What Type Of Estate Agent Are You, a Farmer or Miner ?

January 28, 2015

Have you ever wondered what the difference is between the agents with the biggest piece of the postcode pie, and other agents?

(I’m referring to the best independents, not corporate I might add.)

You know, the agents with the quality stock that receive the invitations to come out to virtually all the valuations.

Here’s my humble assessment of the difference between the farmer and miner agent’s mindset.

The Farmer Agent

The farmer agency tends to work their geographical target postcodes, planting farming seeds in the form of just listed/just sold cards, mailings, advertising in newspapers, and marketing to homeowners whose houses have been overpriced and have sat on the market for months on end.

They use online portals to find interested homebuyers, engage on selected social media and do the functional activities like you’re supposed to do.

However when it comes to harvest time at the end of the month or quarter, they’re disappointed with the harvest haul and scratching their heads asking why the agent next door seems to be beating  them on all the key indicators.

Nothing like looking in your back office portal stats for a reality check.

Now let’s look at the miner agent..

The Miner Agent

Now, the miner agency has similar characteristics to the farmer – they will target geographical postcodes, plant farming seeds in the form of just listed/just sold cards, mailings, advertise in newspapers, and market to homeowners whose houses have been overpriced and have sat on the market for months on end.

However, they are happier at the end of the month because they’re on target (or thereabouts).

There’s a saying, “Little hinges swing big doors.”

Do you want to know the subtle difference between farmer and miner agents?

You do…

Ok, let’s look at the nitty-gritty. The farmer agent is typically doing all sorts of marketing activity in a semi-successful way, getting mixed results because they planted the wrong seeds at the wrong time of year In the wrong postcodes .

The farmer-type agent is a transaction-based methodical sterile agency that has forgotten to add fertilizers to continue to nurture relationships…

The not-so-secret advantage the miner mindset agency has over the farmer is, as I have already stated , stronger relationships.

So how can you build stronger relationships? Review the steps below.

Pay close attention to point one, a clean updated database, because  if your database is contaminated with poor data it’s almost impossible to become a miner-type agency for obvious reasons.

5 easy ways  to develop a relationship-based agency

1 Keep your internal database clean and updated.

2 Keep in touch with all the people on your database even if they are yet to become clients.

3 Communicate to specific segments of your database – don’t send out irrelevant marketing messages.

4 Be seen as community champions and at the heart of local issues impacting the area you serve.

5 Sponsor or create community events so you are top of mind.

I will expand on each of the 5 points above in great detail, not today but sometime in the near future.

So all you farmer-type agents, add more fertilizer to your farmland and eventually you will get a better harvest.

However, think about becoming a miner – you can extract gold diamonds from your database.

Please remember you’re in the relationship business, in a recent survey i conducted over  50% of agents wanted to get more leads form the internal database.

if you would like to extract more opportunities from your target postcodes please get in touch  for a chat call Rob the Manifesto Guy 07973 73 5552

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