How To Become The Top Realtor In Your County (Even While Raising Young Kids)

Kailyn Robnett: I think I signed up with Platform in May or maybe my first stuff started going out into June last year. And I could tell by November that I was like, “Wow”. I think I had eight listings at that point, which still for here is a lot. And compared to peers and stuff I had, I could tell something's feeling different this year. And just the amount of people that were calling and texting and reaching out. And my husband, he could tell immediately too that it was picking up 'cause when I signed up for this, obviously, he knew the whole thing, what I'm doing. This is a ton of money I'm gonna be investing and he never doubted me or the strategy. 

Tim Chermak: This is the Platform Marketing Show, where we interview the most creative and ambitious real estate agents in the country, dissect their local marketing strategy, and get the behind-the-scenes scoop on how they're generating listing leads and warm referrals. We'll dive into the specifics of what marketing campaigns are working for them, how much they're spending on those campaigns, and figure out how they have perfected what we call the Platform Marketing strategy.

This is your host, Tim Chermak. I'm the founder and CEO of Platform. I love marketing, and I talk too much. So let's dive in. 

Tim Chermak: Hey guys, it's Tim Chermak, and welcome back to another episode of the Platform Marketing Show. I'm joined today by Kailyn Robnett in Klamath Falls, Oregon. Kailyn, welcome to the show!

 Kailyn Robnett: Thanks, Tim. I'm excited and nervous. 

Tim Chermak: Well, you shouldn't be because we were just discussing that your business has nearly tripled this year. You said the previous year, before you ever kind of found out about the Platform Marketing strategy, you had sold about 19 homes. 

Kailyn Robnett: Yeah.

Tim Chermak: And in your county, in your MLS, the fact that you had even sold 19 homes put you in that upper level of agents. This year, however, you're gonna sell closer to somewhere like 50 to 60 homes, and you are now the number one agent in your county. I mean, that's a pretty awesome first year with Platform 'cause you've only been in the Platform Marketing program less than a year, right? 

Kailyn Robnett: Well, it's been over a year, but not two years. It's been maybe a little less than a year and a half? 

Tim Chermak: Okay. But I mean, the year that we're in right now, so calendar year. 2025 was the first full calendar year, right? 

Kailyn Robnett: Yeah. 

Tim Chermak: Okay. So that actually lines up perfectly with what we so often tell people that don't judge Platform and don't judge the Platform strategy based on what happens in your first six months. You'll start to get a feel for it, usually about 12 months of what type of momentum you're having, and then most people see the best results somewhere between 12 months and 24 months. So it sounds like that's exactly where you are, and your business has way more than doubled, almost tripled. 

And I love hearing stories like that, Kailyn, especially when it's someone who is already selling 19 homes a year, right? Because sometimes you see case studies on Facebook or on social media or whatever, and it's “Oh, I tripled my business.” And then you read the details and they went from three to nine transactions. Well, that's still great. I'm happy for you. But going from three to nine when it's such small numbers is a lot less impressive than going from 19 to 50-some, which you're at now. I mean, you’ve nearly tripled a business that was already impressive. I mean, hey, congratulations to you and your family. That's incredible. 

Taylor, your account manager, mentioned to me that at some point this year, you purchased a homestead for you and your family. I don't even know what that means, so can you give me the story and she said, homestead, not house. So I'm curious what all happened there. Can you give me the backstory of that? 

Kailyn Robnett: I think probably compared to where I'm at, compared to where Taylor's at, this probably is like a homestead, but for me and in our county, this is totally normal.

Yeah, we bought a different ranch. So we have more space here and this cool farmhouse I'm renovating and all this stuff, but Taylor's funny because I have chickens and I have milk cows, so I'm doing the homestead stuff. We've got the garden of all the things. 

Tim Chermak: Okay, 

Kailyn Robnett: So it's just a regular ranch.

Tim Chermak: So it's like a hobby farm, basically. That's what we'd call that in the Midwest, like a hobby farm? 

