The Marketing I Used To Sell $13M In My First Year As A Realtor

Tim Chermak:  How would you describe the difference between a focus on lead generation versus a focus on branding? 'Cause obviously Platform is more about building a personal brand in your area. 

Jamie Fearing: One of the things that I love the most is specifically these people who did not know me, I did not know them, you go to their house to meet them and do a listing appointment and you feel like you're already friends because they get to see all the different aspects of my personality, of who I am, because I'm being authentically myself when I do an ad or a listing video. 

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 Jamie Fearing from Wisconsin. Jamie, welcome to the show!

Jamie Fearing: Hey, Tim. Happy to be here. 

Tim Chermak: So we were just talking here before we started the episode, and Jamie is from Reedsburg, Wisconsin, and I wasn't even familiar with that town. I was born and raised in Minnesota, and so she was telling me, “Hey, it's kind of by Wisconsin Dells. It's in between Madison and Lacrosse.” You said South Central Wisconsin. 

Jamie Fearing: Yes. 

Tim Chermak: What is the general population of the area that you're in? 

Jamie Fearing: A lot of smaller rural towns. It's communities of 5,000 to 10,000 people around here. Obviously, in the Dells it's a little bit higher population but most of the towns surrounding Reedsburg are smaller towns. Baraboo a nice-sized town. But yeah, it's just a nice rural farm community, so to speak. 

Tim Chermak: How many people actually live in Reedsburg?

Jamie Fearing: I think. Let's see. Hang on. Oh gosh, it's probably about 5,000, I would guess. 5 to 7.

Tim Chermak: Okay. So it's a smaller town. 

Jamie Fearing: It's growing a lot right now, so I would say probably closer to seven. 

Tim Chermak: Yeah. And for those who aren't from the upper Midwest, how far are you from Wisconsin Dells?

Jamie Fearing: Oh, like 15, 20 minutes. 

Tim Chermak: Okay. So that's like the ultimate waterpark capital of the Midwest is Wisconsin Dells. And my family personally, when I was a little kid took, I don't know, probably half a dozen vacations to Wisconsin Dells. 'Cause it's probably a four hour drive for us, something like that. And there's just multiple water parks. It's kind of like the Gatlinburg, Tennessee of Wisconsin. That's how I would describe Wisconsin Dells. If there's people out there who have been to Gatlinburg or Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, kind of the same vibe as Wisconsin Dells. But you weren't originally from the area, right? ‘Cause I see in the background there, there's Black Hills. 

Jamie Fearing: So originally, I am from the Black Hills of South Dakota, which I love. So I have a sign in my office just to keep me rooted, to let me know where my roots are. So my dad rode bulls professionally for 13 years, which I know you'll love too 'cause I know you like rodeo. So we grew up, my parents owned a construction company. They both actually had teaching degrees but never taught. My dad started a construction company. My mom stayed at home with us kids, and then later in life got her real estate license. So I feel like I was surrounded by it, but that's not the career path I chose.

I actually owned a salon for 23 years, and then at the end of 2020, I ended up breaking my arm and was kind of forced into a new career. There was some things going on at home with our son, with some health stuff, so I was in limbo, I would say, for a couple years. And my mom really encouraged me. I mean, honestly, for probably about a decade prior to that, to do real estate.

She was like, “Jamie, you're just a natural. You would do so great at this.” And to be really honest with you and transparent, I did not think that I was smart enough to do real estate. I don't know why, but I was letting this fear overtake me and I just didn't have the confidence to go to school. Well then when I broke my arm, I was forced to find a new career. And I thought at that time my mom was thinking about maybe, possibly semi-retiring. She was like, “You guys should move back to the Hills. We'll find Jason a job and you could do real estate with me.” So we actually entertained that.

Jamie Fearing: We've entertained the thought of moving back to the Black Hills about four times, and it was like every time we tried to do that, God just slammed a door and was like, “Nope, sorry, you're not leaving.” And so my husband and I were talking about it and he said, “What if you just pursue a real estate career here?” 

