Episode 4: Luxury Austin Real Estate: The New Playbook

In this episode, KT Temple sits down with industry veteran Gregg Klar, Luxury Austin Real Estate Expert, to break down how the game has evolved and what agents must do to stay ahead. From leveraging technology without losing the human touch to creating unforgettable client experiences that drive lifelong referrals, Gregg shares proven strategies that separate top producers from the rest.

If you're looking to elevate your business, build stronger connections, and stand out in a competitive market, this conversation is packed with insights you don’t want to miss.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

What's up, guys? Welcome to one-on-one with Austin One. My name is KT Temple. I am here with the great Greg Clark, man. Thank you for joining me. You bad. Anytime. So I got Greg on here because he works at the Lake Travis office as one of their team leaders. And I wanted him to come on and talk about what he's been seeing in the luxury market. Before we talk about that, Greg, just tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got into this position.

SPEAKER_01 0:30

Sure. So I've been at Keller Rams for 25, almost 26 years now. It's hard for me to even say that out loud. I don't know where the time goes. But started as a brand new, practically a brand new agent, moved to Austin, didn't know anybody, started at the Lake Travis Market Center in 2001. Started my team in 2005 and just have been growing business ever since then. And my passion is growing people's businesses and really kind of focusing more on the luxury real estate side of things around Lake Travis.

SPEAKER_00 1:08

So what made you want to get into a team leader role instead of just focusing on selling?

SPEAKER_01 1:15

Yeah, so really it kind of you know came down to what's next for me and what's the next chapter in my career. And I thought if I could help take 10 people on my team and turn them into high-producing agents, why can't I do that times 200 or more? So after Wendy, our regional director, asking me for probably six or more years, I finally decided uh now is the right time, both because my business and my team were in a really good place. And I saw a need where I could really help and make an impact for the office and our agents. So that's where I'm at.

SPEAKER_00 1:53

Yeah. Me and Greg have learned the same lesson. It's it's normally when Wendy tells you to do something, you do it. Uh and so uh what has been the big difference? So starting off in the early 2000s to now, what's been the big change around the luxury market and how are you seeing agents operate differently?

SPEAKER_01 2:14

You know, what's what's a big change now compared to back then is technology, right? Technology has changed and is changing even faster and faster every day in our world today. Back in the early 2000s, and still today, it's it's a relationship-based business, belly to belly. The more people you know, it's a contact sport. Especially in the luxury arena, you've got to know where your clients are and go where they are. But what's changed today is the technology side of things allows me to be in front of them and in a bigger audience every day, versus you know, 10, 15 years ago, I had to physically be somewhere where they were. Today I can show up on their screen consistently for very little to no cost and maintain a high level of business and impact in front of those people versus in the years past, I had to go out, I had to be at the country club, I had to be at the boat marina, I had to be at the golf club, I had to be at the restaurants, I had to be seen, I had to be there, right? Today I can still do those things, but in a much more efficient way.

SPEAKER_00 3:24

What are some skills that I should try to develop if I wanted to break into the luxury market?

SPEAKER_01 3:35

The best skill you can have is be the be a people connector. In other words, discover a need somebody needs. Maybe they just need an introduction to a tax person, or maybe they need an introduction to a handyman. Be that connector, be the people be the person that connects people and be the expert in the market. So, what I mean by that is Gary teaches us we need to all be hyper-local economists. You want people to know when they think of real estate to go to you for the information that they need. Like, what's the absorption rate in my neighborhood? How many months of inventory are there? What's the average price per square foot? Uh, you know, how many luxury homes sold this quarter compared to last quarter? Those, and all of that data is going to be what connects you to people and why they would need to come to you for information. And if you can connect and bridge that gap between I know the economics of real estate in our hyperlocal area, and I am the people connector, those two combinations, you're gonna be unstoppable.

SPEAKER_00 4:44

What do you what do you see people do that that you go, ooh, what why why are you doing that? You know, what you know that it kind of makes you cringe a little bit when you see it.

