Ep. 207: Ben Belack Shares How Become the Known Entity

Selling the Dream: A Podcast for Resort & 2nd Home Real Estate Agents

Have you ever looked at other real estate agents and wondered how they were getting the sales numbers that they have?

Sometimes, you see that you’re doing the exact same things:

• Open houses

• Direct marketing

• Advertising

But there’s just something about them that is skyrocketing their sales!

Every wonder what that key difference is? They are known.

When you are known in your market, you’re going to be the person that people call. You’re going to be the one that they want to work with. You’re the one that they have connected with - sometimes without ever even meeting you!

How can you do that?

It’s all about how you network with people, and build your reputation. Take time to create relatable content that wins people over and makes them feel like they know you, like you, and trust you.

You don’t have to be the smartest real estate agent ever: you have to be known!

This week on the Selling the Dream podcast, I’m talking to Ben Belack about his key to success: being known! If you’re ready to explode your market and be the top choice in your area, you won’t want to miss this week’s episode of the Selling the Dream podcast!

Before we dive in: join an amazing network of the best second home agents. Make sure that you create your free profile on the Second Home Agents website? Go over and get started: it’s FREE to join. Click here to register, fill out your profile and get listed today.

Highlights of this episode:

• Tom introduces Ben and his business.

• Ben was pursuing an acting career, and ended up in the world of real estate.

• One of the best things you can do when starting out is find a mentor, and make yourself indispensable to them!

• Ben shares his affirmations, and how he uses them to help himself be better.

• Tom shares his perspective on scoffing at what successful people are doing: if a top seller is using affirmations, there just may be something to it!

• If you don’t emotionally capture your clients, it will impact the bottom line.

• Tom and Ben discuss some of the implications of new selling rules.

• Ben shares how he got into video marketing for his sales, and how he uses video.

• You have to be known in your market to get results!

• You may be around agents who may not seem “as good” as you, but what sets them apart? They are known!

• Ben shares that he uses his iPhone 11 for all of his recording, and makes day in the life videos.

• People expect and want to see transparency, not a perfectly produced video! They want to know that you’re real!

• Not all content is pushed out at once. Ben shares how they slowly release content.

• Know your numbers and what is bringing in your income! You may find that your most profitable leads come from free sources (hint: referrals)!

• Video walking tours of your listings can bring in quite a few views and leads!

• Ben shares his DiSC profile, and how to connect with him.

• Don’t forget to subscribe to the Selling the Dream podcast so you don’t miss any new episodes! Leave a review: you never know when it will be read on the show!

Hey everybody, thank you so much for spending time with us today: would you do me a giant favor and share this podcast with fellow realtors, and leave a review. Your reviews help this podcast get shared with more people.

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Connect with Ben:

• LinkedIn

• YouTube

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• 2nd Home Agents website

• Facebook

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• YouTube

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Have you made your free profile on the Second Home Agents website? Go over and get started: it’s FREE. Click here to register, make your profile and get listed today.

As always, thanks for listening. Don’t forget, you’re not selling a home: you’re selling the dream.

See you next time!

TRANSCRIPT:

Unknown Speaker 0:00

Today on Selling the Dream find out if you're the known entity. Welcome to Selling the Dream, a podcast created for and by second home and resort realtors on Tom Tezak. And each week my goal is to bring you a quick real estate tip along with an infopath interview with an industry.

Unknown Speaker 0:19

My mission is to bring the cutting edge market insight into sales techniques and information about the latest technology. Thanks for tuning in. And remember, we're not selling real estate, Selling the Dream.

Unknown Speaker 0:35

Everybody, Tom Tezak with Selling the Dream and today I'm with Ben bellick. With the agency and he works from the city to the water in LA he does a bunch of business in Beverly Hills,

Unknown Speaker 0:48

Hollywood Hills and off to Malibu. Ben, thanks for joining us on Selling the Dream. Thanks for having me. I'm excited to be here. Thank you. So Ben, how long you been in business? I've had

Unknown Speaker 1:00

Had my license, uh, almost 10 years, 10 years. What do you do before selling real estate? I was pursuing a professional acting career in Los Angeles for nearly actually over a decade very seriously and enthusiastically I was an actor as a kid. And, but, you know, kind of really, the core of what I was doing at the time was hospitality. I worked in hospitality, ultimately for Wolfgang Puck at spargo in Beverly Hills. Wine was my interest. I became a sommelier and was blind tasting wine five days a week for five years. Wow. Yeah. So you know your stuff when it comes to that and you know, I think that speaks to, well, what a great background so it's we as realtors, so many realtors come from different places, and they take and they draw off of what they used to do to be successful at what they currently do. You know, my back my backstory was I was a deputy coroner. So you know, you talk about customer service.

