Outside The Box

Mastering The Fundamentals: How To Win in Modern Real Estate | Marci Press

• BizBox Inc. • Season 1 • Episode 10

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Marci Press shares her journey from legal secretary to successful realtor, having sold over 1,000 homes in Central Ohio since 2004. She reveals how picking up the phone and maintaining genuine connections with clients creates lasting success in real estate.

• Started real estate career as a single mom of three while working full-time as a legal secretary
• Worked both jobs simultaneously for a year before taking the leap to full-time real estate
• Emphasizes the importance of fundamental practices like phone calls alongside modern marketing
• Maintains consistency in outreach through multiple channels including social media and traditional postcards
• Strategically segments her database for targeted marketing efforts
• Believes in over-delivering and doing what you say you'll do, better than competitors
• Creates genuine connections beyond transactions, resulting in strong referral business
• Currently leads a team of buyer's agents while also co-owning a brokerage of 43 agents

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Marci Press:

As any realtor knows, you can have your day perfectly planned. All it takes is one phone call and the whole day is shot.

Chad Armbruster:

All right, welcome to Outside the Box where we talk about actionable strategies to help you increase your repeat referral and sphere of influence business. I'm Chad Armbruster, ceo of BizBox, and this is Justin Armbruster, my son.

Justin Armbruster:

Today we have Marci Press joining us all the way from Central Ohio. Marci's been helping buyers and sellers in the Ohio area since 2004 and has sold over a thousand homes in her career. Marci, thanks for being with us today.

Marci Press:

Thank you so much. I'm excited to be here.

Chad Armbruster:

Marci, tell us how did you get into the real estate business?

Marci Press:

Thank, you so much. I'm excited to be here. Marci, tell us how did you get into the real estate business? It actually is a very crazy story. I'd love to share it with you. I was a single mom of three boys and my then boyfriend said I was working full time as a legal secretary. And my then boyfriend said you know what, you're so good with people, you should get into sales, sales. What am I going to sell? I mean makeup, jewelry, hair products, all that fun stuff. And he said no, no, no. If you're going to sell something, sell something big like houses. Never, ever, ever in my wildest dreams would I have ever thought of being a realtor. So kudos and credit to him. I started attending real estate school at night and on weekends, took six months to go through my classes and took the test and got licensed.

Chad Armbruster:

That's great. So what did you do before that?

Marci Press:

I'll leave out all the gory details, but in my previous life I was married, I was an at-home mother, stay-at-home mom and, like I said to my three sons, and when I divorced my husband I had to reenter the workforce. So I was a legal secretary. Any correlation? Legal secretary working in the law? So I was a legal secretary.

Justin Armbruster:

Any correlation legal secretary working in the law world to real estate? Is that helpful?

Marci Press:

Oh man, it comes in so handy. On top of that, my older brother is a real estate attorney, and in my same city, Columbus, Ohio. So I drive him crazy, as do the realtors in the company I own, Home Central Realty.

Justin Armbruster:

Nice, nice, nice nice.

Chad Armbruster:

So, being in the business 21 years, I'm assuming at this point you're working pretty much off of a sphere of influence. Repeat and referral business, is that right?

Marci Press:

You know it's so interesting. There's all different ways to do this profession. Certainly, I have a team. I have handpicked currently four individuals from my company to be buyer's agents on my team. Two of those four actually do listings as well. If I were a solo agent, I would likely be 100% repeat business and referral based, but because I love to feed my team members, I do purchase leads in addition to repeat business and referrals.

Chad Armbruster:

Nice. So what's the I guess the one habit or routine that kind of helps you stay in front of your sphere of influence.

Marci Press:

You know what I will go into this. Letting you know that I'm a bit old school it doesn't mean I'm not open to learning and it doesn't mean I'm not open to change. I am a firm believer that there are just some basics, ie picking up the phone, calling people, talking. You know you have to know your clientele. You have to know how they're most likely going to want to communicate with you. I don't think it's ever a bad thing to call people on my sphere of influence and say just checking in, want to make sure everything's okay, How's your house, how are the kids, et cetera, et cetera. It is genuine and I do care, which is actually a huge difference rather than just being strictly transactional.

