AI Prompting Strategies

When using artificial intelligence for business, make sure you’re feeding the tool the right information to produce the best results

By Scott Mason

The residential real estate landscape is rapidly evolving.And leveraging the latest technological advancements is not just an advantage; it’s essential. Among these, generative artificial intelligence (AI) stands out for its ability to transform vast amounts of data into actionable information.

However, the effectiveness of generative AI hinges significantly on the quality and specificity of the prompts provided to it. This is where the art of prompting becomes crucial. A well-crafted prompt can guide the AI to generate outputs that are not only relevant and insightful but also tailored to the unique needs and nuances of the residential real estate market. Whether it’s analyzing market trends, generating property descriptions or creating marketing materials, the right prompts can unlock the full potential of generative AI for real estate professionals, providing them with a powerful tool to enhance decision-making, improve marketing strategies and, ultimately, drive their business to be more successful.

As we navigate through the complexities of the current market, understanding and mastering the art of prompting for generative AI emerges as an indispensable skill for anyone looking to stay ahead in the competitive world of residential real estate.

An increased presence

According to the National Association of REALTORS^® 2023 Technology Survey, 56% of respondents said AI would be very or somewhat impactful to the real estate industry over the next 24 months. And indeed, many residential real estate professionals, like Karin Carr, CRS, owner of Georgia Coast Homes with Real Broker LLC in Springfield, Georgia, use generative AI daily in their businesses. “I think it’s amazing,” she says. “I love using it to teach me something I don’t know how to do and to help me create content.”

Steve Epstein, CRS, senior partner at Epstein Partners with Keller Williams Realty in Montecito and Santa Barbara, California, thinks of generative AI as an essential productivity tool for agents who want to streamline their responsibilities. “It can help you save time and do activities that you may not be good at or enjoy doing,” he says. “AI is a productivity tool that uses a large amount of data with models and algorithms, driven by good prompts, that often produces a very good and desired work product.”

The importance of prompting

The old phrase—you get out of it what you put into it— rings true regarding generative AI. This means that the results are incredibly dependent on the prompts you feed into the platform.

For agents who want to introduce more generative AI into their routines, our experts provide a few real-world examples to help identify the difference between a good prompt and a bad one.

Digital marketing materials: One of the most popular uses of generative AI for real estate professionals is assisting with their marketing efforts. Epstein highlights how he’d go about prompting a generative AI tool to help him create a newsletter to be distributed to his sphere.

“If I were creating a newsletter, I might tell it, ‘I’m a real estate agent seeking to position myself as a trusted local market expert by writing an engaging newsletter for my Montecito, California, contacts,’” Epstein says. “‘I want to establish my credibility as a preferred source for local real estate insights and make the information digestible and interesting for readers. I want to stay top of mind with my clients. I want to motivate contacts to reach out to me for their real estate needs.’” From there, Epstein would prompt it to include two to three recent statistics illustrating meaningful trends in his market, but he would make sure to fact-check any statistical claim AI makes to ensure it’s up to date and from a reputable source.

Social media content: Carr says her YouTube channel is her main lead generation driver. With over 17,000 subscribers, she has a dedicated following on the social media platform and must provide timely and insightful content to her viewers. Here’s where generative AI can step in to help ease the burden.

“I will go to ChatGPT to get inspiration for my videos,” Carr says. “I will prompt it with ‘I am a real estate agent serving Savannah, Georgia. This is what my channel is about [insert focus of channel]. This is the target audience that I’m trying to serve. Give me 10 problems that my ideal client is doing a Google search for.’”

From there, Carr will choose one of those ideas and prompt the AI further. “I’ll ask it to give me 10 potential titles for that video,” she says. “Then I’ll break it down further: What would I discuss in that video? What key points would I need to discuss to be very thorough? And it will come up with an outline for me to use for my video production.”

Handling objections: Every agent should be well-prepared for a variety of questions and objections that may come up in conversation with a client. This can be stressful, but AI can help you provide good responses in these situations.

“If you’re going to have a [tough] conversation, have an idea of what you’re going to say before you need to,” Epstein says. “That doesn’t mean you can’t pivot when the conversation does, but don’t go into a conversation unprepared.”

To help counter objections you may receive from potential clients, prompt the AI like this: “I’m a real estate agent in [your market location], and I want to help overcome common seller objections. I received the following objection [insert objection here], and it was delivered to me in a short and rude way. Give me a response to acknowledge the concern and redirect to the benefits of using a real estate agent based on data and proof.”

Having AI develop these counters can help free up time you’d normally be stressing over coming up with a tactful response.

Personal tweaks

While generative AI outputs are becoming increasingly passable as the technology collects more data and experience, agents should understand that a personal touch is still needed to ensure the desired outcome.

Carr notes that the answers weren’t perfect when she began using AI for her YouTube videos. “I found that it sounded like a robot wrote it,” she says. “It sounded very formal, very authoritative. It did not sound like me at all.”

To fix this, Carr commanded the AI to analyze transcripts of some of her previously published videos so they sounded more authentic to her voice and brand. “It spit out this wonderful review. It said she’s humorous, relatable, informative and tells a lot of stories. So now, every time I want to work on ideas for a YouTube video, before we get started I copy in that brand voice statement and ask the AI to understand how to shape the output,” she says.

Bringing it home

While generative AI is a helpful tool for real estate agents to make their processes more efficient, it’s important to remember not to rely too heavily on the technology to take over all your responsibilities.

Epstein likens AI to the game of baseball. “It gives us a great place to start and saves us a ton of time with thinking, formatting and prepping,” he says. “But you need to think of it like you’re starting on third base. It’s not a home run—you still have to get home.”

Stay up to date on all the latest AI tools with RRC’s webinars at www.CRS.com/education/education-catalog.

Photo: Getty Images/Elenathewise/SomStock