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eXp Insider: The eXp Quarterly Survey Results Are In!

Kee Wah Chung, vice president of agent experience

Kee Wah Chung, vice president of agent experience

In November, we surveyed all of you for our quarterly eXp Realty survey to find out what we are doing well and what we could do better. The survey also determined our Net Promoter Score, or NPS, which measures overall satisfaction and advocacy of a company’s products or services. At eXp Realty, NPS is a key measure we track of agent satisfaction.

Now it is time to share the results and what we’re working on based on your feedback. We talked to Kee Wah Chung, vice president of agent experience, for an update.

Q: What was our NPS in Q3 and how is it calculated?
Kee Wah: NPS increased 7 points in the third quarter of 2017 to 71, compared to 64 in the second quarter of 2017. The increase largely was attributed to improvement of transaction management workflow and speed of agent commission payments, which were identified as areas of improvement in previous surveys.

NPS is calculated based on responses to: “How likely is it that you would recommend eXp Realty to a friend or colleague?” NPS can be as low as −100 or as high as +100. An NPS that is above zero is positive and an NPS of 50 or more tends to be excellent.

Q: What else did you learn?
Kee Wah: At the top of the list of things that we’re doing well are culture, staff, services and provided technologies. Areas of opportunity included onboarding, continue to build upon the improvements with transactions/commission payments and agent attraction. We also received many recommendations for improvements that we’ll review internally and announce in 2018.

Q: What are you doing with these insights?
Kee Wah: The company recently shared our 2018 priorities, which intentionally match up with your improvement requests from the survey: Agent onboarding, transactions and commissions, attraction practices and communication.

To address these areas, we formed project teams that have deep dived into the current process, tools and resources dedicated to these areas – leaving no stone unturned. We are coming out of these project meetings with priorities and specific actions we can take to drive improvement, quickly. We have already kicked off and completed the discovery process on Agent Onboarding and are in process on Agent Attraction, and Transactions and Commissions.

Many of you already have used the new “An Introduction to eXp Realty” presentation and we’re creating the next version based on your comments. Look for it in January. We also are working to consistently provide videos that tie to the many benefits of being part of eXp Realty. Our timeline has the first videos completed before the beginning of April. We’ll look to feedback from the AAC and others to make sure these videos tie to our accepted practices and culture.

To improve communication in 2018, we will regularly share our learnings as transparency and collaboration are important to the success of eXp. I’m super excited about 2018 and ask all of you to continue engaging with us to make eXp the best it can be!

Look for the next quarterly survey soon!

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Video & eXp: Where We Are and Where We Are Going

Almost everyday, our marketing team or one of our agents has a great idea about a new video that can help our company continue to grow. That makes me happy as we have plans for video in the near future, and it has a direct tie to my past experience and passion.

A long time ago, after I graduated with a marketing degree, I had this crazy thought that television was lacking in marketing pros that also could make commercials, direct the news and even be on the air from time to time. I realized that dream and spent the next dozen years working at TV stations across the Midwest. I worked with local merchants to help them gain new customers, produced local newscasts, made smart and dumb programming decisions, and was even part of a classic TV blooper that Dick Clark showed on national TV.

A lot has changed. Today, anyone with a phone can make a video that used to cost thousands of dollars, and the internet allows for immediate distribution. For the most part, it’s a fantastic advancement for all of us who want to share everything from a business opportunity to that favorite karaoke performance.

At eXp Realty, we’ve made a few videos that agents like to use, but as our new marketing team has worked hard to refine our messaging, it’s now time to get off the sidelines and get into the game.

Our plan is to consistently provide videos that tie to the many benefits of being part of eXp Realty. Just like how we provide a variety of collateral pieces (with more always in the pipeline), video is also an important asset you’ll see from us in 2018. These videos generally will be less than 4 minutes, and feature not only images and on-target messages, but also agents from around the country and staff.

Initially, the videos we produce will focus on these areas:

  • Our history & business model
    (includes areas such as cloud office, training, collaboration, agent ownership) 
  • eXp World/Tools & Technology
    (includes eXp World, eXp Enterprise) 
  • Your Business, Your Way
    (includes core and flexible services) 
  • Behind the Scenes
    (includes organization & core values) 
  • Joining the Team
    (includes equity programs, revenue share & more)

Our timeline has the first videos completed before the beginning of April. We’ll look to feedback from the AAC and others to make sure these videos tie to our accepted practices and culture.

