Conversations Make Paychecks with Tyler Blair | Ep 057

Phone calls are the only thing that matter. Calls make conversations. Conversations make contracts and closings. Closings make paychecks. Throughout this conversation with Tyler Blair, you'll hear this idea that phone calls are the most important thing. This approach has helped his team grow 15% in a down year and it's helped them more than 4x agent count over the past few years. Among the many helpful ideas you'll get in this conversation is the specific recruiting process that they've developed over the years, including the sourcing, screening, interviewing and onboarding of agents. You'll learn about the one daily email that every team leader can and should be writing and sending. Tyler shares his one year and long term visions and both are impressive. He also shares when, why and how his team left an independent brokerage and how they chose their next brokerage. He's a great storyteller and I know you'll enjoy this conversation with Tyler Blair on Real Estate Team os.

No matter where your business is today or where you want to take it, you'll get there faster and more profitably with an operating system. Welcome to Team os, your guide to starting, growing and optimizing real estate team. Here's your host, Ethan Butte.

Well, Tyler, I am really glad that we connected and I would love to welcome you right now to Real Estate Team os.

Thank you. I'm so glad to be here. I really appreciate it. I'm excited.

Yeah, me too. I've been really impressed by your growth over the years and kind of our previous conversation about some of the ways you got that done. So we'll be getting into all of those topics as they come up. But I would like to start where we always do, which is a must have characteristic of a high performing team. What comes to mind for you?

Grit. Grit is so important. You can't teach it, you can't train it. It's just like in your heart it's that never give up. Like I'm going to push through anything and if we've experienced anything over the litter, what the last seven years in real estate, eight years in real estate, you need grit to get through the market shifts that we've gone through. So grit is my biggest thing right now.

Yeah. And what I hear when you put that in the context of seven years is you need it in all conditions.

Yeah, absolutely.

Right.

Interest rates are high, inventory is high. Cool. We can figure that out. Inventory's low, interest rates are low. We had to figure that out. Right. Like we figured out so many markets in, in literal five, six years. It's, it's really incredible what we've gone through. Just kind of hoping it levels out a little bit so maybe we can, you know, breathe for a minute.

You've interacted with a number of agents, whether they're, you know, on the other side of a transaction, whether the people you thought about bringing onto the team but maybe didn't or people who are on the team. And what I'm setting up here is a double back into the idea that grit isn't something that's, that's easily taught or even teachable necessarily. It's not coachable. And the reason I want to ask this is, you know, for folks who subscribe to the show, I send weekly updates with some kind of cool stuff in there and got some subscriber only episodes for those folks and I'll get replies to those emails, which I absolutely welcome. And one of the things I've heard probably three or four times over the past, you know, six months or so is it's really difficult to motivate agents. And I know motivation is different from grit, but I would love to hear you out on like, when do you identify, how do you identify who's got this kind of. We're going to get through this. I'm going to keep a constructive, positive attitude. We're going to figure it out, we're going to muscle it out, we're going to kind of grind it out again, good or bad. We're going to grind out 2021 where the phone doesn't stop ringing and literally everyone wants to talk about real estate and we're just going to like hang on or, or 2024 where volume was obviously down pretty significantly. Like how do you identify that? How have you tried coaching it and maybe given up on it? Like just talk about that however you wish.

Yeah, yeah. So we've done so many different things. We evolved so many different ways. You know, when we were smaller, we had a team huddle at 8:30 every morning. If you weren't there at 8:30, you were off leads. I mean, for the day, like we were really, really strict and that worked with, you know, 15 people or so. But then you have to give autonomy. So that didn't work. Right. Because then you have experienced agents that are like, I don't need the leads. Right. So we've just evolved with right now we're literally meeting the agent where they're at. We, we've learned that we can't drag you across the finish line. We can help create an amazing path and help guide you there. But at the end of the day, it's their actions that are going to get them there. And our process and system is refined for them. So essentially, like what we do is right at the beginning, we start off with an 86 day training. Every agent has to go through it. Part of that grit is a thousand dials in one day. We make them do that on day three. Why? Because at the end of the day, if you can't make a thousand phone calls in one day, I promise you, you're going to get punched in the face way more than that in what we do. So it's like that's a big tester for us. And we're pretty blunt like, hey, we're going to go through this 86 day training and that's where we decide like, are you a good fit and are you a good fit with us? Right. Like we're both making a marriage here. So at the end of the day, this is our test, this is our dating phase. So that's where we find out in that dating phase if they have it or not.