Unknown Speaker 2:00

It's a little different for that. But sir, being an actor and also being able to understand how to speak and how to be clear, that's one of the things we're going to talk about today is what you've really evolved into as far as your marketing strategy.

Unknown Speaker 2:15

But with with your business 10 years, how long? How recently, have you seen success that's been beyond your imagination?

Unknown Speaker 2:25

Um, that's, that's a great question. Um, you know, I was working with my mentor who I, you know, I was given advice in the beginning to find a mentor. It doesn't matter what company you hang your license with, for the first three years or so. And then I made myself indispensable to him and then he kind of brought me into his business, I got a piece of everything just to kind of run launches and run escrows and then when I grew out of that role, I ended up selling 12 million my first year on my own, and I was pretty excited about

Unknown Speaker 3:00

buy that.

Unknown Speaker 3:01

And then the next year, I sold 24 million. And I was acknowledged by my company at our holiday party while I was still small. And literally, I was like, I'm never How am I going to ever do this again? And then I sold 36 The next year, and then I sold over 50, the next year and then 65. And when I actually sold about that last year, and I thought to myself, like, man, had I been running my business the way I do now, at the beginning of the year, I would have sold over 100 Wow, amazing. That's that's quite always been on my imagination. Actually, I will say like, in the mornings when I say my affirmations, I have to like convince myself this is all supposed to be happening because in my market. So it's some of it's so crazy to even understand you know that you are, you know you if you're going to ask for that kind of business, you have to believe it. You have to believe you're worthy of it first and qualify.

Unknown Speaker 4:00

Right. And I think that's so important. And you hit it right on the head. First of all, you said, when you say your affirmations, can you share an affirmation with us? Um, yeah, I mean, one of the ones that I, that I think about all the time is like, I say to myself, like, I am a Jedi.

Unknown Speaker 4:16

I am a Jedi. And I, well, and I want to point that out is because, you know, affirmations or if you I say affirmations every morning as well. And so, if, if you, you know, you gotta believe in yourself, and that's where it all starts, you've got to believe that you can do these things. And I know people look, they like, oh, affirmations, it's, that's bullshit. It's like, now it's, it really frames your your space in your brain. And everyday when you get up and you say these things. It's amazing how that stuff just comes together. And you become that person. Right? You know, so one of my aspiration one of my affirmations every morning is I want to help secondary market agents be the best agents they can possibly be. So it makes me focus on Hey, who can I get?

Unknown Speaker 5:00

Get on the show to help. Hey, Ben's a great guy, let me you know, so I'm always trying to figure out how I can do a better job. And by helping him by having you on the show, you know, all the people that are out there listening, it helps me more than the rest of them. Because I'm learning stuff every time I do a show. And so I just love that you're, you're big on affirmations. So $65 million. What does that mean, in units in in your marketplace? I would say that previously. Or, you know, my sweet spot is generally around 2.2 to $3 million per transaction about big, so that's big money for most people that a lot of people that are listening. So um, yeah, I mean, the thing is, is that because I do so much CO listing because people bring me into things because, you know, they want me to help them close the listing appointment, or they kind of want to peek behind the curtain the way I deploy a listing.

Unknown Speaker 5:59

I think

Unknown Speaker 6:00

Two years ago, I sold nearly 40 homes but so you know that that my average is, you know, probably was closer to 2 million or but I'm but I'm not making the equivalent of that because I did so much sharing and colas, collaboration which is, which is a core principle of our company. It's only eight years old now and we team up on things all the time, literally with all the time. You're with Mauricio, and is that with the agency, right? So yeah, Kelly? Yeah, he and I, we've co listed several things. We have something right now for 20 million that we just brought on. He and I were talking actually 10 minutes before you and i, you and I connected here.

Unknown Speaker 6:39

Now one thing I'll say really quick, since even then the one thing I'll say is since you mentioned affirmations, I would caution anyone

Unknown Speaker 6:48

to criticize or judge things that other successful people are doing. One of my closest friends

Unknown Speaker 6:56

who I met through real estate was last year on the

Unknown Speaker 7:00

1000 he was number four. Wow. And he says affirmations every morning. And he doesn't have like some massive team, where they're doing like, all these transactions, his average transactions like north of $10 million. So I love it. You know, and I'm a fan. And that's but you know, there's people out there that mean I run a company, I've got 55 agents, and you know, I go to the company and I say, hey, you should do this. And you can just see him roll their eyes. It's like, you know, guys, there's something to be said. And I love what you said, if it shouldn't knock what successful agents are doing because it makes a lot of sense. Yeah. So you said a peek behind the curtain. Give us a little peek behind the curtain when you deploy a listing. What are you doing? Well, my goal, you know, and I want someone that you know, well, um, you know, he said that most agents have a three point plan. They take some photos, put it on the internet. Wait for everyone.

