SkySlope Enterprise BDR Manager, Josh Coleman, recently spoke at Inman Connect NY about how MLSs and vendors can work together to provide the most value to agents, plus, the pivotal role proptech plays in the current environment, and what SkySlope is doing to support the role of the buyer agent.
“The way that we think about it when we partner with any MLS on a large scale, is we have to anticipate the shifts of the market and the shifts in demand — which we’re seeing more than ever right now. We have to be ahead of these shifts. We have to look at it, take a step back, see what’s coming, and do our best to forecast so that we can anticipate not only the demand of our partners at the MLS level, but the demand of the end user, the agent, and the consumer.
The way we go about that is we establish very open and honest partnerships with our MLSs from the start. The conventional kind of vendor-client relationship is archaic. It just doesn’t work anymore. The way we look at it is a vendor-partner partnership, where we’re putting our heads together. We’re working together to collaborate on shifts in our product that service the MLS the best; that service their subscribers the best. Because at the end of the day, we have this aligned vision of helping the agent succeed. The best way we can do that and achieve that goal is when we can work together; we can partner and do our best to have very open and honest collaboration with our MLS partners.
Our Offer Insights product that Gene brought up is a great example. It was born out of just helping a buyer agent write a more complete, more competitive contract, and look better in front of the buyer. And because we came at this product with an aligned vision, we were able to provide a product that highlights the value of the buyer agent at the right time.
We think that that’s super important right now, in this day and age, to work with our MLS partners to make sure that we’re not just servicing the 20% of the agents out there, but the entire 100% of their subscriber base; that other 80% that, in most cases, makes up that buyer agent side. I’d also say we are very lucky to have a CEO and leadership team that are ex-top producers in real estate. So we have a unique resource pool that is very focused on our products, day in and day out.
We can pull a lot of stuff from them about the mindset of the agent — what they appreciate, and what they will adopt — and a unique perspective at scale; with just how many users and transactions we have on SkySlope. It’s kind of a cheat code for us — we can better anticipate demands. And when we do that, we can tap into those resources by talking to our users, talking to agents, managers, brokers, MLS executives, and just making sure that we’re putting out timely and impactful products.”
Curious to learn more and hear about what other industry experts have to say? Watch a clip from the panel discussion below.
For more information on how SkySlope partners with MLSs and associations to provide customized member solutions, visit our member benefits page.