So I didn't actually tell anyone what I was doing. I was working at a gym, doing some personal training with some clients, teaching some classes. I also had an online business. I'd owned a boutique at one time, so I've kind of dabbled in a lot of different things. So I just decided after a lot of prayer, because I was like, “Okay, I'm gonna do this.” And the funny thing is I had a friend that called me and she said, “Jamie, I don't know if you've ever thought about this…” and she lives down in Madison, or she works at a firm down in Madison. And so I actually went and interviewed with her brokers, went through this four-interview process, they ended up hiring me. We go to this Christmas party and I hadn't even gotten my license yet. We were driving home from the Christmas party and my husband said - Madison is definitely not for me -  but, “I can see you fitting in, you'll do great down there”

Jamie Fearing: And I just started crying and I said, “Jason, I don't have peace about this.” I said, “Why would I go work in Madison when all of my relationships that I've spent building for 22 years are here?” And I said, “I just don't feel right about this.” So he and my mom both encouraged me to call the people that I work for now. And so I just called them up and I said, “Here's the deal. I don't have my license. I'm thinking about starting real estate. Would you guys ever hire me? And if that's a possibility, oh, by the way, I would need to know in 24 hours because I'm supposed to start this job on Monday morning at nine o'clock in Madison.” So they called me Sunday night and they had a little family dinner and talked about it, and they said they would love to have me join their team. 

And so I got started. I got my license at the end of March, started in April. So yeah, I just kind of hit the floor running and here I am. 

Tim Chermak: And what year was this again that you got started? 

Jamie Fearing: I started in ‘23. So last year was my first full year in real estate. 

Tim Chermak: Okay. So last year was your first full year in real estate, and you did 13 million in sales. 

Jamie Fearing: Yeah. 

Tim Chermak: That's really, really impressive. Like really, really impressive. 

Jamie Fearing: My mom kept telling me that was good, but I didn't have anything to compare it to because when I started real estate, I told myself and my brokers, I said, “Here's the thing about me, I'm gonna put my blinders on, like a horse, and I'm just gonna put my head down and go to work, because that's what I know to do. I'm gonna try so hard.” And I verbalized the goal to one of my brokers, and so at the end of the year I was like, “Oh my gosh, I'm actually gonna hit this goal.” And I just wanted a certain number of transactions, because in my head I was like, if I do this many transactions, it’s kind of like the Michael Jordan theory - the repetition, you're gonna get better at it.

Tim Chermak: Yep.

Jamie Fearing: So it wasn't about a dollar amount to me, it was about repetition and just learning something in every process, you know?

Tim Chermak: So you did $13 million in your first year. I think the year before that you said you did about $6 million, but that wasn't even a full year.

Jamie Fearing: Yeah. 

Tim Chermak: What is the average price point in your market? 

Jamie Fearing: Probably right around or right under $300,000. 

Tim Chermak: Okay. So again, just to put that in perspective, to hit $13 million in sales, you're having to sell a shit ton of homes, if these are $300,000 homes. I always have to preface that because sometimes we have realtors and markets where all the homes are $800,000 or all the homes are a million dollars. And it’s like, well, not that it's easy to hit $13 million in a market like that 'cause obviously there's really stiff competition in more luxury markets like that, but to get to $13 million when you're selling $300,000 homes, that's a lot of transactions. So that means you were really hustling in the last year and selling a lot of homes.

So, a) that's incredible that you hit that, that quickly. There are agents out there that have maybe been in the business for 10 years that have never hit $13 million in sales and you did it in your first full calendar year as an agent, so that's incredible. Follow up question, Jamie, have you met Sandi Smith?

Jamie Fearing: So I met Sandi at the Platform Mastermind and our first conversation was actually about the rodeo.

Tim Chermak: Oh, okay. 

Jamie Fearing: And everybody was talking about her pancakes and I was like, “Oh my gosh! I'm from South Dakota originally.” I was like, “I really wanna get to this rodeo.” And she's like “Oh, you gotta come make pancakes,” with her sweet little southern accent. And then her and Brandon and Shayna. And so I went and introduced myself to some of them at the Mastermind and that was probably like the highlight of my second year in real estate was going to the Mastermind. 

