Leveraging Instagram For Real Estate Clients: Sofie Gordon

It's like, I swear to you, there are like the same number of residents as there are real estate
agents. At least that's how it feels. So I know that everyone I know knows five other agents
for sure. So why are they going to work with me? Ideally because they like me the most
because we're friends, right?
Like I'd like to not give them a choice.

[00:01:03] Tracy Hayes: hey, welcome back to the real estate excellence podcast today. I
have the number 33rd ranked real estate agent in Jacksonville, Florida. According to the
Jacksonville business journal, she is. The owner of Gordon and Co. We have obviously
abbreviation for company. I like that. I like that logo where they are consistently the top real
estate agents in Northeast Florida.
They are known locally for their modern marketing and sales approach. Stole that from your
Facebook. Yep. Zillow five star agent and is in the top one and a half percent of agents
nationally. Let's welcome Sophie Gordon of Keller Williams Atlantic Partners to the show.
[00:01:43] Sofie Gordon: Hi.
[00:01:46] Tracy Hayes: Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you.
And I'm going to, I'm going to go to a split shot here, so just bear with me. But, you know, I
was doing some research. I didn't go to you. I couldn't, your LinkedIn wasn't quite
[00:01:56] Sofie Gordon: My LinkedIn's not quite anything, so.
[00:01:58] Tracy Hayes: what's interesting is we were talking pre show, as you say, social
media is one way you get business.
I'm going to recommend to you, you need to get that LinkedIn up to
[00:02:05] Sofie Gordon: speed. And you know what? I will tell you that I am so
overwhelmed with the channels that work, that if I divert focus, I might. My head might
explode. That's kind of like a static
[00:02:14] Tracy Hayes: thing. I
[00:02:15] Sofie Gordon: don't think it's it's not, it's not. And I, I, you know, it's up to date.
It is up to date. I met Keller Williams there, you know, my whole background, you know,
where I went to school, but posting all the articles and everything. No, no, no. Yeah.
[00:02:27] Tracy Hayes: I mean, unless you got, unless you got a service that's doing but
you know, there is one easy way to do it, and I've, I haven't done it recently, but obviously

with ChatGBT, you know, sometimes I've actually taken a reel from a show, someone
making a statement about whatever the subject was, and actually went to chat tpt and write a
quick linkedin article, you know brief talking about in 10 seconds and stick it under them
You know to stick it under there.
But just I think In the social media world and we're going to talk about it on the show in
detail everyone you know how social media and these I assume a lot of your clients from
outside the area They're using social media to get to
[00:03:07] Sofie Gordon: know you absolutely and it's through I mean, it's all Instagram It
is we can dive into it whenever you're ready, but a good majority of my business is from
Instagram Interesting
[00:03:16] Tracy Hayes: interesting.
Yeah, I'd be curious to how that works. So well, let's as I always do start off every show Tell
us about young Sophie or Sophia, right? Is your official name. My legal
[00:03:27] Sofie Gordon: name is Sophia.
[00:03:29] Tracy Hayes: Tell us about young Sophia. She's, you know, 17, 18 years old.
Where are you going? What, what's going on in your life?
[00:03:36] Sofie Gordon: So I, let's see. I'm from Cincinnati, Ohio and moved to Ponte
Vedra when I was in middle school. Then he, yeah. And totally love it. Left for a little bit and
came back went to UNF for school. And I got my degree in marketing and worked in
marketing. My first, let's see, I got an internship my sophomore year.
Got hired on when I was still in college and stayed there for a couple years. Got my Pilates
teaching certification. I'm very social So I like being around people cool, and I never wanted
to be in sales it was like this big taboo to me because my husband works in the car business
and I'm just I was so averse to the idea of selling something.
[00:04:14] Tracy Hayes: What was your vision of a career at the time? You know getting
out of high school. What did you what'd you kind of? Yeah,
[00:04:21] Sofie Gordon: you weren't married at 18 years old. No, I wasn't, but I had met
the person I did eventually marry, which was also not the plan at 18, not the plan at all. I met
him on tinder. That's a whole nother story, but you know, it sounds kind of, silly.
And I assume I'm probably not the only woman who grappling with this, but wanted to
figure something out where I could balance, like having a family, raising kids and all that.
and not being like in a cubicle day, you Know, like finding that work life balance. And so I
had no idea. I knew that I was working at a marketing firm and I couldn't stand sitting behind
a computer all day.

It just drained me. I thought I'd be with clients and I wasn't. So that's why I got my Pilates
certification.
[00:05:03] Tracy Hayes: Because at a young age like thing that they're going to put you in?
[00:05:08] Sofie Gordon: Well, yeah, I mean, I started as an intern and then I like to work.
Like my brain moves quickly, so I've got to be doing something.
And I got hired full time at the marketing agency while I was still in school. And by the time
I graduated, I was already an account manager. So I was managing accounts for businesses
and doing their overall marketing including their LinkedIn, even though you can't tell right
now, but um, I was going to meetings three times a week instead of, you know, four or five
hours a day, which I thought it would be, and so I was just getting, burnt out. It wasn't the air.
It was just draining. No, no. And so during COVID my, my husband's always said, you need
to be in real estate.
And I'm like, absolutely not. And so then like, it was like this one week and like three or four
different people who I really know and love said, you need to be in real estate. And so I, you
know, I remember I was sitting at a pool party at my mom and stepdad's house and wearing a
mask. Do you want me to answer that question?
I live in Florida, I'll just say that. So, I was sitting at a pool party and my stepdad was like,
I'm thinking about selling my house and there were like three or four different agents at this
party and I could see them all like buzzing. Like buzzing! And so, um,, I didn't know what
agents made, I didn't know, I didn't know anything about real estate.
And I thought let me just run some quick numbers. So I literally googled. What does real
estate make on a sale? A real estate agent make on a sale and I ran the quick numbers and I
was like It's like mom stepdad. Give me a month. I'll get my license and i'll sell the house.
That was my first transaction Wow, yeah, and then it was like it was just Like it was fast and
moving ever since then.
It's been a total blessing.
[00:06:54] Tracy Hayes: So, this moment of inspiration. We'll call it that. Yeah. So you
have, there's four real estate agents in there. I imagine, you know, you had some level of
respect. They're good agents. Yeah. So,
[00:07:11] Sofie Gordon: I didn't know anything about him though, because I wasn't an
agent. I just knew they were
[00:07:14] Tracy Hayes: agents.
Did you grapple onto one? Or in like, you know, hey, what do I do? I want, you know, or
would you go outside of that group?

[00:07:24] Sofie Gordon: I immediately I started doing some research. I'm a big researcher,
and so I interviewed with three brokerages even before I had my license. And I just got all
the information I possibly could from these three really well respected brokerages in town,
one of them being Keller Williams.
And like I met with Mark Dilworth who's exceptional He got me so excited to do this
because I said if I'm gonna do it I'm gonna do it with the intention of being number one. And
so that's what I did I put all my energy into it and he got me so excited to finish my license
and get started right away It was just a no brainer.
Yeah, I didn't meet with other agents. I didn't do any of that I just went straight to the source.
So
[00:08:01] Tracy Hayes: you gave your two week notice to the marketing company and
Yeah, sure. Said, told your husband you're going to have to pull weight and walk because
you told me to be a realtor.
[00:08:10] Sofie Gordon: Well, and it was honestly, I mean, it has been the biggest blessing
for our family.
We've, we've become really serious investors ourselves. And Zach, my husband would be the
first to say like, none of that would have been possible if I didn't die of headfirst into real
estate. Right.
[00:08:24] Tracy Hayes: When you look at the, the timing of everything, cause I know some
of the senior agents, some of these people have been around at least.
You know, prior to 2008 who have seen everything, you know, some ups and downs because
there's been some low points in the last 10 years, but not anything catastrophic type of thing.
And obviously what we saw in 20 and especially in 21 you know, because all sudden The
push to Florida went on steroids because of COVID and we still had the very low interest
rates So you had this just feeding frenzy, so to speak But do you ever look kind of look back
say gee, you know, I kind of entered on the on a really good Upswing I got in front of this
wave and how it's helped you get very successful in a very short period of time and you
know, talking pre show with you, I gained some confidence in you and where you're at in
your business.
And we'll talk about, you know, what's prepared because, you know, we don't know what
tomorrow will bring or 24 is going to bring that type of thing, but do you feel that really
helped you? I mean, you just kind of like the timing was just
[00:09:34] Sofie Gordon: right. So I'll tell you for a long time up until. recently, like
probably a year ago, I 100 percent had imposter syndrome.
I was so worried about what you just said. I came in at the right time. I, I just got lucky. I was
just so worried. I just got lucky. This isn't really like this isn't gonna stay. Are you kidding?

