The Close Weekly

In the FINAL episode of our podcast's second season, we have a special guest: Brian Parsons of The Parsons Team. In 2021, The Parsons Team drove $1.9 million in GCI with over 100 transactions in their market of Pasadena, California.Like you, Brian knows the challenges of working in today's market where there are "tons of buyers and no inventory." Yet, despite these conditions, Brian still drums up listings.And here's the secret to Brian's success: his database. That's because 75% of his business comes from referrals and repeat business! In this episode, Brian offers valuable tips rooted in real-world experience about how agents can stop chasing buyers (and instead get listings). He also provides a script to get listings through referrals and a strategy to get business from open houses.Lastly, Brian chats with our podcast host, Sean Moudry, about how burnout is very real for many agents today. After all, working our butts off during a pandemic is no joke! It's been especially hard for buyers' agents who show homes daily and write multiple offers a week (many of which don't get chosen). That's why Brian generously offers advice throughout this episode about how agents can win listings. Yes, even in today's market!The Close Weekly Podcast:We're unpacking how YOU can succeed in today's low-inventory market thanks to our season two podcast sponsor, Elevate by Elm Street. Elevate is MORE than a CRM. With social media posts, IDX websites, and easy-to-use lead generation, Elevate provides everything you need to capture and convert more leads. Check it out for yourself: https://tryelevate.com Our podcast host is top producing agent & broker Sean Moudry. Join us as he sits down with guests who provide actionable tips for agents who want to level up their skills and career.

Haley Ingram's real estate marketing company, Coffee and Contracts, has helped thousands of agents build trust, grow strong brands, and get listings on social media. In this episode, host Sean Moudry asks Haley how agents should approach their marketing on Instagram and Facebook in 2022. Haley unpacks why knowing your core values, content pillars, and brand bio is necessary for achieving a cohesive social media marketing strategy. Lastly, Haley and Sean discuss how a strong brand on social media makes agents seem like competent marketers who buyers or sellers can trust. Put your best foot forward on social media with the tips Haley provides. Want more help with your social media marketing? Check out Coffee and Contracts today: https://app.theclose.com/goto/coffee-and-contracts-theclose-emailonly/The Close Weekly Podcast:We're unpacking how YOU can succeed in today's low-inventory market thanks to our season two podcast sponsor, Elevate by Elm Street. Elevate is MORE than a CRM. With social media posts, IDX websites, and easy-to-use lead generation, Elevate provides everything you need to capture and convert more leads. Check it out for yourself: https://tryelevate.com Our podcast host is top producing agent & broker Sean Moudry. Join us as he sits down with guests who provide actionable tips for agents who want to level up their skills and career.

Institutional investors (AKA iBuyers) own 600,000 homes in America. So if you're prospecting sellers in a market where investors purchase real estate, you're up against cash offers from iBuyers. That's why during this interview, Kala Laos and Eliot Tomaszewski, the CEO and COO of Zoodealio, want to give you some tools to help you how to compete with & get more listings because of iBuyers. Yes, really.Their seller lead gen system works like this: Potential sellers often want to see what cash offers they can get from iBuyers like Opendoor. Which means agents can get seller leads to state their interest by providing them with a possible cash offer. (Which, yes, is an iBuyer's cash offer.)However, only 5% of these iBuyer offers are accepted. And about 50% of seller leads go ahead and list their house in the next six months with an agent instead. Listen to this episode to get the actionable tips that you need to win listings (even in today's low-inventory market). You'll soon know how to use iBuyers as a tool to get more listings.The Close Weekly Podcast:We're unpacking how YOU can succeed in today's low-inventory market thanks to our season two podcast sponsor, Elevate by Elm Street. Elevate is MORE than a CRM. With social media posts, IDX websites, and easy-to-use lead generation, Elevate provides everything you need to capture and convert more leads. Check it out for yourself: https://tryelevate.com Our podcast host is top producing agent & broker, Sean Moudry. Join us as he sits down with guests who provide actionable tips for agents who want to level up their skills and career.

