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Transcript
Eric Galvin: My name is Eric Galvin. Currently, I'm with Realty One Group Dockside out of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. I started real estate part-time 13 years ago, went full-time for the first time last February. And then I started out on three different teams and decided that being in the team just wasn't for me. So I decided to branch out and just go on my own. So all total, I've been in it about 13 years this year.
Question: Why did you make the transition from team to solo?
It's all about training. That was the one thing I was looking for. I've been mainly a buyer's agent and then due to health reasons, I decided that maybe a buyer's agent wasn't the best place for me.
I wanted really, I'd never really done listings before, so I wanted listing training, but no team really offered that in a way that I felt was going to benefit me. When I looked at giving the percentages away that I was giving, I just decided I'm giving all this money away. Why not just take it out of each transaction and buy my own CRM and [00:01:00] just start running my own.
Question: Now yu have your own small team, correct?
Eric Galvin: Correct. There's myself, my partner, Amanda, and then we have another girl, Denise, and another one that's considering joining us.
Jennifer O'Connell: Can you give us an idea of what your typical annual average production looks like?
Eric Galvin: Last year, just myself , I think it was $1.5. This year I'm going to close out the year at $7.575.
Jennifer O'Connell: That's huge.
Eric Galvin: Yeah. Big jump. Large jump.
Question: What's the median home price point for your market?
Eric Galvin: I think we're last time I looked, we're right about $325,000 is the average price for this market. So they're all over the place from manufactured homes all the way up to three quarters of a million and above.
Question: Prior to jumping in with CINC earlier this year, were you doing anything for online lead generation or using anything for a CRM?
Eric Galvin: We were actually using BoomTown. We still are using BoomTown, and that's where we started. And then for obvious reasons, then we switched over and started running CINC to see. Now we used CINC last year on one of our teams. But we were, I think the training was [00:02:00] inappropriate for what CINC all has to offer.
And then, so we decided to give it a try, even though we came in against it. And now we're like CINC lovers. So it's changed us.
So what caused you to make that switch?
I just feel like CINC's customer service level is much higher than BoomTown. I really have to hand most of it to my account manager, Alexia. She's been wonderful. I've called her four times today and she's always picking up or calling back quick. And and she's just always there. If I send her an email, I sent her one on a Sunday night and said, Alexia, don't touch this until tomorrow until you're in the office. Guess what? Late at night, she sent it back anyway. So I think that's really the biggest thing that we're, that's really working for CINC right now is just her side of coaching us and getting us going in the right direction.
Question: How has CINC already in six months or so helped your business since you started?
We've actually done three CINC deals so far. We've got one still pending. And I've got two more that called in. They're actually coming in and moving their timeline way up to the very near future instead of out in the distant [00:03:00] future.
Jennifer O'Connell: One thing we like to talk about in these calls too that's interesting to hear from a client perspective, and obviously with the market being how it is, we'll take the wins where we can get them. So can you share maybe your biggest win or the most memorable cINC lead story you have. So that can be a closed deal or even just getting an appointment.
Eric Galvin: I think it's even beyond that. I think my biggest win was actually going to CINC U out in Vegas. Like I said, when I, when my partner and I, Amanda, joined CINC, it was, we were told that CINC was all about reminders. That's all they focused on. And so we hated it because we just weren't closing deals no matter how many reminders we set. And then when I went out to CINC U in Vegas for the first time, Lance, Matt, all the guys out there did a fabulous job just breaking it down step by step. Forget about reminders. This is the right way to do it. And then I just feel like since then it's just been a rocket ship from there. So I think that's really the biggest win. It all [00:04:00] starts at the bottom is knowing how to get the deals, not what deals you've closed.
Question: Can you give us a sense of how your lead flow and maybe the quality of leads has changed since you started working with CINC?
Eric Galvin: At some point we're having better conversations than we were over at the other platform and we're having higher dollar value calls. People just gotta remember really you're looking at probably 30 percent of your leads be bad numbers, bad emails. That's just a fact. There's just no way to get around it, but it's just a matter about how you work the leads and what your day looks like.
Question: How do you and your team use CINC to prioritize which leads to call when?
