Shalya Twit talks about her own lifestyle as an experienced agent in Sarasota Florida where the competition is very high. Shayla discuses the importance of marketing and advertising in real-estate and how experienced agents should source the business. Shayla also discusses what makes her stand out as an agent.
If you’d prefer to watch this interview, click here to view on YouTube!
Shayla Twit can be reached at shayla@sarasotarealestatesold.com and +1 941-544-7690.
This episode is brought to you by Real Geeks.
Transcript
D.J. Paris 0:00
How do you break into the luxury market? Well, we’re going to talk to a top producer today who did exactly that. Stay tuned. This episode of Keeping it real is brought to you by real geeks. How many homes are you going to sell this year? Do you have the right tools? Is your website turning soft leads and interested buyers? Are you spending money on leads that aren’t converting? Well real geeks is your solution. Find out why agents across the country choose real geeks as their technology partner. Real geeks was created by an agent for agents. They pride themselves on delivering a sales and marketing solution so that you can easily generate more business. Their agent websites are fast and built for lead conversion with a smooth search experience for your visitors. Real geeks also includes an easy to use agent CRM. So once a lead signs up on your website, you can track their interest and have great follow up conversations. Real geeks is loaded with a ton of marketing tools to nurture your leads and increase brand awareness visit real geeks.com forward slash keeping it real pod and find out why Realtors come to real geeks to generate more business again, visit real geeks.com forward slash keeping it real pod and now on to our show
Hello and welcome to another episode of Keeping it real the largest podcast made by real estate agents and for real estate agents. My name is DJ Paris I am your guide and host through the show and in just a moment. We’re going to be speaking with top producer Shayla twit but before we get to Shayla, just a couple of quick reminders. First, please tell a friend about this episode. If you find value in it. Think of one other Realtor in your office that could benefit from hearing from shaylen Also, please consider also sponsz That’s not to say sponsor our sponsors but just support our sponsors check out their products and services. We are huge fans of our sponsors. They’re the reason we can keep doing these episodes. So please consider investing in their services. Every sponsor that we have, we are huge fans of and their products and services should be able to help you grow your business this year. Okay, enough of that. Let’s get to the main event my conversation with Shayla to it.
Today on the show our guest is Shayla twit. She’s a luxury agent with Coldwell Banker in Sarasota, Florida. Let me tell you more about Shayla Shayla is has been selling real estate in sunny Sarasota, Florida since 2002. Specializing in luxury and waterfront real estate in the Sarasota man Manatee and Charlotte County areas she prides herself on her high touch and artfully curated concierge style originally from Stevens Point Wisconsin. She also hails from U W. SP with a business and a French degrees. She comes from a large family many of which are entrepreneurs as well whether extra time she will either be in the gym, playing with her two dogs and or cat or quite possibly volunteering with a fabulous team at the Humane Society at Lakewood Ranch to learn all things Shayla please visit her website Sarasota real estate sold.com Let me say that again, Sarasota real estate sold.com We’ll have links to that in the show notes welcome Shayla. Welcome.
Shayla Twit 3:47
Hi, thank you so much. Say to talk to you, TJ,
D.J. Paris 3:51
I’m excited to talk to you as well. We were Shayla and I were talking just before the show about I love Sarasota. So I am. So like, in my mind, I’m sitting next to you soaking up some of the the warmth of Florida right now. It is currently 11 degrees. No, I’m sorry. It is yes, it is. 11 degrees here in Chicago. It is sunny, but very, very cold. So appreciate. You’re probably having a warmer day than me.
Shayla Twit 4:23
I’ll try to bring some warmth, your way. We say
D.J. Paris 4:27
love it. If you have you’ve really done some super impressive things. I always like to start at the beginning of the journey, because so many of our audience really wants to know, you know how you got started, and then how you continued to evolve throughout your business. So how did you get into real estate?
Shayla Twit 4:48
Well, I went I didn’t go to college to become a realtor. I went and I got my business degree and I came down to Sarasota home of the Ringling circus So yeah, it’s a circus. All right. And my younger brother was here. I never knew anything about Sarasota and my younger brother who was going to bring late art school, which is a really prestigious art school, by the way. We didn’t know anything about I didn’t know anything about it only because my brother was here. And so he landed here, I came down right after college. And because nothing was really kind of working out that calm, we just apply for any jobs, you know? Sure. And nothing was exciting me anyway. And so I just, I had never been to Sarasota. I packed up my 19 Anyone read Oldsmobile, okay, I don’t even know how she made it all down here now. But I came, I moved right in with him, which was so nice to have a place and of course, with my brother and moved in with him. And within the first six months, I kind of was figuring my life out, I got a little job at Outback waiting tables. God knows I didn’t go to school for that. But it was an interim job. And everywhere we went, everybody, the whole conversation evolved around real estate. And so I just thought, like, I think I would do well at it, I would enjoy it, and Excel and just have fun with it. So I ended up just getting into it right away within the first six months of living here.
