I think the goal for every agent is to be the go-to person when real estate comes up. Hello and welcome to episode 182 of the Smart Agents Podcast. As always, my name is Michael Walter and I'll be your host.
On today's episode, we're joined by New Jersey-based agent John Topic of the John Topic Real Estate Team. Launching his real estate career in April of 2019, John shares his experience and strategies for building a successful real estate business, emphasizing the importance of tapping into your sphere of influence and expanding it through personal connections, social media, and community involvement. John also highlights the value of mentorship and support in the real estate industry.
His approach to marketing focuses on nurturing leads and building relationships for long-term success. But before we get on to the day's featured interview, the Smart Agents Magazine is available and is full of insights and strategies designed to help real estate agents grow their businesses. Inside, you will find interviews and advice from leading real estate professionals, marketing tips to flood your business with leads, and even swipe and deploy files full of practical tools to enhance your business.
Subscribe now to receive your copy of the printed magazine each month and instantly get access to our online agent community and members-only templates. Click the link in the episode description or go to smartagents.com forward slash magazine. Also, if you enjoy this conversation, be sure to like and subscribe.
The Smart Agents podcast streams on all major podcasting platforms such as Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and of course, YouTube. And finally, if you or someone else on your team has an incredible story or real estate tips to share with our community, send us a message at feedback at smartagents.com. We're always on the lookout for new stories to share.
All right, let's get on to the day's featured interview with John Toffig. If you enjoy our conversation, be sure to follow John on Instagram. I've included a link in the episode description.
So yeah, really the way I like to start everything out is if you could just introduce yourself to us a little bit, who you are and where you're at. Sure, man. I'm John Tawfik with John Tawfik Real Estate Team out of New Jersey with EXP Realty.
I have been doing real estate. I got licensed in April of 2019. Got my first deal closed May of 2019. Since then, I saw the crazy market, obviously with the pandemic. interest rates going up and down all over the place and you know the current environment we're in now and yeah man I think one of the main things that's really helped me or kept me going I should say is having a strong sphere of influence and that's really been my strong point and whenever I talk to people who are interested in possibly becoming agents and getting licensed I always see like okay How comfortable are you with tapping into your sphere of influence and expanding on them? Right.
So you said you got licensed in 2019. What were you doing prior to that before you decided to get your real estate license? Man, I've done a bunch of stuff. So leading up to it, I used to have a restaurant, a small little fast casual place in New York City that I ran for a couple of years and then sold. And then I was in the wellness industry for about three and a half, four years.
It's a corporate gig. I wasn't really crazy about it. And then once I left there, I wasn't sure what I wanted to do.
And, you know, I was applying for a bunch of jobs I didn't want to do. And someone was just like, you need to, you know, you've always had this passion for real estate. Why don't you pursue it? And I was always afraid because I'd always heard from people like you only do one or two deals a year.
And I wanted something more consistent. And a buddy of mine who was a broker at my previous brokerage said, listen, I know if you do this, you know, you're very driven. You'll kick ass.
And it was the best thing I ever did. Like I said, I got licensed. And then it was like. it just took off for me and I'm really glad I took the plunge and did real estate. Right.
So, and you said, you know, sphere of influence has been a big part of what you were doing. So I have to imagine having the, you know, the other businesses and things like that previously and having your name, you know, just in circles with that, did that help kind of right away, you know, get you in front of people or kind of grow that sphere of influence pretty quickly? Big time. So, I mentioned my restaurant was in New York City and I'm in Jersey.
And that's where my business is out of now, my real estate business. And the people who were reaching out to me the most, especially during like March 2020, when the pandemic starts, everyone was trying to get the hell out of New York City. So I got a bunch of people that either were like my regulars at my restaurant or were part of the gym I worked at in New York that are like, hey, I know I saw on Facebook you're doing real estate. Can you find me a house?