Like, how am I going to maintain this? I had to fight with that for so long that I just, I got, I
had business because everyone was buying and you know, and everyone was selling, but you
know, I've, I've had consistent numbers for the past three years and it's, and I've developed
such a good referral network that it's, I don't have that imposter syndrome anymore, but I
think it was a total blessing because we were thrown into, sure, it was the biggest market the
busiest market, but it was also the most challenging.
I mean, I love representing buyers. I love it. Everyone's Everyone said to me for so long
that's gonna change. It's gonna change. I love working with buyers and Working in a market
for I don't know a year and a half there where if you didn't have your offer And it wasn't
excellent, and you didn't have it in immediately, and it wasn't written perfectly You weren't
getting your buyers offer accepted that makes you a really good agent like you know under
fire You really really get molded, and it was well.
[00:10:47] Tracy Hayes: Did you find yourself? Like, obviously, reaching out and learning,
educating
[00:10:50] Sofie Gordon: yourself, whether it was Yeah. Yeah, so, when I first started at
Keller, which is this is there are excellent people there, for one, but this is one of the main
reasons I chose to go with Keller Williams, is because their training is unparalleled.
So, I first started there and The first, I think it was nine weeks. I had training every single
day. It was like I was at school. I had training every single day and I had one resource. His
name is Patrick Dorian. He was the instructor. He's an excellent agent and he was, he was
there morning, noon, and night to answer every single question.
Because when you start out, like even if you have your license, you don't know how to write
a contract. You don't know what any of these addendums are. Nothing like that. So he
answered every single call and made sure that you were You were not just good, you were
great at your job. And so, I wouldn't be nearly the agent I am if I didn't have that 24 7
guidance.
Well, you
[00:11:41] Tracy Hayes: know, I, I often you know, explain to agents what I'm telling them
about myself. You know, I started, I was at Quicken Loans for eight and a half years, so there
was some thin times and I mean, many of us thought of pulling the plug in summer of 07,
especially it was just like crickets 08.
I can't say it was that much better, but obviously by October of 08, November of 08, that's
when the rates started to drop and all of a sudden, you know, obviously we were starting to
roll in the refis and it just picked up pace from there because that was primarily their
business at the time. And so.
I got a lot of reps. Right. You know, to be able to one customer after another and people
obviously can help. It wasn't a scarcity thing and, and cause I think your confidence

obviously seems. The fact that you knew there were deals out there you just had to find how
to put the puzzle together and that's what excited you and kept you moving on to the next
day versus going where's my next
[00:12:36] Sofie Gordon: customer going to come from?
Well, and you're absolutely right. So, I realized the minute I stopped listening to negative
news, my business got better. I just, it's all about mindset. If you are listening constantly to
people telling you the market's going to crash, Mark's going to crash. There's going to be
nothing. It's all over Tik Tok, right?
It's all over the mainstream media. I stopped listening to it and I'm telling you like I, I might
have rose color glasses on. I don't care. There will always be people having to upsize because
they have a new baby. There will always be people getting divorced.
Always people are passing away, so their estates. Everyone's life is constantly going to
change, which means there is always going to be real estate to be had. I, I
[00:13:14] Tracy Hayes: was talking to Patty Ketchum last month about the NARA lawsuit
and stuff like that. There was one thing she said in that podcast was everybody wants to sleep
under
[00:13:22] Sofie Gordon: a roof.
everyone wants to sleep under a roof. That is a great, absolutely.
[00:13:28] Tracy Hayes: So it's always there. So right now you'll looking back. Obviously
you're training with Keller Williams. You know, you, like you said, you got this positive
attitude and we are going to, you know, talk about what your vision is.
The 24, what are some things that they got you doing from day one that you and I know a lot
of agents probably ran through 2021. weren't keeping a proper CRM, weren't keeping, you
know, weren't keeping all that information because those are the people you need to now
circle back to and try to squeeze for referrals.
What are some of those like staple things that and you may not even know why you were
doing it, but they told you to do.
[00:14:09] Sofie Gordon: So I would say it was a combination of my classes with Keller,
which were primarily real estate focused, transaction focused, and just being in marketing for
so long, right? So the main things I did when I first got into real estate, and I, whenever I
teach a class or I do something like this, I like to give like tangible takeaways.
And so a couple of them, one, I absolutely built a wall around my people and I still do to this
day. Like it's not a coincidence that many, if not most of my clients would say we're friends
first. And that is absolutely on purpose. This is kind of what my strategy has been I get

couples together It'll just go get a drink just a group of like six of us It'll be like two clients
that I thought would really get along and then my husband and me and then we become
friends and we Turn it into a monthly thing or we start going to church together or you know
little things like that and so when you develop that relationship beyond just transactional It's
really, really hard for people to step out and work with another agent, right?
Because your friends, that's one. Two, I dove head first into social media and I still do. It is
as much a priority to me as my sphere is. Many agents will not tell you that, but my numbers
show it. So a good portion of my business comes just from my consistency on Instagram. So
I dove headfirst into that.
I'm sure you want to talk specifics
[00:15:28] Tracy Hayes: on it. Well, I do. Cause I'm going to, I'm going to go. Did you just
get
[00:15:31] Sofie Gordon: married? I got married almost five years ago.
[00:15:34] Tracy Hayes: So maybe cause on the Instagram page I was looking on look like,
or did you guys just go on a vacation to
[00:15:40] Sofie Gordon: Europe? We do that. Yeah, we did do that.
[00:15:43] Tracy Hayes: There was a wedding type photo in there.
Did you guys renew your vows or
[00:15:46] Sofie Gordon: something? No, we are going to you're you're you're revealing all
of my plans for 2024.
[00:15:55] Tracy Hayes: Well one thing I noticed on, on your page and I think everyone has
a different opinion on you know, should you have your business pay? Yeah. You mix it all. I
do.
[00:16:06] Sofie Gordon: Yeah. Yeah.
So one of my biggest blessings is that I've been here since middle school. There are agents
who do an excellent job of jumping into a new market that they're unfamiliar with, and just
excelling and creating a brand new network. I thought, I've been here for so long, There are a
lot of people I know here.
Maybe we only had a conversation or, or two in high school or middle school, but I have a
connection and they follow me on Instagram. Those people buy houses, too. Why, why, you
know, reinvent the wheel? So I figured from, you know, from very early on, and I thought
long and hard about that, do I create a brand new social media that no one else follows, you
know, a brand new Instagram page that I have to hope that these people follow me, or do I

just Merge my personal and my business and I merged them and it has been a huge blessing
huge blessing I have people tell me all the time I love your posts like keep posting them and
it's people that may buy one day or may sell one day But they just like being educated We
are fortunate to work in an industry like everyone likes real estate.
Everyone likes houses,
[00:17:09] Tracy Hayes: right? I Think the difference for you in one of these seminars
where they're telling you, you know, cause everyone has their opinion. I don't think there is a
true tell, you know, but in your case, because you are actually marketing to your sphere of
people that, you know, locally versus again, versus that agent coming in outside and like,
Hey, here's my business.
Type of thing. And I don't think you're overwhelming. because some people can overwhelm
them with their personal stuff. Me and another loan officer, we were talking about someone
individually in town that's just like, Oh my God, can they just stop?
[00:17:50] Sofie Gordon: And you're so right. I'm extremely cognizant of that because there
are a lot of people now who follow me just for the real estate.
It didn't used to be that way. It used to be like if I posted real estate, I'd get some unfollows
because, you know, I mean, they were, they were there for the personal stuff, but now it's if I
post too much personal, I will see I'll lose a follower or two. And so like I threw a Christmas
party this weekend.
It was amazing. It was so much fun, but I didn't post about it. I posted like one picture. That's
fine. Yeah, There's no formula to it. I've just learned well,
[00:18:19] Tracy Hayes: it's who you're going. It's who in your who's your avatar, right?
They say who's your your avatar is all those people that Know you organically in the area.
That's who you're marketing to you're not trying to market or though You'll accept anyone
from anywhere You're you're not trying to market the New York buyer or Michigan buyer,
although you may get them your focused on the people you know and know that know you
love you
[00:18:48] Sofie Gordon: here locally? Well, and I'll tell you, I mean, I have spent a whole
lot of money marketing to the people who don't know me or know people who know me and
it is nowhere near as successful as marketing to the people I know.
[00:19:01] Tracy Hayes: I was at a seminar yesterday. And this gentleman talked about, and
hopefully I'll have him on the podcast in February as he's coming back in town, but they took
three groups, 20 agents of that were making less than a hundred thousand dollars. And broke
them into three groups.
Well, one was doing the stereotypical door knocks, cold calls, that kind of real estate

[00:19:24] Sofie Gordon: that everyone talks about when you first get
[00:19:26] Tracy Hayes: started. And
[00:19:26] Sofie Gordon: then the second huge time waster. And then you spend a lot of
money and time and don't have anything to
[00:19:31] Tracy Hayes: show. Yeah. The next group was focused geographically.
They were focused on whatever number of neighborhoods, whatever, and they just pounded.
even if it was just going by and throwing a, you know, basically a postcard or let, let alone, I
just, I said to him, I said, so basically you think they should just, you're basically your
business card more or less. Maybe it's a flyer or different medium, but you're just, Hey, I'm
real estate agent.
I'm real estate, you know, type of thing. And they did better than the first group, the group
that did so successful and you mentioned it just a few minutes ago, like going out and having
drinks was the group that focused on the People and created the friendships rather, you know,
he, one thing he did personally, he told me was he had taco Tuesday, but the rule was that he
had to have someone different.
It wasn't like, Hey, taco Tuesday, everyone come over. It was taco Tuesday, Steve, John, his
wife, the kids, whatever. And that family came over and they spent time together and then
[00:20:29] Sofie Gordon: you're no longer just the real estate agent. Yes. And that's so
important, right?
[00:20:33] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. now they actually have an emotional attachment to you.
'cause they know you more. Right. And now they can relate that to the person that they may
be referring you to.
[00:20:42] Sofie Gordon: Well, and I said it earlier, I build a wall around my people because
there are, I don't know the exact numbers you may know, but there are a billion real estate
agents in Florida. Like, like everyone has a billion, but there's, it's really close.
It's like, I swear to you, there are like the same number of residents as there are real estate
agents. At least that's how it feels. So I know that everyone I know knows five other agents
for sure. So why are they going to work with me? Ideally because they like me the most
because we're friends, right?
Like I'd like to not give them a choice.
[00:21:12] Tracy Hayes: You went the

