The Pumpkin Plan Formula

The Pumpkin Plan Formula image

What prize-winning pumpkin farmers can teach us about growing our agencies

I’ve just read this book –  The Pumpkin Plan. In it, author Mike Michalowicz, reveals how applying the secrets of prize-winning pumpkin farmers to business, can help you to grow your agency to a colossal size too.

Just as almost every pumpkin farmer grows ordinary pumpkins, most estate agents grow ordinary, unremarkable businesses. Yet by applying some strategic pruning and nurturing, farmers can grow giant, prize-winning pumpkins that get all the attention and press coverage.

That’s the theory, but what’s the practice?

Mike tells of an article he read, in which the steps of growing a gigantic pumpkin were revealed:

Step One:Plant promising seeds.

Step Two:Water, water, water.

Step Three: As the pumpkins grow, remove all the diseased or damaged ones.

Step Four:Weed madly.  Let nothing survive that isn’t a pumpkin plant.

Step Five:Identify the stronger, faster-growing pumpkins.  Remove all the less-promising pumpkins. Repeat until you have one pumpkin on each vine.

Step Six:Focus all of your attention on the big pumpkin. Nurture it around the clock and guard it fiercely.

Step Seven:Watch it grow.  Apparently in the last few days of the season, you can actually see this happening, as they have a final growth spurt.

Mike at this point has a light-bulb moment. As he says “Pumpkin farmers hold the secret formula for big-time entrepreneurial success.”

What got you here, won’t get you there

Whatever strategy you used to get your agency to the size and success it is now, won’t get you to the next level. You need a new growth-focused strategy to do that.  You may be currentlyspread too thin, wasting energy serving clients who drive you mad and who will never make you rich, and in serving them, you’re taking precious time away from the clients your agency should be working with, and who can make you rich.

So here’s the Pumpkin Plan Formula in terms that apply to you, to help you grow your agency with the right clients, lose the wrong ones, and make some serious money!

Step One

Identify and leverage your biggest natural strengths.

What are you best at? Where do your skills exceed those of your competitors?

Step Two

Sell, sell, sell.

Get out of the office and go door-knocking, then call every single name on your database and drum up a heap of market appraisals.

Step Three

As your business grows, fire all of your worst clients.

Look at your portfolio and find the deadwood.  The overpriced properties, time-consuming clients and those houses that people just don’t seem to want.  Ask for a 20% price reduction and if you don’t get it, get rid!

Step Four

Never, ever let distractions take hold.  Weed them out – fast.

‘New opportunities’ can be dangerous distractions from your core goal. If you’re always flitting off to the next new shiny object, you won’t achieve your aims. Stay focused and on track.

Step Five

Identify your top clients and remove any clients that are no longer a good fit.

Make a list of your VIP clients – the ones with the best houses, a great attitude, and who recognise and appreciate the value of your service. Between these and the weeds you have got rid of, is the body of your listings.  You need these properties to move fast, so create a strategy to get them sold in the next 30 days, or these clients too must go.

Step Six

Focus all your attention on your top clients.  Nurture and protect them: find out what they want more than anything, and if you can and should, give it to them.  Then replicate that same service for as many of the same types of top client as possible.

Improve your service for your VIP clients.  Make them feel like royalty. Give them surprise bonuses and extras that will delight them. Then ask for referrals.

Step Seven

Watch your company grow to a giant size.

Rinse and repeat steps 1-6 whenever necessary!

80% of business comes from 20% of your clients

We know this, and yet it’s all too tempting to say yes to any piece of business that comes our way.  The grotty flat over the chippy; the house with the smelly dog; the client that is never, ever satisfied, even though he’s paying half a percent less than anyone else.

It makes much more sense, therefore, to eliminate the weeds, which are taking time, energy and money away from your best business, then identify your VIPs and heap upon them the love, care and attention that they truly deserve.

