Central PA Real Estate Career Podcast with Dave Hooke

Are you a real estate agent, team leader, or business owner struggling with the familiar cycle of peaks and valleys in real estate production? At the Dave Hooke Real Estate Team, Keller Williams of Central PA, we understand this challenge—and we're here to help you break free from it. In real estate, it's easy to get caught up in a “hamster wheel” of scrambling for leads, getting overwhelmed with tasks, and then experiencing an inevitable slowdown. The key to consistent growth lies in leveraging the right support systems, allowing you to focus on generating leads regularly without falling behind. So, what's the solution? It's all about building leverage through a strong team structure. By utilizing assistants, transaction coordinators, and other support roles, you can create a foundation that stabilizes your business. This structure not only smooths out the highs and lows of production but also enables you to focus on what really matters—expanding your client base and providing top-notch service. If you're considering joining a real estate team, it's essential to know what to look for. You'll want a team that offers transaction support, marketing assistance, and a reliable lead-generation system. These are core elements that free up your time to do what you do best: close deals and build relationships. Interested in seeing our team in action? Reach out to us at support@DaveHookeTeam.com to learn more or arrange a shadow day with us. We'd love to connect and show you how we maintain a steady, supportive team environment that keeps production levels consistent, no matter the season.

If you're a real estate agent, team owner, or a team member looking to grow your business, I have some valuable insights to share with you today. The question I want to answer is: What are your two options for generating new business in 2024? For years, the strategies have remained consistent, falling into two main buckets: Prospecting-Based Activities Marketing-Based Activities When I first started my real estate career, I didn't have much money, but I had plenty of time. I focused on three key prospecting activities that helped build my business: door knocking, calling expired listings and FSBOs, and working my database. These activities were the foundation of my success over 20 years ago, and they remain essential today. As my business grew and my time became more limited, I began supplementing these prospecting activities with marketing-based strategies. While these saved me time, they required an investment of money. The key to successful marketing is tracking your efforts to ensure you're getting a good return on your investment. If you're curious about the top five prospecting activities or the best marketing strategies for 2024, I'd love to share them with you. Just reach out to us at support@davehooketeam.com, and we'll provide you with the insights you need. We also offer a unique opportunity to shadow our team in the mornings. There's no obligation—just an opportunity to take notes and experience our team environment firsthand. If you're interested in learning more, or if you'd like to receive our list of the top five prospecting and marketing tools for 2024, feel free to contact us. Looking forward to connecting with you soon.  

Your database is the No. 1 lead source for your real estate business. What's the No. 1 recommended lead source to build your real estate business? We have access to 15 lead sources. Some of them are prospecting-based, which require time, not money. Some of them are marketing-based, which require money, not time. However, they all have a distinct return on cash and time investment. The best place to develop a real estate business is your database and sphere of influence. These are people you've met who already know, like, and trust you. It takes a lot of time, money, and energy to build trust in a relationship, but that's already established with these people. You want to target those folks and offer your services to them. “Don't waste the trust you've already built.” If you contribute to and enrich the lives of people who already know, like, and trust you, they will want to reciprocate. When they have a life change, you'll be the first person on their mind. 76% of people who experience life changes use the first Realtor they think about. Don't waste the trust you've already built. I can provide you with a short document that outlines how you can grow your database and focus on referral business. I can also share some of the dialogues we use to lead conversations and give value to our database. Reach out to me at (717) 216-0860 or dave@davehooketeam.com. I look forward to hearing from you.

Six great morning habits you can develop to make your day better. If you can master your mornings, you can master your day. There's nothing worse than waking up in the morning and going right into your email and social media, feeling like your hair's on fire for 12 hours because you're so busy, and then coming home exhausted. So here are six steps to maximize your morning: 1. Silence. After you wake up, take some time to focus on your breathing. 2. Affirmations. This is a gratitude exercise. Think about all the things that you're grateful for in your life. 3. Visualization. Throughout the day, visualize the things you're grateful for to keep you feeling positive. 4. Stretching and exercise. Develop a light exercise routine. 5. Reading. Spend time on personal growth or a business book that will help you level up an area of your life. 6. Journaling. Write down the things that are important to you each morning and any ideas that came to mind. This process can take about two hours, depending on your schedule and how long you exercise. If you develop these morning habits, I promise that you'll have a better day and a better life.  If you want more information on the Miracle Morning, reach out to me at dave@davehooketeam.com or at (717) 216-0860. I look forward to hearing from you.

Three things to empower your organization to go to the next level. What are the three things you can do to maximize the morning of your entire organization? I want to answer this question because we have a fantastic routine we follow every day: 1. Start with a positive focus. Whether on a Zoom call or in the office, we begin with gratitude. I ask everybody to tell me some good news in their lives. A great side effect of this activity is that you get to know the people that you're in business with on a personal level. 2. Sharpen our saw. We do a 20-minute training on things we can do in the sales business to help better serve our customers. 3. Lead generation. We love to do this because we turn music on and get the chat going. It's high energy, so we actually look forward to it. For more information on exactly how we do these three things, call me at 717-216-0860 or email dave@davehooketeam.com, and I'll follow up about the details of our miracle morning. I look forward to hearing from you.

Here are five books that have helped my real estate career immensely. Today I want to share five amazing books that will help you in your real estate journey. As I look back on my 20 years in the business, there are five books that have had a profound impact on my career and life. Here's my list: 1. “7 Habits of Highly Effective People” by Stephen Covey 2. “High Trust Selling” by Todd Duncan These two foundational books got me from zero transactions a year to learning empathy, managing my time, and leading with high-trust selling, not some sales pitch. ““The One Thing” taught me all about discipline.” 3. “The Millionaire Real Estate Agent” by Gary Keller.  4. “The One Thing” by Gary Keller “The Millionaire Real Estate Agent” helped me construct a real estate company complete with an economic model, a budget model, a lead-generation model, and everything in between. “The One Thing” helped me a lot with discipline. It taught me how to focus my attention, be disciplined, and get one thing done at 110% instead of trying to catch multiple rabbits at once and not catching any of them. 5. “Traction” by Gino Wickman. This book has really taken my business to the next level and given me clarity to develop a strong culture focused on people, mission, and the customer.  If you want another list of five books in addition to this list, just private message me, and I'll send you my full list of 10 powerful books.  If you have any other questions about the real estate business, don't hesitate to reach out via phone at 717 -216-0860 or email dave@davehooketeam.com. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Don't get burnt out. Here are the four steps to help you hire someone new. Many people in the real estate industry get burnt out because they don't have leverage; it's an epidemic. They don't have anyone helping them with marketing, social media, transaction coordination, showings, etc.  Ultimately, if you do too many things for too long, you're average at all of them, and that can lead to burnout. I'm passionate about leverage, so I want to share four steps to help you make your next hire. This way, you can take your business to the next level and get some time back for your friends, family, and most importantly, yourself, which is crucial for your well-being. These are the four key steps to hiring someone to help you: 1. Create a savings account. Make sure you have four to six months' worth of that next hire's salary in the account. There's nothing worse than not having an emergency fund when you hire someone. Having that money saved will give you peace of mind and time to start lead generating and get your finances in order so you can pay them. “You need leverage to avoid burnout.” 2. Delegate and elevate. I want you to Google “unique ability, delegate and elevate framework”. It's a chart to help you decide what you need to delegate next. It'll help you come up with lists of activities that bring both the lowest and highest return on investment in your business. You'll be able to see that those low-return activities should be done by someone else so you can focus on the high-return ones.  3. Develop a position description. This is an outline of the things you'll be delegating to your new hire.  4. Interview and hire someone. Interviewing and hiring someone is a whole different process. If you've never hired someone before, it can take quite a bit of time. If you private message me, I'll provide you with all of our interview and hiring questions that we've been using for the past three to five years. As a bonus, I'll share our pre-written position description for the very position you're hiring for. These will save you a bunch of time and get you further faster. If you have questions about these four steps or anything else, call me at (717) 216-0860 or email dave@davehooketeam.com. I would love to help you.

