5 costly mistakes agents make with ChatGPT (and how to fix them)

by Bernice Ross | May 19, 2025 | Industry, News Feed

Bigger. Better. Bolder. Inman Connect is heading to San Diego. Join thousands of real estate pros, connect with the Inman Community, and gain insights from hundreds of leading minds shaping the industry. If you’re ready to grow your business and invest in yourself, this is where you need to be. Go BIG in San Diego!

Whether you’re farming leads, writing listing descriptions or generating content for your next newsletter, ChatGPT may just be the most powerful assistant you could ever use, provided you know how to prompt it to work its magic. I asked ChatGPT to identify the five most common mistakes it sees real estate agents making as well as what agents can do to avoid them. 

5 costly ChatGPT mistakes

Mistake 1: Trusting ChatGPT without verifying the facts

At Real Estate Connect in NYC in 2024, David Edelman from the AI Lab at MIT described generative AI models, including ChatGPT, like this: “Generative AI is like a brilliant Ivy League intern, supremely confident in itself, and is totally full of it, 10 percent of the time.” 

Edleman then gave the audience this important warning: “If you’re working with generative AI, you are in the bullshit detection business.” 

Here’s what ChatGPT had to say about what agents are doing wrong. 

Too many Realtors are copying and pasting AI-generated content directly into listing sites, newsletters and blog posts without checking accuracy. ChatGPT is powerful, but it’s not a replacement for research or professional judgment.

Consequently, always fact-check AI-generated data and hyperlinks, because many times they’re flat-out wrong or even non-existent. Here’s what ChatGPT said to do instead:  

Always fact-check specifics: If you ask for stats on your local market, confirm the numbers with your MLS or NAR reports. For example, ChatGPT may summarize general trends, but it doesn’t know the latest from your city’s planning commission or the zoning update that just passed.

Cross-check property data: ChatGPT can help you format a listing description or write neighborhood guides, but don’t rely on it to verify square footage, flood zones or school district boundaries.

To get accurate hyperlinks to content I’m researching, I tell ChatGPT, “Provide me with your sources plus accurate URLs because the editors at Inman will be fact-checking the accuracy of what you give me.” This works over 90 percent of the time with ChatGPT. 

The ChatGPT recommendation was to:

Ask me for “5 reputable links for [X]” so you can double-check key facts.” Your editor, clients, and license will thank you.

The keywords you will probably want to use are “double check key facts.” 

Mistake 2: Using the default ChatGPT voice (aka ‘boring bot syndrome’)

AI-generated content often sounds like a college term paper. While it may be technically correct, it lacks personality, but most importantly, it doesn’t sound like you.

Part of the issue is that Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Grok are all prediction machines. I find they often string a series of facts together and punctuate like it’s a sentence. In truth, it sounds like a list of bullet points rather than an inviting conversation.  

Here are ChatGPT’s suggestions for avoiding this issue:

• Train me on your voice. Share a few pieces of your writing (listing remarks, past blog posts, your “About Me” page) and ask me to mimic your tone. I can adjust for casual, luxury, humorous, persuasive — you name it.
• Give direction about your audience. Do you want to sound like a tough-love investor mentor or a warm, neighborhood expert? I can tailor differently for first-time buyers vs. seasoned landlords.
•  Try this command: “Write this post for a buyer relocating to Austin who’s nervous about interest rates. Use a calm, reassuring tone with short sentences and a dash of humor.”

Mistake 3: Asking for a blog post and expecting a masterpiece

A crucial rule when working with any LLM is to give it specific, detailed instructions. In many cases, the more detail you provide, the better your results will be. Here’s ChatGPT’s take on the issue: 

What agents are doing wrong:
Many agents give me a one-liner like, “Write a blog post about staging” and get back generic, surface-level fluff. That’s like handing your contractor a hammer and expecting a finished house. 

