Kathleen Metcalf’s 3-part formula for ending the real estate income rollercoaster

Kathleen Metcalf00:00

The rollercoaster of real estate income often happens because an agent prospected, prospected, converted. Now they focused on the deal, so now they’re not prospecting, and so now their income is dropping until that deal closes, and now they have to ride the rollercoaster again. Our mission is to not have the rollercoaster be alive and well in your business.

00:24The absolute platform foundation is that an agent knows how to sell, that they are able to attract, convert, and deliver services. We wanna be able to protect the business that you have put your blood, sweat, and tears into so that you can see in the center of the formula, consistent optimized results is what we’re looking for.

Loida Velasquez00:49

Hi, everyone. Welcome back to a brand new episode of the Vulcan7 Podcast, where we bring you some of the best in the industry to share with you their tips and strategies so that you can implement them in your business immediately. With that being said, if you haven’t caught up on our previous episodes, make sure that you check them out.

01:06You can watch them on YouTube or listen to them on any of your favorite streaming platforms. Now, with that being said, today we’re gonna be talking about a topic that you’ll definitely wanna make sure that you have a pen and paper ready for, because it’s going to be the real estate business success formula.

01:21And with that being said, I’m gonna go ahead and bring on today’s guest, Kathleen Metcalf. Welcome, Kathleen.

Kathleen Metcalf01:27

Oh, thank you so much. It’s great to be with you.

Loida Velasquez01:30

Yeah, we’re so excited that you’re able to jump on here on the Vulcan7 Podcast. For everyone that’s tuning in, that’s listening, but maybe is not too familiar with you, can you just go ahead and give us a little bit about your background, and also maybe even share what you did before you got into the real estate business?

Kathleen Metcalf01:46

Well, I’ve had two careers, so I can definitely do that. I’m a real estate agent. I’m based in the state of Vermont. I hang my license with eXp and Aaron DiVello at Elite Builders. And I am a team coach and the founder of Kammbium. This is my 13th year of having a coaching, consulting, and training company for real estate agents and their administrative operational staff.

02:11And I started in real estate 24 years ago in the beautiful city of San Francisco, as an assistant to a high-producing agent, which then became a licensed assistant and then an agent. And 18 years ago, I moved to Vermont to be near my family. And so there’s a whole story in there. But the reason I started as someone’s assistant is I had just closed a consulting business in the summer of 2001, and I had had a wonderful career in the retail industry.

02:44So I was in department store retail, including in Miami, where you are, and then I was recruited to a specialty store chain in San Francisco, and I did recruiting, training, and operations and store management. And so that was a tremendous career. I closed the consulting business and was introduced to the owner of my apartment building, who happened to be one of the top 10 real estate agents in San Francisco.

03:12And as soon as I got on the inside of real estate, I could see the immediate parallel of being a recruiter and being in real estate, because recruiters are the middle person between people and careers.

03:25And real estate agents are the middle person between people and property. And so I thought, “All right.

03:30I can do this.” And so I’ve loved it ever since.

Loida Velasquez03:34

Oh, that’s awesome. I love to ask that question because I feel like everyone has a different story. I mean, I’ve had coaches and mentors on here that have played instruments, and they were in bands, and if I wouldn’t have asked that, I would have never known that they traveled the world in orchestras.

03:49So really appreciate you sharing that because there might be someone that’s watching this, and they’re like, “You know what? I have that exact same background. And if Kathleen is successful, and she’s a coach, and she can help me, I wanna learn more.” So with that being said, I wanna talk about the real estate business success formula because I think if any agent wants to succeed in this business, they have to be very organized, and they have to have a formula.

04:13So I’ll let you go ahead and get started with that.

Kathleen Metcalf04:16

Yes, and so let’s start with also where Vulcan7 comes into this formula, because the absolute platform foundation is that an agent knows how to sell, that they are able to attract, convert, and deliver services. And so whatever that is in terms of attraction and the skill to convert a customer into a client, and doing that, I’ll say, at volume, those are very personal goals, right, or personal decisions, what volume looks like to any individual agent.

04:47But that is the foundation of being successful. Where Kammbium comes in is what I often refer to as when you start having success problems, which is now you can’t do everything yourself. In the beginning, right, you are managing your own database and you’re calling your own numbers and you’re keeping track of all your own statistics, but at some point you need either technology and/or people to participate in the workflow of successfully delivering consistent service deal after deal.

