2027 Brokerage Playbook: Turn Your Database Into a Growth Engine

Name: 2027 Brokerage Playbook: Turn Your Database Into a Growth Engine
Uploaded: 2026-10-30T20:24:27+00:00
Duration: 56 min 45 s
Channel: HousingWire

00:02Welcome, everyone. I'm Alison LaForgia. I am the Director of Multimedia at HousingWire.

00:08In today's conversation, the 2027 Brokerage Playbook, Turn Your Database into a Growth

00:15Engine, is produced in partnership with our partners over at MoxieWorks. We have Brendan

00:21Meyer, the VP of Strategic Alliance at MoxieWorks. Hi, Brendan.

00:26Good to see you, Alison. Thank you so much.

00:28And we have Robert Bailey, broker and founding partner at Bailey Properties.

00:34Good morning, Alison, and thank you. Thank you for joining us.

00:38Yeah.

00:40Now, I am very excited. I told both of you when we've been talking about this to just

00:46listen to both of your responses and see how you guys are approaching things as we get closer to

00:532027. So I want to jump right in. And Robert, I want to start with you. As we look ahead

01:00to 2027,

01:01what is the biggest challenge facing brokerage leaders when it comes to driving growth and

01:07helping agents stay productive?

01:10It's a great question. And I think as good as the question is, the timing is perfect, Alison,

01:16because as we look as we're now into the fourth quarter of the year, as everybody in our industry

01:22realizes, it's the work you're putting in today that's going to bear fruit for you in January,

01:27February and March. And as an industry, we hear so often about people that, well, it's winter.

01:33It's cold outside. It got dark early. It's a slow market. And you can literally take that market and

01:42turn it on its head if you do the right preparation going into the fourth quarter. So we're putting a

01:48tremendous amount of emphasis on not just having our people build their business plans early and

01:54start focusing on how to build that momentum going into the fourth quarter. But we're spending a lot of

02:00time having them re-engage, re-engage their database, re-engage their influencers now and get

02:08them talking or talk with them. So as we look at 2027, and I know we'll dig this into this

02:16deeper,

02:17we're, I think, locally, statewide here in California and nationally, we're looking at

02:22a level or a flat market, so to speak, from a number of transactions. And that means that we're

02:30going to all have to dig a little bit deeper and really look for that direct engagement with people.

02:39And how has that changed over the past couple of years?

02:45I don't know this as much that it's changed, Alison, as it's become that much more critical in

02:53nature. Because you could, you could, when sales were, were, were, were climbing. So let's think in

03:01terms of 21, 22, 23, we still had an escalating number of transactions, you could be a little bit

03:07soft in our industry, maintain the level of productivity that you sought, and not necessarily

03:13put that emphasis on the re-engagement of those past clients, that the people in your sphere of

03:20influence. We're very fond in Bailey Properties of saying, until everybody, you know, knows you're

03:25in real estate, you're not. And that has been a weakness in our industry is, is kind of casting

03:32that broad net, and then, and then bringing that into focus. And so I think it's, it's, I think we

03:38are, we're really at an inflection point in the real estate market, where you don't have an

03:43anticipation of an increased number of transactions, which means you're going to have to dig a little

03:48bit harder to find them. Yeah. That's great, Robert. Yeah. I love what you said. Until everyone,

03:55you know, knows you're in real estate, you're not in real estate. I think that's, that was huge. Yeah.

04:00I love that. Now, Brendan, I want to turn things over to you for a second, because we know that

04:08brokerages have invested so heavily in technology, but the reality is that many are still struggling

04:15to see results. Where do you think the disconnect is between having the tools and the technology and

04:23actually driving growth? Yeah, it's a, it's a good question. So I, I've been in the industry,

04:31next year will be 20 years. So coming up on, on two decades here, which I cannot believe how fast

04:36the time has gone by, but you know, Alison, there's a pattern that I see that kind of has been

04:42constantly repeating during, during my, my career. And that's brokerages will, you know, they will make

04:49investments in technology. They will buy tools for, for problems that oftentimes are not really,

04:56really clearly defined. Right. And so what ends up happening is you'll have an amazing brokerage

05:04with amazing agents, but they're, they're buying tools, right? They're buying a CRM or a marketing

05:08platform or, or making an investment in some sort of technology. And the biggest thing is like a lot

05:15of times, none of those systems are talking to each other. Right. Even today, like in 2026, like the

05:21average agent has like 11 or 12 different logins just to run their business. Right. Like they're logging

05:26into the MLS, they're logging into their CRM, they're logging into Canva, they're logging into Facebook,

05:31right? Like it, it's an incredibly fragmented and inefficient experience for a lot of agents.

05:37And what, what that means is the, the agent has to then become the integration layer between all of

05:44these disparate systems and tools. And agents don't want to be the integration layer. Like they want to be

05:49selling homes. They want to be pre-touring homes. They want to be taking their clients to coffee and doing

05:54appreciation events and spending time at the golf course with their, you know, the referrals, the, you know,

05:59they're great referral partners. Like that's what agents want to do. And I think, you know, like

06:04the other piece that I think is important to note is, and we hear this all the time at conferences

06:11too,

06:11and we hear it, you, Robert, you get sales calls from guys like me all day long. Right. And I

06:16think

06:16a common question is like, what does it, what does adoption look like? How, how, what does it,

06:20what does adoption look like on your team with whatever CRM you're using? And I don't think that

06:25like how many agents have logged in is necessarily like a really good indicator of the success of

06:31the technology that you're providing. Um, I think a much better question is centered around like

06:37how many conversations is this creating? How many deals can I attribute to the investment that I'm

06:42making as a broker owner for my agents? Right. Um, and if you, if you as a broker owner cannot

06:48clearly

06:49draw a line from the tools and the investments you're making in technology to transactions,

06:54um, it's really hard to like figure out or even claim, like this was a great investment for my

