Have you ever seen those Valuers and Listers that seem to be
able to list everything they touch at one firm, to then wither when they move
agents? The hot shot Lister at your arch rivals, the Valuer who can do no
wrong, this Valuer can list with his or her eyes closed, only to move from one
agent in the town to the opposition across the road ... to become quite
ordinary ... have you thought why?
Let me tell you my thoughts on this. This Valuer would
have sat at the competitor’s interview, listing his or her attributes, listing
skills, sales skills ... and the competitor MD would have thought, this
guy/lady is the answer to my dreams .. they are a plug and play listing machine.
Both of them of are delusional about each can do for the other.
Yes, the Valuer might be good on the door step, but that might
be because he has a fleet of red hot Negs at the office who actually business
generated awesome free valuations, hey, they might even use good old fashioned
‘hot boxes’ (anyone under 30 years old in agency – ask an older colleague what
they are – it’s how we used to do agency before the tinterweb). That Valuer
might have a fab boss who leads him/her and the team to such levels of
motivation, the Valuer can’t help but to list. The Valuer might have a
marketing department that produces such awesome material, the free vals just
drop into his/her lap .... then the firm might have a business generation
system hotter than the sun.
... but all the competitor sees (and the Valuer’s tells him
or her self) is that this is ALL down to the skills of the Valuer. Yes, you
might be a top shot Top Gun’esqe Tom Cruise style Pilot of a Valuer ... but it
means nothing without the technicians behind you.
Now I could talk about the importance of team and backroom
boffins .. but this is a blog about getting more business. The importance of having
a good team behind you is another story I will write in the coming weeks, but today, I
want to show you hot shot Valuers and Listers what you should be doing NOW, so
when you do move, the business comes with you (and does not revert back to the old agency where the new
Valuer is dining out on your old successes) (Business owners .. you could adopt
the same principles for yourself?).
Would you agree there is a massive difference between
selling to people you don’t know and selling to those you do know? (ie friends
and acquaintances). If you have been at an agency for a while, you will start
to get recommendations from people you know, and with these people that have
been recommended you (and your agency) don’t have to spend a lot of time providing
them with your credentials to sell to these people to get the property.
... but why does NOT that transfer when you move agents?
The Valuer (and the team) make the brand, they in fact make
the reputation of the agency BUT let the sands of time flow and punters will
tend to only remember the reputation of the agency . Let me ask you a few questions .... What was the name of the
helpful chap who went the extra mile at bank last year with your bank charges
ooh at Nat West (other banks are available).. you know Thingee. Can you remember the name of the solicitor that held the
sale together to get your dream house three years ago? Yep, its it was err ...
err .... errr... yep, it was Whatisname.
Err ... errr .. ah , but I know it Smith and Smith Solicitors opposite Waitrose
on the High Street. What’s the name of the chap who stopped late to ensure you
got the keys at 8pm on a Friday night before you went on a superb Summer
holiday the next morning driving around Devon and Cornwall in your new convertible
Beemeer last year... you know .. Oojamaflip.
You can remember Nat West, Smith and Smith and BMW .... but
not Thingee, Whatitsname or Oojamaflip.
What if that solicitor had moved practice? .. Would you know that ..
honestly? Or the guy moving Beemer
dealership? ....or would you just ring up Smith and Smith and give them the
business? They were good, but I’m not spending 30 minutes to try and find them
.. you know Whatitsname. (try typing Oojamaflip from BMW into Linkedin .. it doesn’t work).
It doesn’t matter how good you were, people will forget you,
but they won’t forget the firm so easily.
If you try to cross the street to another agent and sell to
someone new, a whole bunch of things get in the way .... you to start with,.. your staff .. your new agency .. your marketing
strategy ...they all have to change. One
of the dangers that every one of you face moving agents is that you have all established
credibility, respect and authority with the people you have worked with in the
past BUT ITS WRAPPED UP INTRINSICALLY W ITH THE EXISTING AGENCY. Now you are
ready to go up a rung on the ladder and go to the competition and the giant
challenge is a lot of that stuff ... your winning strategy, the strategy that
got you where you are today does not carry a lot of water when you go talk to people
you don’t know (and to add insult to
injury ... YOUR OLD PUNTERS won’t remember you).
You have to decide going forward are you eager to talk to people
you don’t know or do know?
You Mr Valuer or Mrs Lister need to start doing something
NOW, which makes YOU more memorable than the AGENCY you work for... and the
best bit .. your existing bosses will love you for it. What is that? .. become your local town’s Property Guru.
How do you do that? Write
and talk about the local property market, talk about property prices, talk
about the property market, write articles in a style that a journalist would
write, write them regularly, write them with a narrative, don’t mention
yourself, your firm or the services you provide, write about the history of
rents, the history yields .. all stuff that excites and interests homeowners.
Stuff like this ..
Canterbury http://canterburyproperty.blogspot.co.uk/
You see I market my services as a ghost writer for agents,
writing these articles and show them how to get them out to the public - well there is no point writing a blog if
nobody knows of it existence OR if they know about the blog but nobody visits it
OR people that visit the blog but don’t keep coming back. However, some of my clients are estate agents
and they are telling me writing these articles has a downside .. it attracts
homeowners and associated free valuations as well as landlords. We didn’t know
this would happen as most of my clients are lettings only agents but Paul Tobias,
a letting / estate agent from a small town in Essex called South Ockendon, who writes
this blog ..
... wrote to me in February
(after he started his blogging in the Autumn) and said his blogging had done
this -
“Also as an estate
agent I have seen a significant increase in valuations from this time last
year. In fact it is roughly a 20% increase”
.. which was on top of what he had gained on the lettings
side ...
“Sold our first
property to a new client/landlord who had found us through the property blog. Best
of all, I have had four new client/landlords contacted me as they where
impressed by the property blog and that they want us to source new investment
properties for them.”
This isn’t just for lettings .. it’s for both sales and
lettings .... so start writing the articles (whether I ghost write for you, OR
you come on one my courses were I teach you to write them yourselves), write them in the exact same style as Paul
from South Ockendon does, David from
Canterbury or Simon from Derby does and I guarantee you if you do it right ..
You (not the firm) .. YOU will get to become YOUR town’s Property Guru.