Barry Karch from Barry and Tammy Karch in El Paso, Texas talks about what it’s like to be an introverted real estate agent. D.J. and Barry discuss how difficult it is to approach to people and start a conversation. Barry describes how his business has changed since Covid19. Barry also describes the advantages introverted agents have in the real estate business. Next, Barry talks about social media and how introverts can participate. Last, Barry describes how he keeps in touch with his previous clients.
Please check out Barry’s The Real Estate UnSalesPerson Podcast.
If you’d prefer to watch this interview, click here to view on YouTube!
Barry Karch can be reached at 915-549-4663.
This episode is brought to you by iGuide.
Transcript
D.J. Paris 0:00
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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 Barry Carter, who is known as the real estate on salesperson and specifically for all of you out there going how come you don’t interview a lot of introverts? Well, today we are interviewing an introvert who has become a very successful realtor. And I think his story will be very inspiring and he’ll provide a lot of insight for all of us that don’t consider ourselves extroverts. I personally think of myself as an introvert. So I love this conversation. So please speak with Barry in just a moment. But before we get to Barry, just a couple of quick reminders. Whether you’re an introvert or an extrovert, how about helping us grow our show by just telling one other agent about us. So think of one other real estate professional that could benefit from hearing this great conversation you’re about to hear from Barry and send them a link to our show. So they can send you can send them right over to our website which is keeping it real pod.com or pull up whatever podcast app they’re using and search for keeping it real hit that subscribe button and also please leave us a review. You know if you’re listening in Apple podcasts or Spotify or Pandora or Gosh, all the other places you can listen to podcasts. leaving us a review helps us know what we’re doing right and how we can improve as well. So we appreciate it. But guys enough about me this is the end of the year. In fact you might even be hearing this in January because we are even super behind. So I don’t know if it’s happy new year yet or happy end of the year. Either way. We’re so glad to have you on listening to our show part of our community and we thank you so on to our interview with Barry March.
Today on the show we have Barry Karcher, who is a podcast host this show is called the real estate on salesperson which we have by the way have a link to in our show notes. He’s also a Top Producing Realtor in El Paso, Texas, but let me tell you a little bit more about Barry. Barry Karcher has always considered himself an unlikely realtor. He’s quiet, introverted and and salesy or maybe that’s the best quality I love on salesy, but he’s really not your prototypical. He does not have the prototypical formula for real estate brokerage success yet. Barry has been a top selling realtor for 36 years which is beyond amazing. He sells as many as 100 homes per year. He’s also the broker owner of a real estate brokerage in El Paso, which is called the real estate powerhouses. He has come to realize that being an introvert in real estate actually gives him many advantages over his more extroverted colleagues. He has created a podcast called The Real Estate on salesperson to encourage and inspire his fellow introverted realtors and has just launched the unsafe salesperson community which you can find@patreon.com forward slash on salesperson. That link is also in our show notes. His mission is to teach introverts that they have what it takes to succeed in real estate. And before I welcome very I would like to say that we are so grateful to have Barry out not only as a fellow podcast hosts that we can help support each other in that community but also I have been dying to have an introverted realtor or someone who identifies as introverted and wants to talk about it on our show for years now. So we are so grateful to have Barry Barry, welcome to the show.
Barry Karch 4:49
Hi, DJ, thank you for having me. I’m really looking forward to being on your show and I really enjoy it.
D.J. Paris 4:54
Well, I am so glad you have the podcast you have because I think You know, I don’t know what the percentage of introverts are in, in society, at least here in the United States, but it is a significant, not insignificant chunk of people. And a lot of realtors who do identify or do are do classify themselves as introverted, oftentimes do feel lost, because they see agents who are a lot more, you know, extroverted, doing things that they feel that way, I’m not comfortable there. So I’m so glad we’re gonna have this conversation because I have seen many introverted Realtors rise to the very top, like like yourself, you’re in that category, of course. So I would love to go all the way back 36 years, though, because that is quite an accomplished career. Really, truly impressive. And we’d love to know about how you got into real estate and why real estate all those years ago?
Barry Karch 5:50
Good question. And, you know, I’m still asking myself that it was. I was a very unlikely, accidental realtor, I didn’t anticipate ever going into real estate, I never planned to be in real estate. When I went to school, I went to I went after high school, I went to college, because that’s my my parents said, you’ll go to college, it’s what you’re supposed to do. So I went to college at University of Texas at Austin. And I didn’t really know what I wanted to do. I was a good student, I got A’s pretty much in everything, I was a good student. So the school was not a problem. For me. My strengths were math numbers, I was very detail oriented, which are not feels that Realtors oftentimes are good at times, builders aren’t very detail a number of people. But I was good at that. So I probably would have been better at accounting, engineering, something like that. Sure, it probably is more suited to that. But I didn’t really have a calling when I was in my early 20s. I didn’t really have a passion for anything in particular didn’t know what I wanted to do. And so I went through school. I’m always jealous of the people that know what they want to do early on in life. I wish I was one of those people. I feel the same way. Yeah, I didn’t know. And so my parents were in real estate. And they seem to be doing quite well. Not knowing what to do. I decided I guess I’ll just follow them and go on to real estate too. So I went in there by default, because I couldn’t think of anything else to do. That’s how it all started.
