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Welcome back to another episode of the Millionaire Real Estate Agent podcast. I'm Jason Abrams, and this is the place where we lift the curtain on the world of real estate like never before. Every week I sit down with visionaries, pirates and mavericks. We're here to document, demonstrate, and most importantly, demystify their game changing models and systems. What secrets propel them to the top and how are they living their dreams? This is about passion. It's about strategy. But above all, it's about real, tangible success. So buckle up and let's dive in. This is the Millionaire Real Estate Agent podcast. Gang. I can admit when I was wrong, and I was wrong. It turns out technology is not a fad. It's here to stick around. And we are going to unpack it today in a way like you've never heard it before. We're going to talk to a gentleman who hails from Austin, Texas. He has sold over 500 houses and for the last eight years of his life has been the executive director of labs for Keller Williams International. This means that he wakes up every day interviewing real estate agents and learning about one thing, how they use their technology in accordance with making more money helping others list and sell real estate. I am talking about none other than David Voorhees. He is going to unpack for us a very unlikely journey in from Vegas nightclubs to residential real estate open houses, and then his keys to technology. Then we're going to touch on the key pieces of tech that he thinks you need to have. Sit back and buckle up. This is David Voorhees. David, how are you, sir?
A
I'm good. It's interesting to be chatting to you from across the fourth floor here at kwri.
B
Yes, a first for everything. So, David, I start every show the same way. I ask the question for the ages. How did you find your way into the greatest industry in the world?
A
I'll take a quote from a friend of mine. I failed my way into this industry like many of us did, I think going on 11 years ago now. So I got my license in 2000, 2015. But I came from the hospitality world. So I spent a lot of my youth. I went to college. I didn't finish college, but I went to college after high school in the early 2000s and found my way into the hospitality industry, which led me to some time in what I believe is one of the greatest cities in the U.S. las Vegas, working in the hospitality industry.
B
Okay, stop the tape. You don't just get to say hospitality industry in Vegas and not expect a Follow up question. David, when you say hospitality, are you serving breakfast or are you working the most posh nightclubs on the planet?
A
No, it's the second, actually. I was working in the nightclub industry and I went there when I was in my early 20s. I just turned 22 and probably got more than a lifetime worth of living done in the three or four years I was there. And funny enough, looking back on it now, I was there right during the first collapse or the 2008 crash of real estate. I know a bunch of friends that lost our houses during that. And so that was not knowing where I'd end up a dozen or so years later. That was an interesting time to be there. Looking back on it, what was the.
B
Thing that you learned in the hospitality industry? In the club, it's 3am, the music is pounding at LIV. It's all good. What did you learn that you brought through to your career today?
A
I think it's easy to see now. And when I found my way into real estate because hospitality had a pretty low ceiling and that's kind of how I got in here. But I was looking for a place where my soft skills would transfer. And I think a lot of those soft skills, especially when you're working in bars or nightclubs or restaurants or wherever you're coming from, is getting and building trust with people very quickly. Right. Like you don't have a long interaction time if you're a server or a bartender or an Uber driver or any service business related activity. You've got a really short amount of time to build a relationship with someone, get them to trust you ultimately so they can, you know, give you gratuity. You work off gratuity in most of these industries. And so I think that was part of it. I think also an ever changing no night was the same, no interaction was the same. And so it was constantly changing. And I think real estate deals are like that and clients are like that.
B
Yeah, I love that. Okay, so you're three or four years in, your ears are ringing. You can stay up all night and then party all day. What changes? Why real estate?
A
Well, I think I touched on a little bit, right? Like I found out it was a lot of fun to live in Vegas, don't get me wrong. But that's a hard life, you know, going to work at 5pm and getting off at 5 or 6am and you can only do that for so long. And you can certainly only do it when you're in your 20s. And I don't know how if people do it mid-40s now. And so I can't imagine that life today. I found really quickly that there is a low ceiling in the hospitality industry, right? Like you get to a point where you're managing an establishment or maybe you're the general manager of an establishment, maybe you get to go be an area director of some sort. But the ceiling from an income perspective is very low. There's a lot of turnover, the hours aren't great. Like you name all the wrong things you want in a job and hospitality's got a lot of them. And so again, I was looking for a soft skill transfer. I didn't have a college degree to fall back on like some people do. And real estate, as you so kindly say, like, what else, what other industry can you make a C minus on a four day course and go make as much money as you want?
