From the Main Stage to the Roadmap: Bold Insights from Unite + What Comes Next

It’s been about 2 weeks since we gathered with one of the most compelling groups in real estate at the UNITE Conference.  Let’s get it out of the way, I’m biased.  BUT, looking past my bias and even looking past all the pedigrees in the room - the content and community; the insight and energy.  It was completely electric.

This year, UNITE was in Charleston SC April 27-29th, with a day on either side for some networking and planning.  Reflecting on the energy and insight shared during the conference, I can’t help but feel incredibly inspired and optimistic about where we are headed together.

Our clients, our partners, our Insiders and the whole community - are amazing. I want to thank them, the industry veterans and rising stars who joined us to mastermind and share knowledge, conversations, and come together to create the vision for what’s next.  Thank you for joining us!

There’s a powerful energy when we come together.  It’s validating to see the same enthusiasm emanating from our clients for the mission we’re on and the solutions we’re building.  As Jami Gallegos of the Lifestyle Realty Group shared with us, the immediate impact this conference will have on business success is real:

“I am so glad I decided to take the time for Unite! This was hands down the conference that has had the most impact on me and my business plans. It was the perfect mix of industry discussions, tips and ideas, networking, and learning more about the power of BoldTrail and various integrations. I plan on encouraging my team of agents to all attend next year. Thank you for a worthwhile event!”

Thanks Jami - I couldn’t agree more.  But, why is this so important right now?  What were the biggest takeaways for me?

There were 5 major takeaways I came away with:

1. How 2025 can be your best year yet
2. How Teams are Striking the Balance with Portals
3. Who is getting deals from AI Search (not Google) and where we go next
4. YOUR data, leads, listings, deals and CONVERSATIONS
5. What the next-gen client-deal experience really looks like

(If you missed Unite, we'll be releasing the recordings of a few select sessions in a couple of weeks-- stay tuned!)

How 2025 Can Be Your Best Year Yet

It’s never been more clear that we are not just passively watching industry change right now.  Together, we are shaping it. At UNITE, some of my favorite market experts and tech strategists took the stage; armed with stats, intel and incredible insights and predictions to guide our paths forward. Breakout sessions and panels sparked powerful conversations, and common challenges were shared and discussed.

The most empowering part was that each session laid out clear pains and challenges that exist in the market, but also clearly laid paths and gave tangible strategies to beat the local markets.  Competition is fierce, markets are volatile, time is scarce, but there has never been more opportunity, if you’re prepared and empowered with the right tools, intelligence, and support.

A couple of insightful data points and moments in this topic:

• Business is there to be had: 2024 had more commission dollars than 2019 or 2020 (and spoiler alert, 2025 will have even more).
• Deals are being done by more professionalized, higher producers: 65% of deals were done by 20% of producers.
• But Part-Timers are Still Participating: 40% of the transactions are still being done by part-timers though (people doing 1-2 transactions in a year), and the consumer experience from many of those wasn’t stellar.
• Teams are growing: Teams are bigger and more dialed in than before.  Some brands are nailing it with supporting those teams, many are not.  The right solutions brings value that can be offered by brands and brokers to teams who are ready to take their team to the next level, but it’s got to be the right solutions.
• YOU can have your best year ever: I talked to many agents and teams who are on that path… and the tools, practices and community to do it are right here.  The time spent gathering insights to build YOUR intentional business is worth it.

The sharing around best practices, tips and approach was solid.  Many aha moments.

How Portals, Teams, Brands and Consumers Come Together

Portals and data ownership are still prevalent in conversations and concerns as savvy teams, agents and brokerages try to balance their portal relationships with team performance, profitability and even team culture.

At least 30-40 million leads are captured per year (some say upwards of 100 million), most productive teams participate in lead gen and the majority participate with at least one portal.  So how do you find a way to power your entire lead gen lifecycle, but balance the volume and opportunity with portals while still driving a high-culture and high-outcome environment - now and over the long-haul?

There was naturally a lot of discussion about headlines, power plays and who is really in charge - and for those Austin Powers fans, there may have been a reference (“who does #2 work for?”).

The solutions shared revolve around balanced businesses, strong and intelligently nurtured databases, CONVERSATIONS and agents who know how to wield insights.

So what does this have to do with the coming together of portals, teams, brands and consumers?

• Big portals: Are making power plays, and for many of them, there are big questions with the actual teams, agents and brokers on the street about what their intentions are.  It’s interesting to hear the perspective from some of the top producers handling leads from all portals and making allegiance decisions.
• Team Culture & Long-Term Value: Teams are facing real questions about whether they can maintain the culture of their team while running under some of the industry’s most grueling lead programs.  Additionally there are real questions about if grueling portal programs are their only source, where is their long-term value.
• Balance: There was significant appreciation and acknowledgement for BoldTrail as a tech platform that is helping bridge gaps and combine the power of big portal relationships with team ecosystems, personal databases and brand ecosystems.  Allowing teams to run with a much more holistic approach.
• Partner Ecosystem: The participation of the platform and partners in the space in this ecosystem together is empowering and allows teams, brokerages and brands to combine their lead gen efforts with all of their other growth strategies.
• Wield Real (and Real Estate) Insights: And as my friend, David Childers from Keeping Current Matters , shared - it’s in setting up the systems, processes than understanding how to share the insights that you unlock the power of your personal and team brand.

