There is something about modern lead generation that feels unnecessarily complicated. Imagine somebody in Solihull needs an estate agent. They are not casually browsing. They have decided they need help and are actively looking for someone. At exactly the same time, there are good local agents in Solihull looking for new instructions. You would think technology would simply connect the two.
Instead, somewhere between the consumer saying, "I need an agent," and the agent saying, "I can help," we have built an entire industry around capturing, packaging and monetising that introduction.
Sometimes professionals pay for leads. Sometimes they buy credits simply to reveal who is looking. Sometimes the same enquiry is sold to several businesses. In other parts of the transaction, work can arrive through referral arrangements where a fee is paid because one business has introduced the consumer to another.
I understand why these models exist. Finding customers costs money, marketing is difficult and a platform that genuinely introduces a business to somebody who needs its services is providing something of value. But I do wonder whether we have allowed the lead itself to become more important than the person behind it.
Consumers have a problem too
Think about how most people currently find the professionals they need when moving home. They Google. Search for an estate agent and dozens appear, all promising local expertise, excellent service and experienced teams. Search for a conveyancer and the same thing happens. If you have never sold a house before, how are you supposed to know what genuinely separates one provider from another?
Quite often, people compare the thing they understand most easily: price. One conveyancer quotes less than another, so the assumption becomes that they are broadly buying the same service for less money. One estate agent charges a lower fee, so why not choose them?
We know that service, experience, responsiveness and quality can vary enormously, but the consumer does not necessarily know that.
There are specialist websites for finding solicitors, estate agents, brokers and other property professionals, and some are useful. But that creates another problem. A single home mover can end up bouncing between several websites simply to assemble the people they need for one transaction. Why shouldn't they be able to find them all under one roof?
Most people are aware of check-a-trade if they need a plumber or other tradesperson, but there is no standout platform for finding and connecting with the professionals involved in home moving that immediate springs to mind for the general public.
And why should professionals have to buy the customer back?
This is where the referral-fee question becomes interesting. Estate agents, conveyancers, brokers and other professionals have spent years being told that introductions have value, so naturally businesses have developed around selling those introductions.
But perhaps technology now gives us the opportunity to build a different route. Instead of a consumer being passed through a chain of commercial relationships, they could search a dedicated Marketplace, and apply filters until they find a good match. Or, if preferred, they could simply post what they need: "I need a conveyancer for a leasehold sale." "I need an estate agent in Solihull." "I need a mortgage broker." "I need a surveyor."
The professionals who genuinely match that requirement can then see the opportunity and respond directly. There absolutely does not need to be another business standing in the middle selling access to that consumer.
That does not mean marketing becomes free. Professionals will always have to invest in winning new business somehow. But it creates an alternative to continually paying somebody else for introductions.
For conveyancers in particular, that could become very powerful. Instead of relying so heavily on referral relationships for new work, they could have another route to consumers who are actively looking for exactly what they provide. The same applies to agents, brokers, surveyors and the many other businesses involved in moving home. If professionals can generate more of their own opportunities directly, the need to pay referral fees can begin to reduce.
That is what we are trying to build into the WiggyWam Marketplace
The idea itself is quite simple. Users can post requests for the services they need. That could be an estate agent, conveyancer, mortgage broker, surveyor, EPC assessor, photographer, removals company or one of the many trades and services people need before, during and after moving home. Relevant providers can respond directly.
Professionals can also create their own Hot Lists based on the work they want. An estate agent covering Solihull might set criteria around particular locations and types of instructions. When somebody posts a matching request, it can appear in that Hot List and the agent can be alerted. A conveyancer could set completely different criteria. So could a broker, surveyor, removals company or tradesperson. In effect, the professional can tell WiggyWam, "This is the work I am interested in. Let me know when somebody asks for it." That for me at least, feels much closer to what a modern marketplace should actually do.
But finding the opportunity is only half the job
The consumer still needs to decide whom they trust. That is why I don't think a professional profile should simply contain a logo, telephone number and a few paragraphs saying how wonderful the business is. People need a way to understand the difference between providers.
If an estate agent writes useful articles about their local market, those can form part of their profile. If they produce videos explaining how they market homes, consumers can watch them. A solicitor might publish useful content about leasehold or probate. A broker might create podcasts or mortgage guides. A surveyor might explain common defects in a series of videos.