D.J. Paris 7:23
Yeah, well, look, it’s I love the I love the honesty there. And I’m always again, I feel the same way about how I was so jealous of people that knew that at 18 or 19, that, Oh, I’m going to be a doctor. And so they absolutely start down that path. And, you know, I guess eight, eight or 10 years later, they they’ve done it, but I boy, I was the same way. I was like, I don’t really know what I want. And I didn’t really discover marketing, which which is really I didn’t even discover that in college, I had to delete, you know, graduate school and then ended up, you know, found myself in in marketing all those years later. So I definitely appreciate that. And so what I’m curious about is, and so as somebody who talks to newly licensed agents almost daily, in fact, the reason I was a little bit late to our show was I was talking to a broker that’s just about or rather a person who’s about to become a broker in about a week and trying to give her some advice about how to get started and maybe what to look for in a firm. And she also identifies as introverted. So it’s just a coincidence that I had this conversation just before our, our conversation here. And I think that introverts, it’s, it can be very scary, thinking, Well, gosh, I see so much extroverted activity by other realtors. I’m curious and how you got started and how you prospected because that’s traditionally thought of as an extroverted activity, I’m going to proactively reach out to people I know or meet new people. Not that introverts can’t do those things. But that often becomes energy draining, you know, certain types of those activities for introverts. So I’m curious on how you got started, what worked for you? And I imagine that might even be different from what somebody who was identifies as an extrovert said how they got started.
Barry Karch 9:15
Right, right. Well, I’ll tell you what I did at the beginning. But bear in mind, I started in the stone age, because it remember it was 36 years ago. So the world was completely different. Back then there was no social media. There was no Internet, there were no mobile phones. I mean, it was a different world when I started in the business. So back in those days, we would, we would take floor time in the office when calls came in. I would follow up on leads when I first joined the business. My father who had been in business for a while he gave me a stack of old leads, like from months and months ago, people he never had time to follow up with he’s like Hear, call these people. So that’s what I did at the very beginning. And like you said, making phone calls isn’t my idea of a lot of fun, it’s not my favorite thing to do in the world. But on the other hand, I also want to be successful, and I do enjoy eating. So I guess I, the, the fear of calls was over overtaken by the fear of not being successful not having food on the table. So I just forced myself to go ahead and make some phone calls or reach out to people, I wasn’t going to let it limit me or stop me from doing what I knew I needed to do to be successful. So I reached out to a bunch of people made phone calls. And in doing it, I found out that most people were pretty friendly, when you call them, they’re pretty nice, it wasn’t so bad. And once you get going, you kind of get on a little roll, and it’s a little easier. The first call is the hardest, and then it gets a little easier and easier. So I just kind of overcame my fears of it and just forced myself to do it. So that’s how I started out way back when
D.J. Paris 11:11
I when I started in. I started in financial services in about 2001. And that was also even though the internet certainly existed and was used by most people, the telephone was still a very viable way to reach people that you didn’t know, cold calls. You know, this was right after some of the do not call stuff went into effect. But but it was still doable. And it may be it’s still doable now. It’s just I think harder making sure you’re calling people that are you know, that you’re allowed to call. But, but I had the same sort of experience and I think of myself probably is more extroverted than introverted. Although I have some introverted qualities, maybe all of us have have a little bit of both, but but certainly I lean more on the extroverted side. And I remember, they gave me they gave me a phone book, really. And it was a, it was a little bit more than a phone book. But that’s essentially what it was. And they said, Here you go make 200 dials a day. And this was for being a financial advisor. And I found the same thing, I would have people that, you know, weren’t interested. But I rarely ever got yelled at. And I thought, even as somebody who’s extroverted, it was hard for me to pick up the phone. Every morning, I had to have a little talk with myself. And then after, like you said, after the first few calls, you’re like, oh, it’s not so scary. And I’m not so sure that that that that works in in 2021, as it did when you started and and when I started in a different industry. But it was a good way to get over that fear. I was glad for that experience. Because it told me oh, I can I can make a random phone call to somebody I don’t know and not not be completely immobilized by the fear there were in the past I would have been.
Barry Karch 13:04
Right, right. And also I did a similar thing. I remember back in the day, we had what was called a criss cross directory.
D.J. Paris 13:13
That’s Yes, we had ours was called the Hanes. Hanes was the company that made the one. Yeah, they were called the criss cross. So they were giant, massive, intimidating books full of phone numbers.
