Which is
more important to you?
To get the most landlords to 'use' your brilliant letting agency services in the most effective way possible, or do things the way you were taught and do things the way you have always done them and are almost in a rut with?
To get the most landlords to 'use' your brilliant letting agency services in the most effective way possible, or do things the way you were taught and do things the way you have always done them and are almost in a rut with?
I ask you this because today's thought is nothing new, but it is
ignored by 97% of letting agents
It pains
me to admit that 97% of letting agents (and it goes for estate agents as well) 'uses' are wasted. Letting agents talk when landlords aren't listening, they tweet
but landlords don’t reply or re-tweet their posts, they post on facebook but no
landlord walks through your door, they advertise their properties in their
agency’s newspaper advert like their Grandfathers father did in 1931 (name
across the top, grid of property and telephone number at the bottom) and they
repeat the same communications strategy that failed last month, last year and
the decades before that.
It is far
better to show someone your lettings service than tell it to them. So why do so
many lettings agents fail to follow this advice? Demonstrating the impact of your
service – rather than merely describing it – true it takes time and effort.
But it is
worth the effort, especially when you consider the time wasted trying in vain
to sell your lettings agency by talking AT landlords. Examples include telling
landlords you are the most professional agent, telling landlords you offer the
best service, telling landlords what properties you have put on the market to
let, telling landlords your fees are competitive.
Sorry,
but everyone ignores the adverts for cheap supermarkets, DFS’s half price sale,
Santanders 123 account, Brad Pitts Chanel 5 advert and GoCompare’s dull ads ..
so what makes your adverts any different? .. nothing.
You need
to literally SHOW landlords the difference between what they experience now
(not tell), and what you want them to experience in the future. Everything
pales next to the power of showing; that's why each year my local fire station
brings a wrecked car to the front of the fire station, to show people what
happens when they drink and drive.
I'm
certainly not the first to suggest that showing is better than telling, yet at
this very moment thousands of lettings agents are drowning their potential
landlords in tweets of every new property they put on the market, and in the
process they are failing to sell some very powerful ideas.
Show how you
go above and beyond the call of duty for your existing landlords, talk about
the local property market, talk about how you helped a landlord make a buying
decision on what property he/she should buy as their next BTL property
Do it in the most involving manner possible, not by ‘telling them’ but ‘telling them a story’ . Tell them a story about you, even more importantly, in that story, SHOW them what you do, how you do it and most importantly, why you do it and trust me, you will get the landlords flooding through your door. Not immediately, but after a few months they will come, slowly at first but keep showing and telling the story and you will get the rewards..... More landlords using your lettings agency.
Again, thank you for kind comments about Joey, the rescue dog we rescued form the Dog's Trust a few months ago. He is a Jack Russell crossed with a Corgi ..so is he 'Jack Corg-usell' (of some other daft name). Anyway, he s a picture of a Jack Russell x Corgi ... this is what Joey would of looked like ..
PS .. the 9 rules of lettings - Rule 7 to follow early next week!
PPS .. Get each post form this blog delivered to your INBOX every day by subscribing .. see the box in the top right hand corner above my ugly mug and enter your email address
PPPS ... If you want to know if this stuff really works, look at the Testimonials other letting agents have given me ... http://how-to-grow-your-lettings-agency.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/testimonials.html