Outside The Box
Outside the Box is the podcast for real estate agents who want to grow their business. Every episode provides actionable strategies that help you grow your repeat, referral, and sphere of influence business. Referrals don’t happen on accident—they happen on purpose, and we bring you insights from top agents and coaches who have mastered the art of relationship-based growth. Tune in for practical, proven tactics that will help you generate more business from the people who already know, like, and trust you!
Outside The Box
Turn Your Local Coffee Shop Into A Lead Generating Machine | Chuck Honabach
Chuck Honabach shares how he built a thriving real estate business by focusing on relationships and investing in his sphere of influence. With over 400 homes sold and $150 million in sales since 2016, Chuck reveals how his entrepreneurial background helped him create systems that generate consistent referrals.
• Transitioning from owning multiple businesses to adding real estate as another entrepreneurial venture
• Using a strong CRM system to maintain consistent client touchpoints
• The importance of community involvement and visibility for generating referrals
• Why agents must reinvest 10-20% of their commission into building their business
• How Chuck's famous "Chucktini" cocktail demonstrates his commitment to community presence
• Creating memorable client events like his Christmas party at the local baseball stadium
• The philosophy that "once it becomes about your paycheck, you're out of business"
• Why personalized closing gifts are more effective than generic baskets
• Advice for new agents to join teams, leverage their sphere, attend training, and invest in marketing
• The importance of being available beyond 9-5 and weekends in real estate
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Justin Armbruster – https://www.instagram.com/armbruster_jd/
Chad Armbruster – https://www.linkedin.com/in/chadaarmbruster/
I think you have to just set yourself apart in every way you can and just connecting, Connecting, connecting and connecting, and you have to care about that.
Chad Armbruster:Thanks for joining us on Outside the Box, where we talk through actionable strategies that help you generate more repeat referral and sphere of influence. Business Referrals don't happen by accident. They happen on purpose. For those who don't know, my name is Chad Armbruster, ceo of BizBox, and alongside me, as always, is my co-host, full-time realtor and son, justin Armbruster.
Justin Armbruster:Today we have Chuck Honebach, with Realty One Group Unlimited, joining us all the way from Lancaster, pennsylvania. Chuck has been serving buyers and sellers in the Pennsylvania area since 2016 and has sold over 400 homes, resulting in over $150 million in sales. Chuck, thanks for joining us today. Yep, looking forward to it.
Chad Armbruster:Chuck, how did you get into the real estate business?
Chuck Honabach:Quite honestly. I am an entrepreneur at heart. I come from a family of business owners. My parents were very active in business and I actually own three other companies besides doing real estate. But in 2016, I sold one of my properties at the beach and I'd always talk to my partner and said I feel like getting a real estate license in the beach area just because the value of property good money making strategy when I'm there on the weekends or my long weeks wasn't going to happen. But when I sold that one property, I decided I was going to now my real estate license and start locally. It allowed me to step outside of my other businesses and allow those people to have upward mobility because you know, when you're always there, you're kind of the ceiling they can't rise. So that's what really created that, plus my own access of my own personal real estate, my own commercial real estate, investing, and that's what really drove me into that.
Chuck Honabach:And I just love people. I love meeting people. I love seeing design. I mean my home has been in a magazine at one point, and so that's always been something that's kind of entertaining. I like design. I mean my home has been in a magazine at one point and so that's always been something that's kind of entertaining.
Chuck Honabach:I like design, I like all of that thing. I love to be able to get people ideas when we're walking through homes and say, okay, I know you see this, but this is what you could do with this piece of property, you know, and try to turn that around, because I feel like a lot of buyers today watch too much of the HGTV, oh yeah, and they think they think they're walking into the perfect. You know, the perfect floor plan, the perfect box, the perfect design, the perfect decor. You have to make it yourself, you need to make sure that the bones are there, the floor plan works for your family or you as an individual, and then you move from there. So that's kind of where I of what got me into it and I've enjoyed that piece of it.
Justin Armbruster:So you own other businesses. You did that first and then got into real estate.
Chuck Honabach:That is correct, and I still own those businesses, are you?
Justin Armbruster:still involved in those outside of ownership or is it more of they operate and you're big picture stuff.
Chuck Honabach:I'm still slightly involved. I would say they probably see me three or four times a week. I pop in get kind of the buzz you know the background buzz that's going on. Throw my opinion in, but I wouldn't say I mean I'm definitely not in the day-to-day operations of any of them anymore.
