With roots dating back to 1950, Pasadena, California-based Dilbeck Real Estate has maintained its standing as a progressive leader throughout the industry by constantly looking forward, embracing change, and adapting. 

And while negotiation skills are just as important as they were 10, 20 and even 30 years ago, according to Dilbeck Real Estate President Mark Dilbeck, technology is a critical piece of the puzzle. 

“The industry has amped up its game with technology, as has the world around us,” explains Dilbeck. “Therefore, having a good tech stack and agents who are conversant as to its various aspects will go a long way toward helping them win more listings.” 

Committed to providing agents the support they need to offer buyers and sellers a high level of service and differentiate themselves in the market, the firm has upped the ante even further thanks to a recent partnership with Inside Real Estate. 

After being let down with previous solutions that agents and top teams didn’t fully embrace, Dilbeck spent months researching various options and ultimately sought out the kvCORE Platform from Inside Real Estate. 

“After investigating a variety of CRM products, we chose to adopt kvCORE because it was the best in the market and a proven solution that our agents and teams were asking for,” says Dilbeck

Launching kvCORE in the summer of 2020, the firm was already an early adopter of dashCMA, a hot new pricing visualization tool, which Inside Real Estate went on to acquire later that year. When the CMA tool was expanded into CORE Present, a full presentation builder with persona-driven content and designs, custom branding and integrated e-signature tools—it was an easy decision for Dilbeck to add it to their core platform, company-wide. 

“The fact that CORE Present is integrated as a part of kvCORE is so important to my agents,” says Merilee Iverson, Dilbeck Real Estate branch manager. Having used the powerful CMA and presentation builder herself, Iverson can’t say enough about how consumer/client-friendly the solution is. 

“While other platforms simply take MLS information and make it look pretty, CORE Present is putting analysis behind the data, setting the stage for agents to have a compelling conversation with their clients about value. This, in turn, is providing them more confidence going into the listing appointment,” she says. 

“There are so many things kvCORE + CORE Present do while still being a user-friendly product,” adds Iverson. “Agents don’t feel overwhelmed by the bells and whistles it provides, as it’s an easy-to-use, intuitive platform.”

The fact that it’s an end-to-end solution that streamlines the process of working with clients throughout their entire lifecycle is essential, but according to Dilbeck, agent adoption and the ability to integrate with other programs is a key metric in gauging success.

“Change is tough for some, but a large majority of our agents jumped right on board when they realized that it would allow them to provide a higher level of service,” says Dilbeck. 

Others needed some encouragement, so the firm created a “Hustle Mania” contest, which rewarded agents with points and prizes for promoting CMA reports to homeowners on social media. Dilbeck agents posted in real estate groups, community pages and on their personal and business Facebook pages. One homeowner commented: “I really like this tool. Love the comps section. So cool you can see the price difference plus sq.- ft. differences all in one screen (even on mobile).” The contest garnered tons of consumer engagement, and a Dilbeck agent won a new listing within days.

For those who jumped in feet first, kvCORE + CORE Present has become a key differentiator, helping them compete in today’s hyper-competitive market. 

“With less at-bats in the listing world because of tight inventory, we want agents to feel confident that they’re walking in with the best tools and not just a pretty presentation, but the analytics and analysis behind the data to have an educated conversation with a potential seller,” concludes Dilbeck. “The stronger our agents are, the stronger the firm is.”