When opportunity knocks does your agency answer?
A couple of incidents happened to me recently which brought into sharp focus how some people miss opportunities while others seize them.
The first episode was very close to home. In fact it was in my home and it involved my three and a half year-old daughter, Charlotte.
A couple of weeks ago or so my little bundle of joy had been learning about Diwali at her nursery. She showed me a candle holder they’d made and told me Diwali was about ‘fun and fireworks.’
An hour later she asked for a cake. I explained cakes were for special occasions. Quick as a Black Friday mob piling into Argos she fired back with opportunistic zeal ‘Yes I know but it’s Diwali.’
At the other end of the scale a client of mine had a golden opportunity fall into our laps when a rival agent looked a gift horse squarely in the mouth.
The Evening Standard were doing a feature on an area my client covers. The reporter being new approached a rival estate agency which bafflingly turned her down by saying they ‘didn’t have the time to talk to the media.’
Seriously short sighted.
My client got a call from this reporter asking could we help with a property comment to be used in their guide. He said yes straight away and we spun into action supplying comment, photos and plenty of background information.
The result was my client got heavily featured in the online and print versions of a newspaper which is read widely by their target market (and that of their rivals) of London commuters looking to buy and sell.
And all because someone else didn’t open the door when opportunity knocked.
You may have heard the phrase PR / Publicity opportunity. It’s often quite simply about being pro-active and getting on the front foot.
Three simple steps you can try include;
Inviting your local reporter for a coffee, getting on first name terms with him / her and letting them know if they ever need an expert opinion on the local property market to give you a shout.
Reading your local newspaper’s letters section and community internet forums to see where you can chip in with useful information which will interest the reader and subtly show your expertise.
Watch what’s happening locally and try to turn this to your advantage. This best example of this I’ve heard recently was an estate agency which donated the use of their disused office (they had moved to bigger premises) to a local charity to open up an arts and crafts ‘pop up’ shop in the run up to Christmas. Great local PR.
Just like my opportunistic sweet toothed toddler knows opportunities pop up all the time – you just gotta seize them and grab your slice of the PR cake.
Thanks for reading and here’s to your next instruction.
Jerry
Jerry has created a 10 minute guide to giving your agency an edge in the battle for instructions. To grab a free copy visit www.propertyprexpert.co.uk
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