Jeremy has excelled as an award-winning agent who has sold close to $200 million of real estate in less than a decade. His client-first approach, focus on relationships over transactions, and an extreme level of personal service has not only catapulted his success but resulted in 99 percent of his business coming from referrals.
Jeremy’s passion for working with people and a penchant for providing a superior level of service are the lifeblood of his real estate accomplishments. He and his full-service team are dedicated to providing the ultimate client care experience for buyers, sellers, and renters of all property types in the Maryland and DC area. Jeremy is a complete resource for first-time and repeat homebuyers, lending support and expertise in all areas from mortgage consultations to comparable analysis and value-driven negotiating. Sellers equally benefit from his laser-sharp attention to detail, innovative marketing techniques and strategic pricing that ensure the highest return on their investment.
His number one priority outside of being an outstanding realtor is being an exceptional husband and father. Jeremy is also an avid runner, enjoys golfing, and loves spending free time with his family and friends.
Podcast Highlights:
- Speed is a strategic advantage
- Your customer service has to come from your heart
- Make your first hire ASAP so you can free up your time
Contact Jeremy:
#realtor #NoLimitsSelling #podcast
[Podcast Transcript Using Artificial Intelligence]
Umar Hameed 0:06
Are you ready to become awesomer? Hello everyone, this is Umar Hameed, your host and welcome to the No Limits Selling Podcast, where industry leaders share their tips, strategies and advice on how to make you better, stronger, faster, get ready for another episode.
Umar Hameed 0:30
Today I'm sitting down with Jeremy Walsh, he runs a team called simply referral, which is like a totally brilliant named Jeremy, welcome to the program. Thank you for having me. So Jeremy in 60 seconds, tell us who you are what you do.
Jeremey Walsh 0:44
I am a licensed real estate professional. Primarily our team services, Central Maryland. And we help buyers and sellers buy homes and sell homes. Over the course of my career, we've created what I consider to be an experience for people that we call a simply referral experience, which is creating experience where your clients will want to tell other people about how you do things, the reason that you don't, and ultimately creating a referral experience where we build our business 99% exclusively by referral at this point in time,
Umar Hameed 1:23
Brilliant. So tell me, how is your experience different than the average realtor? Like what do you do from the first Hello, walk me through the process that creates this repeatable experience that gets you referrals?
Jeremey Walsh 1:37
Yeah, well, I think the first process is that when we meet with somebody, we want to one, understand exactly what it is that they're looking to do. And because most of the people that come to us are coming to us by referral, we already have an existing level of trust that we have with that person. And so we just sit down, we'll do a needs analysis, we'll try to determine exactly what it is that they're looking for. Throughout the whole process, what we're, what we want our clients to understand is that this is more about a transaction, it's more for us, it's about a relationship, a long term relationship that we're trying to build. And we really don't want to just do a transaction and then forget our clients, we want to be there for them all the way through different life experiences that they have. We want to be a resource in real estate for them. And ultimately, what happens we actually become their friends over time. And then they want to send us to their family members and friends, because we already have that established level of trust. When we go through the process. We're all about service service service. My philosophy is that speed creates trust with somebody. So if you're going to be servicing somebody, in real estate, or whatever business you're in, speed is very important when it comes to service strategic advantage exactly creates a strategic advantage, which ultimately builds trust, which then will create a relationship. And once you have relationship with somebody, they will do business with you. And then ultimately, if as long as you service them at the right in the right manner, and create a wow, experience is what we call it, then they will refer you to other people.
Umar Hameed 3:11
So let's backtrack to so you have this intake interview right off the gate. So I would suspect that you know, probably 80 out of 100 realtors do that. How do you guys do it differently? That starts building that trust?
