How to Use Video, LinkedIn & Body Language to Attract More Real Estate Clients

Kathryn Janicek (00:00)
Get on video. Create videos. Show, post them on LinkedIn. Post them wherever you think your customer is. Also, practice on video. A lot of times we think that we’re great, that we’re gonna be great for that meeting. I will tell you, please, please, please, take a very cheap and easy way to get coaching. Take your iPhone and set it up on your desk and talk to it.

Tell it all the things that the way you talk about your, you protect customers differently than other folks.

Scott Bursey (02:10)
Welcome back to the Real Estate Pros podcast powered by Investor Fuel. I’m your host, Scott Bursey. And today we have a guest who specializes in injecting a serious presence and persuasion into your fuel tank. We are joined by Kathryn Janicek, a three time award winning communications expert. She is here to show our pros how to master their message. Own the room and close more deals by translating high stakes media strategies into practical

everyday frameworks. Get ready to elevate your game because Kathryn is here to put fuel in our tanks. Kathryn welcome to the show.

Kathryn Janicek (02:47)
All

I love it. Thanks, Scott. Thanks for having me.

Scott Bursey (02:50)
It’s awesome to have you here. And Kathryn, for those of our listeners who may not be familiar with your journey, please tell us, how did your career begin and what is your main focus now?

Kathryn Janicek (03:03)
My career began 20 years in television. So network TV running television programs across the country. So Detroit, Minneapolis, Memphis, Champaign, Illinois, everywhere, Chicago. And then I was about 11 years ago, a lot of TV stations, lot of, you you all have seen the news. A lot of journalists have lost their jobs in the last 20 or 30 years. And about 11 years ago, I found myself in that position. And I thought,

My gosh, I have watched all of these CEOs, these real estate pros, all these folks come on my television shows when we’re looking for a sound bite or to interview them live about something happening, maybe interest rates coming down, you bring a real estate person on, you know, you’ve watched local news and national news. I was the person who would have those people on and I would watch them not give their message in a way where they got the return on investment.

You know, I felt like I saw them. I’m like, I felt bad. I’m like, no one’s going to call them. Right. And so 11 years ago, I started our company to be purely media coaching, helping people give a great soundbite on a podcast on CNBC, MSNBC 60 minutes. And then every leader said, can you coach our entire team on how to speak this way on a stage or in front of our teams on, you know, on zoom?

or in front of our teams in a meeting or a boardroom. And so now we are communication experts. We coach leaders on how to communicate and make a bigger impact anytime they show up with someone, one person or many people.

Scott Bursey (04:41)
That’s incredible. And Kathryn, what really caught my attention about you was the way you’ve been able to translate high stakes media and political communication strategies into practical frameworks for business owners to achieve instant authority and trust. That clarity is pure investor fuel.

Kathryn Janicek (05:02)
It is, it’s pure investor fuel. It’s, so interesting that you, I love the name of your podcast. love Investor Fuel because this is what we teach folks. They say ahead of communications or head of marketing of a company will come to us and say, our CEO, our CFO, our, you know, CMO, our chief marketing officer, they are so good at their jobs, but we’re about to go in front of investors.

We need our company to go public in March or April, and they’re going to speak to business analysts or business journalists. And we need to create the story in the news and then in front of these business analysts to show that we are worth investing in on the stock market or through private equity or whatever it is. And so we literally, I love the name of what you do because we help give these leadership teams the investor fuel with their communications.

Scott Bursey (05:57)
And just for the record, the name of the company is JPG.

Kathryn Janicek (06:01)
Yes, that is correct.

Scott Bursey (06:03)
Okay, awesome. And it’s time to fuel up with some rapid fires strategic insights, Kathryn. to know what is the biggest strength the real estate pro gains by mastering a clear message?

Kathryn Janicek (07:05)
It is, it’s making sure you reach that customer, right? Making sure you reach that client. It is, we have to make sure that our communication is so focused. You know, I was in television, which is broadcasting, right? To a lot of people, but we want to make sure in marketing, in communications, we want to make sure we’re as narrow casting as we possibly can. So it’s speaking directly to that person or you’re going to get flooded with.

DMs on social media or phone calls from people who are not your customer. And that’s, it’s a waste of our time, right? As that expert. So that is key, key, key, key.

