The Real Estate UNLOCKED Podcast
REALEST Real Estate Podcast on the Planet!
The Real Estate UNLOCKED Podcast
Virtual Assistant Secrets for Real Estate Success | Episode 09
Ever wondered how to supercharge your real estate business without breaking the bank? Join us as we uncover the secrets of leveraging virtual assistants with Sebastian Wright, the mastermind behind VA Depot. Learn how VAs can handle everything from cold calling and marketing to customer service and administrative tasks, allowing you to focus on closing deals. Sebastian shares his journey from being a real estate agent to running a successful VA company, and emphasizes the importance of proper training and management to maximize your VAs’ efficiency.
Discover the nuances of hiring the right virtual assistants for prospecting. We highlight the critical need for strong conversational skills during the interview process to ensure effective lead generation. Sebastian also explains VA Depot’s tailored approach to matching clients with suitable VAs, and how they provide ongoing support if the initial hire isn't the perfect fit. Cost-effectiveness is a major theme, and we discuss why investing in VAs can be a game-changer compared to traditional staffing.
Addressing common challenges, such as language barriers and infrastructure issues, is crucial when working with overseas VAs. Sebastian offers practical solutions, including the importance of regular training and monitoring, to ensure smooth operations. We also touch on security concerns and the role of an operations manager to oversee VAs, allowing you to concentrate on growing your business. Explore how VA Depot’s flexible and client-focused approach can help you overcome these obstacles and succeed in the ever-evolving real estate industry.
✅ Follow on Social Media for more real estate insights:
YouTube
What up everyone and welcome back to the Real Estate Unlocked and today we're going to be covering a long overdue topic in real estate a low cost option for your outbound lead generation, a smart way to save time and still scale your real estate business. Today we're going to be covering the importance of virtual assistants. Virtual assistants are remote professionals who can assist your real estate business by performing various administrative tasks. These tasks include cold calling, marketing, sales and customer service. Unlike traditional in-office assistants, vas work from a remote location, typically overseas, and communicate with their clients via internet, phone or email. Now, if that sounds like something you've been looking for to help scale your real estate business, this episode will cover all the benefits a virtual assistant can do for you, what questions you should be asking and the various ways you can hire one today. Now you know how we do it on the Real Estate Unlocked podcast. If we're going to do it, we got to do it right. We can't just bring on anyone to speak about virtual assistants. We got to bring on the CEO of virtual assistants.
Joseph Marohn:Today, our special guest on the podcast is Mr Sebastian Wright. Sebastian's real estate journey began just six years ago, starting out as a real estate agent. A year in, he stumbled across the concept of wholesaling, instantly becoming the base of his entire real estate business. He then decided to challenge himself even further by diving into fix and flips, profiting him well over six figures, all of which was generated with the help of virtual assistants. He now owns several Airbnb properties and the CEO of his own VA company, va Depot. So, without further ado, I've been talking long enough Everyone. If you will, please allow me to formally introduce to you Sebastian Wright. Sebastian, how's your day going, brother?
Joseph Marohn:Oh man, Thanks again for the great intro. It's going well and excited to be here.
Joseph Marohn:Awesome. Well, sebastian, welcome to the podcast. Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to allow us to shed some light on the importance of virtual assistants. As you know, they are a crucial component in this industry and, if used correctly, they can really scale and take your business to the next level. So, thank you, appreciate it. Yeah, no problem, cool man. So why don't we start things off by you telling us a little bit about your real estate journey and what made you want to start up your own virtual assistant company in the first place?
Sebastian Wright:Yeah, Well, I started out as an agent and I was a terrible agent, I wasn't good at it. And then I stumbled across wholesaling and where I was fit into wholesaling was cold calling myself. And again to you know, I'm sure anybody who's cold calling, they have their nerves, they're worried about it, they think people can bite them over the phone. I mean, it's a lot, it's stressful, Absolutely. And that's kind of where I just cut my teeth in investing in general, was you know, trying to be comfortable over the phone in general, was you know trying to be comfortable over the phone? And as I kind of moved up through cold caller and just started progressing in my career, you know, I was just thinking there must be a better way out there than me constantly calling people and that's kind of how things kind of progressed into starting a virtual assistant company.
Joseph Marohn:Yeah, I can definitely attest to that. You know, my first time jumping on the calls with sellers. Man, it's nerve wracking, right. Like you mentioned, you know jumping on cold calling, it's like you don't know what you're going to get when you get on that line with that seller, right?
Sebastian Wright:So it's definitely nerve wracking, yeah, and again too, it's just. You know, most of the time we have scripts and again too, it's just kind of getting comfortable with that script. But yes, it is, it's still to this day. I still cold call myself, which is kind of hard to believe, excuse me, but I still get those nerves and I still get frustrated and all the feelings that everyone has. So, yes, I agree, Absolutely Right right.
Joseph Marohn:So for those unfamiliar, could you explain what a virtual assistant is and how they can help benefit our business?
Sebastian Wright:So a virtual assistant is a professional that can help you with a number of tasks. At VA Depot, we specialize in cold calling and outbound outreach, but a virtual assistant can help you with a number of things. Um, they could help you with admin stuff for your business. They can help you with video editing. Uh, they can help you with design. So so, again too, it's a virtual assistant, is is is someone that that helps cases. They're, they're somewhat they're they're not based in the U S. Uh, they're based in different countries. And again too, they're just, they're just professionals, most of them.
