How this DMV Area Agent Grows Her Business With Online Leads

Century 21 agent Michelle Graziani has over 21 years of experience in the real estate industry. She's seen it all and consequently understands how to navigate the highs and the lows in the market. 

We recently sat down with Michelle as she talked through her journey in real estate, from handling relocations, referrals, geo farming, and more before investing in online lead generation and  making $20,000 in her first four months with CINC. 

In our discussion, she highlights the importance of patience, consistent follow-up, and building strong client relationships. Michelle's approach combines online lead generation with personal connections, offering practical insights for agents at any level.

Watch the full video to learn about Michelle's strategies, her experience with CINC, and her tips for navigating the real estate market.

Transcript

Michelle Graziani: And in the first four months I made 20 grand, so that's more than paid for the year. And then I had the 1 that I just closed in March, which was the people from North Carolina. I think that was like, almost 10, 000 and then I have 2 more closing this month. Yeah, 2 more closing this month. And then I have the 2 more listings coming up and then I have more buyers and stuff.

So I think the last time I did the calculation, I was at maybe. Like with everything in Pipe, I think I was at like 4x.

[Intro]

So I am Michelle Graziani. I have been in real estate for 21 years. I dual careered for the first thirteen. So I was actually in school getting my business admin degree and I was working sometimes two jobs, raising kids, trying to figure out real estate. It was just a lot. But in 2016, I decided to make a move.

From my brokerage that I started in, and I went to work for Century 21 Redwood, and that's where I'm at now. They are a big, they have a big market in the met the D. C. metro area. So we're in the, we call it the DMV (DC, Maryland, and Virginia). I live in Western Maryland, so I cover a lot of Maryland, a lot of Frederick, a lot of Washington County. I do Virginia, so I'm licensed in Virginia, and I'm currently getting my license in West Virginia as well.

It's just me. It's not I have no team as of yet. And I do anywhere from 30 to 42 transactions a year. Just depends on the year.

Jennifer O'Connell: Before CINC, was that majority referral and spear business? Or were you using anything for leads before?

When I first went to Red Century 21, I was one of the first people to sign up for their relocation program. I was doing a lot of relos. I'd say probably 66 percent of my business that 1st year in was from relos and you give a lot of money away when you're doing that a lot. You give 40 percent off the top.

It goes back to the relos company. If it's like a card is or an airs relocation or a Navy federal or anything like that, it goes back to them. And then the brokerage house splits the additional, like the remaining 60%. So you really only end up with about 30%, but I looked at it like it was 30 percent of something that I didn't have.

And it was a good way for me to get my sign in the yard and to build my network. So now I'm down to probably about 20 to 30 percent of relos in my business. And yeah, there's a lot of repeat business. There's a lot of broker referrals from other agencies because I network with other brokers around the nation. Lenders. I have lenders that I make it really clear to them if they want my business, they better. They better reciprocate I don't expect all the business, but if you want me to be sending you business, I expect at least 1 or 2 a year. I do, client appreciation parties every year and I invite all my clients.

I do geo farming and a couple different neighborhoods. And then I have like other little things, like I did Redfin for a while, where I was like a Redfin agent, partner agent. And then there's other ones. I think Ojo is one of them that I do, but I don't know. Like I try to have my hand in a lot of different things and have multiple streams, but I knew that I needed an online lead gen.

And I knew I didn't want to do realtor or Zillow because I've done them before. And I just knew that it wasn't going to be worth the money for me to do that. 

Jennifer O'Connell: Did you hunt around to other, like all in one competitors? And was there something that made CINC stick out over the others?

Michelle Graziani: Actually, a colleague of mine. And then I looked it up and contacted and I think I started talking to Kevin and it went from there.

Jennifer O'Connell: You've been with CINC less than year and you've seen some success. So is that you think your background and just being diligent about making the calls or what is it that maybe sets you apart that other people haven't done?

