Jen
Kendall, are you getting ready for fall? Are you in the mood? Have you gotten a pumpkin spice latte yet?
Kendall Pashak
Yes, to all of those things. My house has been decorated for weeks. Probably had a pumpkin spice latte the first day they were out, but you know.
Jen
Of course it has!
Jen
I knew I could count on you to be ready for fall. I love following you on social and just seeing all the fun things you're doing with your kiddos. Did I see a construction cake recently?
Kendall Pashak
Yes, my son just turned three and his whole birthday was construction themed. So we are, we just, we love the trucks. We live in a new construction community. we often walk down and check them out. So it's fitting. It's fitting. Yes. I'm grooming him. Yeah.
Jen
Just startin' him early. I was gonna say, you're grooming him, you're starting him early, getting him exposed to the industry. I love it. Just wait till he starts mimicking you on the phone when you're talking with customers.
Kendall Pashak
Yes.
Kendall Pashak
I'm sure it's right around the corner.
Jen
My kids would always do that. There was the customer service voice, right, Mom? When she's talking to, they always knew, like, okay, I gotta be quiet.
Kendall Pashak
Yes.
Kendall Pashak
My husband mocks me all the time. He's like, are you just circling back in or are you just going to add something to the MLS?
Jen
That's so funny. My kids had it down pat, man. They were just like, thank you for calling Jen Barkin, new home specialist representing Culpepper Landing. How can I help you today? was really, it was really fun.
Kendall Pashak
Yes.
Kendall Pashak
Kids are the best. Then they pick up on everything. Yeah.
Jen
my gosh, I'm so excited. yeah, yeah. Well, I can't wait. I'm so glad you're here and cannot wait to talk with you.
Jen
Welcome to episode 46 of Online People Talking. Today with me is the award-winning online sales superstar, Kendall Pashak. Welcome to Opt. Absolutely. You know, I don't know if you remember this, but before we had the podcast, right, we did Online People Talking on Facebook live. And do you remember when you were first?
Kendall Pashak
Thank you.
Kendall Pashak
Yes.
Jen
on as a guest?
Kendall Pashak
It was a really long time ago. Like right when it first started, I feel like we're shortly after.
Jen
Yeah, it was episode 11. I had to look back because I was like, oh, I've had Kindle on, you know, since then, you know, and I was like, when was the last time I looked back? It was it was November of 2020. Yeah, well, craziness was upon us, right? And we talked about all things realtor relationships.
Kendall Pashak
my gosh.
Kendall Pashak
my gosh.
Kendall Pashak
Yes
Jen
I why, I don't remember, like why were we talking about that then? I don't know. I think it was because, didn't you get your real estate license kind of around then or was it after that?
Kendall Pashak
I don't know.
Kendall Pashak
Yeah, no, it would have been right around then. Yeah.
Jen
Yeah, and I remember you kind of talking about like how that had helped you like kind of connect with realtors at the time.
Kendall Pashak
Yes, yeah, learning how to kind of speak their language a little bit better.
Jen
Yeah. Well, we'll table that for a second and we'll get into it. Well, we're so glad you're here. We have a couple of housekeeping things that we need to take care of and I'll have you do this Tito shout out with me. So Tito stands for top industry talented OSC. And this episode's Tito goes to Daniel Evans with Bechard Holmes. Kendall, she made 908 outbound calls.
in the last 30 days. What do you think about that?
Kendall Pashak
That's crazy. That's amazing. Yeah, that's nuts. That's a lot. That's a lot.
Jen
That's a lot, right? So shout out, Coach Amanda told me about that. She works with Danielle and I was like, holy cow, she needs a Tito. That's amazing. Yeah. But I remember something that you said to me recently, Kendall, was make the outbound calls because what else are you gonna do?
Kendall Pashak
sure. I don't know that I've ever made that many outbound calls in a month. That's great.
Kendall Pashak
Yes. Yeah. Your company's paying you to be working the whole time. So if the phone's not ringing for you, you need to be doing something to bring value to the company.
Jen
Yeah, absolutely. That's a good point, right? Instead of just sitting there waiting for things to happen, you got to make things happen, which is, you know, kind of what we're going to talk about today. What are online people talking about? I've been hearing this a lot lately of like, I feel like I've exhausted prospecting list or who else do I need to call or how do I continue to stay motivated in a slower market or in a down market?
