Authorify Reviews for Customizable Real Estate Books and more tips: Mastermind with Certified Probate Experts Podcast Episode 83

Opening remarks from this episode:

Hey welcome. This is Bill Gross and welcome to our Probate Mastery mastermind. I am the guest host. This probate mastermind is a program founded by Chad Corbett who is a coach in probate real estate for real estate investors, wholesalers and real estate agents. I happen to be a full-time real estate broker in Los Angeles, California building a national probate team.

As well as part-time coach, I do this call every week and I have my own call. I do a little bit of coaching the side. It is not really my business. I really am more of a practitioner, and I enjoy that a lot more. But I came on this call because I would come on weekly and answer questions and part. And when the business was changing a little bit, Chad asked me if I would be interested in hosting this call.

I said, yes, I would love to, it is something I do already something similar and think I, I can add to it. And as a member of the mastermind rather than as a coach or selling anything, my need is that we are here together to share ideas, best practices, encourage each other. So that is why I am here. And then I am glad here to help answer questions or engage everybody in conversation to help work for everybody.

ProbateMastery.com is the website on there. You can find all about Chad’s coaching programs, but more importantly, recordings of past episodes clips, great material. My guess is answers about aid to the questions are there in one form or another, but you should check that out. It is free at ProbateMastery.com.

I would say Chad gives way more content for free than most companies can sell. And then once you are an alum, there is a Probate Mastery Facebook group. With 1500 members in it, great place to post questions, get immediate answers as well as share victories and encourage each other. I would love to have you guys participate there.

This is really designed to be interactive, and this is designed for you to learn and participate. And I coach agents every day and I tell them. And in sales, the more we give, the more we get; the more we participate, the more you win. If you’re going to participate, put your camera on, raise your ask questions, or post in the chat box of questions, start letter ‘Q’ so I know it’s a question and I would be glad to put you on top of the list and bring you in and ask a question, let you participate. And the nice thing is then we can record that question as well and share that for other people to participate as well.

First question, because you had an early and asked me the question. It was a great one is from ClaireMonique who has a question.

Probate court visit – Tips for Real Estate Professionals Reviews: Customizable real estate books for marketing?

ClaireMonique has a great question about going to court, so go ahead and ask your question.

I am finally mustering the courage to go to the probate courthouse this week. Yay! When I get there, what am I looking for?

Great. ClaireMonique, you have been around a little while. How long have you, how long you been a real estate agent? Almost 20 years.

Wow, she started when she was 12 years old. And how long have you been playing in the probate space?

A few months. A few months.

Yes. I just moved to Arizona. I think since I have no support system, I want to try something that does not require a support system for referrals.

Got it. And so, which is interesting, I would say the best probate business is from your referral system, that is a whole different discussion. The question is what do I do when I get to court? And you, you took probate mastery, and you also took the EARN program, correct?

I did. For those of you listening on the call, the EARN program is a program that Chad did, an advanced level program which is Earn Attorney Referrals Now. It is designed to build a business based on referrals from attorneys, which is what I do.

And she is in Arizona to answer the question of the chat box and yes, the answers. Yes. In fact, in the EARN program, one of the segments I recorded on going to court, I did a whole segment of about an hour, I think, on how I built my business, going to court. And the thing I would emphasize is I did what worked for me.

You need to do what will work for you, so I can share with you what I did, and I will give you some fundamentals. The first thing in the Probate Mastery program is Chad challenged us to go to court just to learn the process. I would all urge all of you to block out a day and go to probate court.

You can usually check online to see the hours so that you do not waste your time. Not all counties have court every day. I am in LA county. We have nine courts every day, so it is a little different. I just showed up like an idiot and found out what was going on. I was thinking I want to just show up and to the extent that they let you in the courthouse, most counties do some don’t.

If they allow you in, go in, look around you are on a fact-finding mission first. You are on an Intel mission first, and you want to answer the question of who is there. What are they doing? And what is available as far as resources are? When I went the first week, I decided I went one day and I said, well, this is interesting.

I am going to stay here for a week and learn more. And so, I just went and paid attention and took detailed notes and it was fascinating. One thing was, they are talking about real estate, and I learned what type of hearing was about real estate in LA county or in California. If there was a hearing to confirm a sale, then that involved real estate for sure.