Got it. Really good. Okay, so just a preview. I know we're going to get back into recruiting and onboarding later in the conversation, but for, for setup and context for folks, I'd love for you to share in as much or as little detail as you prefer. Kind of your path into real estate and kind of the dawn of the team experience for you. Like, when did it occur to you what was going on at that point? So how'd you get into real estate? When did team start?

Yeah, so I got married young. I was 21 and my wife was 20. I followed her to Tucson. She was becoming a sign language interpreter. I had no idea what I wanted to do. I just knew I was going to be in some kind of sales or something like that. So anyway, I just started picking classes to go to in college and I literally followed her. So I had three jobs, sorry, two jobs at the time. And she comes back from school and she's like, hey, the apartment complex is hiring. I'm going to go apply. If I get the job, they'll cover our rent. And I'm like, timeout, we're here for you. I'll go get the job. You just focus on school because the faster we get done, the faster we're back up to the Valley. So anyway, I went and applied, I got the job. And I was a leasing agent for an apartment, student housing down there. And I learned a lot so fast. We were renting out individual units, so it'd Be a four bedroom unit and you could rent out each one with a guarantor of their parents. I mean, I learned so much. Well, with my work ethic, I just asked so many questions that in about eight months, they offered me the job to manage all 14 leasing agents. The thing that kind of stunk at the time was we were also deciding, are we wanting to stay in Tucson from now on? My wife was finishing or do we move back up? We decided to move back up. And I had a buddy that was managing apartment complexes up in the valley, and I got a job with him. An apartment complex listing. I'm sorry, leasing agent. Learned so much. They took a liking to me really quick. In about eight months, they offered me a job at corporate. And I was like, corporate? That sounds amazing. I am in. You know, they're like, hey, we'll give you half off your rent. I was paying $300 in rent. It was amazing. Newly married, dog, no kids. I took that job while I started to really not like it. Essentially, I was a glorified secretary. I wasn't really helping people. I was looking at P. Ls and all this stuff and Balanc books and not me. Anyway, so a good experience. Amazing. And I learned so much. And I did that for a year and a half. I did it for a long time. But I was coming home angry, upset, not happy. And my wife was like, hey, you're not happy? You know, maybe. Maybe you should go get your real estate license. And I'm like, you know what? Okay, I'll go do that while I'm doing this. It took me a year. Well, what had happened was at the end of the class, there was Keller Williams that had shown up, and there was a property manager there. And he goes, anybody doing property management? I raised my hand. And all the other. Everyone else was trying to get real estate agents, right. It's recruiting. It's what we do now. Except he recruited me to property management. So I took that job. I managed 150 rentals all over the valley. I learned an incredible amount. The apartment complex side was great, but this, this side was amazing. This was in 2013 and 2014. My wife decided to get pregnant in. In 2015. Just kidding. We both decided. But it was a. It was a reality check for me because that was a moment. It was like, wait a second. I want you to be a stay at home mom. You want to be a stay at home mom? How do we make this happen? And that's when she was like, hey, you should go buy and sell that you've always wanted to do that. That's what you should do. I knew a friend, and he said, an idiot can sell a house a month. And I'm like, fine, I'm an idiot. I'll sell a house a month. So then I took that gig with him on his team, and I literally just did everything he told me to do. I cold called from nine to noon every single day with Keller Williams scripts. You know, I. I did open houses on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, every week. We didn't have leads, and I learned so much. By the time that my wife gave birth three days after. His name's Adam Lee. I owe so much to him. He brought three checks to me totaling $20,000. That's when it was like, holy crap, this is amazing. You're handing me $20,000 three days after my son was born. You know, so anyway, fast forward a couple months. I bring on my best friend. Fast forward about six months after that, he convinces me to leave the team. Big mistake. I didn't know a lot. I thought I did. So anyway, I broke off, and that was a terrible mistake. I put everything on credit cards. And after about six months, my wife comes to me and she's like, hey, we have $6. And I'm like, wait, what? And he's like, yeah, my wife. My wife's like, we've got $6. I have to go to des. And that was the pivotal moment for me. I still have the Chase bank receipt at $6.28. And what happened was they actually turned us down. I was doing Legion that day. I come home, she's crying. I'm like, what's going on? And she goes, that was the most embarrassing thing I've ever done in my life. And I said, what do you mean? And she goes. And my wife was pregnant with our second kid at this time as well. So she said, I walked in to Des, baby on my hip, baby in my belly, and they turned me down. And she's like, please never make me do that again. And I'm sobbing like, she's sobbing right? Like, this was the switch moment. You know, at that point, she believed in me. She's the one that, hey, you're going to be good at this. I believe in you. Go. Put everything on the line. And I wasn't delivering. And the real reason why was I had broke up with that partner, and he quit talking to me for several, several months. And I was into a depression. And that's what was the downfall. Well, that switch of literally my family Hitting rock bottom. And it being my fault was like, I gotta move. And so the next day, I struck a deal with Keller Williams to not pay a cap for a certain amount of time. I struck a deal for the office, and I said, babe, you're not gonna see me for a little while. And they didn't. They didn't see me for, like, 11, 12 months. And over that time, I made 256 grand. I closed 56 transactions all by myself. But that was the pivotal moment for me to push through. And that's what people are going through literally right now. People can't pay their bills right now, and I'm telling you, push through. Because real estate changed my life, and it's changed so many people on our. Like, I'm almost tearing up because it's just. Real estate's incredible anyway, if you show.