Chad Armbruster:Yeah, do they compliment at all what you're doing in real estate or is just something just completely different?
Chuck Honabach:I one of the businesses can overlay. One of my companies is a facility maintenance company, so it does have the ability to help inside of the real estate aspect. But my other business were uh, they're in fitness and family entertainment. Oh, fitness, gotcha, gotcha.
Chad Armbruster:Okay, and family entertainment. Oh, fitness, gotcha, gotcha, okay, cool, well, that's, that's good. Yeah, I mean I don't know necessarily if all realtors are entrepreneurs, but I mean they're all business owners. So, uh, you know, I don't, I don't know whether or not. Yeah, I have a super similar story.
Justin Armbruster:You know I'm an entrepreneur at heart. You know growing up with this guy. You know owning businesses. You know I wanted to own a business my entire life, but it's easy to say that and not have an idea. Or you know a service, and so I found myself getting into real estate because I, you know, I wanted to own my own business. I love people, want to be with people, but you know how do I combine those? It's like, well, I can sell real estate. It just happens to be the vehicle that I use to be with people and own my own business.
Chuck Honabach:Right, no, I get it, I get it.
Chad Armbruster:So, Chuck, what's one habit or routine that's helped you kind of consistently stay in front of your sphere of influence and help you generate repeat and referral business?
Chuck Honabach:First off, you got to stay engaged. Business Staying first off, you got to stay engaged. Um, what are the things that I find in this particular industry? Um, as you said, justin, you got into it, you wanted your own business. I did say the name right, correct, justin?
Chad Armbruster:Yes, yep, okay, just making sure.
Justin Armbruster:I have a short term memory.
Chuck Honabach:Um, but people get in this business cause they want to be in business, but they don't realize that business is not going to just come to you. You have to work a business, you have to get up in the morning, you have to have a plan, need to spend money to make money. And I think that is the biggest misnomer in real estate is there is this, as a lot of people will think, oh, there's this big check I get at the time of settlement it's all mine. No, you've got to reinvest, you know 10, 20% of that back into your business because you've got to build up business to be able to obtain referrals. Five to seven years until you start to see referrals.
Chuck Honabach:I don't think it was until my fifth year that I really started to see a little bit more of a revolving aspect of the door that people were coming back to me or, hey, I'm getting ready to sell. But that's also because I use a very strong CRM system that helps me to remember, because my day is going at 100 miles an hour. Like you guys, your days are going at 100 miles an hour. You can't remember everything in every person, so I'm relying on my CRM system to say, hey, it's time to reach out, it's time to say hello, it's time to catch up, and I've also been trying at my age.
Chuck Honabach:Social media is the arch enemy to me. I really wish that would go away. But it's also trying to use that social media as a way of oh, in fact, I have a client, it's just their dog. She had abruptly had to put it down. I'm writing a card. I'm sorry. You know, those type of touch points keep you in front of people, and so I think that's where I would say, has been my success. I meet people for dinner, I go for cocktails. You know I am known around town as the espresso martini person, the one local restaurant. They actually call it the Chucktini, you know. So it's definitely, you know, because mine are made a special way.
Chuck Honabach:But I just I think you have to be engaged in your community as well, so that that is a referral opportunity, because not everybody is going to be business, but if your name is in front of them at certain aspects or certain ways, or, you know, be involved in community organizations, they're going to say, oh, you're talking about a realtor, I know somebody, and that's what I think has been helpful for my success. Plus, I'm very engaged in real estate office in regards to establishing some things for our brokerage here when I came on board. I think that's another aspect I think agents need to realize if you are in business, you do need to get out of your house. You need to go to an office. I know that COVID put a lot of people backwards and like, okay, I can work very remotely. Remote is good if you have a strong background in being able to manage your day, but if you can't manage your day and you need to go to an office to get stuff done, then you need to put that into your agenda.
Chuck Honabach:You can't sit around and drink coffee and eat bonbons and do laundry. You've got to be actively engaged in the business.
Justin Armbruster:Love that. I try, especially in the off season of real estate. You know, december, february-ish, I try and spend two days a week officing out of a local coffee shop. You know there's a lot of busy work that I need to get done, but it's also great to see people, and so I think that is so funny. You spend so much time at a cocktail place. Espresso place that they named an espresso after you. That's how you know you're doing it right. Yeah Well, espresso place that they named an espresso after you.
Chuck Honabach:That's how you know you're doing it right yeah, my espresso martini is made with tequila, so very different.
