Erica Campos with Coldwell Banker in Chicago talks about how she ended up with a brand new career in real estate. Erica discusses what she did to be this successful in her first 6 months in the business. Next Erica talks about open houses – how she organizes them and her follow up procedures. Erica also discusses social media and her goal for 2024 in that regard. Last, Erica talks about cooperation with vendors and creating good relationships.
If you’d prefer to watch this interview, click here to view on YouTube!
Erica Campos can be reached at (630) 291-5971 and
erica.campos@cbrealty.com.
This episode is brought to you by Real Geeks.
Transcript
D.J. Paris 0:00
Today we’re going to be talking to a brand new agent. She’s in her seventh month, and she is crushing it. She’s going to tell you exactly how she’s doing it. 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. There 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 a another episode of Keeping it real the largest podcast made by real estate agents. And for real estate agents. My name is DJ Parris, I’m your guide. I am your host through the show. And in just a moment, we’re going to be speaking with new top producer Erica composts. And, by the way, if you’re new to the show, welcome. We’re glad you’re here. If you’re returning thank you for coming back. Also, as always, please tell a friend about the show. Let other agents know about us. I just got back from a market outlook here in Chicago where we had the National Association of REALTORS chief economist Dr. Lawrence Yun speaking on his predictions for 2024. Perhaps I’ll do an episode on that myself. But it’s going to be a tricky year. So not as tricky as last year, hopefully. And he was actually fairly optimistic. But you know, we’re still going to see, you know, relatively high rates this year. You know, maybe dipping down into the lower sixes by the end of the year was his prediction. But regardless, this is going to be a tricky year just is. So let’s help each other tell other agents about our show. Let us know if there’s agents in your market where you’re just like, I wonder how that person is doing it. Somebody who’s really crushing it, well reach out to them or they can reach out to us. But we want to always continue to help our audience. We have the record number of listeners right now. So thank you for being here. Thank you for telling a friend and let’s just get to it the main event my conversation with Erica compass.
All right, today my guest on the show is Erica composts with Coldwell Banker in Chicago. Let me tell you more about Erica and this is actually a really sort of unique episode for us. I’ll tell you why in just a moment. But with over two decades of experience in insurance, finance, sales and customer service, Eric Campos brings a wealth of knowledge and unique expertise to the table. She’s a full time realtor, member of National Association Of course Chicago Association and the resident real estate counsel. She’s affiliated with Coldwell Banker in Oak Lawn, Illinois, she services Chicago and the suburbs. Now, Erica’s at 40 years old Erica decided just recently to take her own leap of faith and dive headfirst into the world of real estate, leaving her nine to five behind as a financial literary coach. She joined Coldwell Banker with a fire in her eyes and a relentless dedication to succeed. I should mention that Erica just started practicing in the last Erica was in the last eight months, I believe.
Erica Campos 4:10
Yeah, about that, like six, seven months it was back.
D.J. Paris 4:13
Sorry. I was giving you more experience than you have. So six months? Yes, six, six months and change. I want to tell you more about Erica. I really shouldn’t have asked her a question just yet. But I did. But I want you guys to hear this because this is really cool. Within her first six months, which she just just cleared six months, Erica closed an impressive four transactions as most of us remember our first six months. We probably didn’t close for transactions, so congratulations to her. But this really proved her quick grasp of the real estate market and her ability to connect with clients. She didn’t wait for the new year to even start making waves. Already this year. She closed a deal. By the way, the date that we’re recording this is January 5, so she already has a deal on the books closed for 2024. Congrats That’s to her. But also I want to also mention this because I think this oftentimes gets overlooked and forgotten about by realtors, the longer they’re in the business. So Eric has really dedicated herself to education in that first six months. So this are some of the accreditations that she has earned just within the last year. So she already is a pricing strategy advisor. She is also a property management trainer. She’s gone through property management training Community Investment Corporation. She’s a real estate investing working with investors. She is a financial literacy coach, as we mentioned before, and she’s a lead renovation, repair and paint sort of expert so she is doing a lot of different things and we’re gonna talk about why she’s adding all of these designations and what how they’re helping her with her clients, but I want everyone to follow her on the various social channels Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok LinkedIn. You can find her while LinkedIn you just search for Erica compost. But for all the others she has realtor dot Erica ca MPLS. And you can find her we will have links to all of Erica social media in the show notes. Erica long intro but welcome to the show.
Erica Campos 6:10
Thanks, CJ, thank you, thank you for having me. I am super excited that I that I got a chance to be on. I’ve been a fan of your channel for such a long time. Even before I decided to even enroll in real estate school. I would listen to your podcast and it has been a true motivation for me to get my license finally do it really well. I Yeah. So while I was studying, I listen, just to get everyone’s perspective and what is going on in the real estate world. And again, it was just very motivational and inspirational and oh, good motivation. So why I decided to just go for it. Well,
D.J. Paris 6:51
that I am. Boy, you’ve you’ve you’ve I am very surprised. I did not know any of this. So wow, that was that was a lot to take in. Thank you. It was a real, it’s a it’s a real honor to hear that. So thank you so much for sharing that I was not expecting that. And we should also mention, too, that you are the what you really threw me off my game with that one, that one that one hit that one hit me pretty hard. Congratulations. Well, I’m really proud of you as well. Because, you know, people don’t usually have this kind of success in their first six months. And it wasn’t handed to you. These are things you all earned. So I am but I’m glad to hear that maybe I was a small part of that over over the journey. And what I really want to talk about, I want to start with why the switch to real estate first. So you had this sort of, you know, traditional corporate life before. Why the switch?
