Is Zillow a Great Broker?

Zillow is not a broker. Well, technically they are registered as a brokerage in many states and hold brokerage licenses, but they do not market themselves as a brokerage. The point is that they provide a lot of broker-like support for agents that are noteworthy and remarkable. There are plenty of brokers who can take a page out of their book and improve their business.

Specifically, brokers can learn from the way that Zillow provides technology tools and communicates and trains agents. With the acquisition of a transaction management solution, they complete a broker-like set that includes agent websites with IDX, marketing, lead management, mobile, digital signatures, agent ratings, CRM, not to mention a pile of consumers.

Zillow Academy

Zillow has a full-on training, technology, education, and support group. They have live agent events, record educational webinars, develop tutorial videos for using Zillow, and invite agents to read and discuss topics on the Zillow Pros Blog.

Seriously, only a few brokers could have a full time employee doing this sort of thing. I am not sure of the number of agents that would be required to support this type of FTE, but I would guess that it's probably somewhere in the 350 agent range. Franchises do a pretty good job of this. So does Leading Real Estate Companies of the World. Some large MLSs do this, too. If you need a roadmap for excellence, take a look at this Zillow Academy page.

Drip Marketing

Zillow also pushes content out to agents in bite-sized pieces via email. In fact, it was this email piece on Phone Scripts for Success that prompted this post.

What I liked:

• Subject Line: Success is on the line, Phone Scripts that Work. It's kinda punny – line – phone... you get it.
• Strong Offer: Free Scripts – Zillow cannot do the work for agents, but we all know that door knocking and phone calls build business in the best possible way for agents.

Ingredients of a broker training program

• Drip Marketing
• Webinars
• Training on Demand
• Office Meetings
• Office Manager training
• Quick Start Training
• Help Desk
• Video Training

WAV Group can help your brokerage put together training and communications that will transform your company. They are ideally designed for large firms. Contact Victor Lund if you want a consult.

P.S. Brokers need to choose to outsource all of this stuff to Zillow, or be better than Zillow.

To view the original article, visit the WAV Group blog.