Updated 20 September 2026: first published on Elite Agent in April 2025. The article has been refreshed as an AI basics guide to running a practical team learning session.
Shopify’s April 2025 AI-first memo got me thinking about how a real estate team learns to use these tools. Shopify’s later account of its approach describes that memo and the role of experimentation and sharing.
My response then came with a condition: the work should improve, rather than diminish, the customer experience. That is still the test I would bring to an agency’s first AI session.
You do not need ten new subscriptions or an ambitious automation project to begin. Choose one repeatable task, bring the right information and give the team time to compare what happens.
How do I help my team start using AI?
Here are the ten lessons from the original article, translated into a beginner exercise your team can try.
1. Learn the basics together
Make sure everyone can describe what the chosen tool is doing, what information they may supply and who checks its work. Knowing where it is likely to be wrong is part of learning to use it.
2. Practise on one real task
Choose something small, such as drafting an open-home follow-up from an approved, fictional scenario. Give everyone the same facts so the discussion concerns the results, not different assumptions.
3. Compare quality as well as speed
A fast first draft can still take a long time to repair. Record drafting and checking time separately, and look for factual errors, missing details and the usefulness of the final answer.
4. Give a clear brief
Describe the audience, task, source information and desired format. Ask the tool to identify gaps. In my early experiments I used Wispr Flow to speak prompts; that felt faster for me, but the transcription still needed checking.
5. Make the draft your own
Read it as the person receiving it. Add relevant knowledge and remove invented details. A generic message with a name inserted is not the same thing as a thoughtful response to that person’s question.
6. Understand the whole process
Look at what happens before and after the draft. If nobody owns approval or the next step, a quicker draft may just reach the same bottleneck sooner. Use the trial to understand the work before changing resourcing.
7. Experiment as a team
In 2025, our team sessions at Elite Agent included building GPTs and trying workflows together. Charmagne was among those taking the initiative. Give people room to show an unsuccessful attempt as well as a polished result.
8. Share something repeatable
Save the useful brief, source requirements and checking steps together. A prompt on its own may leave out the context that made it work. Let a colleague repeat the task and record what they needed to ask.
9. Let leaders demonstrate the checks
If you lead the session, show your edits and uncertainty. People learn more from seeing you catch an invented fact than from being told every AI experiment should save time.
10. Decide what to try next
Choose one workflow to refine, one person to own it and a date to review it. It is a useful outcome to discover that a task needs better source material before AI can help.
Try a prompt to plan the session
Help me plan a 30-minute beginner AI practice session for a real estate team.
Task we want to explore: [TASK]
Approved tool: [TOOL]
Fictional or authorised source material: [MATERIAL]
Current process and person who checks the result: [DETAILS]
Ask about anything missing. Then suggest a short agenda: explain the task, try a draft, check it against the supplied facts, compare results and agree a next step.
Include a simple record of drafting time, checking time, errors found and whether the final answer serves the intended reader. Do not invent a baseline or predict time savings.
Finish with three discussion questions and a template for recording the workflow owner and review date. Keep live client information out of the exercise unless its use has been specifically approved.Finish with evidence you can use
Keep the original attempt and the edited result. Ask what improved, what still required judgement and whether a colleague could repeat the process.
For a guided starting point, try the free AI Sprint. You can also read Your team is using AI. Why is everyone still so busy? for the next step in turning individual experiments into a shared process.
One session will not establish a productivity benchmark. It can give your team a clearer understanding of one task and a sensible experiment to continue.
Want me to run a session for your team?
I run practical AI sessions for real estate teams. We can focus on the work your team does, the questions they have and where AI could help. Get in touch about a team session and tell me a little about your team and what you’d like them to leave able to do.
The original version appeared in Samantha McLean’s AI Powered Agents newsletter. Read the refreshed source article on AI Powered Real Estate by Samantha McLean on Substack.