Scott Bursey (07:42)
Yeah, we want to work efficiently. We want to hone in and communicate that message to the audience that that we want to communicate that message to. That makes perfect sense. And that strength is the instant authority, really, and trust you need to build as the go-to expert in your niche.

Kathryn Janicek (08:03)
Correct. And you know, our communications needs to build trust and we really need to trust that person. There’s a lot of folks out there who are real estate pros and the real way to make the biggest impact and get folks to call fast is that vocal delivery, that body language to evoke trust immediately. So someone says, that’s my person that I’m going to trust with my future.

And that’s a huge responsibility, but we can say that with very simple tweaks to our communications.

Scott Bursey (08:36)
Kathryn, what is the most common communications mistake real estate professionals make in high stakes presentations or investor discussions?

Kathryn Janicek (08:47)
I would say, you know, I’ve been a part of some of these conversations and it’s making the person feel rushed. A lot of times, well, all the time, your heart rate, your breathing will lower the audience’s heart rate and their breathing and they will feel more calm with how you deliver your message. And a simple thing like not making someone feel rushed.

or scared that they’re gonna back away because of our delivery can gain so much trust. I’m speaking to an investment person or my financial wealth plan or whatever it is or a realtor, you wanna make sure that you make that person feel like you’re not creating a lack of trust, right? I think that is absolutely one of the most important things we can do.

Scott Bursey (09:39)
Sometimes just slowing things down is all it takes.

Kathryn Janicek (09:44)
Correct I got an email recently and someone said, your time. You can take your time with this decision. And that makes me feel as the customer, the client, like I’m in more control, right? And even if you’re the person in control of everything, right? Because you have all the knowledge and this investor doesn’t, know, sometimes making sure that they feel like they’re in control is huge. It’s huge. It builds trust.

Scott Bursey (10:09)
Absolutely.

That’s called connection. And that’s where the communication begins.

Kathryn Janicek (10:14)
Yes.

Scott Bursey (10:49)
Absolutely. Kathryn, what is the biggest opportunity for your company? JPG.

Kathryn Janicek (10:54)
Right now there’s so much growth with AI. was like a couple of years ago where we had so much growth with our clients with crypto. lot of crypto founders were finding us or their teams were finding us because all of a sudden they needed to be on CNBC, MSNBC, you know, today show, whatever, talking about, you know, a very complex topic like crypto. We, know, with AI right now, we’re getting a lot of founders who are now

have a $200 million company and they never knew how to communicate in the media on conference stages in front of so many employees that they all of sudden have. And so I see that as a huge need and we’re getting the influx of phone calls. And I love that. Also a really cool opportunity is making sure that you show up in those AI searches. I know that the

big push in the past has been, know, SEO search engine optimization. And we have found inside of our own firm. And if, you know, if someone who’s listening right now hasn’t already started taking advantage of this, the real big opportunity is making sure that you’re showing up in those AI searches, making sure you’re showing up in AEI, the LMMs. We are finding so many clients, customers are coming to us right now saying, I found you on AI. I found you on an AI search. that’s

Chat GPT or Claude or any of these things. So you’ve got to feed those. So one of those things of how to feed them is by showing up in the media because media placements being on a really well trusted local media or national media website helps feed those LMMs that AI search. So showing up there and making sure that you’re on great podcasts like this or in local media or national media. And that’s what we do. Like we help folks show up there.

Also LinkedIn, if you’re not showing up as a thought leader on LinkedIn right now, it’s a huge mess. You absolutely need to be writing posts on LinkedIn because those are helping search. LinkedIn posts, like so a lot of folks will say, I don’t find a need for that. I’m gonna tell you right now, a lot of our customers find us because of what we write on LinkedIn. And that is something so easy and so free. It takes no money.

to write and talk about your expertise and how smart, know, share what you know about your industry right there on LinkedIn. So you’ll have more people find you by showing up on LinkedIn.

Scott Bursey (13:28)
I love how you frame that. It’s how you position yourself in the market.

Kathryn Janicek (13:33)
Exactly, exactly. And a lot of folks come to us and they say, well, someone else knows more than I do. And you know what? That’s not true. You know, that’s a lot of our own mindset and our blocks, right? So you know so much more than you think you know, and showing up as that expert on LinkedIn as a thought leader is huge. And you will find your world will open up greatly and you’ll make more money. I know that we’ve had customers come to us and say, I’ve been just watching how you educate on LinkedIn.

