The Power of Human Connection in Real Estate: Koby Sway on Staying Personal in an AI World

Host 00:00

Real estate is some of the most stressful times that a client goes through. Why the obsession over the customer experience? It's never gonna be good enough, and I'm always constantly looking for feedback. I think a lot of people are automating themselves out of the business. Most people today deal with a robot or they deal with a text message. There's no emotion, there's no ability when you go to a self-checkout. We're all so good now at sensing the BS. AI might present facts for me to talk to you about, but by me saying that to you, it's gonna connect at an emotional level.

Host1 00:29

What's up, everybody? Grant Wise here. Welcome back to the Partner Profit Podcast. Excited for another epic conversation on how you can turn your relationships into revenue. I've got Kobe Sway with the Briley team. Kobe, thanks for being on here with me today, man.

Host 00:42

Yeah, appreciate it, Grant. Anytime. Happy to be on.

Host1 00:44

Yeah, yeah. So for people that maybe don't know much about you, give us a little bit of the backstory. How do you get to where you are today?

Host 00:49

My wife's been a realtor 12 years, corporate America. I was in corporate America a long, long time, 20 years. And um, around COVID, I was talking to the team leader, Adam Briley, and uh he said, I want to blow my business up, I want to make it huge, and um asked me questions about why don't you just come? And we were joking for years, like, why don't you come manage the team? Why don't you come manage our office? And I always was like, no, I'm not interested. We finally at one point figured out a thing that made sense, and that was about five and a half years ago, obviously. It's been a world one, that's for sure. When I was on the team, we started with about 10 realtors. Um, we were doing about 350, 300, 300 units a year. And now, fast forward today, we have four businesses: mortgage, insurance, title, real estate. We have 60 realtors, we do about a thousand units a year, and uh it's a completely transformed business from five and a half years ago.

Host1 01:41

That is definitely an epic transformation in just five years. That's doing some work. What pushed you guys off into the four different businesses? Was it just like natural fit or good partnerships or what?

Host 01:52

Yeah, it's just like you know, uh, as a realtor, you hand this lead over to somebody and they they take it. I mean, they take it and they they give it to another realtor that feels more qualified. So I was like, I was very upset that leads were starting to go to other realtors from my team. And I was like, this isn't right. So I thought maybe there's a way that mortgage could make sense where we could we could maybe keep that lead for us. And then as that was the initial thought. But then as we talked more about it, it was like, well, people like a bundled service, people like a shared service, people like the convenience of going to like a one-stop shop, but really it just came out of you know the habit of like, man, I don't, you know, I just I didn't like my leads for getting stolen at first. And then I started learning more about the business, and I was like, we could do a better job. And it was the same with insurance, insurance rates were going crazy, and then it was and then it was title where we just weren't getting the feedback that we were looking for. So it's just a matter of trying to take more control and just providing a better experience overall for our clients, just because again, I don't think it's cumbersome to say, okay, you go find this, you go find this, you go find this, you go find. And next thing you know, the realtor's not reliant as a knowledgeable expert with all of these things, even though it's hard to know mortgage insurance and title and contractors and all these things they're supposed to. Uh we try to make it easier for them to, you know, do better with their own clients to get more frills.

Host1 03:11

So, do you guys own those ancillaries or are they joint ventures? Are they we have one JV, we have one joint venture title, the rest are owned out by us. Amazing. Okay. So real estate is a relationship-based industry, and so are the ancillaries that you've got mortgage title and insurance. And I always get fascinated by these answers from conversation to conversation to conversation, because you guys have taken the relationship really and turned it into like four sources of revenue, five sources of revenue to one transaction. But when I say like Kobe, how do I take my relationships and turn them into revenue? Where did your mind go?