Unknown Speaker 8:00

show up, right? Because nowadays and this is kind of a script that I use in my own listing appointments. You know, I literally will pull up my phone and I say, you know, people are now swiping through homes with attention deficit disorder on consumer base sites like Zillow, Redfin Trulia.

Unknown Speaker 8:18

The same way they're swiping through life partners on Tinder and restaurants on Yelp, and their own photos, think about how you swipe through your own photos very fast. We're looking for that dopamine release of what is new. So if we don't emotionally captivate buyers, and I don't care what it is, what you're selling, because there's a buyer for everything.

Unknown Speaker 8:44

We don't emotionally captivate them at first contact, particularly on something that has an emotional or status attachment to it like a home or a car or a boat, then we're going to lose them and that's going to negatively affect our clients bottom line, their time on the market, and potentially

Unknown Speaker 9:00

any future referrals that we get from them so my launch is meant to create a ton of momentum, excitement and enthusiasm prior to the days on market clock ticking, but specifically to truly diagnose who the buyer archetype or archetypes are and emotionally captivate them

Unknown Speaker 9:20

to the house to engage it and then of course, to stay engaged through inspections when they find out the house is falling down the hill.

Unknown Speaker 9:29

Allah mela boo Hmm. So are the wood hills, I built my business selling hillside and you know, most people just have a general inspector lockbox on day one of our inspections we have a general Inspector, right everyone has that sewer line mold chimney, a structural engineer someone to come look at the Foundation and the drainage and make sure water is flowing away from the property. Someone look at the roof. So, I mean, I just received the request for repair in the form of a credit of

Unknown Speaker 10:00

$60,000 yesterday. So we're negotiating that. Well, you know, and I think some agents say, well, geez, that might kill the deal. It's like, Great kill the deal because the last thing you want to do is end up in court because you didn't disclose or you didn't do your job is due diligence. That's, that I think is so key and important to what what we do is doing the best right job for the best job for our clients when we're doing that.

Unknown Speaker 10:25

So with the new rules of the National Association of Realtors and the clear MLS policy, did that affect the way you you bring your listings to market? Believe it or not, I'm at the heart of that.

Unknown Speaker 10:41

Because in my marketplace, there are many people who want to sell their homes off market because of privacy because of the press.

Unknown Speaker 10:51

Sometimes people just want to historically test the price. They're like, Ben, I'll let you sell my house if you can get me x but

Unknown Speaker 11:00

have an opinion on this, we could do a separate podcast on this. But in short, I think that the consumer in this case, the seller should be able to sell their house any way they want. And if someone feels that they can get a premium by being off market and the seller decides to take that advice, so be it. If the seller decides that exposing to the marketplace and letting the market value the property is is the best and they decided to take that advice. So VA but I think for

Unknown Speaker 11:33

the National Association of Realtors to step in and say all markets have you know, this one rule applies everywhere is pretty short sighted and I think they're doing their membership as well as our clients a great disservice. Believe it or not, some of the guys in my office who I travel with who are well established agents, they own the pls, the private Listing Service, okay, and it was obviously you know, putting their business model

Unknown Speaker 12:00

out of business. And

Unknown Speaker 12:03

it's for us, you know where I would let's say I had a seller who said, look, I think my house is worth four and a half million dollars. And I'm like, this needs to be a 3995. Right?

Unknown Speaker 12:17

I could go test it at four or five without days on market. And I go, No, I,

Unknown Speaker 12:23

I get it. I get it. And we deal with that in our high end markets here in Maui. And I understand the other side of the coin. I understand the reason why is

Unknown Speaker 12:33

what he's calling me right now. Oh, Mario, Rifai. rusi. I mean, yeah, just funny that we you brought him up and he's calling but yeah, I'm so sorry. As you were saying. Yeah. So so I think though, I do understand the other side of the coin in these small markets where these were agents are just not exposing the products that should be exposed but there is the other side of the coin where the we have high visibility high profile clients that have 10

Unknown Speaker 13:00

In 15, and $20 million houses that are celebrities and it's like, I don't want my house publicize, I don't want people to know about it. I'm going to a small network of agents, because they have the buyers. And yet will I miss a buyer? Maybe, but will I protect my privacy? Absolutely. And I saw I get that I understand that. So it is a nine to walk. I think you're you really hit it something that I didn't mention, which is people people sometimes have a value, a psychological value of privacy, which basically doesn't exist anymore.

