‘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, lets
be honest, these are rubbish answers. Now let me share some examples I have
used, seen used by others or come across in my years working at the coal face.
They work just as well in estate agency (that’s where I got most of them from
in fact). My
favourite retort to that question is, ‘Are you looking for the cheapest agent?’
or if you were really confident, ‘Are you looking for the cheapest agent,
because if you are, I am not your man?
Others I
overheard colleagues say, ‘It’s 20% until I know what service you’re wanting.
Can we spend a few minutes narrowing that down to help you lower the fee?’
Here are
some more that come across over the years, with a rating afterwards!
‘Depends
if you want the BMW version, the Ford version, or the Skoda Mr Landlord?’
(COCKY)
‘I have a
feeling that if I quote a random fee right now, I’ll be dead in the water. Do
you mind if I ask you some questions to get a better idea of what you want from
your agent? Then the numbers we talk about will be specific to you and your property’
(CONFIDENT BORDERING REASONABLY COCKY)
‘A lot Mr
landlord. Why do you ask?’ (SCARILY COCKY)
‘I’ll
answer your question in a moment but to give you a more accurate answer, may I
ask you three questions first?’ (SOFT)
'Well, the
friends and family rate might apply but we’re not friends yet – do you mind if
I ....' (CHEEKY BUT NOT BAD)
'Let us
chat about what you’re trying to accomplish first Mr Landlord and then we’ll
work out some fee options based on that.' (SOFT)
'Just like
you need to make an educated decision about which letting agent to use, I need
to give you an educated answer to your fee question. And I’m feeling pretty
dumb right now, since we only just started talking, so do you mind if we have a
five minute conversation about your you and your property? After that, I’ll
have a much better idea of what you’re after and some different ways we can
help'. (LONG WINDED BUT NICE)
'Sounds
like fee is the most important factor to you Mr landlord. In my experience,
everything is expensive until you need it. Can we talk about what you need and
then work our way to the pricing options based on that?' (REASONABLE)
'Until I
have a better idea of what you want – and whether or not we can even help – any
number I give you is going to be too high. Would it be OK if we spend a few
minutes discussing why you called? Then if we can help, I’ll get you the fee
options you need. And if we can’t, I’ll refer you to some other great letting
agents that may be able to help. Fair enough?' (REASONABLE)
