.. than if you find the landlord.
What would you do if a solicitor, out of the blue, one you had never
used before, rang you up and asked if you had a legal issue that needed
sorting? Bet most of you would tell them to get lost wouldn’t you? Ok, how
about this one, What if, out of the blue, a dentist you had never spoken to or
visited before, rang you asking you if you wanted a new dentist? Sling your hook? No one likes cold calling.
OK, what if it wasn’t a cold call, let’s say your own GP rang you at
work, asking if you might be looking for help fighting a nasty bug, as there
was one going round? Even though it was your GP, you would politely decline,
because if YOU had a problem, you would GO TO your GP .. not the other way
round. With your GP, he/she doesn’t find you, you find them. And when you do
see him, they tell you what medicine you need to take and guess what .. you
take it. Even if he/she says you need surgery, you will most likely end up
taking the advice, no matter how painful or inconvenient it is.
OK, here is a good one to ask ...
Do landlords respect letting agents as much as they respect their GP? ‘Don’t
be stupid Chris’, you might say. Well why not, the landlord is asking you to
look after his/her £100,000/£200,000/£300,000 rental property ... to some
people, that is more important than some people’s own health. The GP went to
medical school and looks after your health, you have done training and now
(especially if you have done your ARLA exams – you are qualified) you could
look after the landlord’s property that is worth a lot of money. You have
expertise. You know how to solve difficult problems. So what’s the difference?
The difference is positioning. The GP is perceived to be an expert, so
you seek their guidance. You might see yourself a letting agent, but if all you
do is collect the rent and ring the landlord every time there is an issue, you
aren’t a letting agent - you are a rent collector. (and here is the important
bit .... you are no expert my friend).
So how do you become an expert, seen on the same footing as a GP? Well
let me tell you fellow letting agents that if you believe all you have to do is
believe passionately in your lettings agency service, become ‘Captain
Motivated’, be nice to people, know your section 8’s from your section 21’s, be
really motivated, work like a ‘whirling dervish’, know your landlord and tenant
law, thinking positive thoughts whilst remaining even more motivated than
yesterday and even more than the day before .. then if you do all that and you are
the most motivated letting agent in your town, eventually you will become the
most successful letting agent in town and you will win the admiration and trust
of all those potential landlords needing your advice and capabilities in
looking after their hard earned buy to let property.
Hold on a minute and let us get back to the real world here. Stop and
think about it for a minute. How many times have you bust a gut at work, been
‘Captain Motivated’ and not got a thing back. I have worked for hundreds of hours
overtime for other people and I was working very hard believe me and ask the
Wife. But it wasn’t working, and every
month I was falling further and further behind. You can only do that for so
long before something finally gives. .. and once it gives, your motivation tank
is on vapours.
You see motivation isn’t your actual problem. Bottom line is this, you
need landlords, you need landlords to trust you with their property to let out.
You know you are better than any other letting agent in your town, it’ just you
can’t prove it to those landlords. All you need is something that makes landlords
pick up the phone to you, hey even walk through the door. Landlords would call
you instead of you having to call them. If you had a steady stream of qualified
landlords to talk to, you wouldn’t have a motivation problem in the first
place, would you?
Have you ever heard of the phrase, ‘working smarter, not harder’? Being
MORE motivated isn’t the issue. Why? Because most letting agents are already more
than motivated to begin with. The problem with letting agent agents is they can’t
see themselves through the eyes of their customers .. the landlords. You see if
the landlords find you, instead of you finding (aka touting/ hardsell hunting) the
landlord, the perception of the landlord of you is different. The landlord
perceives you as a consultant, not a salesman / hawker . Customers don’t
respect salesman / hawkers as reliable information sources.
If you just collect the rent, you are no expert. If you just the let
house out and collect the rent .. you are no expert. But if you talk
knowledgeably about stuff that interests landlords, ie by becoming the local
property expert, comparing the property market in one street vs another street
in your town OR by talking about why one London suburb has gone up in
value by 148% in the last 16 years but the next door London suburb has gone up
by 198% OR why yields on 2 beds have dropped in the last 10 years but
risen on 3 beds in your town in the same 10 year time frame OR Why the
local council estate’s housing market in your town has outperformed the nice
housing estate in your town OR Why a town’s property values have risen
by £568 per week, but the surrounding areas have only risen by £456 per week OR
Why semis in one housing estate have gone by 46% in the last 5 years in value
but only 36% in the next door housing estate OR How property prices in
your town still have 7% to reach back to 2007 boom prices, comparing that with
two other neighbouring towns and their individual %’s....
At the core of what landlord farming is .. you write (or you can ask me to write) four
articles a month (ie one a week) about YOUR own local property market. Local
people are INTERESTED in what is happening their local property market .. it’s
a British obsession. These articles need to be put in front of the movers and
shakers, the middle class landlord sect in some form of combination of
newspaper advertorials, newspaper editorials, local magazines, local property
newsletters and a local property blog. You use the same articles in all
delivery methods. This makes you the local property expert, and as long you put
a very subtle call to action (you will love it when I tell you.. its so
effective).. they (existing and new landlords)
will make contact with you, because they want to know something only you
would know.
... but before I go, note I don’t suggest you write the following ... ‘s8
vs s21 notices, which is the best?’ , ‘What clauses should you put in your
AST?’, ‘Who is responsible if a tenant looses their key’, ‘What does
Superstrike mean for you’, ‘Top ten tips for landlords’, ‘Should your letting
agent by licensed?’ and ‘Landlord Insurance – everything you need to know’ ...
these are not interesting and the only expert you will be is an expert in boring
boring boring
Only talk about the local property market; comparing the property market
by talking about street vs street, housing estate vs housing estate, area vs
area, town vs town. Over time you write this stuff, drip ... drip ..... drip
and eventually you get inside their heads, and like I said above, as
long you put a very subtle call to action, and it takes quite a few months
before they act, a trickle to start with then more as time goes on, landlords
will make contact with you, because they want to know something only you would
know.
.. Because you are not a letting agent ... you are the property expert (who just happens to let houses)