Erica Campos 7:46
Well, it all started when I was 17 years old. I I’ve been in a I was an insurance agent for local State Farm agent all state. And then eventually I went to work for brokerages, bigger companies, but I fell in love with the industry back then I was 17 years old started part time still finishing high school. And once I turned 18, I you know, became licensed for both property casualty life and health pass them all the first time same as my real estate license, which I know is a it’s a very difficult that test. So, you know, again, I fell in love with the industry, I was always in contact with realtors, and with loan officers and lenders. And I think it also comes naturally to me to understand this industry, you know, and I would always get on the phone with loan officers and processors and ask them well, what’s the what’s the interest rate now what’s going what kind of conventional and FHA programs are happening. And so throughout my career, I learned a lot about risk management. So I would go out and inspect the property to make sure it will go through our underwriting, make sure that the house is not falling down that we are ensuring you know, good structure for both the insurance company and for our clients. And I think that goes a long way now as well with when I am looking at houses with my clients, I’m able to detect, you’re gonna need a new roof in the next two years, you’re gonna need this furnace. It’s it’s a goner, you know. So I think my clients definitely you know, love that about my experience. And then along the way, of course, you you have to be a good salesperson because I was also hourly plus commission, and then you have to provide great customer service because you want to build that trust, and you want them to continue coming to you as the expert. So I did that for about 1718 years. And in the midst of all of that I also was an educator. So I was building a little side business. Basically I could say it’s it was life skills like life skills, educator teaching, life skills and financial literacy. since back then, and so I have a big education background too. I started teaching all over Chicago and high schools as well, financial literacy and life skills, education. And I think all together with my experience and being so detailed and analytical and the plus the education piece, I feel good that it’s helped me transition into what I am now. And my last job, I was a Financial Literacy Coach. And I taught all over underserved communities, and young adults reentry, folks. And that pretty much led me into real estate again. So I think it was just a leeway into that. And once I got licensed, and I started doing open houses, and I started getting clients, right off the bat, I realized, okay, I don’t know if I can juggle these two. And I don’t like working for other people. I like to, you know, work for myself. And so I told my husband, listen, I really would love to focus on real estate, I know that I can hit the ground running, give me six months, if in six months, I don’t so one thing. I’ll go work for somebody else, I guess. And six months out, you know, for for transactions, and then the fifth one this month, and I have a couple more in the pipeline. So I guess the insurance and financial has always been in my life. And I think I missed it for some time. And now back into that industry. So it’s, I love it. I really love it. Yeah,
D.J. Paris 11:41
it’s it’s very interesting, I think a lot about previous careers and how they relate, I’m always interested in thinking about, you know, how to somebody takes skills from from maybe, in this case, you had somewhat related careers, but still weren’t specifically, you know, super real estate focused. But the idea of customer service, and being either a financial literacy coach, or an insurance agent, these are all about these are really service jobs. In my mind. I know, they’re technically considered sales jobs. But I always think, you know, the best agents are the ones that serve the clients most effectively. And I think that does translate really well, customer service. So I imagine that skill that you honed over almost 20 years, probably served you very nicely when he stepped into real estate,
Erica Campos 12:27
you know, definitely did I know that for me, my clients come first, I will always go above and beyond for them. If I don’t know something, I’m not afraid to say you know what, let me get back to you. Let me find out. And so then I, they’ll go ask someone from my brokerage. Sure, my managing broker, but it’s very important to me, it’s my reputation. But it’s also important that the trust, I don’t want to be known for, you know, real estate agents, we don’t have a good reputation a lot of times, right, some some some agents have made that for us, unfortunately. So I, I make sure that I go above and beyond and even those clients that I’ve already closed deals with, I still contact them, I still ask how their house is coming along, I send them you know, congratulation cards, Christmas cards, holiday cards. For Thanksgiving, I know it was only four. But I personally dropped off pumpkin pies with a thank you note and my business card to each and every one of my clients. So and potential clients. So you just got you have to go above and beyond. And one of the things that I’ve listened to in your podcasts and that I mean, I know myself is that 20 ins can easily forget who their realtor was, you know, even who sold them their first house, I’m not going to be that agent, you’re gonna know who I am. So even if I’m like, I don’t want to come across as a pain in the butt. Right. But, you know, again, the holidays, birthdays, so I make sure I collect good information so that I can you know, continue to communicate with them in more than just a business way. Like personal. Yeah,
D.J. Paris 14:10
