Agent Spotlight: Kelli Pesses

I'm here with Kelli Pesses, one of our rockstar agents with Spyglass Realty. And I thought we now have a interview with Kelli because she's just done such a phenomenal job this year, and she's been in real estate for a few years. Let's have a question for you. Where are you from and what did you do before you got into real estate?

I have a long background in sales. I was in radio advertising sales for a very long time and my degree is actually Interior Design so I've always had a love for houses and just all of it and after being on radio, I went into interior design and worked in that field. My husband and I kind of got the house flipping bug and started buying some investment properties and flipping them and I was doing a lot of interior design work for other flippers and it just seemed like a natural transition into real estate with my sales background and just the love for houses and staging so that's when I transitioned in real estate and haven't looked back. I love it.

What made you get into real estate were you doing you were doing the interior design buy one and sell or what?

I think because we were trying to buy investment properties on our own, I think initially it was kind of a like a personal reason benefit from it. But like I said, with a background in sales and the cross between that interior design, it just was kind of a natural fit. I got to use my sales and marketing skills along with houses, so it was just a really good fit both of them together.

What's interesting with a lot of agents that we have here now, you're the firm you were with got absorbed with another larger brokerage and at that time, I think you probably had, you're mother of two kids, right? Going from a small, more intimate feel to a big, huge company. Kind of when we met, you were kind of looking for more of that collaborative environment. What was your kind of reasoning and thought process between, deciding, okay, I need to find a more intimate atmosphere where I can grow. What was your thought process?

That's 100% right. Going from a smaller brokerage where the broker in the office tab, which is a phone call away, and it was really easy. And then this large, when I just felt kind of lost, I felt a little kind of just a number. I didn't think about anybody. I wasn't really feeling accountable whether or not I showed up to things or, and it was just really easy to feel lost and kind of not engaged. I wanted that smaller feel where I'm kind of accountable to the team, a smaller team and, and it's been great. I mean, it's 100% what I needed and what works best for me, for sure.

You were up 300% from your numbers last year, and we're not even halfway through. So that is phenomenal. What do you think you can you attribute that? I mean, obviously, we're not taking credit for that you are a phenomenal salesperson. But what were the some of the factors that mean that you think might have caused that increase?

I think for me, going from the large brokerage to a smaller one, I don't think I gave up any. I still have all the same technology, if not, better. Just like I said, being part of something smaller, I feel more accountable to my team, not to mention we have the accountability groups, where we have small groups, where we get to kind of hear what other people are doing and what their base looks like, and you're accountable to that group and a partner. I think it is the key because this job is that's probably the hardest part for agents and for myself was just finding it really easy to get busy doing other things and not being accountable to the business itself.

I have to tell you that like those accountability groups, I'm a participant in it. I don't leave a lot of a group and it's a huge game changer. For me personally speaking, we just finished our last accountability group, I think the week before last and I noticed that since we've been doing this, I've been off of it. We kind of have a two or three week break in between them. I'm not doing everything I need to do because I'm not checking in with someone, don't you feel kind of the same way? You have to do list you're supposed to do every day. But when you're put up with a partner and you're like, hey, I didn't do anything today. That's a hard thing to do.

It is. You didn't want to disappoint them or let them think you're slacking. So yeah, it was definitely you know, top of your mind that I've got to get this done because I've got to let somebody know.

What are some of your growing pains as a realtor?

This kind of goes back into why I'm so glad I met Spyglass. Is that I've never really learned where to take leads. I've always just depended on referrals, my friends and family and I've been pretty lucky with that, but I honestly didn't put much worth into leads because the ones that I've taken in the past have not really panned out to be anything so I just kind of gave up on them and then I came to Spyglass. The leads we've been given are amazing. They're real people they're really wanting to buy and that's kind of been a transition for me too. I think that's super helpful and it gives me optimism for not wondering where my next deal is gonna come from that I can actually go be proactive and try to find the deal happen.

You came out the gate swinging in with that and you had a lead under contract like really, really soon and I always try to reference that was like, okay, look, it doesn't always happen that way. You know, let's be honest with leads are they're a numbers game. That's why we try to let people know that we're not going to chase one lead for months on end well, no worker or a couple weeks system and then put them on a drip.

What made you decide to check out Spyglass?

I kind of saw Tim Behe's success that he was having and I respected him as an agent and kind of felt like, I don't know, he had kind of the same need for like collaboration, and a team, and a group, and so I once spoke with him and I met with you. I was kind of like, all right, I didn't even interview anyone else. Honestly, I kind of asked around. I talked to other agents and other brokerages, but it just was exactly what I was looking for.

Well, we're really proud of the work you've done. And you've been amazing here and we really appreciate it. Thank you for coming on today.