We all say we are the area expert but is that true. What makes an expert and what do you need to be an expert at?
Topic – 5 things I learnt from Mark Bouris
Mentor – Stephanie Wimpenny
- Know where buyers come from
- Be the go-to person
Help them make a buying decision
Transcript:
Kevin: Today with Stephanie Wimpenny, who was on Mark Bouris’s The Mentor show, we are going to discuss something that relates directly to our business and a lesson that I would have that you didn’t really need to learn, but we are going to talk about it, and that’s becoming an area expert.
Kevin: Tell me about some of the conversations you had with Mark Bouris about doing that, Stephanie.
Stephanie: Yeah, so when I flew down to Sydney recently to podcast with Mark Bouris, one of the things that he brought up was the conversation that he had with Curtis Lisch, who’s my brother, who does all of our marketing and backend sort of stuff, and Curtis had a conversation with Mark that was regarding where all the buyer inquiry comes into for Deception Bay, which is our core area. He was saying that, from what he could see on Domain in the backend, 40% of all the buyer inquiry to Deception Bay comes from Sydney.
Stephanie: Mark was saying how much that impacted him when he was flying back home and he couldn’t get it out of his brain. He thought, well, okay, if 40% of buyer inquiries are coming from Sydney, and I’m a person in Sydney and I’m trying to find a property in Deception Bay, there’s no clear market expert in that area, is what he said. So he said it’s so important, if that is the statistic, that you become the area expert, that there is … There’s no question that when a buyer is looking to find a property, that they go directly to you, as the area expert. So, yeah, that was quite a big lesson.
Kevin: Yeah, look, I think in fairness, many agents will tell you that they are the local area expert when they’re not. I’m not suggesting they’re lying, they may believe that they are. How do you demonstrate that you are in fact the area expert? What do you do?
Stephanie: Well, some of his tips are things like writing a blog on the area, going to the local newspapers and putting in articles that discuss what’s happening in the area, doing the top 10 things that people need to know about purchasing property in Moreton Bay. Literally just providing, I guess, good, high value content for people who are interested in real estate in the region.
Kevin: Yeah. Yeah, I guess there’s one thing about learning, and we all learn about prices in our area, we get a good handle on what values are like, but it’s then having the skill to be able to send that out as you … and the word you used is very correct and that is content. It’s content that the media will pick up on, it’s content that you’d put into your newsletter or your blog article, and the whole time you’re doing that, you’re educating yourself as well, Stephanie, aren’t you?
Stephanie: Yeah, definitely. It keeps your mind sharper and you’re on top of things because you have to write … you know, if you do it, then you’re writing an article every week, so you’re constantly being immersed in it. I think, when I first came into real estate and I heard about, you know, become an area expert, I just thought that that meant just become an expert in the 500 homes that you’re looking at, or the thousand, or whatever your farm area is.
Stephanie: But Mark is sort of saying, well, it’s more than that. It more than that. You need to be the region expert, or the area, actually the complete Deception Bay expert. Not the one little patch of 1,000 homes in Deception Bay, but the actual person who’s on top of everything that is going on in the area of Deception Bay.
Kevin: Yeah, and your blog’s going to help you do that, too, because you’ll be putting things in there like what activities are happening. It helps you understand a little bit about the lifestyle and the people who live there as well, Stephanie.
Stephanie: Definitely, and I guess you’re more involved with the community when you do things like that, because you’re actually taking an interest in the community. Rather than saying you’re interested, you’re actually doing it.
Kevin: Time to wrap up, I think. Let’s have a look, just in summary, very quickly, your impressions of being on The Mentor with Mark Bouris, you know, the top three things you learnt, just to wrap it up for us, Stephanie, if you could?
Stephanie: Well, I just found it to be an incredible experience and I wouldn’t change it, at all.
Kevin: What are the three things you’ve changed in your business, apart from the name, that’s actually setting you up to be a stronger business because of that experience? What would you say they are?
Stephanie: We have implemented better structures and systems, revised our listing presentations to be more client central than us central and what we want. We train weekly now-
Kevin: Yeah, wonderful stuff.
Stephanie: … which is huge.
Kevin: Yeah. Three really valuable lesson there. Stephanie Wimpenny has been my guest all week and Stephanie is from Moreton Bay Realty, and she’s actually said, you know, paying forward. Yesterday we talked about that, how willing she is now to help other people and it’s great that people are reaching out to you, Stephanie. Thank you so much for spending so much valuable time with us. This is the second podcast I’ve done with you, thoroughly enjoyed it, and I wish you every success, to you and the family, for the future.
Stephanie: Thank you very much, Kevin.