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We recorded this episode from our homes and so the sound is not of the quality we typically produce. Please excuse the sound quality given that we had to record from our homes rather than the studio as we normally would. Despite the sound issues, this episode can help you write a bio that gets you leads and clients, so listen in and just have your hand near the volume control.
Did you know the About page on any website is the most visited page after the home page?
That means that one little page creates a HUGE opportunity to connect with your visitors and answer the question — “Why should they choose YOU among all other real estate agents.”
If your leads and clients feel a connection to you from reading the About page on your website, they will more likely want to continue the conversation about working together even further.
Unfortunately, though, most real estate agents cram the bio on their About page with awards and accolades, and that’s not at all what your clients want to know about you.
So, what do they want to know about instead?
Your story.
They want to know why you are a real estate agent, who you are best at helping buying and selling homes, and why they should choose you to be their agent instead of the other agents they’ve heard of, met at open houses, or their friends are telling them to use.
Your bio has to tell them why in a way that makes them want to meet you and work with you. Or, at the very least, want to continue the conversation you just started with them.
Today’s free download helps you get started on telling your own story to your ideal clients and answering that key question, why should your ideal clients choose you instead of every other real estate agent in town.
What better way than a writing prompt “Mad Libs” style! This free download – Write a Bio that Gets You Clients – will help you shape your story in a way that connects with clients and leads so they will want to work with you and only you.
This type of “Your Story” bio is possible and easier to write than you think!
And on today’s episode of Confessions of A Top Producing Real Estate Agent, I interview THE go-to guru on writing bios that get clients, Caroline Mays, founder of the bio writing salon, Switchblade Lemonade.
Caroline wrote a bio so good that it became a short film. And just like that, she has been the go-to person for bios ever since. You can watch the bio turned short film here.
She has a truly epic way of looking at bios and believes they are THE way to attract your ideal clients and have them wanting to work with you and only you.
Just like we teach here at Agent Grad School, she says the very first thing you must do before you even write a bio is to decide who you want to have as a client
…you guessed it…
Decide WHO you are talking to is always the first step in writing marketing content (and, yes, your bio and About page are marketing content). It will absolutely help you attract clients and set yourself apart from other agents.
These potential clients will know you are the right person for them to work with.
Why?
Because you took the time to show them how your personal story relates to what they want to accomplish. That you understand what they want and what they care about.
They have got to feel that type of connection to you on your about page.
Listen to today’s episode to learn examples of exactly how to do this.
Last but not least, Caroline emphasizes that, “You can’t drop the ball at the end of your bio.” You’ve got to end your About page with what your reader should do next.”
That means get their name and contact information by creating a call to action at the end of your bio, telling them what to do next.
Make it easy for you (and for them) to follow up and take the next step in the process — meeting to see if working together is the right decision for both of you.
Your bio and your About page have the opportunity for you to attract the exact clients you want to work with by telling your unique story.
Your story of why you became a real estate agent and why you are best at helping your idea clients.
Caroline says, “We can say so much more about ourselves and mean so much more to each other if only we dare to speak up and tell our most important stories.”
Writing a bio that gets you clients means you have to be daring.
To attract your ideal clients, you’ll need to repel some people. Remember, you can’t be everything to everybody! A bio like that will not attract anyone. It will not inspire even one single client to want to work with you.
It’s about bringing in the niching concepts that we talked about last week and in no way should be discriminatory as per the Fair Housing Act.
Your bio on your About page becomes like a magnet to your business—attracting the clients you are best at serving and repelling the ones you aren’t. That’s what you want your About page to do for you.
Jennifer Myers, Agent Grad School
Writing a bio that gets you clients does take some time, so don’t rush this process.
In fact, Caroline says, “If you did it in an hour, you did it wrong!”
And she has some inspiration to share about how to write a great bio and it involves Beyoncé.
Yes, that Beyoncé.
Caroline has an amazingly helpful PDF guide that can take your bio from stagnant to fiercely you, called Bio Like Beyoncé.
She says this guide is for any business owner, including real estate agents, who know they have a story to tell but aren’t sure which to choose, or who worry that their story isn’t unique.
Warning: this exercise of writing your bio to attract your ideal clients will feel counterintuitive and could seem like you are pushing some clients away to not want to work with you. Remember you are focusing on one type of client, the client you are best at serving based on your own unique experiences and reasons for becoming a real estate agent. Just be sure you aren’t violating any of the protected classes while you are doing this. That’s not what choosing an ideal client is about.
Learn more about how to choose an ideal client here:
How To Choose A Niche To Get More Clients
How Any Real Estate Agent Can Have More Clients
3 Counterintuitive Steps To Attract Clients You Love (and Who Love You Right Back)
Why Should Someone Choose You As Their Agent?
The Biggest Mistake Almost Every Real Estate Agent Makes (and How To Make Sure You Don’t)
Here are quick links to everything we talked about in today’s episode:
Caroline May’s website and bio turned short film
Episode Freebie: How to Write a Bio that Gets You Clients Worksheet
To your success,
Jennifer
Episode Transcript
On today’s episode of Confessions of a Top Producing Real Estate Agent the about page on any website is the second most visited page after the home page. And so this creates a huge opportunity to answer that question. Why should somebody choose you as their real estate agent, instead of all the other agents in your town doing the same thing on today’s episode, how to write a bio that you can post on your about page that attracts leads and clients who want to work with you? Just one note before we get started my guests and I had to both record this episode from our homes instead of the studio where I normally like to record. And so the sound is not the typical quality that we like to produce given what’s going on in the world with everyone needing to stay home and work as best as we all can.
