On this episode of the Lab Coat Agents Podcast, Jeff talks to Allan Dalton once again. In the earlier episode, Allan dropped tons of knowledge, but they still have more to deliver! Tune in to hear insight on what to expect from the industry in the future.    Episode Highlights: 45 years ago, the industry was so much different. Then, it had so many part-time people led by virtue of somebody being full-time, that in essence, became the greatest credential that one wanted to showcase to the public, and we don’t see that anymore today. Allan says that you can find that the most entrepreneurial are typically from a family where somebody owned a restaurant or gas station or a small business, so that’s in their DNA.  It became more difficult for an agent to go against a large entrenchment of regional brokerages, and the only place to go over the last 5-10 years is to start a team.  Many realtors don’t use the word merchandising as much as the word staging because they are all into staging, but staging is what you do when somebody is ready to get their home ready to put on the market. Merchandising is all the things they do strategically to the home while they’re living there to increase its value. Where does someone gain the eloquence in knowledge to be able to answer the question, “How is the market?” because the reality is the industry is very antiquated, not only in age but also in technique. Allan says we have got to be more accurate in the de-segmenting language, which applies to virtually everybody. The way in which realtors respond to expired listing home sellers is the single most glaring example of how we haven’t changed in 50 years in terms of our self-perception and how we internalize value.  The value has to be on your skills, not in your service. Service is the skill of the cake; Services are just the frosting in the cake. A stockbroker doesn’t have much value in transacting a stock. They have value in recommending stocks because the market determines the price of what a stock sells for, says Allan. If you see yourself as a listing agent, you make listing presentations, and you’re not allowing your brain to go deeper into marketing, even to the point where you can explain it as you understand it, you’re not going to get into all of the elements of it.  Do you have a marketing anchor? There is only one reason why the home doesn’t sell in Metro Saint Louis, and that is because of ineffective marketing. How many people are working with buyers who haven’t developed a communication system for buyers? Allan discusses the difference over the years with professional selling techniques and communication. In real estate, we are trying to put words in people’s mouths, and that’s why they get frustrated, and also, we don’t get referrals from these people because it’s not a comfortable experience. Language is the closing of ideas, and we need to find out what customers are thinking. We have to do it in a way without incurring the wrath of the consumer.  Where is real estate going, and what does the near-term future look like in the real estate industry? Disruption takes place when something no longer makes sense, which accounts for the industry buying side disruption, because prior to the Internet, as we all know, the only way or place a consumer, and specifically a buyer, could go to get access to open the door to their dream home was the first through a realtor. The industry has become monetized on the buying side. The only place that third-party pools can go to monetize their investments further and expand investments is to now also become the first point of contact with home sellers. Hundreds of millions of dollars will be invested to encourage home sellers. What will it be for? Artificial intelligence is more objective. There’s no prejudice, and there’s no bias, and it’s statistical. Artificial intelligence is going to allow people to get sophisticated, comprehensive updates on productive data, trending data, and market stuff 2