Kailyn Robnett: I mean, yes, but I think bigger scale. Like around here, a hobby farm is somebody that has a goat in their backyard. 

Tim Chermak: Sure. Okay. So, how many acres is the property? 

Kailyn Robnett: This one that we have here is 13.

Tim Chermak: Okay. So that's a pretty good-sized property.

Kailyn Robnett: Yeah. 

Tim Chermak: And was that decision to purchase that influenced at all by how much your business grew in the last year? Or was that something you were basically planning on doing anyways? 

Kailyn Robnett: We planned on doing it anyways 'cause we already own other farm properties and so we knew that this was coming down the pipe, but it clearly… 

Tim Chermak: Oh, okay.

Kailyn Robnett: Yeah. 

Tim Chermak: Yeah, I mean, it's always nice if you're thinking about buying something, that all of a sudden your business triples.

Kailyn Robnett: Yeah. 

Tim Chermak: Well, that's awesome. How did you get into real estate? How long have you been a real estate agent?

Kailyn Robnett: Okay, so I got licensed at the very beginning of 2021. So I started my school stuff in 2020, and I was an entrepreneur before. I made silver and leather things and did the self-employment stuff, which I always had fun with. And I was working with my husband. 

So my in-laws own a butcher shop here, so we were all working together in the butcher shop, and I was like, God, I just don't really love being stuck in an office. I was like, I need to go be free, do something fun and exciting. And I had friends that were realtors and so anyways, that kind of influenced it. And I think I honestly came home from work one night and we were watching Fixer Upper, Chip and Jo, and I was like, “I just wanna do something with real estate.” And so yeah, I just bought my school stuff and buckled down and got it done. So I am finishing my fifth year, I guess?

Tim Chermak: Okay. So if you got going in 2021, you have still never experienced what we would consider a normal real estate market, ‘cause every year of your career has either been like the COVID boom or it's been the COVID bust, where interest rates are just going up and every year is worse, or every month is worse than the month before it. And yet you're still thriving. It's probably driving other agents crazy in your market. I would assume that this newcomer comes in and immediately, within a span of a couple of years, becomes the top-producing agent in the whole county. Even though I'm assuming there's probably agents in your area that have been doing this for 10 or 20 years.

Kailyn Robnett: Like 50 years. Yeah. 

Tim Chermak: Yeah. And they're thinking like, “How did she do this? How did she become so successful in just two or three years?”

Okay. So how did you hear about Platform? Was it a referral from someone? Did you find us on social media, or how did you first hear about us?

Kailyn Robnett: Good question. You know, I wish I remembered right off the top of my head, but, oh, it was Girls with Grit. That's what it was. 

Tim Chermak: Okay, okay. Were you at that conference that we sponsored or did you just hear about it through their email or…?

Kailyn Robnett: Yeah, I heard about it. 'Cause I've been in the Facebook group since I was a little baby.

Tim Chermak: Okay. 

Kailyn Robnett: And also, I was clearly the only one from my whole area that was even in that group. So I was getting these insight things nobody else is doing. And yeah, it was posted in there somewhere, or maybe you guys did a Zoom or something like that, and I learned more about it.

Tim Chermak: Okay. Yeah. Okay, cool. And you decided, “Hey, I'm gonna give this a try. I'm gonna see what this is all about.” And here we are, about 12, 18 months later. And your business has nearly tripled. I mean, it's crazy. That's so awesome. 

What have been some of the most successful ads, if you were to like look back at the last year or so? Are there maybe one or two ads that really stick out in your mind of like “Hey, these ads got the most engagement.” These ads really maybe resonated with the community, or if people mentioned to you in person, “Hey, I loved such and such video or such and such post that you did.” Have you had any that really stick out? 

Kailyn Robnett: Yes. When I first think of that, what comes to mind is a couple of different things. Just my listing videos in general, that seems to be what people mostly say, “Oh, I love your videos, I love your videos. I liked this house,” or whatever. People like those a lot. As far as engagement, my community is small, and we're very rural, so Taylor helps me put together one about upcoming events and then the Farmer's Market around here is pretty popular. People seem to really like those, as far as positive engagement

Tim Chermak: Sure. So, just really anything that highlights the local community.