you just gave an idea just sprung forth from what you just said. So I want to share it with our audience. But I really going to credit Erica with this because it was her words that that brought this up in my mind that I was thinking about when somebody moves in, especially when you know somebody’s buying a property. And whether it’s their first property or not. I don’t think it matters for this idea. But the idea that you were saying about how you’re staying in touch after the sale so they don’t forget about you is critical. Obviously we all know that. But sometimes it can be tricky to think about why to call somebody and and so I was just an idea that popped up as you were talking Was that pretty much in every home there’s always an unfinished project of sorts, right? There’s some sort of, you know, whether it’s there you have to redo a room or you want to do a bigger sort of thing or just cleaning out a closet or whatever. Project there’s, of course, everybody has lists of projects that are unfinished in there, wherever they live. And I think too, that would be a fun thing for agents to do once you sell them the home is reach out, you know, within that next year and say, Hey, how’s it going? How’s the home is, as you had said? And then I probably would say, Hey, do you have any projects that you’re working on for the home? Just curious what if you’re doing anything or things you want to do, because the reason I’m asking is, if you need any referrals, if you need, you know, if you’re looking for a particular handyman, or somebody to help you with this particular project, I’ve got people to talk to, or at least I’ll find good people for you. That would be a great reason to reach out and everyone’s got a project that they need to do. So you just you just spurned that within me. So I just wanted to share that. Let’s and I also want to say to you are the I believe the newest agent to ever been on our show, I should have mentioned that at the beginning. Because you are only six or I guess you’re in your seventh month now. So this is really a fun one for me, because all of a really a lot of our listeners, it’s not so much whether they’re new, but they love you know, our audience really loves sort of the new person’s energy, right? The new Realtors energy because, you know, life has not kicked them around enough yet. So there’s still a lot of optimism and excitement, but also you’ve just really hit the ground running. So tell us how you did it. You mentioned open houses was that sort of the first thing you did once you once you you know, join Coldwell Banker was that a big deal to start getting out there and talking to clients or prospective clients? Okay,
Erica Campos 16:31
well, one, I will say that I’m known to break records. So I’ve opened another record here and all my other sales careers I have broken records and have helped companies reach numbers that are impressive. So you know, not broken another record. And my goal is to break Coldwell bankers record as the first you know, newest stages bring in so many at a certain time. I would like to hit Rookie of the Year, which I think I have one more transaction, and they give you a year, right, two months to do it. And I’m doing it hopefully in seven, eight months. So I’m hoping that to record there. But um, so how did how did I start? Well, one, I have a very big sphere of influence. I always say that because in one of my prior businesses, I’ve met 1000s of people and I made the followed me all through all the social medias. So I’m very consistent as much as I can. And so when I decided to go into real estate and sign up for schooling, that is when I started posting, like, Okay, I’m studying for my real estate exam. This is what I do this is, you know, I started giving out advice on how to study. And then when I passed, I took a picture of me celebrating downtown Chicago, you know, with a hot Chicago hot dog. And so, it you know, so I think what helped me too, is just announcing it out there like being consistent about what I’m doing. And believe it or not, people are watching, you know, you do make a difference. You do empower people you motivate and inspire others. And like I said, you didn’t know, you know how you inspired me. And so this is why so we don’t know until we put it out there. And so I think that helped me a lot. Because again, before I even decided what broker I was going to join, I already had people asking me to be their agent, you know, and so, so then, for me, I had already been interviewing a couple of companies, and I decided on Coldwell Banker Realty and Oak Lawn, it just felt right, you know, sure we community is so important. So I needed and wanted in office environment that I can go into to talk to other agents, I’m very talkative and I love sharing my experiences and learning from others and vice versa. So that’s what I needed. That so I interviewed there. And I really I really fell in love with their mission and, and their support for newer agents and their programs. And they’re, you know, CBU universities what they call a or CB University. Amazing training, you know, so that I believe also helped me hit the ground running Coldwell Banker is political banker is very well known. And I also wanted to make sure I joined a well known company as well. So, yeah, I mean, just just walking and just inviting my sphere of influence, to follow me through this journey, I think has helped me quite a bit in addition to my experience and expertise. Yeah,
D.J. Paris 19:35
I think that’s right. So you did what everybody is told to do. And most people don’t do which is start telling everybody that you’re a realtor and start conditioning them which takes time because they were used to seeing you in different capacity, obviously, the finance world and insurance world, but certainly not the real estate world specifically. So you had to educate. We I guess this goes back to education, really, you had to start educating not only the people in your life to know that you’re a realtor, but then you started educating them about real estate. So that’s what’s what’s what’s really great. And social media is such an effective medium to to do that with. And so and then, okay, so you told everybody you know, from all your different previous careers, your sphere of influence your friends, family, of course, previous clients, which is amazing, because, of course, you know, with your background in insurance, Boy, that’s a lovely, you know, group of people to say, Oh, by the way, I am doing this other thing, too. And everyone’s got to live somewhere. So I love that. Well, I want to talk about open houses, because I feel that, you know, whether you had a sphere of influence or not, and you did, but a lot of people don’t they move to a new city, they get their license, they’re like, well, that doesn’t relate to me. I’m not from here. But anybody can do an open house. And so let’s talk about how to do it. Because we have had people write in sometimes and say, Well, I know you guys talk a lot about every person you talk to you says I should do open houses, but I don’t have any listings. I’m a little bit too shy to ask, you know, other agents in my office, can I please sit? You know, do an open house for you? How did you do it? I’m curious, like, what was the process for you?
