I reading a report, just published, that said Christmas's No.1 toy was the Teksta Robotic Puppy
... no I hadn’t
heard of it either, so it couldn’t have been like the Cabbage Patch Doll or
Rubix cube of the 1990’s .. this was headline stuff. You see it went to say that
parents surveyed said it was hard to find toys and gifts because nothing was
new.
Nothing
new?
What
they're actually saying is that there's no mad rush for the "it"
gift, the safe, coveted gift that demonstrates the giver was able to go that
extra mile, call in a favour or brave a crush of Oxford Street shoppers. The
notion of the one, the ‘it’, the ‘winner’, the ‘safe choice’ -- this is about
buying without taking responsibility. You might have said it was the Xbox One
.. but again, I know a few shops that had some available on Christmas Eve .. it
wasn’t that popular (and its was flippin’ expensive)
Clearly, there were as many new and wonderful things
this season as there are each year, all that's missing is an anointed toy of
the year. The masses want to buy what the masses have chosen as the winner,
because then the purchase isn't their fault. And that's what happens every day
in lettings. Not many landlords want to take responsibility, go first, lead the
way, test the new agent, try them out to see if they are any different, to see
if they are the remarkable, the letting agent evey landlord wants, but seldom
gets. But at the centre of it, it comes down to this? They just
don't want it to be their fault. ... you could even say .. better the devil you
know?
It is also a useful reminder to letting agents that
there's a huge advantage to the lettings agent that's seen as the choice of the
crowd. A self fulfilling prophecy, no doubt about it. Unfair or not, the Catch 22
cliché remains: trendy and popular is often a prerequisite for
being trendy and popular.
So how to launch a lettings agency, or how do you
grow one that is languishing in the out of the top 3 agents in your town? Easy, play a game that you are the only competitor
in. You have to make yourself the ‘it
agent’, the ‘go to agent’.. the agent people want to talk to.
How do you do that?
.. that’s easy. Give them a reason to talk to you BEFORE THE TENANT HANDS IN THEIR NOTICE .. how?
If you have been reading this blog, you should know how .. but if haven't, look at these posts ...
The art of networking ..
http://how-to-grow-your-lettings-agency.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/taking-risks-got-this-letting-agent-105.html
The art of writing interesting articles / content ..
http://how-to-grow-your-lettings-agency.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/taking-risks-got-this-letting-agent-105.html
Why this stuff works ..
http://how-to-grow-your-lettings-agency.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/the-negotiator-magazine-article-how-to.html