How Roberto Gonzalez gets 2 to 3 seller leads a day from a four-hour call block

Roberto Gonzalez00:00

One piece of advice I would say is to talk to as many people as you can about real estate. Because if you don’t make those conversations, if you don’t speak with people regarding real estate, no one’s gonna know about it and no one’s gonna know what you do, and the possibility of you being more successful might not be there.

00:27Definitely. Right. Talk to as many people as you can. That would be the best, the number one thing to do if you’re a brand-new agent. One of the best ways is through Vulcan7. You guys have great information, phone numbers. A lot of the information is very accurate. So having good information and people you can call is gonna save you a lot of time and money.

Aaron Wittenstein00:58

What’s going on, everybody? It’s me, it’s Aaron Wittenstein, and I would like to welcome you to Vulcan7 Roadmap. This is where we interview amazing agents across the country to learn how to take additional… just a lot of listings a month is the best way to put it. Okay? And he’s in Marietta, Georgia.

01:23Okay? I think I drove through there one time. I drove through Marietta one time. This is Roberto Gonzalez. Roberto, how you doing, my friend? Everything good?

Roberto Gonzalez01:30

Yes, everything’s good. Thank you very much for having me on the show.

Aaron Wittenstein01:33

You’re welcome. Well, thank you for being here. So, did I take you away from the phone?

01:38Were you making calls before we were hanging out, or?

Roberto Gonzalez01:40

Definitely. Yes, I normally start at 8:00 AM, and I normally go until 12 noon, maybe sometimes a little bit right before noon. I make outbound phone calls.

Aaron Wittenstein01:50

Oh, so you’re doing the four-hour shift then, huh?

Roberto Gonzalez01:53

Yes, definitely.

Aaron Wittenstein01:55

So, all right. So let’s say this.

01:57You’re doing your typical four hour, which is good, ’cause I guess I always preach three hours. A three-hour shift is solid, but getting in that extra hour definitely helps, doesn’t it?

Roberto Gonzalez02:07

Yes, it definitely helps. There’s days that I can go to 1:00, from 8:00 AM to 1:00, depending on the schedule with my son, take him to activities.

02:18So yeah, my goal every day is to do it Monday through Friday from 8:00 AM to 12:00. And the days where I can get some extra prospecting in, then it goes to

Aaron Wittenstein02:28

1:00 PM. Oh, wow. That’s good. You’re a machine. You’re a machine, my friend.

Roberto Gonzalez02:34

Yes, working on it.

Aaron Wittenstein02:35

So what are your daily goals that you strive for every day?

02:39Like contacts, appointments, what does that look like?

Roberto Gonzalez02:43

Yeah. So my daily goal is, what I do is I focus on the time that I’m gonna prospect, which is four hours on a low day. And my contacts, my goal is to get at least 20 contacts. And specifically with the information, I try to get about five people per day that are gonna be potential sellers that I can start building a relationship with and start informing them of what they need to do to get top dollar for their property.

Aaron Wittenstein03:16

Got it. So on a four-hour shift, if you will, the goal is to get five leads then, right?

Roberto Gonzalez03:23

Yes.

Aaron Wittenstein03:23

Okay. Now, what do you define as a lead?

Roberto Gonzalez03:27

Someone that wants to transact within a couple of months, less than five months.

Aaron Wittenstein03:32

Oh, wow. That’s a really solid goal.

03:36Now, are you hitting that on a regular basis, or how does that look?

Roberto Gonzalez03:40

Yeah, so it depends on the week. On average, I would say I hit about two or three per day.

03:46Some of them are longer term, people that wanna sell, and some of them are shorter, but on average I get somewhere in between two, maybe three per day, per workday.

Aaron Wittenstein03:57

So what you’re telling me is when you’re doing four, five days a week, that would be roughly 2.5 average a day then. 2.5, 5, 10, 12. Let’s just round it up to 13 leads that you’re getting per week. Is that right?

Roberto Gonzalez04:14

Approximately, yes.

Aaron Wittenstein04:15

Okay. So your pipeline’s gotta be pretty full right now, huh?

Roberto Gonzalez04:19

It’s full.

04:20Some of ’em have a time of, you know, wanna sell in six months, and then that gets pushed back. But my pipeline is definitely… I have a system where I put everyone in that wants to make a transaction or transact within a couple of months. And then that list, I adjust it accordingly to who wants to make a move sooner rather than later.

Aaron Wittenstein04:42

Okay. So here’s the… Okay, we could sit here and script expireds and for sale by owners and all that type of stuff, and we do that often here, okay? Yet a lot of people in general are like, “What do I do with lead follow-up?”

04:59And it sounds like to me that’s really one of your strong suits, right?