Michelle Graziani: I do make the calls and I, but I'm not religious about it. It's not like I have a block on my calendar. Where I sit down every day to do it. I really, when I have the time, I'll just be like, let me bang out some calls, and just consistency. 1 guy that's closing next month, or actually this month, I started talking to him in August when I was at the beach and he came out in October and we went out and I knew that he wasn't going to buy in October, but I knew that I wanted to lock down the relationship. So I took them out, went out to lunch and it's a lot of PR. I don't think that people realize that this is just, not everybody wants to be sold all the time. So sometimes, It's nice to just check in on somebody and say, hey, I was just thinking about you or, hey, I know that you're not moving until next year, but I just wanted to check in and see how you were doing. That just goes a really long way with people. So I think you can't always be going in for the kill. You have to be like. Yeah, patient and just slow and steady wins the race almost,

Jennifer O'Connell: Are there any other even more memorable lead stories? Maybe they were in another database for a long time, but CINC has help you nurture them or a high price point or something like that?

Michelle Graziani: I did have these people that 1 day I was like. I guess I gotta make calls. So I went and shut myself in the conference room, made a couple of calls and this couple gets on the phone and it was just like the husband and wife. They wanted to talk to me at the same time and I could tell they were older. They were super cute and they were like, telling me their whole story why they were on the website, what they wanted to ultimately end up in Frederick, Maryland, they wanted to be close to their son and their grandkids, and that she, the wife had kids in Connecticut, too. They were down in North Carolina, and they were, like, just felt so far removed from everybody. So the idea was to come this way, come to Maryland so they were coming in 2 weeks and I was like, okay let me see if I can find some things for you to look at when you're here. And I arranged for them to go look at some new construction, which I didn't think they were going to like, but I felt like they needed to get it out of their system because the taxes are where they were going.

And I knew they weren't going to like it. They called me and they were like, it's just too expensive. So I asked them if they would be interested in moving to the next county up, which is a little cheaper and the taxes are a little cheaper, but it's still within 30 minutes of their son. And they said, yes, and We looked at a couple of houses.

I found them a new construction. That was a spec that it needed to get sold and I got it. I got $10,000 off the price for them and they ended up. Doing a bridge loan off of their house in North Carolina. I hooked him up with a lender and they're closing or no, they already closed. They closed last week. So that 1, like, that 1 was like, boom.

Yeah. Yeah, and then I have another lady that's getting ready to list her house with me and she had bought something last December with the intention of moving in February. And then her husband was diagnosed with cancer. So I've just been working with them, trying to help them get resources to help her get the house packed up and just I just try to be a resource and try to help people as much as I can, because obviously we want to sell, we want to make a living, but this is a people business. Our job is to help people and everybody has different reasons for selling and we just want to be sensitive to that. Seems to have worked out in my business. Again I wasn't a full time agent until 2016. I had to work other jobs because it was this isn't a job. You can just jump into and my business has grown exponentially since 2016 and I feel really fortunate that I've had the success with CINC so far.

Could be working at it a little harder? Probably. I do have pockets where I get caught up in other stuff and then I'm like, Shoot, I need to go back and make calls. But I still I have some people that are moving here from California. They're selling their house. I think this month or next month. Their daughter's having a baby and they want to move to Loudoun County, which is one of the most expensive counties in Virginia. So they're probably going to end up buying somewhere in like the six or 700 range. Which is actually a median price point in Loudoun County, to be honest with you.

Jennifer O'Connell: Do you know what, like your CINC ROI has been or like how many transactions you've closed from CINC since you started?

Michelle Graziani: So I had a referral that I did. I had to send people to another state. This is why I'm getting my West Virginia license. I showed those people 20 houses and then they ended up going to West Virginia. And I was like... but I still, I sent them to another agent and I think I got a 5, 4 or 5, 000 dollar referral and then in December, I had a $16,000 dollar closing.

In the what? August, September, October, November, December, and the 1st 4 months, I made 20 grand. So that more than paid for the year. And then I had the one that I just closed in March, which was the people from North Carolina. I think that was like, almost $10,000 and then I have 2 more closing this month. Yeah, 2 more closing this month. And then I have the 2 more listings coming up and then I have more buyers and stuff. I think the last time I did the calculation, I was at maybe with everything in pipe. I think I was at like, 4 X, but Kevin swears, I'm going to do 7 X this year. So if you're watching Kevin, I'm going to try to make it happen.

Jennifer O'Connell: You have been in the industry a long time. You've obviously seen a lot of things. So why, and then with everything that's going on now, why are you still bullish on buyer leads specifically or online lead generation in general?

