The CMLS conference was a great networking event as always, and the 2019 event was held in a beautiful and airport-convenient hotel in Salt Lake City.  It has been a productive year for CMLS, including the creation of the MLS best practices self-assessment tool, the re-focus on the REDPLAN intellectual property acquisition, and its increasing engagement in national policy efforts. CMLS has gone from trying to get its voice heard to having people want to be heard by CMLS.

The takeaways from the legal seminar were legion but, to me, this was the most important one:

• A study was done to see whether agents are using the MLS to search by compensation and steer clients to listings offering greater compensation. The answer is clearly “No”. Most MLSs don’t allow compensation as a search filter, but those that do see it being used less than 1% of the time in a few big markets studied. Also, it was examined whether homes with lower offers of compensation see longer days on the market or lower prices? Again, the answer was “No”.  The data and results were offered to the DOJ, but they were not interested.

Ross Shafer provided an engaging keynote, and there were several takeaways from that presentation:

• Exploit successful blueprints. There’s a blueprint for everything – don’t be so inventive that you out-invent yourself.
• We learn far more from customer complaints than we do from their compliments. Eliminate the “POW!” moments – anything that may create a negative experience. Let your customers guide you.
• Stay relevant: Be intentionally curious about each other – personally and professionally. Don’t talk about yourself – make it about them. If you ask people questions about themselves, they’ll think highly of you.
• Create a “chief trending officer” in your company – rotating to someone new every week – someone to research what’s happening around your business that might be a benefit. Look inside AND outside the industry.
• Crash a conference at a hotel near you. You might learn something from outside your industry. What’s the worst that could happen – they put you in conference jail? (this got a lot of laughs)
• Consult the “herd” the people we work for and with. Can you use their talents to benefit your organization?
• Tell “emotional” brand stories. For example, Airbnb has customers share how they experienced the brand.

Other takeaways included:

• From “The Future is Face to Face”: Listen: utilize your analytics and people (trainers, support, broker reps, etc.) and surveys to find out what makes your customers tick. Design: Think about your customers’ relationship with you and design your marketing against their individual journey. Measure:  Pay attention to what works and be diligent about cutting what doesn’t – don’t wear out your welcome with inappropriate/unwelcome marketing. Relate: create opportunities for one-on-one interaction (broker office visits, outreach, training, support, etc.).

• From “Clear Cooperation”: Listings not in the MLS make agents look ignorant, but we must respect legitimate privacy and “coming soon” issues. The MLS should enforce cooperation while meeting the needs of consumers.

• From “Balancing Interests: The MLS Police”: Educating members on “why” a rule must be enforced is important so they understand and empathize with others who need the accurate information. Sometimes fines must be ratcheted up for repeat offenses, or they just become a cost of doing business. MLSs use tools like CoreLogic’s listing data checker or Clareity authentication as part of their compliance efforts. Some MLSs donate some or all fines to charity so payers don’t feel that anyone is using fines to enrich themselves.

• From “RETS to API”: The key to moving vendors from RETS to the RESO Web API is communication to vendors and brokerages. A good timeline to do so is a year – six months for communication and six months for vendors to do the work – even though some vendors may only take a week to make the changes needed. Some MLSs are using multiple aggregators such as Trestle and The Grid to distribute data – systems that have agreement management, billing, security and other functions is key.

• From “What Now? What Next?” MLS leaders should ask three questions: 1. Is my organization the best it can be in comparison to what is possible in this industry? 2. Is my organization doing its best for agents and brokers 3. Is my organization making the experience the best for the consumer? No one can truthfully say “Yes” to all three now – but we need to get to “Yes”. If we don’t the disrupting companies and MLSs that can get to “Yes” will come to your market.

There were many other fine sessions and conversations. I’m looking forward to next year’s CMLS conference in Indianapolis.