216 Mail-Right Show With Special Guest Chad Carrodus

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How to Attract Gen Z: Avoid These 3 Outdated Marketing Mistakes

Chad Carrodus of Metro Atlanta Georgia

Chad is a native Atlantan with deep community ties and prestigious designations–– including the youngest person to ever be named to Georgia Trend’s 40 Under 40 list. Effectively merging comprehensive market knowledge of Metro Atlanta with a successful and dynamic track record, Chad provides his clients with unparalleled representation, energy, and guidance. Through his unique ventures, Chad has had the privilege to build a vast network featuring celebrities, heads of industry, political leaders, and ultra-high net worth individuals.

From working in the fast pace world private jets to running an investor-backed tech startup, Chad brings a rare perspective which translates into a first-class client experience in luxury real estate. Sharp attention to detail and a five star level of customer service come from Chad’s stint in private aviation, where he sold charters for private jets and various private aviation services under one of the country’s leading experts, Lisa Senters-McDermott. He then moved into technology, where he served as CEO for a software company before co-founding a mobile app which makes meeting people online safer and more organic.

Jonathon: Welcome back folks to the Mail-Right Show this episode 216. I’ve got a great guest for you this episode. He is young dynamic, eager [inaudible 00:22] well, said to me a long time ago but never said any more. We’ve got Chad in the house. Chad would you like to quickly introduce yourselves to the listeners and viewers?

Chad: Sure, absolutely. Well, first of all, I’m so excited to be here and yes, so my name is Chad Carrodus. I am an agent with Compass based out of Atlanta. I work on Jerry, with Jerry Metcalf who’s a big top producer here in Atlanta’s luxury market. But yes, I mean, it’s been quite the journey for sure.

Jonathon: Yes and Chad wrote an article on inbound that caught my eye. And I was looking to get a dynamic good looking young agent on the show and he wrote how to track generations lead and how to avoid free outdated marketing dikes in doing that. So I thought that was a good topic to have an initial discussion, I’ve also got my great co-host, Robert. Robert, would you like to introduce yourself to the new listeners and viewers?

Robert: I’d love to. So my name is Robert Newman. I’m the founder of InboundREM. I’m a 12 year veteran of the real estate marketing industry. I’ve worked with and consulted with most of the major and even minor players in the real estate marketing space. I’ve also written my own blog and I do real deep dives into real estate technology, especially real estate marketing technology. And Jonathan and I have been putting up with each other for God over a year now trying to help you guys; the listeners learn how to market your business.

Jonathon: I like co-hosting with you, Robert. Actually, you’ve put me straight, there we go. So Chad, you wrote this piece about how to attract generations lead and some mistakes you’ve seen. Would you like to start off from how do you attract this generation lead and how can you really put them off as well?

Chad: Sure so I guess just to start with a little perspective what kind of gives me, I guess the leg up, if you will in the whole gen Z stuff is, I think first and foremost my age because I am a part of generation Z. Now [inaudible 02:40] definitely on the older part so I did consult some of my younger brothers on some of the things and they definitely made me feel older than I think I was. But all that to say I think generation Z is just so interesting and so dynamic because it or where are, I think really just misunderstood. In the sense that people like to group us with millennials, they like to think that we have the same spending habits, the same behaviors, the same everything that marketers would look for to try to target.

And they just think it because it’s kind of in the same age that it’s going to–, the same things are going to work. And it’s ironic because I think Generation-Z is so focused on authenticity, and really developing an organic relationship. So just seeing, especially in real estate, even some of my colleagues, just this forced marketing that they’re pushing out and it’s not going to work and it just won’t resonate with, I think the next generation of clientele. I don’t even know if that answered your question at all.

Jonathon: It does. This gets into specifics, what age group are we looking at with the Generation-Z then?

Chad: So born 1997 and on, so 20 or 22 and under.

Jonathon: Oh, right, because I’m Generation-X.

Robert: Don’t date yourself, John.

Jonathon: It’s that obvious I don’t need to. I’m going to put it over to Robert.