Erica Campos 21:17
Well, one, I know that that was one of the lead generation. I wouldn’t say I don’t know, like, tactic. I guess that is easier for newer agents, right? And it doesn’t matter if you have listings or not, obviously, especially as a newer agent, you are not. But so I’m not shy. I will ask you. And I’m not afraid of rejection, being an insurance industry and in sales. Rejection is nothing anymore, you know, all right, on to the next, right. So for me, I would write an email, introduce myself as a new Coldwell Banker realtor to our existing offices. So we have multiple offices all over Illinois. So I said, Hey, I’m bilingual. I have this experience sales, customer service, you know, I’m professional. And if you need help with your open houses, I would love you know, I would love to help you. And so I started getting people, agents reaching out, you know, from different parts of the city to I was willing, really, oh, yeah. And especially within your office within your company, you’d be surprised that agents are very, especially those seasoned agents, they’re so busy, they need help, right? And I was not afraid. So I did research on open houses. I also took a Coldwell Banker course, on successful open houses, how to do them to safety protocol, because safety is so important. You know, checklists, I even added my own little things. So I made sure that everything that I brought, had my logo, my name, my contact information. So I would make like these little, little sheets that I would put a stick on to the water bottles, my marketing. And and luckily for me, the agents would tell me, look, this is your open house. So you do whatever you this is your you take all your leads you so I’ve made sure that I do that. I wouldn’t give people the option to sign in. I would say let me sign you in initially would say, you know, oh, no, I Well, this is a requirement by the buyer, and for everybody’s safety. And I would not let them sign in, I would do it for them. So that tells me No, right. So then we have your name, your phone number, email address, are you working with an agent? Most of the times they are most of the times they’ll say no. So when they’re not, I would make sure that I would really follow up with those particular people. But they all went into my CRM. And so I would follow up, I would send them newsletters, even if they have an agent.
D.J. Paris 23:58
So let’s, I’m gonna let’s I want to, you just said a lot and all of it was great. I want to slow it down a little bit and kind of go step by step because this is this is really wonderful information for our listeners. So you Yes, you had the the logo giveaways, you, when when people walk in, the way that you get them to sign in is you say, Hey, let me sign you in this. And if they say well, you just go Oh, it’s a compliance. It’s a safety measure for us, you know, as as agents. I’m just need your name, email, phone number, whatever. And, and yes, that’s a that’s a really, really smart way just to not ever have any nose because who’s going to disagree with safety? Right? So I love that. And you, how did you promote the open house? No,
Erica Campos 24:46
good. Well, if I had about a week or two, then that gave me a chance to create my own fliers put it all together with my information posted all over social media. Do some door knocking kind of post them in the library in that area. So kind of like scouting the neighborhood and the sun’s talking to people. But I will tell you that for me, that was very rarely the case, most agents would reach out to three days prior. So now I’m like rushing, trying to put things together. But as I went along, I learned Okay, Erica, make sure you print several of these so that if you get an agent that contacts you, you have everything ready, you have your checklist, you have this, I made like a little in my truck, I carry like this little box with all of my Open House information, like things that I would need, snacks and tape, like everything you need, I have a whole checklist that that I use to make sure that I even booties you know, I make sure that there’s always booties and make sure I have you know, the sign in information to fly different flyers, I guess, a business cards, just, you know, just cute things that you can place. And of course, I go and purchase snacks for, you know, for people something that they can just grab, you know, and go. And then like I said a flyer with my information on it.
D.J. Paris 26:11
So person goes through the property. You know, either you know, they’re asking questions, or they’re they aren’t they leave you already have their information they’re walking away with, you know, a flyer or whatever, then how quickly do you reach back out to them?
Erica Campos 26:25
I reached out to them the next day. Okay, so
D.J. Paris 26:29
hey, it was nice meeting you like email phone call? How do you do it text,
Erica Campos 26:32
I do a text message. I start with text messages. And I thank them for, you know, for joining or for coming into our open house. And if they have any interest, you know, please let me know, I’d be more than willing to help you give you more information. And then I’d say you know, if you don’t mind, I would like to put you into my newsletter, it gives you great homeowner tips, buy guides, and I rarely ever get to know. So. So for me, it’s contacting them right away and kind of determining, okay, is this person like a green like, okay, they’re motivated, sure, have a realtor, do they not? And then bills are like, Well, I’m just looking you up. A lot of times you get people who are just just wanting to look around just oh, there’s open houses. Let me I’m just curious. Sure. Gonna get a feel for them while I’m showing them the house as well. Right. Well, I also try to
D.J. Paris 27:22
have I have a quick question. Hold up. Quick question. So while you’re taking their temperature as you’re walking them around the property, do you make a little note of it somewhere? So you remember, because I know for me, I would forget if I mean, if only one person came through, then you won’t get that. But if 20 people come through, I’m going to be like, who’s What do you take notes? Like, how do you
Erica Campos 27:41
so I have a clipboard, a cute little clipboard with the sign in. And then I have a comment section that I write notes, like, it was a couple that they’re buying the second home, or they’re trying to upgrade or down, you know, downsize. So I do have a note section and I write it down. Because yet sometimes you get so many you forget who they are. And so I definitely keep notes. Yes. And