I speak with Paige Odom about the team, her career so far, and more. Today I'm excited to be speaking with a fantastic member of The Dave Hooke Team, Paige Odom. I'll ask her about why she joined the team, what she does for us, and more. Paige, could you tell our audience when and why you joined The Dave Hooke Team? I joined the team in March 2021, and the main reason was that I wanted to work somewhere that could help me grow my business. I've been working with Keller Williams for years, so I knew how great this team was. I knew there wouldn't be a better place to grow my career. I'm so glad you joined our team, and everyone else is too. You're one of the most positive people I've ever met, and your attitude brightens everyone's day. Not a lot of people know we have specialty roles on the team, so could you share what you do for us?  Sure! I'm a buyer's agent, so my job is to help people purchase a home. This includes helping them navigate the transaction, but it's also about building lasting relationships. “‘I feel like I've truly grown as a buyer's agent since I joined the team.'” What's your favorite thing about your job and the team in general? My favorite thing about my job is that it's constantly changing. I'm always meeting new people, seeing new homes, and having new experiences. As far as the team is concerned, I love that it's a diverse group of people who mesh really well together. The family culture is fantastic. What's the biggest challenge in your current role? When I first joined the team, it was hard to let go of all the responsibility I had as an independent agent. Before, I was responsible for every aspect of my business. On the team, everything is specialized so we can give our clients the best experience possible. It was hard to let go, but with all that extra weight off my shoulders, I feel like I've truly grown as a buyer's agent since I joined the team. As you look forward to the next few years, what are your main goals? I want to grow my business, generate sustained success, and thrive in the industry! I would like to thank Paige once again for speaking with me today. If you have any questions about Paige's journey or if you are interested in joining the team yourself, please call us at 717-216-0860 or email at dave@davehooketeam.com. We look forward to hearing from you!

Josh Perchinksi talks about his recent promotion and what his job entails. I'm very excited to introduce senior lead buyer's agent Josh Perchinski. Today we'll learn more about him and what he does. He was recently promoted to his current leadership position, so how has that changed things for him? What does he like most about being on our team? We'll discuss all that and more. Feel free to watch the full message above, or use these timestamps that will direct you to various points in the video: 0:00 — Introduction to today's topic 0:25 — Why Josh joined our team 1:30 — What Josh's job entails 2:15 — How his recent promotion to a leadership role is going 3:15 — Some of the things I appreciate most about Josh 3:55 — His favorite thing about being on our team 4:45 — What Josh is most excited about learning in the next two to three years 5:40 — Wrapping up today's topic If you're considering joining a team like ours, thinking about building your own team, or just want to compare notes, reach out to us via phone at (717) 216-0860 or email at Dave@davehooketeam.com. We'd love to have a conversation with you.

We sit down with Andrew Johnson, our lead inside sales agent. We're super excited to be interviewing Andrew Johnson, our lead inside sales agent. He's an incredible guy, and he has been on our team for a while, so we wanted him to share his experience today. When did you join the team, why, and why real estate? I'm one of the older members on the team; I think I joined in August of 2017. I wasn't thinking about a career in real estate at the time, but I had a mutual friend who was already on the team, and she recruited me.  What's your job title, and what do you actually do? I've had a few different titles in my four years on the team. I went from a buyer's agent to a showing agent. Now I've found my niche as the lead inside sales agent. What does that mean exactly? I like to say I'm a bit like the nurse in the doctor's office. I'm the first person people chat with whether they want to buy, sell, or just ask some questions. My job is to make sure they're being served at a deep level, and I do a brief intake to see how we can make that happen. After that, I put them in touch with one of our senior buyers or listing agents.  “I love the culture, the accountability, and that we work to serve our clients at a deep level. ” You are someone I respect a lot because you come in every day, put your head down, and put in the work. What would you say is the biggest challenge in your job? The hardest part is creating relationships with clients and making sure they feel served. We're on the front end of the conversation, but we kind of take a back seat after that initial 30 minutes. Having longer relationships with clients can be hard, and it's something I miss. Keeping that relationship is all about checking in every so often and making sure they're taken care of, but I would say that's the biggest challenge. What is your favorite thing about being on the team? The team has certainly grown since I started; we maybe had five or six people back then. Now we have close to 20. We always say that we're a tightly-knit family, and that's a big reason why I love being on the team. I love the culture, the accountability, and the fact that we spend time not only getting to know each other but working to serve our clients at a deep level.  What do you look forward to in the next couple of years? I look forward to leading my department. Leading other people and helping them reach their goals is a passion of mine from my sports background. I look forward to pouring into the people under me and watching them grow and reach their potential.  If you or someone you know is interested in learning more about Andrew, our team, or how we can help grow your business, we're an open book, and we would love to serve you. Just give us a call at (717) 216-0860 or email us at Dave@DaveHookeTeam.com. We look forward to talking with you. 

Here's what to know about CRMs and which is the best to use. What's a CRM? What's the best CRM to use in your real estate business?  There's a lot of confusion around “shiny objects” in our industry; we're one of the most sold-to groups of consumers I've ever met! We're always responding to the next quick fix to take our business up a level. However, often those things aren't very helpful at all. CRMs are one of the most-sold things to real estate agents. CRM stands for “customer relationship management”; it's a piece of technology that helps us manage all of our customers in one database so we can hopefully provide them with value and nurture those relationships, turning them into clients. It organizes all that information and communication in one place. “Utilize a CRM every single day.” What's the best one to use in this season for your real estate journey? That's a bit of a trick question because the answer is the one that you'll truly use. Frequently, an agent will use a CRM because it was sold to us or we saw someone else using it. In the past, I've used popular CRMs like Outlook and BoomTown, and we're currently using Firepoint and Keller Williams' system called Command. Even if it's a simplistic CRM that's not even real estate-related, if we use it every day and organize our databases in it, it'll help our business much more than one we don't use. A simple CRM that you use is better than a complicated one that you can't figure out. Utilize a CRM every single day; track your business and lead gen time in it.  I have demoed over a dozen CRMs, I know exactly what they charge, and I've onboarded and offboarded with many of them. The right one for you and your budget has a lot to do with the season of growth you're in at the time.  Just private message me, and I'd be glad to do a consultation to analyze your business and give you my top two recommendations for the CRM you're most likely to use. Or if you have some simple questions about CRMs or any other real estate matter, call me at (717) 216-0860 or email dave@davehooketeam.com. I would love to speak with you.

Meet Adam Doyle, a dedicated and passionate inside sales agent. Today I'm super excited to interview Adam Doyle, one of our inside sales agents. He's a great guy, and I can't wait to learn more about his story. Why did you go into real estate, and why this team? “I joined the team in October 2020. I went to college for marketing and got a full business job right out of school, but that position was canceled with COVID. I had a lot of time, so I decided to get my real estate license and join the team. I had a lot of conversations with Dave and Drew, and I figured this would be the best time.”A lot of people don't know about your position, but it's the backbone of our team. Tell us a bit about what you do. “I am an inside sales agent. I'm the first contact with all of the inbound leads we receive. I try to figure out their motivation and time frame, and when I feel it's time, I pass them on to one of our other agents, set them up with an appointment, and get them out looking at homes.”  “This team has a wealth of knowledge to offer, so I always try to take in as much as I can.” What are your favorite parts of your job and this team in general? “My favorite part about this job is that buying a home is one of the most important things people will do, and I get to be a part of that. I get to help them through their journey, and it feels great.  “Project Lamplight is also just awesome. For those of you who don't know, Project Lamplight is our team's non-profit. We take a percentage of all of our sales and look for anyone who could benefit from that fund and try to facilitate that aid.”  What's your biggest challenge? “My biggest challenge is living up to the standards that Dave has set up. When people hear the Dave Hooke team, they have really high standards because of all the work Dave has done in the past. The biggest challenge is following in those footsteps and trying to give people the same experience that Dave did.”  What are you most excited about in the next two to three years? “The growth. There's so much potential in this team as we grow. I'm only six months into this position, so there are so many different paths I can take.” If you or someone you know wants to learn more about Adam's journey, the ISA department, or the Dave Hooke Team in general, feel free to call us at (717) 216-0860 or email us at Dave@DaveHookeTeam.com. Maybe you want to join a team like ours or learn more about what we do. We're an open book, so we'd love to connect with you.

We have another agent interview with Karen Agar, our Transaction Coordinator We're back once again to have a conversation with Transaction Coordinator Karen Agar, who is here to share her story and talk about why she chose to join the Dave Hooke Team. Why this career, and why this team? “I joined the team in October 2018, so a little over two and a half years ago. I've been in real estate for probably about 13 years. I was in new construction for a time, and then I got my real estate license. I spent some time with another brokerage but eventually moved over here.” You've always impressed me with your incredible work ethic and attention to detail. You're one of the backbones of our operations team, so tell us a little about what you do for the team? “I am our list-side transaction coordinator and our listing manager, so I process all of our listings and make sure everything gets on the market accurately and quickly. I also handle everything from contract to close, whether that be inspection negotiations, coordinator settlement, or anything else.” “Nobody on this team is too big to take a minute and help someone out.” What would you say is your favorite thing about your job and the team as a whole? “About a month ago, we had a crop of empty nesters all in one week. They were all selling their homes here and moving closer to their families. I thought about it like all of my birdies flying away; I just really like helping people get to the next step. “My favorite thing about the team is our core values and team mentality. Nobody is too big to take a minute and help someone out. It feels like a family all the way through.” What's your biggest challenge right now? “Right now, we're in a busier season in the industry. There's a lot of balls to juggle, and I have to make sure that everything gets from point A to Z.” As you think about the future, what are you excited about for your career? “I'm excited that I'm on the path to have a career. My past positions have all been jobs; there was not enough traction to move up. I have that here, and it's exciting to be a part of.” If you or someone you know wants to learn more about Karen's story or what we do here on the team, we are an open book, so we'd love to have a conversation with you. Contact us at (717) 216-0860 or Dave@DaveHookeTeam.com.

