Successful Estate Agencies Leave Clues

December 11, 2017

A quick one this week folks as I’m knackered after being a detective for the past couple of days (hopefully more Columbo than Inspector Clouseau).

Several of my clients have been very successful recently at different industry award competitions.

And success leaves clues as I’ve discovered while researching a future article on what makes some agencies do a lot better than others at awards.

The three clients I’ve featured here are all at different levels in terms of size.

One is a single office agency, another has three offices following a rapid expansion, and the final agency has 15 offices spanning four counties and several property disciplines.

They all have very good market shares in their patches, which let’s face it is a lot more important than awards.

And they all do quite a lot of things better, or at least differently from their rivals.

Small examples include:

Single office agency – The first agency I saw using personalised email signatures with a smiling, approachable looking photo of the staff member. And great social media use.

Three office agency – Have a mantra of ‘How will this benefit our clients? The owner is obsessed by learning about anything which can propel his agency forward. And that’s rubbed off on his well-motivated team.

15 office agency – Invest thousands in staff training, getting involved in local community events and never missing a trick to get their brand out there.

And although the above examples are different, and the agencies individual, they are all united by three things.

  1. They all have some sort of newsletter or regular method of staying in touch with precious (not a typo, work it out) clients who they have served in the past.
  2. They pay their bills on time. (I can usually gauge an agency’s attitude to clients by how they treat suppliers).
  3. The heads of all three companies are very decent, hardworking and honest people. Making a mockery of misconceptions about ‘dodgy agents’ which in my experience is a load of old bollocks anyway.

There are loads more things they do that make them great agencies but I’ve got to go now and solve the case of the missing bagel from my office (I really fancied it for lunch and some Herbert has nicked it).

Thanks for reading and here’s to your next instruction.

Jerry

PS: The Earlybird offer on my new Letting Agent Articles (31 great articles to win some landlord love) ends tomorrow at 5pm. To find out more simply ping me your postcode so I can see if your area is still available and I’ll reply with the deal and more info.

Jerry Lyons

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