B
There it is, my friend. But you decide to do it in a city that you weren't living in. You come back to Austin, Texas, which from Vegas to Austin, then you decide to get into the real estate business in a whole new town. What's that all about?
A
I was working on hospitality here, but not in nightclubs. I had moved on to restaurants at that point. But I said, hey, let me give this a shot, right? And like I said, relative, a couple grand, a long weekend's worth of online classes and I had probably like many people listening to this call. I had about six months to make it work or I was going back to a job I hated, right? And that's what I had in savings. And so I had to make that work. And I think probably like everyone else too, I thought one thing about the industry and learn very quickly and other thing, right, I'm going to make my own hours and I can make as much money as I want and all.
B
The stuff, it's funny because if you watch in all you know of the industry is what you see on HGTV, you'd think you can make $3 million a year, raise salamanders and work part time as a real estate agent. That's not how it is.
A
Not at all, not at all. And I learned that pretty quickly. But I think the other, you know, part of the hospitality world and certainly my youth that bent over was like, you've got to have a pretty intense work ethic, I think to be uberly successful in real estate and to make the kind of money that you think about real estate agents making the really successful ones.
B
So looking back, because we're going to switch gears in a minute, but you've sold over 500 houses. You've done it with sphere of influence. I think, being your number one lever. Once you do business with you, you tend to refer clients. How did you get all the clients at the start?
A
Yeah, good question. I tried it all at the beginning, right. I prospected on the phone and did a bunch of the. I bought leads like a bunch of people do. I ended up landing as open houses is kind of where. Where I cut my teeth. I did about 100 open houses my first year and did that for the first few years of real estate and was doing four a weekend. And again, I think kind of going back to how you. What soft skills transferred that quick relationship building in an open house actually works really well. Right. People come in the door, they're there for five or 10 minutes, and they're out.
B
The great one, Gene Arant, told me the other day that if you were starting in the real estate business today, he believes that if you did 90 open houses in 30 days, you'd be well on your way. Do you agree with that?
A
100%. I mean, where else can you get locked in a room with a bunch of people that want to buy a house where you soon want to buy a house?
B
Spot on. And by the way, this was a decade ago. You did it. You think it'd be as powerful today or more, right?
A
What better way is there to preview homes right? If you're doing it right. And I'm sure Gene, knowing him right, is doing it right. He's previewing homes in the neighborhood. You're understanding the inventory. You've probably honed in on a geographic area that makes sense for you. I did all that by accident over some amount of time. But, yeah, there's no better way. I remember the neighborhood that I ended up landing on, Kind of doing all of my open houses in, and I put a bunch of signs out every week in the whole thing, People would come into open houses and just assume that I had a ton of listings in the neighborhood. The truth is, I didn't even take a listing my first year. I didn't have any listings. Forget any in that neighborhood.
B
Yeah, it's wild. So as the career is progressing, Gary Keller. And if you're new to the program, by the way, Gary Keller wrote the book, the millionaire real estate agent with his writing partner, Jay Papasan. And may he rest in peace, Dave. That book became the namesake for our show. And Gary Keller owns Keller Williams. And so David, Gary was starting a new group within KW with a single mission. What was that Mission, sir.
A
Yeah. So we call that group Labs today. And it was called Labs back then. And if you've ever seen the T shirt or the logo, it's Gary's dog also happens to be in the logo also. So the mission of that was this was right around the time that Gary decided that it was a worthy effort to go build technology. Right. And that owning our technology was going to be more valuable over the time than renting our technology from third party providers, which Keller Williams had done up until about seven or eight years ago. And the purpose of that was I'm not going to go build something without talking to the people that are going to use it first. And so we started literally flying real estate agents in three times a week and spending entire days with them down in the room. We call 255 here, which is kind of the executive conference room. And having them draw on paper and asking them what they used it for and what they need and what their problems were and understanding our user, that was the goal. And I think we certainly did a lot of things right back then. We also made a ton of mistakes that we've since molded over time to try to get a better understanding. But it's all under the guise of this. If we better understand our customer and their pain and their problems, we can better go solve them.
