Answering Every Agent's Questions about Zillow Flex with Jilayna Arcoren

In this episode of Take it and Run, Kristi Jencks sits down with Jilayna Arcoren, VP of Sales Ops, Associate Broker with REAL, and ZillowFlex expert, to break down one of the most misunderstood opportunities in real estate: the ZillowFlex program.

Jilayna brings her deep well of experience as a former premier agent, Flex team leader, and national Flex coach to help us navigate the myths, mechanics, and mindsets needed to thrive with Zillow leads. If you’ve ever wondered, “Is Flex worth it?”, “How do I evaluate a Flex team?”, or “How do I avoid agent burnout?”, this one’s for you.

Whether you're a new agent looking for traction or a seasoned pro wanting to refine your strategy, you’ll walk away with clear takeaways on how to build systems, set boundaries, and understand your value proposition in a shifting real estate landscape.

What We Cover:

• What ZillowFlex actually is and what it’s not
• The three types of Flex leads and how to work each
• Who Flex is ideal for (hint, it’s not just new agents)
• How to avoid Zillow fatigue and agent burnout
• Why team structure, transparency, and systems matter
• Four pillars every agent should build their business on
• How to evaluate a Flex team before you join
• Realistic onboarding and ramp-up expectations for new agents

Top Takeaways:

• ZillowFlex has evolved, so should your mindset and methods
• Agents need more than leads, they need a system and support
• Burnout happens when you rely only on Flex without balance
• Know your value, you're not just opening doors, you're advising

Connect with Jilayna:
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🐾 TikTok: @hats_cats_and_realestate

📧 Reach out via phone, email, or DM on social

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🎙️ About the Podcast

Take It and Run is the podcast for ambitious professionals—especially real estate agents—who want practical strategies they can implement immediately. Each episode delivers mindset shifts, frameworks, and real-world insights to help you move from thinking about it… to doing it.

Transcript

Kristi Jencks 

Welcome back to Taken and Run. Today we're diving into something that gets a lot of questions. Many times, real estate agents, team leaders, broker owners, they always want to know what's up with ZillowFlex. And today we actually have a ZillowFlex expert with us. And we're going to dive into all things Zillow leads, all things ZillowFlex teams.

to be on a team or not and what you should look for and what mistakes that you should avoid. So our perfect guest today is Jilayna She is a Minnesota based broker and the VP of sales and operations at Enclave team with RealBroker. She is uniquely positioned to help us navigate this topic and

For those of our listeners who don't know you, what can you share about you, your experience, your journey, and how did you become such a Zillowflex expert?

Jilayna Arcoren (01:27.694)
Sure, so love to share that. Thank you so much for having me today too. I'm really excited to be here. So I would say my background in real estate started a long time ago. My dad was actually a contractor, so I got to work with him and knew construction a lot.

and in remodeling a lot, running estimates, et cetera, and just fell kind of in love with houses. And secretly, I think that that stems back from my youth because I would always be the kid who grabbed the free booklet out of the vestibule at the grocery store that had like the floor plans and all of the houses for sale before the internet was a thing and that's where you went to search homes. So.

carried that forward with me and dove headfirst into real estate about a decade ago and have never turned back, which has been great so far. So the first team that I worked on is when I really got my exposure to Zillow and it was back when it was still kind of up and coming and went from becoming, you know, where people went to search for homes into a source of leads. I certainly saw that whole transition to when they went to live connections and then

further on into Flex. So I've had experience as a premier agent for a lot of years, and then also aligned myself with a Flex team back in 2022. And from there was working as an agent, really successful with Flex itself and transitioned into the role of sales manager for that company and eventually director of sales and got a lot of experience running the entire Flex partnership behind the scenes. So.

creating the systems and processes to kind of replicate my success with it to help other agents become successful with it as well. And then change or refine those processes as Zillow has continued to evolve, which I think looks very different now than it did when Flex first launched about four or so years ago as well. And then housing means something different too. So just taking my love of real estate forward to align with where the technology is going.