Justin Armbruster:Love it, love it.
Chad Armbruster:So, uh, what are some of the common mistakes you think you see realtors make when trying to grow their business?
Chuck Honabach:I just I run a meeting once a week in our brokerage, for our brokerage here, and I said it today they don't spend money. They don't spend money on advertising because they're so afraid I'm not going to get a return and it's a cliche saying failure breeds success. So if you don't try something and you don't fail at it, you don't make changes to become successful with it. If that makes sense what I'm trying to say.
Chuck Honabach:Oh yeah, I think that's where a lot of it is and I think that in my own team I have battled with this is this device right here. People don't answer anymore. So immediately it's like why should I make a phone call? They're not going to answer my call. You got to keep trying, try different ways. There's a texting aspect on this device. That's where I think people do one phone call they didn't answer, oh, they're not interested, and sadly it's a continuous call phone call. They didn't answer up, they're not interested, and sadly it's a continuous call text mail. You got to find your, what your cadence is, but you can't give up and I think agents give up too quickly on the leads that come in or those referrals because they don't get an immediate response.
Chad Armbruster:Love it. Yeah, so is there anything unique that you do, or your brokerage does, to generate referrals and create new business from your database? Maybe that other realtors don't think of, or One of the things that.
Justin Armbruster:But before we get into that, the outside the box podcast is all about repeat and referral business, and great realtors know the key is serving their clients and referral business and great realtors know the key is serving their clients At BizBox.
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Chuck Honabach:One of the things I will say I do is I do events for my business base. We're having a big Christmas party at our local baseball stadium here next Thursday. We invite not only our clients, but we invite our lenders, we invite our vendors to those things, because they're also a referral source.
Chuck Honabach:Bizbox has been instrumentally phenomenal for us really it's interesting because I have toyed with doing this for two years, literally thought about, because I've seen different things on social media and you know, do I want to do this? Uh, does it make sense? The response this has given me has been phenomenal, and so for me, that's another exciting aspect, because now I'm seeing some of those boxes lay around their houses. I'm always in front of them.
Chad Armbruster:Yeah, that's good.
Chuck Honabach:You know, and and and clients who are like, wow, this is so great, I didn't even think about boxes, or I was just getting ready to go out and buy boxes. This, this has saved me time. I had one gentleman two weeks ago. He's like what is this thing that you just delivered? I'm like it's packing boxes. Oh my gosh. His wife was more excited than he was because he didn't quite understand what was going on. His wife was more excited than he was because he didn't quite understand what was going on. But you know. So I think you have to try to set your part in every way, set yourself apart in every way you can, and just connecting, connecting, connecting and connecting, and you have to care about them.
Chad Armbruster:So I was looking at one of your I think it was the end of the year recap or something videos that you had done. I don't know if maybe it was last year, but and I noticed you and your team were talking about several different I guess I don't know if they were, I don't know if they were necessarily outreach or community. There was different things. You guys. I was surprised at how many different events you had. I think there was. It seemed like there's a lot of charity events, habit, habitat for humanity, and I think I don't remember if there was a toy giveaway or or or whatever. So I mean, are those things that you, when you talk about, I mean, is those type of things that help, um, you guys, or is it just kind of an added benefit? Do you see anything from that? Those, those charity events?
Chuck Honabach:You're not. So this is another thing that I think agents kind of fall apart on. Getting involved with, like, the Lancaster Habitat for Humanity isn't gonna give me a sale that day because I went to that event or if I did something that day. It's build the relationship. Continuing to do it, continuing to be involved, those charitable events. You're trying to build relationship, and that's just the big thing. I don't see immediate response from it Down the road. I do. It takes time. You have to build that. You have to build A. You're building trust that you're reliable. That's the big thing. You have to build A. You're building trust that you're reliable. That's the big thing. You have to build that, hey, you can count on me to be there to help out when you need me. That's going to reflect in a time when those people need something for real estate. He's always there or she's always there. That's the big thing.
Justin Armbruster:Excuse me, Talk to me a little bit more about your Christmas party. You said you for clients, vendors, lenders, all that good stuff. You said you guys, you ran out of baseball field, or what's that about? Right?
Chuck Honabach:So last year I closed the bar, one of the local establishments. It's a top notch restaurant here in Lancaster, the Belvedere. We closed that up on the second floor and had a humongous party there food, open bar and it was phenomenal. Parking's a little bit sticky in our city and you have to park in a garage. Our local baseball team, the Barnstormers we have a a clipper stadium, so what they do is the concourse of the stadium. They use that as a charitable aspect that all charity organizations or businesses can sponsor a tree for a dollar amount and go in and decorate each of the trees.