Robert: Awesome, because I have quite a few questions that are so near and dear to my heart. So, and I don’t think that some of the things that you talked about in your article actually played just to generation Z, but for the moment, let’s assume that they do. You mentioned something in your article; don’t produce overly polished marketing copy. Now, this is something that I’ve talked to and consistently talk to the clients of Inbound REM with all the time. And I’m curious to know, without me feeding you anything, what do you view as non-polished content? Like how do you define that?

Chad: So, the non-polished content and I will say this is something that I personally need to get better at doing, and it was kind of funny writing that article. I was like, damn, I’m a little hypocritical in this because everything I push you out I like it to be super clean, super-refined because I think it speaks well to the brand. But then as I’m writing this article and I’m thinking about what I react to, how my peers and friends and siblings and those type of people, what really just raw and authentic. And I know that’s a word that I kept using is authenticity but I think with like sales copy, for example, these certain sales buzzwords don’t use them.

I love the fact, right when we started out you say, Chad, sometimes I curse a lot, which I think is great because that’s authentic, that’s authentically you. And I think just taking off that film of overly polished, whether it be the copy or even just the certain aesthetic of certain things you want it to look as under– not under-produced but like natural. And that’s really what it’s all about because otherwise, it’s almost like it’s like stock video in a sense, that it’s not real video. You want something that’s organic. So, I’m going in circles with that.

Robert: Okay, so let me ask you a question. Now I’m going to spoon-feed you a question. I’m legitimately curious because I full marketing agency on the side and I’ve got like 18 people that worked for me and we’ve got about 50 to a hundred clients, States marketing space. So I’m curious, what is your opinion? So in that world, we produce some real estate videos and that the battle that I fight with my clients all the time is they want to go out and hire some dude and he’ll do drone shot. And then he’ll open, lay some fancy texts on the video and then we’ll talk about like, they’ll have some stuff scroll across the screen. And it’s usually some fancy music in the background and it’s talking about [inaudible 07:13]. And then–, I hate those videos. I hate them and I don’t watch them, okay.

Chad: They are boring, yes.

Robert: They feel like everybody’s the same. And then I’ve got what I coach my clients to do, which is a guy in the car, and I always drop the name of one of my favorite video influencers inside real estate space. But what Kristoff [inaudible 07:32] does, which is something like that where he has his camera posted. And he’s driving up the neighborhood and you see his face and he’s just looking at the house and he talks in a very genuine way about how he feels about the neighborhood.

He’s very knowledgeable so he always has a surprising amount to say, such as elevation, how many homes have sold in the neighborhood in the last 10 years. But he’s [inaudible 07:56] that in along with, I love this drive, I loved the Elm trees and the streets need a little work. Like that’s what he’s talking about. And then he arrives at his destination and turns the video off. And I like watching Kristoff’s videos.

Chad: Absolutely.

Robert: What’s your opinion? I’ve given you two different examples, if you’re talking to Generation-Z, which do you think is going to play better?

Chad: The latter, absolutely. And the reason why is because you’re talking to the camera like it’s your friend. Like, you would talk to someone that’s sitting right next to you. You can incorporate your personality into it that way and it’s just more genuine. Also, there are ways to do it, like you were saying, where you can integrate your knowledge on a certain topic or certain area or certain street and then that way it’s, it’s almost like you’re speaking to the audience directly. Like they’re your friend really and it’s authentic and genuine. So yeah, I definitely think that’s an awesome strategy because the whole– like you said, [inaudible 08:57] the expense of nice videos and all that.

But the entertainment value is not there and when there’s so much distraction digitally, you need entertainment value to attract just attention period. So yes, I think that that’s an awesome strategy that you’re talking about, about just driving through the neighborhood and like a ride.

Robert: Awesome, John, I have some questions for him. I’m going to take it in a different direction and talk about it because we have a young tech-savvy person who’s working for Compass. And I have some curiosity about their mobile app that they use the Compass brand off of and a few other questions, but I don’t want to go down that rabbit hole yet. So I’m going to toss it back over to you.

Jonathon: Yes, I’ll give you one more question and then probably go for a break and then I’ll hand it over to you Robert. So Chad, what’s really interesting now after writing this article? Now obviously in the Atlanta George area, which I know pretty well because my wife, my ex-wife comes one of the oldest families in Georgia and I use–

Robert: I didn’t know that.

