Ruth Darling is a former title industry pro turned solo real estate agent in Northwest Arkansas. With little to no sphere of influence in the area when she got licensed in 2022, Ruth leaned into what she knew best: technology. Having previously coached top agents on how to leverage CINC, she knew exactly what the platform could do—and it didn’t take long for it to start delivering.
In one standout transaction, Ruth turned a casual lakefront browser into a $4.1M buyer, listed and sold their $3.5M home, and closed both deals within 45 days—right before the holidays. She credits CINC’s AI alerts, behavioral messaging, and lead insights for helping her act fast and build trust.
But Ruth’s success isn’t just about the tech—it’s about mindset. From her “who’s my new friend today?” approach to lead calls, to her belief in staying top-of-mind even when others cut budgets, Ruth shows how consistency, curiosity, and the right tools can turn any market into a goldmine.
Whether you’re new to real estate or looking to scale, her story is proof that with the right platform and perspective, big things are possible.
Watch the full video here or read the transcript below.
Ruth Darling: [00:00:00] So I got their 3.6 listing. We sold it for 3.5. Three oh, and then this home which was listed for 4.85. I was able to get that for them at 4.1.
[Intro]
I'm Ruth Darling and I live in northwest Arkansas, which is actually a very thriving area. I'm with Keller Williams and I'm a single agent. I have a showing agent and I do handout leads for areas that I don't wanna focus on. I was in the title industry for about 18 years and did a lot of coaching for agents on specifically leveraging their technology for more business.
And so it, it made perfect sense for me. I knew CINC very well since I worked for Fidelity National Financial, and we purchased CINC, and as soon as I got my license a few years ago. Immediately I got my CINC platform. I hadn't lived here full time. I [00:01:00] didn't have a sphere of influence. And so this was a great platform for me, not just because I knew it, but because I needed online leads and a spectacular way.
That CINC brings in buyers that are serious enough to go through four pre-qual screens. It's been a life changer for me in my business. Now, other companies have similar types of activities, but the information gathered at the very beginning when the lead comes in is way higher than anybody else. When we get to know what the disc profile is, and now we know how to speak to the personality of the person, we're reaching out to. That's immensely huge. And so there was just nothing that had behavioral messaging, ai the ability to run your entire business, SOI, as well as new leads from one location, mobile app at a high level CINC has provided the best [00:02:00] information, speed, delete, and ability to stay ahead of where technology's going.
The whole time. So I didn't need to look anywhere else, quite honestly. So September, I'd returned from Pillar Williams Med, mega Agent camp. And, just staying in the routine after you learn a whole lot of things and staying fresh in your lead gen. And in September AI told me, Hey, follow up with this lead.
I got two alerts. One was agent ready and one was requested a showing. So that was great because both notifications came to me. And that's what I really like is when activity happens, I get noticed, but also notified. But then also AI and those conversations. And as long as I'm on top of those.
I'm good. So I looked it up and it was for a $4.8 million house on the lake, which is great because that's where I live, that's my specialty. And when [00:03:00] I reached out to AI had reached out to the lead as well, and she said, oh, I'm not really looking to move. Just interested in seeing what else is on the lake.
Just I already have a lake house. Great. So I call her up and she says the same thing. I'm not looking to make a change. I was just looking and was curious about this house. I said, no worries. That's what my site is for. Let's go see it. We'll just do a one day show for one property. That way you get to see it.
Now you know what else is out there. So we went and viewed the property for several hours. It's an 8,000 square foot home with a pool on the lake, with two bo boat slips, and it's about. 15 minutes from Rogers so quick to the grocery stores, hospital, everything like that, prime place and spectacular views.
So we toured the home and she said, oh, this is really fun. That's great. She. [00:04:00] I am gonna talk to my husband about it. He's gonna kill me to think I'm even looking at another house. And I said, no worries. Let me know what you think and what else I can do to help you. So two days later she called me up and said, Hey my husband is in town now and he wants to go seat as well.
I was out of town. I had the listing agent who's a great friend and a great real estate agent, show it for me. And another day later they said. We wanna talk to you about the value of our home. We think we wanna buy that house. So we went to their home we listed it for 3.6. They had a beautiful property, 6,000 square feet walk, a very short walk, maybe 20 steps to get to their dock. So prime location and we proceeded to put their home on the market mid-October while I was actually in Costa Rica. So this was real hurry. This was three weeks from the time that I'd showed her the property. So I got their [00:05:00] 3.6 listing.