Barry Karch 13:27
Yeah, I would do that for like an hour every morning to start the day calling around neighbors around listings or around homes that were sold to see if they wanted any help also, so yeah, not not my favorite thing to do. But I did it, I’d force myself to do it. Yeah, I
D.J. Paris 13:44
think it’s a good skill to have. And whenever I talk to somebody who is says, you know, I think I’m going to try calling expired listings or for sale by owner listings, which for everyone listening, there’s a lot of services online that will sell you that data on a daily basis. Those, those are difficult phone calls. Because those are people that are either upset with a realtor, possibly for not having a home sell, or they’re just people that don’t want that or choosing not to work with a realtor. So they can be difficult phone calls. But I encourage people to try it not because I think it works so well. Because I probably doesn’t work that well anymore. But it’s great experience of just learning how to pick up the phone and sort of get your way through that fear. Because I think that same sort of courage to pick up the phone and do that also comes into play during an open house. I think I think that’s courageous to go up to somebody who walks in and say, Hey, I’d love to tell you I mean, I don’t think that’s easy either.
Barry Karch 14:45
Go out of my strength, not one of my strengths. I was never good at an open house. So that’s something I did as little as possible. I was I was not very good at coming up to strangers and creating a good conversation with them.
D.J. Paris 14:57
Yeah, it’s tricky too, because I really do Believe it’s like when you go into any sort of store where they’re salespeople retail establishment, and I’m a pretty extroverted guy, but mostly I just want to be left alone. So even, I’m very polite to people who come up to me. But rarely, I always applaud people that just come up when I go into, you know, Banana Republic, let’s say, and they go, Hey, can I help you? And was like, No, I’m just browsing. But, but I always see that as, as as a good skill to have. And I think picking up the phone and calling, you know, even even neighbors of listings, which I think is such a great idea. And I think I’m curious if you still do that today. So if you get a listing, and it closes, are you contacting, still making those kinds of cold calls to the neighbors nearby saying, Hey, by the way, I, I help so and so? Or do you not do that anymore? Do you do it a different way?
Barry Karch 15:51
I stopped doing that years ago, really, when the do not call lists came out? I was like, Yes, that was my excuse to do this anymore. Because most people were on that list. So I stopped doing it pretty much about that time.
D.J. Paris 16:04
Yeah, it’s like it’s a good rule of thumb. If you had to guess, does this person want these kinds of calls? And then they might even think they’re on the Deunan call? And they might not be? And then you look like a jerk? Because they thought they were on there. And it’s not your fault. But yeah. So I’m just curious. So fast forwarding all the way. Oh, I would love to know at what point you started your own brokerage, how long into your career before you you decided to go off on your own.
Barry Karch 16:31
I started 10 years ago. So I was already in the business about 2025 26 years when I started my own company. But I started 10 years ago, and at that time, we, I had a vision of I didn’t use the office very much as always out of the office on appointments. Being an introvert, I guess maybe I didn’t like being in the office around people so much. Because I had a lot of interruptions all the time. So sure, I prefer to work at home by myself. You know, that’s a real introvert thing to do, right? So I’ll just you’re sitting in my home and my computer, doing my research there and then going out to the appointment and coming back home. So I thought 10 years ago, you know what we could do? We could do away to the office and become a virtual company. And 10 years ago, we were kind of on the early part of that trend. Yeah, you guys were pioneers. Yeah. Now, it’s not as big a deal. But 10 years ago, it was very unusual that we created a virtual company 10 years ago, for that reason how you
D.J. Paris 17:29
were really ahead of the curve, it’s and I’ll tell you, just with respect to where I work, we have a just under 800 agents here, we have two physical offices and 99% of our brokers never come in. And in fact, that’s not strictly because of COVID. I’m even pre COVID Nobody can ever came in and we, you know, our agents can use the office 24/7 will give them access anytime they want to. Yeah, nobody does. And I think what’s great, too, one of the things that’s happened, which I thought I’d be curious to get your opinion on, which is, you know, during COVID, of course, I think a lot of us in, you know, became familiar with doing, you know, online meetings, zoom in particular, and then there’s lots of different versions of that technology. But I think that, you know, even people who are retired or probably jumped on a Zoom meeting during that time with their family, or maybe a FaceTime thing. But but certainly I think we just got conditioned now to we all sort of go, oh, online meetings are really easy and doable. And we’re sort of used to it and, and I think that I’m curious on, you know, your take on as an introvert, I imagine that that was very welcomed for you because you can enabled people to be more use to not having face to face not that you don’t want to have face to face, I’m sure you do. But it’s nice that you don’t always have to anymore. I always thought real estate is all belly to belly and eye to eye and, and maybe a lot of it is but but I think it’s becoming a lot more virtual. Not just even the fact that you know, the offices is isn’t as virtual but I’m curious if that if the client experience for you has changed, or your processes have changed since COVID. We’re now we’re all conditioned to just doing doing things virtually.
Barry Karch 19:26
Oh, yeah, I love zoom. I started meeting buyers for the first time I do my initial introduction and meeting and get to know them on Zoom rather than meeting them in person. So that’s great. And also for the company. I started doing our sales meetings on Zoom and I haven’t stopped it since then. Because even before COVID Allah as people were grumbling Oh, I have to drive to the office or so much. I mean not the office but where we had the meeting. And there was so much traffic, you know now zooms easier or they can do it at their home. And we can have the meeting. So I do a lot of meetings on Zoom now. And yeah, it definitely suits my style very well.