D.J. Paris 28:06
you can even reference that in your text if you wanted to, if they’re you know, you don’t want to make too long of a text obviously, the next day, but you could say, hey, you know, thanks for coming through really excited that you’re looking at your second home or whatever, you know, looking, you know, this is exciting that you’re moving from the city to the suburbs, or you know, whatever. It’s always great when people I always love when salespeople reference that in their follow up something that they, you know, like I get pitched for a lot of technology companies for real estate. So I love it when I have a meeting. And then the next day, they’re like, hey, great conversation. Oh, by the way, this thing that you mentioned, or you know, is I always find that to be very flattering. And it’s like, it’s like, oh, they’re listening. That’s that’s a good thing. Like we
Erica Campos 28:49
personalize it. I know we can all copy and paste, right? I’ve made a mistake where I’ve copied and pasted forgot to change somebody’s name. And I’m like, Oh, I’ve done the same thing. No. So So that’s lesson learned, right? So I make sure that I take notes, and I personalize it. And that’s pretty much with all of my clients, regardless of you know, what transactions or where I met, I always want to make it personable. I always want to personalize it to our conversation. I think that that makes you stand out. And you know, they don’t feel like oh, they’re, they’re, they’re selling to me. Nobody wants to be sold to right. So it’s like, yes, that’s a great point that you brought that up. You’re
D.J. Paris 29:27
right. I mean, there are people that do like to be sold, but I think they are the minority of the public. I certainly
Erica Campos 29:36
do think it’s those that are in the sales industry that like to be
D.J. Paris 29:40
probably yes, I you know, like my boss. He loves to be sold. He just because he’s a business owner and he just he loves that whole process. Me. I hate it. I just go just give me the information. I mean, personality types, we’re all just definitely. And I’m like, give me the information. I’m a pretty smart guy. I’ll figure it out on my own. Just be there to answer my questions and And, and don’t try to push me into anything because I don’t I don’t like being pushed. But some people do. Most people don’t. So yeah, your boy, you’re doing that. And I know we’re talking a lot about open houses, but only because I don’t get to ever get this granular with it with somebody because you’re so new, like this is a major thing for you so Okay, so I think we covered open houses and oh, and follow up. So you basically are assigning you know, somebody a color or temperature, you know, hey, red hot, you know, who knows? Super cold, whatever. And then you put them in your CRM, how so they’re getting your monthly newsletter about real estate? And then how often are you reaching out on top of that, just to sort of make sure that they know, you’re not just, you know, somebody on their email list?
Erica Campos 30:44
So they’re green, I would say, I like to touch like, maybe one or every two weeks, I, you know, depending on what will how fast they’re looking if there’s an area there, not sure. So about one or twice, you know, maybe once every two weeks, I guess I would say on average, and then those that are still on the fence, you know, maybe a yellow, I would say then I met a couple at an open house, and they were considering selling their each of their own homes and moving in together and buying one. So me I’m like, oh, that’s three transactions, all in one, you know. So I, they were somewhat on the fence of they’re still thinking about it. So I put them in the yellow category. So what I did is I looked up their their current homes, and I sent out VMAs. And so I have them signed up for a monthly CMA like a market report. Awesome. And then I noticed that one of the houses, they were not getting any exams, or homeowner exams. So in my email, I wrote to her, and it was great meeting her. But you know, I am here to help not just to sell. And I noticed that there was no event that she could possibly apply for one so and
D.J. Paris 32:03
that’s money to their pocket. So you’re essentially giving them an opportunity to possibly find income, or find, you know, a bonus sort of so to speak, I had the same issue. When I bought my first home in Chicago a million years ago, I didn’t know about the homeowners exemption, and I had for years, I never took advantage of it. And after like two or three years, somebody was like, do you know about this, and I wasn’t in real estate time. And I said, No, I was like, I had no idea. So like, That is incredible. How do you? How do you look that up the homeowners exam, or that’s just a Chicago thing? I’m thinking, right, that’s not necessarily a nationwide thing.
Erica Campos 32:40
Here’s what I use. I use remind, remind you, I use remind and then you know, of course most will tell you, it’ll tell you right there, you know who the owner is. So I use remind quite a bit to figure out who the owners are, then sometimes remind will give you the contact information for who the owner is. You have to make sure that they’re not on Do Not Call list. But many you can mail all you want, right that’s, you know, you could do that. But then I checked like the deed as well, just to make sure. I’ve also found that I people have made mistakes, things have been filed under you know, a for instance, right now I’m working with the prospect, I’m hoping I’m able to list their condo. And I looked it up and I noticed that someone else’s name was on there. And so I you know, I asked him about it. And he says I have no clue that is Erica.
D.J. Paris 33:35
Oh my god, what else owns the property? So
Erica Campos 33:37
then I go to the title company, you know, Burnett title, who’s in Coldwell Banker, and I say, Hey, do me a favor, like just confirm, is this a mistake, we confirmed that it was a mistake. And then it was fixed a year later. But for a whole year it had somebody else’s name on there as like a deed in a deed. And so it’s so important that we look up our own properties, but also provide that value to your clients that’s going to tell them that you are ready to work for them that you’re serious and that you are an expert you know here I found this even if you don’t come with me, even if you decide maybe you want to listed with another agent that you’ve always worked with, but just know that I will go above and beyond and if maybe we can’t I can’t work for you. How about your refer business to me?