B
That's it. That's absolutely beautiful. So gang, you know what time it is? It's the time of the show where we unpack a model. Now, these models get emailed out to you every single Thursday. They come in an email. It's a PDF. You'll love it. If you don't get them, I want you to get them. Go to mreanotes.com that's mreanotes.com, put in your email address and you will start getting them. David, you've done a countless number of interviews with top real estate agent and teams across the fruited plains. I would venture to say when it comes to technology, there is no other person in the industry as well suited for the question I'm about to ask. I would like you to unpack for us David Voorhees, keys for real estate technology. David, what's the first key?
A
Well, I think one. Thank you. There's a lot of super smart people that kind of cross into this space. But I certainly live in a unique world of still being a practicing real estate agent and spending a ton of time here in the building at KW worrying about are we building the right things for our agents and leaders. I Think it actually starts with the namesake of the show. Right. Like, I've got it in front of me. Like, here it is right on page 188 of the MREA. There's a little box at the bottom of the page and it's called figure 38. In the book, it's the four laws of lead generation, and I think that's the baseline for all of it. They're really simple and I think it's easy to forget about them over time when the real estate world gets hectic. And Gary always tells us this industry is boring and those that are the most successful do the same thing every single day over and over and over again. But we're real estate agents, we're entrepreneurial, so a lot of times shiny objects catch us and we end up veering off path. But here they are, right? One, build a database. Two, feed it every day. Three, communicate with it in a systematic way, and four, service all the leads that come your way. Everything starts there. And I think what happens is people veer off of those paths and they end up kind of down in no man's land. And I'm talking from brand new agents to the most successful you've seen. I've talked to them all, from people that sell one or two houses a year to people that sell many thousands of houses a year and everyone in between. And when you come back to it, and when I end up talking to people, oftentimes it's like, hey, I've got this tool, I'm using it, I want to use it better. What could I be doing? We always end up back at the beginning. So I think that's the basis of it, is those four laws of lead generation.
B
Okay, I love that. Before I go build a tech stack or even try to think about technology, I have to be clear that I'm running a database business. I'm going to build a database, I'm going to feed it every day, I'm going to communicate with it in a systematic way, and I'm going to service all the leads that come my way. I love that.
A
What's next? Yeah, so I think it's the constant cultivation and curation of that database and making sure it's clean. If you were to look across any of the top, top agents in our industry, regardless of company, right. They've got potentially tens of thousands or in some cases hundreds of thousands of contacts in their database because we've always been told the bigger the database, the bigger the business. I think it's quality over quantity and I think I don't know the exact number in the book, but it's 1900 and some change right back when Gary wrote the book was enough to make a million dollars. So we know what's happened with inflation and all of that stuff. Like houses are selling for more now certainly than they were when the MREA was written. I think a quality database that has a lot of really good information is much better than a database that's massive.
B
Okay, what sort of information do you think moves you into a more quality database?
A
Yeah, so I think at the bare minimum, name, phone, email, physical address. You'd be shocked at the amount of agents I talked to that have a massive database of past clients in Sphere that don't know where those people live, that don't have all four of those. That's the very basics of information. But at the end of the day, if you're building a database and you go to that number one thing, that database has to have certain information so I can do the things I need to do to communicate with them in a systematic way, as the model says. And so those are the basics beyond that. Home, anniversary, birthday. I mean, you can go down the list, right, of things you could track on someone. But I think those four are the most basic that are a must have for every database.
B
I know though, right now there's some poor agent on a treadmill who is screaming. Literally no one else in the gym has any idea why. She's upset because she can't fathom the fact that people wouldn't know the name, address, physical address, phone number and email of their clients. Are you telling me, because this sounds like a conversation you and I had in 2017. Are you telling me this is still a problem today?