Chuck Honabach:The owners of the stadium are I think I could be quoted wrong on this I think they have one of the largest pinball collections around and it's called the Silver Ballroom.
Chuck Honabach:We are renting that entire area out and so people will be able to come to that event. But not only does that event there, they actually decorate the entire field with trees and lights that we will be overlooking, and then there is also a driving light show that they can get in their car and drive through. So we've established that we're going to have an event from six to nine next two Thursdays from now or no next Thursday, and everybody's going to be able to do all that and have food, and you know cocktail, and everybody's going to be able to do all that and have food, and you know cocktail, and it's just something to get people together to have fun. And you know just, I again it's not going to give me business, but it's going to keep my name in front of them for future business and I can say every time I've done it, somebody inevitably will say hey, we are thinking about doing this, it's a no brainer.
Justin Armbruster:Oh yeah, sounds like it. That sounds like a huge win.
Chuck Honabach:It's not cheap to do those things. It's stressful because I always I'm a, I'm a very. If you ever take a disc profile test, I'm a 99D, I'm very high. I went perfectionism, which is probably my worst trait. So I stress about making sure that everything is organized, everything is very professional looking, everything is very up to snuff in the way the presentation comes, because I think sloppy presentation also can send an incorrect message.
Justin Armbruster:Sure, is that something you do with your team specifically, is it your brokerage that does it all together? Just you.
Chuck Honabach:The team. I do it for the team? Yeah, I do it for the team, and that's another issue that I'm battling as I plan out my 2020-25. I can't talk. My 2025 business plan is what do I want for the team? My 2025 business plan is what do I want for the team? Because it's been very, very hard as a team leader to not become the bitch leader. You know, you're constantly like hey did you get this done?
Chad Armbruster:Hey, did you get this done?
Chuck Honabach:And you almost come up. You know you kind of battle as I'm the bad guy, but you're trying to be their friend and help them along, and I kind of realized through the course of this year that I want them to be more successful than they want for themselves, and so I've had to kind of. There's been something that happened in our team in the past month and I've had to take a step back and say you know what? I can't worry about your success. I can't force you to be successful. If you want to be successful, I can give you the tools. I'm willing to take financial risks that most agents won't take. I'm here to help you, but if you don't come and ask, I'm not going to be out there pushing it. You know you can lead the horse to water, but you can't force him to drink.
Chad Armbruster:Right, yeah, absolutely Did you say that. So the there's a bunch of pinball machines, is that what you said? So that everybody can go and play pinball, pinball at the same time, is that?
Chuck Honabach:yeah, there's, uh, there is actually, um, I don't know how many pinball machines are in this lounge area. They have free reign of every pinball game that's there. Uh, we are actually doing a contest. We're going to be picking one of the pinball games and the person who gets the highest score is going to be getting a gift card to my favorite restaurant, the belvedere oh, okay, that's awesome, so I trying to.
Chuck Honabach:I'm always promoting that restaurant. In fact, I just was um the owners, um. He and his husband, um, were close friends and he said we always refer our our employees when they're talking about. We're like hey, talk to Chuck. So building those relationships within establishments is important. Showing support to those businesses is important.
Chad Armbruster:Yeah, that's cool. What do you think is the key to turning a one-time client into a lifelong referral?
Chuck Honabach:source A phenomenal experience Making sure that you've done everything in your power to help them to make sure that they're understanding everything. I think there's a lot of agents out there who are not forthright with the information that they deliver. They think about and this is something our broker and the owner of our company has said for many times that I've been in meetings with him. Once it becomes about your paycheck, you're out of business. Nailed it. When you start to think about your own pocket before their pocket, you're out of business. Nailed it. When you start to think about your own pocket before their pocket, you're done because they, they, they smell that, they smell that. And I think you have to be.
Chuck Honabach:I always look at it. I don't need this job for a living. I want to make money, don't get me wrong, but I don't need this job to survive. And I think, if you have that attitude in a lot of ways, or you wake up every day, I remember one of my friends who's an agent for 30 some years. She said every day I wake up, I'm unemployed. Whether I have 10 deals in the pipeline waiting to close, I'm unemployed every single day. So I think that experience that you give to people, making sure you're there, making sure you're getting back to them in a timely fashion, following up what you told them you would do. I think those are all very important aspects of referral repeat business. That's how I base it.
