Showcase Agent Spotlight Q&A
Jacob Mullins, President and Managing Broker, Dwelli
Every month, Playbook will feature a different top-performing Showcase agent to share how Showcase subscribers are leveraging the listing experience to help win more listings, gain referrals, recruit new agents, and sell homes faster and for more money.¹
In this first agent profile, we turn the spotlight on Jake Mullins, President and Managing Broker of Dwelli, Newnan, GA, and ShowingTime+ Advisory Board Member.
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On average, Jake Mullins’ Showcase listings received: 74% views, 54% saves, 58 shares¹
*compared to similar, nearby non-Showcase listings
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Showcase: Hi Jake. How long have you and your company been using Showcase?
JM: “We actually had the first Showcase listing in the country. We were the OG! We did the first one. So, yeah, we’ve been using it since the beginning.”
Showcase: What kind of impact did you see with your business after you began using Showcase?
JM: “A pretty substantial impact. I mean, it wasn’t one of those things that happened overnight, but we’ve been at this now since May or June of [2023].”
“If you look at where we were as a brokerage back then, our percentage of closed deals that are listings has gone up quite a bit. And I don’t think that’s an accident. I look at two things: I look at the brokerage and how the brokerage is doing, and I also look at my own sales because I’m still in production. Personally, I have picked up listings that I otherwise would not have gotten without Showcase. I've had people refer me. ‘Hey, you got to talk to Jake. He's got this special Zillow thing.’ And then word starts traveling. And so that really helps. And I've also heard numerous stories from our agents where they're like,’I got an opportunity for a listing presentation, and I was referred because somebody was talking about Showcase, and one thing led to another. So, I mean, I think it's had a pretty substantial impact on our business just in helping us capture more listings.”
Showcase: How specifically are you utilizing Showcase to attract potential clients at this point?
JM: “We don't do any outbound or external marketing on Showcase. We use it in our listing presentation. When we show up, somebody's like, ‘What the [heck] is that?’ Because we've included it in the listing presentation. So it's almost like this thing where, when we get there and we present, nobody else has done it. They don't even know it exists. And they get FOMO immediately because they're like, ‘I didn't even know this was a thing.’”
Showcase: So you're clearly using Showcase in the listing presentation. What elements seem to be standing out the most in your experience to potential sellers?
JM: “It's definitely the visibility, so the boost functionality, which puts more eyeballs on it. It's tangible – the killer app for us when we're in a listing presentation. This helps because we've got Showcase listings live in the market. So I've always got examples of this, but I'll sit there and I'll say, ‘OK, let's look at 123 Main Street.’ And I already know going into the meeting that this is one of our Showcase listings, and it's performing well. I’ll say, ‘So let's pull up 123 Main Street.’ We'll do it live in Zillow. I'll let them use their phone. I'll use my computer. But we're looking at this thing together. ‘Look at this listing. It's got 2,000 views and, you know, 175 saves. Let's look at the house right down the street. Same price point. It's got 500 views and, you know, 60 saves, and they're like, boom, ‘What do I got to do?’ Because they immediately can see it's different. You know, when we start to show them in the presentation, when we pull it up in Zillow, that the listing looks different, so they know something's different about it. But as soon as you show them the eyeball count, they're like, ‘Oh, clearly, I have to have that because my listing needs to be in front of more people to get me the most money.’”
Showcase: Now that you've been having Showcase listings active consistently, what kind of impact have you seen that have for your listings in general? Of course, I'm talking about views, saves, shares, all of that, but also showings in general?
JM: Our results, especially in terms of views and saves, have been remarkably higher than what Zillow has claimed. So if you look at, I think originally, like, there was content that stated, there were 30 some percent more views on a Showcase or something like that, ours is like two and three times that. And the way that I look at it, I look at cohorts. So if I've got a house in, let's just say Fayette County, and it's in a particular zip code in a price range, I start looking at other homes in that same price range in that same school district, that type of thing, and we're just blowing them away.”
“Our experience on the views and saves has been like step functions higher than the cohorts, and maybe that's just the market that we're in. I don't know why that's the case, but we've been very, very happy with that. And I will tell you, on average, those houses are moving quicker and easier. There's exceptions always, but if you just look at them in general, they perform much better.”
Showcase: Are you using Showcase as a recruiting tool at all?
JM: “It's not what we lead with, but when we're sitting down and we're trying to convince somebody this is a place that they should be, especially somebody that's a high performer, like somebody that we've really tried to go after, it's like, ‘Oh, yeah, and let me tell you something else you're going to have access to.’ And every time it's been like, ‘I didn't even know that was a thing. And tell me more. That’s interesting.’”
Showcase: What helps you decide whether this is going to be a Showcase listing versus a non-Showcase listing?
JM: “Every listing that I've done since we launched Showcase has been a Showcase listing. So I do 100% of them.”
“In talking to some of the agents, too, some are very price-conscious. Others will look at it, and say ‘Well, this one's just going to fly so I don't need the extra help,’ which I don't agree with. And when I sit down and talk to them, I'm like, ‘It's not about this listing. It's about the listing they're going to refer you to.’”
“The vast majority of agents always think transactionally: ‘What am I making right now on this deal? And every dollar that goes out is potentially wasted money. And I'm not making as much.’ And it's very rare that somebody looks at their business like, OK, so what about, you know, because if you run a restaurant, you got a bunch of transactions every day. You might have, you know, clients that you give a free meal to. You lose money on them. You're paying your staff. You lost, you know, whatever. You might have days that you lose money. Yeah. But, ultimately, you're looking at overall the month, was I profitable? Well, agents will look at a deal like, ‘I'm only making $2,000 on this deal.’ But what about the month? What about, did you do something there that's gonna get you a referral later on? People get really, really myopically focused on the transaction and don't think broader than that.”
Showcase: What are the one or two aspects of Showcase that for you are crucial to make Showcase successful in your business?
JM: Two things: First one is boost. If this doesn't have more eyeballs on it, it's just a prettier listing. So having that visibility be higher on a Showcase is why we do it, period. And then the second thing, which feeds into that, is exclusivity.”
If you’re a Showcase agent who would like to share your experiences, please submit your contact information here.
¹Substantiation: Showcase listings on Zillow include an interactive floor plan, a virtual tour, and specialized exposure on Zillow (the “Showcase Treatment”). This claim is based on Jake’s Zillow data analyzed in Newnan, GA (Jake’s market) with at least one For Sale By Agent listing during the initial sixty day period a listing in these markets with the Showcase Treatment was active on Zillow, up to pending (the “Showcase Listings”) and is limited to listings using the Showcase Treatment on the date the listing went live in the applicable MLS, up to pending. The Showcase Listings were compared to For Sale By Agent listings on Zillow: (i) without the Showcase Treatment; (ii) of the same home type; (iii) located in the same city and within two miles of the Showcase Listings; (iv) on the market during the same time period as the Showcase Listings or the immediately prior month; (v) containing a similar list price as the Showcase Listings; (vi) having similar square footage as the Showcase Listings; and (vii) having a similar bedroom count. *The data is from August 6, 2024 and is an average from the immediately preceding six month period.
