Most of REM’s online readers will recognize David Greenspan as the high-octane speaker who posts bite-sized motivational and marketing vlogs for Realtors. Branded as #Mindshare101, Greenspan’s vlogs cover topics ranging from “how to relax your mind when things aren’t going well” to how to ask winning listing questions, to how to build resilience in your real estate business.
Shot in informal settings – sometimes outdoors in cottage country, at times from inside his car or from his home with his hockey memorabilia in the background – almost always sporting his baseball cap, his videos are at once energizing and educational. Some readers say he brings a smile to their face. Others may wager his straight talk is just what the doctor ordered to keep their business on track during challenging times.
But since Greenspan entered the real estate business back in 2006, his goal has been to help Realtors figure out gaps in their learning – gaps that weren’t adequately filled in Realtor school, gaps that Greenspan identified when he got licenced back in the day.
“We recognized quickly they are not learning enough about the sales and marketing end of the business, as much as they are about the legalities and bylaws,” says Greenspan.
While knowing the legalities are necessary at the negotiation table, Greenspan says, first Realtors have to “get the opportunity to get to the table.” In recent years, despite a new focus on how Realtors should market their business, Greenspan says “there’s still a missing link on how we educate a Realtor to get out and step into the workforce once they get their license.”
Marketing is an integral part of any real estate business because every day Realtors aim to build relationships. Lasting relationships in real estate thrive on a healthy marriage of old-school fundamentals and a new-age thirst for technology, says Greenspan.
“The younger generation is attached to technology and up-to-date with online methods of connecting with others. The older generation is not as up to speed. But the new generation needs to recognize that the old-school fundamentals are still what’s bringing in business. You can post whatever you want on Facebook or Instagram, you can have something on your website, but that doesn’t create a relationship,” he says.
With his sights sets on bridging the knowledge gaps in real estate, as a licensed Realtor, a certified mortgage professional and with a sales career of marketing for Fortune 500 companies, in 2006 Greenspan launched Keep In Touch Systems (KITS). It’s “a direct mail newsletter using variable data publishing technology (VDP) to personalize direct mail 25 times more than an average piece of direct mail,” says Greenspan.
“Realtors see 70 to 90 per cent of their income come from people that know, like and trust them,” he says. The idea behind KITS is to enable Realtors to build more “mindshare” and stay top of mind for their audience’s. KITS now promises to deliver customized marketing solutions in 27 different languages.
After almost a decade and a half of developing KITS, making dozens of sales presentations and making difficult hard sales over cold calls, Greenspan’s “aha moment” came when he recognized that his five minute sales calls were turning into hour-long marketing coaching sessions. His presentations were inspiring and being sought by organizations such as Inman, Mortgage Alliance, the Ontario Real Estate Association, Scotiabank, the National Association of Realtors, the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board and several brokerages and boards to educate and train their Realtors.
So, he birthed #Mindshare101. It comes fully kitted with training seminars, one-to-one coaching, mastermind groups and a podcast hosted by Greenspan himself, where he shares sales strategies and industry thought leadership through chats with the likes of OREA CEO Tim Hudak and well-known Toronto Realtor Richard Silver. It’s “geared towards salespeople and how we can help them build their business and get better,” says Greenspan.
In other words, much like when one says soda pop, one thinks Coke, Greenspan’s plan for #Mindshare101 is to help a Realtor build Mindshare into a go to destination “so that every time somebody that they know, like and trust, or that knows them, likes them and trusts them, they think of that particular Realtor. Mindshare is the education, KITS is the execution,” he says.
While the initial days of the pandemic had put a spanner in Greenspan’s plans, not unlike most businesses, it’s been “full steam ahead” for #Mindshare101 since August.
Greenspan’s approach to the crisis has been governed by the view that empathy is the call of the hour. “We really changed the tonality of everything we were doing as well. As opposed to getting out there in March’s spring market and saying, ‘Hey, great time to buy a house’, we changed it to providing ideas for what people can do at home with their family, how to keep the kids busy, providing resources for folks that may need extra assistance,” he says.
In the Zoom era, Greenspan believes that video and its integration into real estate marketing will be the biggest game changer. “Video is going to be a channel, a method, a tool that people need to start utilizing more to remain relevant. Because if you’re just another business card, another sign, another flyer, another website, that’s all you are,” he says.
Looking at the new or next normal for real estate, Greenspan’s words of wisdom for Realtors are: “The act of doing creates the result of having. By developing good habits, by knowing what you want to achieve in life, by knowing where you’re going and putting in the effort, you can get there. You can do it.”
Sohini Bhattacharya is a contributing writer for REM.