Kendall Pashak
Yes.
Jen
And you always have such a positive outlook on things. know different times I've talked to you over the years and it's like, and there's been ups and downs. I mean, feel like, I mean, gosh, 2020, did you have kids yet at that point? No. Right? Like, I feel like there's so many things in life that you've navigated over the last several years. And with that has come fluctuations in the market.
Kendall Pashak
Mm-mm. Nope.
Jen
personally, professionally, all those things. And you always have such a great mindset about how to approach those ebbs and flows. And I think everybody needs to hear that right now. Everybody needs a little bit of a mindset shift and a little bit of motivation. And who better to give that to them than a fellow online sales specialist who is in the trenches with you guys. So.
I want to talk about a few things. Before we kind of get into that though, share with everybody a little bit of your kind of background, your industry story.
Kendall Pashak
Sure. So I started in new construction, fresh out of college. I was hired as a on-site sales assistant. In my very first interview, the owner of the company was like, what's a closing? I said, I don't really know. I think it's a testament of like, you know, if you've got the heart and the passion, the knowledge can be taught, but.
The drive can't. And so I think that that's kind of what I had brought to the table when I got hired there. I was on site not even a full year. And then the company I worked for decided that they were going to bring their marketing in-house, which is what my degree was. And so I'm like, that's what I want to do. So I moved into that role and at the time they did not have an online salesperson. So they're like, we're also going to let you do that too. Yes.
Jen
We're gonna let you do that, yes.
Kendall Pashak
So, and kind of test it out to see if it was like even worth pursuing down the road. And so I started the online sales program there and did the marketing, which anybody who's done both knows that it's really hard to do both to their full capacity at the same time and really give both their all. in, gosh, I don't know, 27, must have been 2017 or 2018. 2018, I got recruited to move into the builder that I'm at.
currently, is just their sole OSCE, which was really exciting to be able to just focus on one role and really give it my all versus being torn and pulled in a million different directions. So I've been at Hartford for about six and a half years now. I do have my real estate license, so I do all of our listings as well. But that's kind of where I'm at. Almost 10 years that I've been doing new construction. Yeah.
Jen
Yeah. Yeah.
Wow. Wow. I don't think I remembered that you started an on-site sales.
Kendall Pashak
Yeah, it was not for me, but it also I think has really helped me because I have a lot of empathy for our on-site team and I know what they go through and kind of what that is like too, so I'm able to connect with them that way.
Jen
and you quickly, I was gonna say.
Jen
Yeah, yeah, we'll definitely talk about that today, just how you have that relationship with them. What's your favorite thing about what you do? So you've been on site, you've been marketing, online sales, like, yeah, yeah, that's next, right? What's your favorite thing about what you get to do?
Kendall Pashak
done it all except for construction. Yeah, maybe.
Kendall Pashak
I think that our role is really unique because we get to meet with people or talk with people when they're most excited. The emotional height is like there when we're talking to them, because they're not really thinking through all of the logistics. So I think that part is really fun, but I think the most fun part is the hunt and getting, like being able to eventually get a yes out of somebody who was either a no or had also never responded to you. So.
I think that that's the most fun is when you're like, gosh, I've reached out to this person 50 times and now they're finally ready to come out. Like it's such a win and it so much time goes into that and it's not immediate gratification, which is really hard in our world today. But when you do get that, yes, it means so much more knowing the work that you've put into that.
Jen
I'm right.
Jen
So I love what you're saying there because you're absolutely right. Like in a world of immediate gratification and if you have that sales mindset, when you get those immediate conversions and like it kind of fuels you, the hard part is that long, the long tail of the lead, right? The long runway, which is hard. But I agree with you, man. That's the best. Cause you're like, look what I did.
Kendall Pashak
Yeah.
Kendall Pashak
Yes.
Jen
I had to like really work hard for this.
Kendall Pashak
Yes.
Kendall Pashak
Yeah. Well, and we, did like a on-site prospecting training for our team. And that was one of the questions that the gals asked us, asked me was like, how do you stay motivated when you've reached out to this person a hundred times and they haven't responded? And that was the only thing that I could respond with is that I know it works. It takes time, but I do know it pays off. And you know, here's the data to support that. Like, yes, you get a lot of no's or you have months where maybe it doesn't pay off, but down the road it will.
