KGCI: Real Estate on Air - Where 94% of Real Estate Agents Miss the Mark With Marketing

Episode Date: January 31, 2025

Welcome back, Real Estate Rockstars. Here's what you can expect to learn in today's show. Why Instagram followers are not important. How to automatically screen clients so you don't waste your time. What to leave behind at listing appointments to set you apart and what 94% of agents are missing out on in their businesses. Matt Leonetti is today's guest. He is BFFs of a couple of our recent guests. So big shots, the broke agent, and Brad McCallum, the YouTube listing walkthrough guy. And Matt is out of Toronto, Canada. He's been an agent for eight years in which he failed in his first three years before finding his niche in Instagram as a content creator. And now he's built an entire brand off of funny, clever, sometimes polarizing content. And since starting on Instagram in 2019, with no marketing

and video background, he has earned millions of organic views and spots speaking on stage next to Ryan Sourhant, Gary V, and Tom Ferry. So make sure you go over and check out his Instagram. It is Matt. Leonetti. He has 65,000 followers, black and white profile if you're looking for him. And guys, make sure you head over to YouTube and subscribe so you can watch as these shows go down. And make sure you follow us on your favorite podcast platform so you never miss a show. And with that, Real Estate Rockstars, well, Welcome, Matt Leonetti. Okay, Matt, so you know what's crazy.

I don't know if you know this, but when normal, you know, people on Instagram are stalking other people's profiles, they come across like a real estate agent's profile, you know, hypothetically a guy names like Matt Leonetti, you know, just potentially. And like you, that person has 65,000 followers and like tons of engagement. They're doing stuff with the broke agent and Ryan Surhan. And I don't know if you know this, but like the perspective is like, they have it all figured out their life is perfect they have so many leads like definitely they're rich for sure and so i'm curious what is what is reality like what is your real estate business really

life what is your life really like are you do you have it all figured out you get the nail on the head yeah i'm rich i'm uh i do i just have it all figured out it's it's pretty i just kind of smooth sailing from here i just kind of you know no um you know there's every This is why Instagram is so tricky. Everyone shows what they want to show. I do try and show a lot of the losses as well. I always say, you know, wins give you credibility, but losses make you human. I think there should be a healthy mix of both.

But no, there's definitely a perception you need to have, especially for your clientele and stuff like that, because they want to see that you are winning more than losing. But like I said, it's okay to share some of those losses. Listen, since I almost got out of the industry, and it was funny right before this, we were talking, you went back to 2019. And that's what I started, real estate, which that's when I actually started doing real estate content, which is funny because I was actually in the industry since 2016. So those couple of years before that were horrible. And I was weeks away from getting out of the business.

And then I started doing this content that everyone told me not to do. and now I'm here. And yeah, I'm doing really cool stuff. Ryan, it's the reason I got into the business. So to be able to work with them in different capacities is mind-blowing to me. And yeah, I mean, it's cool. It's definitely my life has changed since doing the content in real estate and stuff.

But it's definitely not. I'm not just some rich asshole who doesn't have to do anything ever and has no problems. That's definitely not the case. Gotcha. Okay. So you got into the game back. in 2016 and you didn't get into content until 2019. Let's say hypothetically you were starting over today from nothing, but you know everything that you know now, you just don't have an audience,

a presence, all that stuff. Like, what would you do to build your business? Yeah, I would definitely, I would definitely focus on social. And I feel like that it gets a bad rep sometimes because people think that if you focus on socially, you don't have to focus on anything else, which is not the case in my mind. Like, I just think social is such a great way to make people feel like they know you before they know you. Like you were saying before this pod, like you were looking at my face for an hour before this. And, you know, it starts to be, you know, you kind of familiar. Oh, we're best friends. Yeah. Yeah. And you can, you can make that especially, you know, like a lot of people don't want you. It's hard to meet people in person now, harder than it used to be, especially through COVID and stuff.

and that's why I really ramped up everything through the pandemic and stuff because it was hard to meet people in person. But I would get a social presence because the thing is with social is a couple videos, just a couple different videos, a couple tweaks can completely change the course of your career. Just like that. Like I always say, you know, I just posted a video an hour ago.

It has like 50,000 views already. Go knock on 50,000 doors and tell me how long that takes you. I'm not saying don't do it. I'm just saying it's a fantastic tool to get your face and your brand in front of so many people. So I would definitely focus on that. And I would also more traditionally focus on open houses. Those would be my two main focuses. To go back to that first focus, you know, you just mentioned a video can completely change the course of your career.

