Less than three years ago, Team Peterson-Jackson was a two-agent domestic real estate team. Today, they’re at 74 agents and counting. All along, they’ve been on a mission to:

1. increase African American homeownership rates
2. build generational wealth
3. create knowledgeable and productive real estate agents

In this conversation, LaShawn and Towanna Peterson-Jackson welcome you into the education-based approach to expanding their business, including how systems and support anchor their value prop, their 12-week onboarding process and the mobile app that powers it, their agent- and client-attraction methods, and leadership challenges they’ve faced and overcome along the way.

Early success was found connecting with people in Facebook Groups and delivering home-buying seminars in churches, schools, community centers, and non-profits in Detroit. Now, they’re preparing to expand into Houston, Atlanta, Indiana, and beyond!

Watch or listen to this conversation with Towanna and LaShawn for insights into:

- Carrying culture from your personal real estate business into your real estate team

- What LaShawn saw in Towanna’s commission checks that had her get re-licensed as an agent

- How the three aspects of their mission was sparked by a visit to Portland and Seattle, including insights into homelessness, gentrification, homeownership rates, and agent income

- How home-buying seminars and an education-first approach helped launch the team

- The roles and structure of their 10-staff, 74-agent organization

- Why they prefer new, “baby” real estate agents, why they don’t recruit, and what they look for in agents who want to join their team

- Why their value prop is more about onboarding, training, and systems than it is about leads and exactly what they provide agents in these areas

- When and why they shifted from working with investors to educating homeowners

- Which key challenges they faced in growing the team and where they sought guidance

- How each of them defined and refined their roles as leaders

- When and how they’re expanding to Houston, Atlanta, Indiana, and beyond

At the end, learn about Lions gear, a shoe habit, a shoe room, a lake house, and the next flight.

LaShawn Peterson-Jackson:

- https://www.instagram.com/lashawn_peterson_realtor/

- https://www.instagram.com/teampetersonjackson/

- https://www.facebook.com/lashawnf

- https://www.tiktok.com/@tuts138

Towanna Peterson-Jackson:

- https://www.instagram.com/towannapetersonjackson/

- https://www.facebook.com/towannaj

- https://www.tiktok.com/@teampetersonjackson

Real Estate Team OS:

- https://www.realestateteamos.com

- https://linktr.ee/realestateteamos

- https://www.instagram.com/realestateteamos/

We talk regularly about the role of tech, automation, and AI here on Real Estate Team OS.

The predominant vision: these tools make real estate agents more consistent and efficient.

Among countless other visions: AI will relegate the agent to a glorified door opener.

Here in this preview episode of our upcoming, six-episode Summit Series, you’ll hear from 10 different real estate professionals on the role of AI and the role of real estate agents today and moving forward.

You’ll hear great use cases for ChatGPT.
You’ll hear the challenge of agent adoption.
You'll hear about the limitations of augmented and virtual reality (AR and VR).
You’ll hear the potential for AI to replace aspects of the agent’s role.

Join Jenny Wemert, Emily Smith, and Tony Galarza of Wemert Group Realty; Ken Pozek, Gio Sanginesi, and Bree Tucker of Pozek Group; Renee Funk of The Funk Collection; Ben Laube of Ben Laube Homes; and Matt Anderson and Nick Nelson, solo agents in the eXp Realty community in Orlando.

Watch this episode for insights into:

Team Leaders

- Using AI in a way that’s people-based and machine-enhanced

- Why sales agents will be replaced by AI in 5 years and how that improves customer experience

- The trouble with AI-generated videos

- The proper role of an expert real estate agent

- An important caution for real estate agents using AI - and how to overcome it

Real Estate Agents

- How consumers choose agents

- Specific tasks that AI helps agents with

- How to get ChatGPT to know you better

Operations Leaders

- A high-level view of AI within a real estate team

- The challenge of comfort levels and adoption levels across agents and consumers alike

- The importance of agent motivation, regardless of what tech is available

- How a great agent provides perspective and context to bring all five senses together for consumers in a way that augmented reality and virtual reality (AR and VR) still can’t

- The role of content and the role of agents in helping consumers find community, not just property

Follow our Summit Series participants:

Jenny Wemert https://www.instagram.com/jennywemert/

Renee Funk https://www.instagram.com/renee_funk/

Ben Laube https://www.instagram.com/benlaube/

Ken Pozek https://www.instagram.com/kenpozek/

Tony Galarza https://www.instagram.com/tonygalarza_realtor/

Matt Anderson https://www.instagram.com/matthewandersonproperties/

Nick Nelson https://www.instagram.com/nicknelsonhome/

Bree Tucker https://www.instagram.com/breeinorlando/

Emily Smith https://www.instagram.com/emily_t_smith/

Gio Sanginesi https://www.instagram.com/gio407realtor/

Follow Real Estate Team OS:

- https://www.realestateteamos.com

- https://linktr.ee/realestateteamos

- https://www.instagram.com/realestateteamos/

Over the past 20 years, Dustin Oldfather has connected with and been coached by the best in the real estate business, including several of our guests on Real Estate Team OS.

As a result, he’s experimented with different methods and models - with VAs, ISAs, training cadence, lead distribution, and more.

The top-ranked real estate team in Delaware, The Oldfather Group is an 80-agent team driven by responsibility-centered leadership, opportunity meritocracy, and interactive, one-on-one training.

Dustin walks us through how they’re pairing local staff paid 15% above market with international VAs to improve performance and reduce vulnerability, how they’ve added meritocracy and agent voice to their model, why they’ve both insourced and outsourced the ISA function, and exactly how they deliver training day by day.

Watch or listen to this conversation with Dustin for insight into:

- Responsibility-centered leadership vs reward-centered leadership

- Being humbled in the Nuclear Navy

- Providing opportunities for a growing team at the dawn of online leads

- How to mitigate risk and vulnerability by partnering stateside and international team members together

- Testing an agent assistant model for agents doing 6 or 9 transactions per month

- What agents need and want in this market in terms of skills, efforts, and opportunities and how it affects their recruiting and retention

- Shifting to a meritocracy with three agent levels - Pilot, Captain, and Commander

- The pros and cons of insourcing and outsourcing your ISA function (and what works best for them) and the importance of live transfers

- Exactly how they do interactive training Monday through Friday, including specific topics covered, one-on-one time, live role plays, and accountability check-ins

- The cultural benefit of helping people move on, especially in the face of “demonstrated unreliability”

At the end, learn about Good Will Hunting and A Beautiful Mind IRL, John Wentworth, redundant JBL speakers, pushing back on Gary Vaynerchuk, and a specific structure for a healthy day, week, and year.

Guests mentioned in this episode:
- Howard Tager https://www.realestateteamos.com/episode/howard-tager-ylopo-ai-artificial-intelligence
- Jon Cheplak https://www.realestateteamos.com/episode/jon-cheplak-real-estate-teams-traditional-brokerages
- Tom Ferry https://www.realestateteamos.com/episode/tom-ferry-differentiation-accountability
- Mike Schumm (coming soon!)

Dustin Oldfather:
- https://www.instagram.com/dustinoldfather/

- https://www.instagram.com/oldfathergroup/

- https://www.facebook.com/DustinOldfatherPublic/

Real Estate Team OS:

- https://www.realestateteamos.com

- https://linktr.ee/realestateteamos

- https://www.instagram.com/realestateteamos/