Here's our conversation with a fantastic member of our team: Connor Line. Today we want to introduce you to Connor Line, the home advisor at the Dave Hooke team. We'll talk about how he got into real estate, what he does for us, and what makes this team different.  Dave: Connor, why did you get into real estate, and what made you decide to join this team? Connor: I joined the Dave Hooke team back in October of 2019, and one of my biggest motivations for doing so is that I wanted to work with the best. So far, it looks like I chose correctly! Before I got into real estate, I was a practicing attorney, but I wanted something more out of my career. I wanted something dynamic and challenging without the soul-crushing grind of law, and I've found exactly what I'm looking for with this team.  Dave: One of the things we appreciate the most about you is your sense of humor; you never fail to make us laugh with your positive attitude. On a different note, a lot of people don't know that everyone on a real estate team isn't a Realtor. What do you do for us?  Connor: At this point, I work solely with buyers. I like to focus on one thing, and helping people get into their first home has been incredibly rewarding. “I love how dynamic my job is.” Dave: What's your favorite part about your job and the team? Connor: For my job, I love how dynamic every day is. On Monday, I could be in a high-end residential area, and by Thursday, I could be knee-deep in corn looking at a country property. As for the team, the people I work with are easily the best part.  Dave: What's your biggest challenge in the industry?  Connor: I just care too much. I try too hard to help my clients, and it's a burden I carry every day. Just kidding—while I do love helping our clients, my biggest challenge is probably the keys. Not only do I lose them, but even when I have them on me, I have trouble using them.  One time, I locked myself in the basement of a property with a client. I called everybody, but no one could help. Eventually, we had to call the local police, and my relationship with keys hasn't been the same ever since.  Dave: As you think about the next three or four years of your career, what are your goals? Connor: I'd love to help more clients get into homes, but I'd also like to get into commercial properties. I want to push myself as far as I can go. We'd like to thank Connor for telling us about himself and his experience on the team. If you'd like to learn more about our team, give us a call at (717) 216-0860 or send us an email at dave@davehooketeam.com. We look forward to hearing from you!

Here's how you can help your client overcome an overpriced listing. How do you overcome an overpriced listing? Even in this market, overpriced listings can happen. If a home is sitting on the market for a while, things could get tense with your client. That's why today I want to go over three steps we can take to turn an overpriced listing into a sale: 1. Set the right expectations. If a home is overpriced, let your client know that it might not sell immediately. Let them know that there is a process you can follow to reevaluate the price and make sure they understand the timing and steps they need to take to make it happen.  2. Communicate weekly with your listing clients. The most important five-letter word in real estate is trust. The biggest risk you run when a home is overpriced is losing your client's trust, so make sure you communicate with them weekly about the progress being made on their sale.  3. Have a conversation about price reduction. When you set expectations, you should have mentioned the process of price reduction. This is where that conversation will pay off; the client should already know the broad strokes of the process. Now you just need to educate them so that you can sell their home.  “The most important five-letter word in real estate is trust. ” Those are the steps you can take to maintain trust and prepare your client for the price evaluation process. What does that process look like though? It comes down to three main steps: 1. Look at the marketing. If other brokerages and teams have more effective marketing than us, then we just need to step up our game. However, if we evaluate our marketing and don't see any issues, then it's time to move on to step two.  2. Evaluate condition. Sometimes a home is in rough shape, and it's hard to market a home in disrepair. In this case, we can talk to our clients about repairs, but they don't make sense for every client. If this is the case, we can move on to option three.  3. Reduce the price. If our marketing is high quality and the condition of the home can't be improved, it's time to lower the price. This can be hard to bring up, but if you've communicated with your client and maintained trust, they should understand that it's necessary to sell their home.  If you want to learn more about how to help your client with an overpriced home, please call us at (717) 216-0860 or email dave@davehooketeam.com. We are always willing to help!

I sit down and talk with one of our amazing agents: Sinjin Martin. I'm excited to interview Sinjin Martin. He's been on the team for some time, so I wanted to have him share his story with all of you. When did you start on the Dave Hooke Team and why? June of 2018. Back then I had been an independent agent, and I just knew that I needed a bit of help with my business—some accountability. I came over and talked with the team, and here we are. I'm glad you did. You've had quite a journey; tell us where you started and what you're doing now? When I joined the team, I came on as a buyer's agent, which was my primary focus. Over the last couple of years, I've moved over to listing agent. I help the majority of our clients when they decide they want to sell their homes. What's your favorite part of the job and the team? The favorite part of my job is working with the people here. I guess that's a two-fold answer. I love meeting new people, figuring out where they are in life, hearing their dreams, and being a small part of that process. “I'm honored to be in business with Sinjin Martin.” You do meet a lot of people; you've served how many families in the past year? I think I helped around 115 people last year, which is really exciting.  What's the biggest challenge with your job? Right now, people who call us to sell their properties don't always expect the reason why they're selling. Sometimes, it's a celebration but, other times, they're going through a challenging part of their lives. Going through the different emotions with that can be a bit challenging. You wear a little bit of it yourself. As you think about the next three years, what are you most excited about? Being here and seeing how everyone grows. It's always fun to look back at the last three years, see where we are now, and dream about the future. It's hard to say exactly; a lot can change in a single year. I guess I'm looking forward to memories that will be made in the future: time spent on the water with friends. It has been amazing to see Sinjin's journey—to take him through the career visioning process, and learn what he values. I have no question that he's going to get to what financial and professional freedom look like for him. I'm honored to be in business with him.  If you or someone you know is looking to buy or sell, give Sinjin a call. Maybe you just have a question about joining a real estate team. We'd love to be a resource for you whether you're in our market or a totally different state. Just give us a call at 717-216-0864 or email us at Dave@DaveHookeTeam.com. 

Here's the main message you should be communicating to your clients. What's the main message you should be communicating to your clients? There's currently quite a bit of confusion in the marketplace about what exactly our clients need to hear and what messaging we should be sending them. This confusion can come up through marketing channels or when we're at an appointment presenting to them to see if we're their agent of choice. There are three messages we can send our clients or communicate to them in person: what we do, how we do it, and why we do it.  I'm flipping this on its head and saying that the “why” is what you need to lead with. Why we do what we do is the main message we need to communicate to our clients. People are inspired by why we do things. They need to learn what we do and how we do it, but they're emotionally attached to our “why.”  Too often we simply explain what we do and how we do it and miss the boat on the emotional, inspiring connection. My “why” is to enrich the lives of the people we interact with: our team members, the community, and every buyer and seller we serve. I want to leave a legacy for my family, and as I look back on my life, I want to ensure I've provided a lasting impact to everyone we've come into contact with, whether or not that means I'm the best choice to help them buy or sell a home. “Why we do what we do is the main message we need to communicate to our clients.” I want to enrich your life. So if you want to learn more about how to start with “why,” how to inspire your clients to buy into what you're trying to accomplish, and hear about a group of books by Simon Sinek on the topic, just private message me. I'll send you an array of information about it all.  Feel free to call me at (717) 216-0860 or email dave@davehooketeam.com if you have any questions. I would be glad to speak with you.

Here's my full conversation with our awesome team member, Phil Long. Today I'm excited to sit down and talk with Phil Long, a great member of the Dave Hooke Team. We'll discuss why he joined the team, what he does, and what's in store for the future. Let's get started! So, Phil, how did you first become interested in joining the Dave Hooke Team? I joined the team in 2019, but I've known Dave for a long time. I knew from personal experience that he was a stand-up guy, and I knew his business focused on giving back to the community. Those values lined up with mine, so it seemed like a natural fit.  You have a different role here than a real estate agent. Can you tell us a little bit about what you do? Dave and I formed a company together called Offer PA, and its goal is to give sellers more options than listing their homes on the open market. My job is to offer to buy sellers' homes in as-is condition for cash. For a seller who has a highly damaged property or needs to sell quickly, Offer PA could be exactly what they need. “There's always something new to learn, and there are always ways to make what we're doing more efficient.” As you've settled into the team, what's your favorite part? I love our morning positive focus meetings. We do them every morning, and people can talk about something as simple as what they had for dinner last night or something as fantastic as the birth of a new child. Either way, it's a great way to keep up positive energy and get everyone ready for the day.  What would you say your biggest challenge is on a day-to-day basis? There's always something new to learn, and there are always ways to make what we're doing more efficient. However, it comes down to the little things we have to do every day because they are the foundation for everything else.  Finally, what are you looking forward to in the next few years? I'm focused right now on building Offer PA and helping more homeowners. There's a lot going on in this market, so I want to give my best to people every day.  I would like to thank Phil once again for joining me today. If you have any questions for Phil or about real estate in general, please call us at 717-216-0860 or email me at dave@davehooketeam.com. 

