Jeff Proctor is one of the most successful real estate brokers in Chicago. Over his career he has closed over 500 million in real estate sales. In the past six years alone he’s produced 385 million. In our conversation Jeff talks at length about market trends (past, present and future) and how agents should adapt to meet their client’s needs.
Jeff Proctor can be reached at jeffproctor@atproperties.com and 773.517.6026.
To watch this interview on YouTube, please click here.
Transcript
D.J. Paris 0:00
Today’s episode of Keeping it real podcast is brought to you by nest egg. Looking to add value to your investor clients recommend nest egg a Chicago based app that is everything your clients need to manage their rentals in only minutes a month. Nest Egg is the only app that gets things done at the rental including on demand maintenance, and services like tenant placement and snow removal. Also nest egg is free to use which makes your clients investments 20 to 30% more profitable. Join nest egg today by downloading the app or by visiting mistake dot rent. That’s nest egg dot rent, use promo code keeping it real to get your first hour of maintenance for free. And now on to the show. Hello, and welcome to another episode of Keeping it real the most listened to podcast made for real estate agents by real estate agents. My name is DJ Paris, I am your guide, and host through the show. And we are really excited to get a lot of things happening at the podcast that you may or may not know about. So I’ll spend just a few moments before we get to our interview with the great Jeff proctor in just a few. First of all, we have a new website coming. So keep your eyes peeled at keeping it real pod.com That is our website, it will be easier to navigate easier to find the episodes you want. We’re going to be grouping all of our episodes into different categories just to make it a little smoother for you and you can stream every episode we’ve ever done. I think we have 130 episodes up, and you can listen to it right in your browser. So again, visit keeping it real pod.com. Also, I want to talk about video, we have added video now to all of our future episodes. And I want to explain how you can watch these videos because this is kind of complicated, in a sense, right? Because right now you’re probably listening through a podcast app. So if you continue to listen to the podcast app, you’ll continue just to hear the audio components, which is absolutely fine. We’re thrilled to have you doing that. If you want to watch the video of today’s interview, for example, in the show notes. So if you go into your podcast app, if that’s where you’re listening, you’ll see notes about the episode. And there’s a link right to the YouTube video. Also, though, just to further complicate things, what we’re also doing because it’s really fun and people seem to be reacting to this in a great way is we’re going to be streaming all of these live on Facebook as we’re recording them. So for example, this great interview with Jeff proctor has already streamed live on our Facebook page. And we’ve had such a great response to that we’re gonna keep doing it. So basically, before you can even hear the episodes and the way that we’re you know, producing them, you’ll be able to watch them in real time, but you have to be a subscriber to our Facebook page. So please visit facebook.com forward slash keeping it real pod same as our website keeping it real pod.com. But just facebook.com forward slash keeping it real pod. Not only do we broadcast these episodes in real time you can with the video, we also post every single day a link, an article that we find online designed to help you grow your business. So we do that every single day as a way to say thank you for listening and to help you continue to grow. So guys continue to watch or listen to the show whatever works best for you. We really appreciate you continually listening watching and also please tell a friend think of one other realtor that you know that could benefit from hearing from guys like Jeff Proctor, and please pass this podcast over to them so we can continue growing and continue making more episodes for you. Thanks again for listening and now on to our episode with Jeff proctor.
Today on the show we have a Chicago legend Jeff proctor from the Jeff proctor group at at properties since 2003. Jeff has been working with buyers sellers and developments in a wide array of areas within Chicago, the western suburbs and the North Shore. This has developed Jeff into one of the top agents in Chicago at over 500 million in sales, Jeff has been able to fully advise his clients throughout all real estate matters over the past 10 years. Jeff has consistently ranked in the top 1% of Chicago Association of Realtors and produce over 385 million in sales over the past six years alone which is incredible patience and a wealth of experience and knowledge in all areas of Chicago real estate I have established Jeff is one of the top brokers consultants in the industry. We’re so thrilled to have him by the way, visit Jeff and his group at J. Proctor. group.com. That’s j, the letter J. Proctor. group.com. Welcome to the show, Jeff proctor.
Jeff Proctor 5:15
Thank you. Thank you for having me. Appreciate it.
