Real estate agents find different ways to tap into a client pipeline. Some swear by Facebook and Instagram. Others do it the old-fashioned way with mailers and cold calling. Portland, Oregon eXp Realty agent Jesse Dau and his business partner Jackson Wilkey tapped into a very specific channel that has opened the floodgates of client leads – YouTube.
“We can speak to the consumer when they are ready for it, not like a TV consumer,” said Dau of their success via YouTube. “We can get in front of them 24/7.”
Dau and Wilkey have a unique business partnership. While both are eXp agents, Dau mainly handles the real estate side of the business and Wilkey handles driving leads via YouTube. Their agency business, The YouTube Agents, also offers a pro course for fellow agents and handles accounts for agents and brokers as well as businesses.
The duo joined eXp in March 2020 mainly because their previous brokerage wasn’t supplying the desired support for their national brand through YouTube and they were constricted by the franchise model.
“I needed to be somewhere that embraced technology and had national/global coverage,” said Dau. “It’s been like a weight lifted off and our business has grown in a massive way. eXp makes you feel like you belong to one giant team, which is hard for people to grasp.”
Dau Left the Beverage Business to Get Into Real Estate
Prior to working in real estate, Dau spent more than 15 years in the beverage business, managing accounts for Samuel Adams, Mike’s Hard Lemonade and other notable brands. He always had a desire to get into real estate and one day he just quit the beverage business, cold turkey and got his real estate license.
“I realized it was a lot different than I imagined,” said Dau. “But, I’m a person that will figure out anything and just get it done.”
Dau dove in, cold calling and doing open houses in the first year, closing on $12M worth of sales. He started dabbling in trying to attract clients with video, but it never quite succeeded until he met Wilkey, who researched YouTube’s keys to success. Simply, he uses search engine optimization (SEO) to rank on top of Google for desirable keywords such as “Cost of Living in Portland” and “What’s It Like to Live in Portland?” And he also delivers tightly edited, breezy content that gives the viewer exactly what they are searching for and most importantly, a call to action.
“99% of our business comes in through YouTube and it is usually people relocating to Portland,” said Dau. “Every time we can help a family move to Portland and make our part seamless and minimize the stress, that feels good to me.”
Dau says things are growing fast with their video agency and real estate business and they are gaining a lot of national attention. Proudly he says it’s 100% organic. “We’re not tricking anyone into calling you. There’s no prospecting. We’re the complete opposite of what real estate agents do.”
eXp makes you feel like you belong to one giant team, which is hard for people to grasp.”
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Dau closed on 29 homes in 2019 for $15 million in sales. Between real estate, their video agency and eXp’s generous business model, Dau says they have revenue streams coming in from all angles. And for anyone considering making the switch to eXp, Dau is a big fan.
“eXp’s camaraderie is off the charts,” he said. “eXp has thought of everything in the world and put it in a cloud-based program. The model is set up so agents across the country are connected. Collaboration is front and center. It’s all about helping each other. These are giant agents who want to teach other agents! Nobody understands it until they get here.”
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