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The Credibility Gap: Kendall Bonner on Building Community, Getting on Stage, and Why Women Need More Sponsors
- Wendy Forsythe
- 1 day ago
- 9 min read
Kendall Bonner just launched two major projects.
Both are about opening doors. Creating opportunities. Giving back.
Climbr: A free, brand-agnostic community for real estate agents that hit 700+ members in launch week.
Industry Speaks Academy: A framework for teaching aspiring speakers how to get on real estate stages.
In our X Factor Marketing conversation, Kendall walked me through both projects, the "credibility gap" that prevents people from getting on stages, and the hard truth about women in leadership.
This episode is packed with actionable frameworks and honest conversations about industry challenges.
The Divine Appointment
Let me start with how Climbr came to be.
Kendall and three co-founders—Veronica Figueroa, Jake Randolph, and Tony Cruz—didn't plan to meet.
Kendall calls it a "divine appointment."
"It was an intentional meeting, but it wasn't planned. Not supposed to happen, but it happened because it was meant to happen."
They realized they all wanted the same thing: to give back to the real estate industry in a different, unique way.
All had content. All had expertise. All wanted a venue to contribute without being coaches per se.
They wanted to talk about things they felt weren't being spoken about in the industry.
So they locked themselves in a conference room for 6-8 hours and brainstormed.
Why "Climbr"?
The name came from collaborative effort. All four contributed.
Kendall was inspired by ClickFunnels: "You're one funnel away."
They wanted something singular with a metaphor attached.
"Join the climb."
Because everyone in this industry is trying to elevate. Level up. Grow. Take their business to the next level.
Wendy's reaction: "I have that image of the poster of the mountain climbr hanging on the cliff. Very aspirational and motivational in a word."
Perfect alignment.
What Is Climbr?
Climbr (CLIMBR) is a free community for agents BY agents.
700+ members in launch week.
From all over the world. Residential and commercial. Agents, team leaders, brokers, franchise owners.
The key: Brand agnostic.
No recruiting. No selling. No gatekeeping.
Just positive, high-energy collaboration.
"When I scroll through the comments, it's a very active community," Kendall said. "It's blowing my mind. Very cool the opportunity that's created for everyone."
What Climbr Offers
Hosting webinars with top talent:
Ben Kinney has shared with the audience
Jimmy Mackin dropped fire on listings and generating listing leads
Kendall's creating content around:
Her "motivated mover" concept (your next deal comes from a life event)
How to leverage notes in IG and Facebook to start DMs
Her philosophy: "Don't chase likes and comments. The business happens in a DM."
"Social media isn't a strategy for business. It is a tool. People are not using every bit of that tool to generate the most business."
One-on-one conversations in DMs—that's where business happens.
The Free Offering
Climbr is completely free.
As part of the launch, they gave away hundreds of free GoHighLevel CRMs (already built out for agents) plus coaching on how to use them.
"We talk about the free line all the time, but it's been really powerful," Kendall said. "The reaction from our audience—they're like 'No gatekeeping. You're just pouring into us. Thank you. It's what we've been wanting and asking for.'"
The Problem That Became Industry Speaks Academy
Kendall has done hundreds of stages. Thousands of hours.
Keynotes, panels, MC, moderator—all of it.
"Being on stage in this industry has changed my entire life and my career. It's opened so many doors for me."
But women kept coming to her with the same question:
"Kendall, I want to do what you're doing. How do I break into this space?"
She didn't have an answer for them. Didn't know what to tell them or where to send them.
And she noticed something else happening.
The Same Voices, Same Rooms Problem
"Having been on so many stages, in the same rooms over and over and over again, I realized we had a lot of the same voices over and over and over again. A lot of the same talking points over and over and over again."
There was an opportunity to build a room and open a door for:
Aspiring speakers
People who've done it a few times and want to turn this from a talent to a skill
Take it to the next level. Get serious about it.
That's how Industry Speaks Academy was born.
The Validation Process
Before building it, Kendall called all her event organizer friends.
Inman. HousingWire. RIS Media. Zillow. All of them.
"If I build it, will you come? Will you support this? Will you help source speakers? Would you source speakers from the academy? Do you feel this would be relevant and useful?"