Jonathon: And I used to go to Atlanta quite regularly. Speed maniac drivers, I must say.

Chad: Oh, it’s terrible. Well, I’m one of them but yes,

Jonathon: And I used to live in Germany and I’m used to [inaudible 10:24] and I was more scared of the and then I’ve been in Germany, I’ll be quite truthful about it. You wrote this article and you’re in the luxury area, and you’ve admitted that some of these things you’ve been at fault yourself. So on reflection, how are you going to change your own marketing in the coming months or into 2020 after reflecting on the article?

Chad: I think leveraging video a lot more. So really just taking that blog-style approach to behind the scenes because I did a little bit with video, but it was polished. There was a lot of production time and a lot editing that goes into it but I think really just leveraging video and letting my personality leak into it a little more. It was a good opportunity for me to reflect on my own marketing and I’ve really what I was lacking myself.

Jonathon: So more personality and what about the actual copy, because it’s difficult especially if you’re on the luxury side, but what’s your reflection on the copy in the actual written materials that you can that be?

Chad: Tastefully using emojis, which I don’t even know if that counts as a copy but it does. I know for the app, even if you’re running certain Facebook ads or things like that there are ways that we can just like some emojis and I’ve totally got myself doing that. Then in terms of language and that’s where at where I will say with copy, you never really want to integrate any slang. Like, you never want to be like, Oh, this boogie house, no; it’s not going to work. But I think, I don’t know, that honestly, that’s a good question that I,

Jonathon: It’s not that easy because you’re dealing with it, especially in the luxury market, you might be actually dealing with a slightly older grouping depending on how successful or how young they’d be, and the level of success. But in general, you are dealing with a much-dispersed age group, aren’t you? So I think like what you just said, you can’t go fully down. That would be attractive to just one age group, but on the other hand and if it’s too formatic too kind of polished; it’s probably going to put off a bigger group of people then you what you think.

Chad: Right.

Jonathon: Do you agree with that?

Chad: Yes, I would definitely agree. And I think there’s, it’s almost like a two-prong approach. So if I’m marketing my clients’ listings, it’s going to have a much different approach than if I were marketing myself. So if I’m marketing and branding myself, it’s going to–, I can incorporate my voice a lot easier and my tone and just certain words and copy and language and things like that. Whereas the listings, yes, those are going to be polished copy really in that sense. So I think it’s really just kind of a two-prong approach because it’s depending on who the audience.

Jonathon: Right, we’re going to go for our break. My co-host Robert has got a number of questions to ask which he’s going to ask in the second half. We’ll be back in a few moments’ folks.

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Jonathon: We’re coming back. Chad looks so young and polished. I look so haggard and I’ll think Robert’s going off to see the wicked witch; he’s got one in the background already.

Robert: That’s you and that everybody’s encouragement to watch the video. I have decors for Halloween.

Jonathon: Yes, I was tempted to say something but I didn’t, Robert over to you.

Robert: [Inaudible 14:38] straight for Jonathan.

Jonathon: Yes, so over to you Robert.

Robert: Alright, so one of the hot topics on the show here amongst the peoples because we get agents, we get brokers, we get other real marketing professionals but one of the hot topics has been Compass. And my fascination with compass is that Rifkin developed a mobile app. And from this mobile app, you basically turned it into this billion-dollar Wall Street baby that’s got this great story. And all these brokers are transferring over into the compass system. And they’re getting a piece of the pie in the form of shares and all this different stuff, but it’s really not addressing.

I keep hearing how amazing the technology is and I look and see a fairly polished website, a reasonably good mobile app and I’m not seeing the difference, technology-wise from Compass to other providers. So I’m curious, you’re young, and you’re technology-savvy, what were the selling points to go with Compass brokerage and are any of them technology-related? And if so, what would those be?

