Above, from center, counterclockwise: Gene Millman, President & CEO; Deborah Shipley, Vice President of Corporate Communications and Marketing; Brandon Brancato, Vice President and CFO; Leesa Baker, Vice President, Chief Care & Compliance Officer; Robert Wilkinson, Vice President and CTO; and Claudia Cooper, Executive Administrator
Laser-focused on being the MLS of the future and the MLS its subscribers and customers can count on for their ongoing success, REcolorado is on a mission to serve its customers at a very high level so they, in turn, can serve their buyers and sellers.
“We believe in the American Dream, and we believe that we’re part of that American Dream of homeownership,” says Gene Millman, president and CEO of REcolorado. “We’re all part of that ecosystem.”
An industry veteran with 37-plus years of experience as a REALTOR®, broker/owner, MLS executive and administrator, Millman brings a unique perspective to his role at the head of Colorado’s largest MLS. In fact, he points to his brokerage background as a key asset that has led him to where he is today.
“I understand a lot of the challenges that brokerages are facing, so I can honestly relate to them—and not just in word, but because I’ve walked in their footsteps,” says Millman.
Leading with a vision
Never one to take his eye off the ball and those who are most important to REcolorado, Millman is committed to ensuring that they’re doing their best for their 27,000-plus subscribers.
“We want to know how we can be a business partner in our customers’ success, because if they succeed, we succeed, and if we succeed, they succeed.”
To that end, according to Millman, it’s all about being intentional. It’s about thinking outside the box and doing things differently.
As part of REcolorado’s overall strategy, Millman and his executive team put their heads together nearly 18 months ago to develop a strategic plan that outlines the company’s vision, mission and core values.
That strategic vision was boiled down to a one-page company strategy complete with five key areas that every decision must tie back to.
Serving to guide the company’s decision-making process, not only is it easily digestible, but it’s also infused throughout the company and its board of directors.
Comprised of experienced REALTORS® from across the Denver Metro and surrounding areas, the board of directors makes policy decisions, authorizes rule making and oversees strategic planning for REcolorado.
“We have a board that’s unified in seeing our vision move forward to truly be a company that can give the very best services and accurate data—with integrity—to all of the brokers and vendors who use that,” says Alan Smith, chair of the board.
In tune with an industry that’s changing, and a market that’s shifting, the board’s vision for the company is centered around making sure agents have the very best services so that they’re not looking elsewhere to get what’s on the market—depending instead on the reliable data from REcolorado.
As the role of the MLS evolves, one thing that will never change is the fact that it’s the lifeblood for the broker and agent to be able to have a holding tank of information with everything that’s on the market.
“There’s great benefit to being able to go to one central location for the majority of the information,” says Smith, who points to being more than just an MLS, but also a data and services company.
“We’re working toward positioning ourselves as an innovative company so that we can become partners with the people we work with on data,” adds Smith. That begins with investing in new up-and-coming technologies and initiatives that bring more value to subscribers and the industry at large (see sidebar on page 49).
“We’ve embraced the fact that we’re a data and services company that’s both creative and innovative,” says Smith, which is critical when it comes to addressing the changing needs of REcolorado’s subscribers.
“One of the biggest things that has helped set us up for success right now is that we’ve gone to the next level in that we’ve fortunately been blessed to be in a position to invest in some of these new ideas and technologies,” he adds.
Moving the needle forward: The power of listening
Adept at recognizing the varying needs of the different business models that are infiltrating the real estate space, one of the things that has helped REcolorado execute on its mission is their steadfast commitment to engaging with their customers.
Codependent on their subscribers, the company’s true North Star, moving the needle forward centers on the embodiment of one key philosophy: listening to what their subscribers want.
“Rather than just guessing what we think our subscribers want, we are asking them,” explains Millman—and that has made all the difference when it comes to standing up for the organization each and every day.
Vice President, Chief Care and Compliance Officer Leesa Baker—who also heads up REcolorado’s customer service, data integrity, broker engagement, and education and development teams—oversees various outreach initiatives, which collectively make up what the company refers to as its “listening tour.”
“We want great intel on specific things to help guide us where we need to go so that we can anticipate, then succeed,” says Baker. “As we hear things, if we don’t act upon them, we’re going to lose the faith of our subscribers and our brokers.”
An ongoing initiative, Baker underscores the importance of coming together as one in order to solicit feedback through focus groups, surveys, one-one-one conversations, executive roundtables, forums and everything in between. She refers to this as collective intelligence.
