7 Key Takeaways from a Conversation with Spring Bengtzen

Utah’s Top Producing Team Shares Secrets to Success

In a recent webinar cohosted by Sisu and Sierra Interactive, Spring Bengtzen, CEO and Owner of Utah Life Real Estate Group, shared the strategy and tactics behind how the No. 1 real estate team in Utah is poised to close more than 750 units this year even in a challenging market. The interactive case study covered the surprisingly simple tech stack driving their success along with how they’re leveraging the solutions to run – and scale — the business.

Here’s the top takeaways from the conversation:

1) Less is, actually, more. Make your technology work for you, not against you.

When it comes to technology in real estate, often the prevailing move is to go after the latest shiny object. But for Spring Bengtzen and her team, a simple and streamlined approach to systems building has proven to be foundational to their success and has enabled them to set ambitious goals. Utah Life uses Sierra’s IDX website, CRM and PPC ad management services for lead generation, nurturing and conversion, and Sisu, a best-in-class real estate operating system for reporting, metrics tracking, transaction management, communications portal and more. Sierra CRM and Sisu are integrated through a robust direct API to create a seamless platform to drive and guide the business.

“It needs to be simple for the agents, but it also has to be simple for us as business owners,” said Bengtzen. “Everything in one system. That is the key. Sierra and Sisu and that’s all you have to learn and all you have to know to be successful.”

2) If the data is not in your system, it doesn’t exist.

Capturing and tracking your leads and clients as well as activities like calls, emails, texts and appointments is critical data to have. It helps you understand if your marketing and lead gen efforts are working. It helps you determine if you’re doing what it will take to meet your goals. It also provides transparency around how your team is performing and what they are spending time on. After all, you can’t manage what you don’t measure. If you’re running your business and tracking progress using spreadsheets – or worse – a pencil and paper, chances are you’re missing tons of opportunity and you’re not hitting your goals. In fact, chances are you’re unable to even set those goals in the first place.

“If it doesn’t exist in Sisu or Sierra, it doesn’t exist in our world,” Bengtzen explained.

3) Use your data to audit your business, make decisions and uncover untapped avenues for growth.

Not only should you capture every datapoint you can, you should audit the data to help you make business decisions. Whether it’s understanding whether a lead source is performing for you or determining how many appointments you need in order to meet your transactions goal, the answer probably lies in your data. Utah Life has a virtual assistant audit their database every Sunday to ensure all leads are tagged and categorized appropriately and have the proper activities recorded to them. If any agent falls short, this reflects on their scorecard, and they are removed from receiving new leads until they’ve caught up. Like an elite sports team, Utah Life knows all their stats. They know exactly what it will take to meet their audacious goals because they capture and track all the activities that go into every transaction.

“I can tell you based on those rings [in Sisu] that every 5 appointments met is a closing,” said Bengtzen. “So 400 appointments met will be 80 closings.”

She added, “[The data] helps me make educated decisions. I can tell what’s worth spending money on.”

4) Strategic agent recruitment is critical to scale.

Utah Life recruits and onboards several agents a month. To do it, they have to have a structured onboarding program and high expectations. Every new agent goes through a 2-week bootcamp, and they get access to Sierra CRM on day 1. On day 2, each agent gets 10 old leads from a lead pond to cold call and text. This helps team leaders determine whether the new agent is comfortable getting on the phone and initiating conversations. Because everything, including recorded phone calls, is captured in the database, team leaders gain transparency very quickly on how much the agent is working, how many dials they’re making, how many texts and emails they’re sending and whether they are hitting expectations on how to work a lead.

“You are what you accept for your standards,” noted Bengtzen. 

5) It comes down to what the agent is willing to do.

You can give your agents a simple world-class real estate tech stack. You can provide them with a pond of leads to work. You can give them clear expectations and measure their performance against KPIs. But, ultimately, it comes down to how much work the agent is willing to put in. Are they following up with leads? Are they prospecting?

“If they’re not willing to have conversations, there’s nothing we can coach them on,” she said. “If you want opportunities, you have to show that you’re working.”

Bengtzen also indicated it’s important to match goals to financial aspirations. Some agents are Prius level and some want the Ferrari. You’ll need to adjust accountability tactics, set benchmarks and provide coaching accordingly. 

6) Don’t forget your SOI and past clients.

Discovering an untapped avenue for growth, Spring Bengtzen shared candidly that one of the big goals for her team this quarter is to create more business from their sphere of influence and past clients. When Bengtzen recognized that 70% of leads coming in were already in their database (there’s that data again!), she knew they could improve the way they interact with and provide value for their SOI and past clients so they are more likely to know, like and trust the team. They plan to leverage Sierra to create more touches and distribute more high-value content to these audiences to keep Utah Life top of mind to pave the way for sustained repeat business and referrals. 

7) There’s always a model for success in real estate.

The best thing about the real estate industry? So many top producers like Spring Bengtzen and her team are willing to share the secrets behind their success. It’s the industry of masterminding. There are many business models, programs, coaching plans and playbooks available to real estate teams to help them build, grow and scale their business. It’s a matter of being willing to learn and a commitment to consistency and execution.

“People are always giving you the blueprint in real estate, and I love that, Bengtzen said. “’This is what I do and how I do it’, you just have to execute.”

Want to catch the entire replay for yourself? Watch it now: