How to Sell Your Real Estate Business Using Your CRM | Courtney Schafer Coaching Interview

Dylan Silver (00:01.442)
Hey folks, welcome back to the show. Today’s guest is a nationwide CRM trainer for Bold Trail CRM, the owner of Core Coaching for Real Estate and team lead for Show Me Texas Real Estate with Jay Parr Real Estate. Please welcome Courtney Schafer. Courtney, welcome to the show.

Courtney Schafer (00:21.434)
Thank you for having me, Dylan.

Dylan Silver (00:23.786)
I understand that you’re in Ontario today by way of Texas. How is Ontario?

Courtney Schafer (00:31.098)
It is gorgeous. We’re outside, so hopefully the noise level stays down, but it is gorgeous. It feels like air conditioning outside. A lot different than the 100 degrees in Texas, so yes, it’s beautiful.

Dylan Silver (00:43.944)
I am a little jealous. This is probably the perfect time of year to be in Ontario, right?

Courtney Schafer (00:46.616)
you

Mm-hmm, it is, it is. My husband’s Canadian, so we have family up here.

Dylan Silver (00:53.958)
Okay, so you’re up there. Well, what is it? How would you say to you know, Ontario versus Texas? I’ve not been up there. What’s the culture like up there?

Courtney Schafer (01:03.834)
It is, my Canadian family is hilarious. I think every single Canadian is probably the funniest people I’ve ever met. A lot of our comedians come from Canada, so, and it’s beautiful. It’s called God’s country for a reason. So you can, it’s easy to have a green thumb up here. So everything’s beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.

Dylan Silver (01:30.392)
You know, some of it is I grew up in the East Coast and lived in Boston for like five or six years and so I said, I don’t know if I ever want to deal with the cold but then I see these beautiful landscapes like the one behind you and I said, maybe I gotta check it out at least in the summer and then I can snowbird down to, I don’t know, Tampa, Florida or something like this. But I want to…

Courtney Schafer (01:42.714)
Thank

Courtney Schafer (01:48.76)
Yes, my husband is Texan Texan.

Dylan Silver (01:53.976)
There you go. There you go. I want to ask you Courtney about getting into the real estate space, right? So right now, of course, you’re in the coaching space, but how did you get into real estate?

Courtney Schafer (02:07.45)
I got in real estate when I had littles and I was basically a Houstonian in Houston, Texas and I helped real estate agents kind of find homes for their clients that weren’t Houstonians. So I just stayed at home and I helped other agents and really kind of enjoyed finding that special home for their clients. so I kind of

really received a lot of positive feedback. And then my real estate agent basically wanted me to work with her. And so I did. Claudia Price, amazing woman. And so we bought and sold a couple of homes together. And then I decided to get my real estate license. And I jumped into it for part time.

And then my productivity coach was like, you know, you were in sports, right? And so I said yes. And so she really touched my competitive side. And so it really didn’t happen for me in real estate until I took a cap before December 31st. And if you are from Texas, then you’re familiar with Harvey, the hurricane. And so it really devastated Houston.

And so the day Harvey hit, I was supposed to be in this first day of the class, and that was in August. And so from August to December 31st, I had to cap. And I didn’t do it. It was hard. They gave us play money, $80,000, and we were running down to the classes, so we weren’t late. And you would lose $10,000 if you were late to anything, which taught

us to be on time or you know early and so I didn’t cap by December 31st but I capped by the end of January. So it was beautiful. I had a whole half a year to get a hundred percent commission. It was just a really good competitive encouraging moment for me and then I realized through that really doing everything that we’re taught

Courtney Schafer (04:30.198)
in real estate, know, make your phone calls, time management, everything we’re supposed to be doing. If you do it, it works. And so then the systems and the technology came in to play. And that was my new mountain to climb. And I climbed it and I really enjoyed it. And then I started educating other agents. And so it’s more like collaboration rather than competition. So I really enjoyed that.

part.

Dylan Silver (05:00.8)
Let’s talk about climbing the mountain for a sec. So I’m a newly licensed agent and really haven’t done anything if I’m being transparent on the real estate agent side. prior to this and still to this day, I’m very passionate about wholesale and worked with lots of investors and distressed sellers. And I think one of the things that that taught me is, which is so true, is real estate is a contact sport. You mentioned like sports.

Courtney Schafer (05:03.566)
Mm-hmm.

Courtney Schafer (05:21.274)
Mm-hmm.

Dylan Silver (05:29.718)
kind of mentality it is, right? You really have to be out there, you know what I mean? And what was your process like and growing and getting those deals and getting to your cap and how did that go for you?