Joseph Marohn:Right, and I think you would agree that some people are under the impression that VAs only do cold calling. But, as you just laid out perfectly, you know they have a range of services that they cover.
Sebastian Wright:Correct Again too. If you know you're, you know a VA is pretty much limited to what your imagination can can bring to them. So so again there's there's, you know, va Depot. We specialize in cold calling. But again there's, there's a. There's a number of of tasks that VA is specialized in. You just have to kind of look out for them.
Joseph Marohn:So once I hired this VA Sebastian, it just said it and forget it right I'm off to the races of making millions.
Sebastian Wright:That would be a perfect scenario, but unfortunately no, it's not. The one thing that I have to constantly remind people is like, okay, you found a VA and then now you don't have to do that particular task. Let's just say cold calling, right, but what quickly replaces you actually cold calling is training the VA. You actually cold calling is training the VA. Now there are scenarios where where people like, okay, hey, this is the script, this is the dialer, get on it, start making calls.
Sebastian Wright:There are some people in some VAs that are successful that way, but the mass majority of our clients and and just in general, I would I would highly highly recommend that. Training is absolutely key. Um, in in any retrospect um, just a quick example Um, I used to work at the Ritz Carlton, at the, at the hotel chain, and before we could even say hello to a guest, you know they would train us on how to say hello and how to end the conversation, and that is just based on training. They want you to greet their guests a certain way and for your business it kind of has to be the same way. The VA is an employee, it's an extension of you and you need to train that VA. Yeah, I think this is a common mistake for some people.
Joseph Marohn:You know you need to train that VA. Yeah, I think this is a common mistake for some people. You know you need to fully understand your business, so that way you know how to train and give proper feedback. Right, it's a virtual assistant. They are an assistant. They aren't going to create your business for you. You're the operator, they assist 100%, 100%, absolutely. So, for our listeners who are convinced about the benefits of hiring a VA, what are the first steps that they should take to find an onboard, a virtual assistant?
Sebastian Wright:Well, there's a number of ways that that can happen. Um, for, for example, obviously I'm biased, I have a company, so you know, please, please, visit my website and and and and look at, look at what we can offer. But, um, it's really funny how a lot of people just come in contact with VAs. Um, I and and I think you and I just have a very similar story about how we even got introduced to a VA. A lot of the time, vas are go-getters, they understand sales and they're reaching out to potential property investors, wholesalers, and reaching out to them and say, hey, do you need this services? And they send you some audio clips, a resume, and at first you're kind of like, what is this? But then you quickly realize like, oh wow, this is well put together, they're professional, they have this great presentation and then all of a sudden, you're off to the races with them.
Joseph Marohn:And all of a sudden you kind of you're, you're off to the races with them. Yeah, absolutely. You know, I, like you said, we have a very similar story. You know, I've always heard about you know VA companies or whatnot, but the very first VA that I came in contact with, she actually reached out to me directly through Facebook Messenger and I didn't know how to take it at first because I'm like I don't know, man, this, this might be a scam. I don't know if she's scamming me. But you know, I was like, hey, can you send me some sample calls, or you know? And she said, send me some calls over.
Joseph Marohn:And I listened to him and I was like, dude, she's great. You know, she's really good at what she does. I don't really got to train her and I was like you know, I'm just going to take my chances and I rolled the dice and it worked out for the most part very well. But you know, I think the proper way is something like you know, what you guys have got going on over there at VA Depot is really working with the company. That way, you know, everything's set up properly, making sure that everybody's protected on both sides Right, and you're getting quality VAs Right, so I agree. So I agree with you on that Absolutely.
Sebastian Wright:So, Sebastian, how can VAs be trained to properly qualify leads? So all I can say is what I'm experiencing right now. So right now a section of my company we're really focusing on the retail side of business, Um, so agent leads. You know, Fizbo's expireds, um, we have invested in coaching, um on on ourselves. And then, basically, you know, we we have a very, very intensive coaching program with our VAs, training program with our VAs. That's still continuing to right now.
Sebastian Wright:So how I do things is that I go ahead, I send out the script to the VAs and I tell them. I was like, look, I want you to review the script. You know, take your time with it and that will be about you. You know 24 hours that I'll give them with the script the following day. You know we have we have meetings at the beginning of the day with with the agent that I'm working with and the, the, their, their va, and we are constantly role playing, we're constantly training, we're constantly doing things to improve the VA because, at the end of the day, the more knowledge the VA has, the better that they will just perform for you day in and day out.
Joseph Marohn:I agree with that, man. Role playing is absolutely crucial. You know we do that on our team. You know we bring the VA on and we're constantly, you know, practicing my partner and I we're always doing role plays, putting them in some scenarios where they can really get used to, like you know, throwing some curveballs at them Right, and really training them. And another thing we also do is we have a flow chart. So this flow chart will kind of break down like what's considered a cold lead, what's considered a warm lead and hot. That way they know how to properly qualify them. That's what we do. So you guys do something similar as well, I'm assuming.