07:01team. Right. And for my business. And I think something, not only is it something that you have

07:08to look at from an investment into the technology standpoint, but you're also talking about time,

07:13right. And how much time agents are spending and brokerages are spending from a lead generation

07:23perspective, it's time and money. Right. So I want to talk about that for a second. And Robert,

07:30I'm interested in your perspective. We know, as I mentioned that brokerages are spending so much time

07:36and money intentionally attracting new leads, but you also have years of relationships sitting in

07:44your database, right? Why do you think so much of that business in your database that you spend so

07:52much time and money on gets left untapped? Yeah. It's a great question. And Alison, I'm looking at it

07:59in two different ways because when I first read that question, I think in terms of the company itself

08:05and, and all of our past transactions, the thousands upon thousands of transactions that

08:10we've done, and yet we are in, for lack of a better term, a very migratory business, right? So

08:16where agents come and go, somebody is going to build a career and maybe move on, um, uh, to, you

08:22know,

08:22to another brokerage, build a career and then phase out the, dare I say, failure to launch, right? Um,

08:29so those people that, that got into the industry and looked to build something and,

08:34and, and, and did build that database out. And so when we look at, um, when we look at our

08:41partnership

08:42with, with, with Moxieworks and the ability to work with our agents in, um, in helping them not just

08:51build out that database, not just build out those contacts, but then kind of set them up for different

08:59forms of communication and we can track that. So as a company, um, we've been looking at that and

09:04looking at kind of, I think Brendan made a comment about, it's not the number of people that log in.

09:09Um, I think, you know, the phrase they use is, you know, who are your power users? And, and, and

09:14I do

09:14have to say that we can, we can track our power users and productivity. Um, but, but as it relates

09:20to the, the, the, you know, the, the company-based leads and that, I think there's been those leads,

09:27those contacts, we are very protective of our associates in how those are managed. And,

09:34um, we're very careful not to cross that line and do that. But at the same time, we're now in

09:40an

09:40industry where, uh, the average age of a realtor is 58 years of age. Um, and there are very good

09:47agents, including agents in our own company that are now phasing out of the industry. Um, and we have

09:54gone to work on setting those people up with partners, with people that are at the growth part

10:01of, of their careers and co-marketing, uh, between the two of them, co-branding between

10:07the two of them and starting a phase over of those, of, of the leads, uh, that are generated.

10:13But I, I think there's been, I think a lot of them have historically laid fallow. Um, uh,

10:21I think simply because we continue to look out, we've been able to look out the windshield and look

10:26at where the business is going and creating that new business and getting caught up in that.

10:30And not effectively curating, uh, those leads that we've had in the past. Yeah.

10:37Now, Brendan, this is your wheelhouse. So what should leaders be looking for in their existing

10:48database to help give them some signals for new opportunities for their agents? And like, really,

10:56what should technology help and how should technology help surface those opportunities

11:02so that they're not missed so that you have power users like Robert mentioned who are really leaning

11:08into their systems? Yeah. Well, it's the, I always, this stat that is super common, Robert, I'm sure

11:14you've heard the stat before it gets thrown around a lot, but I'm still after 20, nearly 20 years,

11:18like not numb to it. And it's the stat that like 80% of clients that transact with an agent

11:25say,

11:25they're going to use them again, 12% actually do. Right. And it's like that stack gets thrown

11:31around at every conference. It gets thrown around in sales calls. It gets thrown around in webinars

11:34like this, but it's still like really shocking to me. And so when I think of like, what brokerages

11:40can do in terms of like, you know, when they're looking at their existing database, I think there's

11:45one place, especially, and this is especially true if you're like about to roll out a new technology,

11:51or maybe you're internally like creating a push to drive further adoption or engagement with the

11:55tools that you're providing. I always want to start with like the most obvious thing, which is like,

12:00look at the past clients who might be ready to sell. And five years ago, that was a really hard

12:08question to answer, like who in my database is actually going to sell. And there was things you

12:12could do to kind of determine that, but it was a very manual process. It was an incredibly heavy lift.

12:18But with the right technology, and especially now with the right AI, like that question has never been

12:24easier to answer. And I think it's a completely underused kind of piece of the technology tool that

12:31many brokerages are not taking full advantage of. And to take a step back, I think of things

12:37like, what's the equity position? How long have they owned their home? We often talk about life

12:42events, right? Like, was there a death, a divorce? I think it's the four D's, Robert, I forget what

12:48the four D's are, you might know the four D's, but like death, divorce, and dismemberment, I forget. But

12:54you think about those, you know, you think about those like for like life events, right? Or maybe it was

12:59just like, maybe it was just got listed, or they had a baby. You know, those are all like really

13:04strong

13:04signals. And in most databases, like, if you look at the average brokers, like they have that raw

13:11material, like they have that information. But it's like being able to have technology that can pull

13:16that information out, and serve it to agents in a way that's digestible and actionable.

13:24Another thing I would touch on is like, you know, and this often gets overlooked, but like past clients

13:29who have just recently sold, but they sold with another agent. And top producers will tell you all

13:35day long, that doesn't happen. My clients always come back, but the statistics show otherwise, right?

13:40And so most brokerages also don't have any idea how often that happens. And with AI now, and the

13:49right tools, like you can do audits relatively easily, you have access to the MLS data, you have access

13:54to the database and the contact information. And so like, I challenge brokers to use, to use that

14:01as like a wake-up call. Like, you know, as we're starting to do our Q or Q1 planning, as

14:06we're

14:06looking ahead to 2027, like you should pull that data. Look at the last three years, five years,

14:12seven years, pull that data, tie it to a GCI figure, and your next sales meeting go, hey, over the

14:17last

14:17three years, we have lost 190,000 or 250,000 or a million dollars in GCI from contacts that have

14:25sold with another agent who said they loved you when you handed them the keys, right? And so doing

14:30that audit can be a really strong wake-up call. And I think when you start to put numbers and

14:35figures to

14:35that and present it to your agents, they go, okay, wow, like 2027 is the year I'm going to get

14:41serious

14:41about doing my email marketing. I'm going to be doing my happy birthday reminders. I'm going to do my

14:46house anniversaries. I'm going to do more client appreciation. Like, it's a really, really good

14:50like way to push agents into thinking about it when they can actually kind of see some of those

14:54numbers and figures, I think. Well, I would tell you, I have to add on there, Alison, now I'm depressed.

