Over 96,000 sales lost due to conveyancing delays

May 19, 2016

According to a recent study carried out by LV Legal Services, 27% of sales have fallen through in the past five years — and of these, in nearly half (48%) of cases, the reason given was the conveyancers for taking too long to exchange contracts. This equates to more than 96,000 sales not going ahead last year as a result of poor conveyancing services.

Of those property sales that fell through, a fifth of buyers (21%) were gazumped and one in seven (15%) had the vendors pull out at the last minute. 74% of homebuyers complained of “poor communication” from their conveyancer and 65% they were unimpressed with the “slow and ineffective” service they received.

The research also showed that customers who used conveyancers recommended by their estate agent felt they had to chase more. With 56% of those who used the conveyancer recommended by their estate agent saying they had to chase for updates, versus 47% of those who selected their own conveyancer.

This shows that a pro-active, post-sale service is more important than ever. A dedicated resource is the best way to achieve this so their focus is solely on sales progression and they can keep your buyers and sellers updated with regular communication. An effective sales progressor will build relationships with conveyancers as well as your buyers and sellers.

A good post-sale experience is critical to repeat business, recommendations and ultimately happy customers. Savvy Sales Progressors provides pro-active, outsourced sales progression services for estate agents. If you and your sales team manage the sales progression, you should consider outsourcing your sales progression to regain some valuable time to focus your in-house resource on sales. Outsourcing can provide an excellent customer experience, help you win more valuations and ultimately sell more properties. Take a look at our unique online calculator to see whether you can reduce your costs by outsourcing. You can access the calculator and further information on our service by visiting our website: www.savvysalesprogressors.co.uk

Alex Evans

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