Jeremey Walsh 3:24
Yeah, well, the first thing that we do is we always thank the referral source First, we'll call them personally. And we'll also send them a personal note, we're big into personal notes. Because we feel that that is a good way to wow somebody, but then we'll bring them into our office, or we'll meet them at their house if they're a seller. And the biggest thing for us initially, is we want to take time to get to know them as a person versus what they're trying to do. With real estate, we feel once we get to know them as a person, then we ultimately can understand what their what their needs, and their goals are related to real estate. And then we just bridge the gap between who they are and where they want to go. And then our system and our process takes them one step at a time through that so that they're comfortable through the whole experience. And ultimately, we get the result that they're looking for.
Umar Hameed 4:11
Take me through you, you've got a team, how many people in your team.
Jeremey Walsh 4:14
Right now it's six of us total. So it's myself, I have a director of operations. I have a director of sales, and two agents that help us with showing properties and they're building their career at the same time. And also have an agent, a team agent that works with us to utilize our systems and our processes in our in our admin team. But they primarily work on their own, and they just use us for support. So it's a total of six of us at this time.
Umar Hameed 4:40
How do you instill this level of customer care? Because you know, when you can talk about it, but getting people to actually get it in their hearts and their minds is a different thing. So how do you instill that level of connection with your agents so they actually can represent you in the right way?
Jeremey Walsh 4:58
Well, I think the first thing Step two, the whole process is you have to lead by example. And what I mean by that is, I'm not a leader that's going to ask somebody to do something that I'm not willing to do day in and day out. So you walk your talk, walk, the talk is a big thing. For me lead by example, I'm very committed to the process. Although I am a team leader. There are a lot of team leaders in real estate and real estate agents that are no longer involved in the transactions, I believe that to be the best leader possible in real estate for my team, I have to still be connected to the process of working with buyers and working with sellers. So leading by example is huge. The other thing that we do is we have a weekly team meeting where we are constantly talking about personal growth and development, professional growth, leadership mindset, we want our agents to grow from within, so that they can service on the exterior, who they're becoming as people. And so people will be attracted to them for the for the people that they are, and the service that they will provide comes after that. So mindset is critically important. mindset is probably the most important thing, in my opinion, as a real estate agent. I know a lot of people get into this business. And they think because they have a license that all of a sudden they're going to have a bunch of success. But from my perspective is that if your heads not right, then you're not going to be right in the field. So I attribute a lot of my success over the past 17 years of being in the sales business 10 of it being real estate, to mindset, and daily rituals, things that you do, that are going to help you succeed, when you go out to go to work. I think the the more you work on yourself, the better you become at anything that you're doing. But it all starts with the mind.
Umar Hameed 6:43
Brilliant. Do you have any partners in your practice?
Jeremey Walsh 6:47
No particular partners, although I do feel that all of my team members are partners, from a from a from a partner perspective, meaning that I like them to feel like they're partners in the business. But I don't have a financial partner in the business. It's just myself when it comes to.
Umar Hameed 7:06
How would you describe the culture of your team? So if someone was looking in what behaviors, what mindset would they see that would say, Oh, this is a simply referral team. So what are you striving for in terms of behavior and mindset with your employees? Where your constituents?
Jeremey Walsh 7:23
Well, from a Buffett, from a behavior perspective, I think that we're looking for a service, it's got to start with service, right? And my philosophy is that service comes from the heart. Yes. Okay. So I tell my team all the time, get out of your head and into your heart. Because I think when we think from our heads, we're thinking about ourselves. But when we think from our heart, we're always thinking about serving others. And I think that that is the biggest thing that we bring to the table is that if you interact with myself, or one of our team members, you're going to feel service from the heart. And that is something that people become attracted to, because of who you are as a person, not necessarily what you're going to do for them. What you're going to do for them, I think comes pretty easy. And naturally, once you've been doing real estate for a long time, because buyers have a certain goal that they're trying to accomplish. And there's a process to that, and sellers have the same. But we're really trying to do is get people to buy in to us as people first. And then professionals.