05:25Because the rollercoaster of real estate income often happens because an agent prospected, prospected, converted, now they focused on the deal, so now they’re not prospecting, and so now their income is dropping until that deal closes, and now they have to ride the rollercoaster again. Our mission is to not have the rollercoaster be alive and well in your business unless you want it that way, but otherwise you don’t have to have it that way.

05:56And so Vulcan7 and dialers and information about prospects is part of the beginning core, and now we have to actually build a foundation of the operations of the business.

Loida Velasquez06:09

Absolutely. And I love that we’re gonna be talking about this because I’m sure that there’s a lot of agents listening that are at that point where they’re maybe working so much and they feel like they don’t have time, and if they stop working, the business stops.

06:23So where would be the first step that we begin with this process, to make sure that whoever’s listening that wants to get back on track and get going, that they get that started?

Kathleen Metcalf06:35

So some of the symptoms that you’re ready for building some of this foundation is that you feel like you work 24/7, that you are concerned that things got dropped.

06:47Did that come in? Did that go out? Did they confirm? Did somebody sign that? So you start to have those thoughts that plague you and/or you’ve actually had things not go well in a deal, something didn’t get noted. You had to buy a refrigerator. You had to buy a washer-dryer because

07:06somebody thought it was included and it wasn’t. You told a client you would have a certain marketing plan, and then no one showed up to implement your plan, so now that didn’t go out and your client is upset with you. When those things are happening, or you’re afraid they’re going to happen, now you know it’s time to look at what’s in your formula and where can you make a difference.

07:29So we can talk about the pieces of the formula now.

Loida Velasquez07:32

Awesome. Here we go.

Kathleen Metcalf07:34

So this is a formula I’ve developed over the last several years in my business, and now use it really as the framework for my coaching. So the three primary components are: what is the workflow that you have as an agent which delivers systems to attract, convert, and deliver on your transactions?

07:56The second component is in the teamwork of who’s going to do which parts. What roles do you need? What expectations have you set? And what kind of accountability do you have to be able to know whether or not things got done? And this can start very simply with your system to attract is Vulcan7. Your teamwork is that you have a transaction coordinator, right?

08:19So it can start something very simple, and by that I just mean highly efficient and not complicated. Which the third component is your finances. What I often hear is, “I’ll just do another deal.” They’ll just make more money. They’ll just add revenue and that will solve everything. But there are so many ways real estate agents can spend their money.

08:45So when your commission comes in and now you pay for layers of software, you have all kinds of vendors. I don’t remember the statistic off the top of my head, but last year there was an inordinate amount of vendors selling to real estate agents everything you can imagine, right, from different ways to stage, digital, AI, different kinds of programs.

09:12All kinds of things, high and low. So therefore, real estate agents’ expenses have the opportunity to go higher, which then means that your profit has been eroded. And so the whole idea here of working hard and having a first-class business is that you actually get to keep more money. Right? And so all of this is encompassed in what kind of leader are you becoming in your business so that you really step into your power as an agent, as a guide, as someone who is leading the entire process, both with your clients, with transaction coordinators you work with, so that you are sure about what are people doing, how do you know that things got done, so that you really can sleep at night.

10:01Exactly. So that you can be confident that the way you want the business implemented is consistently being implemented from one transaction to another.

Loida Velasquez10:12

I’m glad that you touched on the finances and that you brought up all of these different vendors and things that come up. Because it’s crazy how $20 here, $10 here, 30…

10:22It all adds up, and many times I hear it, and it happens to me too, where I’m like, “When was the last time I logged on to this? And do I really need it? Where can that money be going to actually help me grow my business or leverage?”

Kathleen Metcalf10:35

Right. Right. And it’s very easy to happen. And one of the reasons, and this is the perfect time of year to talk about this, that I started to ask about finances in my coaching consultations and throughout my coaching sessions with clients is, unbeknownst to me, because I didn’t use to really talk about this, three of my clients over a series of years were 250,000, 300,000 and $500,000 in debt to the IRS.

11:06And we just never talked about it. And so now I ask in consultations, “Are you up to date with your city, state, and federal taxes? You don’t have to answer me. But if you are, if it is something you wanna talk about, then let’s get you some help to do that.” Because as independent contractors with unlimited income potential,

11:25you need to have a system to take care of how you pay your taxes, and you want the information as the year goes on with how much revenue came in and gross commission income. Where are you spending your money? Not from a place of judgment, but from a place of, was it worth it? Did I get a return on that?

