Gear Up! Every Brokerage is a Virtual Brokerage

April 17, 2020

Every industry is being driven into tech-adoption en masse at rapid speed to balance social-distancing and quarantine with continued business. Real estate is no exception — as an agents’ essentialness remains debated in every state. However, while you may hear some companies claim their ‘virtual-ness’ and absence of a brick-and-mortar location as a competitive advantage during the COVID-19 pandemic, the reality is that every single real estate brokerage has the ability to pivot and continue business virtually. Every brokerage is a virtual brokerage.

I had the pleasure of wrapping up the LeadingRE Annual Conference in Las Vegas last month with a presentation on why every real estate brokerage is a tech-enabled brokerage — a statement that some companies are trying to use as differentiation to compete for talent. But you, as a human, are tech-enabled and therefore so is your business. If you’re a tech-enabled brokerage, you’re also a virtual brokerage. Perhaps you won’t want to operate as a virtual brokerage forever, but you are capable of pivoting temporarily to best serve your agents and their clients.

LIVE: “Don’t fear the technology, make it work for you.” – York Baur, CEO of MoxiWorks pic.twitter.com/HCAUrGYmPn

— MoxiWorks (@MoxiWorks) March 12, 2020

Going Virtual Brings Us Together

In critical situations, it’s impossible for a leader to over-communicate with their team. Honesty, transparency, authenticity — no one has all the answers, but openly talking through our shared experience is cathartic and productive for everyone.

Encourage your staff and agents to communicate using video. All smartphones these days offer front facing cameras and most laptops have a built-in camera, too. We can absorb both verbal and non-verbal cues in conversation and have more productive and fulfilling chats. We can hold each other accountable to the conversation when we’re visible, rather than a phone call where we can get distracted just listening.

It’s Time to Gear Up – Virtually

So, here’s what you do. Brokers, managers, office admins — take a second to think about all the traditional tasks you do during the day that ‘require’ face-to-face interactions or on-site access. Now, brainstorm a new, virtual way to achieve that goal. Is it a group video chat? Perhaps it’s e-signatures on forms instead of wet ink.

The MoxiWorks suite of products and services has always been here to help future-proof the way you work and our cloud, along with over 50 integrated partners, will help our clients thrive during this unique time. We’re right there with you — Seattle being one of the first and hardest hit hot-spots of the crisis, our staff have all been rising to the challenge of working from home and continuing to provide stellar service. We even continue to have our regular releases of feature updates right on schedule. I personally was excited about 2020 being the year MoxiWorks moved into a new office downtown, but 2020 is now the year that MoxiWorks transcended physical location to keep doing what we do: getting shit done.

Competition, fresh players, technology — every disruptor you’ve faced before has trained you for this whether you knew it or not. The pandemic is another kind of disruptor. Your response will drive your future success. Business has always been about inertia: an object in motion stays in motion. Now is the time to stay in motion.

Let’s do this together,

York Baur

CEO, MoxiWorks