In a sign of the times, a real estate agency is turning to an artificial intelligence model to improve the selling skills of its young sales representatives rather than through human instruction.
Daito Trust Construction Co. refers to the autonomous dialogue system as the “AI manager,” given its passing on of sales know-how and assisting newly hired staff with their unique challenges.
Starting in April, Daito Trust Construction put the generative AI model in place at its 300 branches throughout Japan. The system is anticipated to provide personal education and sales support for a total of 2,900 employees.
Sales representatives from Daito Trust Construction often call on potential clients without making an appointment.
Inexperienced staff members were thus engaged in role-playing sessions with senior employees and supervisors previously, to learn how to adeptly respond to customers’ questions.
However, it became increasingly difficult for experienced officials to spare valuable time for this sort of training. Another disadvantage of the traditional approach was that the content of the exercise varied from teacher to teacher.
The AI manager is specifically designed to train users for door-to-door visits. Younger staff greet residents and promote services in front of the image of the visited home on the computer screen.
On inputting conversations by text or voice, the dialogue system automatically produces responses. The user and the model can smoothly converse with one another this way.
As the AI manager is equipped with the skills and techniques of veteran sales representatives, trainees can receive consistent guidance nationwide repeatedly whenever they want.
The AI manager also evaluates users’ performance and recommends improved approaches. Changes in clients’ impressions of and trust in the sales representatives are gauged based on their words and actions.
Going through all these processes on many occasions is believed to help staff significantly refine sales promotion skills. As necessary, trainees should seek advice from their supervisors in person at the same time.
Daito Trust Construction began considering the AI-driven framework in 2023. The company’s brainchild has since been completed at a cost of 550 million yen ($3.6 million).
With the introduction of the AI manager, Daito Trust Construction foresees an increase of 800 contracts and a reduction of 61,120 work hours per month.
A 25-year-old male employee from the consultant sales division of the company’s Tachikawa branch in Tokyo gave the AI manager a try.
“It is very nice to be able to train on my own, not taking valuable time away from my boss and senior staff,” he said.
The young representative noticed a range of benefits of the AI system.
“I do not need to concern myself with the teacher’s schedule in order to practice repeatedly and overcome my own weak points, since it is an AI model,” he stated. “It similarly provides a great opportunity for me to contemplate various sales scenarios.”