I hope that you can overlook the sound issues and start applying the steps to creating a bio that gets you leads by listening to this episode and downloading the worksheet. And the other resources mentioned, if you go to Agent Grad School dot com, click on the podcast and then click on this episode, you’ll have the free download worksheet called how to write a bio that gets you leads and all other links that we mentioned in today’s episode. So let’s dive in and get you a bio and an about page that gets you. Clients welcome to this episode of Confessions of a Top Producing Real Estate Agent I’m your host Jennifer Myers listen in. As I share exactly what I did to go from not being able to sell a house for years to becoming one of the top 1% of agents in the U S even opening my own brokerage full of agents, tell me, serve all the clients that were coming my way.
I taught those agents at the same strategies I use on day two became the top producing agents. Now through this Podcast and Agent round School dot com. I’m sharing those same modern marketing and business strategies with you. Most of which I learned from working outside the real estate industry, no fluff, no theory, no outdated sales techniques or paying for leads. It’s just the exact steps to get you the real estate business. You always want it. And the life outside your business, you’ve always wanted to let’s make it happen and dive into today’s episode. On today’s show. I have a special guest This Caroline Mays is a writer and creator of switch blade lemonade, a defiantly unorthodox by a writing salon that specialized in crafting beautiful online bios for service oriented professionals and their businesses.
She insists that the average is about me, paragraph Kranz, with all of those accolades awards, facts and humorous corks. We hope sound good on paper is not only boring and square, but conditioned to Steph ourselves and to a coffin shaped box. We’re expected to lie down. And I love Caroline’s approach to writing bios. And I’m so happy to have her on today’s show, because as you guys know here at Agent Grad school, and especially the students who’ve gone through my program, your most successful year, we always start with our identity statement in our bio when we start with our marketing. And that is a place that we can create such a opportunity for people to want to work with us.
And so, Carolyn, thank you so much for being here and helping real estate agents understand the importance of their bio and how to make it so that people actually want to work with them. Yes. Thanks so much for having me Jennifer. So how did you as a writer, I just, before we dive into things, I want people to understand a little about how you got here and how you became such an expert on writing. Bio’s I mean, you know, how did you, how did you become the expert on writing files online? Well, I, so I’ve been a writer my whole life, right? And so I basically a long story short became, got started to get to copywriting.
And that was just mainly because I had been, I’m a bit of a contrarian, you know, I’ve just waited tables, I’ve done my own thing. I’ve been, I don’t know, kind of hanging out where the, a certain crowd had my artistic endeavors. And that was really separate from my professional life. And my professional life is just like a job. Right. And so then when I decided to up my game or gets serious about that, or figure out more away to do more writing and my work, I started getting into copywriting and copywriting as its own little genre, right. Like, just because you can strengthen the other doesn’t necessarily make you a copy writer.
You’ve got all of these concepts, if you have to hold it in your head and whatever. So I’ve, so I started to dig into that and just over the course of some years of doing it and taking a course, I’m a huge fan. I am not sure about this of Ash Ambridge a day of the middle finger project. And I was in one of her classes and I told her at the end, I was like, I’m thinking about writing this book about how to write a bio and unprompted. She just went over to my website. I don’t even think to even think I sent her the link to it. And she sent me a voicemail back and she was just like, you have to do this, you are writing.
And I quote, This sick and she’s, Did, I’m normally not this prescriptive, but like you should drill down and do this. And I was, and it was a, it was such a relief for me because I also have one of the genres that I worked in is creative non-fiction. And so I see bios is kind of a marriage of the two copywriting. So that’s kind of the gist of it, of how I got here. And For all that all real estate agents out there who are thinking, you know, I have a good enough bio I’ve written my bio. I’m good to go. I don’t need to, to listen to this today.
Let’s talk a little bit about what makes you the bios that you write, or the bios that you see as, as you know, a BYO could be just a BYO, right? And then a bio could actually lead to getting business. And so what’s the difference between the two? Well, my approach, well, a good bio tells a story. First of all, I think what you got to get on the same page about that, most of us are hearing that. I don’t know if If a real estate agent’s are the people and the marketing world. We keep hearing, like, tell your story, tell your story, telling your story. Right. And I just, for those people who let that sink in, they get it and they take off, you know, a lot faster than people who don’t.
And I think it’s because you think that, that, that is for people who are doing Ted talks or is there something, you know, like they’re up there and telling their stories and small businesses owners, aren’t really seeing how it applies to them or where they can do it. And of course you can do it on your bike, in your bio. And so what, what storytelling does, and I, I kinda use the word storytelling loosely, and we can get into that later. Like what a story is, you know, you, you don’t have to tell about, you know, some, if you don’t have to write some Epic saga, a story can be literally one to three sentences, but it’s something for you to kind of expand on that kind of leads into your, your ideology or the way that you work or why you do what you do.
But that kind of thing, but story is, it’s a teaching tool and it’s, and it’s, it’s how we understand things. And that’s how we, you know, engage with people, you know, who are you going to go talk to, you know, at a party? Or how are you going to be more attracted to like the person that’s engaging with you and, and telling, and has a good story. Or if the person that’s just like, I don’t know if handing out the resume and the corner, you know, you’re a weirdo. So anyway, yeah. So it’s, it’s hugely important. Everyone’s talking about it, but not everyone is doing it.