Kristi Jencks (03:05.081)
Nice.

Jilayna Arcoren (03:27.662)
and at the same time still provide great service for clients. And that has led to my transition to where I'm at now with Enclave team. So I went from director of sales at Pemberton Homes, which was an EXP team and is now an independent brokerage over to Enclave team at Real Broker where I am the VP of sales operations. And the goal or I should say role I have here in this company is systems and processes that really help agents develop long-term successful businesses.

and then agent growth and how they can use our flex partnership on this team to do that as well. So I've got the unique perspective of working Zillow Flex on two different teams, as well as a strong background as a premier agent and having seen how that system's evolved. When I was with my previous brokerage as well, or previous team, I got to participate in a unique program with Zillow and kind of see a little bit more behind the scenes and how a lot of those tools would be developed.

Kristi Jencks (04:09.06)
Yes.

Jilayna Arcoren (04:26.732)
And I did that from the perspective of how it would impact an agent and their sales, as well as how it would impact the growth of a team or a flex team as well. So a lot of the tools that some of these Zillow Flex teams are using now, such as capacity planning or how the reports are even laid out, are all things that I got to have a hand in, which has been really unique as well.

Kristi Jencks (04:49.637)
Awesome. Okay, well, let's start at the very beginning. So having had a flex team here in the Phoenix area for a really long time, we recently just let go of our flex account for kind of changing directions in my own personal production and team leader journey. But having had that a lot, like I would interview a lot of agents and they always came with negative connotations when it came to Zillow, right? You're either in a...

hate Zillowcamp or love Zillowcamp, right? It feels like there's no in between. And I like what you said, you said partnership. And so I definitely wanna dive into that. why don't you just start us out with some myth busters? Like what is Zillowflex? What type of leads is it? Like what do people that you interview think Zillow is about when it's really not?

Jilayna Arcoren (05:38.574)
So I think that's a great question because it is, I see the same thing on our end as well. The majority of people who are like, it's a love hate relationship and they just don't understand how the program has really evolved over the last several years. And I think that if you were one of those original people who maybe bought premier agent leads when they first started, that looked very different, but there's still a lot of myth out there that that's the majority of type of leads you're going to get.

or you're not really connecting with a ready buyer. And what I have seen evolve is that we went from live transfer phone calls only to technology really playing a role where we get a consumer who's even more ready to purchase a home. And making sure that agents understand that is really important because they look at the leads differently if they're partnering with your team and...

the goal is to set them up for success. So there's no advantage in really getting them on the program if they're not going to look at it as a true lead source, as one of the pillars for building their business. And I think setting the right expectation and foundation is really critical. And that starts with just explaining to them, no, these are ready buyers. There's a variety of type of leads. Some are pre-approved and ready to go. They want to shop now.

Kristi Jencks (06:37.081)
Yeah.

Jilayna Arcoren (07:01.92)
Others have been looking for a long period of time and they're finally willing to go out there and get their feet wet. And then some are still in that phase where they just need to connect with someone and they have a lot of questions or they haven't really cemented their agent partnership yet. So understanding how the leads.

work and that these are really ready buyers, they're real consumers, they're people we talk to on the phone, some have had experience in real estate before, others have not, it's critical for helping agents understand what they can do with the program and how they can grow their business with it.

Kristi Jencks (07:35.683)
So does this work for all types of agents, experienced and new? I mean, who is an ideal agent for Flex?

Jilayna Arcoren (07:49.902)
think everybody is an ideal agent for Flex, but I don't think every agent knows how Flex works or how they could make Flex work for them. So I think it's a great way to start kind of building your business. If you're a newer agent, I think it's ideal for that and giving you quality connections and those in-person meetings more quickly.

I think if you're kind of a mid-range experienced agent, maybe you've been in the business for a few years or you're experiencing kind of a downturn or your sphere isn't transacting as much, it is great for kind of filling in or being one of the pillars of your business. And then I also think for experienced agents as well, like you would want to have a presence with one of the...