Justin Armbruster:Yeah, I love that. I always refer to uh. You know you said that the clients can smell that when you're thinking about your own money, I call that commission breath. You know the clients can tell when, uh, that's what you're breathing out.
Justin Armbruster:And I found, for me personally, the most impactful time in my business the transition that I think that took me from you know, average to, I'd say, good, we're working on great is when the one deal that you know was stressful and you know, back when I was first getting going, I needed it to close. You know we, you know I have bills to pay personally, I, you know I get stressed, and so that's when you start to teeter on the line of commission breath. I want this to close because of me. You know when I got to the point in my career when I was able to say, you know, whether or not this closes or not, it, you know it doesn't impact me. You know I'm okay, I want what's best for you. That's when I think my service to my clients went to a new level because it was, you know, that commission breath was like. You know it doesn't exist. You know how can I help you? Yep, absolutely For sure.
Chad Armbruster:So, um, what advice would you give new realtors um when you know it comes to building their sphere of influence?
Chuck Honabach:First piece of advice don't be afraid to join a team.
Chad Armbruster:When I got in this business.
Chuck Honabach:I can tell you, I, you, you go, you take your real estate test. Book smart, street smart are way different in this industry. I got dumped into, not just dumped, I chose a brokerage.
Chuck Honabach:I'm in an office and there you are, Not knowing, knowing anything and there's not a lot of support on some of these big name companies. They're trying now to become that more supportive because there's all wanting the agents. You need a CRM system. My very first transaction in my real estate world was a $675,000 cash purchase from one of my friends and I didn't know how to write the freaking contract and I couldn't get a hold of anybody. No broker was returning the call, the assistant wasn't there and I had to reach out to another agent who had a team and she's like I will help you.
Chuck Honabach:So I would say I understand you may not make as much in the business, but a team can help set systems up for you that then you can build upon those systems when you think you're at a level that, okay, I'm ready to go out on my own, but you're kind of paying for some coaching, so to speak. With that commission split, that's done. They really set you up for success. So if I had to do it all over again, I would probably have joined a team.
Chad Armbruster:Really.
Chuck Honabach:To help me create more systems versus me doing trial and error aspects. Define the systems that may work. That's one thing. The second thing I would say is get that phone book out of your you know, out of your phone and contact every single person and let them know what you're doing. Make sure you're letting all that you know. If you have kids, make sure all your, your, your, uh, children's friends, parents, know this is what you're doing. Get involved a megaphone, talk it up and be involved in your brokerage. Attend every meeting, every training session. You're not too good to learn more. I go to they do legal classes in our brokerage four times a year and four times a year I'm going to legal classes Because every legal class there's a question that's asked that I learn a little bit more, or it's expressed in a different way, that I have a better understanding to take to my clients. So that's the big thing. Just because you're self-employed doesn't mean you don't have to be accountable to other things.
Justin Armbruster:I love that. I think one of the biggest downfalls to real estate agents, but then also just self-employed individuals, is when you're self-employed individuals, is when you're self-employed, you think you don't have to do the things you don't want to do. And, uh, the biggest battle I even I fight not even I, you know, I fight it every day is just because I'm self-employed and I don't want to do something doesn't mean I shouldn't do it. And I have to think through. Okay, if I had a boss, would they tell me I need to be doing this, and if I did, there's a good chance I would do it because I want to keep my job. But if I'm self-employed, I need to be disciplined in doing those things, even if I don't want to, because that's what a boss would tell me to do.
Chuck Honabach:It's very true. You've got to get up and get out and do it. That's the biggest thing you hear a lot of agents talk about. They time block or they set schedules up. You know I've always been an entrepreneur who does not do a hell of a lot of time blocking, but I'm also one that knows I have to work to get where I need to go, and I also think there's a large number of agents that I think have started to go the approach. I work nine to five. I'm not available on the weekends. We have a brokerage right around our area here that you pretty much can count on never getting a hold of anybody on a Sunday, and I say this with love to all of them.
Chuck Honabach:You chose this industry. You knew, going in, what this could be. If I work nine to five, when am I going to go? Look at houses? Five to eight, five to nine, or weekends. So you have to be prepared. You're going to work times that you don't normally find your friends working. So you have to really think about what you're going into this. For I personally, if I'm sitting at home, it drives me bananas. I have to be out of the house. Bananas, I have to be out of the house. So every day I'm up and out early, early. But I was raised that way.
