You have managed to land that landlord and he or she is going to swap letting agents to
you, then it all to goes t*ts up and
he/she changes her mind and stays put? Ring a bell? Let me tell you a story
which might ring true.
Jason (he of the Shiny
Suit and Senior Lettings Neg at your competition .. I mean Senior.. come on..
his Linkedin profile say he has been in lettings for seventeen months and you
can work out he is only twenty and three quarters ...... name changed to
protect the innocent!!!!!) rang up your new landlord and said, “If we can match
the deal you got at the new letting agent, can we get you to stay?"
You know the landlord didn't leave because of a better fee, but to get
the business, you still did this new landlord a cracking introductory fee when he
left them to come to you. The landlord told you that the old agent explained
that matching the rate was a nice gesture, but it was not the reason he left.
At this point, he thought Jason was going to cry, but Jason
had an Ace up his sleeve, the guilt trip card. "After all we did for
you when you needed us to help you out on that tenant eviction even though you
are only a tenant find landlord, how can you leave us like that? I thought
there would be more loyalty than what you are showing us now." Thankfully,
the landlord didn’t fall for the trap .. but many do, don’t they? As a
parting shot, Jason then sent a few digs on the way about YOU, the landlord’s
new letting agent, after which he hung up to run home to tell his Mummy.
When you close a deal to replace a landlord’s letting agent,
for any reason, you must expect that the old letting agent will attempt to
retain that landlord and pull out all the stops to succeed (including deposits,
keys, copies of AST’s .. we all know the tricks). If your new landlord
is moving their business to you only because you were able to
beat the price they were paying, you will certainly be standing on the edge of
a cliff. Why, because if it was only fee, there will always be someone else
down the line who will do it a lot cheaper
than you.
It costs a lot of money to get your hands on and
replace a lost landlord. On the other side of the coin, if this landlord
is moving to you because you found the landlord’s compelling reason to employ
you as a letting agent and you are uniquely qualified to solve their problem,
all the begging and persuasive tactics in the world won't cause your landlord
to return to their old agent, the agent that was not able to
solve their problem.
If you know that the old letting agent will be calling to
undo what just got done, what can you do to prevent an unhappy ending for you
Mr/s Letting Agent? Easy, prepare your new landlord for the telephone call!
Ask, "So what will you say when XYZ lettings calls and offers to
match our price?" "What if they lay a guilt trip on you?"
"What if they start to beg?"
What you should learn from this is the importance of selling the value of your agency instead
of just the fee? You had better be
sure that all of your landlords are happy with you or you may find
yourself in the same position?