How to provide professional and financial freedom to your team. How do you ensure that team members and agents in your brokerage or real estate company have increased opportunities as your business grows? Retention and stagnancy are big problems for our industry. If you're a broker or the owner of a real estate company, how do you solve this issue? Follow these three steps: 1. Have a clear vision that will allow you to be a growing company, as well as a strategy to support that vision. We use a document called a V/TO, collected from the book “Traction” to develop that process. “Retention and stagnancy are big problems for our industry.” 2. Understand your team members' visions. Clarify with everyone in your organization exactly what professional and financial freedom looks like for them in the next three to five years—that is their vision. 3. Connect your company's growing vision with each team member's vision so that you can identify opportunities for your team to grow into what freedom looks like for them. We call that our “Quarterly 555,” and it's a regular evaluation to make sure that we're matching members with increased opportunities and responsibilities for their career growth. If you'd like to learn more about our Career Visioning System and how to provide financial and professional freedom to all those in your company, give us a call at (717) 216-0860 or email dave@davehooketeam.com. I'd be happy to send you our entire Career Visioning System.

Here's my conversation with Kelly, a great member of the Dave Hooke Team. Today I'm talking with Kelly Carothers about her journey as a real estate agent and member of our team. We'll be discussing her career, responsibilities, favorite part of being on the team, and more. She's one of the hardest working agents I've had the pleasure to know, so I'm glad to have the opportunity to share her story with you.  You can watch our full conversation above, or skip to each topic using the timestamps provided below for your convenience: 0:00 - Introduction 0:25 - When and why did Kelly join the Dave Hooke Team? 1:22 - What is Kelly's job on the team? 2:24 - What is Kelly's favorite part of being on the team?  3:15 - What is Kelly's biggest challenge?  4:37 - What is Kelly looking forward to in the future?  5:52 - Wrapping up Hopefully, you enjoyed getting to know a great member of our team a little better. If you or someone you know has interest in learning more about the available positions on our team, please reach out to us at (717) 216-0860 or dave@davehooketeam.com.

Here are two ways to use technology to optimize your real estate business. In real estate, it can feel like we're always “on.” However, when we step back and look at our business, we might be doing the same things over and over again without making progress. Sometimes it just feels like we're wasting time. Burnout is the No. 1 most common problem for busy agents.  How can you get some more of your time back using technology? Here are my two recommendations: 1. Use Google Calendar to timeblock your week. I have a whole training session on how to timeblock your week that utilizes planning sessions and intense focus. I can share that with you if you message me. Make sure you're timeblocking the week in advance and not getting distracted by your phone while you're doing focused and intentional work. 2. Get good at video and start recording. Anytime you find yourself explaining the same thing more than three times, create a process on video and send that out in the future instead of restating it yourself. This one thing alone is likely to save you weeks throughout your career. It's the art of process creation. You never want to do processes over and over if they can be repeated exactly. They can be handled through an automated video process. “Timeblock your week in advance, and don't get distracted.” These are the top two principles for saving time with tech in the real estate world. If you have any questions about how we use this technology or anything else related to the real estate business, don't hesitate to reach out via phone at (717) 216-0860 or email dave@davehooketeam.com. I look forward to hearing from you soon.  

My interview with Jenny Robeson about why she started doing real estate. I'm thrilled to introduce Jenny Robeson, who will share her journey in real estate with us today. She joined our team in September 2019 because she wanted to make a big life change. Real estate was always something she wanted to try doing, and we're glad she decided to take the next step with us! Feel free to watch the full message above, or use these timestamps that will direct you to various points in the video: 0:00— Goofing around a little before the interview 0:25— Why Jenny decided to do real estate and join the Dave Hooke Team 1:30— Jenny's favorite part of her job 2:25— Jenny's biggest challenge in her new leadership role 3:40— What she's most excited to do in the next few years 4:45— Jenny is an inspiration to our whole team 5:30— Wrapping up today's topic If you know a buyer or seller who could use some advice, Jenny is a fantastic person to call. If you're interested in talking about joining our team and you'd like to have a conversation about that, reach out to us via phone at (717) 216-0860 or email dave@davehooketeam.com. We'll follow up with you soon.

Here's my Q&A conversation with our operations director, Jennakah. Today I'm here again with another team member spotlight. We're highlighting one of the most important leaders on our team, Operations Director Jennakah Cloward.  Dave: How did you end up partnering with our team? Jennakah: I've been here a long time. I started working with the team in high school. I started as an office administrator, and now I work as operations director. At this point, I've been here for 13 years, which is about half my life.  From start to finish, you've been on a journey to leadership. Since you've had a lot of positions here, why don't you go through them for us?  I started off answering the phones and filing paperwork, so pretty standard stuff. From there, I became Dave's assistant for a year or two before moving to transaction coordinator when he started his team. Finally, I've been operations director for about two years.  You've become one of our most important leaders on the team. Since you've been here so long, what's your favorite part about working here?  The best part for me is all the built-in friendships we have here. I get to work with my friends every day, and that's priceless.  So considering everything that you do, what would you say is the hardest part about your job every day? I would say it's probably the HR functions of my job. It's something I didn't have a ton of experience with before my current position, so I've had to learn about it along the way.  I think you've done a great job adapting. There's never any drama, and I appreciate that. So what are you most excited about in the next few years? I'm most excited about how fast our team is growing. We're adding a few new people to the team every week, so things are staying fresh and interesting, even though I've been here a long time.  I am just so grateful for all the help Jennakah's been to our team. If anyone out there is interested in a career in real estate or would like to know more about Jennakah's role on our team, give us a call at (717) 216-0860 or send an email to dave@davehooketeam.com. I'm always willing to talk.

We're excited to shine the spotlight on our senior sales director, Drue Richmond. With the help of our hard-working team members, we're able to make all of our clients' buying and selling dreams come true. There's so much that goes on behind the scenes, so today we'd like to introduce you to someone who plays an instrumental role in our business: Senior Sales Director Drue Richmond. Drue wanted a job that allowed her to help others, so she was drawn to real estate and began her career in 2012. She's been with us for around nine years, beginning as a buyer's agent and working her way up through numerous roles. Drue has always done a fantastic job, and her career trajectory reflects that. Drue loves the challenges that each new day brings, as they give her a chance to learn, grow, and thrive. She's helped us guide the team to where it is now—a real estate group that serves over 300 families each year—and she's excited to help her fellow members grow throughout the future as well. “Drue has always done a fantastic job, and her career trajectory reflects that.” We'd like to thank Drue for being such a valuable leader in our team—we truly appreciate everything she does. If you're looking to begin a career path in real estate that allows you to grow similarly, The Dave Hooke Team is always looking for new agents to add to our team. If you're interested in joining our business, or if you'd like to learn more about what a real estate career is like, feel free to reach out to us via phone at 717-216-0860 or email us at Dave@DaveHookeTeam.com. We look forward to hearing from you soon.

Here's how you can sell 300 homes per year but not meet with any clients. How do you sell 300 homes and not meet with a single client? I want to answer this question because about seven years ago I almost quit real estate after a 15-year career. I was selling about 100 homes per year and working seven days a week; I didn't have much time with my family, team members, or anyone else.  So I altered my trajectory, and it changed my life. This past year we sold almost 300 homes, I didn't meet with a single client, and I worked about 3.5 days per week in that business. So I'm sharing three steps for how you can do the same thing: “I altered my trajectory, and it changed my life. ” 1. 125+ transactions per year. You need to ensure your business is at the level it needs to be to allow you to do what I did. 2. Create position descriptions and checklists. Write these documents that you can hand off to someone on your team to take over certain roles in your business. 3. Recruiting system. Put a system together that helps you hire the right people and train them in their roles. If you want to learn more about these three steps and get copies of our position descriptions, compensation plans, or anything else, just write “learn more” in the comments below or private message me the same phrase, and I'll be in touch. If you have questions about any other real estate matter, call me at (717) 216-0860 or email dave@davehooketeam.com. I would love to help you.