Eric Galvin: Well, every new lead that comes in, we have a regimen that we start off with a call, text, and an email right away within 15 minutes. If the team member doesn't respond to a lead. Within 15 minutes, I automatically reassign it to me, and I take over. Beyond that, every day for 10 days, we call them and try to get them on the phone. And if we can't, we try to shoot them a text or an email. And now we're starting to pay attention to that little dashboard on their home screen or their card that shows when they're active when we try to catch them when they're active.
But I think the biggest. And then the next thing is AI is [00:05:00] once they start engaging, because then we're having a lot of good conversations. As soon as AI starts a conversation and the client responds, we usually kick AI out and we jump in and we try to get them on the phone and try to work them.
Jennifer O'Connell: That's perfect, because that was my next question about how you leverage CINC AI. So you do have Alex turned on and making use of that?
Eric Galvin: Yeah, absolutely. As a matter of fact, I'm just getting, I'm just looking at my email just popped across the screen saying we got a funding approval for another CINC lead. So that now, will make four.
Question: Once you are able to get that lead on the phone, what talk tracks have you found work well?
Eric Galvin: We pretty much just came up with our own scripts and it's just a really simple, hi you're, on our website and we say the website, but we don't say the name, but then we say Realty One Group Dockside out of Myrtle Beach and we're just calling to check in, you're on our site shopping.
So it's really a simple kind of laid back kind of script, get a feel what they're looking for. And then we go into our LPMAMA within about, I'd say 45 seconds or so. Then we're really starting to qualify and see where they're at.
Question: How has CINC helped you from a training and accountability standpoint? How have you used it so far to build predictable processes for your team?
Eric Galvin: Really what's [00:06:00] happening is we really kept BoomTown on for the new agents and just my partner Amanda and I are running the CINC is where the two that are familiar with it. CINC is a little bit more robust. However, that agent has come and asked to join CINC. She sees the conversion going on out of CINC. And so she is actually set up for the training through CINC next week as a matter of fact. So that we're going to get her trained. And then once she's trained, and Alexia says she's trained, then we'll go ahead and start assigning leads and show her how to work them. And we did spend four hours the other day, just going over the platform step by step, what we think and how we operate every day and show her everything. And just to get her going and preface her in the right direction and got her a login. So she could screw around with a little bit, just so she's ready.
Question: Outside of CINC AI, are there any features that your team finds particularly helpful or maybe new releases that you're excited for?
Eric Galvin: I'm excited for the new I guess you'd call it, I call it the scorecard, the new scorecard on the launchpad that just released, I think it was last month.
Yeah. I think that's pretty cool. It'll shorten up our time to let us find stuff easier. I'm very [00:07:00] excited to see about the, Alexia told me this morning, there's a new app update coming. It's supposed to change a lot of features and help us out a lot. So I'm more excited to see that, but we're definitely excited for the new scorecard.
Question: Being in Myrtle Beach, I'm assuming that there are a good amount of out-of-town buyers. How would you work an out-of-town lead differently than somebody that obviously knows the area a little better?
Eric Galvin: Now we're going to close 26 this year total. Just myself. And the way we've done that is I've integrated BombBomb with it [CINC] a video system and I've got to set up with the link to an email so I can actually go, if I get somebody who's high activity or I think is high activity or inquires about a property, I don't call them and ask them, Hey, are you interested in this property? Clearly, they've already done that. I pretend like I don't see that. I just go shoot him a video of the property, attach it to an email with the MLS number and say, Hey, this one just hit my database. I thought it fit your criteria. I'd love to have a conversation with you and see if we're hitting the nail on the head with this, especially once they've gotten into calculating mortgages and you could see all that. I just shoot the video and I send it out and that's gotten great response. That's been phenomenal.
Question: You shared a story of a buyer that said they were 2 years out who ultimately shortened their time to buy by 18 months...
Eric Galvin: [00:08:00] Yeah, we've had a couple of them this week. So we had one that called and wanted to see a property or condo over the weekend. And we were getting that massive rainstorm that actually dumped a tornado in our backyard. And, he wanted to go see it in the middle of it. And he made it clear on the phone call, I'm not a serious buyer. I'm not buying for two years. This is literally just a fact finding mission.
