It's ALL Marketing
It's ALL Marketing
Real Estate Marketing interview with Trisha Cook - The Trisha Cook Team at Keller Williams
In this episode, Jan Southern speaks to Trisha Cook - Owner/broker of The Trisha Cook Team at Keller Williams Realty. Trisha is a master at building a real estate business and she shares her take on the US real estate market, how she built her real estate business serving Georgia and South Carolina. We talk about marketing and specifically, real estate marketing. You won't want to miss this episode.
Welcome to the it's all Marketing podcast. I'm your host, Jan Southern, and I am the owner of J. DelSur Marketing Group, and the publisher of Effingham Magazine and Pooler Magazine in South Georgia. And this interview today is with someone that I'm just super excited to be talking to. Her name is Tricia cook. She is a real estate mogul in the South Georgia and South Carolina area. And she has grown her business through really great leadership, just a drive and determination, learning, ongoing learning and really tremendous marketing tactics. I'm so excited to bring this interview to you. And I know that you're going to learn something from Trisha. So I hope you enjoy. Okay, everybody, I am here with somebody that I admire very, very much. She doesn't know this, but when I first met her, we were on a in a little group in Pooler, Georgia, and I was so intimidated of meeting her because she's just a master at what she does is all over everywhere in South Georgia, you'll see signs with her name, and I'm sure you're familiar with her name, if you live in this area. It is Trisha Cook from the Tricia Cook Team at Keller Williams Realty. So I'm so excited to talk with her today. And she has some great things. I love her story. And I also know that she has a lot to offer when it comes to building a business and marketing and business. So welcome, Tricia,
Trisha Cook:thank you so much. It was quite an introduction.
Jan Southern:Well, it's well deserved. And I really am happy that you're here. And it's really an honor to me to interview you. So tell me a little bit about tell us a little bit about your background, and how you got into real estate.
Trisha Cook:Okay, so actually, I think my 20s was basically just me trying to figure out what I wanted to be when I grew up, I actually went to college when I was 17 years old thinking I was gonna be a nurse, and then pre med and then physical therapy and actually changed my major seven different times, ended up in the College of Business, did a lot of marketing classes and management classes, before I realized that I would never make as much money as I was making doing that at least starting off as I was making bartending at the time putting myself through school as a single mom. So I think I was in a business class one day, and my teacher was telling me how real estate had changed her life. So basically, she and her husband both were one professor, I should say, she and her husband were both professors. And at a young age, they bought a house and they never sold that house, they just kept moving up and using those that rental income for the next house. And eventually she's in the house of her dreams. And she was paying the exact same amount that she was paying in the first one, because she had all of those rental properties. So I was very intrigued by real estate after that, and got my real estate license when I was 29 years old, and haven't looked back since.
Jan Southern:So tell tell me a little bit about how you grew the business over the time. How long have you been in business for yourself, and when did you start The Trisha Cook Team.
Trisha Cook:I got licensed 15 and a half years ago, I probably made my first hire. Five years later, five years later, right? I never focused on growing the business, the focus was always just on giving great service. And whenever I felt that I was growing too busy to properly give that excellent service I made hire. So that's kind of how it happened. And you know, I got licensed in 2007. I didn't have a need to hire anyone for a few years because the market was terrible. But it'll teach you a good work ethic, that's for sure. So before then it was just me before that 2012. And that was tough. And now we get it kind of I like to say divide the workload, but triple the joy by having a team, but actually enjoying that workload. Again, everybody is a specialist in their own field. Luckily, I partnered up with a great brokerage back in 2011. And was always able to be around great mentors nationwide, who taught us to think so much bigger. And we were trained in a culture of coming from contribution. So Keller Williams Realty is really just thought of every agent struggles, I think, and they've created programs around that for coaching and classes and such and so I know who to hire, to properly start a team. How do you hire,
Jan Southern:So that the culture is the same as that you're, that you can trust that they're offering the same service that you give? You know, how do you do that? And how do you build a culture like that?
Trisha Cook:Right? That's probably the toughest thing to hire for is culture. We always say we look for people who are humble, hungry and smart, that would fit into our culture, that sometimes people don't show you their cards right away. Luckily, Keller Williams has some great programs. One of them is called Recruit Select RST LM, the old version now it's Career Visioning. It's just classes nationwide that they teach you how to hire teachers, what to look for, do a lot of personality traits and such like that. So by the time you make it through our hiring process, we know that you're definitely fit.
Jan Southern:Is there anyone who I mean, do people get partially the way through that process? And then they decide to go another direction?
Trisha Cook:Absolutely. A lot of times, they will self select out that we do something called a life story. And a lot of times people will say that, during the life story, they learn more about themselves than they ever need before.
Jan Southern:And that really prepares them for being in real estate because it's a it's a unique mark. It's a unique industry. And there's a lot of realtors, but not a lot of great Realtors I suspect probably
Trisha Cook:Yeah, 100%.