15:02You know, now in my head, I'm doing those analytics as well as to how many potential

15:08transactions we've lost. So I have to leave now. And by the way, diapers, diplomas,

15:16diamond, divorce, and death. There we go. Thank you. Dismemberment wasn't on there. Okay.

15:21No dismemberment. Yeah, no. Unfortunately. Okay.

15:26Yeah. One other thing, just really quick. I know we want to keep things rocking, but I think, you know,

15:30like technology's job should be doing the watching. Technology jobs should be the one doing the

15:36watching for agents. And again, it wasn't three years ago, we didn't have that ability, but now we

15:41have with the right platform, the right tools, the right technology partners, like they can do the

15:47watching and your CRM, your marketing systems, your tools, like they should be able to surface for your

15:53agents, a list of like the top contacts this week, right? Like that are, and AI can study hundreds of

16:00behavioral indicators to tell you, yo, you don't have time to do 25 cold calls every day. I don't

16:06know very many agents that do 25 cold calls into their database a day. You got time for five. You

16:12can send five text messages. You can make five coffee appointments for the coming weeks. And I think it

16:18just, it's the right tools can make that a no brainer, right? It can make it really, really easy.

16:24So let's dig into the reality of the, what makes that easy for a second. Robert, from a leadership

16:31perspective, what makes it actually difficult for agents to consistently stay connected to their past

16:38clients and their sphere of influence? What is the biggest, is it time, competing priorities,

16:44technology? What's the reality from a leadership standpoint?

16:48I think it'd be easy to call it competing priorities, but all of us, you know, there are

16:55times when I fail to go to the gym because I figure out a competing priority. Um, uh, you know,

17:02that diet I'm going to start tomorrow because it's, it's easier to start the diet tomorrow than it is

17:07today. Um, and so I, I think it's, it's, it's all of those things bundled Allison, but it's, it's,

17:13it's something that we do to ourselves as, as human beings that, that sense of procrastination.

17:17I'm going to avoid what's uncomfortable, uh, and picking up that telephone can be uncomfortable.

17:24It has become more uncomfortable as technology has advanced. And I'm not now talking about AI in

17:30the areas that, that Brenda has been touching on, but we, you know, we have become more disconnected.

17:36We very fond of saying this to agents that whether it be a higher being or evolution,

17:42we were given thumbs to climb trees and hold tools, not as communication devices. And yet in,

17:50in, in, and it's not even a generational issue. If you walk through an airport,

17:54you know, or walk through a hotel lobby, uh, you know, everybody, you know, you know,

17:59everybody's heads are down and, and, um, uh, you know, and staring at a screen. And now that

18:04Brendan has told me about all the, the revenue that we've lost from these transactions going to other

18:09companies, I'm going to go out and open a clinic to do carpal tunnel surgery on people's thumbs.

18:16Um, the, but it's, it is really, I think we've stepped away from that human contact part of it.

18:22And I think what Brendan's talking about with the technology is so absolutely important as a piece

18:29of, and I'm going to give us a statistic here in a second, but, um, but it can also be

18:34a trap

18:35that an agent can fall into, you know, that, that, um, I'm going to let technology do that work where

18:41technology is going to, is going to heighten the awareness, but it doesn't create the engagement.

18:46Yeah. It's like people will talk about the fact that, um, the, the, in a virtual meeting you're

18:52present in a face-to-face meeting you're engaged. And so I think it's really the blend of the two.

18:58And I, and I think that people come to our industry from all kinds of backgrounds,

19:02not all of them are service industries, not all of them involve human communication or that human

19:09touch factor, so to speak, building a relationships. And so the evolution of an agent, and we, we spend

19:14an immense amount of time, um, on, on that side of it, that getting people out of their comfort zone

19:20and getting them engaged and then helping them understand how to leverage the technology

19:26to augment the human touch, not replace it. Um, so I think it's, you know,

19:31back to your original question. It's uncomfortable. It's uncomfortable to pick up that phone.

19:37If we could get everybody to Brendan's point, I'm not concerned about Allison making 25 phone calls a

19:45day. Yeah. I really am concerned about whether or not Allison's making five. Yeah. Right. And,

19:51uh, and now if you're going to make the five and have that be augmented by the technology that you're

19:56using or that are, that are teeing people up for you, whether it be from a timing standpoint, account,

20:01life cycle standpoint, calendar standpoint, whatever it may be so that you're not reaching out to people

20:07and say, hi, do you want to sell your house? But to, if I could tap into maybe Ninja for

20:12just a moment,

20:13that you're staying in flow, that you're staying interested in those individuals and what's happening

20:19in their lives. Cause we touched on those five, you know, the five D's and I'm sure that

20:25it could be six. If you want to put Brendan's last one in there. Um, but it's, it's while the

20:32market,

20:32as I said, the beginning, the market has remained flat, life continues to happen. And that's where

20:38those statistics come into play where 80% of the people say, I would use the same realtor.