Here's our three-step process for getting your nights and weekends back. How do you get your nights and weekends back as a real estate agent? This is a crucial question because real estate is a tough business when you're busy, and it's even more difficult to serve your clients at a deep level and have your own life at the same time. You also deserve to have some time of your own. So there's a three-step process to getting your nights and weekends back:  1. Create an expectation-setting document. Review this document at each new client appointment. Ensure it sets your office hours and some boundaries around when you'll communicate with them. “You can have some nights and weekends to yourself, even as a real estate agent.” 2. Leverage someone who handles the administrative processes. We have a transaction coordination department on our team just for that purpose. 3. Have a showing agent. This agent will help show your buyer clients homes so that you can check out and be with your family on some nights and weekends. We also have a showing agent concierge on our team. If you want a more in-depth copy of our three-step process so you can implement it into your business, just type “3-step process” in the comments below or private message me the same phrase, and I'll follow up with you. If you have questions about any other real estate matter, call me at (717) 216-0860 or email dave@davehooketeam.com. I would love to speak with you.

Here’s the role-play that doubled my business and can double yours too. What live role-play can double your business within 12 months? Our team does a live role-play in our training every morning to show how we can serve our clients better and grow our business each week. The live role-play that doubled my business 15 years ago is one of the most memorable ones we train on all the time.  We all know that growing our business is all about talking to people about real estate. One of the best things we can do is talk to people we already know, like, and trust. How do you go about that without sounding awkward or strange?  Here’s the basic role-play: Dave: Hey Jim, this is Dave Hooke over at Keller Williams of Central PA. How are you doing? Jim: Good Dave: It’s been a couple of months since we’ve done a check-in with you, and we like to call to see how your homeownership experience is going. Do you need any updates on your home, any contractors I can recommend to you, anything I can do for you? Jim: (He’ll likely say something like) No Dave, no problems. Dave: Well Jim, you know we’re always a phone call away if you need anything. We’re not just your Realtor during the transaction, we’re here for you during your whole homeownership experience. By the way, before I let you go, can I ask you a quick question? Jim: Sure Dave: Remember when you signed a buyer’s agency with me and hired me to help you find a home? Jim: Yeah Dave: I’m still in that business, obviously, and I have about 20 to 30 buyers who have signed with us to help them find their dream home, just like you. As you know, I’m not the type to just wait for something to come on the market. Inventory is a little short right now. Can you think of anybody in your workplace or social circles that might know of someone who has thought about selling their home in the next few months?  He may or may not have someone in mind, but either way, I’ll thank him, and close the conversation when he’s finished speaking.  If you lead with value, come from a place of contribution, and give, love, and serve the people you know, like, and trust, they’ll automatically think of you when it comes to real estate. However, it doesn’t hurt to tell them that you are in the brokerage business and you’re here to serve your clients. You can lead with that because we all know that our clients expect us to work hard for them. Most honestly appreciate it when I call them and explain that I could use their help. Your clients and database will appreciate that from you too.  If you want to learn more about the five dialogues to double your business next year, just comment below “five dialogues” or private message me the same thing, and I’ll follow up and tell you all about it. If you have any other questions or needs, call me at (717) 216-0860 or email me at dave@davehooketeam.com. I would love to speak with you.

Our team is currently looking for 2 talented agents to join our team. Our team is currently looking for 2 talented and ambitious agents to join our amazing team culture. Due to our lead generation and appointment setting model, our average agent receives 100 High Quality Appointments Annually, and increases the growth of their business by 350% in the first 12 months.  I would love to understand more about your business and discuss the opportunities that the Dave Hooke Team has to offer. To learn more about this opportunity, please watch the video above.

Here’s how you can use your real estate database to serve your community. Did you know you can use your database to serve random urgent needs in your community? I almost quit real estate about six years ago, but instead, we decided to start a ministry and use our real estate practice to help serve urgent financial needs in our community. It’s turned into a nonprofit that’s thriving with a board, decision-making process, vetting process, and we’re able to serve 70 to 80 families per year.  There’s a five-step process to this, and it begins with setting up a very basic nonprofit. I have a template that can show you how, complete with a screen-recorded video, if you’re interested in setting up your own. This can provide more purpose in your business and be a blessing to your community.  If you want to learn more, type “nonprofit” into the comment section below or private message me “non-profit” and I’ll send you the screen recording with copies of all the documentation so you can set up one yourself. If you have questions about this or any other real estate matter, call me at (717) 216-0860 or email me at Dave@davehooketeam.com. I would love to speak with you.

Here are the things that allow our agents to do 40 transactions per year. The average number of transactions per agent per year is 6.5 according to the National Association of Realtors. That’s troubling for many reasons, but the main one is that a client’s experience should be excellent, and we need to be productive agents to advise our clients well. We’re also passionate about net take-home pay here at The Dave Hooke Team, and we want to ensure we’re taking home good money to have the life we want to live with our families. Our agents are doing 40 transactions per year on average, so what three things are helping them accomplish this? 1. Training. We make sure our agents are engaging in some sort of training every day so they can generate eight to 10 transactions themselves. With our new commission split model, they’re paid more for self-generated business.  “We need to be productive agents to advise our clients well.” 2. Transaction coordination team. Each agent is assigned a team to take all the paperwork and scheduling off their plates so they have more time to do what they do best—interacting with and helping clients.  3. Setting two new appointments each week. Our appointment-setting team not only drives leads to our agents but also qualifies them and sets two new client appointments for each agent every week.  If you want to learn more about these three things that help our agents succeed or our appointment-setting process, simply comment below or private message me: “I want to learn more.” We’ll follow up with you and provide copies of all these processes with no obligation. If you have any other questions, reach out to me via phone at (717) 216-0860 or email at dave@davehooketeam.com. I would love to help you.

Here are two things that will tell you whether a brokerage is the right fit. When you’re a new or newer agent, there are a lot of considerations to make before deciding where to practice real estate. There are questions of commission splits, fees, and more to consider. In my experience, there are two things that provide fulfillment in the professional environment. The first is the work environment itself, and the second is how you’re compensated. Naturally, the two things that are most helpful to do before hanging your hat at a brokerage are these: 1. Ask the broker if you can talk to a few of the agents offline. Be transparent, ask them everything that is on your mind, and hopefully the broker will be open to that. “There are a lot of considerations to make before deciding where to practice real estate” 2. Learn what the average net take-home pay is among the agents in the office. We could talk about commission splits all day, but none of it matters if the agents aren’t taking home enough money to support their families. This is the thing that can cut through all of this confusion. It should be documented in writing, like it is for our team. If you want to learn from our agents about our culture and our average net take-home pay, comment “learn more” below or private message me the same phrase. If you have any other questions for me about the real estate business, don’t hesitate to reach out via phone or email at 717.216.0860 or dave@davehooketeam.com. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Here’s how we bring two qualified leads to each of our agents every week. We’ve had a massive change in our real estate team’s model over the last year. One of the big things we’ve implemented is putting two new client appointments per week into our agents’ calendars using a three-step process. The marketing department generates business, our appointment-setting team nurtures and qualifies that business until they’re ready to buy or sell, and then they pop those meetings into our agents’ calendars, and they show up and serve the client.  If you want to learn more, send me an email message with “2 new appointments per week” and I’ll tell you all about it. If you have any other questions, feel free to reach out via phone or email at 717.216.0860 or dave@davehooketeam.com. I look forward to speaking with you.

Here’s how our team’s $75,000 guaranteed income program works. Here on the Dave Hooke Team, we know there is a lot of confusion in the marketplace when people start talking about commission splits and fees. We want to cut to the chase because what’s most important to us is how much we’re taking home before taxes to serve our families. Real estate can be super inconsistent with income, so we want to put our money where our mouth is. Joining our team means that you’ll make at least $75,000 per year, or we’ll pay the difference. “With our new model, agents are paid handsomely.” How do we do that? There are two steps: 1. We make sure our agents are trained to generate eight transactions per year on their own. With our new model, they get paid handsomely with higher commission splits. 2. Our appointment setting team puts two new appointments in their calendar every week. All agents need to do is show up and do a great job for their clients. If you want to learn more, send me an email message with “$75,000 guarantee” and I’ll tell you all about it. If you have any other questions, feel free to reach out via phone or email at 717.216.0860 or dave@davehooketeam.com. I look forward to speaking with you.