D.J. Paris 6:19
Wow, that is, that’s quite a quite a jump. And also to like, Florida has the most number of Realtors per capita of any state. So there’s tremendous competition out there.
Shayla Twit 6:33
I think I read somewhere as of, I think 2020, there were 195,000 in the state, which is insane. It’s insane.
D.J. Paris 6:42
It is. It is like, I think it was something like every fifth person in Florida has their real estate license or something like that,
Shayla Twit 6:51
you know, that’s gonna change, you’re coming up now. But I think you know, a lot of that too, is the people that are part time or they just do it here and there or sell to their family. So we got a lot of those. And then it’s and then it’s like you have that population. And then you have the population that actually makes a living and then you have the top one percenters. I mean, there’s other categories in between, but just to generalize.
D.J. Paris 7:15
Yeah, no, I think you’re right, we’re starting to see here in Chicago, a mass exodus of the agents who are the onesie twosie, you know, do a couple deals a year, we’re starting to see them exit the industry, which should be, I think, good news for a lot of our listeners. It’s also good news for us, because we have a holding company. So those agents transfer over into a holding company a lot of times to keep their license active. But the bottom line is there are people leaving the industry, and I think that will actually be be beneficial to existing agents, who are, you know, more full time or are really wanting to step on the gas in their business? Are you seeing that trend as well.
Shayla Twit 8:02
Um, I’m feeling it. I feel like it’s right now as we sit here, and we’re recording this early February. So it’s dated, but 2023. But it’s kind of an interim time right now. I feel like so like showings are down, even for me, and I’ve got a, you know, I’ll get some listings. And so I can only imagine for a new agent, they’re probably feeling that exponentially. And so you can’t help but think that that’s going to ultimately, you know, affect them financially. And I’m feeling the buzz around, you know, our office even. And we are in a tough office, we do have some new agents there. And the buzz around the community, because I have a big, you know, I keep my hand on the pulse within the community and my colleagues and just the talk about town. And, you know, there’s only so much business to go around. And I think with agents exiting exit is seeing how everyone put it, that the cream will rise to the top and that sellers if they’re smart, knowing that their properties will take longer in the market. Now they’re gonna want the full service ages now. They’re gonna want the full marketing package marketing and advertising matter. And so if we don’t have that experience, especially if you’re new in the last two years, you don’t know what you don’t know. You know?
D.J. Paris 9:22
Yeah, I think you just said a lot of really great things. I think you’re right now is the time to you know, if you are, if any of our listeners out there are wanting to really, you know, attract more sellers. This is the year to get your marketing packets, your listing presentations on point. You know, there’s a ton of services that can help you do this, but realize that right now, of course listings are there’s a lot of competition for listings. So if you are going up against other teams will first of all, maybe consider joining the team, right? So, you know, if you want to be a big player in your local market, find out who the teams are that are capturing this business. And you know, take a look and see what are their marketing materials look like? What what are their listings, they’re willing
Shayla Twit 10:17
to share. That was the That’s gold. I mean, if I were a new agent, I would seek out someone that’s been in the business a long time that is a top agent, and and mentor with that person, they’re willing to do that, that is absolutely priceless. You’re not reinventing the wheel here, I’m not reinventing the wheel. I’m just doing what works for me as other agents do. And what works for me might not work for the other person. But I do think that honing in on your value proposition and really fine tuning it outlining, outlining that for your seller is important. I go in every single year and I revamp, I find to my marketing links that I send out as a pre package to my sellers. I revamped that this year, because I was like, I really want to express to sellers, like all of the unique curated services that we offer each and every seller, I can’t drive that home enough. Because sometimes I get stuck when someone says, Well, how are you different? Why would I hire you. And it’s like, I sometimes get stuck in the moment. So if you have it already outlined in a format, it’s so much better. You know, that
D.J. Paris 11:22
is a really, really like easily glossed over thing that I don’t want to gloss over. Because really having a list of services that you provide to your clients is critical. Because there are going to be those elevator kind of conversations where you only have, you know, maybe their in person conversations where someone’s like, hey, so how are you different from every other Realtor in town, you need to have three or four things that you say that you do ready to answer that question? Because let’s face it, the the other groups or teams or big producers in your local market have answers to those questions. Why should they trust you versus x? And it’s not, of course to ever disparage anyone who, who you’re in competition with, but to sort of separate and elevate yourself. And so you do need to know your value proposition. I think that is such great advice. And it sort of goes back to like when I first left college and had my first job, where they said, practice your objection handling, practice your value proposition, your elevator pitch in the mirror. I mean, it sounds it sounds silly, but you really should have three or four things. Or I’m asking RX, I should ask you, there should always be some information that you’re able to provide about what’s going on in the industry to talk to talk when you meet people. Is that?