Justin Armbruster:

Yeah, I think that's such a I don't know if you have any younger people on your team, but it's so overlooked Talking on the phone. For the younger generation it's hard and it's a skill that even you know. When I got into the business, I had to learn how to talk on the phone. You're so people are so afraid to pick up the phone and call and I mean, like you just said, that's the key to some of your business is just calling.

Marci Press:

I literally have if I'm in a competitive situation for a listing, let's say, and competing with other realtors in Columbus. Oftentimes when I win that listing they will say your communication, the fact that you actually picked up the phone and called us. Not everybody wants to just be texted.

Justin Armbruster:

Yeah, absolutely.

Chad Armbruster:

Is it something that you have a plan for, you have habits of, or is it just spur of the moment? You pick up the phone, you call friends and family or people in your sphere of influence. Is there a discipline to it, or is it just fly by the seat of your pants?

Marci Press:

Yes, I'll say yes to both. I think that in our perfect worlds there is a plan to it. I have attended seminars, I've talked to coaches. I'm aware of time blocking and all of those beautiful things that we try like hell to put into place. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't, as any realtor knows. You can have your day perfectly planned and all it takes is one phone call, one situation, one oh my gosh, I have a fire. I have to put out. Oh wow, a new listing, let me come now. You know, and the whole the day goes, just you know, it's shot. So the reason I say yes to both of your questions I go into every day, literally seven days a week, with an intention and a plan in place. Whether or not I get to complete that in its entirety is a very different question.

Justin Armbruster:

Yeah, that is very relatable. That sums up my morning, basically.

Marci Press:

I get it. I so get it. Like we can all have the best intentions and you know hope we land somewhere between I did nothing and I accomplished everything in my day by the time you go to sleep at night.

Chad Armbruster:

As a single mom when you first got into the business. That had to have been, I would think, difficult. As far as getting into sales and real estate, the first, especially the first, however many months or years or whatever, estate, especially the first, however many months or years or whatever, oh yes, next to impossible.

Marci Press:

I worked my full-time job for one year after I got my license and when it got to the point this is all I mean, this is true when it got to the point where the phone was ringing, I was literally running to the bathroom to talk to a real estate client when I was supposed to be preparing, you know, complaints or addendums or something legal. I knew it was time to take the leap of faith and I did so, and I never, ever, looked back.

Justin Armbruster:

Let's go. That's a huge testament to you. That is not. I mean. The failure rate in our industry is so high and oftentimes it's more of not that someone couldn't hack it, but just situationally. Maybe it didn't work out that. You know, financially or situationally I couldn't make it, and you are the 1% who overcame some of those. That's super awesome.

Marci Press:

Thank you. I feel very lucky and I'm also stubborn. So if I was going to do it, I was going to do it the best way possible and I wasn't going to stop till I reached my goals.

Chad Armbruster:

Love that. That's perfect. So what are some of the common mistakes that you see realtors making now and they're trying to kind of grow their business in the beginning?

Marci Press:

You know, it's so interesting, as I said oh, and just for the record, because I do think this is important that um gentlemen that I was dating who suggested real estate school, uh went on to become my husband and then after um, become my husband and then after I divorced him. There is a reason I'm telling you this we bought a real estate brokerage together after, while we were going through a divorce.

Chad Armbruster:

And he's my business partner to this day, just a side note. Okay, well, that's good.

Marci Press:

People come in our lives for all different reasons, right? So we own this real estate brokerage. We have approximately 43 agents. I've seen so many, you know, successful, unsuccessful. This one has this idea and this one's going to door knock and this one's going to wrap their car and this one's going to do this. I think, respectfully, that people lose sight of the fact that there are still, regardless of how you do it, there are some basics that you can't ignore, and that means picking up the phone. That means letting every single solitary person you know know you're an agent. You know you've got to really practice those basics. Even you know I don't care if you do Facebook ads or online marketing or postcards open houses wrap your card. You know you price this house, whatever it is. You can do so, as long as you continue to do the basics as well.

Justin Armbruster:

Yeah, I like what you said, and it was one of the many things. But you said just let everybody know that you're an agent. I think new agents are so afraid of telling people that they're in the business, coming across as salesy and I might even have mentioned this on the show before but if you're not telling people you're a realtor, no one is. I mean, there's no one who's going to be a bigger advocate for yourself than yourself.

