S7 E12: Working “Now” business

Ren Jones (00:05):
It’s that time. Welcome to Roadmap, how to Take three Listings a week until you’re ready for more. Each week we interview a great agent who’s consistently taking several listings each month, and we have two exciting guests today. We encourage you to take notes and apply as much of their knowledge as quickly as you can, and then use the copycat principle. Before I introduce our guest today, I want to remind everyone that we are also simulcasting the show on the private lead gen group on Facebook. They have 52,000 members, so we have a large audience there today as well. And we’ll pause for a commercial message during the show. As I thank you to the folks at Lead Gen on Facebook. Let’s welcome our guests today, we have Sue Wahl and Sue Miller, better known as the two Sues right here in Cincinnati, Ohio. Welcome back. Welcome to the show.

Sue Wahl (00:58):
Thank you, Ren.

Ren Jones (00:59):
Glad you can be here.

Sue Miller (00:59):
Thank you.

Ren Jones (01:00):
And looking forward to hearing some great ideas. There are people watching out here. You guys take every week, you take a few listings, and there are people out here that sometimes they take a listing in that month or sometimes they take none. Sometimes they take two. How do they get to that next level? What can they do if you guys can share some ideas and talk to those people that want to get to where they can take 8, 10, 12 listings a month and really have some fun. What’s the goal for this year?

Sue Wahl (01:27):
140 transactions.

Ren Jones (01:29):
140. Okay. That’s a great number.

Sue Wahl (01:31):
Yeah.

Ren Jones (01:33):
And are you tracking close?

Sue Wahl (01:36):
We’re a little behind, but we’re going to catch up.

Sue Miller (01:38):
And we will make our goal.

Ren Jones (01:40):
Good. As you almost always do.

Sue Miller (01:42):
Yes, yep.

Sue Wahl (01:42):
We will make it.

Ren Jones (01:43):
Good. Perfect, perfect, perfect. So one of the things I have such a respect for, because you’ve been, how long have you been doing this?

Sue Miller (01:55):
26 years.

Sue Wahl (01:56):
In June.

Ren Jones (01:58):
26 years.

Sue Miller (01:59):
In June.

Ren Jones (01:59):
That’s great.

Sue Miller (01:59):
Yes.

Ren Jones (02:01):
And you have a big database because you’ve been doing it that long. How big is your database?

Sue Wahl (02:05):
It’s about 2,500 people.

Ren Jones (02:07):
2,500 people, which is great. And unlike a lot of people, one of the reasons it’s so big is you call the people you don’t know every day, inspired for sale by owners, call round a listing or a sale, other activity and then you call the people you know your database.

Sue Miller (02:23):
Yes, we do. 30 people a day. We talk.

Ren Jones (02:26):
There’s so many people out there neglecting one of the one or the other categories, but you got to figure it out. I always neglected my database. I called expireds and FSBOs. And you guys have done both.

Sue Wahl (02:39):
We do both.

Ren Jones (02:40):
You just shift through all the gears.

Sue Miller (02:42):
Mm-hmm. We do.

Ren Jones (02:43):
Good, good, good. What’s a morning for you guys typically?

Sue Wahl (02:47):
Well, lately it’s been a lot of Zoom meetings but in the morning after we have these little meetings on Zoom, we get on the phones and start calling our database or expireds and take a little break for lunch.

Ren Jones (03:10):
Yeah.

Sue Miller (03:11):
Yes.

Ren Jones (03:12):
Good, good, good. And Cincinnati’s got… Greater Cincinnati’s got two million people but you generally, you guys cluster to one part of town, which is very efficient although you’ll see a listing way up here and one over here and one over here, I guess because of all your big database now.

Sue Miller (03:32):
We have no boundaries. We’ll cross over 75 and take a listing.

Ren Jones (03:37):
And there’s an area of town where if you don’t see a twosue sign, it’s kind of unusual.

Sue Miller (03:46):
Yes.

Sue Wahl (03:46):
Yeah, you-

Ren Jones (03:46):
So there’s some efficiency there isn’t there?

Sue Wahl (03:48):
Great to have listings close to home, but we’ve found through the years that having listings really helped us grow.

Ren Jones (03:58):
Yeah.

Sue Wahl (03:58):
To learn different parts of the city.

Ren Jones (04:00):
Okay.

Sue Wahl (04:00):
And it’s been great.

Ren Jones (04:03):
Well, let’s talk about that because people are, generally speaking, people are afraid of an area of town they don’t know, but it’s carpet and paint and three bedrooms, two baths and yard. It’s not much different.

Sue Wahl (04:17):
No.