A
It's the number one problem and I'm guilty of it. And I promise you, if you opened your database, you're guilty of it. There's no one listening to this call. I would venture to guess, and I'm you. I lived in Vegas, I'm a gambler. I'd be willing to gamble that there's not an agent listening to this, that if they open their database and really examined it wasn't missing one of those four pieces of information from some portion of their database that they consider their core, their Mets, their VIPs, you name it, I guarantee they don't have all four for everybody.
B
So if I wake up tomorrow and I realize that I'm missing that, what would you tell me to do?
A
Go back to the basics. Start over. Right. Not start over, but like, okay, we talk about the concentric circles diagram in the mrea and I'd go down to the most center to that concentric circle and say the most important people in my database are who they might be A's, B's or C's. They might be hot, warm, cold, they might be dips. However you classify those people, just go take an inventory of them and for whatever piece of information you don't have, go get it. You know, I think one of the things we struggle with the most as agents is I don't know what to say. So I don't make the call or send the text or send the email. This is a really easy way to do it. There's probably also a lot of people on this call, if not all of them, that host some sort of a client event. Right. I think that's a really easy way to reach out, call somebody, ask for something in return for an invitation to my next event. Right. On my team we used to do a big crawfish boil in the spring and we would always take that as an opportunity to clean the database. So you call. Hey, Jason, it's David. I hope you're going to be able to make it to our crawfish boil. It's coming up in March. We're going to be sending out physical invitations. I just want to make sure this is still the right mailing address for you.
B
I love that talk conversation. I also love that event. You have a band. The last time I ate crawfish with you, there was a full on band playing. It was fantastic.
A
Yeah, I can't take credit for that. That was my old business partner. Yeah, but so that conversation can be had by the way, with any of those four pieces of information. Just change them, change the model.
B
I also think if you're going to go clean up your database, the first thing the average agent out there, and this is a show for the top agents in the world that everybody else chooses to listen to. But the first thing you might want to do, get rid of the people that you don't like and you know you're not going to contact. Now I know there's a bunch of folks out there that are saying, no, no, no, no one ever gets to leave the database gang. You ever been doing that thing, what do they call it, David? The D1, D6, DTD2.
A
Right.
B
So this is this idea that it's a system to call through everybody in your database in a TCPA friendly, compliant way. But you know, sometimes you get somebody and you don't want to call them. You're like, oh, I don't, I don't like that person. I've never liked that person. I don't want to call that person. Spoiler alert. They don't want to talk to you either.
A
Yeah.
B
Or they would be. So if you've went three years not talking to someone you don't like, gang. Step one, get the people you're not going to contact out of your database.
A
And that, by the way, is all the people who just have an email address or it's a first name only. Like, those are not valuable. If you can't contact them, get them out.
B
And if you don't want to, get rid of them because it'll kill your mojo of contacting the people you do want to contact 100%. Then it sounds like you're saying, feed and get the information that you need to complete these contact records. What's next?
A
Yeah, so I mean, when you talk about systematic communication, right. I think building a database is one and everyone does that or tries to do that when they enter the real estate business. Because we all get told that's what you need to do. Right. Even if that's just your phone. But feeding it every day, I think, is where it gets hard and where people stop. Right. Feeding it every day is prospecting, it's marketing, it's doing your open houses, it's whatever forms of lead generation you've decided to lean into. As a real estate agent, most of us, it's our sphere, it's referrals and it's open house. That's where I think. I think what nars said in 2024, 2025, 87% of our business, or 87% of the business comes from sphere. Referrals from agents from my sphere and open houses. So how are you adding to that database every day? And again, it's not that your every day in quotes is are you consistently making that number grow? Not for the purpose of quantity, but with quality, in my opinion.
B
Okay, love that. What's next?
A
Communicate with it in the systematic way. I think this is another part where people get really wrapped around the axle when it comes to I've got a 106 touch and you've got a 78 touch and I've got 193. Like if we go back to the basics and say, okay, what do I have to do? I think I have to call everyone once a quarter. That's DTD2 or something in that sense. Right. I need to make a quarterly phone call to Everybody. You could say anything in those moments. You could be gathering information, you could be inviting them to an event. You could be providing them with some sort of update on what their house is worth.
