Stop Overthinking Video: How Real Estate Agents Build Trust and Get Leads

Kim Rittberg (00:00)
People come to me and I think a lot of people feel, especially depending on where you’re at in your career, video is for everyone. Every agent, every professional can master video. You’re not too old, you’re not too young, you’re not too inexperienced, you’re not too serious, you’re not too loose, you’re not too funny. It doesn’t matter. You can master video. Everybody makes it this like out of grasp thing. You can do it like,

believe in yourself, you can do it and it’s worth it because you can convert your content into cash once you understand how.

Scott Bursey (02:05)
Welcome back to the Real Estate Pros podcast powered by Investor Fuel. I’m your host Scott Bursey. And today we are bringing the fireworks. We have a guest who brings that high octane fuel we all need to dominate the digital landscape. Kim Rittberg. Kim is the master of real estate video, teaching pros how to stop overthinking and start converting with content. Get ready because she’s about to drop some serious knowledge on how to turn your phone

into a lead generating machine. Kim, welcome to the show.

Kim Rittberg (02:41)
Thank you for having me.

Scott Bursey (02:41)
It is a pleasure to have you here. And what really caught my attention about you was the way you’ve been able to move from the corporate world and translate that high video expertise into profitable strategies for real estate agents and investors. 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?

Kim Rittberg (03:06)
Sure, so I spent the first decade of my career in television news. So helping to tell people’s stories, helping them be really powerful on camera and really understanding what makes people connect through the lens, what draws them in. So I prepared thousands of people to be on camera. And then throughout my media career, I worked at Fox, ⁓ Inside Edition, Us Weekly. I launched the video unit for Us Weekly Magazine. I worked at Netflix. And really what I did was help them

For Us Weekly, I scaled their video unit. So they were a magazine and they were a digital outlet. So what does it mean to go in and build a video unit? Basically, that’s what every professional and real estate agent has to do now. No matter what your best skill is, you have to be a marketer too. So.

I’ve taken all of those media skills to now, now I really coach a lot of professionals, a lot of real estate agents around the country on how to create content that converts, not just content, but content that makes people trust you and like you and wanna work with you and entrust their money with you.

Scott Bursey (04:09)
Absolutely. And what a great ⁓ journey. What a great ride that you’re on here. What’s the most powerful emotion that you can convey on video to build that trust, Kim?

Kim Rittberg (04:22)
Empathy. Your potential clients need to understand that you really get them.

You know what their struggles are, whether you’ve, you know, it’s, there’s a lot of different, there’s different things. You know, many people are driven by money, right? They want you to help them make money or save money. But other people, if they’re going through a life change, a lot of my agents, they’re dealing with seniors or people downsizing or other people are dealing with, you know, it’s their first home. They’re coming in with a baby. There’s a lot of emotion in there. So yes, it’s about investment, but there’s also emotion in there. So I think a lot of agents, my agents, that the ones that really doing the best are have those two Cs.

connection and

That means when they show up in content on video, they’re building that connection. They’re not just opening a home, they’re not just touring a home and showing somebody a beautiful apartment or a beautiful big mansion or tiny apartment. They are building that relationship. And then the other C is credibility. No one’s gonna work with you if they don’t trust you. It is.

money. We’re talking about really, it’s an investment. And so people have to really believe you and trust you. It’s like, you’re going to get your appendix taken out. You want to see that doctor’s medical degree, right? You want to see that diploma behind their desk. And it’s the same with agents. You know, it’s not, yes, it’s referrals, it’s who you know. They need to trust you. So don’t forget that you need to show up being credible.

Scott Bursey (06:36)
What’s the number one technique to be credible and to build that trust in a short period of time?

Kim Rittberg (06:43)
Yeah, so I like to, and I do a lot of speeches. So I’ve spoken at Berkshire Hathaway, Next Home, NAR, Inman. I’m a keynote speaker around the country. And I get asked, really, I like to poll the room and with my clients as well. I’ve worked with people who’ve been agents for 40 years and people who’ve been agents for one year.

There’s a way to show you’re credible no matter where you are in your journey. So if you’ve been doing this for a long time, I’m talking about how many homes have you sold? One of my agents in Westchester, New York has sold a billion dollars. I said that needs to go in your bio, in your social media header, all over, really? That’s a huge accomplishment. So there’s that credibility piece. Maybe you’ve been ranked, you know, whatever number ranking you are in your neighborhood, ⁓ if you’ve won awards, if you’ve been featured in the press.

