SHOW NOTES
If there were people who could show what it’s like to achieve success through determination and grit, Randy Carroll would be one of them. While in college, Randy worked as a radio station manager, was the sports editor of their school paper and became the president of their student body as well. He graduated cum laude in 2014 with a degree in Broadcast and Electronic Media. With just one day of rest after graduation, he was off to his first job for a staffing company.
Eight months later, he met the then president of CINC, Jason Hoback, who convinced him that he belonged in sales. And for the next 5 years, he worked at CINC as their National Manager and Director of Strategic accounts. Today, Randy serves as the Strategic Partner and Channel Manager for ChimeTechnologies Inc.
Join us as Randy shares his journey from being an impressionable student to working for what he considers to be one of the real estate industry’s best kept secrets.
In this episode, we talk about...
(4:59) What is it about the competitive nature of sports?
(6:23) How does having a winning mindset impact your career?
(8:12) Why the term “start-up” shouldn’t be limited to small tech companies start-ups
(9:55) How Randy came to CINC
(14:00) What you need to do to rise to the top
(21:59) What prompted Randy to go to CHIME
(25:52) What is CHIME?
(28:50) A product from CHIME that Randy is really proud of
(30:12) What’s one of the biggest pain points for Realtors
Show Transcript
Brian Charlesworth 0:35
Alright, Hello, everyone, and welcome back to the GRIT podcast. I'm just going to back up a little bit today because our guest just asked me what is the GRIT podcast. So you know, this is where we like to really dig in with entrepreneurs, we have real estate team owners, we have technology leaders in the industry, just really everyone that we think you should hear from to really add value to you. Your business. And so I just want to start today's episode off with that. I'm Brian Charlesworth. I'm the founder of Sisu. Sisu is a SAS real estate growth automation software. I say, I really should say ducks. I think we're the only one out there. And I'm your host of the show. And today I have Randy Carroll here with me. I actually want to read a little bit of your bio, Randy and I usually don't go back to college, but I'm going to go back to college today because you're young enough that I can do that. But look at that. See, he still has his college it for those of you who are watching us can see he has his college t shirt on. Sure. I didn't even know that before. I just said that. But for those of you who are just listening, yeah, I'm telling you, he has his college t shirt on. And he has his girlfriend's college on a flag in the background. So anyway, Randy received a degree in broadcast and electronic is that right with
Randy Carroll 1:56
broadcast and electronic media. I've used that degree one time. To date.
Brian Charlesworth 2:00
Okay, and you have a business minor which you have used, right?
Randy Carroll 2:04
I'd like to think so little bit. Great.
Brian Charlesworth 2:07
So the main thing I want to hit on here is while you were in college, you were a sports editor of the newspaper. You love sports, as well as that you were involved in the radio station. What did you do there?
Randy Carroll 2:18
I was the station manager for two and a half years. Okay, so you probably love music or was at a talk radio show. It was both. Yeah, it was both. It was an FM station. But we I ran a sports talk show, but I had friends who are I had people who ran musical music shows.
Brian Charlesworth 2:37
Okay and then the last thing I wanted to point out was you were the student body president. Is that correct?
Randy Carroll 2:43
I was Yes.
Brian Charlesworth 2:45
Okay. So there's three things a lot of people in today's world and I call it today's world. I mean, I went to college A long time ago, but Randy graduated about six years ago from what I can tell.
Randy Carroll 2:56
Yeah. Yep.
Brian Charlesworth 2:58
Yeah. So that being said Randy actually did three things that are very time consuming things while he was in college. And what I love about that, it just shows your grit, right. It just shows that like, you're not about sitting around and having people, you know, being enabled and just having people take care of you, if you want to get out and get it done, and I love that about people that's like the number one character I look for in people. So anyway, I'm excited to hear more about your experience in the real estate industry. But before we go there, is there anything else Randy that you would like to tell us as your background or as an intro?
Randy Carroll 3:37
Or something that you don't see on my LinkedIn?
I guess was I also played two sports in college. Not very well, but I played them. Uh, so it was, that was a lot of fun.
Brian Charlesworth 3:50
But uh, it works. You can't just stop there which sports,
Randy Carroll 3:53
Football and track and field.
Brian Charlesworth 3:56
Okay, so, football, you were a wide receiver.
Randy Carroll 4:01
Yeah, I'm sure.
