Mastering Lead Generation: Darren’s Secrets in a Saturated Market

 

Michael Stansbury (00:04.019)
Hello everybody and welcome to the Real Estate Pros podcast. I’m Mike Stansbury.

Darren Peterfi (00:19.17)
Sounds good. Yep.

Darren Peterfi (00:25.272)
pet her feet.

I

Michael Stansbury (00:41.532)
Special guest today, Darren Peterfi out of Mid-Michigan. How are you, sir?

Darren Peterfi (00:46.272)
I am fantastic. Michael, how about yourself?

Michael Stansbury (00:48.5)
Excellent sir, excellent. It’s good to have you on the podcast. We’re going to get into your story in a little bit, but first we’ve got to talk about Investor Fuel. Investor Fuel, help real estate investors, service providers, and real estate entrepreneurs, 2 to 5X their businesses to allow them to build the businesses they’ve always wanted and to allow them to live the lives they’ve always dreamed of. So Darren, tell me, I always like to hear, what’s the origin story? How did you, what were you doing before real estate? What made you pivot to get into this industry?

Darren Peterfi (01:17.902)
Well, it’s a great story to be honest with you. I just got out of the military and I got home. had a young daughter. I went to work at the auto dealership and was working in service and buying our home. It’s been about a year after getting on the service, kind getting prepped to buy a new home. We rented for a year, figured out where we wanted to be. As we’re going through the process, the appraiser came out to

the house and I was talking with the appraiser and I’m a numbers guy and I kind of talking with them and and I’m just like, wow, this is kind of a this kind of cool industry. This is a kind of cool opportunity, you know, and so I looked into it a little bit and I had a few people that I knew that were in mortgages. So I reached out and said, hey, if I became an appraiser, would you send us business? And they’re like, absolutely. So ironically, I went and got my license as a trainee. I hired a license.

Because I had a pile of business coming in the dark

So that’s how I kind of got my foot in the door and I’ve never been a conventional guy. Things have always been non-conventional for me. know, so we just kind of dove into that and away we went. And then as time went along, know, opening real estate and, you know, mortgage and things, they just kind of became a synonymous factor for us. So I started the real estate company, you know, and I had the mortgage partnership and real estate and appraisal.

which kind of all fed each other at that time. And it was great because it gave me an innate ability to know about all of which. had a title partnership, so I could see every facet of the way and understand what clients would go through. So it helped us build a better process to understand. So it gave me that ability to kind of understand every platform. So as years have gone on, now I just, I understand it better. It allows me to actually understand.

Darren Peterfi (03:23.042)
what every aspect is going through and maybe some trials and tribulations along the way.

Michael Stansbury (03:27.986)
Wow, okay, so started out in that industry and then you got into one and it just allowed you to spider out and see all the different verticals, all the different pieces of it and I guess makes you more well-rounded. So how long in the business, Darren?

Darren Peterfi (03:44.481)
Well, I kids funny today I kept saying no 27 years and my daughter goes dad you’ve been saying that for two years You’ve been in at 29. I’m like, oh my gosh. Am I really that old?

Michael Stansbury (03:51.102)
Heh.

Michael Stansbury (03:55.092)
Yeah, well, the kids have a way of telling the truth to you sometimes. But so you’ve been through a couple market cycles. So you’ve seen some ups and downs. You’d be able to weather the storms. And so now, in 2025, as you kind of do a landscape of how you’re helping people with brokerage and all on all the things, what is it right now that you’re helping the most people with? What is it specifically that you’re doing?

Darren Peterfi (04:05.655)
Yeah.

Darren Peterfi (04:23.362)
You know, it’s a…

It’s twofold to be honest with you. One is getting back to the basics because everybody, you know, wanted to try all these newfangled lead sources and social medias and all these things that were easy, right? That they realized that that pool is so saturated with people that the ability to bring deals in and help other people is just diminishing. So the first factor is getting back to the basics, you know, and back to general lead generation and relationships.

Michael Stansbury (04:39.39)
Right?

Darren Peterfi (04:56.72)
and work on their database and their sphere and things that we know work. We know our trend and true because it’s relational, right? And then the next thing is leveraging technology in the right way to put you back in front of people, you know, in a real and one-on-one personal way.

Michael Stansbury (05:18.878)
So it is one of those things where at some point markets are crazy enough to where anybody with a Instagram account can do some business. But when markets go in a different direction, they’re frustrated. Why isn’t this working anymore? Well, that’s not how you do business in a softer market. And so your whole thing is like,

We gotta get back to basics, we gotta get back to prospecting the way it’s always worked. from what I hear, it’s like the other things are just add-ons, they help, but they don’t necessarily generate all the time like tried and true lead gen. How are they taking that advice? How are the young people taking that advice?

