The Deliberate Path to Attracting, Converting and Retaining Homebuyers
Matt Farnham [00:00:00]:
I’m actually just going to rip off and duplicate a talk I gave a week or two ago. Tom Ferry had me speak at his roadmap tour, asked us to speak on buyer conversion. So that’s what this is about. Some of which I’ve actually spoken with to this group before. But now we’re going to have a chance to go a little bit deeper just in the context of working with buyers. The title of this talk is the deliberate path to attracting, converting and retaining homebuyers. So Tom asked me to talk about converting, but I feel like you can’t really do that without also talking about how to attract and keep buyers, because that’s just as important. Right? So before we get into it, if you don’t know much about me or our business, we’re a high referral business.
Matt Farnham [00:00:48]:
We really believe on a philosophy of loving on the people who love you, people who already know you like you, trust you to go deeper with those relationships, especially this day and age where it’s a pay-to-play game for everything. We’re paying 25 35% plus off the top for so many lead sources nowadays, it’s just eating into profitability and it’s just a difficult way to do business. So I would rather really nurture those relationships who already love us in their referrals and go deeper on that. So being a relationship business, we really focus on return on relationship rather than return on investment. For other types of lead sources, we don’t discount those, but that’s where we go deep. And just for some context and credibility, I don’t say this in an arrogant way, just for credibility. Last few years in a row, we’ve actually done over a million dollars in GCI just on our Soi and referrals. So, not that we have this dialed in perfectly, but we feel like we have a good thing going when it comes to this type of business.
Matt Farnham [00:01:49]:
So our mission here in Vegas is loving Las Vegas through real estate. You’ve probably heard me share that before. We’re very passionate about that. Basically, we do that in two ways. We feel like we give the best service and experience and outcome possible to our clients. And we love our city by guiding families through their big transactions in such a way. But also we have a city engagement partner where we give off the top. We actually serve as a team to engage the city of Las Vegas.
Matt Farnham [00:02:14]:
So we really feel like our business is a vehicle to love our city. And also want to mention that little cute family up top. Those are my three kids and my wife, Leslie. But as you get to know me and we start to build this culture together at five, realty and beyond. But I really am passionate about structuring businesses that fuel that picture on top, where I want to be a present husband and father and present in my community. So it’s about creating systems and sops and processes and developing people that allows me to be a present husband and father and engage in my community, but not just me, but my staff, our agents, and everybody we do business with. So that is what the heartbeat, I guess you could say, of our business is and what I really hope to help many of you guys accomplish in your own careers and business as we continue to connect. So let’s get going.
Matt Farnham [00:03:03]:
We have three objectives with buyers we want to again attract, convert, and retain. And the title of this is the deliberate path. Deliberate actually has two meanings. It means intentional or planned, but it also means careful and unhurried. So everything we do is with intentionality with our business. We don’t flippantly do anything. I really believe in preparation. I’ve shared that with you guys before.
Matt Farnham [00:03:26]:
But the idea of careful and hurried is this slowdown to speed up. I’m talking about this a lot right now, both in personal life and in business. But we got to slow down to really meet buyers where they are right now, because there’s so much timidity and hesitation and fear in the market right now. That’s just the type of service we have to provide. So let’s get into how to attract more buyers to get this going. So we know that it’s the real estate hunger games right now. You’ve heard Tom Ferry say that probably, I’ve mentioned it, a lot of other people are talking that way. This is the fewest transactions in Las Vegas.
Matt Farnham [00:03:58]:
This will be the fewest transactions that we’ll see this year since 2008. So it’s been 15 years since we’ve seen this type of volume, and we have 30% more realtors licensed today than we had in 2008. So it’s difficult out there, guys. It’s back to the people who already know you like you, trust you. We cannot afford to lose those opportunities. The people who are already in our circles or in our relationships. So those are the ones we just can’t miss. Right? So we know it’s the Hunger Games, and we know that the buyers that are in the market are scared.
Matt Farnham [00:04:27]:
They’re timid, they’re hesitant, they’re fearful. The uncertainty in the market. We had a buyer consultation here in the office about two weeks ago now, and this sweet young couple, they want to be homeowners, but they’re scared to death. Like, just the stuff they shared with us. You can just see the fear about entering the market because of the rates and the affordability. Now, thankfully, rates at the time we’re having this conversation dropped again this morning. They’re looking really good, but that’s probably not going to stay there. And it’s a difficult season of affordability, which creates that fear.
Matt Farnham [00:04:57]:
We also know that real estate is a contact sport. I think so many times in our business, we’re so quick to go sign up for the next shiny tool because we think it’s like a shortcut or a hack to get more business. Guys, we really just need to talk to more people. And what I would encourage you to do is look at where life already has you. Do you find yourself on the sidelines at soccer practice a couple of nights a week? Are you at the dance recital? Are you at the book club or the poker group? Where does life already have you through your current relationships? And are you maximizing capacity in those spaces where you already are? I think, again, it’s like, oh, it’s easier to go sign up for the next thing than to walk across the sidelines and go have a conversation with somebody. That seems scary to us. But guys, that’s really where the biggest conversion is going to happen. So are you maximizing capacity where you already are? Imagine, like squeezing something right until it pops out the top.
