14% increase in calls to Moneypenny’s property team
Telephone answering specialist Moneypenny has reported a 14% increase in calls to its dedicated property team in the period 1st April to 30th June as compared to the first quarter of 2014.
In call trend data released today looking back on the first half of the year, Monday has been identified as the busiest day of the week for handling calls for estate and letting agents, with the hours 9-10am and 4-5pm those when Moneypenny’s property team is most needed to support the activities of the sector, taking those calls that would otherwise go unanswered. The single busiest day was Tuesday May 27th.
Property calls had increased by 21% as compared to the same period last year, with valuations up 7% and viewing requests up 10%. A total of 42% of calls taken across Q1 and Q2 related to new business enquiries.
Moneypenny’s Commercial Manager, Corporate and Property Samantha Jones who works closely with agents of all sizes explains: “Property is a large and ever growing sector for us. We are currently answering around 1.1 million calls a year for more than 800 estate and letting agents as well as new home developers. The first half of 2014 has been very busy, reflecting trends across the industry. January this year, for example saw a ‘like for like’ 26% increase in calls as compared to January 2013 and typically we have seen dramatic spikes in call activity around Bank Holidays, when agents are particularly busy or short staffed.
“It has been an interesting exercise closely analysing the data we produce daily here at Moneypenny and formulating it into a broad trend analysis we can issue to the sector. While the information is of course vital for us internally, we also feel that it can provide a useful temperature check for the wider industry, demonstrating how and when agents rely on their outsourced telephone answering provider. It is something we plan to issue at the end of every quarter going forward.”