Backstabbing Estate Agents in my Office

April 27, 2016

‘That’s the fifth property I have lost this month to the competition’.

You think, am I losing my mojo? Your Area Manager is on your back, because you aren’t hitting your targets. You can see it in the slightly squinting eyes of that Neg – the look of distain as they back-stab in a subtle and ever so sarcastically way, drop in to the conversation at the morning meeting in front of everyone, ‘Isn’t that the 2 bed apartment you went to last week’ as they go through the listings on Rightmove from the day before (when you know damn well she knows its the one).

Your diary starts to fill of the cr*p free vals as the decent stuff goes to your arch rival Valuer/Lister in the office.

You feel you team doesn’t have your back and you start to worry.

How do we deal with the Voice in our head who enjoys creating uncertainty?

How do we deal with the Neg carrying around a world full of pain that she needs to share by bitching how rubbish you are as a lister around the office ?

How do we deal with the Area Manager mentioning your office as it has a red box on the target sheet for listings (whilst everyone else’s is green .. lovely green.. as green as Ireland on a Spring morning)

How do we distinguish between positive, constructive, beneficial insight and the other kind (the s**t kind)?

How do we choose which feedback is actually a clue about how our stakeholders (potential vendors/landlords and our colleagues) feels, and which is a diversion, a shortcut on the road to second-rate triviality?

If you listen to none of the criticism, you will learn nothing.

If you listen to all of it, nothing will happen.

Call it life, but there’s not an easy answer.

What ever you call it .. be it criticism / feedback / advice / backstabbing / opinion / constructive feedback b*tching / analysis etc … it’s a one way street .. its all coming at you ..you are not in control – so like I said, you either listen to none of it and put your head in the sand OR you listen to all of it and end up a nervous wreck

Or you could take control of the situation.

Instead of being in the back seat, take control because the one powerful thing YOU can do is ask the questions … and then secondly, get better at the art of listening (and rejecting). 

The place to start is with two classifications of feedback.

Category No. 1 is …  “I enthusiastically seek this sort of feedback out and listen to it and act on it.”

Category No. 2 is …  “I’m not interested in hearing that.”

There is no 3rd category.

kind regards

Christopher 

PS If wanted to read more articles like this on how to be a better estate or letting agent, how to get more listings and stock to sell and rent ..one place to go to some YouTube videos on the very subject .. here a link to the You Tube videos  ..  https://goo.gl/d3A9tq

Enjoy your day my friends

 

 

 

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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