Kristi Jencks (08:13.155)
Okay.

Jilayna Arcoren (08:36.462)
biggest, the biggest source of ready buyers or people who are looking at homes online. Having a connection or a partnership with that is good for you as well, even if that meant just a limited number of connections every month.

Kristi Jencks (08:52.015)
So what about the agents? Because this is also something that as a team leader, I get all the time. They're like, yeah, but Zilla's going to take a cut out of it. And I got to pay my broker. And I got to pay my team. so let's face the facts. You will make less on a flex deal. So is it still worth it?

Jilayna Arcoren (09:13.216)
I think it's worth it. And I think here's, I'm big on illustration. So here's how I would illustrate it for people. I like to garden, spend as much time outside doing that as possible. And I would encourage people to think of it this way. If I want to plant a garden and I go to the store and I buy a pack of seeds, it's a lot cheaper, right? There's less costs that kind of comes off the top, but it takes a lot more work to get that ready to a point of growth.

Whereas with Zillow, it's like going to the nursery and you can, you have the same fruit or vegetable or plant that is at different stages of development. And the more developed they are, the more quickly they're going to produce, but they cost a little bit more. And so it's really the type of business that people are going to want to build. And I think that,

there's value in kind of having something at every single stage. And so yes, there is a cost that comes off the top. But if you are handed a ready buyer who's ready to transact in 30 days, what would that have cost if you started from the seed, so to speak, and had to nurture them over a period of two years? If you have someone who's ready to transact in 90 days or six months, like,

What does that look like to you in terms of value if you didn't have access to that type of ready buyer? So there's a cost that comes with it, but there's a benefit that comes with it as well. And I think it's the cost benefit analysis. How much time is it saving you in the upfront? What level of experience are you gaining? How is it helping you stay at the forefront of trends in the market and where the consumer's needs are by working with the people who are ready to go now or more quickly versus

just working with the people who are still a long ways out from completing a transaction or buying a home.

Kristi Jencks (11:11.247)
So it sounds like you're saying there are some intangibles, whether it's skills or systems from being involved in a flex environment.

Jilayna Arcoren (11:20.256)
Agreed, yes. I think the systems piece of it is really important.

Kristi Jencks (11:22.703)
So.

I definitely want to get into that. okay, we've kind of started talking about what it is, what type of leads they are. Yes, you might make some, you know, make it a little less per deal per se. And I, you know, I go back to Merrill and I, we, over a decade ago, we were premier agents. We did build our business, especially because we didn't have a sphere.

We built our business on Zillow as premier agents and that grew into an incredible database. And so it's almost like arbitraging database as well because you're growing a database. Now you're just paying at a closing referral model. But okay, so if you are a real estate agent and you are looking to partner up with a team and you are interviewing flex teams, non-flex teams, or maybe you're even interviewing between different flex teams, let's get tactical.

How should a real estate agent evaluate whether a flex team's setup is strong? Does it have the right infrastructure? What should a real estate agent look for if they are interviewing with a flex team?

Jilayna Arcoren (12:30.638)
So I think one of the first things that I would ask or encourage them to ask is, is the person who's running the Flex partnership or the team owner, have they ever actually worked the leads themselves? And you brought up a great point, right? So you have experience being a premier agent and then transitioning into Flex. You've experienced what the shift in that model looked like.

I think if you're working with a team that maybe the team leader or the person who's running the Flex account has never had experience on both sides of that or working the current Flex model, they're not necessarily going to have the best advice or setup in their systems for how to work the leads from this point forward. And so I would look at that. Is the person who's running the account someone who has actually worked the leads at some point and have they been successful at it?

because the structure of that model is gonna be critical for how any agent comes into a team and can move forward with their sales. The second, think, sorry, go ahead. I think the second piece of that is are they transparent with how they run the program, right? Because there is a lot that you can do behind the scenes with Zillow. You can put caps in place on price points of leads. You can limit locations and number of leads.