Shayla Twit 12:54
Yeah, I would say yes, absolutely. And when I look back at like my older value propositions, I was a little I was too centered on me. And it was more about me, and I’m like, This is not about me how great I am, I think agents, but realtors, especially I don’t know, if we’re too egocentric or something like that the ego is good, but to a point, right? You have to have ego and empathy, empathy for the other person situation. So I totally switch that around. And I made I made sure and I was very hyper focused on the fact that like, you know, I’m curating first impressions for you. And that’s how we start the value proposition, like everything I do is like an art, like, you know, when you go and you make a painting, and you start the painting, you step away from it, and then you come back with new ideas. So you take your time, and make sure that from the wording to the photography, and the entire package presentation is really thoughtful and made for that person and for that property, because everybody, everybody’s property is as unique as them and so we take so much time and care into just the remarks that we put out there really thoughtful, you know, so we start from there and kind of move our way through like the presentation.
D.J. Paris 14:18
Yeah, I love that. I think every home has a story right? And every, every home should be able to have that story be told, and and really good realtors are able to do that they’re able to identify certain characteristics of a home or a personality type of a home sometimes even and really highlight and focus that in it that should all be coupled with the team or the individual agents branding. So we really encourage everyone to, you know, to think about this is the this is the year to level up your You’re sort of our brand and your brand.
Shayla Twit 15:04
Yeah, know how you want to portray your clients and their properties, like you want to stand out, like, instead of saying, like, you know, pointing out the obvious in the remarks, like paint a lifestyle, like, you won’t be able to imagine someone in that home and having a glass of wine at the rooftop, or, you know, whatever the, whatever the attributes of the home, you want to really highlight the most and not cover up the objections, but almost address them in a way that’s more artful that you’re not, you’re not hiding something like if it’s on a busy road, make it to a benefit, you know what I mean? So, so that you’re not, you know, people aren’t getting there and saying, like, oh, there’s a railroad track in the back, but like, you’ve already addressed it in a way that that’s creative to where, okay, like, they’re, they’re showing it, or they’re coming to see this, this is probably a better quality showing, because they kind of already know a lot of this stuff. You know,
D.J. Paris 16:00
there is a marketing principle of that I learned many, many, many years ago called if you can’t fix it, feature it, which basically means that yeah, give Pete give all the information up front. And, and so that when the person arrives there, you know, they’re fully aware of what the situation what the property has, and doesn’t have. I want to talk about lead leads, because everybody, of course, this business, real estate, realtor businesses are contingent upon lead generation. And I would love to know, right now, we know it’s difficult, right? We have are in a higher interest rate environment than we then Realtors would prefer for. So, you know, our lending partners are telling us that, you know, we might see rates in the fives, maybe the the low sixes this year, for 30 year fixed rates, that, of course, is going to have an impact on the number of buyers who want to participate. So we also know inventory has has dramatically shrunk. So we have this to two difficult challenges this year, we have low inventory and higher rates, although I think the rates are still pretty reasonable historically. But what are you? What are you doing to keep busy, stay productive, stay active and stay positive?
Shayla Twit 17:30
Well, I learned early on, I was lucky enough to be introduced to the Buffini and company system of referrals and repeat, you know that that whole models, so I was very, you know, looking back at 20 years, I’m still in that company, of just getting, you know, having access to the back end system, which was great. And the whole principles behind it, which the definition of real estate is lead generation it is. And however you want to break that down is your question. So, you know, for me, I’ve been doing this now 20, almost 21 years, so I really have my database, so I’m careful to stay in touch with them. Not too much, but just enough like so they’ll hear from me on a regular basis where you know, they’re passively on social media, but they always get like that, the snail mail or an E newsletter every single month. And so you know, staying in touch with those people because if you’re a longtime agent, the biggest thing you can do with what I would suggest is go back and source your business and keep doing what works. And not reinvent the wheel there and then figure out okay, like 75% 80% comes from repeat referral for me. So I keep touching those people whether I call text email, I will say I started this within the last like nine months I want to say and every I always touch them on the anniversary of the sale or purchase
D.J. Paris 18:59
love that. So we’re, I’m gonna pause you for a second because you’re saying so you’re saying so much great stuff that I I’m gonna I’m gonna slow us down a little because you’re talking about home anniversary, or we’ll call it home sales transaction anniversary date. So So by the way, nobody knows their home anniversary date other than no nobody this is this is a great opportunity to basically create a birthday event for for the property
Shayla Twit 19:31
and make an excuse to reach out so I took it a step further because I wanted it to be more personal that this isn’t a group email, anybody can send a text. So I made time in my calendar and you carve it out however you can and you can stack on but you go to the person’s house or to the gate or however far you can get to the neighborhood or the clubhouse whatever is art, it’s far into the house and you can get and I do a personal video and I text it to them and then I say In the video, I say, you know, happy anniversary, you bought the house, blah, blah. And I just want to see how the family’s doing. Yeah, you know, whatever the message is. And then at the end of it, I’ll say like, I’m going to follow up and send you your equity update in an email today. So you get your annual equity update. It’s hand selected hand curated for you. And I’ve gotten so many good responses from that. Like, it’s, it’s heartwarming, yeah. Because I’m like, I get excited to do that for them. And then I’m like, I can’t wait for them to see it and respond, you know. So it’s fun. And what
D.J. Paris 20:34
what you’re saying is, is simple, and you get super brilliant in a way, because it really serves a couple solves a couple problems. One is, okay, I’m not so busy right now. Because the rates in the market and you know, I’m not as busy. But what I could always do is do annual anniversary check ins with my past clients or any, it doesn’t even have to be a past client. It could be literally anyone who owns a property, you could just say, hey, you know, because I know, as a homeowner, the thing that I that I would always be interested in hearing about is what’s my, what’s the property’s worth, right? Yeah, so the idea of being able to send that to somebody on a on an annual basis, okay, I just, you know, did a little quick thing here for you, that is incredibly valuable to people, whether they want to move or not.
