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Introducing Knack, the newest gifting solution in the Moxi Cloud
Curate, customize, and delight your clients with the help of Knack.
And the Moxi Cloud just keeps growing. Now with gifting services from KNACKSHOPS.COM available! We’re stoked to announce Knack as a preferred brokerage solution, giving agents more ability to customize their client gifts.
One of the reasons the Moxi Cloud is growing at such a fast rate (40+ tools and services!) is because we encourage our brokerage clients to integrate the existing tools and services they already know and love. Part owner and client of MoxiWorks, Windermere Real Estate, is the brokerage that brought Knack to our attention, and we’re very thankful they did!
Knack is a modern gift-giving solution for agents who wants to give thoughtful gifts but can’t take time out of their already busy-as-can-be schedule to find them. Knack carefully curates artisan products that tell a story, then allows agents to combine items in a way that is meaningful to them. Gifts are hand-packed, and each gift includes a custom booklet that tells the story of each item in the gift, making the experience enjoyable and unique. Shoppers may choose from already made gift sets, customize those to their liking, or choose from over 1,000 products on the site to curate their own unique gift set.
“We’re excited to add Knack to the cloud. Giving gifts and in doing so, staying in touch with your sphere is crucial for agents. Knack is special in that it allows the agent to customize a gift set or build one from scratch, and have it delivered in beautiful packaging to their clients. We want brokerages and agents to have choice, and this helps to accomplish that,” said Kylah Searing, Director of Moxi Cloud Partnerships and Integrations at MoxiWorks. “It was great having the introduction to Knack come from Windermere. Since they already use and love this service, it made the decision to add them to the cloud an easy one.”
This integration to the Moxi Cloud includes SSO (single-sign-on), meaning agents have one less login to remember. The gifts are easily curated and if agents need help with inspiration, they can speak to an expert concierge.
We also love Knack for their giving back mentality. Knack partners with merchants who support a wide range of causes and donates a percentage of their sales to philanthropic causes as well. For instance, with Windermere, agents can give and give back: Knack donates five percent of each purchase made by a Windermere agent to the much-admired Windermere Foundation. Our Moxi Fund was actually born from the Windermere Foundation, so we love working with like-minded companies.
You can find more information on our new partnership in our press release here and have a look at the marvelous KNACKSHOPS.COM while you’re at it!
If your brokerage is interested in adding Knack as a brokerage solution, please contact your dedicated Account Manager and they’ll get the ball rolling.
Why MoxiWorks is growing FAST
By Ring Nishioka, VP of Operations at MoxiWorks
I joined MoxiWorks about 18 months ago and when I joined, the company had just under 50 employees and an office space of about 5000 square feet. The Little Engine that could has come a long way in the past 18 months. The doubling of our agent count has included 25 new employees and the doubling of our office space square footage.
As one of the HR folks in the company, it has been my responsibility to hire these last 25 employees along with our HR Specialist, Emily “HRSavage” Sherwood. We have hired 13 employees since the beginning of 2018 and we’re not looking to slow it down anytime soon.
MoxiWorks is based in Seattle, Washington and the market for technology talent is very similar to the real estate market – there are more buyers than there are sellers/inventory. All of the large tech companies have created more job openings than there are candidates. So recruiting quality candidates can be tough.
In the same way that the market has driven up the price of homes in Seattle, the market has driven the starting salaries for technologists through the roof. Graduates from good schools with computer science degrees and zero experience are making more than their parents. While that might sound absurd, it’s the truth. Supply and demand at its finest.
The multiple offices of Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft, Google, and the numerous startups including Uber, Lyft, and CHEF, to name just a few of the more recognizable names, is putting a squeeze on the little engine MoxiWorks.
So, what is a non-Microsoft sized tech company to do when it needs to fill openings? Like most brokerages, we try to entice candidates by creating a cool place to work and creating a strong brand in the marketplace, but the best thing we have done to recruit new talent is the use of our employee referral program and the use of social media.
Like most companies, we offer a referral bounty for employee referrals. We pay this bounty on the first day of the new hires employment. We don’t ask the employee who made the referral to wait three months before we pay out because it was the hiring manager and the interview loop that made the hiring decision.
