Ep# 3: Personal Branding Mastery: Tim Davis

Tim Davis lays out a full ground-zero market-entry playbook: how to get known fast using a published book, a virtual assistant dialer, and a monthly agent event — without ever leading as a loan officer. Best for LOs who feel invisible in their market and want a concrete blitz strategy to break through. The branding philosophy is paired with hard-nosed productivity principles around daily discipline and activity minimums.

Takeaways you can run this week

• Build a list of 15–25 agents doing a minimum $12M/year in your market. Call each one and pitch them on being interviewed for a published book featuring the 'top 20 most respected leaders in real estate' in your city. Script: 'We are launching a book published on Amazon of the top 20 most respected leaders in real estate. There's no cost. You were selected for an interview. Can we meet in the next five days for your chapter?'
• Self-publish a quote book (e.g., '125 Most Inspirational Quotes for Your Real Estate Business') using CreateSpace.com (Amazon). Hire a Fiverr freelancer to design it. Use this book as your speaking prop — not a rate sheet — when you get in front of agent audiences.
• Hire a virtual assistant at ~$10/hour and have them call every brokerage in your market to book you as a speaker 1–2 times per week. Your talk title: 'Five Tips to Grow Your Business in 2016 and Beyond.' Collect every attendee into your database.
• Launch an 'Agent Marketing Academy' on the third Thursday of every month — a hosted lunch-and-learn covering one actionable topic (social media, video, etc.). Partner with a home warranty rep and a Cutco rep (not just title) to co-sponsor and fill the room, because those reps know which agents are actively closing deals.
• At every Agent Marketing Academy event, give each attending agent 60 seconds to stand up and pitch their current listing to the room — this gives them a tangible reason to show up and bring colleagues.
• Give every hour of your day a name the night before. Tim's standard: have one quality loan originated by 11 a.m. every single day. If you can't identify where that loan is coming from by 11 a.m., audit how many referral funnels you have — the target is at least seven (social media, CPAs, financial planners, divorce attorneys, builders, realtors, past clients).

The playbook

1. Step 1 — Get Known: Identify 3–5 influential people in your existing sphere. Ask each for the names of 3 top real estate leaders they know personally. Call those agents using a warm referral intro, leading with curiosity and mentorship framing — never mention mortgage.
2. Step 2 — Target the Top Producers: Pull a list of 15–25 agents closing $12M+/year. Call each with the 'book interview' pitch. Goal: secure face-to-face interviews and begin building rapport as a publisher, not a loan officer.
3. Step 3 — Create Your Content Asset: Write and publish a simple quote book on CreateSpace.com. Use it as your speaking credential and giveaway at all events.
4. Step 4 — Book Speaking Slots: Hire a VA to call every brokerage and agent association chapter in your market. Goal: 6+ speaking engagements in the first 30 days. Bring your book, deliver a 5-tip motivational talk, collect everyone in your database.
5. Step 5 — Launch Your Monthly Event: Start Agent Marketing Academy on a fixed recurring date. Partner with home warranty and Cutco reps to fill seats. Cover one growth topic per month. Include a 60-second listing pitch segment for attendees.
6. Step 6 — Compound the Brand: Repurpose interview content from agent book project into blog posts, social media, and future lunch-and-learn topics. Stack credibility as a media/publishing entity in your local market.

Worth quoting

“The best loan officer doesn't win the business. The best marketer wins the business.”

“Being mediocre is hard too — when you're mediocre, you're broke. So choose your hard.”

Best for

LOs who are unknown in their market and want a specific, aggressive playbook to establish authority and agent relationships from scratch — without cold calling or rate pitches.