Kristi Jencks (13:31.141)
So go ahead.

Jilayna Arcoren (13:49.997)
And so I would ask for them to explain the setup. I personally don't believe that you can hold people accountable to expectations or standards that they don't understand. So for me, I'm very open with all of the agents who interview with us, as well as agents who are on the Flex team about how that system works. And I do that because I want to show them where they are empowered to make the most difference in their business, to keep Flex performing at a high level for them as well.

Kristi Jencks (14:20.197)
Okay, so transparency and structure are some of the things that they should look at. Now, you know, I am also curious, like, is there an advantage to a flex team over a non-flex team? Because you probably experienced that in development, know, agents are coming to you. So what are some of the things that an agent should consider if they are interviewing teams?

if they are a right fit for a flex team or if they're not and they should just be looking at a different type of model.

Jilayna Arcoren (14:51.064)
Sure. Well, I think that my recommendation to all agents would be partnering with a flex team that isn't just a flex team. Right? So if that's one aspect of their business, I think that's great. But what we encourage all of our agents to do is build out four key pillars of their business. Right? So it should never be just putting all of your eggs in one basket.

Kristi Jencks (14:59.527)
tell me more about that.

Jilayna Arcoren (15:13.42)
I think that's a very easy way to turn your business into something that's solely transactional because it is measured so much by the numbers. Whereas I found the majority of people who want to work in real estate really love connection with people. They want a high level of client service. And so they have to have pillars of their business that also align with that as well. And I think having four key pillars allows them to have a more balanced approach. They will actually be more successful on Zillow Flex leads.

Kristi Jencks (15:19.429)
Mm-hmm.

Jilayna Arcoren (15:42.797)
because it is not the only aspect of their business that they're working. And then they're going to be able to take the knowledge that they've gained from working with consumers in all different setups. it's people you meet at an open house, if you're taking a different type of online lead, if it is working your sphere-based business or social media, whatever those pillars are, they all are going to offer some perspective that you can then apply to the Zillow Flex leads you're working as well.

So I think it's really important not to just align with a team that is solely Flex, but one that is encouraging you to develop a strong personal-based business. And Flex is simply one pillar of that.

Kristi Jencks (16:23.653)
what in your opinion what's the good percentage or a healthy percentage that they should aim for but not go over right is that 25 % 30 % 50 % like of those four pillars what percentage should be you know not exceeded when it comes to over indexing on say a Zillow flex lead.

Jilayna Arcoren (16:45.336)
think that's going to depend on where the agent is in their career. So if they're a newer agent, they're going to be very heavy on the flex side of things initially, and that will probably consume, I would imagine, three quarters of their business. I would never tell anyone to go in 100 % on flex.

I think it's the fastest way to grow your business quickly, to build a book of business. So 75 % for a newer agent. And then that number is going to fluctuate based on your experience in real estate and how you've taken care of your client to develop a really strong personal-based business. So if you have a high level of referrals,

that come in or you do a great job of working your sphere and you've been in the industry for a long time, maybe Flex is 20 to 25 % of your business. But the nice thing about it is that, you know, if it is a, regardless of what percentage it takes, you're able to kind of model that to where the market goes. And we are, sure we've all been there where, you know, our, our sphere or repeat customers or clients all transact in this short period of time.

Kristi Jencks (17:44.377)
Yes.

Jilayna Arcoren (17:53.473)
And suddenly you're like, okay, well, I'm through this repeat cycle of business. I've got nothing, right? And that's nice to have flex to kind of fall back on. And at the same time, that's why I would always encourage people to have it as one pillar of their business, because you can work it more frequently as needed, or you can roll back the amount of leads that you want as just a filler for your business.

