Marketing Where Your Competitors Aren’t

In this episode we connect with Megan Walters a NAR 30 under 30 agent for 2022. In only 6 years as a REALTOR , Megan has built up a serious business and is on track to beat her 2022 and do more in 2023. Megan’s Strategy? Spotting areas in her market and in her marketing where other’s weren’t competing

From Google Business to reels on Instagram Megan has built many marketing avenues out of areas that others weren’t tapping into. When you have multiple sources of business you don’t need to rely on any 1 as much. This year Megan came up with a genius strategy to market to a builder, show extra value and land their business. Finally we discussed how Megan worked through the objection of being too young, partially by getting a haircut – but trust me there’s more.

Connect with Megan: https://waltersteamrealty.com/

The Neighborhood Realtor is proudly sponsored by Treadstone Funding and Neighborhood Loans. For more tangible tips in real estate marketing, check out Matt's book, The Tangible Action Guide for Real Estate Marketing available on Amazon.

Learned something new, or have a suggestion? Message Matt Muscat on Instagram!

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(upbeat music)- Most people do social media personally,but they don't have a plan for it professionally,and then they wonder why they're notgetting leads off of it.Well, it's because it wasn't part of your business day.Hey everybody, welcome to the show.I'm super excited because just like alwayshappens, we interview one awesome person inthe show and they connect us to someoneand they say, you absolutely have to talk to.And today that person is Megan Walters.She's a top producing agent with exp realty in Columbia, Missouri.And everybody who listens to the show knowsthat I absolutely love interviewing agentswho aren't in like Manhattan or selling sunset type areas.Like Megan is selling a huge volume of units in a normal city.She is relatable and she's figured it out.So Megan, welcome to the show today.Thank you.Thanks for having me.So we always start with the same stuff,Megan, what kind of business are you doing rightnow so people can figure out really quickwhy they should listen to you because you'redoing more than they are.But what was the volume like in 22 andwhat are you on track for in 23 volume units?Yeah.So last year we closed I think right around 79 to 80 units at 21 million.And then this year we're on track tohopefully close about a hundred units around the 23to 24 million mark.So the biggest elephant in the room there is the fact that the number you threw outfor 23 is bigger than your number for 22.Yet we know that there's less inventorythan has been on the market in my career of 12years in the business.And on top of that, you have all kinds of fear and negativity out there.You're smiling right now.People listening can't tell that.But how is your team growing despite therest of the market deciding to go the other way?Yeah.So a big goal of ours this year was also I wanted to pick up a builder.And so through that we ended up being ableto partner with actually probably the bestbuilder here in Columbia.And so I was really excited about that.That definitely helped with the inventoryand the amount of listings being able to takeon a development or two of his and being able to grow that way.But it's just consistency.We're all well aware what the market is doing and where it's headed.And I always just tell and I do have a teamof two other agents and then my husband, soI guess three other agents.But I always just tell them keep your headdown and just focus on what you can controland keep working.Don't listen to the noise.Don't listen to the fear.And I've just kind of learned over the years that that helps me.I don't get distracted by the things Ican't control and instead I focus on what I can.And so then we've been very fortunate then to continue growing through it.I love that.And I think that's so huge, right?Like you can barely tune on the news thesedays without hearing like negativity, negativity.And especially if you surround yourself withpeople that are giving you bad news, you'regoing to internalize that and think that the market sucks.But I think the number one job of a realestate professional right now, mortgage, realestate, whatever, is to make sure people knowthat now is a good time to buy if you're confidentin your ability to be able to make yourmortgage payments and stay in a house for whether it'sa year or more, two years or more in certain markets.So talking about the builder thing.So I love that you were looking for a bigopportunity specifically that solved the inventoryproblem, right?Like, so if you think that inventory is theproblem that's holding you back, you go tofind inventory.So what did you do to land this builder other than being awesome?Yeah.So we had a couple of mutual justconnections to that, which definitely always helps.But I was just kind of focusing, I think mostlyon like on what we do and just the consistencyof that and putting it in front of them.We did, we didn't want to pick up every builder.I will say that was a big thing.And one of my biggest things was picking up quality.I didn't want to pick up something