Tim Chermak: Yeah, that's awesome. So I wanted to ask about Sandi, because I actually didn't know until this interview, that you used to be a hairstylist.

Jamie Fearing: Yeah. 

Tim Chermak: Again, we don't script these interviews ahead of time. Like I don't send out questions ahead of time, so I'm finding all this out in real time. So this is fascinating to me. Sandi Smith also owned a salon and was a hairstylist for…

Jamie Fearing: Oh, really? I didn't know that either. 

Tim Chermak: Yeah, I think for like 20 years or even more before she became a realtor. And that was something we talked about when I interviewed her on the Platform podcast is that she was making a couple hundred thousand dollars a year as a stylist. And so she was nervous that getting into real estate. She's like “Hey, how do I replace this income? 'Cause this isn't one of those situations where maybe I'm only making $50,000 a year so it'll be easy to beat that in real estate.”

By the way, just for those who are listening, I just put air quotes up when I said “easy” 'cause obviously being a real estate agent is never easy. But if you're trying to replace the income from a job where you're making 50 grand a year, it's not super difficult in real estate if you're a good agent to make $50,000 a year. But if you're coming from a job where you were already making $200,000 a year, that's a lot of money. That really ups the stakes in your real estate career if you're like, “Hey, I'm moving from this other job and I need to replace $200,000.” That's kind of a tough task. 

Tim Chermak: So were you pretty successful as a stylist or, where was that business at? You said you owned a boutique as well, you were a personal trainer.

Jamie Fearing: Yeah, so when I originally moved to Wisconsin, I worked for a small local salon. Then I took some time off to have my kids, and then I went to work for a Great Wolf Lodge. A lot of people are familiar with all those.

Tim Chermak: Oh, okay. Yep. 

Jamie Fearing: They have those over in the Dells. I actually got offered like a management position where I would go train in New York or Chicago and then I would travel to some of the other Great Wolf Lodges and train their stylists as well as having my own local clientele. So I did that until my son was born in 2002. He just turned 18 last Friday. And then I opened a salon at my house. We had an unfinished basement and then we actually sold that house, built another house, and then built my salon right at my house specifically knowing that this is what we were gonna do because then I was still able to be a stay-at-home mom but work.

So if a client didn't show up, oh well, I went upstairs and did laundry, it was no big deal. And that really seemed to serve our family very well. And I was a very successful stylist. I had a great clientele. And I was probably much like Sandi. I can remember when I first started, I would make $30,000 to $35,000 a year. And then obviously that income went up over the years after you've done it a couple decades. So to go into real estate was a pretty big jump. 

Tim Chermak: Yeah, it was totally different. Totally different. 

Jamie Fearing: Yeah. I was shocked. 

Tim Chermak: And it sounds like your mom was already a real estate agent, so that was…

Jamie Fearing: Yeah. My mom's been an agent out in the Northern Hills for, I think, 30 years.

Tim Chermak: Okay. And she knew, or you knew Ashley Goodrich. Is that how you initially got connected? 

Jamie Fearing: So I have never got to meet Ashley. I was hoping to get to meet her at the Mastermind, but my mom called me and she said, “Jamie, we've gotta get you some help with marketing and I don't know what Ashley's doing, but she's just killing it out here.” So I don't remember if she actually called Ashley. She must have, because she called me and said, “You need to look up this Platform Marketing.” So I did. She told me to look up Brian Buffini and Platform, but to stay away from Zillow. Don't pay for Zillow, it's not worth the money. And my mom is, I mean she was like number one realtor out there for a long time, for many years, and she's very successful. So I was like, okay, my mom knows her stuff. I totally respect her opinion. 

So I just started researching it and, I don't know. I spent a couple minutes looking, so I just decided to call and I got a hold of Diana. She set up a call with me. I think I maybe even talked to Andrew at one point, and then I was like, okay I'm thinking about doing this. I talked to my mom about it and she said, “Jamie, I believe in this so much that I'm gonna gift this to you for Christmas this year.” She goes, “I'm gonna pay for your first month.” And the first month, if the listeners don't know this, they kind of ease you into Platform. So the first month, I think was $600. And I'm like, “Mom, that's a really expensive gift. You don't need to do that.” And she was like, “Nope, this is what I wanna do.”

