The Real AI Opportunity in Real Estate w/Brandon Doyle

For a tech-savvy agent, YouTuber and consultant to tech companies, you’d think Brandon would be “all in” on creating content with AI. Quite the opposite.

“AI is great for improving your workflow and saving some time, but if you’re using [AI] for the actual creation, you’re doing it wrong. You’re just creating garbage and noise and in the long run, it’s going to hurt you more than it helps.”

There’s some excitement around AI voice agents for calling leads. But some are saying they’d probably only use it for dead leads.

So if the big opportunity in AI isn’t in revolutionizing how we market and sell, what IS the big opportunity?

Let’s get to the…

Non-Obvious Insights from our Conversation:

Solve Boring Problems

I think the biggest problem in real estate is actually duplication of entry and…adoption... A lot of times with [tech] tools, people get frustrated because they…go in and do something and they’re just checking a box of something they already did.” - Brandon Doyle

Data entry. That’s a really boring problem. But if AI can solve it, it makes adoption easier and opens the door for new tools to emerge. And making adoption easier is critical because…

Agent Churn Can Break Your Entire Business Model.

“They [tech companies] don’t factor their churn rate…I’ve seen companies where the client acquisition cost is higher than the lifetime value of the client. And they don’t even understand what their lifetime value is because…it’s two different buckets for them. They’ve got marketing, sales and then client success all operating separately.”

Think this only applies to tech companies?

I’ve seen this same issue with coaching and memberships. When all the focus is on getting new agents in, it’s easy to forget about churn.

Whatever estimates you have of lifetime value per agent, it’s probably good to cut them in half. Maybe more.

This is why so many tech companies, and even some coaches, prefer to sell to big brands and indie brokers.

“I mean, selling [tech tools] direct to agent is just a terrible, terrible business model. They expect the world and they don’t want to pay you for it. And they’re just going to quit. The average agent won’t even go 90 days.”

So how do we deal with churn?

Price Out the Problem Agents.

“Price accordingly. Just price some of these people out of the market through exclusivity. Curaytor, when they first came on the scene, was a good example. It was like, ‘Well, we’re so exclusive, we only work with whatever number of people,’ and then [agents] kind of self- select.”

In other words, start by selling to agents who are ambitious, advanced and affluent.

Establish your market there, build something awesome, get profitable. Then you can move downmarket and offer a limited or mass-market version.

The side benefit is that working with the ambitious and already successful raises your game. You end up creating a better solution to the problem to meet their high expectations.

Want to go deeper? Click on the audio file for the full chat, or search Real Estate Thought Leaders on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Or Hit Reply and tell me what you’re seeing…especially when it comes to agent churn in areas like coaching or memberships.

Ask This:

What are the early WINS you can get agents after they take your offer?

What can you systematize?

What can you make easier and seamless?

The better answers you have to those questions, the less churn you’ll have in your offers.

Quick Links & Resources

Brandon’s website

Brandon’s books

Brandon’s YouTube channel - for smart home tech and home tours

Connect with Brandon on Facebook and Instagram

Brandon was up for a free-range conversation, and we definitely had that! So make sure to listen to the full conversation, connect with Brandon on social, and keep him mind for speaking gigs or consulting for tech companies.

Talk soon,

-Matt

Agency Founder & Author of MicroFamous

PS When you’re ready, here’s one way we can help…

Done-for-You Content Service - From Michael Maher and Lars Hedenborg to Jeff Cohn and Marki Lemons-Ryhal, we’ve been the content team behind many of your fellow real estate coaches, speakers and authors.

We turn conversations into newsletters, videos and podcasts, all with zero hassle. With our system, that content creates real authority, influence and impact for our clients.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit rethoughtleaders.substack.com