KGCI: Real Estate on Air - Mary Harmon Young - 50 Closings Per Year Via Client Appreciation

Episode Date: March 20, 2025

Welcome back to the Real Estate Rockstars podcast. I am Shelby Johnson and I am here with Mary Harmon Young today out of Tuscaloosa, Alabama. She's been an agent since 2008. And last year alone, she closed 49 transactions in over 15 million in volume as a solo agent. I was asking her before. Do you have any sort of leverage? Admin, what's that look like? Nope, it is just her. But so today we are going to dig in how she does everything as just her, along with the fact that she has two kids and as a full-time mom, we're also going to dig into how she built her business through relationships, relationships with vendors, relationships with clients, and she uses technology and systems to automate pieces of that feel-good stuff, the appreciation, the gifts, and the

friendship. So this episode is for you if you are into those things. Mary, thanks so much for came coming on today. And can you please share with us who you are? Who is Mary? Hi, good morning. So I am Mary Harmon. Like she said, I am here in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, better known as home of the University of Alabama. We have been kind of on top of football for a while and now we are embarrassing ourselves. But that's okay because when I went to Alabama, we went through the years where I don't think we won a single game until like my senior year. So I feel like we're back to normal and kind of humbling ourselves. But Tuscaloosa really and truly is a whole lot more than just the university and just football. A lot of people don't realize we have the only Mercedes-Benz plant

in the U.S. here in Tuscaloosa. We also have a big steel plant, a roofing plant, a BF. Goodrich plant. So we have kind of become more of the modern like Detroit because like Mercedes alone has like 38 international suppliers, whether it's people making the rear rear rear mirrors, the seats, the headrest, tires, all that stuff. So we've really grown a lot, especially since I've been in the business. And knowing we have all these people coming into Tuscaloosa, we had to kind of realize how are we going to reach it? Because these are international companies, English isn't their first language. So it's not something we could really just walk in and be like, hi, can I talk to the HR director?

And so really turned to video probably 2013, 2014, and probably didn't adapt it like I should have, but I do think it helped get me out there. And then since then we've just kind of been faking it until we make it as we learn how to just love and serve on our community. I know I mentioned I have a seven-year-old and a nine-year-old. And needless to say, we went through COVID with them. And so when the market was wide open and realized pretty fast that I had to get a system in place and probably not the system I necessarily should have had. I'm just now building a CRM all these years into it.

It's just because when you're wide open, who has time to sit down and, you know, connect who's phone number, who's birthday, whose email address, spouse's name, kids name and things like that because it's all just in my head. And so I'm trying to do better about kind of putting everything. in, but the things that I touch on a daily basis are really systemized and just very specific. Just made my boxes, my birthday boxes for October. And I should have brought one home. I didn't think about it. But I have these little white boxes, I don't know, maybe two by two. And inside of it, I put a little Debbie birthday cake, a birthday candle.

What do you call those, like a kazoo or something that you blow when it, you know, comes out? I don't know what they're called, but I know what you're talking about. Yeah. And then a little thing that said, you know, step one, you know, open your birthday cake, two, put your candle in, light your candle cake because I put matches in there. And then seeing yourself, happy birthday or have somebody sing to you, wish I was there to sing with you. And so we send about 50 of these a month. Most of the time, I can bribe my kids to help me make it. But if not, I just sit in front of the TV or, you know, when I'm listening to a podcast and just stuff them.

and as silly as they are and as random as they are, I get the most heartfelt messages. Like, hey, you're the only one that actually always remembers my birthday and always sends me something. I feel like I still comment on Facebook or if I get a chance, I'll call them and tell them. I hope you have a good birthday. But I actually taking the time to like make them something.

People really appreciate it. I've been doing it probably seven years and nobody's annoyed with it yet, which is weird. I thought they'd get over it. Oh my gosh. Okay. we have to go back because I'm like you started by saying you don't have a CRM and then you say that you're sending out 50 of these a month which is awesome but how yes how are you tracking your birthdays

it's not on your head that would be genius okay Facebook um you can pay attention by you mean you see it you pop they see pop up on your Facebook so I started I mean first of all Google Docs is my life I don't know that I could function without Google Docs now it's probably moving more to Canva, but we'll come back to that. But inside Google Docs, I have literally August birthdays, September birthdays, you know, whatever the month is. And then I just add to it every year because people, and I keep saying I'm going to send out like a quiz that says, like, when's your birthday? Do you like dark chocolate or milk chocolate? You know, just that kind of thing. But I haven't yet. And so I just really use Facebook and then just type it in as soon as I see it.

