Takeaways from Inman Connect New York
This week, 2019 ValleyMLS.com President Zelda Lanza, along with Director of MLS Operations Rhonda Ricketts and CEO Josh McFall attended the Inman Connect conference in New York. Inman Connect is a twice a year gathering of real estate leaders, technology companies, association/MLS leadership, brokers, and agents from across the world. Inman Connect is produced by Inman New (inman.com). Here are a few of the highlights and takeaways from this week’s sessions:
The Week’s Biggest Takeaway
- Brad Inman, Publisher of Inman News, on a stage that looked like outer space said “There’s a SuperNova coming in Real Estate” one where we’re all trekking towards a more certain and fast transaction — one where real estate and tech companies are blurring to offer competitive advantages to assure their value proposition to consumers. His big question, “What will the industry be like after the SuperNova?”
The Most Controversial Statement of the Week — this generated a lot of talk in the hallways of the conference:
– “Let’s have one national MLS and make it free. I don’t really understand how the MLS works but I don’t think it’s supposed to work like this.” Robert Refkin CEO, Compass”
The “Go-Get-Em” Quote of the Week:
– “Compare yourself to the best agent in your market… and then figure out how to beat them,” Ryan Serhant, Author, Agent, Star of Bravo’s “Million Dollar Listing NY”
Top 10 Trends in a shifting market: Predictions for 2019
- Broker software will offer competitive advantages.
- Lending standards will ease
- Search will be seen as a commodity
- A determined focus on improving the transaction experience
- A rise in short term rental investors
- Performance based analytics will be used to choose agents
- The minimalist lifestyle will gain In popularity
- Predictive analytics will be used in buyer/seller presentations
- Diversified content offering such as Automated Valuation models..think hyper-local content.
- Great customer service takes on a highly new meaning.
Top 10 Tech Trends for 2019:
- Smart speakers (Amazon Echo) gain popularity in Real Estate.
- Dare to be Original — using tech in your business.
- Voice search for real estate
- Have a plan when using tech in your business
- Become friends with “Siri” — “Siri opens the world to your phone.”
- Relationships STILL matter
- The video dilemma — how and when to use it.
- Read the fine print — protect your data security
- Monitor your screentime — how are you using your smart devices for your business
- Collect Data to work for you.
Other big takeaways from the week:
— Embrace. Focus. Execute.
— “Find Business for yourself. Invest in your financial wellbeing. “Foot Soldier Work” — put in the work to get the results,” Ryan Serhant, Author, Agent, Star of Bravo’s “Million Dollar Listing NY”
— Monitor screentime to know how you’re using your phone to be productive in business. Are you just playing games, looking at Facebook, or being productive?
— Collect every piece of transaction data possible to build a stronger CRM – ex. Who’s the lender? What type of loan? Who referred the customer? What’s the interest rate? Etc.
— Plan everyday: Discipline, time management, do what you need to everyday, out work your competition.
— Innovation is more important than technology.
— Robots (& AI) + Humans = Relationships – Robots are getting smarter. Robots are moving from behind manufacturing industry walls to interacting with humans.
— What is your “1-Click”? How can you take one idea, turn it just 1 click away and make it successful? The creator of the TV show Chopped, David Noll, says that you should always try and be the “One that clicks and ends up at the top.”
— Out of 132 Brokers surveyed in a new CMLS report, “91% say they feel that their MLS is valuable. 70% say they are pleased or extremely pleased with the offerings of their MLS. Brokers still say the decision making process of the MLS is too slow to keep up with the industry demand.”
— The word “Brand” is now a verb. Your brand is defined by your company value. Market your company the way you’d want to be marketed to.
The Wrap-Up: The change to the industry we’ve been talking about for years… is here.
To see full recaps and in-depth reporting, you can visit Inman.com
Ryan Serhant, Author, Agent, Star of Bravo’s “Million Dollar Listing NY” talks about his daily routines and tips from his book “Sell it like Serhant.”
David Charron – Consultant / BrightMLS Executive, Denee Evans – CEO of the Council of Multiple Listing Services, Rebecca Jansen – CEO of MRED MLS moderate a session on Data and Security.
Dave Noll, creator of the hit Food Network tv show Chopped shares tips on how’s to then just “one click” and become more successful.
Pictured left to right: Director of MLS Operations- Rhonda Ricketts, 2019 ValleyMLS.com President – Zelda Lanza, and CEO – Josh McFall represented ValleyMLS.com at Inman Connect New York 2019 in Times Square.