Up for it is what I hear. So it sounds like in that journey to that point, you know, in hindsight, the most fatal mistake was losing all of that momentum and losing all of that support by going independent with someone who was, you know, I mean, you never know who's going to be a great partner or who isn't. There's like, really. I mean, I'm sure there's a lot you could learn about signs or, you know, how to make that judgment, but really, you got to get into it to figure it out. So it was like. It was like lost momentum, which was what. What was that? Like a year?

Yeah, yeah, it took a year. And. And I had great momentum. And you're dead right with that. Momentum is everything.

Yeah. Because it's like, it affects all kinds of things. Like, you know, there are different schools of thought. I'm sure the science says something in particular about it. It leans one way or the other, but it's like, you know, do our feelings and our thoughts guide our actions, or do our actions influence or guide our thoughts and our feelings? And they certainly impact each other both ways, regardless. And so the more action that you're taking, the more positive, constructive action you're taking. Taking, you know, what. You know, Keller Williams launched so many successful careers, whether or not they're still with Keller Williams today as a topic. But, like, you know, the habits, the structure, the scripting mentioned is all like that.

You.

You were performing all the right actions. Okay, so when. So you get back on your feet, you. You get the momentum back again inside the Keller Williams office, when do you realize, okay, I'm going to. I need to bring people around me? And who did you bring around you first.

Yeah. So it was actually a commercial broker in the office that I managed his, his units. And so he was actually willing to go to lunch with me like every three weeks. Didn't charge me a thing. Still an amazing friend to me this day. And he would say, hey, no, no, do this, do that. And I waited too long for that. I did that when I had 12 pending and no TC and he's like, what are you doing? And that's when I was like, well, what do you mean? He goes, there's people that can do your paperwork. And I'm like, wait, what?

I'm like, wait, what do you mean?

So that's when he was like, no, no, you need to hire a tc. Here's this person. And I'm like, perfect. So I hired that person. And so that's when his guidance really helped me. But I didn't start the team because it was like, oh, I really have a system that works. The team started out of I sold a gentleman a home. His name's Sterling. He's still on our team today. I sold him a home. Three months later he's like, I hate my job. I'm thinking about getting in real estate. I have 12 pending at the time. Deals are literally falling through my lap. And I'm like, well, dude, if you go get your real estate license, I'll literally teach you everything and hand you deals. He's like, okay. Two weeks later he's on my team. It was crazy. Thirty days later he's closing deals and it was like, wow, this is. All I'm doing is putting myself on speaker with him right next to me, you know, like, I'm just doing the actions that I'm doing. And he's just listening. So that's. The team started that way. And it was like, wait a second, this might be something that works. Yeah, kind of. Cool.

That's phase one of training.

Yeah.

Hey, sit by me and shadow me for a couple of days.

Yeah. Like you can have them watch video all you want, but there has to be some one on one training. There has to be some guidance. There has to be some, some phone call guidance. Even if you're not an online driven driven team and you're still spirit driven, like the phone is everything. The phone is how you get them to feel comfortable for you to show up to their house regardless if you sold them one home, 10 homes or no homes.

So now you've got a TC. You've got what I assume is a buyer's agent at the time, what year Is this approximately. And kind of what were the, what was the next phase of growth? Or like, when did you like look back up and realize, oh my gosh, here we are now?

Yeah, that was in 2016. And what had happened was I had a buddy that I did property management with that was in commercial real estate. And I was talking to him and I'm like, hey, this is going really well. And his broker would not let him do residential. So I'm like, what do you mean? But he was doing commercial development. But he was the bird dog, right? So I'm telling him like, hey, this is how it's working, this is how it's going to. And I'm literally telling him like an idiot can sell a house a month, right? I'm literally saying the same thing that I was told. At the end of the day, I just wanted better for him because I know him and I know his work ethic, right.

And it sounds like he wanted to sell residential and was in an environment where he couldn't.