11:44Did I get the result that I wanted? And then how much money do you actually want to keep for your investments, for your children, for your parents, right? Depending on what kind of responsibilities you have. ‘Cause this ultimately is why people like to work in real estate. It does have a high level of compensation for a high level of skill and sophistication.

12:07And so now we’re just trying to marry those two things together so that the work that you can promise to clients is consistent. It doesn’t require a lot of memory. It actually has a documented way of being. Because then as people come and go in your business, because they will, life happens, right?

12:29Transaction coordinators have babies, right? People move ’cause they got engaged, and all kinds of people change for lots of wonderful reasons and sometimes for sad reasons. But we want to protect the business, so I also refer to this success formula as the home warranty plan for your real estate business, because you just never know, right, when the dishwasher’s gonna leak all over the hardwood floors.

12:52And so we wanna be able to protect the business that you have put your blood, sweat, and tears into so that you can see in the center of the formula, consistent optimized results is what we’re looking for. Some of the symptoms that these three components are not in alignment is that you have high expenses and minimal profit, that you have limited capacity and volume, and that you have chaos, burnout, or mistakes, including in the people that work with you.

13:19And the limited capacity and volume, let’s talk about that for a second, because it has been my observation that when an agent brings a deal into whatever their teamwork looks like, and they are insecure about whether or not that’s going to get implemented well, subconsciously that agent taps the brakes on bringing in more new business because they are afraid that they cannot deliver on what they’ve already brought in.

13:48And this is a dangerous combination because now you’re tapping the brakes. What you should actually be able to do is have two appointments a day and bring in as many listings or buyer contracts as your heart desires. That matches your skill, right? And the amount of prospecting and conversion that you can do, then you should be able to do as many transactions as you want as you build this formula.

14:14And we help you do that.

Loida Velasquez14:16

Amazing. One of the things that you mentioned was people come and go, and we see that all the time. When it comes to teamwork, maybe top leaders get team members. I was recently having a conversation with an agent. Her and her husband, they’re a team.

14:32And I wanna ask you, in this specific scenario, what would you recommend, right? They do very well. They’ve been in the business, I wanna say, for seven years. And she said, “You know what, Loida? Every time I try to bring on agents, it’s like they take advantage of being with me. We teach them, and then they wanna leave on their own.

14:52My husband and I are going on vacation in February, and we’re at the point when if we’re gone, the business stops.” So for maybe a team lead or someone that’s experiencing something like that, where they’re afraid of bringing in other agents to grow their business, what is something that they can do, or just what would you recommend in that case?

Kathleen Metcalf15:15

That definitely has its challenges, and that’s very rampant, very widespread. So it’s also really important not to take that too personally, right? Because the ambition that we admire, right, in an agent, whether they be new or experienced, is a quality that we need, right? You can’t make someone be motivated.

15:36They really have to bring that themselves. So then this really comes down to what is the value proposition of the team, and then what is the right fit for the qualities and the skills and the goals of the agents that are a good match? And one of the downfalls can be when the team leaders give the agents too much.

16:03So they don’t have to hunt, or they don’t have to actually own their behaviors and actions, because it just teaches them to be passive.

16:18And so therefore, if the leads dry up or slow down because someone stopped prospecting ’cause they went to Aruba, right?

16:28Right? Or they’re not used to being the one to convert the lead to an appointment, so then they only know how to go on appointments, but not know how to get appointments. So you really have to look at, what is the workflow that you want for the agents, and if you go on vacation for 7 to 14 days, then what will happen?

16:49So you set the expectation with agents that this is how it works on our team, that they are hunting, converting, they are building skill, they are accountable, and that we’re all leading toward individual goals that in alignment take us to the team goals. And so if that is what people agree on, then it’s easier to hold that accountable.

17:13But if that happens, now I wanna go on vacation, and we never really talked about that, that is wicked hard.

17:21And so now you have just disappointment on both sides.

Loida Velasquez17:23

Exactly. So would you say that if any team leads are experiencing that, it’s probably because the expectations were not set up front from both sides?