Marci Press:

Well, 100%. And the other thing is, you know, I can literally take my car in for servicing. I can literally take my car in for servicing. They get my mailings, marcy, hey, hi, how's the market? The market's amazing. That's how the market is. It's amazing. So you know, yeah, every single person you know, from the person who cuts your hair to the person who services your car, to the UPS delivery person, and if it's done tactfully, you know it isn't salesy, it's wonderful.

Justin Armbruster:

Yeah, absolutely.

Chad Armbruster:

You know we run Facebook ads and stuff like that, for you know BizBox, and someone posted on there this week saying that they didn't like it. I said that they were a real estate agent and they didn't like it when realtors, basically, were constantly advertising themselves and this, and that they said, trust me, you people, people you know, know that you're in real estate. And I was just thinking that completely flies in the face of reality, because there's so many real estate agents and they can do business with any number of people. You've got to stay in front of them. So that just didn't make sense to me at all.

Marci Press:

And you know what. I 100% agree with you. And even if people know you're an agent in central Ohio we have either close to or just over 10,000 realtors Even if they know you're a realtor, it doesn't mean they're going to use you, which is such a blow to the gut. You know when that happens. You know you drive down your street and you see one of your neighbors has a for sale sign with a competitor in the front yard. You feel like you just got you know sucker punched. But I can tell you this they're certainly not going to use you if they don't know you're a realtor. And the goal is that when let's say realtor the topic, the subject comes up, you need to be people's like who comes to their mind instantly.

Justin Armbruster:

Yeah, that's your goal. It's so funny. When I first got into the business, my line of thought was I just, people just need to know I'm a realtor. And then, after a couple of years, I realized people need to know I'm a realtor and they need to like, know and trust me more than the other three. They know A hundred percent and that's part of staying in flow, staying in front of them, Absolutely.

Marci Press:

It's really, really, really, you know, as if the profession itself isn't challenging enough. You know your competition, and helping people to understand that you are the expert or at least help them think that you're the expert, you know it adds a whole additional layer to the profession itself.

Chad Armbruster:

Sure, so is there anything unique that you do to kind of generate referrals or stay in front of your sphere of influence? You know, before we dive into that, the Outside the Box podcast is all about building repeat and referral business, because smart realtors know that serving their clients is the secret sauce.

Justin Armbruster:

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Chad Armbruster:

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Justin Armbruster:

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Marci Press:

We are very consistent in our marketing. We are very consistent and I say we, I'm referring to my team, marcy Press and Pros we're very consistent in our outreach to our I don't want to say past clients, people with whom we've worked previously to, with people that we are looking forward to working with. And yeah, that consistency and again, very challenging depending upon the day of the week.

Justin Armbruster:

And that's just reality. Sometimes, I mean, I think a lot of agents will listen to the show and you know we can hopefully provide some good ideas and you know some insights to what top producers like yourself are doing. But at the end of the day, there is a reality that you know. What's unique about what Marcy Press does Is she picks up the phone and calls. There's not a lot of agents that can say they do that. What's?

Marci Press:

funny is and I mean this with complete respect, really but there are members on my team currently, or certainly over the years, that when I've talked about, you know, farming an area and sending postcards or calendars or Ohio State Buckeye schedules, you know, they kind of roll their eyes like, oh, that's so not what we do anymore. I think something very important to realize. Here's some words of wisdom. You have to do it all. Okay, so I'm on.

Marci Press:

You know, I have someone who does social media for me. I'm not going to do it. It's certainly not my area of expertise, and that's another point. But yeah, I'm on Instagram and Facebook and Zillow, realtorcom, linkedin, all of it. But I'm also sending postcards because not everybody is online and I have gotten many listings over the almost 21 years where someone will say you know, someone may be more in my age group. I received your postcard in the mail. I saw you sold the house up the street. I'd like to meet with you. You know, maybe they're not on Instagram. I think that's important too, regardless of how many years you have in the business or your age in particular, that you are kind of putting efforts out on all of these mediums.

Justin Armbruster:

Well, I will say I am on Facebook and Instagram and I've seen your Wednesday Wisdoms. Ah, wisdom Wednesday, yep.

Marci Press:

Thank you, you're killing it. Be sure to like it. I will. Something about algorithms, I don't know.