Unknown Speaker 13:35

Not the truth, you know, instead of a potential for it and some people, some people are like, if I get this, I'm okay. It's not going to destroy my net worth. It's not my only thing I was in a house today. Were with the architect and he said that this that the owner has like seven houses in the US only

Unknown Speaker 14:00

So if that house trades for like a little bit, it doesn't mean much. Right? So anywho and I think it's, there's, there's a lot of debate between that I know that when they brought it into our MLS, and they had a meeting about it, there was some there was a lot of people that work in the high end markets like this is gonna really make it challenging. So I'm with you on that. But I think we beat that dead horse.

Unknown Speaker 14:27

Let me talk to you about your video marketing sales. So we were together at an event it was a Tom Ferry private, very elite coaching group. And we were actually sitting next to each other and it was when sort of this this this epiphany went off and he said, I'm gonna take my acting skills and my career and my knowledge and I'm going to become the video master of creating new kinds of video. Is that about accurate? men? Yeah, I frankly, to this day, I can't believe I was allowed into that.

Unknown Speaker 15:00

The one thing he didn't add was that we had to apply and open up our books and all that, like, all you guys were serious you 50 some. There's guys there that have like four offices in Atlanta total of 100 agents. And I'm like, I just sell in LA I. So anyway, I was so grateful to be in there. And who knows if Tom actually ever does that again. I mean, and it wasn't cheap, but it was incredible. What I look back on that event, and we're talking about it was a it was a Tom Ferry private event that he had been it's a you had to apply for you have to be part of the coaching group.

Unknown Speaker 15:34

And it was it was what I found the event and the the Tom and j were great. But it was the experience and the people in the network that I made. Yeah. Oh my gosh, that that was invaluable. I reach out to all of this crew that we got together with on a regular weekly basis. So that speaks to networking and mentoring. But anyway, back to the story. So you decide you're going to reinvent

Unknown Speaker 16:00

Your video stabbed me with my epiphany was because Jay had at we Google j on the screen. Jay made us Jay Abraham by the way guys, it's like, you know it kind of like built Tony Robbins. He's a master is a marketing guru if there ever was one. He's, he's an incredible thinker. He's a master of language and communication when it comes to advertising and marketing and looking at it objectively. I don't know that you'll find a smarter mind and more interesting person to listen to. And he'll admit he can rant and go on forever. And it's hard to not be transfixed. He's He's a brilliant human being. That said, we Google j, and not because of any egotistical thing around j, but we googled him to make an example and he had like, you know, millions of results or something. And then he googled one of the agents in the room who's still very successful in our marketplace, there were like 35 results.

Unknown Speaker 16:55

And what he and Tom were really talking about was being known being

Unknown Speaker 17:00

No being known, it doesn't none of the other stuff matters. It just matters that you're known. And then of course, it matters that you're light. But when I started to think about was, I have built my business on grind. I'm not from LA I was door knocking, I've sent out letters and cold calling expired to still do it today. And, you know, I didn't have the kind of nepotistic benefit of growing up here. So with that, I started to think about how good of a job I do, you know, multiple offers selling over asking homes on the market for two years, not selling with agents that are on TV, I get it and sell it in a weekend. Right? I'm sending out 10s of thousands of dollars worth of postcards to my farms per year and no one cared. And when I tell you, we have a 25 person creative team at the agency in Beverly Hills. The collateral was very sexy and very captivating. It was great, but no one cared. And when I started to realize the Epiphany, I had there

Unknown Speaker 18:00

Because I was thinking Wait a billion Mauricio, they make they're great agents. They have incoming calls. You know, they're but are they that much better than me? Yeah, maybe they are through experience. There's some gradations, but are like they that much better that they're getting the lion's share of these mega listings? And I was like, No, but they're known. And then I started thinking about all the agents that are been in the business for a short time that are on TV. I know they're not better, but they're known. So what I really took away from that mastermind was, how can I make myself known?

Unknown Speaker 18:36

Once I really, really understood that because I was reluctant to doing video, I didn't want to do it.

Unknown Speaker 18:44

But once once, the way those guys explained it, I realized that I did not have a choice. If I wanted to get to where I wanted to go. There was no other way there. I had to be known. So that's why I started my videos. So why did you

Unknown Speaker 18:59

so what's

Unknown Speaker 19:00

concept in your videos, I've seen a bunch of different things. It's just as simple as you're just going on tour. And you're, you know, but all different things. So what's your inspiration for creating your videos? And let me let me stop right now and say, we are not talking about, Hi, this is a bedroom and this is a bathroom. These are not house tours. This is everything. But house tours. Now we still do house tours, both Ben and I, and don't get me wrong. But what I want to focus on is all of the other kinds of things. And it's you're all over the board. I've seen stuff that you've done, it's like, you got to be freaking kidding me. You made that into a video and I and I watched it so awesome. So tell us a little bit about your your concept of how you're creating that. That How are you owning the minds of the people that are watching how are you being known that entity? Well, I just dumped a ton of money into YouTube advertising and then they just I'm just kidding. Um, so basically the goal is

Unknown Speaker 20:00

And I will admit, transparently that I don't have a ton of time to produce these right to sit in think of them. I often wonder if I did, how insane it could become. But generally speaking, yes, we do some house tours, because those get a lot of placement in the search, right in the search algorithm, right. So we do some of those, especially in my market, right? So we do some of those, then I try to also do things that are motivational because I really do enjoy being a mentor and teaching newer agents. And that's a platform for me to do that. And as if everyone hasn't already realized, like, I'll keep talking if you don't stop me so that it works for me.