And if the hearing were to approve the petitioner to be executor or administrator, most likely there’s real estate involved. I quickly learned what hearings I was looking for. By walking through the courthouse, they had calendars on the wall. I learned how to read the calendar and see when the kind of things I wanted was available. I also learned when they start, while they start at eight-thirty, some people get there early, you know, LA is the biggest probate court in America. It is also downtown LA, and we have some of the worst traffic in America.

When people come from out of the area, let us say they might drive an hour and a half or two hours. There are people who get there a half hour early. That is what I found. People get there at 7:45 A.M. Or eight o’clock. The court opened at eight. I said, well, I should be there ready to go at eight. Then there was no line to get in and I could get in, and get a cup of coffee.

And I could now with people from 8:05 until 8:30. In fact, the courts usually did not open the doors and the rooms and the individual hearings until 8:45. It gave me about 45 minutes just to network. I am a real estate agent. Some of us walk around door to door and meet people. I was just doing it at court.

I was dressed in a suit and tie. It was a safe place. They had free Wi-Fi. There were sheriffs there. It was air-conditioned. I had a cup of Starbucks coffee. It is like the greatest prospecting opportunity in the history of the world for me. We just network with people.

So initially I walk up and this is my script: “Hey, I’m Bill Gross, an estate broker. What brings you here today?” And they tell me, “Oh, I am a family. I’m, you know, we’re applying for, you know, a petition to be approved as an administrator executor by the court.” Or “I’m an attorney.” I just network with people to meet them. My goal was to meet enough people to get one and a half contacts. I work my numbers out.

If I get, you know, every week I average seven and a half, which would be you know, times four would be thirty contacts a month that would meet my goals. My goal is to get one half every day. And I get the name, address, phone number, and email of somebody I met in person who gave me permission to talk with them.

So, I did that. I sat in court and watched and learned the procedures. And after doing that for a week, I realized why I should do this every day. I can prospect and learn at the same time. That was a great victory for me. I would go, I would listen for people who needed a real estate agent, either they had real estate to sell and there was a problem, or there was real estate property to buy and there was an opportunity. And I just took copious notes. I also took notes on what I saw were mistakes listing agents made, and then I would write the corresponding solution. For example, when you sell property in court, you are supposed to go in the hallway and make it convenient for people to bid, because you want people to overbid on the property.

And most Realtors were just nasty to the other bidders and Realtors because they are double-ending the deal. I made a note you know, mistake: not soliciting other bidders to come in, making them feel comfortable and confident. When the sale was postponed for a month, bidders would show up because they did not know it was postponed. But you want that bid to come back next month.

You should meet them and encourage them and such. I made a list of all the mistakes I saw. They are obvious! And the solutions and created from that list of forty-nine mistakes listing agents make when listing property and probate. And then the 49-point plan. I have to avoid those mistakes. And then I, I share that with, with attorneys and families who are looking into to list probate property and sell it.

I do not share that. I went in person and did that hard work that’s and I’m not selling any coaching here, so I don’t feel obligated. But I will say that it was no more than me just going there and paying attention. I mean, it was not magic. And I would say anybody can go and notice on their own where your opportunity is to add value.

That is what we do as salespeople. I would say, just go and pay attention, take notes, get the lay of the land, and shoot educational probate videos going in. What you learned at the end of the day; I think has great content for you. Cannot shoot video typically inside a courthouse, but you can on the steps. Anytime I go, now I shoot a video outside and, you know, talk about what I am going to do or what I did or both.

It is great content. And then it also forces me to crystallize what I learned. And I share that with my database of people. Does that help a little bit, ClaireMonique? Yes, it does. Thank you very much. A little longer, a little. You did not want to know that much about it. Did you? Sorry! Excellent. I have taken some notes.

Okay, good. Okay. There’s Katt and she is presenting the Ask the Expert episode on EstateExec. Great. That is some good material. Feel free to check out the chat box if you are on Zoom. Who else has a question I can help with today? Anybody at all?

Khalid says, “Going tomorrow!”. Good, Khalid! Let us know if you go to the probate court, Khalid or ClaireMonique, and please report back your results. Come back here and share with us. That is what this is designed for. This is not meant to be me telling the world and enjoying the ego trip. This is me, the practitioner. I want to learn the ins and outs of other counties as well.

So, please. Good. Thank you. Khalid, I appreciate that. All right.

Somebody else had a question and jumped in. I did, I have a question. Great.