Kathleen Metcalf17:35

Yes. And so it can be corrected so that the team leaders become really, really clear about what value proposition is that, like, what are they giving, right? What are they offering? But what do they also expect to receive, so there’s a reciprocity on the team? It isn’t just one way where team leaders feel like they’re giving.

17:54And so that also is a people match, right? So that you pick the people that have that mentality as well, that they want to contribute and understand that with that they also receive. Because there are plenty of takers in the world. And if that isn’t the culture that you want on your team, then you have to be really clear about that.

18:16And part of the job of the leaders is to cast the vision of what it’s like to work here, what it’s like to be here, and then this is our mission, and these are our values. And so what are your values? So you can actually start to match that. It’s very much like dating. It’s very much like

18:35this is what I need and what I want and what I like, and this is what I want and what I need and what I like, and okay, let’s have coffee. And so it is that process where you’re looking for the match, which isn’t meaning that they’re identical. They may also complement, right? Susan Scott is the author of the book Fierce Conversations, and she uses the beach ball analogy, so that all the different colored stripes on the beach ball are all the different people on the team.

19:03So whether you’re building a brokerage, which is all independent agents, or you’re building a team where you’re actually working together with individual goals and then collectively you’re trying to get to a certain level of achievement, the people on the team are meant to be different, because that’s how you can build the synergy of wanting to be on the team.

19:22So that you have some people good at commercial and others at land, and some with condos and single family homes, and you have some seasoned and some who are really ambitious, but they don’t have a lot of experience. And that can create a lot of energy on the team where people are, I’m gonna say competing, but only because they all wanna be the next best version of themselves.

19:42Not so that they are backstabbing, taking deals away from each other, right? That changes the culture of the whole thing. But the other element here is that if you’re also recruiting, I’ll say, top producing or highly productive agents, they like to swim with other high producing agents.

20:01They like to be with other winners. And so if you have a bunch of new agents and some high producers, that may also not be where the high producers want to stay, or where the newer agents feel like there’s too much gap. And so then what do you really have to and want to offer for training and/or support and recognition?

20:22So those are often the key components of what agents look for to join a brokerage or a team.

Loida Velasquez20:29

Awesome. I’m sure that someone listening to this probably is in this same scenario. So everything that you just mentioned probably helps them. And when we started, you mentioned that when someone starts getting success, you’re the one that comes in and helps.

20:46So what does that look like? What do you typically see in terms of maybe some disorganization or they’re lacking certain systems? What is typically the first thing that you see that needs to be immediately fixed when an agent that’s already at that level comes into your program?

Kathleen Metcalf21:05

So one of the first things that we note is what are the systems you have in place so that there is something for an administrative person to follow.

21:17So if you want to bring in your wife, your sister, your cousin, the person that used to work for you with a corporation, to help you set up your systems, we have templates so you don’t have to recreate the wheel.

21:32But you need someone usually other than the agent, unless the agent is highly analytical, but we still at that point don’t wanna take you away from prospecting, lead follow-up, going on appointments, and negotiating contracts. PLAN is the 85% of an agent’s job. The other 15% is actually running their business.

21:52But we recommend that you have systems to attract, convert, and deliver, to pre-list, to launch a listing, to maintain a listing, to close a listing, to meet with a buyer, to show a buyer, to close a buyer, right? So that you have, I’ll say, basic systems. And then who’s gonna do what? The next step turns into what are the roles that you need?

22:14Do you need a really great TC? Do you need a TC that also does listing launch, by the deal? Or is it time for you to… Do you wanna hire a virtual assistant, either local or international? And if so, then what are you gonna have them do, and how are you gonna know that things are done ’cause you can’t see them, right?

22:31‘Cause they’re remote, potentially. Or that they’re in your office, and now how are you gonna fill their time, and with accountability. And then along with that, at least to have some basic finances of you have a business bank account, you use a separate credit card, that you are tracking enough that your tax person can help you decide how you should take care of things, to set up some basic bookkeeping.

22:56We don’t do that, but we have bookkeeper referrals. We no longer do hiring. I used to do hiring, but we have a recruiting company, Pro REA Staffing, that we highly recommend for hiring a full-time, usually in-person or local remote, assistant, and other VA companies. I can help you interview candidates.

23:18But we also have a referral network, right, to be able to help you get the specialist that you need in order to set things up and/or run them.

