How do you run a successful real estate team with your spouse? It’s a question we get all the time. Whether you’re thinking of joining your partner in real estate or you’re starting from the ground up, working together comes with benefits (and challenges).

Just because you’re married doesn’t mean you’ll make great business partners. People make this mistake all the time. What that makes our partnership work is our opposing skill sets, and the fact that we bring different things to the table.

How did Devon end up becoming my business partner after her own corporate career? What are the key ways we balance each other out? What are the key decisions we made when we built our team?

In this episode, my wife and business partner Devon Fox joins me to talk about our business and why it works.

Real estate is a super stressful industry. If your clients are super stressed and if you feed into that, you’ll just amp them up. -Devon Fox

Three Things You’ll Learn In This Episode

-Cool, calm and collected through the transaction

Real estate is a stressful business and you often have to deal with people’s emotions. How are our temperaments different in the way we deal with clients?

-The secret to a successful partnership

Being good friends or even husband and wife doesn’t mean that you’ll make great business partners. How do you know if you’ll work well together?

-How to be strategic about growth

One of the key levers to our growth was the generous commission splits we offered. Knowing what we know now, would we do the same thing?

Guest Bio

Devon Fox is the Co-Owner of Devon and Dustin Fox Homes with Pearson Smith Realty. Their story begins not with a company or a brand, but with two high school sweethearts who had an ambitious dream to create something meaningful and lasting, together. They decided to go all-in with passion and purpose leading the way, establishing Fox Homes to provide an unmatched real estate experience that delivers big results with small-town heart. They love nothing more than seeing the joy on first-time homeowners’ faces or the ear-to-ear grins of those who just closed on a brilliant deal.

Follow @devonfox on Instagram and connect with her on LinkedIn.

Host Bio

Dustin Fox is the co-founder of the Fox Homes Team, a speaker and the author of Six Weeks to Real Estate Success. Dustin and his wife Devon have grown the Fox Homes Team to $400 million in production in just 3 years. Growth that is driven by Dustin’s innovative marketing that generates leads for their team of agents. If he’s not split-testing his latest marketing campaign, Dustin is probably taking a long bath and reading a business biography. Yes, long baths.

If you’re struggling to get traction from open houses, you might think the strategy is dead. The truth is open houses still work, but 90% of agents don’t do the right things.

Crafting a successful open house comes down to one mentality: building a collective experience around the home and making it connect to the guests. There are little touches you can put in place that add up to a ton of value.

The invitation, the food you provide and the way you interact with guests when they first arrive. These are all ways you can create an elevated open house experience that sells the home and even generates more seller leads. What should you do differently? In this episode, my producer Matt Johnson returns to talk all about open houses and how to set one up for success.

An open house is a collective experience of the entire home and an agent has control over that. -Matt Johnson

Three Things You’ll Learn In This Episode

-Always lead with quality

Many agents will just put out a bowl of hard candy or cookies at an open house and call it a day. What do you need to provide and give guests to make it an elevated experience?

-Why sellers hate open houses

An open house should be an experience around the home, not a sneaky way to find buyers for other listings. How do you host it accordingly?

-Earn trust by using a negative

The open house should always be about the home. How do you show genuine enthusiasm with a dose of honesty?

Host Bio

Dustin Fox is the co-founder of the Fox Homes Team, a speaker and the author of Six Weeks to Real Estate Success. Dustin and his wife Devon have grown the Fox Homes Team to $400 million in production in just 3 years. Growth that is driven by Dustin’s innovative marketing that generates leads for their team of agents. If he’s not split-testing his latest marketing campaign, Dustin is probably taking a long bath and reading a business biography. Yes, long baths.

Every real estate agent in America is competing with 1.6 million other active agents. That means the fight to get more deals is actually a fight for visibility in a crowded digital marketplace.

The most effective tool for cutting through the noise is also the most overlooked by the industry - Google reviews. Whether it's purchasing a washing machine or finding the agent to sell your home, reviews are the currency of most buying decisions, but we’re taught to ignore this.