Umar Hameed 8:23
Going back to that heart thing the heart thing really comes from, it's the intent of what you're doing as well. Yes. And that's the betterment of everyone in the transaction. Whereas sometimes when we come from the headspace, then it's more on occasion, more self serving, or more mechanical, rather than effortless and flow. Right. And people can feel when someone's coming from their heart to serve them versus, I need to do this because I'm going to get more business out of it. People can sense it right out of the gate.
Jeremey Walsh 8:54
I believe. So I mean, I believe that to be true. I've certainly had experiences like that myself, where I feel like someone's trying to get something done a transaction done versus understanding who I am and what I'm really looking to do. And I tell my team all the time, this is not about today, this is about a long term perspective. I mean, what what are we going to look like as a team 20 years from now, 30 years from now, because the reality of it is, is that any successful business that has stood the test of time, has a long term perspective of and when you take a long term perspective of service and growth, you're going to do things differently today to achieve greater results in the future than you otherwise would if you took a transactional approach.
Umar Hameed 9:35
Absolutely. And going back to that heart head thing, we've all been to a restaurant where the hostess greets you, walks you over to your table sits you down and tells you that the waitress will be by soon. And as that person leaves you go shouldn't mean a single word of that. And someone else can do the exact same thing using the exact same language and you just feel like oh my God, this person. It's like Amen. My guest in their in her house or his house, and we can just tell it as human beings when it comes from that. So going back to the culture piece of you want people to really realize that, you know, what are we going to be like 20 years from now that you want to be. And I'm speculating here, different in terms of size and scope. But the feel that human connection, you want that to stay true? what you're doing now is what you'll be doing when you're bigger, better faster?
Jeremey Walsh 10:30
Yes, that's exactly right. And I think that's one of the hard things to do, especially when you're in a personal services industry, because we've been very fortunate where we've grown to a point where I can't necessarily be a part of every single touch point within a transaction or an experience, as we call it. So what you have to do is you have to then start duplicating your service through others. And that's when you get into putting systems in place, which ultimately improve your culture, because you're doing something the same way, this time. And when you do something the same way, each time you get, most of the time, you get the same result each time you do it.
Umar Hameed 11:09
And I think being heart focused allows you to have the right intention and doing the process which ensures the result is always positive.
Jeremey Walsh 11:18
Yes. And the simply referral team name, I mean, that came from I, that was a tagline at one point in time. But I tell our team members, I say, look, simply referral is not our team name, it's a way of life, in my opinion. And I think that if you're living true to that, each day, when you go to work with somebody, that you want to be that person that they would then suggest to somebody else, it that really is the culture, the culture is simply referral.
Umar Hameed 11:45
And it's also the best measurement of how well you guys are executing what you do, because if you having that first conversation, if it's just like, I want to get this over with people can feel it, if it's like, hey, this could be a valued customer, that's gonna send us 10 referrals over the next five years, then even that simple transaction, you have a different mindset, a different connection. And it influences every aspect of your business. And I think that's totally brilliant.
Jeremey Walsh 12:14
Thank you and we tell our clients up front, our goal throughout this process is to create an experience that you will want to tell other people about if at the end of this process, we have not fulfilled that, then we have failed. And we take that very seriously.
Umar Hameed 12:28
How often do you interview your clients in terms of Tell me about this experience? Tell me what we could have done better? Is this any kind of like feedback loop to make sure you guys get better at what you do?
Jeremey Walsh 12:40
That's great. So we typically always have a 30 day out call from after the time that they move, we feel that that gives them enough time to get settled and situated, whether they're in their new home or they've moved to a new location. And that process is all about how was the experience? Would you refer us, one of the things that we start we're starting to do now is we're actually backing that up with a with a client survey, so that we really get the true feedback that we're looking for not just them saying, Oh, yeah, you were great. And you did a good job, thank you so much. But we want to be able to really hone in on what we did, right? Or what we didn't do so right so that we can constantly improve our process. So that the client ultimately feels that we're always trying to get better. And those conversations are pretty easy. Because I feel that anytime that we work with somebody, we do create a great experience for them well above what they're going to receive on an average level outside of working with us. And so the conversation is very easy to get that feedback. And then really the true test is when they reverse. Yeah. And, and like I said, Everything we've always done has been referral based and I built that from the start with the end in mind to build a referral business I, I really have always wanted to do that. And that's what I've been focused on.