20:43And the majority, not, not it's, there's another statistic other than just the 12% that, that do

20:50it's over 80% never heard from their agent again, that I handed them the keys and now I, now

21:00I'm looking

21:00out the windshield, I'm off to my next transaction. And so I think that, that the technology that's

21:06available to help tee things up, what's happening in people's lives, equity, length of ownership

21:11ownership are really important, but they're, they're only going to work if the human element

21:16comes in to play. And that one last comment there, Alison, is that the, the, the life cycle

21:23of selling, I I've been in this industry for a number of years and there was a point here in

21:29California where the average hold period was five to seven years. Yeah. That's in California. That's now

21:3515 years. Most real estate careers don't last 15 years. Uh, but for those that do, those that are

21:43building towards it, you know, then you've got, you've got that natural life cycle, but you also

21:49have to realize that there are a lot of agents out there that spent five to seven years in our

21:53industry,

21:54built these relationships and then walked away from them. And so there's, there's, there's a real

21:58opportunity out there. Yeah. One last statistic to that in California. Now the average hold time

22:04two, two quick things over 80% of the baby boomers in California own a home 80%. The homeownership rate

22:13in California is under 60. So there's this bubble, this massive potential clientele out there. Uh, but

22:19the holding period for those people right now is an average of 19 years. So you've got to catch them

22:25in that, in that, in that life cycle in that, you know, in, in, in, in, in that time period

22:30and build

22:30that relationship, not when they want to sell, but so that your front lobe when they're ready to sell.

22:37Yeah. That, so that your front lobe when they're ready to sell, I think is the key message.

22:44So before we pivot to the next section, because both of you have mentioned a word that I'm sure is

22:51ubiquitous, both in business and real estate and in the world outside of it, which is AI and really

23:00that sort of crux where we're seeing lots of conversation about how technology to both of

23:06your points really is helping the people build those relationships. I want to ask the audience a

23:13question. How confident are you that your brokerage is getting the full value from its existing database?

23:21I'm sharing a poll for you, our audience, go check out the poll, send us your results.

23:31And while we let that go in the background, I'm going to press both Brendan and Robert about AI,

23:38because there's a good amount to dig into. And while it's something that is a very big conversation,

23:44there's not always a lot of conversation about actual business outcomes, which I think is important.

23:52So what does Brendan, you're the technology person here, what does practical revenue focused AI look like

24:01for a brokerage in 2027?

24:04Yeah. You know, I, I judge in regards to real estate in, in, in prop tech and in our industry,

24:12I judge AI on like one simple metric, right? Like how much is this moving the needle for me economically?

24:20That that's the, that's the lens that I look through. That's the lens that I think of when

24:24I think of AI is like, I judge it on that one question. Like how is this moving the needle

24:28for

24:28me economically? Is it creating conversations or saving conversations that leads to a transaction?

24:35And I think, um, a lot of what's out there right now is, and there's some, there's never before been

24:40more amazing bells and whistles in real estate. I mean, there is some cool, crazy things that you can

24:47now do that's being offered, that's being pushed. Um, but a lot of it comes down to like, you know,

24:54writing a better listing description or helping create some better, slightly better content or pushing

24:59slightly sexier market updates. Right. Um, and those things are all really important. I'm not saying

25:04they're not, um, but that's fine. But if it's not, if you can, again, like tie that directly to revenue,

25:12um, I hesitate to like count that as a massive win. Right. And so to me, to me, like practice,

25:19like

25:19practical AI looks like three things, right? So it tells an agent who to call, when to call and why

25:26to call.

25:26I don't care if you've been in the business for three years or 15 years, it can be really awkward

25:31to pick up your phone and do, uh, call someone that you haven't spoken to in three months or six

25:37months or 12 months or 18 months. So the right AI should not only be able to service those people,

25:42but it should give you a reason to talk. Right. Um, and kind of a relieve that tension

25:47and that pressure that I think a lot of people feel when they're reaching out to people they

25:50haven't spoken with in a meaningful way in a long time. Um, I think the second piece is that

25:55like the AI, um, should actually like handle a lot of that follow-up. Um, so like it'll actually

26:03draft the outreach. Right. So we've, I, we, AI has identified who is most likely to transact.

26:10Right. And then taking that a step further from like an agentic proactive perspective,

26:15it's actually creating part of that response for you. So the agent's not starting from scratch

26:22when they're doing their follow-up. Um, and then I think, you know, the third piece is, um, it's gonna,

26:29it's gonna follow, uh, or it's going to handle a lot of that longer term follow-up and nurturing.

26:33So things like don't fall through the cracks. Um, for me, like the really good revenue generating AI,

26:40it's really just kind of about like removing the excuses for agent business owners to like not do

26:47the follow-up, right? Like if you can remove every mental and physical and emotional hurdle

26:52to staying connected with your sphere, like that's AI that's impactful. Right. Um, so it's not just

26:58about AI is used so commonly and effectively for like the creative side of this business, which is

27:03important. Right. But like if, if you can also find the right tools that are going to remove the

27:09barriers to staying top of mind and, and, and being authentic and bespoke with the way that you're

27:15staying top of mind, you're going to have a massive advantage over, you know, 95% of all the agents

27:22in

27:22the business. Robert, I see you nodding. Well, I agree. I, and, and the, my one caveat there would be

27:29is, is, you know, one of the things I wrote down was just two T's tool AI is a tool.

27:35It's another tool

27:36in toolbox. It's another, um, uh, asset you have to leverage the other key, which is time. And time is

27:43the most valuable commodity is the one we can't get more of. We can, we can use it better, but

27:49no

27:49one's going to give us more and we can't stop the clock. Um, uh, and, and so I think the

27:55use,

27:56the use of artificial intelligence to do that, to, to help create better use of my time to better

28:02commoditize those, those days, those hours, those minutes, I think is incredibly valuable and using it

28:10to enhance the bridge, um, between, between that database that I have in that human engagement. We're

28:19talking about what makes agents uncomfortable. Well, they don't want to call somebody up and say, hi,

28:24are you ready to sell your house? Yeah. You know, they, it needs to be a human engagement. So what

28:30Brendan's talking about in the leveraging of that data and the use of, of artificial intelligence to

28:36help identify, you know, it's time to talk about, uh, a home ownership anniversary. It's time to talk

28:43about the refinance. It's, it's, it's, you know, it, it's time to, I'm being reminded that, that, uh,

