Evolve. Or die.

Although I was born in the leafy suburb of Newbury Park in Essex. I have always considered myself an East Ender. With parents from Mile End and Hackney and having spent most of my life growing up between these two areas, that is perhaps not surprising. Even less surprising taking into account my 20 years plus of running an estate agency on the Isle of Dogs.

It almost follows naturally, therefore, that I have always had a great amount of sympathy for black cab drivers. First off they have to study for years to learn the complexities of driving through the back streets of London. The Knowledge is the test that all black cab drivers have to pass and takes around, on average, three and half years to finish. Whilst some drivers have been known to qualify in two and a half years, it is universally known to be a tough and rigorous test. Black cab drivers are expected to know EVERY street and place of major interest within a six-mile radius of Charring Cross. Secondly and until very recently, they had to drive around for hours in overpriced and massively outdated vehicles.

With that in mind, I shouldn’t really like Uber. We all know the threat they pose to black cab drivers. So why do I now find myself on the side of the Germanic sounding app?

I was at the Excel Centre in the Royal Docks. I needed to get to the Isle of Dogs. I approached, what I perceived to be, the first cab on the long line at the taxi rank. The driver told me, rather gruffly, that he was not first in line and that I needed to walk to the opposite side of the road and speak to the driver who was first in line. As I approached the black Mercedes, another customer on the side of the car approached the driver and got in. I then had to walk back to Mr. Grumpy and get in his cab. Not a great start.

Whilst my journey was not a long one, a job’s a job right? Although Mr. Grumpy now had a POB, he did not share my POV. “Great” he said when I told him where I was going. This was not a cheery “great” imbued with enthusiasm and a desire to make me feel welcome. This was a sarcastic, sneering “great”. The journey of around 15 minutes was completed in silence.

Now, lets fast forward to my return journey and I decided to Uber it. Actually, that’s not really fair. I was at the bottom of the Isle of Dogs and had no choice but to call a cab. My Uber app told me in advance how much the ride would cost, the car type and its number plate and really importantly, to me at least, the drivers name.

My car arrived in around 4 minutes, a spotlessly kept, one year old saloon car. I jumped in the front and as I already knew my drivers name, said hello. We had a friendly conversation, started by my driver, about my day. The journey was very pleasant and completed at a lower cost than Mr. Grumpy’s one. As my card is stored on Uber, I didn’t even have to faff about with money. Mohammed, you clearly understand what a great customer service looks like. With Uber you can even rate your driver after the journey is complete. Mo got 5 stars. Mr. G would have barely got 2.

I kept thinking about The Knowledge after this experience with Mr. G and Mo. For years it has been the differential between a black cab and a mini cab. The knowledge (sorry) that you could jump in a black cab and name pretty much any street, pub or restaurant in London and the driver will get you there with the minimum of fuss, really incentivised people to use black cabs. Apart from Uber’s uber convenience (sorry again), what is really killing any advantage the black cab driver had, is the erosion of their information advantage. Waze and Google Maps are just two apps that anyone with a smart phone can use to instantly become a black cab driver. Both apps will get you around London (or anywhere) like a cabbie. Actually, make that better than a cabbie as these apps also have real time traffic info. So, when you remove that skill as being cabbie unique, apart from some concessions ladled on to them by TFL, what do black cab drivers have that still differentiates them from the competition?

And that brings, us rather neatly to my chosen profession of estate agency. Not just 10 years ago, if you wanted a true valuation of your property, most people would call out two or maybe three local estate agents and then generally pick a price in the middle, probably choosing what they considered to be the most pro-active agent in the area. Like our dear black cab drivers, estate agents no longer have the power of that knowledge being unobtainable by the public. In the same way that Waze lets you complete the three and half year knowledge course in a few taps on your iPhone, web sites like Rightmove or Zoopla allow you to get a very good idea of what your home is worth. You can see what your neighbour sold his house for or how much your other neighbour paid for theirs. In short, anyone can become a property expert, right?

Well, kind of. The next challenge that Uber drivers will face is driverless cars. They are already being tested. Dubai, home of excess and success in equal measure, and not to be outdone, is already testing driverless taxi drones. Driverless transport, be it flying or driving, is coming. That will remove the driver/person element from the equation altogether. Sorry Mo and Mr. G, your days are truly numbered.

Will Uber drivers and cabbies unite against the driverless threat?

Estate agents may be a little luckier. I like to think I am forward thinking and a self confessed tech-head, but even I can’t see a time where property transactions are completed without people being involved in some way.

Whilst 3D and virtual tours are getting better and more detailed all the time, can you imagine making a decision to buy one of our most expensive assets based simply on some images, no matter how lovely or detailed the images look?

But if you think about it, we kinda already are. We book holidays based on images and video footage. We book hotel rooms based on the same. We will even book an airb’n’b the same way. But, these are still fairly low price, short-term commitments. Booking a ￡2000 holiday is very different to buying a ￡300,000 home with an attached 25-year mortgage.

In addition, unless we have a major overhaul of the sales legal process, the real art in estate agency lies in the progression of the deal. This industry jargon relates to the stuff that happens after a sale is agreed. A good estate agent earns their fee when the legal bits get tricky. When the block managing agent is slow in getting the management pack to the purchaser’s solicitor. When the valuer decides the property is actually worth ￡20,000 less. When the survey mentions “contaminated land”. Or any other number of situations that need an expert to resolve. This expertise comes from experience, from having dealt with numerous property transactions, from learning all the time about the nuances of what can delay or halt a sale altogether.

And that, dear reader gives me a little hope for estate agents. I believe we will still need to be involved in at least part of the property buying process. People will, for the foreseeable future, and for the most part still want to physically see the property they are buying. They will want to visit the area, to see the sights and smell the smells! Agents can continue to bring their expertise to the process, expertise that I believe can be instrumental in assisting both vendors and purchasers.

This is not really an online agent vs. high street agent debate, as currently I don’t believe either provides a complete solution. The killer agent will be the one who combines the customer convenience of Uber with a world-class and expert personal service. I, for one, am looking forward to meeting the challenges of an ever-changing landscape with the customer experience at its very core.

I am happy to hear your thoughts, so feel free to comment :)

Thanks for reading, Spencer.#