When and how long should I prospect to generate leads?

Last week you mentioned that you do three hours of prospecting each day. Is that correct? Did I say that last week? It sounds like something I would say. But I thought you said it.

I did, I probably did! I do prospect three hours a day. Basically, what I would say to be clearer is until noon, my job is to get new business as business development. So, in the morning, sometimes they’re calling me, sometimes I’m calling them, and sometimes I have an hour that’s not, and I’ll, I’ll let slide because I need a minimum of three hours, but I really do four hours a day.

My eight to twelve time is my business development time every day, eight to twelve. Okay. Thank you. Are you a real estate agent or investor? What do you do? I am a real estate agent, but I do the probate for the real estate agent that I work for. So, I am just learning the whole process and getting my foot in that and getting more familiarized with everything.

How exciting! Where do you sell real estate? Michigan. Michigan, very nice. Do you mind sharing what company you are with or what team you are with? I am with the Larry Martin team out of Grandville. Okay. So, I have a very good friend who’s a coach at GloverU are you familiar with them at all?

Yep. Kate Simon was a good friend of mine when she started in the business. Okay. I think universal for real estate agents is if you are new, four hours a day. If you are not new and you are building a business, about three hours a day of business development. That should be our primary focus, building new business all the time.

That is really, that is the job that pays the most. Right! You know, at a law firm, the attorney who makes it rain is the senior partner. All he does is bring in business and hand it off to the other attorneys. In real estate, we make a lot of money when we bring in business. We do not make a lot handling the paperwork and the process. Right. Okay. Thank you! Thank you so much. Nice to meet you. Nice meeting you.

Okay. So, Khalid is eXp in Essex County NJ checking in. Very nice. I think that we should wish Khalid good luck can come back next week. Okay. Lemme go back a little bit.

Authorify Reviews: Customizable real estate books for marketing.

Matthew asks about Authorify Books. Hey Matthew, where do you are you a real estate agent investor? What do you do? I am a real estate broker. And where are you? Where do you sell? Do business? Middlesex, Monmouth, and Ocean County, New Jersey. Got it. So, tell me about Authorify books. Is that a vendor that does customizable real estate book that makes it look like you are the author?

Yes. Hold on one second. They will print the book and you can, I do not know if you can see that probably because of my background, you probably can’t see it, but what they do is they have books for divorcees, probate leads, etc… And you put your name on it and you can change up anything, any material in there so that you can kind of personalize it to your area.

And if you wanted to add like your forty-nine points, you could actually add another chapter to it. I was just curious, I was trying to figure out how to work that into the marketing, with everything else that you’re doing. I mean, they have their own tools that you can use, but I am trying to incorporate both.

So, I love the concept a lot. One of my team members uses it. So, just to, to recap for everybody, Authorify books is a vendor that basically allows you to private label a book as the author. You can customize it and they have both an eBook format as well as you can buy printed books. And you know, I do my marketing every quarter.

I have a budget for what I am going to do, and I have had that on my list of things to do. I have looked at it very carefully in the last few quarters. I did not do it because I have a limited budget and limited time. You can only do so much. I love the concept. My business is more about building a national network and so I have a team member on my team in Athens, Georgia, just outside of Atlanta, who is an Authorify book user.

And I actually called him because I saw him advertising that and I thought, hey, that’s really interesting, tell me about it. So, the way he uses it in marketing, I think that if you want to build a referral business with attorneys if you are an established realtor, Matthew, how long have you been doing real estate? Since I am eighteen, I just turned sixty-one.

Yes. You sound like he has some miles on you too. So yes, I actually, I just came from the office. I had, I had two closings last week, Thursday and Friday. Nice. So, so, so I would say to you, the first thing I would do is do a deep dive on your current list of clients for probate attorneys and then non-probate attorneys that can refer you to probate attorneys and contact them first.

And now I do not know what life is like in New Jersey. In LA where I am at, you cannot invite somebody out to lunch without them thinking you are a loon unless it is a close personal friend. They are just going to assume you are irresponsible. No judgment. Just saying, that is what it is. I do not want somebody to think that of me.

Whereas I used to invite people to lunch, you know, five days a week. And I went to lunch three days a week. I do not do it anymore. Just it is just too complicated politically or emotionally. But, what my friend in Athens does is he invites attorneys out to lunch. At my direction, he made a list of those that he knew specialized in probate.