The smartest and highest producing teams and agents are figuring out how to bring their tech, tools and solutions into an ecosystem where they can have ownership, control and flexibility while running a disciplined machine.  The smartest brands are empowering this motion on behalf of teams and agents with complete tech solutions and tailored services.  The smartest agents are making the tech work for them and gathering and sharing data-driven insights.  Yet to be seen how the portals play out the next bit and whether there is a true partner among them.

Who is getting deals from AI Search (not Google) and where we go next

So, we all are getting deals from Google, social media, portals and referrals.  The best have tailored their funnels to handle a balanced set of sources (and many are working with our teams to do that now).

Some interesting conversations were had, where I heard the first teams and agents who had been closing their first deals from being found on ChatGPT.  Yeah, being found there - getting the lead from AI.

So is AI the new search engine?  Probably.  Will it all transition overnight?  No.  Does it turn websites and SEO on it’s head?  Eventually.  Should you panic?  A little :)  But in all seriousness, there are changes afoot.  It’s a fascinating area and will be a place where some new fortunes are made and where a lot of learning is done.

What stood out to me were the people who were seeing some results from it (the teams that were using our tech with the most dialed in processes and leveraging the tools were doing best), and how we’d be working with those folks on some testing going forward.

This is an area to stay tuned.  It’s also informing the overall web and client experience strategy.

YOUR data, leads, listings, deals and CONVERSATIONS

Of course the industry’s oldest challenge is still plaguing agents today: working your database.

You’re driving new leads, but are you equipped with the tools you need to turn them into clients for life? And if you are working them - do you really own your data or is your tech and solution now owned by folks who don’t really have your long-term interest at heart?  Do you know how to drive deal volume and profitability or are you making tough trade-offs?  What about your consumer experience - is it still 1999 or 2025 level experiences?

First, you work a database, not a “dead-a-base”, and your CRM needs to be built to feed your deals pipeline. Success comes from smart tools that prioritize your day.  The solution to organic funnel driving new deals for you is in conversations.  Some of the most exciting moments of sharing around innovation was when the Inside Real Estate product team shared the future of AI-enhanced search, alerts, mobile experiences and consumer experiences.

The best of the best technology, consumer and agent experiences came together for some truly impressive solutions that drew some gasps and cheers.  Importantly, they are simple, give you full control and

While at UNITE, I said, and we repeated a phrase: we’re on a mission to bring more power to you. It’s packed with the intent, investment and energy we’re delivering to bring even more real business results to our valued customers and industry.  We always have and always will continue to play for YOU!

What the next-gen client-deal experience really looks like

And speaking of driving deals.

It bears reminding as we dive into our businesses, that it’s not about you, it’s ultimately about the client, and their experience. 180 steps in a transaction does not create a delightful experience for consumers. It’s time to orient around delight, not disappointment, and wow the customer in order to create more opportunity for closing more deals.  Did you know…

• In most agents sales funnels, there is an opportunity to create 2-3X more opportunities with the conversations they already have.
• That, combined with the new innovation around leveraging AI-enhanced solutions to drive more conversations, will result in some agents seeing as many as 10X the opportunities begin to emerge from their existing databases.

While at UNITE, we shared some additional innovation around deals.  It was the result of deep conversations and discovery with top teams and agents who are working robust businesses.  Uncovering pains of their sales funnels and examining the most important solutions and opportunities to unlock more business.

That's why we're busy developing something new this year, that’s coming soon and sure to be a gamechanger — "Deals" with deep intelligence for your funnel. It’s purpose-built to connect daily inbox and agent activity to real business outcomes. It leverages AI to do more for you and drive productivity where historically there were gaps.

The next-gen client experience runs from inbox through CRM and deal management.  It intelligently gathers emails, documents, data and assembles everything for you into a single source of truth (SSOT) for your client.  Additionally, it unlocks the client experience from search through transaction tracker.  It drives delight and delivers profitability.  It multiplies transactions today and referrals tomorrow. And man, is it sexy.

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So, how was UNITE?  It was invigorating and exciting.  This community of top producers come together with this ecosystem and innovative new capabilities and game-changing enhancements that are on deck to give you the ultimately flexibility in your solution.

We’re bringing more power to you, on your terms, so you can customize the right package for the right time in your business, at the right price, based on your unique business needs, and specifically engineered to power your success. Here’s to seizing every opportunity, the success that is to come, and more power to you.

My absolute favorite part was to see the fire and motivation in the faces of all those who attended.  We’re humbled to be able to host you and feel blessed by your presence.  Here’s to UNITE next year, and every moment in between!