Kailyn Robnett: Yeah.

Tim Chermak: And those are honestly my favorite 'cause anytime that you can promote your community and champion your community, you're making it not about you. And sp people like that rather than agents who are just like, me, me, me, me  and every post is about how great I am or how many homes I've sold, or how many years I've been in the business or whatever. If you highlight the community, it's kind of like stealth advertising because people see the post is coming from you because the name of your page is on the post, obviously, but if you're just talking about the community or events in the community, no one can hate on that.

So okay, cool. Have you done any listing videos in the last year? How have those worked?

Kailyn Robnett: Yeah. My listing videos rock. When I was just starting with Platform, I would have like maybe a couple of active listings, so I would talk to people in my office. Once I did videos on mine, then I would run out and so it didn't take me very long. I think I only ended up doing maybe three listing videos on listings that weren't mine. And then it was just kind of like continuous after that. I started getting more listings, and now for most of this year, I have too many listings, so I'll bombard Taylor with all my listing videos, and we have to space 'em out, how many we can post, because I'm super listing heavy at this point. 

Tim Chermak: Yeah, I know Taylor had mentioned to me earlier this summer, at one point, you had 13 listings. 

Kailyn Robnett: Yeah, I do. 

Tim Chermak: And she’s like “There was still more in the pipeline, there's more coming. She's not slowing down.” 

Kailyn Robnett: Yeah. 

Tim Chermak: That's amazing for an agent that doesn't have a big team or something. It's just you putting up these numbers.

Kailyn Robnett: Yeah. It's kind of crazy. It's a little bit scary. It was more scary, and then now I'm just like, “Oh yeah, I wanted this.” I'm like, “Yeah, I'm good. Just keep it coming.” 

Tim Chermak: Yeah. At the end of the day, either you deal with the problems and the stress of having too much business or what feels like too much business, or you get to deal with the problems and the stress of not having enough business. And I've dealt with both of those myself. And I can tell you it's a lot more fun to deal with the problems and the stress of having too much business because usually what accompanies that is money coming in. 

Kailyn Robnett: Yeah. 

Tim Chermak: And if you're gonna be stressed out, you might as well be stressed out with money coming in rather than stressed out because there's not enough money coming in. 

Great! Again, I'm doing this interview, and I just keep saying, “Congratulations. That's so cool,” because when you double or triple your business, that changes your family's financial situation. 

Kailyn Robnett: Yeah. 

Tim Chermak: Obviously, it's super cool, and I'm just as happy for clients that grow their business by 20% or 25% or something. But that's probably not gonna radically change their family's financial future. You probably have some extra spending money, and that's awesome, but when you double or triple your income in the course of a year, that literally changes your financial situation. 

That's the difference between you taking more vacations or you buying a newer or nicer car, or you sending your kids to private school, if you wanna send them into a private school somewhere. Or, being able to sock away a serious amount of money for savings and long-term retirement. 

Kailyn Robnett: Yeah. 

Tim Chermak: That's really cool. Have other agents in your town been jealous? Has there been any weird vibes in the community? And then my other question, too, is what is the average price point of the homes that you sell?

Kailyn Robnett: Oh, okay. So our average price point, whenever I check the MLS, it's around $330,000. But I will say, even that $300,000 around here, that's like a nice house. So I think more in the 2-something range is gonna be most common. 

Tim Chermak: That's actually probably really similar to where I grew up in Minnesota, where like, I think of a normal middle-class house as being like $200,000, $250,000, and if you're in the 300s, you live on the golf course.

Kailyn Robnett: Yes. 

Tim Chermak: Your dad's a doctor or something if your house is $350,000. And people in other parts of the country laugh at that 'cause they're like, “I can't even buy a trailer in my community for $350,000.” I'm like, “Well, that's why it pays to live some places and not others.” Okay. So your average, you said, is maybe closer to 300 or even less. 