D.J. Paris 20:07
I’m curious, too, if you’ve had any buyers in particular, who are open to you doing virtual showings, where maybe you’re at the property or one of your agents is there, you know, who’s on either a zoom or FaceTime, or some sort of conferencing video software, where, you know, they’re like, hey, you know, and they walk around, has Have you started to see, you know, are you able to do those? Have you started? Curious if that’s been working for you, or if you’ve tried that yet?
Barry Karch 20:38
I’ve done that for a long time. Actually, I’ve done that before. COVID, even for lovers and years. The reason is not that I didn’t want to show people homes in person, but a lot of my clientele were military. And they did not get a house hunting trip into town. So they bought they wanted to have a home ready when they moved to El Paso. So we would walk through a bunch of homes via zoom or FaceTime or, or Skype or something. And we would tour homes that way, and they would pick a home and buy it. But I’ve done that for years. So that really wasn’t a change. Yeah, it’s
D.J. Paris 21:08
amazing. It’s just, I’m just so glad our audience can hear that these sort of things are possible and not out of out of range. But I would love to talk about it as opposed to thinking of introverts as as being disadvantaged. Because I don’t think that’s necessarily true. I just think there’s probably more extroverted realtors. So it’s easy to think, oh, that might actually not be a strength to be introverted, and to try to grow a real estate practice. Obviously, you’re proof that it has it isn’t a challenge, or rather, it isn’t debilitating challenge. And I’ve had lots of introverts actually on our show who say, Oh my gosh, I love being an introverted realtor. But for those of our audience who maybe feels, you know, gosh, I don’t know how to incorporate my introverted this into my business. I’m curious on, you know, what advantages you think introverts have?
Barry Karch 22:01
Oh, sure. There’s a lot of advantages. And I tell you what, looking back on my career, I believe whatever success I’ve achieved has come from being an introvert. That has really been the main advantage that has enabled to set me apart. And before I go into the van, just real quickly, let me just mention that there are a lot of introverted realtors, I’ve come to find. And I’ve also come to find that the majority of the top realtors are introverts, which you might not expect, but they they are. And so advantages are many. But it all starts with being quieter, and not pushy when you meet a client. I don’t know about you, but I don’t like pushy salespeople. I don’t think most people do. You go into a store looking at a car or something, you don’t want someone coming up to you and trying to push you into vice versa lay. Yeah. So I think consumers oftentimes fear that when they meet a realtor, they’re going to be pushy, also an aggressive and they’re, they’re going to have to try to fend them off. So when I first meet clients, they see that I’m quite a bit different. I’m quieter, I’m soft spoken. I listen a lot more than I talk. I’m not super talkative. So I listen to them, I find out what they want. It’s all about them. And I think we let people talk more, it makes them feel important, first of all, and it makes them feel appreciated. And it makes them feel understood. And they just start to feel comfortable working with me, because I’m not trying to sell them a house, I’m not pushing them into one. I’m not trying to be aggressive. So they start feeling comfortable with me, they open up more tell me what they really like and don’t like. And I kind of morph into more than advisor role than a salesperson role. And it’s just, it’s a great way to build up the trust. And it just has really worked, they find that I’m different and than they expected and we hit it off real well and has led to some good long term relations with past clients too.
D.J. Paris 24:12
Yeah, I I appreciate you mentioning that. And I think too, that like attracts like, right and and I think that, you know, certainly being extroverted there are people that that enjoy a more forward sort of presentations type of broker who who does sort of give the song and dance routine. However, I think the vast majority of us don’t prefer sales people as you said, we prefer consultants we all want the consultant experience that makes us feel important. And what is a consultant do they go into to you know, a individual or business and they say, tell me about what what you want or what your problems are. And then let me come back to you with some ideas after that and they come back. And I think that that is essentially sort of how you describe a bit of your process, although I overly simplified it. But this idea of listening, I mean, this is Dale Carnegie 101. Right? The this is, you know, get interested in people learn about them, talk less, listen more, I think that is I once interviewed a woman, very early on in the show, who is one of the top Realtors in here in Chicago. And I said, tell me how what your process is when you work with a client. And she said that with buyers in particular, she sits them down in her office. And she goes, usually the meetings last about an hour or more, because I just asked them probably 100 Questions about I want to know exactly what they want. And and then I say, Okay, give me some time to come up with some ideas and come come back to you. And and I, again, it seems so obvious to top producers that that is everyone’s process, and it isn’t. So I think you’re right, I think this idea of listening is obviously a skill that introverts have in droves. And that is such an important skill, because you’re right, it makes people feel comfortable. And it also makes them feel important, like you said, but Oh, wow, someone’s listening to me, right?