Courtney Schafer (05:32.652)
Mm-hmm. Yes, absolutely.

Courtney Schafer (05:45.816)
I would have to say that going from being a brand new agent into a really competitive, intense, what seasoned agents were doing and had mastered over years, I was kind of really pushed into it. really, I think that that really helped me have a good foundation of my business rather than just going out and selling.

I had a foundation for my business and a lot of new agents miss that step. Miss setting up their business. Forget it that it’s real estate. Forget you’re houses. But having that foundation of a business and that means get your Google business. That’s free. You know there’s all these free things that you need to do to set up your business to actually that you don’t have to go back.

Right? We’ve all heard the class, you know, back to the basics. It’s because the agents haven’t done that from the beginning. So especially with their technology, you know, everybody asks, you know, how long does it take to train an assistant? That’s, you know, and they’re like, never, you know, forever. But really, when you set your systems up, it’s a defined set time. And so

Dylan Silver (07:09.006)
Yeah.

Courtney Schafer (07:10.308)
for two or three months, you can set up all of your systems, all of your processes, and then that’ll save you at least, I mean, I guarantee you can save at least 30 hours a week just by setting up your systems in advance.

Dylan Silver (07:26.048)
I agree completely and I know I’m not doing enough of this, but just simple things like when you say setting up in advance, I just think about like calendar blocking my next two days even. Right. And I know that that’s such a granular small thing to do. Right. But it’s just a thing for me. I was thinking about this day, like maybe I’ll do one day in advance. And then of course, if I have events and if I have podcasts around my calendar, but what am I doing to time block my free time?

Courtney Schafer (07:36.762)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Dylan Silver (07:53.932)
Right? What am I doing a time block that time so that it’s structured so that when I’m going to sleep today, I’m thinking about, okay, tomorrow, but then also the next day to kind of keep the momentum going there. I do want to pivot a bit though here, Courtney, and ask you about selling and building a sellable business in the real estate space. Because we talked about this a little bit. You mentioned it before hopping on the podcast here. And I’ve heard, you know, that it can be challenging to build a sellable

Courtney Schafer (07:55.098)
Mm-hmm.

Courtney Schafer (08:17.327)
Yes.

Dylan Silver (08:23.298)
business and real estate because what is it that you’re exactly selling if you don’t have you know lots of property or if you’re a listing agent right what is it that you’re selling and in my mind a lot of it is the connections and the team and the CRM so walk me through how how to build a sellable business

Courtney Schafer (08:42.81)
Absolutely.

So it’s very simple. A lot of people think it’s complicated. But there’s a statistic that is changed. it’s about if you have 300 people in your CRM system that you are nurturing, that you’re communicating with, that they know you, they want to work with you, and let’s say 300, you’re going to get 10%.

of that as transactions. So you don’t have to have thousands and thousands and spam and bug people. You can keep it very simple in your numbers as long as you’re intentional. Your education, you know, to your, the consumer and to your clients. Transparency, right? We’re all dealing with transparency. So all of these things, you don’t have to have a huge, huge database to be able to sell it.

because if you’re 10 % of 300 is 30. And so if you have 30 transactions, you could literally sell that or transfer that to another agent and retire. Glenda Baker put that in one of her little reels. And there are seasoned agents that want to partner with retiring agents.

in the easiest way is a CRM because it just transfers the data. We’re a little bit different though. We actually request that the agent stays on six months to a year so they can actually integrate the team to help them and then a retirement party. So an actual real estate retirement party. So it’s all packaged with a nice big bow. We actually teach them how to put their CRM together.

Dylan Silver (10:34.476)
Yeah.

Courtney Schafer (10:43.578)
and actually organize it so their clients, they don’t drop off because it’s just a different person. It’s actually nurtured in a new way and in really kind way to the agent and to their customers. So I’d have to say kindness is going to be one of the pillars that when you transfer over your business to another agent, know, there’s business brokers all over the place.

that can audit a business and that’s what we kind of do is we audit a business to see how much revenue is going to come in and actually set up a plan for that agent.

Dylan Silver (11:12.343)
Right.

Dylan Silver (11:26.936)
think a lot of people who are building teams are excited to hear this because you think, you know, I’m building the team, but it’s so that we can do more volume. But it’s also so that you can have a business that’s more valuable as well because their connections are your connections. Do you need to be a broker to sell a real estate business or can individual agents or team lead sell their business as well?

Courtney Schafer (11:42.391)
Okay.

Courtney Schafer (11:47.738)
They can. Yes, no, you don’t need a

Dylan Silver (11:52.524)
And how common is that right now?

