August 20, 2024 • 17 mins
Can simplifying the rental process revolutionize the real estate market? Join us as we chat with Jami Thomas, Vice President of Sales at Zillow, who takes us through her incredible journey from starting on Zillow's for-sale side in 2011 to her current impactful role in Zillow Rentals. Hear firsthand how Jamie, with her extensive experience and insights, is driving Zillow's mission to transform the rental experience for 17 million annual renters in the U.S. Learn about Zillow's innovative solutions like universal applications and how the company's dedication to inclusivity and customer-centric values are setting new industry standards.
In this episode, Jami offers profound career advice, particularly for women aspiring to leadership roles. Discover the importance of authenticity, forming meaningful connections, and the value of having a personal advisory board. Jamie also shines a light on Zillow’s supportive company culture, which fosters long-term employee retention and a fulfilling work environment. Additionally, hear about Zillow's role in the Multifamily Women's Summit and why this partnership is crucial for empowering women in the multifamily industry. This conversation is packed with actionable insights and inspiration for anyone looking to grow in their career or understand the future of the rental market.
Connect with Multifamily Women®:
Carrie Antrim on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carrieantrim/
Multifamily Women® Summit: https://multifamilywomen.com/
Be a Guest on the Podcast or at the Summit: https://apps.multifamilywomen.com/speakingrequest
Multifamily Women® Leadership Series: https://apps.multifamilywomen.com/join
Multifamily Innovation® Council: https://multifamilyinnovation.com/council/
Multifamily Innovation® Summit: https://multifamilyinnovation.com/
Best Places to Work Multifamily®: https://bestplacestoworkmultifamily.com/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome back to another episode of the
Multifamily Women's Podcast.
We have a wonderful guest today, Jamie Thomas.
She is the Vice President ofSales at Zillow.
Jamie, thank you for joining ustoday.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Hi Lauren, it's so good to be here.
Thanks for inviting us to takepart in this.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
Absolutely.
And so what is?
How did you get into your roleat Zillow and what are you
excited about at Zillowcurrently?
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Yeah, I've had a really incredible journey at
Zillow.
I started in 2011 on the forsale side of the business and
really watched that marketplacego from startup to solving our
problem, which is helping moversget home.
In 2019, I took on theadventure of joining Zillow
Rentals, which had the samechallenge, which is renting's
(00:47):
really hard, and I wanted tohelp grow this business, improve
our partnerships, and we'vebeen doing incredible things
since.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
That's amazing.
And so what is Zillow currentlyworking on?
That's innovative or exciting.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
That makes you really excited to get to work in the
morning that's innovative orexciting, that makes you really
excited to get to work in themorning.
Yeah, the same problem orchallenge that got me excited to
join the Zillow Rentalsbusiness exists today and it
motivates and invigorates us all, which is our mission is to
help renters get home, and weall know, if you've rented
before, that experience is stillreally fragmented and
(01:22):
frustrating.
So for us, you know, unlike forsale, there's no MLS for
rentals, there's no single placethat renters can find all the
inventory.
So that's what we're in thepursuit of solving.
So, from single family tomultifamily and everything in
between, we want to solve thatproblem for the renter, which
inherently benefits those whopartner with us.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
I love that answer.
We talk a lot on the podcastabout being incredibly
customer-focused and sometimesbusinesses.
It's hard to keep your eye onthe customer in that way, but it
sounds like everything Zillowis doing is all about what does
the customer need?
What's the next innovation thatcan help that customer succeed?
So I love that you're thinkingthat way.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Yeah, and it a huge eye opener for us is you know we
started in the for salebusiness, but there's an even
bigger opportunity in the rentalspace.
So there's about 17 millionannual renters moving in the
United States.
That's three times more thanfor sales.
So we really knew this was partof our mission to help people
get home.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
Wow, I love that.
And Zillow is a sponsor of theMultifamily Women's Summit this
year, which is really exciting.
Are you excited to attend theconference and what made you
want to be a part of thisconference?