[00:21:14] Sofie Gordon: little extra mile. Oh my gosh. And I still do. I'm I'm meeting
tonight with. Three girlfriends and all of them are clients of mine, right? Yeah, we're just
getting coffee and they're all like my close friends now Just
[00:21:23] Tracy Hayes: a big tip out there Like I said, you know, we talked about pre show
I reaching out to a new agent someone might be struggling right now obviously giving you a
call and touch of a ski get him a little more detail than some of the because That's what you
you like to go out and obviously you're young and go out and have some drinks.
Yeah you know having the Just a couple over for dinner at the house I mean, it doesn't take
much now don't have to take
[00:21:47] Sofie Gordon: him out to Ruth Chris No, and you don't even I mean, you don't
even have to pay like actually like I would tell you I build it as a friendship and not as like a
client, you know, when you keep paying, you're still and I, this is not necessarily something
I've even thought through, but it is like something we do.
We got his friends. Like I start to build that relationship as a friendship before we even go
and get dinner together. You might buy one
[00:22:07] Tracy Hayes: time. They buy
[00:22:08] Sofie Gordon: another time. Yeah, it's not. Well, exactly. Like, just like you are
with your friends. Yeah, yeah,
[00:22:13] Tracy Hayes: yeah. 100%. That's solid information right there. All right. I want
to go back in time a little bit, you're at the pool party, you get the suggestion to become a real
estate agent.
You said you went out and actually spoke to some brokers. Now imagine those four agents
that were at the party. Were they all from the same brokerage?
[00:22:29] Sofie Gordon: No, they were all from different brokerages. All from different
brokerages. Different brokerages. And I didn't necessarily know that at the time. I know that
now, because I know who they are now.
I didn't, when you're not an agent, we're in such a bubble. Yeah. Like, no one really knows.
About like the rankings and who's doing this, blah, blah, blah, outside of like our, like.
Agents that are like we are so caught up and understand what that post meant. Other people
are not caught up in that. So I didn't know anything about him, even though now I know that
they were good agents and they're successful agents.
if I knew, maybe I'd be intimidated because I didn't
[00:23:00] Tracy Hayes: know. Let's let's Tap on that a little bit from the standpoint that the,
the names right now you know, Keller Williams, Colwell Banker, you know, Berkshire You

know, as we may be going shopping and say, Hey, we're going to go to Home Depot or we're
going to go to Walmart or Target or, you know, or Saks Fifth Avenue, telling them what we're
buying.
We, we go to the name, right? But when it comes to who's representing them from a real
estate transaction, how important you know, as you're on social media is it's really you and
the brand you create.
[00:23:35] Sofie Gordon: It's an interesting balance because I'll tell you with my older
clientele, so if I'm working with someone in their 70s or 80s, I've realized they tend to care a
lot about the brand backing me.
So they tend to care a lot who my brokerage is and if they're reputable and with the younger
clientele, this is not always the case, but it's something I've realized. First time home buyer.
They have no idea what brokerage I'm with. It's on all of my marketing. Keller Williams's
logo is on all of my marketing, but they know who I am and they watch my stuff.
It's not Keller Williams speaking through my Instagram. It's me speaking. That's all they care
about. I'll tell you, I chose Keller Williams initially, partially because of the name recognition
and the reputation. But really, I mean, was telling you before the show started, I meet with
other brokerages and my brokerage knows this, and I'm not the only agent who does this.
I meet with other brokerages and interview with them. Relatively frequently, a couple times a
year, and it's not really because I'm interested. I'm not. I'm so happy where I am, but it's to,
you know, reinforce my decision to be with Keller Williams. And I meet with them and I
find out the numbers, like I find out the splits, I find out what they offer.
All of these things, and I still have not been enticed to change. really comes down to the
people. When you're a newer agent, The most important thing is surrounding yourself with
other agents who are ready to collaborate and not compete Because we are all competitors
but I mean I think every agent at Keller will say like I can reach out to any Successful agent
in my brokerage and they're gonna help me and tell me what to do.
So we're
[00:25:08] Tracy Hayes: going back in time now So you go out you you talk to a few
brokerages Tell us what it was when you sat down with whomever you sat down with Keller
Williams because you know within that
[00:25:27] Sofie Gordon: So I met with Mark Dilworth, I don't know if you know who that
is, but he's excellent. If you are a newer agent and you're thinking about either switching
brokerages or getting just started, Mark's the person you want to meet with. It's important
early on to have someone that Tell you you're gonna be great at this and here's how like we're
gonna help you be great at this and have Like the energy to support it, right?

He was just that like I felt like had a blueprint for success within 20 minutes of meeting with
him Like no doubt like it wasn't just generic like I really felt like I could do this and I felt
like he wasn't Just blowing smoke like they would have people to support me when I met
with other brokerages it felt like it lacked energy like it lacked excitement I'm such an
extrovert that I feel, and I feed off of people's energy, and so when I am in a work
environment, I want to be able to go into the office and be encouraged and be supported, and
I felt like at those other offices, I would walk in and it would just be everyone would be in
cubicles, and no one was really communicating or collaborating.
At Cutler, it's all community tables, like, we have, We have like, I don't know, like five
training classes a day. Like super cool stuff like that all the time. And there are parties all the
time. Like I just love the people and the environment. It was a no brainer from the get go.
[00:26:40] Tracy Hayes: Well, it's actually introduced at parties all the time.
But we're real estate
[00:26:43] Sofie Gordon: agents, of course.
[00:26:44] Tracy Hayes: Well, people don't realize well, I think this is actually off my script
here, but you know, they look at a real estate agent And they see this lifestyle but you and I
know the, the work that needs to be put in to actually be successful or at least earn a, you
know, a decent living for the time you're putting in, but you, have you found, you know, in
we work in year three, right?
Three and a half years now, right? Yeah, because it's not on your LinkedIn. I get it. I couldn't
[00:27:17] Sofie Gordon: find it. Hey everyone, there is room for improvement.
[00:27:21] Tracy Hayes: But part of, you've understood very quickly by the way you
market, like you said, you're reaching out to your past clients, especially those you, you want
to get to know better even though you're, you're having fun and it's great and you're laughing
and having a drink, but ultimately you've understood that being a real estate agent.
is a 24 seven lifestyle.
[00:27:43] Sofie Gordon: Oh my gosh. I mean, people, people always say people who don't
work in real estate, want to be in real estate to have a more flexible schedule, which I think is
so funny. I'm not going to laugh in their face. I will never. It is just so funny because I work
weekends. I work until you ask any of my clients if they like.
If they text me at 10 30 p. m. I am working absolutely I'm like if i'm at dinner with my
husband or with a group of friends. I am working There's like no way around it. And I just
think it's so funny. Get into real estate for a flexible schedule Let's see what happens

[00:28:13] Tracy Hayes: well, I think the Like I said, you're, you're, you're working on a
relationship and someone from the outside may say, Oh, so you, you invited them out to
drinks because you want deals from them.
Well, yeah, that's ultimately, and I know I have to build relationships, but I, I think anyone
the, in our world. The reason why there's conflict or people may not like each other, it's
because they
[00:28:36] Sofie Gordon: don't even know each other. That's it. I mean, sure. I want to do
business with my friends and I want to do more business with them, but I also really like
people like I have.
I feel so endlessly blessed that my clients are unbelievable. I work with some of the best
people I've ever met in my life and I want to be friends with them. And they're, I mean,
they're older fashioned real estate agents who will tell you like, keep business, get business
right and keep your personal personal.
I don't know how you're successful with that. I don't get it. I mean, my business is personal.
[00:29:08] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. Well, reality is when you go out to have drinks with them.
What do you, what do you sell? You're not trying to sell them.
[00:29:14] Sofie Gordon: I don't talk about real estate at all. Unless they ask.
[00:29:16] Tracy Hayes: You're not trying to sell them anything.
You're not trying to sell them makeup or, you know, whatever it is. It's, they know you're a
real estate agent. It's no secret. And they want, they want their friends to be taken by the
great person that's in front of them because they have grown to like you, love you. to tell that
other person, Hey, she, she's awesome.
[00:29:37] Sofie Gordon: Sophie's awesome. Well, I was at a Christmas party this weekend
and one of my clients was hosting the party. He was one of my very good friends. And she
said like she pulled me aside and whispered, she's like, everyone here knows you're an agent.
I told everyone. And I have two people I think are in the market.
I'm just letting you know, you need to talk to them. And she is my client, but she is also my
friend. And so she, Like you want your friends to do well. Do you do
[00:30:01] Tracy Hayes: you ever sit back sometimes? You know because you you have
Some of these people obviously this person you've had drinks with or so forth and maybe for
a while But some of these people you really just closed on a house Maybe you did have
dinner with them or something you started started that relationship, but you don't quite know
everything about them yet but almost like a trusted psychologist They want to confide in
[00:30:24] Sofie Gordon: you.

Oh, I feel like we wear a million hats and one of them is like a therapy hat. Like, it's just so
funny. A lot of people are probably like, well, how do you organically transition from a real
estate agent to a friend, right? Like they feel like that's, that would be wonky. So I start
planting seeds really early on if it's someone I feel like they'd be cool to hang out with.
I'll let you know. Like I definitely have clients who I do not want to be friends with. It is a
hundred percent happened. I'm not going to force it. Like I know that if we go get drinks or
dinner, it's going to like. You know, there's no, you know, so, but the majority of them is not
like that the majority of them I feel like a very close connection with and so I start dropping
seeds During the transaction like for example a client of mine who I'm having coffee with
tonight.
I said to her During our first transaction together, I said, Gosh, I think you'd really like my
friend Emily. Like, we should all get drinks sometime. And so, she's like, Oh, Cause she was
new here, she didn't have many friends. And she's like, Oh, yeah, yeah, let's do it. I don't
know anyone yet. And so I kept following up on that at the end of the transaction.
I put them in a group text and I say, Evelyn just closed down her first house. We need to go
get some drinks. And Emily is, was, you know, someone you matched. She's a client. She's a
client, but she's also a friend. She's like, yes, let's do it. We got to celebrate. Yeah. And then
that's how, I mean, I do it with almost every single one.
[00:31:36] Tracy Hayes: well, I preach it a lot. Tell people else. And I. I think it's John
Maxwell's 25 Ways to Influence People, and that's introducing them to
[00:31:44] Sofie Gordon: other people. People like meeting people, like even introverts like
knowing people. And so I, I introduce as many people who I think will be friends as
possible.
Mm hmm. It's as simple as
[00:31:53] Tracy Hayes: that. and your influence comes because, one, you did introduce
them, so you put them on a, a basically a pedestal that's, you, they were, where they, they
were worthy to meet one of your friends.
[00:32:05] Sofie Gordon: I wouldn't put it like that, but you're bright. You're right. I mean, I
like introducing good people to good people, right?
It's, yeah, it's a compliment. I know what you're saying. It's a
[00:32:12] Tracy Hayes: compliment for them to join your circle. A hundred
[00:32:15] Sofie Gordon: percent. Yeah. And I'll even set people up on dates. I'm not
kidding. It's so, I mean, it's just, it's just people meeting people. I mean, it's as simple as

