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Showing posts from August, 2014

The Letting Agents Guide to Blogging

A question I am often asked at my training courses on ‘Landlord Farming’, where I teach agents the skills of attracting landlords to their lettings agency’s. So here is what I say ..   The first thing you need is a dose of common sense . I know it’s a simple one, but nevertheless worth emphasising. You will not, save for the letting agency firms with the greatest resource, be able to have a convincing presence in every social media platform – but that is the beauty of blogging, you don’t need to. Write the meaty stuff on your blog and pop a few tweets and posts on Linkedin. Stick to what you know best and feel most comfortable in. Is there a right time to start? Well don’t wait for the right time, there will never be a right time. Start today, slowly at the start and grow from there. You will learn, with common sense what you should or shouldn’t do.   Next you need to be diligent. Once you decide to introduce yourself and your letting agency into the blogging world and inhabit

Are easyProperty and Purplebricks a threat to our industry?

In today’s Property Industry Eye, Rosalind Renshaw (top lady!) was talking to the founder of  easyProperty and how he wanted to be disruptive to the UK estate agency and lettings market. In fact Rosalind asked this question, and I quote “ Disruptive’ seems to be the word of the moment. Why does estate agency need disrupting ? ” You see, I wasn’t sure what to write in today’s blog. It was long old day yesterday as I had to go to Bristol for a meeting and got in late. It seems everywhere you go these days agents and journos are talking about disruption as the next big ‘thing’ in our estate agency and lettings industry. However, here is the niggling question I have had bouncing around my head for a while. Can estate agents and letting agents set out to be “disruptive” from day one?  Is it possible for disruption to be a plan … or is disruption the description of what happened after the event? Let’s look at the biggest innovation /disruption to our industry over the last 20 years ..

100% guaranteed way to capture the attention of landlords

Monsieur le letting agent (or for the ladies, Madam la letting agent)  - if you are one of 20, 30, 40, 80, 130 letting agents in your town or City, how the hell are you going to make your lettings agency stand out from the crowd? Well the first thing you need to do is make them aware of you. Once they are aware, then you need to capture their attention. How do you do that? .. easy. If you want to capture the attention of landlords who use the other agents in town, it’s simple if you enter the discussions and conversations already taking place inside the heads of those landlords. How many times as a lettings agent have you thought you and your lettings team are so ace and brilliant, your service is second to none, you go the extra mile or two –none of this one mile lark, hey your lettings service should sell it sell itself? Well sorry, but here is what I think ... great letting agents are a two a penny. Even well executed great letting agents are on every agents row, but that

Does landlord farming work?

Of course it does, but I would say that, wouldn't I? Dont believe a word I say, but how about other letting agents who have gone on record about it? Over the last few days, David from Martin and Co in Crawley, kindly said this on Linkedin .. Christopher Watkins has done an amazing job turning me from a doubter of his methods to a real believer. I have followed his training and have quantifiable results to prove it works. Not only has my business increased but I have rediscovered that I am an expert in my own little field and why I enjoy what I do – all thanks to Christopher.  ... and Daniel Wilson from Wilson Page in Peterborough said this on Linkedin .. I first met with Chris at the turn of the year, having recently set up my own lettings agency in the Summer of 2013. Having a corporate background, I found out quickly that most of what I had been taught was not really going to get my anywhere and there were much better, and proven methods of attracting landlords.

Landlords chose letting agents with their heart .. not their head

Everyone decides what they want to buy based on one thing ...  sentiment. ( Dictionary definition of Sentiment ...  a view or opinion that is held or expressed. ) You go to Waitrose because it makes you feel better than Lidl and you belive it is better– its the same trolley of groceries, but you believe what is in your trolley is better. You bought that £30 black top from H+M because it made you look nice but didn’t buy an almost similar black top in Primark’s for £2.. why?    So Mr(s) letting agent, your letting agency marketing must use sentiment to sell what landlords want, not what you think they need or want them to need. Every last adult with money in his or her pocket in the whole Western capitalist world fundamentally makes buying decisions based on sentiment , not common sense. Common sense supports our sentiments and is used to justify our decisions after we have made them. Common sense (or you could use the word reason or logic in the place of common sense) plays

Letting agents ...not enough hours in the day to do your work?

I need a Property Manager to do the property management so I can do my work. ... and an accounts lady so I won't have to think about paying landlords and deposits so I can do my work. .... and an admin person to process tenant applications and sort the paperwork so I can do my work.. ... and a Lettings Manager who knows how to get properties on the books so I can do my work. .... and Accompanied Viewers who think on their feet and don’t mess things up so I can do my work.... .... and a boss that not only doesn't make me go to meetings, but also instantly understands and adopts my best ideas, so I can get on with my work .... an Inventory guy who does a perfect job that landlords and tenants don’t disagree with, so I can get on with my work ... an HR person to sort out HR stuff and Performance Reviews, so I can get on with my work ... a spare body that covers all holidays, so I can get on with my work .... and a tea lady to bring me an esp