Our bounty is $1500.00, which is modest by Seattle standards. We don’t want Moxians to quit their day jobs because the bounty on a referral is too high. We want to say “thank you” with a token of appreciation. Why do we want referrals so badly? We want referrals because our employees feel this is a great place to work and want to share the experience. Make the referral $10-$20K (yes, it is a thing) and folks will throw random candidates against the wall in the hopes of getting lucky.
Our employees are MoxiWorks BEST source of referrals and leveraged with Social media, we can make a serious dent in the list of open positions. And the same could be said for new agent recruits. Moxi employees know what our culture is, they know what success looks like, and they know the hiring managers. As an HR guy, what I like the most about employee referrals is that new hires that are referred by a current employee have a friend, ally, mentor and big brother / sister to watch their back. We know this is typical for brand new agents just getting into the real estate world. We all need someone to show us the ropes. These employees put their reputations on the line and are motivated to make sure their referral is successful.
To give you some perspective, the last three months at MoxiWorks looked like this:
- Our Test Engineer referred TWO technologists.
- Our Marketing Automation Manager referred our VP of Marketing
- A new hire developer liked the interview process so much, he referred his developer friend BEFORE HIS FIRST DAY OF EMPLOYMENT.
- Our CEO referred our CFO
If we went through a hiring agency using outside recruiters, we would have spent close to $170,000.00 in agency fees. We also would NOT have had organic relationships with these new hires.
We create a job posting and then our Content Marketing Manager, Tiana Baur, creates links that the employees can post on their persona LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter feeds.
And just like that, we’re swimming in plenty of quality referrals from our employees we know and trust.
Yes, we are hiring, and currently looking for:
If you’re not currently a Moxian and want to refer a candidate that we hire, we would like to say “thank you” with a bottle of Johnny Walker Blue. Hit me up at Ring@moxiworks.com.
This tool is revolutionizing the way managers recruit
By Tiana Baur
We recently announced the launch of Moxi Talent, our new tool for managers and recruiters, to help them do their jobs more efficiently, providing them with much more information right at their fingertips. It’s designed to execute based on goal-setting, automation, and a consistent methodology to attract and hire agents.
Built on Moxi Engage
Moxi Talent guides recruiters and managers through the recruiting process not unlike a CRM. In fact, Moxi Talent was built on the core of Moxi Engage, our CRM and productivity tool. Moxi Talent requires managers and recruiters to set their goals before taking any other action. The goals are used by the system to keep managers focused on a disciplined methodology, despite the noise of daily office life, especially for those with an open-door policy.
Engage, it’s foundation, increases agent production by an average of 38%, so the outlook for Moxi Talent is extremely promising. The task manager helps managers and recruiters take the correct action at the correct time. The tasks include anything from posting to the target agent’s LinkedIn profile or taking the time to attend a few more broker’s opens each month. For users that also have Moxi Present, it might suggest sending the agent an interactive CMA to show them the power of the tools your agents have access to, to do their jobs more efficiently and effectively.
Identify who to recruit
Not only does Talent walk you through successfully getting an all-star agent into your office, but it also tells you who these agents are, and which ones will help you reach your goals. It also prioritizes your tasks, so you’re focusing on the ones that could really count vs. ones you’d like to have in the fold.
And in the very near future, you can get even better insights. Let’s say you have a goal of $1M more in sales volume this year for your office. You’ll be able to see sales volume for the agents you’re going after, making it obvious who will get the job done.
Retain your existing agents
Recruiting is important, but it’s only a piece of the puzzle. Retention is just as important (as you know) for your brokerage as recruiting is. Moxi Talent will help you connect with all of your existing agents, making sure they’re happy and not looking elsewhere.
Although Moxi Talent is currently in Beta, you can get your brokerage signed up to be part of the early bird program here.
3 Marketing Trends to Watch Right Now
By Maddie Jostol
The real estate world is moving quickly, and it can be difficult to know the best ways for you to keep up. As a real estate agent, marketing can be a burden – but it doesn’t have to be if you choose your marketing initiatives wisely. Here, we have three marketing trends that every agent should be watching and participating in. Ready to take your marketing to the next level? Here’s what you need to do.