Matt Farnham [00:05:53]:
That’s what I’m talking about. Like, maximize those situations instead of trying to stress your schedule out to pack more in when you still have a lot of meat left on the bone in your current circles. All right, moving on. Real estate is this simple. I’ve shared this with you before, but people need to know what we do for a living, and we’re good at it. So how do they do that? First of all, everybody knows five realtors in Las Vegas. So why do they choose me as their trusted realtor versus the other four, six or ten that they know? Number one, they need to know what I do, which is easy for at least men. Men, it’s natural.
Matt Farnham [00:06:24]:
Like for Brandon, I like, hey, bro, what do you do for work? What do you do for work? It just comes up. But for women, it might be a little bit more unnatural to just get straight to what do you do for work? But it’s easy enough to get the conversation and go that way. But the difficult part is that they know you’re good at it. How do they know you’re good at it. Well, that’s where social media comes in. Like, do they see you’re the knowledge broker? Do they see you’re active? And when you are on the sidelines at the ball practice and they, you know, Christina, how’s the market? How you answer that question is going to tell them right away if you’re the best realtor they know out of the five or hey, what’s going on with mortgage rates right now? Is now a good time to buy or sell? Like how you answer that question and that’s where the role playing comes in and perfecting our craft and sharp opening the axe and that stuff is super important. But guys, we complicate real estate. Don’t go sign up for the next lead source when you can really just maximize capacity and make sure they know you’re good at your job.
Matt Farnham [00:07:16]:
And then lastly, this idea to convert more buyers or to track more buyers. Sorry, slow down. To speed up love on the people who already love you. Do the people who have already transacted with you or that you know would refer you business or use you in the future? What are you doing to express gratitude to them on a consistent basis to make sure that they know you’re grateful for that relationship and their business and so forth. Before we start trying to spend more money on people who don’t know us and we’re trying to convince them to know us, unlike us. Right. So that’s. I just want to kind of set the stage with attraction.
Matt Farnham [00:07:48]:
We’re going to spend more time on conversion. So before I move on to that, I want to challenge your mindset and I’ve mentioned this to you briefly before, but we’re going to go a little bit deeper on this. But this is going to be just a different way to think than I think we naturally want to in our business. Here you go. It’s not about you. It’s not about you guys. When we have timidity and hesitation and fear in the market, it’s not about our next commission check. It’s not about us.
Matt Farnham [00:08:15]:
It’s about them. It’s about meeting them where they are. We say it this way, we walk with walkers, we jog with joggers and we run with runners. We can’t make somebody run who wants to walk if they’re not ready for that because they’re scared of the market. We have to walk with them. And we got to slow down to build that better rapport with them until they are comfortable. Right. And again, it’s not about you.
Matt Farnham [00:08:38]:
The reason we don’t talk to more people and have real estate conversations is because we feel like it’s about us. We’re just trying to create a relationship to get paid, and we’re interrupting people’s day and we’re annoying them. That’s why we don’t want to return the phone calls when we’re doing lead follow up and things like that, because we feel like we’re interrupting their day. But, guys, when we come from a place of service and contribution and we really know we’re the best at what we do, then we have a moral obligation to help more people. And when you take on that mindset and say, hey, if I don’t help them, somebody else is going to, and they’re going to get hurt. And when I mean hurt, I don’t mean, like, physically hurt, but if they want to be a homeowner and they have to keep renting or they’re going to be discouraged or disappointed or let down, and all these, that’s a form of pain. We don’t want them to feel that way. We have a moral obligation to engage, make it about them, come from a point of contribution and service, and help them understand how we can get them to the end result.
Matt Farnham [00:09:32]:
Okay, so I’ll just leave it at that. So I want to ask you a question as we move on here. Let me go to the next screen here. The idea of it being about them is really the idea of being the clarity and certainty that they need in an uncertain time right now with the fear. They need certainty, they need clarity. And we can be that for people and the way that we do that. I’ve mentioned this with you before, but what do you think a timid and uncertain buyer is really buying from you right now? So this should be an easy question if you’ve ever heard me talk before, because I’m passionate about this. But anybody know what somebody is buying from us right now in this market? Specifically? Somebody on mute? Confidence and certainty.
Matt Farnham [00:10:17]:
Exactly. Confidence. I think that’s the word for me. I think that’s what they’re buying from us right now. They’re buying your confidence. So we need to show a buyer a path of guidance and education and communication that they can find rest in. My favorite way to illustrate this is like a heart surgeon, if you think about this. So I’m going to pick on my wife, Leslie, and this is horrible to talk about and think about, but if she had a heart condition and things are not okay, and I know I need to take her to a heart surgeon.
Matt Farnham [00:10:45]:
We need heart surgery to help my wife get well. Well, I’m going to do what you’re going to do. We’re going to research reviews, we’re going to ask all of our friends, we’re going to google it, and we’re going to start interviewing heart surgeons to figure out who do I trust with my wife in this heart surgery to get her well? Who am I ultimately going to hire? I’ll tell you. I’m going to hire the one that shows me a process of guidance, education and communication that I can find rest in, that I can find confidence in. The best heart surgeons give their confidence away. I’m going to go into that meeting, they’re going to look at me in the eye and they’re going to say, hey, Matt, listen, this is what’s going on with Leslie. Here’s what we’re going to do. Here’s the process.
