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30 | M R EP O RT FEATURE between customers and sales team members. Artificial intelligence is a recurring calendar notification of someone's birthday from your CRM. Authentic intelligence is getting that notification but pick- ing up the phone to wish some- one happy birthday and asking if they're going to be celebrating with a weekend getaway to the vacation property you helped them purchase two years ago. Authentic Intelligence uses data combined with common sense and experience to build and maintain relationships. When people realize they are data points being manipulated by artificial intelligence, relationships break down and can be lost for good. For especially long sales cycles or major, life-altering purchases, data-driven authentic intelligence can keep your business at the forefront for prospects, tailor ap- proaches to communication, and keep your customers central to every activity. In the mortgage and real estate industries, where my company, Usherpa, operates, sales cycles may be short or long, but engage- ments must always be long-term. Often, the same people a real estate agent helped in their first home purchase a few years ago call up that same agent and ask for help on selling that home and buying their second. If the agent has really nurtured their rela- tionship, those clients may have referred some friends and family along the way. This example of repeat business is exactly why it's so important to maintain and en- hance those hard-earned relation- ships with authentic intelligence. Transactional relationships, like consumer goods sales or one-off purchases, can also benefit greatly from AI without feeling the pinch from a lack of relationship build- ing. When your business thrives on long-term engagement, it's so im- portant to treat those individuals as more than numbers, more than prospects. Where I see the major potential is in taking that same transactional data—the buying habits, the effectiveness of certain ads—and using it to craft specific, personalized, thoughtful outreach. Human connection is where we thrive, and artificial intelligence can't come close to replicating the ways we relate to one another. DAN HARRINGTON is CEO and Co-Founder of Usherpa, a customer relationship management/ relationship engagement platform that empowers mortgage lending and real estate professionals with intuitive automated marketing, engagement tools, and customized content. He has more than 25 years' experience in integrated fintech relationship management, developing state-of-the-art CRM platforms combined with automated content marketing services. SOMETIMES, IT'S GOOD TO BE A FOLLOWER. Follow MReport on social media to put the latest mortgage banking news, stories, strategies, and insights at the touch of your fingertips. MReport @TheMReportNews The MReport