Agent Caffeine | Real Estate

We open with The Buzz. Getting referrals and closed deal follow up. Ryan Bokros, VP of Dev for REMAX NW gives us the lowdown on GenX and helping agents reach their potential. Recruiting GenX and reducing the median age of real estate agents…  Research shows agents want to work with someone who is familiar with the things they are. Specifically technology, using platforms they do, and communicate they way they are used to. We also talk about how more agile the newer people coming into an office are for working within teams, more specialization and more support within that team.  People are finally getting the need for face to face and not shuffling paperwork. The rain makers need to be more efficient with their expertise and that does not include doing the repetitions non-money making, relationship building tasks. Today's mentality for agents needs to be a focus with teaching them how to be better entrepreneurs.  Their in business "for themselves, not by themselves" as Ryan stated. Ryan's office has an outreach mentality where they are literally working daily to recruit agents at a younger age as their more established agents "sunset".  Agents coming into to the business are fewer and farther between so in order for the brokerage going, maintaining profitability and market share recruitment is critical. @RyanBokros   After 10 years in various roles within the real estate industry, Ryan continues to work hard at his passion of helping people attain their definition of the American Dream! In those years, Ryan has been a Mortgage Banker, Mortgage Broker, and a Wholesale Account Executive for a top 5 mortgage lender. As a Speaker, Trainer and Coach that has traveled the country, Ryan particularly favors speaking to real estate professionals about how to use social media and technology to grow business, make them more productive, and to build brand recognition for themselves and their clients. With the experience gained through years, Ryan brings a level of expertise and knowledge of all aspects of a transaction, that is rare in a Real Estate Agent in today's market. Serving as Technology Chair for local and state wide real estate organizations has been a great pleasure, and an opportunity that Ryan cherishes and continues to make a part of his commitment to the real estate industry as a whole. Ryan has gained a long standing reputation in the real estate community for his ever growing knowledge of technology and how to use it to get the best exposure for the real estate client. A husband of 11 years and a father of 5, his pride and joy are his wife and kids, and their service to many local and national charities. Family vacations are often mission trips to help others in need.

Lilach fell in love with Social Media in 2007, as an early adopter the medium came natural to her.  The irony for her is it was much easier to get the hang of the various channels, to get followers and more… It's much more challenging today.  Her first blog was just a hundred of words and now has seen the need to write so much more than in the early days. Brands she loves for social media strategy:  Cadbury Chocolate who had an amazing strategy that took them to 1million fans on Facebook and wanted more engagement. They created a chocolate "thumb up" ie., a Like… generated a ton of conversation, shares… clever from a branding standpoint, engagement and more. Inexpensive way to leverage the brand.  The primary goal was for engagement not for money. She loves Skype, lives in email but clients respond best to Skype.  It's a delightful, refreshing look inside one of the top social media people on Forbes list. We also talk about the 1 million visits she gets on her blog, Socialable . She gives us insights into monetization strategy at Socialable. Thanks for listening and don't forget to share your thoughts! Enjoy, Kelly Mitchell ~ The Caffeinator @KellyMitchell  /  Rate us on iTunes / Subscribe Now  / Subscribe to our YouTube Channel   About Lilach Bullock Lilach is a business owner, social media consultant, internet mentor and founder of Socialable.co.uk.  You can follow her on Twitter @lilachbullock Listed in Forbes as one of the top 20 women social media power influencers she is one of the most dynamic personalities in the social media market, she actively leverages ethical online marketing for her clients and her own advantage. After launching her first business within three years of becoming a mother, through marketing via business networking and social media, her financial success was recognised by being a finalist at the Best MumPreneur of the Year Awards, presented at 10 Downing Street. Following a resultant offer and wishing to spend more time with her daughter, she sold her first business to focus on social media, developing a multi-site blog and online marketing portfolio that generates in excess of 250,000 + page views per month. Lilach is consulted by journalists and regularly quoted in newspapers on social media related matters, including (Prima Magazine, The Sunday Times and BBC Radio 5 Live ). A keynote speaker at business and marketing seminars, Lilach teaches about online marketing. Her second book (co authored with Sarah Arrow) Using Images to Influence the World achieved No 1 on Amazon for Sales and Marketing and Small Business and Entrepreneurship.