D.J. Paris 34:23
So here’s here’s what I’m hearing from from Eric from Erica just speaking directly to our audience and I hate to make it sound this simple, but I think probably Oh, I’m gonna say it’s simple but difficult. She basically outworks the competition meaning and I don’t mean necessarily more hours, although probably more hours that she puts in as well. But most importantly, she takes the professionalism of the business very, very seriously. She wants to really cover all of her bases. You’re very intentional about how your processes you have a process for open houses. You have a process I mean I want to I want to switch gears just for a moment because you went full steam into I need lots of designation process, and you knocked them out. And I want to mention this to everybody look, there’s a certain amount of marketing, that is benefit to, even if you don’t learn anything from the designations and you of course you will. But even if you didn’t, and it’s all a big, you know, just not that helpful, although it will be. But even if it wasn’t, it still looks really good. When you have all of these designations after now, nobody knows what they mean. And nobody knows, really, nobody cares. But what they do care about is that you’re dedicated to the craft, you’re dedicated to the industry, and you’re taking it seriously. And most people don’t have seven different designations, which I think you have or close to that. The only one I would recommend that I didn’t see on there, and I’m sure you’re gonna do it anyway. Because you’re you’re done all the others. Certified negotiation expert, I think is a good one. And I guess yeah, you’re not because of
Erica Campos 36:03
course. Yeah, that’s
D.J. Paris 36:05
Yeah, but but the point is, is this is a way to gain an edge, as in competition. And that’s not why Eric is doing it, she’s doing it, because it’ll better service our clients. That’s really the main reason to do it. But it’s a nice little side benefit to be like, Oh, by the way, you know, when you’re talking to other agents, they may, you know, she’s not going to say this, but they’re not going to have all of those initials after their names. So I absolutely, really applaud you, you’re probably the, probably the only guests we’ve had on with that many designations. And typically, when people go down that path, they can tend to get caught up in education, and then not production. And you’re doing both. And that’s what’s really impressive is you’re not like Well, I’m just going to sit in and do online classes all day. So I get designations, you’ve also closed six deals in you know, in your first six months, and, and even a deal already this year, which is, which is incredible. And you’re really just following the process, you’re doing all of the things that every single guest I’ve ever had on here says this is what you should do, and you’re actually doing it. So I am so excited to hear about your success. So let’s talk about so we talked about open houses, I want to also and we talked about after I what I call after care, which is just following up staying in touch, you’re calling these people or texting or emailing them every couple of weeks. You’re saying hey, just checking in, how’s everything going? You’re providing value to them? Let’s talk about social media. What are you doing on social to what what are you doing? How do you think about posting content? Are you doing mostly videos? Images? Both? Are you talking about yourself? Some? You know, some realtors are like, here’s me, here’s me at the gym this morning at 5am. Other others just do, hey, here’s this cool house I’m you know, doing an open house for or doing a showing at? What is the kind of content that you push out there? And how do you think about
Erica Campos 38:02
it, all of it. However, I need it. My goal for 2024 is to get better at being intentional with my social media. As far as you know, the content that I’m posting video is one that I am extremely afraid of. I don’t know why I’m a big public speaker. I’ve done it for a zillion years. But that camera hits and I’m like, like frozen, right? Like, or I feel like what do I say what? I think people want to see you naturally, whether you stutter, whether you mess up, or you know whether your hair is this way. I think people now I think that’s more acceptable. Because I never wanted to sit there and edit. You know, my videos, I just felt like why. So I have to get better at posting videos that are educational as far as in rates dropping, or, you know, program changes, or what I do on a day to day basis. That’s one thing I would like to show people is okay, this is what I do from the minute I wake up. This is sounds boring, but this is what is how I search MLS. This is how I organize, you know, my whole day of taking a client to two showings, you know, it can be boring, but that is something that I would like to show, you know, social media. Posting as well. I want to be a little more intentional as far as providing value more value. But I will say that what I have posted are pictures and of course of me studying when I was when I passed. And I have a lot of followers that email me or send me private messages asking me what advice can you give me for passing this exam? Right. So I had a little secret that one of my instructors gave us. It’s a guide that a lot of people don’t know is out there and it’s free. Every state has it. so that it basically walks you through, hey, this is how your test is going to be structured. And this is how many questions are going to be per topic? This how many you’re going to have? Where
D.J. Paris 40:11
do you find that, by the way, for anyone who might be studying, we can provide a link to that in the show notes when we publish the episode. But do you happen to know off the top of your head?
Erica Campos 40:20
I will say that I have gotten, I think over 20,000 views over it. And it’s been six, seven months.
D.J. Paris 40:30
Oh, you made a video about it? Yeah, well,
Erica Campos 40:31
there’s a video. There’s my video on my tic tock that’s there. But every it’s a handbook. And every state has its a candidate, Illinois candidate handbook.
D.J. Paris 40:44
We will we’ll link to the tic toc video for sure. I’ve never heard of that. So that’s amazing.
Erica Campos 40:50
Yep, on top of your real estate book, and you know, whatever else that right there is like the Bible of real estate to pass. So you know that that video got me a lot of comments and, and a lot of views, I think it’s 15 20,000 or more views, I think amazing, amazing. Well, so I post things, little things like that. I do post when I’ve done open houses, what what I’m doing, I definitely post when I am under contract, especially when I close my gifts that I take my clients, I always take pictures of my the attorney, the whole team that was involved in it. And I’ve gotten a lot of, you know, praises for Wow, you just started and you’re you’re on fire, I had closings back to back to back to back. And so you know, so just just sharing your wins. And even I have to get better at sharing some of my struggles too. You know, it’s not always easy. So 2024 I do plan on being more intentional with what I post?