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Yeah.
So the conference andeverything that you are doing
completely aligns with our corevalues, which is inclusion and
belonging.
I can speak for myself as awoman in business, as a woman at
Zillow, that empowerment isincredibly important to us.
I'm really excited about yourevent because it is CAP, it is
personal, it's not another tradeshow.
(02:59):
It is a real opportunity tolift all the boats with the
rising tide.
I'm really excited to take partin it.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
That's awesome, and tell us more about the Zillow
culture, because it sounds likeit's a really great one.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
Yeah, when people ask how have you been at Zillow for
over 12 years, I always say tworeasons One, our mission I
believe in it and I believewe're going to be the ones that
make getting home easy andfriction-free for our customers.
And two is the people we workwith.
It's an incredible culturewhere our core values mean
something and we show up withthem internally as well as with
(03:34):
our interactions with ourpartners, every single day.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
I love that.
That's a great answer.
And you specifically in yourcareer how did you fall into
Zillow and where did you beginand what got you interested in
multifamily?
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Yeah, so I started in the for sale business and not
so similar from the rentalsbusiness.
It was pretty hard to find ahome At that time for for sale.
You couldn't see all thelistings.
You had to go into a Windermereoffice to have a real estate
agent show you a home.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
And then when?
Speaker 2 (04:05):
I saw the challenge in our rentals marketplace very
similar.
You couldn't see all the homes.
You could go to one site andsee multifamily go another site
and see a whole bunch of otherthings, but nobody had organized
that marketplace.
So joined rentals to reallyhelp do that and we've focused
on solving for the customerfirst.
So when we solve for the renter, our partners benefit from that
(04:29):
and I think an example of thatwould be our applications
product.
So back when I rented I had togo into leasing office and
leasing office and fill out apaper application and pay a fee.
We launched our universalapplications which when a renter
uses, they can use thatuniversal application to
multiple properties, making thema happy renter and ultimately
(04:49):
getting them into their home,which creates a lease for our
partners.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
That's amazing.
That's exactly.
It sounds so seamless and sosimple.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
So we look back we're like, wow, we should have
gotten to that sooner.
But we are leading in thatspace and we're really proud of
the products that we've launchedfor renters.
So there's applications, rentpayments, room for rent renters,
insurance, and we know thatwhen we solve the problems for
the renters, when we create thatloyalty, which we have a huge
base of, that helps our partnersbe successful in their business
(05:22):
.
Recently we launched aapartment seeker ad campaign,
which was Zillow's first brandexpansion to the renter audience
.
So when I started in Zillowrentals most people said I
didn't know, you did rentals.
And now we are talking to theaudience, talking to the renters
loudly, and in June we reached38 million renters on Zillow,
(05:45):
which is the highest audienceanyone has captured to date.
So we're really excited aboutthe growth that we're seeing in
the space but, more importantly,that we're solving that problem
and helping renters get home.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
That's really awesome and I think this is great
advice for a lot of people whoare expanding their businesses
right, Especially suppliers inthis industry.
When you're adding an extralayer of a demographic that you
maybe weren't tackling before,is that difficult?
Or what is some advice forsomebody trying to kind of steer
(06:16):
into another market like that?
Speaker 2 (06:19):
I think generally the way you do that is through your
authentic brand.
And I think about Zillow, like,we have started in the for sale
business and we've expanded inrenters, but we've done that
through the trust we've gainedwith our renters.
And so if we're thinking aboutthe industry, if you're trying
to expand into a differentdemographic, if we're thinking
(06:39):
about the industry, if you'retrying to expand into a
different demographic, stay trueto your brand, stay true to
your core values and that willhelp that expansion and a lot of
that benefits us.
So, for example, we started inthe for sale business but that
for sale audience actuallybenefits the renter audience.
So 64% of our renter audiencehas considered buying audience.
(07:00):
So 64% of our renter audiencehas considered buying and that
crossover audience benefits ourpartners and goes also into the
former sale business.