Client wins. If you can show that you’re helping your client win, make money, sell money, low stress, come up with smart investment strategies, whatever those wins look like, that’s credibility. For people starting out, you might not have a huge book of business. What do you know? How hard are you working? Like, what is your area of expertise? If you’re starting out, maybe you had a past career that’s applicable there, right? So maybe it’s in finance, maybe it’s in design, maybe it’s in teaching. ⁓

educate people about the process. Don’t just think, I’m new. There’s always a way to showcase your work ethic, your knowledge, your credibility.

Scott Bursey (08:07)
That is some massive fuel for our listeners right there, Kim. And if you could walk us through what is the single biggest technical mistake that you see people making in their videos right now.

Kim Rittberg (08:21)
So I laugh, I work with agents from around the country and often I get a question like, Kim, know, what microphone should I use or you know, what light, what do you think about my light? And I used to answer this question and I stopped. Now my question is, how much video are you making? So if somebody is making one or two videos a month, I’m not gonna tell you which microphone to get.

because you’re not making enough video and that’s the major roadblock. It’s not about your microphone, it’s not about your ring light, it is a mindset thing.

If you’re not making any video, I mean that even more. And so I will say that until you’re making really a lot of content, I don’t think we should have the tech talk. We should have the talk of how do we help you show up more? How do we build your mindset so that you know that people want to hear from you? People really want to hear your expertise. They want to hear your voice. I have this client, she was based in Florida. She worked with me in my video bootcamp coaching program. She hated being on camera. And she, I think she was going through like a personal time in her life, right? Really in a tough spot.

She felt very vulnerable showing up on camera putting herself out there but we pushed through it and then she ended up she knew she wanted to own her own brokerage so she was well I wanted to get clients but down the road wanted to have her own brokerage. She started showing up on camera she got one client like within a few weeks that kind of snowballed and then from there last year she brought in nearly three million dollars in new client work.

And she was also able to hire better people, open her brokerage and hire better people because they saw her as a person who understands digital marketing and video. So when you can get over the mindset piece and people say it’s not a mindset piece, it is. If you’re not showing up, everybody has the same phone. It’s pretty easy to film yourself. If you’re not showing up, it’s a mindset thing or a strategy

And that’s not to shame you, but it’s something we can get over. It’s really something that we can get over. So I would say the biggest mistake people are making is not showing up enough.

But if you are already deep down the road and you’re worrying about tech, like reach out to me and we could talk about tech, but most people just quite frankly are not filming enough.

Scott Bursey (10:53)
There it is.

makes perfect sense. You must be out there. You must put yourself out there. You must be proactive.

Kim Rittberg (11:11)
I will

say that one thing I’ll say is a big mistake that people are making is really just listed and just sold. They think that’s enough and that’s a strategy. That’s not a strategy. That’s the beginning. If your strategy is a home, it’s the foundation. It shows that you have clients, but now we gotta build the walls. We gotta put the windows in. We gotta put the doors and the stairs. It’s not enough because you have to show you’re selling yourself.

You’re not just selling that one home on Windsor Terrace. You’re not just selling that one home in Mehan Lane. You are selling yourself. And if you’re just doing, just listening, just sold, it’s not gonna be building your credibility and your connection.

Scott Bursey (11:51)
Build things correctly, absolutely. Step by step and maximize is what I’m hearing.

Kim Rittberg (12:00)
Absolutely.

Scott Bursey (12:01)
Kim, what is the one emerging video platform or feature that people should be testing right now to get the edge?

Kim Rittberg (12:10)
Yeah, AI, just like in every other area, is massive for video. So what we’re talking about is my clients come to me and they’re struggling at one or two places. It could be, I need ideas.

I you to help me come up with ideas. Or it could be, I’m filming but I’m kind of backlogged with material. So AI can really help with that. I have, the agents come to me, first things first, we do like a brand dive, meaning who are you, what are you into, what’s your niche, both personal and professional. I won’t film any videos until I actually know the agent. It’s important for me to really understand what’s unique about you, who do you serve, what do you love? And then once we have that, coming up with the ideas. So AI is amazing for brainstorming, that’s something I teach

in my coaching programs, how to brainstorm. Using AI, brilliant, brilliant, brilliant. And then on the backend, you’re filming, you really don’t have the time or the interest or whatever to edit.

There’s so many amazing editing tools that can really cut that out for you. know, we’re on a podcast right now. You know that podcasts also have all these AI tools inside of it now. So you don’t have to spend all this time clipping up your podcast. It can do it for you. That’s all AI functionality. So we’re talking about saving time in all parts of video.