SPEAKER_01 4:55

I I question the amount of time and money people are spending today on social media. Don't get me wrong, there's a place and a and and a proper way to do that. I think a lot of agents right now are spending so much money and so much time in these very highly uh produced videos. And don't get me wrong, they look fantastic. But you got to stop and think to yourself, what did that bring me? And Gary teaches us anything that we implement in our business, if it's not a direct impact within 90 days, you got to change course, right? It's not working. So really monitor what uh how much time and money you're spending on anything. It could be social media, it could be a mail campaign and to snail mail, which by the way is working again. Um whatever activity you're doing, yeah. You know, I mean, what whatever activity you're doing, if you can't trace back a direct result or to an impact in your business within 90 days, you've probably need to course correct and find other avenues. So what I see mistakes being made is agents are producing these highly produced professional videos that just aren't getting a lot of traction. And I coach agents and say the best thing you can do is get on social media and go live. Go don't rehearse it, don't just go and do it, be human, because that human-to-human connection is what draws us together. When something is overly produced and too perfect, it almost comes across as commercial. Like you're you're it's you're just a glorified commercial. You're not actually giving your audience what they want. Um, and the bloopers are fun. If I stumble across my words or if I don't name something right and have to back up, it's entertaining, right? Uh, we're all human. And the the bigger human connection you can make, the stronger the impact's gonna be.

SPEAKER_00 6:56

Yeah, it's it's especially with so much AI and everything out right now. We are we're dying for a human connection. We're dying to see authenticity. And I think you're absolutely right. Just hopping on live and and just going out there, you know, put and putting together somewhat of a script, right? You don't have to be uh just going in there, you know, and and making it up as you go. Make a little list and say, all right, my favorite thing about the living room is this. I like the in the bedroom, I like this. This is the quick stats, and just have a little sheet, but then just go live with just your quick notes. Kind of like how you would go and present something in person.

SPEAKER_01 7:34

Yeah. Yeah, and if you're if you're like me, there's no way I can memorize a perfect script for even a two or three-minute video. So having a base of what I want to talk about, but just letting it come from the heart, it's gonna be a huge impact, bigger than anything than you can try to professionally produce and edit and back up and redo and just let it be.

SPEAKER_00 7:59

When you're going in for a listing presentation, uh what are you spotlighting more uh more nowadays compared to when you started? You know, are those conversations changing or are they remaining similar?

SPEAKER_01 8:13

Today, more than ever, people do not care about your awards, your accolades, your don't get me wrong, that's that's important. What they want to know is what strategies are you able to implement to attract the most amount of eyes, the most amount of buyers, the most amount of attention to my listing. They want real strategies over look at me, look at me, look at me. They really don't care that you just sold a house. They really don't, right? What they care about is what matters to them is the strategy you're gonna implement to sell their home. So it might be something like a preview campaign where we don't go straight to MLS, right? We might test the market and put the property out there in a way that only attracts agents or only attracts buyers specifically looking for off-market property. And it's a great way to test the market uh on price. There's lots of different strategies. Um, you know, another one being I can get instant offers on a property through Keller Offerings. I can go to a seller and say, in about three or four minutes, I can get you up to 16 offers on your property. Would that interest you? There's lots of different ways that you can grab their attention. That makes a huge impact today, versus back in the day, or and I think a lot of agents, when they're first starting out, especially, they don't have a lot of experience. But then that's what's funny is that's what they try to focus on. Instead of just focusing on solve the seller's problems, right? We are paid in direct correlation to the problems that we solve and how fast and easy we can make it for somebody. Just stay focused on that and you're gonna be successful.

SPEAKER_00 9:59

I've heard you mention Keller offers a couple times around the off office. Could you explain to somebody what Keller's offers is if they haven't heard about it yet?

SPEAKER_01 10:08

Sure. So Keller Offerings is a platform where I can log in, create an account, put in an address with a few details, and instantly get up to 16, 15 offers on a property. Now, if it were me today and I meet with a lot of sellers, I would be proactive and say, okay, if I'm gonna go meet a seller at 123 Main Street, I'm gonna go ahead and get those offers in place. And what a huge impact it would make if I showed up proactively at a listing appointment and said, Oh, by the way, I have a handful of offers. Would you want to look through those today? Right? Sellers, again, sellers want agents that are going to take action. It's no longer a market where we can just put a sign in the yard and collect offers. We have to have real strategy behind our success and how we're going to implement to best help a seller. And there is no more powerful way than to show up with offers already in hand, right? So that's that's extremely a big win for today's market.

SPEAKER_00 11:12

What and this is my last one for you. What is a luxurious buyer experience? How does one turn something to just driving around in the car to a real experience that makes them want to connect and stay with you as their agent?

