How To Get More People To Use Your Lettings and Estate Agency Blog

In 1995 I was a Valuer for Halifax Estate Agents ...and I was hoovering listings like a Dyson on speed in my town. Then, another corporate tapped me up to join them. Five grand more and a step up on the motor.. heaven! So I went to see my boss, and she played the ultimate blinder on me She knew how to play me. Two grand extra now and if I was a good boy in 6 months, I would get the title 'Senior Valuer'. Only the revered listers got that title ... and like a big ol' fish .. I bit and she kept me. I am glad I did (for other reasons) ... yet it made me realise, depending on which side of the fence you are sitting (boss or lister)how you could play this game From a boss's point of view, you could negotiate a change in job title when you cant afford a salary increase or a better commission structure. For you employees - please don’t fall for 'job title bazaar'. Nobody cares about your job title - it only matters to you and your Mum. Clients decide in their own mi...

  Estate Agents - The only reason your Facebook Ads or marketing leaflet campaigns aren’t working is that your advert has to bring value. The No.1 thing that is happening in society the way people value time.. time is exploding in value to us because we all now live in a 24/7/365 world. People don’t want read your self-serving propaganda on your estate agency, your sales message, landlords wanted, your Rightmove pie chart, what you have sold, and why your agency is so good..... What Estate Agency advertising (in fact all advertising) has doing since the 1980’s is it stopping you from doing what you want to do and it’s selling you something which means by nature it is stealing your time which is why the second you decide that to stop selling and give out valuable content and you actually want to bring people value instead of selling them something … you win. Talk about the one thing every homeowner and landlord in your town is interested in .. what is happening to the local property...

As an Estate & Letting Agency, your Negs and Valuers will never appreciate how much you do for them and the agency business, yet nor should you expect them to do so.  You see, this business is your baby.  Of course they don't work as hard as you, again, because this is your baby, your dream, this is your path. You have to be mature enough, exercising huge EQ skills, as a human being to be able to drive your business (and yourself) forward without the need affirmation and endorsement for your efforts from your staff. ...... because if it were easy - everyone would be running an agency

Trust me - It’s not all about making your posts going viral. It’s not about having hundreds of likes and thousands of views on your Facebook posts. Estate Agency is not a popularity contest Posting on social media is all about posting something, be it a picture, writing something, recording a podcast or filming a video that is considerate, thoughtful, valuable, caring or sharing something that expresses who you are as a human being. By telling people who you are and the way you act in life as in business…and doing that by delivering that valuable post, free of charge, and not expecting anything back in the return, you end up positioning yourself as a thought leader. Not to forget, you intrinsically establish trust. And that my friends, is how you stand out to homeowners and landlords.

What is it with some Estate Agents that they have this comprehensive and all-embracing need to publicly proclaim, like a childs 'tell and show' session at primary school, of their success.  Most of the time, this can be perceived (and perception is reality in the eye of the beholder) very self-centered, full of getting one over the 'other guy'.  When was the last time you saw a Solicitor, Accountant, Architect or any other profession that posts humble (and not-so-humble) brags about success with the frequency and loudness of the estate agency industry? You know who cares that you exchanged on a property after six months of busting your backside off?  You know who cares if you smashed your target?  You know who cares about your market share? Just you and your Mum - and nobody else PS ... I am not saying you can't show the world how good you are as an agent.. yet there are so many cleverly ways to do than whacking out the Pie Chart or standing in front of your white b...

ESTATE AGENTS - Doing video is scary, but I’ve realised playing it safe and not doing videos is even more terrifying, because do you want to look back in 5 years and think “Humm. I should’ve starting doing video back then”, after you biggest competitor actually put into action what I have been banging about for a couple of years, created the video content, attracted the landlords and vendors and is now top 🐶 agent with magnificent fees and the cream of the crop of listings ... and you in the middle league agent, fighting for every scrap of a listing at a stupidly low fee?

