779: I Love Cambridge: Serve Your Community with Your Business and Podcast with Walter Monteiro

Walter Monteiro 0:00 I'm doing great.

Robert Plank 0:00 All right, so we know each other a little bit, and I know you Walters, but it's always good to have a bio or a little like jumping off point for you. So do you have a bio? Or do you want to tell us about what we're talking about, or your website or anything like that?

Walter Monteiro 0:17 Sure. Well, I'll give you a little bit of a rundown. I'm a real estate and mortgage agent in Cambridge, Kitchener Waterloo, Ontario, which is about 60 miles outside of Toronto. So we're at we're a great place to to sort of find the cheaper home when you're coming into the big city of Toronto, Ontario. And more importantly, what I like to do with with my time is I have a podcast called I Love Cambridge. I don't know if you're aware of it or not, but basically what I do is I give people in our community a platform for them to sort of demonstrate their professional services and abilities, and we just kind of offer it back out as a, you know, almost a thank you for the support that they've given me in my real estate business over the years,

Robert Plank 1:02 and what's the URL for the I live Cambridge.

Walter Monteiro 1:06 I love cambridge.ca.ca.

Robert Plank 1:09 Alright, so we will. We'll plug that, and we don't need any more preparation. We'll just jump and see what happens. What do you think? Ready to start?

Walter Monteiro 1:18 Sure. Let's give it a shot. All

Robert Plank 1:19 right, so get a timer going for myself that we know how long we're going, and here we go. Hey, everyone. We're talking to Walter Montero from the I love Cambridge podcast. I love cambridge.ca Walter is a real estate mortgage agent six miles outside of Toronto, so if you are anywhere within that region, or you want to know about that region of Canada, you want to know about the local business owners and people who keep that city, keep that area running, check out the I love Cambridge podcast, and Walter will be here, so tell us all about the reasons why you should be listening to this show and everything about it. So Walter, glad to be talking to you well.

Walter Monteiro 2:03 Thank you very much for having me on the show. I appreciate it, and I just want to make sure that people are aware that Cambridge is 60 miles outside of Toronto, not six. We're not that close.

Robert Plank 2:13 All right. Big difference. Okay, little bit more driving time. Okay, so we're driving so Cambridge is 60 miles, or whatever it is in kilometers in Canada, outside of Toronto. Okay, 100 kilometers. Nice round number. And what makes Cambridge different? What sets it apart from some other cities that might be 60 miles or 100 kilometers away?

Walter Monteiro 2:34 Well, the great thing about Cambridge is say it's it's a real self contained area. Not only is it close to Toronto. For people that want to be located close to the city like that, it is a very self contained area. There's lots of employment going on around here. They actually call Cambridge kitchen of Waterloo the technology hub of Canada, because we're located very close to the University of Waterloo. And I don't know if you remember the old blackberries, but that's where they used to be made, in Waterloo, Ontario. And so a lot of tech companies kind of surround themselves around the university, trying to capture those students coming out of that area. And of course, we get, you know, a lot of different fallout from that. We've got a big Toyota plant here in the area that that employs about 8000 people. You know, there's some really good things going on here. The growth is, is quite something. Our average sale price in the community here is just skyrocketed. But still, in comparison to what you can buy in Toronto, you can get, you know, pretty much twice the house for what you pay in the city.

Robert Plank 3:36 Fantastic. I like those sorts of areas where you don't have the crowded hustle and bustle of the city, but it's also not so rural that there's nothing to do, nowhere to go. And then you have kind of the college, you have the, you know, the big businesses that are kind of bringing the lifeblood, bringing the new people in. And so you have this, this podcast where you interview people in the community, so as far as the guests you've had, the business owners, people like that. Does anyone interesting or anyone remarkable come to mind that you want to tell us about? Yeah, we've

Walter Monteiro 4:09 had some real interesting people on the show. I mean, some people have had some very traditional businesses that they have, but, you know, we get some real neat people on the show. We had a guy that has like, a, you know, those, those robot fights that you see on TV. We had a guy that was located right here in Kitchener that actually makes them, and he enters in these competitions and, and it was quite neat some of the time and money that's involved in developing those things, you know, we've got some, some other neat people that are very innovative in, you know, basically trying to cater to, you know, the way the pandemic is sort of played out with the economy. They've learned to pivot and change their their services, and all of a sudden, you know, they have, you know, some sort of type of Uber, type of competition, or, you know, that sort of thing. So we meet some really neat people. We've got a concierge service company called Top Notch concierge. They're kind of a go to for anybody that's kind of procrastinating certain jobs and tasks around their house. If these are things that you're kind of putting off, top notch is usually a great company to reach out to, because, you know, they can take care of the task for you, either they'll do it themselves, or find somebody that can do it for them.