Kailyn Robnett: Yeah. 

Tim Chermak: What has the reception been like? Has there been any bad vibes in the community or amongst other agents in your area? Is there some jealousy?

Kailyn Robnett: Yeah, I've had a couple awkward encounters. Though I wanna preface this, I feel like one of my kind, because I have two small kids. My sons are one and three, so I'm a stay at home mom full time. So when I started real estate, I was at one brokerage and that was the office I worked at the whole time and then I switched about a year ago actually. And so it was just kind of like the timing of that too, because I knew, I saw that at this time last year, I was like, “Wow, I've got a pile of listings and I need to be strategic about the office I'm at so that I am saving myself money.” And I'm super glad I took that jump when I did, but it was like the timing of like I switched offices and just freaking skyrocketed. 'Cause like I said, I saw it coming. But yeah, especially from that, there has been a few people that I guess maybe took it more personally or something? And yeah, I've had some weird encounters this year and weird things even done to a couple of my clients, which is interesting.

But I think that when grown adults do things out of the box like that, it definitely says a lot more about their situation and it comes from a place of the scarcity mindset. Like they're very desperate. 

Tim Chermak: Yeah, for sure.

Kailyn Robnett: So it sorts itself out. But it has been a little bit weird, and I'm young. I'm 28. So yeah, it's been interesting, but I don't let that stuff affect me. 

Tim Chermak: It's fun, though. 

Kailyn Robnett: Yeah, I'm very busy at home with my kids and our animals and everything. 

Tim Chermak: Yeah. Most people that are successful are too busy making money to worry about other people's drama, you know? And I've said this a thousand times in Platform, but if you're not catching flak, you're not over the target. And so the reason I love asking people the question on these podcast interviews of, “Hey, have you had any jealousy with other agents in your community?” is because that's actually a very interesting proxy question for “How successful are you?” 'Cause if other agents in your market, in your MLS, other agents in your community, are jealous of you, that's a really good barometer of how quickly are you ascending and how much of a brand are you truly building.

Kailyn Robnett: Yeah. 

Tim Chermak: Because agents are the ones who are paying attention to the market and who's getting listings and who's picking up business. They pay attention to that way more than the average person in the community or the public does.

So if they're noticing that “Hey, Kailyn all of a sudden just came out of nowhere and Kailyn's like the top producing agent in the whole county now,” that tells you that you are the top dog, if they're starting to get jealous. How much in a given month do you think, via a specific number, doesn't matter, but do you know how much you're spending every month on ads? Are you spending 800 bucks? Are you spending $1,500 on ads? Do you know? 

Kailyn Robnett: I would say around a thousand, probably. I try to keep it safe, and especially in the beginning, I was like “$800 a month? Oh my God. That's crazy. “

Tim Chermak: Who has $800 a month? 

Kailyn Robnett: Yeah, that was totally neat. For the first probably six months of doing Platform, it was going straight on my credit card, and I was just chunking it off as I could, but yeah, I was scared. I was like, “This is crazy.” Especially in my market, where even agents don't even like to spend money to do the grocery cart ads, so it was not tapped into here at all.

Tim Chermak: Yeah. Yeah. Like any marketing, almost that you do whatsoever is positioning you as being the top agent in the market because other agents just really aren't making an effort to market at all or promote themselves. Have you noticed on listing appointments that people want to work with you because of your marketing? 

Has anyone told you, “Hey, the reason I'm choosing you is because of the marketing or the social media that you've been doing”

Kailyn Robnett: Yeah. Like every single one. And it's people that I'm either already friends and family with, so I would never assume that somebody would use me, but it almost feels great when it’s like… thank you for supporting me, 'cause there's so many agents here. 

Like we talk about the fuzzy ROI, there's people like in that group, too, that I don't really know, but I know a connection with. And it doesn't really matter who it is; everybody knows me from my social media, and they appreciate that. 

For more of this episode, listen on Apple or Spotify Podcasts.