Welcome to the Center for REALTOR® Development podcast. I’m Monica Neubauer, your host. Everyone’s favorite topic these days is AI. In our last episode, Matthew Rathbun and Craig Grant saved you lots of time with their tips for improved productivity and agent and customer experience.

 

Today, they’re going to help you again and show you how they make AI work for them in practical ways. Practical ideas are my favorite takeaways! We’re going to give you a few more apps. We’re still going to stick with the basics of ChatGPT and Google Gemini, but we’re going to get into a few more apps that you may want to invest in.

 

Craig Grant is the CEO of RETI.us, the real estate industry’s online home for technology education. He’s been a national technology speaker, educating us through many tech changes. He’s a tremendous mentor for speakers and educators. This passion has led him to offer a Train the Trainer program and co-found the BEATS Alliance, promoting education for both the educator and education directors at associations.

 

Matthew Rathbun is the Broker and Executive VP of a Northern Virginia Coldwell Banker office. He’s the President of the Real Estate Business Institute and an international speaker in the real estate industry. He helps tech make sense, and he has a balance in his communication style of being straightforward, telling it like it is, and also, really encouraging to help us to actually do it.

 

We are releasing this interview in two episodes. This is Part 2. Each one of these episodes stands alone, but we encourage you to start with Episode 1 or go back to it for some more context.

 

Important: Be mindful of the limitations and risks of using generative artificial intelligence and protect personal, financial and confidential information from being shared with an AI platform. Keep in mind that content produced by generative AI tools is not always correct. Avoid using AI for legal advice and engaging in the unauthorized practice of law; always seek appropriate advice from actual professionals. Do not use AI to create content you wish to copyright, as AI-generated works are not protectable under U.S. copyright law.

 

[1:27 ] Craig Grant is a tremendous mentor for speakers and educators. This passion has led him to offer a Train the Trainer program and co-found the BEATS Alliance, promoting education for both the educator and education directors at associations. Welcome back, Craig!

[2:02 ] Matthew Rathbun helps tech make sense, and he has a balance in his communication style of being straightforward, telling it like it is, and also, really encouraging to help us to actually do it. Welcome back, Matthew!

[2:21 ] Matthew recaps the first episode. It covered creating GPTs, being an AI-forward leader, and being an example to your agents. Associations can also help themselves by creating GPTs of these tools. Think about things differently, do your job better, and help the agents do theirs better.

[3:06 ] Craig tries to guide most people in the industry either to ChatGPT or Google Gemini. All AI platforms have similar capabilities, but Craig says to succeed in real estate, leverage one of the two main platforms. Matthew prefers ChatGPT while Craig uses Gemini more.

[3:41 ] Craig says that ChatGPT focuses on third-party tools and integration. Google isn’t trying to do any integration. It’s about making you more effective inside Google. Craig runs his business through Google with Gmail, Google Docs, Drive, and Calendar through Google.

[4:02 ] Gemini makes Craig so much faster and more effective with the tools he’s already using to run his business. He uses ChatGPT for fun things, but if it’s business-related, he uses Gemini, and it creates emails and documents the way he wants them, in his brand voice.

[4:22 ] Craig uses Google to run his business, so he focuses on Gemini. He believes that whichever you end up using, whether it’s Gemini or ChatGPT, the two main ones, Craig believes the possibilities of what you can do with them are endless. You can create anything you want.

[4:36 ] Monica has learned so far that although she mostly uses ChatGPT, she can put more Gemini into her regular Google Suite use.

[5:00 ] Monica is a ChatGPT user. She has just hired a virtual assistant, and they’re still working out how they will work together. She wants her VA to have a quality AI program to build something custom with Monica. She wants to keep it separate from her ChatGPT.

[5:45 ] Craig suggests Monica could create a custom GPT with a different profile from her GPT as a template to share with her VA.

[6:43 ] Matthew speaks of having teams in ChatGPT or Gemini. Craig says it costs $5.00 more a month for the leader.