Our goal is to provide professionally produced videos to our 6,000+ agents at no cost during the coming months and years so stay tuned!

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eXp Insider: Improving the Speed of Commission Payments

Some of you have heard about Operation Payment Express, eXp’s initiative to speed up commission payments to our agents and create standard payment procedures. But with so many new agents and others asking for an update, we talked to Kee Wah Chung, vice president of agent experience, and Patty Shaw, director of the transaction and payment team, to hear the latest.

Q: What’s Operation Payment Express and how does it help agents?
Kee Wah: Back in late May 2017, we started an initiative called Operation Payment Express, or OPE. It’s an ongoing initiative to improve the speed and accuracy of paying out commissions to agents on completed transactions. During the first phase of OPE, our goal was to initiate payment on 90 percent of all core transactions within one business day by June 30 — we exceeded our goal by June 20.

Today, we generally work on settlements and disbursement authorizations the same day — this is a HUGE WIN! This quick turnaround puts money in agent’s pockets faster and allows them to better manage their business finances.

Q: What does “initiate” payment mean?
Patty: Initiate is when eXp Realty electronically sends a commission payment to the agent’s bank account. Some financial institutions (e.g., credit unions) may take additional time to post a payment however we want to ensure we “initiate” a payment as quickly as possible.

Q: That is exciting news. How did you do it?
Patty: We focused on the key themes of people, process and technology. We increased the number of individuals focused on settlement and disbursement from one to eight team members. In addition, we streamlined our internal processes, and helped to expedite transactions and payments. Lastly, we leveraged technology that would manage all commission payment through a “ticketing system”. We saw a dramatic increase of payment velocity and visibility of transactions across the teams as a result. Currently, we are working with the Enterprise development team to add the entire transaction and payment workflow so only one tool is used to drive this process, further increasing efficiency and accuracy.

Q: How can we find out more?
Kee Wah: Since the beginning of June, we have held regular Operation Payment Express meetings. Aligning to our core values of transparency and collaboration, this is an internal meeting that we open up to all agents, brokers and staff who want to gain insight on the continuous improvements and efforts we are working on as part of OPE. These are held every Monday and Thursday at 8:30 a.m. Pacific in Meeting Room 6 in eXp World. You can be a fly on the wall and we never hold back on what is discussed. Often, there is additional time remaining and we ask for guidance on what we should focus on. Patty Shaw also provides regular updates at the weekly eXp Realty state administrative brokers’ meeting.

Q: Is Operation Payment Express complete?
Patty: No, we are looking to build upon our success. Operation Payment Express is an ongoing initiative to drive continuous improvement. For example, from time to time hiccups happen delaying a commission payment. This is generally because we are missing a signature, document or transaction-specific information we need to issue a commission payment. We organized the Transaction and Payment Teams so they all work more efficiently together to handle these one-off cases. In addition, we use these situations as learning experiences and opportunities to improve.

Q: What’s next?
Kee Wah: Based on feedback from agents, our next area of focus will be on rentals, referrals and leases. I’m positive we’ll be able to deliver the same level of success as we have during our first phase of OPE. We’d like to say “thank you” for partnering with our team as we continue to focus on making eXp Realty the best!

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Meet Your Regional Development Leaders!

Learn what they do and how to find yours

By Jason Gesing, Chief Executive Officer, eXp Realty, and Kathy Gordon, Vice President of Brokerage Operations, eXp Realty

We recently announced the formation of two new leadership groups at eXp — Regional Development Leaders and State Administrative Brokers.

Today, we are thrilled to unveil the names of the Regional Development Leaders as well as introduce a couple of new State Administrative Brokers.

But, first, why and what do they do?

As we continue our explosive growth, it is important to make sure we are adequately staffed to help agent-owners with their daily needs. Previously, each state had one “State Broker” and that individual had to wear many hats. Now, growth and attraction processes are split from operations, providing you more and faster support.

eXp Realty Regions

eXp Realty Regions

Regional Development Leaders, or RDLs, are responsible for growth in their regions. They also are instrumental in building culture and increasing retention through their local leadership presence. So, if you have a question about agent attraction, opening new markets or agent vetting, this is your go-to person.