D.J. Paris 41:56
Yeah, I think I think sharing the losses or the struggles is something that agents tend to be afraid to do, we don’t like to you know, nobody wants to post vulnerabilities that are, you know, challenging things that are hard. Of course we everyone’s going through hard things at all times. And I wish people were more more courageous to want to share that on social media because I’m I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of seeing all the wins. I love seeing the wins. But I know that life isn’t all wins. And so I think agents that are willing to be vulnerable which again takes courage and really not necessarily share oh gosh you know I’m going through a divorce or something. I mean, you’d want to create healthy boundaries to make sure you know you’re not giving information away that isn’t appropriate. But you know, if you’re having a bad day if you’re struggling if the deal falls through, you know, people want to want to hear about how you handle not you Erica but just I’m speaking to the audience. People love to hear about how people move through struggle because we all struggle and so I encourage everyone who who is only posting you know, here’s me lifting my max at the gym in the morning, show a time where maybe you didn’t have it and you couldn’t get to the gym that morning and you stayed in bed and you know and you ate bad food all morning and you know or whatever you did something that wasn’t perfect. And I think talking about imperfection is the most relatable thing on the planet. But you you talked about being afraid of video that is which you would never know that if you’re either watching our episode or listening because of course Erica is seemingly super comfortable in front of the camera super confident, very elegant and eloquent. But she is telling you something vulnerable it’s hard for her to get in front and film video so I would recommend we have Kim Rydberg is one is our video expert for our channel here for keeping it real. Kim Rydberg literally all she teaches people is how to do great video how to get comfortable. So a little shout out to Kim Rydberg we’ll have a link to her stuff as well, because we’re the biggest Kim fan. She’s out in New York. And she’s the queen of that she comes from the media background and knows how to knows how to do video. So she is she is a great, great guide for you. So definitely check her out. But yes, let’s let I want to finish up with challenges. So what is hard for you right now and I don’t mean, necessarily in your personal life, although you could share that if you want to. But I’m mostly interested in your professional life where you’re we heard about all these successes. Where’s the struggle right now? What are you What is hard for you right now? Well,
Erica Campos 44:29
what is hard for me right now, I will say being a new agent, it’s not having a ton of experience like not having, you know, sold or closed on 2040 5060 deals, you know, like some like some agents have. And with each deal, each transaction I learned something new, whether it’s something that I helped with or something I might have already known or a mistake. So I always say we learned from our stakes, right? So you. So you take that along, I’m very hard on myself when it comes to making mistakes. I am a perfectionist. And so I always want to make sure that I that I have the information that I know what I’m speaking about. But when I do make a mistake, or when there’s something that I don’t know, I’m not afraid to say, or apologize, you know, I’m sorry, I didn’t know that. But going forward, that always stays in my head, like, I will never make that mistake ever again. An example I’ll give you is, I also work with investors, my current clients that I’m working with, they’re in the pipeline right now. They’re, they’re newer investors. And so for one of them, she wanted to buy a multi unit property. So we went to go see one. And it was it was a very unique property very nice. It was like four townhouses together in one building. And I remember the realtor saying to us, well, I can only show you too have those units, because the tenants didn’t allow us to go into the other two units, even though we gave them 48 hour notice. All right. So my client fell in love with it. And they said, all those other two units are practically the same. So we went with that day of the inspection, we’re finally able to get into those two units turns out, yes, it turns out that, first off those two units look nothing like the other two units. And there was water damage from both, you know, ceilings, there’s roof damage, right? So inspector starts doing his thing. And he’s like, what, I would think twice about this. And I said, you know, yes, and learning that going forward with her. And I, me and my client, we agreed, we’re not going to be placing any offers, until we get to see all the units available, because we’re not going to this again. And I don’t want to put my client in a situation where she’s consistently paying for inspections, and then right for mistake like that, right. So it’s something I learned along the way, and I take bits and pieces of what I’ve learned in experiences throughout, and I, you know, just gets better, it’s just getting better and better. So,
D.J. Paris 47:08
well, I love that, you know, I think really what I’m hearing is embrace, as uncomfortable as it is embrace mistakes and embrace imperfection. Because it is, as you said, it is the effect, it’s the only way we actually learn, believe it or not. So we don’t we don’t learn when the stove is cold, and we touch it, we learn when the stove is hot, and we touch it. And hopefully, we only have to learn that once.
