Phoenix, AZ - I caught up with entrepreneur Danny Loschiavo, who's made the lives of real estate agents a little bit easier and more profitable all the while creating over 40 new jobs and building a family business dedicated to giving back. In his own words "We connect real estate professionals to potential home sellers and buyers using marketing automation and social advertising at BoldLeads."
Where did the spark for an idea like this come from?
"My Mom was a real estate broker, and I saw just how many "scammy" companies were out there preying on real estate professionals by overpromising and overcharging. I was a marketing software geek, so we teamed up to create BoldLeads, a marketing system that actually produces real results. We then added a layer of training to make sure our clients see results, and it's grown tremendously from there."
Tell me about your hiring process?
"Building a great company is impossible without a team of superstars, so it's a high priority for us. We don't always get it right, but we've built internal systems to help streamline the process and make it easier for us and for candidates. I try to oversee and sign off on each hire, to ensure that they are a cultural fit and are willing to hustle."
How important is great hiring?
"Very. It's too expensive and resource intensive to risk a hiring mistake. We have a great team that makes it pretty painless."
Any particularly sought-after elements in selection of team members?
"I like to see a history of entrepreneurial thinking and a bias for taking action. Theory is great, but it's pointless without relentless execution. The best performance predictor is a candidate's past. Hire the person, not their skills or their resume. Flexibility, drive, personality and scrappiness is much more valuable to a company in our stage."
Favorite interview question you enjoy asking?
"I like to channel my inner Peter Thiel and ask, "What important truth do very few people agree with you on?"."
Any hilarious interviewing stories?
"We've definitely had our fair share of weirdness. Since we're a virtual company and our staff works all over the country, we do a combination of phone interviews, video interviews and occasional in person interviews. I've seen candidates show up to video interviews while they're driving and we even had one answer the video call while he was shirtless by the pool!" Those amateurs should read the last chapter of The Naked Interview: Hiring Without Regret regards interviewing and getting hired!
Back to your business, are you willing to share some examples of results?
"We've heard hundreds of raving success stories from our clients. The median real estate agent salary is just $39,000, which equates to less than one deal per month. With the help of our system, our clients can close much more than that."
"Debra, an agent in Texas, has already closed over 26 deals from us. Rose in Ontario has closed 12 listings in the past two months. Even agents in super competitive areas are seeing results. It is important to mention that it is a system that needs to be followed and worked. You can't expect to close new business if you don't want to call new inquiries on the phone."
"Being a real estate agent is a tough job, and we're out to make it easier to find and connect with new clients. As a family owned business, we believe in supporting our clients and have always been truly invested in ensuring their success with the help of Bold Leads."
What has kept you driven for success?
"We're really trying to help our clients grow their own businesses and succeed. As cheesy as it sounds, we're driven by the success of our clients." Sounds a lot meatier than cheesy to me; well done to Danny and his team!