There are 2.4 million active agents in the United States. And yet, as of January 2022, there are only 279,000 listings. These sobering stats mean that it is HARD to be an agent in today's market. But fret not. Chief Marketing Officer of Elm Street, Bondilyn Jolly, has worked with tens of thousands of agents. And she offers a perspective we implore agents to absorb: work smarter (not harder) with technology. After all, agents wear a lot of hats. They must maintain relevancy, a presence on different marketing platforms, capture leads, and have meaningful conversations… while (hopefully) helping their current clients and closing deals. Bondilyn covers how Elm Street solves these fundamental challenges by helping agents build the foundations for their business. The best part? These foundations can be automated, streamlined, and consolidated in a way that does NOT feel impersonal. And as a bonus, she makes it clear how NOT to pay for tech you barely use.So if you feel overwhelmed with your workflow or have been dropping the ball on building your pipeline while working with clients, you need to check out this episode. After all, you can never make more time. But you can give yourself a few hours of your life back every week to work on your business or enjoy your life. The Close Weekly Podcast:We're unpacking how YOU can succeed in today's low-inventory market thanks to our season two podcast sponsor, Elevate by Elm Street.  Elevate is MORE than a CRM. With social media posts, IDX websites, and easy-to-use lead generation, Elevate provides everything you need to capture and convert more leads. Check it out for yourself: https://tryelevate.com Our podcast host is top producing agent & broker, Sean Moudry. Join us as he sits down with guests who provide actionable tips for agents who want to level up their skills and career.

Jennifer Egbert broke into luxury real estate in one of the most competitive markets in America: Boulder, CO. In this episode, Jennifer provides tips for how you can too (even in today's low-inventory market).Jennifer's #1 tip for agents is that they create an ideal customer avatar and start marketing to them in a visual way. Earlier in her career, Jennifer took this approach by blogging. She would find listings that she knew her ideal clients would love and blog about them (always crediting the listing agent!). She not only showed up in Google searches, but her brand also became associated with the types of homes she wanted to list herself. Jennifer also recommends agents look outside our industry for marketing inspiration. For instance, Jennifer was one of the first people to bring the modern luxury real estate trend to Boulder. Have a vision and know that not everyone will “get it” initially. But your ideal client will. Lastly, Jennifer and Sean discuss how agents – especially luxury agents – aren't just order takers. And how saying no to clients is “the best thing ever” when you're not aligned with them (especially when you're confident that you can generate new business!)The Close Weekly Podcast:We're unpacking how YOU can succeed in today's low-inventory market thanks to our season two podcast sponsor, Elevate by Elm Street.  Elevate is MORE than a CRM. With social media posts, IDX websites, and easy-to-use lead generation, Elevate provides everything you need to capture and convert more leads. Check it out for yourself: https://tryelevate.com Our podcast host is top producing agent & broker, Sean Moudry. Join us as he sits down with guests who provide actionable tips for agents who want to level up their skills and career.

Wendy Waselle is the co-founder of Divorce This House, which helps real estate agents and mortgage lenders build their business by working with the divorce niche. After all, the riches are always in the niches. The key to working with divorce leads is working with divorce lawyers. Divorce attorneys in major cities have 30-50 ongoing clients. This referral relationship can mean serious business for agents. For instance, Wendy had one student of Divorce This House who closed 70 transactions in 10 months working with just two divorce attorneys! Wendy's fellow co-founder is a Harvard-trained lawyer, Prof. Kelly Murray, J.D.. They both have seen what does NOT work with divorce leads. And Divorce This House guides real estate professionals toward avoiding common mistakes. They also help agents approach this lucrative niche with integrity, heart, and a winning strategy. Wendy discusses how leading with greed does not work in this niche. And the importance of demonstrating to divorce lawyers that you're not looking to just sell their clients' homes. Instead, you want to help their clients preserve homeownership eligibility. By being a go-giver, Wendy walks you through how you can maintain a steady pipeline of clients.Listen to this episode if you're burned out and want a new niche or are new to real estate and are willing to put the time into studying this niche market. You'll walk away from this episode knowing how to get divorce lawyers to look at you less as a salesperson and more of a colleague they would be happy to refer. The Close Weekly Podcast:We're unpacking how YOU can succeed in today's low-inventory market thanks to our season two podcast sponsor, Elevate by Elm Street.  Elevate is MORE than a CRM. With social media posts, IDX websites, and easy-to-use lead generation, Elevate provides everything you need to capture and convert more leads. Check it out for yourself: https://tryelevate.com Our podcast host is top producing agent & broker, Sean Moudry. Join us as he sits down with guests who provide actionable tips for agents who want to level up their skills and career.

