Linda Welsh just had her best year ever in Austin, even though prices dropped nearly twenty percent and the market corrected hard. She finally did what she avoided for years - she rebuilt her entire database, sent a simple reconnect email, and started sending short educational videos twice a month. “Once I got consistent, everything changed,” Linda says. Her open rates jumped, past clients resurfaced, and she landed more high-end listings than ever before, including people she met on the other side of old transactions. In this interview, Linda walks through how she organized her list, the calls-to-action that drive real responses, and how her database became the most profitable part of her business.
AI Summary:
Linda Welsh has been in real estate for 28 years. She started in Dallas, moved to Austin in 1999, and ran her own company from 2004 to 2024 before joining Compass.
This past year was her biggest year ever. Not many people can say that in this market, especially in Central Texas where prices have dropped about 20% post-pandemic.
Linda credits one key shift: incorporating video newsletters and staying in touch with her database consistently.
The Problem She Solved
A few years ago, Linda kept hearing about long-form video from people in the industry. But knowing herself and her clients, she realized she didn't have the time to watch long-form video, and neither did most people.
She also knew that most realtors are ADD and don't have the systems in place or the discipline to time block and meet with a coach regularly without accountability.
What She Did
Linda started working with Vyral Marketing to publish consistent video newsletters to her database. She has a set appointment with her account rep who does all the behind-the-scenes work: editing the videos, putting together the newsletters, and giving her script ideas.
"One of the things that really helped was honing in on our call to action," Linda explains. "Having several different calls to action and then monitoring the opens and click rates has been really eye opening."
She sends out two videos per month to her buyers and sellers, plus occasional direct response offers. Each video typically runs 3 to 10 minutes. She sets aside about a half hour every other week to record with a tripod in her living room with natural light.
The Process
First, Linda rounded up her entire database. She exported contacts from her phone (over 22,000 people), her email contacts, and her CRM. She scrubbed and deduped them all, then loaded them into an email marketing program.
She sent out an initial reconnect message letting everyone know she'd be staying in touch with helpful video updates. "It's permission-based," Linda says. "They know why they're getting it because they've had some interaction with me over the years."
Then she started her 36-touch nurture program: two educational videos per month plus one monthly lead generation message (like a free home selling guide or home valuation offer).
The Results
"We've had very, very few unsubscribes and we have terrific open rates," Linda shares. "We have found that people we never did business with before have now called on us to help them sell their properties."
The results speak for themselves: Linda sold more high-end luxury properties this past year than ever before. Many of those clients were people on the other side of transactions in years past who she'd added to her database.
"A lot of times they're not always reaching out right away. They just continue to watch. But when they are ready, I feel that more often than not, we're the ones that they get in touch with."
Her Advice
"People need to establish a relationship," Linda explains. "If you have people clicking through and asking for information, the call to action makes a huge difference because you're actually giving them options and an opportunity to reach out with something that's relevant to them."
She emphasizes that this approach is very database-focused, not about chasing algorithms to get found by strangers. "People get a ton of email right now, so unless they recognize the name, there's a good chance they may not click through. But it's not a one and done. You need to nurture it regularly."
Linda records once every other week, typically on Monday afternoons when she doesn't have client appointments. She uses a tripod in her living room and keeps it simple and authentic. "You can't wait to be perfect. If you waited to be perfect, it wouldn't get done. Jump in the pool and you'll learn how to swim."
The biggest shift? Looking inward to her warm database instead of outward to cold prospects. And in a market where prices dropped 20%, that made all the difference.
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