State Administrative Brokers, or SABs, are the official broker with the state licensing agency. They are in charge of supervising agents in their practice of real estate. Their primary focus internally is on operations, retention, culture and productivity. They can help you with contract questions, client and consumer disputes, and much more.

Sounds great, but how do I find mine?

We created a handy eXp Cloud resource with everything you need to know — from responsibilities to a sortable list of RDLs and SABs. You will see a few open roles, but, rest assured, that we are on the hunt for the right culture and experience fit for your region. In the meantime, for RDL questions, contact Vikki Bartholomae ([email protected]) and Kathy ([email protected]) for SAB-related questions.

We appreciate the expert knowledge and leadership from these individuals!

Leaders and Brokers by State

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eXp Insider: eXp Runs on Enterprise

Editor’s Note: “eXp Insider” is our new continuing series in which we share what’s happening behind the scenes within eXp Realty. Learn from eXp’s Chief Product and Technology Officer Scott Petronis about our upcoming launch of the eXp Enterprise app. The Enterprise Fact Sheet is also available for download, click here.

Q. I’ve heard others talk about Enterprise. What is it?
Enterprise is our new proprietary platform that manages all of the company’s critical processes and information, including agent details, transactions, commissions and revenue share. We’re gearing up for the first company-wide release, but we wanted to give you a quick look at what’s on the horizon.

For the last couple months, eXp staff has been using Enterprise for back office workflow management and to implement Operation Payment Express, an initiative to speed up commission payments to agents. A few agents and brokers have tested Enterprise to gain better transparency into their transactions and payments.

Q. Why did you build a totally new broker platform?
Onboarding thousands of new agents in 2016 was a huge undertaking. We needed one platform to run our business, and who better to build it than the people who know the ins and outs of the complex real estate transaction process – us!

As eXp continues its explosive growth, it is important to strengthen and improve our business infrastructure to match that pace; Enterprise will be another step in that direction.

Enterprise will create greater efficiency, accountability and visibility by eliminating redundancy, improving integration and reducing vendor dependencies.

Scott Petronis
Chief Product and Technology Officer
eXp Realty

Q. What will agents and brokers be able to do in Enterprise?
Our goal is to create a unified and collaborative experience for agents, brokers and staff with Enterprise. The formal launch will be a first step toward that goal.

In the cloud there are no business hours or time zones. Enterprise will give eXp agents and brokers autonomy and greater visibility into their individual transactions and overall revenue.

Soon agents and brokers will be able to use Enterprise to get direct visibility into the metrics and information that’s crucial to their real-time needs.

  • Agents will be able to view the current status of their transactions and commission payments.
  • Brokers will be able to manage approvals and workflow.

Q. How will eXp staff use Enterprise to better serve agents and brokers?
We still have a lot of work to do to bring more autonomy to agents and brokers, but, currently, eXp accounting and agent services staff are able to manage:

  • Agent Onboarding: A new onboarding process streamlines the flow of joining agents using centralized information capture, approvals and account creation to reduce multi-entry and eliminate errors.
  • Transaction Processing: Agent transactions are automatically pulled into the system to validate details, streamline approvals, automatically notify participants and push closed transactions directly through for payments.
  • Financial Oversight: Agent commissions, revenue share, splits and other crucial financial details are standardized and applied with auditable rigor.
  • Modular Growth: eXp Realty has the ability to constantly enhance and build out capabilities that meet the needs of all company stakeholders as and when we need.

Q. This sounds like just another place I have to log in and do something. Do I have to use Enterprise, can’t I just use SkySlope?
All of eXp’s critical processes and information will run in Enterprise. Agents will continue to submit transactions in SkySlope for broker review, but it is linked to Enterprise. One of the key benefits of Enterprise is the autonomy and greater visibility into individual transactions and overall revenue.

Soon there will be a number of functions for agents and brokers that will only be available in Enterprise:

  1. View/review disbursement agreements
  2. View/review settlement statements
  3. View/review revenue share calculations
  4. View/review equity program and share grants
  5. View/review/modify agent profile details

Plus, starting next week, disbursement and settlement notifications will start automatically being generated from Enterprise to offer more visibility into the transaction process.

Q. What’s next?
What I’m most excited about is that Enterprise will help us not just keep the pace, but outpace the industry.

