Nourishing the modern agent

The agent website business is a little like fast food. Lots of options, few of them satisfying.

That’s why it’s refreshing to see a vendor offering agents something different – something a little more considered, thoughtful and ultimately nourishing.

I recently had the chance to preview the new solution built by the team at Curaytor Systems. Many of you may know their founders, Chris Smith and Jimmy Mackin, from their WaterCooler podcast or public speaking appearances.

The two of them have interacted with thousands of agents face-to-face over the years. They heard firsthand agents’ gripes about the lack of truly progressive tools for Realtors.

So it comes as no surprise that they would choose to tackle this problem and come up with a fresh alternative.

What they’ve built is quite remarkable.

In fact, I would bet that the Curaytor platform is the first agent website platform architected end-to-end for the business environment today’s real estate agent finds themselves in: one that is that is more social, more connected, and requires more thoughtful follow-up in order to cut through the noise.

Here are just a few of the things that caught my eye:

I’ve been skeptical about the need for an agent to include an IDX search solution on their website for awhile now. What I like about Curaytor’s approach is that it doesn’t mimic the portals’ search experiences.

Their take plays to the agent’s real strength in the search process, which is to present a selection (dare I say, “curated”) set of options to a client in a well structured, beautifully designed manner.

The underpinnings are IDX, but the experience is decidedly not “search”.

Second, smart agents are starting to step outside the traditional real estate funnel to engage with consumers where they naturally congregate online. I mean, principally, Facebook.

Any listing on a Curaytor website can be turned into a landing page with the click of a button – mobile responsive, natch –  and promoted through social channels. Curaytor has created a number of ways their customers can boost their lead-gen efforts using Facebook’s advertising platform.

Based on my conversations with Curaytor’s founders, this has proven to be an extremely effective way for agents to generate seller leads.

There are a number of other companies (Flipt, to name just one) dipping their toes into this space. And I expect this is an area in which we are going to see intense investment over the next few years. Definitely smart of the Curaytor team to get ahead of this curve.

Finally, everything is tied to a sophisticated follow-up program. Curaytor integrates ways in which agents can build up a thoughtful, measured campaign to nurture prospects into clients in a fun, engaging manner.

All-in-all, the solution is a meticulously planned out multi-course meal.

It’s not cheap. Curaytor’s pricing starts high. But it is satisfying. And I don’t think you’ll end up regretting the decision the next morning.