Inman Connect Take-Aways: It’s Not About Having the MOST Agents – it’s About Having the BEST

Our team recently got back from Inman Connect in NYC – a 4 day real estate and technology conference held once a year in Times Square. It is where RealSatisfied launched, so it’s a destination of success not only to us, but to many. Although I’m still fairly new to the team, my close ties to Inman have helped me see and hear an extraordinary amount of real estate content – in and out of the context of a conference agenda or theme. It’s the rumblings in conversations after sessions, the same “Ah-Ha” moments with colleagues, and the common threads that bind us in the industry. The theme for this year’s Connect was “What’s Next” – and I think it may have been the first year attending that this theme was driven home by many in a general consensus. Enough so, that it was hard to seat in my seat, listen, and not yell.. YES! to the speakers on stage. Soooooo… I took to Twitter 🙂 Although the tweets below are ones I re-tweeted – the are by no means exhaustive. Between the different panels and events – these are snippets of conversations.

It’s just the beginning of a mindset change. The kind that stops listening to the company that is the loudest and has the “most”, and listens to the ones that have dedicated their brand values to building and supporting the best agents. In our world, the entity that decides who is the best, and HOW they are the best is the customer. They are the ones whose happy customers speak the loudest. And in the end, that’s really what we want. Many, happy, loud customers and agents. Companies that harness that are the ones the future of real estate depends on.

It looks like our world is catching on 🙂

Brad Inman advocates for quality agents v. quantity of agents. Hear, hear! #ICNY#ICNY16

— Tara L Christianson (@techwithtlc) January 27, 2016

#1 Nurturing quality agents that create exceptional, returning and referring clients to a broker, over a large quantity of mediocre agents – retains and recruits the best agents long term

“Recruiting and retention are the same thing. You need to recruit your existing agents every day” –@LindaOko #ICNY pic.twitter.com/OnlPtSqhZb

— AllThingsBHGRE (@AllThingsBHGRE) January 26, 2016

#2 Provide continuing value with training and growth potential through brand values that reinforce agent- client satisfaction does far more to retain great agents, than sales goals alone.

Why are the consumers responsible for cleaning up the #realestate industry? Isn’t this the industry’s job? #ICNY

— Team Diva RE (@SeattleDivas) January 27, 2016

#3 Brand Reputation is a sellable asset of an agent : a collection of reviews and testimonials is just the beginning of brand transparency

RT @InmanNews “Be careful when you grow your team – ultimately it’s about how you can best serve your clients. #ICNY #ICNY2016”

— CENTURY 21 (@CENTURY21) January 26, 2016

@LauraMonroe as a broker, this constant pursuit of “more” agents is a soul crusher. I want to nurture quality, not fill seats @iamphilkells

— Sunny Lake (@bhamsunny) January 27, 2016

#4 Transparency in production data is not enough. Collect and supply customer experience and agent performance through holistic business intelligence – listening with the right tools, measuring the data and acting on it

The bottom line the consumer deserves agents who know the contracts, understands the process, & be an advocate #trainbetter #icny

— Chavi Hohm (@Chavih) January 27, 2016

• .@bradInman : is production data a measurement of success? Should that be more transparent? #ICNY

  — Laura Monroe (@LauraMonroe) January 27, 2016

  .@sherrychris “it’s an era of consumers, not the agent” @bradInman challenging leadership to raise the standards of agent performance #ICNY

  — Laura Monroe (@LauraMonroe) January 27, 2016

  Seth Godin: “you have to understand what you will invest in.” Be present in the right moment! #ICNY16pic.twitter.com/z0KiMuDuqe

  — Laura Monroe (@LauraMonroe) January 27, 2016

If the word spreads and people talk about you – you have a chance to connect with trust and attention. Seth Godin, #ICNY16

— Laura Monroe (@LauraMonroe) January 27, 2016

The voice of the consumer is strong. We can learn from them. When we make listening to them the most important goal of all – technology trends, market changes, generation gaps, marketing strategies that actually work, new demographic and consumer sentiments are seen and heard pro-actively- not reactively. It’s time to get ahead of the consumer and bring them in on creating the experience they want, and tell their story. After all, it’s your story too.