Okay, perfect. That makes sense then. Because, Google Docs is a system. And if you know that when you have, you know, that information comes to you, you have a single place to store the information, then that is a system. So, okay, gotcha. So for your marketing strategy, really, birthdays is a big piece of that tracking those birthdays. And then the last piece I do have to know is, are you delivering these? Are you mailing them? What is that mailing them? And they're about $2 and like 20 cents to mail. So I think total the boxes are about $4. So they're not expensive. I mean, what else are you going to give somebody for their birthday? but it makes a really big impact that it's consistent, that it's heartfelt, and that it's really,

I guess just true to the personality, because I mean, like, I feel like everything I do, I'm like, all right, is this going to be loving and serving on my people and my community? And so, you know, especially if somebody's moving here from Germany or from another town and doesn't know anybody in Alabama, yes, we're very friendly, but we're still not home. And so the more touches we can do to make somebody feel just loved on, not only are they going to hopefully reciprocate, but they're going to learn to be pretty loyal just because you're loyal to them. And so. Okay.

And in that, do you say anything about real estate? Mm-mm. No. It's just your birthday. Do you, like, have a call to action to a website or how do they? So these are people that you know, though, that you've had, you know, relationships that you currently maintain. So they already know that you are a real estate agent.

Yes. So it's not cold outreach. This is warm touches. This is nurture. Correct. Yeah. So that makes sense. So we have the birthdays.

that's a piece of your marketing strategy. What other things do you do to consistently love and serve on the people in your community? Yeah. So probably the most pop. I used to do a pumpkin patch for my clients. And to be honest, that just was too much for me to do by myself to try to go buy the pumpkins, set up the pumpkins. And I'd put for sale signs around the pumpkin patch. And then I'd put like hay bales in the front for like a pitcher because it's just me.

So trying to get it set up and take the pictures and mingle with my clients. It was just more than I could handle. So this past year I did something that I think was an absolute hit. I just went to the dollar store, bought those Christmas-like necklaces and headbands that light up. I'm sure you've seen them. And got all that I could find of those invited clients just through Facebook and just by texting people and then call in some, but not like anything over to the top paper invitations or anything. And we had skating with Santa. So down kind of right up behind our city courthouse,

they have a big park and they make a ice skating ring because it's still like 70 degrees. Even down here in Alabama at Christmas time. And Santa wore some kind of like ice boots so he could walk on. And it was open technically to everybody. I just bought bulk tickets. And so there is a little pizza place that has a bar. And I just had an open bar tab for the parents

and would just tell them, hey, go get you a beer or something. And then come out. Then I told Santa to really love on the people that had the lights. And so we got a lot of pictures of that. And I want to say we had 85 kids come ice skate. And most of the kids, because a lot of times I have to bring my kids to stuff, I encourage the kids to participate. And so when the kids, and I should have brought stuff home, but I didn't.

But I have like a buyer survival guide that's a little bag. And I have put extra ones of these in. So like I immediately give them to the kids. and a lot of times I will wear smiley face earrings just because I feel like it kind of helps kids feel more comfortable because it can be emotional, not understanding why they have to look at a new house or, you know, the change, especially if they're moving from far away.

And so I try to encourage them, even as buyers. I do a fun thing called the Children's Listing Agreement. And I think that's one I'm going to include in the toolbox where it says, actually I think I can pull it up or I can read it to you. So after I go over everything with the parents, I sit down and kind of put them in my lap and I, you know, says, I know that our parents have asked realtor Mary Horan to sell her home. I know that she's going to find somebody to buy my house and love it just as much as we do. So I agree to.

And then they have to initial, just like the parents, make my bed every day. Pick up my toys. Turn on the lights before we leave for a showing. Help mom keep the kitchen nice and tidy. And then smile if I see people. people when they come into our house. And so then it says, I understand if my parents affirm that I have abided in this, I will receive a $25 gift certificate. And so I do Target, the local ice cream shop are five below. And so the kids get to circle what they want and sign it. And so I can't tell

you when we're doing the process how many times the parents are like, I don't know, you know, Shelby's just not really holding up her end of the bargain. I mean, that TCBY is really not going to be an option if she keeps this, you know, so it just kind of helps. It's adorable. So then I know, the kids, they know me. And so when we go skating, you know, they're all running up and giving me a big hug at these events. So I keep saying I'm going to do more events less geared to the kids, but it's just hard to when the kids I see them out and they ask, when are we going to get to come and do the pumpkin patch? When are we going to get to do this? You know? Oh, my God. Well, I actually, so when I was at Tom Ferry Summit back in August, there was someone else on there who talks about