Sebastian Wright:Yeah, so, so again to again, different trainings. And you know, like I say this with all respect like gurus, that you, you to have different things, that you know, have different methods of what qualifies as a warm, a hot or what have you a nurture lead? So it's important you know, whatever training that you're getting, or if this is just your own system, that the VA knows what a hot lead is, what a warm lead is, what a nurture lead is. And then again to um role playing to the point where, where you're really stumping them, you know, you're, I, I always, I always tell this uh, this, this, this sort of this joke. I was like, look, the training is going to be so intense, the, the, the, the, the. The training is going to be so intense that you're just going to pray to get on the dialer, because it's going to be that that much easier.
Joseph Marohn:And that's great, man, you know, because you're really putting them through the ringer. So when they actually get on an actual cold lead, you know they're like this is a lot easier, easier than what Sebastian's putting me through.
Sebastian Wright:And and this is a lot easier than what Sebastian's putting me through yeah and again too, I tell a lot of clients and just people in general that just because the cold calling is technically off your plate, it doesn't necessarily mean your workday has gotten lighter. Now you have a responsibility to that VA to train them to your best of your ability, because it will just pay dividends in the end that your VA is that better trained and they're ready to go after it.
Joseph Marohn:Absolutely so. If someone is considering hiring their first VA, what are the initial steps that they should take to ensure that they're not only finding a great VA, but also knowing that that person is reliable?
Sebastian Wright:Well, it's funny because it's just little cues. I mean, for example, if you ever went on a job interview, that's sort of the best kind of you know method to kind of look at. I was like, is this VA on time? You know, punctuality is very important to me. Just because you know we're very busy, we have to be on a schedule and if someone says that they're not on time, that's almost a red flag for me. That's almost a red flag for me. Again, if this person vibes well with your business, you might get a feeling that, hey, this particular VA doesn't necessarily mesh well with my core message or ethos. You have to be hiring someone that you might get along with or you can lead. I feel that's very important. So I would just say, think back of you know job interviews that you went on or jobs that you did secure, and why did you secure those jobs? What made you stand out from everybody else?
Sebastian Wright:Um, with the VA there's other nuances that might be important to you. For example, do they have real estate prospecting experience? A lot of them do. A lot of them, just straight up, do, do they understand certain systems that you have purchased? You know Podio, follow up boss Vulcan seven. A lot of these VAs do have experience working with those systems, so those are always a plus Um. But there's there's a preface of things that that you can kind of check through and and make sure that the you know the VA is a fit for you Basically.
Joseph Marohn:I'm so glad you brought up the fact about the interviewing process, because that's crucial, right? So what type of questions do you suggest we should be asking, as investors, while interviewing these VAs?
Sebastian Wright:Well it's. It's funny because I've I've witnessed a lot of interviews with you know prospective clients and VAs, and I don't necessarily think the questions are important, even though I think you know whatever pleasantries or whatever questions you may have, absolutely ask them. But what I would keep a really keen ear for is you having a conversation with this particular person, because, again, to that will translate on on the phone. You want someone that you can have a conversation with, and if someone sounds a little bit robotic, a little bit nervous, and if someone sounds a little bit robotic, a little bit nervous and they just don't sound right, that probably will equate to what they might sound like when they're prospecting. So for me, when I want to hire a new VA, I just want to have a conversation with them. I was like, hey, how do you take your coffee? You know how do you take your coffee. I will literally have a conversation with them and I will, I will literally analyze how they say things, more so than specific questions about the task that they have done or can do.
Joseph Marohn:You know that's interesting. You say that right, because they could be very well scripted and they know exactly what kind of questions they're typically asked, so they know how to respond in a robotic, very nice way or however you want to put it. But, like I said, can they actually have a conversation, you know?
Joseph Marohn:yeah, you know me, my partner Ash. You know we will not hire a VA without conducting an interview first. You know you can listen to all the prerecrecorded sample calls you like, but in my opinion nothing beats a face-to-face conversation and asking questions to put that VA in a real-life scenario. Right, exactly so, like you just mentioned, are they having a conversation with the seller or are they interrogating? And it's only a one-sided with questions, right? So good point and good point, you brought that up. Now, that's what I really loved about you guys actually at VA Depot. You know your company will reach out first and ask what our criteria is. Then you'll pair three to four VAs or just a company you know of VAs that you can interview.
Sebastian Wright:I just I just feel more comfortable that way, just because you're hearing what they sound like, you're asking the questions that you want to ask and you are making the decision. Hey, I think Erica sounds the best and I think she might fit um in my business. Now what we do a little bit differently is, for example, let's say, you've been using a VA for a particular amount of time and, for whatever reason, she interviewed really well and it's just not working out. We will set up an entire round of interviews for you completely free of charge.
Joseph Marohn:Wow, that's interesting. You know, and I that's what I'm saying I experienced that firsthand with you guys. You know, when you guys brought in the VAs, you brought them in one by one. It wasn't like all at once, like I'm doing a group interview, and it was like very professional, you know, whereas I've had other companies reach out to me and it's literally like someone sitting on a bed or something and a ripped t-shirt. It just had a bad feeling and I'm like this is not really professional. You guys were very professional the way you guys did it and that's why I like working with you guys. So great job on that part. Sebastian, can hiring a virtual assistant be cost effective for new investors? What would you say the cost difference is of hiring a VA compared to, like an in-person staff?