Shayla Twit 21:32
And they remember that and you know, you can take that same formula and spin it however you want. And whether they are just a friend, and you can look them up in the tax record and say, Hey, I saw that you bought your house X, you know, whatever years ago, I just thought I’d send you an equity. It doesn’t have to be a client. So if you’re new, and you’re looking to get business, it’s something to think about too. Like you don’t always have to be an agent of years and years. And I mean, I started somewhere, I didn’t know what the hell I was doing, you know, all these things that you’ve developed over time, they just, they just become systems. And that’s the other thing. You have to develop systems and consistency. And just put the things in your schedule and do like, I’m a big fan of recurring tasks. Me to do them every so whatever. So it pops up. This is what I have to do today. So you’re not like you know what you’re gonna do in the calendar. It’s already organized.
D.J. Paris 22:24
Yeah, I think this is, it’s so funny. I we’re here in Chicago, there’s 47,000 realtors in our market here. I can count on one hand, the number so I moved into a place new construction two years ago, I can count on one hand, the number of mailers I’ve received. Not that mailers are the end all be all. But if anyone by the way, Chicago, one of the most aggressive, competitive real estate markets in the country, you would and I live in in new development in the city, you would think that even though I just purchased a property, realtors would be consistently bombarding, bombarding me with hey, here’s what your home is worth. Here’s what your price is worth. Here’s what the neighborhood’s worth here. Are you thinking of moving? I have gotten maybe one or two letters, and two years. So this is a huge opportunity. And again, understanding that mailers aren’t necessarily Yeah. There’s a huge opportunity out here to introduce yourself to people, because every homeowner is not every homeowner, but most homeowners want to know what their home property value is worth. Right? And they’re gonna go to Zillow, they’re going to look up their Zestimate because that’s what people do. And then you’re going to come in and say, you know, actually, I think Zillow has got it pretty close to right. But here’s what I actually think your home is worth based on my own research that you could do that all day long. Every day, right?
Shayla Twit 24:03
Oh, yeah, absolutely. And so to your point, I’ve been doing the mailers so it I think it’s a Market to Market thing. I don’t know, mailers might not be for every market. I do feel like that’s probably the case. I will say for me in my market. I do a lot on Longboat Key, which is just north of Siesta Key in Sarasota and it’s actually span Sarasota Manatee County have nine miles. But so they’re the demographics that are online vote, many snowbirds, lots people that aren’t even here, they’re probably up in Chicago, you know, when it’s cold. And so they are getting my mailer. And in the mailer, they get the listings, they get the QR codes and all the recent YouTube videos I’ve done and then on the back and some other things, and on the back. It’s got all of the market stats for their for their neighborhood or what’s transpired So they’re getting all of that every single month without question. And so that’s a regular that’s another system that we do to,
D.J. Paris 25:09
to keep that. Yeah. So so in between sales, you’re touching each one of your contacts, monthly or maybe even more often than that, how critical is having that that those structures in place so that people don’t forget that you’re their realtor, right?
Shayla Twit 25:32
It’s really important because you never know where the business is going to come from, even though I say or another agent says, like, oh, repeat referral, but at the end of the day, it’s because they remember you because you’re sending stuff out and on a regular basis. And so I reach them even more than that, because I do have a YouTube channel too. And so I post on Tuesdays and Thursdays on my YouTube channel, in addition to those, among other advertising things that we do, and the YouTube channel, which goes into my mailer, and it goes into my E newsletter every single month. And what we do is, like, we talked to area businesses, we do an end of the month market update in great detail. We tour restaurants, we give, you know, a lot of people really like the neighborhood tours, because it’s like, okay, you can you can show a house and it’s like, you know, to get the feel of the neighborhood, we take it a step further. So for example, if I, if I take a new listing, I do that home tour on the YouTube, and then we do a whole neighborhood tour. And so our sellers love that too. And it’s something that we have fun with, and that we share with the public, and it gets people to understand, like, get to know Sarasota, and what’s here and the lifestyle,
D.J. Paris 26:50
that that is really quite quite smart. Because of course, when people move anywhere, they want to know, what is the culture, like, what’s the lifestyle, and if as agents, you know, it’s so interestingly, you’re mentioning this I’ve certainly had on guests before who’ve talked about, you know, creating content, video content, specifically around, you know, different restaurants and retail shops, and, you know, other community focused content to support the local, local industry, local industries, but this idea of doing it with doing it so, so deliberately is really, really important, I think. And I love the fact that you’re doing this regular video content, about lifestyle, like, Hey, here’s what it’s like to actually live in this area. That is not necessarily real estate specific content, but it’s incredibly important and valuable, you know, along with schooling, as well as community, you know, different opportunities that exist. So how important are those sorts of lifestyle? You know, markers, or how important is that to help bring in clients for you?