And so for real estate agents, especially, and their thinking, how do I pick a story to tell, and how is that going to get me business? What’s where do people start? Like, where do you start with what story to tell and how to translate that story into actually getting clients? Well, you of course have to think about who you’re talking to. Right. And that always goes back to that ideal client questions. And so once you have that figured out, like who specifically, you’re talking to you think to think about what it is that you need that person to know about you.
Right? And so that’s how you figure out what story you need to tell. And I, I tell people to like, stand back and scans kind of the timeline of your life, write some things down, looking at the things that are there, right? And so there’s something in there that illustrates perfectly why you do what you do and you might not. And it’s totally depends on obviously what your business is and who it is your talking to me that will determine what story the, to Tel right. And so on. And so what if you stand back and, you know, maybe you need people to know, or maybe you need people to know like why you do what you do, and maybe that your audience, maybe how you work is the most important thing.
So I’m kind of how to answer those questions and then you can drill down on the story itself. Does that make sense? Totally. And as you were talking, I was writing a few notes and one thing that you said that you said a lot there, but two things you said is you need to start with who you’re talking to. So I want to dive a little deeper into that first. And then I have a bunch of other questions from there. I think so often, especially real estate agents and entrepreneurs as a whole thing. Well, I want to help everybody, if I can be the real estate agent to anybody that comes my way. And so, you know, one thing I always teach is in order for your marketing to resonate, you’ve gotta pick a target market.
You’ve gotta pick a niche. And So, how does a real estate agent who’s been taught this whole time? You should be the real estate agent for anybody anywhere, any time, any place, and how do you help them? How can you help them with this first thing, which is, who are you talking to? If that’s the beginning of the story, how do we help them pick that? Who are you talking to? Oh my gosh. Well, you know, obviously that will depend on, on who you wanna work with and who was the most, you know, who do you, you see yourself working on it, even if it’s a general comment, like, even if you can’t drill down on like demographics, right?
Like you and your mates, let’s say that your people kind of span a wide demographic of people. There needs to be something that they have in common, right. That, that resonates with, with who you are. I work with all kinds of people. And I don’t drill down specifically in, you know, any particular industry and some copywriters do, right. But I have this very specific piece of content that I can deal with. And this is very personalized piece on the continent. And so Which has bios. So you’re a cop, not only are you a copywriter write that your niche essentially is copywriting bios for entrepreneurs, Right.
And speakers and some in sometimes small agencies, do you have to know me? I like, I love that variety, but I do, I do this very specific thing. And what it does is I go from copywriter to the bio queen. Like some people that have gone me that, you know, So like, you know, Ryan, thank you like the expert, right on this thing. And you know, when you become kind of the expert on a thing, it’s crazy how deep you can go in the rabbit hole. You know what I mean? I know we’re going to talk about something that I wrote recently, but just like, I mean, I’m so crazy.
I’m like a hearing bio lessons out of Beyonce songs, you know, , I think so often people think, well, if I niche and I only pick one thing to do, or one group of people to help that that’s going to narrow and you just, you just hit it on the head. That, in fact, when you pick one thing, the fact that you can go so deep, it gives you more than if you go wide, Right? You’re the expert on the thing. And then you do it. You’ve stepped out of the pool of just real estate agents. And you’re just, and now your, the real estate agent who does this.
Right. And so, And that was where, when I was struggling in real estate for four years straight back in 2011, that was where I was. I was trying to be everything to everybody. And it wasn’t until I decided to specialize in first time home buyers, because I said to myself, who do I know moron more than, you know, I had just bought my first home. And everyone I knew was a renter. I wanted to talk to them about becoming a real estate or a book about becoming an, a homeowner. Right. And I had no experience, but I had more experience than them because I had become, I had already been a homeowner. Right. And so that alone, that is how I went through picking my niche.
And the minute I picked my niche, everything else becomes so much easier. The buyer, you, right. The marketing you do, and people can start identifying you as the expert, as your, and then they think of you when they need that thing. Or they hear of somebody needing that thing. They automatically send people to you and droves versus having this breadth of experience. It’s that depth of experience in one place. And about one thing that gets people to take action and send you the business. Right. Yeah. And you know, when I think back on it, I’m just like, Oh my God, like what, what are all the things that I would have said yes to that would, you know, I, I, I mean, I could do them, you know what I mean?
Like, yeah. There’s a lot of things that I could do, but it would pull in all these, you know, random people with random projects and, you know, if it pulled anyone in at all, right, because again, I’m just kind of another person out there in the C of everybody. And so another thing to have that about neutropenia is I’m just, I’ve been so surprised by who I’ve been a direct that I have attracted, you know what I mean? Like, you know, like weeding people out, but you’re kind of opening the door to, for people who wouldn’t have noticed you otherwise, you’re just like, Oh, wow, okay.
And I think that’s just it, you open a door that otherwise would be closed and nobody knows how to get in. Right. It’s like, you, you know, it’s this door from here. If you, you know, if you want to come in to my world, this is the way, and I think your bio correctly written bio that can actually bring you clients and get you leads, which is what real estate agents care about so much. And I think we underestimate the power of bio to be able to actually bring in clients. And so, you know, if they need to start with who they’re talking to in niching, and by the way, for any podcast listeners, there was another podcast episode about niching and kind of the process to go through and a list of questions to ask yourself.