I would love to send you an MSA, a master services agreement. I want you to come and coach our teams on how to make sure that they show up like the thought leaders they are on LinkedIn and coach them for media, et cetera, just because of what I’ve been talking about on LinkedIn, because they see automatically that I’m the expert. And I want your listeners to see how they can use LinkedIn. It’s huge. And like I said, it’s free. Yes, it’s your time. It takes deliberate time, but it also is not like,

coming up and creating ads, right? Where they cost a lot of money right away.

Scott Bursey (14:36)
And along those lines, if someone’s listening to this and they’re thinking, hey, this is somebody that I like to learn from. What would you like them to know first about your business?

Kathryn Janicek (15:27)
We are all surrounded by yes men. People who tell us, my god Scott, that was great. my gosh, Jane, you’re amazing. No, no, wouldn’t do a thing. I wouldn’t touch a thing. I wouldn’t change a thing about yourself. And what we do is we’re that honest, loving mirror who will show you immediately the small tweaks to make to get an even bigger impact with every single person you talk to.

And I find that to be an incredible, I feel so lucky to be able to do that for people because I help them make more money quickly. And I help them attract the best rock stars to their company. If they’re, you know, owners, operators, if they’re CEOs and they’re looking to hire people because I show them little ways on how to build more trust. So more people say, I want to work for him or I want to work for her.

And so I love the fact that that’s what we do inside of our company. We have body language experts. We have two psychotherapists who are mindset experts who help people get out of their own way. We have those wellness experts inside of our company. We have those media experts, public speaking coaches, and we are there to really show you the things that nobody else is telling you.

Scott Bursey (16:44)
Sometimes it’s those minor adjustments that make the biggest impacts.

Kathryn Janicek (16:49)
It is, it’s not even sometimes, right? It’s a lot of times. We have folks who we record them and we ask them questions that they are asked every single day, day in and out, internally with their own employees and externally with folks who they’re speaking to for the first time. And a lot of times people have no idea that they’re saying one thing verbally, but their face is saying a whole different thing. You know, I am…

I’m a type A, I’m a perfectionist, I’m intense, I’m super focused. And it took me years to realize that my face, that focused face was actually saying, I don’t wanna talk to you right now. The frown brow, the eyes squinted at a computer, that doesn’t say come talk to me. When we cross our arms and we talk to people.

You could be at a neighborhood function and in good doing this. This does not look like I’m a friendly neighbor, right? So making sure these little tweaks all of a sudden show, come talk to me. Ask me every question you want to ask that you feel like might be a dumb question about real estate or real estate investing. I’m open and I’m a friendly person who’s not going to make you feel dumb or out of the loop or back.

behind the times. Our body language says, come ask me questions and let me help you.

Scott Bursey (18:12)
Creating a comfortable environment is so critical. A welcoming environment. Well said, Kathryn. Let me ask you this. Let’s shift gears just a little bit. Any challenges you’re watching closely.

Kathryn Janicek (18:26)
You know, I’m seeing challenges with people who for years were, you know, in lockdown, you know, they weren’t able to socialize during college, you know, that maybe they had to go online for high school and college, and now they’re out there in the workforce. And that is a challenge, right? Whenever we kind of like put people behind when it comes to interpersonal communications. So that’s a challenge. I’m seeing a challenge with just

folks who depend too much on text message and the computer and emails, and they’re not creating really great interpersonal communications. I’m seeing a challenge with folks who are working only on computers and they’re not coming into the workplace. There’s a lot of workplaces who leave it up to the employee, or they call it hybrid, or you can come in, or you can work from home.

And I would say that if there’s an opportunity to work with people and be with people in person, that is where you should be, right? That is where you’re gonna learn really great interpersonal communication and how to change up your voice to create trust. There is nothing that can replace that in-person communication with someone. Having an in-person meeting builds trust so much faster.

than a computer. And I know like my business, a lot of times it’s fast, right? There’s an incredible founder, incredible CEO who is in another city today and he needs to have these rapid conversations with investors. He’s looking to potentially sell 50 or 51 or 49 % of his company. And he’s looking for investors and he’s looking to really create a

an amazing opportunity for his company. And it was a fast thing where I could only coach him on Zoom and he had to go and fly out of town. That is something we have to do very quickly and we have to make the best of it. But always when I’m working with a ⁓ customer, a new company, I like to see if I can get in the room and build that trust faster because I have found I have a longer relationship with that company if I can start the relationship in person.