100% yes across the board.
Why?
Sourcing speakers is not easy.
And speakers don't make it easy to source either.
That's part of the challenge Kendall is solving for.
The Credibility Gap Framework
This is the heart of the academy.
Kendall identified why people struggle going from experience to contribution on stage.
Going from personal brand to industry brand.
It's not just about having expertise.
There's a credibility gap with three parts:
Credibility #1: Street Credibility
Expertise. Experience. The street cred.
"You need that. If you don't have that, that's your first step."
Build your expertise. Build your experience.
That's the foundation.
But a lot of people think: "I have the experience, I have the expertise, put me on stage."
Not so fast.
Credibility #2: Performance Credibility
Number one: You have done this before.
The biggest mistake speakers make?
Waiting to talk about their topics until they get on stage.
"That is such a mistake," Kendall said.
"It's not about memorizing answers. It's not about scripting. It's about being so comfortable with how you deliver it that you're ticking all the boxes including the fact that you're engaged with your audience."
It builds comfort and confidence because you recognize: I know my stuff.
Wendy's analogy: "It's like taking batting practice before you go play in the game. You don't want to be saying it the first time on stage in front of the audience when your nerves are high."
Exactly.
Part of performance credibility:
Developing your one-liners
Making sure they'll land
Understanding the assignment of the room
Understanding who you're really working for (the AUDIENCE, not yourself, not the moderator)
It's really about serving the audience at the highest level.
Credibility #3: Referral Credibility
How you get on stage: Someone recommended you.
Someone has seen you perform. They trust you understand the assignment. You're offering all the proper signals.
This is where speakers make critical mistakes.
Critical Mistake #1: Speaker Samples
Event organizers say: "Send me some samples so I understand what your topics are."
What do speakers do?
They send podcast copy or random videos.
That's not what they're asking for.
They want samples of you ON STAGE.
If you're not getting recorded content of you on a stage, that's a problem.
Wendy asked: "Does that need to be a sizzle reel or a clip of you on stage?"
Kendall: "Both."
Sizzle reels are good for social proof.
But an actual sample—speaking on stage with the audience getting that full view—that's what gives event organizers comfort.
"Now you're really delivering. They know your stage presence. They can see that."
Critical Mistake #2: "I Can Speak on Anything"
Event organizer: "What can you speak on?"
Speaker: "I can speak on anything! What do you want me to speak on?"
HUGE mistake.
Why?
Event organizers don't book speakers. They book TOPICS.
They pick their topic. They pick their agenda. THEN they source speakers who can meet that assignment. Who can speak to the expertise of that particular topic.
Kendall's Example
When Kendall was at her previous brand, she was known for video marketing (weekly video content, coaching and training, even wrote a course for the company).
Then she evolved into what a lot of people knew her for: mega lawsuits expert.
"That's what opened tons of doors for me. Is that the only thing I could talk about? Of course not. But it gave me the street credibility, the performance credibility, the referral credibility."
Now she gets to pick her topic for certain events.
That's what the academy hopes to do: help you fill those gaps.
What the Academy Offers
Kendall built a learning management system with five frameworks she coaches from.
The Studio
Online on-demand course (framework teachings).
Transparent pricing on the website (no sticker shock or surprises).
The Lab
Meet once a month. Go through your talks. Practice them.
This is where you build your performance, build that muscle.
Get objective constructive feedback in writing so you can improve on your craft.
Based on the frameworks: your frame, your reframes, what you say, how you present it.
Did the joke land or not?
Are you pitching or selling from stage? (Don't do that unless you have permission from the event organizer.)
Wendy: "There's nothing like doing it and getting real-time feedback to be able to make improvements and feel it. When you've just done it and you hear feedback right away, that's when you're able to say, 'Oh, I didn't realize I was using those filler words, or I didn't realize I was rolling my eyes as I was thinking about what was next.'"
Exactly.
The AI Bot
Custom AI bot built on the frameworks. Trained on them.
Helps speakers test openings, closings, content. Get objective feedback.
Because here's the problem:
You go on stage. Come off stage. Ask people, "How'd I do?"
"You did great!"
That's not helpful. Not if you want to grow.
What helps: Constructive feedback. How to be better.