Instead of simply reading marketing claims, the consumer can start getting to know the person or business behind them. They can see what they know, hear how they communicate and decide whether this is somebody they would actually like to work with. Suddenly the question does not have to be, "Who is cheapest?" It can become, "Who do I trust?" That is a far better question.
A personal branding expert like Chris Arnold would truly benefit agents (and other professionals) here. He has written a number of books that can help ensure you are showing your best, authentic self in your profile and content.
Your expertise should be capable of generating business
There are thousands of excellent professionals across property sitting on years of knowledge that consumers desperately need. Estate agents understand their local markets. Conveyancers know where transactions go wrong. Brokers know the questions frightened buyers ask. Surveyors understand which problems matter and which ones do not. That expertise should have value. Yet much of the content these professionals produce disappears into social-media feeds within days. Why should it?
If somebody reads a useful article, watches a video or listens to a podcast on WiggyWam, they should be able to go straight to the person behind it. Their content becomes part of their business profile. Over time, the profile becomes a real showcase of what they know and how they work, rather than another static advert. That means the professional is not simply waiting for somebody else to send them a lead. Their knowledge, personality and expertise can help generate that opportunity too.
Reviews could become more meaningful as well
Reviews now influence almost everything we buy, but they are not perfect. The consumer does not always know whether the person leaving a review genuinely worked with the business being reviewed.
This is where the wider WiggyWam ecosystem creates an interesting opportunity. If people have actually worked together through a Property Workspace or Moving Hub transaction, there can be evidence that the relationship existed. That does not mean WiggyWam decides whether somebody's opinion is right or wrong. Reviews are still opinions. What it can potentially establish is something much simpler and more useful: these people genuinely worked together. That gives the review more substance.
The same principle can apply between professionals too. Estate agents work with conveyancers. Brokers work with agents. Surveyors encounter other professionals throughout transactions. Over time, reputation can become connected more closely to real working relationships rather than anonymous stars floating around the internet.
And then connect it to the rest of WiggyWam
This is where the Marketplace becomes much more interesting than another standalone lead-generation site. WiggyWam also has its own property portal, Property Workspaces and the Moving Hub.
Someone could discover a property through the Portal, realise they need a broker, conveyancer or surveyor and move directly into the Marketplace. They could browse profiles, read articles, watch videos, listen to podcasts, look at reviews or simply post a request explaining what they need.
Matching professionals can respond. If the consumer chooses one, that relationship can then continue into the wider home-moving environment. Discovery can lead to conversation. Conversation can lead to instruction. Instruction can become part of a real transaction. That genuine interaction can then help build the professional's reputation. That is very different from simply selling somebody a name and telephone number.
Why should one home move require so many different places?
At the moment, a consumer might find the property on one website, Google an estate agent, use another platform to find a solicitor, look somewhere else for a broker, visit a review site to check them all out and then move into a mixture of email, telephone calls and separate systems once the transaction actually begins. One home move. Multiple disconnected places. Perhaps it doesn't need to be like that.
People should still have complete choice over who they use. Nobody should be forced towards a particular professional simply because they are inside an ecosystem. But surely we can make that choice easier and better informed.
Let people see who is available, what they know, what they have published, how they communicate, whether they match the job and what genuine clients and other professionals think of them. Then let them talk directly.
Perhaps referral fees became necessary because we never built a better route
I don't think referral fees appeared because everybody in property suddenly decided another layer of cost would be a good thing. They developed because businesses need customers, and organisations capable of delivering those customers naturally found ways to monetise access to them. But technology gives us the chance to rethink that.
If estate agents, conveyancers, brokers and other professionals can build their own presence, publish their expertise, receive relevant service requests, respond directly to consumers and build a reputation supported increasingly by genuine interactions, the reliance on paying somebody else for introductions can begin to fall. That could be particularly valuable for independent businesses.
Instead of competing over who is prepared to pay most for access to a lead, perhaps professionals can compete on something more meaningful: knowledge, service, reputation and whether they are actually the right person for the client.
The consumer remains free to choose. The professional remains free to respond. The technology makes the introduction easier without needing to own the relationship.
Perhaps that is what a marketplace should have been all along. Not another directory. Not another pile of leads. Not another middleman collecting a toll between the person who needs help and the professional capable of providing it. Just a better way for the two to find each other.