So you'll find value edge aslong as you stay true to your
authentic brand.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
What a great way to just expand your customer base.
So simply right, because thosesame people, to your point it's
going to.
You know, people are looking torent at some time and then
maybe they want to buy, and sobeing able to transition people
very simply through the sameproduct, it just makes so much
sense.
So way to innovate, thanks.
How does Zillow decide what thenext innovation is?
(07:30):
Are you doing some customersurveying, or what does that
look like?
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Yeah, we definitely have data top of mind in all
things we do.
I would say it's in ourlifeblood.
We do an annual consumerhousing trends report that gives
us a look at what renters'biggest priorities are budget,
neighborhood space, how therenter demographics are changing
, whether they're getting olderor starting families.
(07:56):
That helps us think about howwe're speaking with our audience
, how we're solving for ouraudience, and then also how
we're meeting our partner'sneeds and we can give that data
to them, and we do every year tohelp them make better decisions
in their industry.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
Absolutely.
And that partner relationship.
We've talked a lot about yourconsumer relationship.
What does a partner get whenworking with Zillow?
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Yeah, our obsession with the customer doesn't stop
at the renter, so we're equallyinvested in our partner's
experience because they providethe listing.
So without that dual-sidedmarketplace, everybody is happy
we would fail.
So we really work hard to havethe same obsession on both sides
.
Every Zillow partner has adedicated sales professional.
We incorporate their feedbackrate regularly.
(08:42):
Many of the things that we'velaunched in the past year are
direct feedback from our partner.
An example of this would be ourrecent partnership with Moody's
.
So our partners have saidZillow, you have data, we want
more of this.
This helps us learn and operatebetter.
And so we've launched thatpartnership an initial launch
already and then a premiumreporting coming soon, which
(09:05):
will really help our partnersaccess improved reports and
analytics to better lead theirbusinesses.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
That's really smart to be doing that, listening and
then kind of pivoting as we go,because we're in a very, very
innovative state right now withnew technology, all of that.
So I think it's reallyimportant to have your hand on
the pulse of what the consumerneeds right now.
That's great.
So for women listening to thispodcast, you are a VP of sales,
which is a really amazing title.
(09:32):
What advice do you have to upand coming leaders or women who
are trying to escalate theircareer?
Speaker 2 (09:38):
Yeah, so this is one that took me a while to learn in
my career, which is I tried tomodel my career off of other
people that I saw in the seatand, as a woman, oftentimes,
that may not be another woman,and so what I have found to be
an incredible driving force formy career growth is to really
harness that authentic power ofwhat you bring to the table.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
There is only one.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
You Also, being a woman, is a superpower and
really coming to the executivetable and coming to your
opportunity at work with thatvalue in mind, not trying to be
somebody else.
Harnessing your strong skillsets and standing firm in them
and bringing them.
Don't try to be anyone else.
Really embrace yourauthenticity.
That's great advice.
(10:43):
I love that and have you inbusiness.
It's so important to have thoseconnections of people that do
similar roles than you to getthat experience.
Like you have one life, themore you connect with others you
get that advantage and thatlearning.
That's why you know the summitis so important.
It's such an opportunity toimprove those connections.
Sponsorship is very important.
(11:03):
More often than not, careerdecisions happen without you in
the room, so having somebodysponsor your career is very
important.
And then, last but not least,I've coined the term a
professional personal advisoryboard.
So I have about four to fivepeople on the text that I reach
out to regularly that know me.
They know my blind spots and Ican bounce off ideas with.
(11:25):
That will give me some sort ofboard guidance.
You know, not typically notyour direct leader, just a safe
space to really get thatcounseling.
So I encourage everybody to tryto find space for those three
lanes that they're looking togrow their career.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
That's great.
So it's a text thread you havewith people that you just like.
Hey, jamie's advisory boardthat's so awesome.
I love that idea and I think alot of people that I've talked
to on the podcast are doingsimilar things.