Scott Bursey (13:26)
If you’re not using AI and implementing it correctly, you’re missing out. Great advice.

Kim curious, what’s the number one mental roadblock preventing high performing pros from consistently hitting record?

Kim Rittberg (13:34)
Yeah, I definitely think that.

fear. So when I first started out as a coach, I came from TV and I, you know, had prepped a lot of people to be on camera. Mostly people ready for camera, CEOs, celebrities, politicians, ⁓ experts.

And then sometimes regular people who kind of found themselves in a news story. But when I started coaching, I realized people want to be on video, but then I’ll have an agent, they’ll come to me, they want to be on video, but then they’ll ghost me and then they’ll come back and then they’ll ghost me and then they’ll come back. And what I realized over time and then I start coaching them is being on video brings up things. I’ve had so many people say, do you notice this tooth? Do you notice like my weird eyebrow? ⁓ Am I really an expert? So everything from fear of judgment,

to like, just don’t look good on camera, I don’t sound good on camera, to fear of failure being seen as a fraud, know, imposter syndrome, that like, you’re not really an expert. So it really runs the gamut, but it’s fear holding people back from showing up and getting to the next level. I will say 75 % of people, I do have some work that I do with them on mindset.

You do deserve to be heard. You have something to say. People do want to hear from you. Like truly people don’t run out when you run into the supermarket, you walk into the supermarket, they don’t run out screaming. You are just fine, right?

And it’s the person that can build a rapport, can close a deal, that sort of person in person. We work on transferring the energy to video.

So, but have to shift the mindset and say, I do deserve to be out there. ⁓ It’s important to me and tapping into that motivation, that is the biggest mindset piece to get to the next level. The other stuff is skill set. I’ll help you build your team. We’ll figure out where the roadblocks are. We’ll plug the holes. Do we need to bring on staff? Do we need to like tighten up your strategy? When people are already showing up and building to the next level, I work with them on the strategy.

is the strategy, is your content catchy, right? I work on the look, the feel, the tone, the hook, the headline, but I would say the mindset piece is really being committed to the idea that you have a voice. It is important to build your business, to share it. I have so many agents that came to me. Maybe they were showing up a little bit, but we really pushed through and they saw incredible returns. I have one agent getting one to two referrals every week because she’s doubling down on video.

Scott Bursey (16:50)
mindset. That fear of judgment is real, but action is the antidote. We have to overcome that self-critique. Couldn’t agree with you more, Kim. If a person is already creating video, what is the fastest way for them to double down their video output without doubling their time commitment? Kim, we must know.

Kim Rittberg (17:00)
Totally.

So any person who’s scaling their business, succeeding in business, knows that you really have to go in, move into your zone of genius. You have to double down on what you do best and then build up a team to support you. If you are dedicated to video and we work together, we break through the mindset, then we build the skill set. We start making your videos look better, sound better, feel better.

we have to bring in other people. AI, an assistant, maybe it’s a part-time social media manager. If you want to scale, you have to bring in people to help you. Every single agent of mine who’s really, truly grown with video has either a part-time social media manager or an assistant helping them out or once every four to eight weeks they do a filming. ⁓

You cannot, not cannot, but if you really wanna scale, you can get clients and leads doing it yourself on your phone. I have agents that have done that just by themselves, just them on the iPhone. Absolutely. have, like one of my clients got one of my video bootcamp agents. She went through my video bootcamp coaching program. She came in and she got a client like right off her video with just her phone. Another person got four calls in one month just from herself and she was DIYing it. You absolutely can.

but you’re saying to get to the next level, we have to talk about what kind of help are we bringing on.

Scott Bursey (18:34)
That’s the secret weapon of strategy right there. Love it, Kim. And now it’s time for the money question. This is where you supply the high octane fuel for our listeners. Kim, for a real estate business aiming to hit seven figures this year, what is the single most valuable deep dive video content strategy beyond simple house tours, let’s say, that will unlock high net worth clients or attract investors?

Kim Rittberg (19:05)
you gotta be doubling down on credibility. So I mentioned earlier, I teach the five Cs are what you need to have in video. So confidence, you need to show up confidently. Credibility, you need to be credible. Connection, you need to make people trust you and like you. Clarity, you need your videos to be clear, not full of jargon, not boring and long. And then consistency, you have to keep showing up. The credibility piece.

is what is going to bring you to the seven figures and to the eight figures. You cannot have people investing with you, in you, partnering with you, if they don’t believe that you’re gonna be a good steward of their money. So one of my agents,

We worked together, worked together for like a year or two years. We worked together one-on-one and in a group coaching program. She started leveling up her video as we worked together. She started showing up more on camera and we built that strategy. Like what are we talking about? Both your professional and a little bit of your personal life. She had people start to switch to her to hire her instead of someone else and they messaged her. I, you know, I really like watching your content. I feel like you’re really an expert.