But Matt, hypothetically, I'm an agent and I'm doing videos and they're not reaching anyone, you know, outside. I have, I have 100 followers. Maybe I have a thousand followers. and I'm not getting any likes or anything on my videos. How do I break through and reach more people? So there's definitely tweaks, and it's not always about reaching more people. It's about reaching the right people.

A lot of people will say, well, I only got 200 views on this video. Go stand in a room with 200 people. It's a lot of people. You know what I mean? So it's all perspective. You see these, like, and I use the example of 50,000 views, and I was using that example to like,

you know, in relation to door knocking, but it's definitely about finding the right people. And as I have been growing, it was a big focus of mine to keep my engagement high. I don't want to have 65,000 followers and, you know, three comments on my videos. I'm not interested in that. If I'm going to grow a following, it has to make sense.

So your 500 followers, if those 500 followers are in your town, those are amazing followers to have. So it's just all about the, you know, it goes back to the quality over quantity. It really is more about the quality of who your followers are. And if you're not getting views or likes at all, then that probably means you're not creating something that's interesting to the people you're trying to reach. Okay. So recommendations for me.

If I'm naturally, I am clearly not interesting and I don't know how to be interesting. what should I do? Like you? Like actually you? You seem very interesting. Thank you. That is so nice. Well, and you seem so you're just very likable.

Like right away, you break down barriers. And you just kind of, you have that familiarity. There's some people, and it's interesting. Some people feel, I don't think I necessarily have this all the time. Some people you just meet and they seem familiar and they seem like home. And I think you have that quality. I think I would focus on that quality if I were you. I'm a little bit more maybe rough around the edges.

People, until you get to, once you get to know me, you know I'm very kind and generous and a nice person, but it's not always, you know, it's kind of like, I don't know.

But I would focus on that, like, bubbly personality because there's always characteristics that, like, you can pull. A lot of people will say, well, yeah, all you have to do is go on video and be yourself. Well, you know, once you turn that video on, the red light comes on, yourself goes away.

And a lot of people don't understand that. So it's like try and figure out that quality that really attracts people to you. And you can find that by asking kind of weird questions to your friends, your friends really, like what, you know, why do you like me? What attracted you to me initially? I don't. Yeah, it's like, I really don't. It's just, you know, you keep coming around.

So you're just kind of, but there's definitely a quality that always, you know, I can think to all my friends and think like, oh, yeah, you know, like this person is so, like Eric, Simon, the broke agent, he's, he's just so sarcastic and his humor is so dry. It's so funny to me. And that's how we kind of bonded. And like, you know, there's going to be a place for those type of people, whatever you are. If you're, you have dry humor, you're sarcastic, you're analytical. you're bubbly, there's a whole set of people just like you.

Okay. And just so you know, I do this thing where I like ask these hypothetical questions because I'm pretending to be a listener. I'm like, if I was listening, like what would I think? I love that. But that I will take your comfort any day. Thank you so much. There you go. But okay, so to bring it back a little bit to maybe to recap. So, you know, focusing on socials, doing videos, asking friends for feedback as to, what you think your like standout qualities are, the quality most likable. And then you can double down on that and create video specific for your target audience. And I guess for you in particular, like you kind of, you kind of make fun of real estate agents. You are like, so what is,

who is your target audience? What is your goal? It's all, it's, you're listing stuff too. Yeah. Yeah. So it definitely changes. It's kind of like two categories now. When I started started doing this, I would do a lot of agent to client humor, which I kind of got away from because I found it was making fun of clients too much. And I didn't like it. And it's all like trial and error. And you'll learn as you make your content. And that content is good for a certain period of time. And then you have to pivot. And it's always, you know, I have to find something new. Now it's definitely, I realize that there's a big market for me with agent to agent referral. so I do focus a lot of content on agent to agent kind of content because we're in the industry.