Michelle Graziani: I knew that I needed to have another source, right? And that's not my only place that I focus because every agent wants listings, right? I'm definitely an agent that wants more listings this, but this has actually rendered. I have a listing coming up from this actually 2 and I have other people that call me that have homes to sell. I think that you're getting more traction. I'm finding that I'm getting more traction from people from other states that need they need help. They need to understand what's going on here in this area. And I think that Has been something that I've actually really enjoyed because I've gotten to know new people and, I stay in touch with my clients. I go out with them and I do, I go around and I drop off pop buys.

Every month or every couple months, and I go see them so that so it's really cool when you can meet these people. But a lot of times they're just they're not from around here. They just don't they don't know they need to be educated. Some are from around here. I have a young girl. That's she's a teacher. And I met with her and her husband at a brewery, and we just hung out and had drinks and I educated them on the market and they're moving to this area because she's getting a job, but I always feel like doing that is the better way to start meeting people. But I'm not just focused on just buyers. I just knew that I needed another line of lead Jen.

Jennifer O'Connell: If somebody was looking into online leads leads with CINC or with anyone like what would your advice be to them?

Michelle Graziani: Yeah, I guess starting out. You have to be patient and expect. I didn't expect anything to happen. I was hoping at least in the first six months. So the fact that I closed 20 grand in the first four was huge. And that I was having conversations and people were calling me back and that kind of thing.

So I think it's legit. Like you just never, it's. But it's a numbers game, like anything, like I'd say probably the majority of the people that log on there don't even want to talk to somebody got in a fight with me the other day about the prices and how, why prices are so high and how they're going to wait until rates go down and prices drop.

And I'm like those 2 things aren't going to happen at the same time. But okay. And She got really mad at me and I ended up deleting her because honestly I don't have the energy or the bandwidth for that and I don't have to, I'm paying enough money a month that I can choose who I really want to work with.

And I don't have, I don't have the energy to work with somebody like that. I just think that you're going to get some legit, but the numbers, you just have to like, know I feel like you just have to know who to hone in on.

Jennifer O'Connell: Is there anything in the system that helps, who to prioritize and what leads to prioritize?

Michelle Graziani: I think that kind of goes back to the training when you're in training. Who is my trainer Bernadette? She taught me to look at who's logging in all the time. And who's who's looking the most and. Even the other day, when I was talking to my account rep, Alex, she said, a lot of people are going to be, you're going to be getting behavioral management messages from people logging back in.

And sure enough, I am because it's that time of year. I think it's that you really need to focus on who's watching. Who's logging into the site, who's engaging in the site, the one in people that if you've tried to reach out to them and they're not really responding, I'm not saying delete them, but I wouldn't be like focusing a lot of energy on that. I'd be focusing the energy where people are mostly engaging.

Jennifer O'Connell: How are you planning to adapt to how the landscape is changing or are you doing anything right now?

Michelle Graziani: Maryland is a buyer agency state, so we've always had buyer agency and Maryland also does not allow for you to work both sides of the transaction.

So you have to be on 1 side or the other, say, Virginia, you is a little different. You can, but I won't if I have somebody that wants me to list and then they want me to represent the bot. I can't do that. It's I feel like it's too much liability for me, but I just front load those conversations. Now, And I even the people that are settling this month while they were in transit.

And they were on their way from Ohio. We had a conversation when they were in the car and I'm like, hey, listen we've already been out. We were out last fall. I gave you a couple of freebies. I'm like, but now that we're really honing in on stuff, I have to send you this fire agency agreement and my fee is 2 and a half percent and I just need to let that it's not only a brokerage thing, but it's a you It's a law, so I have to have you guys sign that before we go out and they were fine with it.

I don't think that. Yeah, I don't think that meeting somebody for the 1st time on a, zoom call where they don't know you at all. Having that conversation, I think is a difficult conversation to have. I think you have to earn their trust a little bit. And with those people, I had been talking to them and working with them and sending them stuff for months.

I feel like it was a little easier. But I just know that I've been doing this for a long time, and I have a lot of value to bring to the table. And if somebody isn't willing to pay the fee, I don't work for free period. And, and the media really is painting us out to be pretty horrible right now.

And I just get ahead of it, even when I go on listing appointments, I just get ahead of it and I talk about what's going on and why. And, I do tell people that a lot, you can't believe everything that you hear and read on the media. Because so much of it is just being spoon-fed to us.

Thefrederickhomefinder.com, right? That's me. Yeah. I have MichelleGraziani.com too. Michelle Graziani is probably the best one and there's no dot in between it. It's just my name. com