D.J. Paris 5:17
Thank you. We’re really thrilled to have you. This is a big, big deal for us and our listeners as well. And you know, you have a great reputation here in Chicago, we of course, have listeners nationwide. But for those of for our listeners who maybe aren’t as familiar with you, can you talk a little bit, I always like to ask this question first, which is tell us how you got into real estate, you know, what prompted you to get in and, and maybe give us that journey?
Jeff Proctor 5:45
Yeah, actually, my mother has been in real estate for 30 years. So that certainly certainly has helped. But I was in Chicago, I was working for a in a corporate gap job. And I was doing outside sales. And personally, I wasn’t overly happy with the income or the potential of income. So I started doing it part time for about two years. Got on my first development back in oh, five. And from there on out, we sold 400 units within the first year, open and close the doors to the development within 365 days. And from there on out, I just jumped ship and here we are now.
D.J. Paris 6:23
Yeah, let’s I don’t want to gloss over this. 400 units and 365 days. That is a big, big accomplishment. Yeah, what that was in year two or so.
Jeff Proctor 6:33
That was a year two. Yeah, correct. Yeah, that was in year two. You know, fortunately, you know, Mike golden. And that one, were able to put me on a development, I really appreciate the opportunity. But we worked with JDL, which is now you know, the prominent developer in Chicago. It was a condo it was a apartment conversion to condos, which obviously today in this market, we’re doing a lot more condos to apartments, which is funny. But yeah, three or 400 unit buildings down and printer square printers Row area. Yeah. And it was it was quite entertaining, to say the least.
D.J. Paris 7:07
So did you basically live on site for that year?
Jeff Proctor 7:10
We lived on site? Yeah, it was, you know, it was one of those things where we opened up doors, and we had a line down the street. So it was that time in the market, though, you know, the oh seven market, the lending was a lot more flexible. And everybody was looking for investment. So it was it was a great opportunity. And you know, it kind of just it got me in contact honestly, with like a lot of other brokers it got me in contact with a lot of lenders, it got me in contact with the whole real estate community. So it started create those relationships. And, you know, we kind of just kept on exploring from there. Since then we’ve done you know, about 12 Other projects in the city of Chicago. So all been great experiences and love the city. So
D.J. Paris 7:51
do you prefer to work with developers versus you know, traditional, you know, one off buyers and sellers, what is it that you find that is the most exciting?
Jeff Proctor 8:00
Yeah, you know, I mean, today? Yeah, I mean, I’d say the majority of my stuff is one off buyers and sellers. Right now we’re working actually on a couple of apartment deals meaning land development, zoning, we put in, you know, would do commercial deals, we’ll do apartment deals would do retail deals, we’ll do land site development, zoning consultation, buyer’s or seller’s condos, single families, developments are great. They are there. They’re not they’re few and far between today, because we have so many apartment developments now. So yeah, I love working with developers. I’ve done custom single family homes. But today from the condo market perspective, it’s a lot of boutique developments. So you know, there’s smaller industry developments back in the day when we did larger development there. 400 units, 200 units, 300 units, and you had sales centers, you had all these things now, it’s they’re so small that you’re, you know, they’re by appointment only, right? So you’re not opening up to these huge sales centers anymore. And the developments are a smaller nature, smaller land sites and the larger stuff, as you know, our apartment deals that, you know, tend to get built and resold to another investment group. So the kind of market isn’t it kind of development market isn’t nearly as prominent as it once was. But yeah, I love the development aspect. I mean, we’ve worked with clients on custom single family homes in Lincoln Park to, you know, to boutique, you know, build out to their own condos on historic buildings. So I just love the whole development process, whether it’s 1923 know, building or a brand new construction. So,
D.J. Paris 9:35
yeah, for our listeners who are realtors who are wanting to get more in with developers and be considered for some of these projects. Do you have any advice about how somebody who’s not who doesn’t have your kind of background and experience maybe how they can start to develop those relationships?
Jeff Proctor 9:55
Yeah, I mean, today, I’d say I’m at the comfort stage. You know, for the last five to 10 years it just picking up the phone and calling right? I think overall you have to know your you have to know your numbers, you have to know the zoning, you have to know your numbers, you have to know the variances, you have to know the fer for square footage requirements, you have to know I mean, you have to know the how to build, right, you have to know installation factors, X, your cladding, you know, all sorts of stuff. So you have to know the industry inside and out. Because I think you’re just kind of spinning your wheels, if you’re calling these developers asking for a handout and you don’t know anything about the about the development process. So learn the development process, learn zoning, learn construction, how to build, how to build right, and then learn interior finishes to so you can talk and discuss that with developers and obviously go to the potential buyer and sell those those features and finishes to so you have to know the business inside now. I think it’s glamorous to do these developments, per se. But once again, if you don’t understand the market, or the zoning or how to build you’re, you’re kind of just at a loss for words.