And that's where it's worth it because ultimately you're in control of what you make and the value that you provide to your company. And that's how you do it.
Jen
Yeah, I love that. You have seen it work. So that's interesting. So you have an opportunity to be able to share kind of what your best practices are in online sales with Onsite.
Kendall Pashak
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Jen
So how often do you do that?
Kendall Pashak
not, not super often, but I feel like a couple of times a year we try to do some type of like online sales training for our onsite team. which is helpful to give them insight as to like what I do on a day-to-day basis. But at the end of the day, like they all have a pipeline that they should be working to. And there's not as much training around that of truly how to like engage your old leads and all of that, because.
as onsite, like they're so focused on today's leads and like the last 30 days and not as focused on the really old leads, but there is a lot of value in that. And in a slow market, like we all have the bandwidth to be working those people. And so I think that that's where an online salesperson can provide more value to the onsite sales team too of like, here's how you can do it, or here's some messaging around that, or here's what I do.
Jen
Mm-hmm.
Kendall Pashak
to just re-engage those people. And we've seen it. this year we've had several people who were in our onsite pipeline for a year or two years come back out and contract because our team has been staying in front of them, which is great. Yeah.
Jen
That's amazing. I love that. Well, you we kind of got into, you know, what we were what I was saying we were going to talk about is just how to stay motivated, how to keep going. So let's dive in a little bit more on the prospecting piece. And if you could share just kind of some pro tips with everybody listening, you know, how you approach prospecting, any tips and tricks that you see work on your end.
Kendall Pashak
Sure. think when the market is slow, that kind of all prospecting things go out the window and you're like, let's just hit every list. All of the people are getting hit, even if they've said they've purchased elsewhere or whatever. We know people don't stay in their house forever. So there's always opportunities sitting in our pipeline. We just have to go out and find them. And it requires work. I think the best thing that you can do is be consistent.
Even if it's not the best thing that you've ever pumped out, it's more important to stay in front of people than to have the most perfect message. I think that right now, the best thing to do is educate buyers. It's not salesy, it's not pushy, but it's just providing updates on where we're at in the market or whatever that looks like. I think that consistency is the most important thing.
Jen
Yeah.
Kendall Pashak
and making sure that you're doing a variety of prospecting, not just a mass mail, but you're also doing the phone calls, you're doing texts, you're doing bomb bombs, which is like my least favorite thing, but I've been doing them because it works and it is important to hit people in a variety of ways because, you know, when you look back at old leads that resurfaced, like they may have received a hundred emails from you, but the time that they responded was to a text or was to a phone call or a voicemail.
Jen
Hahaha
Jen
Yeah.
Jen
Mm-hmm.
Kendall Pashak
So I think that that's the most important thing is doing it every single month at least and doing it in a variety of ways.
Jen
Something you said to me one time, I think we were talking about like response requires a response, right? And making sure that if somebody is engaging back with you, that it's one thing to get the response, but like, okay, what are you doing then to make sure that you're engaging back, that you're following up with them and things like that. And when we were talking about this, you said to me, response by response. Like talk a little bit about what you meant by that.
Kendall Pashak
Mm-hmm.
Kendall Pashak
Yeah.
Kendall Pashak
I think that once you find the way that people like to be communicated with, then it's important that you follow that. So if people are liking texts, then following that, texting them, engaging with them that way or email or phone call. And yeah, I think that that's just the best way. Like myself, I don't want to talk to somebody on the phone for sales purposes, but if they texted me, I would be more inclined to do that because I can do it at my time. And so I think that that's the important thing.
Jen
Yeah.
Kendall Pashak
Whereas like other generations or other people prefer a certain other form of communication. So I think that that's the biggest thing is that you're just following the lead of the prospect. However, I also think that there are times too that you have to deviate from that. And sometimes it is more effective to move your conversation from text to a phone call or email to a phone call or whatever that is.
Jen
Mm-hmm.
Jen
Yeah, you make a good point of like, you know, paying attention to how people like to communicate. One thing that we're going to be talking about at the summit, which reminds me of this, something you just said, is like knowing, you know, kind of when to move that text conversation to a phone conversation. know, text is really good at getting a response, but in online sales, it's not just about the response. It's about making a connection.
Kendall Pashak
Mm-hmm.
