What can we do to plan for the inevitable or the avoidable – to put things in place to ensure we can weather the storm of disruption?
Bret Calltharp is the Director of Industry Outreach for Zillow Group, and he presented on the Revaluate NAR stage “The River Has Shifted”. You can watch the presentation in its entirety below.
Finished in early 1998, the Bridge of the rising sun, in Honduras was built by a reputable and record holding Japanese construction company as a storm proof backup to their iconic, aging bridge.
Hurricane Mitch (November 1998) is the second deadliest Atlantic Hurricane on record, killing 7,000 in Hondurans alone, dumping 36 inches of rain and devastating the country. Towns washed away, infrastructure was damaged across the country. Despite all this – the bridge of the rising sun did its job and withstood the storm as intended.
The thoughtful preparation of the new bridge had been completed only months prior – and almost worked – but outside forces disrupted the plan.
The massive amounts of water from the storm shifted the channel of the river, washing out the roads to and from the bridge, rendering the bridge high, dry and useless. The Bridge of the rising sun was mocked as the bridge to nowhere.
The Innovators Dilemma:
Zillow and many mortgage and real estate companies have found themselves in the innovators dilemma. The bigger you get you will find more competition – inevitably people will come in and eat away at your business. At first its not a large part of the market – but then it begins to grow.
Like the frog in the pot of water – it’s not an overnight change, innovation takes time. We need to pay attention to look for many factors in order to be informed as to what shifts are happening. Also remember that it’s a worldly market – the location of the storm damage is not where the storm started.
The industry needs to continually observe, adapt and move forward in order to continue to grow.
Bret had several suggestions on how to adapt, improve and grow.
Responsiveness:
Consumers are busy. When they take time to fill out a lead capture form, they expect to get a response. However, of the leads Zillow sells, 49% of consumers never hear back from real estate agents. This number is reportedly the same from Realtor.com, KW etc.
Consumers are growing increasingly displeased with the quality of service the industry provides. This has been a steady stat for years and in the consumers eyes, opens the door for a better way. This opens the door for a shift that will cause massive disruption.
People in the industry ought to do a better job of responding to inquiries / leads – or something, some company, some person will.
Your key competitive advantage:
- Be knowledgeable. Know and share what cant be googled.
- Responsiveness. Answer questions when asked – be timely and available.
- Trust. Consumers want to know that you can get them across the finish line – work to build trust daily.
Connections:
According to Zillow data, the consumer is 4x more likely to be working with an agent after a warm handoff after 30 days due to the new program. The quality of that initial reaction helps to cement the relationship between client and agent.
These timely and warm response products like Call Action, BombBomb and Zillow Premier Agent allow for instant responsiveness 100% of the time – so the ball is not dropped, consumers have someone to answer questions immediately. This builds trust. You want to eventually get to a point where you can sit down face to face – that is the goal.
In 2003 The Bridge of the rising sun was extended and reconnected to the Pan-American Highway – but not with out much disruption and damage to lives and the economy.
Our industry has shifted. We can’t keep doing things the same way. 20 years of experience does not translate to the future of our industry. It’s a balancing act of what we think we know, and what we need to know for the future.
Choose to prepare. Choose to embrace change. Choose to survive the storm.
Every day you ought to wake up to learn more about the business you are in. Bret suggests continuous incremental improvement. Make small changes every day that will impact your business for the better and you will be better prepared to survive the storm.
Special thanks to BRET CALLTHARP, Zillow’s Director of Industry Outreach for creating and presenting on the Revaluate Stage. Reach Bret via twitter: @JediRealEstate