Are You The Estate Agent Of Choice?
So you’ve put the effort in and your valuation levels are starting to increase, brilliant! Now you need to make sure that you are the estate agent of choice once you get there. Positioning yourself as the “Estate Agent of Choice” will dramatically increase your chances of getting them to sign on the dotted line. After all you don’t want to waste any of your hard earned chances.
Now I’m not going to use this post to highlight all the things you can do before you meet the vendor which will massively increase your chances of winning the instructions, as their are far too many. However we can talk a little about what you can do once you get there…
FACT – Most of the time vendors believe all Estate Agents are the same and find it difficult to choose between them.
I’d go so far as to say that this is the sole reason Estate Agency fees are tumbling in many regions. If it was so clear cut for vendors to be able tell who the “good” estate agents were then fees wouldn’t be so much of an issue. Vendors would have a simple choice, pick the good ones and pay more or take a gamble with the not so good ones and pay less. The problem is vendors cant differentiate so they only have one choice, to choose on fee and this is why so many estate agents are forced to drop theirs to win the business.
So back to the valuation (market appraisal) appointment. All things considered, it’s good to assume your competitors are fairly competent and have a great pitch just like you. They show, interest in the property, create rapport and are just as charming. So what can you do differently?
First let’s take a quick look at the usual appointment process.
They tend to go a little something like this (not necessarily in this order):
- Introduction & business card.
- Quick chat & qualify.
- Tour of The Property.
- Break Ice Along the Way.
- Sit down & tell them how great your stuff is.
- Show them the comparables (hopefully) and give them your opinion on price.
- Ask them when you can start or assume that they want you to write to them.
- Cross fingers and hope for the best.
Now, I remember reading some training manual many moons ago, that told me that the presentation should be 80% listening and only 20% talking. In fact many sales manuals will tell you the same thing. Everyone loves the sound of their own voice, but with the typical estate agency model shown above, you’d better hope that they love the sound of yours.
I would suggest trying to get the vendor more involved, this will create a much better bond than the typical ice breaking techniques. Ask them what they know about property marketing, get them to tell you how they’d like to see their property marketed and create opportunities to show them how you can do better. A great idea that did the rounds a little while ago was to go over a marketing plan with the vendor and getting them to sign off on it.You have to find out their expectations before you can beat them.
You could try using visual stimuli as well as speaking to them, they are more likely to remember you if you use visuals and your competitors don’t. Maybe you could consider using an iPad presentation to show them a bit more about your company in a more interactive way. Or if you’re a bit of a technophobe, don’t worry many are, maybe you could take a look at our Market Appraisal Flash Cards.
Anyway I’ve bleated in long enough..
So as always good luck with the next instruction, and comments welcome below!
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