What a pair of bollards, a career threatening crash and 100 deal clinching words

I’m cycling from London to Amsterdam this summer in aid of Prostate Cancer UK.

Which means I’ve had to start training for it on my bike.

Now I’m more Bradley Walsh than Bradley Wiggins and as much as I enjoy the peace and fresh air cycling brings I’m not very good at it.

Just this weekend I had a crash. It was my fault. No inconsiderate driver to blame, no pothole to curse. Simply me.

Racing down a cycle path on a chilly Sunday morning I was faced with two, looming bollards.

Do I go left? Do I go right? Do I squeeze through the middle?

In the end I hesitated so long I ended up clipping one of the bollards and skidding across the gravel using my bum as a brake.

It hurt a bit but at the same time was enlightening.

Why?

Well I see that kind of do I, don’t I, indecision from a lot of estate agents.

Do we embrace blogging now? Shall we invest in content for our website? Should we get a professional in to write up our About Us sections? Do we invest in a PR strategy for the future?

Often by the time they’ve decided what they’re going to do their rivals are months further down the road of using regular content and profile raising techniques to win more instructions.

Back to the bike.

Following my potentially career ending crash (it was just a graze but where’s the drama in that) I noticed one of the brakes had got damaged.

Now living in a part of the UK where a lot of people cycle I’m spoiled for choice when it comes to bike repair shops.

But I made my choice using a method I’d use to choose an estate agent to come and give me a valuation.

I jumped on Google. Narrowed the search down to bike shops within 10 miles of where I live and looked at their websites.

Website A was lame. Generic photos, spelling errors galore, tired looking and didn’t work well on my iphone.

Website B was better. Easy to navigate and good images. But poorly written, felt bland and didn’t include testimonials.

Website C was the winner by a mountain mile. Obviously the content was written by someone who knew what they were doing, there was a page filled with testimonials from delighted clients and the clincher was its About Us page.

It showed me in no more than 100 words that Dan was the store’s mechanic. It had a photo of Dan, he looks a friendly bloke. It told me Dan’s favourite local cycle routes and shared a useful cycling tip.

This clinched the deal. I called feeling as if I already knew Dan, booked in the repairs and they even upsold me a bike fit session which I’ve been thinking about for ages.

There are parallels to estate agency in this tale. All of which are pretty obvious and I don’t want to patronise anyone by spelling them out.

So if you need help with your website content, newsletters, PR advice etc then I’m your man and feel free to get in touch.

If you need cycling tips and advice I’m rubbish, but Dan’s your man.

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

Jerry

PS: Below is a link to my Just Giving Page explaining my motivation behind taking on the London to Amsterdam Cycle Challenge.

https://www.justgiving.com/Jerry-Lyons1/?utm_id=13

You May Also Enjoy

Breaking News

Breaking Property News – 29/03/24

Daily bite-sized proptech and property news in partnership with Proptech-X.   Geovation Spring showcase – why it is important that you come and support the founders The event takes place on the evening of Wednesday the 17th of April, at Sutton Yard, London EC1V 7EN, please get it booked into your diary today. As ever the…
Read More
Breaking News

Breaking Property News – 28/03/24

Daily bite-sized proptech and property news in partnership with Proptech-X.   tlyfe the tenant App gets huge marketing boost from national team tour from the Openbrix team As many will know tlyfe, powered by OpenBrix, is the UK’s most innovative tenant lifecycle app, taking the stress out of the move in process and helping to…
Read More
Breaking News

Over Four Out Of Five Tenants Unaware Of The Renters Reform Bill

OVER four out of five tenants remain unaware of the Renters (Reform) Bill and its contents, according to new research. The data comes from a representative survey of over 2,000 private renters conducted by the TDS Charitable Foundation, which works to advance education about housing rights and obligations in the private rented sector. The Bill…
Read More
Estate Agent Talk

What is Property Damage in a Personal Injury Case?

Property damage refers to any damage that affects things instead of a person. This might include damage to your car, house, etc. As such, it is not regarded as a personal injury case. However, when an individual is injured when the accident occurs, the affected person can file a personal injury claim. A typical example…
Read More
Love or Hate Rightmove
Breaking News

Rightmove comment on new 99% first-time buyer mortgage product

Matt Smith, Rightmove’s mortgage expert said: “It’s encouraging to see lenders continuing to try to innovate in the mortgage market, even after the government abandoned its own plans to encourage lower deposit mortgages in the Spring Budget. This new product has the potential to help some first-time buyers who fit the affordability criteria, but are struggling…
Read More
Breaking News

Breaking Property News – 27/03/24

Daily bite-sized proptech and property news in partnership with Proptech-X.   Coadjute ahead of the game as they are already licensed to provide digital TA6 Forms to property stakeholders This week, the Law Society announced its TA6 Form will now include Material Information as per the the National Trading Standards Estate and Letting Agency Team…
Read More