I did this myself last year.  Although I love all my clients dearly, I noticed that a disproportionate number of my lower level clients were taking up all my time and energy; time and energy I should have been spending on my best clients.  After all, my time and energy are finite, and there was more than one occasion when I dropped the ball, missing an important deadline or forgetting a call, because I was spreading myself too thinly.

To remedy this situation, I stopped taking on little pieces of work that didn’t excite me, actively sought work from innovative, inspirational clients, and put my prices up – a lot. Now I have plenty of time to spend on the clients for whom I can make the biggest difference, and who motivate and stimulate me whenever I work with them.

I challenge you to do the same.

Start weeding, nurturing your best clients, and put your prices up.  You may just create a prize-winning agency.  And if you do, I’ll be the one in the audience at the Estate Agency of the Year Awards next year, cheering like an idiot.

I’m taking on a very small number of clients who want help to be a prize-winning agent, and enter next year’s Times’ Estate Agency of the Year Awards.  Some of the categories are already taken, so please check if yours is still free by dropping me an email at sam@home-truths.co.uk

What to read nextWhat gets you out of bed in the morning?

What to do next: Do you get my Supertips? They’re jam-packed full of great tips and marketing strategies just like this one, and best still – they’re free! Get yours here -> www.samashdown.co.uk/samsupertips

Speak to Sam: If you’d like to know how I think you could improve your marketing, just answer a few short questions here and I’ll tell you if and how you could be more effective.

Sam Ashdown

Sam is an industry-renowned marketing strategist to estate agents. She helps agents grow and flourish, using her unique smart marketing techniques and strategies. Sam works with agents throughout the UK to help them gain more valuations, win more instructions and sell more properties.

You May Also Enjoy

Breaking News

FMB Supports Construction Leadership Council’s Health and Wellbeing Strategy

The Construction Leadership Council (CLC) Health, Safety and Wellbeing Strategy is a welcome and much needed new initiative to help drive industry change, says the Federation of Master Builders (FMB). The FMB’s CEO Brian Berry has joined more than 140 industry leaders at the Construction Leadership Council’s launch of its comprehensive Health, Safety and Wellbeing…
Read More
Clacton on Sea cash injection
Breaking News

20% Property Premium to Live Beside Britain’s Best Beaches

The latest research from eXp UK has found that homebuyers hoping to live by one of Britain’s best beaches can expect to pay almost 20% more on average compared to the wider local market, amounting to a seaside property premium of over £46,000. The research* by eXp UK analysed property prices in postcode districts surrounding…
Read More
Breaking News

Houseboats hand London homebuyers 57% saving

Houseboats hand London homebuyers 57% saving versus bricks and mortar The latest research from Benham and Reeves has found that London homebuyers could save as much as 57% on their property purchase by choosing a houseboat over a traditional bricks and mortar home, with the average cost of a houseboat across the capital coming in…
Read More
Breaking News

Silverstone fails to take pole when it comes to race track property premiums

The latest research from Yopa has found that while Silverstone may be the spiritual home of British motorsport and host of this weekend’s Formula 1 Grand Prix, it is far from the most prestigious racing venue when it comes to local property prices. In fact, homes near other race circuits across Britain command far higher…
Read More
Breaking News

Section 8 Reforms: What Landlords Need to Know About Longer Notice Periods and Stricter Rules

By Allison Thompson, National Lettings Managing Director, LRG As the Renters’ Rights Bill continues its progress through the House of Lords, landlords should be preparing for a much tighter framework around possession. One of the most significant changes proposed is the reform of Section 8, the legal route for regaining possession where a specific reason…
Read More
New Build for Merseyside
Breaking News

British new-build demand sees quarterly decline

The latest new-build market insight from Property Inspect has revealed that buyer demand for new-build homes remained largely static between the first and second quarter of this year, although buyer appetites for new homes remained robust in a number of major cities. The New-Build Demand Index (Q2 2025) from Property Inspect provides a view of…
Read More