Sebastian Wright:I really have to watch out because the new part is tricky, because I know a lot of people are new and they hear VA and they're so ready to get on the VA train. But it's really important to kind of self-assess first before you put on a VA, to actually make sure you're ready. Because, again too, what I tell my team and I don't say this to be mean, I don't say this because I'm a greedy business guy I was like it's very important that we qualify our clients because we don't want to put them in a situation where they're not ready to handle a VA. So my first and foremost thing is like make sure you are ready. And then people are going to say well, what's a qualified? You know, how am I qualified? You've probably, you've, you've probably been making calls for the past six months and you're looking to kind of expand your business, constantly invest in those systems. Because I've ran into a lot of people where they're like oh, I have money for 500 leads and we're going to make so much money off 500 leads. I was like, unfortunately it's just not that way. You probably need 5,000 leads and then constantly purchase that Once you are there, once you have graduated to that echelon of.
Sebastian Wright:I am consistently investing in my business and now I want to expand. I want to hire a virtual assistant. Then it becomes really interesting because the VA that you will hire literally will be on the dialer however long you want them on. I have VAs that are on dialers for eight hours a day. They have an hour break, they're constantly pushing through and it's very cost effective. You're talking about prices anywhere from $7 to $8 an hour where, if you were to hire take my situation the person that hired me in their wholesaling group had to give me 20% of every deal that I closed. So, when you think about it, do you really want to give up 20% of your hard-earned assignment fees to a cold caller? You know, and that's really upon the business owner, but if it were me, I would look to outsource that and pay someone an hourly rate instead of equity in an assignment fee.
Joseph Marohn:I really appreciate the honest answer and it's really the truth what you just said. Right now, you know it's not going to be a cost effective for everybody. Not everybody's going to have the means to do so, but for me personally, in my experience, I have a great W-2 job where I'm making a good income. So my thing is I don't have time. And the thing is, with this real estate business, as you know, you're either going to forfeit time or you're going to forfeit money, and for me, I don't have the time, so I have to forfeit the money, and that's why hiring a VA is beneficial for me, because then they're able to call eight hours a day, like you mentioned.
Joseph Marohn:While I'm at work they're calling, they're cold calling, and then when I get home I'm able to jump on the leads. That already what they filtered out through our system. So great, great point on that and I really appreciate the honest answer there. But since we're talking about pay, how do we pay these VAs? Is it weekly, is it monthly? Do we pay through like a third party app like Wise or PayPal?
Sebastian Wright:So again, here I can really I can speak from past experiences. But here at VA Depot, again here I can speak from past experiences. But here at VA Depot, we are a US-based business, we're LLC-ed here in the United States and we have US-based payment processing through Square. Now, again too, there's two sides of my business and again too, there's the client side that you know I have to make. I have to make sure that, you know, my clients are happy, but also I have to protect my virtual assistants as well. So I constantly make sure I was like hey, what, what do you guys want? What do you need? You know what will make, you know what will make a good working environment.
Sebastian Wright:And usually that working environment, you know, we collect payment usually at the beginning of the week and then we pay them weekly, now and now. But we are incredibly flexible. So, again too, if you're in a situation it's like, hey, look, you know Sebastian. Or if you're dealing and again too, va Depot is 100% ran by VAs as well, she's the number two on my team you have a quick conversation with MJ, like, look, mj, we run payroll every two weeks. Can we pay every two weeks? That's not a problem, we grant that all the time. Or hey, I'd rather pay at the end of the week than the beginning of the week. We do that all the time. So here at VA Depot we want to be as flexible as possible for the clients, but also, too, we really try to protect our, our, our VAs as well.
Joseph Marohn:Right, and you know the reason I bring that up is because when I first hired my VA directly, you know she was like oh, I usually get paid through wise and I didn't know what wise was. You know, I had to download this app. It was a whole process and you got to pay fees. And when I noticed with you guys, it was a whole process and you got to pay fees. And when I noticed with you guys, it was like directly through square and it was just a way simplified process compared to going through wise. You know, wise would take several days to get to her.
Joseph Marohn:So, and and also like like you mentioned about being flexible, that's what's great about you guys, because I know you guys do kind of request to be paid on a monday. For us personally, to make things simplified, we do all our payrolls every week on the end of the week, at Friday, and I reached out to MJ and MJ was completely fine with that and you know I that's really great that you guys do that. You guys are flexible with your clients, so yeah, absolutely Absolutely.
Sebastian Wright:And and again to um too, the payment via Square was very important to me because that was probably the main issue. Why I even started VA Depot was because I was working with another VA company and they said, oh, you need to start paying wise. And it just was a bad feeling and I ended the relationship with that particular company just because I felt like I was getting won over and I just wanted to pay them. So that was very important for us to make sure that payment to the client was very, very simple and easy, and I'm pretty proud of'm. I'm pretty proud of that, by the way, so thank you for noticing.
Joseph Marohn:I noticed it, man. That was great, you know, so all right, so what are the some of the basic tools and software knowledge that VA should be proficient in to be successful in the real estate industry?
Sebastian Wright:So you won't. I mean, again too, I haven't come across a VA that that doesn't know their way around technology, because again too, that's how they communicate with you, um. But a simple question like hey, you know what type of CRM um are you used to? For, for example, I use follow up boss. So I always kind of ask that question hey, are you familiar with follow-up boss? Most of the time they are. It's really amazing. You just kind of throw out tools that you have, online tools that you have, and most of the time they're fairly proficient on it. Obviously you know email and just kind of ways around certain document files and all that stuff. But for my experience, most of the VAs that have reached out to me and the VAs that I've hired are very proficient in the latest real estate technology or outreach technology.