Matt Farnham [00:11:22]:
And then at the end of the day, when they explain all that to me, the heart surgeon is going to look me in the eye and he’s going to say, matt, everything’s going to be okay. We’re going to do this, this and that. We’re going to get to this result on the back end, and Leslie’s going to be just fine. They’re hired. That’s who gets hired. And that’s what we need to do in our business, both on the seller side as well. But they didn’t know that. The concerns that they have, that we have solutions to those problems and we actually have the confidence to see them through those things.
Matt Farnham [00:11:47]:
So that’s what we need to do. We need to give it away. But remember, we can’t give away what we don’t have. So my question to you would be, what are you doing to protect your confidence? Because if you don’t have confidence to give away, then at that point, I’m not the husband I need to be the father I need to be the leader I need to be, and definitely not the realtor my buyers and sellers need if I don’t have confidence to give away. So what are you doing to protect your confidence? All right, let’s move on. So to convert more buyers, we are going to slow down to speed up. When I say that, I mean we got to really build that relationship. We have to build more rapport and more comfort with the buyer.
Matt Farnham [00:12:22]:
And that’s going to take a little bit more time than normal because of the timidity and uncertainty in the market. So slow down to speed up, build that relationship. And part of that is learning everything we can about them. So we need to ask a lot more questions. Phil Jones talks about being curious. Right. Jeb blount from Fnaca prospecting. The number one trait for good salespeople is curiosity.
Matt Farnham [00:12:43]:
We need to stay curious longer, ask more questions to really just understand that buyer. And I’m going to come back to that in a moment. And ultimately we need to get them to a buyer consultation. I think the buyer consultation is going to be more important than ever. I’ve done this for 19 years, and I’ve never been more committed and certain about the need for a buyer consultation than right now. And I’m primarily referring to how we get compensated. So I’m not going to go deep on commission conversation at all. But you guys know what’s happening out there in our environment with all the changes and all the media.
Matt Farnham [00:13:16]:
So we need to get them to a buyer consultation to have these conversations. All right, so let me ask you a question. What are some things that you would want to know before you walk into a buyer consultation? If you could? So if you could learn some things about the buyer before you walk in, what are some things that you would want to know? For example, again, it’s a form of slowing down to speed up. We use intake forms a lot in our company, so we use them for buyers, for sellers, for getting to know clients in escrow better. I do them if I’m going to meet with an agent about potentially joining our team. All types of situations that we try and learn what we can about somebody before we go into the conversation. Just like Phil Jones says, the worst time to think about what to say is the time when it’s actually time to say it. So if we can better prepare to have more valuable conversations, then obviously it’s going to help our conversion.
Matt Farnham [00:14:04]:
So these are the types of questions that we ask buyers before we meet with them. When was the last time you purchased a home? What worries or concerns do you have about purchasing a home? What do you absolutely want to avoid happening? I love that part of the question. What’s your prior realtor experience? Good or bad? When’s the last time you bought a home? Have you bought a home in Las Vegas? Specifically, what do you know about mortgage rates right now? All these types of questions. But that last one is the kicker right now. Are you familiar with the lawsuits regarding how realtors get paid? Now, of course they’re probably going to say no to that question, but you’ve now put a little bug in their ear like, hey, what’s that about? What is this lawsuit is about. That sounds scary, right? It really tees up a conversation, that buyer consultation that you desperately need to have with the client. But it would be a lot more difficult to bring that up if you didn’t maybe put a little teaser out there in advance. And you’ll be surprised.
Matt Farnham [00:14:55]:
We actually had a seller recently. They brought it up to us first. They said, hey, we’ve been reading all the articles online and we see that we don’t have to pay a buyer’s agent commission. And that led to an interesting conversation. So this is going to be more and more common. We might as well be on the offense and initiate these conversations than let them come to us where we’re on our heels and feeling like we’re on the know, reacting to these questions and concerns. All right, so let’s talk about that buyer consultation. So again, a mind shift I want to give you is it’s not about you, it’s about the client.
Matt Farnham [00:15:31]:
When we do a buyer consultation here in Vegas with Team Farnham, our approach is the way that we ensure the best experience for you is to slow down and speed up and really just make sure you understand everything that goes into this process. And that’s that strategy session, if you will. The buyer strategy session or consultation is how we ensure the best experience for the client. Now let me explain. When we think about conversations like how we get paid or what I would call rules of engagement, a lot of times the realtor thinks that talking about how we get compensated is about us and it’s not about a good experience for the client. But let me illustrate this for you. Imagine that you’re in Las Vegas. Now keep in mind, guys, we’re ground zero for what we call disruption.
