How I grew from 950 to 1,250 Managed Properties in Two and A Half Years – One Letting Agent’s Story
As letting agents (and estate agents), much of our energy and resources are spent understanding how best to communicate our value to landlords and potential sellers.
However, many of the most successful letting and estate agents flip this thinking on its head.
If we, as agents, create things that are worthy of the time, attention and money of the landlords and homeowners we hope to serve, we don_t need to spend so much time, attention and money trying to prove their worth.
.. but what to create?
That’s the easy bit … talk about things local landlordsÿand local homeowners in your town will be fascinated about.
Listen to Daren’s story. A letting agent in Derby who started his agency in 2000. By 2009, he had grown to 900 managed properties but then things went t**ts up, and the Credit Crunch happened. All the Derby Estate Agents jumped on the Lettingsÿbandwagon. The growth he had experienced over the last 9 years evaporated … it was like hitting a brick wall. (I know many of you experienced this in the lettings industry)
By 2014, managed stock had only grown by 12 properties a year to 950… not good
So in the Spring of 2014, Daren then looked at his marketing in a different way. He stopped talking about his firm, his services and how good he was .. and started to talk about the local property market …
20 months later, ÿNovember 2015 – he had grown his managed portfolio to 1,150 and only last week (November 2016) , he told me it stood at 1,250 managed properties using a technique he called ‘Landlord Farming’
Landlord Farming – a proven marketing technique, used by over 500 lettings agents in the UK, ÿof attracting landlords to aÿlettings agency by the use of a specificÿmarketingÿand business process for creating and distributing relevant and valuableÿinformation on the local property marketÿto attract, acquire, and engage the local landlords in your town
This is an interview of Daren talking last November 2015 aboutÿwhat he did to grow his managed stock by 200 propertiesÿin 20 months ÿ..ÿit is his complete story, from starting the agency, why he started it, how he started it, the ups and downs of owning your own lettings agency. ÿThe film is 41 minutes long, so if you need to finish Candy Crush or take photos of your Dinner for facebook – this isn’t for you. Only serious letting agents whoÿare deadly serious in growing their lettings agency should watch this video ..ÿ(Below the video is a link to his awesome blog where you can see what Daren talks about in action). All you need to do is look at this video, learn from him and do it inÿyour town!
Daren’s Blog – The Derby Property Market Blog
If you are Lettings Negotiator or Property Manager and your boss keeps banging on about getting more stock .. why not email them thisÿarticle and video? It will make you look ace!
kind regards
Christopher Watkin
Ghostwriter ÿof Daren’sÿ Articles in his Blogÿ(and many other letting agents) – because he is way to busy managing 1,250 properties to write the articles