My Biggest Lead Source Is AI: Darren Tackett on Winning the Search Game Before Everyone Else Catches Up

Guest BioDarren Tackett leads the Tackett Team at eXp Realty in Scottsdale, Arizona, after 30 years in the business. He started in real estate almost by accident — a pre-med track that didn't pan out, six months selling cars, and a college roommate's decision to get licensed that nudged him to do the same. Four years into a coaching program called The Core taught him the financial discipline he was missing (including recovering from an IRS tax lien), and set him on the path to eXp. When his original business partner and team leader passed away unexpectedly during COVID, Darren inherited leadership of the team overnight — and has since grown it from roughly 11 to nearly 35 agents, scaling from about $100M in production in his first year at eXp to a projected $250-280M this year.Show NotesTim sits down with Darren Tackett, a 30-year Scottsdale real estate veteran who built one of eXp's top-performing teams after being thrust into leadership following his business partner's sudden death during COVID. Darren is refreshingly candid about how much of his growth has come from simply refusing to operate in isolation — networking aggressively with other top-producing teams under a philosophy he calls "rip off and duplicate": if something's working for someone else, ask them how they did it, and use it.The conversation covers Darren's deliberately loose management style — he doesn't hold agents accountable day-to-day, instead helping each one find the lead-gen channel that actually fits their personality, whether that's open houses, cold calling, or pure digital. On lead generation, Darren makes a sharp distinction: his team skips Zillow Flex entirely (he compares Flex teams to industrial tuna boats scooping up a shrinking supply of buyer leads) in favor of alliances with nearly every other seller-lead company on the market. But the most striking thread is AI — Darren says his single biggest personal lead source right now is people finding him through ChatGPT and Grok searches for "top North Scottsdale Realtor," and he's spent the last six months investing heavily in AEO (answer engine optimization) to defend that position before it becomes common knowledge. He's also used AI internally to duplicate roughly 80% of his team's software stack, cutting overhead and app fatigue for his agents. The episode closes with Darren's blunt prediction: the agent population needs to shrink, and it will — but the agents who remain will be more professional, not fewer in value.In this episode:From a failed pre-med track and six months selling cars to 30 years in real estateThe coaching program (The Core) that fixed his financial discipline — including recovering from an IRS tax lienInheriting team leadership overnight after his partner's sudden death during COVIDThe "rip off and duplicate" philosophy behind scaling to nearly 35 agents in 3.5 yearsWhy Darren gives agents total autonomy to find their own lead-gen laneWhy his team skips Zillow Flex entirely — the "tuna fishing boat" comparisonHis #1 personal lead source right now: people finding him through AI searchInvesting in AEO before it becomes common knowledge among competitorsUsing AI to duplicate 80% of his team's software stack and cut overheadHis follow-up system: FollowUp Boss automations plus a "7-8 days of pain" call cadenceWhy Darren still has agents do their own follow-up instead of outsourcing to an ISAThe one thing Darren wishes AI could take off his plate: monitoring lead conversionWhat would need to be true to double the business — and the recruiting lesson that took years to acceptWhy Darren still tells agents to start with cold calling expireds and canceled listingsHis prediction: fewer agents in 5 years, but a higher bar of professionalism