Matt Farnham [00:16:14]:
And we’re already seeing zero dollar co ops or greatly reduced co ops on our market. But it’s going to come nationwide as this whole thing continues to blow up. And I think you guys all know that’s coming. But let me tell you what’s not a good experience. Showing a buyer a home for 23456 weeks and then six weeks later, the home they finally fall in love with they didn’t want to write an offer on is not compensating you at the amount that you’re willing to work for or want to work for. Again, I’m not saying you have to work for compensation on the buyer side, but if you’re an agent who does like to get paid when you sell a house, what happens when they’re not offering a substantial or a fair enough cooperating commission on that home, you’re going to tell the buyer about the situation. Let me tell you what’s not a good experience for the buyer. Six weeks into the journey with you is the first time they hear about the fact that, oh, we have a problem here.
Matt Farnham [00:17:04]:
We got to talk about how I get paid. That is not a good experience for the client. But again, if you make it about you, we avoid that conversation. But this is really, guys, this is how, you know, John and Sally, the way that we ensure the best experience possible for you is so there’s no surprises for you. That’s why we’re slowing down right now to have these conversations. And you remember on that intake form that you did for me. Thank you so much for filling that out. But you remember that question about the lawsuits regarding how realtors get paid.
Matt Farnham [00:17:30]:
Are you familiar with that at all? No. Tell me more about that. Well, yeah, let’s talk about that. And then we’re going to show them some resources and guide them through the understanding what’s happening out there in that environment, and then how we get compensated so there’s no surprises for them. Completely different approach on ensuring their experience, educating them, and again, making it about them, not about us. The rules of engagement is the same thing. I think a lot of realtors think that you’re doing your client a favor by they meet with a lender, then you just go show them every home that hits the market because you don’t want to hurt their feelings and say, hey, you know what? I don’t know if this is the right home for you or if we have a chance to get this. But again, guys, what’s not a good experience is letting them fall in love with three or four or five homes that they really have no chance of getting because of the sales price, the neighborhood, the down payment, and let’s say they need concessions.
Matt Farnham [00:18:21]:
Well, if there’s three or four offers on a home in that specific area of town or neighborhood, you know, that buyer has zero chance. Again, this is where we slow down in a consultation, explain the rules of know there’s going to be homes, John and Sally, that might not make sense to go look at. So here’s what I’m going to do. We’re going to find out if there’s offers. We’re going to look at some brief comps and just see do we really have a good chance of getting that home for you or not? Because if the answer is no, they’re not going to want to see it, and they’ll actually appreciate that. And by the way back to the compensation conversation, just a little kind of insider tip for you. Tell the client, say, hey, our commitment to you is that if there’s any home you express interest in, that’s actually offering a lower compensation than what we’ve just talked about. Our commitment to you is to let you know that before we show you the home, to put it in your court, to let us know if you want to see that property or not.
Matt Farnham [00:19:09]:
There’s lots of different things that you can do in a consultation like that. So this is also where you’re going to talk about new construction, open houses, not calling zillow or Opendoor direct to go into their listings, financing conversations to get pre approved, and the importance of that. So obviously, the consultation has a lot of value to it on other conversations as well. And then just to remind you as well that the goal when you’re having this consultation, remember, we got to role play, you got to practice scripts, you got to ask great questions, stay curious longer. And that’s where all the practice know the day in and day out hustle that we do behind the scenes to get better at this. But here’s the ultimate goal from all those things, is when they’re walking away, they’re walking down that hallway, leaving your office or Starbucks or whatever that is, they need to be thinking to themselves, wow, I think Brandon knows everything there is that’s stressing me out about my situation, why I’m scared, why I’m hesitant, why I’m timid. And you know what? I think he’s got solutions to those problems and the confidence, because that’s what they just bought from you. That, hey, we’re going to get there.
Matt Farnham [00:20:12]:
We’re going to get to the finish line, and Brandon is the one that can get us there. That’s what they need to feel from us, and that comes from a super effective buyer consultation. So let’s move on. Now, we need to retain buyers. Obviously, the best way to retain buyers is now that we’ve converted them and we’re working with them, we need to wow them. We need to create raving fans. This is something we’re very passionate about with our team here, and you’ve heard me probably share this before, but this kind of starts with the idea that the phone rings for new business only. The number one way and the most cost effective way that we can wow our clients is to communicate at an incredibly high level with them.
Matt Farnham [00:20:46]:
Just constantly future pacing them, setting expectations, reinforcing expectations, so they always know what’s next in the process. And they’re never caught off guard on anything. And remember, you’ve heard me talk about this before, but this is a so much less stressful way to do business for us, too. When I was talking about my family and the priority to be present husband and father when I go home, not completely exhausted at the end of the day, from reacting on the defense to questions and concerns all day, because we’ve been on the offense, engaging that communication, initiating all that stuff, it’s such a better way to do business. Less stressful for me, way better experience for the client. So I would challenge you guys that most of you are probably not communicating well enough with your clients and consistent enough with your clients through their entire journey home on the market, shopping for a home in escrow and beyond. So I’ll just leave it at that. You’ve heard me talk about gifting.
Matt Farnham [00:21:38]:
Gifting is great. We love celebrating moments and transactions and things like that. But what we’ve learned to be true is that their experience is going to rise and fall based on the communication they get. Even more so than champagne and balloons and all the cute little cookies and moments that we do. That stuff’s great. But if you’re not communicating at a high level, it’s not going to be as important. Okay, so again, we’re going to slow down to speed up. We’re going to build the processes.