Jen
And so it's harder to make a connection over text or chat. So moving it to a phone conversation where you can have a meaningful conversation, right, is important. Would you agree? What do you think about that?
Kendall Pashak
Yeah. Totally agree with that. think, um, even in, I would say like the last month, I've seen even a bigger influx of that, of like, when people are responding to a text of being like, Hey, is this a real person or is this a bot? And so I think that that is also, I mean, we do live in a world where like, you don't know if you're talking to a real person or if you're talking to somebody and even if they're using a name or you're introducing yourself or whatever, they don't know.
And so I do think that that's a huge part of it, of hearing someone's voice or seeing someone's face and letting them know that they are talking to a real person versus a bot, because it does change things. And it's the same thing, you know, when you talk about like your video handoff, like being able to see a person makes it harder for them to not show up or to not cancel or whatever, because they know that it's, it's a real person. It's not just whatever. So I think it's the same thing with text. Like it's a great way to engage people.
Jen
Yeah.
Jen
Yeah.
Jen
Right.
Kendall Pashak
But it's also really hard to fully move them down the funnel via text. You can do it, but it's way more effective. And I think that they have a better experience when you can get on the phone with them because you can find out more information or ask more follow-up questions. You know how a text is. They usually only answer whatever question is the very last one, and they're not going to pay attention to the rest of
Jen
text. Right.
Jen
Right.
Right. Yeah, that's a good point. It's like you could set an appointment over text, but did you really get the full like, you know, discovery and story and right, because it's it's just real surface level back and forth, right?
Kendall Pashak
Yeah.
Kendall Pashak
story.
Kendall Pashak
Yes. Yeah. And the thing with a text too is like, it's even easier for people to ghost you. And so if you are trying to close them on an appointment over text, how easy is it to not respond to that versus on the phone? They at least have to throw an objection at you that you at least get the opportunity to try to overcome that versus on a text. Like I can't tell you how many times I've been just left on like red because I tried to close them on a text versus on
Jen
Mmm. Yeah.
Kendall Pashak
because they're not going to send back some type of objection over a text usually. Yeah.
Jen
Yeah. Yeah, that's a good point. Easy to ghost on chat and text for sure. Like I can just totally walk away from that. Love it. Okay. So prospecting for sure. Like be consistent with it. Variety, be intentional. You know, use all of the tools that you have at your disposal to try to reach people. Don't take your foot off the gas. And it does work. Kendall.
Kendall Pashak
Yeah.
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Jen
has seen this work and you have to have that mindset of this never works or this is hard to, hey, I gotta go make something happen, right? You gotta have that drive to get in there and do something with it.
Kendall Pashak
Yeah, think the other thing too that was helpful with the prospecting thing is actually the suggestion of do you convert of tracking like, when did they first sign up versus when was their first appointment? And that kind of helps too of like, man, I did a lot of work for somebody who has been in my pipeline for 1200 days before they came out for an appointment. Like that is a lot of work that went into that. And so I think that that was...
Jen
Mm.
Jen
Yeah.
Jen
Yeah.
Kendall Pashak
Something that came, like I said, a suggestion from you guys, but was also really helpful for me to be able to visually see that. I knew that I was doing that work, but unless I was really tracking that, I didn't.
Jen
Right, because you can easily be like, well, it feels like I'm doing this, but I'm not really, and take the feel out of it and actually track it. And you can look and see, wow, okay, 20 % of my appointments are actually coming from older leads, or it took an average of 5,000 days.
Kendall Pashak
Yes.
Kendall Pashak
Yes. Well, and that's honestly too, like really important data to be able to pass along to our team too, as they're making decisions in terms of like marketing spend or any of that stuff too. When I can say, Hey, like on average, it's taking people 145 days to come out for an appointment. And that matters because that means like the pipeline that's coming in today is what's affecting us in 145 days, not necessarily 30 days, 45 days. that it is what we're doing today is going to impact us in several months.
Jen
Mm.
Kendall Pashak
which I think is really important too.
Jen
So that was a great segue into the second thing I was thinking about when, you know, why now more than ever it's important to be proactive in your communication with what you're seeing, what you're doing, what's working, what's not. So talk a little bit about like how, you know, what you're doing on your end with leadership, marketing, sales, just to be proactive in what you're seeing.
Kendall Pashak
Yeah.