Panel Etiquette Example
Kendall does tons of panels.
She tells panelists all the time: "Don't look at me when you respond. Look at the audience."
It's not about the moderator.
Yes, you're having a conversation with the moderator, but you're REALLY having a conversation with the audience.
Simple things people have to be taught. The etiquette of being on stage. Who you're engaging with.
Speaker Assets and Profile Building
The academy helps you build speaker assets and a speaker profile to make it easy for event organizers to find you.
Kendall is working hard to source event organizers. Met some the day we recorded.
"I'm going to bring them in to find speakers from the academy. I'm creating a frictionless environment."
Learn more at speakonrealestatestages.com
Kendall: "I'm an SEO queen. Super intentional about these things."
Women in Leadership: The Hard Conversation
We had to talk about this.
Wendy and Kendall are both passionate about women in leadership.
"It's a bumpy road," Wendy said. "With lots of twists and turns."
Is It Getting Better?
Kendall's take: More women are positioning themselves for leadership roles.
Building relationships. Building networks. Building education, skill sets, knowledge bases.
They deserve seats at those tables.
"I'm seeing more and more women talk about that and own that and acknowledge that and in a lot of ways expect it and assert themselves."
Not in an aggressive way. But very intentional, proactive.
"Hey, I am a leader and I should be recognized as such. What doors can we partner on to get there?"
That's positive.
But there's a problem.
The MLS Leadership Problem
Wendy's observation (anecdotal, not hard facts):
On the MLS side of the business, lots of tenured female leaders are retiring or choosing to leave.
We're not seeing female leadership move into those opportunities.
The balance of female representation is diminishing substantially.
Kendall: "I am a member of one of those associations where that's happening right now. That's not good."
We both agree: Not that women should replace women for women's sake.
The best candidate should be in the position.
But.
Sometimes women get overlooked as the best candidate when they really are, could be, and should be.
Kendall can think of a handful of females being replaced by men.
"I'd love to see a movement back to: Did we look at ALL of the people that really should have been considered for those positions?"
Building Future Leaders
As leaders (we don't even need to qualify it as "female leaders"), are we looking at building other leaders for future opportunities?
That's the question.
We talk about sponsorship.
Women need to sponsor other women for opportunities.
And here's the hard truth:
Men do that better for other men than both men and women do for other women.
That's why women aren't getting opportunities vacated by retirement or other reasons.
Not enough sponsors of women for those roles.
Sponsorship vs. Mentorship
Wendy talked about mentorship as another form of raising up the next generation of leaders.
Big opportunity for women in very big, responsible, amazing roles. Roles they spent their careers building up to.
Pour into other women. Set other women up for success.
Sponsor them.
Say their name in rooms where they're not in.
Get them into rooms where they should be in.
That's a valuable and necessary component to elevating more women.
The Scarcity Mindset
As women, we also need to speak up.
Don't worry: "If I invite another woman in the room, does that make less space for me?"
Kendall: "I don't think that's true."
Wendy: "I don't think that's true."
The Panel Question
Wendy asked: "Will we ever see on an Inman stage a panel of all women CEOs running the big brands like we see those panels of all male CEOs?"
Kendall: "I sure hope so. That would be great."
She told a story about an Inman panel she did a couple years back with all female team leaders.
Powerhouse team leaders.
They all decided to wear white.
"It was a moment."
It was Kendall's idea with Inman.
"We just had a beautiful, diverse group of women from different parts of the country, all at the top of their game, sharing their stories and their leadership. It was just such a beautiful moment."
"Forever cemented in my mind and in my memory as one of those moments where I was so proud."
My Takeaways
Kendall is building rooms and opening doors.
Climbr for agents who want community, collaboration, and value without gatekeeping.
Industry Speaks Academy for people who want to turn speaking from a talent into a skill.
And she's reminding us all about the hard truths around women in leadership.
Street, performance, and referral credibility.
The credibility gap is real. But it's closable.
And women need more sponsors. Not just mentors.
Say their name in rooms where they're not. Get them into rooms where they should be.
Join Climbr at climbrcommunity.com
Learn about Industry Speaks Academy at speakonrealestatestages.com
Let’s grow,
Wendy
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