But, but after they pick who they are talking to, the second thing you said was what, what is it that person needs to know to want to work with you? And so how did, how does somebody figure that out? So for example, and I’ll just kind of work through my own. My own niche was first time home buyers, because I was wanting was the only people I knew more than. Cause I was so terrible at selling real estate at the time that no one wanted to work with me. So, so what would I, how would I go from, okay, I know at least I want to work with first time home buyers, that’s who I’m talking to, but then how do I figure out what is that person needs to know to wanna work with me?
You know, I think you have to have a certain level of indignation about to figure that out because you know, I think that to your job, getting days, write where you were, like, you just had to say, you didn’t know who you were talking to. Right. And you had to condense yourself to this piece of paper, write your resume. And you would probably think, cause I would think this, like if I could just get in front of this person and tell them this and showed them this, if they just knew this thing about me, then I would get the job. Right. And so that translates into when you’re running your own business, like you just, there’s something that you just need people to know.
Right. And if they just understood that, then they would get you, they would trust you. They would, you know, like they would be on your team. Right. And when I ask that question in my a questionnaire, I encourage people. I’m like, don’t say anything sexy right now. And don’t go hairy fairy on writing a paragraph about all these things. You need people to know, like a really simple, like for me again, I’ll use me as an example. I just needed people to know that I could write, you know what I mean? Like I got you. And so I told the story that would help me illustrate that you, maybe you just need people to know that no, one’s going to work harder than you are.
Maybe you just need people to know that like you care, it’s so important to you that people have a place if they could come home to and call their own. And here’s why, you know, so whatever it is that you need, you need your particular people to know that will help you sift through your stories. Because of course we all have a bazillion stories that you could tell at this point in our life. Right. And so, so yeah, and that’s why, and again, you don’t have to tell your whole story. You’re telling us a specific, your telling of a specific thing that helps people get it.
Yeah. And I think that also, as you’re talking, you know, what what’s going through my mind is that also takes a level of self-confidence about something so many, you know, real estate agents that I talked to our feeling a little bit down on themselves and down on their business because it’s a rough world out there and they’re thinking, you know, how do I figure that out? But I think like you said, you, you know, despite anything else, like you knew that you could write, write, write, like, despite anything else, I knew that the power of what becoming a homeowner can do for people, because I did it, you know? And so you have to almost like pick the stake in the ground, then you could build your story around.
It sounds like, Right. Exactly. Of course you can’t know everything. You know what I mean? Like, I didn’t know all of the, like the marketing, you know, jargon for All of that stuff. Or, you know, I’m not like this expert on strategy, you know what I mean? There are people that like plan these HUGE launches and stuff like that. Right. That’s not the kind of a copywriter. Yeah. You know, there’s, there’s things that, there’s things that, you know, and even if it’s not what you know, but it’s like your, what drives you? You know what, you’re not, maybe you just know you’re not going to drop people.
You know what I mean? Like they are going to make it through this process because you are on their side, you know? Like that might be the most important thing to convey to your people. And that’s all right. Right. So once they pick who they’re talking to, because that becomes really important. And then what that person needs to know about you to wanna work with you, what, what comes next, how you build a story around that and how do you build a bio that actually gets people to want to take action? And by the way, guys, the whole reason why is because we’re buying all that she wrote at that she wrote was so, I mean, it literally enlisted and the action to work with her.
And I look at so many on the entrepreneurs all the time that never was there. Somebody So blatantly clear that could help me get that from my bio. And So how do you go? Or how do you get there? Like, how did you go, how do you get people to walk, to work with you? Like you did for me. And then the bio that you wrote with me and for me, how do people do that themselves and get people to want to take an action? Right. Well, it’s such a process, right? To write something, but you need to get it down on paper and you need to look at, okay, so what, why am I telling the story, right?
Why am I talking about my past in this way? Because it shows me doing, you know, like we were talking about that, it shows you achieving that thing, or like pushing yourself that hard or doing that, you know, X, Y, Z. And so you need two, you have to be able to pull out those threads to look at them. And, and it kind of has to be the, the Why you’re telling that story has to be embedded in the bio. You know what I mean? Kind of an understood. And so, and that’s kind of, that’s the tricky part that people that people struggle with, but when you write that down and when you look at it and when you ask yourself, is this line important?
You know? Yes. Is this line unimportant, not so much, right. Then it starts to unveil itself and, and you can see it. Does that make sense? Yeah. And I love how you’re you say, you know, you just kind of have to start writing and start getting it down and then cutting and cutting. So often I think people are so afraid to stare at that blank screen, you know? Oh, it’s the worst thing in my sales page. It says, it says, hell, isn’t fire and brimstone, it’s a blank word document. It is. I think that is the path the way the hell It is.
It’s so true. And there is no way around it, but through it. And, but here’s the thing is once it’s done, and once you have something that you’re really competent in, you won’t, you don’t have a problem sending people to your website. You don’t cringe when they go there, you don’t feel like, Oh yeah, I’ve got this thing that is this online. It’s kind of a function. That’s a brochure. But if you just get on the phone with me, you know what I mean? Then, then we can deal the deal. Right. And so you’re actually confident that it’s work for you. That is doing something for you.
If you know, that’s the thing. Thank you so much for saying what you said about working with me. Because it’s, what’s true is for me, is that I don’t, I don’t want to do a lot of selling, you know, like people just, they already feel like they know what they’re getting and then that’s been huge, you know, because I don’t know, I’m that great of a salesperson, you know, I can get on the phone and be like, you know, wheeling and dealing. But, but yeah, it’s, that’s another, that’s another tool that you have that just, it weeds people out because you know, the people that don’t like your story or don’t, you’re going to weed people out.