1. Video
Video is taking over the world of marketing. It’s the new preferred content type due to its sharability. How does video fit into an agent’s marketing strategy? Everywhere, really. Try home tour videos, open house videos, client testimonial videos, and neighborhood tour videos. Showcase your expertise in an engaging and eye-catching way. Our friends at iTour Media are doing some really cool things when it comes to video and online ads. iTour give agents the ability to create listing videos at the drop of a hat. With the listing information from the MLS, iTour Media quickly creates an engaging video for you to share and promote. iTour is an integrated partner of MoxiWorks – talk to your brokerage if you’re interested in using iTour Media.
Live video is gaining popularity by the day. Videos posted using Facebook Live are shown on news feeds at significantly higher rates than normal posted videos. If you have an active Facebook page for your business, try out Facebook Live!
2. Social media marketing
We know, everyone has been talking about the importance of social media for years and you might be a little tired of hearing about it. We aren’t going to tell you how you need to be posting on Facebook more than twice a week, however. Sure, your presence on social media is certainly important, but this time, we’re here to tell you to leverage Facebook to set your marketing on autopilot with online ads. Get an ad (for your business or a listing) set up, set your budget, and let it run. The beauty of it all is that you can get concise reports to impress your client by showing them the effort you’re putting in.
Online ads can feel daunting because of how time consuming it is to get them set up. The truth is, you don’t need to be a digital marketing expert to participate in this trend – you just need to use the right tools. If you haven’t used Moxi Marketing, now is the time. You can have Facebook ads up and running in just five minutes by following three easy steps directly from within your MoxiWorks account. Advertise a listing (all MLS data and images are auto-filled!) or advertise your services to gain exposure and generate leads. Click here to try it out!
3. Hyper-local marketing
Bring your marketing tactics home by targeting the exact neighborhoods you operate in. Rather than marketing at the state, metropolitan area, or even city level, hyper-local marketing focuses on targeting specific neighborhoods. Position yourself as THE real estate expert in your area, attracting the highest quality leads. Your specialized knowledge of the local neighborhoods will set you apart and help you grow your business.
MoxiWorks Technology Startup Welcomes Industry Veterans
March 14, 2018 – Seattle, WA – MoxiWorks, real estate technology startup, has gone from the little engine that could, to a full-fledged open platform real estate technology solution. In the past five years alone, they’ve quadrupled their revenues, doubled their headcount, and doubled their square footage. To keep the momentum going, MoxiWorks has recently added two high caliber execs to their fold, welcoming Jim Tarte as CFO and Marc Chouaniere as the new VP of Marketing.
Chouaniere comes with over 20 years of management experience and a diverse background that includes renowned companies such as Microsoft, Intellectual Ventures, Vertafore and Icertis. He is known for his corporate marketing expertise and brand growth. Tarte is a CPA and a dynamic finance professional with over 25 years of experience in public and private accounting with an emphasis on high tech, e-commerce and real estate companies experiencing high revenue growth. Previous companies include Scout Media, Prepared Response, X10 Wireless, CFO Selections and Moss Adams.
York Baur, CEO of MoxiWorks weighed in on his excitement for the additions to the Moxi family, saying, “We’re honored to have industry veterans that are qualified to work anywhere in tech choose us to practice their craft. Adding two executives of this caliber with the range and depth of experience that they have is not only exciting, but a necessary step for where we want to be tomorrow.”
Five years ago, MoxiWorks had one brokerage client with 6,500 agents. Today, they have 55 brokerage clients with well over than 100,000 agents on their open platform known as the Moxi Cloud. They aim to provide the best-in-class tools and services to make agents more productive, in turn making brokerages more profitable.
“When looking for my next challenge I focused on companies with the combination of strong executive leadership, dynamic culture, and the best of breed in their market. MoxiWorks is all that and more. The passion around doing great work, driving the best for the customer, and wonderful collaboration is infectious. I have never felt more welcomed,” said Marc Chouaniere, now VP of Marketing at MoxiWorks.
“I worked with MoxiWorks from 2013-2014 as a part time CFO contractor and when the opportunity for a full-time position came about at the beginning of 2018, it wasn’t a question of ‘if’, but rather ‘when can I start.’ What made the decision simple was the culture of the company and the team in place driving the success of the product. It is truly exciting to be given the opportunity to scale the organization and drive operational efficiencies.