We sold it for 3.5 three oh, and then this home which was listed for 4.85. I was able to get that for them at 4.1. And so w within 45 days we had a contract on our home. Now remind you, this is October market election year, high luxury level home in this area, and I told him it's gonna take.
Three months, six months, it could take a year. We just don't know what the buyer market is. But obviously KW luxury, I was able to market it to all the luxury agents around the world. Had a great buyer broker open. So all that to say, we were very blessed to get an offer from someone who missed out on another home.
And in that community that is sold recently, it's a private, gated community. It's very and very high demand. So perfect. We closed in one [00:06:00] day. We had written a contract on the 4.8 and then two days sorry, two weeks later, we closed on both on the same day, which was December 23rd. So everybody was happy.
They got to be in their new home for the holidays. And from that, I, we've gotten a great friendship and they live pretty close to me by, by boat. So it's just wonderful. So at adage of my spirit of influence, obviously, and she's already given me one referral from it.
So we live in the mountain biking capital of the world in the Ozark Mountains and Bentonville Rogers Walmart home office.
Tysons, Purdue, JB Hunt, lots of huge companies here and 40 people a day are moving to this area. And I'm talking people from Alaska to Florida to from Arizona, North Carolina, New York. It is one of the best places to retire, but also it's one of the best places to be. If you enjoy outdoor activities and [00:07:00] you like an active lifestyle, we have a lot of technology companies here and we've got a great growth of young people coming in after college, before college if they decided to take a year off.
And then we have those people that worked for these major corporations and Walmart in particular. Requires that every company that supplies to them has an executive in an office here. So you can imagine the people that come in are getting to live their best life here. So there's a constant flux of income coming in and people experiencing all that we have, whether it's the mountain biking hiking in our state parks, which I live in a state park.
I live in Hobbs State Park on Beaver Lake. So I'm up in the woods, but on the lake and it's quiet up here. Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. And it's a wonderful place to live. '20 to '22 a ton of people were moving here. Hand over fist. Same type of demand as there is in [00:08:00] Dallas. Used to live in Dallas, same type of demand, hand over, fist making money.
But of course I didn't get my license till '22. I'm always showing up a day late to things. But it really wasn't until last summer when races were really going up. That we saw a dip. We still have a little bit of a seller's market not a ton of homes on the market. So our inventory is between, four to five months.
So teetering on that balance scale. But also what we're seeing in the market is price reductions. Probably 80% of the listings have a price reduction at least once. So I think that's just a matter of, we have to educate our sellers on what the true market is, the current buyer market. And buyers are using the excuse, Hey, I can only get this much to borrow, or, that's all I'm gonna pay for it.
So if you really have to sell you, you've gotta think about that and price your own to sell, not to sit. So I [00:09:00] think in that way, every market's pretty similar. It's what's interesting is other cities that have government employees are experiencing a huge cut. I used to live in Washington, dc There's a huge cut there, obviously.
There'll be more turnover there, but here, there really isn't. That dependency. And as long as consumers need something to eat or for their kid or to dress themselves with, Walmart's always gonna be a huge factor for our area. Back in 2016-2020, when I was consulting with top agents and brokers about the same platform, it was easy for me 'cause I didn't have one to say, this is what you're gonna do.
And one of the great benefits was. Every time someone wanted to get on the platform, we were able to help facilitate getting them to CINC University. I've attended CINC University many times. It's different when you're the agent and going there and not missing out on the [00:10:00] last afternoon where we really work on scripts and make calls.
There's absolutely nothing to lose. And it's as easy as just as being there. You just gotta get over it. Everyone has some kind of fear about being rejected or hung up on every day though, I wake up and I go, who is gonna be my new friend today? If you think about it, when you go to a clothing store and someone comes in and says, Hey, what can I do to help you?
What are you looking for? I'm not looking. I'm just browsing. Then you think about maybe I saw something I liked, so I'm putting it on my arm. I found something else. If that sales person comes back to me and says, Hey, can I get you a dressing room, sir? No pressure. Just asking. It looks like you have a need.