Courtney Schafer (11:56.13)
It’s not common because agents, know, last year was like the worst year in 30 years in the real estate residential. So a lot of agents just left and they had a gold mine in their database. so, and their gold mine is their cell phone, all the contacts, right? So they got out of the business and a lot of seasoned agents are like, before you get out of the business, let’s chat.

Dylan Silver (12:03.192)
Right.

Dylan Silver (12:10.637)
Yeah.

Courtney Schafer (12:24.866)
before you get out of the business. And you’ll see a lot of that start coming, you know, and really sharing before you get out of the business, talk to me. And it doesn’t matter where you are. It’s really about the agent and how long they have worked. You know, the consumer thinks that, you know, the 30 minutes that you spend to sign the contract at the title company is, you know, that’s…

all the work that they’ve ever done, you know, and it’s not the 90 hours that they spend on a transaction, right? Nobody sees that part or the continuing education or, you know, juggling, driving all over the place for free. So they really don’t see that. So it’s really even agents think, well, what is my little database worth? Probably not a whole lot.

Dylan Silver (12:57.816)
Ryan.

Courtney Schafer (13:17.978)
So I’m actually going to move inside because it is getting loud. But I have to say that that is really important to agents to understand and we want to educate agents. And it’s not easy to educate agents of getting out of the business. So being a mentor and a coach, we really work towards their goal. What are they trying to achieve rather than our goal?

Dylan Silver (13:21.474)
That’s it, man.

Courtney Schafer (13:47.81)
trying to coach them.

Dylan Silver (13:49.6)
Now, I don’t know if you can answer this question, so you may have to pass on this one, but I’m so new to this. I’m curious. If someone is doing, you know, 20 to 30 transactions a year in Texas, which is good, right? You’re making a good living doing that if you’re doing that. Right. And they decide, you know what? I’m going to get out of the business. I’m going to go do something else. And they don’t take any money, right? They don’t sell their business or what have you then, right? They missed an opportunity. But if they were to go sell their business, you know,

Courtney Schafer (14:01.302)
excellent.

Courtney Schafer (14:09.944)
Mm-hmm.

Courtney Schafer (14:13.786)
Mm-hmm.

Dylan Silver (14:19.266)
What would the process be and then maybe what would be the range that they could sell it for?

Courtney Schafer (14:25.306)
So it’s not necessarily, and I’ll be completely transparent, they’re not actually getting a lump sum of money to sell their business. It is actually on the transactions that we nurture after they retire. then they get, it’s almost like referrals. But there’s different scenarios on how to set it up and we coach them through that.

So let’s say that Dallas agent that you are, you have maybe been in the business for five years, you have a database and you’ve done maybe 15 to 30 transactions per year. And so then we kind of project it out. So if that continues, or let’s say maybe it’s half of it because some of the agents want to be loyal to you specifically, but they don’t, you know,

know the next people coming in or the team that’s coming in to help them. So that’s really on us to nurture them. But at the same time, we know that there’s a percentage that’s going to drop off, right? Because maybe their neighbor is a real estate agent or their niece is a real estate agent. So we really kind of project it out. And then it’s like a referral lead. and then we kind of work.

with the different scenarios. It’s kind of a deep dive on the different scenario that they can choose.

Dylan Silver (16:02.41)
Okay, so there’s effectively a way for them to have residual income from their business without being in the business, right?

Courtney Schafer (16:08.762)
Absolutely.

Dylan Silver (16:12.588)
Now is it advisable, and again, this is something you don’t want to answer, of course, tell me. But is it advisable for them to keep their license after the fact? Or would it be better for them if they, you know?

Courtney Schafer (16:23.684)
Those are the different scenarios so they can keep their license. There’s several other ways that we can do it. It really depends on their transaction level, price point level, what they’re looking to get out of it. Some agents think it’s too complicated, but it is a simple process.

So it really is a deep dive conversation on their needs. Also, it can even go further to, you know, if they pass away, the residuals can go, you know, to their children. They can pass it down. mm-hmm. And so there’s different scenarios and each agent will choose which one they like.

Dylan Silver (17:04.438)
I said can, yeah.

Dylan Silver (17:16.158)
Courtney, we are coming up on time here. Thank you for giving us some gold here today. Where can folks go if they’d maybe like to learn more about your business or maybe have questions themselves about scaling a sellable real estate business?

Courtney Schafer (17:31.428)
Well, you can go to corecoaching.realestate. That’s our website. And then we’re on Instagram and Facebook, and it’s at core coaching for real estate. And you can find us there.

Dylan Silver (17:43.822)
Courtney, thank you so much for coming on the show here today.

Courtney Schafer (17:47.798)
thank you for having me, Dylan.