I have a process with my team that I don't care if they're a year or two out. If they're here and they want to see property, we show it. We don't just blow them off because they're a year or two out. It's not short term game to me. It's longterm nurturing. So we set up the appointment, even though the rainstorm was coming. My wife called him that morning in the rainstorm asked if we're still going out. And he said, no. But they went out on Monday and he told her now, just keep in mind, I'm two years out. We're not buying. This is literally just fact finding. I'd like to go see some more condos. And when he left, it was two years. I got an email less than a, less than an hour ago just saying, Hey, I think we're gonna move our timeline up from two years to within the next six months. So [00:09:00] let's tweak the search a little bit cater it and see if we can find us our new home and see what you can do for us in the next six months.
We had that one. Then we just had another guy that just said, Hey, listen, we weren't going to retire for a couple of years because our grandson is still in school in Florida. And he didn't want to move, but he goes, I'm getting older. He goes, and you came highly recommended. So we're going to start coming up and we're going to be there the day after Christmas and let's go shopping. And how many days do I need in order for you to find me my new home? And then we got to list the house. We got to get an agent to list his house in Florida. So that'll work out as a referral. And both of those are CINC leads. Those are both off CINC.
Question: What is your take on Buyer's Agent Agreements?
Eric Galvin: We've always been practicing that, even before the lawsuit came about. I feel I'm worth my 3 percent and I put it in the buyer agency. And then when I meet a client for the first time and we start talking money, I say, look, first of all here's my disclosure saying that my role, please sign this and then we'll talk money. Then once we get past that, I simply just go into a really basic script. Hey, listen I charge 3%. And so if the seller side is only willing to [00:10:00] pay 1%, you got to pay two, if you're willing to pay one and a half, you got to pay the other one and a half. And then I'd say, look, but it's going to be worth it because I'm going to negotiate it down so well that you're not even going to notice that difference. And I've been very successful. I've been on a five to 7 percent negotiation rate so far this year. So I'm averaging way more than our average. I'm hammering people. And it's all about just being confident, really. It's just confidence. If you act scared, they're going to eat you alive. Even our agents on our team. We just train them, just be confident. Don't second guess yourself. Just put it out there, the worst they could do is say no.
Question: Are you looking to grow your team? And do you see CINC as a way to help recruit and retain agents?
Eric Galvin: Yeah, absolutely. The one thing I'd like to see is CINC to be able to get CINC U a little closer to our hometown, of course. Because we'd like to send our team to CINC U. But yeah, I mean we want to grow the team I want to get to at least 10 agents on the team and I want to have them divided like half listing, half Buyer's agents and work it that way, and I just want to lead at that point and teach and coach and just make sure everybody's out doing their thing. [00:11:00] And even if I step back away from the sales a little bit, not totally out, but just enough to make myself available.
Question: Is there anything else you want to add?
Eric Galvin: I just really believe that, listen, you can have all the tools in the world. You can have the best coach in the world. That's all about the person that's seeking the coach and you got to go out. You got to put in the effort. You got to put in the hour and you can't just make a few calls and go watch TV. You got to follow up. You're not going to convert if you don't follow up. If you don't keep in touch with your clients, you're going to lose them to somebody else. That's really it.
Richard Kaiser: Eric, I thought the sky was falling, right? Like you're crazy enough to be thinking about growing your team and not only growing your team, specifically growing buyer's agents. Why? We hear both sides out there.
Eric Galvin: Listen our market's good. I've been a buyer's agent my whole career. A majority of my sales this year are buyers. And so I just think there's always going to be buyers agents. I don't think it's ever going to go away. It's just, we're going to have to learn how to be agents are going to have to be more transparent. They're going to [00:12:00] have to be more confident. They're going to have to be more people friendly. And if they can do that, then there's always going to be work because the buyers aren't going to want to get in here and not be represented again. That's what started the buyer agency years ago is there was no buyer representation. The buyers felt like they were getting taken advantage of. So it's really just presenting yourself well and just rock and roll. And I haven't had any problem. We've gotten whatever commission we've negotiated. We've gotten it every time. We've never had pushback. I've showed the value. I've negotiated the deal and proved myself.