What are the key things you need to have in place to win the review game? How do you make it easier for buyers and sellers to give you Google reviews? In this special episode focused on my book Six Weeks to Real Estate Success, I’m laying the groundwork for building up your Google reviews.

Three Things You’ll Learn In This Episode

-How to boost your visibility in a crowded space

From the day we get into real estate, we’re taught to focus on Zillow. Why do I consider this one of the biggest missteps in my career?

-Beat Zillow at its own game

A high ranking on Google solves a lot of problems in your business. What do you need to have in place to achieve it?

-How to ask for Google reviews

Some agents feel uncomfortable asking for reviews. How can you make the process easier for you and easier for your clients to follow through with it?

Host Bio

Dustin Fox is the co-founder of the Fox Homes Team, a speaker and the author of Six Weeks to Real Estate Success. Dustin and his wife Devon have grown the Fox Homes Team to $400 million in production in just 3 years. Growth that is driven by Dustin’s innovative marketing that generates leads for their team of agents. If he’s not split-testing his latest marketing campaign, Dustin is probably taking a long bath and reading a business biography. Yes, long baths.

When it comes to the digital marketing game, many agents think it’s pointless since we’re competing with juggernauts like Zillow. If there are platforms already dominating in lead gen, content creation and advertising, is there a way to build an online presence, get noticed and get more deals?

Then of course, there’s all the changes AI is driving in the digital marketing space. If the future of search is ChatGPT and not Google, is it still worth investing in SEO and reviews?

These are all the questions real estate pros are grappling with. Though it’s still a big unknown, there are still ways to grow our businesses through digital marketing (and AI can even help us).

What are the marketing basics we need to master? How can AI actually enhance what we do instead of eliminating us? In this episode, I’m joined by seasoned marketing and growth strategist, Jeff Bernheisel. We talk about all the exciting things happening in digital marketing, and how to win the game in such an evolving marketplace.

Tell a story about your listing, the neighborhood and why you’re here. If you do that well, you won’t be competing with Zillow. -Jeff Bernheisel

Three Things You’ll Learn In This Episode

-The art of selling through telling stories

We might not have the power and marketing dollars of online real estate giants, but we can still stand out online. What’s the one thing Zillow can’t do that we can?

-One ad = $100,000

Jeff created a really successful ad that led to 14 transactions. What made it so effective?

-The power of AI in real estate

AI tools like ChatGPT have a ton of capabilities that can help us become better marketers. What are some of the new features we can leverage?

Guest Bio

Jeff Bernheisel is a seasoned Marketing and Growth Strategist with nearly two decades of experience driving brand narratives and engagement in the real estate sector. He provides strategic insight and tactical execution for a business’s toughest marketing challenges. For more information, go to https://thefractionalmarketingguy.com/, connect with Jeff on LinkedIn or follow him on Instagram.

Host Bio

Dustin Fox is the co-founder of the Fox Homes Team, a speaker and the author of Six Weeks to Real Estate Success. Dustin and his wife Devon have grown the Fox Homes Team to $400 million in production in just 3 years. Growth that is driven by Dustin’s innovative marketing that generates leads for their team of agents. If he’s not split-testing his latest marketing campaign, Dustin is probably taking a long bath and reading a business biography. Yes, long baths.

The recent NAR settlement proposal and other industry developments prove one thing. Real estate agents have to become proactive about their business, instead of working in reactive mode.

That means instead of relying on Zillow and paid leads, we have to shift to strategies that give us more control over how we provide value.

Mastering our sphere, referrals, events and reviews immediately sets us free from market disruptions. It will also give us an ROI that lasts way longer than any paid lead.

How do we build our businesses on relationships and connection? Why are events critical to proactively generating business? In this episode, I’m joined by coach, speaker and author of The 7 Levels of Communication, Michael J. Maher. He shares how to build your business differently, and why it’s critical in today’s market.

