How do you get on the same page with your property scouts, without meeting with each scout 1-on-1?
Hey Moguls, Dolmar Cross here letting you know that the struggle is real…
You want your scouts to succeed, but the whole point of your property scout program is to hire scouts who will find properties for you and free you up to do the things that make your business succeed.
The best way to do this is to set up in-depth training materials they can access any time they want.
How to Train
Your online property scout training should be in 2 forms:
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Training Manual
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Multimedia
Your property scouts should have a training manual—something they can read through initially, refer back to frequently and take with them as they’re “driving for dollars.” The training manual should include:
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everything you want your property scouts to know about your business
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the types of properties you’re looking for
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how to find those properties
Plus, you should use multimedia—audio and video added to your website for additional training, examples or explanations.
Multimedia is key because it allows you to explain concepts that are hard to communicate in writing. And remember that people tend to retain much more of what they see and hear than what they read.
Multimedia also gives your scouts an opportunity to connect with you. They can put a face and personality with the emails they’re receiving and really feel like a team member.
Your scouts should have easy access to a download of the training manual, and they should be able to log into a scouts training area on your website where they can view your multimedia tools.
The Source
So where does this multimedia content come from?
There are thousands of free YouTube videos and resources already out there. If you’ve found certain videos helpful, don’t be afraid to use them—just add a link to the videos on your scout training pages, maybe with your own short intro explaining how the video applies to your business and your scouts.
You can also buy training videos ready-made or you can make your own. You might choose a mix of these 3 approaches.
Audio Tools
If you’re creating your own training audio materials (and video too) I highly recommend AudioAcrobat. You don’t need to be a techno-wiz to use it, and they give you 30 days free, then it’s only $19.95/month.
AudioAcrobat allows you to record audio or video on your phone or computer and upload it to their site. Once your content is uploaded, AudioAcrobat will transform it to a website-ready format. Then you can copy and paste the content and embed it on your website. So easy.
AudioAcrobat will even allow you to customize the audio controls that appear on your site. You can choose the size, style and color you prefer. You can set the audio to play automatically, or you can set the audio to play only when the scout clicks a “play” button that looks something like this:
Video Tools
The fastest, cheapest way to start recording video for your website is to simply use the video feature on your smartphone. From there, you can upload the video to AudioAcrobat or even to YouTube, which is free.
YouTube will give you the embed code to copy and paste your video to your website. Plus, YouTube allows you to set videos as public or as private. If you want to use videos for marketing or to recruit new property scouts, you can publish the videos as public on YouTube so anyone can see them.
When you record videos, don’t stress about making the perfect video. You want your scouts to connect with you, so don’t feel like you need to toss a video because you stumbled over your words once or twice.
But if you do want to do a little bit of editing, there are some easy-to-use tools out there. My favorites are SnagIt and Camtasia.
SnagIt, which was originally just created for recording screenshots, makes it so easy to record your screen or import your own camera footage. You can create and edit a great-looking video (even if you’ve never made one before) for a 1-time cost of only $49.95.
A more advanced tool is Camtasia. Camtasia does basically everything SnagIt can do, but also lets you add professional-quality titles, animations, music, transitions and more. It’s also a bit pricier at $199.
Training Content
Okay, so what’s the actual content that goes into your training manual and/or your training audios/videos?
The content of your property scout training could possibly vary based on the types of deals you’re looking for. Are you a wholesaler? Rehabber? Landlord? Short sale investor? All of the above?
You need to determine what strategies you’ll be using before you start recruiting any property scouts.
As a starting point, consider using this list of topics as your training manual outline:
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General Business Overview
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Property Finder Program Overview
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Motivated Home Sellers
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Finding Motivated Home Sellers
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Submitting Leads
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Getting Paid
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Other Terms, Disclaimers, etc.
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Lead Sheet
Now… get going to customize this list and add your own audio/visual components to fit your training needs.
Whatcha Think?
What multimedia tools have you found most useful? Join the conversation below!
1. Set up a scout training page on your website.
2. Outline the topics you’re going to cover in your manual and multimedia.
3. Try out a few multimedia tools to find what works best for you.
4. Keep collecting and creating great training resources for your scouts.
Dolmar Cross
Dolmar is a guy who struggled, at first, to get his investing business off the ground. But, thanks to some fierce determination, raw persistence, and a savvy mentor’s friendly guidance and help, he eventually starting making it happen.
But the money went right to his head; he started splurging… snazzy luxury cars, taking friends on lavish trips. He thought he was on top of the world and could do no wrong. Unfortunately that’s when it usually all hits the fan—which is exactly what happened to Dolmar.
When the market crashed in ’08 Dolmar lost everything (literally – everything; he had to file for bankruptcy). Discouraged, he met with an investor who gave him some powerful insight, basically kicked his butt back into dusting himself off and getting right back to it – for the sake of his kids – to teach them that when things get hard, we don’t just quit. We fight on.
So with this powerful, new mindset and very little money left, Dolmar found himself with a sincere need to get good property leads without spending any money. Thus sparked the inspiration for the Property Scout Pipeline.