And in doing so, you're turning those peaks and valleys of real estate, like the real low loads, the real high highs, into more of the rolling hills. And I think it's helping agents develop consistency overall in their business. So instead of having months where you're doing five transactions and you go down to a couple where you have zero, you know, are you leveraging all of those pillars in the Zillow Flex partnership to do two, three homes consistently month over month or more? So.

Kristi Jencks (18:47.813)
Let's, I wanna talk about the elephant in the room, because this is something I hear a lot, coaching a lot of flex teams across the nation, and just even again, as a team leader, let's talk about Zillow Fatigue, because it can be a very real thing, and you kind of alluded to it, you said don't go 100 % in, but high volume lead flow can be a blessing and can also feel like an absolute beast.

Jilayna Arcoren (18:51.234)
your hearts.

Kristi Jencks (19:15.951)
So what are some of the most common burnout symptoms you see? And then what guardrails do you recommend for? Let's start at an agent level. And then I do want to talk to the team leader that may be in the midst of this themselves. But for an agent, what should they be looking out for? And what guardrails should they put in place?

Jilayna Arcoren (19:34.585)
Sure, so if you are, hey, I'm just gonna go for the quick deal. You're gonna take lead after lead after lead and you're either going to fail in the follow-up process or you're gonna be working leads like crazy and you're gonna feel like you have no break at all. And that is where I see the most agent fatigue. They do this high level of transactions because they go all in on Zillow.

instead of working their personal business or setting them up for success on the system side of things, which is really important. I think that follow that is in line with what the agent needs, but also what the team leaders should be developing. So on our end, we developed our follow up boss system to make it as easy as possible for agents to follow up with their leads. And I think the backend system plays just as much a role.

in agent fatigue with Zillowflex as the front end does when we're coaching our agents on how many leads they should be taking consistently. What is a reasonable amount of leads that an agent needs? I like to do a ramp up with my agents over the first three months where I'm starting them on five to eight leads and they can just kind of get a feel for how the program works and build a solid foundation and what that follow-up will look like.

And from there, we're ramping up based on not just their conversion, but how do they work the leads consistently and how does it fit in with the rest of what their business plan looks like? Because if they come in and they have a strong personal business, we don't want them to just suddenly ignore that in an effort to ramp up or build this ZillowFlex business. Because what will end up happening is they will very quickly develop fatigue on the Zillow side and then just want to go back to the personal business.

Kristi Jencks (21:01.871)
Mm-hmm.

Jilayna Arcoren (21:19.704)
So the goal always has to be a personalized approach to the agent, what type of business they're coming in with, what type of business they're looking to develop, and a customized plan for what that lead source looks like so that fatigue never becomes an issue.

Kristi Jencks (21:34.893)
Okay, so let's talk to the team leader, right? Because here's the other, so I'm gonna just kind of expose some things, but the thing that team leaders come to me is they say, yeah, I have agents that are not following up like they should. I need to take them off, but I can't because I don't have enough agents. And so then their agents burn out, but also they're not performing at their max capability.

It just becomes this nightmare because they almost feel hostage to Flex because they need to keep their connection and their answer rate up. They need to take agents off because they need a break and they can't. So speak to the team leader, like how do you avoid that scenario?

Jilayna Arcoren (22:19.202)
I think the best way to avoid that scenario if you're a team leader is you need to have your follow-up boss system maximized to simplify practicing real estate or doing the follow-up process. That is where the most amount of fatigue happens and that's also where it's easiest for agents to fall behind because it's easier to just pick up the next phone call or feel the obligation to pick up the next call or the next lead.

than it is to do the follow-up process with someone they've been working with maybe for a few months. And so if you're really structuring your database in a simplified way, and now all Flex partners are on follow-up boss, so I'll stick with that system for how it should be structured or what my recommendations are. I break it down by lead category that aligns with the Zillow Flex metric report. So if you're a team leader, I would look at each of those stages of the metric report and I would...

Kristi Jencks (22:59.587)
Yes, yeah.