that Iwas going to sign my name next to, and thenhave a bunch of people come back a yearlater saying that their house is falling apartalready.So that was a big variable when we were, wehad a very, very small list of builders thatI was okay to sign my name next to.And so on that small list, we started justpretty much trying to just to talk to them,get in front of them.I did something called a made a builder's guide.And so it's a really pretty little black book.And it explains them all of our services,everything that we can offer, supplementalservices through marketing firms to be able to manage their social media pages.Cause that's usually something that a builder doesn't have time for.They're not going to have time to get on theirInstagram and their Facebook and promote theirown business.So we do that for them.And they have beautiful products.So you always have a ton of content, which is makes it easier.But yeah, so we made this beautiful builderbook, put it in a really nice black box withsome kind of like the white little shredded,not confetti, but whatever paper, put a bigpretty bow on it and shifted to theiraddresses, which then got us the meetings, which thengot us the conversations going, um, heardthe pain points adjusted to where we can maybefill where those current pain points were.Um, and then, yeah, so then we landed our, our top pick.I was really excited about it cause he's anamazing human, um, as well as just an amazingbuilder, obviously.And it's been a really good partnership since.And yeah, I love that.So number one for anyone listening, I thinklike people immediately go to, Oh, I'm goingto go.She cold cold builders and, but it was so much more involved than that.Right?Like you picked, you did your research first step to you created value.You made a guide and really put in one nicepackage of everything that you could offerfor them.And I think realtors sometimes salespeople forget to do this, right?Like a lot of us are go, well, I do all thesethings, but like, so does every other realtoror any other realtor could, and we lockourselves into this idea that like, why would I saythis when everyone else could say this, butsometimes just putting in writing and puttinga nice brand behind it is the powerful thing instep three, you made it look pretty noticeable.You kind of like, there was a little theater there.Like you put in a nice box.He had, you made it look fancy, luxury, et cetera.I'm assuming that's the vibe the builder has too.And then you landed the meeting, then youjust crushed it in the meeting with a greatpersonality.I'm sure you developed rapport X, Y, Z.And then you put your money where your mouthis and actually did a great job for the builderafter that.I mean, that seems to me like somethingthat a realtor in a different market could trydoing.There's builders in every market and a lotof realtors call on them, but they probablydon't, they don't put that level of effort into it.So I absolutely love that.So tell me there's, you know, price 700 or so agents in your market.You mentioned you're doing a hundred units.There's only 300 listings on your MLS right now.So I mean, you're doing a huge portion of the business there.I imagine your market share is, is really, really high.How did, did you start out like on a huge team?You got a lot of leads in 2016, 2017.Like, how did you get started?Like what was the story in the progression of like getting started to now?Yeah.So when I started, I was 2023.Yeah.23.When I started, I didn't start on a team.I have mentors that kind of taught and guide me.They ultimately just kind of told me what to do.Open houses is really where I started.I would do four open houses every singleweekend, like clockwork for probably two years straight.So where did you get those open houses from?Because I, you know, I think half theagents have I've ever interviewed have said theyreligiously did open houses, but a lot ofagents today say like, well, there's not manylistings.I don't have any listings.Like how did you set those up?Yeah.So before I was with the expos with the local brokerage here in town.And so when I joined, I mean, at thatpoint, every agent there had been there for quitesome time.They were established.They didn't want to do open houses.So every Monday, like clockwork, I went toevery single one of their offices knockedon the door.What houses do you have listing this week?What can I have open?I learned that I had to do it on a Mondayto Tuesday and ask because by Wednesday theywere already going to be taken by somebody else.And so yeah, every single week I did that.And then to the point where I developedrelationships with a couple of them that were like the listingKings and Queens to where then I just went to their office every single week.Hey, here I am.What houses do you have that I can have open?And they're like, great, I have my weekend back.You can have it.And so that's what I would do.And it was purposeful every single weekthat I had to do that on a Monday and make thatask.And if they didn't have it, then I was tryingto figure out something else to do that wouldfill those times because that time is already blocked on my schedule.So then it was, well, I'm in the office doing floor duty.I'm taking other