Last week I was talking to a client in South London. He
(along with a couple of agents up and down the UK) are going to be piloting
something that will help our Estate Agency brothers and sisters. The biggest
issue in estate agency is being asked out for the free valuation, first time
round, as one of the three. If you aren’t on that list of three, you will end
up having to pick up second hand scraps at the end of the sole agency .. but if you are in a decent market, the
decent stuff sells before the end of the sole agency period. .. so million
dollar question – ‘how do you become one of three agents called out?’ Well, as
an agent, your name already needs to be inside the head of the homeowner BEFORE
the situation arises where they need the required three free valuations.
If homeowners are only interested in THEIR property or any
property in the immediate vicinity of THEIR property ie THEIR street or the
next few streets (because anything in their immediate area that
sells/rents/comes on the market has a direct relationship to the value of THEIR
property), instead of doing LOOK WHAT WE
HAVE SOLD leaflets, why not write a newsletter, a monthly newsletter on the
housing market in just those three or four streets. A different newsletter
every month popped through the letter box of every property in just those three
or four streets, talking about those three or four street’s property market,
how prices in those three or four streets are comparing with the rest of the
suburb or town, how rents have changed over the years, how three beds have
increased by 34% in the last four years but two beds by 29% .. trust me you will never run out of things
to say .. so that is what we will be piloting. One agent in the North of
England has already had some success from it. (if anyone wants to pick my
brains on that – pick up the phone as I have examples).
Anyway back to the story, we were choosing which area to hit,
and I described the sort of area that would work best. There were only really
two, but one was middle of the road and the other up market. I said, let’s go
for the up market one. He said, that his agency wasn’t good enough for that
area .... WOOOOOAH Cowboy! .. ‘Not good enough?’, I said, ‘Of course you are
good enough, you run a good operation, your team are passionate and
professional, you advertise in the right places, why aren’t you good enough?’
He replied, ‘We aren’t as good as Savills , Knight Frank, Hampton’s and the
others’.
As the customer is always right, we agreed on the other area
but it got me thinking on my way back home on the train. Have you ever wondered
how the upmarket posh estate agents attract all the posh up market properties
and then get away with charging 2% + advertising + photography + this and +
that? Because vendors and landlords believe the story of these posh agents and thus pay the premium because
they think they are worth it .. they are better. But here is the tough one
Mr(s) Agent, why do all us other agents feel we aren’t as good as them?
Let me tell you a secret about how upmarket posh estate
agents market themselves. Once you know the secret, every posh upmarket estate
agency company will look completely different. You will understand (perhaps for the first
time) that there is a complete disconnect between what WE SEE and the LIES
WE TELL OURSELVES about these agents.
There is almost no connection between what THEY ACTUALLY ARE at these upmarket
agencies and WHAT WE BELEIVE THEY ARE.
These posh boys and girls, yes the ones
with the richboy haircuts or acres of Jacks Wills and
Abercrombie, they are just like you and me, normal agents, whose job it
is to sell/let property ... they have access to the same portals, they have
access to the same buyers and tenants.
... the only difference is that their marketing departments have told a
story over years and years that their firm is better, told a story they are
better, so landlords and sellers believe them.
If you don’t believe
me, Audi A3 and Skoda Fabia ..its the same car but we tell ourselves the Audi
is better. Waitrose sells the same stuff as Aldi .. but we tell ourselves the Waitrose
is better. Mrs W. buys £30 Estee Lauder foundation makeup but other brands do
foundation for a fiver ... it’s just Mrs W. believes its better. These up
market agents frame a story, that they have been around for 100 or 150 years, their
pedigree is selling/letting such upmarket properties and guess what, people believe
them .. but the worst part is, YOU AGENTS BELIEVE THEIR STORY AS WELL. How can you expect to break their monopoly on
such properties if you, to get your foot in the door for free valuations and
appraisals, if you Mr(s) Agent believe their story. Buyers and Tenants couldn’t
give a monkeys which agent is marketing the property they want to rent/buy...
they will still find it on Primelocation, Zoops or RM
Savills, Knight Frank and the other posh agents are just
like you.. BUT because we tell ourselves they are better than us, they are up
market and posh, and just like we doth our cap to someone of the aristocracy
(don’t tell me you wouldn’t because that is what the British do), we doth our
cap to those posh agents... all us agents believe their story that because they
are upmarket and we believe they are better than us.
Remember, Rolls Royce’s have to stop at red traffic lights
as well.
We all tell stories to ourselves .. it’s YOUR choice, YOUR mindset
whether YOU want to believe them. You are just as good, if not better than them
.. the only thing that is holding you back is the voice in your head .. tell it
to shut the ‘F’ up and start believing in yourself ..
Kindest
Christopher
PS I have always wanted to work for Sav’s, I just love the
logo and I love the firm. I don’t know anyone who works for them, but I just
love them .. so even I have fallen for the story! Maybe I should tell the voice
in my head to shut up!
NOTE FROM THE VOICE INSIDE WATKIN'S HEAD .. ignore Watkin .. He knows nothing ...if anyone from Sav’s is reading this ... love you
guys! .and whilst there isnt a KnightFrank near where
I live - I love the property market reports you guys do - I would love to work for guys for free you are ace and finally, Hampton's
.. everyone tells me you are good guys, people I trust, so you are fab as well .. You are brilliant .. Can I pay you to work for you?)