Like it's, you know, most people, there's obviously a lot of some people who are kind of like too serious and they don't want to ever joke or, you know, they just take their job very serious, which is fine. But a lot of us like kind of poking fun at the industry and it's hard and it's kind of an outlet for us. So I almost want to be that like page you can go to to be that outlet or to say that thing you want to say, but you wouldn't say. So I like being kind of that outlet. And then, yeah, like you said, my listing videos,

they've gotten a lot of attention and clients reach out because of those videos. And it's a certain type of client for sure. Not everyone's going to like my style. But they reach a lot of people and they really help the home selling package and like selling the home and stuff. So it's definitely like a lot of agent to agent, which I call the salt and pepper of the content. And then the listing videos are the meat and potatoes for me where it's like, you know, it kind of rounds everything out where it's like, oh, this guy's actually, you know, doing something that's interesting, creative and marketing a property in an interesting way and getting things done. Which I'm so glad that you still have like the listening videos on there.

Because in my pre-stock, I was like, is he still close? you know, like sometimes you just see people with big followings and you're not sure. It's like, have you converted into a coach? What are you trying to sell me? But no, you, I mean, you have like really compelling listing videos. And you're right. I don't think they're for everyone. But I think what's really cool about your content too is that it acts as like a screening

criteria for yourself where it's like if people who aren't the right fit for you to work with them, they're not even going to reach out. So it's like you have this built in screening within your platform. 100%. I got a call last week. just some guys like hey key come list my house there's no

you know there's no competition it was just okay come list my house and we're listing it in two weeks like those are the type of calls I get more now yeah I don't do it is tricky because I don't really do the just solds just listed

just open house I'll do a lot of that in stories and highlights so yeah sometimes first you know if you're just coming and doing a quick scan it doesn't really look like I'm still actively selling until you really dig in, which those things just destroy your engagement. Like no one wants to see that anymore. And there's ways around it if you still want that page aesthetic, but it's just something

that I'm not really interested in. You mentioned before the importance of engagement. And it's not necessarily about more followers. It's about having those who are probably raving fans really believe in you and engage with your content. So how do you build, because it almost feels like a community, you know, like your Instagram is kind of like a community. All these people think you're funny. And so how do you wreck any tips on building engagement and or a community within your page? Yeah. I mean, it has to be more than just your work. Like the just sold, the just listed. There's a reason why there's no

engagement there because it's not a front facing person. Like you don't see a face and you don't, there's nothing to relate to. Like people want more than just your business. Like what are you interested in? People are more interested in you than you think. Like as boring as someone might think they are, there's something about them that people would be interested in. And, you know, I try and pull, like I love music.

I wear a lot of like band t-shirts and stuff like that. That's an interesting thing that I can, you know, immediately have a connection with someone because of a band that we like. So I always try and pull that. And even if you want to do the most simple content, always say this like a like a market update video instead of doing it in front of like your brokerage like logo or whatever why don't you do it in an office with some shelves and on the shelves you have some cool things behind you like your favorite sports team or your favorite book or your favorite

a couple of your favorite records and little knickknacks like that so it's like you're still giving great information and valuable information but then people are looking behind you and like oh I love that book or I love that team. I love that record. There's just little things you can do to pepper in that actually will make people connect to you more. So they connect with you in that way. But I feel like that's not like a tangible connection. You know, if they're probably not going to see your band tea and be like on your post,

be like, yo, dude, I love that band. You're, you know, you're so cool. So I guess when you when you say engagement, are you talking about like tangible comments, DMs, whatever, or are you talking about like a buy-in that's intangible? Does that make sense? So the, the Bantee thing, they do comment, I love your T-shirt. Like that's, you know, and then from there, because now I feel like, listen, it's a lot of follow-up. And like, you have to build genuine relationships. This whole thing is about starting conversations and staying top of mind and building meaningful relationships more than anything transactional.

So like when someone says that I love that t-shirt, I love that band, that's something I know about them now that not a lot of other people know. So next time I see that band on Instagram, I'll share it with them. And we build a genuine connection over something that we love. If you're branded well enough in real estate, people are going to know you're in real estate. You don't have to shove that down their throat every second. you know in fact they won't like that so yeah there is like little things in videos that i'll do to get more comments and more engagement and you know like you never know kind of what sparks

from these videos even like this stupid little video i posted today like there's so much conversations i'm starting from it just because it's fun and like you know we it just it's it's weird the paths that kind of come from just like a random video it's just like you know you start by saying you love this band or whatever, and then it goes down here and here. And just like, the conversation you can really start is, is really amazing. And when you have these conversations, are you, because you mentioned the importance of follow up. So this kind of goes back to the beginning where I'm like, your life must be perfect. You don't have to do anything and just balls in your lap. Like, you still have to follow up. Like, even if you have engagement in conversations,

like follow up is the phrase in real estate. But my question with your follow up is, do you follow up within the Instagram platform or is your goal to get them off like get contact information get them off platform into a CRM like what does that look like that's the goal but not right away for me it's worked I do way better in less formal settings and I feel like a DM is much less formal than a email so yeah it starts in DM and then like I'll try and gradually build it to you know, capturing their, their email or their phone number or stuff like that. Or, you know, sometimes it's the whole thing. Like, I sold a place last year for $1.4 million.