Loida Velasquez23:27

Amazing. Awesome. I would love for you to also talk a little bit more about Kammbium, because maybe someone’s watching this and they’ve enjoyed everything that you’ve mentioned, and they wanna learn more of how they can get involved with you and the program and everything that you have to offer.

23:42So tell us about that.

Kathleen Metcalf23:44

Well, thank you. Kammbium, I rebranded the company a few years ago very consciously. Cambium spelled with a C is the layer underneath the bark of a tree that provides oxygen and nutrients to the tree so it can grow and thrive throughout its lifetime. And what we got to see in working with all these agents over the years is the operations is the lifeblood underneath the sales function.

24:14Because at some point, the sales function hits a ceiling and the agent hits a ceiling of energy and capacity and joy. And so we are that lifeblood underneath the sales function. So kammbium.com, it’s spelled with a K, is the website. We have digital training. We also do consulting for how to set things up in your business.

24:41And then I’m a one-on-one coach. I work with individual agents who are getting to this point, right, of setting things up in their business, or they have an assistant, they have two assistants, and they wanna be able to be the next best version of themselves and their business, what kind of leader they’re being.

24:59I also coach directors of operations or someone’s lead assistant to step into greater and higher levels of leadership themselves, to manage the operations function, and to be able to allow the business to grow without trying to control it to stay the same, so they are allowing the business to grow and get to the goals that are the most important to the agent or the team leader.

Loida Velasquez25:27

So kammbium.com.

25:31So let’s say someone reaches out. Typically, what does the next step look like? Do they get on a call with you and then you guys go over the whole business?

Kathleen Metcalf25:41

Yes. So there’s a free consultation, an online calendar to sign up to meet with me, and then there’s also the opportunity to take a business operations assessment, so people can click on that, it’s a JotForm, to be able to self-evaluate how they feel the strengths and weaknesses are in different facets of the operations of their business.

26:02So you can come to the consultation with that or not, and then I really do ask, “Where are your pain points?” Right? “Where is the business not functioning well for you? Where are you not sleeping at night? What are you worried about?” And so we can really then begin to look at, all right, particularly in these three components and/or your leadership, then what’s…

26:26where do we need to work first? And then I usually do a proposal of this is what it would look like to work with me, how many sessions a month, how long the sessions might be based on the kind of work and the personality of the agent, and then I offer a proposal of what that would cost.

Loida Velasquez26:45

Awesome. Yeah.

26:45So kammbium.com. Reach out. We’re gonna make sure that all of your links are also in the description box so that any agent interested can go ahead and schedule with you. Now, as we wrap up, what would you say are three things that agents need to make sure that they’re doing right now if they want to be able to sleep at night, have a successful 2026,

27:06maybe get to a point where they’re reaching out, or if right now they think that they’re ready to connect with you?

Kathleen Metcalf27:13

So the first thing I would say is look at all your lead sources and look for one other source for this year. So if you’ve been really great at expireds or referrals or repeat business, then is it probate or is it any kind of creative financing?

27:28Find one more area, because the economy and the industry is shifting, and so we wanna make sure you have plenty of business coming in, so then these issues are just something that we can put in place with you, right? So that’s where Vulcan7 and other kinds of lead sources from different varieties come in.

27:48So that’s one thing to look at for the year. The second is to really take an assessment, if they will, of themselves, of where do they have the greatest joy and satisfaction in their business, so that we can look at having you spend more and more time in those areas of genius, in those areas where you really do feel satisfied from having that happen.

28:10I had dinner at a conference last week with a couple of top producers who love the hunt. They love to prospect, get an appointment, and get a deal, right? And so therefore, right, we’re setting up things with them that they can do that more and more and not be involved, right, in other elements. And the third, I guess, would also have to be why do you want the achievements that you do?

28:33So if you wanna do 100 deals, well, let’s know really why you wanna do 100 deals, ’cause that’s a big deal. We can help you do it, right? But know why you want the goals that you want, not just as a vanity number, but also as something that is deeply important to you and your family.

Loida Velasquez28:50

Ah, amazing. I love it.

28:51I know that anyone watching this will probably have to re-watch it, write down a few things. But Kathleen, it’s been a great pleasure having you on the podcast today. I know that a lot of agents probably got a lot of value in the past couple of minutes with everything that you shared. We’re gonna make sure to put all of your links in the description box below.

29:09And with that being said, thank you once again. And for all of you watching, we’ll see you on the next one. Bye.