Kevin: How have things changed in the last 10 years with digital marketing and consumers?

Howard: It’s a mix of things that are the same and things that are different concerning consumer behavior. When it’s time to buy or sell consumers want the same thing – to see homes and they want a great place to search for homes. What is different is how we get in front of the consumer and stay in front of them. 10 years ago, the consumer was not checking Facebook 12.2 times a day. Now, it’s more effective to send alerts through social media rather than email.

AI is changing everything. We must leverage the heck out of AI. We can tap our agents on the shoulder with a text letting them know what their clients are doing because we are watching their database all the time. We can send a pinpoint message to the agent so they can send a message to their clients about a home or price reduction. We are getting 30 to 40 % response rates doing this.

Tech is on an exponential curve of development. You must embrace it through companies who can automate your systems and leverage that to compete with the big companies without spending 100 million dollars.

Kevin: Great answer. What have you seen that is happening with the great Real Estate teams?

Howard: 1. Never put all of your eggs in one basket. Do an inventory list of your dependencies such as Zillow or Realtor.com. Their models are changing constantly and you need to have a redundancy system. We are seeing big successful teams whose business is going to dust because they have not developed a redundancy system. 2. You have to embrace the iBuying thing and use it to your advantage. There will be a correction to the market and corrections correct an irrational market. What will happen is the iBuying thing will flush out and leave a few of the companies standing. Become an expert in iBuying and get it out in front of your clients. Going back to nurturing the client relationship; the personal touch.

Kevin: Where do you look for knowledge or mentorship to push yourself forward?

Howard: In general, I prefer Biographies. We can learn a lot from the most successful people, from their mistakes and zigs and zags. I also refer back to a small, easy read book called ‘Clarity’ by Bob Bohlen – real simple stuff about Lead Gen, Time Blocking, etc. I read everything in detail such as Zillow’s most recent quarterly earnings. Don’t take everything for granted. Follow the money. Turn your brain on, think more on your own.

Kevin: I personally enjoy opposite viewpoints in order to make adjustments to my own point of view.

Howard: Yes, have people around you that you can listen to and argue with. We are an industry of talkers and it’s hard to listen. We can be very opinionated in a constructive way. Put egos aside to allow so much more. We need each other to be great, to develop our skill sets. Surround yourself with people who are infinitely smarter than you for unparalleled success.

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Howard’s book recommendation: Clarity by Bob Bohlen