Jilayna Arcoren (23:14.446)
create a smart list category that aligns with that, and what is the parameter for how often your agents should be connecting with the lead that falls into each one of those categories, and then build out your automations in your system to align with each of those categories. And just note to team leaders, this works for any lead source, not just ZillowFlex, but that's a great kind of roadmap to follow.

Kristi Jencks (23:36.677)
Correct.

Jilayna Arcoren (23:40.097)
And what that does is it takes all the guesswork and the fatigue out of it for the agent. If you're working with 30 leads, 40 leads, if you've been on Zillow for a long period of time and you're trying to balance, how do I set up a schedule for my followup? And you have to guess every time, what is it that I need to say or what should I do to stay in front of my lead or keep them engaged in the buying process if they're someone that you've met with, but they're not quite ready to be showing home status.

Taking the guesswork out of that for the agent is really important. And so I would encourage the team leader to dive into their database and figure out a way to systematize it so that that part of the business is done on behalf of the agent. How we have it structured is all of our templates are built out and our agents just align their lead and what category that they fall into with kind of a series of one, two, three action items. They just follow down the line and we're seeing

Kristi Jencks (24:24.579)
Yeah.

Jilayna Arcoren (24:39.584)
more and more of our agents move lead from category to category. So it's simplified the way that they're working them, but it also, as a team leader, is going to identify who needs help where. If you look at the metrics and someone has really great success at meeting clients in person or meeting leads in person, but they can't get someone to move forward with showing homes, then that tells me a lot about kind of relationship development.

what's happening or what's amiss at that first meeting where the consumer doesn't have confidence in working with the person going forward. And before I dive into that, I would just say I've heard a lot of Flex team leaders say they only coach on two specific things. They coach on conversion and they coach on ZHL metrics. And I think that what they're doing, my piece of advice I guess would be that...

Kristi Jencks (25:31.397)
For the listener who may not know, what's a ZHL?

Jilayna Arcoren (25:34.979)
So Zillow Home Loans, right? So if there's a percentage of leads or if that's an inclusive part of the partnership, which it is now, not just looking at how many clients are pre-approved with Zillow and how many clients are actually transacting, but all of the data in between really paints a picture on the individual agent's success with the program and where they need the most help in training overall for their entire business.

So I spend a lot of time kind of coaching to each of those metrics because they tell me a story and that's gonna help me understand where they need help regardless of the lead source.

Kristi Jencks (26:12.997)
to us about training and onboarding. So you kind of mentioned the stages, the Zillow Flex stages and being able to identify, okay, that person actually struggles setting appointments or they're able to set but not get them to meet or they're able to get them to meet and not sign long-term, kind of moving through that path. If I were to sign on with your team, what would my first 30 days look like? What kind of training and support would I get to be able to ramp me up to not just convert

Jilayna Arcoren (26:19.373)
Mm-hmm.

Kristi Jencks (26:42.905)
Zillow leads, but online leads and leads in general because all of your leads, open house leads are gonna run through that same stage flow.

Jilayna Arcoren (26:50.318)
Mm-hmm.

Yep. So I'm so happy you asked that question. That's something I'm extremely passionate about. So I look at the first 90 days, the first six months in the first year, and that's kind of what we've created here is like a realty residency program. And so that first 30 days is building foundation. It's kind of the prep work really. And if you, if I were to illustrate it like building a house, this is when from the ground up, you're preparing the ground for how you're going to launch that program.

The second is building a really solid foundation and understanding the process for meeting a client where they're at and moving them forward. One of the biggest mistakes that I see all agents make with Zillow is they want to take them back to square one. And this is not the type of lead to do that. So making sure that you have a training program in place that really deciphers the type of lead they're working.

and the process for meeting them where they're at in their home buying or home selling journey and how to move them forward from there is absolutely critical. We have a series of required trainings that are important for the agent in developing that foundation. And then from there, it's continual building blocks over those first 90 days in communication and in follow-up.

