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

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…

Paul Long - Estate Agent by Day - Facebook Ad Guru by night  (Part 1 of 6)
Paul Long, Director of Estate Agency Drewery and Drewery in Sidcup, was fed up of wasting money on facebook advertising with his estate agency in Sidcup in Kent .. this is Part 1 (of 6) where he shares so much information on what he has learnt. In these series of six videos (which will be released throughout July 2018) - he will share with you lots of valuable information that you can take away and adopt straight away in your estate and lettings agency

80 Podcasts on attracting landlords to your lettings agency and house sellers to your estate agency
https://soundcloud.com/christopher-watkin

I chatted with Jerry Lyons about the topic of content marketing in estate agency 

Estate and Letting Agency marketing that is successful (and when I say 'successful', I mean marketing that gets you the free vals, the new listings, the landlords and the managed properties to let) has four elements: 1. Attention 2. Engagement 3. Trust and finally, 4. Consent However, 95% of estate agency marketing, agents just worry about the first one… Attention We are the best agent, We have had such an awesome few months we are slashing our fees to X, Look at our Rightmove market share graph  Its all noise .. its all “look how big my willy is” .. trying for quick hit and win, the shortcut to estate agency success  … yet failing You see attention on its own wont get you the listings you deserve (and need) –  Deep down – you know that ..think of all the failed 10,000 leaflet drops or you spending £000’s on SEO etc .. and they didn’t work. Its because the marketing lacked engagement Engagement means that your audience wants to go where you are going. .. and from engagement comes trust an…