Sue Miller (04:17):
It’s sticks and bricks.

Ren Jones (04:18):
Is it just all in our head?

Sue Miller (04:20):
Mm-hmm.

Sue Wahl (04:21):
I think so.

Sue Miller (04:23):
It’s all mindset.

Ren Jones (04:24):
It’s all mindset. You know, can look in there and it’s a neighborhood. The neighborhood has a name and the houses have yards and dogs and cats.

Sue Miller (04:30):
Right.

Ren Jones (04:30):
So it’s really up here, isn’t it?

Sue Wahl (04:31):
Yeah and the clients have all the same agenda.

Ren Jones (04:35):
Okay.

Sue Wahl (04:35):
They have to sell their homes.

Sue Miller (04:37):
And we have access to all the data.

Sue Wahl (04:39):
Mm-hmm.

Ren Jones (04:40):
Okay. So it’s just a confidence issue.

Sue Miller (04:42):
It is.

Sue Wahl (04:43):
I think so.

Ren Jones (04:43):
And this does the trick. Good. Fantastic. So what do you say to your past clients when you call them? Because how often do you call, I mean, 2,500. You probably have them grouped or you call them all equally.

Sue Wahl (05:00):
We have them grouped.

Sue Miller (05:01):
Yes, we do.

Ren Jones (05:01):
Like ABC, like how our proven people to give you referrals.

Sue Wahl (05:05):
Right.

Sue Miller (05:06):
We have a top 10%.

Ren Jones (05:08):
Gotcha.

Sue Miller (05:08):
That we touch a little more often.

Sue Wahl (05:10):
Mm-hmm.

Ren Jones (05:10):
Good. And they get a little more attention and stuff. What do you say to that group when you’re reaching out? What’s a typical thing? I mean, you just go, “Hi, who do you know?” Or do you have something? How do you that? Because there are people out here that are like, well, I hate to call and beg but I don’t want to look like I’m begging for a business. I don’t know what that hangup is but what do you say to a past client when you call them? So they’re glad you called and you’re glad you called them?

Sue Miller (05:45):
Well, we try to stick to a script and we do ask questions about them, especially in this kind of unusual time. And then we get on to the business at hand and let everyone know about the real estate market. We give them stats in their area.

Ren Jones (06:01):
Okay, so you’re coming in, bringing information to them?

Sue Miller (06:05):
Yes. Okay. We do.

Ren Jones (06:06):
All right. So you’re giving them an update on what’s going on in their neck of the woods.

Sue Miller (06:10):
Right, absolutely.

Ren Jones (06:10):
Okay.

Sue Miller (06:12):
Yeah, everybody always wants to know that.

Ren Jones (06:14):
Right. Okay. So that makes, that really solves it. So you’re providing a service here when you call your coming in, some sort of contribution, and I want to update you on what’s going on kind of a thing.

Sue Miller (06:24):
Right.

Ren Jones (06:25):
Is that what that looks like?

Sue Miller (06:25):
Yes.

Ren Jones (06:26):
So that makes it a pretty fun call.

Sue Wahl (06:28):
It does and I always start the call with, “Hi, this is Sue Wahl, your favorite realtor.” And they like that. People like that.

Ren Jones (06:38):
And I bought a couple investment houses from, she does that to me too. In fact, you’ve sold some of our family, haven’t you?

Sue Wahl (06:45):
I have.

Ren Jones (06:46):
My niece.

Sue Wahl (06:47):
Yes, I have.

Ren Jones (06:48):
Yes. So.

Sue Wahl (06:49):
I have.

Ren Jones (06:51):
They sell… Be careful they will sell a house for you. They’re good.

Sue Miller (06:56):
We’ll try.

Ren Jones (06:57):
They’re good. They’re good. They’re good.

Sue Wahl (06:59):
My goal is to be your favorite realtor.

Ren Jones (07:01):
Good. And that is a good opener. Good. Because people will be like, I’m your realtor for life. That sounds like a prison sentence or something. Yours is a lot more pleasant. So good. What else should people be thinking about? We’re well into spring. It’s an odd spring. I think our spring market’s going to go on through the summer when people normally take a little vacation. Maybe they will, maybe they won’t.

Sue Miller (07:30):
Yes.

Sue Wahl (07:31):
Yes.

Ren Jones (07:32):
They’ll just drive. They’ll go drive Route 66 or something.

Sue Wahl (07:35):
Well, don’t you think that there are going to be a lot of families that are going to call and say, “Hey Sue, we don’t want an open floor plan anymore. Can you…?

Ren Jones (07:46):
And bigger, maybe they want a larger…

Sue Miller (07:47):
Absolutely. They’ve run out of space. They realize.

