You’re now known. You’ve worked the open houses. You’ve shaken the hands, stats forward. You’ve built the database of contacts. You’ve sent follow-up emails. You started a monthly newsletter. Other agents, potential clients, developers, and industry professionals have met you. But do they really know you? Are you fully linked in their minds with what you sell? Or are you still just another agent in the game, the nice guy from an open house a few weeks ago?

Get in their face. Stay in their face. Show them who you are all the time.

Matt and I are not just rock stars in this game because of our stats. We’re killing it even more because we are the face of luxury real estate. We are synonymous with high-end, multimillion-dollar dream living. We are the Nike sign of Los Angeles mansions, true ballers. Our brand is baller. We make it that way.

How have we accomplished this? We sell ourselves as much as we sell luxury property. We are old-school hand shakers, 100% accessible for our clients 24/7 in ways other agents avoid. We hit people over the head relentlessly with an image of success that marks us as experts, as ballers; we use numbers, follow-up emails, and newsletters to show off our “inventory”: the best celebrity homes in Los Angeles.

But being on television has helped established us even more so, branding us in people’s mind as the super-agents to the stars. It’s been huge. And yet celebrity clientele may not watch the show. They know who we are because they themselves are big dogs. Nevertheless, our success and our presence on BRAVO act only as passive opens.

What we do next is take action to make ourselves visible at the highest end associated with our brand. Then, when someone goes digging, when someone thinks “I want a killer mansion overlooking the Pacific, there may be a few agents to go to, let me check out these LA TV guys, the Altman Brothers,” we are ready to wow. Matt and I leave no question that we are boss, the guys to go to if you’re licking your lips for luxury in Los Angeles.

Working the Web: Social Media and the Press

Check out our website. What do you see? That’s right, the dream. Visuals that say: “You’ve made it. You’re Hollywood.” A Rolls-Royce pulls into a circular driveway. There’s a fountain in the center. The video pans to exclusive listing after exclusive listing. Infinity pools spill into the Pacific. Media rooms. Chef’s kitchens. Putting greens. Windows floor to ceiling. Terrace fireplaces. Modern mansion after modern mansion from the canyons to the coast.

People now know our brand is baller because we put it in their face without doubt. We dress our business the same way we dress ourselves, sharp, expensive. The most modern technology allows state-of-the-art selling to further enhance the Altman brand.

For instance, we don’t shoot videos for our website with iPhones. For us, cutting-edge technology is a huge open. The Altman Brothers are known for how we use tech. We hire an Architectural Digest–level photographer for every listing we represent, we make a “walk-through” 360-degree video of the interior, and we hire a drone team to film the outside.

By the time we’ve left the driveway, we have the listing. We’ve wowed a client and for a moment, we’ve gotten to feel like a kid again with a new toy. To get the listing we’ve taken the passive open of an internet video and flipped it into an active open with a hands-on demonstration.

Use everything you’ve got to open, work, and close. We’ve just renewed the drone contract for 50 flights. That’s how killer it’s been. It’s our brand and it’s in your face the moment you land on our site. Featured listings might come and go off thealtmanbrothers.com, but our milestone sales are always there, inviting potential clients to see our stats.

The combo of video and stills create movement and a sense of energy. Video also has stronger pull on Google rankings as does generating new content from blogs, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. This is another reason why you should spend the extra time each day posting, to drive whatever site you are connected to higher in the listings.

The giant websites – Trulia, Zillow, and Redfin – cover real estate for a massive worldwide audience. If you flow content through a website or blog, find a gap, an under-reported niche, something that means you specialize in areas – local or worldwide – that others do not. You’re an expert. You’re the go-to guy for certain desires. We are luxury LA. So, we put that out there.

Write about the issues common to your clients as they buy and sell real estate. Do you sell a lot of vacation properties? Are you in the mountains or by the sea? Selling barrier islands off the Carolina coast requires a different set of skills. You have them, others don’t. Put that out there. If you’ve got specialized knowledge and experience, show it off. Everybody loves experts. Put it on your site. Post it online. Your brand needs to be repeated everywhere you appear.

Our “we sell the dream” branding is reinforced by text and image. So I won’t be posting a selfie of me food shopping, but I will post a photo of Heather and me on the ramp of a private jet at LAX. My clients relate to that. They have private jet money (PJM). And if they want a house that screams they have it, then they know to call us.

Whether you drive a Camry down I-95 or cross the continent in a G650, pick the one your clientele can relate to and post it. That’s what I mean by always thinking about branding.

To help us with all this, the Altman Brothers use consultants for internet marketing and publicity. Both fields change so quickly and are essential for making money. We want the best experts to do what they do, and we’ll stick to the real estate. That’s what we do.

Search engine optimization (SEO), hash tags, images, linking, video, and cross posting are all internet strategies that keep people on our site, clicking. The internet amplifies publicity, re-posting media across our social media platforms and pulling eyes toward our site, toward us, the closers. With a click or two a potential client is on our landing page, blown away, hungry, jealous, dreaming of success.

Get on Zillow. Your site’s traffic will blow up as soon as you connect. Beware of trolls but overall, Zillow boosts your business energy and the good far outweighs any threats of strange posts.

Beyond a website, create a business page on Google. Link this page to your website, blog, twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and so on to maximize SEO and drag your business up to a higher listing spot on the screen. Host webinars or teach a free class in real estate. Film it. Post it. Keep your feeds active.

Always provide your contact info and your website in anything you post. Let people know how to find you. That’s the whole point. Never engage with anyone who wants to fight online. They’re fools. They’ll bring you down. Ignore them. Hide negative comments or turn them off completely and just broadcast. Don’t be a schmuck.