Here’s what to do instead: 

• Use a multistep process: First, tell me your goals (SEO, lead capture, education), your audience (investors, sellers, FSBOs), and your preferred format (list, how-to, storytelling).
• Then build in layers: Start with an outline, review it, then generate each section one at a time. This lets you keep control and refine tone and content as we go.
• Use this command: “Let’s brainstorm 5 blog titles to attract luxury sellers. Then outline one and write the intro paragraph only.”

Mistake 4: Expecting ChatGPT to be good at math (Spoiler: It’s not)

While ChatGPT can arrange your data in a beautiful infographic, you’re better off doing the numbers on a handheld calculator as opposed to using an LLM. As ChatGPT observed, 

Agents often treat ChatGPT like a calculator or spreadsheet and expect it to reliably crunch numbers or pull property-level comparable sales.

Here’s what to do instead: 

• Use me for messaging and strategy, not math: I can write about why a 6.5 percent cap rate is appealing to a multifamily investor, but I’m not going to accurately calculate the ROI on your 12-unit listing.
• Ask for explanations, not calculations: Want to break down how seller carryback financing works? I can explain it in 3 ways — simple, detailed and with analogies, but don’t ask me to tabulate amortization schedules. Use Excel or a financial calculator for that.
• I’m not a mathlete: I’m a messaging engine. Use me to craft the story that supports your numbers, not to generate them.

Having said that, OpenAI does have a companion to ChatGPT called Wolfram that does accurate mathematical calculations. It’s available to all ChatGPT subscribers at the $20 per month level. 

Mistake 5: Asking if ChatGPT can do something and believing its answer

Edelman’s assessment about generative AI models sounding “supremely confident” was spot on. I’ve been working with it for two years, and I constantly have to monitor the accuracy of what it creates for me. As it observed, 

Agents will ask, “Can you do this?” and take “Yes!” as gospel. But I don’t know what I don’t know — and sometimes I’ll give you confident answers that are dead wrong.

Here’s what to do to avoid making this mistake: 

• Test it for yourself: If you’re unsure whether I can format a CSV of expired listings or write a seller script for your next listing appointment, don’t ask me if I can — just give me a test prompt and see how I perform.
• Give me feedback: Tell me what I did wrong and what to fix. My best responses come from guided refinement, not blind confidence.
• Use this prompt: Let’s test how well you can write a text message to a seller with low showing traffic. Give me three variations with different tones: friendly, urgent and consultative.

Here are ChatGPT’s top takeaways for real estate pros:

• Fact-check everything. Especially local data, stats or property details. I’ll get you 80 percent there — but you’re still the editor-in-chief of your brand.
• Customize the tone. Don’t let your content sound like everybody else’s. Train me on your voice and your audience.
• Break big tasks into steps. Use outlines, structure your projects and guide the process like a director, not a passenger.
• Know what AI is — and isn’t — good at. Use me to generate content, not calculate interest payments or count units in a complex.
• Test, tweak, repeat. AI works best when treated like a collaborator, not a crystal ball.

Here’s ChatGPT’s final take on this topic: 

You’re not hiring a robot — you’re onboarding the world’s best unpaid intern with a Ph.D. in communication and a D-minus in counting. Used strategically, ChatGPT can free up hours of your time, sharpen your messaging, and help you build deeper connections with clients. Just remember, I’m not magic. I’m a mirror — and the clearer your prompts are, the better your results will be.

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To team or not to team? 10 things you must know as you decide

by Bernice Ross | May 2, 2025 | Industry, News Feed

Bigger. Better. Bolder. Inman Connect is heading to San Diego. Join thousands of real estate pros, connect with the Inman Community, and gain insights from hundreds of leading minds shaping the industry. If you’re ready to grow your business and invest in yourself, this is where you need to be. Go BIG in San Diego!

Being a solo agent today is more complex than ever. If you’re stressed out because you’re so busy you can’t keep up with it all, you need help. The challenge is what to do. Should you start a team? If so, where should you begin, and what should you do?

Speaker and CEO of Spark Tank Media, Jeff Lobb, recently joined me to walk through the requirements for starting a successful real estate team. 