her marketing strategy is marketing to the kids. So kind of exactly what you just said. But like, She gave the example of like, you know when a kid really wants a toy and they won't let it go and they're really persistent and they want it so bad. So like for her flyers, for her, you know, stuff like this, it's always marketed towards the kids because the kids get it stuck in their mind and then they drag the parents along. So I feel like that's, you're kind of hitting on that. I have some questions on the, I love the ice skating park idea. Love it. So did you take photos? You mentioned photos on the punchback.

So you took them and then you share them on social media and you could. tag everyone so it creates this like fomo across the community. Yes. Okay. Love it. One of my, another girl who I interviewed a little while ago, she did the pumpkin patch idea. This could be an idea for you in the future if you liked that. And what she did is very similar to what you did at the ice skating rink.

So instead of like buying the pumpkins and moving them to a location and setting it all up, she just went to the pumpkin patch people and said, hey, can I rent this out for two hours? And then anyone who came in during those two hours, she paid for their pumpkin that just went on a tab. and then she hired a photographer so that way she could mingle. Because I love the thing. Yeah, our issue is there's a pumpkin patch, but it's about 45 minutes outside of town. Gotcha. So it's not extremely easy to get to.

Because I've considered it, but it's, I mean, we will go and take our kids. They're almost over it age-wise, but it's like an all-day event because you got an hour drive, and then you've got to find parking and then it's an hour back. So it's just, I don't know. I feel like it's a way. Yeah. Yeah. No, it totally makes sense.

It was just a thought. Okay. So you have, you have the birthdays consistently. That's once a month. Then you have your seasonal activities. So we have the Santa. We have pumpkin patch sometime. We have the children's listing agreement, which is adorable.

And yes, please send that. And listeners, if you do want a copy of that, it will be uploaded at real estate rockstarsnetwork.com. And you click the toolbox so you can download it for free. What else you got, Mary? this is freaking awesome. Yeah. So when, you know, just trying to, you know, go back to the idea of loving on people, these are all just stuff I had in my car because I was like, I don't know what I'm talking about.

So when we talk about just being, using technology to make things easy. So this is our welcome home closing packet that I actually forgot out of closing yesterday. So I'm going to have to take it to them. But this is in Canva that I keep. And the only thing I have to change is the picture in the end. address. So that's a pretty easy hit print, you know, change two things, hit print, takes me two seconds to bind it, and then it's done. But in it, I have information like, where do you go to claim homestead? Like, what street do you park at? Where do you register to

vote? Where do you go get your new, you know, mail changed over with the address and the phone number? So just information that a lot of times, you know, we may give them the utility information, but we forget the details of everything. I try to print out if they got a home warranty, if they have an HOA documents and just put it in here. But for the most part, it's a pretty, I can do this within five minutes, even if I have a kid in my lap or something like that.

This is something I've started doing lately just to try to build some gap, whether it's leaving them at like, you know, some retirement homes or leaving them at attorney's office or things like that. this is probably my favorite thing. It's my local guide, and it has all my favorites. So it's stuff that somebody may ask whether they're just here for the weekend,

coming for a football game, or moving here, like, all right, where did you get your clothes? Where does your husband buy is clothes? What's your favorite Mexican restaurant? Your favorite coffee? Your favorite park that has bathrooms. Your favorite park that's empty. Favorite place to take the kids.

Favorite drink spot, lunch spot, and then dessert spot. And so it's kind of, and then I try to take them. Not everybody's extremely friendly and will let me keep them there, but a lot of them will. And I'll just put them like in a little plastic thing at the front. So, because I mean, it's their business. So it's free whatever for them. And then I keep in it just this is doesn't change. I guess I could change the picture, but a lot of times I don't.

I just print out like 50 at a time. But it's just what I do to sell and market a property. Oh, okay. That's not the local guard. This is something new now. Okay. Okay. Okay, not the local guide.

Okay, so we got the welcome home closing packet in Canva, which you just change it out, hit print, bind, hit the road. Then you have the local guide, which, so that's more marketing out in the world, getting other business, collaboration, and providing value that people want to keep in their homes. And what's this next one? So that one is just what I do to market a home. So I just keep it in there as well as just about me and my sales, which is really uncomfortable because I don't like, you know, that,

but people always ask me that. And then I keep it in this, I don't know, I order them off of like Amazon. And so like I'll take them to apartment complexes. I'll take them to places. And you'd be surprised when people show up at my open house, they'll walk in with one of these, you know, just because I don't really know who it's necessarily going to reach, but I just try to think about what could somebody want, you know.