[7:17 ] Craig offers an example. You use ChatGPT to help you respond to a customer’s upset email on Yahoo. You copy the message, put it in ChatGPT, write a prompt to have ChatGPT defuse the situation, copy the response, and paste it into Yahoo to send. You have wasted time.

[7:57 ] With Google Gemini, it’s already in your inbox, reading the emails. The second you click on an email, Gemini has read it and has a prepared response ready for you. It will ask if you want to use it or write your own response.

[8:11 ] Craig says he can respond to that testy email from the customer in under 10 seconds if he wanted to, using Gemini, without having to go back and forth. From a productivity side, that’s why Craig uses Gemini the way he uses it.

[8:35 ] Next, Craig talks about Canva Pro, the paid version of Canva. Craig says it has improved by leaps and bounds over the last few years. It probably includes more AI than any other tool on the market. It includes Branda for creating your logo and brand, colors, and brand voice.

[9:07 ] That way, you can redesign any template in the library in seconds. There are many tools that Canva keeps adding that will do the design work for you.

[9:27 ] Canva has teams. Monica added her VA as a team member.

[9:37 ] Craig talks about Magic Media for creating AI imagery, animations, or videos within Canva. Using Canva Magic Resize, if you designed something for Facebook, with one click, you can resize it for TikTok or any other site.

[9:55 ] Monica asks for tips to Resize, to get better results.

[10:13 ] In Magic Resize, the big thing is that to look its best, the size you start with and the size you end with should be a similar shape and orientation. If you pick something of a very different size, you can expect to have to go into it to tweak it to look good.

[10:45 ] Also, under Magic Resize, there is the ability to translate to different languages, so you could have a campaign in English, and with one click, you could have it in Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, or other language you want.

[11:04 ] Another tool Craig loves is Bulk Create. It’s not AI. It allows you to merge information into a Canva design. You can mock up a design, like Reasons to Move to Your Town, ask ChatGPT or Gemini for 100 reasons to move there, and then merge them for 100 designs done in seconds.

[11:35 ] Between the Bulk Create tool and Magic Resize, you could knock out a year’s worth of content, multi-media, in multiple languages, in minutes. You always want to make sure the content is accurate before you publish it! Monica says, Always proofread before publishing.

[12:30 ] Craig repeats something he said in the first episode. Always treat everything AI creates as a first draft. It does 90% of the work; you have to do the last 10%. Proofread it, make sure it’s accurate, that the sources are right and not vested, and that it doesn’t violate the Code of Ethics.

[12:52 ] You’ve got to do the last 10% every time you create something with AI.

[12:58 ] Matthew loves the Canva Layout tool. Docs to Deck is one of his favorites. Choose a Doc, hit the forward slash, and it brings up an AI dialogue box. Tell it about the presentation you want, like for first-time homebuyers moving into Richmond, VA. It will create the outline.

[13:23 ] The next step is to ask it to create a presentation deck for you. You can resize the deck into a pamphlet, brochure, or guide. Or go into the AI and ask it to write a blog post on something like keeping house plants alive. It will give you templates and content based on your brand.

[14:01 ] Matthew suggests concepts for creating content in minutes. Not everyone in your newsletter system is looking to buy or sell soon. They want to know how to make their lives better. AI does a good job of building that content, so you can just tweak it and post.

[14:17 ] Monica asks about setting up page breaks in a Canva document. Monica’s advice to brokers and agents: If you’re stuck on something in Canva, go find a video to help you learn it. Don’t let one small problem derail you.

[15:21 ] Craig talks about GrammarlyGO, the paid version of Grammarly. Besides correction, it now does AI content creation, as well. GrammarlyGO learns your brand voice so it crafts content that sounds like you.

[16:54 ] Discussion on AI avatars. Barbie didn’t go well for Monica, and Ken didn’t work for Craig. He uses a tool called HeyGen that does more than avatars. Upload pictures