Joseph Marohn:Yeah, I think that's important because you know, if they're not proficient in it, that means you have to take more time out of your day to really train them on on what softwares you're using. So I think it's a great point to bring up that. And another thing that we personally look for is you know basic typing skills, because they're going to be taking a lot of notes and maybe sending emails, so we really got to make sure that you know they know how to type and they're spelling words correctly and stuff like that. So great point on that. So you know you're doing a great job at laying out all the benefits a VA can bring to our company. But, as with everything in life, there's always challenges and hurdles right and unfortunately. But as with everything in life, there's always challenges and hurdles, right and unfortunately, vas are no exception to this rule.
Joseph Marohn:I believe one of the biggest concerns for most investors looking to add a VA to their team is the language barrier. Right as we jump on calls with these sellers, a heavy accent or mispronounced words can easily kill a deal, even for me personally. You know, when I get, when I get cold called and I hear that accent, my spider senses kick in and I start thinking it's a deal, even for me personally. You know, when I get, when I get cold called and I hear that accent, my spider senses kick in and I start thinking it's a scam, right. So what does the training process look like for a virtual assistant at VA Depot? Are you guys keeping this in mind and, if so, are there ways to improve the language barrier by implementing speech training?
Sebastian Wright:barrier by implementing speech training. So that is a very touchy subject for me because and again too, just out of my own experience I feel like I operate in probably some of the hardest, most skeptical markets here in the United States. So I invest in Eastern Tennessee and Southwest Florida. I have VAs with very heavy accents and they constantly produce. For me. Now it is a gut check, because you're constantly thinking like, hey, I'm spending money on this, on this service, are they going to perform or am I going to waste money? Um, but time and time again, um, vas with with heavier than than usual accents I've had. I've had pretty much great success with them because, again too, we live in such a diverse country, right when, where you know, hearing an accent um is is not very uncommon anymore. Um, and again too, what's interesting particular? And two, what's interesting particular?
Sebastian Wright:You know we source all of our VAs out of the Philippines, and I feel that in the Philippines they have a good grasp on the language. Not only, you know, do they have their own language, but they in school, english is very, very heavily taught, just because you know, they're looking to work for American companies. A lot of major American companies have call offices in the Philippines and you know the Filipinos Filipinas are the ones working those call centers, are the ones working those call centers. Now, where it might be difficult is, you know, you have sort of the I don't know. I've just never really had much of an issue, but I do understand sort of the hesitation, but I would closely monitor it. If you still have a problem and if you feel like the VA is not performing, then I would kind of look for a VA that has a softer accent, which they're out there, because a lot of these VAs are educated in English.
Joseph Marohn:Yeah, and I think it can easily be overcome with knowledge, right. Think it can easily be overcome with, you know, knowledge, right. So just because you have an accent and they're, and they're talking to the seller, as long as they kind of have experience and they know what they're talking about, then that can easily be overlooked and it, like you just mentioned, it's actually becoming more common now, right. So a lot of times when I'm calling like to order some wings now, I can't even get a live person on the phone, no more, it's actually going redirected to a call center. So I think, as things progress and technology keeps growing, we're going to see a lot more VAs implemented in this space, right. So I think people are going to get more familiar with it.
Joseph Marohn:But I have noticed personally sometimes when my VAs are jumping on calls, you know sellers sometimes don't even give them a chance, they just shut them down and they hang up right away. So I was just wondering if you guys were doing anything different over there, if you guys are working with speech and training and stuff like that, just to kind of. You know, I know it's they're they're boring with that and there's not really much you can do about that. But you know, maybe there's ways we can kind of smooth it out a little bit, if you will.
Sebastian Wright:I mean it's tough on our end. Now I think we do a great job of sourcing professional VAs that do have prior experience. So if they do have an accent, they are professional. They've been in the rodeo before, so it's kind of an easy transition. But I think it has a lot to do with the training that they're receiving. So, for example, we have a script on the retail side where we had making sure that, hey, we're reading the script, you know, a couple times every morning just to make sure, hey, you can pronounce that word correctly. So again too, we're doing our best to get you guys quality VAs. But also, at the same time, it kind of falls on the client's responsibility to make sure that they are going through the script or whatever documents that you're going through, and making sure that they are delivering whatever they need to deliver correctly and clearly.
Joseph Marohn:Right, good points, good points. So give us some common challenges faced with working with virtual assistants and how they can be addressed challenges faced with working with virtual assistants and how they can be addressed.
Sebastian Wright:Well, I can tell you one that doesn't really necessarily can be addressed but, like sometimes, they'll have issues with power. You know, their power will go out for some strange reason or they'll have a storm that we're just not necessarily aware about.
Joseph Marohn:They get a lot of storms over there in the Philippines.
Sebastian Wright:Yeah, so, and again too, you know, in the Philippines the infrastructure is not as as good as in the States. So they they are. Those are common issues that you might run into. But again to usually, you know, usually you know the VA will be very understanding and then try to make up those hours or or or kind of push through or get back whenever they need to. But I mean, there's really not much to kind of worry about of my mind is, hey, am I training this particular VA to my best of the ability? Now, again too, not everyone's perfect. Sometimes they'll stumble through scripts, sometimes they might lose you a deal. There's a bunch of scenarios, but not anything different than either your cousin calling for you or your buddy or someone that you're bringing on to your business. The same things, the same scenarios, the same hiccups will happen with the VA, basically.