Why do you actually want a team? 

Lobb recalled when he once had 40 listings in his personal inventory. While it was great to be that busy, the downside was he could no longer manage that much business by himself. 

“When you start thinking about building a team, the first question you must answer is, ‘Why do you actually want a team,’ Lobb said.

Lobb explained that some agents start teams out of necessity — they have too many leads, too many listings and not enough hours in the day. Other agents see building a team as the next logical step in their growth. 

“A lot of people don’t realize what’s involved in getting involved in a team. They just jump first because they think they must be bigger. While I believe teams are the future of real estate, my first takeaway is that many agents start teams for the wrong reasons,” Lobb said. 

Avoid the biggest mistake agents make when they start a team

The biggest mistake agents make when starting a team is hiring a buyer’s agent before securing administrative support. In fact, the smart move is to make your first two hires administrative, specifically, a transaction coordinator and a marketing/administrative assistant. 

The reason? If you make the mistake of hiring a buyer’s agent without having an additional administrative report, then you’ll be stuck doing more administrative work, resulting in even more chaos. 

Admins are critical, even if you’re not starting a team

Before you even consider building a team, hiring at least one administrative assistant can really help your business grow. Administrative assistants keep your business running. Without them, you are the bottleneck. 

“Buyer’s agents usually only get paid when they close a transaction. When you hire an administrative assistant, a transaction coordinator or a marketing person, that’s consistent money out of your pocket. That’s the first bullet you must bite.”

If you’re struggling with the financial commitment, reset your mindset. 

“When you hire admins, you’re not giving up money, but buying back your time and avoiding burnout,” Lobb said.

Creating a job description

Lobb said another major issue many agents struggle with is giving up control. 

“I thought I could do it all. I didn’t trust anybody, Lobb said. “I realized that I was terrible with detail work. A huge realization was what I was good at as well as what I needed to give up,” Lobb said. 

You can use this information to write a job description for your first hire. Make a list of “What I like to do and I’m good at,” and a second list, “What I hate to do or do poorly.” The second list is the job description for your first administrative hire.

Small or large team? 

Every team starts small. Small teams can be highly profitable if they’re run properly. 

“What’s intimidating for a lot of newer team leaders is they see these mega teams, but they have to realize even the biggest teams started with one or two people,” Lobb said. “Regardless of the size of your team, you must determine what the process is for submitting listings, guidelines for working with buyers, and who handles all the other parts of the process.”

Agents often start teams with expectations that are very different from reality. Here’s what one disillusioned team leader told Lobb: 

“I’m not sure I actually want to manage people. I thought having a team was just going to help me do more transactions and handle my stuff. Instead, running a large team gets into the business of attracting, managing, recruiting and retaining people. I don’t know why the hell I got into this — it’s not producing for me what I expected with the amount of time I’m putting into it.”

“When you run a large team, you’re not in production anymore — you’re running a company inside of a company,” Lobb said. 

An additional harsh reality is that the behavioral profile of a top producer is very different from that of a manager. 

Overhead can be the death of your team

A primary reason teams fail is not from a lack of sales, but from cash flow management. Lead generation costs and meeting payroll for your support staff are the two primary sources of overhead for large teams.

“If you’re paying for big lead sources along with salaries for the support team, this can be the death of you. Overhead will choke you very quickly if you don’t manage the process,” Lobb said.

“Before you make plans to expand your business, wait until you have a steady cash flow and a reserve. Your lead gen and admin costs show up monthly; commission checks do not. You will need a reserve to keep your business operating. 

Start cutting expenses now  

Most team leaders are hyper-focused on growing their revenue. What many fail to address, however, is where they can cut expenses. The two primary places for team leaders to look are their lead generation costs and staffing. Here are Lobb’s top recommendations about what to do.

• Lobb’s first tip is to always put sales first, because “Creating more sales always cures more problems.”
• Next, look at your lead sources. Lobb recommends that if a lead source is not generating the results you need, drop it. Instead, focus on developing leads from the contacts and the people that you already know, i.e., your sphere and past clients. 

