At Inman Connect New York, Kendall Bonner, Russ Cofano and Christine Jacobson urged agents to change how they communicate their value.

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The National Association of Realtors’ nationwide antitrust settlement has ushered in a “new normal” for the real estate industry with business opportunities for agents and brokers looking for them, according to panelists at Inman Connect New York on Wednesday.

In a session called, “The New Normal: What’s Changed Post-Settlement and What It Means for Agents,” panelists emphasized that agents now had to up their professionalism, justify their value and take on a more consultative role.

Because of the NAR settlement, which requires buyer agents to sign written agreements with buyers before showing them a home, the days of a buyer agent just showing up to open a home for a buyer they’ve never met without a buyer consultation are over, according to Kendall Bonner, vice president of industry relations and strategic partnerships at eXp Realty.

That increase in professionalism “is a good thing,” Bonner said.

Agents now have to talk about what they’re charging and why, shifting the conversation from cost to value, she added.

“It’s a new skillset agents have to tap into as a superpower,” she said.

Russ Cofano, CEO of Collabra Technology, noted that buyer agent commissions now vary more than before the NAR deal, with the best agents getting higher commissions.

“I think it’s a great opportunity for most of you,” he said.

“Bottom line is you’re no longer required to cap your compensation” at whatever the listing agent offers, he added.

Even the buyer agreements buyer agents are now required to have are an opportunity, according to Cofano.

“Each one of you has a unique value proposition that is different than anybody else’s,” Cofano said.

“If you don’t, you need to define one. This is a legal document, but it can also be a marketing document.”

Cofano urged agents to use the agreement to illustrate why they charge what they charge so that they “have a much better chance of getting that.”

Christine Jacobson, senior vice president of B2B marketing at Realtor.com, said the role of a Realtor as an advisor and the value they bring hasn’t changed, but what has changed is consumers’ awareness of what agents do and don’t do.

“That goes to a level of transparency and clarity that agents now have to make sure they’re communicating and presenting,” she said.

“That’s something consumers have always craved and this limelight on the relationship between the agent and consumer has pushed the industry forward to do a better job of being transparent and being clear and making sure that people understand, ‘This is the value of service I provide for the fee that I charge.'”

Jacobson said this was “an area of opportunity” for agents and advised them to “take the time to create a really good presentation” showing the services they provide and what makes them different from anyone else.

Bonner said agents’ “biggest opportunity” was to shift to a consultative approach.

“What does a consultant do? They don’t come and present to you what your options are first,” she said.

“What they do is they ask you lots of questions. They get to know you. They really dig into, like, what are your needs? What are your wants? What are your goals? What are your wishes?”

Then, she said, agents need to ask themselves: “Do I have all of the things that help? All the partnerships, relationships, the contacts, the know-how, the knowledge to say, ‘Oh, your issue is here? I have the perfect solution for you.'”

The second aspect of that shift to a consultation approach is to treat everything like a negotiation, Bonner added.

“Stop focusing on your sales skills,” she said.

“Your conversations on the phone to the appointment is a negotiation. From the appointment to getting them to sign a buyer agreement or a listing agreement is a negotiation. From the agreement to the purchase contract, it’s a negotiation, and so on and so forth all the way through the transaction.”

Cofano agreed and said the key to negotiating is understanding what the other side wants and tailoring your negotiation presentation to their needs.

Cofano also pointed out that antitrust litigation concerning commissions is not over.

“We’re going to see more litigation,” Cofano said. “We’re not through the woods yet.”

He noted that the Department of Justice has come out and said that requiring buyer agreements before showing a home may violate antitrust laws.

Bonner and Jacobson also pointed to potential litigation around standardized forms and the continued sharing of commissions between brokers.

“The Department of Justice clearly has insinuated that they would like overall commission rates to go down,” Cofano said.

“They say there’s efficiencies to be saved. One of the ways of creating efficiencies is removing any sort of organized market constraints to let the market operate freely.

“I believe, personally, that the DOJ has its sights set on organized real estate … and we’re going to see more action by them in the coming months and years.”

Email Andrea V. Brambila.

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