Joseph Marohn:Right. As you know, our VAs have access to a ton of valuable and crucial information, such as addresses, emails and phone numbers, while in our system We've even heard stories of VA stealing and selling off data to make a quick book. Are there any security measures at VA Depot in place to protect client-sensitive information?
Sebastian Wright:So when we hire a VA, you know we really we really try to look for for people that are wanting a long, lasting, um working relationship with their client. We never want to be in a situation where they're looking for a quick buck. So we're we're constantly, you know, looking at their character and for the most part, I'm part. I've never experienced that. But that doesn't mean it hasn't happened. For the most part, you know, the VA is very committed and loyal. The last thing they want to do is to screw up a relationship where you fire them and then we never use their. You know we never hire them as a VA for our clients and again, too, their reputation is out there.
Sebastian Wright:There are forum boards, there's Facebook groups and there's people constantly getting blasted that, hey, this VA is not trustworthy, this VA, you've got to watch out for this person. So we do as much as possible to make sure that you have a trustworthy virtual assistant. But it also kind of goes back onto the client. The client needs to make sure that they're not giving the VA's admin access to their sensitive stuff. Doing an audit I do an audit every week of all the incoming leads. I physically listen to the calls and listen to them. Because again too, if the VA pushes five hot leads but they've technically had 10 hot lead conversations or 10 hot lead conversations, that becomes a problem. So again too, at VA Depot we do our best to hire quality and trustworthy VAs, but also, at the same time, the client has to ensure their safety as well, making sure they don't give admin access doing those lead audits just for best practices as well. Making sure they don't give admin access doing those lead audits just for best practices as well.
Joseph Marohn:Yeah, when we first hired our first VA, we were doing just that. We were monitoring all the time and it was constantly having to track everything they do, because you kind of have this trust issue right. You're like I don't know if she's gonna be scamming me. I don't know if she's actually doing a great job. So, you know, one of the things that I really liked what your team expressed me on our initial call was you have a business to run. You know you're not a babysitter. Your job is to go out and make the money. Leave the monitoring up to us. So what you guys do is you actually assigned us an operations manager to oversee each VA, you know, which is great because, it's true, it's like it would be a complete insufficient use of our time to have to monitor each call and make sure our VAs are doing their job. So, in your opinion, what's the biggest misconception about hiring a virtual assistant?
Sebastian Wright:I think the biggest misconception is that you know the VA is sort of like a genie and they're gonna, they're gonna, you know they're gonna, they're gonna fix all your problems. You know they, they are a tool. It's like purchasing a dialer, right Like. You spend 200 bucks, 300 bucks a month on a dialer. It could be the fanciest dialer in the world, but if you don't pick up the phone and utilize the dialer, it's. It's a paperweight, it's it's just a website, basically.
Sebastian Wright:And it's the same thing with the VA. You know the VA, um. They're an extension of you and your business. If you and your business have problems, your VA is just not going to fix that. Your VA has a very specific job and they do that specific job well and it is a team effort on your part to make sure that they're trained and they know what to do.
Sebastian Wright:Yeah, a lot of people think it's just a plug and play model, right wrong. We provide, you know, the labor essentially, and you provide the construction equipment. So again, that's another misconception that people think that you know, hey, the VAs have all these tools. We don't have these tools, we're using the tools on your behalf, basically, and what your business is providing.
Joseph Marohn:Yeah, you, you really have to have your business business down pat. You know you have to have a system in place and then you know it's just. It's like when you go work for another company, right, you're not going to come in and they're going to expect you to redesign their whole business. They already have a system in place. And then you're just working for that company and you're just trying to help them grow their company, right? So it's the same concept.
Sebastian Wright:So, yeah, I couldn't, I couldn't say it any better um than that, because I mean there are some companies out there that you need to, you need to buy all this stuff, but, um yeah, no, that like like I can't hone this enough. You know, the the VA is is is your employee, they're an extension of you and and it's and it's basically how you want them to conduct your business on your behalf.
Joseph Marohn:Right, and so you know smart investors. They track data as well as their average cost per contract. Any advice for someone new to real estate on how to measure the success of a virtual assistant Like? What kind of KPIs do you recommend focusing on?
Sebastian Wright:So the, the, the ones that I really like right now, kpi wise, is is what I'm doing with the the retail side of it, right, so, and, and this might work, you know, uh, the, the investment side. So, um, every hour of calling, I want, um, I want seven, I want, I want seven contacts, and a contact really is a contacts per se. Well, like, hey, why is there only two contacts? Well, because I wasn't on the dialer. Or, hey, maybe we need to refresh this list. It's time to refresh the list. So, me personally, the seven contacts and our rule really really holds a lot of water because we're able to constantly track that the seven contacts. You know, out of those seven contacts, maybe two or three of them are actually leads, and again, the leads vary whether they're warm, hot or nurture. So that is a KPI that I go by on the retail and I will start using that KPI for wholesaling and investment side as well.
