Interview with Marty Lachance, President and founder of Utopria Inc.
By Bill Sanderson
I stumbled across a small company a few years back after doing some research on high tech Real Estate services. Utopria was a relatively small company based in Canada that was thinking outside the box. I thought I’d follow up with them this year and see how they were progressing in a tough market.
I recently sat down with Marty Lachance, President and founder of Utopria. Here is an excerpt of our conversation.
I see that you’ve come a long way in the past two years. How is Utopria doing in this tough Real Estate market?
“In some ways it’s worse for Utopria, but in many ways it’s actually been better. Realtors are looking for ways to stand out. If you don’t have relationship building tools as a Realtor, you will find it difficult to stay in the business. We’ve always been about creating tools that allow Realtors to grow their business network.”
How has it become worse for Utopria?
“The only area that Realtors have a problem is with cost. We’ve tried many price points, but the majority of Realtors can’t afford $20/month. There are companies in the marketplace who offer parts of our service (IVR – curb side hotline) for $60+ per month. We decided that we were going to listen to the market, if they can’t afford to pay, we don’t want to eliminate them from participating. We’ve recently launched a free service for those Realtors who are struggling. They now have an opportunity to participate with tools that were previously out-of-reach.”
Is the free service a smaller version of Utopria’s technology or trial-based?
“No, it’s a free version of our entire suite. We still have a paid model for those who want training or to list many properties, but they can use the system as long as they want at no cost.”
I first noticed Utopria when they launched their iPhone platform. You had a different approach to mobile Real Estate. How have Realtors accepted this?
“Mobile Real Estate is ahead of the curve – period. Many companies who have designed mobile platforms simply treat it as another form of online marketing. In reality, these devices can offer much more.
This is why we’ve designed our platform to benefit everyone in the Real Estate process…by using all of the devices features. Our iPhone platform uses audio, video, content, mapping, curb side viewing requests and more. The buyer gets great information, the Realtor is able to make a personal introduction from the curb and the seller gets great marketing exposure.
It’s a different concept, but different is the name of the game in Real Estate.”
What are your thoughts on the many other iPhone apps on the market?
“We chose to go web-based with the iPhone. We felt that consumers would simply not download multiple Real Estate apps for their home search. We’ve designed our platform to work with every iPhone application that’s been written. We are simply a link, similar to a virtual tour link that gets embedded with third-party companies. This is the way we work online as well.
Our multimedia listings can be found on Trulia, Zillow, every MLS and on Realtor websites.”
I see that you’ve recently launched a Business Network for Realtors. Tell me about this.
“We saw another opportunity to help Realtors grow their business. If you look at all the free companies in the market, they take Realtors’ listings and use them to generate advertising dollars. The Realtor doesn’t seem to mind since they gain more exposure. But in reality, these companies take the most important part of a Realtors marketing campaign and earn revenue with it.
Property listings are paired with advertisers who the Realtor really doesn’t know or recommend. We decided it was time for change. We launched our Business Network in January and now allow Realtors to invite their own preferred lenders, inspectors, stagers etc. to their listings. It’s a win-win-win situation.
Realtors can showcase known and respected industry professionals. These professionals in turn, get great exposure to a captive audience of buyers and sellers. Buyers get access to recommended industry professionals.”
The Realtor’s partners place ads on their listings? What’s different here?
“Not quite ads, but they are business profiles. They showcase what the business delivers to the consumer. We’ve taken it to an entirely different level by incorporating the business partners in with our IVR platform. A home inspector can pick up the phone and talk about his/her company to a large online home buying audience.”
Who else has adopted this Business Network concept?
“To date, it’s just Utopria.”
What’s the biggest challenge for Utopria?
“It’s the same as it has always been. It’s a competitive business. Our services do not spread by word-of-mouth. In fact, many of our customers will protect their secret and downplay their results. We hear it through the grapevine. It drives our marketing costs higher since we have to reach out and touch every Realtor individually.
Some have never heard about Utopria. It’s always interesting to watch their reaction when we tell them that their colleagues in the office have been using Utopria for years.”
On a scale of 1 to 10, how difficult are your services to use?
“I’d say a 4. Realtors who don’t use the Internet are not able to benefit from Utopria’s services. We’re always honest with our potential customers. If you don’t use e-mail and are not sure how to upload a photo, then traditional marketing methods would be better suited.
It takes less time to create a multimedia listing with Utopria than it does to create a newspaper advertisement. It also brings much better value. Listings on Utopria allow Realtors to introduce themselves, track listeners and share information with the home sellers. Having said that, we still see a large number of Realtors still focussed on newsprint advertising.
We always encourage them to stay where they feel comfortable, but now since our services are free, if they want to branch out into technology, we’re here to help.”
What I found most interesting about Utopria is their concept of business building rather than being singularly focussed on any one aspect of Real Estate. They have seemed to have created a platform that encompasses all the hot topics on the market. Mobile, video, audio, blogging, multimedia, IVR, communication, partner integration and social networking.
It’s one of the most innovative platforms I’ve seen in years. Realtors who want to learn more about Utopria can go to www.utopria.com.
