73.2% nose-dive in number of property sold per UK estate agent in 10 years
In 2004, there were 7,570 estate agent offices in the UK, in 2014 that number had risen to 19,304
.. problem is, in 2004, those 7,570 offices sold between them 1.78m properties whilst in 2014, 1.219m properties were sold
…. meaning in 2004, the average number of sales per estate agency branch was 235.13 .. However, roll the clock forward to today, and with the number of agents increasing by over 155% and lower number of property sales (1.78m to 1.219m), the average number of sales per estate agency branch now stands at 63.14 properties a year .. a drop of 73.2% .. and it will only get worse
But I say this, now has never been a better time to start an estate agency.
You don’t need huge pots of money to spend on advertising, you don’t need an expensive high street location, fitted out to the tune of thirty to fifty grand, you don’t need to have expensive full page adverts in the newspaper,
If I had a £1 for every agent who comes to me who says, “I launched my agency six months ago, I had twenty half page adverts in the newspaper, delivered 25,000 leaflets every month, I am on Rightmove ‘all bells and whistles package’ Package that costs two of your English grands a month, on Zoopla ‘Lasers and Glitter ball’ package that is knocking on the door of a grand … its been costing me £6,000 a month in marketing and now I have run out of money and don’t know what to do” … I, my blog reading friends, would be a rich man. In fact, how many established agents would also say this?
Trust me, it can be done for less than £1,000 to £1,500 a month in an average sized town and you will be a major player in the town in a few years (and if you were prepared to do some hard work yourself .. that could could be as low £500 to £600 per month.. no bull ..(and if you want to know how, pick up the phone if you dare and I will tell you)
Just because new agents see other mature agents doing these things, they think they need to do these things.
You see, recognising that there are patterns in the estate agency (and lettings) profession is a priceless skill that comes with practice, with the experience of observing. Observing what works, observing what you have seen before, but just as important, observing which of those things might not work now, today.
You see, recognition of these patterns is so valuable, some people have mistakenly concluded that the way to thrive and flourish in estate agency is to slavishly follow what has been done before.
Matching what other agents do is for amateurs and it rarely leads to the creation of much that can stand the test of time.
The real art is to look at the old patterns, adopt the good parts but then adapt and improve them to do something new, something that resonates with home owners and landlords alike.
So what should you do next?
Take advice from people who can spot patterns and help you …
- Iain White and Stephen Brown at Agency Mentors http://www.agencymentors.com
- Sam Ashdown http://samashdown.co.uk
- Richard Rawlings http://www.estateagencyinsight.co.uk
- And if you wanted to know my thoughts on the topic, a good place to start might be my podcasts https://soundcloud.com/christopher-watkin or my YouTube channel … https://goo.gl/n5zDlN
Good luck!
Christopher Watkin
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