Erica Campos 47:30
We have to do as a realtor, even those who are very well seasoned, they still don’t know everything, they still learn something with a last change so much. So that’s why I’m so passionate about education and staying up to date with these laws, especially with Chicago, and then the suburbs, all these little suburbs and, and Chicago has their own laws, you know, regulations, the City, Illinois does as well. And you got to make sure you understand the contracts between Chicago and Illinois, which one goes with what, there’s just so much. I’ve also made sure I’m bilingual. So that is also something that sets me apart, I want to say 90% of my clientele are you know, Latinos, and I want to say, maybe, like 80% are Spanish speaking. So I made sure that the team I built and when I say team, I mean vendors, all were Spanish speaking, right, because as a loan officer, you need to be able to do your job, I can’t do mine and yours together, it’s just impossible. And it’s not my expertise. Same thing with inspectors. Same thing with the attorneys. So I’m always looking for good vendors that can provide that service to my clients. And, and also my husband, he is a huge support. He’s a electrical city inspector, very knowledgeable. And so whenever I run into a situation, you know, I FaceTime him, like, why does this look like this? You know, or what is this? And he’s like, there has to be certain apps. I mean, he’s so much help and so much support, and I’m so grateful that I have someone, you know, that can support me that way. And on top of that, I know you mentioned building like bent love vendor list in one of your podcast episodes. And that’s so important because he knows the trade. He has a lot of friends in different trades, right? So he’s an electrical guy as a plumber. He has a friend who also has his own electrical company. He has a tile guy, a flooring guy. So I’m always able to refer, you know them to my clients, which is which is good. But I’m also very tough on very particular on who gets to be on my vendor list. You should be
D.J. Paris 49:46
exactly, yeah, well, you shouldn’t be because you they’re your reputation. So if you send somebody so yeah, so let’s, you know, it’s really a great lesson to make sure our vendors are doing good job. And what I recommend is once when you refer not you, Eric, of course, just as general advice to our listeners, when you do refer an agent to, or sorry, a client to a particular vendor, what I would say is, hey, I’m referring you to so and so they’re amazing. If for some reason you don’t have a good experience with them, or if they don’t get back to you, or something happens, where you’re not happy with it, please call me immediately. I have other people, you know, and there’s nothing wrong with saying that. And I think that really sets it up so that because they might feel like well, I don’t want want to tell Erica, the person was no good because she, she’s really loved them. And I always like to set it up. So it allows for somebody to say, you know, I didn’t really have a good experience, or they didn’t get back to me in three days or whatever. So anyway, I think I was
Erica Campos 50:46
in the follow up, because a lot of times, they don’t want to tell you, right? And for me, I need to know, because it’s my reputation, like you said, and I have to also let them know, the courtesy like, hey, just FYI, this is what my client said, and you know, is that what happened? Or can you explain the situation. So that way, they also have the opportunity to fix the issue or whatever that time was unsatisfied for, or with. But I think having a good list of your vendors experienced as well, that makes a world of difference, especially the lender and the attorney. Well, this
D.J. Paris 51:22
is a perfect place to wrap up the episode, there’s been so much value you’ve provided Erica, I really can’t thank you enough for not only being a listener of ours while you were building your business, and still continue to be a listener as you’re building your business. I really thank you as just a podcast host for our listeners. And I also want to thank all of our listeners for paying attention and listening to this episode. Being a supporter of our show, it means a lot to me. And if you are somebody that’s like, I’d like to be on the show someday Erica had that dream. And here she is. And it’s funny, because I didn’t know that. And I was asking Erica, just when she came on, I go did we find you? Or did you find us because I don’t really do too much with the casting. And and then she said, Oh, no, no, I know about you. But But the idea is that you can also be on the show overtime. And Erica is somebody that you’re going to want to watch. She’s going to be Rookie of the Year this year, she is already crushing it. She’s taking this job extremely seriously. And for anyone who’s a little bit sad or depressed because of the condition of the market. Yeah, a lot of people are that’s okay. But you if you surround yourself with content from people who are just pushing through and doing the work, Erica doesn’t know that this is a hard market because it’s the only market she’s known. So to her. This is just what she’s doing. So if you’re a little bummed out, because things are harder now. Yes, I get it. I’m with you. We have 800 agents here. They’re they’re depressed to everyone’s dealing with this. But if you can connect yourself with accounts like Eric has, who’s consistently just pushing forward, it’s easier to be motivated to continue to do the same. So please, everybody follow her on the various social channels, Instagram, Facebook and Tik Tok. You can find her Eric I’m sorry realtor dot Erica composts and then LinkedIn of course just look for her name. We will have links to all this in the show notes. And if anyone out there is needs a realtor in Chicago, maybe you have a client moving, perhaps they’re Spanish speaking and they need someone to work with Erica would love the opportunity to connect with agents from all over the country. And by the way, Chicago people don’t when they retire, a lot of times they move they move somewhere warmer. So Eric has got people that at some point she’s going to need to push out and although I Erica might just get licensed in every state could knowing how seriously she takes the business but no, of course she’s gonna refer business out. So if you want to connect with her, What’s the best way Erica that an agent or maybe even a client can reach out to you?
Erica Campos 53:51
You know, my social media platforms, they can reach out to me there. They can also reach out to me directly 630-291-5971 or they can email me at Erica dot gambles at C B which is C as in Charlie biz and boy CB realty.com
D.J. Paris 54:12
link to those in the show notes as well stay in touch with Erica she’s got amazing energy, she takes the job seriously. And maybe, I mean, I’m gonna follow her because I need to be motivated sometimes too. And her energy is not only infectious, but she’s just one of those rising star stars that we can all learn from even if we’re 20 plus years in the business because she is really doing it. Erica, thank you so much for being the newest realtor to ever be be on our show. One of the first agents of the year to be on our show as well. And also congratulations on doing a deal already this year in your first five days. That is incredible. Please check out Erica follow her all over social media on behalf of the audience. Erica, thank you for reaching out to us. Thank you for being part of our show. Also. Thanks, Eric. On behalf of Eric and I think You the audience, thanks for gosh, I think we had, this was our sixth or seventh year, I don’t know six years maybe of doing the show. We have 500 plus 520 episodes, I think. So thank you for keeping helping keeping our show going, please tell a friend, please tell everybody who you know, especially new agents, they need to hear somebody having success. And Erica is doing that. And it’s not just falling in her lap. She’s literally making all of this happen herself. So send this episode to another agent who’s maybe starting out or one who’s just struggling right now and most agents are struggling. So this is a great opportunity to tell other friends about the show. We appreciate you for that. And also please support our sponsors. We love our sponsors. They are the ones that paying the bills for us. So thank you to our sponsors, please check out their products and services so that they continue to advertise with us. All right, Erica, thank you so much. We will see everybody on the next episode.
Erica Campos 55:52
Thank you have a good one.
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