New pre-showing tool aims to quickly ID serious buyers
A veteran real estate agent has rolled out an AI-assisted “buyer profile” site to help fellow agents avoid wasting time on clients who aren’t ready to act.
As someone who's been in real estate agent for 25 years, Erik Johnson has spent a lot of time responding to buyer inquiries that went … nowhere.
The frustration of working leads that turn out to be duds inspired his recent launch of TheBuyerProfile.com — a pre-showing tool that helps agents weed out serious buyers from the lookie-loos. Agents who use the tool can direct buyer leads to a short online form that provides a baseline for what they want in a home, their budget and where they are with financing.
AI + CRM: The system has an AI component that creates a "buyer readiness" score and provides "key signals" that can help agents identify and prioritize next steps with a client. Johnson believes those AI-powered features make Buyer Profile a more complete pre-showing system compared to lender "pre-qualify" sites.
Johnson, who works in the Phoenix area, said the site is meant to complement a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system, with the ultimate goal of separating buyers who are ready from those who are not, saving time for agents.
"It's allowing those agents to really have a plan and get something in writing," Johnson said, rather than "just jumping into a car and starting to show homes" — an all-too-common approach that can waste time for the agent and the client, he believes.
Designed for productive agents: Johnson said the site can assist all types of real estate professionals, from independent agents to those affiliated with large national brokerages — but it's primarily "meant for that top 25% of the agents that are looking for systems to help them do even more," he said.
The site operates on a subscription basis, with "starter," "pro" and "team" packages ranging in price from $19 to $199 a month. Initial reactions to the site have been positive, Johnson said, and that early feedback has helped him fine-tune the offerings.
'A better system': Advancements in technology, particularly artificial intelligence, have made it possible to get a clearer idea of a buyer's intentions and preparedness before an agent starts spending time on showings, Johnson said.
Having that initial "readiness" consultation when meeting a client at the first property always seemed inefficient to him.
"It just shouldn't be that way. There should be a better system out there that just helps the agent and the consumer. I feel that this really fills the gap," Johnson said.