Chuck Honabach:Justin, you said you have a family, who's a business owning family. So one of the blessings that was given to you is you saw the structure and the work ethic that your family had. My father had multiple companies, my mother had multiple companies. So I saw, even though we had somebody that was in the house with myself or my brother, I saw the work ethic that you have to keep driving and if it means you have to give up a Saturday because something has to be attended to, then that's what you have to do, and I think that that's what agents have to realize, especially when you're starting your business. You have to do and I think that that's what agents have to realize especially when you're starting your business you have to work to build it up Once you get it built up and you start to get that referral system going or you have a team that you can hand some things off to.
Chuck Honabach:That's when you can maybe pull back that element and say, okay, now I'm going to rest a little bit, but you still have to stay in front of it.
Justin Armbruster:Yeah, and I get, I get a lot of crap from my friends, uh, for you know, golfing during the week, or you know I get to leave Fridays early and you know I'll, I'll be at home early and you know everyone will will see that and we'll, uh, we'll harass you about those kinds of things, but they don't see that. Well, you know, I I stopped working in around noon on Friday cause it was a slow day, but I'm working two open houses on Sunday and I'm showing at six and seven on Saturday night and even though it's only two hours on a Saturday night, it's like, well, you know that cuts off any evening plans you thought you had and you know it's more of a lifestyle. It feels like and I feel like a lot of realtors don't get that. You know they say you know your schedule is flexible, you get to set your own hours. It's like, no, it means you're on call whenever the client wants you to set hours.
Chuck Honabach:I was just going to say. I mean, they're not understanding the fact that at nine o'clock, when somebody is having a meltdown and they're calling you on the phone, I had a client I can remember this four years ago, two thirty in the morning, called me and I knew the type of client he was from our interactions. If this man was calling me at 2.30 in the morning, his head was on fire and I picked up the phone and for the next 45 minutes talking him off the edge about his EMD that he thought he was losing $25,000 if the offer didn't get accepted. And you know that's the stuff that you have to be willing. We don't love it, we don't love those inopportune times, but you have to be willing to do those things. And again, not everybody's cut from the same loincloth of what their drive is, but that's the part where I feel that I deliver value to my clients being there when they need me. That's again but I think that comes from my upbringing to always be available.
Justin Armbruster:Absolutely.
Chad Armbruster:Can you share your you know biggest or most interesting referral success story? Uh, that you know you felt like contributed, or what you felt contributed to that success?
Chuck Honabach:Can I share two? Oh please. Yeah, I can tell you of a situation where there is a very high powered luxury agent in our area who believes that they own every high end listing around and she had heard that somebody was selling a two point three million million home, automatically assumed it was hers, basically went through the whole gamut. I walked in and the woman said this is the last person I'm going to list my home with. And she said if you will take the listing on, I'm giving it to you. And that, to me, was very interesting, because as big as you get is as humble you have to still be. And you know, I believe there are some very high powered agents in our industry who believe they walk on water and everything is just going to come to them. So that would be my number one.
Chuck Honabach:My number two is going to be. I have worked in a transaction. I had a little over a million dollar listing of a friend of mine who passed away and the agent on the other side brought the buyer in. That buyer literally brought me a closing gift and has never worked with her agent again.
Chad Armbruster:So the buyer? Not your client but the other client.
Chuck Honabach:Yeah, Really. So now she is referring friends to me from New York City who are thinking of moving into our community. You know, it was just the interaction, the relationship that I built with them and the trust that I built through that process. And again it's also staying in front of them, going and meeting them for dinner, having cocktails, whatever the case may be. That's the biggest thing I think for referrals is you've got to stay connected, meet them somewhere, follow up on their daily lives.
Justin Armbruster:Let me ask you this this is a battle I fight every transaction, and I think you just answered it in this way. So I think I know your answer. But I'm going to ask you for all of our closings. You know buyers are closing on a new home. You know I love going to those closings. You know I want to be there for my buyers. I've been there the whole way. I'm there to hold their hand through the finish line for my seller closings. And I don't know how it works in. Is it Pennsylvania? Is that where you're from? I don't know how it works, but at least in Topeka, kansas, we sign all of our seller docs ahead of time. I'll notarize them myself, drop them off. I can be there if I want to be there. I also don't need to be there because my seller is not there. They'll wire their funds or however it works. I'll pick my check up later With that in mind. Knowing you've picked up buyers from, you've picked up clients from your listings, do?
