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Show Summary
In this conversation, Rob Arden discusses the integration of AI in real estate, emphasizing its importance for lead generation and follow-up. He highlights how AI can provide leverage for agents, allowing them to contact more potential clients efficiently. The discussion also covers the significance of nurturing leads over time, especially for new agents, and the need for intentional marketing strategies. Rob introduces the Apex Real Estate AI Kit, designed to streamline lead generation and nurturing processes for real estate professionals.
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Investor Fuel Show Transcript:
Rob Arden (00:00)
You could be the best on the phone. And if you close at a 50 % rate or you get an appointment at a 50 % rate and you make 50 dials in the day, you’ve got 25. If I’m making 10,000 dials and I close at a five closing an appointment at 5%, right? I’m getting 500 appointments. That’s just leverage that AI allows in today’s world. Even the worst agent or the worst person on the phone.That’s one, to get more appointments. And two, let’s be honest, I was an agent, not a lot of people like cold calling. It’s not people’s favorite thing to do. So this again alleviates another strategy to generate more leads and not have to do the awkward cold calling that a lot of people just don’t wanna do.
Dylan Silver (02:18)
Hey folks, welcome back to the show. Today’s guest, Rob Arden is the founder of Versa Partners where they help real estate agents and teams book more clothes and close more deals. He’s also a background in multiple segments of real estate, including brokerage, short-term rentals and wholesaling. You can find him at versapartners.io. Rob, thanks for taking the time today.Rob Arden (02:39)
Thanks for having me, Dylan. Happy to be here.Dylan Silver (02:41)
Now, when we talk specifically about the intersection of ⁓ AI and of real estate, it seems to be that more and more people are interested, and I see it as an agent working with investors. It does feel like if you’re not using some type of automation, some type of AI, you’re gonna be competing against people.Rob Arden (03:02)
And that’s why we started going with our company and going in this direction. It’s just a matter of leverage, right? And a matter of timing. So what we found is the more eyeballs, the more people you can contact, the more people you can get in touch with, that gives you more leverage, that gives you more opportunity to do just revenue producing activities and focusing in the AI, it just gives you that leverage. So with our voice agents, ⁓ we haveone of the four voice agents we created as a, you know, it’s a circle prospecting agent. So for real estate agents, you know, who want to farm an area or go around a house they just sold, you know, being able to contact a thousand, know, plugging in a list of a thousand people and the AI being able to contact, you know, contact 250 of them every minute just gives an incredible amount of levers.
As you pointed out, if you’re not using it, you could be the best real estate agent in the world. You could be the best on the phone. And if you close at a 50 % rate or you get an appointment at a 50 % rate and you make 50 dials in the day, you’ve got 25. If I’m making 10,000 dials and I close at a five closing an appointment at 5%, right? I’m getting 500 appointments. That’s just leverage that AI allows in today’s world. Even the worst agent or the worst person on the phone.
That’s one, to get more appointments. And two, let’s be honest, I was an agent, not a lot of people like cold calling. It’s not people’s favorite thing to do. So this again alleviates another strategy to generate more leads and not have to do the awkward cold calling that a lot of people just don’t wanna do.
Dylan Silver (05:41)
I like to get a little bit granular here into the weeds. Maybe let’s give away some of the gold, but not everything. When we talk about AI outreach, I think there’s maybe some level of trepidation with some folks because they’re saying, well, I don’t want to be spamming folks and then having it come back to me. And then people are saying, ⁓ it’s unsolicited and so forth. And so for your business, but also just guidance in general, when folks are usingAI outreach tools? What are some general, you know, good things to follow to make sure that people are, you know, keeping their reputation intact, but also, you know, staying in line with regulations so where folks are not effectively feeling spammed.
Rob Arden (06:28)
Absolutely. So with our company, we’ve created a four agent kit. It’s called the Apex Real Estate Agent Kit. ⁓ It has four different voice agents inside of it, but for the non-spamming aspect and people feeling like they’re talking to a robot, you still want that personalization. So we’ve worked very hard on trying to make it as human as possible. With that being said, the… ⁓speed to lead agent, which is right off their form of their Facebook website, Zillow, whatever. They’ve opted in, right? They’ve given their information. So in the same aspect as someone opting in and then a human calling them, it’s the same thing with our AI, right? They’ve been given the permission to get called. So that stops that. ⁓ You know, another part of the kit is database reactivation, which follows the speed to lead.