Matt Farnham [00:22:01]:
We’re going to build in the touch points and the automation and the videos and all the things to communicate at a high level. And then I also want to encourage you guys to build the plane as you fly it. In other words, you don’t have to slow down right now and build this entire sop out for every buyer and seller you work with. Just take the next couple of buyer escrows, the next couple of seller escrows, and think about all those touch points throughout that process. What could you automate? What could you create a template on that you can easily just make a little bit more evergreen that you can use over and over again in your future transactions. All right, let’s move on. So I was at a retreat recently with Tom. I shared this pretty deep with you guys before with some of the stuff that Peter Di Montes said.
Matt Farnham [00:22:43]:
But again, my main favorite takeaway that he shared was systemize the routine. Automate the routine so you can humanize the exceptional. So that begs the question, what’s the exceptional? We talked about this a little bit a couple of months ago together when I had done a master class with you. But what’s the exceptional? When it comes to a buyer process or a buyer consultation, and lots of ways that you can do this. But let me just give you some examples of humanizing the exceptional. We had a buyer consultation recently, Nick, on our team. Super proud to share this because he’s a newer agent to the business. But they’re coming in for to look at homes in Vegas, and they’re staying downtown.
Matt Farnham [00:23:23]:
If you know Vegas. Well, the stratosphere is kind of at the very north end of the strip, close to downtown. And he says, hey, tell you what, why don’t we grab lunch at stratosphere and let’s meet there. So the buyer comes to the stratosphere, which, by the way, is the tallest structure, like west of the Mississippi, and he says, tell you what, let’s go up. And he takes them to the top of stratosphere. And of course, I think he’s got his iPad with him for the consultation presentation. But guys, that’s humanizing the exceptional versus looking at a computer screen or pointing to a map. He’s literally walking them around a 360 degree walk deck of the valley and giving them landmarks, saying, hey, you see the red rocks out there? You see that tower right there? That building there? That’s humanizing the exceptional for.
Matt Farnham [00:24:00]:
Talk about an exceptional buyer consultation. Right? With humanity all over it. So that’s a super great example of what that could look like in a buyer’s journey. And a story I love to share about closing experiences. We do tons of unique custom closing experiences for clients to make them special. But one that we had, you probably heard me share this before, but such a good example where we had a buyer trying to close on a home right before Christmas. The builder gets delayed. Of course they’re disappointed.
Matt Farnham [00:24:30]:
Who wouldn’t be? But we end up getting keys on December 23, and then we let the client know it’s going a couple hours before we could get into the home, which wasn’t exactly true. In the meantime, my client care team ran to Walmart and got the Christmas tree and the fixings and the presents and all the stuff. And then we went and set up Christmas in the home. So then when the family shows know, mom walks in with husband and two kids and she’s crying, right? Christmas is set up in the home. Super magical. The kids are excited, they’re ripping into presents. And that was a way to humanize the exceptional. Guys, when you do things like this, a stratosphere consultation, a Christmas tree closing, or whatever, a million other examples, you’re going to mark clients for life.
Matt Farnham [00:25:07]:
And a robot cannot do that. So again, that’s how I think we create some raving fans that are just going to refer us more business, attracting more buyers. And that’s a way better way to do business, especially in the pay to play game that we’re living in right now. So I’m going to wrap this up, but I have four questions to ask you kind of in closing as we wrap this up. Number one, what are ways that you need to slow down and speed up with your buyer opportunities? So what in your buyer process right now needs to change to meet buyers where they are, to walk with walkers, jog with joggers, run with runners, understand that they’re timid, they’re scared, they’re fearful. What needs to change in your buyer approach right now? Number two, what are ways that you can level up the communication through your buyer’s journey? I think that’s ultimately going to help convert, but more importantly, retain for referrals, raving fans. Number three, what is exceptional in the process and how can you humanize it? I don’t think that just haphazardly happens. I think that takes intentionality and deliberation, as I said, to start.
Matt Farnham [00:26:09]:
So what are you deliberately doing to humanize their experience? And then lastly, and probably most important, what are you doing to protect your confidence? Because if you don’t have it, you can’t give it away. And I think that’s the number one thing buyers need from us right now in an uncertain time to buy. So that is what I had for you guys today, and I can answer questions for you guys. By the way, if we’re not connected on Instagram scan, that I’d love to connect with everybody that comes to these master classes on Instagram so we can connect on a social level. But any questions, I can answer as many as we have time for. Christina, how much time we have on your end?
Kristina Kendig [00:26:46]:
As long as you can stay on and people have questions, I say keep it rolling.
Matt Farnham [00:26:50]:
Cool. So I know as a fire hose, guys, that was more of not a mastermind. It was more of just a presentation. But what questions do you have? What are you guys doing in your business now that maybe I can speak to or help with. So, Matt, what are you and your team doing for the beginning of the year? The expected rate drops and stuff that are coming out next year? What are you doing to be proactive about informing your clients and getting nothing significant other than a couple of things we’re doing. Number one is we have a mailer prepared for the farm that’s going to be going out. That’s specifically like, hey, now is your chance. You’ve been waiting to let them know that rates now have improved.