Let me just ask if you need to try it off. Then by the time I need to change sizes and they're helping me, by the time I walk out, I'm ready to buy something. They're there. They've already established somewhat of a relationship with me and they get the sale. [00:11:00] If we think about it that way, how we treat other salespeople, that's gonna help you get over the first, I'm just browsing because in this business, in this platform, I'm able to say whatever the response is, which is, I'm not looking, I'm not ready to sell.
Perfect. That's all right. If you're not looking to buy within a year, this is a great time. You need to be educated about the market. Let's talk about it. And if you were to find your perfect place, what would that look like? And so creating the non-stress conversation always leads me to. An appointment a relationship, or to stay in the top of mind.
Yesterday I had an I had a client call on, I hadn't even reached out to yet. She said, Hey, I'm coming into town in two weeks. I wanna see some property. Great. So it helps in all, it's not all on me either, Alex helps and just the the market updates every day and the new listings [00:12:00] every day.
Really are very beneficial. And the style, the classiness in which it comes I think really speaks to people. I can go to my lead dashboard and see for the day who's requested some kind of content. Whether it's validate my home value that they got off my website or I'm interested in this property.
Now we're getting to the real root of things. If you haven't gotten to them yet or you've attempted calls and you got voicemail, or they just don't answer, then this is a great way to go. Behavioral messaging. And seeing it on my dashboard instead of me going to look for it, helps me with my speed to lead.
Just this morning I got, Hey, I wanna see, I want more information about this property just came on the market for a dollar. It's on the lake and it's up for auction a week from Friday. So easily I got the information. Now this person's considering where they wanted to put a bid on it. They were, a, according to the information they [00:13:00] gave me, they were looking to buy something in a year.
So we get right down to it and we get notified of it immediately. That's my speed to lead. So safe does the heavy lifting on my part. Interestingly ever since I got my license, I've had other businesses I've been running, and so there was a time where I really wasn't focused on it. So I had reduced my budget during those times when I had my other businesses.
But what you miss out on is every other agent is cutting their ad budget. Every other agent is cutting off their CRM, whatever it is that they're relying on. So if you're in it, you're creating your future database to keep going and keep you fed, no matter the market. And, the buyer seller objections are fairly easy to overcome.
My first house was 13% interest rate. If we look at what's the monthly dollar amount that's changing between [00:14:00] 6.85 and 5.85, it's, you have more to, deduct on your taxes that way. Let's just talk about it that way, let alone what's the monthly change? Buyers are looking for a monthly price.
So I, I made a mistake when I. When I temporarily paused my CINC ads and I just don't do that anymore. It just says for me, I've gotta, my leads are honestly $5 or less and I can afford it, and it's what's given me 90% of my business. I am staying with it. And then when other people are falling out, I'll be the one that's been top of mind the whole time.
I would just encourage each person that investigates CINC. Really remember that this is an investment in your downline, in your future. These people that have been in my platform for three years now, calling me up, these timing is everything. And if you're the one that stays in front of 'em.
They're gonna call you. It's a true investment in your [00:15:00] business. It is a business expense, but it is not a general expense that you should get rid of. Whatever is feeding your business and whatever isn't, even if you have a great sphere of influence there, there are gonna be limited referrals each year from that sphere.
You need to fill it in with other opportunities. I used to draw a martini glass and say in a chocolate martini, you've got espresso Starbucks, espresso liqueur, Godiva, you've got regular vodka, you've got whipped cream, vodka, and a little maybe grand Marnier, but it takes all of those to create a chocolate espresso martini.
You've gotta have those different legs. Sources of business to really fulfill and keep your business affluent through every type of property, through every season. I would just encourage anybody to really consider this. It's more than paid off for me. If people wanna reach out to me, I'm happy to talk about it.
Share other secrets [00:16:00] and tips that I have on Darling Homes, NWA for Northwest Arkansas. Whether that's my social. Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, all that. And also my website is Darling Holmes NWA which goes straight to my CINC side, which is very powerful. Yeah, happy to talk to anybody anytime.
My cell phone is (214) 551-2416. So gimme a call, a text, or reach out to me. I'm happy to answer any questions.