Listing Scorecard
- Number of books given away: Less than 100; the first 50-60 were buyer-related, but when she switched her focus to sellers, she got the listings.
- Listings received with the help of the books: 8
- Biggest benefit of using the books: "It just gives some credibility as far as being an expert in the industry."
Ben did an interview with Jacque. Here are some of the highlights:
- She uses her books as business cards, mostly giving them out to warm leads face-to-face.
- A client told her she knew someone trying to sell a home that was about to expire. Jacque asked the client to give her book to this seller. The client agreed, the book impressed the seller, and Jacque got a $2 million listing!
- Two of her leads came from the same client — an investor who was a lead source.
- Handing them out to buyers at open houses has been productive, since buyers are often also sellers.
- She once got a potential lead in the doctor’s office because the person saw her with her book.
Here’s how Jacque gets her listings.
#1. She buys customized leads from a lead source. Using those warm leads, she reaches out to say she’d like to meet them and give them a book she wrote that will help them.
#2. She uses word-of-mouth and passes along books through the person she knows to give to the potential buyer or seller.
#3. She uses the books in her listing presentations and gives them to everyone who comes to an open house.
#4. She’s prepared — she keeps them on hand and gives them out whenever and wherever she can.
#5. She always follows up!
Listen to the interview audios below for more details on exactly how she does it.
Here are the highlights of the audio interview:
Here is the full audio interview:
Here is a transcript of the interview with Ben Curry and Jacque:
Ben: So, you said so far you've gotten four listings from using the books. Can you tell me a little bit about how that has happened?
Jacque: Well, I have more prior. I have four listings currently right now going on that are active from the books. Right.
Ben: OK. How many books have you given away so far?
Jacque: Probably, actually not more than probably 100 books throughout the last year. But, I was gearing my 50, 60 books were more buyer-related because I was working mostly with buyers, and when I switched around and started adding other books such as the Expired and Sales For More Money, and so forth, that's where I started getting the listings.
Ben: Oh wow, good for you. OK.
Jacque: Yeah.
Ben: And, how many listings do you think you've gotten in total from using the books?
Jacque: Probably eight.
Ben: Probably eight. Wow. OK. OK. Can you tell me a little bit about how you've gotten some of those listings, like where they've come from?
Jacque: Well, I do buy leads from a lead source.
Ben: OK.
Jacque: And, I basically contact them and tell them I want, and I also have a tag on my signature of my emails that I use. So, I've had only one request recently from that. Generally, it's more by word of mouth. I want to come meet you. I want to give you a book I wrote that will help you with your real estate needs. And so, me giving them face-to-face, I haven't done a mail out of them yet. Other than one or two clients that have asked me to mail it 'cause they're out of state buyers. And so, I use it like a business card book many times for my buyers.
Ben: OK, OK. So, the leads that you purchase, are most of them buyer leads?
Jacque: No, it's sellers.
Ben: Oh wow, cool.
Jacque: Also, like buyer and seller leads.
Ben: OK.
Jacque: And, a couple of them also were just clients that...I had a client that had bought a home and she had someone that had a home that was coming up soon to be expired. And so, I asked her if she would give my book to that person so that when it expired, I could talk with them about listing their property. And so, that was that $2 million dollar listing I got, and he was very impressed with the book, and liked what it had to say in there. And so, that was the Expired book.
Ben: So, you gave the Expired book to I guess someone that was going to be expiring pretty soon, and got a $2 million dollar listing?
Jacque: Right. Correct.
Ben: Oh wow, OK. And so, you've gotten...but how did you get the eight different listings? I guess one of them came from that. Where did the other listings come from?
Jacque: Well, two that I have right now are an investor that's flipping properties.
Ben: Yes.
Jacque: And I called and one of the lead sources that I got from buyer leads, and I went and called on him. I said, "I'd like to see your home that you've got coming up." Well, it wasn't on the market yet, but he was getting ready to put it on the market. He was doing the construction work. And, I went out there and met him face to face, gave him a copy of my book, and he let me go ahead and list that home. And then, a week or two later, he had another home and he gave me that listing also.