Barry Karch 26:18
Yeah, right. So like, networking, for example, or in big group settings, I’m not good at all, I’m not going to make many connections. But real estate is not networking, it’s a one on one business. It’s just the realtor and the client in front of them. And introverts can be excellent and making those deep one on one connections. And extroverts can be much better at working in a room and meeting a whole bunch of people. But going deep with one person, introverts can be very good at that. So that that’s another one of the big advantages.
D.J. Paris 26:51
I think you’re right that top producers tend to be more introverted, I would be really curious if National Association of REALTORS ever does a study where they just interview agents and ask them how they identify and what their production is. I would be very curious to see what percentage are introverts? Because I think you’re right. And I think that the reason why agents become so successful is this is a referral based business. And I think the extroverted activities, although can be certainly credibly successful. But I think the idea of building strong, deep relationships with people one on one is is obviously what introverts tend to prefer energy wise. And that is, hopefully I imagine has led to a lot of referrals. I imagine a good chunk of your business is referral based, if not all of it. I imagine.
Unknown Speaker 27:44
The majority of my business nowadays is referral based, right? I’ve I mean, I’ve probably had in the last month or two about 10 listings all from past clients. So which is great. I love it. And I love when they go way, way back. I had one earlier this year, that was my furthest back client that ever came back to me to sell. It was like 32 years ago, she bought the house. And then she contacted me to resell and I, I’ve got one house now it’s coming on the market they bought from me 20 years ago. So I have people that go way back. Because I mean, we develop a good relationship, and I stay in touch with them. Which, again, probably another strength of introverts is following up following through. We tend to be more detail oriented, perhaps, and do more research, but we’re good at following up with people and being organized.
D.J. Paris 28:32
Yes, following up with people might be, in my opinion, the strongest client skill once you get clients to have and obviously, there’s probably nothing more important than follow up especially even after a sale right? That’s that’s when a lot of times follow up stops for agents and remembering trying to remember Oh, boy, I built a really strong relationship with this person, I would should probably keep it going. I’m curious to ask you about social media, which is, I think oftentimes misunderstood as an extroverted exclusive activity, where I’m I’m showcasing my life. Certainly people have different boundaries around what they’re willing to share personally or privately with the public. What what part of their private life they’re willing to share, if any, I’m curious on how social media works for someone like yourself, is that a big part of your business? Is it is it something you don’t participate in? So I’m curious to get your thoughts on that.
Barry Karch 29:31
I do very little social media. I get almost none of my business from social media. I’m not a big fan of it. I put things out there from time to time, but very little and I go through phases. Sometimes I enjoy it. And I’m in a phase right now where I’m not doing it so much. But that’s never been a very big part of my business. And I
D.J. Paris 29:52
think that’s important for our audience to hear because they’re likely hearing from a lot of different sources. You have have to be on social, that’s where you end up, you know, developing relationships. And I like the fact that that’s not been your path. And it doesn’t, maybe it doesn’t play to your strengths, or it’s something you don’t enjoy. And it’s nice to where you can say, hey, I’m, I’m still a top producer, and I don’t really participate much on social and it doesn’t seem to have affected your business. Because I think, you know, the relationships you’ve built with people are the very most important part of how to build a business. So I’m curious on what other strengths, you know, you mentioned, being detail oriented and being sort of number oriented, which, you know, being good with, with with figures, isn’t necessarily an introverted trait, although it certainly could be, but just being be able to focus on those type of activities. I’m curious how that sort of set you apart maybe from other agents, who aren’t as strong in that way.
Barry Karch 30:57
I Well, the the follow up is one of the most important things like you said. And also keeping calm under pressure. Let me give you the follow up first. I, early in my career, I heard a study that after within six months of after you close on the house, most buyers cannot remember the name of the realtor, or even the company they work for. So yeah, they’re gonna they’re gonna forget you immediately if you don’t keep in touch with them. So I always look at it like, my, my communication with them just starts at the closing. So I’m very, I’ll stay in periodic regular contact with them for years and years and years and years after closing and never stops. So I’m very detailed that way, and very good on the follow up. So that helps. And they don’t mind me
D.J. Paris 31:49
asking, I just want to pause for a second because I want to just drill down just a slight slight bit on that, because you just said something very important. Which is, you know, once the home closes, that’s really the beginning of my communication, or at least the follow up communication. How do you stay in touch? Are you making? Are we doing phone calls? Is it emails at texting? Is it anything on social? You know, what are the strategies? Is it mailers? You know, what are you doing to to periodically reach those people that are already in the past of clients?
