April 12, 2014

How Scott Himelstien Compliments Door Knocking with Database Marketing for 12x ROI in 6 Months



"In only 6 months I brought in $41,000 directly from Vyral Marketing for a 12x ROI. It's a no brainer - I get a lot more response than anything else." - Vyral Client Scott Himelstien

Vyral Client and San Fernando Valley real estate agent Scott Himelstien knocks on over 2300 home owners' doors a month to generate business by "heavy farming." In only 6 months on the Vyral Marketing program, Scott has seen a 12x ROI by asking for emails after each business conversation, staying in touch with his database with educational videos twice a month, and calling the people who watch his videos for business to increase referrals, repeat business, and lead conversion. Well qualified home buyers are also finding him online and contacting him because of his positioning as the local area real estate expert.

(My apologies for my microphone rubbing against my shirt - note to
 keep the mic farther away next time - Frank Klesitz)


Frank:                 Talk about the results. What's the bottom line here?
Scott:                    Yeah, I have one in escrow right now. They're at $850K escrow. They found me on the blog online. They put in Port Orange, and the blog came up, and that's how I found them. And then they went me to my website and they called me, and I had a listing that they were possibly interested in. And I took them into something else. And I'm selling their condo. That was definitely good.
                                The very first video you sent out in December, there's a guy who I stayed in contact with. He only gave me his email address. And I had lot a drip campaign going. And it's been almost over a year since I talked to him. But he was still on a drip campaign. And literally 10 minutes after the video went out, he called me, and he was like, Scott, we're going to be ready to sell in May.
                                So I just actually went over to make sure they were doing everything they needed to do. So that will be a listing from it for sure.
                                And I get a lot of people that I see - my business is a little different than the other top producers, because I'm a really heavy farmer. I door knock 2300 homes a month. So I have a lot of people in the farm that are actually in there also that get the videos.
                                You see now especially that you have so many drip campaigns that go out, but it's one of those things that's just like regular mail. If it looks like junk mail, it's going to be treated like junk mail. And what I find is I get more response with the videos that I would with any kind of drip campaign. And it builds your brand, it builds a trust, and they feel like they get to know you better.
                                So when they do call you, what I find is I'm almost never competing against anybody else.
Frank:                 That's great, because it positions you as the expert. Now when you knock on these doors, are you asking for email addresses to stay in touch to build your database?
Scott:                    Yeah. Some of them I do. It's a very hard physical thing because you want to be able to build the relationship over time. But I do have a good amount of email addresses that are from the people in the farm.
Frank:                 So how many emails do you have in your database now?
Scott:                    I think it's about 1200.
Frank:                 And then how many of those people are people you would say you truly met or have a relationship with?
Scott:                    I'd probably say about a half.
Frank:                 So 600. So here's the deal. You want to see 10% of your legitimate database, let's call it those 600, give you a deal a year, if you communicate with them and stay in touch with them enough. How many deals did you do last year?
Scott:                    Last year I did 26.
Frank:                 And how many do you think you'll do this year?
Scott:                    Based on where I am right now, probably somewhere around 33-35, assuming we keep at the current pace.
Frank:                 And how many of those deals last year came from your database?
Scott:                    I think only 5 of them. Most of them came from the farm.
Frank:                 Okay. So we'll basically take you from 5 deals from your database, to hopefully 60, which would be the goal.
Scott:                    That would be incredible. That is the end goal.
Frank:                 So the way we do it is by constantly asking for email addresses, so you're always building your database and making more relationships. We send out two great educational videos a month. And then I give you the names of all the people that are clicking and watching those videos. Have you been receiving those reports?
Scott:                    Yeah, I just got that from Tonya this morning.
Frank:                 Are you calling them?
Scott:                    Correct. I am.
Frank:                 Good. What results are you getting from the calls? Are you getting any business from that?
Scott:                    So far I haven't gotten any business directly from that. But most of them, they like the videos. They really like it. They think it's pretty neat. You know mostly past clients and actually a lot of people in the farm. So I just call and check in on them.
Frank:                 What would you say is the ROI of Vyral Marketing? How would you measure that? Would you give it a positive ROI yet from the time you signed up? Has it been worth the investment?
Scott:                    Oh yeah, 100%. It's definitely been worth the investment, especially for someone who farms. I also understand that it hasn't even been 6 months yet. So usually when you start a project it takes at least 6 months to really start seeing the results.
