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

Yesterday I was in Northampton for my sins in the Midlands giving some ‘landlord farming’ training to ten agents from the area. I stood up at the start of the day’s training and said, ‘I guarantee that if   you adopt the principles of landlord farming, in 12 months time your turnover will be 20% to 30% higher’. You should have seen their faces. Eyes lit up, shoulders back, beaming smiles. It as like asking a child if they wanted a triple flake 99 with red sauce, when I asked if that was of interest. Those agents all wanted a piece of that action You could see it in their eyes, they could see the end result, the extra business and pound notes that went with it  ... but I said, ‘ .... you will only get that 20% to 30% uplift if you are prepared to put in the many hours of work to get to that point with no immediate return, because it will work (and it’s been proved to work time and time again and you don’t need me to train you can see how to do it as I explain ...

Even if you have qualified your landlord or house seller correctly, there are still times when your landlord or house seller asks for a reduction in your fees. How do you cope with that?  How do you keep your fee up and still get the landlord/house seller to use your lettings/estate agency ? It really makes you want to cry sometimes, doesn't it? Fees are such an emotive issue for a letting agent / estate agent. You don't want to charge too much and lose the landlord or house seller. Then again, you don't want to charge too little and not make enough for the landlord or house seller to be profitable. At first sight, a landlord or house seller asking for a fee reduction is a big, big problem. However, it is actually a good sign because it shows that you are close to signing them up. What you must not to do is reduce your fees without rhyme or reason, as this is educating your landlord or house seller that every time they want a fee reduction, they just need to as...

‘What are your fees?’ For letting and estate agents the number one question that strikes fear, terror and trepidation into their heart is, “What are your fees?” Especially when the punter (aka Mr Landlord) waltz’s into your offices before you’ve established any sort of relationship with the said landlord or any sort of value of what you have to offer as a letting agent. It’s not nice because you are being asked too early and most certainly out of context.  However, if you get it wrong, you can wave goodbye to being his/her letting agent for good. Well you could quote say a random fee, by saying, ‘Our fees are 9.56% Mr Landlord’. Hell, you could even say what I heard one agent say once, ‘....all landlords care about these days is fee, fee, fee’, hey you even act like you have never heard that question before, ‘What are your fee’s, no one has asked that before (cue scratching of the head with a slight tilt of the head). Ok,...

I still can't believe I get more people asking after the bl**dy dog than 'landlord farming'! Look, its Thursday, a day I am not supposed to post but what the hell .... here he is .. Joey .. the lettings dog! More thought provoking / serious stuff tomorrow!

Morning everyone. I was in Leeds yesterday giving some training on 'landlord farming' to a group of eight letting agents - it was flipping hot in that training room! Got back home around 7pm to find the Joey in a grumpy mood .. he doesn't like the heat either... it must be his Irish blood! Anyway, I hope this finds you well. Following the lovely feedback from last Wednesday's article, here is another story example. This is a softer story (called a 'One Show' story as opposed to a 'Clarkson' story). Like last time, the full article then it is repeated with a breakdown of what to do. Is Buxton Avenue Coventry’s sleeping giant? A landlord recently missed his chance to buy a three bed semi-detached property on Buxton Avenue, near the fire station and Ryton Road, as it sold in a matter of days. He asked me if there something special about the area, so I did a little research. I have included Buxton Avenue, Bakewell Crescent and Briggs Lane in my findi...

For those of you wanting to learn the techniques of landlord farming, I have organised some one day courses in the coming months. They are held in Grantham (near Nottingham in the East Midlands). Grantham is only 59 minutes via train from London Kings Cross ....because I know the world stops at the M25 for our London cousins ;-) Monday, 11th August 2014 - fully booked Monday, 18th August 2014 - two spaces Friday, 12th September 2014 - three spaces Monday, 15th September 2014 - one space The one day course is £500  + VAT per person and you will  be taught the techniques. (Agenda here  https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0d59TaH3c33TVlEZFdvdHk4OW8/edit?usp=sharing  ) They are ideal for new start letting agents who have the time but not the budget to implement the techniques OR letting agents who love to work 'on'  their business (instead of working 'in' it) These fourteen brave students have recently been on the course and are happy to tell you ...

(replace ******** with the name of your town) Yes, it's possible that your particular town or suburb of ******** is unique, that the letting agents in your town are the best of the best (a great line from Top Gun) or there are simply too many competitors (or even worse – both), all the landlords in your town are fee driven or the set of circumstances in your town are one of a kind, that the general wisdom of lettings doesn't apply. It is even possible that your problem of getting more landlords to use your lettings agency is so perfect and you are so stuck that in fact there's nothing out there that can help you. Possible, but come on Mr(s) Letting agent ...let’s get real here .. not likely. Your problem is the same problem that every letting agent has in his or her town. Your town is tough, but it’s the same for the guy  in the next town and town beyond that. Don’t get me wrong, it’s tough, very tough, and yes it’s important, but it isn’t exclusive to you  or you...