Shayla Twit 28:18
Well, it’s been really a learning curve process, I will say that it is a marathon, not a sprint, the YouTube, I think, I think if you’re not doing video, you’re missing a whole channel pun intended, of ways to get people to know who you are. And to get business. If you’re just going to do one or two videos, don’t even do a video. That’s just my hardcore opinion on it, because it’s like you and everybody else stops. So if you’re gonna do it, do it even once a week or every two weeks, like stick to a schedule. I’ve got I’m starting to get more interaction with it. Now. I’m not up to even 500 subscribers yet, but it’s been it’s a it’s a challenging platform. I’ll say that to to grow. Yeah, but But it’s been fun. I think that people are now calling and saying oh my gosh, I saw your YouTube where they might have seen me they may have Googled me first or Google shares that are realtors, you know, and then they stumble on me and then they see my because my YouTube goes to my website, and it auto uploads on my website, too. So that’s why if you gotta do so many things to be out, you know, unless someone already knows about you. So,
D.J. Paris 29:37
yeah, so this idea of creating content for on social media for your, for the public for for your, your sphere of influence. I’ve I’ve had hundreds of guests on the show over the years, and they all typically tend to, to focus on a providing content, solving problems, I think is a lot of times what drives content. So if you’re a realtor out there, and you’re thinking about, what should I be focused on on social media, I always think, you know, just write down the most common questions that you’re receiving from your buyers, your sellers, and then start to create content around answering those questions. You know, like, and I imagine in Sarasota, you can because when people move, obviously, there’s just a lot of things outside of the house that are factored in.
Shayla Twit 30:39
I mean, like, we think like, so throughout the day, like, as you have conversations, as problems come up, as unique circumstances come up, we just write them down. And we’re like, Oh, that’d be good video, this would be good video. And a lot of the conversations I have are okay, what are the I want to be walkable to this? I have a dog, where are the dog places. So we did a walkability video, we’ve done the dog park video, we’ve done the spas, the restaurants, it’s not like anybody, like I said, anybody can just show a house all the time. And if that works for your page, great for us, I wanted to mix it up and make it fun. And just again, it’s just it’s people come here for the lifestyle. We have a lot of snowbirds here. That’s my main market, you know, beachfront condos and all that stuff. And you know, they come and go, and it’s been part of the year or half year, whatever. And they want to come here for the lifestyle in the sun. And, you know, there’s other benefits, too, of course, no state tax and all that other stuff. Unlike in Chicago, where you’re at with all the taxes. Sure. And so you want to tell them about all those great things and and learn about the area in that way.
D.J. Paris 31:53
Yeah, and I love you know, being that you’re in a competitive, Sarasota, southern Florida area, you’re in a competitive agent environment here in Chicago, we are competitive as well. How do you differentiate yourself? What what are some of the ways in which you sort of stand apart from other realtors?
Shayla Twit 32:14
Well, I think well, one of them is the YouTube channel, because I know there’s so many just start in a completely fall off. I mean, they do. And it’s interesting to watch that happened. And I and I’m happy to, you know, I guess not mentor people, or they comment upon me for advice, which is flattering, but I’m like, Listen, this is how it is like, don’t even start if you’re just not going to commit, you know. So I think because I’ve put myself out there so much, you know, on social media and the various avenues, I did actually get recently approached to do a professionally produced series, it’s called inside luxury listing in Sarasota, we actually did a little book in the studio yesterday. And so it’s going to be really excited to be released in March. And again, that’s something very different because it’s collaborating with other agents in town showcasing luxury properties that people couldn’t get into otherwise, unless they were on this, you know, show, and we’re just doing a different spin on it. And by me collaborating with I mean, I was asked, it was very generous, offered to be asked to be on this. But now with SEO, I can tag him and her and they can tag me and it just like it’s going to be mutually beneficial. So it’s not like we don’t look at that as competition. You know, we look at that as like, there’s enough business for everybody and by us coming together to give a different dynamic is just something really unique and fun and exciting.