“This has been a pretty constant statistic — The NAR Profile of Buyers and Sellers has consistently shown that 65 percent of all business is generated either from past clients, your sphere of influence or referrals from people you already know,” Lobb said. 

“There are probably hundreds, if not millions of dollars sitting in their current systems and databases that could be converted. If they enhance their sales systems within the next 6-12 months, they can convert more sales from these sources than what they’re doing currently.”

• In addition, if you have already paid for leads from any of the portals, these often convert 12-18 months after you receive them. Stay in contact with them.

Not getting the results you want? Change your messaging 

If you’re regularly prospecting your database, but you’re not getting the results you want, shift your messaging. Lobb has listened in to a lot of prospecting calls and he cringes at much of what he hears agents saying. Here are some important tips.

• Rather than talking at them, ask questions. 
• Avoid Realtor jargon such as “CMA.” 
• Offer a service to reengage with them. For example, most agents offer to do a CMA for past clients or current listing leads. A better approach for someone who owns a home is to offer an “Equity Checkup.” It’s exclusively about their home and their equity, making it more personal and valuable. You can quickly create an Equity Checkup by going to NARRPR and pulling a beautiful 15-25 page report on their property. Couple it with your personal CMA, and you have something almost everyone will keep and value. 

“The magic word that gets their attention is ‘equity,’” Lobb said. “When you ask if they know that their equity has changed significantly, that gets their attention.” 

Here’s an example of a simple question that can often get you the appointment. 

“Did you know that the amount of your home equity has changed? If you’d like to know by how much, I’d be happy to drop off a copy of your personalized Home Equity Checkup for your property.”

If they say “yes,” schedule the appointment. 

The toughest issue for team leaders and their agents: Compensation

When it comes to team compensation, Lobb said confusion is common. Rather than looking at the split as a percentage, what matters most isn’t the percentage you’re offered, but what’s left in your pocket.

Stop obsessing over the split

A 50/50 team split might sound awful compared to the 80/20 split you had at your last brokerage, where you only closed two deals. If you join a team where you have full administrative, marketing and lead generation support and you close 12 deals, you will come out ahead — way ahead.

Know what you’re really getting

A strong team may include a full suite of services: transaction coordination, marketing support, paid advertising, videography, social media content and CRM management. Ask yourself what it would cost you to handle all those things by yourself, as well as how much time it would take. 

Use a $10K commission as a test case

When you’re interviewing at a brokerage or for a team, Lobb advises that you have the person you’re interviewing with to walk through a hypothetical deal. Here’s what to ask:  

“Show me how a $10,000 commission would be split between the brokerage, the team and me.”

This one exercise can eliminate false assumptions and set expectations clearly.

The costliest mistake team leaders make

The mistake? Paying agent splits based upon the gross commission rather than the net commission after brokerage and team expenses. 

For agents, ask about both the team and brokerage payment structures

Be sure to clarify whether your commission split is based upon gross revenue or revenue after expenses are deducted. It’s equally important to discover the brokerage’s model — Is there a cap? Is there a franchise fee? Does the broker charge a transaction fee?

Again, it’s not about the split but about how much ultimately ends up in your bank account and how many more deals you can do. 

The 2 biggest challenges team leaders face

While starting a team can be exciting, the hardest part isn’t generating leads and closing transactions — it’s managing the people and the cash flow. Other issues Lobb outlined include: 

Hiring, training and retaining

Hiring agents for your team can be difficult and time-consuming, especially since “Every day someone’s trying to recruit your people,” Lobb said. 

Even if an agent agrees to join your company or team, ou still have to train them. If you’re like most team leaders, you probably don’t have the bandwidth to do training since you’re already stretched too thin yourself. One option is to outsource your training, which many teams do.

Cash flow can kill your momentum 

Monthly expenses — lead gen subscriptions, staff salaries, marketing costs — keep hitting even when commission checks don’t. “You’re not getting paid for time out,” Lobb warned. “You need a cash buffer to carry you through slow cycles. Without it, overhead will eat your business.” 