Unknown Speaker 20:46

But I do again, I did build my business completely from scratch. I knew zero about real estate, my parents, you know, had single family residences growing up, but they weren't. They never shared anything about that a passion for like, you know, when we move we move that was

Unknown Speaker 21:00

it.

Unknown Speaker 21:01

So I really enjoyed that. And then

Unknown Speaker 21:04

I also like giving people Day in the Life stuff. So we'll do videos beginning to end where we're like, this is how you create a multiple offer scenario. This is how you counter. This is how you segregate each of the groups based on their terms and price. This is how we finish this is what it became. So we try to get people like true Day in the Life stuff to love it. peek behind the curtain, right? And then are you

Unknown Speaker 21:32

are you filming this stuff when it's actually happening? And they're talking about it or you recreating it? We've only done one recreation because we thought that the conversation was so good that it was would be such a good video that we should recreate it. The thing is, my team was so like conscious of it when we were recreating it that it didn't have that thing. So the goal now is just to

Unknown Speaker 22:00

Shoot as much authentic as we can. So do you have somebody that's following you around doing it? Or is it just say your your teammate or your assistant? It's like, hey, grab, grab the phone and start recording, or are you using a phone or what are you using? Okay, so I actually pay a videographer to film me once a week. And we usually he and I will talk. We often brainstorm and when we're when we're with each other, we make good sense of our time. We have a great working shorthand. He's a great partner, what we're trying to do, he's invested in it because he wants to have other clients like me where he can build their brands. He personally has an incredible following online on tik tok, Instagram, YouTube. His niche is camera stuff, or camera tech, but he follows me around. He attaches a lot, which is the mic right here, everyone. And we film usually on like, a Wednesday or Thursday he shows me an edit Friday.

Unknown Speaker 23:00

I give them notes and then it's up Saturday morning and then we space out the marketing of it. Sometimes if we have to pepper things in, we'll shoot with my iPhone 11 the front facing mic is an incredible tool for sound as long as the environment isn't like a jackhammer construction site. Right? And the camera on it is is fantastic. Right we use we use our iPhones for me right now we're recording the podcast, I use my iPhone because we get the best quality with a with a mic ported in. So what I guess the point is, for those people that are watching, good, don't need a photographer, you don't need somebody following you around. You just need to think about what you're doing and how to create something that's good. And then once you start to create it, you can progress in that if you want a photographer you can get a video wedding videographer, they're not very busy right now. I mean, those are great, great ideas to put it in place. So when you're when he's following you around, it's so it's every Wednesday. It's sort of whatever happens that Wednesday and that's what you're putting out

Unknown Speaker 24:00

For so long what we were doing was we were like, putting stuff in the can meaning like shooting a bunch of episodes in advance. So we had some some, like leeway, or runway I should say, but I've been doing this now for well over a year and we just, we we ran, we ran out of footage, you know. So we just kind of all all think of wood, basically we'll talk about like, Okay, this month, let's make sure we do at least these themes I wanted to to home tours, because I just got these great new listings, and I want to do like a motivational thing we can do in the office. And then um, I feel like I work best, you know, the night before. I'm like, Alright, what am I going to cover today? And then generally what we do is for YouTube format, I'll be like, Alright, here's the quick intro.

Unknown Speaker 24:49

Right, the first like five seconds. I'm like Ben Belloc from the agency. Today I'm going to take you through a $25 million house where they use a dinosaur

Unknown Speaker 25:00

fossile stage it. That's it, then we'll cut to a longer intro, you know, so there's a beginner, there's a quick hook. Yep, hook beginning middle end. And we try not to have them go on for too long, but I'm sorry, back to the process.

Unknown Speaker 25:18

I wish I could say that I had more time to, you know, plan these things out and stuff. But the truth of the matter is, is that the shooting video costs me money. I have to pay my guy, I have to pay him to edit it right. And then I have to spend time doing it, which takes away from prospecting, calling my soI. So sadly, I don't spend as much time as maybe I should producing it. I just want to get the video up and out. I think though, Ben, I think that's really the key is you know, I don't think people expect realtors to put out cinematic production pieces. I think they want to sort of see that fumble that flub a little bit.

