I had a meeting with the partner of a prestigious local agency chain last week. I was interested in finding out how the current market conditions are affecting him, and what their strategy is to deal with the situation. He is a boyish-looking chap of about 45, with a ready smile and a certain Gallic charm, but his story was a gloomy collage of redundancies, lack of vendor loyalty and rock-bottom commissions. Nothing new there; I’d already heard the same story from a dozen agents this month. Only the most innovative, positive and creative agents are succeeding in holding their heads above water, and I wanted to find out if he was in that particular group.
“Tell me about your social marketing strategy,” I suggested.
“You mean Twitter?” he asked.
“Well, it’s a good place to start…”
“Oh I don’t understand all that stuff; I just sell houses the old fashioned way – by picking up the phone,” he boasted proudly.
That’s all very well, I thought to myself, but your buyers do understand all that stuff, and what’s more, their buying decisions are often predicated on the conversations that are going on online. Conversations that he has no idea about, and certainly no chance of joining.
Agents have to not only try harder right now, but those who try smarter will be the last men – and women – standing. You can be sure of that.
If you’re an estate agent, and you want to know how to join the conversation, drop me a line and I’ll point you in the right direction. And I can promise you one thing – you’ll have more to tweet about than your new instructions when I’ve finished with you…..
If you’d like my help to sell your home more effectively, please answer a few short questions here and if I think I can help you, I’ll be in touch.