And then in the scripting tactics that we use as well for keeping buyers and sellers engaged in the process and how to move them forward. So it doesn't matter if they're looking to buy in 90 days or buy in two years, keeping them engaged with the right type of content at the right time so that they don't go somewhere else.

Kristi Jencks (28:33.001)
And what kind of success could, you know, let's go with someone who's been licensed a year, they interview, they're a right fit for the team. What kind of success would you expect to see in your first three months on the team?

Jilayna Arcoren (28:46.542)
So standards for agents who partner with me are they will have three pieces of business under contract within the first 90 days. So pending or closed sales. And then my goal is by month six that I have them consistently performing at two closings a month or more. Nobody goes into this industry to go broke. And if you're working a lead partnership that does come with referral fees, you are taking less, especially if there is a team split involved. And so balancing out the full

look of what business planning means for them, the type of business they're trying to grow, but then also setting them up for success so that again, no more peaks and valleys, but consistent business over time. So the first six months our agents can expect or should expect to do one transaction a month on average. And by six months, ideally they're at performing it to a month or more. And if they're working the leads through the system that we've created, all of our agents are hitting that.

Kristi Jencks (29:26.373)
Mm-hmm.

Jilayna Arcoren (29:46.623)
And for those, would say there's always, you know, there's occasions where it's just not the right fit, right? I think some people will say, hey, well, I just want access to the leads. That's why I'm joining your team. That's the one thing that's missing from my business. But then you give them access to the leads and access to the training and the systems. And it kind of reveals that that's just not the right fit for them anyway. The great thing about having a system in place is you're going to identify that quickly.

And it's better for you as the team leader and better for the agent truthfully than having them spend all their time trying to develop this particular lead source and just never having success with that.

Kristi Jencks (30:26.053)
that agents that are just like, I'm just not into online leads. And I'm like, okay, great. I like Tom Ferry's motto when I first started coaching with him over a decade ago, was like, there's no wrong way to get a lead, right? And I always caveat like that's legal, right? There's no wrong way to get a lead that's legal. well, let's do some rapid fire wrap up. And so we'll do some true false and finish that sentence. So.

Jilayna Arcoren (30:29.036)
Yeah, it's not their thing. They're going to be great somewhere else.

Jilayna Arcoren (30:49.954)
Okay.

Kristi Jencks (30:53.658)
The biggest mistake agents make with Flex is...

Jilayna Arcoren (30:59.192)
Assuming that they don't have to do any work with the client to get them to move forward to buy a house, you still have to be a relationship expert or at least invest in developing a relationship with the client to be successful at it.

Kristi Jencks (31:15.181)
the best way to stand out as a Zillow partner.

Jilayna Arcoren (31:20.822)
as a team leader or as an agent.

Kristi Jencks (31:23.045)
Let's go agent.

Jilayna Arcoren (31:24.992)
If you're an agent, think it is mastering the first phone call if you're taking a live connection lead. It's the follow-up for if you're meeting someone in person. And then it is understanding this, which truthfully kind of plays into your first question, not taking the lead back to square one. You have to meet them where they're at. And I will illustrate it this way. If you are in line at the DMV,

of all places, because I don't know, a single person who likes going to the DMV and getting that ticket and waiting for someone to help them, you finally get up to a counter. If that person were to tell you, okay, well, I'm going to help you out by sending you to the back of the line and starting all over, you're probably not feeling like you're really getting a lot of help. And it's definitely not going to reduce the stress or help you make an informed decision moving forward.

Kristi Jencks (31:56.325)
Thanks.

Jilayna Arcoren (32:16.428)
A really great agent on Zillow is going to stand out by not saying, let me set you up on a home search. They have to understand where the consumer is nowadays with technology, with what's available out there to them, especially with a company like Zillow that's now in chat GPT as well, is you have to understand your value proposition and it has to be more than working leads the way we did five years ago or 10 years ago.

Kristi Jencks (32:42.233)
Yes.