The key to unlocking positive customer experiences: strategic communication. What is the No. 1 thing that impacts customer satisfaction? The unequivocal answer is communication. From the moment that you’ve signed a client till the end of their transaction, the experience that they have—be it good or bad—will be a function of communication. When it comes to communication, quantity and quality matter equally. It starts with setting appropriate expectations for your client, then carries over to your ability to advise, educate, and guide them. If you fail with your communication (i.e. you don’t provide enough information, or you over-promise and under-perform), customer satisfaction will plummet.  However, if you 1) communicate with every buyer or seller who hires you at a minimum of once per week, and 2) under-promise but over-perform, you’ll drive up customer satisfaction. Here’s how we know that: We’ve been surveying every client on an NPS net promoter score at a deep level for a long time. Time and time again, buyers and sellers alike rank the quantity and quality of communication as the most important measure of their satisfaction. No matter how you slice it, rock-solid communication is integral to a positive customer experience.  If you have questions about how to communicate more effectively, or just aren’t sure what to say to that listing that’s been sitting on the market for four months, reach out to us by phone or email at 717.216.0860 or dave@davehooketeam.com. We’d be happy to give you some pointers on how to get your message across tactfully. We developed dialogues that have served us well for 19 years; they add twice as much value to the customer experience. So let’s get that conversation started today.

Here’s a quick look at how to convert more contacts to appointments. Here are the three steps you can take to ensure you secure an appointment with every qualified homebuyer who reaches out to you: 1. Respond quickly. If you get an inquiry on a home, the most important thing is to respond quickly, preferably in under five minutes. The largest study of internet inquiries ever done revealed that if you can’t call the inquirer back within five minutes, you’re better off not calling at all.  2. Ask them if they have any questions and when they can preview the property. This immediately helps drive the conversation to the two things that 99% of homebuyers want: answering questions and setting up a time to preview the property. Framing it like this starts the conversation right out of the gate. “Your window to respond is only open for five minutes.” 3. Make sure to qualify them. Part of qualifying is rapport building, finding common ground, and understanding their core motivation. Make sure you’re complying with the oral consumer notice and connect them to a lender if they need help. When you cover all of these things first, you’re setting up the conversation to give them what they need first (value) and asking for something in return (getting qualified). Our motto is to give consumers twice the value you ask for, and arranging the conversation like this does just that. If you have questions about this process or anything else related to the real estate business, don’t hesitate to Reach out to me today via phone or email at 717.216.0860 or dave@davehooketeam.com. I would love to connect.

Here are the three things you must do if you want to use internet leads. Should you spend time on internet prospects from Zillow, Realtor.com, and other sources? There are many ways to build your business, and this seems like an easy one—throw money at something and expect a return. I’ve been working on this question for half a decade and tracked my findings along the way; and I’ve learned that you can spend money on those sources and get a return if you’re willing to do three specific things, and it actually isn’t the easiest source of business. For us, and some of the other larger teams around the country, it ranks as the sixth or seventh highest return on investment.  If you still want to use internet sources, here’s what you need to do: 1. Contact leads promptly. You need to contact them in under five minutes after they’ve shown interest in a property. A lead response study done by MIT states that if you can’t respond within five minutes, you may as well not respond at all. Under that time is when you’ll get a massively higher return. “If you can’t respond within five minutes, you may as well not respond at all.” 2. It takes seven to eight follow-up attempts to convert. These aren’t warm leads; they don’t trust the person calling them yet, so you must build quite a bit of rapport and trust, which can take days or months. If you aren’t willing to do seven or eight follow-ups, it’s not worth it to use this prospecting source.  3. Conversion happens in the follow-up. Over 50% of the people who inquire that intend to buy won’t purchase until next year. Their business is in the amount of time you can nurture, follow up, and build relationships with them.  If you have any questions about how we scrutinize our prospects or have conversations with leads, I’d love to share what we do with you. Reach out to me via phone or email at 717.216.0860 or dave@davehooketeam.com, and I’ll follow up with you. I’d love to help you do better business.

You can stop meeting with every client and still maximize customer satisfaction. How can you stop meeting with every client but still maximize customer satisfaction? I get it—we can be control freaks, we have to do everything ourselves, and no one can do it better than us. I felt the same way for many years.  Then a very wise consultant told me, “Dave, you’re not that important. What people appreciate about you isn’t really you, it’s the standard and systems that you set. They’ve come to expect the level of service you deliver. ” Each of you reading this has a level of service or standard that you habitually deliver.  The way you can serve every client the same way and still maximize customer satisfaction is to document your process and exactly what your standard of service is. For example, when we list a property, we have 125 steps we follow, which are the same steps I followed when I did it all myself. We still use the same steps because people have come to expect that level of service from us. Get out of the way, and let other people serve your clients in the same way you would. “Document your process and exactly what your standard of service is.” If you follow this advice, your clients won’t be expecting you, but your standard of service. This can help you get some of your time back.  If you’d like a free copy of our contract-to-close checklist, our listing experience, or any of the checklists we use that are documented to train someone in your business or give yourself some extra leverage, call or email us at 717.216.0860 or dave@davehooketeam.com. We hope to speak with you soon.

Here are the main things you should focus on when starting your career. What can you expect in your first two years in real estate? Here are my four main recommendations for what you should focus on: 1. Focus on your sphere of influence. This is the principal way you should look to grow your business, and you should spend two to three hours every morning on it. Your sphere of influence, SOI, or circle of influence is the list of people who you know, like, and trust and who know, like, and trust you. Every person knows about 250 others, so in your first year, you should document those people in one place, contact them, and give twice as much value as you’re asking for. You’re asking for their help to grow your business, and you can provide value by helping with their homeownership experience, even if it’s not real estate-related.  “The faster you expand your knowledge, the faster you’ll level up.” 2. Expand your knowledge. Focus another hour or so a day on reading books and attending seminars and trainings. Here at Keller Williams, we have at least two training per week, and even after 19 years in the business, I still attend those meetings and learn as much as I can. The faster you expand your knowledge, the faster you’ll level up in efficiency and serving your clients—and your business will grow.  3. Streamline your finances. It didn’t take me long to realize I needed to save for tax purposes; as 1099 subcontractors, that’s something we sometimes forget. It’s crucial that you run a conservative budget. Real estate looks like a roller coaster for the first couple of years—it’s anything but consistent. If there’s no consistency in your business, there’s no consistency in your finances. Only spend within your means, and ensure that with every commission check that comes in, you set a portion aside for tax payments.  4. Ask for help. To this day, I still feel I can do a better job as a student. Always be looking for people who have done it before you at a high level. Then regularly ask them to lunch and ask for help, advice, what to do, and how to do it. Speaking of which… If you have any questions, I am an open book. I can share anything you need, including our database lever. A database lever is a 22-page booklet that presents a roadmap for how to build an SOI-based database business. It can help you go from zero to 40 transactions in your first year.  If you have questions or want a copy of our database lever, call or email me at 717.216.0860 or dave@davehooketeam.com. I’d be glad to help you on your way to growing your business.

How can a showing agent help you get your nights and weekends back?   I’ve been working in real estate for 20 years, and I learned early on that when I’m working with buyers and trying to serve them at the highest level, it takes a lot of time—I can’t do it all myself. So, for years, we’ve had a showing agent on our team to help assist our buyer agents with the process of finding a home. Our buyer agents still do the main part of their job—advising the clients, structuring offers, etc.—but the showing agent can provide them with massive leverage, allowing them to reserve the time they desperately need to unplug and maintain a healthy work/life balance. To help you regain your nights and weekends, keep these four points in mind: 1. Acknowledge that you don’t have to do everything. A showing agent helps with the search and service portions of the sales process, meaning that they’re out identifying properties, showing homes, answering questions, and passing information along to you. 2. Recognize what their main job is. Early in the process (specifically during the presentation), you’ll inform the buyer that they’re working with a team, and that there will be multiple people involved in the search process. The showing agent is their go-to point of contact. “Being clear on these four points will help you go a long way toward getting some of that much-needed work/life balance back.” 3. Understand that you’ll get more time with your family by hiring a showing agent. Before the client signs the buyer’s agency agreement during the buyer presentation, explain to the client the role of the showing agent, which is to serve them at the deepest level while allowing you to recharge as you need. Explain that they don’t need to hold back with the showing agent; they’re there for them. 4. Keep the “main thing” the main thing. You are the advisor, the negotiator—they’re hiring you for advice, education, negotiation, and things like that. Having a showing agent allows you to be better at your role in the transaction. If you have any questions about hiring a showing agent or would like a copy of our position agreement, call or email us at 717.216.0862 or dave@davehooketeam.com. We’ll send you a free copy so that you can use it to bolster your business and your life.

