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A landlord is for life .. not just for Christmas

I reading a report, just published, that said Christmas's No.1 toy was the Teksta Robotic Puppy
... no I hadn’t heard of it either, so it couldn’t have been like the Cabbage Patch Doll or Rubix cube of the 1990’s .. this was headline stuff. You see it went to say that parents surveyed said it was hard to find toys and gifts because nothing was new.
Nothing new?
What they're actually saying is that there's no mad rush for the "it" gift, the safe, coveted gift that demonstrates the giver was able to go that extra mile, call in a favour or brave a crush of Oxford Street shoppers. The notion of the one, the ‘it’, the ‘winner’, the ‘safe choice’ -- this is about buying without taking responsibility. You might have said it was the Xbox One .. but again, I know a few shops that had some available on Christmas Eve .. it wasn’t that popular (and its was flippin’ expensive)
Clearly, there were as many new and wonderful things this season as there are each year, all that's missing is an anointed toy of the year. The masses want to buy what the masses have chosen as the winner, because then the purchase isn't their fault. And that's what happens every day in lettings. Not many landlords want to take responsibility, go first, lead the way, test the new agent, try them out to see if they are any different, to see if they are the remarkable, the letting agent evey landlord wants, but seldom gets. But at the centre of it, it comes down to this? They just don't want it to be their fault. ... you could even say .. better the devil you know?
It is also a useful reminder to letting agents that there's a huge advantage to the lettings agent that's seen as the choice of the crowd. A self fulfilling prophecy, no doubt about it. Unfair or not, the Catch 22 cliché remains:   trendy and popular is often a prerequisite for being trendy and popular.
So how to launch a lettings agency, or how do you grow one that is languishing in the out of the top 3 agents in your town?  Easy, play a game that you are the only competitor in. You have to make yourself  the ‘it agent’, the ‘go to agent’.. the agent people want to talk to.
How do you do that?  .. that’s easy. Give them a reason to talk to you BEFORE THE TENANT HANDS IN THEIR NOTICE .. how?
If you have been reading this blog, you should know how .. but if haven't, look at these posts ... 

The art of networking ..
http://how-to-grow-your-lettings-agency.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/taking-risks-got-this-letting-agent-105.html
The art of writing interesting articles / content ..
http://how-to-grow-your-lettings-agency.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/taking-risks-got-this-letting-agent-105.html
Why this stuff works ..
http://how-to-grow-your-lettings-agency.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/the-negotiator-magazine-article-how-to.html