Correct. I mean his dream was commercial development, but when he met with his boss and his boss, like, yeah, it's going to take you 10 years to make 120,000 a year, he's like, well, this isn't in the trajectory of what I want. So when I brought him, he actually brought a friend as well. So we were four, I was zero and then we were four, like four months later. So. And I had brought on that TC all at the same time. So within a matter of four to five months we had four agents and a TC and all three of those agents, I was just making calls all day long and then I was critiquing them. That's what's the training. I didn't have anything for them to follow. It was like, call me anytime and I swear to you I will pick up. That's what the training looked like for a good six months, a year.

And what was the next iteration of that? When did it occur to you that like, okay, I need to harden this because we're bringing enough agents on that I need to be more formal about onboarding and training.

It got profitable really quick and I was like, wait a second, this is, I'm not even really have a system. And, and Hani is his name was also helping me through this entire process and mentors through Keller Williams that had teams that it was nice to be able to plug into. So, but the next, the next phase was really a three day training by me and as a kickoff and then it was like, good Luck. Call me if you need me. I'm right here making calls. Because I was still heavy production until we were 30, almost 40 agents, you know, and by heavy production, I mean closing 30, 40 transactions. You know, I went from almost 60 to 35 when I brought on the four agents because they needed. They needed help.

Yeah. So talk a little bit about that, that decision for you. I mean, this is a common tension. Sometimes it occurs to people earlier, sometimes it occurs to them later. It depends on the state of the market. It kind of depends on the price point. It kind of depends on the team leaders financial goals for themselves. But for you, like, lay out kind of the key pieces when you decided to kind of cut production in half. Because the tension, of course, is, am I going to devote more of my time and energy to my clients and, you know, just keep my agents and my staff, you know, moving forward in a very basic manner, or am I going to flip that and kind of like back down and give some of my newer opportunities that maybe aren't my referral for my best friend or something? Yeah, like, how did you decide to cut production in half? What were some of the considerations in that? Like, would you do it differently at all? Yeah. And then talk about the decision to pull out of production completely and how, like, what were the factors there as well? Because these are very common questions for.

Yes. Yeah. First of all, I think people pull out of production way too fast. I mean, that's where we make money. Right. Like, if you're starting a team to make money, be careful. Like, it can be profitable, but it can also be very not profitable very quick, depending on who you bring on. But my decision was, I was at a Ben Kenny event and he made it very clear that you either had no team or a big team. Because when people come into your world, they're expecting to do bigger things with you. That's the whole point of latching on together. So that's when I was at that event and made a decision like, okay, I want to impact as many lives as possible. I know how to sell homes and I can teach it. I have proven system. And by the system, it was just a couple of agents that were listening. Right. And that's when I was like, okay, I really need to figure this out. I need to pour more time into them.

And how did you balance that from a. Because, you know, you said a few minutes ago, like, so I looked up and like, wow, this is really profitable because this the zone that you're in here. Like, you know, 20, 30 agents can be a really, really hard zone from a profitability perspective. Certainly your own production is a part of it. Especially if you're masking some of the sins of the rest of the P and L through your own production. But like, why do you think that zone is so difficult and what did you do to manage it effectively? Yeah, specifically around the financials of it.

Yeah. So what I did was I made sure that I wasn't bothered between nine and noon. I made sure that my lead gen wasn't bothered. I gave the afternoon to whoever needed it. But lead gen time. And we called together. I was right, like right next to you. We called together. Hey, no, no, say it this way next time. No, no. Hey, Jerem, I love how you say that. Now say it this way. But us calling mandatory together, all in the office is what really got us off on the right foot. But when you get bigger, bigger and bigger, you can't do that. That's not, it's not possible. Right. So there's evolutions to it. But I would say don't ever get out of production. I'm. I'm back in production. I was out of production for about 18 months. It was the end of last year. I talked to Jaron, my partner, and I'm like, hey man, we, we should get back into production. He's gonna close 30 transactions this year while helping, doing all this and all of other stuff. Like I'll probably close 15 to 17. But like I didn't show many, you know, and, and at the end of the day, like most of these people, super, super. Trust me, these are past clients, so it makes it easy. But also, I'm still in the game, so my trainings are more on point because hey, I'm not telling you something I heard from this individual at a podcast or at a, at an, at a event. No, I just dealt with this last week. Right. So I think that's what's helping now. And that helped back then. There was that 18 month gap where I do think that that hurt us a little bit with me being out of production.

Characterize however you wish, market size, structure, culture, production, whatever. Characterize legacy real estate team as it is today.