Brian Charlesworth 4:02
Defense event, defensive end. Okay. And then in track and field, what did you do?
Randy Carroll 4:08
I did a shot put, discus, Javelin, hammer and pull bolt.
Brian Charlesworth 4:13
Okay, awesome. So that's the other part of your intro that I missed. So thank you for bringing that back. Sports I want to talk about sports because you obviously have a passion for sports. You played multiple sports in high school, or did most multiple sports in high school or in college, and also involved with sports as an editor and a writer. So my personal opinion is that sports like it really teaches people how to be competitive now. That's assuming you get into competitive sports. You get if you're in the world of today, every kid gets a trophy on every team. I think that's a danger zone personally for our entire nation. But tell us talk a little about more about sports. Like what is it about the company tentative nature that that drives you.
Randy Carroll 5:03
Well, that's because with sports, you're largely not handed anything, especially when you're on a collegiate level and the coach's livelihood is riding on this, especially at the Division Two level. So I went to a Division Two school. So everyone listening is aware, I'm not I'm not a great athlete, I just tried very hard. And ultimately, at the Division Two level, coaches want to move up to the next level division one, etc, etc. So you're not going to be handed anything. They're only going to play the guys, they think it's going to give them the best opportunity to win. And that translates very easily into the startup world, which is where I've spent most of my professional career.
Brian Charlesworth 5:54
Yeah, I mean, I coached all three of my kids, not my step, kids. I have two more step kids now. But my three kids I coach all three of their basketball teams from my daughter didn't start till fifth grade but my other two started in kindergarten all the way through high school. So I'm just competitive teams and I mean as a coach even at that level, like if I'm coaching 15 year olds, I'm not about to play to lose, right? It's right when I love this quote, winning isn't everything is the only thing right? I mean, so so if you grow up with that mindset, and that's your mindset through school, through sports, through college, when you get into the business world, how has that impacted you?
Randy Carroll 6:39
So I was told a similar quote when I was in high school, it was a football isn't fun, going out playing and winning, and then winning is fun. So did I love the 12 and 14 hour days I put in at my old job when we were startup, not in particular did. I love Three days for all practice, not in particular. But when we went out and we won football games and when we sold the company I worked for, and you know, we all got to celebrate all of those terrible times were completely justified and complete and I would have done it again by truly. So it's this, especially in the team sport environment, right? When you're working in the startup that's run like a team sport. It's really exciting for everyone to be putting in that grit together and then come out and win on the other side together.
Brian Charlesworth 7:37
Yeah, and team sports are very much like running a business or being a part of startup like you talked about is just everyday is a grind. But if you can learn to enjoy that journey, and I think this is the same for all you realtors listening right now, if you can learn to enjoy the journey and enjoy different things, whether it be the people, you meet the The things you're learning the growth you're having in your life, those are great things. If you can learn to enjoy those, your results are going to be way better. And you're going to enjoy the journey which is which is really key to life.
Randy Carroll 8:12
Well make no mistake, the term startup immediately gets associated with a small technology company. But realtors are a startup business of their own. You may if you're listening, you may have grown out of this already, you know, 15 2025 years in the business, you're probably out of that startup phase and you're enjoying the fruits of your labor. But for those of you who are newer into the business, or you just started a team, or you just opened a brokerage, you're very much a startup too. And you need to lean in to the grind and to the grit and learn to enjoy it. Because it will pay off when you do that.
Brian Charlesworth 8:50
Yeah, that's great advice. I would add to that Randy as well. And I'll use my wife as an example here. She runs a team of 25 agents. She's been in the business for 17 years, and you could say she's not a startup anymore, but if you told her that she would argue 100% a lot. Number one, she's always growing. She's always looking to expand. She just added a brokerage. She just started a title company, and she's getting ready to start a mortgage company.
Randy Carroll 9:16
There it is. So she has actual startups.
Brian Charlesworth 9:21
Right. And, and it's all intertwined in a way. So anyway, um, I want to talk about that. You talked about being, you know, early stage in a startup. I mean, I want to hear more about that. That's, that's what excites me. Yeah. I just started it, you know, a dozen different companies in my lifetime, and some of them technology companies, some of those franchise companies and technology is my passion, which is why I'm back here today. Well, that being said, I know you went to CINC about a year after going to college is that this was thinking startup at that time. Oh, yeah, with a wire to CINC
Randy Carroll 9:56
as well. So I graduated on a Friday. I moved back to Atlanta. Saturday started a job at a staffing company on Monday. So I had Sunday to enjoy my freedom. And then it was straight to work. I worked for a staffing company for eight months, until I met the president of sync. This is a great story,
Brian Charlesworth 10:22
who is that at the time? It was Jason hoback. Okay, Jason, okay.