Host 03:47

You know what's interesting is the original thinking was, you know, hey, let's let's make this a good experience and let's provide if a mortgage officer is willing to give you a thousand, five thousand, ten thousand, twenty thousand a month, there must be money in this if they're sending you co-marketing, co-spend dollars, you know. So if they you they partner with you, say with realtor.com or Google or you know, name the service, and they're willing to spend half the budget or a quarter or a portion of the budget, there must be money in it. So as I was doing research, I was like, well, there's probably money behind it. But then when you said that, I originally was thinking, you know what you run into a lot of the time, and this is true, this happens every day, is real estate agents will complain more often because they have the ability to go to you. You want to provide the best service possible. So when the agent gives you feedback and they say, hey, this wasn't stellar or wasn't up to par or wasn't as good, you got to remind yourself that they also have other loan officers maybe that aren't calling them in two seconds. They also have other loan officers that aren't getting back to them in one and a half minutes. But there's a level of expectation that goes up when you quote unquote have the keys or own it or are managing it, you're gonna get a lot of more complaints from your ancillaries because you're more accessible. And they're like, hey, I know that you guys have a JV with this, but here's the problems we're having. It's like, okay, well, let me, I always ask them this. Well, let me ask you this question. Have you had this issue with any other title office? Oh, yeah, I get it all the time. So it's like, is it a title issue? Is it my issue? Is it your issue? Are you unrealistic on the expectations? You know, so just be prepared, Grant, as you run your business, that you're gonna get more feedback, positive or negative, and most human beings will give you negative feedback. But at the end of the day, I want my realtors to have the best service humanly possible. I want my clients to have the best service humanly possible, and I want to provide the best, not like, oh, well, you're on our team, you should use these things. It's I want to provide something better. So I also put that challenge on myself. Like, what feedback do you guys have? Well, this could get better, this could get better, this could get better. So it's kind of like it's never gonna be good enough. And I'm always constantly looking for feedback. That's where my mind originally kind of went when you said that question.

Host1 06:02

It's really interesting. What you've said this quite a few times just in our conversation, and I imagine I have an idea of where it comes from, but why the obsession over the customer experience to the point that it's like, let's own the whole ecosystem instead of just our part in it. What is it about the customer experience in your mind that is so integral to the this whole thing?

Host 06:20

No, that's a good question. I appreciate that. I think it's I think about again back in my days at corporate America. I worked at some massive companies, I mean, huge companies, ATT, Best Buy, Verizon, some massive behemoths. And um, I think about like what they did to try to earn the business because think of like cell phones. You know, there's so many options, and people are loyal and some are not. So I think like learning through some customer service jobs and jobs related that I've had that I might I think deep down uh rooted in me is trying to provide the absolute best experience where somebody can turn around and say, you have got to call Grant, he is the best at this. Because real estate is some of the most stressful times that a client goes through. And I think that realtors, it's so easy because realtors like just move in 30 days, just pack your stuff and leave, and then get a realtor to move. Ask them to move, and then they're complaining and screaming and yelling. And again, people are on pins and needles. The problem is most people are so stressed out because they need to get tax forms and they need to meet at certain times, and they need to get their HR department on the phone, and they need to get insurance lined up, and it's not a fun process because you have to get all of these players to help you move into your house. So most of the time, when you look up real estate agents or buying a house, it's one of the worst things out there. It's such a stressful time. So I think it's I think it's A, part of being grounded in that corporate America experience, and then B is I think majority of realtors don't do it right. And 70% of realtors today are part-time, they sell less than three houses. So I think it's a shame that most clients out there today are helped by people that have zero clue what they're doing and they're kind of going through the motions. And I just think we can do a better job.

Host1 08:04

Yeah. How have you noted what are like, give me like two or three examples of things that have you have you have noticed when it comes to the customer relation? How has that been enhanced now that you own more of the process? Have you seen more referrals? Have you seen more like fill in a blank? Like, what are what are a few ways that you guys have seen the relationship evolve as a result of that?