So maybe they're at a hotel coming for the. game day and, you know, they ask, do you have any information about Tuscaloosa? And so they could technically have picked up stuff from like the chamber, but I'm hoping they'll just hand them mine. So that's just something, but it's all on Canva. I printed myself and just try to put together 20 or 30 at a time and then keep two or three in my car. And if I'm at the doctor's office, I may ask if they want to pack it just in case a new patient comes in or something. Yeah, I love Canva. I also use it all the time. That's something I want to be like, hey, can you give us your copies of your Canva too?

But I also don't want to like ask for too much. So maybe one of those after, but we'll talk about it later. Yeah. Okay. So it sounds like right now you're doing a lot, like you said, love, appreciation, giving value, like the feel good stuff. So it sounds like are you doing any type of cold outreach or what else are you doing? or is this your entire business model comes from the love and the giving? Yeah, I have started, which is why I'm doing more podcasts.

I have started a YouTube channel because it bothers me to know that they're, you know, when I look at MLS and see that there were seven pendings this weekend, it bothers me that I wasn't an option for those seven. They may have been homes. I didn't even have anybody asked about those homes. So I'm like, okay, where are these buyers and why are they not considering me? Or why are these listings come up and that I wasn't even considered? And so I've got, I'm not a lead person.

I just don't like to be sold. I don't want to be cold called, so I just don't feel comfortable ever doing that. I like to teach my, treat my future clients like I would want to be treated kind of thing with the golden rule. And so that's, I was like, okay, I see the traffic. I see people move in here. but a lot of times, even before, somebody will say, oh, we have somebody new coming to the university that's going to teach in this department.

I told them they should use you, but they were already pending on a house. And so I'm like, okay, so how do I reach these strangers who aren't really in Tuscaloia? So we'll see if YouTube works. It's been a very, very slow go. I did hit 51 subscribers today. I've had three subscribers in the last, I think it was 30 days.

So, and like, it's so fresh already, though, because it's like, do this video. I do pay for an editor to edit the video. I use Answer the Public to kind of come up with topics about what's being Googled in my area. And it's like, I do this four to five minute video or really six and then pay somebody to edit it down and then go over it again and edit it again with B-roll. And I'm like, I get 12 views. So YouTube is still, I don't know. It's 12 more views than you wouldn't have had otherwise. And I like it is it's me three times. It's probably my husband, probably my mom.

I don't think it counts like that, but it might. But if you really are into YouTube, you should go back a couple episodes, actually probably like 10 or 15 now, and look up Sam Caudill's episode, which is YouTube, re-generating for real estate agents. The dude is crushing it. He has the Living in Tampa channel. I don't know what your channel is called, but if you consider- It's called moving to Tescaloosa.

Okay. Very similar type of thing. And what he said is go to his channel and just look at all of the titles, the content he's doing and pull those and recreate them for your city. He started like three years ago and now he has over 10,000 subscribers, but 100% of his business comes from it. And he gets anywhere from four to 40 leads a week reaching out to him being like you, I've washed your face now for seven hours. I want you to be my agent. So there's like no selling. It's like, you know, so very, I love that you're doing YouTube and that you are doing it in searchable ways because I think that that's really the power of YouTube as opposed to Instagram or those type of platforms because more searchable.

Yeah. Right. Exactly. And the content is so evergreen where like that video will be, you know, right now you say you have 12 views. Three years from now, who knows? You could have like 400,000. I'll have 20. Sure, sure, 20. Okay. And I do love that you have leverage. in that because the you are doing it all in so many other areas yes okay so we got the YouTube is the thing you're working on um is there anything which I know that's incredibly time consuming it is what else in regard to marketing or should we shift over to time management how you're balancing at all with

kids etc yeah probably more time management and I think that's what I realized post-COVID and even now when I hear people talking about they're struggling, is my mama heart just aches for so many of these other realtors that I talk to, whether they're in my 30 under 30 group or just realtors that I find on Instagram and stuff, is they're just in this rat race, it's never ending. And during COVID, I was forced to kind of reinvent how I worked because of just how the world was. And so, like, I have my net sheets in my Google Docs. And so at the time of listing, I go ahead and put, you know, the lamb net sheet, and I put their pay off and I put their

