Building agent confidence

Boutique, family-owned Jack Conway Realtor has been serving the South Shore of Massachusetts for almost 70 years. Just like you’d expect from a business with such deep community roots, Jack Conway puts real care into giving people a positive home-buying experience — and that philosophy extends to how they treat their agents, as well.

“I had some friends at Jack Conway,” explains Leslie Burns, a Boston-area REALTOR® who has been working with the brokerage since 2020. “I knew that if I wanted to take the leap, they would give me the support I needed. I definitely made the right decision.”

For someone just starting out in real estate, that level of support made all the difference. “They set you up on every platform that you need,” Leslie continues. “You have access to every office without question, without fees, without nickel and diming you to death. They make sure that you have everything you need to succeed. The rest is up to you.”

When the brokerage proposed adding Tradewind to that mix, it seemed like a no-brainer.

As a stay-at-home mom and philanthropist, Leslie was used to steering the ship from behind the scenes. “I made things happen, but you didn’t know it was me doing it,” she recalls. “I felt like I had to control everything for fear of what people might think.”

But when she made the move to real estate, Leslie realized she would have to change her perspective on self-promotion. With Tradewind building her marketing brand and pushing email and social media marketing on her behalf, she was able to make that leap.

“I now have the confidence to say, okay, I can put myself out there. Tradewind sends me the updates — we just posted this, we just sent this — but I can’t see anybody’s reaction to it. Before, I would have been very specific about how I would try to get myself out there, or even be stalled at the thought that I didn’t know how to brand myself. This is the first time that I can say it’s all good information being put out there. And now I realize that I’m comfortable with it.”

After working with Tradewind, Leslie has a whole new outlook on marketing. “Seven, eight months ago, I was so nervous. What are they going to say? What are people going to think? Now I realize that it’s all good stuff. Everybody’s going to take a little piece of something out of the emails that works for them.”

While she may not be able to see how each person reacts to every individual social post, Leslie can tell that Tradewind’s top-of-funnel marketing efforts are making a difference. “I get a whole bunch of feedback from people, so I know it’s out there. And Tradewind made me more comfortable with that, which is in itself priceless.”

As her business grows, Leslie has been more able to focus on building the connections and relationships that she finds so fulfilling. She’s even been able to draw on her own feelings about reaching outside her comfort zone to create a deeper bond with first-time homebuyers who are nervous about the experience.

Before Tradewind, Leslie kept her circle small. Now she knows it doesn’t have to be. “That’s where Tradewind has helped my mindset,” she concludes. “I’ve always been Leslie the Mom, Leslie the Philanthropist. And now I’m Leslie the REALTOR®. I’ve embraced the whole package.”