Kendall Pashak
Yeah. So we probably are like a little bit overkill in our communication, but it's helpful for everybody to always be on the same page. And I always take it from the way of like, if I'm providing the information, it doesn't feel like I'm being micromanaged or really managed because I'm being proactive and providing that information. There's nothing worse than somebody being like, what are you doing? And then you're like, gosh, that's like, what do mean? What am I doing? I'm doing all of the things. So people don't know what they don't know. And even though this role has been around for a long time, people still don't.
Jen
Right.
Kendall Pashak
fully understand what an OSC does unless you're in the seat or directly managing that. for us, I, every Monday, send out a recap of the previous week of things that I've done, of trends that I'm seeing, and that goes to our entire sales team as well as leadership as well, which then trickles into their weekly meetings and decisions that they're making. And the more that I can provide in there of buyer objections or
where we're seeing buyers come from or that type of thing. Like that really helps make those decisions of where to go next or incentives or whatever. So that's kind of like our first thing that we do on Monday mornings. We also meet every single week as a sales leadership and marketing leadership team that I'm a part of, which is great. And we go through every community, we go through our data and make sure that everything is in line.
And that's an easy way to identify it. Like, Hey, we're having a ton of users, but not a lot of leads. Like what's going on? What's the disconnect there? And so I think that that's the second most important piece. think online sales feels things way before onsite does too, which is helpful when I can be like, Hey, we feel that you're like, we are off track here. Let's make the adjustment before onsite really feels it too. So I think that that's, that's a really, probably our most important meeting that we have is that one.
Jen
Mm-hmm.
Kendall Pashak
And then in addition to that, I attend our sales meetings and provide our, manager, my boss allows me to have time every meeting to talk about kind of my stuff too, which is helpful and then allows the team to ask me questions. So I think we, we just over communicate on what is happening because that impacts the decisions that leadership is making for us that affects us.
And we're the ones that talk to people like what are people's hesitations of coming out on site or moving forward or why are they on hold? Like we know that stuff and then our marketing team can tailor their messaging around whatever we're hearing. You know, if there's fear about selling a contingency, like how can we push resources that we have or how can we alleviate that stress too? So I think the more that you can communicate the better. And then the other thing that I would say too, that
Jen
Yeah.
Kendall Pashak
I find to be really important for both creating value with our onsite team, but also leadership is like, if you have a lead that comes out that you've been working for a really long time, communicate that with them, right? When they contract, be like, Hey, this person was in my pipeline since 2018 and they finally came out for an appointment. And I'm fortunate my sales team also will like sometimes be like, capital has sent 800 emails and made 25 phone calls to this person before they came out. So.
Jen
Yes.
Kendall Pashak
I think the more that we can communicate what we're doing, the more value we're creating for our position for both, I mean, job security, but also just like for the company. People don't know that you've been working a lead since 2018, unless you're telling people that. And I think that that's a big piece of things of the equation that like, I didn't know coming into my current builder, like I never over communicated any of that stuff.
Jen
Right.
Kendall Pashak
But I think that that's definitely helpful, especially in a down market. And it justifies like, hey, here are all of the prospecting things that I did in this last week alone. And it's going to motivate your team too, that you're working with. Like, hey, Kendall's working really hard to get these people on site. Like I better be working these people really hard to get them to contract too. You know, if it's taken me whatever, touch points to get somebody on site, like
Jen
Right.
Jen
Yeah.
Kendall Pashak
I feel like the onsite team should be doing just as many in order to get them to contract too. And I think that our team feels that way because we over communicate all of that stuff.
Jen
Yeah. So I love all the, I've got chills listening to you talk about this because it is like all of these things you're saying are so, so important. And it, takes the online sales role, right? To a different level of not just somebody who I occasionally see that sets appointments for me to truly an extension of the sales team. Like you're in it with them.
Kendall Pashak
you
Jen
and here's what you're doing on your end to help and contribute and work hard on all those things. Now, I wanna ask you, because I know I hear this from a lot of online sales specialists, like one, they don't like talking about themselves, or they feel like they're bragging about themselves or tooting their own horn if they're standing up in front of people and saying, look at all the things that I'm doing.
Kendall Pashak
.
Jen
So what are some suggestions that you have for how to talk about this in a way where you do present yourself as part of the team and not just Kindle doing all the things?
Kendall Pashak
Yeah.