Randy Carroll 10:27
Jason's an awesome, dude. He's left sync sense, but he spent some time as the CEO, but it was a Thursday night. And even though I'm from Atlanta when I moved back all my friends and moved out, and I was finally done with sports in anything in an amateur way. And I had never played rugby. So I wanted to play rugby. I joined the Atlanta men's rugby team. We practiced on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Thursday nights after practice, the boys would generally go out for a drink. I usually wouldn't go But this one night, they they coaxed me into it with a few free drinks. So I went while they're in my sweaty, nasty rugby clothes, I met the president of CINC Jason hoback because he was there for an event that some four colleagues of his head
Brian Charlesworth 11:17
said it was by accident by chance, or were you inspired to go that night?
Randy Carroll 11:22
I was I was I was divine inspiration to go that night. And
Brian Charlesworth 11:28
I'm being serious about that because you said you were actually hoaxed into it. So do you feel like were you really hooked into it? Or do you feel like I mean, that was meant meant to happen?
Randy Carroll 11:38
I mean, I'm a man of faith. So I believe that it was meant to happen. But 23 year old me 24 year old me was convinced by the free beers that was being dangled in front of me. So okay, so there's I mean, there's when you when you peel back the layers there it is, but Jason was there at an event completely unrelated. We cross paths. He said, You You belong and sales come work for my company. That was a Thursday, I interviewed the next Thursday. I started the next Monday. So that's exciting. So you actually headed up sells for sale, right? I was not the head of sales at the time. There was, I think 10 of us in sales. I was working for my boss was a guy by the name of Christian radich Kovac, and he ended up moving into various other leading various other departments. Eventually, after the F and F acquisition, we started a another product line for lenders or I lead sales there.
Brian Charlesworth 12:47
I see. Okay, so let's talk go back to the day that you were recruited. Okay, it was how big was it? For those of you who don't know think most everyone listening to this podcast does because you're all mostly in real estate. But for those of you who don't CINC is Commission's Inc they were acquired by fidelity. Tell us how big was the company when you joined how many employees I was employee like 72 Okay, so so pretty large larger than my company is today.
Randy Carroll 13:15
It was it was definitely, um, they were doing about 14 million in revenue at the time, but you never would have known like the office. It was a very, very humble office I'll say run very lean. Right. A lot of people wear multiple hats. But we were striving for unicorn style growth. Like by the time when we sold we, we were growing 20% quarter over quarter. Okay, so, so we did not spend money unless there was an absolute must.
Brian Charlesworth 13:53
I know that world. I'm there right. Okay, good. This. This is fun. So So you went over a joint saying you really had been, you know, with another company for eight months, straight out of college. So, how did you, you know, how did you rise to the top? Um, I mean, not not all the way to the top, but you certainly rose right?
Randy Carroll 14:16
Yeah, I would like to think so. I, I mean, we would work we would get in 839 and be there until, you know, eight or nine o'clock at night selling on the west coast, selling to the west coast, because we're in Atlanta.
Brian Charlesworth 14:32
So you were working 12 hour days. I'm just gonna ask this because how many of you in real estate are working 12 hour days? I think a lot of people start in real estate because in hopes that they can work three hour days. Yep.
Randy Carroll 14:45
You think so? Yep.
Brian Charlesworth 14:47
So anyway, I just want you guys to all ask yourself that question because it's it's definitely a valid question. And and Randy was saying earlier, you know, when you get to where you're no longer in startup, you probably don't have to do 14 hour days or 12 hour days, but when you start in this business, you better bust it and you better work or, or you're never gonna, you're never gonna rise to the top. So I don't care what industry you go in, if that's what you want to do. That's how much that's how many hours you're going to put in. And I mean, you have no idea how many hours I'm up till two in the morning. You know, just just making sure things are happening, right?