As a web application, eXp can continuously add new features and functionality to Enterprise. Over time, we will integrate more processes, reducing the need to go from one system to another; provide greater visibility through enhanced dashboards; and enhance integrations with partner systems to eliminate multiple log-ins. We are committed to continuous feature expansion and improvement based on feedback.

Q. How do I access Enterprise and what should I do?
Soon everyone will be able to log-in to see information specific and important to them. On your first visit, you’ll want to look at:

  1. Profile: Make sure your information, photo and bio is up to date.
  2. Finance: Review your equity and revenue share information.
  3. Transactions: Check out your active and closed transactions.
  4. Contact support: Send direct notifications to support when you need assistance.

More information will be available next week as we start to make Enterprise available to a broader audience. If you have any immediate questions, please email [email protected].

Q. Is there a training course, or how else can I learn how to use it?
We will offer short video tutorials and other active help methods. Our goal — and we’re not there yet — is to make the interface and experience highly intuitive so anyone can quickly get started.

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eXp Insider: Operation Payment Express

Editor’s Note: “eXp Insider” is our new continuing series in which we share what’s happening behind the scenes within eXp Realty. Learn here how CFO Alan Goldman and Vice President of Agent Services, Kee Wah Chung are teaming up to speed up commission payments to our agents.

“Operation Payment Express” Payment & Process Matter

Q. “Operation Payment Express” sounds like a pretty weighty initiative. What are you trying to accomplish?
Alan: In our quest to become the #1 brokerage firm in nation and beyond, there’s really nothing more important to us than making sure our agents are paid quickly when they close a transaction. For the vast majority, we do a pretty good job. We also know that for some agents, this has not been their experience during this past year given our rapid growth. Regardless of the reasons for this, we can, and will, do better.

Alan Goldman,
Chief Financial Officer

Q. Where do you start on something as important as this?
Kee Wah: Like most important things that happen at eXp, it’s a team effort that goes well beyond the two of us. It all starts with understanding where we are today, and where we want to go. We started by deeply looking at the process as it exists today across every touch point where an eXp staff member interacts with a transaction or affects commission payments. Then, we are assessing if there are deficiencies internally that we can quickly correct through adjusting our resources or through additional training. Being a technology-enabled brokerage firm, using the right technology in the right way is also key.

Q. What have you found so far?
Alan: As I talk to a variety of agents, their payment does not always post as fast as we would all like and there is a need for a consistent notification mechanism of when a payment was processed. Often, we think we have done the right thing on our end, but a local bank can have a slower process than we would like. Communication is a big part of all this–setting a standard that makes sense for all, and making sure we define that standard.

Kee Wah Chung,
Vice President of Agent Experience

Q. You just started on the effort. Have you implemented any early changes?
Kee Wah: We are still in the audit phase, but have also made some quick changes that agents tell us are having a early, positive impact. We’ve added two new settlement specialists who are helping to speed up the process in multiple ways. We’ve also moved one of our very experienced staff into this area to ensure we are improving, identifying quick wins and leading with an agent-first mindset. It’s all about driving greater transaction payment velocity for our agents. This gives us some immediate wins as well as learning for how we might make changes to the overall process for the longer term.

Q. How does the eXp Enterprise App tie into all of this?
Kee Wah: For those not familiar, we launched the eXp Enterprise App on May 1, after more than a year of development. Enterprise will be the data processing hub of all we do at eXp. We started with leveraging Enterprise for the management of all eXp transactions. In less than one month of operation, we are starting to realize the benefits for driving greater speed of the transaction payment process. Operation Payment Express directly ties to this as it allows us to identify process and technology improvements, execute on some quick fixes / wins and prioritize key process or future development efforts within Enterprise to drive maximum efficiency. We are very excited about the future of Enterprise and we’ll be sharing much more about its benefits in the coming weeks–so stay tuned!

Q. What’s next?
Alan: We have a detailed 60 day plan we are feverishly working on. There will be continuing improvements during that time, as well as the development of performance standards, and we look forward to communicating with everyone as we better understand what’s working, what’s not and how you can help us better serve you. We all understand the importance of prompt commission payment and are excited to make it happen for you!

Alan Goldman joined the Company as its Chief Financial Officer in March 2016. Kee Wah Chung serves as the Vice President of Agent Experience, joining eXp in April 2017. Feel free to share your thoughts with them! Reach Alan at [email protected] and Kee Wah at [email protected].

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