Justin Armbruster:

Yeah, but you know it's funny just a little bit. On the social media part, I mean it's amazing how I mean you even said it, be sure to like it. How you know that's a part of it, but you probably didn't even know I've seen them. And how you know that's a part of it, but you probably didn't even know I've seen them. And there's a lot of people who maybe won't like posts but are still active consumers in your content, your postcards, and so just because someone doesn't call or like doesn't mean it's not working.

Marci Press:

Right, a hundred percent, and I'm so appreciative of that. And now that we've met, you can like it moving forward.

Justin Armbruster:

Yep exactly.

Chad Armbruster:

So when you? Talk about mailings and stuff. Do you mainly do those for farming or do you also do that to your sphere of influence?

Marci Press:

You know, it really depends. Oh, definitely, most definitely. Like the saying you can run but you can't hide. That's kind of how my sphere of influence feels about me. No, I'm kidding, that's kind of how my sphere of influence feels about me. No, I'm kidding, but um, no, I do. Depending upon the piece I'm sending out, um determines who is the recipient of that piece. So you know, I'll do a postcard to, uh, people with whom I've worked over the years, basically requesting referrals. I will do. You know my neighborhood. I take the back page out of a quarterly mailing for a local publication called 614. It goes to where I live. No, it just. There is a method to the madness.

Chad Armbruster:

It really just depends on the piece and who I'm trying to attract, if you will. So you segment your database and you might send one mailing to different parts of it and then another completely to a different section. Is that my correct, my understanding?

Marci Press:

Absolutely, absolutely. I mean my sphere of influence, literally, is everyone I know. So you know, what's appropriate for someone with whom I've never worked before may be different. Let me rephrase that For someone with whom I've yet to work but look forward to working with, or someone that you know I assisted them last year and is selling their home, different, different.

Chad Armbruster:

Yeah, that makes sense on one, whether it's mailings or phone calls, or do you also do like any sort of group experience or a group thing to try to get in front of multiple ones at one time?

Marci Press:

You know, I should I hate that word should I should have a client appreciation event. I should do this, I should and I have yet to do that.

Marci Press:

So it's more individual I am really should and I have yet to do that. So it's more individual. I am really, really, really, really lucky in that I get a ton of referrals and a ton of repeat business. Some of that is I mean, obviously, if my team and I know that we do great work, but a lot of business comes from that simply by the outreach I am currently doing.

Justin Armbruster:

Yeah, I mean, if you make your calls like you say you do and how you do, you're disciplined in that regard. You don't need client appreciation events necessarily if you're disciplined in that regard. You don't need client appreciation events necessarily if you're disciplined and staying in touch with them on the one-on-ones. There's just a lot of people like me who aren't, and so sometimes the client events are easier. But when you're knocking it out of the park, like you are sometimes, you're not missing anything.

Marci Press:

Well, I appreciate that so much and, like everyone, I can do better. I mean, I think we can all always improve In my perfect world. I'm doing the client appreciation events too.

Chad Armbruster:

So if you had to start over today, what would be your top priority for building a strong network of repeat and referral business? Is there anything you'd tell your team or when they're starting out?

Marci Press:

I think you always want to over deliver. And if you tell someone you're going to do something, can you please just do it? And not only can you just do it, but can you do it better than anyone else can do it? And I think it's very easy to be mediocre in any profession actually, and if you literally will just do what you say you're going to do and do everything you can to be better than the next guy, you'd be amazed how far over your competition you'll stand.

Justin Armbruster:

Marcy, you strike me as someone whose clients just love you stand.

Marci Press:

Marcy, you strike me as someone whose clients just love you. I wouldn't say that I was. I wouldn't say I have one like specific story, that is just mind blowing. No, I not that I can repeat. No, I'm kidding. Um, no, I don't really, I don't really have one to share. I'm sorry, that's okay. Nope, no problem.

Justin Armbruster:

I remember he, when we were coming up with some of these questions, he asked me what my story was and I was like I don't know. They're all great. Any referrals, a great story? You, just you know, take them all.

Marci Press:

Well, you know it's interesting. I'll talk about my business partner yet again. He is our broker of our company, okay, and he's very data driven and you know you have a question. You want to call him a question. You want to call him and his name is Doug Turlow.