D.J. Paris 11:05
Yeah, you’re not really even going to be considered unless you really, really know your stuff. No, no. And you you’ve built out a team. I’m curious, you know, and again, I’m never sure if you can call it a team anymore or group in Illinois. For our listeners who aren’t here, they’ve changed the rules. So I’m not sure what’s what’s the right thing to say. But I know you guys are the group. So can you talk a little bit about when you started develop your team and how that’s worked for you?
Jeff Proctor 11:30
Yeah, it’s worked out great. You know, it’s ever changing, because you’re hiring and brokers that, you know, obviously, they want to progress themselves. So you see people come and go all the time. You know, the ideal situation for me, when I started, it’s just that I got to the point where I just couldn’t handle it myself. You know, the day to day were present for all showings. So you know, especially on the left side, which is very difficult to do. So we, it’s been great, it’s freed up a lot of my time, in terms of just day to day, it’s freed up a lot of admin work, Docu signs, listing agreements, contracts, paperwork, closing documents, etc. To handle the client directly. So it’s allowed me to go from, you know, I’d say, when I started, I was so low as doing 30 35 million or so. And then we jumped to about 70 Plus, you know, with the group, so, if I brought in brokers, you know, that, you know, might be struggling to, you know, maybe a broker that needs a little bit of guidance needs a little bit of assistance needs some, you know, some added income to their bottom line, because they they’re just kind of getting started or struggling in the business. So it’s been great. As long as everybody performs or we’re, we’re all happy. But it’s it’s been a shifting paradigm in terms of the brokers and the team and everybody that’s on there. Unfortunately, we lost a couple people last week, which that will shift but now we’re interviewing more people downtown, but everybody’s excited. So
D.J. Paris 12:59
and by the way, if any of our listeners think they might be a match for your group, is it okay if they can reach out to you you’re great. What’s the best way should they visit your website?
Jeff Proctor 13:09
Yeah, visit my website you could contact or just you know, honestly, I my cell phones my office, so you know, 77351760 to six, it’s just text email call. Let’s just talk direct. So
D.J. Paris 13:21
yeah, I know if I was Producing Realtor and I wanted to learn from from someone and join a winning team. Certainly, you could do much worse than looking at looking at your group.
Jeff Proctor 13:32
Market, the spring markets, it’s gangbusters right now. It’s not any better than last year was a little quiet because we had a lot of macroeconomic things going on, I think. But this spring is I mean, it’s it’s two it’s 3x in terms of what we saw at the end of last
D.J. Paris 13:48
year, so and rates are down again, lending rates.
Jeff Proctor 13:52
The Jumbo seven year ARM is 2.75. I just refinanced mine at 3%. Three months ago and the two of 2.75 It’s not.
D.J. Paris 14:01
That’s amazing. I we had Joel Schaub from Guaranty radon. He comes on every month and he was this weekend on Friday night. I talked to we recorded episode on Saturday. I said what do you do last night just because he and I are buddies. He said, Oh, I spent all night emailing everybody who bought a home in the last two years. They should they should refinance.
Jeff Proctor 14:20
Oh, it’s I mean, sub 3% on a jumbo mortgage is incredible. I don’t know It’s free money. Take it take into account inflation and tax deductions. So it’s pretty, pretty good opportunity right now.
D.J. Paris 14:35
Well, I wanted to go back to something you had said. Because not every broker and I think, of course, every broker has an opinion about this. And it’s kind of a still a hot, somewhat debated topic, which is should listing agents go to showings, you had mentioned that you always you’re in your team go to showings. Do you have a particular opinion about about whether they obviously you feel you should be there?