So my mom gifted my first month to me and I thought, what the heck? I'm gonna jump in. That's just my personality. If I decide to do something, I'm all in. So I did it and it was seriously like the best business decision I could have ever made.

Tim Chermak: That's awesome. And you signed up about halfway through 2023, right? 

Jamie Fearing: Yeah, so I actually signed up in December of ‘23. 

Tim Chermak: Oh, okay. 

Jamie Fearing: There was maybe a couple weeks left of the year.

Tim Chermak: Okay. 

Jamie Fearing: And so when I got assigned to Lauren, who I love. And you guys, here's the other thing is, these are actual people. Like I found out that Tim was from Minnesota and Lauren lives in Minnesota. So these are actual people that you can talk to on the phone. You're not just a number in their database. You have a personal relationship with them. And I can't remember who I talked to, but they're like, we're gonna team you up with Lauren. We think you guys would be a good fit. And the second we talked to each other, it was like we'd been friends forever. And I love her to death and I'm so grateful for her. She's been awesome to work with. 

Tim Chermak: Yeah. So for those listening that have no idea what we're talking about right now, Jamie's account manager at Platform that she has a weekly phone call with and kind of manages all of Jamie's ads, et cetera, is Lauren.

And so Lauren works at Platform and as part of Platform, Jamie has a weekly phone call. Lauren holds her accountable. If you're not getting her the content she needs or you're not following up with your leads, Lauren is like your coach that just keeps you in line and makes sure that you're doing what you need to do.

Okay. I thought you'd actually signed up like halfway through 2023, but apparently it was at the very end of the year. So really 2023 and 2024 for you are pretty straightforward a split test where one year you didn't have Platform and the next year you had Platform. And in the year with the Platform Marketing strategy, you went from, again, like $6 million in sales to almost $13 million.

Jamie Fearing: Yeah, I think it was. 

Tim Chermak: That's incredible. I mean, having that rapid of growth that quickly. 

What were some of the ads that worked really well for you? Are there any specific ads that stand out? 

Jamie Fearing: I do. I talked to Lauren about this and she said, “Oh my gosh, you have to tell Tim this story.” So I got a phone call, it was last fall from these people that were thinking about listing their house. And this lady used to be a realtor in Wyoming, but she said that she had seen some of my Facebook marketing ads and just really liked how I did my listing videos and things like that. So I put this ridiculous elf costume on and did a elf video for their listing tour.

And it was super fun 'cause it was leading up to Christmas and I had told 'em, I said it's not probably the best time to list a house right before the holidays, but this is the timeframe they were on 'cause they were building a home. And I said, “So I'm gonna, try to knock this out of the park for you.”

So I put this elf costume on and she had told me, she said, “I'm just gonna be really honest with you. My husband does not love realtors. He thinks they're not worth the money.” She goes, “I used to be a realtor in Wyoming, so I understand that. He’s just not a fan.” So the day that I went over to shoot their listing video, they had a ring camera and they are watching me make this video in this ridiculous elf costume. And he gets home that night and he goes, “Well, I take back what I said.” He goes, “She's worth every penny.” So that was fun. 

And actually probably 10 minutes before I jumped on this call with you, I just got a guy that called me to come list his house who was a referral from these people. 

Tim Chermak: Oh, awesome!

Jamie Fearing: So, that's pretty awesome. 

Tim Chermak: Awesome. That's like the long tail effect, the fuzzy ROI we talk about at Platform is like that referral didn't come from a marketing campaign or it didn't come from a lead generation campaign, but you can always trace it back to marketing that you've done and you never know what the long-term ROI is gonna be when you just invest in creativity like that. 

So you've done a lot of listing videos. Have there been any other retargeting ads or ads that just seem to really so do well in the community? 

Jamie Fearing: Yeah, actually recently, you guys put this challenge out to focus on doing a small business every month and that was something that I personally wanted to be better at and more consistent with this year as well.

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