[00:32:26] Tracy Hayes: that. Deep down you are stroking their ego by by introduced
because you thought they were good enough And they are.
To introduce to somebody, right? And, and vice versa. Your other friend now, now, and then
it may, it does give them the, your, the greater perception that you're connected. Mm hmm.
That, hey, Sophie's someone I need to know and keep close to because she knows
[00:32:46] Sofie Gordon: people. I think they think I'm far more important than I actually
am.
Yes. And which, no, it's 100 percent true. Which I'll just roll with.
[00:32:55] Tracy Hayes: How do you handle, because I'm visualizing if anyone's watching.
So I assume you're in your mid. Twenties, right? You know, yeah. So when you have those
older clients and maybe they're not, you know, the goal and have a few drinks or obviously
maybe have a family burdens their time and so forth.
How do you handle
[00:33:16] Sofie Gordon: that? I do the same thing. So a lot of my clients are my parents,
friends. And also whenever I have like a, sawgrass, for example, I always, always knock on
the neighbor's doors, just the two next door, I'm not going to go door knocking the whole
street, just the two next door, and I introduce myself, and I've gotten business from that
before, which is crazy, like real business but I do the same thing, I mean, even my, I have a
client who's 86, he's a single older man, and he lives here in Ponte Vedra, and he comes to,
he came to Thanksgiving with my family last year, Because I didn't want to be alone for
Thanksgiving.
Oh, cool. Yeah. So, and I still introduced him, like he's, I've introduced him to some golfing
buddies. I did the exact same thing. I go about it a little differently. Our conversations are
different. Right.
[00:34:01] Tracy Hayes: I find a way to reach out. I, I feel what you're telling me is for
every individual you're working with, you're thinking of a way.
To you know, some, some more than others, you know, just like you said, you get along with
some, some of you don't even, you know, are,
[00:34:16] Sofie Gordon: which I think is everyone. I mean, you meet people, everyone
meets people that they're like, we can leave it at a professional, but no, I mean, here's your
gift. Hey, let me know if you need anything, but, but no, I mean, every single time I have a
new client I'm always trying to learn more about them to transition that relationship from
professional to more.
And to more than just realtor client relationship, but to a friendship. I mean, it is just so
important.

[00:34:42] Tracy Hayes: I, I think right now, if anyone listening to this right now, you need
to reach out. So if you're not doing this, it's, it's so You've built it in your life you like doing
it That's that's important because if you didn't like the actual you wouldn't naturally person or
you know You showed up to have drinks and couldn't you know conversation?
Yeah, or entertain or organize a conversation? Well, it's great when you bring friends because
they help carry the weight
[00:35:06] Sofie Gordon: for you. Well, so that's the thing I it's almost never just like Me
and one other person. I always try to have a little group because, you know, you laugh more
and there are more stories and there's no, you know, there's no like awkward silence.
Not that I really ever have awkward silence as a conversation because I can, I can fill air, but
you know, I want people to have just natural, fun conversation. So I always do groups. I
always do groups and kind of what you said, and I didn't even realize that to be the case. It
does reinforce, Sophie has other people.
Like there are other, she has other good people around her. I want, you know what I mean?
So it is, it's very natural though. Like all year, it sounds kind of like a formula, but there's
really no formula. I just go into every relationship with the intent of making them my friend.
And
[00:35:49] Tracy Hayes: for some, maybe someone getting started new.
to be consistently reaching out to their friends because maybe they're not clients yet or that
type of they don't have enough clients. How regularly do you try to schedule these kind of
small socials that you have?
[00:36:05] Sofie Gordon: Just walk you through what I do in marketing in general, because
I do consider this part of my marketing relationships are still marketing to me.
there are four pieces of marketing that go out every single month to everyone in my sphere
and that's One print two emails and then something called a lolo. Do you know what lolo is?
That's where they, you get a little coupon for some It's called Local Supporting Locals. And
it's a little text to all of your contacts every single month with like an awesome gift.
And it's not a coupon, it's like an actual free thing. Like this month, they just got a free cup
of, a free latte from Bold Bean from me. Okay. And anyway, so those are the Because you
can,
[00:36:38] Tracy Hayes: and just so people are listening, Lolo, you can actually
geographically Yeah, because
[00:36:42] Sofie Gordon: Yeah, so I, like, if I have clients I can still send them a gift to their
local coffee shop.

It's super, super cool. But anyway, so four pieces of marketing, like those are real marketing
items. And then my fifth is always relationship point. And you're not going to do that. Like I
have almost a thousand people in my sphere and you're not going to reach out to everyone
every single month.
Right. But my goal for me is. You know, every other week I need to meet with some of my
friends slash clients for something, play pick a ball with them, whatever, like, or invite a
Middle East.
[00:37:14] Tracy Hayes: I'm going to say this and I'm going to follow up with a question. I
was at the gentleman I was listening to yesterday, very successful group because they had
three groups.
They realized that the reaching out and touching. Four times a month, which is what you're
basically doing. Is where the success, if you're doing if you're doing that. You'll have a listing
in two to three, you know the head down and then but if you're doing only three times You'll
get a listing in almost twice as long if you're doing doing it twice.
It's even longer before you Get a listing and this could be marketing to a geography or
marketing obviously to your peeps So they know somebody who might use selling real estate
buying whatever that they're if you're doing it just once a month Just burn it. It's not worth it.
[00:37:57] Sofie Gordon: It's not worth it.
I really, really believe in education. So I attend a lot of classes. I listen to a ton of podcasts
including yours. And I read a lot and the four touches a month is not an accident. I mean, I
want them to see my name once a week. That's my goal. I don't care if they even open the
piece of mail I send them, but I want them to see my name once a week.
I want it to be, you know, on their mind. Yep. Cause
[00:38:19] Tracy Hayes: what are we doing? We're scrolling down the email saying who
sent me that email? Who sent me the email? Do I need to read it? Delete deletely. Oh, Sophie
sent me something. Okay, maybe I need to read that or just they saw your name or they saw
[00:38:28] Sofie Gordon: my name. I saw you sent it, which is totally fine.
Yes. So the key to sending me the email newer agents will like not even just newer agents,
but maybe agents who don't do it full time or aren't super active. I've heard it so many times.
People forget I'm an agent. one of my friends post that they bought a house with someone
else, and they didn't even think about me.
I don't want that to ever be the case. I want people to, I want people to rip your heart out. It
does. I told you that business is personal for me. It really is. And so, yeah, that, that would be
a heartbreaker to me. And so, I do, you know, I stay in front of them, not annoying. I don't
want to be that person who's like, you know, in your face about real estate all the time.

Much of what I send is not about real estate.
[00:39:12] Tracy Hayes: Yes, well, your social media, like you look on the Instagram page
you know, you have numerous personal and then you might, you know, whatever, something
about real estate, you know, one of the last ones was your top 33 ranking. And, you know,
you're, you're spinning in there.
It's like Sophie, Sophie, Sophie, real estate, Sophie, Sophie, Sophie, real estate. Right.
[00:39:31] Sofie Gordon: Yeah. Yeah. But all my, all my stories on Instagram, like the
people who view my stories every day, it's all real estate. It's all real estate. And I got really
high engagement. Because you know, I mean, someone told me early on, like, keep posting,
like everyone likes selling.
Everyone likes seeing houses. Everyone likes seeing cool houses. And it's so true. When I
wasn't an agent, I loved seeing houses. Like I became an agent. This is so silly and stupid. I
watched selling sunset. And I was like, oh, it's gonna be just like that. Like, I get to wear
really cool dresses, and like, eat at really fancy restaurants, and like, it's, and, I mean, it's
gonna be so easy.
I don't know if you can, like, feel that eye roll through the microphone, but, it's not like that.
it's not like that. It's so much better, thank God, it's so much better.
[00:40:13] Tracy Hayes: Christina welch was one of my originals. I didn't videotape it So I
had her on I think pretty much right at the beginning of the year and we talked more Not
about her personally thing, but her obviously her team and real estate stuff.
Yeah. But that's what you know, she, I think she was at the point, she's, you know,
interviewing all the time and she goes, this is not, you know, real estate is not selling sunset,
whatever. She brought that show up too. . No, I thought that was funny that you said it's not,
obviously she made it clear that, you know, some, some of these people coming in to talk
about real estate, that is their vision or at least impression which.
You know, I can't blame them, you know, you only know what you know, right? You don't
know what you don't know,
[00:40:52] Sofie Gordon: right? I mean, there are so many shows that make our job look
super glitzy and there are elements of it that are so much fun I mean there totally are but 99
percent of what we do is like It's not like getting down and dirty into a deal.
Like you've got to memorize like how a contract works and breathes, right? I mean that's not
shown on Selling Sunset. You need to like know about insurance and know about like loan
guidelines and like all of these things that you're not talking about when it's a TV show
because it's really boring and they don't want to talk about
[00:41:20] Tracy Hayes: it.

