149: Christopher Watters – Creating a Million Dollar Real Estate Team

On this episode of the InvestFourMore Real Estate Podcast, I interview Christopher Watters, who started Watters International Realty. Christopher started out in the real estate business at a young age, but it took him a while to find his niche as a real estate broker. He obtained his real estate license right after college but was distracted by a number of jobs within the real estate industry before he started his own company.

Christopher created a huge real estate team and then created a large real estate brokerage with multiple offices throughout Texas.  On the show, we talk about Christopher’s journey, including how he got started, how he created his team, how he finds leads, how to sell houses as an agent, how to create a brokerage, and much more.

How did Christopher get started in the real estate business?

Christopher went to college for a degree in finance. While in college, he started a lawn-mowing business. One of his customers convinced Christopher to get his real estate license after college. He worked for a brokerage for a few months but ended up joining another farm and ranch company. He became a land guy who tracked down mineral rights from landowners. Christopher did this for a few years but did not enjoy his job. In 2009, the market crashed for oil and gas, which caused Christopher to get laid off and lose his job. He invested all of his money into a restaurant and failed miserably in a few months. Christopher was broke, staying on his girlfriend’s couch, when he decided to start his own real estate company.

Hod did Christopher first create his real estate team?

Chris used extreme action to become successful in real estate. He would cold call as many expired and withdrawn listings as he could. He was calling people non-stop every day to get one or two listing appointments per day. His determination eventually paid off, and he was able to hire help. He built his team up to 15 people in 3 years but realized he was only selling 90 houses per year, which was not many houses for a 15-person team.

In 2010, he scraped everything and started over. He built a business that was carefully planned out. He was careful who he hired, how he hired them, and how he trained them. He was able to turn his new brokerage into a company that was selling hundreds of houses per year. We talk much more about his brokerage and how he runs it on the show.

What does a great agent do to sell houses?

I talk to Christopher a lot about what makes a really good agent. Christopher took massive amounts of action when he started, which most people are not willing to do. He also used persistence to get a hold of people. Sales statistics show that the best-converting sales call happens on the 6th or 7th call, but most people give up after one try. The other thing that most real estate agents do not do is follow up. An agent must follow up with their leads as many people are not ready to buy a house the day they are contacted, but they will be ready in the future.

We also talk about lead generation and how Christopher advertises his company. He started out with any lead source he could get but now has included television and radio advertising. Christopher uses a number of tactics to convert leads into clients and get leads in the door. He uses guarantees to sell houses, house buy-back programs, a commission menu, and much more.

How to contact Christopher and learn more

Christopher has written a book on how he created his team: Million Dollar Real Estate Team. Christopher is also looking to find franchisees for his real estate brokerage model, and you can find him at: WIRbook.com.