Darren Peterfi (06:01.4)
Yep.

Darren Peterfi (06:05.39)
Not very well. I mean, it’s a generational thing, right? I’m a phone and in-person guy. I’m 54 years old. I’m just that handshake, look you in the eye generation.

then you take the different generational era of the 30 and below, 32 and below, they’re built on text messages, instant messages through social medias and social media posts. And they don’t, as a whole, don’t love that interaction because the schools and the systems and everything else has kind of segregated that from them, right? The online schools have segregated that personal interaction.

Michael Stansbury (06:47.986)
Right? Right.

Darren Peterfi (06:52.708)
So it makes it really hard for people of that age group to understand the value of interpersonal connection and that live body connection where it’s not a digital relationship.

Michael Stansbury (07:05.96)
Yeah, I think there’s an opportunity. I see this in my market. I see this actually, I’m going to a networking event tonight. There used to be a lot more networking events before social media, before all these things, because you felt you had a connection. I don’t know if it’s a felt connection, but you had the data point. You had the information, but you didn’t have necessarily the connectivity that happens when you’re.

you know, in front of somebody and you’re actually at an event and you’re talking through some things. And I see that as an opportunity for people who go out and either create their own opportunities for networking or take advantage of, you know, whatever is a live in-person event to get there is gonna win, I think, coming forward. But the people who don’t do that, the people who just, you know, they don’t have that skill set may struggle with that a bit.

And it is a tough thing for that generation. I’m sure you have kids that are that age as well. And are they working in the business at all, Darren?

Darren Peterfi (08:04.758)
So one does and one semi does. One of them works for me here. I worked with me really. And she’s way dynamic, way more dynamic than I am. Her energy level is, you know, and it’s what’s cool is now she’s putting the pieces together of things she learned when she was younger, you know, with the life skills that she’s learned. And it’s cool to see that kind of start to come together now, you know? And then my other daughter,

does photography. So she does some of our photography. She has a lot of like, she loves the art side of it, you know, and so she, when I, when I ask her, she’s like, yeah, no problem. She’ll do our photography for our homes and such, but she really loves more of the weddings and, and, and venues and things of that nature. does. So the little bit in it, but not so much.

Michael Stansbury (08:57.148)
Yeah, doing some other things with the photography as well. You can do a lot of folks that have the media piece and they do the listings, but they also get to do some of that stuff that your daughter’s doing as far as the weddings are concerned. And that’s pretty fun stuff. But are they both kind of entrepreneurs made out of the same stuff? Awesome.

Darren Peterfi (09:14.488)
Yeah.

Yeah, my wife is an entrepreneur. owns, she’s owned her business for 25 years. you know, and me and yeah, they’ve just kind of followed suit. My oldest daughter went to work corporate for 10 years, at AT &T, which was a great opportunity for her to see the outside world versus just what my business, you know, in our little world had, right? So it really honed in a lot of skillsets for her working in that corporate side to be able to say, okay,

I don’t want this life. As I’m going forward in life, this is not where I want to be. Dad’s off on vacation here. He’s building a new home. He’s doing this. He’s doing it. That’s what I want in life. So she shifted over and she’s like, this is where I should have been five years ago. said, but exactly. Sometimes it’s a tortured path. That’s the right one.

Michael Stansbury (09:59.752)
Well, sometimes you gotta go through that, right?

Yes, and then you can, but that’s what’s great is that you had that, she had that North Star to look at and to compare it to. A lot of people don’t. I talked to a lot of other entrepreneurial investors and we both look at each other and go, know, we just, know, life is not always great.

but it’s not what they’re dealing with every day. As a, as a corporatist or somebody that does, isn’t able to really have some of the time flexibility that an entrepreneur or real estate entrepreneur may have. And so I love it that she’s unlocked that. So the other thing that Darren that you do is you also coach people in real estate mortgages and maybe other verticals as well, other businesses as well.

When did you get into coaching and then what does that look like for y’all? How does that round out your week? How much time do you spend coaching people? And give us an example of some of the things that you do as a coach.

Darren Peterfi (11:05.005)
So I’ve been coaching for about, I don’t know, 10, 12 years now. My week is filled with, you know, time coaching independently with people. Sometimes it’s individually, sometimes it’s group, sometimes it’s, you know, just a quick half hour. Sometimes it’s an hour, just depending on the need and what each client is kind of working through. don’t like that one blanket, you know, kind of game plan for every person, you know. A good coach develops an independent

Michael Stansbury (11:32.241)
Right.