Today's society is an epidemic of distraction. Constantly checking our phones inside and outside of meetings, during meals, with cherished family time has become routine.  The price of lost human connection can be significant.  Elite listening is the art of tuning out all else when in a conversation. Of giving your fullest attention to the conversation and being rewarded with an incredible level of engagement and stronger relationships. It's a game changer and has the power to define a brand. The author of Brand Delusions, Bill Leider, joins me to discuss this incredible style of listening and shares the signficance and nuances of making listening being a defining factor in you and your personal brand.  He shares techniques on how to create "omg moments" by being a completely engaged listener. "Transactions pay the rent, but relationships build the business." via @BillLeider This interview gives you strong insight to brand and how to clearly define your engagement with your clients. Bill Leider has an extensive background in executive leadership, management and strategy consulting to a wide range of organizations, from Fortune 500′s to midsize and small entrepreneurial companies in a variety of industries.During his more than thirty-five years of management and consulting he has most recently been the CEO of Real Estate Shows and is currently the CEO of Gravelnuts, LLC, the Chairman of Nexzus Publishing Group, LLC (publishers of The Personal Real Estate Investor Magazine), and heads William Leider and Associates, his consulting firm. He has held positions in industry as CEO, President, Executive Vice President and Vice President,Finance in publicly traded and privately owned mid-size companies. He has been involved in general management, marketing, sales, franchising, manufacturing, distribution and finance. Some of his larger consulting clients have included: Toshiba, Oracle, Thermador, Vertis, KPMG Peat Marwick, Paramount Pictures and MGM. Bill’s experience and success as a leader and a consultant have included an innovative approach to executable strategic planning, creatively assessing and strengthening Brands (which gave rise to “Brand Delusions”), developing Values conscious organizations, improving team effectiveness and communication, and implementing cultural change. His involvement has consistently improved the bottom lines of the organizations for which he has worked. Bill received his BS degree in business from UCLA. He has also served on the Board of the Los Angeles chapter of the Entrepreneurship Institute; he has taught the business planning course in the Fast Trac program at the University of Southern California (USC); and he is currently a regular guest lecturer in the Masters program at the Sol Price School of Public Policy at USC.

Are you enjoying the podcast?  Make sure to leave a review on iTunes. Every comment is appreciated. Generating email conversations is the primary goal with email marketing.  If your content is compelling enough, the conversation is your reward. With email open rates just 19.7% last year marketers are working harder than ever to determine what compels people to read and not delete. The landscape has changed drastically with email marketing. People bombarded with spam and even legitmate email feel compelled to delete any and all emails they feel are irrelevant prior to getting out of bed first thing in the morning. All is not lost.  Email still has tremendous value if you understand the strategy and purpose of sending the message. We take on the challenge of communicating effectively with your prospects and the consumer and discuss how to make emotional connections with your contacts.  If you send email and don't get anything back, your strategy is ineffective.  Open rates are huge. Drip campaigns have made the population immune to messaging effectiveness.  The goal needs to be, not simply to send out an email, but to create a connection, establish dialogue, elicit some emotion and create a conversation. A little about this episodes guest: Dan Stewart is many things. A CEO, a leader, a serial entrepreneur & a problem-solver. The co-founder of Happy Grasshopper, Dan knows the path to sales success lies in building relationships and in authentic human connections, not pre-packaged e-dreck. Dan knows the way to be awesome. More than that, he wants you to be awesome, too. You can follow him on Twitter @DanStewartHG or learn more about his company at:  Happy Grasshopper

Brad Jefferson began Animoto with friends from high school and college who were heavy hitters with MTV and ABC where video was expensive and complicated to create. The vision was to develop a process to make it easy for everyone to create their own stories through video. We discuss the applications for creating complex video in 10-15 minutes with a variety of music, transitions and frameworks with a professional finish. Listen to podcast >>