Roberto Gonzalez05:03

Yes, because, for example, when I meet with someone that wants to sell or is in the process of selling or getting their property ready, I meet with them, and then every month I send them something like this, which is a newsletter, and this gives them specific details of what changed, for example, from March to April. The things that changed, prices, square footage price, if it went up, if it went down, how much is in the market in regards to inventory compared to last month.

05:36So it’s a lot of good information that I provide to them. That way they know I’m serious about my business and how I can help them out to get top dollar for their property.

Aaron Wittenstein05:45

Can you put that in front of the… like, really good in front of the ca- Like, cover your face. No, I don’t mean that in a bad way.

05:55I don’t mean that in a bad way at all.

Roberto Gonzalez05:58

So we can see. On the top part it gives you the top 10 properties that sold within the radius that I cover. And as you can see, the number one, I don’t know if you can see it, but it sold for 10 million.

06:12In Atlanta. Specifically Sandy Springs, which is not far from Atlanta.

06:15So it gives you a breakdown of the 10 properties that sold, the highest properties that sold within the last 30 days, and then it gives you the difference between, for example, I did April and May. The average price was 894, and then in May it’s 899, so it went up slightly by 6%. I go into that.

06:35I break down the details of how many months of inventory we have. So there’s definitely a lot of specific information with this specific area that I cover, that I’m focusing on. Yeah.

Aaron Wittenstein06:50

So are you emailing or snail mailing that?

Roberto Gonzalez06:54

Snail mailing.

06:56I snail mail it because, you know, I do…

06:59Sometimes I email it, but 100% of the time if I email it, I’m definitely gonna send a traditional snail mail.

Aaron Wittenstein07:05

So, all right. And are you hand packing that yourself? You got a company doing it for you? Or what are-

Roberto Gonzalez07:12

No, it’s me. It’s me for right now. Yes.

Aaron Wittenstein07:15

You’re hand packing it yourself.

07:16That’s amazing. So how many are you sending out on a monthly basis?

Roberto Gonzalez07:20

On a monthly basis, I would say approximately 20, in between 20 and

Aaron Wittenstein07:24

25. Okay.

Roberto Gonzalez07:25

I also geo call. So then I do the questions regarding if they’re interested in getting the newsletter, specifically to see how that affects their specific house value.

07:39So the people that do opt in, I mail it to them.

Aaron Wittenstein07:44

So this goes to, this is like your hot list then, right? This isn’t everybody, this is like the hot list or whatever you have in your systems. Did I catch that right?

Roberto Gonzalez07:51

Yes.

Aaron Wittenstein07:51

Okay. And then I would think after that, are people calling you or are you calling to follow up with them, or what does that system look like?

Roberto Gonzalez07:58

Yeah, so I call them. I usually call them about seven business days after I mail it to make sure they receive it. And then I’ll get some input to see if they like it or what they think about it, and then I just start building relationships with them in that fashion. If someone’s not really interested in selling for a while, what I do is I mail them that information quarterly.

08:22So then it gives me a good reason to follow up with them, to make sure they receive the information, and it’s much easier to follow up.

Aaron Wittenstein08:30

So would you mind calling me? Pretend you just sent out the letter to me, okay? Would you mind giving me a call?

Roberto Gonzalez08:37

No, I don’t mind.

08:38So ring, ring.

Aaron Wittenstein08:40

Hello.

Roberto Gonzalez08:41

Hey, Aaron. This is Roberto. How are you?

Aaron Wittenstein08:43

Good, Roberto. How can I help you?

Roberto Gonzalez08:45

Yes, I was just giving you a phone call to make sure you received the newsletter I mailed you last week.

Aaron Wittenstein08:51

Oh, yeah, I remember that. The one with the $10 million house, right?

Roberto Gonzalez08:56

Yes, yes, this one.

08:58So, yeah, I just wanted to reach out to you to make sure you received it. Now, since I have you on the line, Aaron, do you know of any neighbors or family members that are thinking about making a move?

Aaron Wittenstein09:09

You know what? No, I don’t offhand, no.

Roberto Gonzalez09:13

Okay. Yeah, definitely. I wanted to make sure, obviously, that you received the information.

09:17And Aaron, since I have you on the phone, are you thinking about making a move?

Aaron Wittenstein09:22

I gotta tell you, we’re probably leaning more towards, like, a couple months out right now, but we’re definitely thinking about it. My house isn’t worth $10 million, but, you know.

Roberto Gonzalez09:30

Yeah, definitely. So in a couple of months.

09:32Well, you know, Aaron, what I could do is send you some information specifically for your property. And what I could do is send you pictures and details of properties that sold around yours straight from the MLS, just like realtors. A one-page statistical market update, just like the one you received, so you know the direction the market is going.