Frank:                 Okay. Do you know what your ROI is to date? I know you paid the whole year up front, which is awesome.
Scott:                    I needed the tax write-off this year.
Frank:                 So of the $6300, you're 6 months, so you put in $3100. Right?
Scott:                    Correct.
Frank:                 So in total sales that came from Vyral Marketing, how much have you made in commissions?
Scott:                    I've probably saved about $20K so far. And then I'd say pending, it'll probably be about $24K pending.
Frank:                 So you've got $44K of GCI that came off your $3100 investment.
Scott:                    Yeah. I mean, that's a no-brainer.
Frank:                 That's good! That's what I want to hear. That's why I want to track this stuff, because people don't know, Scott.
                                Okay, good. Why did you hire us in the first place?
Scott:                    One of the reasons why I hired you is (1) I saw the success from other top agents around the country, how they've implemented it in their business. And obviously when you have the opportunity to see what other agents, and we're talking major agents around the country, multiple agents of that nature are using it, then there's probably some validity to it.
And when I actually sat down and talked with Frank, I really was able to see how it could help grow my business. And really right now, video is the way to go. And most agents right now use email campaigns. But like in life, if you receive junk mail, and it looks like junk mail, it's going to be treated like junk mail. And it's the same thing with your email - most people won't respond to it.
But with the videos, the response is so much different. The response is that you're able to build your brand. They're able to trust you. And they end up coming to you for all their real estate needs much quicker. And they reach out to you. And they tend to watch the videos almost like a fan club in many respects, because they can't wait to see what you're going to talk about next. And you go into different local businesses or past clients, and the first thing they talk about is your last video.
Frank:                 So what were some of your fears before doing this? What were you scared of when you wrote us the check for the whole year up front? Or what were some of your concerns that you had?
Scott:                    Actually, my biggest concern, it's one of those things where obviously you're going to pay the whole year up front you kind of have to believe in the product itself. But really my biggest fear was me. Just me getting out of the way and making sure it would be successful.
                                Really everybody at Vyral Marketing has done a really good job of making me feel comfortable when I shot the first few videos and giving me the coaching and guidance to be able to look much more comfortable on camera and to be able to look forward to actually being on camera when we shoot the videos.
Frank:                 So all said and done, since you've done this for 6 months now, you're six months in, how has this changed your business? Or has it?
Scott:                    It's definitely changed my business and the fact that it makes it even easier to follow up with past clients, people in my farm, people in my database. It just gives you a lot more credibility and validity with everything you're trying to build with your brand. It gives you much more of an online presence without having to pay an additional SEO for it.
                                For example, about 2 months ago, I had a person living out of the area looking to buy. And they ended up purchasing an $850K property. And I ended up selling their townhome as well. They found the blog, then went to my website, and then they contacted me on a listing I had in the neighborhood.
Frank:                 So the extra effort would go in to make sure we have the right keyword phrases and terms in your content. And that's helping people that search for those things online so that you show up and you get the business.
Scott:                    That's correct. And you can already see the difference. And we're only a couple of months in, so I'm very excited to see what will happen down the line.
Frank:                 Cool, man. Is there anything else anyone needs to know if they're on the fence hiring Vyral Marketing or even just doing something for your database? What would you recommend as a tip for being successful, given that you've been successful.
Scott:                    Whether you use Vyral Marketing or not, obviously follow up with your database, make sure you contact them on a consistent basis. It's critical. If you've already got them in your database, that's probably the most difficult portion of it, but what most real estate agents forget to do is follow up. And that's really where you lose the millions if you don't follow up.
Frank:                 And how much time would you say the whole Vyral Marketing program takes a month to get these results?
Scott:                    I'd probably say, maybe I send a total - by the time I do my follow up phone calls as well as shooting the actual video, maybe between an hour and a half to two hours. And I'd say most of that is making follow up phone calls. But really shooting the videos doesn't take more than 15-20 minutes a month.
Frank:                 That's not bad.
Scott:                    No, you can't beat that.
Frank:                 Well thanks a lot for your feedback today Scott. I really appreciate it.
Scott:                    No problem Frank. Always a pleasure. Anytime I can help, let me know.
[end of transcript]
 

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