50 Cards a Month, 50% Referral Business

Ninja Selling Podcast

Host Eric Thompson sits down with real estate agent Jeff Feldman and coach Steve Mangelson to discuss a highly effective referral-based busi

Key takeaways

• Jeff Feldman is on pace for $20 million in volume, with approximately 50% of his business coming from agent referrals.
• The strategy involves sending at least 50 handwritten cards every month, with 70% targeted toward fellow Realtors.

Main topics

• Agent referral strategies
• Birthday and anniversary card campaigns

Notable quotes

You only have one chance to make a first impression.

Conclusion

The episode serves as a practical guide for agents looking to build de

Transcript preview

Speaker 2 (0:00) I've had customers that are widows or widowers tell me it's the only card they got. I've had folks that have their anniversary tell me, oh my gosh, like I forgot. I'm so glad I got your card. Thank you for the card. They're not joking, right? Speaker 4 (0:14) Subtle skills, big results. Speaker 1 (0:17) Welcome to the Ninja Selling Podcast. Speaker 4 (0:20) Hey everyone, it's Speaker 1 (0:21) your Speaker 4 (0:21) good friend Eric Thompson. Welcome to the Ninja Selling Podcast. We are so happy that you're here. I am here with two of my good friends. First of all, it's ninja extraordinaire, Jeff Feldman. Jeff, welcome to the podcast. Thanks, great to be here. Tell us real quick, Jeff, where you live and also the company that you're with. Speaker 2 (0:39) So I live in Naples, Florida. And I'm with Premier Plus Realty. Beautiful Naples, Speaker 4 (0:45) Florida. One of my favorite places. I think a lot of people would say the same thing. Again, thank you for being here. We're really happy about that. It's Speaker 2 (0:50) truly another day in paradise. Speaker 4 (0:52) It is another day in paradise. Speaker 2 (0:53) Yeah, especially in Naples. It really is paradise. Speaker 4 (0:55) Always paradise. Absolutely. We are here with Jeff's coach, Coach Steve Mangelson. Steve, welcome back to the podcast. Hello, Ninja Nation. Hello, Ninja Nation. Indeed. We are recording this during a Ninja installation right here in Fort Collins, Colorado. Jeff, you were great to come out to this installation. Steve is here too, because Steve, you have several of your coaching clients here in the room. Yes. And you wanted to be here for them. And it means that we can be here together, the three of us. Jeff, we're going to learn from you. We are going to solve a mystery that a lot of people have. And that mystery is how do I attract referrals? from other agents? How do I develop relationships, friendships with other agents so that they send me referrals? People think, how do I do that? They think people probably know other realtors in the same town as me. How can I stand out? How can I be the one to receive those referrals? You have cracked the code and we're going to learn from you on that. To Speaker 2 (1:51) put that in context. Sounds exciting. Yeah, right? I think it is exciting. We Speaker 4 (1:54) need to share some numbers to put all this in context. This year, you are on pace to do 20 million in volume. Congratulations. Thank you. You told us that this will be in the top three of your 23 years in the business. So you've been in business 23 years. This will be in Speaker 2 (2:10) the Speaker 4 (2:10) top three. In Speaker 2 (2:10) a challenging market, especially in Florida. Not Speaker 4 (2:12) in this market. Speaker 2 (2:12) Not in Florida. Speaker 4 (2:13) Yeah. If you've read the news, you know about the Florida market. There's some headwinds, some challenges. Yes. There you are having a top three year. It's terrific. Thank you. 50 % of your business comes from referrals from other agents. people I'm sure are struck by that. That's significant. They're thinking, how could I do that? We're going to get to that level. I think also important to know is that you started working with Steve as your coach this year, and we'll hear a little bit more about that. And you've been following Ninja for a long time. My Speaker 2 (2:44) seventh installation. Yeah, you're starting in October of 2020. That was a year. Think about that risk I took to come here. Yes. Speaker 4 (2:53) in October 2020. Look where Speaker 2 (2:54) it's gotten me. It's been Speaker 4 (2:55) amazing. How did you get introduced to NINJAG? Speaker 2 (2:58) Stephanie Feller's coach, Stephanie Peterson. Yeah, she called me and said, hey, what are you doing in October of 2020, you know, other than trying to stay alive? And I said, I don't know. She said, well, why don't we go to an installation? Have you heard of it? I said, not really. But the market was obviously very challenging then. And I just trusted and believed in her. She was one of my contacts. We'll talk about mailing to as well. So we just started. And ever since it's been something that's a non-negotiable. It's just, it's like a refresher every year. Speaker 4 (3:28) Yeah. Yeah. Do you come every fall? Yes. And there's a group that you come with, you know, some friends that tend to also come. Love to share the good word. Yeah. It's kind of like a pilgrimage. Right. Speaker 2 (3:38) When people don't come, I feel bad. I actually feel bad for them. I really do. Yeah. Because they're missing out on such amazing quality to help their business. Yeah. Speaker 4 (3:46) Sometimes seven years and really in a row. Speaker 2 (3:48) In a row, yes. That you've been hearing. Consistency. I Speaker 4 (3:51) think that leads to what we're going to talk about. And we'll also talk about how you attract business from your sphere. But we'll start by focusing on attracting business from your referral relationships. So tell us on a high level, how do you stay in touch with your realtor relationships? Speaker 2 (4:11) Right. I always wanted to find a way to be memorable and just to stand out. In all the years, I've learned a lot. And I have an amazing, I call it a birthday and anniversary card campaign. I know a lot of realtors are mailing birthday cards, very few mail anniversary cards. But I've just found a way to be creative, be unique with the card itself. and how I design it and put it together, even the timing of when it is received. So I've just noticed some incredible feedback. So I've leaned into it even more to continue to grow that. It's one of my huge components of how I stay in touch with other realtors and grow my connection with them, because really life is about connecting. It's really important. And then we stay in touch. It's just a good way to touch base either by text or phone call as well. So it's a good reason to connect. Speaker 4 (5:01) You've gone all in on mailing a birthday card and mailing an anniversary card to all the agents, all the realtors in your database. And tell us how many cards are going out the door each month? So at least 50 per month. 50 per month. Per month. So that's at least 600. At least. And you told me that it's about 70 % of these are going to realtors and about 30 % are going to people in your sphere. Correct. So it's part of your sphere campaign too, which we'll get to in a little bit. But a significant amount of these cars are going to relationships. Yes. Let's talk about the investment. People right now, they're probably wondering, well, what would that cost if I were to do that? What would that cost? So walk us through both money cost and time cost. Speaker 2 (5:50) So I calculated it. Each card