Ben: Oh wow, excellent. OK. So, that...so most of these...
Jacque: And so, that was a lead source. And then, another was a...I don't know, Carter, that was also a lead source. I'm trying to think...Yeah, so I think most of it's been just the leads that I call on. I do look at the expireds from time to time that pop up on the MLS, and I will actually go hand carry. But, I've only started this, take books to them, especially if they're owner occupied, knock on the door and introduce myself, and tell them I would like very much to have them consider me if they decided they would not want to relist.
Ben: Have you listed any expireds from doing that?
Jacque: No, I just started doing that like a week or so ago. And, unfortunately, I think they were dead leads or something. I know one of them, it was on there because the guy said he put it on for too much money just so agents would stop calling him to try to list his property. 'Cause he was getting inundated and I'm like, "Oh and here I am knocking on your door." He said, "You know, but actually we are going to be considering selling down the road so I will definitely contact you." I told him a little bit about the information in my book and said, "Well you know if and when the time is right", I said, "I want to be able to come back and discuss this more with you." He said, "You know, I probably will call you." And so, that was kind of interesting because it was a negative and I turned it into a positive.
Ben: Yeah, no kidding. Good job there. So...
Jacque: I was shocked that his house had been on the market for over a thousand days.
Ben: Oh, wow.
Jacque: And, it was just to keep from getting agent letters and agent calls.
Ben: OK. I see. So, most of the listings you've gotten have been listings that came from sort of lead source and then the book helped you convert them?
Jacque: Right.
Ben: Have you used the books in any of your listing presentations?
Jacque: Oh yes, I do. Oh, and also my open houses, I give out the books to everyone that comes to a open house.
Ben: OK.
Jacque: And that is also how I've gotten a listing, and how I have another proposed listing coming up for someone who says they're going to be wanting to sell their home soon and that they will definitely be contacting me. So, giving them out at open houses. I am really a firm believer in hand carrying them, giving them to people. So, I keep them in my car at all times. I always have one or two in my bag and in my purse. So, wherever I go, even I'll leave it in the doctor's office, or dental office, or on the coffee table. And so, I have one prospect actually from a doctor's office that I think, once...and I took my book to the listing presentation, but I met him at the doctor's office and he saw me reading or moving my books around because I was going to put one on the coffee table. And he said, "Oh you're an agent," and I said, "Yes." And, I made an appointment to go talk with him, and I brought him a different book than the one he saw.
Ben: Wow.
Jacque: Because I think the one I had in my hand was more buyer-geared.
Ben: OK.
Jacque: And I told him, I said, "Well I'd love to bring you one I have which will help you sell your home." I said, "And you choose you would want me to sell your home for you, but I'd like to come see it, and take a look, and give you a comparative market analysis that I'll bring with me while I bring you my book." And, I met with him and his wife, and we had a great conversation, and, but she had to go in for surgery. So, he said, "As soon as she's done recovering, then we'll see about putting our house on the market. We just can't do it right now until she gets recovered with her physical therapy and everything," so.
Ben: I understand.
Jacque: I followed up with a little card and told them I enjoyed meeting with them and hope that her surgery and her recovery is going well, that I'll look forward to visiting with them very soon.
Ben: Wow.
Jacque: It's just a matter of following up with the people that you give the book to.
Ben: That is true.
Jacque: That's really key.
Ben: Yeah, what do you say if somebody asks if you wrote the book yourself?
Jacque: Well, you know, the only ones that really ask me that are my kids and I honestly tell them that it's a company that helps us put these books together. I said, "I am an author for the book, but I didn't necessarily write all of those chapters, that they're an advertising tool." So, I haven't told that to clients. When clients ask me, "Oh you have a book," I said, "Yes, I'm an author of this book." And, I've thought, I've probably wrote as much in my book as Trump did in his.
Ben: OK.
Jacque: 'Cause most books do have ghost writers and so on and so forth. I've never said to everyone, because honestly I've never had a client call me on it.