That was all, you know, the whole connection was over DM. And I didn't get their stuff until I went in, did the listing appointment, got the listing, and that was that. So it depends. Like people, you can kind of feel out. And it's the same thing with like, people will say, oh, like, should I, I'd be dressing, like formally all the time, should I be wearing a suit and a tie. You know, there's, there's a lot of times that I do go wear a suit. I don't really show it on Instagram as much, but like there's a time in place.

I didn't see that. There's a time and place for everything. But you kind of have to like see what your client is comfortable with. If they're in shorts and flip-flops all the time, maybe being in a three-piece suit and tie is going to make them uncomfortable. So you kind of have to dress for. the client sometimes while still staying true to yourself. But, you know, I'll never go to a listing presentation like this. If I start, you know, really building a great rapport with the client and we're showing

homes, sure, I'll go like this if this is, you know, kind of the style. But yeah, it just, it just kind of depends. It's always like, it's not a one size fits all and that's the same with the follow-up. Like sometimes people will be very comfortable just staying on the DMs and that's fine. you're you're you still have the conversation going it doesn't matter if it's in a DM or an email it's the same thing like if you're going to get the appointment you're going to get their information so it's just like it takes time and it's patience so much so much and then yeah so much of what you said with the i really i really feel like it's being a chameleon you know when your

real estate agent it's like you're having the ability to switch your preferred means of communication Like, I prefer a certain means of communication, but if the client doesn't, it's not about me. It's about how they prefer to communicate. And same totally agreed with like style and vibe and the amount of detail provided versus like, is that person, can you tell if they are the ones who need to know all of the stats or the way they're the ones who are just like, I promise I got you. You don't have to wear anything. Just come with me.

So that, I mean, that totally makes sense. But my question for you is when you have these conversations, some are in the platform. DM, are you still tracking them on the back end where it's like you might put them into a CRM or some sort of tracking system so that way you remember. Because I imagine that your DMs probably get crazy and there's no way to pin that I know of. So what does that look like for you? Yeah, I have little notes. I don't, I don't really use a CRM. I know. I know. So But I have different ways that I'm very comfortable with. Like I do a lot in my calendar.

If it's not my calendar, it just doesn't exist. And I can track things and keep things organized there and notes and spreadsheets and stuff like that. And that's just how I do. I'm not saying it's the right way to do it at all. Well, there's no right way. Yeah. It's whatever it works. It's just how I do it.

And I really do keep track and I don't forget about these people because, It is different too because when you do start having these kind of conversations that are more than just, oh, sell my house, you like to have the conversations. It's not like, oh, I have to fall up with this person this day. It's like you're just kind of in communication with them. It's a weird. It's very weird. And it took me a long time to kind of understand that.

And it gets to the point where like, I don't even, I just like, I'm just attracting the people that I just like. So I'm just talking to them like, I'm talking to you. Like it's, it's just, it is what it is. And if something, I'm not talking to them to get something out of it. I'm just talking to them because I'm enjoying the conversation. And if it comes and it's, you know, it's bound to happen. The more conversations you have, the more business you will get. You mentioned calendar.

If it's not in your calendar, it doesn't exist. So what calendar are using, what calendar are you using? and what other ways do you organize within your business? It's not nothing fancy, it's just the calendar of my phone. And we have an assistant that keeps us organized as well. So I'm very unorganized. And then I switched to Real about a month ago, and the real app has kept me so much more organized

than anywhere I've ever been. So that is nice. What's in it? Everything. Like what's the real app like? literally just everything about my business is just there my closings the paperwork when i'm getting paid out like all that kind of like back end stuff that i would always be surfing through like my emails like oh shit i can't find this thing this paperwork whatever it's just all there