property taxes, and I put what's typical for their neighborhood as far as seller pay closing. And then we get an offer, and all I do is hit the purchase price. And it automatically populates everything. And then I hit one button to upload it into docian. And then it's gone, you know, where I can screenshot it and text it to them. And I can be doing it. And I can be doing it. that, whether I'm at, you know, tutoring or dance. And so just having things that are just ready to go. You know, so if somebody calls and says, hey, you know, we're thinking about selling. Is there a time you come? A lot of times I'll go ahead and make the RPR. I'll send them, you know, my how we market the house. And then I'll take a quick bomb bomb video and send it to him right there. And it's like, hey,

it's May Harmon. If I'm out somewhere, it's probably just my face. If I'm in front of my laptop, I'll do a screen share and just say, here's some quick information about your house. Here's who I'm going to market to because RPR gives it to us. They tell us what are the chances. It's a nurse. They tell us, you know, how educated your potential buyer is going to be. And that doesn't, you know, because we have so much stuff at our fingertips, whether it's RPR, whether it's just MLS information, whether it's something I have in Canva,

I can put together what I would say is, you know, a bomb presentation. It looks like I spent a lot of time in five minutes because it's all ready to go. You know, I mean, if you're like, God, I'm tired, I don't know what I'm saying. My child was up all night. Put it in chat, GTP. Help me come up with a title and three sentences in an email about thank you for the opportunity. And so there's just so much that we can use. And I think we make it into such a bigger deal that we stress ourselves out and thinking we have to work 24-7.

I can't tell you how many times I've answered the phone while John Thomas is, you know, running to make a touchdown and flag football. And I'm like, hey, hold on, hold on, hold on, let me see if he's going to get this touchdown. Two seconds. And then I'm back. I'm like, all right, sorry, I'm at football. But I'm answering the phone and trying to be present. And they're like, oh, don't worry about it. Just call me tomorrow.

Have fun. I'm like, okay. And then I'll text him in the morning. Hey, when's a good time to chat with you today? Sorry, I was at football last night. But there's so many people who instead think that they have to be at their client. back and call instead of just being open and honest about life because we're all in that situation that and you know what I've had a few clients I had one lady that said and Sadie Grace was maybe

six months old and I still remember it to this day and at a list at a buyer appointment it wasn't the first one we were showing houses Sadie was literally asleep inside my baby carrier that I was wearing she didn't make a peep she slept the whole time and she sent the rudest email that said, due to your unprofessionalism by not putting me first and bringing your child who is asleep, we can no longer do business. And I was like, peace. Wow. Because I don't want those people in my life. Right. I don't want to be loving on those people. I mean, yes, they probably deserve it more than anybody else. But like, don't work with people that are assholes. I don't know if I can cuss on this or not. You can. It's okay. Not a lot, but a little. By using technology to make things

easier for us, they don't know that it's in Canva. They don't know that we already have all these pre-made, you know? Yes. Okay, technology and templates is what I'm hearing from you. And you're speaking my language. I love templates. I love systematizing and automating as much as possible. You mentioned a couple cool things already. So you talked about Canva, which I love for designs, for templates, for social media, all of that stuff. You talked about chat, GPT, that if you got are not on Chad GPT it is time you're either on the ship or you're getting left behind 100% um you mentioned rpr and then you also mentioned bomb bomb so bomb bomb and i know a little bit about it you know it's a video i've always been curious though like why not just send a regular video what is the

pro of bon bon fun so the probably the biggest thing that i think bomb bomb is is the tracking well there's Lots of different things. One, I just sent a video walkthrough that was a 14-minute video walk-through through through Bomb-Bomb, so I know it's going to go through. It's not going to get caught somewhere up in space or say it's too large of a thing. You know, you can't only text so many minutes on your iPhone. So being able to not be, know it's going to reach them is a big deal. But like, you can also screen share.

And so like you can see my face is below this arrow. And then I have the comps that like I just told you, somebody just randomly asked about it. Now, the funny thing is, is this is somebody from Florida that called him, was asking about a return on investment on a condo. They, I talked to him for about 30 minutes. I will probably follow up, but I'm not going to stress about it because I took the time to send them what they did and they haven't watched it. So I know that is not a great use of my time.

the I was trying to see this one is great this is a draft offer I don't like the impression to sign something so I always will go over it just talking about what the offer is going to look like what it's in it sometimes I'll actually put the screen share up so that they have time to listen to it especially if there's a language barrier because let's be honest I have a heavy accent one or two or three times and then they can come back when they meet in person and then I'm not having to take the time in person to go over it because we've already done it. You mentioned screen share a couple of times.