Yeah, I think a little piece of you has to be like, just get over it and do it because there's a tasteful way of doing it. don't have to be like, I'm the best because this is what I've done. But I think that it is important that you are communicating those things. And I think that the other piece of that puzzle is also acknowledging like, it's not just my work that's going into us, right? Like, yes, I worked really hard to get this appointment on site, but also our sales team worked really hard to get this person to contract. And so I think.
Jen
Right.
Kendall Pashak
What I try to focus on is paying really close attention to notes on those particular appointments or follow-up on those particular appointments. And then when our team sends out a deal sheet of a contract that they've written, I always respond all of like, if there's something notable to mention of like, hey, this salesperson, whatever, has been following up with these people for two years since their first appointment before they contracted. And so I think that.
Jen
Right, right.
Kendall Pashak
You need to communicate what you're doing, but you also need to make sure that you're calling out your sales team for the positive things that they are doing too. And they're working really hard on that too. Or like they really, they overcame this objection or this person didn't want to contract until next year and our sales team moved them, got them to move forward today. So I think that just being really in tune with those appointments and making sure that you're calling out the positives of you, but also your team.
Jen
Yes.
Jen
Right.
Jen
Yeah.
Kendall Pashak
Same thing with like marketing of like, this lead came in from an Instagram post. Like you have to acknowledge other people too. And ultimately those are the people that are making your numbers look good or whatever. Like it's, it is a team sport here. It's important that we're all like carrying our weight, but it is. Yeah. And who doesn't like to be acknowledged for the work that they're doing. And then it.
Jen
Yeah. Yeah.
Kendall Pashak
you know, like leadership is not in that every single day. They're not seeing that this one prospect has been contacted a hundred times before they contracted. They don't know that unless we're telling them that. So I think that that's important.
Jen
Yeah, patting each other on the back, right? Like it's not, and I think like when you do get that opportunity, know, one, if you don't have that opportunity to speak at a sales meeting, you need to go ask for it. Like, hey, give me five minutes. I wanna give an online sales update. You know, and you can use those, you know, here's what's happening in online sales land. You know, here's what, you know.
Kendall Pashak
Yes. Yeah.
Yes.
Jen
we even saying we like even though it's yourself, like here's what we, know, marketing and online sales, like here's what we've been working on, you know, was able to, you know, contact this person 5,000 times and was able to get them over to Mike who, you know, did a great job on getting that sale and highlighting those things.
Kendall Pashak
Yes. I think it also is helpful too. and I do my best to acknowledge that too of like, I have so much trust in our sales team that when I set an appointment, I know I don't have to follow up with that lead anymore. Right. And so being able to communicate like you guys manning your leads. Freeze up so much of my time to be able to go and prospect and get new people out there. When I have to worry about my appointment that I sent out being taken care of, like
too much of my time is being sucked from that. And so I think that that's the other piece of it too of like, of acknowledging your team. Like the more that you own the people that I've already sent out, the more time I have to focus on the things that are important.
Jen
Yeah.
Jen
Yeah. So a lot of these things that you've been talking about, you know, even through the behaviors, like the prospecting behaviors that you're doing, the proactive communication, the Monday morning reports, all of those things. Yes, they are serving a specific purpose, but the also like domino effect of those things, you're connecting with your sales team even more like that makes that connection even more powerful.
Kendall Pashak
Yeah.
Jen
how do you think building trust, because you just mentioned trust, like where do you think that comes into play the most?
Kendall Pashak
I think that the biggest piece of it is that
working really hard to qualify an appointment before they go out is like the best thing that I did early on of creating the value for myself. And so people know, our team knows that, if Kendall's setting an appointment, like they're a good lead. We need to focus on this person. And so I think early on that really helped me, but also like communicating my numbers also helped the team know like, hey, one in every whatever four appointments that's coming out is converting to a sale.
Jen
Mm-hmm.
Kendall Pashak
from Kendall. unless the team knows that, like they just think it's whatever. And I think too, yeah. And I think that when you are communicating all the things that you're doing to prospect, the team knows like, Hey, Kendall is really working every lead that's coming in. They're not worried about me gatekeeping all of these people in my pipeline. They know that I'm doing my best to get them out on site.
Jen
Yeah, quality.