And it was like a totally, you know, it was a huge wave of just marketing that I didn't even. pay for it really it was literally just having my name out there posting it on facebook instagram linkedin and um and then word of mouth like hey my my brother wants to uh you know they're having a baby and can you find them house and it it just kind of grew that way i i grew my business i'll say i just kind of like a deep dive on my business at the end of last year and i'll say like uh, close to 80% of my business is sphere of influence. Wow.
That's awesome. Um, which is a good thing. Yeah, it's a good thing, but it's also kind of like, whoa, I kind of want to expand more.
Um, I think sphere of influence just comes naturally to me. So, um, obviously I do the cold calling. I do mailers. I do all that other stuff. Cause you have to, you can't just depend on one thing, but I think the.
The sphere of influence thing just comes natural to me. And I like doing events where I'm constantly meeting new people and networking. And then I'm just always building that sphere of influence.
And next thing you know, your sphere of influence becomes your past clients. And they're doing business with you. I have people that I've done four deals with that will always call me when something hits the market or they're looking to sell.
And they're always the first ones to be like, hey. my neighbor wants to sell his house. Here's his number. Call him, you know, like to me, it's just a no brainer.
Like I, I, when I meet people and they don't want to, or they're afraid to talk to their natural market, it blows my mind. I'm like, it's, it's right there. It's cheap.
They know you like take it and run with it. Yeah. Yeah.
And I noticed, you know, on your, um, you, on your Facebook pages and things like that, you, you, you post a lot. There's videos, you've got all kinds of stuff on there. Was that something you were doing early on so that you got your name out there with your sphere of influence that, hey, I'm a real estate agent now?
Yeah, but not to the extent that I'm doing it now. I think when I first started, I wasn't really that good at it. And it was just like, hey guys, guess what? I just got my license and I'm happy to help. And then it was just like, little posting oh hey just listed just sold i'm doing open house now it's um i share i was a little reluctant to share more of like me uh now i'm letting my personality like kind of come through so if you know me you know obviously i'm wearing my 49ers hat you know um you know i got involved in different like local charities i just signed up to do the polar plunge in seaside heights which um benefits the special olympics I try to just any little thing I've, Oh, I'm out here eating at this new restaurant or, Hey, I just, this bar just opened to come check it out.
And then you just kind of build that way. I'm someone who's very private naturally, and I don't like sharing on social media. So that was hard for me to kind of, I didn't want to be that guy that overshared and everybody's like, Oh, this guy's posting again.
You know, I. it's like, okay, try to post stuff that's meaningful and can generate business, but also like it's just engaging whether or not you may have a realtor already, or you may, you know, you may just want to follow me because you think I'm funny or you're a 49ers fan too, or whatever. And then that kind of just builds the algorithm. And then your person, your friends who may, you know, you may have a realtor already, but like your friends will see that you liked one of my posts.
And then they may need a realtor. So it's funny how people reach out to you and you're like, how did you find my information? And they're like, oh, so-and-so is a follower and I decided to follow you too. Right.
Absolutely. And I think by doing the videos and things like that, I think for a lot of people, yeah, I personally, I'm not a big share of my personal life and those kind of things as well. But I do really, I think.
you know, just the things that you did early on to let your sphere of influence know that you did get licensed. I think, you know, like you said earlier, there's a lot of people that are afraid to reach out to their sphere of influence and just let them know that, Hey, I'm licensed now. You know, if you have a need, I'm here for you. I think that's awesome that you did that. And it obviously paid off for you.
Yeah. And I mean, I kind of understand the hesitancy of like wanting, especially if you're brand new and you don't really know the jargon or how to talk to people. I had a guy that was on my team that was brand new. He's older and did not have social media, did not, he didn't want to do any, anything.
And I'm like, how are people going to know that you're a realtor? Okay, fine. We can. go into other avenues of promoting, we're going to have to go heavy with like mailer and like just things that come now. I don't think you should do things that aren't natural to you, right?