He called the customers. He called them to get the attorneys, the deals he had done. He went back and got the attorneys. And the non-probate attorneys, he made that list, and attorneys by their nature, almost all will go to lunch with anybody who asks them nicely. And so, he goes to lunch, and he gives him as a gift, the book, and he tells them if they have any clients, to give it to them.

My role in our relationship is to help answer the basic questions. I am not going to give legal advice, but I can handle the fundamentals and take that task off of your hands and make it easier for you. And then the non-probate attorneys, you can manage a referral for them, and they get referral fees if they refer cases back and forth in California.

I cannot speak to New Jersey. So, he uses the Authorify book as an authority tool with the attorneys.

Real estate eBook ideas for probate marketing

Then, he uses the eBook version of it as a lead generation tool for petitioners. So, he will share to social a link to the eBook. And then, he is doing some Facebook ads also to generate leads on his own, but obviously, he starts off as an authority rather than just another real estate agent trying to get business.

It is a great concept. It is not cheap. It is not really expensive. Do you mind sharing how much it costs you per book? It will vary by how many they always run sales. Right. And if you, if you join their service, they give you both. You have to buy credits. So, it depends on how many credits you buy.

But if you join, it is like eight hundred dollars for the year and they give you 30 credits, which is basically 30 books. What I have been doing is I joined a couple of estate sales websites. And it is a little bit of leg work. Years ago, I used to sell insurance, too. And I used to be down to courthouse like you do, but I would be getting the people that just closed on the houses. I would go through all the records to see who just closed and contact them for insurance. Basically, it’s similar to what you’re doing with the probate leads. So, I am not unfamiliar with the courthouse, and I’ll probably start doing that too.

Now that COVID’s over and they are starting to loosen up a little bit. But yes, it depends on how many books you buy. The Authorify cost is roughly around $7 and $10 a book, depending on how many you buy. And they recommend that what you do is send out what they call an authority package, like your credibility package, you put together a whole package.

And what they are suggesting is that you mail this book to, let us say a probate lead. You find out like if I go to the estate sale website and I see there is an estate sale now immediately if they… a lot of them got tricky now. They are not really listing the addresses right away. They wait until the day of the estate sale, but they list the address ahead of time. I will go through the MLS to see if it is already listed. So, I am not wasting my time. I go back and then you can check the tax records, and find out who actually owned it. But it becomes expensive to try and mail those out. Correct. Just a cold call like that. So that is why I was trying to figure out that the most cost-effective way to do it.

I would only do it to attorneys, so they can refer your business. Right. Or if I went to a listing appointment with a family, I would give them a copy of the book on the spot. That too. Yes, for sure. Referral sources. I know people who work at adult care facilities and related industries, like home healthcare professionals for referrals.

That is another place you might go to with custom probate books. Clergy members. In fact, my team member in Athens is a former clergy member. So, I would not give out the book cold. I would only give it to a referral or somebody I know. Then, the link to the eBook version, I would give to everybody.

Right. I have the I am going to copy the link to my eBook and put it in the chat so that people can get an idea of what it looks like. If they want to go to it, they can take a look at it. And you can do that. There is also a landing page, on how you collect the leads. I will pop that in there too. So that they get an idea of how it works, but that is what I do.

I do the eBook. And Facebook is a great place to do this. I have a Facebook page set up for real estate. Yes, that is how I would do it with that.

How to find vendors for your probate real estate team

Hey, I have a couple of questions if I can. One would be… can you talk about who is in your probate team: the positions, people, how you acquired them, just kind of do an overview of your team?

So, what you are talking about is my team, as far as vendors and the resources I bring to a family or attorney. So, the first thing I would say before I answer that question, the first answer is I am the team.

I am the hub and everything else is the spoke. I am the solution. I am going to get it done. I am responsible to my client to get it done. And the biggest hang-up people have when they take Chad’s coaching and I have heard him answer, this is they will say, well, I do not have a whole list of all these people.

I do not have a roofer. I do not have a painter. And I heard him one day say, think of something that’s kind of obscure like a marble flooring refinish, do you have one of those? No. Okay. If I paid you a million dollars to have a great marble flooring finisher at your customer’s house two hours from here tomorrow morning at 8 A.M., could you do it?

They paid you a million dollars. What is the answer? Yes. Yes. So, the answer is we can get the whole team. It is just, how committed are you? And I would just say, just be committed, like just own it. There is a great book by a former Navy seal, Jocko Willink. Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy Seals LEAD and WIN.

