Can’t join us in person at Inman Connect New York? Don’t miss out on insights and strategies shared by over 250 industry-leading speakers across 75+ sessions. With a Virtual Pass, you’ll get all the tools you need to navigate challenges and seize opportunities — delivered straight to your screen, wherever you are!
In a series of panels on demonstrating value and creating more business opportunities at Inman Connect New York, experts agreed on a few things: your existing network is crucial to scaling; real estate leaders need to go “deep, not wide”; and owning investment property is something every agent needs to do.
Other points the industry leaders touched on dealt with improving the consumer experience and accepting that you have to change before change can be measured.
An investor and broker with a self-effacing perspective on his unique wardrobe choices and the headshot hovering above him in the Triannon Ballroom, eXp’s Brandon Brittingham emphasized that agents need to focus on the consumer experience.
“Speed and convenience,” Brittingham said. “Look at the great companies in this world, the Apples and Amazons. They figured out how to get into the consumer ecosystem,” he said.
“When I started to build a real estate business, I was like, how can I solve all of the other parts of the transaction that I don’t have control of? You should all obsess about your consumer experience because it’s what’s going to keep you in business,” Brittingham continued.
Spring Bengtzen, CEO at Live Utah, shared that her inspiration for growth stemmed from realizing the benefits of being part of a company that offered revenue share.
“I wasn’t thinking about it as anything more than having a little extra,” Bengtzen said. “What happened was people began reaching out, saying, ‘Hey, you’re doing big things. Can I learn from you?’”
From there it happened organically, Bengtzen said. She was turning her small lessons into group teaching, and from there into long-term coaching programs. As her business lines expanded, focus was adjusted to the parts of the transaction her team couldn’t “control.”
“I was like, we are feeding out a lot of the transactions to mortgage and title and whatnot, so why can’t we bring this in-house and control the experience?”
Bengtzen urged the audience to always ask, “What’s next?” especially after you get really good at one thing in your business.
Vija Williams of PLACE agreed during the second half of the session, reminding the audience that they’re all “multi-business owners,” and that the ancillary services brokerages offer become part of the value proposition the industry has for consumers.
“This is the year of the value proposition, and it is evolving,” Williams said. “We’re being very specific about how we communicate it. The trends are a lot more about segmentation and niches, and being very specific about how it’s communicated to consumers.”
Privy is a company that helps agents work with investors to find properties, and Scott Fahl, its founder and CEO, urged the audience that adopting and putting the right technology to work is itself an added value proposition for agents.
When wanting to find new avenues to growth, “Don’t be intimidated to work with investors,” Fahl said. “It’s not your job to teach investors how to invest. Find a property an investor owns, and then, using technology, show them one similar to it.”
Luke Brock of America’s Preferred Home Warranty suggested that, when it comes to adding value and reaching consumers, start within the operation.
“It boils down to not what your product is, but being relational. When everything is [on a] features and benefits basis, you’re not spending enough time helping the consumer with what’s important to them,” Brock said. “What does it mean to live in a home?”
Marco Walker, with Home River Group, suggested agents add value through property management services.
“Investors want low touch and high yield,” he said. “The key is your team. It’s not just the team you actually work with each day, but those outside your business in different services. Partnership. Partnership. Partnership.”