Yeah. For instance, we did a white elephant gift with 40 of us yesterday. And you know, so many agents walked up and just said, hey, I've never felt like a family like this before. And that is my main goal. To make sure that we can create a place of productivity, obviously with no ceiling, but to make sure that we all will give the shirt off our backs to each other and that we're family and we're in it together. I would say that's our biggest thing.

About how many agents, how many staff?

We're at 85 agents. We have seven in house staff and then nine VAs.

Which positions did you decide to have in house? And how many of those seven people were with you, say, five years ago? And what I'm asking there is, like, very often I hear, like, the first TC becomes, you know, the leader of a couple of functions or that kind of a thing. I'm wondering if that's the case with you all.

Yeah, it's the same thing. So Rachel, who is now the operations director for us, was the first person I hired. Jerem, that commercial developer, I'm telling you, is now my partner. Who's the sales manager. Alana, who. Her husband was an agent. He's been an agent with us for almost six years now. She's been with us four years. She is our wizard army, Swiss knife follow up boss, lead master. So, I mean, and then we've got Sydney, who's been with us five years, and she's our marketing director. So a lot of these people have been with me so long, and I'm so thankful that they've seen the vision of really helping people even through the tough times that we've gone through.

Speaking of tough times. So, like, I take a lot of notes. You know, I communicated a little bit with Sydney. I took notes on our previous call and just by my, like, rough math. And I know this was pacing and I think our conversation was maybe a month or so ago.

Yeah.

So things might have changed a little bit. But in general, I would say, based on some soft math, I've got you growing about 20 to 25%, depending on how you measure it in calendar year 2024, which versus 2023, which, you know, most people would say, and I'm sure you would too, that it was a challenging year in some very unique and trying ways. What do you think were your keys to growth in 2024? Besides what. Some of what we've already heard, which is just getting on the phones and like people.

Yeah.

Doing that alongside your agents. What were a couple other keys to growing while volume available in the market was shrinking?

Yeah. We're going to end about 15% up. And then the year before that, we were at 25. And I would say, honestly, it's meeting the agents, where they're at. We can tell them, hey, hammer the phone. Hammer the phone. Here's the data, here's the data. But at the end of the day they're not going to do it if they don't want to or they feel burnout because the market has been really difficult. We've also been trying to do a lot of incentives, a lot of mini sprints. We did a 75 day hard but real estate style, you know, like we're trying to do. We do a call night every three weeks and I run it. And then something that I implemented, I think it was in September of last year because it's. I've been doing an email to the entire team every morning I write an email of my thoughts of what's going on in the market or some details. And then I usually at the bottom I throw together like a tip of the day, you know, around Christmas, hey, make sure we're asking about what they're doing for the holidays, something like that. I think that's helped. I've gotten really good response on that. I do every day except for Sunday. It's something that I've dedicated to that I love and I know the agents love. I think it's over communicating on seeing, making sure the agents are getting what they need. At the same time making sure they know through this tough time that you're not making enough phone calls. If you want to hit that number, if you want to adjust that number, cool, let's adjust it. Or we adjust the number of calls, right? It's one or the other, but it's just a candid, empathetic conversation around that. Does that make sense?

Yeah, absolutely. I love the idea of a daily email. I used to teach it as a. Not necessarily a daily email, but I used to teach this as a use case for video email and video messages, which is just like hit record, talk to your webcam and talk to your whole team on some regular cadence so that you stay with them. I like the thing that I like about the writing piece of it for you. It would work the same way with video is what it does for you. It's just like the way it sets it because I assume you're doing this at like really early in the morning or something so that it could go out in the morning.

I'm usually starting at like 5, 5:30.

So like it's your own habit of reflecting for yourself. And oh, by the way, this creates a sense of, you know, proximity to you among these, you know, hundred ish people involved in the organization overall. And it also then probably heads off some kind of questions a little bit. Not that you're looking to like preempt questions or engagement and you're actually probably provoking it as well.

So I want the engagement.

Yeah. I mean the science says the more emails you send, the more you're going to get. So yeah, so you're opening up the lines of communication, but you're also providing some confidence and presence with people that might preempt, you know, some easy, quick stuff too. I love that as a habit to focus on. So one thing I'd love to hear more from you on you brought among, among the staff members is a talent director.

Yeah.

Who was probably very helpful in the window from, you know, 20ish agents, let's say five years ago to 85 today. One thing I'm hearing a lot of, as you know, as we're turning into 20, 25 here, is that people are pretty bullish on the year ahead. You know, the NAR has put out some projections, some of the contraction in the agent pool. It may have been a net positive in general. I think favorability in the market will bring some of those people and or new people into, you know, curiosity that constantly ebbs and flows. So point being, I think a lot of team leaders see a lot of opportunity and a lot of them are in recruiting mode or heading into it. And I know that you obviously in, you know, four xing agent count over, you know, a few years time.