A whole-company effort, the executive team is responsible for meeting with offices, while the Customer Success team tracks feedback. Drilling down further, the company also has an advisory council, and feedback is also collected through its REcolorado Think Tank.
“We’re finding that there are different needs as far as how we have to reach out and support our subscribers and brokers if we want to be a partner to them in their businesses,” says Baker, who notes that collectively understanding their needs is mission critical.
“And while listening is key, providing feedback and following up in order to close that loop is even more important,” adds Baker, who explains that a lot of what she and her team hear falls under the policy and product umbrella.
“While we love standards, every market is different, so we have to make sure we’re following the lead of our brokers and agents to provide a marketplace for them as well as a fair MLS that works best for them,” says Baker, who also oversees the MLS rules and regulations committee.
“We want to keep our policy as consistent as possible as long as we can—but as the market shifts and the industry changes—we often have to change policy to go along with that,” she adds. “And so we ebb and flow a lot.”
Further strengthening its pro-consumer policies, REcolorado recently approved the comingling of listings on broker IDX sites—an MLS policy update that will facilitate additional transparency for consumers and brokers alike.
“We truly believe in commingling, because the consumer wants access to everything in one place,” says Baker. “We now provide that on all IDX sites while allowing brokers to add supplemental information as well.”
For Baker, it’s all about understanding what exactly their brokers and subscribers need REcolorado to provide.
Striving to achieve key metrics at each and every point along the way, REcolorado’s Customer Success team has achieved 90% first-call resolution in addition to answering 90% of their calls in 11 seconds or less.
“We have to be there when brokers need us,” says Baker, whose Customer Success team is available six days per week.
And it’s clearly working, as REcolorado recently received best MLS in customer service, data and training in a WAV Group survey.
“What we’re doing is resonating with our brokers and subscribers, and while we’re not doing it for ourselves, it shows that we’re always listening to our customers and providing them with what they need for their success,” says Baker.
Seizing opportunities
Bringing clarity to any number of industry initiatives that stand to impact REcolorado’s subscribers is another goal of the REcolorado executive team, which is constantly sizing up any and all opportunities the company can seize.
“At REcolorado, we believe we need to be aware of what the opportunities are, which can only be achieved by being out in the industry and reading a lot about what is going on in the marketplace,” explains Millman.
The team at REcolorado is continually working toward three main objectives: removing friction for brokers, diversifying the company’s customer base, and expanding services and potential market areas.
Leaning into this goal, the REcolorado team has their ears to the ground at all times—whether they’re attending an industry conference, involved in a one-on-one conversation, or participating in a board meeting or customer roundtable.
“Conversations are taking place all around the industry, and it’s our job to take those seeds of an idea and see if there’s any place we can go with them,” says Millman. “Is there an opportunity to diversify the customer base? Is there an opportunity to provide an efficiency for a subscriber, or remove friction for a brokerage?”
Not willing to simply throw shiny objects at their customer base, for the REcolorado executive team, it all goes back to industry engagement.
“Being engaged in the industry has allowed our team to form a picture of the really cool things going on both within our local area and outside of it that will ultimately benefit our subscribers as well as our position moving forward,” says Millman.
“And since nothing ever stands still, it’s also about determining what’s out there that has the potential to interrupt business as we know it. Whether it’s a big industry player that isn’t residential, or a technology such as blockchain, it’s nothing to be feared,” adds Millman.
Innovation can also come from within, thanks in large part to REcolorado’s robust tech team, who is a key piece of the puzzle when it comes to positioning the company to meet the broker exactly where they are.
“Just because we’re the MLS, and we’re the data repository for listings, that doesn’t mean that we can’t—and shouldn’t—try to solve some pain points that are pre-MLS, but also related,” explains Millman.
A prime example is REcolorado Media Bridge, a powerful tool that eliminates the need to manually download, save and upload listing photos one by one into REcolorado’s MLS system.
Bypassing the time-consuming file organization process by having the photographer upload listing photos and add virtual tour links for review, brokers can focus on what matters most: their clients.
Embracing a new mindset for what an MLS can deliver as a true partner with their customers, the team at REcolorado is committed to carrying out their mission to create a seamless ecosystem for their subscribers to work in while collaborating with their buyers and sellers.
“Not only do we all have to get in the boat together, but we’ve all got to put our oars in the water together. We all have to row at the same time, and at the same pace. That’s how we move forward,” concludes Millman.
For more information, please visit https://www.recolorado.com.
