Court Cunningham, CEO of Orchard, discusses the challenges and evolution of the real estate industry, embracing failure for profitability, navigating customer acquisition hurdles, and exploring disruptors aiming for standardization and innovation in real estate.
Orchard differentiated itself by implementing move first equity events to address homeowners' struggles in transitioning to new houses.
Transitioning to independent contractor agents with set seller appointments improved sales conversion and ensured a transparent home buying process.
Deep dives
The Foundation of Orchard and Move First Equity Events
Orchard's inception stemmed from consumer research that identified a common problem: individuals stuck in their current homes due to mortgages while struggling to move into new ones. This led to the creation of move first equity events, a concept that garnered significant consumer interest and differentiated Orchard from competitors. The company rigorously tested various solutions, focusing on addressing real-life challenges faced by homeowners.
Shift to Independent Contractor Model and Focus on Customer Experience
Orchard transitioned from an employed agent model to independent contractor agents, emphasizing alignment of incentives and customer-centric service. By offering set seller appointments and enhancing service quality, Orchard increased its prices to address customer skepticism. This approach not only improved sales conversion but also ensured a stress-free and transparent home buying experience for consumers.
Future Strategic Directions and Industry Transformation
Orchard's strategic focus shifted towards profitability and refining sales conversion processes. The company streamlined its service delivery, increased agent count, and prioritized high-quality seller leads to sustain business growth. As the real estate landscape evolves, Orchard aims to enhance brand awareness nationally while exploring innovative technological platforms and standardized practices to drive industry-wide transformation.
Court Cunningham, CEO of Orchard, and I discuss sunrises, the job of a CEO, six years of learnings, the land of 1,000 edge cases, wasteful spending, knowing what not to do, being too good to be true, the Orchard pitch to agents, why the salaried agent model doesn't work, being impaled on CAC, learning velocity, and putting "Super App" in quotes.
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