Unknown Speaker 26:00

That real transparency that's what makes you know Ben bellick a realtor and not a movie star. You know what I mean? And that they don't want to work with. I don't think a movie star they want to work with a realtor who is really good at what he does and hey, yeah, I say the wrong thing sometimes and I stumble on my words sometimes but I'm just your average guy that is helping you to be successful. That's your goal. You know when someone like drops a line in a play when you're watching and then all of a sudden everyone leans in. Yep, that moment they're not acting watching them authentically find the line or gather it right. So it's okay to not be perfect on there we do we have all sorts of funny stuff happen and we just roll with it. And that's it and that's what I think people love to see that stuff you know, if you if you do any research on videos and what what gets the most views. I've heard it more. So many times. Our blooper reel gets the highest amount of views

Unknown Speaker 27:00

That when anybody who's doing a lot of video, that's the number one. Because people want to see that reality people people, not that they want to see you flub or make a mistake. But it helps them to realize you're just as much of a person as they are. And it's this comfort level that we just need to, to be in that space with people. So I love that. What's your favorite video that you've done?

Unknown Speaker 27:24

Actually, I've done two videos with my friend Zack, who's actually an agent and our biggest competitor. He and I golf together, and we shot one where he thinks he's coming to like preview a property and I'm actually teaching him how to blind taste wine, and he's naturally very, very funny. He's like, is this a date? Like, what are you doing? And then, um, we went to our golf club, and we shot one where we literally brought our videographer and we shot something gorilla late in the day. We're like, none of them.

Unknown Speaker 28:00

Marshalls were out or anything. And

Unknown Speaker 28:03

we talked about how we grew our business and how golf kind of has many parallels to real estate. And, you know, I asked him about, like, how he feels about delegation and all that and I really had a lot of fun with my close friend shooting those episodes, but they're all fun honestly, they're all fun. And now and I've seen him and i and i think that's what it is when you're out there having fun and you're just doing what you do that shows through how do people find your

Unknown Speaker 28:35

your YouTube channel it's I assume that your YouTube channel or your Facebook or both are everywhere? Well, my it's just youtube.com slash Ben Benllech because once you get to a certain subscriber base, they let you choose your URL. Right so it's not just so you guys know it's Ben bn VL A ck Yeah, so definitely go subscribe and get edge get get the experience.

Unknown Speaker 29:00

And get inspired because I think it's he does such a great job. And then I assume you're pushing it out on Facebook as well. Yeah, I mean, we we push it out all week long. I'm

Unknown Speaker 29:13

like we that it's kind of like when McDonald's comes out with the McRib. They don't just advertise it all in one place at one time. And I even have a seller right now who's like, Well, where's this? Where's that? I'm like, Well, no, no, we just pushed it out on Instagram. Let's let that resonate a little, then we'll hit them on Thursday with Facebook, then we'll push into YouTube ads, then we'll push into Google, then we'll follow people around while they browse, just to keep that brand recognition going. So yeah, I mean, you definitely want to space it out just to keep reminding people over and over because at the end of the day, it's not about views. It's about being known. Right. It's about being known. I agree with you 100%

Unknown Speaker 30:00

And do you have people that reference it to you all the time when you're on listing appointments or going for showing appointments? and What to do? What's the conversation like with that? And how does it help your business? More importantly, okay, yeah, so let me tell you,

Unknown Speaker 30:16

let me tell you, what became of it that I didn't realize was going to happen. I've always felt that the people that I have sold homes to or for are just going to call me because I do a good job. I mean, for granted, it's not rocket science. It's not rocket science. But I'm thoughtful and delivered in such a way and that I audit my process so much that we're we're performing at a high level and we we defer risk really well.

Unknown Speaker 30:46

But so with that philosophy and confidence, I was never really engaging my network that much. And one year, I was going through my numbers, and my assistant turns to me and she's really great with tracking

Unknown Speaker 31:00

and stuff and she's like, you know, you made something like a quarter million dollars last year from Zilla and I was like, okay, cool, but how much did I spend? And she was like,

Unknown Speaker 31:14

I don't know, like $60,000 something like, but then she was like, she was like, that wasn't your number one source of income. And I was like, Oh, she was like, I was like, What was she was like, actually referrals was number one. You know it, like, whatever it was 300 or something like that. And I was like, cool. And she's like, I was like, what I spend she's like, it's your sphere zero. He spent nothing. So wait a second, guys. Did you just hear that I just, I just I want I don't want to blow through that. I want I want everybody who's listening to this to hear that. I use Zillow. I mean, I get it. But

Unknown Speaker 31:53

the number one resource you had was your sphere and it didn't cost you anything. Wake up everybody. Thank you.