09:52And as a bonus, I’m gonna send you our seven-step plan that we send to all of our clients. May I mail that?

Aaron Wittenstein09:59

Of course.

Roberto Gonzalez10:00

Definitely. So I wanna make sure that you receive the information. Obviously, I have your address. And Aaron, you know, the property you have is a beautiful property. Why are you trying to sell it?

Aaron Wittenstein10:10

We need something a little bit bigger. Not $10 million bigger, but we need something a little bit on the bigger side. We have a growing… you know, we just had twins.

Roberto Gonzalez10:20

Oh, wow, okay. Well, congratulations on that. Definitely. Well, what I’ll do is I’ll send you the information here today.

10:26And I’ll make sure that you receive the information. I’ll call you next week on Monday just to make sure you got it, okay?

Aaron Wittenstein10:37

Sounds like a plan.

Roberto Gonzalez10:39

Perfect, and then we-

Aaron Wittenstein10:40

Thank you.

Roberto Gonzalez10:41

kind of thing.

Aaron Wittenstein10:42

So you really do believe a lot in mail follow-up?

Roberto Gonzalez10:46

Yes, I do. And then I believe a lot on the law of reciprocity.

10:52So coming from a value standpoint and providing them information, it’s definitely a game changer, you know, not selling off a muscle every time. You’re coming in with value, them getting the information, staying top of mind with them. It definitely helps things for my business.

Aaron Wittenstein11:12

So, ’cause you said… how long have you been an agent for now?

11:17How long?

Roberto Gonzalez11:18

Approximately four years. I started in 2020. Yes.

Aaron Wittenstein11:21

Got it. Okay, cool. And how long have you really been embracing this… I mean, it’s not really direct, it’s kinda direct mail is the best way. I mean, it’s about as direct direct mail as you can get. How long have you been embracing that for?

Roberto Gonzalez11:33

Approximately two or three months, since I got my coach. So really focusing and dialing into those things that they recommend, approximately two months, yes.

Aaron Wittenstein11:42

All right, and are you starting to see results now from it?

Roberto Gonzalez11:47

Yeah, definitely. One of the listings I have that’s under contract, it was a geo call, neighborhood call, and they wanted to sell in a couple months, so I started the conversation or the mailing with this package of information.

12:03And then every month, every two months, I would send them the updated newsletter.

Aaron Wittenstein12:09

Wow. It’s amazing when you start something and you actually do what you say you’re gonna do, and then you know kinda where that stuff goes at that point. So, all right. Then, so are you just doing expireds?

12:22You doing for sale by… or you said expireds, geo. Are you touching for sale by owners or no?

Roberto Gonzalez12:27

A little bit. I’m specifically focusing on certain price points in my area.

12:32And in general, I only get one or two FSBOs per month that meet that criteria.

Aaron Wittenstein12:37

Got it. So you’re really hyper-focused, from what it sounds like to me, which is great.

12:44How did you decide the focus of who you’re gonna call?

Roberto Gonzalez12:51

Well, one of the things that kinda took me in that direction was last year, towards the end of last year, when the interest rates went up. What I was doing before that point, I was really just calling every single expired that was anywhere in Georgia, pretty much.

13:12And now, since I changed coach, I really had to focus on certain price points in order for my business to stay afloat even with things changing in the market. So definitely, experiencing that down point last year, towards the end of last year, that really made me think about the things that I need to change in my business to be more successful long term.

Aaron Wittenstein13:37

So basically what you’ve done is you were all the way here working everything, and what you found is really just kinda shortening that circle. Rather than having 153 to call on a given time, you call, what? Like, 10 to 20, something like that?

Roberto Gonzalez13:52

Yeah. What I do is, my list… you know, I used to do the folder system.

13:57And before, I would have a specific folder, 300 people to call. And now, since I specify the criteria that I need, it’s 50 contacts per folder, just to give you an idea.

Aaron Wittenstein14:09

What have you narrowed… What was it, and what is it now, if you don’t mind me asking?

Roberto Gonzalez14:16

Yeah. So before, on average, one folder would be 300, 350-

14:22contacts or people, and now it’s 50 people per folder.

Aaron Wittenstein14:28

Well, I guess, what have you narrowed it down to? What is your specific criteria that you’re working right now? Where was the criteria? Was it just, like, everybody in Georgia? Was that pretty much it?

Roberto Gonzalez14:38

Pretty much. The radius was about an hour and a half of where I live-

14:42before. And now what I did is I did a 10-mile radius of where I live, and that’s how I get all the information. So focusing on a smaller area with a higher price point is gonna be the thing that I changed, or the things that I changed, to be more productive and have more revenue for my business.