28:50you know, that John and Mary's daughters entering the eighth grade, what, whatever it may be. And,

28:55and then helping build out that as Brendan's saying, help build out that communication model. Um,

29:01and so the, the, and there's a lot of people that will steer clear at least right now of artificial

29:06intelligence for the fear factor that, wait a minute, I don't want to be replaced. Yeah. I look

29:11at it on, on maybe on steroids, but I look at artificial intelligence as being just another form of

29:19engagement like TikTok, like Instagram, like Facebook, you know, whatever, like email, like text,

29:26whatever it may be. These are not actual communication tools themselves. They're,

29:30they're a way to disperse information and create engagement that then makes it easier and hopefully

29:37more efficient for the agent to actually, to have that real time dialogue can go back to the comment

29:43I made a minute ago, but staying front low, right? We lose business because we forget our clients and

29:49then they forget us. And then we're upset because they forgot us, but we kicked them to the curb before

29:54that ever happened. So if you can leverage technology, if you can, you know, on the artificial

29:59intelligence side, effectively use your CRM to create the opportunity for engagement, then your

30:06time can be extremely well spent in the one area that none of these platforms can replace. And that's

30:14the warmth of a handshake, the tone of your voice, the look in your eye, you know, the fact that

30:19you're

30:19human on a human to human basis, I care because we talk about databases for one piece of it.

30:26But I know that even in this question here, you integrated the point of the sphere of influence,

30:32right? Those people that know who I am and what I stand for. And so if I can better leverage

30:38artificial

30:38intelligence. So I guess my point there is that I don't know if we're yet to a point, at least

30:44in our

30:44business where we can quantify that. You know, do I have quantifiable results, tangible results?

30:50No. But does it give us yet another effective way to create engagement? And that's what's lacking in

30:57our business. We're waiting for something to happen instead of making something happen.

31:03So I think that's where we stand with it right now.

31:06Yeah, I want to add to that, Robert. I'm hearing you talk, and I'm going to go back like five

31:11or

31:12seven minutes where you go. When you're on a Zoom call, you might be present. But when you're face

31:16to face, you're engaged. And it's got me thinking like, I think we should like, I think 2027 the year

31:22is the year we walk away from trying to stay top of mind. I think we need to get rid

31:27of this idea of

31:28staying top of mind. I think the mantra for our agents in 2027 should be, how do we stay engaged?

31:34How do we stay engaged with our sphere of influence? I love that perspective shift that

31:39you kind of rocked my world a little bit because, you know, staying top of mind is one of those

31:44nomenclatures in the industry. But like, how can we add value and actually stay engaged with our

31:49sphere of influence? I don't know. I'd love your thoughts on that. But you got me thinking.

31:54Yeah, well, I think the difference there is just awareness versus the engagement or awareness

32:00versus action. And there was a time when we would talk to our agents about, you need to build your

32:05database around everybody you would say hello to in a grocery store. Well, now our clientele

32:11doesn't go to the grocery store. So that opportunity for that engagement. But I also think that we've

32:18moved past watching people sit in a Starbucks, texting each other. There is a thirst for that human

32:25engagement that that warmth of the palm of my hand in a handshake, you know, that that that human

32:30address of, you know, how are the kids? You know, how is life? How was that promotion, whatever,

32:36whatever it may be. And that's where you can truly leverage technology as opposed to hiding behind

32:41a technology wall using it to open doors. Yeah. Okay. So if we have this want for this genuine human

32:51connection, and we spent all of this money on this technology that's supposed to help us do this,

32:58Brendan, how do we go to proactively creating these opportunities where we can present ourselves

33:05to give someone a warm handshake to create that opportunity? What needs to change for technology

33:12and data to work together so we can get where Robert's telling us we need to be?

33:19Yeah, I think, unfortunately, like most agents treat their their database and their CRM kind of like just

33:25like a digital filing cabinet, right? Like they put in a name, email contact information, maybe there's an

33:32address in there, maybe there's a there's a birthday in there, right? And it goes there and sits,

33:38right? To flip that, like that database needs to be connected to something that is going to be able

33:44to act on that. And I think that means like your your CRM, the market data that you have your

33:50marketing

33:51tools, that needs to be able to share the same picture of each contact across all of those pieces of

33:59technology. I think that's really, really important. So like when a past clients, you know, home value

34:05jumps, or you notice that they're starting to look at listings again, that should trigger something,

34:10you should know that, right? And I think a task for a task for the agent, a market update, a

34:18CMA,

34:18even if an agent has to notice it, export it, and then go build something in a different system,

34:24or it's more than like a three or five minute thing. It's not going to happen with regularity

34:30and consistency. It's just not. I also think like, I think there does need to be like a almost a

34:38cultural change, right? I think leadership has to brokerage leadership, and that includes like top

34:45producers and team leaders all the way up and all the way down. You know, they have to start to

34:50treat

34:50their database as a brokerage asset, right? And report on it like one. Not, not necessarily

34:58something that, you know, each agent manages on their own, if that makes sense.

35:05I think it does. So I want to re-engage our audience here for a second.

35:11When you guys are thinking about your databases, what do you think the biggest challenge

35:17is preventing your agents from generating more business from their database? I'm opening another

35:23poll question on the right-hand side of your screen. You're going to see poll next to chat.

35:28Send us what your thoughts are on that. And I want to pivot to talking about 2027. We've talked about

35:37opportunities. We've talked about the reality of AI. We've talked about the intersection of technology,

35:44powering power users and agents to make more opportunities for themselves.

35:51But we need to give people some advice on how to like make this actually actionable because

35:55this is great. But how are we going to do this? How are we going to leverage this for our

36:00business? So

36:01Robert, if you were advising another broker owner who's building their 2027 business plan,

36:08where should they focus first to get more value from the relationships and the resources that they

36:13already have?

