Real estate professionals are expected to be up-to-date on market inventory at all times, even when they’re on the go. Flexmls, powered by FBS, is a fully mobile MLS system that allows agents to keep a pulse on their local market and run their business on their terms.
Dusty Jostes of Flexmls spoke to us about how eWebinar has transformed the way his company delivers trainings and other valuable information to its customers, and how doing so has doubled attendance rates and led to high levels of satisfaction among users.
Hi, Dusty! Can you start by telling me a little bit about yourself and your company?
Of course. My name is Dusty, and I’m a marketer at FBS. We’re a real estate MLS software company based out of Fargo, North Dakota. We service MLS systems and agents across the United States. FBS is the brand behind Flexmls.
What problems were you and your team struggling with before discovering eWebinar?
Before eWebinar, we were struggling with all of the usual problems that come with webinars – attendance, retention, and finding the time to even host our webinars!
“Before eWebinar, we were struggling with attendance, retention, and finding the time to host our webinars.”
We used Zoom previously, and had about a 30% attendance rate, which just wasn’t enough for us.
How do you use eWebinar at Flexmls?
We use eWebinar across multiple teams and departments, mostly for real estate agent training and MLS training. We provide some trainings to the companies that manage agents and their MLS memberships so that they can better serve their members.
How did you deliver that training before eWebinar?
Before eWebinar, we were using GoToWebinar and Zoom. We found that the attendance rate was pretty low at 30%. We needed something better.
“Our attendance rate was only 30% before eWebinar. We needed something better.”
How often did you have to do the same webinars over and over?
We had to have a few different schedules for our webinars. Some would be weekly, some would be once a month. And it really depended on the department and who was available to make time to even present those webinars.
What are some of the benefits that you've seen since using eWebinar?
I think the most obvious benefit that we've seen since starting to use eWebinar is moving from a 30% attendance rate to a 60-70% attendance rate.
“Since we started using eWebinar, our attendance rate has more than doubled.”
That was the most substantial benefit, but above that, we found that we were able to be more accessible and more available, and answer chats more readily. Previously, we were struggling with presenting and answering chats at the same time, and with answering questions. With eWebinar, we can manage chats without needing to present the webinars, which has saved us tons of time.
How has your company benefited since you implemented eWebinar?
We have saved about 1,000 hours in a year by using eWebinar, so that speaks for itself. I’m kind of an eWebinar evangelist at this point! I go from team to team and tell them all about it and how it can save them so much time.
“We saved about 1,000 hours in a year by using eWebinar.”
We’ve used it for training and for several other areas of our company because we have a lot of different departments. Every single department has benefited from eWebinar at this point!
It’s great to hear that Flexmls has saved so many hours by using eWebinar!
Yes! Since we’re able to offer week-long trainings at any time that the attendees want, our time saved adds up really quickly! That translates into being able to get attendees the answers that they need immediately, instead of having those answers be delayed.
“With eWebinar, we have happier customers. This leads to more customers and more revenue.”
I think the immediate benefit that we’ve seen is that answers are given much more quickly. That translates into happier customers, which translates into more customers, which translates into revenue.
How do your real estate agent customers feel about eWebinar’s hybrid format?
We were a little worried at first about whether or not the attendees would feel the validity of the recorded webinars, but what we found is that most people just assume that they’re live!
“We don't see any negative feedback about them being recorded or anything like that, because all of the elements of a live webinar are there.”
With the built-in interactions, it really makes the webinars come alive and make them feel more organic, especially when we're answering chats, because the thing that really makes a webinar feel more interactive is those interactions. So we're finding that we don't see any negative feedback about them being recorded or anything like that, because all of the elements of a live webinar are there, including us answering the chats right away.
Do you always answer chats in real time, or do you respond to some later on through email?
We don’t always use live chats, but we make it very clear when we aren’t able to answer chats by using the automated messaging, and by making sure attendees know that we’ll get back to them. We provide resources directly in the webinar for them to email us directly, and we make sure that they know we will get back to them quickly.
“eWebinar allows our product team to be more nimble and spend more time answering customers' questions.”
We use all of the live, on-demand, and recorded options and adjust based on the availability of our support team. This has been such a big improvement from our previous setup, which was clunky and required a lot of manual work to manage. We needed a solution that would make our small product team more nimble and able to spend more time answering customer questions, rather than spending time setting up webinars.
Qu'est-ce que vous aimez le plus dans eWebinar ?
I love not having to present the same webinar over and over and over again. I love that we can be more responsive. I love that we can spread the wondrousness of eWebinar to our clients too, and be able to share what a great product it is.
“eWebinar has allowed us to be more responsive and available, and that’s been huge for us.”
I would say that being responsive and being more available has been huge for us. Previously, I was involved with one particular webinar that we did once a month, and it wasn’t enough. It was a very simple webinar with simple content that we really didn’t need to continue to present over and over. Being able to now offer that webinar more often, and to not be tied down when it is taking place, and to be able to answer those chats a lot more readily, has made it such a better experience.
“Everything about eWebinar is well thought out, user friendly, and almost completely customizable.”
Everything about the platform is well thought out, user friendly, and almost completely customizable – and although this level of customization typically results in a complicated product, that’s just not the case with eWebinar.
We ask our attendees to complete surveys, and we get a lot of feedback. We have not scored under a 4 out of 5 in customer satisfaction since we started using eWebinar!
Do you still run live events? Has eWebinar allowed you to be more selective and creative in that area?
Yes, eWebinar has allowed that for us. We still do some live trainings, when the topic is very unique and it’s a one-off thing. When it comes to any training that we repeat, we use eWebinar to save time and create availability.
A qui recommanderiez-vous eWebinar ?
I would recommend eWebinar to anyone who has more than two recurring webinars. To be honest, I find that it's extremely helpful to open up that availability and that schedule and really meet people where they are.
“If you’re presenting the same webinars over and over again, automating them is a no-brainer.”
I think for anyone who's doing training, who presents the same webinars over and over again, it's an absolute no-brainer to automate them.
Thank you for your time, Dusty! We’re so happy to hear that eWebinar has made a difference for everyone at Flexmls!
Are you a real estate professional whose MLS service could benefit from the abundant offerings of Flexmls? Click here to read all about the platform and its proven reliability and customization options.
…And if you’re a business leader looking to offer presentations, training, and onboarding around the clock – all while offering a personalized interactive experience – click here get started with eWebinar!