Lobb’s final takeaways about starting a team

“I think teams are the future. I think teams allow a lot of flexibility under a brand without carrying all the overhead of the brand. Be sure you understand why you’re starting a team, identify what you’re good at and what you’re not good at, and find those key people that can fill those voids for you.”

Bernice Ross, president and CEO of BrokerageUP and RealEstateCoach.com, and the founder of RealEstateWealthForWomen.com is a national speaker, author and trainer with over 1,500 published articles.

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5 reasons marketing your listings to other agents still wins deals

by Bernice Ross | May 1, 2025 | Industry, News Feed

Bigger. Better. Bolder. Inman Connect is heading to San Diego. Join thousands of real estate pros, connect with the power of the Inman Community, and gain insights from hundreds of leading minds shaping the industry. If you’re ready to grow your business and invest in yourself, this is where you need to be. Go BIG in San Diego!

You have just taken a new listing and plan to market it directly to consumers in print, on the web and on social media. Almost no one, however, has a game plan to market to other agents. If you want to stop leaving money on the table and get your listings sold faster, here’s a five-step plan to reach the agents most likely to bring you an offer.   

5 reasons to market your listings to other agents

1. Executive reviews: Bring in the firepower 

Long before video walkthroughs or virtual tours became the norm, Jon Douglas Company pioneered a unique idea that led the company to dominate the market in Brentwood, Beverly Hills, Bel Air and Santa Monica, California, in the 1990s: the “executive review.”

The purpose of the executive review was two-fold — to ace out the competitors for the listing and to increase the probability that the seller would set a realistic asking price. 

In our office, the listing agent typically invited at least three top-producing agents to the executive review, along with a manager or assistant manager. Each member of the team answered several questions about where the property should be priced, selling points and any issues that needed the seller’s attention. 

Especially when we conducted them as part of the pre-listing process, our executive reviews were extremely effective at converting leads into signed listings. Sellers were impressed that a team of agents showed up to help them, and even more so when they were introduced to a member of our management team. 

At the listing appointment, the agent would share the pricing and other feedback from the executive review team. The agent would then present their CMA and ask for the sellers’ feedback about where they wanted to price the property. When I was the agent going for the listing, I didn’t recommend a price — I wanted to see how they responded to the team’s pricing first. 

If any members of the executive review team had a buyer who was a fit, the listing agent could leverage that by telling the seller that one of the agents was excited about showing the property to their buyer. Also, agents on the executive review team often knew other agents who had buyers for the listing. 

Pro tip: Executive reviews help you win more listings, price the property correctly, and get the property sold faster, usually at a better price. 

2. Target the right agents, not the whole MLS

When it comes to marketing to other agents, identify which agents consistently list and sell homes in the area where the property is located. Also, look for agents who have buyers searching in the same price range as your listing lead. 

The next step is to identify which agents represent the buyers (not just the sellers) for properties located close to your listing. These buyer agents are your priority audience. They’re already dialed into local demand and are likely to have buyers who would be a good fit for your listing.

Pro tip: Create your own VIP emailing list of top buyers’ agents. When the listing agreement is signed and your listing is ready to come on the MLS, invite them for an “exclusive first look” at a specific time where they can drop in and preview the property without an appointment. Be sure to invite the agents from your office who have buyers as well. 

3. Leverage listing agents with active buyers

If an agent has a listing in the same neighborhood as yours, they probably have a list of buyers who weren’t a fit for their listing. Review their listing(s) to determine how yours compares. Then, if you have the listing agent’s mobile number, text them using the following script: 

“Hi [Agent Name] — Sally Agent here from ABC Realty. I have a new listing that might be a fit for any buyers who contacted you about your current listing but weren’t a fit for that property. Would you like me to send over some info?”