Ren Jones (07:50):
You’re hearing that now that they’re ready for something.

Sue Miller (07:52):
Yes. Or they’re ready to downsize. It’s like, hmm, we realize now this is just too much for us to take care of.

Ren Jones (08:00):
I would think they would go upsize because you get tired-

Sue Miller (08:02):
Well we-.

Ren Jones (08:02):
… of vacationing in the dining room every.

Sue Miller (08:02):
Right.

Sue Wahl (08:07):
Or working from home.

Sue Miller (08:08):
Yes, they need more offices.

Sue Wahl (08:09):
If you’ve got two people working from home and kids with schoolwork, seriously, an open floor plan probably is not good. You don’t have any defensive space to do your work or for your kids to do their work for schoolwork.

Ren Jones (08:24):
Wow. So the need for offices at home may be permanently changed?

Sue Wahl (08:29):
I think so.

Sue Miller (08:29):
I think so.

Ren Jones (08:31):
Work from home. Do you think that, I mean, are you getting a sense this is a new norm? What are…

Sue Wahl (08:35):
I think so.

Ren Jones (08:37):
Are you doing any virtual appointments?

Sue Wahl (08:40):
We’ve done a couple.

Ren Jones (08:40):
Okay.

Sue Wahl (08:42):
But because we’re in Ohio, we’re so lucky.

Ren Jones (08:44):
Yeah.

Sue Wahl (08:44):
We’re essential.

Ren Jones (08:47):
Mm-hmm.

Sue Wahl (08:47):
So we only go after we’ve pre-qualified, pre-qualified, pre-qualified. We make sure that they’re ready to list and then we go, we’ll go.

Ren Jones (08:57):
What’s your batting average? You go on 10. How many do you take?

Sue Wahl (09:02):
Eight and a half.

Ren Jones (09:02):
Eight and a half. 85%.

Sue Wahl (09:04):
Eight and a half. Yeah.

Ren Jones (09:05):
So seven or 8% of the time they don’t want you and seven or 8% of the time you don’t want them.

Sue Wahl (09:10):
Yeah.

Ren Jones (09:11):
Is that what it is?

Sue Wahl (09:12):
Yeah. Or they’re going to wait.

Ren Jones (09:13):
Okay.

Sue Wahl (09:15):
They’re going to wait.

Ren Jones (09:17):
Okay.

Sue Wahl (09:17):
We’ll get them later.

Ren Jones (09:18):
Gotcha. Gotcha. Well, that’s 85%. That’s pretty good. So what’s a typical month? How many do you take?

Sue Wahl (09:26):
Well, I think January we took 12, but we’ve been taking five, six the last couple months.

Ren Jones (09:35):
Okay. So it’s a little lower right now.

Sue Wahl (09:37):
But the inventory in Cincinnati is really low.

Ren Jones (09:41):
So you don’t keep them long.

Sue Miller (09:42):
No.

Sue Wahl (09:44):
No. That’s the problem. They’re gone. You don’t-

Ren Jones (09:46):
Okay.

Sue Wahl (09:48):
Yeah. They’re gone. Oh, it’s not problem. It’s good. It’s a good problem but-

Ren Jones (09:51):
The service-

Sue Wahl (09:52):
… they’re gone.

Ren Jones (09:53):
… the servicing time is not a, yeah.

Sue Wahl (09:55):
No.

Ren Jones (09:55):
It’s not an issue. So anything else you think we’re going to keep as far as the changes, as far as the patterns of things going on? As far technology or do you think more real estate agent. Are you guys working from home right now?

Sue Miller (10:11):
We are for the most part.

Ren Jones (10:12):
For the most part.

Sue Miller (10:13):
We’re still able to go out.

Ren Jones (10:14):
Do you think you’ll continue some of that, or will you just go back to what you were doing?

Sue Miller (10:19):
I think we’ll go back to our office. We like having our assistants right there.

Ren Jones (10:23):
Gotcha.

Sue Miller (10:24):
We found that it’s not quite as efficient maybe with everybody being not in a central location.

Ren Jones (10:30):
Okay.

Sue Miller (10:30):
So we’d like that a lot.

Ren Jones (10:34):
Okay, good. Gotcha. Okay. So it’s a fabulous life if you have… So, every day since you started, you call, you prospect.

Sue Miller (10:44):
Mm-hmm.

Sue Wahl (10:44):
Mm-hmm.

Sue Miller (10:44):
You call people-

(10:45):
You sure do.

Ren Jones (10:46):
You call people you don’t know, and every once in a while they bark at you and you’re like, don’t think twice.