Chad: So I definitely think that was my core reason. Where I was at, so previously in the–, before I got into real estate, I actually started a software company sold it, and did the whole, whole nine yards there and then got into real estate. I had started at just a local boutique brokerage that was the ultra, ultra-luxury segment of it. It was a great opportunity and it’s an awesome, incredible brokerage where I was before but my biggest thing was the lack of technology being implemented. Because here I had this perspective coming from a 100% technology background, it’s like, wait, let’s do a–, streamline this and automate this and do that and blah, blah, blah and none of it was being used.

So I found myself almost trying to create my own systems and calling up my developer friends and just trying to Jerry rig these things together. Then as compass kind of entered the scene in Atlanta and it really started to get all the brokers shaking in their boots. It was the new shiny object on the block and I’m kind of looked into it, super intrigued with what they were doing, you know the story. But like you had said, where does the technology come into play, because everyone talks about technology. But it’s kind of like how does it happen? And I will say, when I got to compass, the biggest first immediate change is, the agent experience when it comes to the technology.

So everything with the marketing just using things like Slack and things like that with the support, with the marketing and then just all the back-end stuff. So the agent experience and honestly there’s still so much technology that I feel like I don’t even use enough that’s there. And that’s the cool thing that I do love about Compass is that I’m always discovering something else that they do that I’m like, Oh cool, I had no idea you could do this. It does maintain that kind of startup culture and startup vibe as well. But in terms of, I guess the technology when it comes to clients, the neatest thing that I’ve been able to use recently has been the collections.

So I have a couple of buyers, they have their searches set up and then basically the collections where it goes in and we can comment on individual properties. I know it sounds like, the interface sounds kind of simple in theory, but it didn’t exist before. There was no alternative to that, and just being able to collaborate with a variety of buyers. All that to say there definitely is an array of tools and technology, and I think there is still a long way to go for sure. Don’t get me wrong there, but it’s good to know that they have that forward-looking vision and there is already progress has definitely been made and very clear difference from where I was at before.

Robert: I got you. So, let me just re encapsulate this and make sure I understood you.

Chad: [Inaudible 18:55].

Robert: You’re more with a traditional, longstanding brokerage and I deal with these guys all the time. They’re probably 10, 20 years behind if they’re anything like most of the clients and then you have this new company. So, Slack, for those people that don’t know, it’s an instant messaging tool. It’s a collaboration tool that allows you to talk to; it would allow you to do like a virtual office thing. Very similar again to the audience to what EXP does, except maybe in a more condensed way.

Now you have a physical office, Jeff and his team transferred over and they’re still maintaining a brick and mortar, right?

Chad: Yes.

Robert: Okay, so you walk into an office, so that’s not the same as EXP guys, but the tools, the virtual tools are. And I’m assuming that the tool that you were talking about is a mobile search tool where people can get together and talk about looking at a property very similar. There is like IDX tools out there that do the same thing like showcase IDX, where you have like a buyer search party that can collaborate inside the search tool. Is that what you’re talking about?

Chad: Yes, so there is that element of it and it’s really so that whole back-end and they’re still building it out because the ultimate goal is to have the whole transaction on one platform. So we integrate the CRM and then the email marketing into that same search tool. So, I will say it’s a neat, and I can see when they log on, what they look at, what they save and we can make comments on the individual properties, and it’s a clean, clean interface. So just the whole UI and UX and everything and we have product expertise, they’ve built it out. So yes, that’s a cool, wow.

Robert: I got you. Okay, alright, so again, I’m hoping that we have a lot of younger members in the audience that understands the lingo. Just in case we don’t, UI is interface, UX is user experience. So all that Chad is indicating is that it’s friendly to look at, easy to use which is awesome. All the best tools today are the real estate marketing tools that are built by the younger generation such as Bold Leads, which was built by a 25-year-old, which most people don’t know.

Chad: I didn’t know that because I was looking into Bold Leads because I was thinking about using it, but that’s interesting.

Robert: Yes, so those tools have the younger mentality of we’re going to make it very streamlined, very easy to use because of your generation, my generation too. There are some great tools out there Chad, but they take some time, some of them, depending on what tool you’re talking about like they can take 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, or 60 hours to learn and set up. And there was almost no generation that–, except older IT guys that are like, okay, yes, I’ll spend 50 hours.

