Why 80% of Prop Tech firms might be getting it wrong with Estate / Letting Agents?

February 6, 2018

My intuition tells me there is a misunderstanding between selling/marketing a ‘new way of doing business’ of an ‘old way of doing business’  …….versus producing a completely new business, from scratch, on its own.

Uber didn’t have to sell their idea of taxi cabs; people were already haling a Black Taxi or ringing a Taxicab firm

All they had to do was create knowledge and understanding of what they did, but it wasn’t a complex concept … and consequently people understood it quickly.

If you are a PropTech firm concerned your marketing isn’t getting the traction it deserves  with UK Estate or Letting Agents.. then you have two issues …

  • Maybe your PropTech idea needs some rethinking…or
  • Maybe the way you create knowledge and understanding of your PropTech needs a rethink

Either way .. looking at the estate/lettings industry, being in the privileged position that I am, it is my opinion 80% of PropTech marketing isn’t working because of these two reasons.

If you are in PropTech and finding it hard work to get traction (ie the 80%) .. I would love to give you my opinion which category you are in.

If you are a PropTech firm finding it hard work and you are the boss … email me your marketing collateral to christopher@christopherwatkin.co.uk … on the understanding I will tell it like it is.

Why do I offer this?  Because the lettings and estate agency industry needs PropTech to thrive and survive … and I love the lettings and estate agency industry … its just I believe PropTech needs to understand us better, get under our skin, find out what motivates us, what our fears and frustrations are .. instead of designing the tech and assuming it will sell itself.

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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