Unknown Speaker 32:00

It didn't cost anything. So what I started what's so crazy is is right around the time I started really getting kind of my sea legs with video and kind of the identity of the channel.

Unknown Speaker 32:14

I had, we were crossing over New Year's and I was making new business resolutions for that year. And I was, I was thinking to myself this year, I'm going to commit recommit myself to engaging those that know me already. Yep. And so aside from all that, and all the cool things that we that we initiated, what I realized was, is that the video was serving as a passive brand reminder and rapport builder. So I have people texting me saying, like, hey, this guy Zack is hilarious, or I am loving the videos and then all of a sudden

Unknown Speaker 33:00

I get a referral call and they're like so and so who said they were loving the videos had referred me, because every week they're getting this reminder. They're clicking play. Sometimes they watch it, or sometimes they don't.

Unknown Speaker 33:13

But it was a great brand reminder. The other thing is because I do a lot of cold solicitation, if someone would give me their email, they'd be like, yeah, let's meet Tuesday. And then life happens. We don't meet for a month, but because they gave me their email to do the initial follow up. They've gotten four episodes from me by the time I show up. They already know me so well, because of the way I speak about the market. The way they've seen me show homes because of the way I tour them. It's like a showing right there already if ahead. So you use the term cold solicitation as an cold call, or you're just dialing or Yeah, I just wanted to be clear. I had heard cold solicitation, I assume that's what it was. Yeah, go out. So how powerful is

Unknown Speaker 34:00

That is just being out there and and being in front of people and you just keep doing it and I know I were like you I'm on video we do Facebook Live, we do videos, we do all this stuff. And some days you just wake up and like, Man is anybody even watching you know, because you know you see that there's been so many views but did they view through but I just have come to realize by doing this show that it creates this space you become the expert, you become known people think of you and it's so valuable to create that that referral network I mean, from doing this, I've can say that I blast your did 18 inbound realtor referrals as incredible work, which is no they didn't close them all. But still people are thinking to me all over the country because they are saying oh, this guy knows what he's doing. He works on Maui. Just like you bet. It's your this is your world. You're doing the videos in your space. And it is I mean, is it hard to do it

Unknown Speaker 34:58

um I think

Unknown Speaker 35:00

It's much easier than people think. I think people are very busy judging themselves, my own team and like this is LA. And like, the people, my team that they happen to be pretty attractive. I just I made because it's LA. Yes. And they're, they're highly intelligent. And they're really good at their job. And they're pretty good looking. And they are so judgy of themselves on camera. And I forced them one week because of this challenge, and we did to be shooting things. And one of them who kind of ran with it. I was like, hey, so can you share with us on our team meeting? How it was it was like, oh, after I just literally the first four seconds, I was fine. It was just hitting record and being okay with not being the best at something, whatever your measure of it is, I mean, you could do something and it could be awful in your eyes and someone else could be like that was incredible. You just have to give your give yourself permission to not be like the best thing.

Unknown Speaker 36:00

Video person ever? You know, while you're making, okay?

Unknown Speaker 36:06

And you know and I think to for the folks that are out there watching and if there isn't anybody in your market area right now doing video.

Unknown Speaker 36:14

Boy, is it an opportunity for you because the first person in what my experience was years ago, when you're the first person, it scares the crap out of everybody else. It's like, Oh, I could never do that. It's like good, don't you start to own that space, which just catapults you even faster? I mean, a lot of people. Everybody talks about video for the last two, three years. So I'm assuming that most markets have people but not necessarily. And I think that what I really wanted to talk about, it wasn't necessarily talking about the house, but it's about the process. It's about the experience. It's about what you do. It's about the restaurants you go to, it's about going golfing, and you know, whatever those things are is so there's so much that you can put on video and create and wrap it around your personality and just create that space because people hire people they

Unknown Speaker 37:00

know like and trust. And that's Yeah, that bottom line. I did one video where I walked people through this tour. And as I was walking them through it, I was and there was this like $5 million.

Unknown Speaker 37:14

And it was a very important client of like a billionaire. And I wanted to continue working with him. And as I was walking people through the house, I was telling them how I was being fired. And how I had brought the the seller three offers, two of which were sight unseen based on my collateral. And,

Unknown Speaker 37:34

you know, it's been a busy street, which makes it tough. And then one someone bought, they bought it and then once they inspected it, the house wasn't as ready as we had thought, because there was a contractor changeover and I was getting fired after I'd spent a ton of money a ton of time and I'd actually done a good job I was being fired. And I just that episode was really just about like, how to take a loss

Unknown Speaker 38:00

On the chin, you know how to take that loss. And that video got a tremendous amount of feedback, even just from agents in my firm, saying like, this is really special and really cool for you to share, especially in a market full of egos.