people's floor duty,whatever it was for those high producing agents whoalready had, who had already honestly madetheir money, whatever it was that I knew thatthey probably didn't want to do anymore.I was there to just take whatever they didn't want.I love that.I mean, I think the overall idea there isfind out what other people don't want to doand then do it for them.Like I have an agent here in our marketwho calls on a top producing agent who's beenin the business for 50 years and goes, Hey,I know you don't put any of your people ina CRM.I put these people in there and if I getone of them to buy your cell, like, can I workit with you?And the answer is yes.So many agents just want to make a littlebit more money, but they're not going to putthe time in to doing those things like openhouses, like calling their past clients asbasic as that sounds.So if you're a new agent out there or anagent who just needs some business, come up witha presentation.I mean, like you could take Megan's idea ofmaking the builder guide and you could literallymake a take your weekend back guide andsell that to other agents in your brokerage andin your marketplace.I mean, there's so many ways that you could apply that.I love that.I mean, you've time blocked it.It was there, but you also time blockedgoing to the agents on the Mondays and Tuesdaysto get those set up.I think that's the big thing for all thepeople that write down, like, yeah, I'll do openhouses, but then they don't get them.That's I think that's the missing link and I love, love that you explain that.So, so there were a lot of, when you firststarted, there were a lot of, let's say moreexperienced wise agents in your market and you said you were 23.So that's a vastly different than the averageage of a real estate agent in the United Statesright now.Was there any other, any other forms ofmarketing that you kind of fell into because of thator that you, you decided to make a strategy because there was a lack in the market?Yeah.So my age definitely was against me my first couple of years.Even with the growing sales production, itwas still something that a lot of even consumerswould say.I used to have a lot longer hair than this.Maybe joke that I actually cut my hair off to look older.So that's, is that a tangible takeaway?Get a haircut and double your business.I mean, what did they say?Dress the part.It is very true.I mean, I was fresh out of college and looked like it.And so I mean, a lot of people would ask like, how old are you?And they would just, and I'm like, and at some point I think it took about a year.I will say that it took about a year forme to confidently start answering old enoughto help you buy a new sell house.And then at that point, it kind of justturned the trajectory of my own personality to bea little bit more confident and a little less insecure about my age.But then I started using my age and my favor.So where my first year, it kind of feltlike a crutch and I just kind of, yeah, it wasa little hard at some times.After that, I started using it in my favor.And so with like the marketing and people,things that other agents in my area weren'tdoing, getting on camera and doing videos.No one here did listing videos at that time.I was one of the first, I think the firstperson to ever do a listing video where youwere actually in the video.It's not just of the house and start talkingabout the area, the neighborhood, like restaurants,things like that.And so I started using my youth and putting it behind camera.And then also just through like usingCanva social media websites, you'd be surprisedhow many agents didn't even have a website.I'm really big with Google.So Google reviews.I knew what Google reviews were.I always Google every restaurant I went to and left a nice little review.Nobody here had that.And so I was the first to like startcreating a Google business to now where we're one ofthe top firms that you'll see or teams thatyou'll see when you Google real estate agentshere.Real estate has a lot of contracts.I want this podcast to have a social contract as well.Here's what I need from you.If you're listening to the show and you getsomething valuable out of it or you hear somethingthat you think that's awesome, I want youto send me a DM on Instagram or if you findmy email, send it that way.The more feedback that I get helps me to puttogether better shows and attract better guests.So I'm going to do a pop out here.So I've been talking about Google reviews and Google business GMB.There's so many acronyms for the past 12 years.I think like the first ever real estate agentI met with to talk marketing, we talked aboutGoogle reviews and it's great because it's free.It doesn't cost any money.You can add a ton of information to your page.And if you happen to be in a market where there's no one that has a Google businesspage near you within five or 10 miles, youpop up number one for free and you pop upeven higher the more reviews you get andthe third demographic or the third key is thelonger your page has been on the internet.So an easy one if you're out there, if youdon't have a Google business page, if there'snot a lot of people in your market thathave a GMB page with a lot of reviews, check itout and make