B
Well, in Q1 of any year, the conversation framework is, what's your real estate strategy for 2026? What's your real estate strategy for 2027? Because anyone that answers is forced to then fall into one of three buckets. Either they say, I don't know what you mean, and once you explain, it's they're waiting for something to happen that year. Oh, my gosh, Johnny's graduating in June. So glad you called. Or it's, we're not doing anything in 26. Or it's, this is so crazy. We're actually talking about it now. Can you come over tomorrow? Everybody is going to fall into those three buckets.
A
Yeah, listen, I forgot. I don't know who I would credit with this. It's certainly not me. Everyone in your database is either a now buyer or a future buyer or a now seller or a future seller. Everyone falls into that camp, right? And so if you believe that to be true, there's not any of those conversations that are invaluable. 100%.
B
So how do I. Because now I want to kind of switch gears a little bit, and I want to talk specifically about technology, because what you just talked, real estate. But everyone listening is like, wait a minute, this is the real estate plus tech guy. So you've analyzed the tech stacks for so many agents. What are your two or three biggest AHAs about technology in the real estate space?
A
I think it's kind of like your phone a little bit. The one that you use is the right one. Now, I think we certainly, with the help of Gary and a bunch of really, really smart or kw, have built a really awesome, really broad, really deep. We'll use the word CRM, but I think it's a platform to help you run your real estate business. If it doesn't do those four basic things, it's probably the wrong one. If it can't help you build a database, if it can't help you feed it every day, communicate with it systematically, or service those leads, it's probably missing something. Anything beyond that is all. What do you need it for? Right. Do you need it to create marketing assets or post to social media or curate a referral network or manage your transactions? Sure.
B
Well, that's an interesting thing because when. When I've seen you sit with agents, you never start asking them, well, what pieces of technology do you use. You actually map their business? Talk me through that process. So imagine this. I'm driving down the highway right now at 120 miles an hour in the new Rover. It's fantastic vehicle, by the way. And I'm trying to get my head around how you would come in and consult my company, biggest team in the world. How would you do it?
A
Yeah, I mean, I think you have to start. You have to understand someone's business. It would be malpractice for any of us to consult with an agent and prescribe something without knowing what the symptoms are. Right. Like, just like a doctor. And I'm certainly not in the doctor. I definitely didn't go to school long enough to be one. But understanding where someone's business is at and where they might be having pain or where they have deficiencies then might help you prescribe the solution. Right. And I'm going to veer off a little bit of the technology track. But I believe it was Gary that also said there's three ways we solve problems at Keller Williams Systems and Models first, technology second, people third. And I think it's the system and the model, which is why I keep kind of anchoring back to that. That is always first. And you said this, you've said this for a long time. Why it's free and I can get it today. So understand, how do you generate leads? How big is your team? Do your agents both help buyers and sellers, or do they help both people? Right. Or do they specialize? What, does your administrative staff, look, just have people that do transactions? Are they doing much more than that? So every team. And by the way, team could be two people or three people. And we're not talking just about 25 or 50 or 100 who does what in your organization? And where are you finding efficiencies? Or where do you need to find efficiencies?
B
But you're getting really granular when you do this. You're mapping out the entire business 100%.
A
Again, without understanding someone's business. They know it all. Right. I think our friend Jay Papasan would call this. I forgot what he uses it as.
B
The curse of knowledge.
A
The curse of knowledge, Right. They know everything about their business. They know where all the bodies are buried. They certainly know where all the pain is. They know where the employees that probably aren't the right ones are at. And they've molded their business around all of these things to get where they're going.
B
So once you get all this laid out, how do you then go to the next Step, which is figuring out where, number one, if people are getting the most out of their current technology suite. And then number two, where technology can be leveraged.
A
Well, I think it's pretty easy to find the pain, right. When you get to talking to someone about their business, you pretty quickly land on, man, we're really struggling here. You always break this down really nicely in a chart, right? It's lead gen, lead follow up and transacting the business. That's a really basic framework for thinking about how and what areas you might be focusing on. That's a really easy one. Where do you have the most pain today? Generating leads, following up and converting those leads, or closing the deals. People always want to use technology to solve the problem. They want the easy button. Right. And we've been all trained to want that. But again, it goes back to, okay, here's your pain, here's the problem we're trying to solve. Great. What's your system and model for that? If you don't have a system and model, the piece of technology doesn't matter, man.