Before sending this message, be sure you have prepared a detailed package about the property that includes top-quality photos, a short video walkthrough (easily shot on your phone) and a polished digital brochure. Your goal is to make it easy for these agents to get back in touch with previous buyers for their listing without spending time pulling data from the MLS. 

Pro tip: Most agents appreciate having an edge that gives them easy access with their buyers prior to the first public open house. Best of all, this establishes you as an agent they can trust, and one who is willing to work with them.

4. Contact agents in feeder markets

In addition to contacting agents who have listings where your listing is located, also contact agents who have listings in nearby areas that are less expensive. Agents with active listings in these “feeder” neighborhoods often have sellers or buyers looking to upgrade to your location. 

You can use the same preview-and-reach-out approach that you used with listing agents with properties near your listing. It’s a smart way to find additional high-probability buyers for your listing and snag a quick sale.

Pro tip: When reaching out to feeder-area agents, position your listing as a “move-up opportunity” to help them frame it attractively for sellers in their area. 

5. If you feed them, they will come

Broker open houses where you serve food have worked for decades to motivate agents to see your listing in person. Despite all the tech advances, nothing beats having agents walk through the door to view the property in person. A well-attended broker open house means more feedback, more buzz and more buyer leads. As a bonus, it also shows your seller you’re pulling out all the stops to market their property aggressively. 

Pro tip: Create a theme for your open house, such as “Brunch and Browse” or “Taco Tuesday.” Promote it aggressively through your agent network to maximize attendance.

Marketing to other agents requires time and effort, but the payoff can be huge: more offers, happier sellers and fewer days (and dollars) spent while your listing languishes on the market. While other agents may be competitors when it comes to listings or on multiple offers, they are still your best source for locating the right buyer with the right offer for your new listing. Take advantage of it!

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How top teams and agents can create real estate clients for life

by Bernice Ross | Apr 17, 2025 | Industry, News Feed

Bigger. Better. Bolder. Inman Connect is heading to San Diego. Join thousands of real estate pros, connect with the power of the Inman Community, and gain insights from hundreds of leading minds shaping the industry. If you’re ready to grow your business and invest in yourself, this is where you need to be. Go BIG in San Diego!

Currently, there’s an all-out war being waged among Zillow, Homes.com and a new entry into the fray, Rocket Companies, which recently acquired Redfin. At stake is who will capture the consumer first and then convert that client into a customer for life for their company.

Realtors, particularly real estate teams, are uniquely suited to win this war because these large companies cannot afford to pursue local market niches. If you’re ready to beat the big guys to the punch, here’s what to do to begin building customers for life for your business. 

Think beyond the sale by building a ‘customer for life’ strategy

A customer-for-life strategy addresses what best supports your clients while they live in the properties you sell them. A closing should never end the relationship but rather the beginning of your journey together as your customer for life. 

Unfortunately, most teams and solo agents are inferior at keeping in touch with past clients. Most fail to stay in touch after the transaction closes. Part of the issue is that the industry is hyper-focused on lead generation, often ignoring the relationship-building opportunity that can create customers and referral business for a lifetime.  

Roll out a concierge-level onboarding experience

The moment a client signs a contract with you, provide them with a digital “welcome kit” that outlines the key steps in the closing process, the timeline for completion for each contingency, how to reach you and your team, and a list of your most trusted vendors (movers, cleaners, contractors).

You can also include personal touches, such as a coffee gift card or even a Spotify playlist, “Your Home Search Soundtrack,” filled with songs from their favorite artists. This makes your clients feel heard and cared for. 

Tag your clients by category and then develop a customer life strategy for each profile

For example, tag clients by stage of life, such as “newlywed,” “young family,” “empty nester,” “investor,” “downsizer,” etc. Also, store insights about them, such as their dog’s name, favorite sports teams, how they take their coffee, etc. These become conversation-starters and connection-builders.

What’s next for them?  

The next step is to ask yourself about their future real estate needs.