The idea is to get people to stay on your site. You want to stay in their face all of the time. You want their jaws dropped in awe of what you offer, your brand. The longer they stay, the more chances you’ll have to open, work, close. You’ll make money. New content and images do this. Keep them flowing onto the page.

Give Expert Advice

Give advice as well. This keeps clients interested. Give to get. We have a section of our web presence dedicated to selling your home and what to look for when buying. This shares our expertise. We’re giving to get. We’re educating about the process that makes our jobs easier. As a result, people look to us as experts. When that happens, the press looks to us for comments. We love that. This “expert” role is also hugely useful to the press. More give to get. Once they see how open, smart, and easy you are to talk to, you’ll hear from them on a regular basis.

Broker’s caravans (opens) and other industry gatherings are a great place to meet real estate journalists. As you establish contacts, stay in their face. Forward them interesting information, insider tips and real estate gossip. Cultivate them as your “influencers,” people who are highly visible and likely to mention your name on social media or among your professional peers. They’ll market and brand for you. The result? PJM—private jet money.

These tactics will also lead to more money through speaking engagements. I speak all over the world and mentor young agents. I do this in part to pay it forward, and part for branding – more ways to open means more deals to close. For every person in the room, two more hear about the speech when they tell their friends. I give a talk to 3,000 people, who post about it on social media. The video goes up on YouTube and Facebook and thousands more see it. The word gets out.

A year ago I gave a speech in San Francisco. Afterward, Matt and I talked with this great guy and sent him some referrals. He didn’t forget us. How could he? We were in his face, and because of our follow-ups and branding, we stayed in his face. When he encountered an overseas businessman’s real estate agent who was searching in LA for his client, he referred the agent to us. Of course, we took the lead. We always take the lead.

The listing we had to show was known as the “White House of the West,” Dorothy Chandler’s house, as in Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, home of the Academy Awards for many years. We had it on the market for $10 million. The place actually did resemble the White House slightly, with a long winding front walk to where huge columns form a portico. Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon had all slept in this American Beaux-Arts house designed by the three architects who created Hearst Castle.

I mean this home was historic and baller, sitting right on Windsor Square in Hancock Park. Neighbors once included J. Paul Getty and now the mayor of Los Angeles. The house has undergone five massive renovations and has 400-year-old French limestone on the kitchen floors, a new swimming pool with an Ozone system, a music room with a grand concert piano, a new irrigation system, and a new landscaping design. The overseas businessman and his agent walked the house and said they’d take it. Just like that. Matt and I shot each other a look, said our farewells and kept moving.

The next morning, boom, $10 million was wired into escrow ! I wish it could always be that easy. That was a good day in real estate and all because through branding I opened myself up to speaking engagements as a form of more branding, a form of marketing, a form of opening to close.

To keep going with this mindset of branding, the Altman Brothers recently leased new office space in Beverly Hills, the old Lululemon storefront. We needed more room because we’re killing it, yes, but truly the move was strategic in that location for more in-your-face branding. We are a fabric of the neighborhood, the face of success. We have large windows in the front, where we’ll set up a weekly podcast with celebrities and real estate stars that we’ll then promote from our social media feeds. It’s in your face in the richest neighborhood in the nation.

Is Beverly Hills really the richest neighborhood in the nation? It doesn’t matter. It’s associated as such. It’s branded. It’s Beverly Hills. That’s us: the Altman Brothers for all to see. We are this neighborhood; we represent this neighborhood. We buy, sell, and build this neighborhood. We’re baller.

Who are you? Are you even an agent? If I go to your website right now will you be proud of what I find? Can I find you anywhere online? If I can, will I know immediately what it is that you offer, that you sell? Will this make me trust you as a closer? Are you who I want to work with? Do you scream success?

Concierge Extraordinaire

You’re going “Hollywood” now, which means that above and beyond your brand, you need to up what you offer. There’s an advanced Game-Time mentality you as an agent need to understand, that you need to possess if you want to make money like we make money. Ready for it?

You don’t just sell houses. You sell lifestyle. You sell dreams. You sell the unattainable and you make it easy for your client to get. To do this, you’re prepared to offer your client anything. As long as it’s legal, you answer the phone and you make it happen. Otherwise – and this is especially true with the superstar clientele we have – they’ll just call someone else. And when it comes time for an investment property, they’ll call that person again instead of you.

You’re “Hollywood” now, so you need to become a concierge. Here’s the deal.

Matt just heard from a client we sold a house for (and to) last year. He called because he now wants a playground in his yard. Do you think we at the Altman Brothers were like, “Sorry, bro, we sell houses, not slides and swingsets”? Hell no! Matt smiled and responded, “No problem.”

Within the hour he found a company that manufactures and constructs playgrounds, sent over brochures to the client, and then orchestrated a purchase and installation. Matt closed. No commission check – but remember, this is the long play. That client will eventually be in the market for a new home, or know others who are, and will call us. Why? Because we get things done. Whatever’s needed.

This all ties in with Robert Cialdini and his restaurant/mint experiment. Give to get. We act like a concierge to the rich as much as we act like their real estate agent. Nothing beats personal service and that is what we provide at top level. Our clients know that we’ve got their backs no matter what.

Need a pool guy? No problem. Lakers tickets? No problem. Lawn care? No problem. Yacht rental? Done. Oh, you want to look at houses in the middle of the night because can’t miss the concert at the Hollywood Bowl first, and then you’re going to hit a few nightclubs? We got VIP passes. Our car will get you at the airport. Where would you like to go to dinner? Boom. Business. Long-term.

We get requests for anything and everything and we always rise to the challenge. We are the best. You can be too. Please your clients. Open, work, close. Do this and you too will make money.