You’ve opted in a few months ago, but you weren’t ready to buy or ready to sell. So just like a human, a real agent would call ⁓ and try and get them back on and back into a listing appointment or to find them to buy a house, the AI will automatically call. ⁓
Dylan Silver (07:46)
Yeah. Yeah.I mean, when we talk specifically about follow up, that seems to be a huge area of opportunity. And I think most people are still not using AI in that capacity. I mean, if you’re talking about, you know, buying real estate or selling real estate, this could be years of follow up and of touch points years. And so you’re not methodical about it yourself. And if you’re not able to provide that
Rob Arden (08:06)
years.Dylan Silver (08:14)
you know, one to one outreach, AI can come in and really be a great resource to folks. And I don’t think most agents and teams are utilizing it like that. I think in many cases they may do some level of a speed to lead, but as far as ongoing outreach, I don’t know if people are tapped in as they should be.Rob Arden (08:30)
Mm-hmm.No, absolutely. that’s the conversations more and more that we have. That’s why we’ve stuck with the niche of real estate agents, because a lot of agents you speak to, they have these tools available. The big brokerages all have them, right? A lot of these companies ⁓ pride themselves on having excellent technology and they do. But does the agent go in and actually utilize the tech stack and set up, you know, the workflow automations that are available, the lead nurturing that’s available? Are they…
Are they doing good practice in the follow-up? We’ve all heard money is in the follow-up, right? So, you you can increase conversions with the speed to lead. I believe it’s up to 67 % if you contact them within the first five minutes, right? At least getting them on, qualifying them, getting some information. Now for an agent, having AI contact them, qualify them, get them, organizes their calendar and puts it directly on their calendar so they can look at who, you know, who wants to buy something within a month.
versus who’s just looking around for a year and spending their time appropriately. And a lot of agents, again, going back to a horror story of mine, I was an agent for five years and I had this one couple that I showed 39 properties to. And after the 39th property, they decided that they were going to rent for the next year.
Right? Now that was a tire kicker. I should have done better qualifying, right? I should have done better nurturing, but it happens. The point of using AI and, you know, qualifying correctly and nurturing correctly is to alleviate those, you know, those headaches and alleviate the time spent where maybe it could be spent better on a call closer to the money or revenue producing activity that is going to get the families who need your help.
sooner, more of your time, the people who need your help, whether it’s an investor or an agent, right? Somebody who’s closer to their timeline and you’re not spending time with somebody who, you know, is a year, maybe two out and we’ve all done it, right?
right, so.
Dylan Silver (11:20)
Yeah, I mean, look,that’s one of the more challenging aspects of being an agent is that nurturing process. It’s sometimes hard to tell because that story could also have ended when they looked at 39 homes and then they said, OK, we’re not going to buy anything. The buyer’s rep agreement expires and they go with someone else. And you’re like, what happened here? I’ve heard that story so many times too. And so that nurturing process can be long and extended.
Rob Arden (11:43)
Right. Absolutely.Dylan Silver (11:49)
Honestly, I don’t hear very much about that specifically, the idea of nurturing, because most people I think are focused on new interactions, right? It doesn’t feel as valuable to be doing such consistent follow-up, because you really never know, and it may feel like, okay, I want to find people when they’re interested right now. But that nurturing component, of course, is huge.Rob Arden (11:54)
Mm-hmm.Dylan Silver (12:15)
I would like to pivot a bit here, Robin, as specifically about, you know, for newer agents who are getting into the business. I know that there’s a lot of focus on working your sphere and on getting your name out there, but I also think that there is a time and a place certainly for folks who have access to it for them to invest in marketing for themselves and invest in appointment booking tools and really a number of different things that can help facilitateRob Arden (12:17)
Yep.Dylan Silver (12:43)
their initial on-ramp into being a real estate agent. And I think most real estate agents who are newer are not looking at that. They’re almost exclusively looking at, I’ve got to do a lot of outreach and mine my sphere.Rob Arden (12:56)
Yeah, I mean, you’ve got to look at it as a business. It’s not a hobby, right? You get your license. First, joining a team was the right way to go for me. And I would always suggest any new agent is joining a team, but someone that aligns with the kind of business that you want to look for. it’s real estate as a new agent or any kind of agent, it’s a contact sport. So how are you getting those contacts? What are you doing and how are you organizing your day?was really the hardest part of a new agent. And that’s why being on a team and having people around you that are doing certain things that you align with was the most important thing. ⁓ In terms of spending some money or investing in yourself, definitely investing in training on your scripts, on actually learning what to say, because you might only get one shot in front of somebody.
So learning how to actually have that conversation and what you say. ⁓ Being well-rounded in terms of sales, in terms of negotiation, extremely important in the beginning. ⁓ And then in terms of marketing, don’t just throw money at the wall. Be very intentional with your marketing dollars and your war chest in the beginning, because you’re trying to build up ⁓ capital so that you can spend more.