Randy Carroll 15:24
Yeah, absolutely. I remember when I started it sank, it was still known as it still went by commission sank. So if people didn't know who we were, we would go to events and people would think that we were a Commission's forwarding company, Commission's Inc, right. We had to get a banner in big red letters that said lead generation and put it above our, our booth at events for people to attend for people to stop by and ask us more about our product. So we didn't really talk We're very much a startup in the sense that we were not well known, right? We didn't have the name recognition of Boomtown or Tiger leads, or something a market leader, some of those folks, I find it incredibly ironic that we ended up acquiring Tiger leads during my time at CINC. Because when I was there, they were the company that we were. We were targeting, we wanted to take out time we wanted to take Tiger leads clients, um,
Brian Charlesworth 16:29
you want to take them out. So you literally did take them out. Congratulations. And you you always get what you focus on. Right. But
Randy Carroll 16:36
yeah, I mean, you had to have goals, right? So it was Tiger leads, and then it was Boomtown. And then we got acquired, and then suddenly, we had targets on our back. Right. Our acquisition was, I think, the fifth largest tech acquisition in the real estate space. So that was to use a sports analogy that was locker room material.
Brian Charlesworth 16:58
I recall that was 200. Hundred and roughly 220
Randy Carroll 17:02
Donor just under 250, I believe.
Brian Charlesworth 17:05
Okay, somewhere somewhere in that range of 200 and 50 million. I know some presidents over at fidelity that were involved in that acquisition, they told me it started at 100 million dollars. So whatever you guys did to get it to 100 and 50 million, maybe that's the reason to hire an investment banking firm.
Randy Carroll 17:26
Yeah, maybe. I didn't know that detail. Actually. That's funny.
Brian Charlesworth 17:31
Yeah. So anything else you want to share of that journey? And I'm just going through your history right now, because I find it fascinating. And congratulations, you know, it's at your age, I was the CEO of a tech company and just raised $70 million. And that's, you've had some of the fun involved in doing those things. So yeah, it's a lot of fun and a lot of growth along the way as you experienced those things. Anything else? It seems that you want to share about that journey?
Randy Carroll 17:58
Um, yeah. So it was really a Interesting after the acquisition in August of 2018, nothing really changed for first year, that was pretty cool. Some of our clients felt uneasy, but maybe I shouldn't say nothing changed about 80% of our leadership left after the acquisition. So that was tough. That was really tough. We definitely had some client service issues. But But operationally on the sales side,
Brian Charlesworth 18:26
not sure. What before you move off that How long did Jason's stick around after that?
Randy Carroll 18:31
He just left earlier this year. Okay. Yep. So he was there a long time? Yeah, a couple years. Yeah. A couple years. Jason's great. I even think him sticking around was one of the reasons why fnf was interested.
Brian Charlesworth 18:47
Yeah, my guess is most acquisitions. And I've been on both sides of acquisitions and 90% of the time, they're going to require at least a two year lease,
Randy Carroll 18:55
or something like that built into it for sure. Yeah,
Brian Charlesworth 18:58
for him to stick around. Otherwise. They may not have may not have made that acquisition, right?
Randy Carroll 19:03
Certainly not. Not at that price point. But it was really cool. why it was so strategic because we then suddenly had no fnf, title execs to help make introductions. So that was really great. But we decided to diversify into different verticals. And then we started a lender product. That was really interesting. I led sales there. I got to learn more about the finance side of the business, which is translated to my job now at chime. Got to go to more mortgage finance related events. That was an interesting perspective. It was a whole new sales. It was a whole new product. So I got
Brian Charlesworth 19:44
going to a Mortgage Bankers Association convention, which I've done as well. Totally different than going to a real estate convention.
Randy Carroll 19:52
Yeah, you don't really see guys walking around in Hawaiian shirts and cargo shorts. Now, if you're going to that you better wear you better wear a blue suit and uh, you know, Tie, right? Yes, yes, very much so. So I got to do that. And we were launching a whole new product. So when I had arrived at St. Ghost, it was, like I said, doing $14 million already. So it was not established per se, but it was it was a successfully running business. This product line, I started from zero dollars, in six months, we were north of a million dollars in annual recurring revenue. And that was the fnf acquisition was very helpful, because I got to learn more, I got to get introduced to some folks on the on the mortgage side, it was very much a lead gen product. You know, sync inherently is a lead gen CRM. There's a lot of CRMs in the mortgage space already that integrated with their lls and we didn't want to go down that path because of the additional security requirements necessary. So much heavier on the lead gen side, which was an interesting experience but Ultimately, I found that I have, I'm far more interested in the tech side of it. So working here at chime, our value proposition is much more oriented towards bringing better technology to a brokerage so they can convert leads that they already know and love, which seemed a little more natural for me. Okay, so you left
Brian Charlesworth 21:21
About eight months ago. Yep.