Aaron Wittenstein15:07

Right. I mean, it’s amazing what happens when you take it from, like I said, from here to here. And I’ve done the same thing myself. I worked a very general price point for a long time. And now I’m like, you know what? 30 minutes from my home, 30 minutes from my office, between X and Y, between 400 and a million.

15:23You know what I mean? Give or take. It’s kinda what I decided to work myself, because those are the properties that are selling. And because, I mean, you know as well as I do, it’s not your best use of your time, but one of your best uses of time is sitting on the phone.

15:40And if you’re driving two hours to an appointment, that’s half an hour prep, two hours out, two hours back, one hour there. Next thing you know, you spent your entire day going for… And were you doing that before?

Roberto Gonzalez15:52

Yeah. Before I would go an hour away, and the price points were not what I needed them to be.

15:59So the properties would sell pretty quickly, but it wasn’t… You know, looking at it now from back then, it was not a sustainable business-

16:11going after everything.

Aaron Wittenstein16:13

It’s taxing. You know what I mean? Running around and all that. So, all right, so let me ask you this.

16:17It sounds like you’ve had massive growth since you’ve started, since 2020. When it comes to your production and whatnot, what are you most proud of?

Roberto Gonzalez16:28

What I’m most proud of is that every year I always strive to invest in myself and bring more value to anyone that’s thinking about real estate.

16:41So I pride myself in investing in myself to be more of a value to anyone that’s interested in real estate.

Aaron Wittenstein16:51

Got it. Okay. All right. And it seems like you’re building a system that is working for you. You know what I mean? And I can tell, when you talk about it, you’re smiling, you know what I mean?

17:02Which is pretty darn impressive, pretty darn impressive. So let me ask you this. Let’s say, for example, you have a new agent, all right? You’ve got a brand new agent right out of class, all right? They come by, they knock on your door, and they’re like, “Roberto, Roberto, Roberto, what is one piece of advice that you could give me?”

17:20What would that one piece of advice be?

Roberto Gonzalez17:23

One piece of advice I would say is to talk to as many people as you can about real estate. ‘Cause if you don’t make those conversations, if you don’t speak with people regarding real estate, no one’s gonna know about it, and no one’s gonna know what you do, and the possibility of you being more successful might not be there.

Aaron Wittenstein17:45

So basically what you’re saying is you need to talk to 20 people a day-

17:51five days a week to get X amount of appointments. Is that right?

Roberto Gonzalez17:54

Yes, definitely. Okay. Talk to as many people as you can. That would be the best, the number one thing to do if you’re a brand-new agent.

Aaron Wittenstein18:02

Exactly. I mean, you’re gonna talk to people, you know what I mean? You pick up the phone, go to Target. What’s the best way to talk to people?

Roberto Gonzalez18:13

Oh, I mean, one of the best ways is through Vulcan7. You guys have great information, phone numbers. A lot of the information is very accurate. So having good information and people you can call is gonna save you a lot of time and money.

Aaron Wittenstein18:29

There we go. There we go. All right, so, all right, my friend.

18:32Well, we’re wrapping up here. This was cool. It’s so fun. I don’t know where to expect these things to go half the time, and I love your follow-up system. It’s really strong. Give me your final last words. What do you have?

Roberto Gonzalez18:45

My final last words, I would say, you know, I’m really excited about where I’m taking my business now, from starting approximately two months ago, three months ago, starting with the coach, and really dialing in and focusing on certain areas and price points.

19:03I’m really excited about it, being able to help more people, and then being able to last longer in the business, specifically focusing on certain things and criteria.

Aaron Wittenstein19:17

Very nice. Very nice. All right, my friend. So let’s say, hypothetically speaking, you got an agent named Sally in Anchorage, Alaska, and they are looking for an agent that happens to be in Marietta, Georgia.

19:28How do they get in touch with you?

Roberto Gonzalez19:31

Yeah. They can send me an email. My email is robyouragent@gmail.com. They can send me a text, give me a phone call, and I can provide the number, 404-944-1865. And they can reach out to me in that fashion, and I could definitely send them all the information they need to get a good house, a beautiful property out here in Georgia.

Aaron Wittenstein19:55

I love it. All right, my friend. Thank you so much for being here today. This was great. And I look forward to seeing amazing things happen with you. Okay. Take care of yourself. All right?

Roberto Gonzalez20:03

Thank you, Aaron.

Aaron Wittenstein20:04

You’re welcome. Guys, you’re welcome. And don’t forget, always check us out for brand-new episodes of Vulcan7 Roadmap.

20:10Go make some money. Everyone have an amazing rest of the day. Take care.