You may have seen our guest, Barry Habib, on CNBC or FOX. That's because he's a three-time Crystal Ball Award-winning market forecaster.

Jay O'Brien is the co-founder of Client Giant and a licensed real estate agent in a hot California market. Host Sean Moudry first gets Jay's thoughts on whether there is a “path to normalization” in today's low-inventory market and other macro real estate trends (like Airbnb). Jay then talks about how any agent can ride a hot housing market wave. However, he implores agents to build strong defenses around their business if and when the housing market normalizes.Jay also gives an overview of how he future-proofs his business with referrals. And how his company, Client Giant, makes it easy (& automated) for agents to delight their clients.He even provides specific touch points and thoughtful gifts (e.g., moving boxes on day 6 of the deal) that make his clients say “wow” and refer him to their networks. So get your client appreciation hats on for this episode! Check out Client Giant:https://www.clientgiant.com/Free referral resources from The Close:7 Savvy Ways to Generate More Real Estate Referrals: https://theclose.com/real-estate-referrals/9 Tips to Earn More Reviews & Help Build Referrals & Repeat Clients: https://theclose.com/earn-real-estate-reviews/

Natalia Karayaneva is the CEO of prop-tech company, Propy, and a former real estate developer. In this episode, she talks about how the consumer-driven economy will force agents to offer more transparency when accepting and making an offer. Host Sean Moudry goes into the nuances of how Propy empowers agents to satisfy this consumer need of making everything (but the contract) automated and more transparent without breaking any laws.Natalia and Sean then discuss (in layman's terms) how crypto blockchain and NFTs will transform real estate transactions in the future as Millennials and Gen Z start buying more real estate. If you find this all very confusing, you'll want to listen. Sean & Natalia do a great job of explaining these topics in an approachable way. Natalia believes competitive agents must be competent with crypto & NFTs as she predicts in the next 5 years, 5% of real estate transactions will use crypto as payment. Finally, Sean and Natalia talk about the metaverse and web 3.0. Giddy up and give this episode a listen, as the future of real estate might look a lot different than it does today.Check out Propy:https://propy.com/browse/More Free Real Estate Marketing Resources: Bitcoin Basics for Real Estate Agents in 2022 (+ Expert Predictions) :https://theclose.com/bitcoin-real-estate/Sean's 47-Point Ultimate Real Estate Listing Marketing Plan (PDF Checklist)https://theclose.com/real-estate-listing-marketing-plan/

Nick Baldwin has been working in real estate for over a decade as both an agent and Team Leader. He is also currently the COO of one of the most popular real estate marketing companies and Facebook Groups, Lab Coat Agents. In this interview, Nick chats with host Sean Moudry about how the pandemic was a catalyst for agents to adopt property tech (AKA “prop-tech”) and marketing tech. In addition, Nick explains how advancements in technology and shifting consumer behavior require agents to pivot how they view themselves professionally.Lastly, Nick and Sean also commiserate about how learning through failure is necessary for agents who transition to Team Leader.Check Out Lab Coat Agents' Marketing Software:https://app.theclose.com/goto/lca-marketing-center-theclose-emailonly/Join Lab Coat Agents' Facebook Group:https://www.facebook.com/groups/labcoatagentsFree Real Estate Marketing Resources: 29 Clever Real Estate Marketing Ideas for 2022: https://theclose.com/real-estate-marketing-ideas/7 Real Estate Marketing Companies to Boost Your Business in 2022: https://theclose.com/real-estate-marketing-companies/Sean's 47-Point Ultimate Real Estate Listing Marketing Plan (PDF Checklist): https://theclose.com/real-estate-listing-marketing-plan/