SPEAKER_01 11:28

Sure. So lots of things come to mind there. One, knowing the market, knowing the off-market properties. So being able to go to a buyer and say, by the way, I have this property that's not listed to the general public, would you would it interest you? Right? They want to know they can go to you as a resource and you're the all-knowing magical realtor, right? So going to being able to know the off-market available properties is one way. Another way that I what I used to do when I showed waterfront property is I showed it by boat. Most people, you know, they want to get in the car, they want to go and show a property. But what a bigger impact it would make to put your buyer in a boat and go witness touring property by a boat. And if you don't have a boat, there's plenty of boat rental companies, right? If you don't know how to drive a boat, there's lots of options, right? Rent a boat for the day. If I told you to go spend a thousand dollars, but the upside was going to be 45,000 or more, you would say sign me up all day long, right? So again, giving them an experience. What I've also done is if I show property downtown, I'll hire a driver to drive us downtown to look at condos. From building to building, we can hop around much more efficiently, and it's a better experience for the buyer than me trying to find parking, pay for parking, you know, get to the garage, figure out where guest parking is, sometimes walking a few blocks. I made that mistake one day because I had a very high-end buyer with me, and we had to park literally three or four blocks away from where this condo was, and she was in six-inch stiletto hills. And we're walking through downtown Austin like in August, and I felt horrible. And I was like, never again. And so, from that idea, and that experience spawned the idea of I'm gonna have a driver next time, and we're gonna make this a much more enjoyable, efficient experience. So that's another way. One other thing that I did for a buyer is uh I had a single mom with three teenage boys that were extremely rowdy, uh, very hyper. She couldn't focus on the house because she was always worried about the kids. So I hired a mobile video game van to follow us from house to house, and the boys got to play video games and stay in a van while mom and I could focus on shopping for the house. And she was like, I will I will buy a house from you every month if I have to. This is amazing. And she actually referred a bunch of people to me. So again, just just thinking about ways that you can elevate their experience and going the extra step or two will earn you the right to have referrals from people for a lifetime.

SPEAKER_00 14:29

Yeah, man, I want the video game bus, man. I'll buy I'll buy a house just to get that. That sounds awesome. I I you know, when I first started off in real estate, I would go to events when my mom was working in luxury, and you would go to these events and you'd be like, why are they spending so much money on? And it's exactly like you said, you know, you are going to reap the rewards of creating this experience, not just for that, but for for the referrals that you can get by treating other agents to this. Do you have anything to say about building up your referral network within the luxury community?

SPEAKER_01 15:04

Yeah, again, just like in you know, with buyers, referral opportunities with agents is huge. And at Keller Rams, we have the largest agent network across the globe under one single brand. And what a better way to connect with very high-producing, like-minded luxury agents and build relationships with those folks. The best thing I can offer is study who uh is migrating into your market. Like in Austin, we have the East and West Coast migrating to Austin, right? So I've strategically created relationships with agents on the East and West Coast that I know are going to have the most likelihood to send me referrals because those migration trends continue to come to Austin. So staying in relationship with agents and thinking about ways that you can help each other and mastermind together, share ideas, and then you know, want to be able to work and send referrals to one another is huge.

SPEAKER_00 16:03

Awesome, ma'am. Is there anything I didn't ask you that you wish I had?

SPEAKER_01 16:09

Uh no, it's a beautiful sunny day here in Austin. We've had a bunch of rain and it's finally sunny, so we're enjoying it.

SPEAKER_00 16:16

Awesome, man. Awesome. Well, thank you so much for being on. If somebody wanted to follow you or get in touch with you, how would they do so?

SPEAKER_01 16:24

So I'm Greg Clark, G-R-E-G-G, K-L-A-R at Facebook and Instagram.

SPEAKER_00 16:30

Awesome, man. Well, thank you so much for your time. Guys, this is gonna be the last episode we drop. This will come out Monday. We're recording this on a Friday. Tomorrow is the Agent to Empire event. So if you're listening to this, this is your last chance to get to that. We're gonna have speakers like Greg, you're speaking, right? And we've got Jay Papazan, we've got headshots uh there. So don't miss out on that opportunity. Uh, and we will see you guys again next week. If you found this episode interesting, please subscribe. If you know an agent in the office that wants to break into luxury and you think this would be helpful, share this with them. We'll be back again next week with another episode, guys. Thank you much for thank you so much for listening. Thank you, Greg.

SPEAKER_01 17:12

You bet.

SPEAKER_00 17:16

All right.