That was music to her ears. She ended up bringing in another $5 million in home sales last year due to video. So when you can show people that you really know what you’re talking about, that you’re going to protect their investment, that’s what we’re talking about. I have another agent, a client in New York named David. He and I were working together and he was talking a lot about the new developments, kind of showing people around and also showing his work. So credibility can be expert content, your advice.

on things, it can also be showing people and taking them into your business because it’s showing them you literally have business. ⁓ He posted that and then an old client that he had worked with like years ago or that he knew, messaged him and said, David, hey, I just saw you on social media. You want to grab lunch? They grab lunch. He brings them in on, I want to say it was like an $80 million new development for him to represent a lot of the different apartments in that.

So a lot of times you don’t know who’s watching your videos. It’s not just about likes. It’s about is it reaching the right person? Are they hearing the message that you know what you’re talking about? And that’s how you get people to actually open their wallets, to call you, to be partners with you. It’s not just about a pretty home or it’s not just about a home tour. You have to show them what you know and that they should trust you with their investment.

Scott Bursey (21:40)
That was some massive fuel for our listeners. Kim, is there any golden nuggets or some advice you’d like to leave with our listeners here today?

Kim Rittberg (21:52)
Yeah, first of all, for those of you, I think there’s two pieces. For those of you who are really not showing up on camera, you have to break through that mindset barrier. Remember, progress is perfection. You’re gonna hate the first video. You’re gonna hate the fifth video. You’re gonna hate the 10th video a little bit less, and the 15th video a little bit less, and at some point you won’t care.

but it’s worth it to continue to show up because there are clients on the other side. And for those of you who are showing up, but you’re not seeing leads and clients coming through, you’re continuing to make videos, but it’s not lucrative, it’s a strategy piece. And we really have to dig in and say there’s something missing in the strategy. If you’re putting yourself out there.

right, you’re taking people into your business, you’re letting them get to know you, we have to work on the strategy. So number one, if you’re not showing up, let’s work on that mindset, let’s get you motivated. I have also some really incredible free resources and you can reach out to me if you’re interested in working with me. ⁓ But I have some free great resources for agents, ⁓ five videos every agent should make. And then if you are making videos and it’s really not bringing leads and clients, we have to fix that. We have to go under the hood and build the strategy. It’s what the main two things I see is

It’s the hooks are not good enough, right? You’re not grabbing people or the actual what you’re talking about is not connecting with people or it’s not interesting. And then we really have to just pull up the hood and build you a better strategy. But bravo, if you’re ready showing up on camera, that’s awesome.

Scott Bursey (23:19)
Kim, this has been truly amazing. Thank you for sharing your expertise.

Kim Rittberg (23:25)
sorry, my last nugget. I’m sorry, I forgot to say this, this one thing.

People come to me and I think a lot of people feel, especially depending on where you’re at in your career, video is for everyone. Every agent, every professional can master video. You’re not too old, you’re not too young, you’re not too inexperienced, you’re not too serious, you’re not too loose, you’re not too funny. It doesn’t matter. You can master video. Everybody makes it this like out of grasp thing. You can do it like,

believe in yourself, you can do it and it’s worth it because you can convert your content into cash once you understand how.

Scott Bursey (24:03)
you frame that. And if our listeners want to follow your journey or collaborate with you, what is the best way for them to reach you?

Kim Rittberg (24:11)
Sure, I’m on social media on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn @KimRittberg, R-I-T-T-B-E-R-G, also in YouTube if you Google me. And then I have a free download for agents. So if you go to my website, kimrittberg.com/RETips. But honestly, you’ll see it on my page. You’ll go to my website. There’s a real estate video coaching page. There’s a free download there. But drop me a message on social media and say that you heard me here and I’ll send it on over to you.

Scott Bursey (24:36)
Kim, you brought the fuel today. Thank you so much.

Kim Rittberg (24:41)
Thank

Scott Bursey (24:42)
And to our listeners, we appreciate each and every one of you. If you got a value out of today’s episode, please subscribe. We’ve got more exceptional guests, just like Kim, coming up. Until next time, keep your standards high and your vision We’ll see you in the next episode, everyone.