36:17Great question, Alison. And I think I'm going to tap a little bit into what Brennan was just saying about

36:21the agents have got all this technology out there and they have all these different resources, but

36:27is there a way for the brokerage and us in the brokerage community to help bring that together for

36:32them? And we have two people on staff to do all of our CRM training and help people get their

36:37databases

36:37built, working with them on how to build their e-flyers, their e-blasts, their postcards, their, you know,

36:43create the social media posts, all these different things. But is there a way that we can streamline that

36:48system for them? Is there a way for us to take a look at how can we enhance the company

36:55and their branding through

36:57co-marketing using that database with certainly guardrails around it? Again, we're very

37:05we're very protective of our associates' databases. We're not going to go farming them.

37:11So is there a way to enhance that partnership between the two? Because it is confusing. It can

37:20be very cumbersome. I don't mean the technology itself, but all the way back to the point that

37:24Brendan made at the very beginning, you've got, you know, we may not use spiral notebooks anymore,

37:30but we've all got one either virtually or physically that has all of our passwords in it, right? So is

37:36there a way to pull all of that together? I think the second piece of that is to really build

37:41as

37:43an agent and as a company, build not just your platform, but build a business plan around that human

37:51engagement. And I think that's how you're going to quantify it. That's how you're going to monetize

37:58it is to really create those goals and objectives is how many people are you going to engage and how

38:04are you going to leverage the technology to do that? I was, while Brendan was talking, I was thinking about

38:09we're working with a lot of our younger associates on the comment I made and tell everybody you knows,

38:17you're in real estate, you're not, but we also used to be able to coach to, you need to have

38:25a database

38:25with 200 homeowners in it. Well, now we're recruiting agents that don't know 200 homeowners,

38:31right? They don't own a home necessarily themselves. So while we're building out that horizontal database

38:37of everybody they know and that sphere of influence, we need to work as a brokerage community,

38:43particularly for those people entering the industry now is to how do we work vertically

38:47up through that database? Because if, if my database is full of people that are 30 years of age,

38:53in California, the average first time home buyer is 38 years old. So if my database is full of 30

38:58year

38:59olds, the odds are the majority of them don't own a home. But as Alison and I were talking the

39:05other day,

39:06but their parents are still with them. And in most cases, their grandparents are still with them.

39:12And their grandparents happen to be that baby boomer generation, 80% of which own a home.

39:18So how do I work horizontally? And I believe passionately in this as it relates to moving

39:24forward in 2027. And you're almost irrespective of the age of my agents or an agent is how do we,

39:31how do we make sure that we've embraced that whole horizontal platform, but also how do we work

39:35vertically through, um, the, the different generations? And that's where I see now artificial

39:40intelligence. If you can build, you know, you can build that platform to where it's helping you

39:44understand that. Uh, my, my, my relationship is with John Smith, but John Smith's parents,

39:51Jim and Mary are still alive. As a matter of fact, the grandparents, you know, Jerry and Jane are still

39:56alive. How do I, how do I start to pull that together and make it a multi-generational, um,

40:04flow, so to speak of, of potential, because there, you, there, you start then feeding back

40:09into the life cycle of it. I may be 30 and I'm not ready to buy a house for, you

40:14know,

40:14for five more years, but my parents, because I've gone off to college or I've moved. Now my parents

40:19want to move closer to me, but now my grandparents are thinking about downsizing,

40:23or they're going to pull from their equity to help somebody in my generation.

40:28I guess not my generation, but the generation of that 30 year old, uh, buy that first home.

40:34So is there a way, is there a way, because we're again, across the country, we're anticipating

40:39a level number of transactions. There's nothing indicating that whether it be in California,

40:46Washington, or any place else in the country that we're going to increase the number of transactions.

40:50So I need to dig deeper into that data. I need to dig deeper into who is more likely to

40:57sell a home

40:58next year. And who am I going to take that business away from? Yeah. Yeah.

41:04Now, Brendan, three things, give me three things that every leader should evaluate before investing in

41:13more technology when they look at 2027. Oh, three things. Um, well, the first is like,

41:22you got to take a really good look at like, what are, what are, what are things that you're paying

41:26for

41:26right now that nobody's using or like 1% or 2% of your agents are actually using and analyze

41:33like,

41:33what is the, what is the cost benefit of that? Most brokerages do have, uh, they have overlapping

41:39tools. Um, and I think like consolidating will often free up like a ton of budget, um, and also

41:47make things I think better, uh, longer term. Um, I think, uh, the second thing, like to look at it,

41:54like reduced when you're thinking about like integrating new technology is like, does this

41:59new technology have the potential to reduce the number of systems that our agents actually touch?

42:03Um, or does it add another one? Like if you are looking at technology in 2027 and you're going to

42:10be adding a new piece of technology, um, you've got to, you've got to take like a really, really good

42:16hard look at that. Um, the bar, the, the, the bar for the value of adding new technology has to

42:23be set

42:23really, really high based on how many of your users, you know, it's going to impact. Um, and then third,

42:31I guess, like, can you measure, can, are you able to like actually measure the impact of like a new

42:38tool based on like the number of transactions? Right. Um, and I encourage like everyone on the

42:44call to like really drill down with vendors or salespeople that you're engaging with and ask

42:49them like, Hey, let's work backwards from like, what does success look like in 30 days, 90 days,

42:55in six months? Like what would success look like? And if you can't have an open upfront conversation

43:02with someone that you're analyzing technology with, if they're not able to like clearly identify or work

43:08with you to identify, this is what success looks like during that, that really vital kind of six

43:13month period with new tech. Um, you got to drill deeper. You got to be comfortable like drilling deeper.

43:20All right. Now I want to give our audience actionable take home items. So my next two questions for both

43:29of you are getting geared solely around making sure that we give the people something to do when they

43:35walk away from this conversation. What is one change that a brokerage could make in the next 30 days

43:43that would help its agents uncover more opportunities for it from their existing database? Robert, let's

43:50start with you and then we'll go to Brenton. Um, I'll take one for the, give me two answers,

43:56if I may, one from the brokerage side of it. I think you've got to be evaluating your technology.

