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Exceptional times need exceptional measures

By  Katy Billany  ·  2 minute read

As the country finds itself in an unprecedented situation, the next few weeks and months are going to be challenging for agents. However, where possible, it is essential that you maintain contact with those vendors already on the market who will be wondering what this means for them. 

This is an opportunity to establish a ‘trusted advisor’ relationship with these vendors, offering the help and guidance that their own agent may not be giving them.   

At times like these how you treat your customers and potential customers is paramount. They will need far more hand-holding and direct communication. Some agents are not going to do this and, as such, we are likely to see even more agent switching once we are out of lockdown as vendors become frustrated with a lack of support from their existing agent.  

We know that on average, even in a normal market, it takes 109 days after you first communicate with a vendor for them to actually switch agents. You will also send on average 3 or 4 letters to them during that time. This means that the letters you send now should be converting to new instructions in 3-4 months’ time, by which point things will hopefully be starting to get back towards normal. Ceasing all marketing now may seem like a good idea in order to keep costs down but it is important to carry on nurturing your pipeline so that you’re not starting from scratch when the market inevitably picks back up.  

It is vital though that what you’re sending is sensitive to the current situation and you don’t just continue to send the same message as you would have done a few weeks or even days ago. 

Now that you’re not spending your time on the usual day to day tasks use it as an opportunity to really work on the content of your communications and make sure the messages you send highlight the changing requirements of the current marketplace.  

Talk about the services you offer that can help vendors restart their property sale as quickly as possible once we’re out of lockdown; share your plans on - 

  • Virtual tours 
  • Accompanied remote viewings 
  • Floor plans 
  • Live streaming of ‘Virtual Open Houses’ 
  • Online auctions 
  • ‘Little Black Books’ promoting “the best kept secrets” or houses not openly marketed and see if sellers want to be on it 

Use our marketing platform free of charge

We are very pleased to announce that in order to support agents through these uncertain times, TwentyEA Prospect will be free of charge until the end of June 2021 to any high street agent with 5 or fewer branches. This means no monthly subscription charges or a lengthy tie in period. All you will pay for is print and postage on the letters you send. Click here to sign up or find out more. 

Our friendly team is here to help with whatever you need over the next few weeks and months. Although it seems that no-one quite knows what will happen next, we will get through it together.