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

Does your estate/lettings agency commit this No.1 crime? ..... Follow me on Twitter Tell me .. why the hell should I follow you on s*ddin’ twitter? You give me no reason to do so .. and all that you will end up doing is my twitter feed being filled up with your cr*ppy sales messages or what you have put on the market .. great for tenants .. but as a landlord and vendor .. dull .. oh and by the way .. don’t even think of asking me to like your bl**dy page on Facebook? Sound familiar? It is an all too common request that we all face. But what are letting and estate agents doing to help convince prospective customers (ie landlords and potential sellers) why they should do so? But before you answer that, just think for a minute, take off your estate and letting agency hat for as second .. when some random garage, IT firm, Insurance firm etc etc asks you to follow ..What do you do? Yep, thought it, ignore the request. .. just like they are going to ignore your requ...

"Landlords Wanted" ... the two magic words that worked a treat ten years ago but don’t work now.... WHY? Ten years ago, they used to light up the brain of landlords, they grabbed their attention, it initiated action with them .. it made them feel loved.   But now, that phrase has been corrupted by the ease of reach and the desire by some letting agents to grow at all costs. The   issue is the word "Wanted”.. instead of it making it personal, instead of say ’I’ need you, because it’s a people business .. now its ‘We want you to do this’, ‘to buy this’, ‘to like our Facebook’   ... sorry it doesn’t work because landlords (and people in general) know you are really saying ‘We want you (Mr Landlord) because it will make us more’. .. and when I say ‘Landlord’ ... let’s be honest, it doesn't mean any particular or specific landlord, what the agent is actually saying is, ‘any old landlord’.   Any old landlord, who can see this website or read this emai...

  Awareness   Interest Action Awareness   If a landlord doesn’t even know your agency exists, then how can they ever even consider using you? Making someone aware of you and your lettings agency is great, it’s addictive and fun to do. Big adverts in the paper and on Rightmove Featured Agent and Home Page banners, big swanky High Street offices with lovely touch screen displays, thousands of leaflets dropped everyday ... loving it!   Interest Interest is the story we tell, the transmission of information and emotion (ie education) from us, the letting agent, to the aware landlord. But here is the problem, most letting agents are too self absorbed to be interesting to others, to educate.   The other issue is that it takes time and the fact that interest takes many forms, but without a doubt, experience is the most trusted and high-impact way to educate and interest of people Action How many times has a landlord said   "...

No ..quite the opposite You might not get the landlords you deserve, but you will probably end up with the landlords you attract.  If all you bang on about is how cheap you are, you will get landlords who only want a bargain. True you can attract vendors/landlords with your cheap fees, but is it worth it? We all know the type of landlord who is attracted to cheap fees can be a pain in the elbow, want something for nothing   and keep complaining all the time. Let me tell you what I believe ... you get what you reward. You attract the landlords that respond to the way you act. You end up with what you tolerate. You build what your audience demands. Only 4% of landlords ( from a survey of 5000 landlords via those ace people at The Property Academy ) are looking for the cheapest agent, but over 60% of landlords   are looking for the agent that gives them the best service and the one they instinctively trust. But how do you prove service and trust without ha...

' The measure of intelligence is the ability to change.' Albert Einstein   Let’s face it, the estate and letting agency business has changed. Now people can search for property without having to step foot into agencies anymore (with the advent of the tinterweb and the portals).  Hardly anyone puts themselves on mailing lists now (paper ones) .. and thus, agents haven’t got people they can get listings off.  The work of estate and letting agents has changed. People used go into agents offices for brochures .. info on the property .. but now they don’t need to. The number of face-to-face interactions with our potential customers (house sellers and landlords) has declined.  As a result, to be more successful, you agents will need to step outside your usual agency circles to be more visible to those who matter. Raising your visibility and developing a reputation in your town will be vital if you want to grow your business .... i.e. getting more peopl...

There will be difficult landlords and vendors, aloof to your best sugary pitch on the free valuation or market appraisal. Listen to me ..try not to take it personally. You are in property game, selling your services to landlords and vendors and like all salespeople, you have to develop a little bit of a thick skin to handle some rejection.  You need to develop your own coping strategy, but you will need a strategy. Keep your eye on the prize (as I tell Joey – our Rescue Dog), keep your eye on the end goal, and try not to be unduly dissuaded by a setback. For every no you get, its one nearer another yes . Don’t fear it ( a no ain’t going to kill you .. is it? ) ... The only thing you have to fear .. is fear itself ....so don’t be disheartened.  You see, what   you want is on the other side of fear. If you have a bad run on your free vals, vastly changing your technique or giving up because you have had a bad run guarantees failure; you can always l...

What if I told you should work for free?  Call the men in the white van? Hear me out...  Work is showing up at the set time, a time set by ‘the man’ whether or not you feel like it to produce something of value ... on demand. But it isn’t work when you indulge your passion, your interest, your hobby. My friend Jim likes to paint an water colour landscapes, but to emulsion the front living room (he is a painter and decorator by trade) .. that is work. My lovely wife doesn’t see cooking a five course meal as work when she cooks dinner for our friends, but it's work when you're a chef at the local Brewers Fayre.   Should you get paid if the local newspaper rings you up for comment on the local housing market? If the local radio station wants you to come on to their programme to discuss property prices .. would you expect to get paid?  Of course not, not if you think you'll be able to turn that stage into positive change, into increased trust, to mak...