What it actually takes to set up an AI ISA: a week-by-week guide
Connecting an AI inside sales agent to a brokerage takes days, not months. Here is the real setup process — CRM connection, persona training, compliance review, and go-live — step by step.
The short answer
A well-built AI Inside Sales Agent goes live on real leads in about a week, not months. The work is mostly configuration, not construction: connect the CRM, map lead sources, train the persona on your brokerage, review compliance settings, and start with a supervised batch of leads. Here is what each step looks like in practice, using Livia's onboarding as the example.
Week 1, day by day
Day 1–2: Connect your stack
- CRM — Livia connects to Follow Up Boss with read + write access: it reads lead records and history, and writes every conversation, qualification field, and appointment back. Nothing lives outside your CRM.
- Lead sources — website forms, Zillow, Realtor.com, Google Ads, and open-house sheets are mapped so every new lead triggers Livia automatically. Zapier covers any long-tail source.
- Calendars & MLS — agent calendars for showing scheduling, and MLS/IDX for live inventory search.
Day 2–3: Teach it your brokerage
Livia is configured with your market, your listing inventory, your team roster and routing rules, and your tone. This is where a generic bot becomes *your* ISA: how you greet leads, how you talk about your neighborhoods, when you escalate to a human.
Day 3–4: Compliance review
Calling-time windows, consent handling, opt-out language, Fair Housing conversational guardrails, and your state's disclosure requirements are reviewed together and locked before a single message is sent.
Day 4–5: Supervised go-live
Livia starts on a limited batch of real leads while your team watches every conversation in the CRM. You can interrupt, take over, or adjust tone at any time. Most teams widen the funnel within days once they see the transcripts.
What you do NOT have to do
- Rip out or replace your CRM
- Write scripts or decision trees
- Train staff on new software (agents keep working in the CRM they already use)
- Sign a long-term contract before seeing results
The one thing that matters most
Insist on seeing full, unedited conversation transcripts during the supervised phase. The quality of an AI ISA lives in the transcripts — not in the demo.