"Guess what? My books did it..."
Samara recently started working in a difficult listing market. With her books, she's been able to make huge progress, despite being new in the industry!
Listen to Samara's story here, and read her Q&A with our team below.
Smart Agents: How have the books helped in giving you authority in the industry?
Samara: First of all, the books are fantastic. They definitely kind of set you apart from your everyday agent. So actually am still using them. I think I first got 16 when I first signed on. And I'm pretty much almost done with them. So I could definitely use the new books.
But I definitely have nothing but rave reviews. And everyone who I've shown them, they've been blown away. They look super professional. And again, it looks like a book, reads like a book, so it's a book, even though it's a marketing material.
Smart Agents: When did you first get the books?
Samara: I got them probably about four or five months ago.
Smart Agents: But you just recently started giving them out.
Samara: Yup.
Smart Agents: What tactics do you use to hand out the books?
Samara: So what I do ... because to me they're very valuable. So I'm not just gonna give them to anyone. How I do it is, when I actually do meet with clients for a listing presentation, I give them the book as a gift to kind of seal the deal.
And I also kind of put them in my hair salon where I go, my dental office, my medical office. They gave me permission to put the books there. And I've actually gotten a couple of clients that way, as well. So I don't just talk to anybody and give them out because they're valuable, they're expensive. And I don't wanna just give them freely. I want to make sure that I have at least a 55% chance of continuing the conversation and the chance of getting a listing before I actually give them to the person. Because like I said, they're expensive.
Smart Agents: Besides the book, is there anything else you give to the clients?
Samara: Yeah but it all depends. So for listings, because I do the books only for listings, I also give them a mock-up of how their listing would look. I give them an idea of all the brochures, the marketing material, what I offer as a realtor in this market, so whether it's custom photography, floor plans, virtual tours, social media management, and social media real estate optimization. I do all of these. That's what I offer for my clients.
I also give them QR codes for my listings so that way when any of the buyers come they can scan it and get the listing on their phones. So I go above and beyond for my clients. I'm not sure other people do that. But that's what I do for mine.
Smart Agents: Have you had any notable success with the books?
Samara: Yes, one of my listings actually went under purchase and sales today. So I'm super happy about that. They were completely blown away, not only by myself, obviously, but the book that we had. The one I used was actually for expired. That's the one that I gave them even though their listing wasn't expired. But it still had the same wow factor. They said it was very informative. And it kind of touched on all the key points that, obviously, myself would tell them as the real estate professional.
Smart Agents: Do you feel like you get more respect from the sellers when you give them the books?
Samara: I think it definitely helps the credibility. Absolutely. Absolutely.
Smart Agents: And what kind of feedback have you been getting about the books?
Samara: They've all been positive. They haven't got anything negative. Often they’ll say; "The book's excellent." Or, "It was really informative," or, "I flipped through and it was some key point that I'm gonna use." So I haven't got anything negative.
Smart Agents: Do you have a number of listings that you hope to be getting every month?
Samara: Well, honestly, my goal is to get five a month. But again, I'm new. I'm a new agent. So I have to be very realistic. I have three so far, which is good. But again, I'm new in the industry. So I'm kind of trying to navigate. But my goal is to have at least five a month.
Smart Agents: You mentioned that you're a new agent. Does having the books give you an edge over agents who've been in the industry longer?
Samara: They do. Yeah, because they don't think that I'm new. And obviously, I don't tell them, "Oh, yeah. I'm a new agent." I'm not gonna do that. That's gonna shoot myself in the foot. But they don't question it. They don't question my credibility at all.
Smart Agents: That's perfect, which means the books are giving you authority in the industry, even though you haven't been there for long.
Samara: Exactly. Exactly.
Smart Agents: Would you recommend the system to another agent?
Samara: Yeah. I actually was working with one of the customer service reps for agents because at my brokerage, we wanna actually get some of the books for our office. But obviously, I wanna make sure that, one, I get a good referral and we're able to get kind of like a group pricing, because it's about 15 agents. But again, I never got anything back from them on that because it was something that they've never done before because the company itself is new.