They've identified their kindof core group that they go to
for advice on this topic, foradvice on this topic.
(11:59):
So I think that's really smartand I think a lot of people do
make those connections throughthe Women's Summit.
So really excited for you to gothis year and attend and be
able to add some more people toyour advisory board.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
Yeah, and, I think, another space for anyone in
their career.
When you have an opportunity toshow up and stretch yourself,
asking those connections or yoursponsor or that advisory board
for feedback and I've learned inthe past the best frame for
that is what went well and whatwould go better.
And whatever that person offers, you respond with two words,
(12:33):
which is thank you, because thatfeedback is a gift and it's a
direct line to how you can getbetter.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
Absolutely, and I think, Jamie, women in sales
that's not as common either.
So I think that's a niche thata lot of people will be reaching
out to you after this podcastand say hey what advice do you
have as a woman in sales?
Because I will say sales ishard, it's tricky.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
It is hard I ground myself in that avoid some of the
stereotypes of sales.
And sales at its root is humanconnection.
So if you're interested in thehuman experience and creating
relationships and understandingsomebody's wants, needs and
pains and helping them solvethat, you can be exceptional in
sales.
So it doesn't have to be thestereotypical car sales
(13:21):
experience that we all cringe on.
It is really connecting to ahuman and helping them solve
their problems, which is whatand how Zillow sales like our
team shows up to work withalongside our partners.
We want to be that at the sametable, on the same side of the
table with our partners, helpingthem solve their real
challenges that they're facingevery day in their jobs.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
That's wonderful, and how does that look from a
customer journey stance?
Do you continue to do you havea customer success team that
maybe takes on and helps peoplewith longevity, because Zillow
has a lot of those kind oflong-term partnerships?
Speaker 2 (13:58):
Yeah, I'm incredibly proud of the long tenure of my
team, our team's very longtenure at Zillow.
So that's one.
And then every property manager, every property management
company, has a dedicatedprofessional at Zillow.
If you don't know who that is,you can reach out to me on
LinkedIn.
You can reach out to ZillowRentals on LinkedIn and we will
(14:19):
put you in touch.
But you have somebody, even ifyou don't know it already.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
I love that, and so how does?
Longevity in the company isreally great in our industry as
well, because we all knowthere's a pretty high turnover
rate statistically.
So how does Zillow reallyensure they're keeping that
company culture that's helpingpeople stay for that long period
of time?
Speaker 2 (14:40):
Yeah, I think a few things.
You know I can speak to mypersonal experience I shared
this earlier is like like ourmission is real.
There is a challenge withpeople finding their home, and
even more so, I would say, inthe rental space, and so showing
up to work for a company thathas a mission that's good and
you believe we can solve is one.
(15:01):
Two, our core values are not aposter on a wall.
That mean nothing.
They show up in our everydayinteractions.
We truly want to help make eachother better.
There's a lot of best practicesharing and then most people
leave their jobs not because ofthe job.
They leave it because of theirleader, and so we have
incredible leaders at Zillowthat really show up and model
(15:22):
what it means to be in our corevalues and leading with our
mission forefront and thatreally keeps people here.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
Wow, people-focused, customer-focused these are all
great, great initiatives and Ithink it's wonderful.
Are those part of your corevalues?
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Yeah, we definitely lead with.
The customer is our North Star.
Most of our core values involveintegrity, inclusion and
belonging.
It is all about putting theperson or the customer first,
and then the business model willfollow if you're doing those
things correctly andappropriately all the time.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
Amazing.
Is there anything that you wantour audience to know about the
future of Zillow or working withZillow that we haven't covered
just yet?
Speaker 2 (16:05):
Yeah, the future is bright with Zillow and Zillow
Rentals.
We are really trying to solvethis problem with the renter
first.
We have the largest audience ofrenters.
We would love to continue ourpartnership if we have one,
deepen our partnership if wehave one, or show you about the
partnership.
So continue to work with us.