Host 08:23

Well, we get more reviews because clients are more happy to explain what happened. So you get cross-pollination amongst reviews on multiple companies. People are less likely to have reservations. They're like, absolutely, you did such a great job. I want to shout it from the rooftops, and I have no problem hopping on X platform to give you a review. So reviews have gotten a lot easier to get because they're they're very satisfied. And then reviews or excuse me, referrals have also, like you said, have just also gotten huge. Like I think of our insurance company, Liz, the one of the best insurance agents you're ever going to meet in the country. And I don't just say that because we own it, I say it because she's very thorough and educated. Most people don't know when they sign up for insurance that their deductible is X amount, or your insurance company's not going to cover the roof, or you're going to have these. Everyone looks at rate, and rate doesn't matter because at the end of the day, if you have a house and it's a $280,000 house and you have 70% of it is smoke damage, you do you have $30,000 to pay for the deductible? No. Well, but it was only $30 a month. Okay, well, but they didn't explain that, right? So a lot of insurance agents try to just get the lowest rate and then they don't explain the stuff that they jam in there or they don't tell. So my insurance agent, for example, is she gets tons of referrals because she takes the time and spends minutes explaining what the actual policy entails. Yeah, she covers the policy, but that's at the end. And it's the same with um our mortgage office. I feel the same way with mortgages, like everyone's focused on rate. Rate is great. Like, yeah, we have great rates, we have the best rates, whatever. But at the end of the day, customer service is lost. Most people today deal with a robot or they deal with a text message. There's no emotion, there's no ability when you go to a self-checkout. We're trying to get away from you know human beings and AI and social media. And I think that a lot of the times what circles in my mind is we are looking for human connection. And I'm very connected with why are human beings wanting to connect with other human beings? So I think that we do a great job, which is a kind of full circle grant, because more clients are gonna refer our brand and business because we provide them the most excellent service with all of our services. Now, things come out, right? Like that doesn't mean that we don't make mistakes, of course. But I would think that from a positive standpoint, we're gonna get a mortgage officer to meet you face to face, we're gonna get an insurance agent meet you face to face, we're gonna get the title officer, we're gonna get the realtor all to come meet you if that's what you want, or to zoom with you. And you're gonna know that there's a human connection there. Yeah, technology's great, but it hasn't replaced the need for a human being.

Host1 10:57

Without question, I think a lot of people are automating themselves out of the business. It's pretty amazing what's happening. Like I could see the high-level automation in something like ATT's business. Yeah. You want to automate as much as you possibly can. Absolutely. But when you when you come to navigating the largest investment decision that people are going to make in their life, most people still want to talk to somebody, like they still want to connect with somebody to make that purchase, to finance that purchase, to protect that purchase, like all the way around, you've got to have a lot of human touch. I'm interested, this is just like a general curiosity, stepping back from relationships for a second, you know, in your days at a corporate, like how much of that applies to what you've done in real estate? Because you go from working for these massive companies and then you flip over, and now you're working for a you know a hyper local business. What are the what are the parallels there? I got to have this conversation. We were both in Nashville a few weeks back at an event, and uh we ended up at dinner, and I was sitting next to the CEO of Remax, and he was the CEO for Dish Cable for six years. And that was a fascinating conversation because I was like, what's similar? Like, what's the same? He was talking about revelations he had when he was working there. And I was like, how is that translated over here to Remax? Like, what are you noticing that is the same? So I'm I'm very interested to know from your perspective, working for some of these big companies and doing what you do now. Where where are the parallels?

Host 12:13

I think of like ATT, just say, for example, what do you think about when you think about hearing that? Is it the globe? Is it an ad? Is it something funny? It's March Madness. They spent a ton of money on March Madness. And everybody had a preconceived notion. When you when someone walked into a store and I worked at a store, and they would walk in, they'd have a preconceived notion as to what it was gonna be like dealing with an ATT rep to buy a phone or return a phone or or get internet or you know, I mean, we sold a lot of stuff back then. We sell everything at the ATT. And uh this I it's the same kind of parallel that they have preconceived notions on how this should go. So when the client clicks a button on X online provider, they go into open houses, they have a certain preconceived notion, a lot of people, that a real estate agent is slimy or going to push me into something or force me to buy a house. Or it becomes very real when somebody is meeting with me and I say, sign this form grant that says you're gonna work with me. I mean, you think about like the buyer agency agreement that's required now by law, that you have to sign a document before I can show you houses and realtors sit behind that cowardly and say, Well, that's the law. If you don't sign a grant, you must not be serious enough, which really it's a whole nother topic. But it's gotten to be where you're lazy. A real estate agent should never put a form in front of somebody and say, do that. So, but anyway, the first parallel is like they have preconceived notions. And then the second one comes down to the customer experience today is still as real. And I can tell you that a lot of those larger companies that I worked at, they automated everything. They put their call centers overseas, they made everything online for tech and robots. And when people drive to the store, the first thing out of their mouth most of the time was, I can't stand your customer service online. I can't get somebody on the phone, I don't want to talk to a robot.