Jan Southern:And so right now in March 2022, we're kind of experiencing a strange market. I know in 2006, and seven, when you started, I remember that time, and it was terrible, terrible time to be buying or selling a house or even owning a house if you wanted to, if you wanted to move. And now it's difficult, but different. So what do you give us your take on that?
Trisha Cook:I'm glad you said it's different. So I have two things really, as far as my take on that first, anyone that's on the fence, you need to invest in real estate, this isn't a bubble, it's not going to burst. I personally believe it's going to be even harder to own a home in a few years. And that rents are just going to continue to rise. I was in real estate, like you said, and back in 2007 2008. And this is nothing like that. Now we have hedge funds, who are making it their goal to diversify with at least 25% of their assets. In owning real estate, you have whole communities that are nothing but Rental Communities because of this, and I don't know if you've seen that yet. But that's it's popping up everywhere, and you better believe that they're buying it up. And they're not even buying that retail value, they're buying it over retail value. So it makes it really tough for anyone to turn that down. And it also makes it very tough for the normal buyer to afford a house. And you also have short term vacation rentals, which are becoming very, very popular. And we didn't have either one of those back in 2007 2008. And then secondly, for sellers, you still really need a good realtor, probably more so now than ever. Yes, it's a great time to sell. And there are some sellers that are out there thinking well, this house is going to sell itself so I don't need an agent. Or I'll just find the one that will put it on the MLS for like the least amount of rate. And sometimes I wish I could just shake those sellers and sell them how much they are missing when they do that how much unrealized potential that they're throwing away, a good realtor will pay for herself or himself.
Jan Southern:How is that like? Explain that a little bit? The if you just put your your house on the market with the cheapest rate from the realtor? What are you missing out on by or you just go with a realtor that you know a friend of a friend or brother nephew or something like that? What's the difference between that kind of real realtor and I experienced Realtor in an in this market?
Trisha Cook:Well, this shows about marketing, right? Yeah, podcast. Well, that along when done right, well, not a seller, much more unrealized potential than sticking a sign in a yard and just throwing it on the MLS. Or even worse, not even being on the MLS. So you pair that with an agent who's also mastered the art of negotiations, and contract law knowledge, and you're ensuring that you're going to have your best success. Imagine you're casting a net. And when you have a small net, you may catch some shrimp or you don't really know how to cast that net. Yet, you may catch some shrimp for your one small fish or something. But when you become a master net caster, you're really going to know how to cast it wide and large so that you've now mastered how to catch all kinds of fish and whatever else you want to catch. Right? So amazing opportunities and other words to choose from. That's what you never imagined possible whenever you're just selling it by yourself.
Jan Southern:And you know, the potential that's out there. I've heard that there are people who you know, they sell their house in one day, but is that, you know, is that the best option? What about if you waited a few days? How much more could you have made?
Trisha Cook:Right? It's like nails on a chalkboard when I hear that are sold in one hour? I don't I don't I never feel like that's in the sellers best interest. Because you have no idea what you've left behind. If I feel like you need to give it a good weekend, minimum solid weekend unless you get that offer. That's just too good to be true.
Jan Southern:Yeah, I mean, I don't see that as a benefit. Hey, my house sold in one day, it seems like right now, I used a coupon or absolutely, I went for the sale price, not the you know, the good, good value 100%. So anything else with this market or just if you if you're on the fence, go for it. And if you're thinking about investing, now's the time to invest. Absolutely. And we've talked about that before. Tell me a little bit. What's the difference between your company like, why is your company so successful? That's what I think everybody wants to know, what sets you apart? Why do you think you've had such great success in such a short time?
Trisha Cook:I think that's a layered question. What sets us apart is also what makes some of my staff probably think that I'm hard to please or maybe hard to work for good, bad or indifferent. I'm never satisfied. That doesn't mean that I don't appreciate you, but I'm never satisfied with good enough. I'm always looking for ways to improve. And I'm probably my own worst critic. And like, my engineer, clients love me. So if you if you're familiar with engineer clients, they're very checklist. Yeah, oriented, right? very detail oriented. They love me, because I'm super detail oriented. And I have checklists for my checklist. Yet, I don't get paralyzed in the details, like most people do, that are very checklist oriented. So I think that I'm also very deadline focused, most of all, just really passionate about impressing people. That sounds like a toxic trait. And to some extent, it probably is, but it also gives me the ability to never just really have that, oh, well, this is good enough attitude. So try to just instill that with everybody that works for us and with us and make sure that they are of the same. Yeah, mindset. We don't really have any secret sauce. I feel like everyone thinks that there's some sort of secret account that you have, or anything like that there's not Is this the same things over and over again, just consistently,
Jan Southern:excellent service, and just keep doing it over and over? Right?