Randy Carroll 21:24
In October of last year,
Brian Charlesworth 21:25
So about a year ago. Yeah. He left about a year ago to move over to chime does Commission's Inc still have the lender product?
Randy Carroll 21:45
To knowledge they do.
Brian Charlesworth 21:47
Oh, I was I was totally unaware of that. That's good to know.
Randy Carroll 21:50
Yeah, I believe they do. I don't know how, how actively it's sold, but it's definitely still being serviced.
Brian Charlesworth 21:58
Alright, so you decided Go to chime. What happened? Tell us the story. How did you make the decision you've been on this amazing ride with with sync. And now you're at chime. chime, for those of you who don't know, is another CRM in the real estate space, more focused around technology, what I know about chime. And I mean that this rings true for me, because our company was 100% developed on an open API. And that's my understanding of how chime came came into the market as well.
Randy Carroll 22:31
Yeah, that's exactly right. So
like I said, Singh was a startup when I got there. It was not no longer startup when I left. And I think there's something about the startup culture and environment that I appreciate a little bit more than, you know, the established giant, if you will. And that's not to speak ill of them at all because I cherished my time there. And if I could go over and do it all over again, I would and I do it the exact same way.
Brian Charlesworth 22:57
So when you left how many employees did they have when you They were
Randy Carroll 23:00
over 200, approaching 250. So we're about tripled in size, in terms of headcount, and a lot of the start of the folks who were there during the startup phase have left. And so there was this sense that some people were coming in, you know, doing their nine to five and then checking out, and a lot of the folks who had done the whole blood, sweat and tears thing with where, you know, sync was a part of who we were, they had left and moved on. And so that that feeling of the end of the month, we've got a bond together and work together. And, and everyone stays into the office until midnight to make sure we hit our number. That wasn't a really thing. And that wasn't really a thing anymore. You know, sales guys would leave the office at five on the last day of the month if they hit their number, regardless of where the company was. And that's, that's not like a it's just not a super exciting culture for me. And so time when I came to chime in October of 2019 During my interview, I flew in and I did a tour of the office spoke to a lot of the folks and it very much seemed like the environment I walked into when I first walked into sync. So the environment I immediately clicked with. And I was also given an opportunity at time to work more on the strategic partnership side. And that was the next evolution in my career that I wanted to take. So personally, I got to take the next step in my career, and then also from a business side, chime more aligned with what I was passionate about. Okay, so chime is where is their us headquarters because they're actually based in China. Right. So our headquarters headquarters is Phoenix, Arizona. Oh, okay. Yeah, so that's our actual headquarters. But we do augment our client services with some folks in Phoenix and then our development staff is in China.
Brian Charlesworth 24:57
Oh, the development staff is in China. Okay.
Randy Carroll 25:00
All right. Make sense? So our sales team, the bulk of our client services team, you know, a lot of the back end, folks, our our back office, for that matter are all in Phoenix. I'm remote in Atlanta. We've got a another remote sales guy in Atlanta, remote sales guy in Salt Lake, and then our dev team and China.
Brian Charlesworth 25:25
Okay, so how big how many employees? Do you guys have a chime today?
Randy Carroll 25:29
In the US? We've got 50 with between another 50 to 100 on the dev side in China. Okay. Yeah. So that number changes because the project, they work sometimes they're working on time. Sometimes they're working on another project with the sister company.
Brian Charlesworth 25:48
Okay, so you had strategic partnerships at chime. Tell us about China. I mean, a lot of people don't know that much about chime. So tell us tell us more about chime. Do
Randy Carroll 26:00
I think we're the best kept secret in real estate, if you will chime we play in the IDF CRM sandbox that I think so many people are familiar with already. But where I really think john begins to separate itself is the fact that we are hyper focused on lead conversion, integrating with best in class partners, rather than lead generation and playing in our own sandbox. A lot of our competitors are hyper focused on generating leads. And then consequently, you have to use their CRM. with us. We like to say we're leading gnostic. We offer digital advertising, if you want Google pay per click, or you want Facebook, their ads, we provide that service and we're getting good feedback from it. But if you're super happy with your digital marketer, and you're just looking for a better piece of technology to convert the leads that you have already or maybe you think Don't want to do online leads at all. You just want a better CRM for your sphere of influence and referrals. Our CRM is fluid enough to fit your business model, rather than you having to fit the business model of the CRM.