Jeff Proctor 14:56
Yeah. 100% I mean, so here’s a here’s an interesting In my opinion, it’s a very interesting piece is that, so I moved west, with my family for my kids. And I still do a ton of work in the city. But I’ve naturally picked up business in the western suburbs in the North Shore. And nobody wants to talk to anybody. So it’s it’s really weird, but I just don’t feel like you get the right marketing, you get the right sales approach if you’re just letting people just randomly walk into a property without any guidance, right? Right. We always are there to at least meet and greet and run through the marketing points to the properties, the sales, the statistics, the area details, and just everything about the property. So hopefully, the transition is much quicker in terms of a list to sale to closing process. It just, it just benefits. I mean, even like our brochures and all of our notes, so we use like an Evernote system for every property that we use. And everything is encompassed into one document, right. So when everybody when that person is leaving the property, they have all the financials, the reserve balance, the condo association information, the details, the years there was built, everything you need to know is already been done and communicate it to that to that buyer. The last thing you want to do is see somebody leave and then all of a sudden turn around to three days later and go, Hey, what was this information? Right? And it all to them there? It’s just it’s part of sales. I mean, you’re in a sales position. So you should be there and be present.
D.J. Paris 16:29
100% Yeah. And then also assuming that the buyers broker is just going to know everything. And
Jeff Proctor 16:36
that’s never the case, of course, is that it is the case. But you know, I mean, let’s say everybody tries to get a good start in the business. And, you know, maybe they’re not fully aware, and I get a lot of brokers, I had a broker literally email me, you know, 30 minutes ago and said, Hey, I saw you sold this place over there. I’m not familiar with the development, can you give me some insight? And I’m like, Sure, of course, you know, it’s just, it’s a lot to learn, especially in the city of Chicago, because it’s a big city to know everything. So it’s a give and take. So yeah, I mean, you got to just be there, you got to be present. So yeah, it’s
D.J. Paris 17:06
also a good way to justify your fee to the seller, right, as I’m showing up. Yeah,
Jeff Proctor 17:12
I mean, that’s, that’s the other thing marketing, marketing dollars today are far above what we’ve ever spent in terms of listing properties and clients in general. So we’re doing you know, I have a social media company that I hired it right, because that’s not my that’s not my go to show. It says they entertaining social media. We do print advertising, we do direct mailers, we do brochures, we do videos, we do photographs, we do drone shoot drone footage, we do local video footage, I mean, it’s the numbers, and we put a ton of marketing dollars out there. And you know, just, it’s great, because it just needed it’s about it’s about exposure for yourself, but at the same time exposure for the property. So
D.J. Paris 17:56
well that and probably 99% of Realtors don’t do all those things. Of course, you know, they’ll probably get professional photos done. That’s pretty much. I don’t know, that’s always a given these days, but it’s mostly a given. But other than that, you know, I don’t know that most realtors are doing a lot of that they should be. But I guess that’s one of the things that separates you from from other realtors.
Jeff Proctor 18:16
Yeah. Agreed?
D.J. Paris 18:18
Yeah, so one of the questions we get because we have a tremendous number of new brokers who listen to our show, who look at a guy like you and say, Oh, my God, he’s already you know, this wild success and has been doing, you know, for almost 20 years now. What advice do you have? Because you do bring on team members. And I don’t know how new some of your team members are. But I suspect you see a lot of people who are new to the business. What advice do you have, if you were starting out today, you know, being that developments maybe aren’t as prominent as they were when you started? What would you do today to get started, if you were brand
Jeff Proctor 18:52
new, I think with the whole group scenario, that’s first and foremost, I would find somebody that you can kind of tag along and it doesn’t need to be part of a full group to be honest, he could really just tag along and just say, Listen, if you need to help here, if you need help there, I’d love to jump in. You know, there’s times where I need help on a listing and, you know, I bring in a broker that you know, once it is hungry and and I put them on the listing, and I call list it with them and they they’d kind of do some of the day to day for me and they’re getting the experience that they normally wouldn’t get. Right. So the problem is there’s so that would be one and then number two is pick up the phone. I mean, you gotta you gotta be you got to be aggressive and you gotta call people so it’s not pushing, it’s it’s selling yourself, but at the same time, you have to call people you know, the last thing I’ve interviewed people and people have gotten started the business and they go on and just feel really uncomfortable. I go Well, you better get uncomfortable because it’s going to continue to be that way. So, I mean, I know social media, like I said is not my forte but I do look at it every day and if I see a client or a friend or somebody like that that’s looking for real estate or mentions real estate, I’ll pick up the phone, just call call and say, Hey, how can I help? And if it works out great if it doesn’t, hey, listen, I made a good phone call and I made a good connection.
