Zillow Swallowed Your Reviews – Rising Above Tech Disruption

So, Zillow swallowed your reviews, did they?!

Are you totally surprised?

Whether this is a temporary thing or not, you need to be acutely aware that keeping you well-paid is in Zillow’s short-term plan, but not in their long-term plan.

This episode is all about tech disruption, why it’s happening, and what you can do to rise above it.

The founder of Zillow is a gentleman by the name of Rich Barton. Rich has a history of taking industries with well-paid professionals and replacing that with algorithms and lower-paid customer service representatives.

If you think that his aim is any different in the real estate industry, you’re kidding yourself.

So what is that we need to do to not become a pawn in this game, to step up from being easy to replace commodities, and rise above real estate industry tech disruption?

In this episode, I discuss why tech disruption is happening and what we should be concerned about and what we should not.

What’s up everybody, this week, we’re going to be addressing something that I know is a concern amongst all agents, which is Zillow, removing your reviews from their website after you’ve spent so much time and effort energy getting them there.

We’re going to be talking specifically about big tech disruption, what you absolutely should be concerned about, and what you should not be concerned about. But before we go there, I want to ask you to subscribe to this channel, like this video. And be sure to hit the little bell notification, so you don’t miss anything that’s going to help you rise above big tech disruption.

Where were you at when you first learned about the internet. I remember distinctly the experience that I had, when I was introduced to a new school in a new town by a new head football coach, he was giving me a tour of the school. And he stopped by one room filled with computers. I had never seen such a thing, my school that I was moving from, had to focus on the woodshop, the metal shop and the auto shop very different schools. He at this time, this head football coach began to explain to me that all these computers were connected to the World Wide Web, I had no idea what he was talking about, nor the significance of that. Nor did I realize how impactful that would become, in the years and decades to come.

Many of us like my younger self, take a look at technology, we don’t think that it poses a threat or an opportunity, we overlook it, thinking that things are always going to be the way that they’ve always been. In fact, some people even say, if you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten, right?

I disagree with that phrase, let me tell you why that would only be true. If all other circumstances all other variables in the world remain the same. The reality is that we live in a very dynamically changing world. And for us to get what we’ve always gotten, we’re actually going to have to do more, we’re gonna have to do different.

Let me give you an illustration as to why I believe this, if you were, let’s say, a real estate agent in the 1970s, and had an amazing phone book ad, the reality is, that probably got you some pretty good business back then. Now, it’s laughable to think that that same phone book ad would get you anything in today’s world, right? Because phone books are obsolete, it’d be, you’d be hard pressed to even find one to put your name in.

So again, the reality is that the world is changing very rapidly. And if we do what we’ve always done, we’ll get less and less and less, we actually have to do more or different or better altogether. So that we again, stay ahead of the disruptive curve.

Now there’s some people out there that actually don’t even believe that disruption is is a real thing, or a real concern. I do believe as I mentioned before, that there are things that you don’t need to worry about. But there are things that you do. Let me just illustrate some of the key ways for you to be able to identify why disruption is happening, and how you can begin to navigate around it.

The very first driver of disruption that we need to be aware of, is the fact that human knowledge is increasing at such a more rapid pace than it was historically, with the advent of artificial intelligence, there’s really no limits on what technology can do, and how those new technological advancements can even begin to take the place of what we as well paid professionals used to do, we need to be aware of this and begin to embrace this technology and leverage it before it leverages us.

The second driver of disruption that we need to be aware of is the generational impact. You see the millennials grew up with the internet. If you’re not a millennial, you probably can’t fathom that you remember encyclopedias and other things that we used to look at when we were younger. Imagine always having the ability to Google something, or to say Alexa or Siri and get an immediate answer. It’s a different dynamic when a generation has grown up with that, and expects and leans so heavily upon technology.

Think of it this way, how many Amazon deliveries did you get at your house this past week, with things that you may have just ordered hours ago, if not, at least at minimum days ago? The reality is there’s a generation that expects an immediate response and immediate gratification based on what they need, because they’ve grown up used to that receiving that getting that from technology.

The next driver of disruption that we need to be aware of is the opportunity impact. You see as a well paid professional, there are big tech platforms that recognize the fact that if they can replace you with an algorithm and a low paid customer service representative, then they can give some of those savings back to the consumer. And then they can keep the rest and at scale creates quite an opportunity for them. I don’t think anybody can argue that big tech does not have well paid professionals in their crosshairs, all of these indicators of disruption that I just shared with you should validate that for you.

So here’s what to not concern yourself with. I would not try and duplicate or replicate what these big tech company are doing, they’ve got literally again billions of dollars, and are way ahead of where you’re at. I would however, concern yourself with this. Number one, your relationships with your clients need to be deeper, and your value to them and to other professionals that can bring you into the conversation with future clients needs to be higher.

The reality is your clients, even the ones that absolutely love you, and you think would never go anywhere else have this see this seed planted in their mind that maybe using a well paid professional is an outdated thing, maybe it is time to use tech and pay a lower fee. And the only way to combat that is to prove to them through your value, that that is not the case. So let me reiterate what I just said, which is this.

You don’t need to be concerned with big tech disruption, destroying your business in your life, unless you continue to do what you’ve always done unless you continue to be who you’ve always been. The reality is more is going to be required of you both in the depth of knowledge you have about your clients, and the value that you offer to them, it’s also going to be important that you find new ways to get to the client that don’t make you a commodity. So often when we pursue business from these big tech platforms, we become very easy to replace.

And if you’re not yet familiar, I want to share with you concepts that I wrote and teach in my book, the upstream model, this book teaches you how to go upstream how to add more value to your client experience, and how to get to the client even before big tech platforms can turn those clients into a lead.

If you don’t yet have a copy of your book, in the show notes, you will see that there is a link for you to get a free plus shipping copy delivered straight to your door.

Now, I also want to remind you that it’s important for you during this phase, this very disruptive era and period in which we’re in that you stay connected to those people that again help you to rise above that industry disruption. That’s why I invite you to subscribe to this channel, like this video and hit the little bell notification so you don’t miss any more. Oh and one more thing.

Go Think Bigger!