Estate Agent Talk
Should Estate Agents do more for their clients?
I thought this month I would like to write a light hearted blog about why Estate Agents ‘could’ or ‘should’ perhaps consider doing a little more for their clients. Agents, take a deep breath, I promise this won’t hurt a bit! My question to any Estate Agents reading this blog is, ‘Could you do more…
Three tips in hiring the best staff
What should one be looking for when hiring staff? What are the processes needed to ensure you appoint the right person for your team? We all want to hire the best staff but it can be challenging. So how do you recognise who is the best candidate for your company? Hiring the best staff is…
Great Customer Service – Make it a habit !!
Ok I will get straight to the point. Every week we read or hear about someone in the Property Industry talking about the importance of providing great customer service. Common themes such as “Shape your proposition around the customer”, “make sure you deliver what the customer wants”, “great service will differentiate you from the competition”etc,…
Backstabbing Estate Agents in my Office
‘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…
Christopher Watkin
Estate Agency Armageddon … coming soon!
22nd July 1991 – my first day as an estate agent. I was going through my old papers and I found my own Valuer/Lister workshop training notes from the early 90’s At those meetings .. I liked to write stuff down, I used to write everything down (it looked good as the new boy). The…
Christopher Watkin
Estate Agent Networking launch event, Mayfair, London:
It was a packed house and a wash of networking activity as the Estate Agent Networking launch event, hosted by Anastasia Fox-Cavendish, was met with both great attendance on the evening and great feedback after. The main sponsors for the first networking event was Feefo (Estate Agency Review website) and they welcomed the chance to…
Christopher Walkey
If you see a bandwagon, it’s too late!!
Like so many great and inspiring statements, I think the brilliance of this one by James Goldsmith is two fold. It’s memorable and it has a subtle message at it’s core. It underlines the importance of differentiating yourself and your business from the competition, taking the less trodden path, being bold, creative and innovative. During…
Top tips for swifter completions
Every agent knows that managing post-sale effectively can lead to swifter sale completions and happier buyers and sellers. The issues arise when no-one is steering the ship. Having someone pro-actively contacting all parties and ensuring they are progressing their areas is the best way to ensure a swifter, hassle free process. You may not have…
How to create an exceptional candidate experience?
With many companies struggling to attract the right talent, the candidate experience has been highlighted as a key differentiator. It is now more important than ever for a company to make a good impression on the candidate as it is for a candidate to impress the business. With candidates using flourishing online communities and emerging…
The Slow Death of the High Street Agent.
Below is a quote from an otherwise good post that I read on LinkedIn a couple of days ago about how estate & letting agency is changing. ‘Of course, we still do pop in to our local estate agency during the buying/selling/renting process otherwise they would have all packed their cases by now and joined…
Need more hours in the working day? Here are some top tips!
As the property market starts to build and we enter the busier period you should look at whether you and your team effectively you manage your time. It can be difficult to fit everything in during the working day; you start with a list of things to do and on a good day you get…
What Makes the Ideal Estate Agents Sales Negotiator?
Some people have the knack for it, others grow into the role, but what abilities are required to flourish as a sales negotiator in estate agency? Having a natural ability to be able to effectively communicate and an instinctive flair for selling are undoubtedly attributes that rank highly, but there is a great deal more…
Are Estate Agency Review websites really necessary?
What really helps consumers to decide which estate / letting agency they should run with these days, especially as there are now so many ways in which agencies can advertise and be found? Is it simply the difference between and black and white advert or colour one in the local newspaper, is it effective leaflet…
Christopher Walkey
The World of Averages
Let’s talk about averages. Average asking price, average days to sell, average commission, average properties per agent…..these are all things we have been looking at when compiling some data recently. It’s a world of averages out there! Using the Rightmove House Price Index published last week (and some industry websites) we’ve compiled the following: Average…
What is the real difference between Estate Agents and Online agents?
If selling a house was as easy as selling a car on AutoTrader there would be no Estate Agents. But it isn’t that easy. It is widely reported that only the stress from divorce is considered worse than selling a home. Inexperienced first-time sellers don’t understand that, which is why they are the prime source…