Kendall Pashak
So think that's a big piece of it. And then the other thing with trust is that I see our team every single week. So I am on site. I visit communities. whatever, do videos. we, um, so every Friday I like visit our team and we go through every lead that's came through since the last time I was on site for appointments and like kind of dive in there of like, Hey, would it be helpful if I just like sent them a quick text or they've ghosted you or whatever? so.
Jen
Wow, okay.
Kendall Pashak
That's another thing too of like, are on the same team. We have the same goal. Let's figure out how we can get people to continue to move down the pipeline. So, yeah, I think.
Jen
Yeah.
Jen
Communication, like if you're new in this role, like one of the easiest ways to build street cred is making sure that your appointments have been qualified. And even, you know this, like sometimes you can't find out all of the qualification areas in that engagement. But I think when you said communication, that's the key is like, here's what I found out.
and here's what I don't know, but that you're passing along all that information over to them. And then when you go out on site, you have an agenda. You're not just like, hey, I'm here to visit and let's hang out. But like you have an agenda, like, hey, let's look at these appointments. Like, what's the feedback? Is there any movement? Like what's going on? And you're having those conversations.
Kendall Pashak
Yeah, let's chit chat for a few hours. Yeah.
Kendall Pashak
And honestly, like that's the best way to grow too, because I'm like, I don't know what I don't know. I think that every appointment I sent out is great. But when I meet with them and they're like, gosh, whatever, like sometimes you can identify a common theme of like, hey, this has been whatever. This has been like the biggest objection or the biggest problem with the people that I've sent out. And then I'm like, okay, great. Next time I have a lead that's coming in for this community, like this would maybe be a helpful question for me to ask that could maybe weed out the people that really actually weren't a fit for that community.
Jen
Yeah.
Jen
Right.
Kendall Pashak
So I think that, yeah, it's a good way for me to be able to grow professionally too of getting feedback from the people who are meeting with my leads.
Jen
Yeah, be ready for the feedback. Yeah.
Kendall Pashak
Yeah, and ask for it too, right? Because you don't know. And the last thing I want is my onsite sales team to be really frustrated because they're like, gosh, every appointment Kindle sends out X, Y, and Z. And I don't know that unless I'm asking the question and soliciting that feedback. So.
Jen
Yeah, that's great advice. Okay, I'm gonna shift gears for a second because I wanna ask you as an award-winning online sales specialist, what do you think are the three skills that you should have, you need to have to be successful in this role?
Kendall Pashak
Clear communicator, which we've already talked about a lot. I think that having a lot of self-discipline is probably the other top skill. And then tenacity. is not a mature, like I said earlier, like this role is not a lot of immediate gratification, especially in a slow market. So being persistent and...
Jen
Hahaha
Kendall Pashak
I think that tenacity was like the number one thing that popped in my head. That's what you need because even when it's hard, you've got to show up and you've got to get it done.
Jen
Well, I agree. I mean, I think you got to be tenacious. got to be what you said was one of your favorite things about this job was the hunt and like just being super like goal oriented and focused on that. And you got to be driven and tenacious and not give up. Right. And, you know, do the hard things better. Don't wait for it to get easier.
Kendall Pashak
Mm-hmm.
Jen
Like when it's hard, do it better. I love that. What's your go-to tech tool, say that fast, go-to tech tool that you can't live without?
Kendall Pashak
I'm
honestly, it's like not even anything super special, but a CRM that I really use well of like as much detail that I can possibly put in there. And the reason being is because I don't remember a conversation that I've had with a lead since 2018. And so when I have really good notes, that at least gives me something to build on or to like refer back to. And so I think that that's the most important thing is just really utilizing my CRM. Yeah.
Jen
Yeah.
Jen
Okay. What advice would you give your brand new self when you started in this role if you could go back in time?
Kendall Pashak
Yeah, I've got two things. So I think the first one is not to rule out a lead too quickly. And just because there's a no today doesn't mean it's a no in a year or five years or whatever. Same thing of like, our product might not fit right now, but things change, life changes. It might be a fit in whatever. So not ruling people out too quickly, I think, and then, and burning and turning your leads. And then the other piece of it is
Jen
okay.
Jen
Mm-hmm.
Kendall Pashak
consistent prospecting, regardless of market conditions. so I think anybody who was part of the crazy COVID era of new home sales knows your bandwidth was just run thin. And so you had to get rid of some of the things. But I think that the most important thing you can do is just stay consistent because it makes it less awkward when the market is bad. I know, okay, hey, I've at least sent a mass mail to all of these people.
