Long-term success in real estate requires the ability to ride out both the highs and the lows of the market. Maybe it was Charlotte Mabry’s background as a music teacher that helped hone her talent for navigating the changing dynamics of real estate. With more than three decades of experience in the industry, Mabry, who is based in the Chattanooga - Downtown (Tenn.) market center, is consistently hitting high notes, closing 327 units in the past 12 months for a total closed volume of $71 million
“One thing that has remained the same all these years is the message,” Mabry says. “To maintain stability in market shifts and to be recognized in your community, I believe you should find a message and – assuming it lines up with your core values – stick with it. People in our area know me as someone with values and standards who strives to do the right thing. As corny as that sounds, I do think that is a major reason I have been in the top 10 in my market for over 20 years.”
“While my message has not changed, my tools for delivery have,” she continues. “I have made sure to keep up with technology and message-delivery tools through the years. When I began in 1986, there were no computers, cell phones or fax machines. Today, we market with smartphones and Facebook Live, all while using tried-and-true methods from the past.”
Radio - A Powerful Lead Generation Source
Mabry’s weekly live radio call-in show has been an excellent lead generation source for her. At first the radio show accounted for 40 percent of her team’s business, but since focusing equally on their sphere, the show brings in 19 percent of closed business year to date. Her team utilizes Facebook Live concurrently with the broadcast to market to their nearly 6,000 Facebook followers
“For nearly every Saturday morning for the past nine years, I have been on the radio answering calls, responding and even doing listing appointments live on the air,” says Mabry, who grew up around media as the daughter of the first producer/director of the local NBC affiliate. “I have had every person you can think of that might be in a real estate-related industry on to interview. Now I do about 50 percent of the shows by myself since we have developed such a following. I focus on topics each week and strive to educate the public and not just sell to them. I’ve had everyone from the mayor to local personalities on as well while working to stay out there as the market expert."
An Unlikely Start
Radio show host is worlds away from where Mabry started.
“After teaching both elementary school music and middle school choral music, I really wanted to have the opportunity to be out and about and not be tied to a classroom all day,” she says. “In addition, control over my own business life was very important to me. During this time, I became – of all things – an Amway distributor and had my first exposure to motivational reading and listening. I was hooked! From that point 35 years ago, I have enjoyed learning, reading and working on improving my ‘stinkin’ thinkin’,’ as Zig Ziglar would say.”
It was this very love of education and learning that positioned her for success in real estate
“I would love to tell you that I have always had a good head for business; that is so not true,” Mabry says. “My music background did little to prepare me for running a business of any size, particularly the one I run today. The good news is that I did read, study and attend training and, from that focus, learned more quickly. For years, I learned business tactics from agents on the ground doing the business I hoped to have. KW has taken this concept to an even larger scale, and it’s one of the things I love most about this company.”
Leading a Team
The lessons she’s learned from Keller Williams have helped propel her team forward.
“I’ve had a team of some sort for over 20 years, but it has just been in the past 10 that I truly have felt I am getting closer to running my business as a true business endeavor,” she says. “I was the first agent in our Chattanooga/ North Georgia market to ever run a team. While folks made fun of me, I knew the power of people leverage and have worked hard to learn all I can about developing, running and leading a team of like-minded people. As the years have gone by and with the help of KW, I now have a better focus on not just running a team but growing leaders within my team. I want to be sure my team members have every opportunity to learn and grow, just like I did.”
Additional Mechanisms for Success
KW MAPS Coaching and the MREA models are two of the mechanisms Mabry has utilized the most.
“Knowing your numbers is what I think is most important for longevity in this business,” she says. “For so many years, I thought only of the next cool marketing tool or gadget or about how catchy the next marketing piece would be. It wasn’t until I came to KW in 2007 that I realized how important watching my numbers was.”
She schedules meetings on the first Monday morning of the month to review team business. Career Visioning and the Keller Personality Assessment have also assisted in finding the key players on her team.
“I tell my team members all the time that if something were to happen to me, I want their business and our team business to never notice that anything happened,” Mabry says. “I want them equipped to grow and serve our clients whether I am in the office or not.”
In addition to sharing her expertise with her team, Mabry serves as a market center and regional instructor and looks forward to obtaining her master faculty designation.
“I am an original investor in our market center, so I care enough to spend my own money to see that we have an office second to none,” she says. “My favorite thing about KW is how we as a company use on-the-ground active agents to teach and train all agents, particularly our new agents. I volunteer to teach as much as my schedule allows. I find I learn and get great ideas as well. In addition, the networking with my fellow agents has brought much business to our team over the years."
This story was originally published in OutFront Magazine.