Why are letting and estate agents like lemmings?

September 28, 2015

definition of a lemming ..  ..   a person who unthinkingly joins a mass movement, especially a headlong rush to destruction.

If you are an agent, why do you follow the set path that every other agent does to try and drum up business?

All of you go on two of the three main portals, all of you have a website that if you changed the background colours and name of your agency at the top, they would be identical, all of you have boards, all of you are the same.

In the crowded marketplace, where there are 20, 30, 40, 50+ agents in your town, fitting in is a failure, because not standing out is the same as being invisible.

That’s the difficulty you have with having so many competitors, is that it takes away the requirement to set your own path, to invent your own method, to find a new way.

If you are an agent, be it lettings, be it estate agency, don’t be lemming like, don’t unthinkingly join a mass movement, especially a headlong rush to jumping off the proverbial cliff to oblivion

The future of lettings and estate agency is about having connections to homeowners and landlords and the knowledge of what those homeowners and landlords want.

  •  … and homeowners and landlords don’t care about you,
  • don’t care your agency,
  • don’t care your services,
  • don’t care your website,
  • don’t care the awards you have won,
  • don’t care about the fact you are professional,
  • don’t care you  go on this website or that website,
  • don’t care how wonderful you are,
  • don’t care the fact you have smashed your targets this month,
  • don’t care you have let/sold 30 properties this month,
  • don’t care the fact you are opening another branch,
  • don’t care you have the highest scores in ARLA,
  • don’t care you have bought a competitor out ..

you care and your Mum cares .. but homeowners and landlords simply don’t give a sh*t  (harsh I know but you know its true)

People only care about themselves, they only care about what interests them, they care about what excites them, they care about what keeps them up a night, .. but they don’t care about you or your agency

.. but do care about what their property is worth, what is happening to the local property market to their property (be it rental or homeownered)

Stay with me on this … Think about it, 100% of the homeowners in your town …live your town (because they live in the property they are interested about.. in fact some might say obsessed about). On the rental side, apart from five small locations in the UK, 50% to 60% of landlords live in the suburb / town (and immediate area / villages) where they buy their buy to let properties….

Therefore, its all about connecting with every homeowner and landlord in your town and knowing what interests them …

Just become the fountain of all knowledge about your town’s property market, become the property guru of your town, newspapers will ask you for comment, BBC radio stations will ask you to be interviewed, and vendors and landlords will want to do business with the best person .. you

By becoming the guru, then you will break the mould and you will become the daddio agent in your town .. I guarantee it

If you agree or disagree, comment below, or send me a note to christopher@christopherwatkin.co.uk telling me your thoughts

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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