99% of Estate Agents are ‘Rude’ ….. and don’t even know it!

Before I’m inundated with ‘how dare you!’ comments please hear me out as there is a serious and solid point behind my headline.

I’ll explain how I’ve come to the startling figure that 99% of estate agents are making themselves seem impolite or even downright rude. And I’m pretty sure they don’t even realise they’re being seen that way.

I’ve bought and sold properties six times in my life. So that’s 12 opportunities for agents to do something to stand out that none of them did. This meant they all missed out on using a massive PR technique that’s so simple to do it’s almost laughable they didn’t do it.

After months of uncertainty a buyer being handed the keys to their new home is excited, relieved and if the agent has done a good job for them, thankful.

No doubt the agents are excited as commissions are banked and relieved deal is done. But are they thankful? In my personal experience it’s a case of if they were they sure didn’t show it.

We moved to the south coast in January so this experience is fresh in my mind. The buying and selling process was pretty seamless and the agents did their job well but with no wow factor.

I got the usual calls from my selling agent, solicitor and buying agent to say we’d completed.

I drove excitedly to collect the keys to what is our family’s dream home by the sea. I was so excited I parked bang outside the agent’s office risking a ticket. I bounded in like a young Labrador with a big ‘I’ve come for my bag of bones‘ type grin on my face.

I was met by a young agent who hardly looked up at me before shuffling around in a safe before handing over the keys in a somewhat bored, matter of fact way. He may well have been giving me a Big Mac through a McDonalds’ drive through window.

It may have been the third or fourth time that day he has handed over keys. But for me it was the first and possibly last set of keys to a home I’ll be picking up. My final impression of that agency was a bad one.

I discussed the idea for this blog with a friend who has bought and sold many times due to her job. I asked her about her experience with agents when the deal is done.

Her experience was consistent with mine and her response just about summed it up. She said: “Think about it this way. You walk into a shop and spend anywhere between £2000 to £5000 and they don’t even thank you! You’d think they’re [email protected]@@ing rude.”

We encourage all of our PR clients to have a simple system in place where they present a thank you card, bottle of decent wine and a nice box of chocolates at the point of handing over the keys to a new owner. It’s pure PR. It gets your agency remembered for the right reasons.

We encourage them to do exactly the same to the sellers of the property. People know people and referrals as we all know are like gold dust. It’s these little extras that get your agency talked about in glowing terms.

By the way the reason the figure in the headline wasn’t 100 per cent was because I bumped into an agent who I knew a few years back. He was walking with a bottle of champagne in one hand and a card in the other.

“Off to a party?” I asked, it was out of office hours. “No just popping round to a house we just sold. I wasn’t in the office when the keys were handed over so I’m going to see them and give them this as a thank you.”

That always stuck in my mind. And I bet it did to with the clients he was ‘popping round’ to see.

I know there must be agents out there who do give thanks so I’d love to know what you do and what kind of response you get.

Feel free to email me at [email protected]

Thank you very much for reading.

Jerry