Are you enjoying the podcast?  Make sure to leave a review on iTunes. Every comment is appreciated. "We walked away from a 40 million person market into a 1 billion person market." COeverywhere, Co-Founder Dan Adams. Get ready. Global and local is now at your fingertips.  Imagine traveling to any city in the world, visiting icons in cities, destinations in the tropics, and being able to see people's posts in real time on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Eventbrite, Meet Up, from those locations.  You are up close and personal to the world or your own neighborhood.  You can see what people are posting whether it be text, events, photographs or video and you will soon be able to respond.  The implications for this new app, COeverywhere are mind-blogging.  Can it have an impact on business?  You bet. The hottest launch around COeverywhere is an adventure in disruption just when you thought the buzzword was overused.  The company, founded by Tony Longo and Dan Adams, CEO & CTO respectively and is a mashup of the former Block Avenue and the two visionaries unending desire to get real time information in micro delivery format. They've achieved this by aggregating social networks and enabling a world wide search function in 72 countries.  The potential uses for education, business, real estate are just beginning to be uncovered with new applications coming up every day. Featured in Tech Crunch, Huffington Post and the Apple store in the 1st weeks of launching they are poised for greatness Enjoy, Kelly Mitchell ~ The Caffeinator @KellyMitchell  /  Rate us on iTunes / Subscribe Now  / Subscribe to our YouTube Channel

Laurel Starks is the expert on owning her niche. She started out in real estate knowing that was the position to take to make a dent in this business. She talks about serving her customers which is not a something you hear many agents talking about. Listen to podcast >>

Are you enjoying the podcast?  Make sure to leave a review on iTunes. Every comment is appreciated. The BUZZ sounds off on illegitimate vendors, highlighting information brought to our attention by Fred Glick.  Beware and be aware. Karl Falk, CEO of Summit Mitigation joins us on this episode... You need to understand the fundamentals of the market to be able to get an idea of what is going to happen in the future.  We talk Non-performing loans (NPL's) pre-foreclosure, (37% of all loans = $14million loans) the bulk of which were originated between 2004 and 2008… these were the Ninja loans where you have a pulse you get a loan situation.  These loans are at a high risk level and are still impacting the real estate market today.  These loans are at high interest rates and did not re-fi with historically low interest rates.  This reflects, people still under water by more than 25% on their loans. We discuss the opportunities for agents and brokers servicing short sales, foreclosures, and npl's.  The whole we have to dig out of is far deeper than initially thought. Karl, named as one of Colorado’s Top 5 Most Influential Young Professionals (by ColoradoBiz Magazine, 2012), also awarded as a “Rising Star under 40, 2013″ by the Colorado Springs Buisness Journal; is the founder of Summit Mitigation Services. He is the creative mind and visionary behind Summit Mitigation Services the nations leader in Non-Performing Loan (NPL) Negotiations, Education and Technology. All of which have placed Summit Mitigation Services, LLC on the cutting edge of the real estate NPL industry. Having insight from corporate America and overseen and consulted on thousands of complex real estate transactions over the last several years Karl brings unorthodox insight into a sometimes complacent and stagnant NPL market. His team is sought out by some of the top Hedge/Equity Funds and Real Estate Agents in the nation to construct and handle their short sale transactions. Karl’s company SMS is known as the “go-to-company” for real estate short sale, deed-in-lieu, loan modification negotiations and deal structuring. Karl is an Eagle Scout, a graduate of the United States Air Force Academy and Football Alum, has held Top Secret clearances for the US government, and has been honored in the oval office by the president of the United States. Karl is a loving husband and father of three, as well as a man of integrity who is often accused of being the “nice guy” who has an unprecedented passion for helping individuals succeed.