Darren Peterfi (11:34.922)
a game plan for every player they have. know, if you’re going to draft a star quarterback and my system designed for, you know, a running quarterback and I draft a pocket passer, what’s the likelihood of success? You know, minimal. So you want to make sure you’ve got a good game plan for the players that you have. So I take the time and, know, my first meetings with everybody typically is an hour just to get to know you, you know, understand where, who you are, what your strengths are, what your abilities are, and, and then start working on

a game plan and how to build a solid business off of that. then, you know, and then it’s, then it’s variable for everybody. Sometimes, it’s a half hour once a week. Sometimes it’s an hour every other week. and then some clients, like some of the rainmakers, you know, I meet with them once a month. Yeah. And it just, because it just, they’re, they’re, they’re coaching on a smaller level at, you know, on the half hour weekly, just to accountability. And then the bigger pitchers like, Hey, okay. Here’s, I want to take and go from 50 to a hundred mil.

How do I get there and what do I implement? And now I’m holding accountable to those higher level systems to make sure that you know that’s what’s getting done to get there.

Michael Stansbury (12:44.602)
So it just, again, you kind of gameplay the individual is find out where they are in life, where they are in business, where, you know, where do they need the most help at? And do you, do you kind of coach? Do you have a, a system where you coach with in perpetuity or is it like, Hey, here’s the system, here’s what it works. Here’s how it works. And then once you get to this point,

Maybe I coach you some more or maybe you decide if there’s something else for you. But does the program just work kind of individually like as we go we’re going to figure this stuff out?

Darren Peterfi (13:21.154)
Yeah, we’ve got two or three different.

You know, for different like kind of game plans, you know, you kind of get that that gold, silver, bronze platinum kind of, you know, system that, Hey, you know, I want to get into coaching, you know, but I don’t have a lot of money, right. But I know I need some level of accountability. Okay. Well, I’ve got coaching programs for as little as a hundred bucks a month, you know, and, that might be once a month for an hour, right. You know, and that’s that, that timeline that we’re just kind of getting you going. So that way you’re starting to build enough business.

that now you can go to the next level coaching. And then some people they need, they need once a week. And to be honest with you, some of them need twice a week, you know? know, so a lot of it just depends on where they’re at and what they’re trying to do. I’ve never believed that there’s just one shoe that fits all, you know? So I try to, I try to leave it fluid. You know, my coaches even tell me, Darren, you’re nuts. You’re offering too much availability.

Michael Stansbury (14:03.956)
Mm-hmm.

Darren Peterfi (14:24.703)
and blah, blah, blah. But you know, my vision and goal in life is to change 10,000 lives.

there’s 10,000 different personalities and needs out there in that world, right? How do I change 10,000 lives if I say, here’s the box you got to fit in, and if you don’t fit in that box, sorry, I can’t help you, right? And that doesn’t fit my vision. That doesn’t fit my long-term life vision. So yeah, so every one of them is really kind of tailor-made to that individual. And I’ve got real estate people that I coach that I don’t even coach real estate. I simply coach business ownership.

hey, I’m now a business owner and my product is real estate, you know, but how do I transition from being a great agent to a great business owner that has agents and employees and things of that nature?

Michael Stansbury (15:15.612)
Right? I like it. And so Darren, let’s say you get the brokerage, you’ve got your in real estate, you’re coaching folks in different verticals, and you’re also a real estate investor. Let’s talk about that piece a little bit. Kind of what are you doing now? What have you done in the past? Kind of tell us about about that venture part of what Darren does.

Darren Peterfi (15:33.71)
Yeah. So for long time I had rentals and not a ton. think we had like, I know they at the cap it was like 28, you know, doors and I’m sorry, 28 units, which ended up being like 41 doors or something.

But as the market started making this turn in 08, I ended up selling them all off. And ironically, it wasn’t because the turn, it was because I didn’t like the person I was becoming collecting rent myself. It was hardening my heart, and that’s not who I was.

One day I literally woke up and said, I don’t want to be the guy that is cynical all the time. And I literally made phone calls to investor friends and I sold all of them that day. Every house was gone that day. And I said, when I go to do this again, it will be able to the property manager that, you know, at a company that I’ve developed that my person I know runs it with the system I want, but I don’t want to be the person that collects rent. So, so that’s where we’re at now.

And fast forward these last 15 years, I focused more on flipping homes, because that’s kind of where the market was. It was growing very fast, and you could pick up the homes, do the rehabs, and sell them. So I’ve used both my money and hard lending money. And I don’t think there’s a bad avenue in either one. I guess it just depends on your personal situation.

Darren Peterfi (17:10.096)
in a lot of ways because it’s fees and this and that. But to be honest with you, if I didn’t have to put much money in, if I put 5 % of my own money or 10 % of my own money into a gig and I made $40,000, it cost me 12 to do the deal, but I made 40, what am I missing, right? Exactly, everybody gets their piece back.