Jen
Mm-hmm.
Jen
Right.
Kendall Pashak
It's not like I'm calling somebody that I haven't talked to in six years saying, are you looking for a new call? and so I think the most important thing that I would communicate to my new self would be just stay consistent in doing that. Because when the market turns, because that's real estate, like there's, is cyclical. Yes. Like it's going to make your job way easier if you've done all of the things that you're supposed to be doing, regardless of what the market was like.
Jen
That's where we're at now.
Kendall Pashak
There's not as much of a need when it's really hot of prospecting necessarily because you have all these new leads coming in. But right now when it's low, it's pretty important that you've stayed in front of those people.
Jen
Love it. You won National Association of Home Builders Online Sales Specialist of the Year. Which year was that?
Kendall Pashak
had to have been 20 either. Yeah. I think it was 2021. Yeah.
Jen
2021.
2021. What would you tell somebody who was considering applying?
Kendall Pashak
Yeah, I think you should. One, it's a really great way as you're preparing your application, it's a really great way for you to really see what you've done and put eyes on it. I think it's an awesome way to highlight all of the really hard work that you put in day in and day out and then potentially get recognized for it. I think that OSCs are such a pivotal role for builders.
Jen
Hahaha
Kendall Pashak
I, to my core feel that like we are one of the most important positions for a builder, especially in the market that we're in now. And so it's still not fully understood that I think this is a great way to continue to bring awareness to, to your role and to what you're doing. And I think that the best thing that you can do is tell your story in an authentic, unique way, right? It's no different than prospecting of like.
How are you gonna get yourself to stand out from everybody else? And so I think that that was, I applied twice the first year I was a silver award winner and that hurt my ego a little bit, but it still like, it's still such an awesome, awesome recognition. But going into year two that I was like, how do I stand out? Right? And even if you haven't done anything that's like, astonishingly different than anybody else, like.
Jen
Yeah
Jen
haha
Jen
Right.
Kendall Pashak
You have to tell your story in a different way. And so that would be my best advice if you are applying to just figure out a way to make yourself stand out a little bit in how you apply.
Jen
Right. And if you won silver, that doesn't mean you shouldn't apply again. Yeah, absolutely. Speaking, from two silver award winners, you know, I remember, I felt the same way. was like, oh, I was so mad, right? When I, I was like, darn it, how did I get silver? Right? But coming back around, did it again and got gold. So.
Kendall Pashak
100%. You should. You should. And if you do win silver, it still is awesome.
Kendall Pashak
Yes.
Kendall Pashak
Yes. Dang it! Yes.
Kendall Pashak
Yeah.
Jen
We encourage you to do that. Kendall, you're so awesome. We have one more thing we have to do, which is a skills check, because you better check yourself before you wreck yourself. So in honor of Kendall, I think this episode's skill check is gonna be, let's practice some proactive communication. I think Kendall gave you some great suggestions. You know, on a Monday morning,
Kendall Pashak
Yeah. thank you.
Jen
you know, before the week starts, take some time to put some thought into an email to your sales team, to your leadership, to marketing of like, here's what, you know, here's what happened last week, here's what I saw, here's the prospecting that I did, here were the results. You know, I called 100 people and I got only one appointment. Like they need to know, right, all of the effort that you're putting into it. And so taking some time, doesn't have to be
super long and crazy, right? How long does it take you to do it, Kendall?
Kendall Pashak
Maybe 10 minutes. And really I keep like a, all week long keep a running email that it's like Monday morning. I don't have to do much. I pretty much already have the stuff in there of what I've been doing. Yeah.
Jen
Right, 10 minutes, like, right, here's,
Jen
that's good. Yeah, when things happen or you do something or whatever, put it in an email and then Monday you can just collect it all and push send. OK, so that's your skills check. Kendall, you're such a breath of fresh air that has joined on people talking today. Thank you so much. The last question I have for you and I didn't prompt her with this. I hope she gets it right. Are you down with OPT?
Kendall Pashak
send it up
Kendall Pashak
Yeah.
Always. Yeah, you know me. I'm down. Yeah
Jen
You gotta say, yeah, you know me.
Jen
She's down. She's down, everybody. OK, thank you so much for listening and we'll see you next time.