Marci Press:

He does a great job and he often jokes and says when we both got licensed in 2004, we did open houses all the time. I mean, you have to realize, zillow wasn't. Zillow came out in 2004 when we got licensed, there was no Zillow. Zillow came out in 2004 when we got licensed, there was no Zillow, and he would say that he would hold an open house and could barely get anybody to sign in on the paper. And he would say this isn't me talking, but I am repeating his story. Marcy would hold an open house and before the person walked out the door they were hugging.

Marci Press:

So you know, there's something about making a connection with people where it isn't just transactional. No one wants to feel like you know, a realtor's looking at them and seeing a dollar sign on their forehead. I mean I would. I can absolutely tell you that my team and I genuinely care about the people with whom we're working, like everybody's got a story and that's something that's really cool about being a realtor, like we get to meet and help so many different people in different life situations. I mean, how cool is that? That's pretty cool.

Chad Armbruster:

Absolutely so, Marcy. We end with just a few rapid fire questions that Justin has here.

Justin Armbruster:

First thing that comes to your mind we're going to fire away. When you're ready. I'm scared. Okay, Zillow, realtorcom or homescom which do you recommend for clients to use when looking for homes? Zillow, Realtorcom or Homescom? Which do you recommend for clients to use when looking for homes?

Marci Press:

Zillow. Zillow why is that We've just had tremendous success with Zillow and it seems to be very user friendly and constantly changing and evolving and upgrading to meet today's consumers needs.

Justin Armbruster:

Love it Love, needs Love it, love it, love it Office or home office.

Marci Press:

I'm an office girl. There is something really comfortable for me about coming to the office when I'm home. I absolutely have a home office and work when I'm not throwing in a load of laundry or, you know, running the dishwasher.

Justin Armbruster:

Yeah.

Marci Press:

I don't like the distraction.

Justin Armbruster:

You took the words out of my mouth. I can't work from home. Too distracting for me, really, that's funny. Instagram or Facebook.

Marci Press:

I think Facebook is probably fading out and Instagram perseveres. Love it.

Justin Armbruster:

Podcast or book.

Marci Press:

Ooh, for what purpose?

Justin Armbruster:

Whatever purpose you want to take it as.

Marci Press:

Oh, I like books, there we go, but I listen to podcasts daily.

Justin Armbruster:

Okay, Do you have a most influential coach or mentor or someone you listen to for real estate? No, I don't. That's okay. What's the most impactful book you've read? Oh geez.

Marci Press:

For Purposes of Real read, oh geez, for purposes of real estate. Yeah yeah, or life in general? I don't. I really try hard not to read books about real estate because I live, breathe, eat, drink and sleep it, and I like to read and listen to podcasts for enjoyment and it's an escape from what I do 24 hours a day.

Justin Armbruster:

That is a really good answer and you actually put some words to my thoughts. I find myself not wanting to read, especially before bed, not reading real estate books, because it just keeps me up and, you know something, something fiction, you know put me to sleep, which is what I need.

Marci Press:

Well, you know, sorry to interrupt, but I don't watch any TV, just FYI. And so often people will say to me, whether it's clients or colleagues, well, you've seen on, you know, real estate Beverly Hills or New York or whatever. And I'm like, actually I haven't, that's my life, I really don't need to watch it.

Justin Armbruster:

Actually I haven't. I actively avoid watching those things. Right, oh yeah absolutely what's the most underrated app that you have in your phone, either for personal or business?

Marci Press:

Underrated app. Underrated app that you have in your phone either for personal or business. Underrated app. Underrated app.

Justin Armbruster:

I can't answer that question. I don't know.

Marci Press:

Skip Skip.

Justin Armbruster:

Finally, if a listener wanted to refer a client to you and get in touch with you, what local areas do you serve and what would be the best way for them to get in touch with you?

Marci Press:

Great. Thank you so much. Central Ohio literally all of Central Ohio. You can call me, text me or email me and I would love to be of service, to help Perfect.

Justin Armbruster:

Awesome. Marcy, thanks so much for joining us. We appreciate your time.

Marci Press:

This is so fun.

Justin Armbruster:

Thank you, both, no problem, bye, bye.

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Chad Armbruster

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Justin Armbruster

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