The percentages of people who appointed an estate agent who offered the cheapest fee have never got out of single figures in the survey's four year history. Continue reading

Sir Matthew Pinsent presents his medal collection at our last event The post-Olympic return to reality and full focus once more on the day job has led me to the inevitable comparison of The Estate Agency of the Year Awards and The Olympics. What marketeer can resist the opportunity to rub a little bit of the Olympic magic off on their own products and services, however tenuous the link? But having thought at length about these two competitions and what they have in common, I am led to the genuine conclusion that there is an immeasurable value in seeking reward... Continue reading

Congratulations to the all round good guys at Romans on doing the double! Last week they were crowned as The Estate Agency of the Year 2011 having already won Lettings Agency of the Year 2011 in June. Here's a little video of them receiving their award on what was a superb day at EAE Live... You can also find out more about all the winners and the judges report on them here... Continue reading

I doubt I will tempt many agents to save the rainforest in reality, but I would like to offer one very easy, very cheap alternative to canvassing for you to consider... Continue reading

We're seeking your help to find that very rare breed of person who has actually sold a property in 2011! For the 5th year, our Home Moving Trends Survey will hopefully deliver key insights to property professionals in areas where other surveys simply do not reach. It's not about how many surveyors have a good or bad feeling in their waters this month or how wide the gap between notional average prices have become, this is about the choices that the people who keep an estate agent in business are making; the vendors. How did they find you? Why did... Continue reading

Douglas & Gordon have created a series of very tongue-in-cheek viral videos that depict the behaviour, or more to the point, misbehaviour of some fictional agents; James and Charlotte. The series entitled "Under Offer" shows these quite distasteful characters in even more distasteful scenes such as destroying a competitor's board, catching a vendor having sex during a viewing and stopping off to use the ablutions in an expensive property. When I first saw the series, I struggled to understand why an agent would have created them. What possible benefit could it be to them with no overt link and no... Continue reading

Douglas & Gordon have created a series of very tongue-in-cheek viral videos that depict the behaviour, or more to the point, misbehaviour of some fictional agents; James and Charlotte. The series entitled "Under Offer" shows these quite distasteful characters in even more distasteful scenes such as destroying a competitor's board, catching a vendor having sex during a viewing and stopping off to use the ablutions in an expensive property. When I first saw the series, I struggled to understand why an agent would have created them. What possible benefit could it be to them with no overt link and no... Continue reading

The development team have focussed on providing a great user experience, but the need to be commercial about things means agents now have the opportunity to achieve standout within the app. Continue reading

We've been helping Xperience Franchising on a big new Autumn campaign to promote their new 1st Service. It's a very interesting proposition as home sellers use a Conveyancing Service that compiles a legal pack when the property is first put on the market with the aim of making the property ready to Exchange as soon as an offer has been accepted and the mortgage offer and survey are complete. "Oh no, HIPs reinvented!?" I hear you cry... In a way, 1st shares many parallels with HIPs in terms of the work that is done, but it focuses on saving time... Continue reading

QR Codes have been around for a long time now (since 1994 in fact) and I remain sceptical about their application in modern property marketing. Continue reading

We asked 1,500 Landlords about the things that influenced their choice of agent and the most popular answer by a country mile was Office Location. Continue reading

What better way to understand how to attract your future customers than to ask your current ones about why they chose you? Continue reading

It is human nature to judge value by the relationship of one thing to another. Clever businesses take steps to ensure that they can't be compared to the competition. Continue reading

Did you know that you can now use Facebook to 'Like' a property that you find on Rightmove? Continue reading

Several times in the past few weeks I've been told by agents that e-mail leads from the portals are usually of a poor quality compared to other enquiries. When delving into the detail as to why they believe this to be the case, it becomes clear that this conclusion is somewhat influenced by their own actions. "They're low quality, so we prioritise other enquiries". In other words, they don't get back to them in a timely fashion. Regardless of industry, most consumers expect a response to an e-mail enquiry the same day as they make it. This disconnect between consumer... Continue reading

You need to be able to adapt technology to your business, not adapt your business to the technology. Continue reading

Literally millions of people have been searching for property this year according to Rightmove, Zoopla and TDPG, yet only a small percentage of these millions have gone so far as to put their property on the market, fewer still have actually sold. And whilst the Office of National Statistic pontificate over the virtues of the various HPI's and others push out a 'consumer confidence' surveys to all and sundry, nobody is asking those who are selling or who have sold in 2010 about their thoughts and experiences. These, after all, represent the hot leads for estate agents, the ones who... Continue reading

Many estate agents have jumped on the iPhone app bandwagon in recent months. And as much as it seems to be this year's ultimate marketing accessory, mobile app usage isn't nearly as widespread as you might think. According to Comscore, only 31% of UK mobile customers use apps and within that statistic lies an increasingly fragmented marketplace. Blackberrys and Apple iPhones are the main players in UK smart phone usage, but the number of handsets using other platforms such as Google Android and Nokia Ovi is actually outpacing growth from the big Apple. What this means is that it is... Continue reading

Recording your location as part of your social networking activity has become quite popular, but how could this be used in property marketing. Continue reading

How much more useful could your app and website be if people had the facility to refine their search results by recency. Continue reading

The key to using Social Media effectively is for the content to have relevancy to the person who encounters it. Continue reading

The key to using Social Media effectively is for the content to have relevancy to the person who encounters it. Continue reading