Lettings agents .. too good to be true?
Christopher Watkin
Property Stats Ghostwriter /Journalist for UK Estate & Letting Agents
Why do over 800 letting agents read this blog every week, but only 3% of you have taken up the challenge. Are you suffering under an assumption that I hadn’t anticipated (or not to such an extent anyway) that “It’s too good to be true.” The headlines ..... 'increase your lettings turnover by 20% to 30% within a year are certainly enticing.'
So why aren’t more letting agents trying the technique? Yes, you can pay me to write the articles or even for me to teach you the techniques. But I constantly offer in these blog posts to agents who don’t want to pay me a penny, the ability to pick up the phone to me or email me with questions and advice on the technique .. many do, but I can only count them on my fingers and a few toes.
The best reason is that hundreds of letting agents were already piloting, creating the foundations for the farming technique, building up the database of the thousands of email addresses of their local landlords, accelerating their advertorials and newsletters, investing in extra staff, writing their blogs, doing a bit (not too much) of social media, all designed to obliterate their letting agent competition. They didn’t call me because they didn’t need to call. They had successfully moved beyond dipping their toes in the water and didn’t need me to give them a gentle nudge (shove). To them, I say: You’re fab, but you still should have called. At the very minimum, I’ll recognise you and your lettings agency. While I recognise your need not to share your successes with the outside world, you are in fact so far ahead that the others may never catch up. Plus, this is the sharing economy -- and if you want to learn from others, you should contribute to the growing pool of best practices and case studies.
The next reason could be that every letting agent felt vitalised to start the landlord farming technique. They ignored the weekly barking of their Area Manager and decided to take a long term view of their position. They delegated day to day issues to their colleagues who were more than capable of sorting them without the bosses interference. Instead, they wrote articles and did some great blog work to their heart’s content. So why haven’t they called? Perhaps they thought I was joking. To them, I say: The only way to keep on moving forward… is to keep on moving forward. Now that you’ve started the program, what will you do next? Innovation in lettings and estate agency, as with everything in life, it’s the journey, not the destination and you will NEVER reach the finish line because there will ALWAYS be an area where you’re lacking. (If you are a corporate agent reading this, you don’t need permission from upon high – just do it. But if you are unsure, maybe your Area Manager or Branch Manager (independent or corporate) isn’t aware of this technique – why don’t you show them ? .......It will make you look good!
Possibly another reason is the same as above, except the landlord farming technique didn’t work as well (or as quick) as perhaps was anticipated. Why haven’t they called? These letting agents didn’t want to admit failure and look a prat. To them I say .. Keep your head up as there is no such thing as failure in landlord farming. It’s all about being patient and waiting for the tipping point as it’s a slow process.
What ever your reason (s), I say: you just lost ANOTHER six months. You bet that every other letting agent will keep on the gravy train and keep the status quo. You have 200 or 300 managed properties and you make a half decent living. You put your efforts in the new website or landlords wanted campaign or promotion and you know the result will be the same as if you did nothing – but at least you showed willing. And in six months, you will have lost yet another six months. The number of letting agents is constantly growing, what if some whippersnapper agent comes along and takes half your stock in the next 2 years using these techniques?
I think you know which one I believe is the more realistic reason. Why is this the case? What needs to change to avoid this tedious re-enactment of Groundhog Day? So if you are a letting agent, the clock is ticking. So what reason is stopping you planting your tree?
Before I go, as I really must get on and write some articles for some clients, I visited an agent from Buckinghamshire on Wednesday, and he said something that really rang true. ‘I run my business quite tight, to do this landlord farming, I will need to take someone on to take some work off me, so I can work on the business instead of in the business!” But as the boss man or lady, you are a very expensive property manager. You can pay someone ￡15k a year to do most of your job (￡25k in London and ￡20k in the South), freeing you up to get on with being the boss, the driving force of the business.
Some of you might think, "Can I actually make money at it?" "How do I know it's not a scam?" Look at this lovely testimonial given on Linkedin in the last few days (you can go and see it for self) from an established letting agent in Hitchin ..
I first met Chris in 2011 and was instantly warmed to his personal and creative approach to business. After building the relationship I worked closely with Chris for over 14 months using his ideas and techniques to improve my letting agency in Hitchin, particularly gaining new landlords. Chris had many different ideas and approach's to gaining new landlords and making my letting agency stand out over the competition. What worked particularly well for me was his newspaper advertorials putting me as the local professional for landlords and investors alike. Within 6 - 8 weeks the results were obvious, I was gaining over 50% more landlord enquiries with 90% of them resulting in new business. After nine months my turnover had increased from ￡36k to ￡43k per month. Being in business alone can be a daunting experience, and to have someone like Chris on your side, makes it much easier.
.. in fact look at the 44 testimonials on Linkedin from my last two roles .. this stuff works. You don’t need to pay me a penny either (if you dont want to). Just do what I say on this blog (you need to look at all the 127 posts (start at the beginning) and then just starting writing interesting articles that capture the attention and interest of landlords. I have given plenty of examples for you to use as a guide and I have many people doing it around the UK as I have taught around 45 agents and write articles for nearly 15 agents, so I am sure it won’t take two seconds to find their output and change for your town.
Had another training course on Thursday .. here are three letting agents that attended the course with their feedback ... link here (sometimes the link doesn't open up in mobiles so cut and paste the link and drop the weblink into you browser https://youtu.be/5_a6_-XqUbw
... and as its a weekend, here is another example of the articles you should be writing ...