Matt Farnham [00:27:36]:
But we do a weekly newsletter with our clients as one of the ways we stay in touch. So the newsletter going out this week is literally like, hey, team Farnham has a Christmas present for you. And it’s going to be all about the improved rates. And then we have some data and some stats on what that actually means for them practically, and then some links to some articles. So, yeah, we’re just constantly on social media via email, newsletters that we do, and then to the farm, we’ll get a mailer out about it. Thank you. Yep. What else?
Kristina Kendig [00:28:12]:
I have a question, Matt. When you guys are doing your intake form, are you sending that out prior? So, like, with a buyer, let’s say I meet Brandon, or I have a conversation with Brandon, am I now asking for his email address prior to that appointment so then I can send that form? Like, how does that leave that flow go on that system?
Matt Farnham [00:28:34]:
Yep. We text it out or email it out. Text is sometimes better because when we do the forms, they’re mobile friendly as well, by the way, we create them on Monday. But we’ve used cognito forms, we’ve used Google forms. You can use anything. There’s so many of them out there. But, yeah, we’ll usually just hang up with the phone and I’ll just, you know, Christina, before we wrap up, I’m going to text you a quick link when we’re done on this conversation or email it to you. Either way, if you could just take a moment to fill that out before we meet on Thursday, it really will help me better prepare for that conversation and bring more value to our time together.
Matt Farnham [00:29:09]:
And we have a pretty high response rate when we have that type of approach or people fill it out. But I’m telling you guys, when you say, what do you absolutely want to avoid happening? They will share things with you. That’s literally like an unfair advantage that they’re walking in with that you already know that you’ve prepared an answer to those concerns and questions. And the same thing is true with sellers or anything for that matter. Even if I’m on a recruiting appointment, which is new for me, but I’m actually in growth mode now for the first time in forever. But if I’m in a recruiting appointment and Brandon shares with me, I keep picking on Brandon just because you guys all have your screens off. It’s driving me crazy, by the way. But at least I’m seeing a few faces.
Matt Farnham [00:29:51]:
Bring the heat. Do what?
Brandon Pilcher [00:29:55]:
Bring the heat. I’m ready for it.
Matt Farnham [00:29:57]:
Yeah. But if Brandon fills out an intake form for me and I can ask some questions about maybe what he’s dissatisfied or maybe how the market’s disappointing him this year, but again, and even in a recruiting appointment, I have a little bit of ammunition to know what really is bothering him right now or maybe where some gaps are that I can have some solutions to before he shows up. And trying to think of those answers on the fly versus having a minute to think about it is a big difference.
Kristina Kendig [00:30:22]:
Well, I think, too, that it’s such a limiting belief with us agents is they’re not going to fill it out or they’re going to think that I’m bugging them. But it’s the opposite. It’s like I’m providing you value and I haven’t even met you yet because I’m showing you that I really want to make sure that I’m providing you with a good experience. So I’m asking about the bad experiences you had so I can make sure that that doesn’t happen again and it ties back in with your confidence. Like this is building my confidence because I’m not answering a question on the fly. I already know that Brandon had X, Y, and Z happen to him in his last transaction. And I can answer his question before he even asks of what are you going to do to ensure that that doesn’t happen, or how are you going to work differently than the last person I dealt with. I love that.
Brandon Pilcher [00:31:08]:
To build on that, I think we’ve actually had verbal comments made of. One of the big differences between you and the other agents I sat down with is you came prepared, you had a buyer consultation packet. You already ran comps on my property down to these intakes and questionnaires and things that you prepared to tailor it to me specifically as well. That’s a big, fast way to stand out right there alone.
Matt Farnham [00:31:32]:
Yeah, 100%. And what if a buyer tells you that? What do you absolutely want to avoid happening? I really don’t want to have to renew my lease, and my lease is up at the end of March. Well, now half of your conversation is completely focused on what do we need to do to get an offer accepted by early February to make sure that you give 30 day notice with confidence and don’t have to renew that lease.
Kristina Kendig [00:31:55]:
I love that, too. Sorry. I have Dominic that wants to ask a question. That’s something that I know Mike does in their buyer’s consultation. Is he asks them the why, and he’s able to bring that back up again. Know, it starts to get hard in the transaction. Well, remember, Brandon, you told me you wanted to be into a house before Christmas? That was, like, the number one important thing. So is it worth you staying in a lease past Christmas, or can we not ask for this certain repair? So I love, like, we need to be in a house by this point.
Kristina Kendig [00:32:27]:
You’ve told me that, and these are the steps we’re going to take to do it. Dominic, ask away.
Matt Farnham [00:32:33]:
Yeah.
Dominic Benoit [00:32:34]:
So I love everything you’re saying, matt, about your team’s involvement with the community. That’s something, that’s a personal goal for me. Moving into next year. I would love your thoughts on kind of. I kind of struggle because I’m not from this area. I didn’t grow up here. I’m from somewhere else. I moved here not too long ago, and I’m new into real estate, and I want to kind of get in where I fit in with the community.
Dominic Benoit [00:32:57]:
And I’m kind of struggling to see where I can kind of insert myself. I’d love to hear your thoughts on any suggestions for me there.
