Why Chuck Lemire says agents can no longer rely on manufactured leads alone

Chuck Lemire00:00

What business are you in? People will say, “Oh, we’re in the people business, the relationship business.” No, you’re in the lead generation business. Because if we’re not generating leads, we have nothing. If we don’t have someone that has a housing need to buy, sell or invest, we can’t help them. So every single day real estate agents, real estate teams and real estate companies have got to be doing something in today’s market to generate leads.

00:36The interesting thing is a lot of people talk about how challenging this marketplace is. It’s not challenging, it’s just different. It’s about building relationships, and we call that leads.

Loida Velasquez01:04

What is going on, everyone? Welcome back to a brand new episode of Vulcan7 Coaches and Mentors, where we bring you some of the top agents and coaches in the industry, as they share with you some of their tips and strategies so that you can take your business to the next level. Now, with that being said, today’s guest is going to share with us a lot about lead generation, teams, and so much more.

01:28So make sure that you get your pen and paper ready because, with that being said, ladies and gentlemen, let me welcome Chuck Lemire. Welcome, Chuck.

Chuck Lemire01:37

Loida, thank you very much. I’m very grateful to share some time with you. I hope that we can share something today that will help a lot of people.

Loida Velasquez01:43

Absolutely.

01:44So for everyone that’s watching that maybe is not familiar with you, go ahead and share with us a little bit about yourself.

Chuck Lemire01:50

Well, I’ve known a lot of coaches in my life. I was an agent in 1987. And coaches at that time were Tom Hopkins and Floyd Wickman, and those organizations still exist.

02:02Howard Brinton was one of the better coaches of the time, God rest his soul. And so I’ve seen a lot of coaches. I get the privilege of coaching today, but in 1987 I was a real estate agent, so I know what it feels like to sit at a kitchen table at 10:00 at night doing a listing presentation or dealing with high interest rates.

02:22Because people think they’re high today, but I sold real estate when they were 13, 15, 16%.

02:30I’ve also gone on to help organizations and I’ve been blessed with the fact that many people have helped me with my leadership. So I have led RE/MAX of New England and helped that franchise organization.

02:45Been the chief operating officer for RE/MAX Europe. My responsibility with our team was to help the developing countries with franchising in Europe. I was also the chief executive officer of HomeSmart. Matt Widdows is the owner, and they have a fantastic franchise that’s continuing to expand throughout the United States.

03:05I’ve worked with many companies in our industry, so I know all models from eXp and Glenn Sanford to the New Jersey five or six brands. And at the end of the day, all of them are only as good as the agents that are within them. So it doesn’t matter what brand you’re with or whether you’re an independent, we as realtors and professionals serve one of the greatest opportunities we have in our life in the United States, which is homeownership and where we call home.

03:39So I’ve been blessed to have 30 years of experience in this business, and I love coaching people today because I can share my 30 years of experience with the newly licensed agent or some of the top teams that we coach that do more than 2,200 transactions a year.

Loida Velasquez03:57

That’s awesome. That is a great background about yourself.

04:00And for everyone that’s listening, before we actually pressed record, Chuck and I were talking about lead generation. And something that you brought up was organic versus manufactured lead generation. So let’s go ahead and talk a little bit more about that.

Chuck Lemire04:16

Yeah, one of the coaches that I love, Brian Buffini, Brian often asks a crowd, “Hey, what business are you in?”

04:23And people will say, “Oh, we’re in the people business, the relationship business.” And Brian will say, “No, you’re in the lead generation business.” Because if we’re not generating leads, we have nothing. If we don’t have someone that has a housing need to buy, sell, or invest, we can’t help them. So every single day real estate agents, real estate teams, and real estate companies have got to be doing something in today’s market to generate leads.

04:56The interesting thing is a lot of people talk about how challenging this marketplace is. It’s not challenging, it’s just different. It’s very different than it was in 2019. Because quite frankly, that marketplace was challenging. Our teams were using words that I had never even heard. Escalation clauses.