Sue Miller (10:51):
Right.

Ren Jones (10:51):
But you’ve built up such a fabulous business.

Sue Wahl (10:53):
We’ve got a lot of great clients. We’ve been-

Ren Jones (10:57):
And you make it look like so much fun.

Sue Wahl (10:59):
It is fun. It’s a lot of fun.

Sue Miller (11:02):
Yeah.

Ren Jones (11:02):
What else can you take that person that only wants to, that maybe they’re concerned about rejection or calling strangers or calling around a listing or a sale that would rather just go on social media only and market themselves. Which, nothing wrong with throwing a little bit of that out there, but the core of your business is not where, that’s not where the core your business comes from, is it?

Sue Wahl (11:27):
No.

Ren Jones (11:27):
It’s moving your lips, right?

Sue Wahl (11:29):
Yeah. It’s moving our lips.

Sue Miller (11:30):
Talking to people.

Ren Jones (11:32):
How many conversations do you have every day?

Sue Wahl (11:35):
Well, our goal is 30 contacts per day but then we’ve got all the agents that we talk to and all the…

Ren Jones (11:44):
Okay. Does that make stuff happen? Yeah.

Sue Wahl (11:45):
Oh yeah.

Ren Jones (11:46):
So is-

Sue Wahl (11:46):
A lot of network.

Ren Jones (11:47):
… so 30 conversations a day is the goal?

Sue Wahl (11:50):
Mm-hmm.

Sue Miller (11:50):
Yes. Each of us.

Ren Jones (11:51):
Each of you, so that’s 60 conversations.

Sue Miller (11:54):
Mm-hmm.

Sue Wahl (11:54):
Mm-hmm.

Sue Miller (11:54):
And for a lot of people on here, they’re lucky to do that in a week.

Sue Wahl (11:59):
Mm-hmm.

Ren Jones (11:59):
So did you have to build up to that at the gym? You start out with the five pound weights and you go to the 10s, you go to the 15? Or did you just both start to talk to 30 people a day?

Sue Miller (12:08):
Well, we break it down in our, we have an analyzer that we work with.

Ren Jones (12:13):
So you track your numbers?

Sue Miller (12:15):
Oh, yes. So we know what our goals are, how many calls it’s going to take us to achieve those goals.

Ren Jones (12:21):
Okay. Yeah, because you seem like you know your numbers really well.

Sue Miller (12:24):
Mm-hmm.

Ren Jones (12:24):
And there are a lot of people that don’t. They don’t track it. They don’t know where the business comes from. So you could even, do you track where your business is coming from?

Sue Miller (12:32):
Oh yes.

Sue Wahl (12:33):
Oh, absolutely.

Ren Jones (12:34):
So you know where it’s coming from so you know where to put percentage of your efforts.

Sue Wahl (12:39):
Right. And then when we get referrals, we call and thank the person who gave us the referral and that leads to more and more business because they feel so good that they were able to help.

Sue Miller (12:50):
Right.

Ren Jones (12:51):
And I got to test the quality of the customer service as one of their customers. Having been a customer a couple times. It’s really good.

Sue Wahl (12:59):
We’ve got great assistants.

Sue Miller (13:01):
And we have great systems that-

Sue Wahl (13:03):
Yeah.

Sue Miller (13:03):
… it all gets put in a-

Ren Jones (13:05):
See a good structure.

Sue Miller (13:06):
Yes.

Ren Jones (13:06):
And you delegate well. You hire well.

Sue Miller (13:08):
We have two wonderful assistants. Yes.

Sue Wahl (13:10):
Mm-hmm.

Ren Jones (13:11):
Perfect. Perfect. What else should we be telling them? What else do they need to know?

Sue Miller (13:16):
Well, it’s good to have a database system. We use Top Producer.

Ren Jones (13:21):
Okay.

Sue Miller (13:21):
And we can type in notes and even put in a calendar like when our next call should be to that client. So-

Ren Jones (13:30):
Okay.

Sue Miller (13:31):
… it’s all mapped out for us.

Ren Jones (13:33):
Perfect. All right. So very systematic, very structured business, very predictable, duplicatable income every year.

Sue Miller (13:39):
Right.

Ren Jones (13:40):
And the core is, even though you do some social media and everything like everybody else does, and puts a word out, that’s sort of just gravy. It’s those 30 conversations a day.

Sue Miller (13:52):
Right?

Ren Jones (13:52):
30, 30, 30.

Sue Miller (13:52):
Right.

Ren Jones (13:53):
That’s making this happen. If you stopped, if you went down to five a day and five a day, how many would you sell in a year? Because they’re people making five contacts a day.