D.J. Paris 33:47
Yeah, I think agents can really partner up and do these things themselves. I, you know, even agents, different offices can really partner up and and, you know, together, work together. It is called a cooperative commission. Let’s let’s not forget that. And yeah, there’s, there’s so much opportunity out there. People have to live somewhere. Right. And so, you know, I’m curious, what are you doing or what are what are you doing to help? Right now, agents are struggling interest rates, low inventory. Buyers are in shorter supply than before, when we were at 3% rates, so how are you staying active, busy? What are you doing to you know, keep your business rolling forward?
Shayla Twit 34:47
Well, I listen to basically from the time I get up in the morning, I’m listening to positive content, like your channel here and others just really positive mindset, real estate, millionaire billionaire mindset just like positive in positive out motivational, I have routines, I think routines are really impactful and important and the discipline behind that because you can be motivated that discipline. So I go crazy, I get up at four, I get up at four every morning and I get to the gym because I, the days I don’t work out, I just have anxiety, I just feel off. So once I get that workout in, I’m so much more motivated to tackle the day and get things done. And I think that those little rituals that you do, whether it’s journaling, or meditating or getting up or working out, or like playing with your dogs, or whatever, or going for a walk, to start the day, I think is immensely beneficial for people. If they just start, and then they stick with it.
D.J. Paris 35:57
Yeah, you know, I think the last five episodes I’ve done a peep. interviews have been with all about Miracle Morning, you know, so the Miracle Morning is is a very common popular sort of practice, in the sort of self improvement world, and having habits disciplines are really the kind of the keys to success. And so in this book, Miracle Morning, they talk about, though your physical health, your spiritual health, you’re, you’re basically setting yourself up for success early in the morning. So it’s business, physical, personal, etc. So yeah, I’m a huge, huge fan of that I imagine that book probably had a significant impact on you as well. So I guess maybe what I would be interested in is what your from a customer perspective, what do you think is? What do you think is helping helping you separate yourself from the other agents in your area? What like, what else are you doing? Aside from the CMAS?
Shayla Twit 37:16
I think that well, especially when I’m working with a buyer or seller, communication is my reputation. So what I mean by that is, for example, I just took a listing a week ago today, and it’s, you know, different market. Now, we got to change things up here. So and I’m reverting back to my old little habits that I did. Because over the last two years, we didn’t have to do all this. And that was one of them is okay. It’s been a week on the market. This is all this is everything that we’ve done. All the marketing, we’re doing a broker’s open, we call the cold call we yada yada. And so it’s all right there. And I like to do that before they can ask. Because when they ask, it’s like, when the seller saying, Well, what have you been doing? It’s like, you don’t want to be in that position. So I want to tackle it. I want to answer their questions before they even have the question. That’s my approach. And we also do a 30 day and I don’t know beyond that, you know, we’ll still do it if we have to do a 6090 day. But do that before they ask the question. Because it’ll it’ll go a long way. Not only just with putting them at ease, but also it will help if you need a price reduction, because my sellers already thinking charity said, Okay, it’s been slow. I think we priced a little too high. Let them come up with it first. It’s brilliant.
D.J. Paris 38:44
Yeah, you know, it. It’s funny, my boss, when he started to our company here at kale hit, I said, what I asked him, What was your goal, Nick, as a broker, owner of a company and with your clients, he said he only had one goal, which was he never wanted his client to have to call him first. He said, I never wanted a client to have to call me first I. So basically, you just said essentially the same thing. So you’ll be a so this idea of reaching out and proactively having communication with your clients, here’s what’s happening, or here’s what’s not happening. Here’s why. Here’s what the what, why, you know, the how, why, what, where while how, right, like all just basically explaining, here’s where we’re at, here’s what’s happening. And here’s where we’re going to move forward,
Shayla Twit 39:43
basically, and basically doing what you said you were going to do based on the listing presentation or the marketing link, or how have you produced that or, you know, give it to him. This is everything we said we were going to do at to this juncture and like you you know that that Is your word and you’re following through on your word. And you’re being proactive, not reactive.
D.J. Paris 40:05
Sure, yeah, yeah. So when, when listing stay on the market in for longer, longer periods of time, of course, then that becomes, they become vulnerable to possibly losing those listings. And so this, this is a great opportunity, because you really need to have a strategy. So that, you know, communication policy, so that at a particular time, whether it’s, you know, seven days, 14 days, 30 days, that you know, that that that person is going to receive that seller is going to receive information about how many eyeballs have checked out the property, online, how many people have scheduled appointments, and then you can use that data to then say, you know, based on other comps in the area, I’m not seeing as much interest in this property, or we’re seeing more interest in this property, and you can make adjustments from there is that how you sort of work it?