05:16Right? Eliminating inspections and other things. In my 30 years, we had never done that in a real estate transaction until 2019, 2021. Today, ’23 going into ’24, very different real estate environment. But however, it’s very similar to how it was actually in ’87, ’89, ’90. Very similar because it’s about building relationships, and we call that leads.

Loida Velasquez05:49

Awesome. So when it comes to organic, what would you classify those as being? Because we talked about organic and manufactured, so first let’s talk about the organic one.

Chuck Lemire06:00

Yeah. At Bob Corcoran and Associates we work with teams that have systems. We’re talking our average client does approximately 350 transactions per year.

06:11A couple of our clients are upwards of 1,200, 2,000 transactions per year. So what Bob and I teach are systems. And when we talk about leads, leads are just a system within a wide variety of systems within a realty business, even for the individual agent. So what I mean by that is we start with people with culture, because it all starts with what your culture is.

06:38Who are you? What are your principles and values? But after that, we need to generate leads. A Ben Franklin T Square, if you draw it just as a T, has two sides. Generally, a Ben Franklin T Square is to compare things, pro and con, but in this case, the heading is leads, and on one side is manufactured.

06:58Manufactured leads in today’s business, Zillow, Realtor.com, Trulia, OpCity, BoomTown, CINC, and others, are lead generation mechanisms that you can invest in that will drive leads into funnels. However, the other side is organic, and this is where agents are really working today. These are the relationship aspects of our business because who’s selling today?

07:25People who have died and need to sell the house. People who are getting divorced, unfortunately, and might need to sell the house, but somebody’s gotta buy a new house. People who have money, who just have the desire to sell a house or buy a house, and they’ve got the funds to do it. Those are the boomers, right?

07:45And even those people who you think aren’t buying, first-time homebuyers, are buying, even with interest rates the way they are. Even with prices where they are. My nephew Steven is getting married to a lovely girl, Stephanie, in April. They just bought a house in Methuen, Massachusetts. So they got a rate of 7.5%.

08:09They bought a house at a certain price. Do they mind? No, because what do they want? A home for themselves. So in the real estate business, there will always be business. The key is how are we reaching them? Those are organic leads. That sphere of influence, family and friends, FSBOs, expireds, withdrawns, circle prospecting around just listings, just solds.

08:35Having relationships with people who are divorce attorneys or those people who are in direct contact with the individual who has to sell their home. So a realtor today cannot solely rely upon manufactured leads. 2019 you could. There are great companies in the United States that have built hundreds of agents around lead generation mechanisms that are bought.

09:04However, agents are finding that they need to get back to the basics today. Develop relationships that are long-term, and quite frankly, systems like Vulcan7 are the foundation of that because your mechanisms allow an agent to connect with the person and know their phone number, email address, whatever it might be, so that they connect with for sale by owners, expireds, withdrawns, for sale by rent.

Loida Velasquez09:36

Exactly. And I’m glad that you brought up going back to the basics, because I feel that especially now a lot of agents, maybe it’s a time where they know that they need to be going after these type of leads that you just mentioned, and now you can’t just rely on social media or do TikToks or video. I mean, it’s working on your skills and things like that.

09:56So what are some of the mistakes that you are seeing agents do, and kind of like how are you training the agents that you coach to make sure that they’re not falling behind in all of these changes that are happening?

Chuck Lemire10:09

Yeah. One of the things in all industries, it’s not just the real estate industry, but in all industry, everyone claims to have the silver bullet.

10:16So the one thing we teach our clients is to stick with your culture, which is providing services for home ownership. Under certain principles and values. What that should lead you to is a variety of pathways and avenues that you can meet and greet people. Certainly sphere of influence, family and friends.

10:37For sale by owners, expireds, withdrawns, all those avenues that we just mentioned. The key is understanding how to speak to people because three, four years ago, you needed to show up and be quick and act fast, and if you didn’t get your offer in, probably BlackRock and Vanguard were gonna buy it for cash before your buyer ever could.

11:03That was the market. This market’s different. So in this market, you need to speak differently.

Loida Velasquez11:11

Absolutely.

