Some people say life is a journey
.. and boy oh boy … 2017 is going to a tough journey for letting agents
It was due to tough with the continued online hybrid scourge, fellow agents doing cheap as chip fees, touting by every agent under the sun and just as you were getting over removal of tax breaks for landlords you were hit by the imminent banning of Tenant fees a few weeks ago
I think it’s fair to say in 2017 .. your Letting Agency journey may vary from that 2016 .. and 2015 .. and 2014 .. and 2013 .. hold on think about, when I say your Journey may vary .. that's not true.
Your letting agency journey will vary.
You know it will
You thought the journey would get easier as the years’ past
So what are you going do about it?
I have seen many letting agents react to the news – and that’s good because it shows passion, but your passion needs to be centered on purpose, not an unexpected, fruitless provocation. One of my very good letting agent friends has suggested starting a letting agent movement and taking the Government to Court.
It’s just when most people react, it nearly always seems to be about self-preservation.
Often we can allow our emotions without purpose move us forward – thus losing control.
How often have you been prickly with what is being said or done, and then kick out?
You go from the mild mannered, patient, empathetic problem solver you normally are to the irritated or agitated, where your temper rises quicker than a Saturn V rocket?
In our reactions, our emotions take a central role. Your tummy twists and turns inside, our blood boils and stomach turn.
.. but what if there was another way?
Instead of kicking out, you took a step back and thought for second.
Think and deliberate
Deliberate and then respond, because responding is more considerate, more reasoned, less emotive and more logical. OK, it might not be as passionate and get the emotions going, but more things get sorted in life without shouting and screaming (reacting) than do get sorted (although its always good to have a good old shout sometimes!).
.. but we are talking about our livelihoods here.
Responding allows for engagement with the thing that is the issue
The journey of a letting agent is hard – if it were easy everyone would do it.
My Business Coach John tells me a story that makes me realise the power of responding. An airline pilot who takes off from Heathrow and flies to New York but half way through the flight, he unexpectedly encounters strong Northerly winds, meaning he gets blown off course and thus if he carried on, he would end up in Canada. Does he react, panic, blame the weather and turn back to Britain? No of course not, he considers his opinions and responds by changing course ever so slightly to account for the weather.
Tenant fees are going and you have a number of choices as a letting agent
11. React and blame the Government, blame ARLA, blame those greedy Letting Agents that ruined the party for everyone else, blame Purplebricks (because everyone blames them for something), blame Brexit, blame the world ..
22. Deliberate methodically on how you are going to get more landlords to use your letting agency whilst increasing your fees
If you chose option 2 – then like the airline pilot, you need to ask yourself these questions if you want more landlords and better fees about your marketing
1. Does what has worked in past (Old School Techniques) to get more landlords (and better fees) work as well today?
2. Are there any other (New) techniques I don’t know about out there to get more landlords (and better fees) and if so, would they work for me?
Old School Marketing Techniques to Attract Landlords
Ask any letting agent how they attract landlords and these answers will come out of the wordwork.
· Landlords Wanted Campaigns
· Cheap Fee Deals
· Half Price Management Deals
· Brand Awareness Marketing
Do they work as good as they did 5 years ago? Have you noticed as each year goes by, the less effective these types of marketing and campaigns are?
The number of letting agents that tell me back in the good old days of 2000 to 2007 – all you had to do was open an office, get a Rightmove account and put up a few posters that said ‘Landlords Wanted’ and they were beating off landlords with $hity sticks … but it doesn’t work anywhere near as well nowadays
Why Old School Letting Agency marketing Doesn’t Work
All traditional marketing, irrespective of being for washing powder, cars, supermarkets etc, hell even letting agencies) is becoming less and less effective by the minute, and that there has to be a better way.
You see the Old school marketing techniques, used 95% of letting agents for the last thirty years, is to talk about your firm and how your lettings agency can help the landlord, and what services your letting agency offers, how long your lettings agency have been established, how many letting agency offices you have, how many properties you manage, the difference between a s21 and s8 notice, what you have let this week, this month or this year and even your rankings on Rightmove Plus.
Now, what if I changed the profession from lettings agency to solicitors or accountants in that last paragraph – would you care? .. Exactly.
So, do you really think landlords care about all those things then?
Of course not
Landlords don’t care about those things .. you do, your boss does and your Mum does (‘cause she be proud of anything you did) – but landlords don’t.
.. because if they did – old school marketing would work and you wouldn’t be looking for the answer.
.. so let’s talk new school
TO BE CONTINUED ....