fruition? Yeah. So I started the team with two other women, Karne Pankook and Sarah Ruland. We were in the same brokerage. So actually, Sarah at the time was Karin's assistant. So she was an unlicensed assistant. We all. us were friends and we just office in the same area in the same you know spot and we just I was two years in the business. It was about 2017, 1617. Yeah, 16. And we honestly were more so just thinking about

culture. And we were like, we really want to create a different type of culture than you typically find in real estate offices. We all know the ickies. We all know the competitive kind of off awkward. nobody talks about their splits. Nobody taught like, oh, no one can, don't share your secret. Like, oh, God forbid someone sees the postcard you send out to 500 people. You know, that, oh, they might steal your business. Right. Like all this like, ickiness that was just like so stupid.

You know, and we just got and mean girls and all the things, right? It was just like, this is so dumb. Like, why are we surrounding ourselves with this? This is stunting our growth, basically. So that's really where we started the team was over culture. It wasn't. I know a lot of people start teams because, you know, their business was exploding and they needed a buyer's agent and then they needed an assistant.

And then all of a sudden it's the Hannah Smith group. Like that's, that's not how, I mean, no, not dogging on anyone that that's how they started, but that's not how we did it. We just simply wanted a different culture. Karin was a pretty seasoned agent. She was kind of my unofficial mentor. So it was me, her, and then again, Sarah. And we just started it in the hopes of like just creating something different. And it just kind of evolved from there. Just because there are a lot of different definitions for the word team, what does team mean within your organization? Yeah, no, that's a really good question. Ours is more set up, I would say kind of like a law firm, like partners, if that makes sense.

Now, of course, we do have now that. What an analogy. I know, right? I love that. Oh, my God. How did I come off of that? Write that down. No, okay, so basically that's how we start.

Of course, we have an array of agents in different experience levels, but we really take it on as you're your business. You have an individual business, whether you're on a team or you're an individual agent, right? Our solo agent, you are your own business. You could leave tomorrow and what do you have? And we didn't believe in the teams that say, give us your database. We'll take care of everything for you. But when you leave, bye-bye, we're taking everything with us, right?

you're not getting anything. And now you're basically starting over. We hated that. So we were more so like, let's build our businesses like side by side, kind of linking arms and help each other with the skill sets that we all have. Like me, Karn and Sarah, we know very early on that we're very different people, very different personalities, very different skill sets, but we have the same values and the same opinions on a lot of different things. So we use that to our advantage. And then as agents came on, it was like, oh, she's got an awesome skill set, regardless of how long she's been in the business, like she's going to be an asset to the full team and will help everybody. And so we kind of created this group of givers that are like, we're all building your

own businesses, but we want to give to each other to watch everybody kind of succeed. And as cliches, that sounds, that's really how it's set up. And that's our structure. So we don't have, like, we have an office admin. And then Sarah is a license agent, one of our other top producers. And she's operations manager. Other than that, like we, every agent's their own agent. We don't have like buyers agents running around or listing agents or anything like that.

We are all individual realtors basically as a group. Okay. And then being that you switched brokerages to EXP, what does that look like when it comes to like sponsors? I guess who named who and from the 25 agents, how is that structured? Yeah. So that's one thing we wish we would have done differently. So if someone is coming on as a team, I would say as a team with multiple leaders, right? like management. I would be a lot more strategic nowadays. Now, EXP was like basically non-existent

in Minnesota at the time of us joining. We were like ESP, like ESPN, like what is the weird squiggly X thing? You know, like that's gone. Thank God. But that was like what, how well we knew it. And so when we were joining, we have it where Karin is basically a tree and me and Sarah are under current because we felt we had to pick one if that makes sense. No, we probably would have structured it differently. But we know the thing with that is, is like we've been together. I mean, we started the team in 2016, right? So this will be our eighth year coming up together, but beyond that, we were friends before. We know the three of us. We always are, you give and you get. So if one of Sarah's agents, right, technically are we in a line? Well, we're all under Karen. Right. But if I not financially

benefiting, I don't give a shit. I'm going to help them because I know one of my agents would benefit from Sarah's help at one point because again, we're very different. So we serve our agents very differently and some agents are going to need different personalities at different moments. Sarah's a lot more, I would say, like, mature. She, like, and she, she doesn't like just, like, say some stupid shit, right? Like I do. Or I'm very intense with agents. And some agents can't take that intense accountability for it. So we were just talking about that's the other day. Like, accountability-wise. Some agents want a kick in the ass. And other agents, they can't take the kick. They're like, ah, just like rub my back and make me feel better and I'll do better. Right.