We'd love to connect with youon how we're creating that
(16:27):
win-win for renters and for ourpartners yay, wonderful.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
Well, we're super excited to have you as a sponsor
of the conference this year andagain, come see them.
Come visit the zillowcom.
Is that the website?
Speaker 2 (16:41):
yeah, yeah right, yeah, come see us and check out
the marketplace, look for yourproperty and then reach out to
your dedicated salesprofessional.
We'd love to help improve yourbrand and really again help
build that marketplace so allrenters can find their way home.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
That's awesome.
Well, thank you again so muchfor joining us today, jamie.
I think everyone should checkyou out on LinkedIn and check
out Zillowcom today, and if youhaven't yet gotten your tickets
for the Women's Summit, pleasedo that today at
multifamilywomencom.
And thanks again, jamie, forcoming.
Thank you, lauren.
Welcome back to another episode of the
Multifamily Women's Podcast.
We have a wonderful guest today, Jamie Thomas.
She is the Vice President ofSales at Zillow.
Jamie, thank you for joining ustoday.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Hi Lauren, it's so good to be here.
Thanks for inviting us to takepart in this.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
Absolutely.
And so what is?
How did you get into your roleat Zillow and what are you
excited about at Zillowcurrently?
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Yeah, I've had a really incredible journey at
Zillow.
I started in 2011 on the forsale side of the business and
really watched that marketplacego from startup to solving our
problem, which is helping moversget home.
In 2019, I took on theadventure of joining Zillow
Rentals, which had the samechallenge, which is renting's
(00:47):
really hard, and I wanted tohelp grow this business, improve
our partnerships, and we'vebeen doing incredible things
since.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
That's amazing.
And so what is Zillow currentlyworking on?
That's innovative or exciting.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
That makes you really excited to get to work in the
morning that's innovative orexciting, that makes you really
excited to get to work in themorning.
Yeah, the same problem orchallenge that got me excited to
join the Zillow Rentalsbusiness exists today and it
motivates and invigorates us all, which is our mission is to
help renters get home, and weall know, if you've rented
before, that experience is stillreally fragmented and
(01:22):
frustrating.
So for us, you know, unlike forsale, there's no MLS for
rentals, there's no single placethat renters can find all the
inventory.
So that's what we're in thepursuit of solving.
So, from single family tomultifamily and everything in
between, we want to solve thatproblem for the renter, which
inherently benefits those whopartner with us.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
I love that answer.
We talk a lot on the podcastabout being incredibly
customer-focused and sometimesbusinesses.
It's hard to keep your eye onthe customer in that way, but it
sounds like everything Zillowis doing is all about what does
the customer need?
What's the next innovation thatcan help that customer succeed?
So I love that you're thinkingthat way.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Yeah, and it a huge eye opener for us is you know we
started in the for salebusiness, but there's an even
bigger opportunity in the rentalspace.
So there's about 17 millionannual renters moving in the
United States.
That's three times more thanfor sales.
So we really knew this was partof our mission to help people
get home.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
Wow, I love that.
And Zillow is a sponsor of theMultifamily Women's Summit this
year, which is really exciting.
Are you excited to attend theconference and what made you
want to be a part of thisconference?
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Yeah.
So the conference andeverything that you are doing
completely aligns with our corevalues, which is inclusion and
belonging.
I can speak for myself as awoman in business, as a woman at
Zillow, that empowerment isincredibly important to us.
I'm really excited about yourevent because it is CAP, it is
personal, it's not another tradeshow.
(02:59):
It is a real opportunity tolift all the boats with the
rising tide.
I'm really excited to take partin it.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
That's awesome, and tell us more about the Zillow
culture, because it sounds likeit's a really great one.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
Yeah, when people ask how have you been at Zillow for
over 12 years, I always say tworeasons One, our mission I
believe in it and I believewe're going to be the ones that
make getting home easy andfriction-free for our customers.
And two is the people we workwith.
