How a Marcus & Millichap Agent Turned Whippy into a $198K Commission Check

Overview:

David Altman, an agent with Marcus & Millichap in Fort Lauderdale, faced a common challenge in commercial real estate: turning high intent leads into significant revenue, regardless of whether they came from leading auction platforms like Crexi, Ten-X and RI Marketplace or from his own Marcus & Millichap property listings. By integrating Whippy’s communication platform into his approach, David enhanced his engagement with potential buyers, boosting his auction bids and overall revenue. This strategic move paid off in his first couple months of using Whippy, earning him a $198,000 commission check and proving the value of keeping high-intent leads engaged via SMS.

LinkedIn post from David Altman

The Challenge:

David and his team leveraged auction sites like Crexi, Ten-X and RI Marketplace to broaden their reach to a more extensive network of qualified buyers in the real estate market. The hurdle they encountered was not just about drawing attention to their auctions; it was about maximizing each opportunity—whether that meant reaching the reserve price or pushing the final bid higher to meet seller expectations.

Take RI Marketplace, for example. It provided David with contact details for those who showed intent in his listed properties, critical data for effective communication. Traditional methods like email often fell short, either getting lost in spam folders or failing to convey the urgency required for time-sensitive auctions. Manually text messaging directly from his cell phone proved inadequate. It lacked the capability to integrate with RI Marketplace’s contact data, to personalize messages at scale, to schedule automated follow-ups, or to allow other team members to collaborate.

Furthermore, David sought the ability to send personalized mass SMS updates to these high-interest leads, especially to registered participants, when the auction was nearing its reserve or when significant developments occurred. In the world of real estate auctions, where every minute and every interaction could significantly impact the final bid, David recognized the pressing need for a more efficient communication method.

The Solution:

David has been referred to check out Whippy by several other Marcus & Millichap agents using the platform. Right off the bat, David loved the ability to use the Whippy chrome extension to integrate directly on top of these auction sites. He was able to seamlessly transfer the contact information, write a personalized message and hit all those potential buyers with a very helpful text introduction to kick off the auction process and create an open line of communication throughout the auction process.

Screenshot above is the Whippy Extension interfacing with RI Marketplace

“I'm capturing the buyers that are interested in that particular asset, it might be 10, other times it might be 200 people. I'm taking that intent data and pushing that to Whippy and sending a targeted message like “Hey David, I saw you looked at our Holiday Inn Express property, do you have any questions?” It's a lot more targeted and effective.”

One of the unexpected big wins for him was that the eventual winner was also able to send him proof of funds directly in real time through the Whippy platform and he was able to get them approved instantly.

“The closing that we just had, the buyer was able to get registered, participate, and ended up winning the auction within a span of 10 minutes. He was even able to text me his proof of funds, which is how he was able to even get registered to begin with.”

Screenshot above is David Altman messaging the eventual winning bidder in real time

David used the direct communication channel to inform potential buyers and the final buyer about important updates during the auction. This strategy helped move the auction forward when it was stalled at $3.8 million. By indicating that the reserve price was close, he managed to increase the final bid by 22%, resulting in a sale price of $4.62 million in the last minutes of the auction.

“Without question, I would not have gotten this buyer registered and gotten his bid in without Whippy. I can say that candidly, 100%.”

An added bonus, all of these texts were sent from David’s actual business landline number which served numerous advantages. Before, he was missing inbound leads that were texting his advertised landline which resulted in more hot leads getting squandered. Additionally, his outbound texts are now coming from a number that the recipient recognizes so they are more likely to respond (phones will say in the text preview “Maybe: David Altman”). Lastly, leads can even call that number and will be able to talk with David or anyone from his team in seconds.

“It's great because people text my landline all the time and many are important messages that I would have missed otherwise.”

Other Use Case:

David is now using the Whippy Chrome Extension it in his own native lead management software MNET for the exact same benefits of speed-to-lead, automation and engagement. More specifically, David uses it to be able to sequence leads who have looked at his Marcus & Millichap properties, showing strong intent, and engage them as quick as possible. If the lead does’t respond, the software automatically checks back in with them in a personalized manor saving him 8+ hour per property vs manually outreach.

What’s Next:

David and his team are excited for the launch of Whippy’s Link Tracking & Analytics which will allow them to see how many times a client is looking at a property via SMS, the locations of where those clicks are coming from, which SMS campaigns are most successful and track other high intent data.

“This would be a huge win us, like Google Analytics for our client database. Our team will get notified when a client is trying to access a property multiple times from their cell. Now that we know they are interested and phone is in hand, we set up an automation to text them so that they answer when we give them a call. It’s pure genius.”

The ability to work hand in hand with the Whippy team has been a major value for David and other Marcus & Millichap team members. In the highly competitive world of commercial real estate, automation & AI can be the difference between missing a sell and a $198k commission check.