Umar Hameed 13:57
People have the best of intentions, on giving referrals. I had a great experience. But life gets in the way. How do you maintain contact? And how do you make sure that that's top of mind for them?
Jeremey Walsh 14:10
Well, one is I think we're very consistent. My philosophy is consistency, builds trust, and consistent in what I think consistent in our messaging from a marketing perspective, as well as consistency and activity. So in real estate, I think you have to do two things really well. I think you have to market consistently to your database. But also think that you have to follow that up with actionable steps that you can take, for instance, for me, it's making phone calls to my database and touching base. It's making sure that they're doing okay, is there anything that they need from me at this point in time? Do they know of anybody else at this time that I may be able to assist? That may not be top of mind for them, just as they go through their natural rhythm of their life? But if I'm in touch with them regularly and I ask them question And then maybe it is top of mind. So we make calls monthly to our database nice. We send a lot of personal notes, we believe in the personal touch. And then we mark it consistently, at least once a month, we're sending something of value to, to our clients. And then we do client appreciation events. Pretty much on like a quarterly basis, you need an example of one of those. So one of the best things that we do, and I know a lot of agents are doing it. Now, where it's a pie giveaway, we call it a reverse, reverse pop by where we're not actually going out to the client, but we're having the clients come to us. And I've been doing that at my house for the last five years, a lot of agents do it at their office, I feel it's a great experience to have somebody come into...
Umar Hameed 15:44
Personal connection. Yeah.
Jeremey Walsh 15:45
Personal connection come into your home. You know, I think that most, most real estate, real estate clients want to know where their realtors live and how they live. So we started to do that the house five years ago, and the results have been phenomenal. I mean, the amount of people that that come out is truly remarkable. It's one of the most heartwarming things that we do. It really is it's around Thanksgiving, obviously. And how many pies to give away. Last year, we did 250 pies. Wow. And all these people are people that we've touched over the last 10 years of our career, I have people come in, that I sold my first home to or their first home. But first experience for me back in 2007. Nice and they're coming, you know, 1011 years later back. And sometimes they bring a friend that's looking to buy or so. But most importantly, it's just all about connecting with the people and and just seeing all the all the faces and and the relationships that you build over time is really, really meaningful.
Umar Hameed 16:46
Who's one of your mentors in this industry or locally where you go, you know, this person is doing it really, really well?
Jeremey Walsh 16:52
Well, I take a lot from from different people throughout the industry, I have a lot of friends in the industry that I try to pull, see what they're doing well, what's working for them. I'm a big proponent of personal growth and development. So I'm always trying to mastermind with other agents.
Umar Hameed 17:09
Nice.
Jeremey Walsh 17:10
And that includes agents that haven't built a business like we've built because I think that I can learn from the new and upcoming agents as much as I can learn from the seasoned veterans. I've been very fortunate over the course of my career to have mentors in place, each step of the way. But today, I don't think I have a particular mentor, besides the books that I'm reading and some of the podcasts that I listen to.
Umar Hameed 17:35
Primarily you keeping your finger on the pulse and learning where you can.
Jeremey Walsh 17:38
Yeah, and my friends in the industry, I mean, all of us that are doing things at a higher level, we're in pretty much constant communication. And one of the greatest benefits that I've ever gotten is actually just sharing my story. So I do go to different offices throughout the area, and I'll share what I'm doing. And and from that I really learned so much and it helps me to continue to grow.
Umar Hameed 18:00
Isn't it brilliant it's like when you teach you learn so much.
Jeremey Walsh 18:02
Yes, exactly.