Robert Plank 5:29 Fantastic. And, and that's what's cool about talking to some of these local businesses, is there might be someone just right down the street right there might be someone who's just you drive by that every day, like in in town here, there is a some house and some sign that says Jessica's house, and I have no idea what it is. And then one time, I was at a, like, a Toastmaster meeting, and I met some guy that works for Jessica's house, and got to hear all about what that is. And so that's that's cool, because, like, if someone lives in town or nearby, or is thinking about moving there, or something like that, they can discover all of these hidden gems that, just like they might drive by every time that they come into town or leave town, and it's always there. And now they they know about it, so you have all and also it seems like there's a lot of these kind of local businesses, so that way that they get the attention they need, like you said, with the pandemic, and maybe that helps the little guy, as opposed to, like, a big, you know, chain kind of company, they get the attention they need. And so what's in it for you? Like, when you do this kind of a show and you interview all these people, people might be thinking, well, what's the the upside for Mr. Walter, why would you put all this time and energy into this?

Walter Monteiro 6:42 Sure, that's, that's a good question, and it's sometimes something that's asking me more than anything. It's number one, I enjoy doing it. So, you know, just my own personal pleasure of doing the show. But it's, it's a double edged sword, really, because number one, I get to introduce people in the community to my circle, or and vice versa. I get to be introduced into their circle, because a lot of times, you know, these people will share this interview with theirs, with their sphere, and it introduces me to a whole other group of people that I otherwise wouldn't be exposed to.

Robert Plank 7:18 And that's the thing that it's, it seems so simple, but it takes a while to learn that value in the network. And a lot of the time, a lot of times in that journey, it seems like it's kind of a thankless job, right? That you're, you're going and meeting all these people, and you're not really sure where it pays off. And it also seems like a lot of the the realtors like you have that part of it figured out that if you know enough people, eventually it reaches the sort of critical mass where, if you meet someone doing this podcast and they need something, or they remind you of someone else, you can connect with, then you can send them their way, and they can send you your way. And you're just in the middle of this, right? You're the you're the person that knows everybody. So it seems like a really steadily going and predictable, repeatable way for you to build this kind of network.

Walter Monteiro 8:07 Yeah, it's great. And then, of course, you know, as you're building up, you know, now that we've been doing, we've been going, I think probably for a couple years now, now I've got people that I just follow up on, just on a maybe a phone call or maybe a quick email. Sometimes I'll just send them a quick bomb bomb video and just let them know I'm thinking about them, and it just keeps, keeps us both top of mind in terms of my service to them and and, of course, their services to me. And you

Robert Plank 8:31 mentioned there like a bomb bomb video. And I think I know what you're talking about, but I would appreciate jumping into that really quick, because there's all these apps where you can record a quick video message to someone 30 seconds, 60 seconds, you say I was thinking about you or mentioned something personal. Is that what we're talking about here, like one of those quick apps you make a quick

Walter Monteiro 8:51 video. Yep, exactly. So basically it's a bomb. Bomb is just basically a service that I use. It sort of latches into, I don't know how they latch in, but kind of works in with my with my Google, with my Gmail, simply click an icon, my camera pops open and rather than sending them a written email, which sometimes can be taken out of context. Obviously, when you're doing it on video, you know the message certainly comes across far more sincere. Certainly they understand your tonality and that sort of thing. So, you know, maybe if they're not reading it in the right mood, maybe they might misunderstand my message. So it really is a situation where, first of all, it does soften the delivery of the message. And secondly, sometimes there's those you know, those, sometimes you have those people that you know, you know you need to follow up on but you feel kind of awkward phoning them. Well, sending them a quick video on an email is just is sometimes just as good and you get your at least, you get your point of contact.

