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The past few years have been a wild ride in the world of real estate. Spiked with periods of uncertainty, the market moved faster than many could have predicted, with conditions seemingly turning on a dime.
Shifts can be jarring and even discouraging for both novice and experienced agents. So, how does a growing real estate company keep its distributed team motivated while also fostering a community of perpetual learning?
In an episode of our “Behind the Mic: The Creator Series,” John Makarewicz and Bobby Hughes of Mark Spain Real Estate talk about how developing a private podcast has led to a stronger team of agents and better communication across their team, especially as the company expands to new cities and states.
Click here to listen to the full episode: https://www.buzzsprout.com/881431/11428752
How podcasting helps grow this real estate empire
On a drive from Raleigh to Atlanta, it’s impossible to drive more than ten miles without seeing a billboard for one of Mark Spain Real Estate’s teams, speculates John Makarewicz, the agency’s Director of Operations.
The real estate company is growing rapidly across the south. As new offices began to open across the country, Makarewicz noticed how some teams were missing out on learning opportunities that were occurring at other offices.
He would travel to different offices and participate in morning huddles, where inevitably, an agent would ask a great question. Makarewicz would share an anecdote, story, or solution from his years of real estate experience with the team, spontaneously creating a teaching moment.
The next day, a different question would come up when he’d head to another office. Another good question would lead to a different discussion, meaning each satellite office had a uniquely different educational experience.
With multiple teams showcasing great learning opportunities, an important question remained: how could the team share the knowledge with all agents, across all offices?
The answer was private podcasting.
“Long story short, we started looking for platforms in which we could create an internal podcast,” explained Makarewicz.
What started as a simple idea became a major communications tool for the real estate company. Now, with more than 200 episodes published, the team at Mark Spain has a clear idea of how private podcasting helps transform the way agents stay up-to-date within the company.
Sharing knowledge through private podcasting
The podcasting initiative at Mark Spain Real Estate started with Bobby Hughes, one of their top-selling agents.
In early episodes of the podcast, Hughes and Makarewicz launched an audio series where they discussed popular industry-related topics.
Hughes had a vision to “lift everyone up at the same time through this passive [podcasting] approach. We’re on the road a lot, so if you can give somebody something that they can listen to off of their phone, we found a lot of value in that.”
As they continued recording, the podcast evolved, with Hughes interviewing vendors in the real estate space, as well as agents with years of experience on their lessons learned.
Lessons learned after three years of podcasting
Since the first episode dropped, the Mark Spain Real Estate team saw the positive impact of private podcasting on agents.
The podcast quickly became a tool for agents to recommend to each other, as a sort of fast track to success during onboarding and beyond.
In addition to onboarding and continuing education, Mark Spain uses private podcasts to talk about trends in the real estate industry, including “helping the team understand that despite what the news media might say, this is not unusual or unprecedented.”
Podcasting is an easy way to talk about breaking news as it applies to the world of real estate, such as communicating with agents in nearly real-time to talk about what’s going on with everything from the market to interest rates.
And now, nearly three years in, Makarewicz and Hughes have a few other tips for beginning podcasters:
👉 Promote, promote, promote. “We make sure their notifications are set up [in Storyboard] so they get that push notification. When a new episode drops, we also send out an email,” Makarewicz said.
👉 Make it a part of onboarding. Anytime an agent starts at Mike Spain, they have them download Storyboard on day one. New agents even have a specific playlist for onboarding and education.
👉 Start with your mission. If you’re not sure where to start with content, begin with the company’s mission. Let visions and values guide your podcast. “I think that’s the simplest kind of framework or template to start with,” Makarewicz advised.
👉 Talk, then record. If it’s their first time podcasting, some guests may come in a little apprehensive. For Hughes, the trick to warming up a guest is sitting and talking for 5 or 10 minutes, sometimes 15 minutes, to get a feel for your guest’s conversation style. Then hit record, do a quick intro, and start the bulk of the interview.
Next stop: your very own company podcast
Ready to use audio to inspire your team? Get ready to hit record with Storyboard.
Whether you’re sharing updates or educating your audience on best practices, private podcasting is a simple way to keep your teams engaged and up-to-date.
Start a private podcast on Storyboard today. Creating a free account and launching a channel for up to 50 listeners. Interested in an enterprise plan? Contact the sales team for more information or to receive a free platform demo.
“Behind the Mic: The Creator Series” is Storyboard’s own podcast featuring users who share why they brought podcasting to their organization, what makes audio a distinct communication tool for deskless and remote workers, and much more.
