Written for Estate and Lettings Agents - but just as relevant for any business!
There are four nearby Coffee Shops in Grantham .. all serve froffy coffee, nice cakes or paninis for lunch. There are three mini supermarkets along the High Street, and all stock the same brands of sweets, mummy fuel (wine), nibbles and emergency loo rolls. And their websites that promote them were each built using identical lines of HTML code.
The twelve letting agents in Grantham are all based on the High Street (or just off it), all use Rightmove, all have a website, all have to let boards, all have brochures, all doing viewings, all vet tenants, all of them manage property… but they all fundamentally do the same thing … let houses
When any business (letting agent or not) with access to the same resources are creating comparable services where does our sustainable advantage lie?
Just because you have been in your office for ten years (with a managed portfolio of 300 to 500 managed properties) doesn’t mean you are safe (see the PS section)
We are in a new world and in the world as a whole, in other industries and now lettings and estate agency, time and again we see that tangible advantages like location, quality and fee aren’t enough to keep clients engaged and loyal.
The letting (and estate) agents that will not only survive, but thrive in this new 21st Century world will be the agents that do what their competitor's agents don’t do, not what their competitor's agents can’t do.
Often this is the human work of understanding, connecting and creating intangible value. I might go as far to use a word that isn’t used a lot nowadays, empathising with our clients to create something that’s not always seen but it’s certainly felt.
What do you do that your competitors aren’t prepared to do?
Thanks for reading.
Christopher Watkin
PS Were you aware there are firms out there that will legally obtain your stock list then will find the contact details of your landlords, real home address, and telephone numbers. Be careful ...
There are four nearby Coffee Shops in Grantham .. all serve froffy coffee, nice cakes or paninis for lunch. There are three mini supermarkets along the High Street, and all stock the same brands of sweets, mummy fuel (wine), nibbles and emergency loo rolls. And their websites that promote them were each built using identical lines of HTML code.
The twelve letting agents in Grantham are all based on the High Street (or just off it), all use Rightmove, all have a website, all have to let boards, all have brochures, all doing viewings, all vet tenants, all of them manage property… but they all fundamentally do the same thing … let houses
When any business (letting agent or not) with access to the same resources are creating comparable services where does our sustainable advantage lie?
Just because you have been in your office for ten years (with a managed portfolio of 300 to 500 managed properties) doesn’t mean you are safe (see the PS section)
We are in a new world and in the world as a whole, in other industries and now lettings and estate agency, time and again we see that tangible advantages like location, quality and fee aren’t enough to keep clients engaged and loyal.
The letting (and estate) agents that will not only survive, but thrive in this new 21st Century world will be the agents that do what their competitor's agents don’t do, not what their competitor's agents can’t do.
Often this is the human work of understanding, connecting and creating intangible value. I might go as far to use a word that isn’t used a lot nowadays, empathising with our clients to create something that’s not always seen but it’s certainly felt.
What do you do that your competitors aren’t prepared to do?
Thanks for reading.
Christopher Watkin
PS Were you aware there are firms out there that will legally obtain your stock list then will find the contact details of your landlords, real home address, and telephone numbers. Be careful ...