B
Amen, brother. I love that. Okay, I wanna switch gears again.
A
Okay.
B
There's a million apps, there's a million pieces of tech, and everyone listening has gotten 100 phone calls where someone says, look, if you just do one extra deal a year, it pays for this new piece of technology. What are some of the cool. And I'm putting you on the spot what's cool out there?
A
And I'll tell you what, whatever your AI model is, GPT, Claude Gemini, Perplexity. Like, to me, that's like a great thought partner for a bunch of different stuff, right? And you've been the author or co author of a bunch of one pagers and playbooks around AI, But I think if you don't have one of those today, I think you're losing. Okay, if that's for nothing more than to, you know, practice conversation frameworks with people on like, you can do that if it's. I don't know how to respond. My clients ask me a difficult question and I want to resp in a way that's meaningful to them and explain it in layman's terms. Right. That curse of knowledge comes up in real estate contracts all the time. I think those are two really easy ways to do it. Market analysis, right. My wife and I were lucky enough to fight. I'm going to give her all the credit for this. We fought an Appraisal, we had ChatGPT, we gave it all the information, we said, hey, we need to find an appraisal because it came in low and it gave us all the information and really succinctly sent it over to the appraiser and we're able to overturn an appraisal.
B
That's incredible.
A
So, yeah, I think if you don't have one AI model program on the home screen of your phone, I think you're missing out. I think then it's probably having your CRM mobile available to you. Right. We're real estate agents. We're not sitting in front of a computer all day. We're on the go, we're in the car, we're at a coffee shop, we're having lunch, we're having dinner. We're doing something to meet people. I can speak for myself. I see shiny objects and squirrels and chase them really quickly. If I don't do it today, I'm going to forget about it. Not just today, in the moment. Meet Jason and don't add Jason to my database. He may not get added. I may miss the information. So I think having an AI model and your real estate CRM, whichever, that one would be at your fingertips is really important.
B
Love that. You just got back from Australia, you went to hang out with the guys from Canva and look under the hood. Where is digital marketing with a company like Canva? Where is it going?
A
Well, I mean, it's going in the AI direction, right? Do it for me. If you think about AI being more powerful with the more data you have have, I think you have to look at the places where all the data comes together. And I, I, we're doing some really cool stuff with Canva proprietary to KW that I can't necessarily talk about today. But if you think about how can I take massive amounts of data and make it easily digestible and with Canva in a really beautiful way to my clients, I think you're going to see us go in that direction. But again, I think it's, it's hyperlocal information. How do you make yourself the market expert? If we're trying to build trust, that means we have to be the expert. We have to be the people that our database and our clients rely on when they think about real estate.
B
You told me once not long ago that you think the majority of the businesses you look at are over complicating their tech stacks. What did you mean by that?
A
Again? We've all gotten the phone call from Name the Company about how this is going to help you get one more deal or 10 more deals or 100 more deals and I'm not saying that's not true. True. The question is, do you need that to get there? And I think almost always when almost anytime I talk to someone, the answer is already in their database. I don't know the actual numbers. Let's just say it's a 3 to 5% conversion of the people in your database, meaning roughly, let's go really low. 3% of the people that you have in your database today are going to hire a real estate agent this year. All right, if you have 500 people in your database, that's 15 people who are going to hire a real estate agent. I know that that's enough to make a couple hundred grand depending on where you live. And 500 is on a giant database. I'm sure more of you have 500 people in your phone than not. So I think you just, you end up really overthinking it and trying to squeeze a deal out the hardest and most expensive way possible as opposed to just going back to the basics.
