A FOCUS Strategy for Estate Agents

A FOCUS Strategy for Estate Agents Image

I have a coaching client at the moment – a very successful four office owner from Kent – who can’t wait to use the techniques and strategies I’m sharing with him in his business.

There’s just one problem – he wants to do them all.  Right now.

As estate agents, we like shiny new things, right? I certainly do.  The latest tech, the hot new trend, the newest style website. We want them all, and we want them now.

It’s not our fault; we’re made that way. 

 We’re salespeople,  and that means we love the thrill of the deal, and the roller coaster ride that goes along with it. After all, who in their right mind would run a business where we do all the work months (or longer) before we take a single penny from our clients, and where even then, only around 75% of deals will come off??

So if you want to implement all your new ideas, immediately, you’re not alone.  Trouble is, you can’t. Well, not successfully, at least.  You’ll get overwhelmed, frustrated and burned out before you’ve managed to implement everything. I know this, because I’ve been there, lots of times.  I too felt overwhelm at all the exciting new ideas I wanted to apply to my business, and ended up with a lot of half-baked, half-finished, poorly-executed initiatives, most of which just didn’t work.

Then someone told me about this acronym:

F – follow

O – one

C – course

U – until

S – successful

It made a lot of sense.  So I reined in all but one of my ideas, putting all the rest of them on a list called ‘Backburner’. Then, I divided up the campaign or project into several smaller steps, and put them in the best order for implementation.  I printed out a calendar and wrote each step on a date that represented a realistic timeframe to get it done, and a final delivery date for the entire project.

Then I worked on it until it was finished. Without looking at any of the other shiny ideas on my Backburner list.

And it worked!

My tactic was to work on each project first thing every morning, for at least an hour or two, before opening any email or switching the phone on.  Perhaps you’d prefer saving a couple of hours at the end of each day, or taking a whole day every week to work on your current project, maybe from home, to avoid work distractions.  Whatever works for you is fine, just so long as you actually set aside the time to do it. Otherwise, as we both know, it will become sidelined amongst all the detritus of your working day.

Are you going to try it? Let me know in the comments; I’d love to hear from you.

What to read next: Is Your Diary Running Your Business? 

What to do next: Do you get my Supertips? They’re jam-packed full of great tips and marketing strategies just like this one, and best still – they’re free! Get yours here -> www.samashdown.co.uk/samsupertips

Speak to Sam: If you’d like to know how I think you could improve your marketing, just answer a few short questions here and I’ll tell you if and how you could be more effective.

Sam Ashdown

Sam is an industry-renowned marketing strategist to estate agents. She helps agents grow and flourish, using her unique smart marketing techniques and strategies. Sam works with agents throughout the UK to help them gain more valuations, win more instructions and sell more properties.

You May Also Enjoy

Damaged timber from Dry Rot
Estate Agent Talk

Mould and damp – what you need to know ahead of winter

With the winter months just round the corner, problems with damp and mould can become far more prominent. Autumntime is when many people turn on central heating systems and choose to close windows, preventing fresh air ventilation needed to allow damp air to leave a property. Unfortunately, the combination of warm and damp air can…
Read More
Breaking News

Rental price and average salary tracker – September 2025

London and South East see biggest dips in required rental salary year-on-year London and the South East saw the sharpest dips year-on-year in the average salary needed in order to rent the average home in that area. London saw a 4.2% drop, whilst the South East saw a decline of 2.9%. Yorkshire and Humberside saw…
Read More
buying at auction uk
Breaking News

The cities where buying beats renting – with just a 5% deposit

British first-time buyer mortgage payments are typically 17% cheaper than renting, even with a low 5% deposit The average 5% deposit is £11,412 based on a typical first-time buyer property price of £228,233 Among major cities outside London, the biggest gap between owning and renting is in Glasgow, where buyers could save more than £4,750…
Read More
Rightmove logo
Breaking News

Rightmove’s Weekly Mortgage Rates Tracker

Average rates for 2-year and 5-year fixed-rate mortgages   Term Average rate Weekly change Yearly change 2-year fixed 4.51% +0.00% -0.37% 5-year fixed 4.55% +0.01% +0.01%   Lowest rates for 2-year and 5-year fixed-rate mortgages   Term Lowest rate Weekly change Yearly change 2-year fixed 3.77% +0.05% -0.07% 5-year fixed 3.97% +0.10% +0.29%   Average…
Read More
Rightmove logo
Breaking News

Data and commentary from Rightmove on stamp duty reforms

Colleen Babcock, Rightmove’s property expert said: “We’ve been calling for stamp duty reform for some time now, as it’s a significant barrier for many people moving home. Abolishing it completely would remove one of the biggest barriers to moving, unlocking more moves at all stages of the property ladder. “Our data shows that only 5%…
Read More
Breaking News

Second-time buyers dominate demand for longer term fixed mortgage deals

Second-time buyers are dominating demand for longer term fixed mortgage deals, fresh data from Moneyfacts Analyser can reveal. Of those looking for fixed term deals on moneyfactscompare.co.uk: Almost two-thirds (58%) of second-time buyers who compared mortgage deals using the moneyfactscompare.co.uk website were considering terms of three years or longer in the 30 days to 1…
Read More