Barry Karch 32:20
Okay, well, a few different things. I want I want to a real estate convention years ago, and Brian Buffini was a speaker there. Yeah. And he was talking about, he gave out a tape back in the day afterwards of, you know, what he recommended doing and I heard him talk about doing pop buys where you stopped by a client’s house and drop off a little gift. And I was thinking to myself, I wish I thought of that. I don’t know why I never thought that myself, but I can see myself doing that. So I started doing it. I started just popping by past clients this house periodically and dropping off a gift. And they were so surprised to see me at first. Because usually when the sale is over, they think that’s the last they’re gonna ever hear of their realtor. But I would stop by and I would give them various different things throughout the year. But my favorite thing always was the Girl Scout cookies, because you can buy a box of cookies for four bucks. And what else can you give somebody for $4 that they’re going to love. I mean, everyone loves Girl Scout cookies, everyone Yeah, $4 you can make them so happy and that is so much cheaper advertising than anything you can spend anywhere else on Zillow or anywhere else you want to talk about spend four bucks on the people that supported you and they give you referrals and repeat business. So I would pop by their house year after year after year. And like the home I just listed that I mentioned that I sold the home 20 years ago, they’ve got two sons in high school now that weren’t even born when they bought the home. And when I came over to the house, the parish introduced me and said this is the guy that’s been dropping off the bills got cookies for us and so the kids all loved me but I came over and so I do pop buys and I’ll I follow it up with personal notes because people never get handwritten notes in the mail. No right Oh,
D.J. Paris 34:10
boy, I just want to pause for a second personal notes and this is this is straight out of the blue Feeny play the Buffini playbook so I love I love this Popeyes and personal notes, handwriting notes. You know if I get an outside of birthday anniversary, you know the the December holidays outside of the major holidays, which I get very few handwritten notes. Anyway, during those I get no handwritten notes outside of that.
Barry Karch 34:36
Right? Hardly anybody ever gets a handwritten note? You just get junk mail, maybe bills in the mail. But if you ever get a handwritten notes me the first thing you open like Oh, who wrote me What is this about? So I love the handwritten notes because it makes you stand out from the crowd. And then the third thing I do as as Brian Buffini says is I make phone calls to my past clients and I know a lot of realtors, extroverts as well as introverts. They dread picking up the phone and calling their past clients. Like they think what do I say to them? You know, but I find that it’s very easy. I mean, there’s there’s nothing fancy, you just call them up and say, Hey, how are you doing? Just was thinking about you and want to see how you’re enjoying your house? That’s it. That’s all Yeah. Yeah, and they appreciate it because again, they think they can’t believe you remember them. And so that’s all it takes, and just keep in touch them periodically, and, and your business will flourish. From there.
D.J. Paris 35:28
It’s it’s 100% could not agree more. And you know, for everyone thinking in look, I believe it’s scary to to pick up a phone and call a past client. And even especially if you haven’t been contacting that client for several years, right. And you think, oh, boy, now I’m embarrassed. I think, you know, personally, I think, you know, you could always, if you feel that way, you could always call them and say hey, I just wanted to apologize, I have not done a great job of staying in touch. But I my goal this year is to make sure that I stay in touch with my, my clients, you were so good to me. And by the way, just wanted to check in see how everything’s going or, you know, as you mentioned that it could be that simple. How’s the home? How is everything going? But you could also ask to like, you know, how, how, how is the you know, how is maybe not asking so much about the pandemic, but hey, is your work situation changed? Are you working from home these days, you could just find out what’s going on in their life. And or call them on their anniversary of buying the home say, hey, five years ago, you bought this home? I don’t know if you remember it, it was this day. But I wanted to call and say Hey, happy five year anniversary. And it doesn’t have to be scary.
Barry Karch 36:38
Yeah, exactly. Those are great ideas. And you’re gonna find that they love hearing from you, they would be so impressed that you remember them and think about them, and it makes them feel special. So again,
D.J. Paris 36:48
most of the time, you’re probably going to get the voicemail anyways. Yeah, so you can always watch it, which is even in some ways easier, because then you can just leave that exact same message. It’s like, Hey, I was thinking about you. I hope you’re doing well. And just even this demonstration that I care, I care about you. I imagine you’re not somebody that asks for business. Although I certainly don’t know.
Barry Karch 37:13
No, I asked him if they might know anybody. I never asked him directly for business. But I say Do you know do you know anybody else that is thinking about buying or selling a house, and after a while become so conditioned to thinking about sending you referrals? That you get
D.J. Paris 37:25
them? Yeah, I love that. One other advantages? Do you think like, I’m curious, do you think introverts or somebody like yourself, who’s who’s very number focused? I imagine that gives you a competitive advantage when it comes to running CMAs. And just assessing value. You You’re a numbers guy, and I’m curious on how you think that translates into, you know, better servicing your clients?
Barry Karch 37:53
Yeah, great question. You know, we introverts don’t like to wing it, we’d like to be very well prepared and organized before the appointment. So I’ll do my research before listing appointment, have information with me. And when I come over to the house, if they talked to a realtor before so often I hear you were so much more prepared or has so much more information than the last realtor I talked to. So yeah, I’ll have a thorough CMA, I’ll have all kinds of data for them. And it impresses them on on my knowledge of the market. So that definitely is a big help. And that’s certainly another one of the big advantages.