• Is it a move from their condo to a home with a backyard in an area with great schools?
• Is there a vacation home or vacation home in their future?
• Are they planning to add an ADU to their property for a family member or a source of rental income?
• If they’re older and approaching retirement, will they be downsizing or searching for a home that can accommodate two or more generations of family members? 

The 12-month post-close plan

If you want your buyer or seller to become your customer for life, the first year after their transaction closes is critical. Create a post-close plan for every client. It should include the following milestones.

Week 1: Conduct an in-person check-in to address any challenges they may be having and deliver a thank-you gift for doing business with you. Also, if you haven’t already done this while they were under contract, give them a list of places to get energy rebates for appliances and other improvements. 

Month 1: An in-person, phone or text check-in to see if they have any post-closing issues and send maintenance tips for the next quarter. For example, changing the filters on the HVAC, clearing leaves from the gutters, covering outdoor faucets for winter, etc. Here’s a script for a 30-day post-closing phone call: 

Agent: “Now that the boxes are (mostly) unpacked, just checking in. Do you need a recommendation for a landscaper, painter or home security system? Is there anything else I can help you with?”

Quarterly: Launch a “homeowner happiness” email with a mix of home tips, neighborhood events and personalized service offerings. You can also send print or digital coupons for a buy-1-get-1-free deal from your favorite local restaurant.

6 months: Send out a checklist of “The Top Five Spring Maintenance Musts for Your Home” or “Must Do’s to Winterize Your Home,” plus “We have also included our top three vendors for roof inspections and HVAC tune-ups, with special discounts for our valued clients.”

Annual review: Review the comparable sales to see if the property value has increased or decreased. If it has increased and your state assesses property taxes on full value, or your property has gone down, provide them with the names of services you trust that help homeowners reduce their property taxes.  

Because most people have their insurance policies renewed on the anniversary of the day they closed their transaction, about a month before their first “Home-iversary,” encourage them to shop for both their existing home and auto insurance policies, since there are often discounts when policies are bundled together.

The best place to do this is with an insurance broker who can shop multiple insurance companies to see which policies will provide the maximum coverage while keeping their premiums as low as possible. 

Also, if they had a home warranty at closing, remind them to renew it for the upcoming year so they won’t get caught with a massive bill for unexpected major repairs. 

Create a calendar update in your CRM with reminders for these milestones. 

Personalize your communications, even when they are automated

Two great tools for sending personalized cards to your clients are SendOutCards.com and  Handwrytten.com. SendOutCards has a wide variety of professionally created cards that allow you to add your photos or even create your card. Handwrytten.com puts your words “in pen and ink.” As their logo says, “Handwrytten with Love and Robots.” 

Make them smile when they least expect it 

The best marketing is a memory. Make them smile when they least expect it, whether it’s a moving day kit with all the things clients often forget to pack separately, such as paper towels, toilet paper, snacks, soft drinks, etc., or a pizza delivered to their door at the end of moving day.

A different idea is to host fun and useful gatherings, such as “Shred-It-Day” for taxes or a “Pumpkin Patch Pickup” for Halloween. Thoughtful gestures under $50 can yield tens of thousands in future referrals.

Be a human 1st and a Realtor 2nd

Life happens, and not everything is celebratory. Be there when it matters. Congratulate them on great moments, including birthdays, anniversaries, first days of school, graduations and promotions. More importantly, be there when you hear about a seriously ill family member, divorce, death or even the loss of a beloved pet.

Show empathy, not just salesmanship. These are the moments that build real relationships. Ultimately, referrals don’t come from clicks or scripts but from genuinely showing that you care.

Although Zillow, Homes.com and Rocket bet on predictive AI, algorithmic targeting and massive ad spends to build customers for life, the one thing these giants cannot do is to be there personally for the important milestones in your clients’ lives.

When your clients feel heard and supported, when you are there for them when it matters most, that’s when the value provided will make them want to be your customers for life. 

Bernice Ross, president and CEO of BrokerageUP and RealEstateCoach.com, and the founder of RealEstateWealthForWomen.com is a national speaker, author and trainer with over 1,500 published articles.

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