Shayla Twit 41:05
Yeah, and you know, your company might have like the automated you know, they’ll get the number of impressions or whatever per week, we also have that with Cole banker, global luxury. So that’s, that’s already built into what they’re getting. But I don’t think that’s enough, like for them to just get an automated something or they’re from the company, they need to, they need to hear from you. And another thing you can do is you can get a feel for whether they take call text or email, you know, generally you can kind of tell people like go with that, you know, read between the lines, and like, if they prefer a phone call calm and give them the rundown. And, and do it based on the client, and they’re in their comfort zone too. But I think all of these things will show that it shows value. And again, you know, people are gonna people that are still living in 2020 23 to market this is going to be really critical in the 2023. You know, market coming up for price reduction requests, because you’ve already shown you, you’re not just sitting around and calling them when there’s time to reduce the price. You’ve been doing all this work, all this quality. And now okay, we haven’t had anything, let’s get the price down to sell.
D.J. Paris 42:17
Yeah, let’s, let’s talk about about marketing. I would love to learn a little bit more about how you prospect. How do people find you? What advice do you have for agents who are maybe they don’t have a lot of buyers and sellers right now, what would you recommend for them?
Shayla Twit 42:38
Well, everybody’s got a phone. Yes or no? computer that you carry around, you have people that you can call? I think what I see a lot of new agents doing and I it’s like so redundant. All they do is they say I’m new, I’m a new agent call me like any business, I’m available for referrals, buyers and sellers, I can I can do this and that whatever. But I say like, give them information for give them value. Give them answers to questions before they can like put that good content out there. It’s still about content, right? And you can call you can text them you can eat you know, email, whatever, FaceTime, you know, and call your database go out into the community and you have a hairdresser go step by with like a little gift and just your card or something that’s the Buffini system where they call Popeyes. You don’t have to do stuff that’s expensive. Like I started out at a collagen and the money so you sell a phone, you could start a comp I didn’t know anybody. I knew nobody in town, my brothers, I can help these and college. He’s got his college buddies. He doesn’t know anybody. So I just started stopping by this. I just literally just walked into businesses introduce myself. I mean, you gotta be out there. You have to, you can cold call. You can get phone numbers now online, like, you can just call neighborhoods and say, Hey, did you know this is happening in your neighborhood? Like, can I get your email add them to the database now they’re on a drip, like there’s so many things you can do whether you’re new or a veteran,
D.J. Paris 44:17
I that’s such great advice. adding people to your database is really the key and Europe. Buffini person and everybody you know, we all love the Buffini and company company. And what we want to do is really make sure that everybody understands that the most important thing for lead generation is adding contacts to your database. It just is. So if you and I going back about 15 years, but Brian Buffini and Joe NIGO they would hold each other accountable for meeting a certain number of adding new people Pull to their database when they were practicing real estate. So they would call each other say, Did you meet two to five new people a day. That was their goal was to meet two to five new people every single day and add them to your database. Because, as you know, Shayla that your network is your net worth, right?
Shayla Twit 45:19
Yes.
D.J. Paris 45:22
Yeah, so. So I’m curious. So we’re talking about staying in touch, right? We’re talking about providing value staying in touch in between the the monoliths of buying and selling, so the transactions are the big, you know, big boulders, and then we have all these things in between. And what we really want to do is provide value to the client between those big boulders and curious on what types of content that you’re providing to them, so that they, you know, remember that you’re a realtor and that they’re in any real estate needs that they
Shayla Twit 46:05
can I’m here, right? Yeah. Well, you know, just again, from keep up, but like, it’s from, okay, like you can things to do, you can go to the ballet, I mean, people are always looking for stuff like that, like so in the E newsletter that we put out, there’s a little more, there’s more room than just the piece paper, that email. So the E newsletter is a little bit of a spin off of the mailer. And in that there’s more fun stuff, like fun happenings or like newsworthy things of, of Sarasota in the area and stuff like that. And like the restaurants and the other links, and just different things like that. You know, and outside of that I have a whole full list.
D.J. Paris 46:52
Yeah, I think it was realtors who provide guides for local communities. These can be incredibly helpful, like, is a silly example, but I was visiting my father, who was in Peoria last week. And it’s just a weirdest thing to say. But in Peoria, there’s a large Lebanese pub population for for whatever reason. So I said, Hey, Dad, let’s go to Let’s go to what’s the best Lebanese restaurant in town? Right. And so there’s tons of them. And so we have a lot of them. Yeah, we do. Yeah. And so because I been eating Lebanese food of my entire life, because that’s where I grew up. And curious. Yeah. So I was like, this is really interesting. So as a result, we, you know, we went online, and I, and there’s like, 20 different restaurants in Peoria that are for Lebanese. And so we’re like, I don’t I don’t know which ones. But like, those are the kinds of things that I need to, you know, we need to solve that problem. And I didn’t know which was the best thing. And this is where realtors can really add value and really differentiate themselves outside of even just real estate advice itself.
Shayla Twit 48:11
Yeah, like you want to be the mayor of Sarasota, or mayor of Chicago or whatever, like, and I thought that term was funny, but it kind of fit if somebody else does that, to me, they’re like, the mayor of Sears. And like, that’s kind of the goal. By the way. I’m happy Turkish, are you? Are you?