Michael Stansbury (17:31.846)
Right, everybody wins there. Yes, yeah. If you don’t do bad deals, you can’t do bad deals, right? But if you do, hard money has its place if you’re able to get a really good deal. I like it, yeah.

Darren Peterfi (17:42.542)
100%. 100%. So we’ve been doing that now. And now we’re shifting back into buying more investment, whole properties, because now we have our management company. And I’ve got a few clients that wanted me to manage some of theirs. And I got a great person in place. So that now is able to kind of handle itself. So that’s worked out really well. But it’s the right time. mean, everybody talks about seasons of life and where they want to be.

And sometimes it sounds great, but you’re just not in that place in business, right? I’m still working on step two and three, and that’s step five. And you can’t skip the steps, skip the steps, because if you do, now you’ve got a disaster on your hands.

Michael Stansbury (18:27.218)
Right? Because you didn’t learn the three and four, you skipped right to five and you’re like, what am I missing? Right? Yeah. Yeah.

Darren Peterfi (18:32.13)
Yep, exactly, which at four was the big key part, right?

Michael Stansbury (18:35.444)
The four was the big key part. is when you learned all the lessons that help you become exponential. So I like that. Well, I like that, Darren, and I like that that’s really good for our audience to hear about not only the uses of for hard money, but again, the pivots that you made and why you made them. So so many people get into something and then they…

Darren Peterfi (18:42.05)
Yep, exactly. Yep.

Michael Stansbury (18:59.238)
it gets too late for them, they’re already in it and they’re too deep in it and they don’t feel like they can pivot. You felt like, I’m turning into a person I don’t want to turn into and I know the exact reason why. And you took massive action that day. so massive action solves a lot of problems, even it solves the problem of not becoming the person you don’t want to become. I like that you did that. Well, Darren, where can people find out more about you, about your brokerage, about coaching? What does that look like?

Darren Peterfi (19:29.336)
So I’m probably the most accessible person in the world. Our office number is super easy. It’s 855-58-HOMES. Our website is tobeexclusive.com.

You know, my cell number, 810-397-9179. I’m just that easy, right? You know, my email is Darren at 2bexclusive.com. You know, it’s just, it’s easy. You Google it, it’s there. It’s, you know, it’s all wide open. I’ve never felt like if you’re going to be a good coach and you’re going to be a good person in this world, you should never hide, right? You know, everything should just be an open book and here it is and this is what I’ve got.

Michael Stansbury (19:52.818)
That easy.

Darren Peterfi (20:15.056)
When you email me, it’s easy because then I can just get right on my calendar. Auto response, thank you for your email. If you’d to schedule time with me, it’s tied to my calendar. You can get time right on there. A lot of people that want to do coaching, I’ll do a free half hour session with you just to see if we’re a good fit. Make sure that we’re going to walk the path together. They can literally email me, I get an instant response, jump on my calendar.

I’ll spend some time with you and see if I can help. And if it’s something that makes sense, great. We’ll start working together. And if not, it’s no harm, no foul. Kind like a listing appointment, right? You go out there and if it’s good fit, great. You hire me and 32 % of the time, we’re together.

Michael Stansbury (20:57.268)
All right?

Michael Stansbury (21:05.393)
Absolutely, I like it. Well folks if you want more information the information for Darren will be in the show notes below and So get in touch with them if that’s something that you like to find out more information about get on this calendar and find out if he’s a good fit for you and Darren again, thank you for being on the real estate pros podcast really appreciate your time sir

Darren Peterfi (21:27.522)
No problem. appreciate you having me on Michael. know, I mean, it’s always great to get out there and get an opportunity to share some stuff with people and help change lives, right? I mean, that’s really what it’s all about, you know? And we’re getting ready to launch a new series right now, which is going to be great for a lot of people that may be interested in doing stuff is leveraging digital.

platforms to increase your sales in real estate. you know, Amazon has done a great job of geofencing and some of this data, you know, that people know is data is king anymore. So now we’re able to capitalize on some of that in real estate and leverage that data to start ensuring you’re getting more listings. And I’ve got agents that are tripling their business right now in listing market because of leveraging this technology. So I’m getting ready to kind

put that out to the public as to how they can do this and how they can build their business that way because everybody wants to build through listings and if I can get in front of people before somebody else does, that’s a win right there.

Michael Stansbury (22:32.744)
Right? Yeah, always trying to be first. I like it.

Darren Peterfi (22:35.49)
Yep, and the great words of Ricky Bobby, if you’re not first, you’re last.

Michael Stansbury (22:38.484)
If you’re in it first, you’re last. That’s right. Well, folks, again, thanks for watching the Real Estate Pros Podcast. Remember, do like and subscribe, comment, do all the things that the influencers tell you to do. We will be back next week. We’ll see you next time. Thanks, everybody.

Darren Peterfi (22:52.28)
Thanks.