B
Now I want you to talk to everybody out there who's building a technology company because there's a lot of real estate agents tinkering in the garage building pieces of tech. And you and I love that we're the place where entrepreneurs thrive. They're wild ass and they're inventing and it's awesome. But you talk to an awful lot of people that own technology companies a ton. What's the two or three pieces of advice you'd give somebody to make sure they have the right product and they're building it the right way? How should the tech entrepreneur think about partnering with companies like yours and waking up in the morning and winning? If you were going to coach someone tomorrow who's starting the tech company, what would you tell them?
A
Yeah, I think one is you got to really understand what problem you're trying to solve.
B
What do you mean by that?
A
People are constantly delivering us solutions and then I'm always not sure of what problem that solution is solving for. Does that problem exist? If I think about, and I've got a little note I keep on my screen, which is why I'm looking over here. But if I think about what but a company, if someone's building a company, whether that's to solve for real estate or a larger industry, who knows? Do you have a problem that you're solving that you believe a large majority of people have, assuming you want to sell it to a lot of people. But when you think about a company like Keller Williams, which is the largest real estate company under one brand in the world. We've got a lot of people. So we get a lot of phone calls from people that have technology companies and want to either have us get into business with them, potentially acquire them. Who knows? If you can't identify what problem you're solving and it's not a problem that a lot of people have, it's going to be difficult. Right now if you're solving for the tippity top, you're solving for the 1/10 of the 1% or the 1% or the 2%, that's great. But you're going to have a relatively small market to sell to. I also think it has to be at a really approachable price, especially today. I mean, it's no secret that this isn't 2022. Real estate deals aren't falling off trees. We're what, down 30% in number of transactions from the peak Covid market. Is this something that someone could get into and see revalue in today? And then does it scale as this problem continues, does it scale to the amount of users or the places that all these people live? I talk to a ton of companies that have something that's really cool and it operates in one state or it's specific to a niche market like condos buyers and sellers. That's awesome. That's not everybody, right?
B
Love it. All right, David, I know what the people are thinking. They're thinking, I got a great idea. How do I get it to David Voorhees? How can people get more of you in their life?
A
Well, they can email me David Voorhees@kw.com, that could be a mistake giving that out, but here we are, David, only.
B
100,000 people a month listen to this show.
A
Yeah, that's what I was going to say. This could be a mistake, but here we are. Yeah. So, I mean, listen, listen. I sell this, I'll take a call with anyone and whether that's about your real estate business, and I promise you, there's many people listening to the show that have forgotten about more houses than I'll ever sell. But I've had the pleasure with a ton of your help and a ton of the help of the people in this building of being able to be in the room with people who do way more than me and have way bigger businesses than me. So I have a really good conglomeration of knowledge. So what do you want to talk about? Real estate, which is my favorite thing to talk about. You want to talk about technology or. Really, if you want to talk about where the two intersect. I'd love to do it.
B
Well, my friend, I love that. Fantastic. You can email. David, you want to tell me about your idea? Get to me on Instagram. Herealjasonabrams. Herealjasonabrams. David, thank you for everything you're doing for the entire industry. We, sir, appreciate you.
A
Thank you, sir.
