When I was a young kid traveling in the car with my family, I would always see these signs “Truckers Welcome”. I didn’t understand why there was this special invitation to truckers. Wouldn’t everyone be welcome?

As I grew older, I quickly realized the sign was to inform truckers there was ample parking space for their large rigs. Truckers had a big use case! As a trucker, if I wanted to visit a diner for a nice sit-down warm meal, I must have space large enough to safely park my rig.

Diners caught on fast to this requirement and realized they could enjoy the revenue by creating a space for them to park. Once the parking problem was solved, they needed a method to entice truckers to use their parking and stop for a meal. Therefore, the signs!

Continue to evolve the standards

The 2017 RESO strategy planning session had many topics to further the evolution of the standards. But, one topic raised serious questions about brokerage participation in setting industry standards.

How is RESO delivering value to brokerages?

The outcome of the discussion was for RESO to seek brokerage thought-leadership – small to large – to provide insights on the challenges they face in order to continue development of the standards.

From these discussions, the Board of Directors adopted the 2017/2018 strategic objective L2.2 – Create Broker Advisory Group. This objective develops an avenue for brokers to park their business challenges as it relates to their customers and agents.

Calling ALL Brokers!Brokers Welcome at RESO

During the RESO 2018 Spring Conference, RESO announced a new workgroup called the Broker Advisory Group. Full disclosure, I have been nominated to chair this group and we already have a few brokers who volunteer to participate.

Call-to-Action! — Brokers Welcome

The initial charter is evolving, but the need right now is more broker voices!

You need to be a member of RESO to participate in the workgroup. Real estate brokerages, brokers, and agents are considered Class D members and more information can be found on the RESO Join page.

Involvement

We understand everyone has busy schedules and as such, the group will meet quarterly by phone conference and then just two or three in-person meetings a year during broker events. This will minimize any extra travel and out-of-office time.

When is the Kickoff Meeting?

The kickoff meeting is scheduled for Thursday, June 21, 2018 at 2:00 PM EDT; 11:00 AM PDT.

Agenda items for the first meeting are still being formulated but do include the ability to have insights into RESO goals and objectives.

There should be a review of a Broker Survey to begin constructive discussions wrapped around the activities and opportunities facing RESO and the broker community.

The group will begin to discuss the creation of a Broker Consumer Survey. This survey will be used to gather insights on possible Broker’s wants and needs as it relates to their consumer.

Come Join the Fun!

This is an excellent opportunity to collaborate with new people and further RESO standards. RESO is a 100% volunteer community. Connect with others who want to learn and give back through participation. The below quote from Jeremy Crawford, CEO of RESO resonates of the importance of volunteering at RESO.

Those who can do, and those who can do more volunteer. Volunteers are the roots of what keeps RESO strong and growing. These are exceptional individuals who collective efforts are shaping real estate data standards for the future. We hope that when others see the huge impact their contributions are having on our industry, they’ll join in and become more involved in our Workgroups.

RESO Workgroups are open to all members, meet monthly typically via conference calls and in person at twice-yearly RESO conferences. The RESO Fall Conference is in Milwaukee, Oct. 16-18, 2018. Details about each Workgroup and how to join can be found online at https://www.reso.org/committees-and-workgroups.