Joseph Marohn:And what about like leads? Do you have like a minimum requirement per day that you want your VAs to hit?
Sebastian Wright:You know, I, I was very pro. You know, hey, I want you to hit, you know, 25 leads, right, um, and as you, as for me, what I've, what I've realized, is like, if, if you say, hey, I want, I want 25 leads in a week, the quality of leads will kind of go down, you know, because then the VA is really kind of like they're working hard, but also that you've you've put in their mind that they need 25 leads. So they will just start talking to just anybody and like they're like, hey, this lead is a is, is is a lead, because I need this lead. It will go into my 25 leads for the week and it's garbage. So I've went from okay, instead of wanting a specific number of leads each week, I want a number of conversations each hour, and that has really changed my business quite a bit.
Joseph Marohn:Yeah, I think you just hit it right on the head. You know, we used to have a minimum requirement of leads that we wanted to hit per day, and what we noticed was when we were going back into our system and calling back these leads, like you just mentioned, they were trash leads, they weren't even actual leads, they were just follow ups. But you know, we put this pressure on our VAs, were like, hey, you have to hit eight, 10 leads a day. And so she had it in her mind, you know, like, oh, I got to hit this number. I got to hit this number instead of just focusing on having a conversation, like you just mentioned. So great point on that. You know, and and I think that's another common mistake people make, and even a mistake I made myself, so we learn from them, right.
Sebastian Wright:Yeah, it's very common and again, too, you learn from these things. That's the wonderful thing about being a business owner is that, hey, maybe instead of putting that pressure on a VA or even yourself, right, it's like, oh hey, if I don't get two leads by the end of the day, I suck. No, it's, maybe you need to kind of research the KPIs that you actually think are important to you and then and then crafting that to your business, because, honestly, um, when I moved from, how many contacts am I having? It's, it's really changed my, my business.
Joseph Marohn:Absolutely so. Let's say our VA is not performing up to our expectations. What happens next?
Sebastian Wright:Well, are you talking about with VA Depot or just in general?
Joseph Marohn:Let's say well, let's say with VA Depot, what do you guys do Like if I call you up? Or if I call out MJ and I say, hey, you know what? I just got this VA. I thought she was a great fit. She's not working out, she's not a good fit for the company. What would happen next?
Sebastian Wright:So I mean, um, obviously, you know, we, we want to keep you as a client and we want to keep you, you know, satisfied as a client. You know, we would suggest another round of of interviews. Um, and again too, um, we've had situations where, you know, we've had to do this three or four times because, you know, people would constantly like a client would say, hey, yeah, I thought she would, I thought this VA would work, but it's not working. So we are committed to helping you find a perfect fit for your business. In the event that we cannot find that perfect VA or assistant for you, we don't have a contract with you. And again too that's why we kind of created this business is ultimate flexibility. If we're providing a service and you're not gaining anything from that service, you shouldn't be locked in. So we would just part ways. If there was any refund in order, we would happily give you a refund and part the business relationship.
Joseph Marohn:Great. And since we're on the subject of VA Depot, what separates VA Depot from other VA companies?
Sebastian Wright:again for good reason right, it's not for a lack of reason, but again, to me personally, I don't like to get into contracts, so why should I expect my clients to get into contracts? And then also, too, we really want long-term relationships with our clients, because the last thing I want to do is have a client for like a week and then they never use our service again. So I, I I want to build rapport. I want to help you know, business owners grow and I we're we're willing to to help you guys at at any point of your career, to to really grow your team, whether whether you're starting off with one VA at at part-time, which is 20 hours, or you need a whole call center of VAs at full-time, we're prepared to help whatever you guys need. So we love our clients, we want to help them. And then also, too, I am a big believer in VAs. I use VAs. I started this company because I'm just like you guys and you know I wanted a better quality VA on tap. So that's kind of how we're different.
Joseph Marohn:Great man, I'm with you on that one. I'm also for VAs. You know they have been a crucial component to our business and they've really helped us scale our business quite significantly. So I don't know how I would do without them, right? So good point on that. Me neither, right so? But? But let me ask you this. So you know we're all aware that AI is on the rise, right, and you were seeing, you know, voice cloning. We're seeing auto text replies, loi generators, all that good stuff. There are even companies offering AI virtual assistants. Now it's crazy. So how do virtual assistants evolve and adapt to stay relevant in the real estate industry in the next five to 10 years?
Sebastian Wright:Now, you know there's some scary stuff with AI. You know there's just there's these voice generators and again, too, that that is constantly. You know that that's that's constantly going to be there. You know that that tech and that business will will grow. But also, too, I think there's going to be a constant need for for a live person, because, again, maybe AI might get there, but it's not quite right there right now. You kind of know if you're speaking to a robot face-to-face or even on the phone. Text, on the other hand, is a completely different story, but I I still feel that there's a need for a live person. Um, I feel that a live person can kind of think quickly, they can get the information out and then capture, you know, whatever, whatever information they need to to to capture fairly effectively more than a than a ai generated voice right now yeah, I get cold called by these.