It's an incredible culturewhere our core values mean
something and we show up withthem internally as well as with
(03:34):
our interactions with ourpartners, every single day.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
I love that.
That's a great answer.
And you specifically in yourcareer how did you fall into
Zillow and where did you beginand what got you interested in
multifamily?
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Yeah, so I started in the for sale business and not
so similar from the rentalsbusiness.
It was pretty hard to find ahome At that time for for sale.
You couldn't see all thelistings.
You had to go into a Windermereoffice to have a real estate
agent show you a home.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
And then when?
Speaker 2 (04:05):
I saw the challenge in our rentals marketplace very
similar.
You couldn't see all the homes.
You could go to one site andsee multifamily go another site
and see a whole bunch of otherthings, but nobody had organized
that marketplace.
So joined rentals to reallyhelp do that and we've focused
on solving for the customerfirst.
So when we solve for the renter, our partners benefit from that
(04:29):
and I think an example of thatwould be our applications
product.
So back when I rented I had togo into leasing office and
leasing office and fill out apaper application and pay a fee.
We launched our universalapplications which when a renter
uses, they can use thatuniversal application to
multiple properties, making thema happy renter and ultimately
(04:49):
getting them into their home,which creates a lease for our
partners.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
That's amazing.
That's exactly.
It sounds so seamless and sosimple.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
So we look back we're like, wow, we should have
gotten to that sooner.
But we are leading in thatspace and we're really proud of
the products that we've launchedfor renters.
So there's applications, rentpayments, room for rent renters,
insurance, and we know thatwhen we solve the problems for
the renters, when we create thatloyalty, which we have a huge
base of, that helps our partnersbe successful in their business
(05:22):
.
Recently we launched aapartment seeker ad campaign,
which was Zillow's first brandexpansion to the renter audience
.
So when I started in Zillowrentals most people said I
didn't know, you did rentals.
And now we are talking to theaudience, talking to the renters
loudly, and in June we reached38 million renters on Zillow,
(05:45):
which is the highest audienceanyone has captured to date.
So we're really excited aboutthe growth that we're seeing in
the space but, more importantly,that we're solving that problem
and helping renters get home.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
That's really awesome and I think this is great
advice for a lot of people whoare expanding their businesses
right, Especially suppliers inthis industry.
When you're adding an extralayer of a demographic that you
maybe weren't tackling before,is that difficult?
Or what is some advice forsomebody trying to kind of steer
(06:16):
into another market like that?
Speaker 2 (06:19):
I think generally the way you do that is through your
authentic brand.
And I think about Zillow, like,we have started in the for sale
business and we've expanded inrenters, but we've done that
through the trust we've gainedwith our renters.
And so if we're thinking aboutthe industry, if you're trying
to expand into a differentdemographic, if we're thinking
(06:39):
about the industry, if you'retrying to expand into a
different demographic, stay trueto your brand, stay true to
your core values and that willhelp that expansion and a lot of
that benefits us.
So, for example, we started inthe for sale business but that
for sale audience actuallybenefits the renter audience.
So 64% of our renter audiencehas considered buying audience.
(07:00):
So 64% of our renter audiencehas considered buying and that
crossover audience benefits ourpartners and goes also into the
former sale business.
So you'll find value edge aslong as you stay true to your
authentic brand.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
What a great way to just expand your customer base.
So simply right, because thosesame people, to your point it's
going to.
You know, people are looking torent at some time and then
maybe they want to buy, and sobeing able to transition people
very simply through the sameproduct, it just makes so much
sense.
So way to innovate, thanks.
How does Zillow decide what thenext innovation is?
(07:30):
Are you doing some customersurveying, or what does that
look like?
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Yeah, we definitely have data top of mind in all
things we do.
I would say it's in ourlifeblood.
We do an annual consumerhousing trends report that gives
us a look at what renters'biggest priorities are budget,
neighborhood space, how therenter demographics are changing
, whether they're getting olderor starting families.