Robert Plank 9:50 And I think it's more impressive, right, when you get even a quick video message from you specifically, then the recipient knows that it. Wasn't copy and paste. It wasn't some assistant sending it out. It was you, and from your point of view, it only took a few seconds, like you might sit down and waste five minutes writing a big, long paragraph when you say the same exact thing in 30 or 60 seconds on a video and that that right there. That's something that I mean any of your of your guests, any of your business owners should pay attention to, right? Because if they're showing up on your podcast, clearly they are looking to get themselves and their business out there get more exposure, and so that's kind of like a good thing for them to even use on you, right? If you're using it on them, why not return the favor? Yeah,

Walter Monteiro 10:39 absolutely. Yeah, some agents are like, some people are using it in the real estate side, even, you know, because it's probably happening in your community as well, where it's very much a seller's market right now and and what buyers have been doing is creating sort of these, what they call these buyer love letters, where they send them to the seller to try and sell the seller on accepting their offer. Well, when you do it on a video, you can, you can, you know, pull out your phone, take a quick video of the family that's trying to buy the property. And sometimes that message can really deliver volumes to the seller, because, you know, you read something on a piece of paper, or you see the video, especially if they got, you know, maybe a little one, or, you know, a pet or something like that. It can really help get your offer accepted in such a competitive market.

Robert Plank 11:28 That's awesome. And it seems like there's, at least in my town, or my experience, there's always like a handful of realtors who are tuned into some of these techniques, and there's so many other realtors that are just like missing the boat or doing things lazily, like one time I got a letter in the mail just from some realtor that was like, Hey, I'm new in town, and he didn't have anything to sell me. He just wanted to know that I exist. And then, likewise, to the other extreme, the house I'm living in now, the old realtor, agent that was selling this house every year, he sends me a like a calendar that as a magnet and sticks on the fridge. And we just, we take the scissors and we cut his picture out of it, and just have a calendar that's right there on the fridge. So you have kind of the the old, tired, lazy way of going about it, and then something that's maybe, uh, maybe it's not even that cutting edge. I mean, video has been around forever. You know, sending a lot of letters have been around forever, but just these things that are slightly more effort, but not even that much. And then so few people are are doing them, and including your your podcast, including your show. And so when you have these guests who are on your show, and maybe they are not always tapped into some of the marketing techniques that work really well. Is there anything that you wish that they knew, or is there anything that maybe they could like know about to make their time on on your show smoother? Is that a good? A good?

Unknown Speaker 12:55 Yeah. I

Robert Plank 12:56 think it makes sense. Yeah. I

Walter Monteiro 12:58 think the big thing more than anything, would be to probably to share that experience with with their audience a little more. I mean, some of them really get it and do it really well. Because, I mean, we, we've got, you know, with Bomb, bomb and and with YouTube and all that kind of stuff, we can sort of get an idea of video counts, and you can see the, you know, the merchants or the business people that have shared it and the people that haven't. Because you can really see a difference in the in the in the counts of, you know, the times that the video has been watched. So I think if they just embrace that, you know, just reaching out to their own sphere would probably be, you know, just as beneficial to them as it is to me.

Robert Plank 13:38 And you're making me think of all these, these like potential ways to attack it, right that say there's some brick and mortar business that is saying, Okay, well, I heard about this bomb, bomb tool. I heard about this video tool. And maybe if they just started off with just a handful of videos, or even if they just dedicated one day and looked at what are the recent transactions, or, depending on the type of business, they could run some numbers and say, well, who's been with us the longest, or who's bought with us the most, or who has bought from us, but then it has dropped off, and again, back, thinking back to the realtor. Thing I have not heard from the realtor that sold me my my home, and like since, since it got sold since for 12 or 13 years, and I imagine if that realtor had followed up, and, you know, five years later, 10 years later, then there might have been a reconnecting there, or a business relationship, but there's so many times there's just like, zero contact, and even the simple touches that you're mentioning can make such a difference, yeah.