one for yourself.I think it's also important to right nowyou can make a free one on Apple, Apple maps,especially if you have customers that cometo your broker Mordred, that can be an easyone.And then being like not as many people useit, it's 15% of the internet, but again, it'sa free listing.So if you're out there and you don't haveall of these free listings, make them becauseyou're not doing the free easy stuff.You're certainly not going to do the hard stuff when it comes to marketing.You got to start somewhere.I love that.So on social media though, what do you do?Obviously you started with reels because other people weren't doing them.You started getting more active because people weren't doing it.Where are you at now?I checked you out.I see a ton of great content.How do you stay up with it?It can be a lot for all of us.Yeah.So I actually have a gal that manages mypersonal page now just for time management.And so I'll kind of like brain dump allthe ideas that are going through my head andthen they kind of keep me accountable ofsaying, Meg, can you send us XYZ photos, videos, yousaying this blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.Here's some captions.Can you edit it?Make sure everything's accurate.And then they post three times a week for me.And then the other two to three times is myself.So that's helped for sure.But prior to having the ability to pay forsomebody like that, I just had a daily reminderin my phone.I would block a day.I'm really big on time blocking, but I had it blocked a day.I would film all the content and I prettymuch had this little calendar of this page.This video went here on this day, this day, this time.And then I had alarms in my phone that wouldjust beep at me saying like post on Instagram,post on Facebook, this video, that video.But it was all made because I blocked thatentire day to do it to where then I just kindof shot it out.So really the social media thing, at leastin anything in every market, it's very true.But because no one was doing it here, mine was just the consistency.After now, six and a half years of having been consistent, it pays off.And that's a big thing.I'll tell agents here when they've just done it for like a week.It's just like working out.If you only do it for a week, two weeks, like you're not going to see anything.You have to do it for so much time.It's where it's like now I can walk to therestaurant next door and I can promise yousomebody in there knows that I'm a real estate agent.That's also a town, smaller, things like that.But it's that consistency that ends up then being able to reap your benefits later.I mean, I feel like you just turned offevery person listening by comparing marketing togoing to the gym.Because although yes, you and I go to thegym every day, I feel like that is not thenorm.I think everyone just wants to like, I thinkwhy don't we come up with some marketing ideasthat are more like take the random pill thatthey advertise on TV and get skinny and beautiful.Because I think that's the average agent style.Go buy followers.Well, then Instagram is going to ding the shit out of you.I don't know if I can cast.You did that.But I mean, yeah.I vividly remember like 2013, 2014.Someone was like, oh my gosh, you can go onthis site called Fiverr and you can buy 100,000YouTube views.And I'm like, for what purpose?I'm sure if this is all over the internet,YouTube has already figured out this and liketrained their algorithm to not have this help you.Like if it sounds like in anything likeright, like if it sounds too good to be true, itprobably is.But if you have a plan and you just put alittle bit of effort in every day, like youmentioned like, you know, like time blocking for social media.Like most people do social media personally,but they don't have a plan for it professionally.And then they wonder why they're not getting leads off of it.Well, it's because it wasn't part of your business day, right?Like if you work in social media, you havea mean boss sitting over your shoulder andthey're telling you, I need 10 posts out.I need five stories.I need three reels and you do it.And that's why you get results.But in real estate, you don't really have a boss, right?Like the CEO of the exp is not calling yousaying, Hey, I noticed you didn't post yesterday.Like that doesn't happen.We're in charge of ourself.We're controlling our own destiny.So I think having that plan, like if peopleare wondering like why it's working for you,Megan, like it's because you have a plan and that's, that's so huge.I love that.So you guys also, I know you're, you're biginto kind of diversification and having somefun, but related irons in the fire.What is, tell her about the project that you and your husband have going right now.Like what's the new, what's the new tangentially related venture?Yeah.So our, our goals are to build our rental portfolio to the point where I can retireby 35 is the joke.Um, I don't think it's a joke.I think I'm being serious, but I'll tell myself it's a joke.But that's kind of the goal.But through that also is been starting a property management firm.There was a huge gap in my business, whichwas I helped a lot of investors by propertiesand they're like, Meg, will you manage