Chuck Lemire11:13

However, the good news is, there’s a lot of great realtors out there that want to help people, and that’s where we come in. So being able to know who those people are, because you can find those people with Vulcan7.

11:27So you have to have the tools. So what Bob and I teach is, okay, get your tool and use it well because in any other profession, plumbing, electrical, carpentry, they work with tools. What are our tools? Two things. The words that we choose to use and the manner we use them, tone, speed, and we need to practice that craft because that’s what we do, and also the tools that we incorporate, like Vulcan7 in our business, to be able to help us do it quicker.

11:58Because over time, there’s been time management classes that people have taken, and I’m an advocate of you can’t manage time. The key today is compressing time, using a system like Vulcan7 so it does it quicker. And quite honestly, in our conversation beforehand, like I said to you, I’ve gotta bring myself up to speed on new things that Vulcan7 has, because things like the mobile callback or the dialer

12:29are great additions to your structure and system to be able to help our agents. It makes me a stronger advocate of Vulcan7 as a tool for many of our companies. And what we do is we help our teams recognize that an ISA should be using Vulcan7 to warm up a lead to give to a buyer agent that’s working for a team leader.

12:52That’s the structure that Bob and I work with because we build larger teams. As an individual agent, though, you’re going to be working with the dialer itself. But it’s not gonna hand you anything. Nothing comes for free. You have to learn your script, you have to study your craft, you have to know your market, and you have to be a professional.

13:12It’s not just gonna be handed to you. But quite frankly, three or four years ago, all you needed to do was show up.

Loida Velasquez13:18

Exactly. Yeah, it’s crazy how things have changed, and that’s why I think you also see a lot of agents recently, they’re just leaving the business because they’re seeing that it’s very different to a couple years ago.

13:31Now it’s gonna require skill, it’s gonna require you having actual conversations and figuring out, first of all, if you can actually help that person, whether it’s a home buyer or a home seller. And just like you said, going after people that actually need to do something. I like to tell agents, you can’t overprice a property.

13:51It’s not gonna sell. Work with homeowners or home sellers that need to do something now so that you obviously get the job done. Now, you mentioned earlier that you work with agents that are doing over 300 transactions a year, some over 2,000. So if we have top agents that are watching this that are ready to possibly start a team, or maybe they have five or six but wanna take it to the next level, what will be the first thing that they have to analyze in their business to see if they’re ready for that next step?

Chuck Lemire14:22

Well, we do a free analysis, so if anyone wanted to have a conversation with Bob or I, my website address is below my name there. Just go to bobcorcoran.com. Just search Chuck Lemire and we can spend 30 minutes together, and I’d be happy to share 30 minutes just taking a look at your business to see what you need.

14:47Now, I might recommend a different coach, because as you’ve heard me mention many different people. I’m a good friend and an advocate of Tom Ferry and Jason Pantana. Brian Buffini has a great coaching company. Verl Workman, Brian Moses, and many others. So it might be that based on where you are, I recommend you to go somewhere else.

15:08Bob and I work on a large scale in building businesses that have systems that are run by other people so that you have a balanced life, and quite frankly, some of our top teams that are doing a couple thousand transactions, they have other people running the business and they take six months off. So we run large machines.

15:28Not all agents are ready for that. Just like in 1987, I wasn’t prepared for that. I sold six homes my first year. My goal the second year was to double it, and again. So we all start somewhere, no matter what our age. So start somewhere. And if I could help someone start with a different coach that has a different investment process.

15:53But just like any other field, take sports. Any sports professional has coaches. They not only have a strength training coach, but a skill coach, and probably a psychology coach, right, for mindset. Bob and I do a lot of all three of those because it is about how you think about your business, because we create CEOs, not realtors.

16:20Realtors are created by license. We can help them, but a great many times, those realtors are part of our teams as buyer agent or listing agent. We create larger structures. So one of my smaller clients has 50 transactions, two people on the team, a transaction coordinator. They want to get to 100.

