A team of 5, 275 families served, and $300M+ in personal career sales later, it’s safe to say his instincts were dead on.
Over the years, Wade built one of the highest producing (and best dressed) real estate teams in town. He also has a roster of luxury clientele that has earned him a spot in the Elite 25 Austin, and the Luxury League, a premier membership organization that recognizes high-performing real estate agents.
How did he reach this level? By building a strong brand, harnessing the power of real estate tech, and staying true to himself.
We sat down with Wade to chat about how he got his start and how he and his team use their real estate app as a key referral tool, and to provide all their clients a luxury experience.
“Without question, building our branded app with HomeStack has given our real estate clients piece-of-mind, knowing their personal information is secure. Having that direct line of communication through our branded real estate app allows people to feel more comfortable chatting with us."
Don't Be Afraid to Lean into Real Estate Technology
“I have always leaned into digital marketing tools in my business. It is important, not just to me, but to our clients, especially here in Austin, where everyone is tech-savvy. But I have seen many real estates agents have“their own” app, but it is not really a branded real estate app. It’s not personal or tailored to the company and it doesn’t feel clean and polished. We set out to build a branded real estate app that was easy to use, had direct communication with the client, and felt like a tailored, custom experience.”
Our Real Estate App is an Effective Referral Tool
For Wade and his real estate team, their branded app has not only allowed prospects to easily discover them, but it has also served as an effective referral tool.
"We actually had 3 clients that came into our real estate app in one week. One of them discovered our app, shared it with 2 of her friends and all of them ended up purchasing homes. I think it was just under 4 million in sales between the 3 of them."
Luxury is Not a Price Point, its an Experience
Since building their app with HomeStack, The Giles Group, has been able to offer all of their client's (no matter what price bracket) a custom, concierge mobile real estate search.
“The one thing I always tell my team is that luxury is not a price point, luxury is an experience. You can give someone a luxury experience and provide top-notch customer service and quality, for any lever buyer at any price point. Those people may not be in the luxury space buying a million-dollar home, but they will be sure to refer you to their friends or people in their network who are or who will become high-net-worth individuals.”
Harness the Power of Video and Social Media
“Social media has been something I have leveraged from day one in real estate. The first 2 clients I ever helped, I asked them if they would do a client testimonial videos. I then posted my clients experience on social media, and with those types of videos and social media and I was able to really catapult my business. Now, we often get clients from social media from out of town, so it's good for validating our reputation through our online channels. How often do you learn about a new restaurant, or check out a new place to visit, you don’t go to their website, you go to Instagram and check out their hashtags."
Stay True to Your "Why" to Find Your Dream Clients
"Breaking into the luxury market wasn’t even something that I set out to do. I was just looking to make a difference in people’s lives, and help them find a safe place to reside with their families - there wasn’t even a price point. Most of our business is referrals, so we were just fortunate enough to have been referred to some high-net-worth individuals and meet people along the way who believed in me and continue to spread the word."
“The most important thing is to be authentic and true to yourself. Position yourself to be selling the type of real estate that you want to sell, not everyone feels comfortable working with hi-net-worth individuals, and that's ok, you need to do what feels right to you. Eventually, you will work with a clientele that is going to allow you to be the best version of yourself.”
Make sure to follow along with Wade @wadeatx and his team on their Austin adventures in real estate @the_giles_group.
Ready to learn more about building a white label app for your team or brokerage? You can find more info HERE.