it?And I was like, yeah, no way.My husband saw that gap and that is alsosomething that brought him a lot more joy than whatI thought it was going to bring me.And so we've created the property managementfirm, aside with the real estate team to beable to kind of help fill that gap, butalso help grow not only our own portfolio, butalso our client's portfolio because throughthat, yes, you'll get a lot of leads, whetherit be listings and buyers, just cause you'llknow a lot of the stuff that's going to kindof come up before others will.Well, and I think too, like you're alreadyworking with some investors, you're alreadyworking with people buying houses.Why not be able to have like a full service solution for them?Like I, as an investor, can be a lot moreconfident choosing to buy a house from you,Megan, because I know that the minute we'redone, it's not like you're going to recommenda property manager to me and like hope they work out.It's going to be, no, like you've told meahead of time, like what the pricing is like,you've told me ahead of time, what the value proposition is like.And I've already had an awesome experience with you on the real estate side.So I can trust that this is like a full service thing.And then that keeps them sticky.It keeps them in front of you.The minute they tell you like, hey, let's pull the property off the rental market.It's like, oh, hey, do you need to list it?Like I'm here for you.I mean, it's like full, truly full service real estate.And I think it's just one more great thing that you can market on top of that.You know, when you are managing a property,you now have tenant information every yearthat's 10 to 15, maybe 20 new tenants.Those are people that you can market to that can be in your database.Obviously, if they're your own tenants, that's yours to market with.But if they're your client's tenants, that's with permission.And it's just so many more people in your community that are going to know you, beobsessed with you.It's experience or great service.Yeah.I mean, we just picked up a buyer last week and a big part about like, if you're areal estate agent that you know, you're working with investors, the whole sayingof kind of putting your money where your mouth is, is very, very true.I'll interview with a lot of investors.And one of the first questions that they ask is do you own any rental properties?And if so, how many?And it's a big thing for them because theywant to know and make sure that it's whatyou believe in.And it's where you're putting your own finances to grow.Because if not, they're kind of like, andso we picked up a buyer last week, actually,just because I have a whole property management tab on my website.And he was like, yeah, I knew that you didn't just have real estate knowledge, youhave, yeah, kind of the retention per se knowledge as well.So that's been a really big, and we only opened that about three months ago.And I've already probably gotten two to three new clients from it.Um, and like, so he's grown, I think to about 20 properties that he's managingin just that short period of time.So yeah, well, if anyone's listening in Columbia, Missouri, hit up Megan, she'llconnect to their husband and they can manage your properties for you.What I really like is that the, the extra business that you decided to start is, isso related and fits in so well to your current business.And I, I think like too many, too many realtors and lenders right now are thinkingabout like other businesses that they canstart that are completely unrelated to theindustry and will really take their focus away from the biggest money maker, whichis a 3% commission on a $400,000 or whatever the average price point in yourmarket is house, I mean, there's very fewprofessions in the world that you can earnthat much money or have the potential to.So you're going to start something different and think about what you could do.That's already kind of in the industry and related.I think it's a huge opportunity.So before we end, I want to talk about events and community involvement because Iknow that was one of the huge contributing factors other than your ridiculousunit count and volume that helped you get 30 under 30 with NAR.Congratulations.But I mean, you're super involved in the community and really, it would be hard forsomeone to not know about you.So what are you, what are you guys doing in Columbia that, that has helped buildthat, build that reputation out?Yeah.So the only, like the big real estate thing is we do have our own TV show calledSelling Como.So that's going to be a big thing.Um, uh, just more kind of community knowledge, um, where that it's just kind ofmore recognizable, but on the other flip side, the kind of the part that's probablymore, a lot more dear to my heart is we do a lot of charity events as well.Um, and so we try and do one at least once a quarter, but for like an example,like this week we've got to where both of them are with elementary schools.One is for like a Cougar Fun Fest, where we just are supplying a lot of games andphotos for elementary students.And then we're doing a coat and shoe drive where we're providing, uh, shoesand coats for some kids at another elementary school here in town, um, thatdon't have