Like, we're different. We're going to do different things. So we kind of all serve our agents together under the Karen umbrella, basically, is how we do it. But yeah, we probably would have structured it differently just to make more sense if we were coming in like nowadays. Yeah, where one is, where you're all in alignment. Like you would join under Karin, Sarah would join under you or something like that. Yeah, because I have a couple of actual teams underneath me as well, beyond our team stuff. Okay. Yeah. Okay, let's get into that. So, okay, Karin, you, Sarah, is that the property geeks? Or is all 25 the property geeks? I mean, granted, with EXP, you don't even need to take on, you know, that. But is it a formal EXP team? What are the splits? Yeah. Yes. So we have a standard team with EXP under the

property geeks. It's really funny that you guys are called the agent goldmine. I was actually giggling about this the other day because our full organization, like car in and down, is more like 70 agents. And we are name, like our internal name that like we don't brand with or anything is gold diggers. And we'll do like golden nugget calls. So it's so funny. Because when I was like getting yours, I was like, oh my God. Yeah. I was like funny. So our like org in EXP is like about 70. people under Karin, right? And some of those people are within the property geeks bubble and others are kind of under us, you know, individually as their own either solo agent or their own group or team. So we have a lot of different teams and structures underneath us, like a couple of husband and wife

teams, you know, that have their own kind of partnership going that have a couple agents that are technically solo agents. We have another like actual team team. You know, so like we have a lot of different things going on. But we do like, you know, some like weekly calls and things like that with our entire group. And then a lot of our like marketing and our events and things like that, most of those are underneath like the 25 property geeks, if that makes sense. Okay. Yes, there is a lot going on. But for the property geeks, I think we're going to bring it in and think about like that the more traditional standard team. So that you guys have, you have an ops manager, you have an office admin in that. I'm curious about like, I guess, value proposition and in exchange for the amount of splits.

Because with the standard team, I think there's a minimum of 25%, but a lot of teams do 50-50. So could you talk about like leverage and then like specifically splits? Yeah, absolutely. So we we do the 75. And then we also have other incentives for our team members in order to kind of support their business. So we came out with a program that they can basically like earn money towards their own marketing from the team based off of their sales and their activities. So we do a lot of like contests on our team too. And they're all based off of work activities. Right. How many open houses did you do this month? How many, you know, CMAs did you bring or did you send out to clients?

You know, all of those types of like those money making activities. We do a lot of that so that there splits one thing and then they're they're gaining things on the other side of things. We also as far as value Yeah, we have a full office. And part of our office is actually a different company called the bonus room, which is a rentable venue for people. Like, anybody can rent it out for a baby shower or a birthday party or a grad party, whatever. We've eaten out a wedding in there. Wild. And Carn and Joe, Joe is her husband. He's a loan officer. They bought that part, like way back. And so that's their business. So the property geeks gets kind of free access to that bonus room throughout the work week. And then, our agents can also, you know, take free hours there if they want to do their own workshop for agents, for other agents or for other clients or whatever have you. So we have like the actual physical setup, which I think is not as common for EXP teams. We are very much so have a lot of the same benefits as like teams with other brokerages, if that makes sense, like a lot more of the traditional ways. So Hannah, what did we not cover that you would like, you know, our listeners to hear that

you think is important? Oh, man. As far as the teams go, I want advice that I always give agents because a lot of agents come up to us and say like we're, you know, thinking about starting a team. What should I do? Yada yada. First, it's like, again, understanding the setup that you're looking for and why you're looking for it. I think that's the big thing is when it comes to running a team, what are you doing it for? And not that there's any right or wrong answer. Are you doing it to kind of step back from some more business and kind of take more of the silent owners? type of kind of feel for a team lead. Are you looking to empower other agents? You know, Karnan has a huge passion in helping new agents. And, you know, she always says like, fly, birdie, fly, right? And like she, that's what fills her cup. You know, like, what are you doing the team

for? And then that's how you're going to want to understand, like what you're going to want to understand in order to structure it the way that it should be structured. Because every team can be very different. A lot of brokerages say, you want to start a team. Here's how you have. have to do it and follow these exact guidelines when there are so many other ways to run teams, especially with any XP because you can be running a team without being a team, right, a standard team very easily. So it's really stepping back and knowing if you are looking to kind of start maybe a community of agents or maybe it is that you want to off put some of your own business, really understand that big picture of what you're looking for and why you're looking for it.