D.J. Paris 48:28
No, I’m not. I’m not. No, I’m not but. But the idea is, is the idea of coming together and train trying to create value for people by solving problems for them, right. So like families need to eat, families need to live somewhere. So this idea of providing content around those basic needs, oftentimes can be really fun. And it’s as simple as really just taking your phone and turning it around and turning the camera on and saying, Hey, today I’m talking about XY and Z. But promoting local, promote locally, and, you know, a lot of these businesses, the challenge here, this is such an opportunity, I think Realtors really miss out on this. So, what they don’t understand is that Realtors what Realtors don’t understand is that they can reach out to these businesses and offer them like hey, I want to I love your product service your store and I want to expose my audience to your you know your wares your your you know, whatever you’re shilling. And as as a result, I would like you to also you know, possibly, you know, mentioned me so you’re basically giving them free advertising by you know, doing a real or a video or a story about why you liked this particular vendor in your local community. And then you can from there go on to create content, supportive of that community, and then tag those, those those, you know, different businesses in there, and hopefully drive more engagement.
Shayla Twit 50:24
This is actually how my channel started. So it’s funny you say that because I was just going to be doing like logo, not just but it’s kind of started into from that. Because I’ve got friends who own businesses, and I just was like, I want to have you’re the channel that benefits me because it’s our channel. But really, it’s promoting you. And I hope it drives I hope it drives customers to you. And it’s been so nice to give back in that way. And it’s complimentary. We don’t ask anything in return, we just, and we just we have one of the video. And then we promote the video from these different platforms, email, social media, and the mailers. So they get hit a few different ways. And, you know, we pay for all that advertising, of course, and it gives the customer the recipient of the piece of mail or, you know, whatever something to look at and value and I’m not Honey, let’s go to this restaurant, or let’s go check out the football game at this bar or something like that. And it’s cool. And actually, so we’re coming up on our 300th video, and we invited everybody that was has been a guest thus far on the channel to the vet, one of the first places I did a video at was Rafferty’s bar, downtown Main Street. And so we’re gonna have it at the bar. And we’re just gonna have like a happy hour. And it’s we’re gonna do a little video and pass the microphone around. And it’s just gonna be like a big like to do and we’ll tag everybody and it’s just and then they can meet each other exchange car, there’s gonna be like a little business networking thing on top of having this great video. And it’s just like, it just, it feels really good to do that stuff. And I didn’t I didn’t see it coming, you know this far? Like it hasn’t it’s just been really enjoyable
D.J. Paris 52:04
process. Yeah, you basically created a community, it sounds like, and that’s really exciting. And people like community, we need it. We, we embrace it. And you know, I always think like, every single person always is thinking about the weekend, right? Like, what am I going to do this weekend? What are the events going on? What am I gonna do with my kids? What am I going to do with personally, and when you have these kinds of events, sort of structures in place, you can then begin to start to, you know, just help other the residents in the area sort of know what, what, here’s all the cool events that are happening in this area. And I think there’s tremendous value in that. And it’s,
Shayla Twit 52:55
it just makes my heart happy. And it sounds corny, but I’m like, it’s just fun to be able to do this. And they’re excited, and I’m excited. And we’re just sharing and listen, like, you know, I want people to make money. I want my friends to do well. And so whenever I can do referrals are great. And if Hey, they remember me and give me a referral person. I want that. And it kind of always comes back full circle. So it’s a win win. For sure.
D.J. Paris 53:23
Yeah, I totally, totally agree. And for anyone out there who’s listening who may want to refer business to Shayla, so she’ll tell us a little bit more about what you provide for you in Sarasota to your clients.
Shayla Twit 53:42
Well, I have staff just me I do have a full time assistant and her name happens to be Shayla as well, so she’s available. She’s been with me about six and a half years now and the Sheila’s so we have the two of us full time and you know, I guess from working with my sellers and and buyers, we’re just at your service basically. And happy to do that.
D.J. Paris 54:12
Or great grateful for you coming on our show but he gave tons of great information and strategies and content. We are so honored to have you Shayla thank you so much for being on keeping it real. I want to remind everybody to please visit Sarasota real estate sold.com Sarasota real estate sold.com which is everything related to Charlotte and we’ll have links to those in the show notes. Please follow her on social media, Instagram, Facebook as well as Tik Tok. So please do that. On behalf of the audience. We want to thank a Shayla for are coming on our show. We appreciate it. We greatly greatly appreciate it and be on behalf of the listeners. We want to thank you the listeners as well. To make sure to please tell another friend tell a friend about the show. Think of one other agent that could benefit from hearing from our Sorry, I’m gonna I’m gonna redo this one at the end. But anyway, yes, we are grateful to have you. Thank you so much for being on our show. And we will we will see everybody on the next episode. Please tell a friend. Thank you. Thanks so much Shayla.
Shayla Twit 55:36
You’re welcome. Thank you
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