(07:56):
That helps us think about howwe're speaking with our audience
, how we're solving for ouraudience, and then also how
we're meeting our partner'sneeds and we can give that data
to them, and we do every year tohelp them make better decisions
in their industry.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
Absolutely.
And that partner relationship.
We've talked a lot about yourconsumer relationship.
What does a partner get whenworking with Zillow?
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Yeah, our obsession with the customer doesn't stop
at the renter, so we're equallyinvested in our partner's
experience because they providethe listing.
So without that dual-sidedmarketplace, everybody is happy
we would fail.
So we really work hard to havethe same obsession on both sides
.
Every Zillow partner has adedicated sales professional.
We incorporate their feedbackrate regularly.
(08:42):
Many of the things that we'velaunched in the past year are
direct feedback from our partner.
An example of this would be ourrecent partnership with Moody's
.
So our partners have saidZillow, you have data, we want
more of this.
This helps us learn and operatebetter.
And so we've launched thatpartnership an initial launch
already and then a premiumreporting coming soon, which
(09:05):
will really help our partnersaccess improved reports and
analytics to better lead theirbusinesses.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
That's really smart to be doing that, listening and
then kind of pivoting as we go,because we're in a very, very
innovative state right now withnew technology, all of that.
So I think it's reallyimportant to have your hand on
the pulse of what the consumerneeds right now.
That's great.
So for women listening to thispodcast, you are a VP of sales,
which is a really amazing title.
(09:32):
What advice do you have to upand coming leaders or women who
are trying to escalate theircareer?
Speaker 2 (09:38):
Yeah, so this is one that took me a while to learn in
my career, which is I tried tomodel my career off of other
people that I saw in the seatand, as a woman, oftentimes,
that may not be another woman,and so what I have found to be
an incredible driving force formy career growth is to really
harness that authentic power ofwhat you bring to the table.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
There is only one.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
You Also, being a woman, is a superpower and
really coming to the executivetable and coming to your
opportunity at work with thatvalue in mind, not trying to be
somebody else.
Harnessing your strong skillsets and standing firm in them
and bringing them.
Don't try to be anyone else.
Really embrace yourauthenticity.
That's great advice.
(10:43):
I love that and have you inbusiness.
It's so important to have thoseconnections of people that do
similar roles than you to getthat experience.
Like you have one life, themore you connect with others you
get that advantage and thatlearning.
That's why you know the summitis so important.
It's such an opportunity toimprove those connections.
Sponsorship is very important.
(11:03):
More often than not, careerdecisions happen without you in
the room, so having somebodysponsor your career is very
important.
And then, last but not least,I've coined the term a
professional personal advisoryboard.
So I have about four to fivepeople on the text that I reach
out to regularly that know me.
They know my blind spots and Ican bounce off ideas with.
(11:25):
That will give me some sort ofboard guidance.
You know, not typically notyour direct leader, just a safe
space to really get thatcounseling.
So I encourage everybody to tryto find space for those three
lanes that they're looking togrow their career.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
That's great.
So it's a text thread you havewith people that you just like.
Hey, jamie's advisory boardthat's so awesome.
I love that idea and I think alot of people that I've talked
to on the podcast are doingsimilar things.
They've identified their kindof core group that they go to
for advice on this topic, foradvice on this topic.
(11:59):
So I think that's really smartand I think a lot of people do
make those connections throughthe Women's Summit.
So really excited for you to gothis year and attend and be
able to add some more people toyour advisory board.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
Yeah, and, I think, another space for anyone in
their career.
When you have an opportunity toshow up and stretch yourself,
asking those connections or yoursponsor or that advisory board
for feedback and I've learned inthe past the best frame for
that is what went well and whatwould go better.
And whatever that person offers, you respond with two words,
(12:33):
which is thank you, because thatfeedback is a gift and it's a
direct line to how you can getbetter.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
Absolutely, and I think, Jamie, women in sales
that's not as common either.
So I think that's a niche thata lot of people will be reaching
out to you after this podcastand say hey what advice do you
have as a woman in sales?
