‘Playmakers’: The ‘most underutilized’ opportunity for agents 

Editor's note: The Playmakers podcast explores the biggest shifts in real estate with those who are shaping the industry's future. Check out our top takeaways and watch the latest episode from host Andrew Flachner, co-founder of RealScout.

The views, thoughts and opinions expressed in the Playmakers podcast belong solely to the podcast creators and guests.

On this episode of the Playmakers podcast, real estate coaching expert Tom Ferry offers tips for agents who want to level up their business in 2026.

From the rise of artificial intelligence to housing market and consumer behavior shifts, a lot is changing — and agents "can't go into the new year running the same exact playbook," the founder and CEO of Ferry International said.

For many, the most important adjustments will center around time optimization. "You've got to be able to push away some of the things you've always done that got you here that won't support you — or worse, will take all of your time because you've always done it and it's comfortable."

Memorize macro and micro market trends: Start the new year strong by spending "30 minutes every single day in the MLS looking for correlations on pricing," Ferry said.

"The smartest agent on the planet knows you have to understand the macro and micro: macro trends of what's happening in the world, micro trends in your local marketplace."

Rediscover a forgotten tactic: Open houses "could be the most underutilized" opportunity in real estate, Ferry said. Even if each open house only brings in a few new clients, those come in at no cost to the agent. "That's just common sense," Ferry said, noting that open house signs can also help agents market their business.

Find 'the real money' in AI: AI can be useful for marketing, communication and branding, Ferry said, but "the real money is in operations and systems."

"I think that's where we're going to see the greatest gains in profitability," he predicted. "That's where we see the best gains in increasing conversion."

What not to do with video: Video content is valuable because it can also be used for audio content, blogs, marketing and more. "You can take a video and you can carve it up in so many different ways to communicate your message — that's why it's the highest leverage," Ferry said.

But good video content requires strategy.  "Don't shoot video content if it's about you. Shoot content for your audience. What is valuable to them? It could be entertainment, it could be news, it could be data and stats, it could be 'where things are going,'" Ferry said.

Agents can use client surveys to invite ideas for future video topics, he added.

Make the most of your coach: The agent who benefits the most from coaching "leans in and does the work," Ferry said.

What does that look like? "They probably have their assistant or their marketing director or their ops leader on the coaching session with them, because they should be out listening and selling real estate," he explained. A coach will "give them little tweaks" and "give the meaty projects to the person on their team."

"That's where they get the big lift," Ferry added.

Try this in 2026: Ferry assigned one 12-month task to agents who want their business to do better: "I want every single person in your database to get a CMA from you twice a year."

For the average agent with a 1,000-person database, that equates to four or five comparative market analyses per day, five days a week. These should be followed by a phone call so that the agent can learn about any changes that might indicate a homeowner is ready to move, Ferry added.