16:45I’ve got a client in Ohio that’s at 100 and wants to get to 250. I’ve got a client in Savannah at 400, they wanna get to 800. So everyone’s at a different stage. The key is, the interesting thing is Vulcan7 can help all of those people, because the newest agent should be looking to incorporate some very basic things.

17:07One of which is Vulcan7 to be able to gather the information to a CRM, which like we were talking about, built into your system. And if they have those basics, now it’s just a function of getting out of the weeds of your business and delegating low dollar producing activities to other people so that you can work on high dollar producing activities. We teach agents how to run a balanced life based on hiring people on four basic criteria.

17:41One of which is hire people that understand and embrace your culture. They abide by and they run their lives by your principles and values. They’re self-managed and self-disciplined. And we have some structure within the business of principles and values of team development. But a lot of realtors are looking for the easy answer and the easy fix, and they want companies, whether it be Zillow or Vulcan7, to hand them something, and that’s not gonna happen in today’s market.

18:17That was the case three or four years ago, and it might be the case in the future. But this today is a normal market based on what I’ve seen in the last 30 years. So you have to work your business and understand the systems to be able to do what you do best. And most realtors are best at negotiating relationships, communication. They need to delegate lead generation, follow-up systems.

18:48And Vulcan7 connects and integrates with great companies like Follow Up Boss, Mojo or BoomTown. They need to integrate their systems so they’re not spending time working on their systems, they’re spending time face to face with buyers or sellers, or spending time with the people that operate that so they’re working on their business, not in their business.

Loida Velasquez19:13

Exactly. And lastly, to wrap this up, I wanna touch on something that I think is extremely important, especially for agents that are seriously thinking about taking their business to the next level, and maybe be one of your clients that wants to go from 100 to 200 or 500 to 800. And that is investing in yourself.

19:33Because you just mentioned there’s no magic bullet that’s gonna just magically give you what you want or you’re gonna get a ton of deals and things like that. So what would be something that you would tell an agent that’s kinda hesitant about investing in themselves?

19:48Because for many coaches, it’s not like $10 that you’re investing. You’re investing for someone else’s time, their knowledge. And I like to say there’s no point in us reinventing the wheel when we can learn from someone like you. So what would be that piece of advice that you would give agents that are on the line that know they have to do it, but they’re kinda like, “It’s scary.”

Chuck Lemire20:10

Yeah. Most agents do not run their business like a business. So when Bob and I take a look at an agent, if an agent called me from our call today, first thing I’m gonna ask them to do is send me their balance sheet and their P&L, and most agents don’t have one. And if you don’t have a P&L, you don’t know how much you’re investing, not spending, investing on promoting yourself.

20:32And if you’re not promoting yourself, what are you doing? ‘Cause if you take a… Let’s take a car dealership,

20:39right?

20:40How much does a car dealership invest on a yearly basis to put inventory on the car lot for you to walk in and buy a car? That’s a $3 million operation. So in order to run a dealership, you gotta have inventory on your ground.

20:55Now, the cool thing about real estate is it costs us zero. Well, no, it costs us about 6 or 700 bucks depending upon where you are, Miami or Orlando, to belong to the MLS, right? So our inventory can be gathered by a few hundred dollars of investment each year. Now, that same dealership is gonna promote their dealership, and we see it all the time.

21:17All you need to do is turn on local TV or cable, and you see the local dealership advertising their dealership, right? Or let’s take accident attorneys. You see them on billboards all the time, right? “Dan got me a million dollars.” Well, how about if real estate agents advertise on billboards that said, “Hey, Layna got me $1.3 million for my condo in the Shores or in The Gables.”

21:49Why don’t people do that?

Loida Velasquez21:51

Mm-hmm.

Chuck Lemire21:52

Well, if they do it, do they track it? And if they track it, should it be a certain percentage of their gross revenue? Because as a new agent, you can’t drop 100 grand into billboards. However, if you ever drive from Miami to Boston, come up 95 through Savannah, cross the border, right?

22:18Go past Pedro’s. You’re gonna see billboards of a certain realtor. Do you know who you would see, Anna? Can you guess? Mark. Mark Spain. Right? Mark is one of the largest teams in the Southeast. He has dropped hundreds of thousands of dollars into billboards. So, how do you do that?