Brian Charlesworth 27:15
So you talk about open API integrations, like who are some of the companies you guys are integrating with?
Randy Carroll 27:21
Yeah, so a company we're about to announce an integration with is a great digital marketer. I think they're probably one of the premier services in the space. And that's why lopo we're offering a CRM only integration with them. And we've already gotten some great feedback from some of the folks who have jumped onto the integration a little early. We're officially rolling that out here, probably October
Brian Charlesworth 27:46
And the y Lobo integrations direct.
Randy Carroll 27:49
Yep, that's a direct integration. But the beauty is because of our open API, we have direct integrations with companies that I'm not even aware of. Companies can access our API Through api.com.me. And they can create their own integration, if they so desire. And that's something that really separates us as well. Because the idea of an all in one solution is a bit of a myth. And it was the ideal in 2015. When I got into this business, people were all aiming to be the all in one solution. But technology in the real estate space has come so far so fast that if you try to be an all in one solution, you're going to be a jack of all trades, but a master of none.
Brian Charlesworth 28:36
Yeah, great. Okay, so anything else you want to tell us about chime before I before I jump out of that, because really, we've just been hearing your story. So anything else you want to share before?
Randy Carroll 28:47
Yeah, sure, no happy to. Something that we've done at chime that I'm especially proud of is we've built our own AI system and this is a product that you use genuine artificial intelligence, it uses Google's machine learning product in order to help convert and qualify leads. And the reason why I bring it up is AI or artificial. intelligence has been such a buzzword in this industry. People use it when it doesn't necessarily make sense. But because it's sexy and sells people artificially use the term artificial intelligence to sell their product, even though they don't have genuine AI.
Brian Charlesworth 29:37
So AI is certainly a buzzword and you know, if you if you want to get away from that you say machine learning, right? And then and then now that's becoming the buzzword So, you know, but the reality is, I mean, there's so much you can do with AI and if you're talking about generating leads, I know that when I go to when I leave my office every day, it tells me I'm 10 minutes from my house, right? and things like that. There's there's so much intelligence that we don't have to do as humans that can be done for us. And when when it comes to following up with leads, that can make a big difference for sure. Oh,
Randy Carroll 30:12
Yeah, absolutely. One of the biggest pain points in my experience with realtors is the time required to convert leads, how many times have I heard, I'll pay for 10 quality leads and convert one instead of 100 leads and convert one, you still convert, you're still converting a lead, but the amount of time that it takes to find one out of 10 versus one out of 100 is significantly fewer. And with the AI assistant, were pre-qualifying these leads, so that you can speak with the folks who are actively saying they want to speak with a realtor. Not necessarily the folks who are, you know, nine to 12 months out, you know, following up with unresponsive leads right? How many times two realtors call leads 10 times and they never respond. So the AI assistant helps carry that burden.
Brian Charlesworth 31:08
There are a few companies out there doing similar things now and I think this is all heated up and and it's become widely known that there's such a need for this because we've allowed this industry has allowed companies like Zillow and realtor.com shark to come in and say, okay, you're gonna pay me 35% of every transaction. So I guess there's a plug for you guys and anybody else doing what you're doing, but you want to follow up with leads. I guarantee you this software is way less expensive and any software that has AI in it is way less expensive than things alone realtor, you're gonna stop doing that, but you might as well have transactions that you're directly converting as well.
Randy Carroll 31:52
Sure, I appreciate the referral model in the sense that it requires less overhead. I totally get that but When you calculate the numbers, you certainly get better margins for buying Google or pay per click leads and converting them than you do paying a 35% referral fee. The math makes sense to buy leads, but the ability to divert those funds from Zillow and rather pay a referral fee on the back end certainly brings value to so you almost have to do a personal risk assessment. And do you believe in yourself enough to convert these leads you're buying for $7 a pop? Or would you rather risk nothing up front besides time and effort and pay 35% on the back end.