Richard Kaiser: Thanks for sharing that. That's what we've been hearing from our top performing agents. But sometimes you'll hear on the other sides, like the world's coming to an end, right?
Eric Galvin: Every day we preach to our team, don't worry about what the news says. They don't know. They're not here. They're not working. Focus on the now. When the news happens, the appeal is going to the appeal for that lawsuit is going to be years. Don't focus on that. Focus on the now, the here, get the people's, get in their heads, become the psychologist for them. And just get the leads done and find them their home and forget about the rest of it. Just go work.
Richard Kaiser: [00:13:00] That's awesome. That's awesome. The, one other thing you were talking about that was pretty interesting, Eric was with BombBomb and particularly the videos, were you saying like a lead comes in, shows interest in a property, you just go, you yourself, or you have an agent go directly to that property and do a video tour of it without talking or anything?
Eric Galvin: We just go do it. Yeah, we just go do it. Then we attach it as Hey, this came up on our search for property, so I just wanted to make sure you saw this. Please let me know if you have any interest or want more information on it and I'll follow up with you in a day or two. And then once we send a video out, I set a reminder for a day or two on our calendars on our phones to call and say, Hey, did you get the video of 123 Happy Street? And what'd you think of that? And at that point I already know they've already calculated a mortgage. They've already looked at it multiple times. They've already clicked everything. They've already opened. They can't do much more other than just buy it. So we just pretend like we didn't see nothing and we just send the video out. It's just, and we're getting good response out of people are like oh, wow how'd you know I was looking at that property?[00:14:00]
If you ask her permission, they're going to say no. They're going to say, no, I don't need, I don't want to waste your time. That's what we started doing. And then we got so much no, I don't, want to waste your time. That I said we're just going to do it. From now on, we're just going to do it. So we just took on the just do it attitude and we just go shoot it and attach it to an email or a text message.
Richard Kaiser: And so let's say a new, agent comes to your team and says, Eric, that's a waste of time. There's a reason you keep doing that. What's been your experience when you guys do that?
Eric Galvin: The one person who told me that, I said, look, how many deals have you closed this year? And they tell me. I said, how many deals am I closing this year? Obviously, it's not a waste of time. It's working We're getting people to call us back. I mean we're getting responses.
I just had a call with Alexia before I jumped on with you guys and her and I did it like a little mortgage update video I shot one last week when the mortgage rates went down and I just attached it to emails. We blasted it out and we put it in as an auto track. So it's turned on as an auto track now. So it just automatically goes out to new people, but we sent it out to everybody who didn't have it. [00:15:00] And I think she said the open rate was insane, like 35 percent for after just, Oh, not even a week since last Thursday. And she, said the actual click rate was in the twenties somewhere. I forgot what she said. It was 20 percent or something like that. It was crazy. So it's working. The videos are where it's going.
Jennifer O'Connell: If someone is on the fence or thinking about CINC, what do you tell them in your experience? Why did you make the move? What has CINC done for you?
Eric Galvin: To give everybody perspective really quick, BoomTown took me almost 14 months to get to 1 percent ROI. CINC I'll be there, like I said, the end of this month, if everything closes. Otherwise the end of January I'll be at 1%. So half the time.
Just give it a try. I got lucky. I got in on a promo time and I'm just ending my promo time and it's been phenomenal. They're not garbage leads on the promos guys. And Chris made a believer we're going to hit 1 percent and so we're CINCers now.
CINC's proved me wrong. It's proved my partner wrong. She [00:16:00] was dead set against it. Give it a try. You have nothing to lose. So it's just that simple.
Jennifer O'Connell: Thank you. And then I guess just to finish, if you want to share contact info, where people can find you if they're watching your video and they need to find a realtor in Myrtle Beach.
Eric Galvin: Yeah, again my name is Eric Galvin, Realty One Group Dockside. My Email is coastallivingwitheric@gmail.com. My phone number is 843 855 3361. Don't hesitate if you got any questions. they made a believer out of me and we're sticking with it. So give me a call and we'll get you going in the right direction.