Real estate coaching is a double-edged sword that can either help or hurt agents, especially when they’re first starting out or trying to level up.
Hit the right pain points and you can motivate and improve agent performance. Provide the wrong advice to the wrong agent — especially if that advice is based on generic, one-size-fits-all scripts and platitudes — and you can actually hurt more than you help.
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One of the most interesting ways I’m seeing improvements in coaching is with the use of AI to personalize the process of mastering communication without micromanaging. I recently spoke with Justin Benson, founder of Shilo AI, ahead of his appearance at Inman Connect San Diego. We discussed how his platform educates brokers and team leaders so they can empower their agents without burning them out.
Check out the video above for our full conversation, including the following takeaways.
1. Agents actually want useful coaching — when it’s personalized and actionable
What became Shilo AI, a tool that gamifies and trains on actual agent calls, started with old-school call nights for Benson. “It’s a slog to get through,” he said. “We got pizza and tried to keep the morale high while we’re doing it, but it’s still a chore.”
Using a very early iteration of what would eventually become ChatGPT, Benson and his team began to train agents by gamifying conversations and appointment-setting for their fractional CTO clients. The platform they developed applies a star rating system to quantify the quality of agent top-of-funnel phone calls.
“So instead of saying, ‘Let’s all get in a room and make 100 calls,’ we could say, ‘All right, guys, whoever gets the most five star calls in the next 30 minutes is going to get that thousand dollar check that I’ve pinned to the wall behind me,’” Benson said. “That allowed us to gamify each and every call.”
2. One of the biggest agent mistakes: No clear next step
Setting clear action steps is one of the cornerstones of Benson’s call grading system. “What Shilo doesn’t want you to say is, ‘Why don’t we just follow up next week…’ Instead, say, ‘I’m pretty wide open today and tomorrow. Why don’t we just get a time on the calendar now….’”
That ability to anchor the next step to a commitment is something that shows up over and over again across all of the teams working with the AI tool, Benson said.
Just as you want to include strong calls to action in your content, make sure agents are including action steps in their conversations so that follow-up is never left to chance.
3. DISC awareness isn’t optional anymore
According to Benson, understanding personality types and conversation styles is essential for effective call management and communication. Yet for too many teams and brokerages, there’s no awareness of who they are as individuals. Using DISC personality profiles upfront can change that.
“I’m a high D/I [dominance and influence],” said Benson, referring to the DISC categories. “That means I’m going to talk faster than somebody that is an S/C [steadiness and conscientiousness].” Putting that insight to work requires a different style of communication and a thorough grounding in identifying and responding to different personality types on the fly.
Learn more about DISC personality profiles here: Want to close more deals? Learn to speak your clients’ language.
4. Gamification isn’t gimmicky — it drives performance
A better understanding of what to say and how to say it isn’t just a nice-to-have; it’s a game-changer for agent performance. Early on, Benson realized the power of gamifying calls by collecting data on agent engagement with his AI tool.
In one six-month span, a client’s sales managers were able to double the number of agents they could manage, train and coach from 30 agents each to 60 agents each. Call volume increased by 70 percent and appointment set rate increased by 91 percent. “And that’s really what got us saying, ‘Okay, we should investigate what’s going on here,’” Benson said.
Make sure you’re tracking agent performance over time and implementing systems and tools that they can see working. Compare call ratings on leaderboards to keep agents motivated and competitive in a fun, healthy way.
5. Agents don’t need more tools — they need better feedback loops
According to Benson, buy-in from agents is essential for making any tool more effective. “Everybody builds these tools for the team leader or broker owner, and then they shove it down their agents’ throats,” he said. “But we stumbled on the fact that agents wanted to use the tool because it was actually helping them.”
After an agent told Benson’s team, “I was struggling on the phone. I started listening to Shilo’s feedback, and all of a sudden, I set my first appointment,” they knew they were on the right track.
Long story short, no tool, no matter how good, is going to work unless leadership is communicating effectively and encouraging buy-in with solid incentives. The real leverage doesn’t just come from the tech. It comes from how leaders use tech tools to build a culture of growth, accountability and momentum.
Troy Palmquist is the founder and principal at HomeCode Advisors. Connect with him on LinkedIn.