Brian Charlesworth 32:40
And for those of you who are unaware, if you have Sisu we will pull those numbers directly the number of leads the cost you're spending for each and and we'll tell you exactly what your cost per closing is for every one of your lead sources so that you can make an educated decision about where you want to do this and you you may end up doing both,
Randy Carroll 32:57
That feature right there. is reason enough to pay for Sisu, knowing what your cost per transaction is, is invaluable. And Sisu is going to tell it to you, without you having to do anything more than what you're already doing in your CRM, then you're going to be able to make such better educated guesses on how you spend your money, you're gonna see a huge lift in your business because you're not going to be wasting dollars on sources that never convert. So the transparency and the reporting that Sisu brings to the table is an absolute game changer for your business.
Brian Charlesworth 33:33
Yeah, so thank you for that. And also if your conversion if your cost for just take Zillow as an example if you're actually paying for Zillow leads and not paying them 35% per transaction. If you want to know your cost, right, maybe you need to take your agents from a 50% split to a 30% split on certain types of leads. Just because you know what your returns are or maybe you only share those leads with the agents who actually converted at a higher rate? Right? Yeah. Now there's decisions you can make as a business owner if you just know your numbers.
Randy Carroll 34:08
Well, as much as real estate teams and brokerages are real estate business, they're really a professional sales organization, as though so you have to have these, these critical sales numbers that companies like, you know, Microsoft and Oracle and Salesforce, they live, and they drive decisions through these through these reports. So if if billion dollar companies find this information important enough, why wouldn't you? So that that is kind of my thought regarding reporting and keeping KPIs for real estate teams and brokerages. Even as an individual, you are a professional sales organization, and you should treat it as such.
Brian Charlesworth 34:52
Yeah. So thank you for that. That's a I mean, that's just such valuable information for people. I want to find out like all of your experience, you've been in the real estate industry for six years, and not actually selling real estate but seeing it very similar to me. I'm sure you've spent a tremendous amount of time with some of these top teams and brokerages in the industry. And you get to see what's working, you get to see what the top people are doing. Is there anything out there that just kind of stands out for you that you're like, Hey, you guys, if you don't know this nugget, let me share it with you.
Randy Carroll 35:29
Yeah, I would say it's the, the bulk of my experience has been in the world with people who are involved with online leads. So if you absolutely refuse to get involved with online leads, I can probably bring some value to your business but not not nearly as much. The folks who are investing in online leads who have sales exercises and sales training who work on their tonality, who making Follow up calls 9 and 12 months after the lead first came in, that's where the money is made, you know, make no mistake. People ask for conversion numbers for online leads and they get one to 3%. That's that's the low hanging fruit that's going to transact in the next six to nine months. So you're talking about 97% or more of your leads, who may transact later in life. That is where the money is truly made. So the fortune is in the follow up, which is a cliche, I think a lot of people have heard, but it's few implemented. And that is going to absolutely take your business to the next level. Even if you never buy another lead again, you just follow up with all the leads you've already bought.
Brian Charlesworth 36:43
Yeah, that's great advice. I've really enjoyed getting to know you and hear your story and looking forward to working with you guys closer as time moves forward. Just something I'd like to ask just some of those questions that were sent over to you. Just Yeah, I want to know, like what's your favorite book or source of learning that's had the biggest impact on your life? It could be a podcast could be, you know, whatever that is.
Randy Carroll 37:10
Sure. So the I'll start with the book, the book that really changed my thinking in terms of luck. And opportunity is a book called outliers. I'm sure a lot of people have read it by Malcolm Gladwell, heavily recommend it. The concept of the book is Malcolm explores what looks like just straight luck style opportunities, and scientifically discovers what about each circumstance resulted in this one in a million type opportunity from actually happening. So again, it's called outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. He's got another great book called David and Goliath. He's a really good author, but definitely recommend outliers. Have an ongoing learning. I love podcasts. I used to travel 75% of the time back before you didn't have to wear masks in public. And I would crush podcasts, for sure.
Brian Charlesworth 38:14
Are there any podcasts that would stand out for you that you've just loved listening to?
Randy Carroll 38:20
You know, bigger pockets has like five different podcasts. And its various themes, but I really like the library that BiggerPockets has. I started listening to their real estate investing side just so I could get a hear from a different side of the business. But they have other topics as well that I would recommend.
