The agents winning in today’s environment are not chasing leads, they are creating opportunity. Attendees at this session of the Velocity, A FORCE Conference, May 20-21 in New Orleans, learned how to leverage instant offers to engage sellers, build a pipeline of high-intent prospects, and create a competitive environment that helps sellers win with stronger offers.
The audience members walked away with a repeatable strategy to generate listings, outperform the market, and consistently close more deals.
Moderator for the panel was Joe Peterson, CEO & Founder at iList Tech and panel members were Christina Griffin, SVP, Agent Growth & Success for Genstone Realty; Dan Noma, Founder of Easy Street Offers; and Thomas Tersigni, Vice President of Sales at Zoom Casa.
The panelists said that agents who embrace technology, offer multiple selling options, and position themselves as problem-solvers, not just salespeople, will be best positioned to thrive in today’s evolving real estate market.
Successful Agents Solve Problems Instead of Selling Services
The panel of industry executives discussed how changing consumer expectations, artificial intelligence, and alternative selling strategies are transforming residential real estate.
Their discussion centered on a simple premise: the traditional listing presentation is no longer enough. Today’s homeowners expect agents to provide multiple pathways to a successful sale, whether that is a conventional MLS listing, an instant cash offer, a buy-before-you-sell program, or other creative alternatives.
“Real estate is changing. Do not have all your eggs in one basket because as soon as you rely on one thing, what’s the market going to do? Shift,” Peterson told attendees, setting the tone for a conversation focused on adaptability.
Griffin said that the industry’s mindset must evolve from selling homes to solving homeowners’ problems.
“People want solutions,” she said. “A cash offer is your foot in the door.”
Rather than viewing cash offers as an alternative to traditional listings, Griffin encouraged agents to use them as conversation starters that open relationships with homeowners facing a variety of circumstances, including expired listings, pre-foreclosures, probate cases, divorce, bankruptcy, and distressed rental properties.
Offering sellers choices, Griffin said, creates trust while positioning agents as advisors rather than salespeople.
That sentiment was echoed by Tersigni.
“I’m not a salesperson. I’m a solutions person,” he said. “I have a solution. If it meets your needs, great. If it doesn’t, great.”
Panel members also noted that understanding a homeowner’s motivation before recommending a selling strategy leads to stronger client relationships and higher conversion rates.
Agents Who Offer Multiple Selling Options Will Win More Listings
One of the panel’s strongest themes was that consumers increasingly expect agents to present multiple selling alternatives rather than pushing a single transaction model.
Noma said his company found that presenting sellers with several side-by-side options dramatically improved listing conversions.
“The more options we added to the net sheet, the higher our conversion rate and close rate started to go up,” Noma said.
Rather than steering homeowners toward or away from a cash offer, Noma recommended allowing consumers to compare the benefits and tradeoffs of each option for themselves.
“You don’t know what you don’t know about the consumer,” he said. “The value of a home is only what a buyer’s willing to pay.”
Noma said he believes that agents who successfully aggregate multiple selling solutions—including cash buyers, traditional listings, bridge products, and investor programs—will define the next generation of the profession.
“The agent of the future is the ultimate aggregator, one that can bring all different available options to the consumer,” Noma said.
AI is Transforming How Agents Identify Opportunities and Value Properties
While cash offers dominated much of the discussion, artificial intelligence emerged as the technology expected to reshape nearly every stage of the real estate transaction, the panelists said.
They described AI as a tool that can identify potential sellers before they enter the market, analyze thousands of property data points to generate more accurate valuations, and streamline property inspections through automated image and video analysis.
Tersigni said that he believed that AI-powered predictive analytics will fundamentally change lead generation.
“If you’re not an agent that’s embracing AI to help identify opportunities before they’re an actual opportunity, then you’re in real trouble,” he said.
Griffin offered attendees some practical examples of combining AI with public records and market data to identify homeowners experiencing financial stress or life events, allowing agents to prioritize the most promising prospects instead of manually sorting through hundreds of leads.
Noma said AI is also improving the accuracy and speed of investor pricing by analyzing thousands of variables before generating offers.
Prospecting Remains Essential, But The Approach Has Evolved
Despite the enthusiasm surrounding AI, the panel emphasized that technology does not replace the fundamentals of prospecting.
The panelists identified expired listings, pre-foreclosures, distressed landlords, probate cases, bankruptcy filings, off-market properties, and homes with extended days on market as some of today’s strongest opportunities.
Technology can identify those prospects faster than ever, panelists said, but agents must still make the calls, knock on doors, build relationships, and consistently follow up.
Several speakers shared examples of agents generating multiple listings simply by approaching homeowners with new selling options rather than traditional listing presentations.
A Changing Business Model
One message was consistent during the discussion: the role of the real estate professional is evolving.
Consumers increasingly expect advisers who can explain multiple paths to selling a home instead of simply listing it on the MLS. Agents who combine AI, investor relationships, cash-offer programs, data-driven prospecting, and consultative selling are likely to gain a competitive advantage in a changing marketplace.
As Griffin said, success comes down to understanding clients’ circumstances and delivering solutions that fit their needs — a philosophy the panel believes will define the future of residential real estate.