So is this all from your phone screen share? Like it's your face, you can, okay, or it can be on your video. Okay, that's actually super helpful. It is. Okay. How much does Bombom cost? So I actually just got my renewal in the email this morning. So it's 30, like 40 a year.

So, I mean, considering that's a pretty. slim, nothing. And so like these clients, you can see, they've watched it three times completely through and a fourth time halfway. So I know that they have taken the time to watch it, have paid attention. And the interesting thing about it is one of the watches was from a different email address. So clearly they forwarded it. Either forwarded it to their husband or to their daughter just to make sure they were doing it. And so I will also get a notification on my phone that says so-and-so watched it. And it's funny, though, because sometimes it's six months later. And then I'm like, show me. I was just thinking about you today. I was driving by the coffee shop. And that was last

time I saw you. And they're like, I was just thinking about you. And like, I try not to do things like in a fake way. But it does just kind of kind of give you a pride that like you really, it's okay. you can check in because I don't want to be annoying. For sure. And did it, sorry, did it notify you that they watched it? Okay, very helpful. So I can see the benefits of BombBomb. That makes a lot of sense.

I also talked to someone recently about there. They said that there's like a desktop, like a profile, like a dashboard you can go to where you can see, like you can do video templates. I don't know if you know. I don't know how I want to use it. I'm sure there's lots of other ways to do it. Gotcha. And it just helps build the rapport. Like, this is borderline embarrassing, but it's just the way it is.

So Sadie Grace was doing, that's my youngest, was doing tutoring every day during the summer. So I would just sit in the parking lot and work. So I was sending a bomb bomb and going over an offer. And actually both of mine were. So John Thomas was in tutoring and Sadie was taking a nap in the back seat or so I thought. So I'm just sitting in my car. I have a little phone piece of whatever that hooks onto my steering wheel that my laptop sits on it. And I had pushed my seat back because I mean, I'm sitting there for two hours just working.

And so I'm talking. And you know how like you just feel something's off like somebody's watching you? And I just kind of looked up, you know, because I mean, I'm looking at myself in the screen, not necessarily at the camera. And I look up and it's the funniest bomb bomb. And Sadie Grace is right behind me twerking. And she had been twerking for like a whole 20 seconds. You know, just being a funny six-year-old.

And here I am talking about, you know, your property taxes and your tax, you know. And so like, and people ask, well, did you send it? Of course I did because that's just reality. And they know Sadie Grace and they're just used to it. But I don't think you have to be scared of your personality, of your mistakes, of your failures, of your kids screaming. it's the whole package. I think people are going to be more comfortable with you knowing that you don't have everything together just like they don't. It's that sense of authenticity that is so powerful.

And people don't want perfection. And then to let me back to Sam Cottle in his YouTube videos, he says that, you know, he does it as it comes and doesn't edit out like the bugger on his face or the mosquitoes fighting him or whatever because it's those little moments that people are like, oh, You're a human. I can relate to you. I feel closer to you. What other technology and systems do you use? Hit us with, you know, you can pull up your phone, swipe through your apps. What are we going to do? Let me look. I'm trying to think what. A lot of times I don't, well, here you go. I'll tell on myself. It's one of my best friend's birthdays today. We actually went to have breakfast with her this morning beforehand. And I have not had time because there's never enough time to do anything. So I totally just Instacarted her a birthday cake and a birthday present. So my Instacart lady just texted me and said, you know, we've got your order. I'm on my way. I'll be there soon. And so I'll totally use Instacart more than you could imagine. And I know that sounds silly, but like if a client I see has COVID or sick or their kid is sick or they just had a baby or

anything like that, I know their address. I know their phone number. And it takes two seconds to plug it into Instacart or Eber Eats and send them a family meal. They don't want to talk to me. But they would love probably some extra medicine, some Gatorade, whatever. And, you know, it saves me time. It saves me money. And I can still love on them in all the ways. Because I mean, I feel like a lot of times we think about, God, I'm sure they would love to have dinner tonight. And then our phone rings. And then our kid needs something. And then this fire comes up.

But if we sit there and take literally a minute and a half to upload their address and hit, send them McDonald's. Their kids are going to love it because mom's sick. She's not going to eat anyways. But the kids will eat the, you know, happy meal. That's a safe pick. I mean, it's, and it's probably not something they get to do normally. But for 10 bucks, I just sit dinner.