Brian Charlesworth 38:42
Great. Okay, thank you and what's your favorite place to visit?
Randy Carroll 38:49
Favorite place to visit. So
Brian Charlesworth 38:51
Something other than where you live?
Randy Carroll 38:53
Right? Yeah. You know what I gotta say. If it's if it's about Beach and you can see it in the water is warm enough to swim in. It's gonna be my favorite place. I love the beach. My dad lives on a small scenic highway in the Gulf of Florida called 30A
Brian Charlesworth 39:18
Is that near, what cities are near there?
Randy Carroll 39:21
It's just in between Destin and Panama City.
Brian Charlesworth 39:24
Okay, so it's Destin. Yeah. So I went out to that area. It's a beautiful area. What's the little city can't remember the little city that I was spent quite a bit of time in but just right there next to Destin.
Randy Carroll 39:38
Well, you've got along the scenic highway 30A, you've got Santa Rosa Beach.
Brian Charlesworth 39:45
Santa Rosa Beach is what I was talking about.
Randy Carroll 39:47
Yeah, beautiful place absolutely gorgeous place. watercolor seaside Seagrove, rosemary, these are some of the popular places there. I know we have some clients down there. amazing place to sell houses. too, by the way, I mean the water is beautiful this they've got that really fine quartz type sand. That's so white. You need sunglasses to look at it when the sun sun's out. But uh, yeah, great place heavily recommended.
Brian Charlesworth 40:16
Yeah, I agree. It's a beautiful place. In your personal time. What's your favorite thing to do? I'm guessing it's playing sports, but I don't want to put words in your mouth.
Randy Carroll 40:26
Once upon a time it was for for sports related surgeries later. I am less active in sports than I once was. What I really like to do my interests can be pretty much summed up by Twitter follows. I use I use Twitter as a source of news rather than entertainment. And you'll find on there, all Atlanta sports so Georgia Tech Falcons, hawks, Braves crypto, the crypto world, I try to keep a pulse there finance in the finance world. I try to keep propulse they're just reading about
Brian Charlesworth 41:03
On your spare time you're on Twitter. That's what you're telling us.
Randy Carroll 41:08
Honestly. Yeah, kinda. Yeah, I just I just installed a front porch like swing bed.
Brian Charlesworth 41:13
Yeah.
Randy Carroll 41:14
And I'm in a really my house again. I just go sit on that front porch. Swing bed. It's a twin size bed so I can lay down on it. Oh, it's so comfortable. I love it. I recommend it to everyone. It's not that hard to install. Go do it. Do it now. Don't Don't ask why you will love it as soon as you sit on it.
Brian Charlesworth 41:37
That's funny. I have a daughter who's a little bit younger than you but she she just installed a hammock in her family room at her house.
Randy Carroll 41:48
First, I was a hammock guy. I was I was a hammock guy, but then I'm a little large for most hammocks. So I went into swinging better out and It was a huge upgrade.
Brian Charlesworth 42:02
Okay, well, Randy, thanks for your time today. It's been great getting to know you. If somebody wants to reach you what's the best way to get ahold of you?
Randy Carroll 42:10
I would say the best way to get ahold of me is just shoot me an email. Super easy. It's my first name dot last name Randy Carroll. Randy.Carroll@chimeinc.com. I'm Randolph Carol on LinkedIn because Randolph is more official than Randy.
Brian Charlesworth 42:30
Now why is it you want to be official on LinkedIn? I need to understand this.
Randy Carroll 42:35
Because when I first created my LinkedIn, I was a young impressionable high schooler or college person and I needed to impress somebody. So it
Brian Charlesworth 42:45
May be time to update that to the real Randy right.
Randy Carroll 42:48
Yeah, I think that might be my actual name is the real Randy real Randy Carol.
Brian Charlesworth 42:54
Okay, Randy, thank you so much. It's been fun getting to know you again, we're looking for forward to working closer with you guys moving forward. And for all you listeners out there, feel free to reach out to Randy. Thanks for listening to the show today. We would love to have you give us a five star review love to have you share it with your friends. So we can start getting this podcast out there even more. So please do that and we'll catch up with you next week. Thanks so much.
Randy Carroll 43:20
Thanks, Brian. I appreciate it.