Like if it’s, I let my cousin look at it and 10 minutes into it, like one of these tools, he’s like, who, fucking uses this? He’s like, I’m not going to spend like, you’re my relative, and I’ll spend another 20 minutes if you want me to but this is ridiculous. Like he was trying to figure out how to use one of them and he’s very bright.

Chad: Right.

Robert: It was like, yes, okay. So that answered all the questions I needed to know. Alright, so having said that how are we doing on time? We’re doing pretty good. So I guess the last question I have is website technology in terms of Compass. I see that Jeff has a very nice website and he’s matched it to the compass colors. In terms of moving from an older brokerage into Compass, can you ask the–, I don’t know if this is going to be a trick question. I don’t mean it to be, but are you doing, like is that business now being driven like the lead generation part by digital marketing or is that, is that still not part of the package for you as an agent working for a Compass partner?

Chad: So, okay. So let me make sure I’m–, can you rephrase that?

Robert: Sure, sure. So as a guy that’s working for compass–.

Chad: Right?

Robert: Are you responsible for handling your own leads?

Chad: Oh, I see what you’re saying, okay.

Robert: Or do they hand them off to you from some kind of digital generation?

Chad: Right. So, I mean, it’s still in that sense, I guess traditional where we do generate our own leads. In most of it, especially just the way Atlanta is, and I’m sure it’s different in every market. But just the way Atlanta is, it’s just such a highly referral-based business. However, I will say I have gotten just from my compass landing page on the compass website, I’ve gotten inbound buyer leads and honestly, I have no idea how they even got there. But I just get a little email that says, so-and-so; Tim Jones wants to work with you. Here’s his phone number and his email and then I’ll call Tim Jones and he’s like, oh yes, I’m in– this is actually a true story.

He was in Boston; he knows how Compass is dominating Boston. He’s moving to Atlanta and he’s like, I just need someone that’s in Atlanta who knows it. And I know Compass is the way to go. So I have no idea how he found, but it came right through my Compass webpage. So I think they’re focusing a lot and that’s why they’re pushing the collections in the search tools, really in the coming soon, I think to ultimately bolster their SEO and their backlinks and all those tech things. So it ultimately will benefit I guess individual agents in that sense.

Robert: I got you, John.

Jonathon: No, I think we wrap up the podcast about the show. I’ve got some questions for the bonus content, which you could be able to watch on the Mail-Right YouTube channel. You’ll be able to watch the whole interview plus the bonus content, like I say, on the Mail-Right YouTube channel. Just go to YouTube, put in Mail-Right and you’ll find this and subscribe. We’ve got a host of videos on there and I normally posting interviews there the quickest. And also you’ll be able to the Mail-Right website and YouTube channel and iTunes to download this podcast and we are getting more views every month, which we are very appreciative of. Chad, how can people find you and find out more about what you’re up to in Atlanta?

Chad: Sure, so if you just Google Chad Carrodus I’m the only one and all of my socials, landing pages and contact information will come right up. So, C A R R O D U S.

Jonathon: That is handy that you are the only one, isn’t it? And Robert, how can people find out more about you and what you’re up to?

Robert: Well, they can’t Google my name because there’s soap opera star with the same name and–

Jonathon: [Inaudible 25:48] I was there at his first concert in Basildon.

Robert: It really upsets me. I’m an SEO guy and I can’t rank for my own name because of this guy who’s on the guiding light and has been for like 20 years and he’s this beautiful like Greek God kind of guy. And I’m like, God damn it, I’m never going to rank. Anyway, you can find me by going on to inboundrem.com and again, the word inbound and then robertedwardmichael.com. And if you want to learn something about real estate marketing, just check me out and see what I’m about, you can go there.

Jonathon: And if you want to find out more about Mail-Right about leads competitor. We’re on version two of Mail-Right, we are progressing, getting some great results for some of our initial agents. Go over and if you want to see more about our system, you can get a personal demo, a walkthrough from me by booking on the Mail-Right website and you can plot with me for half-hour. Not too bad, maybe is maybe isn’t, I don’t know. We’re going to close the show. We’re going to close this show now and we will be back next week with another fantastic guest. We’ll see you soon folks, bye.