Tech Firms Should Sell Solutions, not Software

For years, WAV Group has noticed that too many technology firms market and communicate to their customers in the wrong way. They spend all of their time in front of customers showing how their software works. It’s wrong. The only time that customers want to spend time looking at how your software works is when they are looking to replace an existing software system. Even then, the primary reasoning for wanting to replace their existing software has little to do with how the software works. The decision to change has more to do with user satisfaction or price. The way [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:22:55-07:00February 15th, 2017|Broker Technology Research, MLS Insights|Comments Off on Tech Firms Should Sell Solutions, not Software
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Zillow Improves Broker Programs

Zillow Group, which includes the websites of Zillow and Trulia have landed on a broker strategy for marketing that works. Zillow Group, which includes the websites of Zillow and Trulia have landed on a broker strategy for marketing that works. Featured listings are dead, and have been replaced with a product to advertise in ways that drive the largest margin opportunity for a brokerage firm – leads to eTeams and Relocation. I call this “shared display,” where the brokerage and agent are clearly displayed and may be contacted – easily understood as “your listing, same leads.” This functionality works equally well [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:22:55-07:00February 15th, 2017|Broker Technology Research, Broker-Agent Information, Main category|Comments Off on Zillow Improves Broker Programs
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Merle Whitehead – Follow The Leader Series

Our Follow The Leader Series is an effort to write about the best ideas and best practices of great leaders in our industry who are raising the bar.  In this episode, I am grateful to share the inspirational story of Merle Whitehead, a gentleman who grew America’s 9th largest real estate firm, Realty USA. The intention is to share some background on centers of excellence in real estate that others can be inspired by. Early Career Start Merle Whitehead calls the Buffalo, NY area of Western New York his home. He started his career selling clothing on commission and came [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:22:55-07:00February 15th, 2017|Main category|Comments Off on Merle Whitehead – Follow The Leader Series
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Join the WAVes of Change Today

When conducting strategic plans we hear from brokers and board members that their organization strives to stay current with industry best practices. There are many industry wide initiatives today, spanning areas like MLS Consolidation, New NAR Policy, Broker Public Portal, Upstream, Real Estate Standards Organization, Data Licensing, and more. It’s hard to keep track. WAVes of Change WAV Group has launched a Quarterly Webinar Series to update you and your leadership on all of these trends. The webinar spans one hour, and is delivered by WAV Group partners who are often involved, or close to these industry developments. You get [...]

By |2018-11-08T04:03:20-08:00February 15th, 2017|WAVes of Change|Comments Off on Join the WAVes of Change Today
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Is it really is possible to love your MLS?

Every Valentine’s Day, you can smell the roses, taste the chocolates and almost feel that love is in the air. It made me think of how so many companies attempt to “love” their customers, but often few customers actually love them back. In fact, from my own experience, it’s rare when a company consistently gets love letters – and rarely hate mail – from its customers. Over the last couple of decades, I’ve worked in the real estate and technology sectors, with dozens and dozens of companies that include several of the most well known brands, from hot startups to Fortune 500 [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:22:55-07:00February 14th, 2017|MLS Insights|Comments Off on Is it really is possible to love your MLS?
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Brokers and MLSs Get Paid To Display This Old House Content

In a press release today, Prem Luthra of Elm Street Technology unveiled his latest venture, a partnership with This Old House. You may know Prem from his work in marketing at MOVE, Cyberhomes, Real Estate Digital, Xome, and the like. One of his primary and lasting impacts to the real estate industry was the innovation around helping brokers and MLSs monetize the consumer traffic on their website. Real Estate content around listings has been pretty lack luster from the perspective of the consumer on most broker, agent, and MLS consumer facing websites. Simply stated, firms have lacked the internal resources [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:22:56-07:00February 2nd, 2017|Broker Technology Research, Broker-Agent Information, MLS Insights, Press Releases|Comments Off on Brokers and MLSs Get Paid To Display This Old House Content
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Forget About a Statewide MLS! How About a Statewide Consumer Site Instead?