44:00Is your technology partner prepared to evolve with you? Um, uh, cause it's, it's very expensive to

44:07change technology partners. Um, and it's very, it's very, it's not just in, in capital, but, but

44:13in, in just in resources, time and credibility. Um, so I think is back to the points that Brendan

44:19had made is your technology partner, ready, uh, to evolve with you. And I think going into the fourth

44:24quarter, going to this next 30 days, I think it's a perfect time to take a look at that. And

44:28in

44:28conjunction with that, are we effectively leveraging the technology we currently have, um, as a broker to

44:34serve, there's a lot of conversation around who's, who are, who our customer is. Is it the person on

44:39the street buying and selling homes or is it our agents? Well, if we're not effectively serving our

44:44agents, then we're not prepared to create action for them on the streets and have them help, have them

44:50help their clients. Um, I, I think for, from the agent side of it, I, I'm going to go back

44:56to the word

44:56engagement. Um, all of us, we're pre pre pre COVID work from home was kind of a phenomena.

45:06Now work from home in all industries is kind of the standard, but we happened to be in,

45:12dare I, uh, as he'd use a term that maybe some people won't think about or remember, but where,

45:18where went the water cooler talk? Where went that conversation that took place in an office

45:23business about what are you working on? What ideas you've got? Where are your successes? Where are

45:27your failures? And so I think that, I think that while we're engaging our database over the next

45:3330 days, I think our agents need to re-engage in the business, get face to face with people,

45:38your peers, um, uh, people within the industry, along with, along with your database, be that person

45:45that's out front, um, on all of that. And, and you do that. We tend to tend to think in

45:51terms of that

45:52engagement happening during the holidays. You're going to drop off cookies. You're going to, you're

45:56going to, you're going to do your Popeyes, whatever it may be. But I would think as an agent right

46:00now,

46:00I would take a look at my database and I, over the next 30 days, I would, I would do

46:07everything I

46:07could to augment it and then start curating it. And at the same time, create, create human engagement.

46:17Yeah. I'll, I'll drill down into like a couple of more specifics, Alison. Um,

46:20like if I could like wave a magic wand and go to, um, uh, any given brokerage and say like,

46:26if you do this right now, today, moving forward, I think it's going to move the needle. Um, the first

46:33is it's, it's really fundamental and it's really simple, but like have an address attached to your

46:38contact in your CRM. Like we sell homes, we sell, we sell properties. The vast majority of contacts don't

46:45even have an address attached to it. That's really important for other things that you're going to do long-term

46:49with follow-up and as AI gets stronger and you have the right tools, it's going to be able to

46:54help

46:54you, uh, determine who the heck you should be reaching out to and why. Um, the second piece,

47:00and again, these are kind of fundamentals, but it's shocking, like how many agents and brokerages don't

47:04have this. If you have the right platform and the right tools, you should have a house anniversary

47:10email that goes out automatically without you having to do anything that has a CMA attached to it.

47:14And I know a lot of agents like, well, I can't just create a CMA that takes seven minutes or

47:1820

47:19minutes or 30 minutes, the right platform and the right tool. You can create an incredibly authentic,

47:25highly accurate CMA that goes out, goes out regularly. And even if it's ideally it should

47:30be every quarter, you should be sending a CMA to your database. It's a really strong touch point.

47:34Uh, but at least on their house anniversary, you're sending them a note, you're thinking of them.

47:39Also, here's how much equity you're sitting on. Here's homes that have sold in your neighborhood.

47:43It's a really, really strong touch point. Um, and again, I know that's a little bit of a

47:46fundamental thing, but like you can do that. Like, and I'm sure Robert and his team are

47:51already taking advantage of a lot of those things in the email marketing, the campaigns that come with,

47:55with rise. Um, but you can literally get 100% of your agents sending happy birthday reminders,

48:01sending house anniversary reminders and sending CMAs in that first week, right? Like of,

48:07starting on, on, on the rise platform. Um, the other thing, and I know I already touched on this,

48:11but I really do think there's power in doing that self audit. Um, it is a little bit of a

48:16lift. Um,

48:17I can, we can talk Robert too. I can share some ideas with you and people listening as well

48:21on how to effectively run the audit for how many deals have leaked in the last three, five, seven years.

48:26You guys have the data from the MLS. I think it's a shocking number that is really going to strike

48:31a

48:31chord with a lot of agents and saying, Hey, like this is how much dollars are walking out and we

48:37need to fix that. Right. Um, so yeah, I think those are, those are the two things that I'd probably

48:42touch on. Can I add to that just very quickly, um, Alison, and I don't want to take next time,

48:49but the, the, the comment that Brendan made about that database and lacking of addresses and that,

48:55I think that's what, when I refer to somebody curating their database, that's what, that's

49:00what I'm talking about is you've, I've got your name and your email, but I don't have your cell

49:04number. I've got your name and your cell number. I don't have your email. I don't have your home

49:08address, but I've got your business address and leveraging, leveraging technology to build out

49:13that database. It, so it is comprehensive then opens up the ability to use those technology tools

49:20to start then, uh, effectively managing that database. But it would also allows you to do

49:27is identify how people want to be communicated with. Uh, it, and, and that's not just generational.

49:33It may be family status. There's a work style, whatever it may be. Um, but understanding how

49:40Brendan, how Alison want to be communicated with, there are people that go to the mailbox,

49:46right? There are not on their phones, but in front of their homes. Right. And, and if, if,

49:54if my client or there are people in my database that, that, that are tactile, that go to that,

50:00that mailbox and it doesn't do them any good to push something out on TikTok, right? Because they're not

50:06going to get it. They're not going to engage. Um, uh, you know, so you've got to understand your

50:11database and, and within that you can then, you can then start, um, identifying and, and being able

50:18to articulate how you're going to engage them based upon their life needs, whether it be the home

50:23anniversary, which is incredibly powerful, the CMA tool within Rise, incredibly powerful. But,

50:28but if you don't have that comprehensive database, if you haven't done that, that's going to become one

50:35of the obstacles that we talked about, or I would do that, but I don't have their address.

