Grasping for salvation? You're not alone.

It's especially hard when almost every other agency appears to be 'hot.'

More enquiries, more appraisals, more listings and more sales.

If that's to be taken at face value, it makes little sense to continue doing what you're doing.

Something isn't working.

There's plenty that will advise you to double-down on your efforts.

More cold-calls, more door-knocks, work your database.

Upload your database to Facebook, for God's sake! And whilst you're at it, sell the kids into slavery.  It makes about as much sense.

More micro-targeted Facebook ads.  More social media posts.

Hustle.

If that's what your competitors are doing, then it must be right.

Right for them, perhaps, but wrong for you.

There isn't, no matter what any guru tells you, a formula for successful estate agency.

It's first and foremost a people business.

So, unless you get that part right, it's always going to be a struggle.

Anything that comes after is just adding to the problem.

"It's a people business" isn't anything new.  Everybody understands that.

But it's what you do with that part of the business that will determine your path to success, or a life spent in endless comparison.

Estate agency has always functioned primarily as a transactional business.

Initially, as a community service provider.  Where the best service often resulted in the most profit.

But in the last two decades, where the number of agents has rocketed, transactions have fallen and social media has resulted in substantially less editorial control,  it's become more manipulative.

Being able to say whatever you need to say to win the business took priority over ethical considerations.

What agents needed was the ability to brag, to promise and to manipulate. Executing on that took a back seat.

It's taken a few years, but vendors have finally woken up to the horror when selling their home.

Unsure of which agency to trust, they have ended up trusting none.

Defaulting to the position of lowest fee, and/or highest valuation.

Oblivious to the irony that this further exacerbates their problem.

Pushing the estate agency sector ever further down the veracity index of least trusted professions.

Thank goodness for journalists and politicians. They, at least, deserve to be there.

Gradually, though, there has been a rustling in the bushes.

Some smart thinkers have suggested that estate agency should be, not a transactional business but, a relationship-driven business.

There's a novel approach!

It's spawned ever-more posts now on Facebook and Instagram.

The box of chocolates, or bottle of something, from grateful vendors.

The group 'hug' at the Awards Dinner.

Holiday snaps and school activities featuring the family.

Video posts from the car. Expounding on the benefits of using a real-life estate agent.

Short-form posts on LinkedIn that perfectly demonstrate the need for a better education.

Somebody's been told that content is king. And, that 'likes' and 'reach' matter.

" What the internet has done is increase the amount of rubbish directed at consumers & business people. It has given the illiterate & the idiotic equal billing..."  - Andy Maslen, Copywriter

A relationship-driven business isn't, however, the result of the 'show' you put on to attract more attention.

It doesn't require you to be polished and perfected. To glamorize your life as an estate agent. To aggrandize your achievements.

Quite the reverse.

It demands that you are vulnerable.

Same as everybody else. With the courage to be imperfect.  Same as everybody else.

Transparent.

Enough to be believed.  Because as sure as eggs are eggs, most don't believe much of what is said in estate agency.

Authentic would be nice.

Being as original as you can.  Difficult, I know, in a commodity profession.

In a nutshell, selling an ideology instead of a service.

This is who I am.  This is what I believe. This is what I care about.

Then, you will attract those that think along similar lines.

The start of a two-way conversation.

Not in the mass market.

But, in the market of one.

Because it's personal.

Because it's relational.

When you have that, there's no need to grasp for salvation.

You will have those in your business life that are meant to be there.

The true believers.  Those that trust you & your agency.

And they will stay.

That's the alternative to transactional estate agency.

It's for the very , very few.  For those that want to be labelled as something other than just another estate agent. 

Those with courage to stand in the spotlight and be willing to be ignored, or rejected.

To have vendors choose you and your agency, without ever considering any other agency. That's quite some responsibility.

To have vendors that know, like and trust you.

Transactional sales, though, are often devoid of such emotion.

There's a route to follow. Responses to give when the vendor doesn't follow your suggestions.

The subtle art of changing the conversation when the question posed doesn't provide the answer you're looking for.

 

An almost cult-like subservience of having to close. And the realisation that this time, it might turn out not so well.

That arms-length faux 'relationship'. Because your needs are greater than those of the vendor.

Call it professionalism. Call it what you will, but it's not a genuine relationship and never can be.

Until you stop selling and start giving.

It's insincere.

Imagine having vendors chase you.  Instead of you chasing vendors.

Imagine the feeling of knowing, before you even walk through the door, that the instruction is already a given.

And imagine, a vendor paying your fee because you're worth every penny.

"  You get paid big money for who you are.  You get paid small money for what you do."  -  Oren Klaff

That's a relational estate agent.

Salvation comes in many forms.

If you're competing in a transactional sales environment and struggling to survive, doing more of the same won't save you.

It doesn't matter how much you spend on advertising.  How many sales courses you attend.  If the advice is wrong for you, then you're default dead.

You need to start thinking differently.

You need to start acting differently.

You need to be different.

Check out my website, www.andsothestorybegan.co.uk for starters.

There's a download with yet more information.

Here's my difference.

There's no hard-sell. In fact, there's no sell at all.

I'm happy to guide you along the road to salvation.

My advice is free.

There's no catch.

It's how relationships start.

Thanks, as always, for reading.  Best wishes for the year ahead.

Transactional or relational?

You can't be both.

Choose well, my friend.

 

Chris.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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