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Shortcut vs Playing the Long Game of Estate Agency and getting New Instructions


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There are a lot of people who are willing to sell you a shortcut.

That shortcut is that you can have the outcome you want without having to do the things that are obligatory to produce that result.

They will maintain that the cause you are not creating the result you want is that the world has changed, its different, and that the old school ways don’t work …  just the new way works.



The new way is continually presented in a way suggesting it is simpler and really really easy

…and let’s be honest, the shortcut is really easy to sell.

It provides a plan that is evocative of the idea that one can get rich quickly

Perhaps you have read that the new ways of communicating (facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Bots, Automated Valuation Models (ie instant 30 sec FV’s computer programs on your website are going to make it easy for you to generate new free val and landlord leads and house sellers and landlords to essentially chase you) will get you those quick wins

Maybe you have seen PropTech solutions that automate parts of the house seller and landlord acquisition process so well that you can win house sellers and landlords with no input from a person.

This methodology is nothing new, and a lot of people who made shed loads of cash during the American 1848 to 1855 Goldrush were the folks who sold  the miners their top of the range shovels (with Gold-dar … Gold Radar!) .. giving the buyer a shortcut of getting rich quick

I dont sell a shortcut to getting more landlords and house sellers .. my idea isn’t my idea at all … its an idea that is as old as the hills….and sorry .. it’s a long cut

I met a lovely chap yesterday in Grantham wanting to start his own agency. He was in his late 40’s who bought a house, did it up, sold it and rolled it on to the next. He said in five years time he would not be able to continue to do all the manual work when doing his properties up. Therefore, he wanted to go into lettings to provide an income for him for the next 10 or 20 years.

His plan was to give up doing houses up, rent a shop unit, take somebody on and offer his services as a letting agent. He estimated he needed his  nestegg savings of £50k to £70k to do that. The location of where he wanted to open his letting agency already has 128 letting agents, so him becoming number 129 meant his chance of success would be probably one in six after a couple of years (meaning he would lose his nestegg)

I suggested to him that he carries on doing his properties up in the day and during the evening become the guru of his local towns property market. I told him he would need to do this for at least two years (as he would need to do his work during the day) before even considering opening up his letting agency and drop property renovation

I was selling him the long cut... he wasn’t happy

I said it all comes down to how much you want it.

Was he prepared to put in a full days work and then spend the early mornings, evenings and weekends becoming the local property guru?

You see it doesn’t have to cost one penny to be the local property expert and guru because of social media. We have a unique opportunity for our voice and message to be heard through the power of Facebook, LinkedIn, twitter and other social media platforms. Platforms unheard of 10/20 years ago .. platforms that people can engage with thousands and thousands of people in one go and build trusting so they are naturally attracted to us.

.. he asked … but is there a shortcut?

No … if you want to landlords and homeowners to consider you, you have to get inside their head, you need them not to ignore your messages, you need them to engage with what you say and start to earn their trust ….so when they do need an agent you are at the top of the pile without any competition or comparison to any other agent.

That takes time you have to earn that trust you can’t buy trust and there certainly isn’t an app for getting trust either

The knowledge that you need to do the work … to have what you want is not as awesome as the shortcut.

If you want to the guru, the authority of property, the leading agent in your town, you have to work your backside off, maybe for years, maybe for a lifetime… not days or weeks or months

Doing the hardwork, being patience, playing the long game makes YOU the variable of the success.

… because there is no such thing as an overnight success (unless you win the lottery and you know the odds of that) …

If you want success, if you want the result YOU want, its hard work and patience … and no new social media gadget, no new PropTech and certain not a top of range all singing and dancing pick and shovel in 19th Century middle America will enable you a short cut to riches … posh shovel or cheap shovel .. you have to dig to get your gold

I advocate a system called landlord farming … it should really be called landlord and vendor farming.  It’s more of a get rich slowly system. It works for the agents that implement it. If you watch my videos .. I tell you everything you need to do to make it work. You don’t need me. It will get you awesome organic growth in both resisales and resilettings .. it just take 12 months to kick in .. and even then .. its embryonic …the real results come in the years .. not months

Landlord and Vendor farming is the creation and distribution of content to local homeowners and local landlords about your local property market, house prices, rents, yields, movements in those numbers, talk about what is selling, what landlords should be buying that make a great buy to let deal, talk about your town, why people should buy and live and work in your town … why? .. Because local homeowners and landlords are interested in that sort of thing ..a rent they?

I am advocating a concept of becoming an overnight success, albeit five years from now.

When put side by side, the shortcut in a few weeks and months is much more appealing, even though the shortcut dodges all but those who sell it.

I believe shortcut is the product, not the result the shortcut is theoretically there to create.

I promise you … and remember .. you don’t need to pay me one penny to do this .. the offer I am selling you is …. if you do the work, produce the content on a daily basis, grind the DM’s on social media, the 11pm shares, the video reports … and follow the tried and tested landlord and vendor farming system …which is provided on a step by step basis on my YouTube channel…. You will win.

I promise you .. you will get the result, but only once is it paid for in full, with you adopting these old school methods of being the thought leader, adapting them to the 21st century (using modern technology as the conduit) and improving yourself to become the person that is capable of producing that result… its just that takes time, effort, drive, determination, devotion, dedication, enthusiasm, perseverance and persistence.

Instead of looking for the short cut, the quick easy way to get more free vals and landlords beating a bath to your door with some AVM model… stop moaning you aren’t getting anywhere in life .. open your eyes to the old ways of doing things, stop wasting 2 hours a day on looking at funny cat videos and taking pictures of your dinner, stop going out 3 times a week, knuckle down and do the bloody work.

If you want to know more on becoming the local property guru, the authority of being the got to guy or gal of property .. my YouTube channel has 130+ videos on it … they tell you everything you need to know  http://www.youtube.com/c/ChristopherWatkinGrantham

Thank you
Christopher

PS I not saying all PropTech is rubbish, I am not saying all AVM's are rubbish and I'm not saying Bots and social media are rubbish ... some are good .. some are mind-blowingly exceptional ... but they are the exception to the rule. 

PPS This post forms part of my blog with over 630 posts just like this  https://how-to-grow-your-lettings-agency.blogspot.co.uk