Yeah.

Have figured some stuff out at a minimum. So I'd love for you to kind of talk about that path. Like when did you realize it was time to step on the gas in terms of, you know, improving recruiting and onboarding and what were, what did some of those steps look like?

Yeah. So I mean it was organic till we hit about 20 and by our.

Natural attraction of like, oh, my friend went over there and said it's great kind of stuff.

Yes. Or like the brokerage said, hey, meet with this team. Right. I wasn't posting. And by posting it was, hey, we closed this. I wasn't like, hey, we're looking for agents. No, no, we were closing deals, we had blinders on and that's it. So when people came to us, we didn't need them. So it was like, hey, why don't you come to lunch with the team and then we'll decide if you're a good fit with us. And then I would ask each team member, well, how do you feel? How do you feel? How do you feel? And I'd go, right. And there was always one guy, he was like, no. And I'm like, okay, Steven, stop. I love You. But we can't say no to everybody, right? Anyway, so that worked really, really well. But it also created a bond with everybody, a real bond. And that was something that is so hard to have and so hard to keep. But Once we hit 20, then it wasn't me doing, was actually Alana. So Alanna would start doing the interview or the calls, and then we would do the interview together, me and her. And then at a point, she took over the interview, and Alana actually started as an ISA with us. So it's like Alana was one of those first people with us that has done so many different jobs with us that it's incredible. Right? But anyway, so on the recruiting piece, she did that, and then once we hit, it was 40. I have. I have a coach. His name's Sunit. He's like the recruiting master, right?

Sunit Agarwal. Episode 15. If I remember correctly, the title of that was.

Was it 101 recruiting agents or.

Well, recruiting was definitely in the title. It was like, recruiting is the solution to your business problem or something. So anyway, yeah, so you. So you coach with Sunit?

I do, yeah. So Sunit helped me through that whole process of like, okay, here's how you hire recruiter. Here's what you do. I hired a recruiter, and the first time it did not go well. I tried to bring that person in to the team, and the OG agents were like, no, absolutely not. He doesn't fit with our culture, blah, blah, blah, blah. So it was a huge backfire. But I also learned so much. Right in that failure. You learned. And so the next person that we have, and he's doing it right now, he's incredible. He actually came to me and was like, hey, I love talking to agents. I'm like, well, that's different. You know, most agents don't like talking to agents. So we moved him into that role, and he is amazing. Incredible. So he does a 30 to 45, sometimes an hour phone call with them. Now, before he ever meets them, he wants to know, are they worth his time to come into the office and meet with him. After that, he meets with them for an hour, hour and a half in the office. If he thinks they're a good fit, he'll walk them through, meet a bunch of us, and at that point, he'll let them know, hey, we don't pick everybody. We'll call you if we decide that you're a good fit. And then usually if he's walking them through the office, it's good to go, right? So that's kind of how the process works now. But then once they hit Stephen, once Steven signs off, they join that next day they are onboarded with Nick Tracy. And Nick Tracy is on our team. He's been on our team for six years now and he trains them through our whole onboarding process. It's 86 days hand holds you through the whole part of it. We've really perfected those two things in 2024.

What's the pipeline like? Who are you targeting? How are you reaching them? How are you creating that initial conversation out of the gate?

So it's a bunch of social media. It's all of, all of the posting that we're doing on my account and the legacy team account. And then the agents, you know, being at EXP has helped the agents know that if they bring a person, they go under them. So a lot of the agents have cross sell agents that they like and then they'll tell Steven. And then we also have the school list that we hit really hard and then agent list and then the title company and lender. So we have like different fingers out that help and then we do indeed. Pretty heavy.

So you're doing paid social, organic social, Paid indeed. You're hitting the real estate schools. Agents are obviously because of, you know, just the language you've used about your team, family, you know, the lunch, the lunch dynamic that exists. Obviously agent sourced opportunities are probably among the best of all the opportunities.

Absolutely, absolutely.

What messages are you equipping Stephen and some of the other folks involved in the process with like why would an agent join you all versus, you know, I would assume this totally my assumption that you know, if you're, if you're leaving real estate school, you're probably getting outreach from a variety of different people. And so like, you know what, what are the kinds of things that you all are saying? How are you representing yourselves so that you're engaging the right people and not wasting Steven's time or anyone else's with.