Trisha Cook:No matter what business you're in, I think any business owner that has a level of compassion and innovation, and truly can look inwardly at where they need to improve is going to be successful.
Jan Southern:Yeah, so we've talked about marketing before in our networking group, let's talk about that a minute. Most will talk about BNI, business networking, international. You've been a part of that for a long time. Right, When did you start in BNI? And has that been tell the audience in case they're not familiar? What is BNI? And why are you in it? I mean, you are a busy woman, you're successful, you've got a big team, why do you spend your time in BNI? Every week?
Trisha Cook:So first BNI is Business Network International. To think about that it is the largest organization of its type in the world. And why am I in it, I think you just build such deep relationships with other like minded people like like minded business owners, which is important to me, that is kind of where I wanted to go next in my life, if you will. So if you've especially if you're a business owner, you can just kind of get in your own little bubble, right. And so it's nice to get out. And to not only meet people that to really get to know them, and that share your same values, you know, that if somebody is putting that on their calendar every week, and they are dedicated to meeting with you every single week that they're probably pretty dedicated in their field. And I love referring people like that. Yeah.
Jan Southern:And that's our, they are our marketing team, as well. So they go out and think about our business when they're out. And we do the same for them. And it is an it is a good group to be involved in. So how has marketing played a role in the success of your business?
Trisha Cook:Well, in my business is not really just about marketing myself, it's more about marketing my product, which my product is real estate. So the better that I can consistently do that, the more I think our success speaks for itself. Notice that I said consistent. I feel like marketing inconsistently is just not a good thing. And a lot of people do that. And I'm sure that you can probably share that. Feeling that marketing is a long game, no matter how you do it consistently telling your story in whichever platform you choose. We source every call that comes in our office by asking who can we thank for referring you to us today. And I'm very proud to say that 56% of our business is repeat and referral business last year, but we also get a lot of people that just call and say Oh, I see your face everywhere, or I see your signs everywhere. And that's definitely I think more of the consistent piece. And most people aren't buying and selling homes every year. So we just want you to think about us when you do when you know someone who does
Jan Southern:Right. You're top of mind. Your name is in the back of their mind when a friend needs a realtor or a new person moves into the neighborhood, you know, into the community. Right looking for a realtor or something like
Trisha Cook:That's Right. And if we ever stop that consistent marketing, they're gonna forget about us and go on to the next person.
Jan Southern:Yeah, it's a very competitive market too. Right? Very competitive. To keep at it, you do and you you serve all of South Georgia but your offices in pooler, Georgia, so it would tell me just talk about polar for a minute, you know, the growth and
Unknown:right well, it's cooler in Pooler. That's for sure. In 2009, I started a little Facebook page called it's Cooler in Pooler. I think we have about 40,000 fans on it, which is awesome products thank you, and we just watching pooler grow has been phenomenal. I moved to pooler i
Jan Southern:genius, by the way,
Trisha Cook:Thank in you. In 1999 when I bought my first house and there was man, I mean, not that everyone on this podcast is gonna know where Pooler is, but man, it's so much larger than it was and it just continues to grow is one of the fastest growing cities in the southeast. But we also service you know, all of Georgia and South Carolina,
Jan Southern:right and so so up through where you know Effingham County that's also growing just, you know, on the same pace as pooler did maybe five years ago, and then that goes up into South Carolina, which is so you serve all of that area.
Trisha Cook:Absolutely. Employers kind of the central location, I think, are where we serve. So if you're going to Bluffton or you're going to Richmond Hill or Tybee, it's all about like coolers, just the central location,
Jan Southern:You're all over Savannah, too, right?
Trisha Cook:For sure.
Jan Southern:And do you think that marketing has changed over time? Has it changed your business how you do business? Because we know with digital and social media and everything, it's kind of it's really, it's changed a lot and probably even five or 10 years, but how has it changed for you?
Trisha Cook:It's definitely easier to market to a group of clients when you have past clients. So it's definitely changed a lot from when I was a new agent. It's also a lot easier to market when you have money in reserves to spend on marketing, right. So it changes for us a lot yearly, of course, the social media and Internet changes of the world. But back when I first started, I did everything I could for free or little funds, because I didn't have a lot of money for anything other than grocery or bills, right? So luckily, there's been a few free things that you can do. But like networking, like we were just talking about. And now I have a rather large marketing budget and a marketing coordinator that's full time to maximize that budget each and every month. But the fundamentals have never changed. Being consistent, never changed. Just because we got busy, or because we quote unquote didn't need the business. I know you've probably heard that a lot. I feel like that should be looked at as building blocks and not put away in a good market, which unfortunately happens a lot in every business, especially a man.