Sue Wahl (14:06):
Wow.

Ren Jones (14:06):
What would your number drop down to?

Sue Wahl (14:10):
We’d probably would be really hungry, I guess. I don’t know.

Sue Miller (14:16):
Yeah. It would be a fraction.

Sue Wahl (14:17):
Oh, I, yeah-

Sue Miller (14:17):
A fraction.

Sue Wahl (14:18):
… I can’t imagine.

Sue Miller (14:19):
Yeah.

Sue Wahl (14:19):
I can’t imagine. Although I have to say, being in the business, the more people you call and then magically somebody calls you.

Ren Jones (14:30):
Does it feel like work?

Sue Wahl (14:32):
No.

Sue Miller (14:32):
No.

Sue Wahl (14:32):
No.

Sue Miller (14:33):
No.

Ren Jones (14:33):
So this is really just kind of fun. You get to talk to people all day.

Sue Wahl (14:35):
Yeah.

Sue Miller (14:36):
Right.

Sue Wahl (14:36):
And like I say, the more people you call and maybe you don’t get an appointment.

Ren Jones (14:41):
So you don’t have to work a day in your life.

Sue Wahl (14:44):
No. And then somebody calls you, it’s karma. They call you.

Ren Jones (14:48):
That is how that works, isn’t it?

Sue Wahl (14:49):
It is. I mean, it’s like…

Ren Jones (14:49):
‘Cause you’re putting it out there.

Sue Wahl (14:50):
You are. Yeah.

Ren Jones (14:50):
You are. You are.

Sue Wahl (14:53):
And we really care about our clients. We really do. When something’s going on in their lives, we try to connect with them a little more often and that kind of thing.

Ren Jones (15:03):
Good.

Sue Wahl (15:04):
And I think people really appreciate that and then they want to have their friends have the same experience.

Ren Jones (15:12):
So it’s a great contribution. This level of service has been consistent over the years. I can attest to that.

Sue Wahl (15:17):
And we’ve done a lot of generational things. I mean-

Sue Miller (15:20):
Right. And a lot of people call us for resources.

Sue Wahl (15:25):
Oh.

Sue Miller (15:25):
We do videos-

(15:26):
Yes.

Ren Jones (15:26):
Okay.

Sue Miller (15:26):
Yes. We send out videos to our clients and then the next thing we know, somebody’s calling us and wanting a plumber for something or a-

Ren Jones (15:35):
Perfect.

Sue Miller (15:35):
… landscaper.

Ren Jones (15:36):
Perfect, perfect, perfect. And you wouldn’t have had good names.

Sue Wahl (15:39):
And then, yeah, when we have those good names, I mean, that’s another point of contact. When you talked to that electrician that did work for you that you referred, who do you know Mr. Electrician? That’s getting ready to move.

Ren Jones (15:54):
So there’s vendors sending you out business.

Sue Wahl (15:56):
Oh yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Yeah.

Ren Jones (15:58):
So that’s a good handoff.

Sue Miller (16:00):
Yes.

Sue Wahl (16:02):
It is. Yes. You have to remember to ask them though.

Ren Jones (16:05):
Yes.

Sue Miller (16:05):
Yeah.

Sue Wahl (16:06):
They’re just writing the invoice.

Ren Jones (16:08):
Yeah, they forget. Yeah. So you have to remind them who do you know? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Sue Wahl (16:12):
Right. And put them on your database and call them.

Ren Jones (16:17):
Invite them to Ducati’s.

Sue Wahl (16:18):
Yeah. Invite them to your husband’s band whenever that can be again. Who knows?

Ren Jones (16:24):
Yeah. There you go. Well, good. This is always a real treat to have the two Sues. If you’re moving to Greater Cincinnati, you do Northern Kentucky?

Sue Wahl (16:34):
We have connections in Northern Kentucky.

Ren Jones (16:36):
If you’re moving to the Greater Cincinnati-

(16:38):
… Northern Kentucky area and you’re looking for a great agent, or maybe you live here, maybe you just need to move here. It’s a happy place. What’s the best number? What’s the best way to…

Sue Wahl (16:53):
We’re two Sues. T-W-O-S-U-E-S. Twosues@comey. C-O-M-E-Y.com.

Ren Jones (17:02):
Perfect. Good deal. Reach out to them and they’ll fix you right up. Appreciate you being here.

Sue Miller (17:08):
Thank you, Ren.

Sue Wahl (17:10):
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Ren Jones (17:11):
We’ll see everybody next week when we have another exciting guest. Thanks everybody. See you next week.

Sue Wahl (17:18):
Thank you, Ren.