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

  So, the UK is in recession, yet no one has informed the property market. Any Estate Agent who believes this market will last forever, when still 5.3m people are still on furlough and GDP still around 10% lower than going into Covid + the Brexit issue on the horizon and second semi lockdown, has to be mistaken. I am not a doom-monger, far from it, yet the simple facts are when uncertainty creeps into the economy, and all the above issues will cause that, there is going to be some form of contraction in the property market eventually, even if doesnt affect property values, it will certainly reduce the number of transactions of properties sold. Many agents are worried if property values drop that will affect their agency, yet the biggest issue isn’t property values, its is the number of transactions, the number of people looking to move home in 2021 and 2022. Even if property values drop by 20%, if you charge 1.5% instead of dropping your pants down to 1%, you would still be better ...

  Estate Agency on a shoestring ... There are many estate agents out there who hardly have two pennies to rub together, let alone spend 100’s of pounds on marketing themselves to attract homeowners to use their agency. Trust me, you do not need to spend any money whatsoever to attract homeowners to your estate agency now you have the power of social media. You as a person (not your firm) should join every Facebook group in your town. Then produce content that is fascinating to the people of your town. Yet don’t fall the trap many agents fall into by telling people what you have sold or what your agency does or market share... you might like it, but its not fascinating to the people of your town. You are the gatekeepers to the 2nd most interesting topic in the world to the local people of your town (The property market), so just talk about the local property market in those FB groups... What’s happening to property prices, rents, which area seem to be selling better than others. Thi...

  Over the last 20 years in Estate Agency, slowly as each year goes by, why have we as an industry allowed the estate agency profession to become a shadow of its former self?   Where the combined and accumulative effects of the portals homogenising us, blackhole CRM systems where clicking a button has replaced the personal hotbox and telephone, cheap fee agents prostituting themselves on the altar of low priced estate agency, faceless corporates who sack loyal staff by text, a world where the listing is more important than the sale and a profession where some see their only weapon to get the listing is overvaluing ...    Why have we as an industry allowed ourselves to disconnect ourselves emotionally from estate agency business?   It’s like it’s only about listings, market share and craving to be seen as getting one over the competition?   Only a few days ago, a question was asked of agents on social media... would you prefer to be the only agent out or win...

  When was the last time a house seller Google, “Estate Agents that publish Rightmove Pie Charts” or “Estate Agents that post every listing on Facebook” or even "Why you should sell your home with a High Street/Online/Self Employed [delete as appropriate] Estate/Letting Agent" No, my intuition tells what people search for on Google are questions, or problems or things that they having issues with or stuff that is holding the back or getting in their way. Matters of life they are struggling with. I see so many Estate Agents focus their social media strategy around which platforms to go, when in fact if talked about the pain points of your potential house sellers or landlords, well tough love time, you have lost before you have even started. If you want your social media and the content within it to convey your true value, your value, your reason of charging the fees you do, if you want your social media content to attract an audience, and top of the tree, if you want your co...

  You’re a small Estate Agency. You work a 7am–6pm (on a good day) to get the properties listed You are doing Ok, yet struggling You do a bit of social, yet your content isn’t working You aren’t growing your agency as fast as you would like You don’t understand why local homeowners & landlords seem to paying attention to your competitors, but not you? If this is you, you arent alone There are normally 5 reasons why this is the case 1. Who are you posting for? Before you can even start to think about what you are going to post, you have to 1st understand what the landlords & house sellers are asking for. 2. Your Social media strategy .. Running Facebook ads is not a strategy - its a tactic. A social media strategy is a much bigger mission. It’s what you as an agent stand for, your voice, your message, your truth ...because that is what brings in the punters 3. Wrong social media platform - just because Jess, your 19yo YTS girl says Snap or TikTok is where it's at, doesnt me...

So, you are in the Estate Agency business and as the boss, you decide, “We should start a blog”   You title your 1st post, “Reason to pick a High Street Estate Agent” and then continue to explain for five and a half paragraphs how remarkable your Estate Agent is and how everybody should unquestionably use a High Street Estate Agency.   The sad truth is that this sort of content exists a lot in Estate Agency.    If its not a thinly disguised overly promotional blog post, it’s a shockingly lit photo of Neg holding a box of Milk Tray on an agency’s Facebook page with the caption, “Another happy customer”. Let’s not forget the RM pie chart or a picture of you with the number of listings and move in you have done this month   Sorry to let you down, but that content is not helping anyone with anything.    Possibly it has a home on your personal Facebook, where you tag colleagues in FB albums and commemorate your amazing agency, yet it has no place on your ag...

Would you give a speech in an empty boardroom or conference? No, so why is your social media? It amazes me how many Estate Agents jump on board with the coolest social medium platform (remember Vine, My Space & Google Plus?) without first asking themselves, “Wait, is this where my target consumer (ie vendor or landlord) is?  Do vendors or landlords hang out on this social media platform?” Now of course, if you have an unlimited marketing budget for your Estate & Letting Agency, then go for it. Yet most of the time, that is not the case for most agents.  Just because young 18yo Floss thinks Snapchat is happening, doesn’t mean 40yo to 65yo homeowners are on it? So, the question isn’t, “How can our agency be everywhere?” but rather, “Where can we, as an agent be, that will drive the largest return for the smallest effort, money & time investment?” So, if you’re in the lettings business, why on earth are you spending time on TikTok? Because it’s trendy & Floss says...

  Life is wonderful if you become a self-employed estate agent, house sellers will throw rose petals as you enter the house on the free val and beg you to sign them up for 3% plus all the ‘full fat milk’ disbursements and £500 withdrawal fee. Nothing could be further from the truth – its bloody hardwork and most will fail. Making the jump, the first step into self-employed agency is scary as hell. It will keep you up at night before you make the decision and you will get even less sleep afterwards Trust me, there is never a ‘right-time’ to do anything in life. Your existence, your life, your raison d’etre, your reason for being is not a contest, where someone comes in 1st, 2nd, 3rd or last. There are no winners and no losers. The ‘right-time’ to do something in your life is when it makes sense for you, and only you. Please don’t beat yourself up and don’t be so tough on yourself. Trust me, you are doing OK. You are an awesome agent. Stop worrying about what others are doing, ease o...

  If you want your agency's social media to really work for you and your agency .. to get the listings, fees and market share you deserve ... you have to remember this one thing ... your social media is not about you, your agency, your services, your RM market share graph, what you have sold or how awesome you are ... its all about the person who reads your post. Post about your reader's fears and frustrations, their hopes and their dreams ....