A lot of those people. We're just trying to get them into the office, if the conversation goes well, to just show them our value. Because everything that we provide, I mean we are agent first. I'm an agent. So for me it's like, okay, how can I help my business that helps whatever helps my business is going to help every one of our agents business. So that's what goes through our thought process. So when we're showing the 86 day training and FUB and Shiloh and all of these things that we have these Tools that most people would never even pay for. It goes a long way. So that's why I say, like, we're pretty picky because we can be. Right. We've invested. I've tried to make it really easy for recruiting. Why? Because we're agent first.

You mentioned the benefit of moving to exp. That's something you did in, I think early mid 2024.

Yes.

What was going on for you? How long were you thinking about that move? What was it about for you? What other decisions were kind of on this table? Like, talk about that in whatever detail you are comfortable with.

Of course. Yeah, totally. So I was looking at it for like 18 months. I met with Keller Williams, I met with Real, I met with LPT. I met with literally everyone. And for me it was with everything going on with NAR and everything going on with commissions, I need to make sure that I align with the right company, but more importantly the right group to make sure that our agents are successful, the team is still alive in a year. Like, that's kind of what was going through my head and boy, I am sure glad, I am sure glad that I made that switch. You know, that previous brokerage that I with sold out to another company. So for me it was just validation that, okay, I made the right switch. And now I'm with a company that is forward thinking that led the past pack when it comes to NAR and, and let the pack when it comes to Rev Share. I mean, in literally all of that stuff. So for me, it was aligning with the right people at the company, but more importantly, aligning with Kevin and Fred and Curtis Johnson and these individuals that have built businesses way bigger than them that I'm like, cool. That's what I want to be a part of. Right. Like, I want to be able to help many people like that. So that was kind of the decision maker for me.

Cool. So you left an independent brokerage that eventually then sold out, like after you left.

Yeah, they sold out to another Rev Share type company.

Cool, thank you for sharing that. What is. I mean, I just got like a glint in your eye about like, you know, joining folks who are, you know, steps ahead of you and have built things like you want to build. And with that, I'd love to get into, like, what's your aspiration for 2025 and what's your aspiration for? I don't know how far out you're planning or thinking, but like, you know, 20, 30 or something, like, what do you want this thing to be and what do you want it to be, you know, as the first step over the next, you know, six to 12 months.

Yeah, I'll talk vision long term. I'm only 35, so. So for me, it's like doing some.

Of that math when you're talking about Tucson and stuff.

Like, okay, yeah, anyway, so, I mean, I got my license when I was 25, so for me, it's like I've had my license, but really selling for 8. But regardless, my vision is we have a system that works. It's changed so many people's lives, whether they're still on our team or not, regardless, it's changed their lives. And so for me, I just want to share it with as many people as possible. I want to be in all 50 states. I want to have a thousand agents here in the Valley, in Arizona. Extreme takeover. And the reason is we have a system that works. Kind of like Jason Mitchell. Jason Mitchell has a system that works. Love the guy. It's amazing. Well, the beautiful thing is there's so much business in real estate that there's plenty for all of us. And he has a system that works. We've got a system that works. So for me, it's just a matter of making sure that our agents are first and foremost because they'll put their clients first and foremost. It trickles down. So when it comes to the short term, our goal is 1,000 units next year, and then in the five year, it's 3 billion.

Okay, talk about the key pieces of that system. I mean, just, just on my side of this conversation, certainly one of the biggest ones is blocking out large chunks of the morning to make sure that the most important work is getting done first. But when you say system, like one of my notes from our earlier conversation is that, you know, the goal is to get agents to 40 transactions a year. And I would assume that that's like the outcome of the system. Like what are a few other key blocking and tackling things that when someone joins your team within three months, this is going to be a habit of theirs, or this is going to be a piece of knowledge of theirs, or this is going to be a, you know, something that they do or else they're not going to be here. What are some of those like, like fundamental system pieces?

Definitely right now it's the 31 conversations equals a contract. It was actually follow up boss that came out and said that. I want to say it was about six months ago and we've been honing in on that so heavily. It actually is to a t. On our team, it's. If you take anybody, it's to a T. It's getting on the phone and making sure that they're doing their dials. That is the thing that matters. That's the only thing that matters. At the end of the day. You can have someone show for you. You can have someone write your contract. You can have someone help you with all of those things. But when it comes to the connection, you have to, you have to, you have to build that relationship so they come back to you. And the only way that happens is if you do it, not someone else.

What are some of your favorite lead sources? Especially for agents who are new to the team and probably maybe new to the business. And then I assume that there's like a transition period where they're starting to generate, generate a lot more of their own business. I'm sure that's part of the system or process as well. But, like, what are some of your favorite lead sources? Talk about that however you like.