Because I will say sales ishard, it's tricky.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
It is hard I ground myself in that avoid some of the
stereotypes of sales.
And sales at its root is humanconnection.
So if you're interested in thehuman experience and creating
relationships and understandingsomebody's wants, needs and
pains and helping them solvethat, you can be exceptional in
sales.
So it doesn't have to be thestereotypical car sales
(13:21):
experience that we all cringe on.
It is really connecting to ahuman and helping them solve
their problems, which is whatand how Zillow sales like our
team shows up to work withalongside our partners.
We want to be that at the sametable, on the same side of the
table with our partners, helpingthem solve their real
challenges that they're facingevery day in their jobs.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
That's wonderful, and how does that look from a
customer journey stance?
Do you continue to do you havea customer success team that
maybe takes on and helps peoplewith longevity, because Zillow
has a lot of those kind oflong-term partnerships?
Speaker 2 (13:58):
Yeah, I'm incredibly proud of the long tenure of my
team, our team's very longtenure at Zillow.
So that's one.
And then every property manager, every property management
company, has a dedicatedprofessional at Zillow.
If you don't know who that is,you can reach out to me on
LinkedIn.
You can reach out to ZillowRentals on LinkedIn and we will
(14:19):
put you in touch.
But you have somebody, even ifyou don't know it already.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
I love that, and so how does?
Longevity in the company isreally great in our industry as
well, because we all knowthere's a pretty high turnover
rate statistically.
So how does Zillow reallyensure they're keeping that
company culture that's helpingpeople stay for that long period
of time?
Speaker 2 (14:40):
Yeah, I think a few things.
You know I can speak to mypersonal experience I shared
this earlier is like like ourmission is real.
There is a challenge withpeople finding their home, and
even more so, I would say, inthe rental space, and so showing
up to work for a company thathas a mission that's good and
you believe we can solve is one.
(15:01):
Two, our core values are not aposter on a wall.
That mean nothing.
They show up in our everydayinteractions.
We truly want to help make eachother better.
There's a lot of best practicesharing and then most people
leave their jobs not because ofthe job.
They leave it because of theirleader, and so we have
incredible leaders at Zillowthat really show up and model
(15:22):
what it means to be in our corevalues and leading with our
mission forefront and thatreally keeps people here.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
Wow, people-focused, customer-focused these are all
great, great initiatives and Ithink it's wonderful.
Are those part of your corevalues?
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Yeah, we definitely lead with.
The customer is our North Star.
Most of our core values involveintegrity, inclusion and
belonging.
It is all about putting theperson or the customer first,
and then the business model willfollow if you're doing those
things correctly andappropriately all the time.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
Amazing.
Is there anything that you wantour audience to know about the
future of Zillow or working withZillow that we haven't covered
just yet?
Speaker 2 (16:05):
Yeah, the future is bright with Zillow and Zillow
Rentals.
We are really trying to solvethis problem with the renter
first.
We have the largest audience ofrenters.
We would love to continue ourpartnership if we have one,
deepen our partnership if wehave one, or show you about the
partnership.
So continue to work with us.
We'd love to connect with youon how we're creating that
(16:27):
win-win for renters and for ourpartners yay, wonderful.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
Well, we're super excited to have you as a sponsor
of the conference this year andagain, come see them.
Come visit the zillowcom.
Is that the website?
Speaker 2 (16:41):
yeah, yeah right, yeah, come see us and check out
the marketplace, look for yourproperty and then reach out to
your dedicated salesprofessional.
We'd love to help improve yourbrand and really again help
build that marketplace so allrenters can find their way home.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
That's awesome.
Well, thank you again so muchfor joining us today, jamie.
I think everyone should checkyou out on LinkedIn and check
out Zillowcom today, and if youhaven't yet gotten your tickets
for the Women's Summit, pleasedo that today at
multifamilywomencom.
And thanks again, jamie, forcoming.
Thank you, lauren.
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