Jilayna Arcoren (32:43.562)
If the number one step that we have to offer is, let me set you up on an MLS home search or let me set you up on a home search, we're essentially saying, I'm here to help you by taking you all the way back to the beginning. And most consumers who reach out to us through Zillow have been on an average of at least 10 different websites for several months. Those who aren't, call them unicorns for a reason, right? And so we know that the leads are coming in.

Already looking at homes, knowing more of what they're looking for, having done more work on pre-approvals for home loans, maybe having toured open houses out there, certainly seeing what multiple different lead platforms or sites have to offer, then we have to meet the consumer where they're at and say, how efficient do we want this process to be? What's the timeline? What is the end goal? And be the solution for that in taking them forward in the process. So this is where I feel like the

The real estate funnel is really, it's dead. It's a thing of the past. I'm calling it rise of the real estate assembly line. You have a consumer who's coming in knowing exactly what they want or for the most part what they want. And it's the next steps in the building process of how are we gonna move them closer and closer to their goal and how am I the person or how is the agent the person in getting them there? That's the way that you stand out on ZillowFlex.

Kristi Jencks (33:42.138)
Yeah.

Kristi Jencks (34:03.311)
I love that. So many good nuggets in there. If you didn't hear what she was saying, I'll pull some of it out for you. She said, know your value proposition. We are not just door openers, right? Putting people on a search or even just opening doors. ThousandWatt did some research last year that they shared that was very enlightening. And the consumer basically responded and said,

that they didn't feel like they needed a real estate agent because one, they could find the homes online themselves and two, they could tour the home at an open house. And then most recently they did a survey in June, thousand watt again, and they asked these consumers, said, why is it stressful to pick an agent? And the top three responses were one, I don't like working with salespeople, two,

Jilayna Arcoren (34:38.413)
Mm-hmm.

Kristi Jencks (35:00.067)
you all look the same. And three, I wasn't really sure what to look for. And so if you just even take the two, I wasn't sure what to look for and you all look the same. That was, I want to say almost 70 % of the responses. And yeah, and if you are watching us on YouTube, we both got the memo for red lipstick today. So take to heart what Jilayna said and know your value proposition.

Jilayna Arcoren (35:13.518)
That's why I wear pants. I'm gonna stand out as different every single time.

Jilayna Arcoren (35:22.38)
Yes, we did.

Kristi Jencks (35:30.051)
know how to stand out by helping, actually advising, because that's the other thing that the research said is that they wanted an advisor, they didn't want a salesperson, and that just means leaning in with curiosity and figuring out how to solve their problems. before we go, Jilayna, what's, like if someone wants to send the team a referral, interview with you, or just connect with you, and you know, learn more about you, your team, and all of your awesomeness inside the Flex community, what's the best way for them to connect with you?

Jilayna Arcoren (35:59.951)
I love connecting with people in any way possible. You're welcome to reach out on phone anytime. You can certainly connect with me on social media. I'm on Facebook. I'm also on Instagram. Those are probably the two systems that I use the most. You can find me on TikTok as well on occasion. Hats, cats and real estate. Try to keep that one a little bit fun. I'm the real estate hat trick on Instagram, which is where you'll see probably the majority of my presence on social media, but...

I do Zillow Mastermind every month as well with Real Broker and I've had a great opportunity to connect with some different team leaders that way. But yeah, we'll reach out phone or email. Happy to help.

Kristi Jencks (36:41.445)
I love it. Thank you so much. So, Jilayna thank you for breaking down what it really takes to win with ZillowFlex and to help the agents out there who are listening understand if being on a flex team is a right option for them. And maybe even if their team has, like you said, multiple lead pillars, if maybe they should reconsider and say, hey, maybe this is a great option to fill in. So,

We appreciate the opportunity. I want to remind you all, you didn't just come here to be inspired. I want you to take what you learned today, apply it in your business, and go take it and run. Thank you.

Jilayna Arcoren (37:17.103)
Great, thanks.

Kristi Jencks (37:18.787)
Okay.