in my app on my phone and it just makes everything i'm very unorganized uh in nature and this just keeps me just gives me an extra boost that I need. And, you know, some people are very organized and that's great. I'm just not one of those people. And having an assistant now has been great. But just on the go, I was always that person was like, oh, we need this, you know, this BRA. I beg, oh, shit that I'd feel like, you know, it's just, that's how I am. So now I feel way more organized. Nice. Okay, since you're not an organized person, we're going to switch back to Instagram. I've got a few more questions on that. So with Instagram, in the very beginning, you were like, don't discount everything else. Like create videos, but don't discount everything else. And I do feel like that is a problem that a lot of agents have where it's like I could work all day on content creation easily, try to figure out whether it would be YouTube or Instagram or whatever. And then all of these other pieces, of my business just either crumble or don't exist. And so how, how for, like, what is your schedule for content creation? Does it take up a lot of your time? Like, what's your process? It doesn't take up as

much as it used to because now I have like, you know, I'm going to start bulk recording as well, which is a great way to, you know, do one, one time a month and just kind of get everything out. But, you know, someone like a Brad McCallum, he gets most of his business from YouTube. So spending most of his time there makes a lot of sense for him because he sees the ROI. So it's just about like really trying a lot of, so I cold called for like two and a half years before any of this. And I got two appointments, one listing and two appointments. And obviously I was, I don't know what I just, I wasn't good at it clearly. And then as I was cold calling, I started doing the content and I started seeing the return on the content. So then I thought, okay, well, maybe I'll put

more time into the content then. Because people can work very, very hard in all the wrong places. So it's like, you really need to figure out when you're like kind of beating a dead horse and it's just like not happening. And like, so you have to, yeah, just like realize where that could be. But I wouldn't say if you are door knocking, you're having success, that's great. But content is an easy way for you to like I said bulk record you can do a vlog style you can have someone following you around for a day to to get pieces of content that just like it kind of just enhances everything about your the things you're already doing so if you're door knocking and you create content you can doork you can leave a flyer that flyer can have a QR code to your instagram maybe they'll

go to the Instagram maybe they'll just throw it in the garbage but then once you leave and they throw that flyer in the garbage, they'll go sit down and they'll go on Instagram or they'll go on Facebook and you'll have targeted marketed the place you're farming, door knocking, so then they're going to see you again without you being invasive in any way. So it's like there's tricks to it that just like it'll add and enhance what you're already doing. Okay. So with your content creation, it doesn't take that much time. Are you posting like regularly on a schedule? Are you posting? I need to post. once a day at this time or is it much more free flow?

No, free flow completely once a week normally on my feet. Yeah, it just is like, yeah, no, no, it just is what it is. Like, I just feel like there's so much pressure. There's all these like Instagram, social media gurus that are like going on stages and you got to post this and you got to follow the trends, but there's no substance to what they're saying because they're not actually doing it themselves. Like if you're, I can't stand when I see like an Instagram growth. coach or a social media growth coach who has like a thousand followers. Followers aren't everything,

but if you're going to focus on growth, then you need to do it yourself. So I don't even understand how people can even take them seriously, but there's just so much pressure like post three times a day, one time it, whatever. It's just like post when you're comfortable at the end of the day. This is a tool. It's a social media app. It's not the end of the world if you miss a week. just like post when you're inspired, post things you're passionate about. Because when you post three times a day, that's maybe like people, some people will just kind of get turned off by that as well. So you have to really focus on your audience. If you're part of that grind culture and that hustle and that Grant Cardone kind of shit, then yeah, post 17 times a day.

That's fine. They're going to love that. But if you attract more people like the person I am, I don't want to. that. I just want to like watch things that kind of, you know, I don't know, take you away for a second in this crazy world and just a little bit more laid back. So you'll find the people you need to find. In one of your semi-recent posts, you mentioned that 94% of agents do not have a strategic marketing plan. Would you care to elaborate on that? Yeah. that was not a real stat. I said, I feel like 94%. I would never. I'm quoting you. It's going everywhere.