Jan Southern:Yeah, you need to reserve some for when when times are slow, but never let up on it. Because the consistency like you said is so important. Right? And what if you were to give advice to an up and coming realtor, talk a minute about the the number of Realtors, I think you and I'm putting you on the spot and for the exact number. But you mentioned this a few weeks ago in a conversation we had and I was astounded at how many realtors are in the area. So there's a little over 2600 in the Savannah MLS. And I think that grows by an average of about five a day.
Trisha Cook:Wow. Right? we definitely have more Realtors than we have homes that have sold. Right. And that's, I mean, it's just the truth.
Jan Southern:And so what what would be advice for someone who's considering becoming a realtor? And then how would they prepare to work for your company? Those are two different questions.
Trisha Cook:Yeah, well, so first, your real estate school taught you absolutely nothing that you're actually going to need to know in this business, other than staying out of jail. So you need to make sure you work for a brokerage that has a very in depth depth training, and get yourself a good mentor. So many agents look for a company that has like the least amount of monthly fees or splits. And they're just not really looking at the big picture, another group of people I'd like to shake sometimes. And after you try it on your own for a while, you'll probably realize that it's a lot harder and a lot more work than you thought it was. And you know, so just don't give up. It'll come Don't give up. Back when I started. There were no teams. But luckily, I had a great mentor, and a few great agents in my office and I kind of formed a non team team, which helped me get through for sure. And if I was doing it all over again, I'd probably join a team. And also you're never ever going to arrive in this business. You're going to always need more education, and you're never going to not need your fellow realtors. So just don't be one of those agents if you can help it. They're definitely not any fun to work with. And you're just not a good co broke and you're also if you're not a good co brook you're putting your clients at risk. What's a co broke Co broker is just that your co broking with another agent to sell a house. So if I have the listing, and another agent sells it, we're co brokering together. Right? And so that person is not a good co broker not not easy to work with. That's not good for their client. Right? So for the client, right? So always remain humble and always remain smart and hungry like we talked about
Jan Southern:Yeah. And you said You're never satisfied. So that's just something in you but there are a lot of people who are just fine with the Quick Sale. Are you know, just doing the basics are the average. So you're really more always wanting to learn, always looking to better what you did the last time, the next sale or the next interaction, you want it to be better than the one before. And that's a really important trait for an entrepreneur. I sometimes forget when I was talking to someone today about this the step back and celebrate the wins, but because I'm always looking to do it better the next time. So is Do you think that's a trait of an entrepreneur? Or, you know, to be that way?
Trisha Cook:I definitely think that's a trait of an entrepreneur, forgetting to celebrate and needing to celebrate, right? For sure.
Jan Southern:Yeah. So any advice for an entrepreneur, whether it's real estate or any other type of business,
Trisha Cook:it's much of the same advice that I was given for a real estate agent, consistency in great service, I think is the name of the game. I don't care. If you're running a restaurant or a marketing firm, I feel like that's probably equally important. answer your phones, call people back, always put your clients first and be consistent in your marketing, your lead generation, your continuing education, or anything else that you can do, and find a good mentor, right? Surround yourself with people that are smarter than you.
Jan Southern:I know, right? That's so important. For sure. Yeah. That's great. Is there anything else that you would like people to know about the Tricia Cook Team?
Trisha Cook:Yeah, give us a call. If you're looking to buy or sell a home, we promise you that you're going to be happy with our service and actually have something we call the promise that will say to you multiple times throughout the entire process, where we're promising you we're going to give you five star service, we're promising you we're going to anticipate your needs. were promising, you are going to be proactive and not reactive to anything that's needed throughout the process. And in return, we hope that you're going to promise us to give us all of your referrals and five star reviews at the end of the process. We also have a moving truck, so buy or sell a home with me use our truck for free. So anybody that's looking to buy or sell a home, I hope you give us a call. And also we're always hiring other great real estate professionals. So if you're a real estate professional, and you're listening to this and you want to talk please give me a call.
Jan Southern:That's great. Yeah, you if you want to work for a great, successful caring person and a wonderful team, because I've gotten to know your team a little bit too. Please don't you know, you really should jump on it and talk with the Tricia Cook team. So thank you so much for being here.
Trisha Cook:Thank you, I really enjoyed it
Jan Southern:I hope you're enjoying the it's all marketing podcast. I really love bringing together people who have been successful using good solid marketing strategies. And it's just a pleasure to bring these stories to you and to share information with you as you grow your business. And if you're tired and frustrated with trying to choose what marketing strategies to use, or what social media tactics to use to grow your business, I have watched hundreds of business owners throw money at different tactics, only to be overwhelmed and kind of gun shy as spending any more money on marketing and advertising. So I have a 11 session one to one program that I'd like to offer to you. It will help you attract the right customer build a successful marketing strategy that's going to bring you incredible results and grow your business. You can find more detail at Jan southern.com/consult. And also if you have any questions or you just want to reach out to me, you can reach me at Jan@JDelSurmarketing.com Thank you so much.