Because your job as a real estate agent is to generate leads. That’s the main job. Generate leads and help families or individuals buy properties. That’s it. But you got to generate the leads.
Dylan Silver (14:29)
that’sNow, when we talk about this on-ramp that I’m referring to, it does, I can say from personal experience, it does feel like in the beginning maybe, okay, well, am I making progress? Am I making traction? But it is a little bit like a seed, right? You plant it now and three months later, you might see that the fruits of that. I think any time that people have a new marketing approach or a new strategy that they’re trying out, there is a little bit of a maturing period.
Rob Arden (14:52)
Yeah.Dylan Silver (15:02)
And that could be from direct mail to Facebook ads to Google ads, right? To just your own personal brand that you’re putting out there if you’re posting online. Do you think that people maybe give up too early when it comes to this type of thing and they may start doing some type of campaign and then end it too early and maybe if they had just waited another month or two, they would have crossed the finish line or had something go across the line?Rob Arden (16:10)
Absolutely. And I’m guilty of it. I’m definitely guilty of it. You’ve got a little, again, a new campaign on Facebook or whatever, marketing company, right? They’ll tell you, give it at least 90 days. But if you don’t see anything in the first 90 days, right? You’re freaking out. You’re spending money. And especially when you’re new, that’s hard. But most people in real estate are not looking to purchase their house tomorrow or next week. You know, it’s a…For most people, the biggest purchase of their life. And it’s a very intentional decision. being six months, it’s probably three to six months out. So if you stop the nurturing process, and you’re not really getting anywhere with that campaign, ⁓ within 30 days and you’re freaking out that you’re not making commission or that you’re not getting any money or you’re not getting anywhere, you’re leaving money on the table because that person probably wasn’t ready to buy.
And when they are ready to buy, you want to be top of mind. So how do you stay top of mind? That’s where the money’s in the follow-up, right? That’s where the workflow automation and lead nurturing and really what we’ve designed here at Versa to implement those stages and those nurturing sequences so that you don’t have to do it all your own. It’s set, it’s like again, business in a box and those stages where
you might have dropped off or you get too busy, they’re automatically being sent ⁓ messaging and just staying top of mind because again, not everyone’s looking to buy today, but if they want to buy in a year and that was your lead that came in from this campaign and you gave up, they might just, and they have no affinity towards you, they might just go to another agent, right? They’re going to call the next agent on Zillow. They’re going to call the next agent on realtor.com, right? Because they don’t have any affinity towards you because you didn’t do your job.
Dylan Silver (18:00)
That’s right.Rob Arden (18:08)
of nurturing that lead. And that’s so important. Money is in the follow-up. But it’s not just follow-up. It’s how you do the follow-up, when you do the follow-up, what that messaging says. And really being intentional and curating how you do that is more important than just saying, hey, you ready to buy? Because that doesn’t help you. It’s how you do it. And it’s targeted approach and a strategic approach, which is what we’ve built here at Verso.Dylan Silver (18:12)
critical.Yeah, I mean, I’m dealing with that myself as an agent and I’m seeing, you have to have a brand and a reason why for some people they’ve got such a strong sphere and a presence where they are. But especially if you may have moved or you’re newer to an area, you know, it’s not to say that you can’t, you know, be great in that area, but you may have to have a different strategy than someone who grew up in that area and knows everybody. Right. We are coming up on time here, though, Rob.
Rob Arden (19:02)
Right.Dylan Silver (19:04)
Any new projects that you’re working on and then as well, what’s the best way for folks to get in contact with you or your team?Rob Arden (19:11)
Absolutely. So we are in process of creating what we’re calling the Apex Real Estate AI Kit. It is four different voice agents with four different ⁓ specialities. It’ll have an ISA, a speed to lead database reactivation, circle prospecting voice agents. All four come within in the kit. And then it comes with a ⁓ built ⁓ CRMthat has all the workflow automations, lead nurturing stages, all already set and a performance dashboard. It’s all all set together. So it’s really just a business in a box and putting it together ⁓ so that once you log in, that’s yours. You don’t have to do very much. You can change the messaging, but it’s really just a lead gen, lead capturing, workflow automation and nurturing business in a box ⁓ kit that we’re putting out right now.
And the best way to get in touch with us is to go to my website, it’s versapartners.io. It explains everything about the kit, everything that we do. definitely look forward to helping more agents with their follow-up and their lead nurturing.
Dylan Silver (20:24)
Rob, thank you so much for coming on the show. Thanks for taking the time today.Rob Arden (20:28)
Absolutely. Thank you, Dylan.