I have it in my other room. Just own it – you are responsible. And so, I tell people is either I got a guy or gal, or I’ll find a guy or gal to get it done. And I will do whatever I have to do to get it done. Now I am part of a national real estate company network. I am part of this network. I have my own network. I got a lot of people that can reach out to if I need help.

And I do, I am having time for solutions. So, who is on my list? They come and go. To be honest, vendors perform and then stop performing. They are just like people. Nobody is irreplaceable. And there are a lot of geographies. You know if you go north, south, or west, customers are going to be serviced.

In my case, in the north of the valley, that vendor is not going to go down to orange county or vice versa. So, you have to have a number of people in different areas. And that is why I am part of the company I am with because they gimme access to so many other agents in the area. That is why I do this call. I have access to so many agents in this area.

I take down your name and contact info so I can reach out to you and have questions or referrals in different counties or different states. So, the first answer to the question is I’m the team leader, I’m the head, I’m the straw that stirs the drink, so to speak. And then, everybody else kind of fits into that.

I am not saying that would be arrogant. I am just saying I take that responsibility. Sure. Does that help a bit? And then there is another site you might check out is … I know the site, you talked about Executorium. So Executorium is a great website where people who are focused on the probate space, trust space, or senior living space, it’s free to list themselves.

It is free for you to put in your vendors, and you can get accountants and ask if people want to participate. People want to access executors. And so, for me, what a great prospecting tool to call any prospective vendor, hey, I know you’re a roofing company, or you’re a rehab company, or you’re a cleanup company.

Would you like a free listing to market to executives of estates and they would link on there. And then now you have a conversation with ’em as part of your COI. Lisa, thank you for that. Yes. Extreme ownership. How a US Navy seals lead and win by Jocko Willink. Amazing book, and amazing person. That is the book I am referring to.

I would just say if you owned that responsibility… I have a never-ending growing team and firing people, but because the team at the end of the day is mine and they don’t perform, then they’re off and I need to get somebody. Okay. And fewer times people ask me for referrals, and I used it as somebody.

This is the thing that drives me crazy about referrals. Someone will ask in a chat box or a Facebook group, and there would be a bunch of names. I am thinking it is hard to have. It is hard to have people you refer to with confidence if your standards are high. I have a lot of vendors I have used for different services. I would never refer them. They did not do that good of a job. And frankly, the job got done, because I rode herd on them. Because when I refer them to my client, I am responsible. I am responsible for the solution now. So, if I’m not happy with the service they gave, I won’t use ’em again.

And people call me, do you have a so-and-so company? I have used a couple, but I am not going to give ’em to anybody because I just don’t think they’re worth referring to. And that is important that somebody reflects my values. Okay. Makes sense. Thank you, Bill. My pleasure. Thank you so much. Okay. So, I got on a tangent answering that question.

Christopher asked what the advantages of an advanced inheritance vs. Purchasing are an heir’s interest. So, I think they’re somewhat the same, Christopher and there is a legal distinction, and that legal distinction may not be available in other states, Southern California. But what Chris was saying is you can advance an heir a portion of their inheritance.

Or you can buy all their inheritance. And I would say they are in California, somewhat the same. It is just how much money you are buying and, and what their motivation is. Sometimes the heir says, I do not care. I will take $20,000 to walk from the house. And there are people who buy their interest in this estate.

And there are others that say well I want $20,000, but that’s worth half a million. I went the rest. So, I don’t think there’s practically a difference. And I will talk a little bit about that tomorrow on our call.

Best marketing pieces for probate leads?

Regina Wayne asks about marketing pieces. So, Regina, you are asking what marking pieces do you have success with.

Have you done any marketing pieces for probate to date? Are you looking to get started with it or do you, or how soon are you looking to change it up? Well, I have used a marketing piece that I was successful in doing a probate listing that was in foreclosure actually. Nice. And you know, I was just wondering if you had any pieces that were favorites on your list.

Sure. Any mailers or something like that. Sure. Listen, about the piece that you did, what did you do? What was it you have that worked? Well, I belonged to a coaching group that focuses on distressed properties. And it is a marketing piece that was generated by the owner of this group. And it’s basically, you go out and you tag property with this marketing piece, and it compels the property owner to contact you for an appointment.