And then from there, break that down into a structure that makes sense. That's what I would say my biggest advice is for like people interested in starting teams. Yeah, yeah. Definitely figuring out why you even want to have a team because a lot of people go become a team leader and then they end up being more busy than they were before, which is the opposite of what typically people are joining a team. We're starting a team for. Okay. I'm going to put you on the spot, Hannah. up. So in our show, we have all of our audience members, audience members, guests, bring a golden nugget, something like, not tactical, because that's not something you can touch, but something that the audience can download or look at or, you know, anything to help, check a,

anything that the audience can help implement into their business that day. What would you be able to provide as your golden nugget. Yes. For sure. So I would say it's kind of hopping back to Instagram and social media in general because that's what I love to train on and that's what I love to help our agents with. I, it's just it. So I just have a PDF and it's just a exercise for you to brainstorm some of the ways that you should actually be breaking down your brand as an agent. And it gives you some insight as to you look at this piece of paper and it basically will fill out it kind of breaks down your brand into four pillars, real estate, your market area, your relatability, and your skill sets.

And you start just filling that out as what makes you you, because that's truly your brand. Your fonts, your color scheme, that's secondary. That has in its own importance, you know, in your business, but that's not your brand. So I just have this quick little thing I use with my agents and we do it every year during the business planning because it does change. It's not like it's forever green, you know,

it's going to be changing depending on your life. and lifestyle that you're choosing. But it's just a breakdown of breaking down those kind of four pillars and then be able to say, does my content reflect this? Is what I'm putting out there right now reflecting what I have on this piece of paper or is it completely out of whack? And I think that will help agents really hone down on what type of content they should be putting out.

And then that kind of helps you to move forward into looking at all those things and saying what are certain content pieces that I could specify, like let's say, you know, one of the things is real estate, listing out who you work with in real estate or what type of housing you sell, right? If you sell to move up buyers, like move up buyers is one of mine, then what are some content pieces that I can create surrounded around move up buyers and they're frequently asked questions and what they're worried about and what they're interested in learning about or hearing about, right? And so yeah, the the nugget that I have is just this worksheet that I've come across that or that I've made that I sent to my agents that is just kind of helping you break down your

brand in a little bit more bite-sized pieces. We love worksheets. I'm so excited. I'm going to go through it. I love the activities. I'm like, oh, what is my brand? Yes. It's my target audience. Oh, so thank you. So excited. Listeners, you can go to the agent goldmine.com and get that free tool from Hannah. And now, Hannah, we are moving on into the wrap. up questions. Rob-up question number one, what is your favorite app or tool? Favorite app or tool, like, completely? I would say-

Completely does not need to be business. It can be anything. I would say, well, honestly, Canva I'm in every day. Canva is my best friend. I also do a lot of the graphic designing for our team, for our team pieces and things like that. So I'm in Canva every day. Obviously, Instagram, because that's, otherwise, if I didn't have that app,

I'd be a little shit out of luck there. But yeah, I use Canva and then I would say also I live on my Trello boards. That really keeps my ADHD at bay and keeps me organized. And I'm not a checklist person, but it gives me checklist to actually follow and make me feel like I can find progress in my day, even if I am kind of all over the board. I love Trello. I hear you on that. even though that was like a solid third or fourth on your options. I know. It's so big pleasing. It's like, oh, God, yes.

It just totally makes sense. Very exciting. How can we or the listeners help you in your business? Ooh. You know, that's a really good question. I do work with a lot of agent referrals. I know, right? I do work with a lot of agent referrals.

So I would love to connect on Instagram. That's mostly where I connect with a lot of agents. around the country. I do put out content that is kind of surround around realtor humor as well as client stuff. So I would just say connect with me. I love to have agents all around the country to also send referrals to because not everybody lives in, likes to live in Minnesota. For some wild reason, I have no idea why. So we have a lot of outbound. So I love to have connections all throughout the country and be able to serve my clients well with badass agents. So yeah, just connect with me, honestly. I think that's, that's it. It's all about relationships and connections.

Awesome. And we've mentioned it at the beginning of the show, but where can people find you? What's your Instagram handle? Yes. So my Instagram handle is at, of course, Hannah, H-A-N-N-A-H- underscore the property geek. Perfect. Yeah, our team Instagram says the property geeks. Okay, sweet. Yes. Hannah, thank you so, so much for coming on the show. Listeners, if you've listened thus far, this episode has clearly helped. Thank you for the listening, be a bro, and join you.

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