How To Get More People To Use Your Lettings and Estate Agency Blog

The transactional estate agents do …. but the successful ones do something different. Those Estate Agents instead sell the idea of somebody moving to the next chapter of their life in their new home.
They sell the ‘stories’ about their new home, and what it will do for new owners life with summer nights on the patio, the local Bistro down the road that you can pop down to on a Saturday morning with the family, pick up the fresh bread from the Deli, the Country pub, the freedom of  having ones front door.
You are going to say .. “that’s all Bo**ocks Chris” .. of course it is .. I agree with you .. yet this Bo**ocks works  (and no, I’m talking about having flowery brochure descriptions here either)
There are substantially more people interested in the idea of moving home, the decoration, the location, the lifestyle etc etc than there are people who own a house and want to sell it.

Yet, if you are an Estate Agent you might say well yes Watkin, sure, sounds good, but most of the people who ar…

Estate Agencies are selfish, self-interested and self-centred beings as they are an entity, a singular company, a thing created as a notion and idea about itself. An estate agents marketing just talks about itself and it sells its agency services only talking about itself.  (don’t believe me – look at you website or free val vendor pack .. if its all We and Us – then you do do that) .. and so as estate agents, most of us spend loads of money on our marketing .. spending £2k a month Rightmove Optimiser packages, hundreds of pounds on S.E.O a month, hundreds of pounds on targeted banner ads on Facebook and press releases about ourselves… and yet it’s all about us Meaning Estate Agents aren’t good at telling stories beyond themselves. Yet, ask most estate agents, and they want potential clients (ie vendors and landlords) to seek out and desire THEIR estate agency. To an estate agency, their estate agency service’s is the client’s goal. But let’s be frank with each other, human beings don’t a…

Back in the 1990's you just had to open your lettings and estate agency and they would come... because the house seller or landlord had few choices of agent, estate/letting agents didn’t need to give them a reason to use them .. in fact they were the new boys (or girls) in town .. so everyone tried them .. the honeymoon period .. because they were new It's now 2018 and agents up and down the Country are mourning the death of the old ways of estate and letting agency, and only some are now realising that fact High Street or Online, Indy or Corporate ... it doesnt matter. Back then, they might have only been a handful of agents in your town, now there are 52 ... and your new agency is just the 53rd agent .. and next week the 54th agent will open.. and next month 55th .. and so on and so forth. You need to give people a reason to listen to you and what your agency offers. Its just people ignore advertising and don't like to sold to... but that is what we are doing with our est…

Looking at other people’s clothes, cars, watches etc .. their lives must be better than my life - I wish I was them. The human trait of envy .. comparing ourselves to others is really a disheartening waste of time, efforts, mind space, thoughts and positive energy- and this is where we as agents compare ourselves with our competitor agents
Don’t get me wrong, it’s essential to know what your competition is doing in the Estate/Letting Agency game in your town, because that is called market research
Yet there is a thin line to be drawn between the awareness of your competition and it turning into some kind of obsession. Awareness makes you communicate and express your agency’s value and bring your thoughts and notions to the people in your distinctive and matchless way, whilst my intuition tells me - go too far into awareness and it turns into obsession, which results in irrational anxiety, insecurity, misgiving and ultimately … paralysis.
Most of you reading this have allowed yourself to …

Your Town doesn’t need another estate agencyYour City unquestionably doesn’t need another letting agencyYour Patch most certainly doesn’t need another local property [expert/professional/specialist]Your Manor doesn’t give a f**k about your “a couple years ago, I thought that had to be a different way to sell houses…” sales pitch.
Why?
Because people are trying to sort their own $h*t out
Their world is in various states of turmoil
Everyone’s perception is that are being shafted by their family, friends, neighbours, employers, or some or all of them.
They don’t get paid enough, they work too many hours, they don’t get the recognition, they are under too much stress, don’t get enough sleep, unappreciated, miserable, victimised, abused and left screwed down by their very reality.
So, sorry .. just because you are just one of twenty three estate agency’s in your town, and you have lovely Rightmove Pie Charts saying you are No.1 in sales or you have won this award or that award … NO BODY CARES be…