Host1 14:01

I was a former ATT customer. That's the number one thing that comes to mind is the worst customer service. Online, it was the worst. But if you go in store, it was a little bit better. But online it was like made me want to hurt people. It was it was pretty rough.

Host 14:13

Exactly. So it's just um they were again wanting that, and it's the same thing on our real estate, is when you share your information, most real estate companies sell it like 150 times or something ridiculous. There's 200 million leads generated a year and five million sales. I mean, I'm giving round numbers here, but there's so much inundated with calls and calls and calls and calls and calls. So that's the other thing that's just the parallel to again from being at a corporate store or a large office was people had these preconceived notions and they weren't feeling comfortable and they weren't excited about technology. And they said, I just want a human being. I always tell people a real estate transaction to me is like getting married. That is the easiest analogy I like to tell my realtors is you're not gonna get married over a text. You're not gonna get, you're not gonna propose to somebody via a Zoom. That doesn't mean people don't ever do that. But my point is you go on a date first, face to face. You go on a second date, a third date, you have food, you share, you cry, you start to develop a lasting relationship. And that's what realtors are today. And that's another parallel I learned is uh ATT and Verizon wanted to make clients for life. They wanted you to pay your cell phone and not think about it because that thing never stopped. And that's the same parallel today with realtors is you get to know their cousins, their aunts, their uncles, their friends, their family. And we want the right real estate agents to want to help them, not take their money. Um, they want to help them. And that's another huge parallel is we're here to be their lifelong person. And that's one thing that's so cool in real estate is you get to help somebody through the journeys of kids, divorce, death, unfortunately, job relocation, job promotion, you know, and it's like you get to help them on this cool journey. And and agents get a little testy sometimes when they're like, Well, they didn't call me back. It's like they just lost their mother, or or they just had their first baby at a hospital. And sure they didn't return your call after two weeks. But again, like I get it. We're in sales, we want instant gratification, right? Like, I want a sale today. And that's one thing that's different completely is at ATT, I could have a conversation with your grant. I could get you an iPhone tomorrow, or I could get your business set up with internet, I could get that done in a week or two. Most people take one to two years to buy a house. So you're making a way longer relationship and deposits into that account.

Host1 16:27

Where do you think that this is going? Like with the rise of AI and everything, where do you think that the real estate industry is growing? Where do you think that, you know, are we still going to be a relationship-based industry? Like, where do you where do you think all of this is going over the next five or seven years?