D.J. Paris 38:30
And anyone just to sort of give not not an example myself, but like I identify more as an extrovert. However, I prefer working with introverts, because I don’t want to be sold. Either I want somebody that’s like, Hey, I’ve done a bunch of work here. And I want to I want you to digest it and review it, and I’ll help you understand it. But I would much prefer that versus somebody who’s fun and nice and and not that you’re not fun in nice as well, but somebody who, who that becomes really their presentation about how how you know, how they act, you know, and more of that deeper, emotional sort of thing. I think that that I much prefer I don’t like a lot of that. I like somebody that says, hey, here’s a bunch of work I did, and take a look at it, and then let’s discuss it. So I think that introverts don’t even necessarily have to only work with introverts Of course. So I imagine that makes you very valuable. Coming in and and, you know, I know also realtors who show up with a blank, blank pad of paper, and they’re they wing it and somehow it works for them. I’m, I’m not sure how, but some people are maybe better at presenting themselves off the cuff, but I certainly wouldn’t show up unprepared.
Barry Karch 39:47
No, I wouldn’t either. But like you said there’s all different styles and real estate and all different ways you can succeed there’s there’s more than one path up the mountain. So different ways to do it for different people.
D.J. Paris 39:58
Totally and And that’s what’s great about there’s great real estate coaching, as well. And now with the advent of podcasts and video streaming is, it’s so easy to find other realtors who in your podcast is a great example. And for everyone listening again, please look up the real estate on salesperson podcast. So easiest way to find that you just go to the real estate on salesperson.com. Or just pull up a podcast app search for real estate on salesperson hit that subscribe button. But tell us a little bit about the I before we get to your show. I want to just really quickly ask you, how did you last and not only last but thrive over the last three decades, which is really difficult. This is a hard industry. It’s a tough job. Tough career, but you have obviously done very, very well. And I’m curious if you have any suggestions for audience about you know, staying power? You know, maybe when it’s not so much fun? How do you keep going?
Barry Karch 40:57
Yeah, well, you have to constantly evolve, the business and the world are always changing. So what works today may not work tomorrow. So you always have to be looking at where where the world is going where the industry is going to stay abreast of it and try new things. I always always try to add a new marketing technique to the my mix every year, and test it out and see what works because looking back. My number one source of leads is probably changed about five, six times throughout my career where my business comes from. So I know people now who are in business 30 years ago, and they have not kept up with the times whatsoever. They do things like they did 30 years ago, they don’t know how to do electronic signatures or, or anything on the internet. And they’re really like dinosaurs now. But you have to you have to keep up with the times and, and evolve and always try new things out.
D.J. Paris 41:52
Yeah, and the good news is there’s no shortage of tools out there. I was just at the NAR conference, and it was in the Expo Hall. And there were several 100 vendors there. Most of them tech companies, or at least it seemed like most of them were, were those types of companies. There’s just so many tools out there. And and I think you can get sort of, you know, swallowed up and in the rabbit hole of real estate tech. But if you’re not at least keeping abreast of it and understanding, you know what efficiencies exist? Like, you know, I’m shocked whenever I talk to an agent who comes from a brokerage, where they’re not using electronic signature, I’m like, wow, you know, we started using that, like 10 years ago, and we weren’t I didn’t think we were at the forefront of that. But I guess maybe we were one of the early adopters. But But yeah, there’s really great technology that can assist, especially with things like reminding you to call somebody on their home anniversary and CRMs can do that. But I’m curious if you have any other tips for I would like to ask actually about getting started. So if you were getting started today, and you have brokers at your firm, and I imagine you probably have new brokers from time to time, how are you? What are you telling them to do to get started, especially if they’re on the introverted side?
Barry Karch 43:05
Okay. First of all, I would tell them to look for their sphere of influence, if they have one if they’re if they’re been in the city for a while. And let’s let them know that you’re in the business but in an unsafe busy manner, we’re not going to call him up and hit him over the head and say, Hey, do you have business? Or do you need you need to buy or sell a home in real estate now, I would simply drop them off a gift, or even play businesses that you frequents restaurants, hair salons, beauty parlors, wherever you go that your vet’s office, your doctor, drop off a little gift, a box of Girl Scout cookies, your box or something and say, hey, just want you know, let you know I’m now in real estate. If you know anyone else looking to buy or sell a home, please let me know. So just an easy way to get a non threatening way to get the word out. So that’s a good way to do it. And I would just let people know that have the confidence you can be yourself, you don’t have to try to be like, fit a certain mold or be like you’re not, and you can do it. But I always start with that sphere of influence. Number one, I think that’s the best way to go. If you have it. If you’re new to town, then that’s going to be a little bit different story. But you still probably know some people use some services, and you can start there. And
D.J. Paris 44:26
also just the idea of having patience and understanding that your sphere is ready when they’re ready. And all you really have to do although it’s not just as simple as I’m sure you would agree but is making sure they know that that’s what you do. And that you’re doing it going that extra mile and you know, maybe dropping off the $4 box of boy what I just realized the return on investment. You know, even if you even if you visited 100 homes, you know and spent 400 bucks, which obviously when you get started You might not necessarily have that, but if you do You have that? I would be shocked if you didn’t get one sale out of that. Probably get a lot more than that.
Barry Karch 45:06
And boy, is that cheap compared to what you could spend somewhere else to try to get business.