you're bringing up something I wanted to leave because I kind of had a couple of questions
in this area but I'm going to tweak the question a little bit.
Your support at Keller Williams even those people have been there, you know 20 years, you
know, you don't know everything, but you know, we went through a period of time,
especially like when you first started 2021, when you're getting multiple offers and so forth.
Now it's, you know, when you go on that listing appointment, you gotta be a little more
strategic and you're presenting because you're competing against a lot of builders with a lot
of incentives because interest rates are up, you know, as soon as you kind of like your
number one competition right now at least, you know, from someone trying to sell a house is
new builds.
Tell us a situation that you had, and you may or may not use names. That's, that's up to you
kind of where you, you had that situation where you had to, you had to pick up the phone
and call one, someone at, I would imagine at Keller Williams, who is more experienced with
just more to strategize your.
[00:42:17] Sofie Gordon: Oh my gosh, I mentioned Patrick Dorian early on so for nine
weeks and he was paid like this was a job for him So he wasn't just doing a favor, but he was
excellent at it. Seriously morning in a night. I was able to call him. He's a very successful
experienced agent. He knew his stuff and He's far more analytical than I, which I really
appreciate someone with that brain, especially when you're first getting into real estate and
you're worried that you're going to just F something up, right?
Like you're real, you're worried, I'm going to get my buyers or my seller into a situation
that's going to screw them out of thousands of dollars. That's a huge fear when you're a new
agent. Being able to call a successful agent who's done hundreds of transactions, you know it
like, like the back of their hand, is invaluable.
So I called him about things that I probably knew the answers to, and he was probably so
annoyed. Like if I really thought about it, I probably could have figured it out. Because
you've been
[00:43:05] Tracy Hayes: to his classes or whatever, you've been training on them, you kind
of knew the answer, but you wanted the
[00:43:09] Sofie Gordon: reinforcement.
You want someone who knows more than you to tell you that's correct. Yeah, because I
always thought like better safe than sorry, like I reached out to my broker even about so
many silly things probably early on in hindsight just to cover myself just to make sure you're
doing this right. You got this.
Your buyer's good or your seller's good, right? Yeah. I mean, and there are a lot of agents.
There are a lot of newer agents and I work with them on the other side of the transaction

pretty frequently who don't have that resource. And so I will say to the agent on the other
side in a non insulting way, I'll say, Hey, Hey, like let's work together as a team on this.
If you need anything, please let me know. Like we've got the same goal here.
[00:43:47] Tracy Hayes: Well, let's speak to that from the standpoint, because that's not
something I have not heard before so I'm hearing it quite frequently actually For that person
on the other end again who may not and sometimes they don't want to admit it sometimes
obviously egos get involved in emotional but to understand and have the Mindset that
working with you and other people that are great because they're great because they have this
mindset in that situation That this is a team effort Buyer, seller, lender, whatever, we got to
get them
[00:44:17] Sofie Gordon: to closing.
So, every single transaction I go into, every single one, even like before we put an offer in,
but I know we're getting prepared to, I always say to the agent on the other side, whether
they've been doing this for 40 years or four minutes, let's work together. Let's do everything
we need to do to make our buyer and seller happy on this.
Because I've been in transactions where it feels like you're like, you know, butting heads and
fighting against each other. And I think everyone who's has been in those situations will say
that it's unproductive. And so I decided a couple of years ago, I'm going to make that agent
my team member. And it's true.
We are working towards the exact same goal. We want our buyer and our seller to be happy,
right? And so when we work together, it's way more successful.
[00:44:57] Tracy Hayes: when I hear these stories. that the agent on the other side feels
because they've got Hey, we got to do it. And a lot of times, obviously, I assume these battles
come over negotiations and, and repairs or whatever need to be done.
Right. that selling agent oftentimes you know, maybe not be always a selling agent, but like
they're trying to protect the seller when in reality, if you and your client walked away, the
next client is just as likely to find
[00:45:27] Sofie Gordon: the same things in the inspection report and have the same
conversation.
How many
[00:45:30] Tracy Hayes: times have you seen it over and over again? That's the way it is. So
you might as well deal with who's in front of you because you're a lot closer to closing.

[00:45:38] Sofie Gordon: Oh, I mean, absolutely. I think that that, I was far more of a
fighter in my beginning transactions. And don't get me wrong, I fight for my clients to Save
and make every single dollar they possibly can and get the best situation.
But I do it with honey and not vinegar now. And it has made so much of a difference. You
can achieve great things for the people in a transaction by collaborating.
[00:46:00] Tracy Hayes: Do you and you may or, you may do this. You may have learned
this while you're dealing with a little bit more honey. When you get that call and the agent on
that says, Hey We need that fixed.
Or Hey, we want, instead of fixing, you just give us 2, 000 seller concession, whatever the
offer is, which may not make you happy. Cause now obviously now you've got to go to your
sellers and ask them basically to give up whatever amount of money. But how important is
hang up the phone and take a few moments and play through like chess, what the next three
moves are going to be.
You know, if I go to the, how should I present it to the clients? And then, how do I, for you
know, I think Kim Knapp says it very well. She'll go back to her clients and say, for a
thousand dollars, you're going to walk away from this house that you love the street, you
love the neighborhood, your kids are going to go to that school, and you're ready to walk
away for a thousand
[00:46:53] Sofie Gordon: dollars.
Well, and I'll break it down even further than that. I'll reach out to the lender and I'll say, hey,
and I just did it the other day, we were apart by nine thousand dollars. And for the size of this
transaction, that was nothing. And I said to the lender, I said, hey, I'm Apart from getting this
offer accepted because the buyer doesn't want to come up with another 9, 000.
How's that going to affect them over 30 years? And so I was able to find out, I think it was
20 a month or something. And you figure out your buyers, you figure out what kind of brain
they have, right? And I know that she's a numbers person. I found out, I think it was 20 a
month or something. I said, Hey, you love this place.
Are you really going, like, if we can't come to terms, are you okay walking away for 20 a
month? The answer is almost never know if they really love the property. And so, and I'll
still, I mean, I will fight to my last breath to get them that deal as low as possible. But when
the seller says to you, this is our best, we're not, you know, you got to navigate it and you just
got to,
[00:47:45] Tracy Hayes: it's part of negotiation.
And then the, the, the whole important thing is coming to. Commonality, right? Totally.
Yeah. Yeah. And the, the seller has to feel they won. The buyer has to feel they won in the
draw

[00:47:58] Sofie Gordon: of the. That's exactly right.
[00:48:01] Tracy Hayes: you know, I guess, in the sports analogy, there's no one ever
actually a winner and a loser.
We hope there's not that situation hope someone doesn't take advantage of another, but
sometimes situations create that. In a typical transaction that we're dealing in a high demand
area like this, we've got to find the win win, and it's a tie, and everybody goes home happy.
They're in their
[00:48:23] Sofie Gordon: new house. I mean, I hope my client's happier.
Yeah. Wow. But, but yeah. The judge is your
[00:48:29] Tracy Hayes: win, right? Oh, all right. So, tell me, you know, like I said, just
over three years now, when you look back, Of all your sales that you've done so far, which
one turns, just puts a smile on your face? What do you feel is just like, this was the greatest?
[00:48:48] Sofie Gordon: You know, it's an interesting one because It puts the smile on my
face because I worked so hard for it. And so I'll tell the backstory of it, and it was one that I
just didn't think I was gonna get, right? So, it was a, I was selling a property in Marsh
Landing, and it was, It was one of the situations where I said I knock on the two next doors,
right?
And so what I said when I went and knocked on their doors, Hey, I'm having a party next
door. It was a broker's open, but I thought let's invite one or two potential clients. I said, I'm
having a party next door. There's going to be live music drinks. Give me so much fun. It's, I
gave him an invitation.
It's going to be in the evening or in the middle of the day. It was, it was a Thursday. Yeah, it
was like a Thursday at like five or something like that. Okay, so like a happy hour or
something. Yeah, like a normal, yeah, yeah. So I was like, I'm having a, I'm having a little
party. I hope you enjoy it. I introduced myself and he came.
And so he came and I had no idea if he was going to sell his house. I had no idea. And so, He
had so much fun at the party came prepared, he's in his eighties, came prepared with a long
list of questions that he had for me, said he already did all of his research, he knew who I
voted for, like, blah, blah, blah, he did all of his research, and, right, and so, he, you know, he
came, had a drink, he said, will you come over after and look at my property, I'm thinking
about selling it.
And I, I listen to a ton of true crime podcasts, so I'm always a little hesitant. Like, safety first
is so important in this job. So I had like my, I had like my, I think maybe my husband was
even on the, on the phone the entire time in my back pocket while I was at this guy's house.
Go over there. He shows me his whole property.

He's thinking about selling. Okay, great. So I stay in touch with him. Frequently, like a
couple times a week, you know, not in his face, but just via text checking in. Well, he told
you he was interested But I knew that he was interviewing other agents and I knew the other
agents who were interviewed who he was interviewing because this was Earlier on this was a
few years ago I knew they were super high powered agents and I can't really I couldn't have
competed with that, right?
And so i'm like i'm gonna beat them in a different way. I'm gonna be his friend. I told you
this i'm gonna be his friend and so, You know, I found out that he loved golfing. Because
when we were going through his house, he had like eight sets of golf clubs. Okay. Well, my
husband loves golfing. They should golf together.
And so I, I introduced them and they got along really, really well. And then, you know, He's
probably looking for
[00:51:02] Tracy Hayes: golf partners all the time. Oh, most, most men are. A lot of his
friends, a lot of his friends
[00:51:06] Sofie Gordon: are probably passed on. Right. That's exactly right. And so I just,
decided very early on, he's going to be my friend.
It's going to be weird, but he's going to be my friend. So, he became my friend and he still is
to this day. And I worked to get that transaction for, it took me a year and a half. A year and
a half of, you know, I ran CMAs for him probably five times because the market has changed
so much in a year and a half at that time.
I ran five times CMAs, go over to his house, present it to him. A lot of agents would have
given up at that point, like a lot of them. And I just kept going because I really, I was like,
I'm really far into this now. And I actually really like
[00:51:36] Tracy Hayes: him. You haven't gone with anybody else. Yeah, I haven't gone
with anyone else.
Yeah, so
[00:51:38] Sofie Gordon: just stay on it. And I really liked him. Yeah. And I still do and so,
you know, I got, I sold his house in Marsh Landing and then. went into a rental and I'm like,
gosh, you should not be living in a rental. You need to buy another house. Like you do not
want your last place you live in to be a little shoe box.
You want to live in a cool house with a golf course view, you know, the whole thing.
Because at this point I cared about him. Like he had gotten sick and I, you know, I saw that
he was sitting alone in this little tiny apartment when he came from this gorgeous home in
marsh landing and I was like, you need a view.