If you are someone who hates speaking at public events, then by all means, do not do it. We all hate the cold call, right? It sucks. I will be completely honest with you.
it's not my favorite thing. I maybe I'll give that, um, it's maybe 10% of my business. Um, I've had some luck with it. Um, I know people who will just put all their energy into that and that's great. Um, cause they don't want to bother their natural market.
Um, I'm, I have no problem talking to my natural market and I, I actually generally want to help people. Um, And for me, the cold calling stuff is like, like, I don't like being I don't like getting calls from numbers I don't recognize. So I understand the hesitancy of people wanting to work with someone they never spoke with. But it is something you kind of have to do everything, you know. But I think if you if you work with what you're good at, it'll just come naturally, naturally to you.
And your business will grow exponentially. Right. And you mentioned being involved in different charities and different community events and things like that. Was that something that you were doing when you were in the restaurant business and with your other things?
Or did that really kind of take off as you got your real estate license and kind of had that business going? No, I've always been involved with different charities and things that actually mean something to me. My thing was I would post about it not to get engagement. I never thought of it as like, hey, these are going to be clients.
I don't think like that. I actually generally want to help whatever charity I'm working with or whatever the case may be. I think it's just goodwill.
If you're in a position to help someone or a specific cause, by all means, you should go for it. Um, and it's, again, that's something that I, I like to do. And, um, if something business-wise transpires from it, great. Um, if not, then I've helped raise money for a great cause. Right.
Absolutely. When I think, you know, by doing that, it, um, you know, not only are you, you finding that personal fulfillment of, you know, doing something that you have, uh, that you're passionate about, but then it also. regardless of if it turns into business today or tomorrow, you're adding people to that natural sphere that, you know, people you're rubbing shoulders with all the time and, you know, people that they might know.
So I definitely think, well, you don't need to go into those with that business, you know, those business blinders on, it just kind of happens naturally. Exactly. And if you do go in there like that, people see that, like, people are like, oh, this guy just wants, wants. clients. You know, like I said, I'm doing the polar plunge.
I don't think anyone is talking real estate in February, New Jersey while we're, you know, running into like freezing water. Like I don't see myself picking up clients that way, but like, you know, it's just kind of, uh, just goodwill, man. And like, if something happens from it, awesome. I'm not going to say no, but I highly doubt. People are going to be, you know, Hey, by the way, you know, I'm freezing.
Let's, uh, let's talk about selling my home. I don't see that. Right.
Absolutely. So, uh, getting started in real estate in 2019, and then, you know, a year later, everything goes crazy. And especially where you were, I mean, New York, I mean, just totally wild. Um, do you think not having a very long real estate career before that may have helped?
So that you didn't have a whole lot to draw on that, you know, or, you know, like this is the way it is now and this is how we're going to have to operate. I don't know. Honestly, man, all I know is like in my short career, however you want to look at it, the five years I've been doing it, nothing stayed the same.
I pretty much expect this business to be consistently inconsistent. Like right now, I've never seen the market like it is right now, where there's this kind of like on both sides, everyone's just a little like nervous to make any moves. And, you know, it's an election year. It's you turn on the news. Everything is doom and gloom.
And. But at the end of the day, people still have to move and people still, you know, there's business out there, you know, and I think the ones who are, again, marketing to their sphere of influence and getting their name out there in every way possible will find the business. It's easy to get discouraged in this business.
It is, someone said it's an emotionally violent business and I agree 100%. There's a lot of ups and downs. And I think going through like the pandemic where, you know, just one day it was like, okay, guys, there's, you have to, no more open houses, no more, you have to do some virtual showings.
And if you go, you can only have three people in the house and you have to wear masks and gloves and all these crazy protocols. And it's like a lot of people walked out of the business because they were like, I don't want to deal with this. And then obviously you learn, it becomes a new normal, right? Like Zoom, we ever think that Zoom was going to be a thing, you know?