Matt Farnham [00:33:07]:
Man. I mean, there’s so many things. I would probably, first and foremost, just focus on what you’re passionate about, because you’re going to attract the people that resonate with what your values are. So that’s exactly how it started for us. We started working with an organization called Fostering Hope, because foster care was near and dear to my heart because of so many close friends, and my own family and my own nieces and nephews were fostered to adopt it. So that pulled on my heartstrings, but it grew into something bigger. And now we’re part of an organization that’s kind of an umbrella with five different main lanes of community outreach. And what’s really cool is that, like, what we’re doing now, Dominic, we have human trafficking.
Matt Farnham [00:33:53]:
Sexual exploitation is one of them. One is the foster care system, one is homeless system, poverty, one is challenged schools in the education system, and the vulnerable populations of town for that. And then the last is reconciled for racial reconciliation. But the thing is, one of those five things is going to tug on your heartstring, and if one of those five don’t, then you’re probably not human. But what’s been great for our clients and for our culture here is that everybody can get their heart around that. But it took time to kind of develop what that looked like for us. But it all started with something I was passionate about. Because if the leader isn’t behind it, then it’s not going to go anywhere.
Matt Farnham [00:34:34]:
But that’s the thing. That’s kind of my life, too. People in my circle of influence are very engaged in that type of environment, too, just because those are my friends. I mean, that’s who I do life with. So that’s what I would consider recommending do. Just focus on what you’re passionate about and let it build. You look like an athlete, so maybe it’s YMCA. Yeah.
Matt Farnham [00:34:57]:
Appreciate it, Matt.
Kristina Kendig [00:35:00]:
Yeah, Dominic didn’t need to hear that. Like boxing in here. All great stuff. Any more questions, you guys?
Rochelle Young [00:35:09]:
Yeah, I do.
Kristina Kendig [00:35:11]:
Oh, ro, go for it.
Rochelle Young [00:35:12]:
Hey, I was wondering about your buyer’s consultation and the new talk that we need to have with buyers about the lawsuits and how agents get paid. Now, is that part of your presentation, like in a booklet, or are you just kind of having that conversation? Like, do you use any or any illustrations or infographics in that?
Matt Farnham [00:35:36]:
Actually, it’s built into a presentation that we do. We kind of walk them down a funnel, right where it starts with education. Do you understand the changes happening out there in our environment? And we actually start with an article from nar that’s just kind of a very general, like, what the lawsuits are about. We explain why the lawsuits are what the buyer’s perspective is and the seller’s perspective, but the whole thing is designed in such a way to how we onboard you keyword, how we onboard you as a client. So it’s important that they understand how we get compensated, and then it leads into what they can expect from us, what our commitment is to them, which is way beyond fiduciary duties owed. Like, we talk about the duties owed as kind of the bare minimum. But our commitment to you goes way beyond duties owed. We talk about all the things that we’re going to do to help them find a home, ensure the best experience and outcome for them.
Matt Farnham [00:36:25]:
We talk about a trust and loyalty from them, what our expectations are from them, because we work really hard. So, obviously, your promise to me is you’re not going to jump an open house without me or go to new construction without me, and then to technically, onboard you as a client. That’s where we’re able to actually show the Briars brokerage agreement, which then goes into detail of what we do work for on our team. And then we have additional terms in that, which. This is a whole nother, probably masterclass, Christina, but we have additional terms built into that of certain things. For example, row, our promise to you is if you express interest in any home where this actually is going to come into play because the seller compensation isn’t offsetting the full amount, then we promise to let you know before we show you the home. And we have other clauses built into that document as well to help you feel very comfortable moving forward at this moment, knowing that you’re not locked in for sure type thing. So we do that and then we do the duties owed, of course, and that’s the process.
Matt Farnham [00:37:23]:
But then when we let them take a folder home with them, that’s in the folder, we have a couple of printouts, some one sheets that kind of talk about the national stuff going on. And we literally lead with education. We just want you to feel so comfortable. And here’s the deal. Like, if you’re my buyer row and you go to the next consultation because you’re interviewing agents and they don’t bring up this topic, how are you going to feel? That’s going to feel like shady. There’s a major thing that needs to be talked about here, and you’re shying away from that conversation. I wouldn’t feel good about that if I was a buyer. Or better yet, you say, hey, Matt, what’s going on with.
Matt Farnham [00:38:04]:
I read something you’re not going to say, I met with Brandon, but I read something about some lawsuits. Can you tell me about that? And then the agent’s like, they’re not hired. You know what?
Rochelle Young [00:38:18]:
Well, that’s awesome. I would love to see kind of what you guys have incorporated and maybe we could actually do that over here at Provident. That would be great. Thank you. It was a great answer.
Matt Farnham [00:38:29]:
And I know the broker there. We can get you some resources. Anything else? Renee, what about you? What are you doing with buyers right now?
Kristina Kendig [00:38:42]:
Oh, her camera is not working. Her microphone.
Matt Farnham [00:38:45]:
I can read her definitely working. I see her. Cool. Anything else? Brandon, what’s.
