☕️ One Last Cup Before 2026

Good morning. Grab your favorite mug and clear your calendar. We’re officially in the "how is it already December?" portion of the year.

2025 was a marathon of shifts and handshakes, but if you think things are slowing down, think again. 2026 is already knocking with a fresh briefcase full of deal-making and disruption.

In today’s final blast of the year:

• The Crystal Ball: Industry insights and AI tools to keep you ahead of the curve.

• The Closer: Sales tips designed specifically to snag more listings.

• New Kid on the Block: We’re debuting the Buyer Corner—your cheat sheet for understanding evolving buyer strategies before they even step through the front door.

— Tupelo

📈 The "Omaha" Treatment

You don’t need to trek to a stadium in Nebraska to hear from the Oracle. To wrap up 2025, we’ve put together a Warren Buffett-style State of the Union for the industry.

We’re breaking down the macro trends and micro wins that defined our year and what we are seeing across the industry and how we see things shaping the brokerage industry.

Industry Insights

Average Sale Price: $910,000

AI Tools

Santa’s Sales Tip

The Professionalization of Sales: Why "Soft Skills" Aren't Enough

The sales landscape is undergoing a massive shift toward Precision and Skill Depth. While being "good with people" remains important, the new era demands a more rigorous approach to the deal.

The Tip: Adopt a Strategic Engineering mindset. Instead of focusing on the next meeting, focus on the next milestone.

Old Way: “Let's grab coffee and see where this goes.”

New Way: "Based on your goals, the next step is a technical alignment call to ensure we can meet your specific ROI requirements."

Professionalization means replacing "check-ins" with "value-adds." Every touchpoint should be a data-driven step that creates or provides value. This is choreographed strategy.

Buyer Corner

The Rise of the "Ghost" Inquirer

If you feel like your inbox is getting crowded, it’s not just your imagination, an Army is after you. Buyers are officially tired of waiting. Instead of playing tag with brokers, they’re outsourcing the "grunt work" of the search process.

Here are the two biggest trends hitting our desks:

• The VA Takeover: Individual buyers are deploying Virtual Assistants to handle the initial "Hi, is this still available?" dance and manage the relentless follow-ups.

• The Cohort Effect: Business-buying courses and mastermind groups are turning inquiries into a team sport. One person pings the listing, grabs the data, and shares the intel with the entire "squad."

Why: The feedback from the buyer community is a bit of a reality check. Buyers claim brokers are either too slow or simply ghost them. To fix this, they’ve built "outbound teams" to stay organized and move faster than the competition.

The Takeaway: Inquiries are not only rising but they’re getting more structured. For brokers, the gold mine isn't just in the listing, it's in response efficiency. Efficiently vetting buyers and getting them answers quickly is the new baseline for closing deals in 2026.