Host 16:41

I think there is without a shadow of a doubt, there's scientific research that says you live longer if you have human interactions and we enjoy the behaviors that we put ourselves in or the environment we're in. I think that that should tell you that we want to meet people at a house. We want to touch it. Because again, with technology today, Grant, you know this. The the photos and the imaging and the 3D and like you, you already know what the house is. So why do people still drive there? Because they want to touch it. They want to touch the carpet, and it's like, well, don't worry about that. Well, what about the furniture? And it's like, guys, all this is gonna change. You're gonna you're gonna take all your stuff out. But people are visual, right? People wanna see what their furniture is like in there, they want to go there with tape measures and they wanna they wanna see if the refrigerator fits. So AI will make real estate agents better, it will make them more efficient. But where realtors will run into issues, like you said earlier, is realtors will automate themselves out of actually being a human being. So, like, I'm gonna make an AI video today of me dancing and skipping and jumping and all these cool things, and then they meet me, they're gonna be like, well, he's kind of a boring, lonely guy. He's not really, he doesn't have that much energy. So, like, you got to make sure your persona or who you present yourself on social media, just like you did in the last, you know, what, 15, 20 years. It's the same with AI. What's my persona gonna be? So you have to make sure that with AI, it's going to make you sure maybe you could meet a few more people, maybe you could engage with it. But the the right realtors, what they'll do, Grant, is they will get to know human beings and they will call and say, Grant, tell me about your sister. How was the graduation last week? And tell me about your brother, tell me about your dad. I know he was at the hospital with hospice lately. That AI might present facts for me to talk to you about, but by me saying that to you, it's gonna connect at an emotional level. And then another thing is when it comes to voice and dialects, I think people like to hear the pitch just like a text message. It's very hard. If I send a message that doesn't sound great, I put a smiley face behind it so they know that I'm not mad or upset. But when I'm explaining it like this, you're like, oh, he's not mad. You're really gonna see a parallel where people just like social, you're gonna see a lot of people that are like, I'm AI it out. What's real and what's fake? I'm gonna start to have genuine conversations, genuine lunches, genuine, you know, let's say uh open houses, whatever it is. So it's gonna continue to push people back to the human element and it's gonna continue to be something amazing. But what I'm excited about is again, AI is gonna help us in a lot of ways be more efficient and more successful. So I can call Grant and say, how's your dad doing at a hospice and not forget, hopefully AI will remind me and make me more of a human being. Not that I don't care, but I get a little bit busy.

Host1 19:19

Yeah. Such um, such really good points. I think the the benefit of this AI evolution, I think people are going to be able to sense like they're they're gonna become better at uh understanding what it means to be human, I guess. And um I think they're gonna be also be better at at understanding just like the genuine nature of people and the authenticity and and those types of things. I think we're all so good now at sensing the BS. Like just like what has happened over the like the last five years, just the last five or six years. I think it is unbelievable how uh how aware the average person has become. I would be apt to agree with you, like we use AI in so many ways, but we use it, we use it technically. We use it to automate the things that make us become more efficient so that we can spend more time with people and like exactly what you're talking about. And I think if people have that mindset and they take a lot of what you're talking about today, you know, obsessing over the customer experience to make sure that you're serving your clients at the highest level, like those relationships, you say it's it's gonna lead to more reviews, or it's already led to more reviews, but it's gonna lead to more referrals as well. That's exactly how you turn your relationships into revenue. Just caring about people. A genuine theme across the last several episodes that I've done. But uh man, I really appreciate you spending some time with him today and um answering these questions. I always like to ask this at the end is like, what's the number one way that we as listeners of the podcast can partner with you? How can we support you all and your growth today?

Host 20:49

People can connect with me on Facebook, they can connect with me on Instagram. I'm obviously or in real estate, you can connect with me anywhere. Um, I think the biggest thing is you can call me. My cell phone number's out there, you can text me. I started five and a half years ago, um almost six years ago, and I didn't know anything. Nothing. And you know, I used to call some of the best realtors in the country, and I'd, you know, a little trick that I would say is I'm only gonna take one and a half minutes. I'm gonna take 3.5 seconds. Something strange because most people are like, I don't have 30 minutes. But it's very hard, Grand, if I'm like, hey, can I just borrow you for like two and a half minutes? You'll take my call. So if anybody wants, they can reach out at any time. And I have no problem giving you one and a half to two minutes of my time. Uh because somebody helped me along the way too.

Host1 21:29

Yeah, I love it, man. We'll make sure that we connect or we link up the ways people can connect with you. And I if you're listening to this, I I encourage you to do that. I've I've certainly watched what the Bradley team's done over the last several years. That's it's definitely amazing, and that stems from great leadership, as you certainly got to experience over the last 20 ish minutes. So, Kobe, man, thanks again. I appreciate you for being here.

Host 21:47

Yeah, thanks for thanks for having me.

Host1 21:48

Yeah, yeah. And thank you all for continuing to listen to the Partner in Profit podcast. This has been another amazing conversation. I'll see you on the next one. Peace.