Episode 355 – Stuart Sim, Head of Industry Development – Chime

Bill Risser and Stuart Sim discussed the importance of technology in the real estate industry, including user adoption, onboarding, and team performance tracking. Despite growing up in Montreal and being a fan of the Bruins, Stuart is now a fan of the Seattle Kraken. They discussed the need for agents to be well-educated on real estate sites, the importance of local knowledge, and the need to provide good content to the consumer. Companies like Chime and EXP are providing educational resources to help agents stay competitive, and goal setting and planning for the upcoming year was also discussed. With technology becoming increasingly important in the real estate industry, Bill and Stuart discussed the need for agents to embrace technology in order to stay competitive and provide good content to their customers.(00:33:29) Goal Setting for 2021(00:22:37) Team Adoption Strategies(00:28:11) Embrace Technology(00:05:30) Real Estate Technology(00:11:08) Tech Startups Struggles(00:16:43) Real Estate Technologyhttps://chimeinc.comhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfwsOqwKEvDFd9FQ27P3JIAhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/chime-crm/TRANSCRIPT00:00:00 - Stuart SimIt's our job as technology companies to provide them with the training and information about the product that gives them the confidence to actually adopt it and not just a user count, but also the percentage of the product they use. So, you know, if you're if you're only using 25% of a CRM, 75% of the value of that CRM is going out the door.00:00:24 - Bill RisserYou're listening to the Real Estate Sessions Podcast. And I'm your host, Bill Risser, Executive Vice President, Strategic Partnerships with Rate, my Agent, a digital marketing platform designed to help great agents harness the power of verified reviews. For more information, head on over to Ratemyagent.com. Listen in as I interview industry leaders and get their stories and journeys to the world of real estate. Hi, everybody. Welcome to episode 355 of the Real Estate Sessions podcast. As always, thank you so much for tuning in. Thank you so much for telling a friend or two this week I'm going to talk to I guess it would be somebody that I connect with regularly in the circuit. And when I say made by circuit, it's the different conferences and events and things that happen throughout the year. I first met Stuart SIM, who is the head of industry development for Chime. I first met him at an imminent event. I'm sure I'll bring that up with him. We also run into each other at a lot of different places and events. It's been really fun to watch his company grow and he's got a really cool story. So we're going to get this going today. Let's not waste any more of Stewart's time. Stewart, welcome to the podcast.00:01:40 - Stuart SimHey, Bill, thanks so much for having me.00:01:42 - Bill RisserOur first meeting was at an inman event in New York. I'm fairly sure of that. And I would say over half of the guests on this podcast had their my first meeting was probably at an imminent event.00:01:54 - Stuart SimYeah, well, you and I both do the tour. We see each other often on the road at some of the really good shows that are out there and events where you meet all these people and you develop these kind of relationships, it's fantastic.00:02:06 - Bill RisserYeah, the word connected right in their title. And Brad's done a great job of doing that for all of us. I think some people may have already heard it a little bit. You have a bit of an accent, Stewart. I know you're aware of that. You are not from the US of A. You are Canadian, correct?00:02:23 - Stuart SimI am a Canadian. Long term Canadian. I grew up on the East Coast, moved to Vancouver 30 years ago. Great country to live in.00:02:33 - Bill RisserYeah, you mentioned East Coast. So I'm just doing a little bit of digging. It seemed like you grew up in Quebec, right? Am I correct there? Montreal area.00:02:42 - Stuart SimYeah, I grew up in the West Island of Montreal in the late 70s, early 80s, which was a really different time. There language barriers. I went to a French school, my brothers and sisters went to an English school, all these different components. But for me it worked out well because I ended up learning that second language and ultimately my goal is to learn a third one. And I keep pushing it off as I get older, I really want to do it more. So yeah, interesting times, for sure.00:03:14 - Bill RisserWas it relatively simple. You keep hearing that as a child. That's the time to be doing this kind of stuff, like learning an instrument, picking up that second language. I would imagine speaking English at home and having to speak