22:47Why do you do that? Well, you gotta get to that level, but it’s gotta be a function of your P&L and how much you’re investing in your basic costs, like MLS, and your board affiliation in NAR. But you have to invest in systems like Vulcan7 to give you the information of the people that you need to call.

23:10But quite frankly, if you’re calling them and you don’t know what to say, the system is great, but you’re not great because you don’t know the script for a circle prospecting around a just listed versus a just sold versus a for sale by owner. But let’s just for a second role play. We teach our clients to call a for sale by owner and not say, “Hey, Mr.

23:34Owner, I see that you’re selling it yourself. Would you like me to come over? And I’d love to list your house and tell you why.” We teach our clients to call a for sale by owner or even an expired and say, “Hey, this is Chuck from the A-Team. Listen, I work for our relocation division. Are you moving locally or out of the area?

23:52Because we handle the buy side.” And especially today, in the conversations about lawsuits that are occurring nationally, building a value proposition on the buy side is essential. Being able to articulate your buy side, right? And that is one of the things that Vulcan7 can help you with most. Give you the information of the people that you can call to say, “Mr.

24:16Expired, are you moving locally or out of the area?” If it’s out of the area, refer them to someone and collect a 25% referral fee. If they’re going locally, then help them on the buy side. Because if you build enough trust and relationship, what’s gonna happen? They’re gonna list their house with you. So approach it from the buy side conversation, not the list side. So, what’s necessary was your question.

24:46Great systems like Vulcan7, connections with either your CRM or others like Follow Up Boss that can really help you keep in touch with people, and knowing exactly what to say to each person, what questions to ask, and that’s a skill. And that’s what separates the average realtor from the good one, and the good one from the great ones.

25:13Because the great ones understand their script and don’t hesitate. It’s no different than watching sports. Great athletes don’t think about what they do, they just do it because they’ve practiced it so much, it’s just natural. That’s why I have all these footballs behind me because I’m a big football fan, and I’m from Boston, so I’m a Tom Brady fan, and Tom especially here in, not so much Miami.

25:41However, for me, in Tampa, he’s won almost as many championships in Tampa as he has in Boston. So why? He has coaches, he has a system, and he works the system more than any other player in history. So work your systems, would be my advice, but most don’t have them.

26:03So how do you determine how to get them? You know yourself. I mean, you’ve got great people at Vulcan7 that can advise people on the use of your system.

26:12Certainly coaching, whether it be Bob and I or someone else that we refer you to. It’s all about just building your business and working on your business because you’re in business for yourself.

26:24You’re just not by yourself. You’ve got great people around you. Invest in them.

Loida Velasquez26:29

Exactly. And once again, can you just remind everyone that’s watching or listening where they can find you or what website they can go to to either schedule a call or if they have any more questions about doing some coaching with you?

Chuck Lemire26:42

Well, the interesting thing is, if I Googled you or if they Googled Chuck Lemire, enough should come up. What they should do is actually Google themselves and see what comes up, because if nothing comes up… They should actually Google you or I, and they’re gonna get our information, and they’re gonna be able to connect.

27:04So if you Google me, you’re gonna find my cell phone number. Text me, call me, email me. You’re gonna find it, but at bobcorcoran.com you’ll find my page and a little bit about what Bob and I do, and you’ll also find great tips and videos from Bob. He’s been in this business for 30 years and has helped great people around the country build some excellent businesses and also sell them.

27:31So we also help our clients have an exit strategy and move on as well as move up.

Loida Velasquez27:39

That’s awesome. Well, Chuck, thank you so much for all of the knowledge that you have dropped in the last couple minutes. For those of you that are watching, make sure to go back and re-watch this and maybe watch it again and reach out to…

27:52Reach out to Bob or Chuck in regards to any coaching or programs and if you are seriously looking to take your business to the next level. So once again, Chuck, thank you so much, and to everyone watching, we’ll see you on the next one.

Chuck Lemire28:05

All right. Thank you very much for your time. It’s been a pleasure.