Right. And you want that. And so you get people that are coming to you and they kind of, I already feel like they know you a little bit. And then like, you know, going further, isn’t, we’ve already done so much work, you know, when you’ve done, when you told the story well, Well, yeah. And not only that, but if you listen to an action, because it’s almost like they identify themselves in you because you allow for it, you know, with Your story in your bio specifically, you were a runner. And so you told the story about running and fidgeting and that anxiety of writing.
And so I could identify with that because I had been an, a, a runner and I also have tons of anxiety about writing and the connection. And That’s, Y you know, when your able to tell a story, it’s like you create this resonance with another person, and that person becomes even more action-oriented. And almost like, like, it almost didn’t matter what it costs. It almost didn’t matter what hoops I had to jump through. Right. To be able to work with you cause of the way that you did it. And one thing you said, you know, if you don’t do a lot of selling, but yet you have a ton of clients. Now you have almost too many clients.
And so I think that’s one mistake, many real estate agents make is they think they constantly have to be selling. And, and especially in their bio where they talk about themselves and how many homes they’ve sold and all of this stuff. Talk a little bit about how to sell somebody, you know, coming towards you or taking the next step to want to work with you without actually selling and not feeling so salesy. Right. You know, this is so interesting. Cause I know people, have you ever gotten on those about pages and bios and you click over and by the way, this is something worth mentioning your about page. Your biome is the most visited page on your website might make you cringe some people, but So people go there and then automatically someone starts talking about, and I’ve seen it the way that you’re talking about where people they’re just like me, me, me, me, me.
Right. And there’s no, I mean, in here’s the thing to do when you’re just talking about me, me, me, me, me, it just, there’s no focus at runs the gamut. Yes. People can be talking about how many houses they sell, how many, you know, all of those facts, all of those kinds of accolades and trophies, or maybe there’s awards out there, but you can win. And then they might have to add something about their dogs, how many dogs they have, and then maybe they’re going to have their Myers break score listed. And there, you know what I mean? Like it’s all about how we, the reader, our supposed to read between the lines and figure out what that means.
You know, what that means about you. And it’s just not doing the job. It’s not, you can, you can have the most awards, most, you know, trophies and the real estate world with the person over here That is selling the story there, going to be able to sell whatever they want because people like them and they trust them. And so that’s going to be the difference in the two. But the other bio that I wanted to mention is that there is a buyer out there, a type of bio that, where they just spin it and they just talk completely to the reader.
They’re like, you’re the type of person who is this and this and this. And that’s where I come in. But it’s written like a sales page. And then you feel like you’re being sold to, and you, it immediately says to the reader, this person has nothing to say that about themselves. You know? So there’s that, there’s that angle too, where you can kind of go, you can go way too far and the other direction. So, So how does, how does it, how do you strike that balance? How do you strike that balance between giving people a sense of who you are without talking about yourself and also giving them a sense that there’s a connection here without talking too much, Right?
This all goes back to the storytelling thing and that’s, that’s another reason why it’s so important because you have this container that you put everything in or where Your, and that’s the reason people tell stories anyways, because of something. Right? And so you have this, you have this container that you’re, that you’re putting things in where you’re saying, here’s who I am, and this is why that matters to you. Right? And so this is just how we are connected and people, it’s it, it’s a way of saying, I understand you. And also you understand me. Like, we’re just, we’re just people, you know?
Yeah. And that’s kinda of like, that reminds me of when people say like, I’m an expert in, right. You don’t tell people you’re an expert. You just are an expert by things you’d know and say, and do like, we don’t trust people who say, I am this, I am that you are those things because of how you behave. So it’s almost like your bio has to be your behavior online or something where it’s like describing who you are without saying, I am the owner. Right. And that’s also it’s yes. The way you said that when you have this thing that is showing you kind of an action, we see what you’re doing, what do you see how you’re working?
And you’re your three dimensional, rather than the opposite of that. Right. If you’re just showing up and listing the facts, it’s very one dimensional. And so it’s yeah, exactly. You can kind of see you working and living and breathing and moving an existing. Whereas over here again, we just kind of have this cardboard cutout version of YOU. Yeah. So a couple of questions. What a couple of other questions for you? What, I don’t know how many real estate agent bio’s you’ve read before, or, you know, if you’ve ever bought a house, but what would, what would you say as a mistake?
You see most real estate agents making when it comes to their bio and how do they fix it? Real estate agents have a lot in common with people and the corporate world in the sense that like you were saying earlier, they kind of have what I call this, the trophy case, bio, where it’s, it’s more kind of accolade driven, driven. So it’s not that those things aren’t important. I just did an Instagram story about this, where the words that you’ve ONE or the accolades, the things that you want people to know that is, could be interwoven throughout, throughout your bio. I just, I just did this bio for she’s an ex VP of marketing, right?
So, you know, lots of schooling, awards, publications, all that kind of stuff. And her clientele is people in this, this executive world CEOs and stuff like that. And we think that this person, the way that they would need a more cut and dry resume OSTI or bio, but again, she’s working for herself, she building a platform and even she has room for creativity in her bio and a story. And so what we did was we, we wrote the story and the story, again, I’m using air quotes was about what she has observed, what was like a problem with this specific, you know, within her, you know, her realm, her world, and then the accolade driven bio, we’re going to leave it, but we’re just going to leave it at the bottom.
