Inspiration

Engage and control your future clients

RAT 61 (Rawlings Agency Tip)

I am passionate about helping estate agents engage with their key target audience - ie local homeowners. Indeed, your ability to do this well is pivotal to the number of prospective new vendor enquiries you receive.

Whilst there are many techniques that good agents embrace, their websites can be lacking in imagination. After all, if someone likes some aspect of your marketing and is inspired enough to visit your website, it's a shame not to engage with them there and then.

So how about this simple yet effective idea...put an "Ask Me a Question" box on your website. Visitors are invited to ask anything at all about their moving situation, the market, a property problem etc. These automatically generate an email to you and your answers to their questions not only provide helpful information and solutions, but also start a dialogue with the prospect that can often lead to an instruction, especially as it starts as a low-risk approach from their perspective. (It is important not to ask for their address or contact details at this stage).

Additionally, why not show a blog of the question feed? This then becomes a living FAQ that anyone can access, as people are always interested in other people's issues. Of course, you would edit out any stupid questions and some agents I'm sure would even consider feeding in their own pre-scripted questions to make themselves look good - but I didn't say that! Definitely worth asking yout IT person to do something here.

By the way...URGENT REQUEST ! I have agents in PORTSMOUTH, STRATFORD-ON-AVON, AYLESBURY and YORK who are all keen to share a training course with non-competing agents in the near future. If you would be preprared to go halves and possibly travel up to 50 miles away from your office (and even further from your comfort zone) then please do let me know in the next five days. The course addresses the issues of the day head on and Results are Guaranteed

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© Richard Rawlings 2012
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.

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