And so that is how I got that, that listed by using that system. How many did you mail out? No, it is not, it is not a mailout you have to physically go and put the marketing pieces at the properties. Oh yes. So, what does that cost you, and what was your response? How many have you put out? Well, you know, it has been hit-and-miss. Here is the thing I will suggest: in marketing, our goal for all of this is to create a system that will do the work for us, right?

Yes. So, if, when you say you put it out, you’re not meeting the customer, you’re just dropping it off at the door. Right. Just yes. Just leaving the marketing piece at the door. Yes. So, you can pay people 10 bucks an hour to do that part of it, right? Yes. So, what’s the marketing piece itself? What is it that you are dropping off?

Well, it’s just a piece because obviously, it addresses what their situation is: the properties in foreclosure, I’m here to help you and give you solutions. Is it a flyer or a letter or what is it physically? It looks like an actual UPS label. Okay. That is what it looks like a driver left the marketing piece. Oh, got it. Okay. Yes. So, so, so a piece like that might cost a dollar or two to print and you pay somebody ten dollars an hour to drop ’em off.

And I would just put out a couple hundred and see what kind of response I can get if that is your goal. Yes. Yes. I am going to get back to it. But I was just wondering if you were mailing anything yourself that you personally liked or had success with. Sure. So, if anybody has experienced mailing out pieces, jump in here and answer, I didn’t have success with mailing.

I did not get a two or 3% response rate. I got below 1%. It did not make sense economically. And I found you to do too much mailing for it to make sense considering, especially since the average probate property sold is about two years in Los Angeles. Yes. This means there is a lot that is old, that sell and there is some that sell right away, obviously.

And how do you tell the difference when you are mailing? Right. So, for me, that did make sense. I did put it in the chat box my trifold, which I use in person when I meet with people. I would just keep them in my breast pocket in my coat. And when I met with attorneys at court or met with families and I would describe my team that Larry and I talked about, and services, the trifold explains it.

So, if you click on that, you’ll see what that looks like. And you know, I printed up a couple hundred. I still have a couple hundred left. I have handed out 50 or a hundred of them in person.

I do not leave them anywhere. I just, individually, when I talk to somebody, I am relying on my selling, not the piece, the piece is just extra. Now that said, has anybody on the call here who wants to raise your hand or put the chat box then mailers that had success with it you want to share? My experience in asking the question is the people who have success with it are in more rural or semi-rural or suburban markets.

And the Metro markets get so much mail that it is just, it is so competitive that people disregard it. Yes. So, I’m not aware of any. I love the idea of door-knocking and dropping off pieces individually. That is a great concept. But again, you got to test it and have your own budget and make sure you count the numbers and whatever you do, you spend money on, you want to calculate your return on investment. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Sure, thank you so much. Okay. We have a few minutes left here. You must have any questions. Comments, concerns. I do. Who is this?

This is Karen again.

EstateExec for probate real estate marketing

Do you mind if I put EstateExec in the chat? It’s another probate resource. No, please do! Tell me about it. Do you use it and what, what is it about? Yes, you know, it is a very informative site. It talks about probate timelines, general statistics, resolving debt, and paying taxes. So, it just has good information on it about probate.

This is why I do the call! Because this is stuff I want to learn. And, and I made a note myself to follow up on this later, EstateExec guy. Interesting. I will investigate it. Bill, EstateExec is the software in the EARN course. Oh, that one! It looked familiar! I am like, what is this?

It looks familiar, who is this? So, in the EARN course that Chad has – Probate Mastery, there’s an advanced program called EARN, or earn attorney referrals now. And there, they talk about EstateExec as a software package to help families in the process.

And so, this has some great content. I did not recognize it because I was looking at it as a tool. So, you can get a discount if you take the EARN program, and there’s a link provided when you graduate in the program and then cat Katt some other info about it.

Let us see. Chad recorded on Friday with Dan Stickell, the CEO of EstateExec. Now some background on Dan: he is a Harvard-educated graduate, but he created this software after going through probate himself. He realized what headache probate is and how much there is to do so this whole program is really designed for consumers, right?

It is meant for families that are going through probate to find and use as a tool. So, it’s, if you look at it, it’s full of tons of resources that people you want to work with would find valuable.