Because again, it’s not, it’s not a brand building piece. It’s not anything that’s going to support you. Right. ’cause, there’s a lot of people that have done a lot of fancy things and have a lot of bells and whistles, but it’s the, it’s her ideology and her mission behind what she’s doing, that that stands out. And So, so again, it comes back to figuring out what you want to tell people what you stand for and finding the story that illustrates that thing For real estate agents who don’t think spending time or money or energy, or, you know, on their bio, because they don’t think it’s important.
There’s so many real estate agents who do not think it’s important, but I teach it’s actually the most important thing, because it’s such a huge opportunity for, for people to want to work with you. And you an opportunity for what I believe is the crux of any real estate agent marketing, which is why should somebody choose you? There’s a million real estate agents for them to choose from. They know like 20 of them, why should they choose you? So the bio is such an opportunity that I think is being missed by so many real estate agents, because they don’t think it’s a way for them to get leads. What would you say to those agents about the opportunity when it comes to their bio page on our website?
What opportunities can they create with their bio? I mean, it sounds to me, what, what makes me want to ask this question is because what you were just saying, this woman is building a platform yet she’s starting with her bio. Right. And so knowing that that’s the beginning of building a business and the opportunity that provides and kind of how you take it from there, you know, I always teach start with an identity statement, you know, high I’m Jennifer I help first time home buyers on the DC area. And then from there being able to build a bio that does exactly everything you’re saying, you know? Yeah. I mean, so it is absolutely like this foundational branding piece, but I can’t tell you the people that have emailed that I’ve worked with who have said, I just landed my perfect client, like three days after posting or another interesting thing that happens is that it’s a conversation starter.
I don’t know how to approach you. I love that. Yes. Yes. And so also something I was talking about the other day was I haven’t read Seth Godin’s book. This is marketing. Not that I’m going too, but one thing I will take away that’s in there is that this, this era of like a personal brand being enough is over, it’s all about building a community, The building, what? Sorry, we couldn’t hear you. So not only do you need this foundational branding piece, because again, it’s going to illustrate kind of what you’re about and who you stand for, but, you know, but you’re kind of built your building a community around it, you know?
And so, so you’re drawing in people that share a value system with you that share a, a, a, a life that view that share an ideology that you maybe even share like exact facts from your story. And so it’s kinda of this, it’s this thing that brings people in and it’s also kind of keeps them around you, right? So let’s say you draw in your ideal client because of your bio, and then you work with them, you get them to the house of their dreams and out of, you know, a party or whatever.
And then they’re, you know, they meet some friends just because the town or meet someone that they’re getting along with. And then your, your LinkedIn, you know, from you, they start talking about You once we start talking about and want to buy a house that I want to buy a real estate. Right. So you’re kind of the center of the web That people are, you know, coming in On and also going out on a talk about you. And of course, that’s going to have a lot to do with the experience that they have working, but then that person gets on your website that they heard about you. And they were like, Oh yeah, I really liked this person. And so it’s, it’s this, it’s this malleable piece that kind of keeps on giving and resonating my outward, if that makes any sense.
Yeah, totally. And you know, it, if people are starting to talk to you, talk about you at a party or whatever, what’s the first thing they’re going to do. They’re going to Google your name. And what’s the first page is going to come up is your name, your, your bio page. And that is why it’s such a huge opportunity. And everything you’re saying is so perfect. I always say your bio is like your corner, the corner store. You know, it’s like that corner piece of real estate that you want, that you can build everything around. You can build your community around. You could attract your ideal clients around, like you just, that have them keep coming back and start getting referrals from it. If done correctly, which is through telling stories and picking up group of people you’re talking to, I’m just going through the notes that you’ve provided here, as you were talking, I’m taking notes.
So its, you know, pick some to pick a group of people you’re talking to. And what is it, what is it that person needs to know about you to want to work with you? Why are you doing what you’re doing? How do you work? And being able to create a story around that, you know, in my own. And perhaps you could give another example, I’ll give my own example of when I have to kind of how I turned a story of my own life that I didn’t even realize I had until I started writing and rewriting and rewriting my bio when I was a real estate agent. The first thing that had to do is say, okay, I wanted to talk to first time home buyers in the DC area. Right? What, what did I want that person to know about me to wanna work with you to work with me was that I knew how to pair them with loan programs that made their first home more affordable.
’cause that was the biggest stumbling block for first time home buyers, right? Is they thought they couldn’t afford it. And I thought they could and I knew how to make it more affordable for them. And so I wanted them to know that I had these secrets and the story I told around that was that when I bought my first house, nobody told me about these and I would have qualified to get like $50,000 to buy, to buy my first home. And my real estate agent never told me. And so I wanted to make sure that never happened to anybody I knew. Right. And not only are you saying now I know This right and I’ve got information that you need, what you’re saying, I give a shit about this kind of thing.
You know what I mean? And that says something about You that you are, that you, when you get information, you want to share it, it’s so important to you because, because you’ve been through a pretty harrowing experience from half from not having this This information. And so it’s altruistic and it makes people trust you. And it’s the truth, you know, like I think that’s one thing as we all have a version of the story, there’s a reason we all chose our path, right? Like there was a reason I chose to be a real estate agent and a lot of it had to do with having a terrible experience.
I’m thinking I could do a better, you know? And so I could of told that story and I kind of Did, you know, through, I didn’t just say it right. I didn’t say those words exactly. But I told the story of my experience and how that made me feel like I wanted to do better for other people. And so finding some truth, but it wasn’t like I sat down and was like, I have this all figured out. Like in 20 minutes it was step one, failing, failing, failing, failing, feeling like a failure and finally picking myself up and saying, okay, who can I actually give value to and help? Similar to what you’re saying is how are you talking to, you know, I had to pick one niche and one group of people that I felt confident that I could do that I could help because everybody else didn’t think I was a good enough real estate agent at the time I had sold their houses.