50:39Yeah. Yeah. I think what you're saying, Robert too, is like, meet your contacts where they're at,

50:45right? Meet, meet your contacts and your sphere of influence where they're at.

50:51So what I want to, we talked about 30 day action items. What is one thing that you want brokerage

50:57leaders to walk away with as they plan for 2027? Is it meet your contacts where you're at for you,

51:02Brendan, or do you have a different one? Yeah. I mean, the biggest thing is like,

51:05stop treating your database, like stop treating your database and your CRM, like a digital filing

51:10cabinet, like the, your, your sphere of influence, your database, it is the most valuable asset that

51:15you own. It's worth more than your car. It's worth more than a lot of people's houses. When you really

51:20drill down on the potential value and you need to treat it as such, like so often we've got this

51:26amazing, sometimes years and years of relationships and information that we've put into a CRM.

51:31Um, and we don't treat it with the respect that it deserves, right? Like it's a valuable,

51:36valuable thing. And I think we need to really shift our perspectives on just how value that it valuable

51:41that is. Um, and then, yeah, um, I think that's it. I think that's probably what I would,

51:50well, the one thing that I, you said one thing I'm not going to touch on.

51:53And one, and now I'm going to pass it over to Robert. What's your one thing that you want

51:57people to keep in mind as they plan for 2027? It's going to step away from the technology

52:04aspect of it, but I think this is something that's a challenge for all of us. And that's

52:08it. You need to be very clear on your story, very clear on your, on your, uh, your brand value,

52:15your story and how you're going to tell that story. And within that, and this is for the agents and

52:21brokers, both, you need to be very, very clear in your goals and objectives in 2027.

52:27And to quote a good friend of mine, you better be willing to reach out into the fog, um, a

52:32little

52:33bit because it's going to be that kind of market. You could fall prey to the market very, very easily,

52:38or you can create a market just as easily. And that goes back to leveraging the technology, but

52:43be clear in your brand, be clear in your story and have very clear identifiable goals that challenge

52:50your company and challenge your individual agents beyond what the market statistics say is going

52:55to happen. Cause it's either going to happen for you or it's going to happen to you.

53:00And you're the master of that fate, whether it's a company or an individual agent.

53:06Well, fantastic. I know that's a mic drop, Robert.

53:11I know. So we talked a lot about databases, Brendan, I'm going to share a slide. I would love for

53:19you

53:19to touch on this. And then I want to make sure that we also talk about the 2027 playbook.

53:25Yeah, absolutely. So before, first of all, thank you so much, Alison and Robert. This has been an

53:29absolute blast. I wish we could do one of these every week. Um, but before we do wrap, uh, one

53:34thought that I want to leave you all with it, you know, the reality is this like your next deal

53:39is

53:39it's most likely already sitting in your agent's databases. Um, and that really is like why we spent the

53:46last two and a half, three years building rise, right? Um, we want agents to, we want agents to

53:52go beyond just managing their contacts to actually knowing who to call, why to call and when to call.

53:59Um, if you'd like to see what that looks like for your brokerage, um, go ahead and like scan the

54:04QR

54:04code here. Um, we can book a personalized demo. Doesn't need to be an hour long thing. We can, we

54:09can

54:10work with your schedule. We'd love to show you like firsthand what that looks like, um, and tie down to

54:15the specifics, uh, of what you're looking to accomplish with your brokerage, with your brokerage.

54:19Um, and then, oh yeah, one more thing we wanted to touch on. Um, we didn't just want to leave

54:25you

54:25with the webinar. So we actually put together a 2027 brokerage playbook. Uh, we call it turn your

54:31database into growth engine. It's going to cover like how to spot opportunities in your existing

54:35database, uh, how to help your agents reach out to clients at the right moment. Um, and to get more

54:41from the technology that you already paid for. Um, there's also like a really cool 90 day kind of

54:46activation or like action plan blueprint. So you have like an actionable timeline that you can take

54:50to your team. Um, so you know exactly where to start. Um, so keep an eye on your inbox. We

54:55will get

54:55that over to you guys in the followup, but yeah, really thankful and grateful for the opportunity to

55:00speak today. I love an actionable playbook. Uh, 90 days is a totally manageable piece of time.

55:09Brendan, Robert, thank you so much for taking us through how brokerage leaders should be approaching

55:152027 for really digging into some practical advice on how we should be looking at technology,

55:21how we should be approaching AI. I mean, Robert, the reality of what you should be looking for,

55:29for that formula, a human plus technology, staying frontal lobe. I know I have two pages of notes. It was

55:37so fantastic listening to both of you give best practices and advice for how to win in the 2027

55:44market. If there's anything that to you, our audience did not have time to get through

55:50housing wire, we'll be sending out this recording to everyone. Thank you so much for giving us time

55:55today. I appreciate Robert and you, Brendan, both joining us and to our audience who joined us live.

56:02Yeah. Likewise. Yeah. Allison, thank you. Thank you to housing wire and certainly Brendan and the team

56:09at Moxie works. Uh, they've been great partners of ours and we look forward to that evolution going

56:14into the future, but, but certainly Allison to your team. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you so much,

56:19Allison. And thank you, Robert. Thank you guys audience. Thank you so much. We hope to see

56:25you at another housing wire webinar soon and keep an eye on your inbox. You are going to get

56:30that 2027 brokerage playbook from Moxie works. It's fantastic. And thank you again,

56:38Robert and Brendan. I hope to see you both again soon. All right. You will indeed. Thank you.

2027 Brokerage Playbook: Turn Your Database Into a Growth Engine

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