Yeah. I just see so many posts of people like, it's almost like a throwaway line at this point. And now, you know, if you work with us, we're going to have our strategic marketing plan to make sure your home is shown in the best light. It's just like, it's just one of those throwaway lines at this point. and I would love to see all these people. I'm not saying people don't have them. Of course, they do. But certainly not everyone who's saying they have it. So it was just like a fun play on that because like strategic marketing plan in some

people's mind is the complete bare minimum of like putting your house on Realtor.com, shooting some nice listing photos and doing open houses. So, you know, like I said, there are incredible agents and incredible teams who have real strategic marketing plans. All I'm saying is like, show me something tangible here. You can't just throw it out. I need to see something that's backed up. Do you, for your listing appointments,

for your strategic marketing plans, do you have anything that works well for you at listing appointments? Yeah. So our listing presentation is not, before 2019 when I was trying to figure things out I would go in with a slideshow on my computer or iPad and go through every slide no matter what

and there was times where people I could see them just like oh my please stop like this is horrendous like so so now it's it's way less formal we do go in with some something tangible that they can actually keep and take away which I feels a bit better than I don't think everything is always better digitally.

A lot of times we'll send them something before digitally so they can kind of look up who we are and then leave something tangible with really nice photography and stuff and just, you know, try and separate us a little bit. But we kind of focus, especially now with my partner, Anna. So Anna has been in the business for 20 years. She's very kind of high-end, luxurious. And that's the kind of brand that she's kind of. created. I don't have that brand, as you can see. So I'm more like, I'm funny, the creative

director, we kind of say in our, in our working relationship. So we just want, we, we have a $4.5 million dollar listing coming out in March. And we got the listing last year. And we went in together. And you kind of feel it out. Like, what is this person, what's meaningful to them? What do they want out of this appointment. So for this one in particular, she was way more laid back. She comes from a marketing and advertising background. So I was like, oh my God, this is, I'm going to take the lead here. Like this is something where I can really excel and separate us and really kind of hone in and share the analytics of my page and the views I get because that's going to be something that's important to her. And there's been other times where we sold a place

last year, 1.5 million out, you know, in kind of the farmland around Toronto, which is a very expensive price. And they were more analytical, luxurious. So Anna took the lead on that. So it's just kind of like understanding who the client is, what's important to them, and then honing in on that. So but something kind of always that separates me is the, the views and the Instagram, because That's one thing that not a lot of people in my market are going to have be able to say. So, you know, it's like I can post your your host right now and get 100,000 views. A lot of people can't say that with confidence. So that's something I'll always bring in is those.

And I show the actual analytics of it. It's not just like something I'm saying. I break it down for them. They see video by video. What's going on? What is the tangible thing that they, that you leave behind? So we'll leave like either something from, we don't want to leave like the full listing presentation or whatever,

but a lot of times we'll leave like things from past listings that we sold, like maybe some of the brochures that we had done right up on us, like little things like that just so they can see the quality they're about to get that might separate us and just kind of, you know, if no one else is leaving something, maybe just that brochure with the beautiful photography and stuff like that is enough. you know, our kind of thoughtful write-ups. We don't do write-ups from AI or anything like that.

Like we're kind of... Yeah, we are like very thoughtful in the creative side of it. Because I really do think it, you can still separate yourself with the right photography and certain things. We try and make all our listings kind of look more like architectural digest. So a lot of like, we're just, we're thoughtful about the things that we're doing.

It's not just like, yeah, go away. in like we're there for the listing photos and we're just little things like that where we're just trying to make it you know in every way just a little bit more special for for the client that we're we're serving and you mentioned a couple times now you've mentioned to open houses so is open houses a part of your listing is it something you do for every listing where does that fall if they want it i mean i'll never push them on it just like i'll never push them on having a Instagram video or anything like that. But because, listen, do we sell the house a lot of the times from open houses? No. Maybe some people do.

We don't. It's a good place for us to get more clients. So if it's something they're really against, then I'm not going to push them on that because some people have young kids or dogs and it's just too much for them and that's fine. It definitely, you know, we've definitely sold sometimes from an open house, but it's not common. So we just kind of lean into that too. And that's a way to build trust as well. Like if people are like, you know, we really, we really don't want to do open houses.