access to it.So always making sure that with the growth, we're very, we're very blessedand we're very fortunate and grateful.Um, and making sure that we're giving back at the same time is a big componentof who we are as people, um, and just making sure that we kind of share thatwith others.The Neighborhood Realtor podcast is proudly made possible by the support ofour sponsors, Treadstone funding and Neighborhood Loans, two amazing Midwestmortgage companies that now have offices all around the country.If you're a real estate agent looking to partner with an amazing lender, DM me atMatt Muskey 88 and I'll connect you with someone in your market.If you're a lender and you want to join the right mortgage company at DM meand I'll connect you as well.I love that. So when you're doing theseevents, it sounds to me like you're really puttingthe event on and spearheading it. You're superinvolved. I think too many people, businesses,sponsor an event and they get a banner upand then they ask for a list of attendees andspam market them. This is very different. Would you agree?Yeah. Yeah, no, it is. I'm the one that'stexting hundreds of people myself and saying, "Hey,come out." We're delivering flyers to theschools that are involved directly to the teachers.And so we are the ones that are, yeah, are theones that are hosting it. We're spearheading.We're the ones that are inviting. Andultimately, we're the ones that are going to drop off theproduct that we've been able to get peopleto donate back to the school or to the charityor whatever it is that we're doing that quarter.And that's been something that's just been veryimportant to us our whole lives. But being there,being a part of it is huge. Just setting it up andsaying, "Yeah, go dump it in this bucket over here."Yeah. I mean, there's so many sides to this.Number one, you're doing a good thing that youenjoy and it feels good. And I think thatthat's obviously the most important. But number two,you can measure the potential outcome of an eventand what your business could get off of it by howmany people you or your team can personallytouch by doing an event. It's like when you dosomething and you can personally deliver X amountof things and you can personally text X amount ofpeople and get in front of them. That's reallywhere business happens because you might reachout to them about XYZ charity thing, but thenyou're top of mind for them. And they know you're a greatrealtor. And if they don't, they might Google youto figure out, "Oh, what's this Megan all about?"I mean, there's so many pieces to that. It'snot about showing up. It's not about all of that.It's about being a part of it and figuring outhow you can meet as many people as possible orhow you can use your event as a reason to reachout to all of the people in your database or allpeople in your database that care about things of that nature. I think that's huge.And I know you could do a really good job ofgetting businesses involved with this stuff too.And obviously businesses have employees day byhouses. Can you talk to us about that for a moment?Yeah. So for like the coat and shoe drive, foran example, we had all these flyers and so wedelivered it to the elementary school that we'reactually partnering up with, but we also deliveredit to the business, which is a brewery here inColumbia. And we delivered them flyers and wepartnered up with them. And so they're marketingit as well for us. So that kind of then just helpshit that reach. But then it just developsrelationships with the marketing team at thosebusinesses. So now I've got that girl's contactinformation, her emails now in our database goingto her subscriber list. And so then it justcontinues that relationship. And then same withall the teachers. And this particular one, theone that we're going on Friday for the Fun Fest,that's at a more... That's at a school that maybe doesn't have as many needson an overall average basis for our town. Well,I'm taking all those flyers for Arvin for Sunday,that's for a different elementary school thatdoesn't have as much resources as the other one.I'm taking those flyers and bringing them toMill Creek and I'm showing it to all those parents.And I'm like, "Hey, you guys have more resourceson average. Here's an event that we're going tosponsor just for another school here in town."And so it's just consistently kind of developingthose relationships with people and different kind of assets like that.I love it. So if someone listening has areferral, someone moving to the Columbia, Missouri area,how would they get ahold of you?Yeah. So they can get ahold of us. Probably thebest way is actually through Facebook or Instagram.My personal handle is just at Megan Walters oreven at the Walters team, both get to me. Or onFacebook, the Walters team. Both of those wouldbe great. Or you can just easily Google us andI will connect to the website, which will get straight to me as well.That's awesome. Well, Megan, thank you so much. You had so many great tips today.I cannot wait to get this up for the live.Awesome. Well, thank you for having me.

The Neighborhood Realtor

Marketing Where Your Competitors Aren’t — Megan Walters, MO

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