Unknown Speaker 38:15

So, you know, I just, I think, the authentic part, people are so concerned about looking a certain way when they just need to be concerned with just being themselves. That's because,

Unknown Speaker 38:28

yeah, because when when if people get in your car with you, so to speak, or if they're showing up at a listing appointment, or you're going to be that person, so just, you know, be who you are, and just be real. And that's the biggest, most important thing that what I think you're saying then is and it shows who you are, so they know what to expect. And it shows like the depth of your character how you approach it.

Unknown Speaker 38:51

You know, I feel so late to the game with video, actually, you know, I actually feel so late. I wish I had had that mastermind so much sooner because I think it's

Unknown Speaker 39:00

It's such a critical piece

Unknown Speaker 39:03

of, of growing my practice. The one other thing that's cool about it is, we promote it right? We place it and other similar channels. And as the views go up, let's say I cold call someone and they are in Venice Beach, for example. And they just had an expired listing. And if they become warm, like they're willing to talk to me, they're not telling me to die as so many in my market.

Unknown Speaker 39:27

Right. And then I text them me doing a walking tour of a listing I have, which, by the way, was an expired at one point for $10 million on Abbot Kinney, which is one of the most famous streets in all of California, you know, let alone Los Angeles. And I just text that over to them and they see that it's got 6000 views, and I tell them I say like look, agents are in the interview business. They're going to mesmerize you and the higher the price goes, the better we aren't mesmerizing. You but the numbers don't lie. Can you can someone show you

Unknown Speaker 40:00

These, this, this audience in a verifiable way, not just my company's number one and because every company is number one, right?

Unknown Speaker 40:10

Yeah. So the videos become not like, let's say I have rapport with them kind of on the phone, we start to lose touch, then I send them a link to a video. They can watch it on their own time without the intrusiveness of another call, or the pressure of me being on the phone asking for a meeting, they can watch it. And then that can be a rapport builder. I mean, the videos are so they're so useful in so many ways. I love it, then, man. We could talk for a week because I'm so passionate about creating video and all different kinds of video. And you've brought so much to the table to make, hopefully our viewers think about for me to think about because I'm going to I'm going to be beating up on our producer Kenny to say we kind of start doing some of that stuff too. And, and you know, we create the very simple frequently asked questions, but I love the fact that you put more personality into it and that

Unknown Speaker 41:00

Really what is so cool about what you're doing? Thank you want to change the topic? Just a little bit? You are a fan of the disc profile. Yes, I am anyone that I interview or bring on my team has to take it. Just real quick. I like to put this in my shows If so, what's your disc profile? Just curious. I'm a high D, high, high D Go figure. All right. And how do you use that for when you're doing your business? I mean, look, the truth of the matter is I care more about attitude than I do personality type. I'll hire someone with no experience as long as they have the right attitude and they have a good command of the English language. So many people today, there, they don't know how to communicate intelligently.

Unknown Speaker 41:46

They say the wrong words as descriptors and all that and I just I can't have that representing my brand. Keep in mind I get direct messages every single day of the week, people saying Please be my mentor. Let me work with you. I want to learn from you. We should connect all this

Unknown Speaker 42:00

And the thing is only one person ever in a decade got through that he works with me still to this day. But for me it's more a combination of attitude I do before I set out interviewing based on the position what may want a certain type of personality. But honestly, for me, the thing that I use the disc profile for the most is to inform my management style and mentoring style. Some people need me to be tougher on them and hold them more accountable. Others need me to be more coaching and fatherly, you know others need understanding that.

Unknown Speaker 42:35

Yep. I love it. Ben, thank you so much for your time. This has just been such a great journey. I really appreciate it. How does somebody has a referral for you in

Unknown Speaker 42:45

Beverly Hills, LA area, Malibu, any of those markets, Hollywood Hills. How do they How do they track you down? I mean, all you do is type Ben back into Google and many results will come back. You can find me anywhere. I'm literally everywhere.

Unknown Speaker 43:00

I love it. That's, that's the power of being known. So for Selling the Dream, Tom Tezak with Ben bellick. Thanks so much for joining us on the show. If you if you haven't done a review, we sure would appreciate it. If you do a review on YouTube or on iTunes, wherever you, whatever platform you listen to, we would love your reviews and your input. Go out to our Facebook page. resort Second Home Agents join that become a member. We've got a lot of stuff going on there and also sign up on our website Second Home agents.com and be part of that network as well. Ben, thanks so much for being on the show today. And I just love what you had to say. And I'm great. I'm great one and remember everybody we are not just selling real estate. We are Selling the Dream. Yeah, Selling the Dream.