And then after that whole thing happened, we had this crazy, at least in New Jersey, we had a crazy seller market. Like you wouldn't believe, uh, home gets listed on Friday, multiple offers by Monday, and you are now competing with between 20 to 30 people. And you're you have to go over $100,000 on a house, which is unheard of. And then you kind of have to prep your sellers and your buyers like, okay, guys, this is the new normal. This is what we have to do.
Now, we still are dealing with a lack of inventory here. It is still a seller's market. I have no idea what the future holds. All I do know is that whatever it is, You have to be ready and to pivot.
I mean, if you sit there and fight every change that's going to come your way, you're not going to succeed. Like, I'm not saying you have to like everything. Like, shit sucks. You know, a lot of things that happen, it sucks.
But, you know, you just got to learn how to roll the punches and make it work for you. Right. Absolutely.
When you first got started with your brokerage, was there, did you have a mentor or somebody that you were able to kind of? you know, just kind of pick their brain about when things did start to shift or, you know, as, you know, as the pandemic hit, you know, there was like that crazy pause. And then it didn't, it really didn't take all that long for the market to totally turn upside down.
And, you know, I'd imagine there's probably at least one or two people inside the brokerage that may have had some experience with these crazy, you know, over asking prices and things like that. Yeah. You know, I don't think anyone ever had experience with anything like that before, you know, where it was like, what was like 2% interest rates and like just listed today, gone today type market.
Yeah, I did. I was, so I started off at White Grit Realtors in Jersey. A buddy of mine was the broker at the office and then he went on and went up the corporate ladder and had a...
really great career there and he was a great mentor for me when I started. I had to, once I kind of saw the way my career was shaping up and how I hoped for the future, I knew I needed something that was going to be more entrepreneur friendly, if you will. I kind of have that background and when you just, I'm a numbers person, when you look at numbers like I, was not cool with giving up everything that I was giving up to this brokerage where I really didn't need whatever they were offering.
Um, so I went to the EXP and EXP has been great. I have a huge support system there as well. Um, I mean, as we all know, it's a cloud-based company, but like we're all, you know, you have your group of people that you can easily reach out to, um, and speak with.
And, and, uh, this This phase of my career, I'm more looking at like, I'm looking at like how to keep my share of the business. You know, I spend a lot on marketing and getting my name out there and doing all that. What I don't want to do is spend a lot of money and give it to. a brokerage yeah absolutely and i think you know with everybody that i've talked to that has been uh with the xp just even you know the collaboration that among the company you know from all the different you know you can be in the different virtual chat rooms and all those different things you know across the country is really cool yeah yeah and then i think the biggest misconception is that it's all virtual which yes a bit it's a cloud-based company but I'm meeting with someone in my, in my group later today.
He's introducing me to someone that we're, we're going to talk business with later drinks. So like, it's, it's still out there. You know, I think the biggest pushback I hear is like, Oh, you guys are just all avatars and there's no, that couldn't be further from the truth. Right.
And then, and you know, you mentioned, you know, you're more of the entrepreneurial type and obviously, you know, With the restaurant and your background, that's easy to see. So is that somewhere, you know, is that where you really wanted to start your own team and start kind of building that part of the business up? Yeah, I again kind of goes back to what I said.
Like I do and I really enjoy seeing helping people and seeing them grow, whether or not I've helped agents who aren't with eXp and have no intention of ever becoming eXp. If I know you, you're an agent and you just want advice on how you want to get your offer accepted or how to possibly get a listing or something. And, you know, we've had a couple of drinks before.
Yeah, I'll help you. You know, I don't expect anything in return. I, I do enjoy sitting down with people and kind of helping them grow.
I just got a call. um, from someone who lives, he's with EXP and he's looking for a mentor and, and, um, I'm meeting with him when he comes back from vacation and seeing how I can help him grow. So yeah.