Right. So that I could talk to people who had never bought a house about my experience. That was like Eight months in step one. Right. So oftentimes people think that they can just sit down and say, okay, I’m going to write my bio in an hour. If it takes you an hour, you have done it all wrong. Let me know. One thing, I feel like a lot of people go back and forth on with their bio. Is, should they write it In the first person or the third person? Or should they say Jennifer yes.
There’s always exceptions to every rule. If you get really creative in any tense, but I, if you’re building a personal brands and it’s you behind that computer, then A is going to be the most natural. And it’s going to feel the most natural. Now that’s again, for story driven by it, it would be really kind of weird to tell a story about yourself in the third person, but this is something else that I do, but it, and it’s, it comes connected. I do these now.
I didn’t do these back when you and I were working together, but I do these shorter media bios that are just those grab and go buy a house or for being on a podcast or for getting introduced at the stage or four, you know, they’re shorter and they’re succinct and they’re kind of tight and mighty. Those are a third person. So think about where it’s going. You know, we kinda need a version for a different version of her bio out there in different areas. Right. But for your website, for that foundational branding piece, go with the first person.
You, especially, if you aren’t talking about your agency or something. Awesome. I feel like that just saved people hours of back and forth in there, at least in my own head. Yeah. And it’s have all kinds of weird reason why you wouldn’t ride in third person. Like it sounds stuck up or something like that. And I don’t, I don’t know if I necessarily agree with that, but again, it’s, it all works. It matters where things are in how they’re being used, where they’re being placed. So keep that in mind for whatever, if you’re having a write about yourself or other things, you know, maybe third person to be appropriate, but your weapon.
Yeah. And that leads us back exactly. To exactly where you always start, which is who are you talking to? Like, so with that, and then tell that story. Yeah. And what’s the tone, you know what I mean? Is it personal, you know, or is it a little bit now pushed away? Like this person exists out there in the world. And so, you know, that’s going to do that. Then that gets into narrative distance and then we’re just on a whole other conversation. Oh, that sounds like bio 2.0 or something. We’ll leave that for the next time. One last thing, a couple of last things I wanted to talk to you about is I always say that your bio needs, do I feel like a lot of bio’s especially real estate agents, they kind of like stop on a cliff, you know, meaning they don’t tell people what you want them to do.
And so in our world and online marketing, you know, we use the word call to action. Can you talk a little bit about how people can end their bio with some type of action that they want their ideal client to take to kind of continue the conversation? Can you talk a little bit about that real estate agent that most real estate agents don’t know what that is? And so like a very basic, you know, I teach that at Agent grad school, but most people aren’t talking about that, but that is also an addition to all the other opportunities that your bio page allows for. This is almost kind of, even if you don’t get your bio write, if you have a good call to action, you can almost kind of make up for it.
Not fully, but somewhat, you know, Right. You don’t want to drop the ball. So I call to action. Basically. You always want people to know kind of what’s happening next. So when I do calls to action, it depends on what we’ve talked about in the bio, but it depends also on what you want people to do. You know, some people want people to fill out a questionnaire or they want people to sign up for something or they want people to contact them. Right. So I imagine in most cases in your world, people want you to contact them.
And so again, it depends on the story that’s being told, but you know, you can, I’ve, I’ve written endings that are like, let’s say, you’ve talked about what’s going on and someone else will. And so it’s like, so the, the, the call to action could be a simple, and I don’t like for them to be too salesy, it could be as simple as to what’s talk about this, you know, and then get in touch with so-and-so. That’s like the call of action, right? Because you, you you’ve worked them. That sounds so slimy, but you know, you know, you’ve been writing and they’d been reading your bio and you’ve kind of gotten them all on the side and then, then you kind of leveled with them.
Okay. So let’s get in touch. Let’s talk about this more. I’ve told you about me. Let’s talk about you. Like, is it, that was, if you were on it, someone to fill out a questionnaire, you’re trying to get more information on them with a coach or something. And so think about what you want, what you want, what people are needing to do next. Right. Feel like your contact form, for example, or Dow your number and, and just tell them to do it. But, but think about when you read over your bio, what’s the most natural segue, you know, it could just be, again, something very simple and elegant, like, all right.
So what’s next, you know, like give me, you know, get in touch that type of thing, but you definitely want to tell them to do something. Right. And it’s, you know, I always say, sure, have the, I call it the emergency brake. If somebody wants to call you and needs you desperately. Right. This now right now. Right? Like I have the phone number, but chances are there, especially in real estate people, it’s usually not an emergency. Right. And so people want to just continue to get what you have. Do you think about what that means?
Well, I’m trying to think of an example, like off the top of my head that, Hmm. So for me, I always said, would you like to learn more about the first time home buyer programs available in the D in the DC area? You know, fill out your form here and I’ll send it to you right away. Yeah. And your button, there’s all kinds of, there’s like, there’s, there’s a psychology tips for what to say in a button besides contact. So-and-so Never say that And do that, but do you can say something like, yeah, sign me up. And you know, there’s a trick where you can talk where the MI in that sentence means to me, the reader or the audience member of that would be a client is kind of shifts.
