Do you know what every homeowner in your
town lies awake at three in the morning worrying about? Endless sleepless
nights, tossing and turning in cold sweats, for weeks, months and years every
night, until they cry themselves into a cold tear soaked pillow just as the
dawn chorus starts? ...... Transparent
agency fees and vendor contact.
Do you know what excites a landlord,
what interests them, what makes them surf the web for hours on end? Let me tell
you, Cheap fees, Tie in periods and here is the show stopper ... Accompanied
Viewings!
I know its shocking, but these are the
buzz subjects (.. of course they bl**dy well arent .. slap yourself if you thought they were)
A huge part of the reason for that is most estate and
letting agents failure to understand one basic concept: no matter how great a
service or agency, homeowners and landlords don’t really care about what you’re saying,
especially when you chuck it out evry hour on Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin.
If your marketing talks about you, your company, how
your agency compares to other agencies, your fees, your services, and don’t get
me started on leaflets that have 5 or even 10 bullet points listing your
company’s USP’s ... no one cares .. the only person that does care is YOU
(..and your Mum...possibly). Do you
really think a landlords or potential home sellers will go with your agency
because you have more bullet points than the competition?
Bottom line is this ...If all you talk about is
yourself, your company, your USP’s, apart from your Mum, you’re
simply not that interesting.
Do you care about what the local accountancy practice
tweets about? Do you care the local solicitors practice has five solicitors in
the practice that can do 14 different types of legal work? When was the last
time you were out with your mates, and you remarked over a pint that local
conveyancing practice offered transparent fees? Come on Agents .. no one cares
..we (human beings) are in our own little bubbles, trying to get to the end of
the week and pay the mortgage ... transparent fees, accompanied viewings, tie
in periods, the number of ESTA’s and Neg Mag Awards you have won, which portal
you go on are not things that either keep people up at night, nor are they
exciting and groovie (ie not interesting).
Alright, I think I know what you’re thinking: isn’t
the definition of “interesting” subjective? The problem is that estate and
letting agents habitually over estimate the degree to which even our existing
clients, let alone potential new ones (ie new landlords and new house sellers identify
with our agency services.
So when I go shopping to the local supermarket, and I
see that they’re promoting the URL of their new Facebook fan page; or when I am
watching a TV advert and notice that the maker of a soup or pasta sauce is
promoting their twitter handle, my first thought is: Who cares? What could they
possibly say that I would find interesting? Sure, if I could go to their
webpage, and I am sure they have 100 different ways to use a pasta sauce, hey
even perhaps I might find a funny pasta sauce game, naaah.. can’t be bothered
.. I have better things to do with my life than visit a pasta sauce webpage.
This all might sound rather harsh, but think about yourself and your life ..
you know it’s true.
So how can you be interesting? Well work out what
interest’s landlords and homeowners, and then just talk about that.
It’s that simple.
Just talk about what interests THEM, not YOU Mr(s)
Agent.
Once you know what to write, then just deliver that
message using traditional and modern methods ie emails, newspaper, social
media, leaflets, letters etc)
The conventional wisdom has been that business people
should seek to establish themselves as the expert within their related field of
expertise. Now being the UK’s no.1 guru on Pasta sauce or making Soup is a fine
place to aim for .. but is it interesting? Does it pass the “who cares” test.
So should estate and letting agents simply disregard social
media? Yes and No. If all you do is share your opening hours; property listings;
cheap fee deals; list your agencies USP’s, talk about Vendor Contact or tie
periods .. then Yes, it’s a waste of
time. Those sort of posts simply won’t be enough to excite their social media connections.
You should assume that by default, no one really cares about your agency. Why
don’t you ask your friends when you are next out if they remember anything you
tweeted or posted in the last two weeks ... and if you have no friends, ask
your Mum. If you go with that assumption (that no one cares), it will force you to have an honest
evaluation of what it would be like take to drive genuine and interesting
content to potential landlords and potential home owners.
When it comes to the web, the medium is not the
message. The message isn’t even the message! Interest is the message, and
unless you’re delivering it in an original, and ongoing fashion, nobody (apart
from your Mum) cares.
Want to know what is interesting to a homeowner or
landlord? I tell you every week in my blogs.. the value of their own home, the
local property market and where are they going to buy the next property. That’s
all you have to do.
Write stuff like this ..
·
Tunbridge Wells Property Market Newsletter http://goo.gl/JmuUb8
·
Tooting Property Market Newsletter http://goo.gl/CFILub
·
Kingston Upon Thames Property Market Newsletter http://goo.gl/DIoD36
If you are rubbish at writing, I can teach you how to
write them on one my courses and if you are a busy agent, I can write them for you (all the above were
written by myself) ....or you could just start writing them without my help.
Bottom line is this .. I can help letting agents get
landlords to swap agents. If you aren’t sceptical, you should be. Look at my
LinkedIn profile and see all the agents who have kindly given testimonials on
both the course and writing services .. and more importantly, the results it
produces.
If you want a chat, pick up the phone on 07950 147 572
