12 Letting Agents in My Town

November 3, 2016

There are four Coffee Shops in Grantham .. all serve froffy coffee, nice cakes or paninis for lunch. There are three mini supermarkets along the  High Street, and all stock the same brands of sweets, mummy fuel (wine), nibbles and emergency loo rolls. There are five travel agents, selling the same holidays.  And their websites that promote them were each built using identical lines of HTML code.

The twelve letting agents in Grantham are all based on the High Street (or just off it), all use Rightmove, all have a website, all have to let boards, all have brochures, all doing viewings, all vet tenants, all of them manage property… but they all fundamentally do the same thing … let houses

When any business (letting agent or not) with access to the same resources are creating comparable services where does our sustainable advantage lie?

Just because you have been in your office for ten years (with a managed portfolio of 300 to 500 managed properties) doesn’t mean you are safe (see the PS section)

We are in a new world and in the world as a whole, in other industries and now lettings and estate agency, time and again we see that tangible advantages like location, quality and fee aren’t enough to keep clients engaged and loyal.

The letting (and estate) agents that will not only survive, but thrive in this new 21st Century world will be the agents that do what their competitor’s agents don’t do, not what their competitor’s agents can’t do.

Often this is the human work of understanding, connecting and creating intangible value. I might go as far to use a word that isn’t used a lot nowadays, empathising with our clients to create something that’s not always seen but it’s certainly felt.

What do you do that your competitors aren’t prepared to do?

Thanks for reading .

Christopher Watkin 

PS Were you aware there are firms out there that will legally obtain your stock list then will find the contact details of your landlords, real home address, and telephone numbers. Be careful …

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

You May Also Enjoy

Estate Agent Talk

Real Estate Lawyers: Who They Are and What They Do?

When you want to purchase or sell a property, the best course of action would be to seek help from professionals. Real estate transactions usually involve huge sums of cash, so the legal protocols are there to ensure your security and prevent you from falling victim to fraud. Hiring a real estate attorney is essential,…
Read More →
Breaking News

Weekly News Roundup – 03/05/24

A roundup of the week’s top property and proptech news stories in partnership with Proptech-X   Table of Contents Is Zoopla holding back the housing market? Will Yardi’s multi-million gamble on WeWork the former £37Bn Unicorn pay off? Nimbus report gives oversight on retail market post Covid   Is Zoopla holding back the housing market?…
Read More →
Love or Hate Rightmove
Breaking News

Rightmove’s weekly mortgage tracker – 02/05/24

Matt Smith, Rightmove’s mortgage expert said: “Next week’s Bank of England meeting will be quite key for setting the tone for mortgage rates leading into summer. An uneasy few weeks for the world economy has meant that there is still a lot of uncertainty around when we might see the first interest rate cut – and…
Read More →
Estate Agent Talk

Powering Up Your Brokerage: How Real Estate Apps are Transforming the Industry

The real estate industry once literally hand-to-hand with traditional printed flyers and face-to-face meetings became digital-friendly after the revolution of technology. Among the key drivers of this transformation is the real estate app through which brokerages redefine the role they perform and the way they interact with clients. Streamlined Workflows and Increased Efficiency Gone are…
Read More →
Breaking News

Breaking Property News – 02/05/24

Daily bite-sized proptech and property news in partnership with Proptech-X. Is Zoopla holding back the housing market? Maybe it is me! and definitely me and my dog Zara do not think like most people, but – each month in the UK just 100,000 properties complete (exchange) and in the past decade this has been the…
Read More →
Breaking News

Breaking Property News – 01/05/24

Daily bite-sized proptech and property news in partnership with Proptech-X.   Fine & Country relaunches Masterclass Series for 2024 to support network in winning more business Set to take place in both London and Huddersfield, Fine & Country will be hosting informative and engaging Masterclass sessions again this year, sharing insight from property experts on…
Read More →