Pay Zillow

Them: “I’ll work with you if you pay for my Zillow leads.”

You: “I would love to talk to you about doing some co-marketing. Let’s do this, let’s see if we are a good match first.

Let’s work together and close 4 deals first. Let me show you how I close on time, give great communication during the loan process, and follow up on your leads like green on a pickle so that you get even more referrals from those people going forward.

Then, after I have shown you what I’m known for and we decide we are a good match, I would be happy to talk about doing some co-marketing. I don’t see any reason to delay, do you? Let’s get started.”

Potential partner: "Ryan, happy to chat. Happy to learn more about you. My current lender pays for half of my Zillow spend or realtor.com spend. Would you be open to doing the same?"

You: “I'm more than happy to look at any and all investment in your business. One thing I've learned in my career is that, unfortunately, most lenders and most real estate agents really treat this business almost like a hobby. They just work with buyers when they can. They work with sellers when they can. They do loans when they can. They kind of take what comes to them. Very few people really understand the business side of real estate and mortgages. And I like to believe I'm one of those people. I have real estate partners that I work with where we invest heavily in their business. I have other real estate partners that I work with where we don't have any investment at all. And it's really dependent upon you, your business, your vision, and what we want to accomplish."

"So, as we're learning about each other, I'd be more than happy to analyze any investment opportunity. And I want you to know there's no end to that number because I would be kind of a fool to say, 'We have a really great business here where we're attracting a lot of clients collectively. We're generating a lot of interest. We're creating marketing that is getting a lot of eyeballs on us. We're telling a different story.' I'd be a fool to not want to continue to invest in that if it's profitable." I will have to qualify it a bit by saying that I've been in situations where people have just asked for marketing spend without my partnership. They didn't really want my input as a business partner. They just wanted my dollars. And there were times when I saw that investment as not necessarily the best use of our collective funds. And when I asked if we could reallocate those funds, it didn't work well, and those partnerships somewhat declined. Or when our return on investment wasn't there, and I asked to pull back that marketing spend, then that relationship ended."

"So what I'll tell you is I never like to start a new relationship, especially not a new partnership with us diving right into a financial commitment. I think it's probably best if we get to know each other, we get to learn more about each other's businesses. And then, at that point, if we believe that we're great business partners, then I have no problem investing in your business because, at the same time, I'm investing in mine. And we'll just be really happy to do that."

"So if you're open to it, I'd love to just show you who we are. I'd love to show you what we do, how we're changing this business, and how I'd love for you to be a part of that. And then, ultimately, if we believe a partnership makes sense, we'll move to the investment side of the equation. So does that work for you?"