Never underestimate the power of word-of-mouth referrals. Elizabeth McNally, founder of The Elizabeth McNally Real Estate Collective, will be the first to tell you that. Especially in times of uncertainty, establishing trust and ensuring that you’re creating the best possible experience for clients will always be one of the most powerful forms of marketing.
Chief Executive Officer of The Real Brokerage, Tamir Poleg, sat down with the Alberta-based real estate agent to learn more about her all-female team and how she generates business.
Tamir: The Elizabeth McNally Real Estate Collective is an all-female team. How did that transpire?
Elizabeth: You know, we connect really well. It wasn’t intentional. I love working with male and female agents, it's just been the way the growth has come. I'm always looking for other people that will fit into the culture of our group. With staging, it's really hands-on, and I do find that women are more interested in that portion of it. That was originally how we ended up where we're at, but I'm open to anybody that's interested in joining that fits in with the crew.
Tamir: So it’s all about that personal connection.
Elizabeth: I think so. Working really hard is a big part of what we focus on in the culture of our group. We want to make sure that our clients come out feeling really satisfied. It's a referral-based growth that we've experienced. I've never advertised beyond just word of mouth, so it's always just been really happy clients telling their friends and family.
Tamir: How do you generate business?
Elizabeth: I observe how other agents advertise, and I was really lucky early on. I started social media earlier than most agents in our marketplace. I had an amazing assistant 12 years ago, and we got started on Facebook before anyone else was doing it at the time. I think if you're consistent and try new things, the direction to growing your market is better than the typical billboard advertisements.
Tamir: You have a beautiful presence on Instagram, and you're doing amazing listing presentations and your overall Instagram account is just impeccable.
Elizabeth: Oh, thank you.
Tamir: Any advice for agents who want to even try to get to that level of optics on Instagram, on showcasing listings, and just having such an impressive social media presence?
Elizabeth: If I was going to give some advice to people, I'd say to just try it. Start putting collateral out there, and then maybe just make it your own. Try a few different things. You can always change it up. You shift it throughout the year, try different things, see what people are interested in, and just go for it. I mean, what's the worst that could happen? You can just delete something if it doesn't work out. Plus, people should participate in other people's social media. Building a community is very important. I would suggest focusing on your immediate network and your marketplace.
Tamir: Do you actually measure what percentage of your business is coming from Instagram?
Elizabeth: To a point, yes. Facebook is pretty great for us. I would say about 20% of my business now is coming from people seeing our posts. It’s really important to us.
Tamir: Yeah, I agree. It’s going more and more towards that. If you're not on social media, if you're not on Instagram and TikTok...
Elizabeth: You have to get there. TikTok is my next thing that I need to start working on because it's just... you get so embedded in something that you're working on, and then it's making that new shift. I'm excited to do that, but it’s just about finding the time.
Tamir: Elizabeth, thank you very much for your time today and thank you for being a part of the Real family. I really appreciate it.
Elizabeth: Honestly, Tamir, we're so excited about it. When we had this opportunity to join Real, I just knew it was the evolution of real estate. I really feel that this is such an exciting time for us, and being able to get in early has meant a lot to me and the team.
Tamir: Thank you for saying that. I actually wake up in the morning every day and just cannot believe that this is happening to me, working with so many incredible people and building something great.
Elizabeth: It's the best real estate brokerage I've ever experienced in that sense. The collaboration that I've experienced in such a short time period…that's what I love and that's what I was looking for.
For more information about The Elizabeth McNally Real Estate Collective, visit their website here.
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