But if you really want us to, we can. We'll be like, listen, we don't want to make you uncomfortable in any way. Like if this is something that you're really against, that we can work around it. So just things like that. Just depends. But more and more people now are wanting to do the open hoses. again. So yeah, we're definitely on them. Yeah, it's good for your marketing too. Well,

that's actually my question. So anything special with your open houses, do you guys market and how do you market? What is the logistics? Do you have a sign-in sheet? What does it look like? Yeah. No, it's honestly nothing to special. We do some broker opens where we'll do something a bit more luxurious with some food and shit like that. I used to do some wine and cheeses, which were just horrific and um nothing special just straight to the point maybe some music make sure it smells good sometimes uh clients will bake cookies or something like that still like that traditional cliche thing to do but it's nice we have sign-in sheets you know obviously we have our signs everywhere we market it uh on our socials and stuff like that um but pretty

straightforward and then yeah i mean it's just yeah it's just kind of like there's no smoke and mirrors there. It's just is what it is. We're just there to meet people, answer questions about the house and build relationships. With your business where it is today, what are you working on? Like, what are the goals for the next year? I love the creative side of this. So Anna, my partner, loves the art of the deal. That is her one love. She loves it so much. I love the the creative. And the way we kind of work is she's boots on the ground. She's always kind of like doing something.

And I'm the one who kind of goes around. I do a lot of keynote speeches and I speak. And I kind of, you know, just build the brand and get eyeballs and stuff like that. So I'd love to do more of that. I'd love to continue to build our team and the agents on it and give them the insight of this kind of marketing and creative. direction because that's what I'm really passionate about. And I love the fact that I can help people. I had someone messaged me yesterday. They asked me a question on a live that I was doing on like, oh, what should I do at this listing? It's like a 2.1 million dollar listing. And I gave him some

ideas on the live and he sent me the video. He actually followed through and did it. And it's a great video. And it's like it makes me so happy. You know, so I love that aspect of it. I'm always going to sell. But I love seeing other people win as well. And with the marketing and creative direction being your passion and sounds like helping other agents, you know, is your passion as well. What did we not cover that you think is important to hit on in regard to marketing and creative? So a question I get a lot regarding listing presentations and appointments. people will be like, how do you get these clients to let you do these videos? Because some of them are a little weird. And it's always, you know, it's always different. Some people are caught. So I did a

Mario one. And those people knew what I was all about. And they were like, you need to do a video. Anything you want to do, you need to do it. It was around Halloween. So I thought, okay, I can get kind of weird with it, whatever. It's the one time I can be like stupid gimmicky and it will work. Um, But a lot of people now are asking for those videos. They see the videos and they want that as part of the final product. But there's a way to pitch it as well. Like listen, social media now is a tool to sell your home. And we need to create content just for these platforms.

So we're going to do all the other traditional, the great photography, the great walkthrough video. But that great walkthrough video doesn't translate onto social media. No one wants to watch a three-minute landscape video of just nice music in a house for the most part. So it's like we need to figure out a way to have more digestible content, kind of like a bite-sized vertical video that's going to grab people's attention and get eyeballs and direct them to the house, direct them to these nice photos and videos and stuff like that. So it's just another tool that we're going to do to help sell your house. And that's kind of the way I always sell it.

It's like it might seem goofy or whatever, but this is the kind of stuff that translates on these platforms. And these platforms are really more and more every year helping sell your home. I feel like anyone who was trying to convince is probably the wrong word. Persuade a client to allow them to do that should just show them your video. I did see the Mario one, of course. Yeah, I mean, it just says what, and if they still don't want it, they don't want it. We're confident in the other things that we do that we're going to be able to do something great.

But, you know, like I said, when you, especially when you start really picking up some steam and have some analytics to show, it's a lot easier to sell them on it. But yeah, it's never something I'm going to push. And I'm never going to go into like a 90-year-old's house listing appointment and be like, yeah, check out this Mario video. They're going to be like, what the hell is your problem? get the hell out of my house. Okay, before we headed to wrap up, my last question, what are you struggling with? Sometimes time and sometimes saying no. I'm spreading thin a lot of the times, and this is actually this year I've made more of a promise to myself to

be okay to say, like, no to some things that just, you know, I want to help as many people as I can, but some things just logistically don't make sense for me. And everything I do, everything I'm doing is just solely for like me, my wife, to have a better life, a great life. And I, you know, I'm really thankful and grateful that I get to travel so much and do all these cool things. But, like, sometimes it just doesn't make sense. And yeah, that's something that like, you know, I hate when I have to say no, but I have to also look after myself and make sure I'm not getting burnt out. And I think it'll just be better for everyone. So that's something for sure.

Anna and I both, I guess some people will say like, oh, the market's down. I'm struggling with that. We refuse to even acknowledge anything like that. We had a great year last year. and you know it was what it was but if you have a pity party and you're just complaining about things that's the energy that's going to come to you and I'm big on that I think you just got to find the good and wherever you're at and just figure it out and you know that energy is going to come back to you like I said that that call I got last last week just hey can you come sell our house

you know, that's an energy thing. Like, people feel that. And I believe that it's a real thing. So, yeah, I mean, you know, it's hard. It's hard business, but like, just keep your head up. You're in it for a reason. You'll figure it out. You're a couple.