Chris Linsell is a real estate technologist, real estate coach, and The Close's Senior Writer. He also spoke at and attended the real estate industry's largest conferences (including the NAR REALTORS® Conference & Expo and Inman Connect Las Vegas), which all happened at the end of 2021. That's why he has some hot takes about how the real estate industry will transform this year. In this episode, Chris chats about his bold predictions for the disruption that will inevitably transpire in the real estate industry. Specifically, he explores why he believes that the real estate and financial services will overlap in new, unexpected ways.He also anticipates that lead conversion will become more of a focus than lead gen. Plus, he goes into why predictive analytics will take off this year. Check out this episode to hear more! Check out some of Chris's recent articles:Predictive Analytics: How to Get More Listings With Less Marketing: https://theclose.com/predictive-analytics-overview/6 Things Realtors Can Learn From Super Bowl MVP Drew Brees: https://theclose.com/real-estate-lessons-from-drew-brees/15 Clever Real Estate Prospecting Ideas to Boost Your GCI: https://theclose.com/real-estate-prospecting/

Nicole Mickle, a real estate agent in Orlando, Florida, started marketing herself more intentionally 5 years ago. And she knew what worked for extroverted agents wouldn't work for her. Doing pop bys didn't feel authentic to her personality. She also didn't set her sights on becoming an Instagram influencer. Instead, Nicole started writing down all the questions that she encountered when talking to prospects & clients. Then, she answered these questions on her (now) popular blog, Pinterest account, and (yes, even) on Instagram.Nicole now has 9+ million monthly Pinterest views, which drives traffic to her blog, Florida Homes & Living. As a result, she attracts the exact type of client she loves working with—clients relocating to the Orlando area.Nicole chats with Sean Moudry about her real estate marketing journey in this interview. And why introverts make for excellent agents! Check out Nicole's online presence:Follow Nicole on Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/FloridaHomesandLivingFollow Nicole on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iorlandorealestateVisit Nicole's blog, Florida Homes & Living: https://floridahomesandliving.com/Free Resources from The Close:27 Fresh Real Estate Blog Ideas for 2022 (+ Examples & Expert Tips): https://theclose.com/real-estate-blog-ideas/Pinterest Real Estate Marketing: https://theclose.com/pinterest-real-estate-marketing-ideas/

Eric Simon has grown his Instagram account, The Broke Agent, to 350,000 followers. In this interview, Eric shares actionable tips for agents who are looking to stand out on Instagram in 2022—even for agents who don't have much a following yet!He also unpacks why Instagram is the platform he recommends that agents invest in this year (and which platforms aren't worth your energy).Lastly, he shows why social media marketing is especially important for agents who don't have much of a marketing budget. And how they can start to expand their sphere and stay top of mind (for free!) with social media.Free Resources from The Close & The Broke Agent:11 Hilarious Real Estate Agents You Need to Follow on Instagram Right Now: https://theclose.com/real-estate-instagram/Instagram Stories for Agents: 12 Easy Ways to Drive Engagement: https://theclose.com/instagram-stories-agents/10 Agents & Coaches Crushing It on Instagram Reels in 2021: https://theclose.com/agents-instagram-reels/

Sarah Reynolds Oji runs one of the largest real estate teams in America, The Reynolds Team. Ending 2021 with over a BILLION in sales volume and $25 million in GCI, her team served over 2,000 families in 5 distinct markets. And the average agent on her team nets $172,000 a year. Not bad, huh?In this (first!) episode of The Close Weekly, host Sean Moudry discusses Sarah's top 3 predictions for the real estate industry in 2022. Sarah also provides her sage CEO wisdom to agents who want to focus on closing more this year. Yes, even in low-inventory markets. Also learn why she believes teams will be on the rise in 2022. Lastly, Sarah discusses the importance of women in real estate rising to leadership positions, which is a topic Sarah explores regularly on her own podcast, Empire Building.Want to learn more from Sarah? Follow Sarah: https://www.instagram.com/sarahreynoldsoji/ Check out Sarah's company, The Reynolds Team: https://rtrsells.com/Free Resources from The Close & Sean Moudry:Sean's 47-Point Ultimate Real Estate Listing Marketing Plan (PDF Checklist): https://theclose.com/real-estate-listing-marketing-plan/How to Create a Custom Real Estate Lead Generation Plan (+ Template): https://theclose.com/lead-generation-plan/