In this week’s episode, we have a very special guest, Katie Benza a real estate agent at Keller Williams Realty, Inc. She truly believes that sincerity, good communication, problem-solving skills, building relationships, and listening are essential to this profession. She has a strong background in residential sales, bank-owned properties, relocation, investor opportunities, and rental properties. Before becoming a real estate agent, she was a Special Education teacher with a Master’s in Curriculum and Leadership.
If you’d like to know how Katie went from being an educator to a top-producing real estate agent, this episode is for you!
[00:01 - 10:14] Opening Segment
Katie shares a little bit of her background and story
Growing up in Cincinnati
Moving to Florida
Going from teaching to real estate
Thinking about quitting real estate
Being afraid of rejection and phone calls
[10:15 - 31:35] Katie’s first insights about real estate
Katie talks about the most important of working in a team
Goal setting
Achieve a certain number by the end of the year
Katie's experience getting into the real estate business
Starting doing calls
Gaining confidence
Following up and building a relationship with customers
The role of education for agents
Educational training
Practicing and hearing from other people
Shadowing: Watching someone in action
What Katie should’ve done differently
Interviewing brokerages and asking them how they’re going to help her as a new agent
[31:36 - 50:20] Katie Benza: Educator to Top Producing Real Estate Agent
Katie's go-to person
Her driving force is her husband
He’s grown in the industry, and she asked for advice, especially on contracts.
The area where Katie needs the most improvement on
Delegating tasks to other people
She would like to do everything on her own
Not having a good balance between her job and personal life
What Katie would say to a new agent
Having a loyalty agreement
Always pick up the phone
Following up with customer
The importance of building strong relationships
You can be positively exposed to many people
Getting out and meeting people
Building expectations for customers
[50:21 - 1:01:01] Closing Segment
Who you know or what you know.
What you know is what sets you apart
Katie’s Travel Bucket List
Destin
What is the most important thing Katie would like from a loan officer?
Communication
Knowing what that loan officer is best at
Connect with Katie
See links below
Final words
Tweetable Quotes:
“Even if you’re down, you´re gonna get back up and you’re gonna keep moving and you will do better.” - Katie Benza
“What makes us set us apart in our worlds is that we wanna do better, so we learn from our mistakes and you wanna do better next time.” - Katie Benza
“I’d say to new agents, Always pick up the phone, don’t be afraid to pick the phone- It’s okay to fail and follow up.” - Katie Benza