D.J. Paris 45:11
Yeah, it really does it I’ve always felt to like whatever the gift is, I mean, a handwritten note is essentially free. Well, maybe it’s $1 altogether. And, you know, boy, just to make somebody Cheer up, cheer them up a little bit with a little gift with the $4 box of Thin Mints. Or, you know, the, I forgot I forgot what the Girl Scout mint cookies are called. Min she got it? Yeah, 10 minutes or Samoas or whatever, you know, or just a $1 handwritten note that says, Hey, I was thinking about you. I hope you’re doing okay. Especially like right now you could still send out, you know, Hey, I didn’t you know, I’m curious on hope everything is going well for you. I know. It’s been a troubled couple of difficult couple of years. But hopefully you and your family are good. I was just thinking about you guys. That’s that’s an amazing handwritten note that probably no one else is doing. No, people would love getting it. Sure. And I and we’re running really low on time here. So and I apologize for that I could talk to Barry all day. But Barry, before we wrap up, please tell us about the podcast.
Barry Karch 46:14
Okay, so I created the podcast, the real estate on salesperson, just to encourage and inspire other people that you can be successful in real estate. Even if you don’t think you’re salesy or maybe not a prototypical salesperson, or an introvert, actually, you have the tools to be super successful. So I created to encourage people that they can do it, they can do it without having to be outgoing or extroverted.
D.J. Paris 46:41
And you also interview guests, you have guests on your show and you discuss, just tell us about some of those conversations. What what do you what’s the primary discussion,
Barry Karch 46:50
right? Okay, I have a solo show on Monday. And then I do guess every Thursday, and my guess will be most of the time there are introverted Realtors talking about how they do it, how they overcame their challenges, and where they get their business from and how it works for them. And from time to time I’ll people outside the real estate field but somewhat related to it. I have someone coming up in a couple of weeks, who is a personal trainer who so it’s not real estate, but I you have to be in good physical shape to give your best real estate. So no question. He’s talking about how you can stay in shape to do real estate, just five easy, quick steps you can take to get in good physical condition. So I have a related speaker sometimes, too.
D.J. Paris 47:41
I love that. And I think that that really inspires me to think about a little bit outside of the box of just interviewing top producers like yourself to think about other parts of wellness, and certainly physical health is one. So everyone who’s listening, please, please give, give us give a chance and listen to Barry’s podcast, which is the real estate on salesperson you can find that by visiting the real estate on salesperson.com. We’ll be promoting it as well. It’s also in our show notes here or just pull up a podcast app, look search for real estate and salesperson and and hit that subscribe button. And listen. It’s an amazing service various providing very similar in his mission to our podcast. So consider him a colleague. And we’re really honored to have Barry on the show today. And by the way, if you’re a realtor in the El Paso area, and and you would like to learn more about Barry and his company, obviously you can reach out to Barry as well. If you’re in the El Paso area, you probably know about Barry. But we’ll have a link to to his information as well in the show notes. But feel free to reach out to him. And also if you think you might be a great guest for Barry’s podcast reach out to him as well, again, the real estate on salesperson.com. I’m very I’m really, really happy to have you I’m sorry, our time is coming to a close. But I definitely want to talk to you about even possibly having you on more regularly to tackle these type of issues. Because I think there’s so much we we could we could go over. So I think this is as Barry was saying with his clients. The end of this podcast might hopefully be the beginning of other things that we can do together. So I’m really excited to continue that conversation. But we really appreciate your time today. On behalf of our audience, we want to say thank you for giving us an hour of your time which I know is not in short supply because of how successful and busy you are running a brokerage and of course working with clients and doing a podcast so I know how hard that is. So thank you on behalf of our clients and on behalf of Barry and myself, we want to thank our audience for continuing to listen and support our show. Again, please support Barry show. Go ahead and subscribe. And also subscribe to our show. If you’re not already a subscriber. Go on to whatever podcast If you use search for keeping it real, there’s a few other keeping it real podcasts which was not smart of me when I or maybe they started after I started years ago but but either way, look for the one that has the word DJ in it, which is being hit that subscribe button or just go to our website, which is keeping it real pod.com Every episode we’ve done, you can stream right from the website. And lastly, tell a friend think of one other realtor. If you have an introverted realtor, by the way, it’s somebody you should also recommend Barry’s podcast. So think of one other agent that could benefit from hearing this great interview with Barry or who would be a great person to listen to Barry show and send them links to our our show we really would appreciate it’s how we grow. And we really appreciate Barry your time. So thank you so much. And we look forward to seeing everyone on the next episode. Thank you, Barry.
Barry Karch 50:48
Thank you DJ, it was a pleasure and you got a great show. I really enjoy it.
D.J. Paris 50:52
Thank you. Well, I am super excited to check out your show because I I wish I would have come up with the idea first that you you beat me to it and likely would have done a better doing a better job with it. of talking to introverts and talking about different ways. So anyway, Barry, thank you so much. We will see everyone on the next episode.
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