Consistency. The unsung hero.

I recently completed an 'in conversation' video interview series with several FIA members from around the country. I spent time in their environment, to understand and appreciate the challenges of running their business in what many perceive to be the toughest market in recent history.

The key message was this, 'we're just doing the basics really well, consistently'. This line was said many times by the FIA agents that I interviewed, successful independent agents who are enjoying year or year growth. We can all do the basics really well, right? but inconsistency is where it all starts to unravel.

Positivity was key to their success, having a consistently positive mindset helps the culture amongst their staff and customers alike. Yes there's some uncertain economic factors to consider right now but it's how you tell the story, how you put it all into context and perspective, how you translate it into the customers' 'real world'. If this is inconsistent then it sends out mixed messages.

'If we went round with an attitude that the market is tough and we're not going to sell any houses, well then, we wouldn't sell any houses' one agent simply put it.

Doing the basics, really well

I once heard a great story that sums up NOT doing the basics well, it was of a struggling luxury clothes shop owner called Betty. A lady browsed her store one day but purchased nothing. On the way out she despondently turned to Betty 'I really like your clothes and would have spent a lot of money in here but the shop is a bit of a mess, your staff look like they don't really want to be here and the whole atmosphere is uninspiring'.

That night, Betty relayed the story to her successful businesswoman friend, Betty didn't understand why, if people liked her product, didn't they just buy it? Did she just happen to have a bad day that day? Her astute friend replied 'What would you do if you knew that George Clooney was going to come and visit your store?'. 'Well' said Betty. 'If I knew he was coming then I'd make sure all of my staff were well groomed, you know, dressed to kill and ready to do anything George wanted in order to secure a sale. Offer him a drink on arrival, I'd even give my staff a refresher on how we meet and greet the customers, oh and I'd make sure the shop had a lick of paint, tidy everything up so it looked like it did the day we opened, play some nice music in the background, make it bright and welcoming. I might even put some red carpet out'.

'Betty, said her friend. 'You've got to treat every customer like they are George Clooney'.

The moral of the story of course is to do the basics consistently well not just when it suits or when the office has a good day or even by chance. Be consistent by design.

Other areas of consistency related to estate agency

Regular website and social media content is crucial for many reasons, not least for Google SEO and engaging with your customers, past, present and future. But don't do it one month and not the next. So many agents fall into this inconsistency trap.

Staying in touch with your database is important, your data is valuable and you should use it wisely. Many agents are transactional moving from one to the next in an 'eat what you kill' fashion. Staying in touch consistently with your database will help to drive more organic business. Consistent content is key.

Staff training is important for their own personal development but equally you want all of your staff to carry the same message, for them to have consistency in every part of the business from market appraisal conversion rates to the rhetoric going out to clients. Many companies either don't have training or they react only to bad situations, classic inconsistency.

Mystery shopping is a great way to improve and reward consistency. It will unearth issues within your agency very quickly and enables improvement whilst acknowledging excellence. They way the phones are answered, the way in which staff speak to customers, the key questions they should ask, all open to inconsistent behaviour. Often staff are able to find another 5-10% uplift in their performance just knowing that mystery shops are taking place, it also gives the business owners some peace of mind when out of the office.

Reviews are becoming more popular and remain one of the key ingredients that customers look for when selecting an agent. Having consistently good review scores can only help. If you have inconsistent reviews, for example ten one month then one the next (even if the ten are good) it can reflect in a bad way to your customers, the trouble is you may never find out because they'll simply instruct another agent and not tell you.

So whatever you do, even if it's just the basics do them well but more importantly do them consistently well and over time your business will be in much better shape.