Chuck Honabach:you go to your listing closings. For that reason I go to every closing. In fact, chad, when you were reaching out to me, I'm dealing with a situation where I have a gentleman who was referred to me that was moving here from London. They're building new construction, their settlement's getting moved, getting moved again and sadly it's at the same time. I already have another settlement scheduled and I am mentally trying to figure out how the hell can I put myself in two places at once, because the ending experience is important, because there's papers there and if you're not there to help answer that last minute question that they see on a document, you have to finish, you have to finalize this, and I always tell my clients my relationship with you is not done at the settlement table. I'm very direct about that. I will also say that I never bring a closing gift to the table.
Justin Armbruster:Really. Why is that?
Chuck Honabach:Because I think it's the most unopportune time to do that. If I walk in to the settlement and I have a gift for my buyers, you walk in, Justin, to the settlement with your sellers but you don't have a gift for them. I've made you look bad, or vice versa. What I try to do I have a settlement right after this is over. I try to get to know my clients personally through the process, asking questions. I went to a conference with our brokerage out in Las Vegas one, and I'm going to butcher this man's name Simon Selleck. Am I saying it? I can never say his last name correct, but he said too many real estate agents, cookie cutter their closing gift and so I have now tried to personalize my closing.
Chuck Honabach:I don't put baskets together. I do have a branded, very nice scent candle for their home, but, like today, I found out that this gentleman likes bourbon. I'm putting a nice bottle of bourbon, but what I do is, when we do the pre-settlement walkthrough, they have left the property. I go back in I have a Love Pop greeting card that sits on the outside of a branded bag that has all these little goodies in that I've got to learn about them through the process and a gift card to go have dinner once they're settled.
Chad Armbruster:That kind of reminds me. Justin was telling me yesterday that story about the.
Justin Armbruster:That's you hit the nail on the head with what I am working through in my business currently is, you know, doing. Personalized gifts go immensely farther than a stock basket, a cheese basket, you know, a cake or whatnot. A cutting board. A cutting board right.
Justin Armbruster:Personalized gifts speaks volume. You know, a cheese basket will be forgotten the day after it's eaten, yeah, you know, but a personalized gift will be remembered forever. I had a client who I was showing him houses. We were looking houses for probably over a year and so I got to know this couple really well. It just what they were looking for and expectations were quite aligned. So it took a while.
Justin Armbruster:So I got to know him really well, found out he was a huge uh raiders fan las vegas raiders fan and in kansas we're big kansas citys fans and so you know I'd constantly razz him about it, going back and forth and uh, when we got to closing I told him as we were doing our final walkthrough, said, hey, I got a gift for you, super excited about it, yada, yada. And uh, he said, well, it better not be a Kansas City Chiefs jersey something. He's just joking. And we show up to closing and I, it was a, it was a Las Vegas Raiders jersey and he was so taken back. I'd remember that and that I would think about him and take the time to order that, because you can't find those in Kansas and I promise you, every time he puts it on, he remembers who got it for him. It doesn't say on my logo, it has nothing about it, but it's just. They know, versus a cardboard, a cutting board, a cheese basket. Sure, it's nice, nice thought, but it's going to be forgotten.
Chuck Honabach:I think sometimes the real estate agents become over-brandy with that kind of stuff, what I call the tchotchke stuff. The other thing, justin, that I do is if I was working with you and your wife, I'm going to find out maybe what her interests are. But if I know that you have a dog or you have kids, in goes a dog toy. I remember, you know, giving Build-A-Bear gift cards with the boxes for the kids so they can go Something to give the entire family. Because those little I'm going to say what we may think don't mean anything. Those little things mean a lot, like it wasn't, because I think it also proves to them this was not just a business transaction.
Chuck Honabach:You know you listen to what they were saying, you remembered what they were saying and you know we use a crm system called follow-up boss yeah so if I was working with you and you said I'm a kansas city chiefs fan, I'm tagging kansas city chiefs football, I'm putting all those tags that might be important related to you, that if something comes up like the super bowl of kansas city chiefs, go to the super bowl again, I can pull all the people who I've learned are Kansas City Chiefs and I can send them something. It could be a meme, it can be something to kind of you know jag at them that I'm not a. Kansas City Chiefs fan. I'm a Philadelphia. Eagles fan, you know, or whatever the case may be.