And then the parents are texting me, thank you. My kids have been quiet for an hour and I've left me alone, you know. And so I'm like, good. That's the point. And so don't be scared to use things that you don't think of because, like, I probably have already Instacarted seven times this week. Instacart saves lives, not just for grocery delivery. Like, I don't remember the last time that I went to the grocery store to buy groceries. But also, I do the same thing that you do, like, I send balloons.

You know, you go to the dollar store and just send, like, 30 balloons to be delivered to someone's house. It's, like, genius. I love the Instacart idea. hit us with whatever else you got. I know. I'm looking at, I'm looking to see what else. Like I said,

on here, I have all my Google. So on my Google, literally I have a whole Google folder. I have my Google storefront, my Google reviews, Google Calendar, Google Forms,

Google Translate, all that. I do use listings to leads. What's that? Sometimes I am concerned it looks a little outdated, but it's better. and done is better than perfection.

So I have to just do that. But they have like PDF guides and ads that you hit a button. And it automatically runs ads to LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, Google. And so like I'm running one right now for divorce and real estate. I just pushed a button, gave it a $50 thing. And it's because I have been dropping off these. at different estate and divorced attorneys because it bothers me when I hear horror stories about people not getting taken care of even during situations like that.

What is that? So you do $50 for a week of ads? No, it's a month. For a month of ads, and damn, that's really, really low. I feel like for ad spends. What is the return? Like, do you actually get leads from it?

I don't know. I mean, I get leads from it and I send up a bomb bomb, but I don't track it probably because I don't have a CRM to let me be repargeted or anything. like that. I'm curious about your Google reviews. Do you have, when do you ask for reviews? Do you follow up and ask repeatedly?

Or what is your process? Or maybe, yeah, you're shaking your head. This is great. There's so much I should do and I know I should do. But it's been very important to me to be present with my kids. And it's important for me to, even if I am picking up Taco Costa or McDonald's or something, but to be home with my kids. One, just because now they're at the age where they have a ton of homework.

And I want them to feel confident when it comes time for testing quiz. But I really, really try to be home by 2.45 to get them off the bus every day. And then I have like an hour with them before we just run. Like it's my last, I do a marathon every day between football and dance and acro and tutoring and just all the different things. And so I stuff a ton of work between we thank God I drop them off at 715. So I have like a few hours from seven to two where I can focus and work. And then if they have to go with me to a show and later, they have to. It's not a big deal.

But like my actual hard work time is during that time. And so I don't, there's just only so much time you can do. So I don't have time. So very rarely do I ask for review. A few years ago, I did a Yeti giveaway for all my current clients that they could get a Yeti. And it was like a periwinkle blue color. if they did a review for me. You'd really be surprised how many people write a review on their own.

And then it's even more heartwarming because you're like, all themselves. Like that makes me feel special. But no, I don't ask for them like I need to. In your focus time from 7 a.m. till 2, how slash what are you prioritizing? That's a great question. I try to sit down that morning and really write down like what I have to do.

And our market is dead. It's very, very, very quiet. Typically, I can do anywhere from five to seven closings a month and we've been doing two. And I'm still in the top ten, which is kind of a scary thought. So I have, that's why I'm now suddenly working on our CRM. That's why I'm now working on a YouTube channel because I finally have time to do all the wonderful things I know I need to do that I just am not able to. So like yesterday I did my birthday boxes.

I took some packets to some estate attorneys. I'm trying to think what I did. I did two videos on Instagram and YouTube. I made a closing packet from my closing. So your priorities are building out the systems to bring in more business. It sounds like your focus is geared towards where are the people who aren't closing? with me, how do I get in front of them, and how do I systematize it so that way I can get my time back when my business comes back to the normal five to seven closing some month.

Yep. Okay. Much more eloquent. No, I just tried to summarize. I don't know. Okay, that makes a ton of sense. So let me think real quick. Actually, I'll ask you.

What did we not talk about that you would like to? In a perfect world, I would do five handwritten cards. day. I think a lot of times we forget that we could pay a circuit or however you say that, you know, to use a ballpoint pen to write something. Or we could use, you know, send out cards to do something. But I think taking the time and using a pen and it actually being handwritten note is important. And so I do send home anniversary cards. So like, I can't believe it's been three years since you bought your home. I hope it's been filled with love, laughter, whatever. the attorneys and the estate attorneys and stuff I write in there.

