8 reasons why people don’t use your estate agency

Have you ever heard these reasons why people don’t use your agency?

  1. You haven’t got many properties like mine for sale / let
  2. You aren’t on every portal
  3. You don’t deal with this type of property
  4. You’re too young to take this £2m house on
  5. You don’t go in the newspaper
  6. You aren’t part of an extensive network
  7. You don’t have buyers registered on your books
  8. You don’t have a High Street office

Hear these words too many times and you might begin to believe them.

Now, more than ever ….

attitude undermines background

and

effectiveness defeats experience.

… particularly when it comes to the work done on the boundaries, on the edges of estate and letting agency, where answers are still being found. Let me explain …

The world of estate agency is changing but some people don’t realise and others are looking in the wrong direction. High St vs Online vs Hybrid is not where the battle ground is in estate agency. Rightmove vs Zoopla vs OTM isn’t either where the war is being won or lost.

Whether you are a newbie ‘wet behind the ear’ agent or an established giant of agent, whether you are an online agent, hybrid or high street agent .. the battle for estate agency  (and lettings) is being fought elsewhere … the Portal argument or Online arguments that are the bread and butter of places like this are not being had by the customers and clients we serve … they don’t care about things like this .. no in the hearts and minds of the all the homeowners and landlords of the UK, all they care about is themselves, their property and if they need to get a property sold or let, one who will do it efficiently, get a decent sale price/ rental figure and at a fee that is worth paying…

People do business with people they like … remember, lettings and estate agency is people business… not a property business

Estate Agents …. Stop focusing on youself, stop focusing on your firm, stop focusing what you can or cant offer, stop focusing on what you do or don’t have on the market (or have sold) … nobody cares about that .. all you have to do is talk about stuff your local homeowners and local landlords are interested in, obsessed about, passionate about  …

(and sorry it isn’t a screen dump of Rightmove Plus with you at No.1 on New Listings)

If too many vendors (and landlords) have told you ‘no’ .. most of them were wrong. Not wrong about what they wanted … perhaps what you have isn’t for them… or it could have been your fault for not proving them wrong about what you could give?

Instead of beating yourself up on who was right or wrong, instead of destroying yourself of waiting for homeowners and vendors to choose you, I suggest you choose yourself, and keep making art until vendors and landlords can’t ignore you any longer.

Is that fair, No, but life isn’t fair sometimes, nonetheless it’s better than the alternative.

… and what is this art I talk of?

Definition of Art .. “the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power.”

.. I can see your eyes roll up at this point … stay with me … I am not talking about painting or sculpture, nothing fluffy .. ask the wife, I don’t do do fluffy … but you can be an artist in estate agency by creating something that is appreciated for its emotional power (look at the definition)

.. just talk about something you know local homeowners and local landlords are interested in ..  (PS hint – it isn’t you, it isn’t your firm or services, nor isnt your Rightmove Plus screen dump, nor is the chain of agencies you belong to, it isnt section 8 vs Section 21 notices, nor is it whether you have a High Street office or not .. the only people who care about those things are three people; Firstly, you, Secondly, your Mum (but she would be proud of anything you did) and finally, your Boss)

The British are obsessed about the property market .. ‘How much is my house worth’ .. Just talk about your local property market because someone Peckham doesn’t give two hoots about Wimbledon, nor does anyone in Nottingham care about London.

This works for landlords just as well as for home owners .. its gets more stock for resi lettings and resi sales .. because both are owners of property

Just talk about house prices, rents, yields, capital growth, what will happen to house prices, what will happen to rents, what will happen to yields … and then just deliver them to the homeowners and landlords of your town.

How do you do that .. watch these for videos (that last 45min.. but I guarantee it will get you more landlords and vendors to use your agency)

Part 1 – https://youtu.be/-ufIvIW9-5M?t=3m10s  (8 mins)

Part 2 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7y4s_bC6jzo&feature=youtu.be&t=20s (15mins)

Part 3 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmAiYnHtV2g&feature=youtu.be&t=20s (9mins)

Part 4 – https://youtu.be/xhp1WerR_x8?t=19s (16mins)

.. and want to know if it works …

This established agent grew his sales pipeline by 113% in 9 months (and he was already a main player in his town .. No.3 agent before he started .. 6 minute video .. https://youtu.be/WoN9Qgg0ZP4

 

 

Christopher Watkin

I teach, guide, support, mentor, consult, counsel, partner many hundreds of UK Estate and Letting Agents in their quest to grow their estate and lettings agencies business. Old school techniques of touting, landlords wanted leaflets, ring us for a free valuation, we have sold this in your street leaflets don't work anymore. There are too many competitor agents .. meaning cheap fees are epidemic, overvaluing is almost a norm to get the stock and don’t even mention about the online/hybrid threat. So a few years ago, I set about looking around the UK and spotted that certain agents (not many mind you) in certain towns were still seen as the ‘go to person on property’, the person the newspaper editor rang up every week for a comment and I looked at what they did and they were doing some thing quite remarkable…. Only one thing but they were doing it so well .. and reaping the reward in terms of decent listings and decent fees, happy staff, decent sales pipeline and exchange income, managed lettings portfolios in the many hundreds .. but more importantly, they really enjoyed the job… they enjoyed getting up in the morning and people looked up to them Over 400 agents around the UK are on a mission to change the way our Estate and Lettings agency profession is perceived and looked upon, doing it town by town, city by city. I guide these 400 agents, teach them, mentor them and support them to be seen in a different light, to be seen as the ‘go to person for property’, actually be the ‘local property expert’ and prove it. Christopher Watkin 07950 147 572 christopher@christopherwatkin.co.uk

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