D.J. Paris 20:07
Yeah, and you did something proactive as a way to add value to that person’s like, Hey, I saw you have a have a need. And I thought I’d reach out and see if I could be of assistance. It’s, it’s certainly, yeah, this is one of those businesses where I think if you’re, if you’re not willing to just go and say, I can help you with this, then and you need to be able to help them with that, right, you have to actually have that skill set. So I think you’re right, like joining a group or finding a mentor, or somebody you can tag along with and see what is a real listing presentation look like, you know, what does, what does a buyer consultation look like? What’s it like to meet at somebody’s home, and sit across from them at their dining room table and talk about, here’s what I’m gonna do
Jeff Proctor 20:46
for you now. And that’s, you know, some of the younger guys that we hire in, you know, I kind of curtailed all my marketing my material. So they’re, they’re different from App properties is a big company, it’s a great company, but I kind of took my own listing presentation and put it into my own marketing material. So and I said to the younger brokers, I said, take all this and utilize it to your advantage, right. And if you’re sitting, if you get a call from a million dollar person, you freak out, you don’t understand where to even start, I’ll come in, and I’ll literally sit down with him, and I’ll meet with a client, and we’ll try to just close the deal together. You have to get some guidance, because I’d say a lot of people that get into the business in general, I tell them, You’re not making any money for six months. So you better start making some calls now. And the people that are three months in and go Well, I haven’t heard from anybody, that’s because you haven’t done your job. So even starting out, like you know, get all emails, addresses, get their physical address, get their social media accounts, start up your own social media pages, and like start communicating as quickly as possible. Because if you just put one blanket post out there, and just hope your phone rings, it’s not going to happen.
D.J. Paris 21:56
I met with a broker once who was subscribing to the Brian Buffini monthly mailing system that he has, he calls it items of value anyway. So she was talking with me and she goes, you know, every time I send out these 100 mailers, I get a couple of deals. And she goes but I I’m just I don’t send out the mailers and I was like, then hire somebody to send out the mailers
Jeff Proctor 22:21
so easy. Yeah. So he’s in that’s a nice part of our company. Actually, we have a it’s a agent assist program, which is basically exactly that. So anything I need. So building contacts, addresses, farming buildings, listing agreements, things like that, we have a whole assistant department that really helps out with that. So that’s huge, huge saves a ton of time.
D.J. Paris 22:43
Yeah, I also want I just want to hear about how the markets changed, you know, from from the crash through now what what trends, you’ve seen what you sort of maybe see coming in your best guests, and maybe what advice you have for our listeners who are brokers who try to figure out how to adapt and change to it.
Jeff Proctor 23:03
Well, it’s competitive, right? I mean, it’s associated, once again, let’s go back to social media, that social media component has really changed how people mark it, of course, I think that a lot of people are utilizing that very well. But, you know, is everybody so truthful on it? I don’t know. But right. Perception is reality. Right? So I’d say the market changed. In fact of this an MLS is certainly not your only portal to get to properties, right. So I’d say all morning, you know, I found I went to a commercial site called CoreXY. To find a piece of property. At the same time, I’m looking through loop net, that same time to look through MLS for residential at the same time, we’re looking through top agent network, which is exclusive to the downtown market and top to 10%, of brokers. And then we’re doing we have our own in house app. So there’s so many different avenues that you can find property, right. That’s changing, everybody used to just sit there and wait for it to hit the MLS. And then once you got that little notification on the far right, you’re like, Oh, you would call your client or send it to him. I would say that 30 40% of the deals I send my clients are not even on the market yet. So it’s that’s the big change. And I think that’s going to also start to weed out a lot of brokers that simply can’t find things. So because if you’re not looking on the private listing network or the top agent network or off market, you really kind of missing out not getting your client what they need ahead of time.
D.J. Paris 24:30
Yeah, if it’s, if it’s just on the MLS, your clients can find that on their own through Zillow, Redfin or le and other websites. Yeah, you have to be you have to be able to provide additional value. And, you know, there are other networks out there, like the private listing network.
