Artificial Intelligence & Relationships

Referrals Drive Business

People and relationships drive our businesses. For some, relationships and referrals make up more than 60% of their business. 

My friend Victor Lund, from the WAV Group, recently shared the following relationship marketing facts:

• 92% of consumers trust referrals from people they know. Source: Nielsen 
• Consumers rely on word-of-mouth 2x to 10x more than paid media. Source: Boston Consulting Group 
• Word of mouth has been shown to improve marketing effectiveness by up to 54%. Source: Marketshare 

Artificial Intelligence [AI] now plays a significant role in in how we search for, buy, sell and rent properties. AI is powering proptech advances which was well articulated in this article.

Why are we not applying AI to the people side of our business?

If referral marketing generates exponentially higher conversion rates than any other marketing channel, why don’t we invest in refining the profile, attributes, and relationship mapping of the people in our CRMs?

Customer Relationship Management [CRM] tools have surged in popularity in the past 5 to 10 years. CRMs are the instruments we use to track our relationships. In fact, 5 to 7 years ago CRMs were popular only with a small percentage of our business. Today, without one, it would be difficult to execute targeted social media or marketing campaigns.

In late 2019, after the 2018 sale of Pacific Union International, I invested in an artificial intelligence firm by the name of AIdentified LLC. It was clear to me that client profiles, decision support tools, and digital relationship mapping would soon emerge in the real estate industry.

AIdentified’s clients include Merrill, Raymond James, Four Seasons, Ferrari, Compass, and the endowment offices of Harvard University, University of Virginia, and many others tracking clients’ wealth and liquidity events. Back to Who is Chasing Whom? Everyone is targeting your clients and their liquidity events.

What if:

• You could target a marketing piece to homeowners in your market who work at a company that just announced the relocation to another state. Could you approach these homeowners with a value proposition of a sale in your market and team with someone in another market to help them purchase a home?
• You create a digital farm focused on people 65+ years of age with no kids at home who may fit the profile of a downsizing strategy? So much more efficient than the traditional “farm list.”
• You had multiple offers on a current listing, and you wanted to profile homes and homeowners near the listing that fit the exact same profile of your seller(s) to create another listing?
• Your entire office/company shared a CRM and you could see which of your peers had a relationship with someone that just had a liquidity event?
• You could immediately qualify an inbound lead to know if they had the capacity to purchase a high-end home in your market? And who you know that knows them well?

Add Velocity

The power of one or the power of many? If trust is in place at your office/company, think about the power and the possibilities if the AI was scrubbing your whole office/company CRM and directing you to the closest relationship to the client/prospect.

These are the tools now available to relationship marketing.

It’s not for everyone. You will need to focus on execution. Some will, some will not. Those that do, will inspire and add velocity to their business through the power of artificial intelligence.

Make sure your technology vendor can deliver these features and benefits – ask them about their capabilities. This is not a bridge too far – it is here and now!

This is Where We Are Now.