...... trust me your work/life balance will be really be f**ked up (for a while). When you are a self employed Estate Agent, your agency business and your life become the same. Believe me, you will find yourself constantly pulled from pillar to post, with your life and work both screaming for attention, yet there aren't enough hours in the day. You will learn you need to make compromises to both, and in the end you will have to resolve yourself for the fuzzy area in between.  Sacrifices will have to made.  Your holidays will become a day out to Whitby, no new iPhone and the kids won't be able to have Riding lessons,. Yet trust me, the self employed agent that goes without in the early days, works hard and plays the long game will win so big in the long run. What do other self employed agents think? Tell me your story - i am fascinated

The #1 attribute when employing a new Valuer or Lister is their eventual want and need to set up their own agency. Any good Valuer or Lister who wants to be their own boss is the best choice .. why... because they have the drive and passion to be the best ‘sales person’ they can Some might say that’s not fair but any bosses reading this.... you are exactly correct yet you set your business yourself after working for someone else Your job is to extract a number of years out of that passionate Valuer / Lister to train and guide them and then when they fly the nest ... that’s just life ... you did it a few years ago and someone will do it to them in years to come

  Estate Agent’s Biggest Lie they tell themselves about getting more listings and higher fees is this.... “Yep, but my town is a bit different” I hear that all the time. In fact I have come to the conclusion that every town is a ‘bit different’ to the UK from the average town. Whether you buying a car, a chocolate bar, Estate Agency services, a house, a boat, a pint ... whatever ... every human being buys in the same way They tell themselves they need it emotionally, then use logic to justify it. Every human being buys in that order  If you are using logic first - that might be the reason you aren’t getting the listings and fees you deserve

Typically, homebuyers start their home search with a surf of the portals, contact the agent via email to arrange the viewing, do the viewing, negotiate over the phone, find a mortgage provider once they find a home they love, sort out solicitors, answer pre-contract enquiries, run around finding bits of paper, sign a contract. The whole property transaction is quite disjointed from start to end, and whilst some happen online, most don't. There has to be a better way to embrace the online and digital tech to help people, buy, sell and move to the next chapter of their life?

I know an agent that filmed 300 videos, yet none ever saw the light of day. He was scared what people would Think of him and comment. The scariest thing for estate & letting agents to do .... hit the publish button on their blog posts and videos. The agent ... I helped him over his fear and now is publishing more content than the BBC 😂 ....  Publish!

I have seen a number of agents start a blog or start doing videos ... just to give up after a while. I have come to the conclusion it’s for two reasons. Firstly, they see the idea of the blog posting or videos as an agent will create a massive reward from minimal work/time/effort/cost. Secondly, they see other agents doing it, so deem this blog/video thingee “important,” and so the idea of doing something important, makes one feel special. I can assure you regular videos and blog does work, yet In both of these cases, agents are more excited by the idea and outcome of doing a blog or a video itself — rather than the fundamental and ingrained habits and necessary actions one would have to take to bring thise videos and blogs to life. Trust me, the agents that succeed with blogs and videos are the ones who care far more about the process of doing them than the results they bring. That’s means they do the videos and blogs come rain or shine because they like doing them.  I guarantee b...

Posting on social media ... one of the best pieces of advice I can give you is to say stuff from your heart. I know that from time to time, I have caught myself beginning to decide ideas for posts based on how I thought others would perceive it. Think what would get likes and comments, rather than my truth and how I felt about it. This week I had a 1hr zoom call with someone well known in the industry. At the end, the person said, ‘the real reason i wanted this call was to see if the Chris Watkin I saw on the screen was a facade or the real deal?’ Be true to yourself and post from the heart. Don’t judge yourself in views, likes and comments. They are just vanity metrics. The best things in life like friendship, empathy and trust can’t be measured with a number. You have to earn those things and you can only do that be true to yourself

The next 2 years in Estate Agency is going to be a hell of a rollercoaster. I know over the next 730 days you will have more $hitty days than good days. Yes, you might having fun now - yet it won’t be like that forever. Therefore, make sure estate agency is your passion. You have love agency becuase it’s agency... not because it earns you money or you have the largest market share. Those things are outcomes. Love the winning and losing of being an agent. Love losing listings. Love business generation. Love the game. Love the process - not its rewards

ESTATE AGENTS .. Some of you are coming across overvaluing by competitors.. and find it hard to have a counter argument. Logically, we know many people whom go on the market for too much money end up selling for less than you originally said or don’t sell all Yet people are emotional beasts and make decisions accordingly. Shoving a ‘comp’ in front of their nose is logical... and humans aren’t logical So here is an idea... why not spend some time (I know you are running around like blue ar$ed flies at the moment, so it will be tough) ... yet rack your brains of all the properties you have lost to overvaluing in the last 2 years ... and then go and look what they sold for. Then look at what you valued it for and what correctly priced stuff was selling for. You only need a couple to make this work.  Even better, find properties that didn’t sell  Then, when you are up against it, whip these properties out ... BUT BEFORE YOU DO ... the real magic is the ‘story of the vendor’. You t...