As always there is chatter in our industry about more MLS consolidation.  After Ann Bailey’s proclamation that there should only be 12 MLSs in the United States at CMLS last year, I often get asked how many MLSs should we have?   Should we go for s statewide MLS? While it is logical in many markets to think about a statewide MLS or even multi-state MLS the politics and emotion surrounding a program like that is daunting.  The chances of getting 50 statewide MLSs is slim to none in the foreseeable future in my opinion. There IS a great way for [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:22:56-07:00February 1st, 2017|Broker-Agent Information, MLS Insights|Comments Off on Forget About a Statewide MLS! How About a Statewide Consumer Site Instead?
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How Can RESO Make Brokers Money in 2017? Learn How in an Upcoming Webinar

Few people understand industry standards.  “That’s for the computer geeks,” most of us think.  Our busy schedules and our tenacious focus on business priorities rarely allow us to fully understand how standards directly impact us every day. Our ability to easily communicate with one another relies on standards.  Think of computers and operating systems.  Right now, the giants are Apple and Windows.  They each implemented their own standards for communicating between devices. If standards had not been designed and implemented, we would not have cell phones, tablets, laptops and desktops all talking to one another.  Do you remember when Apple [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:22:56-07:00February 1st, 2017|Uncategorized|Comments Off on How Can RESO Make Brokers Money in 2017? Learn How in an Upcoming Webinar
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Upstream is Already an Awesome Tool for Brokerage Firms

Brokerage firms and franchises across America are already in the data management business. There are 85,000ish firms in America and each of them struggle to manage their information in one fashion or another. Upstream may be most simply understood as a solution that harmonizes data management into a single solution that is 100% controlled inside the firm, like Google Drive. Given the fiduciary responsibility of firms to comply with real estate law and MLS business rules, Upstream takes special care to provide a platform that delivers assurances that a firms practices are supported. I was invited to participate in their [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:22:56-07:00January 31st, 2017|Broker Technology Research, Product Management|Comments Off on Upstream is Already an Awesome Tool for Brokerage Firms
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Why a Smart Home is also a Danger Zone

A most provocative talk about Smart Homes and the dangers of the IoT (Internet of Things) kicked-off the first Hacker Connect in New York City last week. Molly Sauter, a PhD candidate and Vanier Scholar from Montreal’s McGill University, gave a presentation that scared the crap out of me when she dove into the dangers of today’s Smart Home. Now I’ve been a fan and even early adopter of affordable Smart Home tech: in the late 1980s, I had a wireless alarm system from Radio Shack and switches that allowed me to turn on lights with a remote. But that [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:22:56-07:00January 31st, 2017|Main category|Comments Off on Why a Smart Home is also a Danger Zone
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Keep Up to Speed With The Ever Changing Trends of Real Estate This Year

With 2017 in full swing there is no better time to get prepared for the year ahead. WAVes of Change will provide you with most effective ways to help prep your association for the inevitable evolutions and revolutions the real estate industry may experience this year. We Attend the Events so You Don’t Have To We know how costly travel, hotel and expenses can be, especially for multiple people from your association to attend various major conferences throughout the year. Our educational webinars are centered around major conferences and will bring you updates straight from these sessions. Four times a [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:22:56-07:00January 26th, 2017|MLS Insights, WAVes of Change|Comments Off on Keep Up to Speed With The Ever Changing Trends of Real Estate This Year
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Industry First from ABoR, RESO and CoreLogic Trestle Platform

Tim Dain, MLS Director at the Austin Board of REALTORS (ABoR) is known for being a tech innovator. He can now add creating an industry first to his resume, thanks to the vital support of his forward-thinking Board at ABoR, plus a big assist from Jeremy Crawford, CEO of the Real Estate Standards Organization (RESO). What ABoR announced today busts open a door for real estate tech developers that has locked out the "kid in the garage" trying to develop better real estate software, as well as major franchises developing their own software as they don't have the access to MLS data [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:22:56-07:00January 26th, 2017|Broker Technology Research, Press Releases|Comments Off on Industry First from ABoR, RESO and CoreLogic Trestle Platform
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