And part of what it will take me. Two or three days to get edited. Cause I got to do today’s episode and then I will start working on that interview. But Dan really breaks down the benefit of the software for consumers, how you as a real estate professional can use this software to bridge a huge gap between attorneys and personal representatives, making sure all the documents are in order and things are done on time.

And Pete Marck said, he already provided EstateExec for the first time to one of his clients and they love it. I have had several other people that I do some coaching with on their marketing. They’re using it with clients, they’re presenting it to attorneys, and it’s really well received all the way around.

And that is the case because Dan created this to solve a problem he experienced. So, this is software, it’s a company, but it was created from true experience. that every personal representative that you speak with, there is some overlap there, right? There are some pain points that are shared.

So, everyone should look at EstateExec. If you are an earned student, you can get a discount to offer anyone you work with $89 pricing instead of $199. Wow. That is a hundred dollars in savings. Wow. Through the link in the EARN course portal, which is something exclusive that Dan and Chad have and what they’re working together to put through some other big projects we haven’t announced yet.

So, I think that’s all worth knowing. Nice.

Well, bill, I think I should get a start today. I think you should! Five stars! Yes. You set up yes. So yes, so the look, there is some great content there. The prior question on Executorium, is just purely a listing service.

And then he offers, offers the opportunity to advertise there as well. That is his long-term game plan. This is more of a software package that you might offer to your clients or offer to attorneys for their clients to make the process simpler, to work together, which, and I noticed in the about that it is related to a, a guy, Dan Stickell. Dan is involved with marketing to attorneys as well, done a really good job on that area as well.

So. Fantastic. Thank you, Katt. Thanks for the explanation. Sorry, I am not up to date on the estate exec software. It is okay. You have had a lot going on. You are producing a lot of content and consuming a lot of content. thanks. And I did get the EARN course done and I did my EARN review. So, I am off Chad’s bad list, at least for that.

So, thank you. Hey, well, the important thing to remember is when it is time to sign up a client for EstateExec, get that $99 pricing instead of $199. Or I’m sorry, it’s $89. It is fantastic. I need to double-check myself, but it is at least half off. Yes. I love that. Okay, cool. Continue. I will continue to look at that.

Choosing your personal probate brand

Okay. Jim has had his hand up patiently. Jim, if you want to unmute yourself, can you hear me? Yes. How are you doing, Bill? I would like to do some type of leave-behind when I go to meet with people, whether it be the admin or the probate attorney, or even these other people.

So, I’d like to have some kind of marketing piece. Now I am not a realtor, I am a private investor. I have been working with all the leads and they have been working on a brochure for investors. And also, this is a little unusual, because I haven’t marketed myself as an individual before. I have always marketed myself as a company. I have been an investor for 20 years. So, I’m trying to figure out if I want to use taglines, like certified probate expert, which is ultimately what I will be here, but you know, how does an attorney take something like that as a tagline on something? I mean, they figure they’re the experts.

So, I run something that’s a little softer, something like your local estate and probate concierge or something like that. I am looking for taglines for my personal business itself. Great question. Really your question is a question of branding. How do I brand myself? Okay. So, the first question is, think about your perfect client now.

I am, I am going to summarize my, my I am at XP Realty. My sponsored XP was Don Hobbs. He created Hobbs, herder advertising, like the first coaching company for real estate agents, teaching realtors to brand themselves rather than their company. So, when I started the business, you used to market under century 21.

Under whatever company you are with. And then, you know, Rema came along and paid a higher commission split and a, just took some of the extra and created their own brand, their own phone numbers, their own emails, their own websites, and such. That was a new thing. So, he does a class called The Brand is YOU. You can see it on YouTube, Don Hobbs, the brand is you is fantastic.

So, it is an hour long, but the short version is you got to clarify who you’re trying to move. And the more, the more focused you are – it is counterintuitive. We think if I have a wide net, I will capture everybody. But if you have a wide net, you get confused with everybody. If you have a very narrow focus, then you, your client’s going to recognize you are talking to them.

So, for me, my narrow focus was I wanted L.A. County because that’s where I live and do listings, even being a national team, I have to drive the team, starting with my business L.A. County. I went on attorneys. And you are right. Attorneys might bristle at the L.A. Probate Expert. I call myself the LA probate expert.

TheLAProbateExpert.com is my website. But a lot of attorneys are great attorneys. They are just not probate experts and 90% of probates are done by non-probate expert attorneys. So that was my branding decision for me. You must think about it, and that’s for everybody to call who is your ideal client and get as specific as you can.