Jeff Proctor 24:43
Sure. The private listing network. I mean, that was a smart move by the by Mr. Ed. Right. I mean, they had to keep up with the other offline markets. But I mean, you have to also you also have to know the market like we talked about, I mean, you know, I’d say if I get a new buyer in and I’d say listen, I could send you a hunt. The property so that doesn’t do you any good, why don’t I just we’d have done 10 to 15. And these are your top 10 to 15 to start with, so and that makes it a lot more efficient to because I’d say a lot of brokers are just going out there just throwing darts, hopefully that one of them hits without knowing the buildings, the location, the client requirements, and everything else, because I see a lot of times where new brokers, unfortunately, but it’s a learning process come in and they, you know, they’ll look at something and the client looks at him and goes, this is absolutely not what I’m looking for. And then they just walk right back out. So it just is, you know, just being more efficient, with your time and your energy and being more focused on what the client needs and know the market. It’s good, but that’s gonna start weeding out a lot of these people because too many people got, you know, it’s it’s the same thing, right? We went through it and oh, 4207. And then now we’re going right back through it again, where the numbers are up to 14 1516 17,000 agents. So you got to stay competitive, you got to know the market. So
D.J. Paris 25:55
yeah, it’s funny, when I first started the podcast, there was 42,000 brokers in Chicago, including suburbs. Now, there’s 46,000 46,000. Yeah, keeps keeps growing. It’s unbelievable. And, and I always say, brokers at the very top, the top producing brokers, they’re not worried about the some of the other companies coming in, you know, offering discount services and pricing because they know their value, which is goes above and beyond what algorithms can can do. Especially there’s a lot of emotional value that that top producers bring to their clients. But so many brokers never really learn their market, or they never even define their market, you know? And if a broker gets a $3 million listing and Lake Forest and doesn’t know, like Forest, I don’t I don’t know, they should take it, I think maybe you should
Jeff Proctor 26:44
know 100% I mean, I listen, although we try to stretch different areas, we have a broker and each one of those areas, right? So Are you’re utilizing me from a marketing standpoint, a digital media standpoint, and everything else, but there is a local broker representing you. And if I if I don’t have a local broker, I have no problems referring that deal out, right. I mean, it’s just not you know, Naperville would be a perfect market for that. Unfortunately, I just don’t know Naperville, as well as they shouldn’t, I don’t have a broker there. So for me, it’s like, I’d love to work there. But you know, the transportation for me, for me to get there from the city is impossible, and I don’t know the market. So why don’t we find somebody local and give your client the service they deserve? Instead of you know, try to chase a deal down because of a commission?
D.J. Paris 27:31
Yeah, boy, I think that couldn’t be better said and for new brokers, don’t be afraid to refer out I mean, you always you still earn a referral commission, and you don’t look stupid when you when it’s because you know, you can, you can pretend that you know things for a while. But eventually, that becomes pretty evident when you’re not able to really give value like
Jeff Proctor 27:51
but stay but stay involved. Right? See, we can help. I mean, you know, you referring out the business doesn’t mean it ends there. You know, it’s obviously your clients, probably a friend or an acquaintance of yours sustains a lot and see if you know, make sure the deal is being handled appropriately. So. Just because you don’t know the area doesn’t mean you have to handle it, you know, 100%, so refer it out. And but you know, stay in touch, because that’ll that’ll go a long way.
D.J. Paris 28:14
Yeah. And I also just wanted to ask, because you’ve been in business for so long. And I’m curious to know, in between sales, I always think that, you know, I the firm I’ve met, we have hundreds and hundreds of brokers too. And I suspect, even though I think I think they’re quite good, I suspect they don’t, they could always do a better job of staying in touch after the sale. You know, you talk a little bit about maybe what your group does, just to keep keep conversation going, you know, homeowner moves in or sells, what do you guys do to make sure they don’t forget about you? You know,
Jeff Proctor 28:45
I I’d say just in general, I mean, you know, I’m more of once a reactionary, but I am I mean, you know, if I’m, if I’m in a specific area where I know, my client bought, you know, a year or so ago, and I see something pop up, I’ll be like, Hey, take a look, this is a pretty good number for the area. very casual conversations, we keep them in our CRM CRM database and keep getting updates, they keep getting mailers, they keep getting all the marketing materials that we’re sending them. So and at the same time, make sure if you have any questions reach out at any point, right? Right. So I were just always open like my cell phone, like I said, is my office so you can text me call me email me and it’s a pretty quick, pretty quick response overall. So it’s just that constant contact of just you know, listen, if I see if I know I’m in the ear of somebody or I know somebody who’s looking at something in some area want one funny story is that we looked at a house it was great on the inside but hideous on the outside right with the client and it’s still this ongoing joke where it just keep sending us pictures of the hideous houses. It’s but they’ve already been bought and they sit you know, they love their new place and it’s great, but it’s just constant. You got to keep your doors open at all times. So You just want to make sure that they’re more than welcome to reach out to you. But at the same time touch base with them every once in a while.