It shifts perspective for a minute. So they So, it’s like kind of the voice and their heads saying, yeah, we want to do this. You don’t know again, you don’t have to do that. And I don’t know if that even makes sense to me saying it out loud and not like writing it out for you. You can create however much urgency you want. It can be If I know it sounds kind of weird, but even saying, let’s talk today or get in touch with me today. Just that, that today does something and it helps people, you know, to just come a little bit closer to the touch in that, but now, or if you’re trying to get them on your email list, which some, some real estate agents might be trying to do that, you know, that it’s like, whatever it is, like, let you know.
Yes. I want to hear about your seven tips for whatever, you know, and that could be the call to action button. That just it’s so depends on what’s going on. But if you again, think about what you want people to do. Right. And like, and if you can get the more specific, I guess, the better. And so, yeah. Yeah. So don’t let your bio and falling off a cliff, but a soft landing and make sure that people know how to get in touch with you, or keep in touch with you or go to whatever next steps you want to lead them to.
And it really depends on again, who your target audience is, why they should work with you. So there’ll be some natural decision about, about that. You know, for me, it was, I wanted to give Vince people off the bat that they could do this so that they could afford buying their first home, because that was a huge, a stumbling block. And so once I got their contact information, you know, I set it up. So it automatically emailed them a list of things. But obviously I followed up with them from there and said something along the lines of, you know, everybody’s situation is different. Don’t feel overwhelmed by all the options. If you’d like to sit down and go through what works for you and your budget in your goals, here’s the link to my calendar.
And you can schedule it any time and open, Right? Yes, exactly. And, and again, yeah, that is another thing to think about is it kind of comes back to that community piece that we’re talking to you about, like just your talking to another person, guide them to the next step, you know, and maybe do it a little bit more firmly than you would in person in a contact, but, you know, Yeah. So how can people learn more about how to write a bio from you? What’s the best way for them to keep in touch with you and, or, you know, gobble up any resources you have that can help them make their bio awesome and help create a bio that actually gets them Clients.
Yes. So the name of my business, again, as a switchblade lemonade, you can always find me there. And I have a new book. I called it an accidental book. I love the title of this is A bio like Beyonce. We look at actually at Beyonce and she’s got some very important things to teach us about storytelling. It’s a whole thing is an excellent example. And there’s writing prompts and it just gets you in the frame of mind. You need to be in, remember when we were saying that, writing about a bio about yourself as a total hell, well, this gets you in a more empowered state instead of like, Oh, I have to do this and gives those practical tips to walk you through, getting it down on paper.
That is, I don’t know when this is airing Jennifer but I’ll wait until you’re ready. How about that? I mean, my, yeah, I’m basically like dotting I’s and crossing T’s and it’s going out this week, so I’m not going to be that quick, so. Okay, Perfect. So then by the time everyone hears this it’s ready and then I have a couple of services and one is where, Wait, wait, wait, before you go what’s do you have a link or something to it? Or what’s the best way for, Oh yeah. Or should I just say I’ll post? I want to say something so they know where to go for it. Yeah. I will have a link for, I may not be blasting it on social media too.
I’ll post the link below for bio like Beyonce So real estate agents can gobble that up. I love it because not only is it like a double entendre, like you almost have to get your Beyonce, what does she call herself? Sasha fierce mentality on an order to write your own. But then also being able to go through a girl bio and learn how to write your own from that. That’s an awesome, so I will post that link below this episode. So people in the show notes so that people can look their and how else can they find you? So another. So That to services where I, I have my traditional service where I write the bio for you.
And it’s, it’s a very, as you know, hands-on experience, you’re taken through this whole process and your part of it. And, but I do, I do all the writing. And then The, if you want to write your own bio, you can do kind of, it’s kinda like a, it’s like a mini coaching service where we talk about Your story. We nail it down, we get dialed into the general outline, write it. And then you come back and we pull out the hooks and we pull out the underlying ideology, the things that are there, but you’re not quite saying and omit the things that don’t matter and bringing on a home with inclusion, a call to action.
So, so there’s options, there’s options for whatever you need in for what you’re ready for. Okay, cool. So below the episode, I’m on Agent, Grad School dot com and the show notes, I will put your website, which played lemonade.com. I’m also gonna post your bio because I love how you say a bio, so good. You can make it a movie. And so you turn your bio that you wrote yourself into a movie, which is like so amazing. And so I want people to see what’s possible when they write their own bio and how it should kind of come off the page like this, and will also link to bio like Beyonce.
So all of these real estate agents can start getting their own Sasha fierce going and getting a BYO together that actually gets them Clients it is possible. And it is the Cornerstore of your business. And it should be what you focus on first, or that you can kind of build everything around it from there. So it is so crucial and important. And Carolyn thank you for making it so important, you know, and really choosing this writing to do for not only yourself, but for all of us, because we all need the help and making our bio something that’s, that’s worthy of how important it is.
So thank you for everything you do in for all your help today. Yes. Thank you so much. Jennifer again and then until the pleasure. Thank you so much for listening to today’s episode. Remember change happens when you take action. So apply what you learned today to your own real estate business. If this episode has helped you subscribe, leave a review and share it with all your real estate agent friends, and as always, if you want even more great resources to create the real estate business you’ve always wanted, and to have the life you want outside your business to head over to Agent Grad School dot com and sign up for the free weekly trainings, you’ll get free classes and discounts and other goodies that only go out to real estate agents on that email list.
See you next week right here on Confessions of a Top Producing Real Estate Agent The Agent Grad School Podcast.