And that’s something we can all learn from.

Scott Bursey (20:50)
I love that. Kathryn, for the real estate pros listening right now who want to build a truly magnetic personal brand that attracts high net worth investors, what is the best communication rule or principle they must follow to transform their casual networking into high value relationships?

Kathryn Janicek (21:10)
Get on video. Create videos. Show, post them on LinkedIn. Post them wherever you think your customer is. Also, practice on video. A lot of times we think that we’re great, that we’re gonna be great for that meeting. I will tell you, please, please, please, take a very cheap and easy way to get coaching. Take your iPhone and set it up on your desk and talk to it.

Tell it all the things that the way you talk about your, you protect customers differently than other folks.

What your tenants are, what your methodology is, whatever it is, see yourself on video, record yourself, listen to your voice. Does it sound friendly? Does it sound trustworthy? I would actually say, here’s a really good, a lot of us don’t like to see ourselves on video. A lot of us do everything possible.

to avoid watching us back. And I would say a lot of people who you’ve had on this podcast probably may never have watched their podcast back because people don’t like to hear their voice or watch themselves on video. That is totally natural. So here’s something you can do to get around that. Record yourself and then put the phone down and play back the video and just listen to your voice. Does it sound trustworthy? Does it sound excited about your industry? Because a lot of us are very monotone.

Someone asked us a question and we just talked like this at one level and we don’t vary it. We don’t get excited. my gosh, the opportunity is so rich right now. my gosh, there’s no inventory. There’s interest rates, whatever it is. But how do you get excited about what is the opportunity right now and make sure your voice sounds like you’re excited. That’s huge. That grabs people and sucks them right into you. So that is something you can do without even watching yourself if that’s something. And then, and then when you

When you kind of find what you need to work on with your voice, then get the courage to maybe watch your video and see what you look like, because I’m sure that there’s facial cues that could be stopping people from trusting you or doing business with you quickly.

Scott Bursey (23:25)
That was absolutely phenomenal advice and you’ve given us so much excellent advice here today. But is there any golden nuggets you can leave with our listeners, Kathryn?

Kathryn Janicek (23:35)
Golden Nugget is too…

consistently work on yourself. Have that growth mindset to make sure that you know, you know, I have a lot of folks who are in their 50s. I coach a lot of people in their 50s and 60s and they are consistently wanting to be coached. They want to look at the tape. They want to get better. They want to be a better quarterback every single day. They want to sleep better. They want to figure out how to feel better. A lot of folks come to us and they’re coming to us for communications consulting.

communications coaching, how to make a bigger impact with that. And they leave with, my gosh, I need to drink more water. I need to look healthier in my face because people are attracted to folks who look like they take care of themselves. And I love coaching folks who have that mindset of, every day I can be better. So I feel like all of us need to take that golden nugget and think, how can I be better in the next hour? How can I be better tomorrow?

And you’re really only competing with yourself from yesterday, right? You’re not competing against your competition, because there is no competition. There’s only one you. So how can you just get better each day? And that’s the real work we can all do.

Scott Bursey (24:51)
Kathryn, your insights have been pure gold. For those of our listeners that wanna follow your journey or collaborate with you, what’s the best way for them to reach out to you?

Kathryn Janicek (25:01)
You can reach out to me on LinkedIn, Kathryn Janicek, or follow our page JPG Leadership Training on LinkedIn. I’m also on Instagram, which a lot of folks love to be on Instagram. I love that. I love that way of communicating. You can DM me there. However you’d like, I am there and I love answering questions. So please ask me any of your questions, reach out to me. I love helping people.

Scott Bursey (25:24)
Kathryn, thank you so much for joining us today.

Kathryn Janicek (25:27)
Thank you, Scott. This has been awesome. I love following you and getting all of your advice too.

Scott Bursey (25:31)
And to our listeners, we appreciate each and every one of you. If you got value from today’s episode, please subscribe. We have a lineup of exceptional guests, just like Kathryn, who are making a huge impact in the market and the world. Until next time, keep your standards high and your vision clear. We’ll see you in the next episode, everyone.