Like you need to be able to walk out your backyard and see people putting, right? Cause
that's what he loves. So we got him house in Sawgrass. And he's, you know, to this day, like
he comes to my family's events, like he's one of my, yeah, he's 80 something years old, but
he's one of my friends and I am so, so proud of that.
Because if I, I'm telling you, if I, if I gave up within that first year, I would, yeah, it's two
transactions, but it's also a relationship I really value.
[00:52:33] Tracy Hayes: Two things there, 99. 9 percent of the agents out there, never.
Would have gone next door, invited them to the broker's open. You
[00:52:43] Sofie Gordon: know, I tell every agent I come in contact with, like, because I
teach classes at Keller, and and I've been on some panels for some other brokerages, and I
always say to them, like, it's going to take you five minutes.
I'm not, I'm not someone who's going to say, cold call, door knock. I'm not going to tell you
that, to do that, because I think it's a waste of time. But, I will say, it's going to take you five
minutes to knock on two doors. Just not, I mean, you've got a list and you're there. Well one,
[00:53:04] Tracy Hayes: you've got cars all over the place.
Anyway, so you need to make friends next door for that. Right. But why not just invite them
and now you've got them in and they don't
[00:53:13] Sofie Gordon: care about the car. Well, that's exactly right. and you've already
got kind of the The gravitas of having a listing in their neighborhood already, and so it gives
you some value already going into some credibility going into it, and like you said, when you
have a listing, especially one that's maybe a higher price point that's going to take a little
longer to sell you're going to have some parties, and there are going to be some parking
issues possibly when you turn that neighbor into a potential friend.
They're going to be a whole lot nicer about it. An ally,
[00:53:38] Tracy Hayes: an advocate. That's exactly right. And obviously the second part is
your follow up. Yeah. Yeah. Over the top and no matter what sales class you go to, they're
going to tell you, you know, it's, it's all in the followup, right? you broke the ice and now you
had someone to follow up with.
You, you had a listing and now you have, now you have a potential next client, which came a
little later, but that was out of that one deal. You got two because you. We might have gotten
others, but you know, yeah, I mean, just by doing some simple thing by inviting him next
door. I think that's brilliant.
[00:54:10] Sofie Gordon: Well, I, I will say that it's really easy not to do stuff like that. I
mean, it's just so simple, but it's really easy not to do things. And so I just assume, okay, let's
say I'm competing. I'm going to assume the other agents are not going the next step. Because

I'm always going to go the next step. So if I'm going to compete and they, I mean, there are
plenty of agents who have been doing this for 30 years who have, have sold far more houses
than I have, right?
I can't compete against that. I can't make myself older. But I can make myself more
accessible. And I can be, you know, I can be in more of a relationship with this person.
Because a lot of times, and I say this to new agents all the time, one of your biggest
superpowers right now is that you're not busy.
It really is. So you're not that busy, which means when you've got a client, they are, they are
like a rock star to you, right? Like make them feel so valued, like really, really hone in on
them. And it's not always going to be that way. Cause you are going to get busy and you're
not going to be able to go to the neighbor's house once a week and present CMAs.
Right. But while you can do it, All right. I'm going
[00:55:08] Tracy Hayes: to go back to the busy thing here in a second. But I want, cause I
had, we talked about your most memorable smiling sale. What's that horror story you tell at
every cocktail party?
[00:55:20] Sofie Gordon: You know, I don't even tell it because I, I, and I, I tell agents all
the time you know, get everything in writing, and you never know when you're going to get
sued, and it happens, right?
So I had a transaction recently, it was some clients who became friends, and you know, I
didn't know that they were working with another agent for two years before this, and so they
had worked with another agent. I sell them this house, that agent comes after my
commission, like sues me for my whole commission because he thought he was entitled to it.
He had no, you know, he didn't have any brokerage agreement in place, nothing like that.
Buyer's agreement, yeah. No. he came after my whole commission and you know, that can
very quickly soil a deal like our deal didn't fall apart, but there was like this dark cloud
hanging over the whole transaction.
Right. And so, you know, because I
[00:56:06] Tracy Hayes: imagine, well, did he, he make this approach to you after you were
under contract or after the house
[00:56:10] Sofie Gordon: actually closed after the house closed and he saw it on their social
media. it was the first time I ever had to call clients as witnesses, and that was tough, right?
Because you don't want anyone getting involved in your dirty laundry. Did
[00:56:23] Tracy Hayes: you come out on the right end of this?

[00:56:25] Sofie Gordon: Oh yeah, I won, won the deal, commission, I had a spectacular
attorney representing me, and it was turned into a non issue. But it was still like a very dark
[00:56:33] Tracy Hayes: cloud. I mean, so here's the chess play.
This guy, who knows when the last time he actually worked with them, right, actually
showed him a house or they actually interacted. It probably was a period of time. I doubt
they saw him on Wednesday, saw you on Saturday and went with
[00:56:49] Sofie Gordon: you. Well, right. And that's what the whole, the whole board had
to agree.
So who I was up in front of, who had to decide who wins this thing. They had to agree that
you know, the chain of interaction ended here and mine started here, right? And I was able to
prove that because, like I said, I get everything in writing. I had been sending them buyer's
guides, and they were on my marketing chain for two years.
Like, sure, they were working with other agents. Everyone, you know, everyone knows a
million agents, but they Did you know
[00:57:17] Tracy Hayes: about him at all? No, I had no idea. So you, you, you, you were
doing what you're supposed to be doing as a real estate agent. They selected you,
[00:57:23] Sofie Gordon: and this is That's what they said. They got up there in front of the
board and said, We were With Sophie, because she's better at this.
She We
[00:57:30] Tracy Hayes: had a better relationship. Whatever it was that she said, they
[00:57:33] Sofie Gordon: were attracted to you. They wrote seven offers with this other
agent, and didn't get a single one accepted. And so she's like, we needed to get a house. And
we, it was They felt changing agents
[00:57:42] Tracy Hayes: would get them there. Yeah, and that
[00:57:44] Sofie Gordon: happens.
As a buyer, that's their prerogative. It happens, that's exactly right. So that's the, that would, I
would say that that wasn't necessarily the transaction, but it was just, you know, the overall.
[00:57:52] Tracy Hayes: Well, what I don't understand from, from an agency, but it hurts, it
hurts your, your client decide to go with someone else.
They didn't think you're going to, it hurts anybody, but what is the play by going after the
agent who had no idea you existed?

[00:58:06] Sofie Gordon: they said that I did and they said that it should have been my
transaction because I worked with them for so many years, blah, blah, blah.
[00:58:15] Tracy Hayes: Wow. Wow.
Every car dealer in town. They
[00:58:17] Sofie Gordon: looked at that minivan with tea first. That's so funny that you say
that. That like my husband, he's not on the sales part of it really. He's on the commercial side
of the business now. But he said that's like. If someone came into our dealership and said I
want to quote on the F 150 and I quoted it to them And then they you know, went to another
dealership and bought that's like me suing the other salesperson.
Yeah, it's the same thing
[00:58:39] Tracy Hayes: really good one and I think that agent and someone listening it
happens You're gonna be heartbroken, but you got to take a deep breath I believe, and to me
things happen for a reason, and it didn't happen to you because you weren't doing what you
were supposed to be doing.
Maybe you need to learn to negotiate and get, you should have gotten one of those seven
contracts done, right? Maybe someone's telling you something and that's how they're telling
you, and you can't take it out on the other agent when the other agent is just doing what
they're supposed to be doing, and that person felt they needed to change representatives, like
changing lawyers.
I don't think that lawyer can do it for me. I'm going to change the lawyers and go with this
lawyer. It
[00:59:18] Sofie Gordon: happens. You know that it happens,
[00:59:20] Tracy Hayes: , but the chess play is in the greater real estate community. You
really look like a fool,
[00:59:26] Sofie Gordon: not this person. Yeah, it was odd. The board said, okay, well, it
typically takes about 24 to 48 hours for us to reach a decision.
I had a phone call from more. My attorney did had a phone call from the board on a verdict
within 15 minutes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
[00:59:39] Tracy Hayes: It was a busy time so down a little bit now But you been doing all
the right things and building those relationships because you you you had stuff coming to
you And so you you've got these things going you've gotten busy and now you've created
gordon and co Is that how you say?

What? How do you how do you say gordon co? So One of the challenges I think for agents
and actually even loan officers, when we reach a volume standpoint, we need that assistant.
And I noticed in your team picture, there's a couple people with you. Tell us about your
group, Gordon and co. And when, at what point did you feel, and I imagine you've gotten
coaching from Keller Williams.
There's a lot of, that, Hey, you need to actually start spinning some stuff
[01:00:20] Sofie Gordon: off on somebody else. So I. I opted to have a transaction manager
and she's far more than that. I should give her more credit. She's more like an operations
manager for me. I chose to have her before I needed her. I started working with Trudy, you
know, when I wasn't, balancing multiple transactions a month and it was because I know my
strengths but I also really know my weaknesses and I'm not ultra detail oriented.
She is. She is not going to miss anything and that is so valuable to me. Transaction
coordinator. I tell new agents this, is paid when you get paid. So it's not like you're paying
them hourly, you're not paying them before you, you know, get that commission check.
They're paid when you're paid, and they're paid like 350, right?
And so, to me, that is all the value in the world to make sure that this transaction is perfectly
smooth for my clients, and allows me to focus on things like relationships, right? if I'm stuck
in a file for a few hours a day, I don't think that's the best use of my time. So I decided that
before I needed it and it was a huge blessing and as far as, you know, other aspects of my
team I've had a buyer's agent and I'm still trying to figure that out because it didn't go well
and it's hard for me because I really love working with buyers and I found out that I was You
know, giving them business that I actually really wanted.
I'd prefer to have a seller's agent, but I don't know if, I think that that's a little
counterproductive because my marketing, like so much of being a seller's agent is because
you can market yourself, right? So, You know, I have other people behind the scenes but as
far as, like, who's in the transaction, who's actually the agent on it, it's all me and I don't
think I'm gonna change that.
I think I made the decision this year that I like being the, like, you know, the agent face of
my business. and have people behind the scenes keeping it seamless. I love
[01:01:59] Tracy Hayes: the way Melissa
[01:02:00] Sofie Gordon: Ricks does her business. She runs a great business. Melissa Ricks
and Kim Sessions run great businesses. And they are the agent with amazing people behind
the scenes, you know, pulling the levers, which is what I have, and it's a huge blessing.
[01:02:11] Tracy Hayes: You know you do this because you're the face so you're the socials
that's that's marketing And that's what you have to do because you're the face right the face
has to be there But what do you what are things that you're still doing that aren't necessarily?