French at school. It happened pretty quickly.00:03:28 - Stuart SimYeah, you had to develop really quickly. The difference being like, when I think about when I go back to Montreal now, I can still speak the language, and my brother who's lived there for 60 years, still struggles with the basics. Right. It's insane. But those six or seven years where I was full time French made a ton of sense and I was happy at the results.00:03:53 - Bill RisserIt is so unique to have a province or a state where that entity just be like, our language is French, we'll speak English, I guess. Tell me exactly how that works. I'm sorry, I'm such a neophyte when it comes to how Canada works.00:04:10 - Stuart SimAgain, I use the example of going back there. Right. So my mom still lives there and I have family back there, but when I go into a store that first time, my instinct is to speak English. But automatically they speak French. And you have the choice to speak English or French. They'll respond in English. But I actually like it because it gives me a chance to practice right now. Growing up was a little different because you were in that separation phase where Quebec wanted to separate from Canada. So languages were, call it an issue between the French and English, and that's kind of gone away now, so it's a little bit easier. Montreal still heavy English contingent there, lives there. And Montreal is so close to Ontario that it doesn't really make that much of a difference in the northern states. Right. Vermont, Maine, New Hampshire. Five hour drive to Boston. So super easy.00:05:11 - Bill RisserYeah. How far from the border, say, to get into Vermont? I think it's very close. Right?00:05:16 - Stuart SimIt's like 45 minutes.00:05:18 - Bill RisserWow. Okay.00:05:19 - Stuart SimOnce you get off the island of Montreal, it's like 45 minutes.00:05:21 - Bill RisserOkay.00:05:22 - Stuart SimIt's not far.00:05:23 - Bill RisserWell, I like talking sports a little bit. You know that. I'm just going to guess you're a hockey guy, am I right?00:05:32 - Stuart SimWow. Absolutely.00:05:33 - Bill RisserAnd is it Canada, is it the Habs or is it not?00:05:37 - Stuart SimIt wasn't the habs. Wow. Wasn't the habs. And it never really has been. So because I lived so close to Montreal, to Boston, we spent our summers in Boston, so I typically lean towards the New England team so the Patriots, the Bruins, Red Sox, not the Celtics, because I'm not a basketball guy. And of course now that I've lived in Vancouver for so long, vancouver, you're seeing them on the news, so a little bit of that for sure. And now the Kraken have a team, which is fantastic. Right? Seattle.00:06:10 - Bill RisserYeah.00:06:11 - Stuart SimSo they made the playoffs. Pretty exciting to watch. The stadium that they built down there is really impressive. But yeah, growing up, absolutely. Bruins.00:06:20 - Bill RisserSo that had to be weird. Living in Montreal, supporting the Bruins with everybody else. Hardcore Canadiens. How did that go?00:06:32 - Stuart SimYou know what? I think I liked it just because I was the difference. And as I got older, when you go to college and you start getting together and gambling a little bit, throwing a fiver down just for the games, it was super fun. But at that time, Montreal was pretty dominant, so it was a tough one because they used to pretty much slap the Bruins around.00:06:53 - Bill RisserSeventy s and eighty s. They want.00:06:54 - Stuart SimTo different today, right?00:06:57 - Bill RisserYeah, that's true. My heart goes out to all the Maple Leaf fans. I mean, I thought this year might be the year, maybe they could get close. Oh, it's just too bad, right? You don't feel bad for them?00:07:08 - Stuart SimNo, not a Leaf fan at all.00:07:10 - Bill RisserThat's awesome. That's what I wanted to hear. All right, we'll move off that. Let's move forward. Look, you head off to university. I'm sure in your mind you're going, I'm going to be working in real estate in the SaaS world, all kinds of tech. Is that what you were thinking?00:07:24 - Stuart SimWell, there was no such tech at the time. We wrote papers by hand and had someone type them up for us, which was back in the day of university. My first computer on my desk was in like 95, and I think it was shared. I did take business at school, but I really didn't know what I wanted to be when I was going to university. I actually was a football player when it got to the university level, I wasn't fast enough or strong enough, so I didn't see a lot of playing time and kind of hit me in the face a little bit that said, this isn't going to happen. I finished school and I decided I needed some time away. So I'm a pretty good golfer. Just kind of hit it around pretty good. So I...