Forever we’ve been in a dichotomy where the listing side was skills-based and the buyer side was a service-based profession. That’s about to change. -Michael Maher

Three Things You’ll Learn In This Episode

-How to lead buyers through the transaction

Many agents find working with buyers stressful and more time-consuming than sellers, but it could be due to an inefficient approach. How do you use focus and prioritization to improve the process?

-The flywheel effect

Real estate professionals don’t invest in events because they don’t think they can scale, but they actually have the highest ROI. What happens when you make events a key pillar of your business?

-The secret to a great client event

Events will always be a powerful way to build and generate referrals, but not all events will yield the same results. What makes a client event memorable, effective and even fun?

Guest Bio

Michael J Maher is a coach, speaker and author of The 7 Levels of Communication. Formerly known as North America's Most Referred Real Estate Professional, in just his third year of real estate, Michael did 187 transactions for $40.1 MM in sales and netted one million dollars. He received over 500 Referrals for 11 straight years. And now, his (7L)System and methodologies have grown beyond the real estate world to see its application in nearly every profession and industry. His last event had over 50 different professions in the room! It all started with a powerful book (7L) The Seven Levels of Communication: Go from Relationships to Referrals endorsed but such stalwarts as Dave Ramsey, Dr. Ivan Misner, Bob Burg, Larry Kendall, Howard Brinton, Barbara Corcoran, Gary Keller, and many more. To join the Generosity Generation, go to http://joingengen.com.

Host Bio

Dustin Fox is the co-founder of the Fox Homes Team, a speaker and the author of Six Weeks to Real Estate Success. Dustin and his wife Devon have grown the Fox Homes Team to $400 million in production in just 3 years. Growth that is driven by Dustin’s innovative marketing that generates leads for their team of agents. If he’s not split-testing his latest marketing campaign, Dustin is probably taking a long bath and reading a business biography. Yes, long baths.

For many agents, the process of building a successful business can be needlessly tiresome, confusing and even lonely. The tried-and-tested best practices that are constantly taught are outdated, unsustainable, and even unrealistic.

What if we could pour the money we spend on these faulty methods into something much easier and something we can control?

Instead of burning ourselves out on social media, we could be investing in Google reviews. Instead of continuing the uphill journey of working sellers only, we could work buyers and thrive.

That’s why I started this podcast. I wanted to bring fresh, new ideas from outside the industry into real estate. I want to show you how to get better at marketing - the number 1 thing agents struggle with. What are the big social media myths keeping us from success? How can we do things differently?

In this episode, I’m joined by my producer and CEO of MicroFamous, Matt Johnson. I share what inspired me to start this show and what you can expect from our episodes.

Don’t just ask for reviews from people who give you 5-stars because it actually hurts you. Aim for between 4.7 and 4.8 stars. That rating is the most credible. -Dustin Fox

Three Things You’ll Learn In This Episode

-The most powerful advantage you can have in real estate

We’re getting to the point where the first thing consumers do is Google you. How do you make sure you cut through the competition and become their only choice?

-Don’t think about real estate incestuously

A lot of the real estate coaching advice out there is being done by everyone, meaning you end up fishing in red waters. How do you eliminate the competition?

-SEO is alive and thriving

The prevailing belief among real estate agents is that SEO is dead and not worth investing in. Are the experts pushing this narrative for selfish reasons?

-Six Weeks to Real Estate Success

To dive deeper into mastering real estate, grab your copy of "Six Weeks to Real Estate Success."

After reading, head over to Amazon and leave a review. Then, send a screenshot of your review to @dustinmfox on Instagram. As a thank you, you'll receive Dustin’s exclusive list of the Top 100 Facebook & Instagram Ad Headlines of All-Time—guaranteed to boost your conversions and lower your advertising costs. Don't miss out on this opportunity to elevate your real estate game!

To Contact Dustin Fox, click HERE