[01:02:23] Sofie Gordon: You know what like the down and dirty and the transaction stuff.
Yeah, yeah, I mean I write all my contracts that takes you away
[01:02:29] Tracy Hayes: from Networking yeah, you know creating the relationships as
what are you doing? That's not That's taking away from that
[01:02:37] Sofie Gordon: well, and I've gotten very picky about that I've gotten good at
outsourcing things that I feel are not the best use of my time.
There are still things where I'm like in the nitty gritty of the contracts, but it's because I
choose to, not because I have to. It's a little more something a
[01:02:49] Tracy Hayes: little more
[01:02:50] Sofie Gordon: tricky. Well, it's stuff that like, I want to know that if. If something
went wrong for some reason, it wasn't because someone on my team who's not as
experienced did something wrong.
Like it's stuff that I think is so important that I'm going to, like, it's on me. I'm going to make
this happen. I'm going to make it right. So like on my contracts, for example, I write every
single contract I have. I've still the person I have showing assistance and stuff like that.
So if I need help showing properties, it's never the first time that you're seeing a property
with me. Right. Right. Very rarely the second, but if you need help, I introduce them very
early on. Hey, I've got someone, she's going to be amazing. She may step in at some point if
I'm ever, you know, in a closing or at a funeral or whatever it is.
Right. But Relationships are so important to me, so all of these, like, you know, face to face
interactions with my clients, I'm always going to be in them, and then I outsource stuff
behind the scenes. So, I outsource to Trudy, she does all of my, she collects signatures for all
the addenda, you know, organizes my closings, getting my files approved with Keller, you
know, maintaining the relationship, and the, you know, keeping track with title and the lender
and everything, right?
Marketing. So like, you know, I said that there are four touches every month. People help me
create those like a lot of, most of them are automated because you don't, I mean, most of
them are automated. So I outsource that kind
[01:04:01] Tracy Hayes: of stuff. Changing the physical material, changing the flyer. You
might proof it, but other than that, you're.
[01:04:06] Sofie Gordon: No. And then, and then also I think it's really important to
remember that this isn't rocket science. Like we are not brain surgeons here. You know, I feel
sometimes I'm overwhelmed, but sometimes and when I am, I decide to have people help
me. Like, the biggest thing is just to, like, very early on, surround yourself with people you
trust to get stuff done.

Like Trudy, you know, I could pay her a million dollars and it still wouldn't be enough, right?
And it's because you know, I, I need the time to go out and get business. And if I don't have
someone helping me behind the scenes, I'm not going to have that time to go get business.
Right. Right.
[01:04:35] Tracy Hayes: Right.
Yeah. I assume you feel if you can make the appointment to show the house, you want to be
there. Oh yeah. I am there. Because you're, you're not only showing the house, but you're
obviously also hearing the customer and what they're buying things are, but you're, you're
still working on the
[01:04:50] Sofie Gordon: relationship.
Oh no, I'm there for sure. Like, let's say we look at, 15 houses, hopefully we're not looking at
15 houses, but let's say it's 15 houses. You may see it with another agent twice. I try to be in
front of my clients. It's FaceTime. Yeah, absolutely. It's, it's a moment to talk about things
that aren't real estate.
Because when you're walking around a house looking at it, you're not just talking about the
cabinets. Like you learn about their family. You learn if they have pets. Like you, you learn
what they do for fun, you know,
[01:05:15] Tracy Hayes: which they may not have told you in the original because they
didn't think It was important, but why they're walking around the house.
Oh, it's important that I have Oh, man, I want a larger because I want to hang my clothes in
the laundry room
[01:05:25] Sofie Gordon: or whatever Well, right and if you like if you learn, you know, if
you learn walking around like maybe they're from Cincinnati they're huge but huge Bengals
fan or something you learn all this stuff because Like, I've had opportunities, like, you can
give people tickets, like, little, like, surprise and delight items.
Yes. Like, keep, like, whenever I leave an interaction with a client and I learn something new
about them, I put it into my CRM, right? So, I don't just have their name, email, phone
number in there. I know what they like and what they're interested in and what their kids
names are, all that kind of stuff.
I'm trying
[01:05:54] Tracy Hayes: to remember who said this and I'm sure he stole it from somewhere
else. It was a salesman. Might have been John Maxwell. But when, like, they tell you they're
a Bengals fan. And at closing, you give them something that has, you know, representing the
Bengals. They go back and say, Wow, she listened to me.

Yeah. She heard me. Yeah. And that's so important when building a relationship. That they
know you heard them. Oh
[01:06:18] Sofie Gordon: my gosh, and my love language is GIFs, and so, like at closing,
everyone will tell you, my favorite part of the transaction is the GIF. And so, and so I put
together these huge elaborate GIF baskets, and it's from things I've collected from
conversations with them throughout our transaction.
And it, you're so right, like people, I think people assume now that there's so much blah blah
blah blah, like there's so much noise that no one's actually listening, right? Like I don't, like I
personally don't expect a lender to remember that I told them, you know, that I love King
Charles Spaniels, whatever.
Right? I love my dog. I don't expect them to remember that. And they don't. And so , and so
I don't like when someone, but when someone does, when someone does that, like it's, it
takes right, it hits you, right? It no, it totally does. Yeah. It's, it does. And it takes you to
another level.
[01:07:04] Tracy Hayes: let's actually talk about the actual tipping point. To get that first
assistant. Were you, did you start off that way? Because your mentor or leadership at Keller
was already telling you, Hey, you, yo, you need the transaction coordinator. It's you pay
when you use them, right? You don't need to pay.
I decided
[01:07:21] Sofie Gordon: early on right away for it. I've had a transaction coordinator since
I, you know, I had to actually pull up some old files the other day, cause I was digging into
something for an older client and I think that I, it was a transaction that I didn't have a
coordinator on. Huge difference, right?
Like I saw just a huge difference in the way the transaction went. I think, and I started doing
some research, I think that I had maybe two or three maybe in my whole career that have not
had a transaction coordinator, and it's like so much different.
[01:07:47] Tracy Hayes: Okay, so you took the advice. Immediately. Right away.
you feel today it's changed your business. I know it has. And then to be able to now dump off
like the marketing and stuff. How does that make you feel? Because I think a lot of people
miss out. Again, I'm going to. I've heard this in numerous places. We all need time. To
meditate.
Like some of these guys like to get up real early in the morning and
[01:08:11] Sofie Gordon: Go on a beach walk or sauna or

[01:08:12] Tracy Hayes: whatever. And actually let everything process through in you and
how you're going to handle your day. Or maybe how you're going to handle this new
customer you've got. Maybe they're difficult, maybe they're not.
Or how you may, you know, hey, if so and so makes an offer on this house, it's going to be
really important. How important is that to actually have that? because you know that other
stuff is being taken care of by
[01:08:34] Sofie Gordon: someone else. Yes. So it's unbelievably valuable. I wake up every
single morning and my transaction coordinator, who I said is far more than that.
I wake up with a list every single morning of exactly what is going on in every transaction at
what I need to do. So I don't wake up and. I like, you know, like my hair's on fire. Like, what
do I do it? What am I doing today? She's
[01:08:55] Tracy Hayes: sending you this like at the end of the day before
[01:08:58] Sofie Gordon: or no, I wake up at 8 a. m.
every morning. She's already sent that email. Yeah. Well, it's a text message every morning
and it's bullet points with each transaction that's going on. And one of those long text
messages, which I like, it used to be emails, but I like the text because I, because I don't want
to check my email at 8 a. m.
But I do. Then you get distracted. I get distracted. Right. But I do want to check. I see your
text. Right. She sends it to me every morning. I know exactly what's going on for that day.
It's, you know, if everything's organized, you don't feel like you're running around with your
head cut off. And so, that gives me the peace of mind to have like a peaceful morning,
because I think peaceful mornings are very important to start your day.
So I have my coffee, I go on my walk, I'm not stressing about anything, you know, and it's
And if the client
[01:09:37] Tracy Hayes: calls you about something, hey, this is going on, say, oh, yeah,
yeah, I You know, you might not know everything, but it was on that list. Yes.
[01:09:45] Sofie Gordon: No, I know everything. Yeah. Trudy
[01:09:47] Tracy Hayes: told me about that. Let me catch up with Trudy and I'll call you
back.
[01:09:50] Sofie Gordon: No, this is something we started early on with clients and I, it has
been a godsend for communication with clients. When I go under contract with a buyer or a
seller. I immediately send trudy the name and phone number of the buyer or the seller. She
puts them in a group message It's her trudy the buyer seller and me so it's you know, it's a
three unless they're married, you know, it's four we're in this group message.

