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Every brokerage could use an extra well-trained and efficient assistant, says Marki Lemons Ryhal, ABR, CRB, broker-owner of EXIT Strategy Realty in Chicago. That doesn’t mean every brokerage can afford one, though.
Enter AI—the accessible, inexpensive alternative to a real-life assistant. Lemons Ryhal says that AI has the power to save time, money and increase the efficiency of a brokerage when leveraged properly. At this year’s Broker Summit, held in April in Kansas City, Mo., she provided an audience of over 400 brokers with a list of options for using AI to streamline processes and fill holes in the business. Brokers, she says, are focused on the success of their brokerage and their agents—and should be—which means administrative tasks sometimes fall through. Likewise, not all brokerages have the means or the need to hire full-time staff but still have staff-related needs, and AI can fill in the gaps.
Let AI Create Standard Operating Procedures
Ideally, every brokerage has a binder, file or share drive with easily accessible, up-to-date operating procedures that everyone from brokers to agents and staff can refer to. But the reality is many don’t. ChatGPT is a great AI resource for creating such manuals, Lemons Rhyal says.
“That’s what we started with,” Lemons Ryhal says, noting that in a matter of seconds, she had a completed manual to look through and edit and tailor to her brokerage’s needs.
Let AI Tell You How to Communicate with Clients
Different clients require different approaches to communication, and before AI, real estate professionals needed time to get to know the client before they could tailor their communication approach.
Lemons Ryhal said that tools like Humantic AI take the guesswork out of communication styles.
“Use it on yourself first, she says, “and just watch what happens.” Lemons Ryhal took this approach, and the platform was eerily accurate. It not only told her about her personality but also included the best ways to communicate with herself and provided tips on overcoming objections when working with her personality type. She says this kind of insight is invaluable in a people-centric business like real estate.
“It gives me the ability to talk the language of everyone I do business with, because AI gives me insight into their personality.”
Let AI Help People Find You
All your marketing efforts are nil if people don’t find them, which is one of the most frustrating parts of digital marketing for many businesses and brokerages. Search engine optimization (SEO) helps people find your brokerage, but what if you don’t have an SEO expert on hand? Lemons Ryhal suggests using Google Trends and searching “real estate” to start.
“This AI tool tells you how people are currently searching the internet,” she says. The trends feature takes real-time data from the search terms users are currently searching on Google. This tells you exactly which phrases people are searching for on a particular subject. You can then use those phrases in your content when relevant, which will give you a boost on search engines.
Let AI Fill the Holes in Your Marketing Plan
After Lemons Ryhal used Humantic AI to learn about herself as a communicator, she realized the way she communicates, which is built into her marketing materials, might not work for everyone. Having this information at her disposal, she says, is an asset because it illuminated where she needed help in her business.
Everyone has shortcomings, she says, which prevents them from connecting with some groups of people. Similarly, everyone can benefit from a perspective outside themselves that is also trained in understanding how to reach multiple audiences—that’s where AI comes in.
“If you can’t bring forth an empathetic tone, ChatGPT can do that for you,” she said.
ChatGPT can write scripts, suggest solutions to objections and answer questions—all things we can simply Google, and many can complete these tasks as well. “But can you write a compassionate and persuasive direct-mail script to use with homeowners 60 years and older? Can you do it in a matter of seconds?” Lemons Ryhal asked.
This is a prime example of the leverage AI provides.
A Few Caveats for AI Use
Lemons Ryhal says, from her perspective and contrary to popular opinion, AI will not replace agents and brokers in the real estate profession.
“But a real estate pro with technology will replace an agent with technology.”
She stresses that even if you’re not using AI in your business, you should absolutely understand it and how it works. ChatGPT, for instance, stands for “Generative Pretrained Transformer, meaning it is trained by humans and therefore flawed. So, users must understand its limitations.
“All of the content that you get from ChatGPT is pulled from the internet. It is our responsibility to proof anything that AI produces for accuracy.”
She also encourages users to invest in the paid version of the AI tools they decide to use, because doing so unlocks all the features available, providing access to the most recent versions of the platforms.
Additionally, it’s important to remember that all these AI tools are just that: tools. They’re only as good as we make them. ChatGPT requires a question, which is a prompt, and the better the prompt from the user, the better the answer it produces. It can, however, take a while to figure out how to prompt effectively. Lemons Ryhal encourages users to get through the learning curve first to minimize errors and potential issues.