And what, what I'm going to tell him is exactly what I'm telling you is that sphere of influence, like you, that's the easiest well to go fishing in, man. It's, it's right there. And if, and if he's not someone who's comfortable with that, okay, well, let's do a deep dive into your.
you know, personality and see what suits you best. Because as much as I believe that that's the best way to go, it may not always be for everybody. You know, you could have been, I don't know where you are right now, but let's say you're in Florida or California.
I'm in Florida. Yeah. Okay. Let's say you moved to Jersey and you know, zero people here, you know, and you want to start a real estate.
Okay. Well let's kind of see how we can build that based off of your background, you know? So I do, I love when, you know, hearing success stories from other agents and watching them go to like, going from like, hey, I'm really afraid or I don't know how I'm going to make this deal happen to like, seeing them crush it and then getting.
the text, Hey, we just closed or whatever, you know, like that's, that's really cool. Yeah, absolutely. Uh, and you know, wanting to circle back on the, um, sphere of influence, what is it that you do specifically, you know, to market to your sphere of influence outside of, you know, just the, um, you know, happen to see something on Facebook and, you know, those kinds of interactions, what are you doing to, uh, you know, get your name out there more?
It depends on like where you are in my sphere. Um, some people automatically, I think the goal for every agent is to be the, the go-to person when real estate comes up, whether it's buying, selling, leasing, whatever the case may be. You want, you want to be the go-to person. So it kind of, all of it kind of comes together. So they see your stuff on social media.
They've heard that you've helped so-and-so buy or sell their place. um they've seen your face on ads they've seen mailers um even like the people like attorneys lenders title inspectors those are all i mean you want i don't know if you include that as part of your sphere of influence but you know network sphere of influence whatever you want to call it like those people also vouch for you too i think the more you put yourself out there um and become the name that's synonymous with real estate, the more likelihood that people are going to reach out to you. So to answer your question, it's doing everything.
There's not one thing I do. The goal really is to have everyone that isn't in my sphere become my sphere. by doing the mailers and doing a lot of stuff they all of a sudden then they'll start following me on social media and then they may not be ready to buy or sell right now but they'll start texting with me and now they're in my my sphere you know um i'll do events every so often i did like a tequila tasting a few months ago a friend of mine owns a restaurant bar and we had somebody come out and like do a whole tequila.
It was a really cool thing. And we did like a co-drive for the holidays at his place. So, it's just doing a bunch of different little things like that, that kind of brings everyone into your sphere.
So, people who aren't in your sphere, doing these things will kind of get them in there. And the goal is to have everyone in my sphere, really. Right. Absolutely.
And I like what you said there about, you know, even with the mailers that, you know, the idea is that those people are maybe people that didn't know you before. And now they see your face on that mailer and they start seeing you around on other things. And then they become, they get into your sphere.
And I think that's a really great way to determine whether or not those mailers were successful. Cause I think so many times people put that ultimate listing, you know, like I got to, you know, how many listings did I get from these mailers? Well, right.
Pump the brakes on that and see how many people did you bring in that will eventually turn into business or maybe somebody they know turned into business. Right. I think a really good way of looking at it too, someone brought this up last week, was that the way I put my business on a whiteboard that I look at, it's right in front of my bed.
It's the first thing I see when I wake up, last thing I see when I go to bed. It's basically like my pending deals, deals that I closed, and just people who are kind of like in the bullpen, if you will, where they're still actively waiting to list or, you know, whatever. And obviously you want them to go all towards the closing side, right?
And I'm the type of person, I want to see more closed than I do in any other column. But someone said to me that like... the more people you have in those other columns, that's actually better than the closed.
Because those are like, once everything starts clicking, and like you are, that closed column will get filled really quick. And the biggest mistake people make is once they have however many deals closed, they're not really nurturing that other column of like, okay, who's next? I know what I have to, like, I have a specific goal of how many deals I want to close this year. And I kind of laid it all out meticulously. And I know in order for me to do that, I need to have 228 leads, listing leads, accounting buyers.