If you want to drum up more business right now, here are the ways to do it. What are the fastest ways to generate immediate business in a slow season? Here are three tips you can try: 1. Contact your sphere of influence. Everyone knows about 250 people, so document the people you know, like, and trust, and reach out to them. A certain percentage of the population will buy or sell a house this year, and the people who already trust you will give you referrals if you give them value and ask them who they know who might be buying, selling, or investing in real estate in the next 12 months. If you do that with a couple hundred people, I guarantee you’ll have prospects to follow up with immediately.  2. Contact people with expired listings or those trying to sell on their own (FSBO). These people have already reached their selling window, so you know they’re motivated (at least to some extent). Call them right away or start door-knocking and give them twice as much value as what you’re asking. That’s always been my motto, and when you do this over and over again, you’ll be surprised at how much business you’re inundated with. “Every single person on the planet knows about 250 people, so document the people you know, like, and trust, and reach out to them.” 3. Contact open house attendees. Just as owners of expired listings or FSBOs are already motivated to sell, most people attending an open house are likely entering a buying window. Some will be more motivated than others, but there’s no better way to build trust and rapport than getting face to face with someone at an open house. If you do that for the next couple of Sundays and market that open house well, I guarantee you’ll have a couple more prospects who’ll eventually turn into clients that’ll take your business to the next level.  If you’d like to know more ways to generate immediate business or have any other real estate needs I can assist with, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I’d love to speak with you.

Here’s what you need to do to find the perfect assistant. How do you hire your first administrative assistant? Here at The Dave Hooke Team, we have multiple administrative assistants and transaction coordinators, and at our Keller Williams brokerage, there are transaction coordinators integrated into the business to support the agents who choose to use them. Not every real estate professional has these resources at their fingertips, though. If you don’t have these options and are looking to hire your first assistant, here’s the four-step guide you can follow: 1. Write a missing persons report and position agreement. The missing persons report should be a description of the type of person you’re looking for. Out of that should come the position agreement, which should be forward facing so that when you position it, the potential hire can read what they have to do.  2. Write a job advertisement (and publish it). This advertisement should be simpler and shorter than the missing person report. It should stand out to the applicant and incentivize them to click on it. “During the interview process, delve into the applicant’s life story.” 3. Review the resumes. Review them and screen them with a quick phone call so you’re not wasting time interviewing people who aren’t qualified for the position.  4. Have a two- to three-step interview process. During the interview process, delve into the applicant’s life story. Learn about their thought process and see whether their core values align with yours. It doesn’t hurt to do a behavioral profile either—something like a basic DISC assessment that highlights their personality traits. Finally, check their references, and then ask those references if they know anyone else who could also be a reference for the candidate. This way, you can talk to the people they didn’t give you in addition to the people they did to see whether they’re truly the right fit and can help take your business to the next level.  If you have questions about this guide or would like a copy of our position agreements or job ads, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I’d love to speak with you.

Here are three signs that you might need to hire an assistant. At some point in your career, you may realize that your business isn’t progressing any further. That might signal that it’s time to hire an assistant so you can advance your career. Here are three signs that you’re ready to make this hire: 1. Your transaction count is hitting a ceiling. If your transaction count paces between 25 and 40 transactions, you’ve likely hit a ceiling. One of two things will happen at this point: You’re going to lose work/life balance and burn out, or your customer service is going to suffer. If you’re pacing that range, you might want to think about taking the necessary steps to hire an assistant. 2. Your annual sales volume is between $4 million and $6.5 million, or your GCI (gross commission income) is $130,000 or more. That will give you the solvency and the margin to be able to afford an assistant.  3. You’ve put away three to six months of funds for an assistant’s salary. If you’ve buffered yourself with an emergency account of that much money to pay the person, then you’re definitely ready to hire an assistant. If you don’t have any more transactions or you hit a slow spell for a month or two, it won’t matter as much—you’ll have plenty of margin to pay that person and help them help you take your business to the next level. If you have any questions or would like to talk more about how to hire an assistant, reach out to me. I’d love to give you the guidance you need to advance your business.

Here are three simple yet powerful steps for regaining control of your business. When I first started in real estate, I didn’t have a system for managing activities or time, and I didn’t set any boundaries. Unfortunately, I found myself working 80, 90, or even 100 hours a week, which was far from sustainable—I almost burned out. My business was running me.  On our team, we do collective training for about 30 minutes every morning, and a big part of that is centered around making sure that each individual sets proper boundaries and manages their time well so that they can have a little bit of work-life balance. Here are three simple tips to do just that:  1. Set a daily voicemail in the morning. Into your voicemail, just state your name, the date, and your availability for that given day (e.g., “I’ll be available throughout the day from 9 a.m. till 6:30 p.m. If your voicemail is received after 6:30, it’ll be returned the next day. Thanks so much for calling, and we’ll talk soon.”). If you do this every single day, it helps you remove the guilt of not answering your phone after hours. What prospective client wouldn’t be impressed by the fact that you leave a new voicemail for people every single day? That’s the definition of being on top of things.  2. Include your office hours in your presentations. When you’re listing a property or presenting to a buyer to sign a buyer agency contract, one of the first pieces of information on our presentation should be the office hours (make sure it mirrors what you say in your voicemail). I would even go so far as to say it during your presentation, “Hey Mr. and Mrs. Buyer, you can imagine I have a lot of clients, and I have to serve my family, too. As long as you’re okay with my office hours, just initial here and we can move on to the next page.” Later on, that daily voicemail will then be a reminder to them of what they signed up for. “What prospective client wouldn’t be impressed by the fact that you leave a new voicemail for people every single day?” 3. Time block what is most important but not urgent. Some of the things we often let slip include lead generation and calling our database, and these critical but not time-sensitive activities need to be put first in your calendar. If you always see those activities front and center, you’ll train yourself to do them consistently, and that’s the key to winning the day and feeling great about the work you put into it. Other “first things first” activities can include devotions (if those are important to you), fitness, and maybe even a little time with your spouse.  If you do these three things, you’ll be surprised by how much your business and life will change for the better. You’ll finally be able to get back to running your business instead of being corralled by your business.  As always, reach out to me via phone or email if you have any questions about this or other related topics. I’d love to connect, and I’d be happy to have a strategy session with you.

Here’s how to work more efficiently without multitasking. I gave an hour-long speech recently about why multitasking is a lie and how you can work twice as efficiently as you already are without it. Today I want to share the most important parts with you. Here are four reasons why multitasking is a lie: 1. What you’re actually asking your brain to do is switch tasking. Studies have shown that when you are doing multiple things at once, you’re not doing any one thing efficiently. You might do them all well, but you’re taking a lot more time to do them than if you didn’t ask your brain to switch tasks in the first place.  Here’s a good example: Put a timer on, then say your ABC’s, then count to 26. You’ll probably do it incredibly quickly. Now time yourself while doing them both at the same time (e.g., A1, B2, C3, D4…) It’s going to take you a lot longer to do that—about three to four times longer.  “Multitasking is actually switch tasking.” 2. Time and activity management. They’ve found that people are three to four times more efficient when they set up their day to focus on one task at a time. 3. Time blocking. If you can time block your day so that you have specific times set for specific tasks, you’ll operate twice as efficiently. 4. Activity chunking. When you time block activities and chunk together similar activities into full mornings and full afternoons, your day will be a lot more efficient. Structure your whole week like this, and you’ll be surprised at how efficiently you operate. If you have any questions about this or want to learn more, I’d love to share my full PowerPoint presentation on this topic with you. Just reach out via phone or email today and I’ll get it sent over.

You can have a for-profit business with a not-for-profit purpose. How do you run a for-profit business with a not-for-profit purpose?l This question goes straight to my heart, and it speaks to a need that was fulfilled when I was 33 years old. Back then, I almost quit real estate because I was burned out. That’s when I asked people about running a for-profit business with a not-for-profit purpose. This took me on a multi-year journey that ended with a nonprofit 501(c)(3) embedded in the core of my business: Project Lamp Light.  If you want to start your own Project Lamp Light, here are the six steps you must take: 1. Open a checking account.  2. Transfer a percentage of each commission you make into that account. 3. When serving a client or talking to your database, ask the following question: Who do you know in the community with a random, urgent need we can serve? You’ll be surprised how quickly your inbox fills up with calls that answer this question. “With Project Lamp Light, we don’t attach our name to any checks.” 4. Ask this question over and over again. Consistency is key, so keep asking for six to 12 months if you want to grow your referral index.  5. Set up an eight-question Google form for each urgent need. Think of it as an application for the funds you’ll potentially distribute.  6. If the “application” passes, approve the form, and send the funds anonymously. With Project Lamp Light, we don’t attach our name to any checks. Whenever a form comes across our desk, someone deploys it anonymously and tells the person in need that a faith-based local business wanted to help them.  If you have questions about this process or would like to take a look at our eight-question Google form, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I’ll provide you with all the information you need to integrate this type of initiative into your business. I look forward to hearing from you.