Joseph Marohn:I don't know if they're voice clone or AIs or what, but you know, as you just mentioned, you could tell it's very robotic and sometimes I kind of play around with it, right, I'm asking certain questions just to see how it responds and you can tell it's not. It's not there yet. They're. They're nowhere near yet, but it may be something that we're facing in the future. So something to keep in mind for you guys. Since you run a, you know, a VA company, you may want to keep in mind of that. Like, how can we adapt and, you know, always keep a place in the real estate industry? So, yes, but you know, sebastian, you're an investor yourself. You obviously see the benefits of VAs. Considering you now own a VA company, do you mind sharing a success story on how a VA was able to help you scale and grow your business?
Sebastian Wright:Man, there's so many stories, but I'll give you this most recent one right now. So, like I said, I have dived back into the dark side of retail real estate listings, working with agents and stuff like that, and this particular agent that we're working for literally last month went from zero listings we had, we had none nothing to about. Now, fast forward to now. You know we have close to hopefully, hopefully listing number six within within a 35, within a 30 day period and close to two and a half million dollars worth of production solely generated by VAs.
Joseph Marohn:Two and a half million Wow.
Sebastian Wright:That's impressive Production, not gross commission. Either way it's still impressive. But property value, yeah, it's really impressive. And it just goes to show if you put the time and the effort with a virtual assistant you can scale very, very quickly within a little amount of time 30 days, which is not a lot of time in the real estate world.
Joseph Marohn:Right, it's all on you, right. It's up to you to train them, to get them up to speed on what you want them to do properly. So, absolutely so. One of the things I really like to do here on the Real Estate Unlock podcast is to keep providing value to the community by giving them a chance to ask questions along with me, you know, and one of the questions I chose today was by Reese Ryan, and his question was trying to figure out the best use of a VA and which part of my business endeavors I want to expand. What would be some basic vetting questions to hire someone, any thoughts on offshore or domestic and going with a company or freelancer.
Sebastian Wright:Yeah, that's a great question, Obviously, and that question can be broken down quite a bit. So, if they want to go through a freelancer, obviously you know it's kind of like a one and done type deal. You kind of have to get, you know, the freelancer has to get in touch with you, or you get in touch with the freelancer, excuse me with a freelancer, excuse me, and then and then you know, interview them and see if it works out. With a company like mine, excuse me. We provide you multiple opportunities to to interview VAs and, like we said earlier, if, if, for some, if, for whatever reason it doesn't work out, we can provide you with more VAs to interview.
Sebastian Wright:Now, figuring out what specific tasks you might want to hand off to a VA, that's kind of a personal thing, you know. If you feel that, you know you want to spend less time cold calling, obviously get that over to a VA. Maybe you want to expand your social media, maybe you want you know people to edit stuff for you. You know there's VAs for that. It just really depends on what your business needs are. So, obviously, with us we specialize in cold calling, we feel comfortable in cold calling and the clients that reach out to us have a need to scale their outreach.
Joseph Marohn:Right, great, great answer, man. So well, I think we covered majority of the benefits on how a virtual assistant can help grow your business, as well as how to properly train them and what things to be aware of. Is there anything you can think of that we might've missed and didn't cover here today?
Sebastian Wright:I don't know, man, we covered a lot. I mean, again too, I think, when you are ready to hire a VA, just be open to the process, Because again too, it's an ever-evolving process and it's never just like real estate. I've never had a deal go the same way ever. There's always something to that, and it's same thing with owning a business and hiring employees. It's never the same day no-transcript.
Joseph Marohn:Can people get ahold of you?
Sebastian Wright:Man, um, so I, I man, um all the all the social media, but I'm always on our Instagram VA underscore depot, and then also, if they want to send me a message, on our website, vadepotnet, there's a section at the bottom that they can email me. That comes directly to me and I'd be happy to answer any questions that you have.
Joseph Marohn:So website and our Instagram. Well, sebastian, it's been an absolute honor to have you on the podcast here today. I think you're doing something great by not only creating more jobs for people overseas and being able to provide for their families, but you're also creating more opportunities for new investors to help start up their business with very little overhead costs. I think VA Depot is setting the standard on how other VA companies should operate and make it simple for us investors to find quality workers and to help us grow our business. I'm excited to see where you guys go from here and I'll continue to be a long-term client myself I'll continue to be a long-term client myself.
Sebastian Wright:Thank you so much, joseph. And just as a little caveat and hopefully to kind of get people on their business and their VA journey, we will provide a promo code for your listeners, jm562. They can go to our website, enter the promo code in the promo code box or in the message, in the message section of the of the email contact form, and they will receive a fifteen dollar discount on the admin fee. We normally, excuse me, we normally charge fifty dollars, but we'll cut that down to to 35.
Sebastian Wright:I'm I'm terrible at math, as you can see, but they will. They will receive that uh, that, that discount if they, if they put that uh promo code, uh jm562 oh man, I I really appreciate that, sebastian.
Joseph Marohn:That's, that's great, great of you to do that for, uh, for my listeners. So if you guys want that, you know how to get it jm562. So now, if you guys want that, you know how to get it JM562. So now, if you guys are finding value from this episode, don't forget to show your boy some love. It only takes a few seconds to hit that subscribe button. Don't forget to like this and drop a comment down below if you use VAs as well and how it's helped benefit your business. Appreciate all the continued support and, guys, stay tuned, because we're pumping these episodes out every two weeks. Not to mention, I've got kevin cho from the sub 2 community coming up next to come and drop some amazing tips on y'all. Best believe i'ma keep bringing you that fire. Thanks, sebastian, thank you. Thank you for watching.