Keller Williams Program Coaches Support Realtors with a NEW 2020 Online Real Estate Course
When live events are your business, and live events shut down, what do you do? You launch an online course instead of course.
You have the upper hand when you have videos ready to go. But how do you let the market know quickly that you’re still open for business, just in a different setting?
Background
From Live to Virtual
Live events went away overnight in 2020. When your business has been built on in-person trainings, that can feel scary. But not for Steve and Tammi, Keller Williams coaches and Founders of the Never Ending Referrals program.
As a supplement to traveling around the country and teaching at in-person real estate events, they had already created a video repository to keep their attendees engaged. All they needed to do was communicate that live events would now be held virtually.
What they really wanted realtors to know is that business growth was still possible, and they would have support as everyone figured out a new way together.
The Problem
Engaging a Virtual Audience
Typically, the way Steve and Tammi generated business was by participating in large real estate events. They would speak to hundreds, sometimes up to 5,000 people. And they would have a call to action to join their coaching program at the end of their event segments. This typically translated into a 10% conversion rate.
In the new virtual event world, they would no longer be able to talk to people face-to-face, to answer any questions they might have, or make that personal connection with people at decision time. More importantly, there was no way for them to give anyone a handout with a direct call to action to engage with their coaching after they left.
They were invited to do virtual segments to a larger crowd where there was less crowd engagement during the sessions. They had to convince the crowd to visit a website that did not yet exist, so they could offer an online coaching program they didn’t have integrated into their payment system. The process had been manual in the past. Was this an opportunity to get more people to engage and convert?
We started by digging in to the data behind the audience that converted quickly. The data indicated those fastest to convert and who were the most engaged had the following attributes:
- women real estate agents,
- 45 – 54 years old,
- avid financial investors,
- lived in TX, FL, CA, NC, and GA
- foodies – loved downloading online recipes that took 30 minutes or less
We decided we better show these ladies we could give them an ROI in months, not years. And we better have good math on our side. On top of that, we decided we better have a plan that was doable in 30 minutes or less each day.
Having identified the audience, we went to work on their messaging. We used the StoryBrand framework to map the message onto their website because we knew that framework would convert. Since this was not your normal business venture (normal now, not necessarily normal back then), we did a LOT of digging into landing pages that convert for online course programs. We added more elements to help the audience get their questions answered before making a commitment.
On top of that, we needed to connect the website to their online coaching system. We wanted people to visit the website and have the opportunity to make a purchase. Most people will avoid a system that requires too many clicks. We had to make it simple. So, that’s exactly what we did.
Understanding what would resonate most with our audience, we took a paper document the Never Ending Referrals crew had used in the past to calculate an ROI, and we turned it into an online calculator. The calculator takes less than 1 minute to use.
With a headline and call to action that’s speaks their financial/investment language, we built engagement with the website quickly.
Headline:
HOW MUCH
REVENUE ARE YOU MISSING?
Call to Action:
Let’s do the math.
Because we created this simple but powerful online calculator, the Never Ending Referrals team had a simple but powerful call to action on their virtual events.
“10% of your database is moving EVERY SINGLE YEAR. You may not have secured the deal but some real estate agent did. How much revenue does that mean you’re missing right now? We’ll do the calculations for you and then tell you how to recapture the money you’re leaving on the table. Visit our website.”
This is where the fun began. We knew our audience. And we knew what messages resonated with them. We crafted an email campaign.
Now it was time to test. We tested subject lines, email copy, video vs text, design vs plain text, time of day, day of the week, buttons vs links, long form stories vs short & to-the-point. And with all of our testing, we found some sweet spot information for the audience we were serving.
Sending an email within 2 days of the founders hosting an online event gave us the highest open rate and the highest conversion rate. Using negative words in the subject line like, “you DON’T have to…” or even” DON’T STOP now…” and “STOP spinning your wheels” decreased open rates. Northern California agents were more engaged than Central or Southern California agents. Fridays and Mondays between 7 a.m. – 8 a.m. Central saw the most engagement.
Giveaways or value-add items converted higher than any other type of emails. This little nugget actually led to the writing of one of the best sales books I’ve ever read. Rescue Dogs and Real Estate by Steve Schlueter. It’s applicable across the board, even if you’re not in real estate. If you do sales, you need this book.
And we were there to write a new book resources and follow up email campaign for that value add asset as well.
The solution
Getting a Short and Long-term ROI
We had about a month to get the website up and running, integrate it with their coaching system, create a MUST use lead generator, write the conversion email campaign, and then set it up in the email automation system. We knew we would use this lead generator and email conversion campaign for a while. But at the same time, it needed to work quickly. Live events, and therefore the main revenue source for the business division had disappeared. We needed a fast ROI and to prove this was a good long-term growth strategy even if things “got back to normal.”
The Results
30 Days After Launch Gets Results
The founders of Never Ending Referrals had to change their business model in a few short months. They wanted fast results, but they were ultimately looking for long-term growth. Thankfully, we helped them reach both.
Within 30 days, the team had achieved 5 times the investment they made for the website, messaging, email campaign, and all the integrations.
They also now have a long-term business cycle that continues to perform. And even better than that, they are helping THOUSANDS of real estate agents (6.5k and growing) grow their real estate business like never before. Housing downturn? No problem if you’re being coached by the NER team.
Keys to Success
To sum it all up, we’ve seen great results understanding our people, giving them the content they want, and testing, testing, and more testing.
Know Your Audience!
One of the biggest keys to success is to know who your audience is. If you’re wanting to build an audience you love, while understanding how to give them what they really want, our favorite process is following The Pumpkin Plan by Mike Michalowicz. It helps you develop products, services, and content that attracts people you want to serve and repelling those you don’t.
Give 'Em What They Want!
Data is key to understanding who your audience is, so you can deliver content, products and services they MUST HAVE. It also helps you speak their language. Research and then listen to the story the data is telling you.
Always be Testing!
Only 10% of marketing efforts work. That means 9 out of every 10 marketing messages, pieces, content doesn’t work. Do your homework first to give yourself the best chance to engage and convert. And then test, test, and test some more. You’ll find nuggets of information in the test that will help you build some long-term dream kind of products and services…like maybe writing a very valuable book.
Here's What our Clients Say
“From the very beginning, Tina and team just got us. They were able to sound like us, and we trusted their insights. I’m glad we did, and of course, we keep coming back for more because it works!”
– Tammi Juengst, Founder, Never Ending Referrals