D.J. Paris 30:05
Yeah, and Jeff just said a lot right there, right? He had, he has systems in place. He has a CSS CRM, he has mailers, he has newsletters, he has all sorts of touches that are constantly going out. And then once in a while, you know, if he sees something that he thinks would be interesting to that individual value wise, he’ll shoot it over to them. And I, you know, it seems so obvious, of course, that everyone should have systems, but you have to have systems tap to automate a lot of this.
Jeff Proctor 30:31
Yeah, you have to, you have to, you know, one of the, I bet you there’s probably 5000 plus people that we have, and that’s accumulating addresses physical addresses from like, oh, three to today, right. So I mean, you just keep up updating those, you know, every six months, and you make sure that you’re getting the right address, and it’s always that gives you a really good opportunity to reach out to your client too. Because yeah, you’re saying, Hey, John, I, you know, I looked like I had an old address for you, what’s your update, address, hope all as well. And that’s, you know, just keep going from there. So, you just got to keep updating, if you don’t, if you don’t start that process early in, get that list at least started. You’re, you’re well behind the eight ball, you’re just not, you’re just not going to catch
D.J. Paris 31:11
up. Yeah, I couldn’t agree more. And you know, brokers can do that immediately, right? Even if you’re even if you’re years behind, call every single person in your database over the or hire someone to do it, and get that updated information, find out as much information as you can, so that you can find out other reasons to contact that person, you know, maybe, yeah, if you’ve, if you’ve, you know, I always say the more data you have on your clients, the more outreach you can do. And yeah, so awesome. So real quickly, too, because in case we have listeners here who are joining us towards the latter part of the show, Jeff is his team is always looking for brokers to add, and very specific type of broker they’re looking for. So Jeff, and also by the way, it’s probably a good place to wrap up. Because we have a lot of people who listen who may be clients or looking or PEEP buyers, sellers, investors, renters, who may be looking to work with a top producer, maybe they’re not satisfied with their, their agent they’ve used in the past, or maybe they’ve never used an agent. But if you’re a broker who wants to join a team, like Jeff’s, or you’re just an individual who’s looking for a great broker, can you give your cell phone one more time?
Jeff Proctor 32:22
Yeah. 773-517-6026.
D.J. Paris 32:29
And also, you can visit Jeff on his website, which is J proctor. group.com. Again, J. Proctor. group.com. And Jeff, do you mind also giving your email address in case someone wants to email you?
Jeff Proctor 32:39
So Jeff proctor je FF PR, O, C, T, O R? At? At property? So it’s at at properties? Jeff proctor? at@properties.com.
D.J. Paris 32:50
Awesome. Well, Jeff, you’ve provided a tremendous amount of value in this in this episode to our listeners, like you, I suspect this will be one of our most listened to episodes we’ve done. God, this will be like, I think a number 130 or 131. So we’re not Yeah, no, thank you. It’s all because of top producers like yourself who take time out of their incredibly busy day to provide value to our listeners. And we really, on behalf of our listeners, we appreciate you. And thank you for doing this. And also on behalf of Jeff and myself. To our listeners. Of course you want to say thank you for continuing to listen and support the show. Please visit us on Facebook, which is facebook.com forward slash keeping it real pod every single day we find an article online that is designed to help Realtors grow their business in some way we post that also, of course, posting episodes like the one you’re listening or watching right now on Facebook. And we can always it’s always just a great place to have a conversation as well for best practices. So please do that. And lastly, if for our listeners, if you know anyone who’s a broker, a realtor, real estate agent, depending on where you live in the country, what they’re called. If you know somebody else that might benefit from listening or watching the episodes like this, please please pass it along. Jeff again, thank you so much for being on the show. Thank you and have a have a great have a great 2020 Although I probably don’t need to say that because I’m sure you already having one. But keep up obviously the great work and thanks for being part of the show.
Jeff Proctor 34:20
Thanks for your time. I really appreciate it. Great show
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