Are you enjoying the podcast?  Make sure to leave a review on iTunes. Every comment is appreciated. First on The BUZZ…. Housing recovery is officially a four letter word. Stop using it. Tracy Weir of eight11.com and I talk about FOCUS.  How can you be effective and professional as well as focusing on your business authentically. Deciding who you are and who you want to do business with is a big piece of gaining success in the field. We examine first who your clients are, strategies to get your focus off the ground. We talk about Mauricio Umansky of The Agent, who started at the top because that is where he wanted to be.  There is no formal invite to the luxury market.  This is you making an intentional decision to focus on a market segment and to move your business forward clearly and concisely by understanding what you want and where you are willing to focus. Follow Tracy:  @TracyWeir Visit her Blog:  eight11 Tweetables I'm smarter, faster and the top agent in the world" #thingseveryagentsays via @KellyMitchell bit.ly/1bKbM9s Understand the clients you have, those you don't have that you want, thinking about their concerns.   via @TracyWeir bit.ly/1bKbM9s Enjoy! Kelly Mitchell ~ The Caffeinator @KellyMitchell  /  Rate us on iTunes / Subscribe Now  / Subscribe to our YouTube Channel About Tracy Tracy Weir is the founder and CEO of Eight11, a San Francisco strategic marketing and technology consulting firm that helps top-tier brokers, technology companies and MLSs build their businesses in North America. She is also the principal author of the widely read Eight11.com blog, which features impartial reviews of new and important technologies and applications for real estate. Tracy was formerly the chief marketing and sales officer for Inman News, and the vice president of marketing for California Closets. She brings a unique mix of industry and consumer marketing expertise to every project she undertakes. You can contact her at tracy at eight11.com.    

Are you enjoying the podcast?  Make sure to leave a review on iTunes. Every comment is appreciated. Dan Duffy, CEO of United Country Real Estate …  talks about innovation and turning the real estate industry on it's ear. United Country Real Estate is the oldest real estate company in the nation.  Originally opened in 1920, started by Robert Chamberlain. His business concept was lead generation.  United Country Real Estate was acquired in 2006 and Duffy is relatively new to the industry. After taking a few years off after his first success, he realized he was way too curious not to be engaged in business.  He discovered real estate through a great company with an amazing culture.  He also realized in order to disrupt and innovate the understanding of the culture and a strong foundation is critical. The big focus is solving problems and helping people make more money both from a brokerage standpoint and agent standpoint while providing them with world class technology and marketing. Tweetables "At NAR saw hundred of vendors, that shouldn't exist … The franchisor owes it to solving these problems for the franchisee."@UCRealEstate "How do we make the agent & the broker have a better income oppty & solve the problem to stay on the edge of tech. " @UCRealEstate

We're joined by Cartavi CEO Glenn Shimkus talking about how transaction innovations and the recent acquisition by DocuSign. Glenn watched his family of real estate agents, from his parents to his wife, use the unwieldily and difficult processes it took to get transactions down with paperwork and fax. This process made it difficult to take time off, even going to a simple dinner was a challenge….avoid interruptions and make things happen. His revelation? "There's got to be a better way…." Listen to podcast >>

Erica Campbell Byrum, Homes.com & ForRent.com 's Social Media Director gives us the down low on how she creates buzz on social by creating brand ambassadors. We take a look at your options regardless of the size of your budget. Listen to podcast >>

Eric Bryn who is also an IP attorney, gives us his take on Storytelling and lacing brand stories with different aspects of creative strategy and thought. Insight into the brand "Fret Twelve" a signature guitar in which the artist is the prism. Listen to podcast >>

Christina Griffin with Coldwell Banker in Tampa Bay, Florida, handles an enormous volume, selling 385 units last year, all with empathy and compassion. Her dedication has placed her in the top 1% of agents with Coldwell Banker, top 100 for the state of Florida and #28 with The Wall Street Journal for volume in 2012 and #77 in 2013. Listen to podcast >>

Steve Harney helps producers achieve their true potential. He authors a monthly informational presentation for top professionals titled, ”Keeping Current Matters” (also known as KCM), and is seen as a leading industry thought leader. Listen to podcast >>