Ask these two questions of people you speak with double your business! I’m sharing two questions to ask that can double your real estate business. If you ask these two questions of multiple people per day for about a year, I guarantee you’ll see a huge increase in your business: 1. What are your biggest fears about the process? By asking that question of anyone you’re speaking to about real estate, you will learn more about their mindset and hidden emotions than almost any other question. I find this extremely valuable to help me relate to them, earn their trust, and understand their needs. “Asking these questions of many people will increase your business.” 2. Is there anything I can do for you that’s not real estate related? We ask this of our database and potential clients who aren’t even considering buying or selling right now. Can I help you find a contractor or financial advisor? Tell them you don’t need to be compensated for this, you just want to help with what they need right now.  We train our agents to ask these two questions, and I encourage you to ask them as much as we do.  If you have any other questions or want to collaborate on how to grow your real estate business, I’d love to do a free strategy session with you. Just reach out via phone or email. I hope we connect soon.

There are three different real estate models, so which is best for you? If you’re thinking about getting into real estate or making a change, there are three models you should consider: the traditional brokerage, a teamerage, and a highly specialized team. None of them are better than the others, they’re just different. The job of helping people buy or sell property has been around since the middle ages, but the first real estate team was only documented in 1991, and team models have since developed over the past 20 years.  The traditional brokerage model dates back to the 1940s and has evolved into companies such as Keller Willaims, RE/MAX, Berkshire Hathaway, etc. In this model, there’s a certain amount of compensation, support, and coaching provided to the real estate agents.  A teamerage (likely a term you haven’t heard before) is typically made up of a bunch of agents, and its compensation and support structure is very similar to that of a brokerage. They may operate under a team brand, but they don’t share much else. They may share support for one another, and it might be more specialized than the brokerage. This model has expanded over the last decade and is becoming more common. “You have to assess which model is the best fit for you.” The highly specialized team will usually have more support than the other two in the form of training, technology, lead generation, etc. They’ll have specialized roles such as administrative structures, inside sales associates, showing agents, listing specialists, and more.  My highly specialized team is part of a brokerage. This proves there are combinations of the three models too, so there’s a place for whatever you’re looking for. You have to assess which model is the best fit for you. Evaluate your options and interview people from all three models before you decide because each one is very different in how they pay and the type of support they offer.  Don’t forget about reputation; there’s nothing more important than reputation in this industry—it goes a long way. As you’re interviewing, look for references and ask questions. Questions I encourage you to ask are: What is the documented take-home pay, and can you show that to me? What support are you providing, and can you show that to me?  Once you have all these things lined up you can do an apples-to-apples comparison to determine which model is the best choice for you.  If you have any questions about our real estate team or brokerage, no question is a silly one. We’d be glad to have a conversation with you, just reach out to us via phone or email.

There are four things you need to do as a first-year agent. Take a look. After 20 years in the real estate business, I have a lot of information to share regarding what new agents should focus on in their first few years in the industry. Today I’ll share four key things that stand out in my mind: 1. Grow and document your database. Write down the names of people you know, like, and trust—and these people should know, like, and trust you in return! That list should be 50 people at minimum but no more than 300 people; make sure you include the people in your community on whom you rely for certain services, like car repair or dentistry. These are the people who will refer folks to your business in the next three to five years. We use specific tools to help our agents document those people, which I can follow up on in a future blog post. 2. Expand your knowledge. If you’re with a company like Keller Williams, this shouldn’t be a problem since they provide a lot of online and in-person training for you to leverage. If you’re not with a company like that, hire a coach or get to a mentor who can help you save time. If you do the wrong things in the wrong order, it will take you a lot longer to build your business than if you follow a motto and do the right things in the right order. Make it a process and a habit to attend training classes and read books that will grow your knowledge over the coming months and years. 3. Expand your finances. You’ll be required to pay income taxes if your business is as successful as you want it to be. That’s why it’s important to put money aside on every commission you earn and create a separate account for personal use and income taxes. You’ll also want to use a system like QuickBooks to document your finances so that when it comes time to do your taxes, you have everything in order. If you’re a busy person, don’t hesitate to hire a bookkeeper; it’s a really good leverage point to get you to the next step.  “Hire a coach or get to a mentor who can help you save time.” 4. Constantly ask for help. Find a mentor in the business, preferably someone who has been in it longer than you have, and never be too proud to ask for help morning, noon, and night.  If you do have questions, regardless of whether or not you’re a part of our brokerage, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I love helping people, I love collaborating, and I love to educate new agents. Truth be told, I could probably learn a lot from you, too. My best wishes to you in your first real job in real estate!

I have three tips that will help you maximize your productivity. How can you maximize your productivity in real estate? I have three great tips: 1. Choose your one thing. In “The One Thing” by Gary Keller, he expands on the importance of focus. If you’re in real estate sales, the one thing you likely want to be focusing on is talking to lots of people (better known as ‘prospecting’ or ‘lead follow-up’). “If it’s not in your calendar, it doesn’t exist.” Whether you’re talking to people in your database or cold-calling, that’s part of your one thing. Studies have shown that if you can talk to people about real estate for two to three hours a day, five days a week, that’ll be sufficient fuel to build your real estate business. 2. Time block your one thing. There’s an old saying that goes, “If it’s not in your calendar, it doesn’t exist.” So, if prospecting is your one thing, one of the most critical steps to do is mark it in your calendar and commit to it at that same time five days a week.  3. Manage activities around your one thing. As appointments come into your calendar, or as people ask you to do things, the one commitment you’ll keep around all that is your one thing. When people ask you to do something during that time, you will tell them you’re booked, but ask if another time works.  If you do all three of these things for a full year, I guarantee you’ll build a large real estate business because you’ll have consistency, discipline, and focus. If you have any questions or want to collaborate with me on how to build a real estate business, I would love to hear from you via phone or email. Don’t hesitate to reach out to me.

When presenting your buyer’s offer on a home to the listing agent, sending it as a regular old email attachment isn’t going to cut it. Here’s what you should be doing. Today we’ll focus our attention on the best way you, as a buyer’s agent, can present your offer to a listing agent.  All too often, my team and I are on the receiving end of offers that just come to our inbox as an attachment with no explanation or description about the buyer whatsoever.  Nowadays, technology dominates our industry, and because of this, it feels like we’ve gotten away from the advisory or human element of the real estate transaction. I encourage my fellow agents to work toward getting back to that. “Coming to a meeting of minds and needs between the buyer and seller likely means a win for your buyer at the settlement table.” Technology has a pivotal role in our industry in that it automates the tasks we’d rather not do, and it can do them better. In this respect, it’s become indispensable to some extent. However, it can’t automate the learning, understanding, and empathizing that takes place between people and that gives a real estate professional the ability to advise based upon need.  Here’s my advice to agents working to construct an offer: Pick up the phone and call the listing agent. This way, you’ll gain valuable insight into that agent and the seller they’re representing. During the conversation, get a sense of the seller’s preferences and what’s most important to them in their home sale.  With the knowledge of what’s important to your buyer and the seller, you’ll be able to fine-tune an offer that has a high probability of being a win-win scenario. After all, coming to a meeting of minds and needs between the buyer and seller likely means a win for your buyer at the settlement table.   Just to recap: The first step is to gather information about the seller and what’s most important to them, the second step is to construct a solution-based offer that addresses everyone’s needs, and the final step is to present the product to the listing agent.    As a bonus tip, elect to present your offer to the listing agent, at a minimum, so you can articulate your buyer’s situation and why they chose to include certain points. There’s nothing more frustrating for you and your buyer than to come up short on a property due to miscommunication.     Before finishing the call, find out if they have any other questions, if there’s anything missing, or if the listing agent believes there’s something important that should be included.  Those are the steps we encourage you to perform when building an offer. If you have any other steps that you’d advise or helpful information you’d like to share, please reach out to us. We’ll talk to you soon! 

If you’re fearful of being replaced by technology, don’t be. Today we’ll share a few important points on how we as an industry can make technological advances work for us, instead of against us. Technology has changed our industry a lot since I first went into business 18 years ago, and even more so since my father (and his father) got their start decades before me.  There’s no denying that technology has altered (and will continue to alter) the way real estate works for good. But what specific changes have taken place? And how will we, as real estate professionals, respond to them? “Make technology work for you—don’t work for technology.” There are two main changes technology has introduced to our industry: big data and artificial intelligence (or AI).  The truth is that these changes, in and of themselves, are not a bad thing. The best way to approach the increasing prevalence of technology in our industry is not to fight against it, but rather to embrace it. Make technology work for you—don’t work for technology.  When leveraged correctly, technology can make the lives of real estate professionals like us much easier. Automating certain aspects of the real estate experience using technology may even allow us to spend more time doing what we do best: advising and guiding our clients.  If you have any other questions about this, or about the real estate masterminds our team will be hosting in the near future, feel free to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.