Jerry Clum is a future-focused franchise expert. Instead of developing a business idea and then looking for a market in which to sell it, Clum identifies a market and then creates a service that meets the needs of that market. By Brianna Bohn
Jerry Clum is a future-focused franchise expert. Instead of developing a business idea and then looking for a market in which to sell it, Clum identifies a market and then creates a service that meets the needs of that market. By using predictive modeling, or analyzing industry trends to predict what might happen in the future, Clum has mastered business ownership, becoming a founder of multiple franchises and a franchisee of 11 successful systems. While logic led him to create Comfort Keepers, an in-home care solution for seniors, it was emotion that inspired him to develop a revolutionary franchise concept.
After selling Comfort Keepers to spend more time with his two young children, Clum decided to retire – or so he thought. “I put up my house for sale, and I ended up falling for the agent who came to list my house. When she would come home at night, she would tell me about the trials and tribulations in her industry, and I knew I wanted to help her,” Clum explained.
Enter Hommati, a franchise that offers innovative digital media services to real estate agents. As Clum had done in years past, he recognized a demographic shift in the real estate market and jumped on the opportunity.
“Many agents don’t realize how big this market shift is actually going to be,” Clum said. “Between millennials and Gen Z, in the next seven years, they will represent 72% of all homebuyers. Agents who do not adopt more tech-savvy strategies will wean themselves out of real estate altogether. There was all this great technology available for real estate that no one had rolled into one business model that would help agents sell homes to this new market. We’re leveraging this technology to do just that.”
Clum explained that some agents turn to popular real estate websites for clients but end up with increased advertising costs and less autonomy as they try to outbid one another for leads. Hommati gives the power back to agents by never selling one agent’s leads to another agent and by producing cutting-edge marketing solutions, including 3D interactive tours, virtual staging, aerial HD video and images, augmented reality services and more.
“For franchisees, this is not a difficult sale when you educate an agent that Hommati can create an entire listing package that includes all of these technologies for almost the same price as what agents are spending on photography now,” Clum said. “We’re seeing agents who work with us receiving 403% more traffic and inquiries, their homes are selling 31% faster and they’re selling for anywhere from 4% to 9% higher sales price.”
Other vendors cannot compete with Hommati because of its extensive network of 141 franchisees in 40 states, which results in volume and invaluable data. The franchise has a low barrier to entry with a total investment of $65,000, and there is no dependency on site selection because it’s a mobile, home-based franchise. Also, the business can be started without employees, and even at full maturity, you may only need up to three employees.
“Our franchisees are basically going out, taking the photos, flying the drone and doing the scans, and most everything else after is automated, billing, invoicing, project management, everything. We have 26 support people for 141 franchises. We’re operating more like a 20-year-old franchise even though we’re only five years in,” Clum said.
Hommati currently has franchising opportunities available across the U.S.
Brianna Bohn