Find New Business, Win Local Clients, and Put AI to Work: eXpcon Salt Lake City’s Friday General Session
Hold off on dropping that listing price and don’t spend another afternoon agonizing over video views. Friday’s speakers at eXpcon Salt Lake City have some advice for you.
Friday’s general session at eXpcon Salt Lake City dug into why some business-building efforts pay off while others eat up an agent’s afternoon. From comparing financing options before recommending a price cut to making local videos that bring in client inquiries, speakers gave agents practical ways to rethink where their time and money go – along with AI demonstrations to help them see which efforts are producing closings.
How to Actually Compete With New Construction Incentives
Builders have a massive advantage right now. They can throw crazy financing incentives at buyers, leaving resale agents scrambling to compete.
Before you immediately suggest a price drop to your seller, bring a loan officer into the conversation. Have the lender compare the exact cost of a seller-funded rate buydown against a straight price reduction. This gives your clients a highly effective option to evaluate alongside lender-confirmed math.
Leo Pareja shared this strategy with Newrez CEO Baron Silverstein when they discussed Revenos Mortgage.
This new joint venture also opens up massive referral potential through Newrez’s existing relationship with 4.2 million homeowners. Leo gave a perfect example of how this works in practice. When a client requests a mortgage payoff, that simple action could immediately prompt the question, “Are you thinking of selling your home?”
Create Business By Tapping Into The Divisions
Leo and Baron already tackled how to handle those massive builder financing incentives. But what if you want to work directly with the developers instead?
Carrie Zeier, Gabrielle Hill, Yohann Sangare, Bic DeCaro, and Jacob Weaver answered that exact question. These industry pros broke down exactly how agents can carve out space in highly specific real estate niches.
Hit the Model Homes: You do not need a massive sales history to get a developer's attention. Jacob Weaver explained that simply bringing a solid deal directly to a builder is usually enough to open the door. Start visiting model homes right now to figure out exactly what local developers need. Connect with an experienced New Homes division agent to learn how to spot those specific opportunities.
Hang Out at Broker Opens: Want to sell high-end homes? Go where luxury agents actually spend their time. Attend high-end broker open houses to build authentic relationships. Those casual conversations frequently lead to early tips on off-market properties.
Tap Into Your Past Life: Look closely at your current contact list. Yohann Sangare spent 12 years playing professional basketball before pivoting to real estate. He tapped directly into his sports network to build a highly specialized client base.
Pick one niche that makes sense for your current market. Reach out to an experienced division member and schedule a relevant property tour today. Get your education dialed in long before a buyer asks you to write a complicated contract.
Stop Chasing Viral Views: How to Get Real Local Real Estate Leads
Kati Spaniak posted a video about paint colors and racked up 586,000 views. It brought her exactly zero new clients.
During a session called “Win Before You Walk In,” Kati and Bryon Ellington explained why agents need to stop chasing internet fame. They recommend focusing entirely on reaching potential buyers and sellers in your own backyard.
Bryon pointed out a common trap he calls the “curse of knowledge.” Real estate professionals often assume sellers already understand complicated market data and transaction processes. Kati tackles this confusion head-on by turning her daily experiences into helpful local videos. She even offers a free guide covering exactly when to move and which home updates actually increase property value.
Ready to stop going viral and start signing local clients? Try their hyper-focused video approach:
Shrink your target area. Pick a specific subdivision or local school district. Put that exact name in your video titles and thumbnails.
Answer real questions. Address what sellers actually ask during listing appointments. Use real examples from your recent transactions.
Stack your lead sources. Host open houses in the exact same neighborhoods you farm and feature in your videos.
Commit to a schedule. Kati committed to posting one video every single week when she first launched her channel.
Track actual business. Pay attention to incoming inquiries and signed contracts rather than obsessing over view counts.
Even if your local videos might only generate a few hundred views, those smaller numbers mean more because they reach people you’re actually trying to serve. That is the audience you actually need to build trust with to grow your business.
Build Your Brand Around the Business You Actually Do
Spending hours tweaking your logo while your pipeline sits completely empty? It is time to rethink your daily schedule.
Frank Panunto recently asked attendees at The Audience Agenda to vote on their biggest industry debates. The top questions tackled whether personal branding distracts agents from actually selling and if cold calling is officially dead.
Dillar Schwartz and Curtis Shewell took the stage to weigh in. Dillar told agents to focus strictly on selling houses first. Pay attention to what clients appreciate about your service, then use that direct feedback to shape an authentic brand.
Curtis firmly agreed. He noted that marketing absolutely helps people find you, but closing transactions is what actually pays the bills.
The duo shared a few practical ways to tighten up your daily routine:
Upgrade your follow-up. Curtis recommended contacting people exclusively through their preferred communication channel. Dillar described using AI to contact older leads who had previously opted in.
Give your strategy time to breathe. Pick a specific approach and stick with it for more than a month. Track your results so your next business decision rests on hard evidence.
Focus on real value. Dillar emphasized creating genuinely useful social content. Curtis argued that delivering excellent service is the absolute best way to earn future referrals.
Get highly local. Attend community events and become a reliable neighborhood resource. Build connections with other agents to handle clients who are relocating.
When asked if low housing inventory threatens agent income, Dillar brought the discussion right back to personal accountability.
“I think the biggest threat to your income is your habits.”
Connect Your AI, Then Put It to Work
Everyone keeps talking about MCP. You probably just want to know how it actually helps you close more deals.
CTO, Carrie Lysenko and CIO, Seth Siegler recently showed agents exactly how to get started using a process they call "Select, Connect, Go." They even got the crowd involved by having different sections of the room shout out each step.
Think of MCP as a simple bridge between your favorite AI and your daily business tools. Here is how you can set it up right now:
Select: Open the MCP tab in The Hub’s App Store. Pick a connector like My eXp and choose your preferred AI tool.
Connect: Just follow the provided instructions. During a live demo using Claude, agents copied a connector URL into their settings before completing a quick sign-in.
Go: Start asking real business questions. Try typing a prompt like, “Compare my current production with the same period last year.”
Hooking up your CRM takes things up a notch. You can ask your AI to compare your incoming lead sources against your closed transactions. That specific data shows you exactly which marketing efforts are making you money.
The duo also showed off a clever workflow for creating marketing assets. They used MCP to pull production data from My eXp and generate custom Canva graphics.
Just start with a single connection and one solid question. You can grab full setup instructions and sample prompts inside the MCP toolkit.
Announcements
eXp’s International Map Is Growing
Switzerland, Abu Dhabi, and Mauritius are next on eXp’s international expansion map. Announced during Friday’s general session, the destinations span Europe, the Middle East, and the Indian Ocean, giving agents three new markets to watch as the company expands.
Stay Tuned
Before adding another strategy to your calendar, choose one you can put to work this week. Ask a lender to compare financing options for a listing, turn a seller’s question into a neighborhood video, or connect My eXp to your AI and examine your production. Friday’s speakers gave agents several places to start. Pick the one that addresses a gap in your business, then track what it produces.
Stay tuned to eXp Life for more stories, photos, and standout moments from eXpcon Salt Lake City.
Photos by AJ Canaria | www.ajcan.com