I said this with Tim Macy as well. The thing I love about this industry and about life in general is you're a couple videos, a couple talks, a couple phone calls, a couple door knocks away from completely changing your life. completely changing your life. The door you knock on today could say yes and then have a brother who wants to sell a house that's $5 million. And that $5 million house, you can leverage into a $10 million house. And then you can be known as the luxury agent in your town forever. So you're just so close all the time. It's just like you just have to figure out your lane. Dude, all that's really good.

And the, you know, learning how to say no thing. I think that's a thing that a lot of people struggle with. I was listening to Modern Wisdom the other day. Do you know that podcast? No. Oh, it's so good. You should freaking check it out. But anyway, they were talking about, you know, the struggle of saying yes to too many things. And one of the guys was like, I have a personal rule that I never say yes in the moment.

Right. And it's just one of those things where people are like, hey, can you do this? And like, hey, it's a personal rule. I can't say yes in the moment. I'll let you know within 24 hours. And it kind of gives you that separation, allows you to check the calendar. you can check with your team, even if you don't have a team, you know, and use someone else's. So I thought that was pretty cool.

Yeah, love that. No, I've been listening to, to, uh, Pod Meets World. What's, I don't know that one. It's, uh, it's a podcast about Boy Meets World. Remember that show? Yeah, I do. I'm a millennial. One of, one of my favorite shows.

I've been listening to that and Smartless and Conan O'Brien needs a friend. So, no, I don't listen to any of those, but I'll have to go check them out. Yeah. Okay, wrap up question number one. What are some events that you're going to in the next 12 months? I'm going to, I'll be doing an inman one, inman conference. Any events? Conferences and like, I'm going to some good concerts, a band called Lainey, a band called No Effects, a band called Blink 182.

I knew one of them. There we go. In Green Day, I'm going to New York. I'm going to speak at a conference in Banff, Alberta. A lot of them. I'm going to speak at a conference in Houston, Rev B, Real Estate Video Blueprint. Cool. Yeah, a lot.

Are you going to Tom Ferry Summit? I don't know yet. I might. Okay. Okay, gotcha. How can listeners help you in your business? How can listeners help me in my business? Well, you can get to know me.

We can network together, you know, reach out, and we can see what each other's missing in the business. I love when people reach out. I love just chatting, and, you know, everyone can teach somebody something. So I love that. No matter how new you are, there's always a different perspective. When I started doing these videos, that was a different perspective. A lot of people thought, oh, this is just some dumb. kid who doesn't know what he's doing.

And now these type of videos are kind of all over the industry. So maybe at that time I could have showed someone a seasoned agent who, you know, was stuck in their ways that, oh, no, there's a whole new lane of things that's coming. So, yeah, that. And where can people find you? Instagram, Matt, M-A-T-T-T-L-I-O-N-E-T-I-I is the best place. DM me and I will it's all me I don't have anyone work in my Instagram it's all me and I will get to your DM as long as you're not trying to sell me supplements or some shit or bitcoin yeah and

he'll be it's really deceiving his profile he like it's this like black and white picture and he looks like really serious and like super cool and then you meet him and it's just like oh just another guy no I'm just kidding not serious and not super cool I mean to be fair that's the best picture I've ever taken. I look fantastic in that photo. And it's almost like I'm catfishing people every time I meet them because that photo is just issue. I don't know if something that day, but yeah, it is great. Dude, everyone go follow him. I'm sure you do half of you at least. So go, the other half. Go follow him. Check at a stop. It's hilarious. And Matt, thank you so much for coming on the show today. It was so fun hanging out with you. Yeah. Thank you for having me. I really

loved this. You're a great host and it was a lot of fun. Thank you so much. Listeners, if you want to hang out with me and the owner of the show, we are the Shelby Show and Aaron Amuchistagie on the gram. Follow us, but more importantly, chat. Just like Matt said, like we love to chat. We want to hear from you. So do that. And guys, that is all we have for today. Real estate rock stars, thanks for listening. This podcast is a part of the C-suite radio network. For more top business podcast, visit c-sweetradio.com.