Sorry, there is no such thing. .... not even the 'landlord farming' technique. So why is the 'landlord farming' technique not guaranteed , quick and easy ? Well, how can I guarantee it if you .... don't write the articles in the first place, don't do your blog each day,  don't spend the many hours getting the email addresses of the landlords in your town,  don't walk the streets delivering the newsletters,  don't use the advertorials in the correct way don't post on social networks in the manner I suggest,  don't believe lettings is a people business  don't network in the local community,  don't believe people (landlords)  like to deal with an expert don't believe landlords aren't interested in the local property market don't believe people (landlords) buy from people (letting agents) they like  don't believe in playing the long game to get more business and finally, ..... loose your nerve and give up o...

Morning everyone and I hope I find you well.  For those of you who aren't lucky enough to be on a Spanish or Italian beach, holding fort whilst the other swines out of the office on their 'jollies', I want to show you some more techniques on article/story writing. I haven't mentioned it before on the blog, but on my courses when I teach agents how to write them, I talk about the difference between a 'Clarkson' story and a 'One Show' story. You need both, that is really really important.  Clarkson's are hard hitting stories (with titles that are designed to make you turn your head) whilst One Shows are softer stories. Just as powerful, but softer in their approach Today I want to show you how to write a 'Clarkson' story. The mix of 'Clarkson's' and 'One Show' stories  is vital ....  you should have no more than 25% 'Clarkson' story to your 'One Show' stories. Clarkson's can be best described as rub...

Networking drives fear into most people’s heart, those awful B.N.I meetings where you stand up for 30 seconds giving the same old rubbish about yourself and your business whilst everyone tucks into the egg and bacon .. truly awful ...  then pass referral notes around a room with the anticipation of a 6 year old child on Christmas day morning waiting to see if you had something. Or the thought of standing up for 10 to 15 minutes talking about your lettings agency with a powerpoint presentation  that is so awful it has more bullet points Dont you just love a crap Powerpoint presentation .. especially when the presenter reads all the bullet points .. awful ..truly awful  ... on than British Army firing range target.  ... No wonder people hate networking.. you have to be a ballsey sales person with the presentation and public speaking skills of a US senator. But w hat exactly is networking? Networking is all about building relationships. Networking is more about...

If you are looking for inspiration on the type of newsletter you should email to all the landlords in your town or city, maybe this could work for you? In this example, its a newsletter about the Kingston Upon Thames property market and a different one is written each month and emailed to most of the local landlords in Kingston upon Thames If you are a new'ish agent, you might not have those hundreds or thousands of email addresses .. that's easy, because we show you a way get those email addresses .. its so easy to do as well - just takes a bit of time to get them .. but once you have them, you can email them this PDF every month ...  https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B0d59TaH3c33MWVEMjdZQllzZ1k/edit?pli=1 One agent I know emailed a similar newsletter and got 23 new rental listings in one month. Ok, exceptional but it works! If you haven't got the time to write such a newsletter, I can write them on any location in the UK. I wrote these articles...

Today, I want to look the articles I write (or I can teach you to write) and the different ways you can present them (apart from the newsletters, advertorials and blogs). I believe the farming technique can used for potential house sellers (estate agency) as well as landlords for renting. We are currently running some tests up and down the UK and, whilst its still very early, some agents have already had business after six weeks (although I think it will be more like six months before it really kicks in). The farming technique is 100% tried and tested and proved to work, for home owners, well lets just say, I will report back at Christmas. (if anyone wants to know what and how we are doing the tests for house sales - pick up the phone and we can have a chat - number below) So how they can you attract new new vendors to sell their house with you? Easy, get inside their head that you ar...

You might ask, “Better, but better in what?”  In whatever context you want Mr(s) letting agent. It might be in your knowledge of the lettings law. Why don’t you get yourself on the ARLA CPD course instead of faking the hours in your CPD logbook. Why don’t you get yourself on that one day course on “How to motivate staff and be a better boss?’ or Health and Safety or even a Red Cross life saving course?  All important stuff that will make you a better boss and letting agent. So why don’t more people (letting agents) go on these sorts of courses, to make themselves better? The simplest thing to do (and quite often the thing that is safest) is to accept what you've been given, to assume that you are Mr (s) Consistent, and the cards you've been dealt are all that there is. When you assume this, you don’t have to worry, you don’t need to take responsibility because it’s all down to fate, what will be .... will be. When I meet people who proudly tell me that they don...

I was reading an article sent out by Royal Bank of Scotland to their customers about increasing  business, kindly forwarded (together the Awesome pic) on to me by my very good friend Jeremy from Uxbridge (thanks Jezzer). The article, and I will quote almost word for word :( I cut out the boring bits) ...At the inaugural UK Blog Awards in April, a ceremony which celebrated the ways in which blogs can provide a small, medium or multi-national company with a personality while also giving an outlet for a first-person voice to offer industry opinion and customer feedback.   Co-organiser of the awards, Becki Cross, explains 77 % of internet users read blogs and 46% of people read blogs more than once each day. She said, “Blogging is the most effective form of inbound marketing and an opportunity for businesses to show their thoughts and expertise, to build trust and rapport with their customers, including new and potential ones.    The stats speak for the...