B
Don't get mad at me just because I fooled you. Just lean into it. Because we didn't talk much about technology, but you know, that's how you should talk technology when it comes to real estate. And I know that frustrates some of you, but here's the reality of it, of it. This business is not entirely complicated and so many people are overcomplicating it. Gary Keller and his writing team had it right. Build a database, feed it every day, communicate with it in a systematic way, and service all the leads that come your way. That little nursery rhyme changes your entire life. And when you ask the question, which pieces of my technology do I have that are doing each one of those things and am I getting the most out of them? Them, that's when you've asked the right question. And let's be clear, as you sit today, everyone in the audience has two tech stacks. You have your personal tech stack. This is your cell phone, this is your Netflix, this is your Amazon. These are all the things you use in your personal life. But then you have your business tech stack. That's your CRM, your contract to close software, your follow up softwares, which social media are you using? So you're running in these two highly technological worlds. The first thing that I would do is sit down and map out your entire business from start to finish, from the minute someone lead comes in to the minute that it closes to, then how it goes into the database and then how you're effectively communicating with them. And do it step by step and lay the whole thing out on a giant wall. I want to see it right to left, then go through and start listing and putting in the pieces of technology that are supposed to be helping you in those places that's going to give you your current tech stack. The next step is asking the question of your tech vendors, am I actually getting most out of this tech product? Remember gang tech companies wake up every day adding pieces of technology into the technology that they've already sold you. They're constantly trying to make them better. So it's possible you're using 8% of a piece of tech. I promise you on your cell phones, you're using less than 20% of what your cell phone can do and it's the same with your CRM. And it might be the same with your contract to close software or lead generation software. So make sure you're getting the most for your money. Then the third piece start to ask the question what pieces in this business can be automated? Go back and listen to Loren Lucas's episode of this show and realize you might be able to automate 60, 70, 80% of all the operations behind the scene thanks to the advances in artificial intelligence. And then finally get rid of the pieces that you're not using and that aren't service missing or serving you anymore. Gang, it's a simple play to run. You just need a guy like David Voorhees in your life to help you run it. Remember, David shows up as a high power technology consultant for the top real estate agents in the planet. Go back and re listen to the episode because it may have sounded basic, but that's the thing about universal truth. It sounds simple. That's why it's universal. Then go put that in work in your company. Go forth and do likewise. There it is. That wraps another episode. Friends, I don't know what you're taking out of this. I really don't. I'll tell you what I want you to be taking out of it, which is these are the people that are having tremendously big lives and the reason it's happening is because they're setting up the models and system to do justice. That Gary Keller told me that leadership is teaching people how to think so that they do the things they need to do when they need to do them so that ultimately they get the things they want when they want to have them. And that's what I want for you. You're all leaders, but it begins with leading ourselves. If you're enjoying this podcast, I want you to click the subscribe button anywhere that you get your podcasts. We want to be the voice in your head every single week. And every week we're dropping new content. We also send out a newsletter at the conclusion of every show to make sure that you get the highest points in the models and systems that were discussed. So if you want to sign up, I need your name and your email address. Head over to themillionaire agent podcast.com millionaireagentpodcast.com Enter your name and your email address and every week that newsletter will be in your box. Friends, you just went on a journey. I hope that what happens between now and the next time we meet is absolutely wonderful for you. Thanks for listening. I'll see you next week.
C
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The Millionaire Real Estate Agent Podcast | Ep. 119
Host: Jason Abrams ([Keller Podcast Network])
Guest: David Voorhees (Executive Director of Labs, Keller Williams International)
Release Date: January 26, 2026
In this episode, host Jason Abrams sits down with David Voorhees, a tech visionary who transitioned from the high-paced world of Vegas nightclubs to becoming a top-producing agent and leading Keller Williams’ technology innovation efforts. They explore David’s career journey, the essential tech mindsets and habits of top agents, and a simple, universal model for tech success in real estate. Whether you’re overwhelmed by shiny new apps or struggling with database basics, this episode cuts through the noise and delivers a practical playbook for agents at every level.
[02:17–06:39]
[06:58–08:43]
[09:10–10:16]
[11:03–13:43]
David anchors all technology decisions in the “Four Laws” from The Millionaire Real Estate Agent book (p.188):
[13:43–16:54]
[16:54–19:08]
[20:34–26:47]
David’s core tech insights:
Key modern tech tools:
[27:40–28:49]
[29:27–31:10]
[31:19–32:04]
“The one that you use is the right one.” — David Voorhees on tech choices [20:56]
“This business is not entirely complicated and so many people are overcomplicating it...Build a database, feed it every day, communicate with it in a systematic way, and service all the leads that come your way. That little nursery rhyme changes your entire life.”
— Jason Abrams [32:23]
[32:23–36:55]
“That’s the thing about universal truth. It sounds simple. That’s why it’s universal. Then go put that in work in your company. Go forth and do likewise.” – Jason Abrams [35:36]
David Voorhees emphasizes that technology should always serve core business models, not the other way around. Start with a rock-solid database, communicate consistently, and only add tech where it truly solves pain points. Overcomplication is the enemy; the simple truths from The Millionaire Real Estate Agent remain foundational—even in the age of AI.
To hear more or ask David a question, reach out at davidvoorhees@kw.com.