You know, thanks for all you do for the community. Tusclusa has some incredible realtors, and I would love to be an option if the time ever came where you needed, you know, to give two or three options. And so that's the thing. I mean, I have a lot of friends that are realtors. There's a lot especially, like in my church and things like that. And so it's very hard not to get your feelings hurt when they use, you know, somebody that we all go to church with.

But I just try to say, like, you know, I want to be, I want to influence people, help them when they need to be helped. And I just, you know, try to ask God to, like, put me in. There's places where I need to be a help and where he needs to use me. And so I don't take it personally or I try not to, which is really hard. But I think having a handwritten note and just taking the time to be personalized, whether it's saying, you know, happy anniversary or, you know, I send. I try to send the kids' birthday cards if I can remember because they're not on Facebook.

So that's actually some digging, but just things like that. Or if, you know, somebody wants a track meet, sending a card to them or to their kid or, you know, just things like that. So take some time because you can do it, whether you're sitting at home, sitting in traffic. You can write a quick note. It doesn't take long. But just taking some extra time to do something heartfelt like that, I think makes a big difference. people listening are like I believe in this woman she is going to take care of my clients I well at least this is how I feel I'm like dude I feel like if I sent you a referral you would

crush it and they would leave feeling like I have a lifelong friend now so with people who want to send you referrals to Tuscaloosa Alabama where should they contact you yeah so having the good old double name it's Mary Harmon Young so that's all my stuff so you can search Mary Harmon Young on YouTube. Instagram's Mary Harmon Young. Facebook business page is Mary Harmon Young. There's not a ton of Mary Harmon, so I'm pretty easy to find. But my email is info at Maryhorman.com.

My website's Maryhorman.com. So any of those places are fine. I remember after I had been an assistant for about a year and a half, having my first, I didn't close them. So I don't know if they're technically clients and being like, wait, how do you calculate deed tax? I know that was on the test, but like, you know, I glazed over it. And I went and asked, I think I ended up asking three other agents within my office that I was at at the time.

How do you calculate it? And every one of them in one way or the other said, well, you're my competition now. Why would I help you? And I've never forgotten that. And so if we go in with this mindset of scarcity and not being helpful, the reality is that's what you're going to get back, whether it's in the lack of referrals, from other agents as well as clients. But agents aren't going to want to do business with you. So with that in mind, I do try to help as much as I can.

So even local people, they're like, oh, can I look at this? Can I look at this? We have this one agent in our office. And every day he comes in, he's like, what can I steal from you today? I'm like, here, go look at this. And the funny part is, is like, he's only implemented one thing just because that's just people just don't implement. I am one of those that I will not want to say.

copy, but I will ask permission and change a few things to make it look like mine all the time. So if anybody has questions or wants to see something, they're welcome to reach out and I'll try to go over as much as I can with them. Rip off and duplicate is like the way of the world. It's the only way. And if you guys would like to R&D, rip off and duplicate her children's listing appointment agreement, I've butchered that. But you know what I'm talking about?

Go to the real estate rockstars network.com and go to the children. toolbox. If you are, want to ask her for her Canva templates, I kind of do, but go to her direct, send her a message on, um, Instagram. But the cost of that packet is you have to go to our YouTube channel and subscribe. Yeah. Maybe I'll get more. Yeah. When people ask you, what can I do for you? That should be like your go to, whether it's like Google, actually, you can give me a Google review or you can subscribe to my channel. Although one little side note on the subscriptions is Sam Cottle taught me this is you don't want people to subscribe to your channel who are not your target audience. So I did this when I first started my YouTube channel.

I was like, you know, my brother who lives in Virginia, my dad in Kentucky, I'm like, guys, follow this, like watch the whole video. But it actually screws up the algorithm and confuses YouTube. Yeah, so only have your target audience subscribe. Anyway, that was a side note. Mary, you, Mary Harmon Young. Yes. Yes.

No. You are wonderful. I really enjoyed digging into your processes and I learned a lot. It's been super fun. Listeners, if you want to hang out with me and the owner of the show, we are the Shelby Show and Aaron Amukestagie on the gram. Hit us up, follow what we're doing. And we want feedback. If you want to hear something in particular, a deep dive on a subject, a person that you want us to get on here and dig through their business, let us know and we'll make it happen. That is all we have for today. Thanks again for coming on the show. And real side rock stars, thanks for listening. Yes. Bye. All right. Have a good day.