MoxiWorks now has over 75 employees and is excited for the further growth and goal-hitting in the 2018 year. Baur added, “Doubling our headcount, quadrupling revenue, and getting our own floor in the building was necessary to get us to where we are now. We’ve been able to hit these goals while keeping the startup culture, which is a variable that shouldn’t be overlooked. I’m immensely proud of everyone at MoxiWorks and look forward to another year of growth.”
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For more information on this topic and other press inquiries, please contact Tiana Baur at tiana@moxiworks.com.
RE/MAX just bought booj. Are you prepared for what’s next?
By York Baur, MoxiWorks CEO
2018 is looking to be the year of the mic drop. With the LeadingRE’s Cloud announcement recently behind us, subsequently comes another. RE/MAX acquired technology company, booj, in order to future-proof their stake in the industry. First of all, congrats to booj for this epic announcement and sale, it’s what every entrepreneur dreams about. I’d also like to congratulate the other end of the deal, RE/MAX, for embracing a great technology solution for their vast number of agents.
Now, for all the existing booj customers out there that are independent brokerages…
Chances are, you might not like that your technology is now controlled by someone perceived as your competition. There’s no way to sugar coat it. You may, as a result of this, want to change out all or part of the technology you have from booj, because you don’t know that you’ll continue to get everything you need from them. However, you still need to compete.
The truth is, an open platform is the only way to future-proof your brokerage against the rapidly-evolving technology space, especially when not everyone out there can afford to make investments into technology like SoftBank, Keller Williams, and RE/MAX can. The MoxiCloud not only future-proofs your brokerage, but it also gives you the next most important thing: Choice. It allows you to plug in the tools you already love and unplug the tools you no longer want – like a power strip. MoxiCloud can help you more so than any single-source product from a franchisor.
The MoxiCloud open platform, for example, now has over 40 integrated tools and services – DocuSign, Imprev, Intuit, Buyside, Offrs, Flipt – to name a few. Our brokerage clients get to pick any and all they wish to, and all their data, tools and services live in one place, working seamlessly with their roster, brokerage assets, CRM contacts, MLS data, and more. Our cloud grows every single day, since our existing and new brokerage clients are wanting to plug in more of the great tools that already work for them, allowing them to retain their current investments. A true win-win.
In the end, our goal is very specific: Make brokerages more profitable, by making their agents more productive.
We have and always will have the backs of the brokerage. Plain and simple. And we understand the need for their existence in the future, no matter how advanced technology becomes. There will never be a greater replacement than that of the human connection and the safety one feels when working with their trusted advisor: their real estate agent.
I hope all you independent brokerages out there reading this will take it to heart and not only consider what I’m saying, but pick up the phone and call us (the number is at the bottom of our site). Maybe you want some questions answered that you feel you won’t get candid answers for elsewhere. Maybe you want some more info on the MoxiCloud. Maybe you just want to know the lay of the land in all this tech mumbo jumbo. Whichever it is, we’re happy to take your call, no strings attached.
Introducing: Sisu, Accountability Software for Real Estate Agents
On the heels of our latest exciting announcement that MoxiWorks is powering LeadingRE’s new initiative, the LeadingRE Cloud, we’re now thrilled to welcome a new best-in-class tool the Moxi Cloud: Sisu – an accountability software solution for real estate agents.
Like MoxiWorks, Sisu isn’t just another tech company, its real estate roots run deep. Sisu began a few years ago when a team of real estate agents in Salt Lake City leveraged a system of disciplined tracking and analysis of agent activities to more than double their sales numbers. Recognizing the power of the system they had created, Sisu Founder and CEO, Brian Charlesworth, developed the system of accountability into full-fledged software that gamifies and visualizes the data to increase the top line revenue of agents.
Sisu is built to track sales performance and coach agents to success through powerful data. This data needs to be connected to contacts within a CRM, so agents can use it to grow their relationships. Enter Moxi Engage. The partnership between Sisu and Moxi creates a single point of entry and collaboration between the services. This way the data will be more clean, accurate, and easy to maintain.
Here’s how it works:
Visualize what is achievable
Sisu’s accountability software solution “doubles production with intuitive performance tracking, monitoring, leaderboards, and dashboards, and eliminates duplicate entry with real-time, real estate CRM data sharing.” According to Sisu, real estate agents that consistently track and know their daily sales activities and KPI’s increase sales by at LEAST 100%. As we like to say, the numbers will set you free.
