Inspiration

Plans for estate agency success

RAT 40 (Rawlings Agency Tip)

If the snow has meant that your appointments have been cancelled, and things in the office are pretty quiet, then this might be a good opportunity to do what you were meaning to do between Christmas and New Year, but never actually got round to doing! That is - planning.

If planning does not come naturally to you, don't worry. You are not alone! Most agents tend to focus on the here and now, for three reasons. Firstly, the nature of estate agency (if not lettings) is the idea that you are only as good as your last sale, which puts the short term in much sharper focus than the long term. Secondly, as it is virtually impossible to predict how the market will be this year, how can we plan around it? Thirdly, there has been a lot of talk about going "back to basics" during the last couple of years, which suggests looking backwards, not forwards.

But the old adage, that if you fail to plan, you plan to fail, is as true today as it ever was. Yet planning need not be too much of a challenge, nor need it be overly formal, although clear goal setting is certainly beneficial.

Planning is simply stepping back from your business and looking in from other angles and considering what could be changed, improved, increased, decreased. And whilst you might feel fairly satisfied with the way you survived the recession, unless you have 100% market share in your area, then there is probably much that can be done as you strive for that objective.

Of course, there are dozens of efficiencies and initiatives that can be considered, but you can probably reduce this to just four key areas:

1) You would like more people to approach you to sell their property

2) You would like to convert more "valuations" to instructions

3) You would like to sell your existing stock faster

4) You would like to charge more for your services

Whilst there are likewise of possible solutions to each of these goals, the two categories into which they fall would primarily be Marketing and Training. Yet marketing and training are often the first areas of expense to be cut when things get tough. Crazy! No one ever got rich by saving money, yet many have made their fortune by investing strategically in their business.

However, I have certainly noticed a significant upturn in the number of my clients who are increasing their training, and especially marketing, efforts recently to coincide with the New Year - mostly with a view to attracting new instruction opportunities.

So as you ponder the year ahead, I would urge you consider what you can do differently if you are to make a real impact on your market, and how you plan to implement any initiative you decide. Your objective this year is to become the obvious agent of choice! Please feel free to contact me here if you would like to discuss some ideas or would be interested in a strategic agency review.

Quote of the Day: "People worry about what they eat between Christmas and the New Year, but they should really be worrying about what they eat between the New Year and Christmas!"

Continuing Opportunity: I have had a good response from people wanting to double up with other, non-competing, agents on shared training costs. Do let me know here if this could be of interest for your agency and I'll see if I can match you up with someone.

If you have enjoyed reading this RAT(Rawlings Agency Tip) and would like one new one sent directly to you every week, free of charge, simply register here.

For other estate agency inspiration, tips and advice, click here.

© Richard Rawlings 2010
Richard Rawlings is the founding director of Estate Agency Insight, which specialises in helping estate agencies harness opportunity through innovative method, marketing, publicity, and training. He can be contacted at or on 0845 838 1354.

Top of Page | Article Index