Brandon Pilcher [00:38:52]:
That’s a good. Renee, I was going to say that’s a good move. I’ll keep that in my pocket next time. I don’t want to answer. Yeah, I think to a lot of what you’re saying, one of the biggest things is helping educate people and just being of had, I was talking at the beginning of this call while you were resetting that we had a client that ended up not using us on a purchase because their aunt was an agent and it was a cousin selling them an off market deal. So they were going to do kind of a for sale by owner approach. And so they elected not to in light of previous conversations and doing all we can do. And now that person’s in a situation that they’re uncomfortable with.
Brandon Pilcher [00:39:35]:
And so our takeaways from that is perhaps we can help better educate the need for representation and the value there and how we really are here to protect you and to help you have a wonderful experience. I think if people really understand that, then they’ll gravitate toward and end up using you. So I think usually it’s either a lack of knowledge or a lack of understanding. So they might know something, but they don’t really get it. Or they might get something, but they don’t really have the information to back it up. So if we can help them understand and know that we’re here for them, then it should be a closed sale.
Matt Farnham [00:40:14]:
Yeah, I agree, dude. I think that a good sales approach, too, is when you know somebody’s working with another agent. Maybe they’ve even shown them a few homes, but they don’t seem super happy. You could always ask them, like, hey, Brandon, I’m just curious, has Christina taken time to sit down with you and go through a full buyer strategy session with you to win in today’s market? And they’re going to probably say, oh, no, they haven’t. What is that? Oh, wow. Well, that’s an hour we carve out to just ensure the best experience possible for you. Where we go over this, this and that, and then, I don’t know, you just probably put a little bit of doubt in their mind that they’re not getting the guidance that they probably should be getting. And unfortunately, that’s probably most common with the aunt who sells two homes.
Matt Farnham [00:40:57]:
A. Yeah.
Kristina Kendig [00:41:07]:
We have a question from Jonell. What is the site to create the link from? I have a call tomorrow and I would love to send out the buyer’s consultation link. So I better prepared. So you guys use Monday?
Matt Farnham [00:41:16]:
We use Monday. But Cognito, if you’re not on Monday already, then don’t use Monday. Cognito form is great. Or Google forms are easy. Google Forms is how we started and then we started using cognito. Now we use Monday. So here, hold on. Let me just show you exactly.
Kristina Kendig [00:41:38]:
Jonell. You have access on your Google Drive from your provident email. You can create forms on there and then you’ll get the answers to those.
Matt Farnham [00:41:48]:
I’m going to put something in the chat for you guys right now. Hang on. And forgive. Actually, just in the last couple of days, this was actually a broken link because we had to switch our Monday account over. I used to be in a shared account with my prior partner from my brokerage for all those years. I’m going to click on this right now and see if it works. Okay. Do you guys see the link in the chat? Yeah, it’s working.
Matt Farnham [00:42:23]:
So that’s what it looks like on Monday. You guys click on it. Christina, you’re muted. Brandon, did you click on it? It worked.
Kristina Kendig [00:42:41]:
I was looking at how nice the form works.
Matt Farnham [00:42:49]:
Whoever asked that question, Janelle, there you go. That’s just an example, but you can literally create that in anything. And I would encourage all of you, think of your context, your clients, and add more questions or change the questions. Like, don’t use it. Exactly. But that’s what’s been working for us now. But we’re already talking about what else can we add to it? We want to start capturing a lot more data on clients. So we want to start kind of strategically capturing a little bit of data every time that we engage with them instead of having them fill out like a novel for us on one big form.
Matt Farnham [00:43:20]:
So we’ll probably add a few personal things in there, too.
Kristina Kendig [00:43:26]:
Love this. Again, that limiting belief that they’re going to be bugged, that they’re going to not want to fill it out or they’re not going to want to answer the questions. It’s a limiting belief. You’re here serving them, and these are things you’re going to need to know.
Matt Farnham [00:43:39]:
And if they don’t, well, then you’re just where you were with every other buyer up until this point in your career already anyways. You haven’t lost anything. Yes. Even if they don’t fill it out and you’re competing and the other agent didn’t even try to send them something to learn more about them, even that already puts you at an advantage.
Kristina Kendig [00:44:00]:
Yeah. Nothing but positives with it.
Matt Farnham [00:44:03]:
Yeah. What we’ll do, too, is if there’s enough time in between, is I’ll do like a bomb, bomb video, email, and just, you know, Christina was so great to connect with, you know, super excited to guide you through this journey. I’m looking forward to next Tuesday when we’re going to sit down. But, hey, in the meantime, and then now it’s a video, very personal because you haven’t probably met me yet. And then the links right below it. So it’s kind of a double whammy.
Kristina Kendig [00:44:29]:
All right, I got to jump off. I got another meeting. Fantastic stuff. Pages of notes and screenshots. So I can’t wait for this one to come back out to watch it again. Any last questions? Anything before we let Matt go? I think we’re good. If anybody needs that link, if you didn’t grab it. I saved the link to the Monday the intake form, and I can share that with you.
Kristina Kendig [00:44:54]:
Good stuff, Matt. Thank you so much.
Matt Farnham [00:44:57]:
Thanks for letting me share, guys. Have a great day. Love it.
Kristina Kendig [00:44:59]:
All right, talk to you guys all later. Thank you.
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