See more, sell more
Sisu also has a mobile app that provides a competitive edge with contact, and appointment tracking and viewing, conversion ratio calculation, pipeline overview, and real-time GCI reporting. This means agents are constantly in the know and reminded of there they stand the steps they need to take to increase their bottom line.
Accountability through visibility
With a simple to use interface, and robust and dynamic sales performance dashboards, Sisu enforces accountability, which we all know is a key aspect when it comes to adoption. It displays real-time scoreboards and leaderboards throughout your brokerage and on your real estate agent’s phones, accelerating competition, creating a fun sales environment, and producing outstanding results.
Motivate, play, win
Inspire increased levels of team performance with a seamlessly linked, online community of peers while empowering them to track, analyze, compare, and filter their leaderboards to measure results. Sisu makes selling competitive, visual, fun and more importantly, highly productive.
With the sales competition in place, agents will be motivated to go out and drive results. With the data stored in the Moxi Cloud and across other brokerage plug and play tools and services solutions, they’ll have all the data they need to be effective. They’ll be able to track down expired listings and previous clients, and the software will automagically log all of their efforts and update the scoreboard.
We’ve said over and over again how powerful data is to your brokerage and your agents. Data is now the most sought-after and powerful commodity in the world. If you’re not using your brokerage data to the fullest, you’re missing out on higher productivity and of course, more profit.
We’re ecstatic to add another like-minded partner to our Moxi Cloud open platform that knows the importance of data. If you’re interested in adding Sisu to your brokerage power strip of tools and services, please contact your dedicated Moxi Account Manager and they’ll get you set up. Want to meet the brains behind Sisu? You can set that up here.
My Proudest Moment: The Moxi Fund’s Humble Beginnings
By JoDee Aspin, Database Developer at Moxi Works
I started working for Moxi Works in 2012. At the time, the Moxi Fund had existed, but wasn’t being treated as the priority I felt it should. There was about $4,000 sitting in the fund, mostly from donations that staff made over the years. No one was overseeing the fund or guiding it along to a prosperous future. Fortunately, that soon changed.
Mark Carlson, VP of Software Engineering, knew I had interest in the Windermere Foundation, which has always been extremely visible to Moxi Works since our founding roots are in the Windermere Real Estate brokerage. Because of that, Mark asked if I wanted to take control of it and as you can imagine, I jumped at the opportunity! In fact, it’s one of the reasons I said yes to taking the job at Moxi.
The fact that people on staff had donated money that was just sitting in a pot and not getting to the people it was intended for, bothered me to no end. Under the Executive Director of the Windermere Foundation’s guidance, I formed a team and we began troubleshooting ways to generate more donations to the Moxi Fund.
Initially our team included Tom Harnett, Jillian Igarashi and Jeff DeMelle. We determined that we really had two main goals, first, to continually promote awareness about the Moxi Fund within the organization, and second to generate enough interest that the entire staff thought of new ways to fundraise and help in growing the pot. I think we were all surprised at how quickly this took hold. We started to generate more and more interest and thus our funds began to grow little by little. It really kicked off once our CEO, York Baur got behind it (whom at the time had just joined Moxi Works). From that point on, there was only up. In fact, the Moxi Fund has raised more than $80,000 for charities in our community.
The Moxi Fund is a win for our entire company, and one that makes me proud of each person that gives to it, whether through volunteering for the Moxi Fund team, donating funds, or participating in the activities around it. More than that, it makes me proud to work for a company that promotes and fosters programs that give back to the wider community. So many took ownership and it was so lovely to see and be a part of. Today, because of logistics, I am no longer there with the team, in fact there are many new people involved, but my heart is there and always will be. The growth of the Moxi Fund is my proudest moment at the company (one of many I might add). Can’t wait to see how the Moxi Fund continues to grow in the years to come!
Compass is Coming to Your Town
By Tiana Baur
To recap quite possibly the most significant announcement of 2017 for our industry, Softbank invested a whopping $450 million into the new, shiny tech brokerage: Compass. Emphasis on the brokerage, emphasis on that dollar amount since it’s the largest investment into real estate technology ever, from the world’s largest technology investment fund. They basically did a mic drop to cap off an already crazy real estate tech announcement year. Needless to say, our CEO had some words.
What now?