Walter Monteiro 14:40 Oh, for sure. And you know, I've been at this I've been in the business now for about 34 years, and I'd have to say that's probably the biggest mistake that people make in the industry, is just losing contact with the people that they originally did business with. Because what's, what's really puzzling about that is, i. I can't remember the exact numbers, but the numbers were very impressive. You know, from the National Association of Realtors, where they vast people after they had their real estate experience with their realtor, what is the likelihood of them using that realtor again? And that likelihood was really high. I can't remember the specific number, but it was, it was actually very, very high. But unfortunately, these people have lost touch with those people. They don't know how to get a hold of them anymore. They don't even know if they're in the real estate business anymore. So if they simply use, you know, a simple little tool like Bomb, bomb, for example, they would, you know, they'd be a country mile ahead of the competition and

Robert Plank 15:36 so, so with all of this, you know, like the bomb on videos and reconnecting and having multiple types of connections. Like, there's, you know, prospects or other business owners, things like that. Do you think about, or do you worry about, about competition or anything like that? Like, are any realtors, like, getting in on your turf? Are you getting on their turf? Or is that just not a thing? Uh,

Walter Monteiro 16:01 yeah, it's a thing for sure. I mean, you've got, you know, the thing about the real estate business is, you know, obviously it's, it's something that pays very well. So, you know, when you get people, especially you know, that are victims of downsizing or any kind of unemployment, you're getting a very talent. You've got a very talented pool of people that, all of a sudden, are coming into the real estate business, sort of as a second career. So, you know, in the old days it was more of a, you know, it was a different approach, a different kind of person used to come in the business. But now I'm finding, you know, the caliber of people, and they're just their their knowledge of business, that are coming into the business now, yeah, you've got to, you've got to stay ahead of the game, because there's some pretty smart people coming into the industry all the time. So yeah, competition is always something. Do I worry about it? No, but I can tell you, it does keep me sharp. Well,

Robert Plank 16:55 good. And I think of that in the same way that there's always someone, someone younger or someone who move faster or further in you, and it kind of keep keeps you on your on your game, keeps you honest. And so would Are there any possibilities of, like, like a coaching or a mentorship kind of kind of thing in your future? Like, if you're this connector and you're this realtor and you're making a name for yourself, and some one of these new people come along? Do you think someone would want your guidance? Or is that something you've considered or thinking about?

Walter Monteiro 17:28 I, you know, that that is such a crowded space. It's something that I, you know, it's always kind of crossed my mind, but I, I found that there's some really good people at it. I don't know that the industry might benefit by having another coach. Maybe they would. At the moment, I'm I'm having a lot of fun doing what I'm doing. Maybe in the future, it could be something in the cards

Robert Plank 17:49 and fair enough. And like you see, you hear about like those who can't do teach. And what's reassuring about this is that there are many different paths now, right? It's not always like, it's not one or the other. It's not just, can I make a living at this, or if I can't, then teach someone else how to do it, or do those in parallel. You can kind of have fun with it and like, build these other assets, right? Like you're Mr. Real Estate, you're all about. You know, you have this property, and you build it up in this the same is happening with your website, with your podcast. The lot, the more it's established. The more people you have, and the bigger it grows. It's kind of like an appreciating asset, only digital, not physical,

Walter Monteiro 18:27 exactly. Yep,

Robert Plank 18:28 I would agree. And, and, so do you what? So you only take guests in your area, or something really special came across from, like some other country or anywhere else in the country. What do you take them, or is it strictly just in town?

Walter Monteiro 18:42 Well, the focus of the show has typically been to assist and expose people that are already in our community. So that's that's been the objective. Sometimes there are people that are not in our community, but our community would benefit by knowing about their services. So we're, you know, we're starting to reach out a little bit more in that regard, like there's a property manager that's actually located in the city just next door to me here, called Hamilton, and that they provide, like consulting services for people that own rental properties, especially Mom and Pop type of operations. So I think she'd be a great guest on the show. She doesn't live in our community, but I think there'd be a lot of people in our community that would benefit by knowing about her services.