Some Estate + Letting Agents don't even get started on social media because they’re overwhelmed with trying to be on every social media channel .. all at the same time.
Let me give you a huge tip .. Start with Facebook - everyone is on that from the age 30 upwards .. which is the demographic of house owners.
Next, Linkedin .. as that is business people (demographic of landlords) .. after that .. you can do others - but not at the expense of the first two

Estate Agency in the future will be simpler, quicker and more affordable, powered by data driven tech that eliminates the difficulty and friction of today’s obdurate processes. Those agents that recognise that and see their job as not transactional, as just ‘selling another house to hit the numbers, but sees their role as a guide, a trusted professional who appreciates and supports each and every client, as the homeowner goes from one part of their life to another, working to diminish their stress and squeeze maximum value of the move for all parties (not just themselves) .. those will be the winners

Many estate and letting agents habitually make the oversight of jumping feet first into social media without having a defined and clear-cut definition of their agency’s brand and their intent for starting social media.
..and when I say “the brand”,  I don’t mean the pantone colour schemes of your agency, the swanky logos, the choice of font, lifestyle pictures and polished black and white headshots.
When I say brand, I mean you, the agent…. And from that and the brand is how a customer feels about your agency. Your brand is what a one human being tells another human being about what it is to do business with you.
You brand are things like .. Do you keep your promises? Do you care? Do you give or are you a taker? Are you always trying to get or give? How are you trying to get business? Are you the agent that is always available? Those virtues will guide and support every choice you make on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter etc  from the content you produce and share, the Facebook ads you run an…

By dividing your personal and professional social media accounts, you can constantly post professional content on your business social media account while posting personal stuff on your personal accounts.
If, however, you decide to combine both personal and professional posts to one profile, you’ll undoubtedly will end up having to make sacrifices to some degree. Conversely, if the posts and content you are delivering is interesting, eloquent, has meaning, engaging and gives value, your audience, friends or professional associates, will probably enjoy and like it.
Bottom line, if you decide to mix your personal and professional social media streams, you will get healthier results when you enroll your friends and followers as cheer-leaders rather than unenthusiastic subjects for your sales pitch.
And that’s the point. Don’t post something that your friends wouldn’t like. Instead of trying to sell, tell instead. Tell a story by sharing your know-how and achievements with them and thank the…

Leads are the life blood of Estate and Lettings Agency, yet there is something about the use of the word ‘lead’ that always makes me uneasy. A ‘lead’ by definition is a potential source of money for you and your agency. 

Now, there is nothing wrong with that, we are in a capitalist society and we are in business to make money …. no money, no business. 
Yet this point of view of seeing potential clients as ‘wallets on legs’ is another thing completely.
I believe most estate agents see these leads, not as humans, but potential transactions that are there to service their need for money, commission and profit.   … and if that is you … my intuition tells me you are being very short sighted and myopic and in fact .. missing out on a huge opportunity.
The Estate and lettings agency services you want to sell will not succeed in this 21st century society if you don’t tackle head on the emotional wants of ‘real-life people’.

Your Estate (and Lettings) Agency needs to see past the tags and pige…

ESTATE AGENTS .. My intuition tells me (and it does you) that just because somebody is aware of a product or service … any product or service … its doesn’t mean they will buy it.
If I asked you to name the main Banks, Car Manufacturers or Supermarkets – you could tell me a long list of them – but you don’t use/buy them, yet think of all the millions wasted by the banks and others telling us about themselves.
Yet when it comes to marketing OUR estate/letting agency services, we focus our attention on gaining brand awareness all the time just like the banks and supermarkets. Reason goes out the window. We, as agents, persuade (and fool) ourselves into believing that attention and awareness inexorably lead to action. We spends loads of money on brand awareness marketing on Rightmove banners, Googles Ads and a5 flyers… hoping to make people choose our agency
You agents are fooling yourselves, because yes, you can buy attention .. but attention or awareness doesn’t make people use your agency…