Umar Hameed 18:03
If you were, your business, your team has been around for 10 years?
Jeremey Walsh 18:07
10 years. I mean, I started as I started as an individual agent 2007 part time, went full time in 2008, the worst real estate market of all time, I didn't know I didn't know that was happening. I just saw, you know, everyone was exiting the business. And I just didn't know anything else. But I had to go to work. And I had to get results. Because I left my job. I didn't have any other options. So I sold 14 homes. My first year in the business in 2007-2008, I sold 14 homes full time without the full time job that I had in 2007. And I thought to myself, wow, like what is what, what am I going to do like this is this is kind of crazy. But what I did is I looked at those 28 sales and I there was one reoccurring theme, there were people that that liked me trusted me. And it gave me the opportunity to, to work with them. And so that's where the whole referral business mindset came from. I'm going to build this one relationship at a time provide a great service to people. And if I do it the right way, I think will continually grow each and every year. And we have many houses are you doing now. So last year, we close 125,
Umar Hameed 19:13
Nice.
Jeremey Walsh 19:14
which was awesome. It was the best year we ever had we did just right around 40 million in real estate sales. And this year, we're on pace to do over 150 our goals 175. And so we're on pace now to do just that. So I think we're we've done a really good job this year of continuing to do the right things and help people the way we help them.
Umar Hameed 19:36
If someone was had been in the business for let's say, two, three years, and now they're starting to put a team together. What would be three pieces of advice you'd give somebody starting a team now that you know, with your experience, that this would be really really useful to build a successful team.
Jeremey Walsh 19:53
I think the first thing that comes to mind would be to make sure that you find the right first hire. And what I mean by that is, I think in real estate, what happens as you become a productive agent, you hire out of need, but you don't take your time through the process to make sure it's the right person. Because it takes time to train somebody.
Umar Hameed 20:19
Right.
Jeremey Walsh 20:20
And in order to speed up, you got to slow down. And that's one of the hardest things I think, for real estate agents, is to slow down in order to speed up and actually take the time to train somebody effectively. So I would say, Be patient, when you're first hire, make sure it's the right person, begin with the end in mind. So make you know you want to hire, you're not hiring just for now. But you're hiring for the future, because the only way to create a successful team culture is to have people that stick with you, over the course of several years.
Umar Hameed 20:51
Yup. Makes perfect sense.
Jeremey Walsh 20:52
So that would be my first thing, be patient, hire the right person. My second one would be hire sooner than you think.
Umar Hameed 21:00
Yes.
Jeremey Walsh 21:00
Okay, because that person is going to help you to free you up, if you hire the right person, to be able to do the things that are going to ultimately build your company to be more successful. So that's two. And the third thing I would say is make sure you have a system in place, and the time available to train that person. So you're going to have to really, time block your schedule effectively to be spending time with your people. And I think that's one of the biggest challenges that I have had as we continue to grow our business is that you don't always have the time that you need to to spend, to spend that time that is going to make that person the most effective. You can't just delegate everything without training somebody, you have to train someone in order to be able to delegate
Umar Hameed 21:50
Absolutely. Makes perfect sense.
Jeremey Walsh 21:52
So you will slow down in order to speed up. But if you do it that way, then you know you're doing it the right way.
Umar Hameed 21:57
And once you do it, well once, then you get a cookie cutter that it'll be much easier for the second hire.
Jeremey Walsh 22:03
Yes, well, ultimately, what I think you're trying to do in a team environment or any organization that you're building is that you're trying to hire the right person initially, that can then hire the next person effectively.
Umar Hameed 22:17
Jeremy, thanks so much for sitting down with me.
Umar Hameed 22:19
My pleasure.
Umar Hameed 22:25
If you enjoyed this episode, please go to iTunes and leave a five-star rating. And if you're looking for more tools, go to my website at nolimitsselling.com. I've got a free mind training course there, that's going to teach you some insights from the world of neuro-linguistic programming and that is the fastest way to get better results.