And I know not all those people are going to list. Obviously, that'd be great if I had 228 listings. But if I can get... a certain percentage of those 228 listing leads to close, I'll hit my target. And I'm not counting buyer leads.
I'm not counting like doing double sides of these. If I get any of that stuff, that's just the cherry on top. My goal is to just have this many listings per month, this many listings closed per month, and anything on top of that is. you know, when you, so I really love the idea, you know, the fact that you are, um, tracking those things and, and setting your goals based on, you know, the real, you know, the raw data that you've collected over the course of your career.
And I think that's something that, you know, sometimes when people are just starting out, they maybe aren't necessarily tracking everything or, you know, they, you know, we're just by the time of recording this, just a couple of weeks after the new year. And yeah, you create your goals and everything, but you don't make a plan for how you're actually going to attack it. And I really like the idea. I like the fact that you have done that and you are doing that. Is that something that right when you got into real estate, you began tracking how the whole process was working for you?
Yeah. But I wasn't as good as I am now, or I didn't understand it as much. It was just...
me just writing this data and I didn't really understand everything. Like I literally, I obviously knew most of my business where it was coming from, but then when I really sat down and I looked at my whole career, not just the last 12 months, I said. holy shit, like I'm really, really heavy into my sphere of influence.
And that then becomes past clients, which then also becomes referrals. And I'm pretty good at all the other stuff too, but obviously not as good. What can I do? Does that mean I need to go harder on the cold calls and all the other stuff? And the conclusion I came up with was Yeah, but the goal is get all those people into the sphere of influence.
And again, that's just how I look at business. Again, I'm not saying that that is what's going to work for everybody. For me, that's what's led to my success.
And you kind of have to dig deep and see what works for you. And I think the other mistake agents make too is they spend so much time on like the minutia of deals. And they forget the prospecting part of it.
And I get it. Now, deals are so much harder to make it to the closing table. We're seeing that more and more. Like, you can get something under a contract. And, you know, two years ago, slam dunk, you were going to close.
Now it's like, you just pray that everything falls into place. And you have to fight hard to make sure it gets to the closing table. But. always have plan b c d e n f to like have backup deals and in place and then also if those clients were to just you realize they can't stomach this market that's why you got to have that other column of the pending or the you know actively looking people and eventually they will all go into that closed column i mean it's funny i'm saying this now and this is like a pep talk i needed myself not to follow because i was just like fuck like i i have all these people that are um right there who are for reasons out of my control reasons out of their control they just can't list right now and i you know i want urgency i want now like sign the paper like why aren't we doing this but they will like things just have to play out the way they play out and then next thing you know like they'll i'll have a bunch of listings all at once.
And yeah, I'm sorry not to cut you off. No, I was just to say, you know, it's one of those things, like even with those people that, you know, whether it's out of your control and out of their control, whether they can list or not, as long as you are still, you know, nurturing those leads and providing them with value, they might not be able to list right now, but maybe their neighbor is. And because you've done all those things and because you're staying, you know, and continuing to provide value to them, you're going to be that person that they recommend to their neighbor. Yeah, for sure.
That's the plan. Yeah. Awesome.
Well, I really do appreciate you taking the time to talk to me. I mean, it's awesome to see, you know, honestly, in a relatively short amount of time and through a wild time in the market. I mean, you've definitely not had an easy, you know, just decade to be able to kind of everything being the same. But, you know, to see the success that you're having and, you know, even the future goals and the aspirations is really cool.
Thanks, Mike. I really appreciate it. I want to thank John for joining us today and really like his focus of continuing to add to his sphere of influence in order to grow his business. So once again, if you think you or someone else on your team has an incredible story or real estate tips to share with our community, send us a message at feedback at smartagents.com.
Well, that wraps things up for this episode. But remember, follow the show wherever you listen to podcasts and make sure to subscribe to the Smart Agents YouTube channel. Again, I'm Michael Walter, and we'll see you on the next episode.