Chuck Honabach:You have to find that and I think a lot of agents slide past those great opportunities to make connection points. Yeah, that's, you know, that's my big thing. You know, knowing, knowing also when your kids, their kids, are graduating from high school. All those pieces just add up Absolutely.
Justin Armbruster:Yeah.
Chuck Honabach:Trying to get agents to understand that sometimes is hard, and I think they look at me and think, chuck, you're such a bitch about things but. I'm like. I just tried it. I want them to see there is different opportunity.
Justin Armbruster:Absolutely, and you know that takes the customer experience from good to great. And you know I always, every transaction, every relationship that I, you know, handle throughout the year, I always think referrals aren't built on doing what you were paid to do. Referrals are built upon going above and beyond. You know, doing something personal, doing something great, and I think personalized gifts and remembering things, being intentional is how you can easily go be great and that's where referrals come from.
Chuck Honabach:I take it back to a restaurant. You go to a restaurant that you like, not always because of the food. It's because of the people and the experience. Think about when you go shopping these days. You go to any of the high-end stores. It's the experience. They're handing you a glass of champagne when you walk in, or they're having a DJ outside playing music campaign. When you walk in, are they having a DJ outside playing music? That's what pulls you back, is what was my experience like working or interacting with that person. That's what's going to bring the referral and future business. Love it.
Justin Armbruster:That's good, Chuck. As we wrap up our time, we like to end our segment on outside the box with some rapid fire questions. So first thing that comes to your head, hit me with straight. Okay. Zillow, realtorcom, homescom. Which do you use or recommend to clients?
Chuck Honabach:I would say zero, zero, but right now I do have a $2,000 per month spend that I'm experimenting with on something right now, but otherwise zero.
Justin Armbruster:Love it. Love it Office or home office.
Chuck Honabach:Office 100%.
Justin Armbruster:Yep, you hit on that. Knew that one. Instagram or Facebook.
Chuck Honabach:I hate both. I am going to actually say YouTube.
Justin Armbruster:Love it Okay, youtube.
Chuck Honabach:This conversation was just in our office two days ago. We believe social media from Instagram and Facebook is going to disappear within 10 years. Really. Because, justin, I don't know, if you're married and have kids, your kids do not want to do what you, mom and dad, are doing today, right? So YouTube is not big yet. It's big, but not in the way we look at it. So I think that there's going to be a different social media platform, but I think, right now, youtube is where people are going to gather their information.
Justin Armbruster:Love it, podcast or book.
Chuck Honabach:Oh, I'm 50-50 on that.
Justin Armbruster:Give me, give it to me straight, pick one.
Chuck Honabach:I'm going to go book then book. No, I'm sorry, podcast podcast Sometimes. Yeah, podcast Cause books. Sometimes I can get a little lost in love it Audio book or podcast podcast, podcast, what's the most?
Justin Armbruster:impactful podcast you listened to Love it. Audio book or podcast, podcast, podcast.
Chuck Honabach:What's the most impactful podcast? You listen to Joshua Smith. I like listening to him and I shouldn't say this because I'm not part of their brokerage but there's a Keller Williams podcast out there.
Justin Armbruster:that's pretty dynamite. Okay, good to know.
Chuck Honabach:You know. So I mean, from that end of it, I do try to just pick at little things. I I'm not a huge podcast listener, I will tell you that Because I'm older than I'm old. So I did grow up where you just always plugged into something like but those are the ones I'd like to listen to. I try to pick the segments that I think I'm going to get something out of yeah, absolutely.
Justin Armbruster:What is an underrated app that you have in your phone, business or personal?
Chuck Honabach:underrated app that I have on my phone. I think the underrated app one from business the mortgage calculator. I don't think agents use it?
Justin Armbruster:Yep, I have one. I use it all the time.
Chuck Honabach:It's awesome, it's interesting. I did always do it, but I find myself using it more and more now, um and then. Probably another one that doesn't get used correctly is probably social media like Facebook or Instagram.
Justin Armbruster:Okay, love it. Uh, finally, if a listener wanted to refer a client to you, what are the local areas that you serve and how would they best get ahold of you?
Chuck Honabach:Uh, so I serve all the South central Pennsylvania. So, like uh York, lancaster County, dolphin uh Berks, all of those surrounding areas, and they can get ahold of me at my phone number, 717-696-1385, or chuck at hannabockteamcom.
Justin Armbruster:Perfect, awesome. Hey, chuck, thank you so much for being with us. It's been a pleasure.
Chuck Honabach:Absolutely, thank you.