We have a ton of different lead sources. As you know. A big one for us is Zillow. It's great. Not everyone can get Zillow. You have to be really, really good. And you've had to have been with them a long time to get Zillow, or you join a team that has Zillow. So Zillow is one of our top converters. It's about 22% of our business. The second for us, though, is Google and Facebook. We hammer those. We have our algorithm dialed in, which is really, really good. But those I would argue that our ROI with, well, not argue our ROI with Facebook and Google is way higher than anything else. There are cheaper leads. Yes, you have to go through more of them, but at the end of the day, you're paying a lot less. So as long as you're willing to do the work, do your 31 conversations. 312 minute conversations. That's a paycheck. So that's what we're honing on on our team, literally as we speak.

I've got a bunch more questions, but I feel like given the time that we spent together, I maybe need a separate conversation. So I'm going to move into some fun questions for you. You only need to answer one or the other, or both if you prefer. Sometimes people want to answer both.

Love it.

But. But, Tyler, what is your very favorite team to root for besides your own real estate team? Or what is the best team you've ever been a member of besides your own real estate team?

The Phoenix Suns are The team that I root for the hardest. As you can see, I've got my. Got my KD Purples on nice. And the best team that I've ever been a part of was my ninth grade football team team. It was a family and that's why we made it to state. We didn't win state, but that's okay. I didn't even start on the team. I was on the bench literally every game. But that was the best team I've ever been a part of. It was amazing.

That's cool. And I also appreciate the nod to the fact that like getting there is a thing, right? Like you had to win a bunch of games to get there, right? Like you want to win all of them, but you can't. Not everyone's going to win everything all the time. Time. And it's. And it's an accomplishment just to win almost all of them.

Amen. Amen to that. And it was, yeah, we were undefeated. The other team was undefeated. But hey, good story.

Subs. Gotta give Cool. What is one of your most frivolous purchases? Or what's a cheapskate habit you hold on to even though you don't need to anymore?

My cheapskate habit. I make sure every light is turned off in my house, like all of the time. I don't know why. And then the doors. You're born in a barn thing, like that is my. I just can't stop leaving the doors open. I'm not acing the 110. And my, my purchase was a Corvette, a C8. I bought it in 2020 when you couldn't get them. So, you know, I wish I wouldn't have bought it now. But hey, it is what it is. It's fun to drive, so it is what it is.

Yeah. I'm with you on both of those cheapskate habits and it always blows my mind. I mean Phoenix is hotter than I'm in Colorado Springs, but still like when you go by like I feel like nice stores when you walk by them in like an open air mall in the summer. I think it's a sign of we could just do whatever the heck we want. They're blasting AC out into like the open doors. Wide open. Like, like triple wide. Like wide open.

Yeah. I'm literally watching money go out the window. Literally. See ya.

Just to say I can do that.

Yeah. Hey, cool.

You know that's not happening at my house. No way. Tyler, when you invest your time in learning, growing and developing, what are you doing? Or when you're investing Time in resting, relaxing and recharging. What are you doing?

I'll combine those because for me it's combined. My resting and relaxation, honestly, is with my kids. I have a two month old now, she's our fourth. And for me, it's spending as much time with them as possible. My kids are so much fun. They say the craziest things. So it really recharges me and makes me so happy. I listen to audiobooks in the morning. I wake up before everyone else. I take my dogs in the backyard and I get 145 minutes to 1 hour. I write my email after that. I listen to a book and my dogs are playing. I throw the ball to them. That is my 45 minutes to an hour of physical growth. I'm sorry, Mental growth for me. And then when my kids wake up, that's like my, hey, I can take on the world.

That's awesome. This has been an absolute pleasure. Tyler, if someone wants to learn more about you, learn more about the business that you're building, if they want to be part of your 2030 vision, where would you send people who've gotten to, you know, this point in the conversation? They're obviously invested in it and they enjoyed their time with you, as I did.

Absolutely. They can look me up on Instagram. Tyler, sorry, it's the Tyler Blair. The. I don't know why Tyler Blair was taken. So anyway, it's the Tyler Blair on Instagram and then my phone number is 480-291-4478. We are looking for more team members here in Arizona and in other states and also I am coaching, so I just want to help as many people as possible. That's the goal.

That link to Instagram is down below. Whether you're watching in YouTube, it's in the description. Hit that. See more if you're listening in Apple Podcasts or Spotify, it's down below in the description. If you are watching or listening at realestateteamos.com, we write all these up and embed the audio and video there. It's down below. These links are down there. The phone numbers down there. Tyler, I appreciate you so much. I know other folks will too. I hope you get some outreach on this conversation and I hope you have a great rest of your day.

Hey, thank you so much for having me on. I appreciate you. Thank you.

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