Robert Plank 19:25 And so maybe you need to send her a bon bon video once a week until she finally caves in. And exactly,

Walter Monteiro 19:30 that's a great idea. And

Robert Plank 19:33 so when you have these guests, like, is it do you ask like, the same questions, or are there usually, like, your go to questions? Or is it completely unpredictable? As far as the interview, I

Walter Monteiro 19:43 used to have sort of a structured way of doing it. I, you know, I kind of modeled, you know, the the Entrepreneur on Fire type of setup where the questions were very uniform. But to be honest with you, I I found that the the conversation. Was not authentic. I was too focused on asking these questions, and was almost, you know, so wrapped up in making sure that I didn't miss the next question that I almost missed what the, you know, what my guest was, was trying to message they were trying to convey. So now it's a little bit more of a, you know, an authentic conversation. We joke around a bit. You know, Cambridge is only about 150,000 people, so a lot of times we may know somebody of a you know, that a mutual friend, or maybe a friend of a friend. So it's a little bit more on the lighter side, which, which can make the conversations a little bit more fun. And

Robert Plank 20:40 that's my style too, right? Like, I feel like you, you yourself get bored if you're asking the same thing and it's kind of awkward and inauthentic. And so I'm all about that. I'm all about if there's a thread we can pull on, or if there's a Detroit to go down, that's that's more interesting. And so are so are people ever reluctant to appear on your show? Do you ever like? Do you're reaching out? And people are like, Well, I'm not sure I got to be doing on camera. I'm not sure about the live conversation. Any hesitation with your guests and prospects like that? Yes,

Walter Monteiro 21:12 very much. So very much. It's interesting. Like, I would say 50% are okay with it, but the other half are they get really nervous about being on camera and and just kind of messing up the interview. So I have to reassure them that, you know, that, hey, it's just a late conversation. If something really goofy happens, don't worry about it. We can edit it out. It's not a big deal. And, but yeah, we've had a few people kind of, you know, they book, they cancel, they book, they cancel, and then, you know, when we follow up to find out, hey, what's is there an issue? And their their biggest issue is this, if they're nervous to go on camera,

Robert Plank 21:50 and I'm sure what for those people that finally bite the bullet, or maybe attempt number five, they finally show up, maybe there's nervousness for a minute or two, but then by the end, it's a lot of fun. They glad they did it right? Exactly,

Walter Monteiro 22:00 exactly? Yeah. We try and keep it as light as possible. And again, that's one of the reasons that I sort of shied away from the scripting, just because it can, it can make the conversation very awkward,

Robert Plank 22:13 fair enough, and so, so it's like, I'm thinking that there's kind of two, two sections of like an audience here. There's people that should be on your show, and people that are in the area that want to listen to your show. So if someone is in that that Toronto, Cambridge area, and they're a local business, and they should be contacting you to see if they're a right fit, where should they go to reach out to you to be a guest on your show? Well,

Walter Monteiro 22:37 I mean, they can do it a couple ways. They can send me an email, which is, I go by real estate walter@gmail.com pretty easy or pretty easy handle to remember. Or they can just call me directly on my cell. I mean, I'm in the real estate business, so I give out that number all the time, 519-240-0360, call me anytime, night or day.

Robert Plank 23:00 Fantastic. And that is on brand and so. And then, if someone is interested in just being a listener, can we give one more plug of that website and tell them, why should they should run, not walk to listen to your podcast? Yeah,

Walter Monteiro 23:15 absolutely. So we are on a couple of different platforms. Obviously, we're on iTunes. You can find us on the I love, you know, simply search us for I love Cambridge. We have a YouTube channel, which is, I love Cambridge again. And, and then the I love cambridge.ca website, they can go on there and, and they can go through the whole library and kind of see what kind of businesses mesh with them. And if they want to be a guest on the show. We we're always looking for guests, and we'd love to have them on. Fantastic.

Robert Plank 23:46 And that is, I love cambridge.ca, that is real estate walter@gmail.com and can we get that phone number one last time, just to make sure people have it

Walter Monteiro 23:55 absolutely, 519-240-0360,

Robert Plank 24:01 fantastic. And we will see you there. And thank you, Walter for telling us about your podcast and the interesting people you have on it. Awesome.

Walter Monteiro 24:08 Thank you very much, Robert. I appreciate it. Bye.