She changes the name of the group message immediately she says, Congratulations on going
under contract at blah blah blah. In the next few minutes, you're gonna have an email with all
of the important dates and timelines that Sophie and I will be tracking as we work our way to
closing. We won't miss a thing.
We're gonna stay on top of it. And so we have that group text message chain from the
beginning. I don't get calls anymore. I get and she, cause she said, respond
[01:10:34] Tracy Hayes: back in the group text. She said, Rudy.
[01:10:37] Sofie Gordon: That's exactly right. She says immediately in that first message. If
you need anything at all, please send it in this group message.
And Sophie and I'll be on top of it immediately, right? And that has been a huge game
changer. It's immediately put in
[01:10:48] Tracy Hayes: your CRM. I imagine at this time as well, she's putting all that stuff
in there. It's all done. And you're not, and because I think it's one of the. One of the things is,
and we can talk about it, but CRMs are not used to their fullest because we, if you try to put
all that burden on you, I got to put all that stuff in the CRM, you get distracted.
And the next thing you know, three clients later, did I put so and so's name in it? You're,
they're being put in there from day one, right from the get go. So they're getting all your auto
stuff. It's automated, automated stuff that needs to be going
[01:11:17] Sofie Gordon: out. That's exactly right. A hundred percent. I mean, It's so easy to
get caught up in like fancy technology and all of these possible ways you can pay for
something to make your business easier. It's as simple as getting a group text going with your
transaction coordinator and your client. Like there's nothing there's, I'm not reinventing the
wheel here.
I'm just, you know, streamlining the conversation. It's so I don't have a million text strands
going on. Right. I mean, it was just, that has been, I mean, that's so silly, but that has been
one of the best decisions for my business. That's
[01:11:43] Tracy Hayes: great advice. Great advice. All right. I'm going to finish up with
these last three questions here.
We'll cut it to two top tips that you think agents should be doing right now in the current
market.
[01:11:55] Sofie Gordon: Okay, so
[01:11:56] Tracy Hayes: like you said the things are slowed down a little bit so time, you
know, so what should they be doing?

[01:12:01] Sofie Gordon: Your partners are so important so when you do even if you're not
slow and I i'll say I feel that i'm at the i'm at the busiest i've ever been like I have more
closings this month than i've had all year Which is not total right?
But the busiest month i've had here and I will say that Whether you're busy or slow, you
really, really need to develop partnerships that not just, you know, not just serve your clients,
but serve you. So, I have lender and insurance partners that are constantly educating me.
Like, I call my lenders and insurance partners, at least once a week, but it's probably far more
often than that.
Most of the time. You're calling them. Yeah. I need information. Give me information. Yeah.
And I'm not necessarily I'm not necessarily calling them and giving them a deal every time.
And that's, that's, I'm calling them and saying, what are rates doing right now? Like, cause I
work, I love to work with buyers and sellers and be like a source of education.
So I think, I got to know what I'm talking about because when it was really like, Early on,
especially. My fear, and I did experience it, not a lot, but I did experience it. I'm young. And
so why should they trust me? And you know why? Because I know my stuff. And so I'm
constantly reaching out to the people I need to reach out to, to be educated.
So find a really good tip. Find a really good insurance partner and find a good lender partner
and be able to reach out to them and say, tell me what, like I mean, what's the best type of
loan you can offer right now for this type of client? everyone's got those new buyers that.
400, 000, putting 5 percent down, blah, blah, blah. What should I be talking to them about
right now? Like, are there any new products I need to know about?
[01:13:40] Tracy Hayes: And how important from the insurance side, like right now, when
you do start to go under transaction, or maybe someone thinking about making an offer on a
home, you need to, the insurance is important now.
Huge deal. Two years ago, not as important
[01:13:50] Sofie Gordon: now. Huge deal. Well, I mean. Insurance costs have risen
significantly and we are in an insurance crisis, right? So you need to have an insurance
partner. If you don't have one, ask me. I'll give you one. He's excellent. Who you can literally
just shoot a text to.
One thing that I tell new agents, this is so valuable to my clients. Before you go on a
showing, pull the flood report the flood zone report and the lost history on a house. You go
into it with so much information for your clients that they would never be able to find on
their own. You guys have access
[01:14:18] Tracy Hayes: to the lost history?
Or you have, you

[01:14:20] Sofie Gordon: contact the insurance? No, I have my insurance partner. I shoot
him a text. I shoot him a text with the address and I say, Hey, I have a show, I have a
showing in four hours. Can you pull this for me? And I always send, forward his email over
to the client and I say, Hey. This is for the house we're seeing today.
I'll talk, talk to you about it when I see you in person. My partner gave you this report
[01:14:35] Tracy Hayes: on this house and this is what's going to happen. Yeah. It's in a
flood zone. It's not in a flood zone. Right. And then you may think because, oh, the previous
owners made a claim that that's not going to affect you.
The insurance companies are finding every
[01:14:45] Sofie Gordon: way to affect you. Right. Of course. Yeah. So I, I say have good
partners. Yeah, have good partners. And one thing that you'll, like, I've attended a ton of
classes on the NARA lawsuit that's going on. It's really really time for us to prove our value
so go go through the hoops to show your clients You know, I work like I'm gonna get this
done and I'm like the best person for it Yeah, it's all of these ways to show value throughout
and I'm gonna add it.
I'm
[01:15:08] Tracy Hayes: gonna add on to that little bit Because I think I don't then see if you
had a YouTube channel or not
[01:15:16] Sofie Gordon: You're telling me all my weaknesses right now, , that's what I'm
here for. I have, I have my Instagram .
[01:15:21] Tracy Hayes: Well, well you can do it on an Instagram video too. Yeah, but I
think YouTube is like the library you can search.
Right? And you can send them the YouTube link. Like, boom. Here is, if you don't wanna sit
there and give that spiel or, you know, because there's so many things that you guys do to try
to, you know, get it down. But to put it in a. Maybe if you can do it in 60 seconds, great, but
a two or three minute video of you saying, Hey, thank you for, you know, Selecting me as
your buyer's agent.
I really appreciate it. These are some of the things you're gonna expect from me and really
take a time and really do a professional video for two Or three minutes. Oh, absolutely. Then
you don't have to run to every client and tell them you just, when you're talking to them,
Send them the link and say, Hey, I'd like you to watch this video.
That's
[01:16:06] Sofie Gordon: exactly right. Go watch it. Yeah, exactly, right.

[01:16:08] Tracy Hayes: Basically explains your value and why you need to get paid for
what you do and why you get paid as much as
[01:16:14] Sofie Gordon: you do So you asked right and so you asked me two things that
agents need to be doing right now in my opinion One of them is partners partners really
diving into your partners and taking it like they want to educate you.
You're a lender I'm sure you would like you would probably love if an agent called you and
said tell me what's going on. Yeah Yeah, you'd probably be ready to educate
[01:16:31] Tracy Hayes: them. Well, I mean, we try to contact you guys without
overburdening you. We don't want to be that. Man, why is that guy calling me again? But
you know, it's the same thing you're doing social media for.
We're reaching out and say, Hey, we're, we're here. That's exactly right. Cause we know you
[01:16:42] Sofie Gordon: have many choices to choose from. Exactly right. And so, one of
them would be really developing your partnerships with the, like the professional into the
industry. And two is. Analyze your business and see what has been working and then really,
really dive in on that.
So, like I said before, I've paid for Zillow leads. I've done all these things that are time
wasters and not money makers. And I found out that, you know, my Instagram content and
my spheres, where all my business comes from. And so I am just constantly figuring out
ways, like, Educating myself on ways to really dive in with those two avenues, you know,
making my relationships through social media and through my people even better.
What are you good
[01:17:19] Tracy Hayes: at? What do you like doing? Because that's what you're going to
wake up and do. Well, right. You know, that's the first thing you're, you know, we, we love to
say we're all, we, we, we eat the frogs, but we don't. We may on certain days knowing when
something really is getting, uh, you gotta just eat that frog.
Because what you're gonna do every day is what you like doing find out what that sweet spot
is You like doing socials with the girls or whatever have creating the relationships have that
if that's your game 10X it, right?
[01:17:48] Sofie Gordon: Well, I'm not, that's exactly right. I if I could give one piece of
advice to a new agent, it's that you should turn this into a career you love not one that you,
you know, dread waking up to.
And that starts in the beginning. It starts with you know, being intentional about how you
spend your time and who you spend it with.

[01:18:05] Tracy Hayes: All right. Last question. Keep this one, you know, try to keep it
down to a minute. What's the most important mindset? That agents should have when, when
working with a, a client buyer or seller.
[01:18:17] Sofie Gordon: So mindset towards the client or towards the
[01:18:20] Tracy Hayes: when they you've got that listing appointment or buyers called you
and you're going over to meet Him for the first time. What's the mindset that you should
have when approaching them?
[01:18:28] Sofie Gordon: Well, it's not just to my buyers and sellers It's just to life in
general.
I think you can go through it go into it with abundance and everything changes So I go into
every relationship expecting it to be more than just a transactional relationship, right? I said
that. I go into every transaction expecting it to be more than just a transaction. And so when
you go into it, well, and I also said with my business, I operate my business as if the world's
not on fire.
I operate as if everything's gonna be great. I'm not unrealistic. You're gonna find the
solution. And I always say yes. And so like, like, like I always say, like, if someone asked me
a question, I always go into it and I I say yes, I'm going to figure it out.
I don't have an answer for you now, but I'm going to figure it out every single time because I
like, I like to be a problem solver. It's why, it's why I do this job.
[01:19:13] Tracy Hayes: Well, we you feel comfortable at Keller Williams that there's
people over there who are smarter than you, that any challenge that comes up?
You'll figure
[01:19:19] Sofie Gordon: it out. Well, and we've all got, we've all got brokers and the good
news is we are all, like if you're under contract, there's an attorney somewhere in there.
There's an attorney at a title company. So if I don't have it, someone's got an answer in this
transaction, I will be the one to give you the solution.
You'll find it. So it's just an abundance mindset for everything.
[01:19:33] Tracy Hayes: Excellent. Yeah. Great show. Thank you so much. I
[01:19:37] Sofie Gordon: appreciate you coming on. Thank you so much. This was
[01:19:38] Tracy Hayes: really fun. Yeah. There was a lot of information in there. Yeah.
Someone listening could get a lot out of it. Cool. Cool. I hope so.