Mine was an attorney filing a case in Los Angeles County, that probate that needs court confirmation. That is a very narrow population of attorneys. And I wanted to brand to that group. That does not mean I do not get other business. Most of my business is not probate. People see me as an expert, refer me to some other business or a probate attorney has a deal that the probate step now needs to be sold, but there’s some other.

So, I think the question is really who’s your client, who’s your ideal client SP if you hit him with a bullseye, not the, not the whole bullseye target, but then, the red in the middle who’s that. And then you are a brand yourself for that piece, and that will help lead you to the right answers for us taglines.

Fascinating. And it is worth time too. And here is the other thing I would say about that. We all tell ourselves we think about it. What oftentimes what think about it means is we think about it, and we put in our head, I need to decide. And then we think about everything else the next week. We never really think about it.

I would say to you spend an hour blocking your time, turn off your phone. The whiteboard behind me is what I use. I have a whiteboard when I think out things and I just sit for an hour, no phone calls. With the multiple colors. I just write out my ideas and think about them. And so, I, when I came up with Probate, I kind of drew a diagram of what I saw as the transaction, what I saw as my opportunity, and came to that conclusion.

But I would urge you to watch that video. And then also literally spend some time really thinking about it in detail just by yourself, phone off the pad, either pad of paper or whiteboard or whatever works for you and be creative with it and really think it through. Okay. I appreciate your time. Thank you.

My best advice. Thanks, Jim. Good luck. Come back, and let us know how it works out. Share with us how, what you produce and how it works. Okay. A lot of gems today. Thank you. Pete gets gold stars. Thank you. Do I get a gold star, Katt when, what do I do to get a gold star? I have been doing this for a while now.

I do not think you have room for any more gold stars, Bill. They are coming out of your ears. Thank you. Thanks so much, Katt you are the best. Yes, Kathy, the same Don Hobbs, who was with maps, and he ran like a whole coaching company with Gary Keller, and then they had come fun of the ways.

Now Don’s has a huge group. I am part of eXp, so yes, Marketing by Seth Godin, great stuff. I am a Gary V vend myself, but good stuff for sure. Seth Godin is fantastic. ” Think about it” is code for “until you forget about it.” Yeah, Larry’s right. And, and I would say really spend some time really thinking about it.

And that will help you get an answer on your marketing. Okay. We ran out of time today. It is the witching hour. Thank you to everybody who has been on the call. I really appreciate your support in participating again. I am just a participant here. I am going to put my, in the chat box, two things. One is I am promoting in tomorrow morning.

8:00 AM Pacific 11:00 AM Eastern time at GetProbate.cash. A bunch of you have already signed up. Thank you. My contact info. If I can help feel free to reach out by text, email, or call me anybody here in this call. Also, I am on the probate mastery alumni Facebook groups. Feel free to jump in there.

I have my own Facebook group, ProbateExperts.com and Facebook join there as well. And I really want this to be a tight group.

I really want people who are going to work on it together. I really want to be a mastermind that we work on as a group, so. Okay guys, thank you. Excellent call today! Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you, everybody. Thank you, Katt, for being there, have a great week and my contact info’s in the chat box. Bill Gross. I am at Bill Gross eXp on social media.

Have a great week. Everybody. Thanks so much.

Resources for Episode 83

Please note that live participation in weekly group coaching is reserved for Certified Probate Experts (Probate Mastery course alumni).

• FREE TRAINING: Probate Fast Track
• Take Chad’s Probate Course and get Certified in Probate Real Estate
• Sign up for EARN – The Earn Attorney Referrals Now course.
• Facebook Group: Estate Professionals Mastermind Group
• Probate Mastery Alumni Group (For students of the Probate Mastery Course): Probate Mastery Alumni Group 
• Probate and Pre-Probate list providers
• Try Propstream Free
• Book a marketing strategy consultation
• Book a coaching session with Bill Gross

1. Recent content:
   1. Personal Branding and Probate Business Marketing (Episode 82)
   2. EARN Attorney Q&A sampler
   3. Property Cleanouts and Probate & Trust Sales

2. Additional Resources:
   1. Authorify.com
   2. Bill’s probate brochure example (Tri-Fold): Tri-fold brochure
   1. EstateExec.com (Remember you can get a licensing discount through the link in the EARN course if you have a client who would like to use the software)