Inspiration

How to pluck instructions from the street

RAT (Rawlings Agency Tip) 22. Get out there and ask!

If you’re keen to ramp up your instruction levels quickly, why not go and pluck them off the street?

Not quite as daft as it sounds, there is a way of not only gaining immediate instructions, but also building for the future, whilst increasing your local visibility. This is how it works:

Prepare a simple overview of the local property market – a single sheet on your headed paper as a minimum is fine. Obviously the more professional it looks, the better. Then hit the High Street (either outside your offices or the local shopping mall, railway station, etc. You could even go door to door for the best results (shock, horror!)

As you approach people, you say “Hi, I’m from xxxx Estate Agents. I thought you might like a copy of the latest (Chester) Property Market Overview” and thrust it into their hand. Having given them something of interest, they are now more likely to engage with you.

So you then ask, “Could you spare me 30 seconds please, as we are currently doing some research for the (local newspaper*) on how long people tend to live in their property before moving. Could I just ask you four simple questions please?:

1. How long have you lived in (Chester)
2. How long have you lived in your current property?
3. When do you next expect you will move house?
4. What would be the main thing that would prompt you to move?”

You then thank them and ask if you can send them a copy of the report. They give you their name, address etc.

You are now well positioned to offer this research data to your local newspaper or publish it in your own advertising.

But the main advantage for you is that you now have the names and addresses of say 100 people who have told you when they are next thinking of moving and why. Of these, some will inevitably be considering a move imminently and you should be able to fix a time to see their property there and then – plus you have gained permission to continue to communicate with everyone else until they want to move – by which time you’ll be their first call!

Not bad for a day's work! Do this every month with different types of survey and I would expect you to add 60 instructions a year to your books.

Hit the street!

(*Ideally get the local paper to express their interest in advance. Even if they do not agree, there is nothing to stop you sending the results to them anyway!)

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© 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.

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