So, Compass is now valued at $2.2 billion. Casual pocket change, am I right? On a serious note though, they aren’t just planning and raising money, they are doing and achieving. That alone makes this all the scarier.
A few months ago, CEO Robert Reffkin announced a 2020 by 2020 plan. Which meant they are going to expand into 10 new markets in the U.S. by 2020, and grab 20 percent of the market share in the 20 largest U.S. cities. The cities they’re expanding to being Seattle, San Diego, Phoenix, Dallas, Austin, Houston, Atlanta, Charlotte, Philadelphia, and Chicago.
Only a couple exasperated brokerage breaths later, they announced they had ALREADY expanded to Chicago, rapidly growing from a team of 20 top tier agents they plucked from the competition. If that doesn’t make you want to vomit in your own shoes then I don’t know what will. This is real, and it’s terrifying for most brokerages out there.
How on earth do you compete with that?!
Chances are, you’re not going to get Softbank to invest millions upon millions into your brokerage. But that’s okay, because there is another way to survive and even become a stronger, more productive brokerage than you ever thought was possible.
The not-so-secret ingredient: an open platform. In fact, it’s not just an ingredient, it’s THE ingredient for brokerage success. Ever tried baking a cake without some type of flour? Pretty. Freaking. Awful. Think of an open platform as your brokerage’s flour. It provides the structure and strength, holding everything together, in one tasty package. You can add in nuts, chocolate chips, even peanut butter. The options are endless and it’s up to you to decide what is going to taste the best.
Take the Moxi Cloud open platform for example. We have over 40 tools and services – DocuSign, Imprev, Intuit, Buyside, Offrs, Flipt – to name a few. Our brokerage clients get to pick any and all they wish to, and all their data and tools and services are put together, working seamlessly with their roster, brokerage assets, CRM contacts, MLS data, and more.
Compass might be trying to make all their own software, but you don’t have to in order to provide your agents with the tools and services they’re craving. An open platform delivers higher flexibility, efficiency, and profitability to your brokerage and agents.
An open platform is the only way to future-proof your brokerage against the rapidly-evolving technology space. It’s the Compass killer. What are you waiting for? A Compass announcement in your neck of the woods?
Key Aspects to Look for in a Brokerage Platform
By Maddie Jostol
Many technology companies are calling themselves a platform. It’s becoming a loosely used buzzword, but what makes a true platform is a technology that serves as the base for all of your technology solutions. It’s the hub of your company’s technology.
As a brokerage owner, what should you be looking for when considering a platform for your business? Below are a few of the key things you absolutely must consider when vetting these technologies.
Make sure it’s open
An open platform is quite different from a closed platform. What makes a platform “open” is an open API, which allows other technologies to plug into the platform, integrating and sharing data. Asking whether or not a platform is truly open is key to knowing what potential the technology has in integrating your business. A closed platform limits your ability to leverage data, and doesn’t help your agents run their business.
Find a reliable partner
When it comes to onboarding a platform for your brokerage, you’ll want to work with a provider who serves as a true technology partner. A platform is the technology backbone of your business, it isn’t just some add-on tool. Because of this, your platform provider should serve as a trusted advisor, guiding you to the strongest technology ecosystem that effectively runs your business.
The beauty of an open platform is that you can make it your own – our brokerage clients have varying technology ecosystems based on which integrated tool and service providers they’ve decided to provide to their brokerage. Work with people who can guide you through this process, selecting the best technology services for your business. This brings us to our next tip…
Own your data
Data is more powerful than you might think. What kind of data are we talking about? MLS data, consumer data, agent data, and more. All of it should live in your brokerage platform, where it’s accessible and useful. Data can power other tools, lend valuable insights, improve productivity, and more. It’s time for all brokerages to own their data.
The value of integration
Integration adds value to your business, smoothing operations and increasing productivity. Agents don’t have to switch back and forth between technologies, attempting to remember dozens of passwords. It also gets rid of manual data entry. When data is shared across your tools, including your MLS, it negates manual data entry and the inevitable errors that comes with it.
Selecting and onboarding an open platform for your business can feel complicated, but it’s vital to staying ahead in this competitive market. Your brokerage needs an integrated technology ecosystem that offers flexibility, connects your business, and helps you be more profitable.
To learn more about the Moxi Cloud open platform and what sets it apart, click here.
