TwentyEA Blog

How to Overachieve and Accelerate Your Marketing – a 5-Step Guide for Multi-Branch Agencies

Written by TwentyEA | September 17, 2024

The stakes are higher for mid to large-sized agencies and maintaining a strong market presence requires a strategic approach. Are you finding your agency is stuck in a rut? Instructions still trickle through but maybe there's a noticeable lull and you can't quite take your agency to the next level.

To expand your market share or strengthen your foothold, fresh thinking is required. In other words, you may have the need for speed.

Technology has fundamentally altered how estate agents operate. They are now expected to act quicker and take on a more consultative role using data analysis to provide specific, personalised guidance.

That’s where we step in. Our data, technology and marketing techniques can reinvigorate your agency and give it a much-needed push to win more instructions and stay ahead of the game.

Meet Accelerate, an ultimate prospecting and marketing package developed specifically for agencies like you. It allows you to put your foot down on your lead generation so you can enter the fast lane and leave your competitors in the rearview mirror!

STEP #1: Hyper-personalise everything!

If people perceive all estate agents to be offering the same service, they’ll choose the one with the lowest fee. To stand out, you need to make every step of the home buying and selling journey about the vendor so that they recognise the value you provide and are willing to pay more. One way to do this is to ramp up your market research.

When you take a genuine interest in their property and be authentic - no scripted sales pitch, just real conversation - suddenly, the entire relationship starts to flourish. This initial investment in making it all about them builds rapport and provides an opportunity to sell.

Accelerate includes a Search tool, which enables you to quickly pull up property details whilst on the phone. Imagine the impact when you can discuss their property’s specifics – such as when it was built, the number of bedrooms, the council tax band, and any potential risk factors which may be important for the Material Information disclosure and many more. This vendor is going to think, ‘This agent knows their stuff’ - because you do!

The Search tool also includes our highly accurate AVM, which, according to our clients – is the most accurate on the market, so you can instantly give the vendor an estimated valuation on the spot – one that you can then confirm when you take a tour of their home. The Street View also gives you an instant visual of their property to help build up the picture before you see it in person.

 

Sneak peek of some of the information available in TwentyEA’s Search tool

 

STEP #2: Know your playground

Any agent worth his salt will know the market like the back of their hand. The client is trusting you with their home, and they expect an expert. You do your homework on the property before viewing, but are you doing your homework on scoping the market?

You need to know your patch inside out. The day-to-day job will help you pick up a lot of local knowledge, but you need to know the ins and outs of property values, neighbourhood trends and the local area so you can answer the important questions:

“Which secondary school is in the catchment area?”

“How much did that house three doors up, sell for?”

“How long are properties in this area typically on the market for before they sell?”

 

Having a deep understanding of your local market is essential if you want to be the local go-to. Identify key trends, such as in-demand property types, popular neighbourhoods, and demographic shifts. This needs to be constant so you can always throw out up-to-date stats when needed.

Accelerate gives you access to Insight reports providing the average property price and price per square foot for your area, allowing you to confidently share these figures and demonstrate your expertise. The power of Insight lies in its ability to accurately inform potential vendors and landlords about how your local market compares to national trends. It tracks metrics such as the number of properties exchanged, SSTCs, New Instructions, Price Changes, and properties that have fallen through each month.

It also provides data on the number of days between SSTC and completion, as well as between New Instructions and Completion. Armed with all this information, you are untouchable. Your data-driven insights provide real added value to the client. They will think, ‘Ah this agent is worth the fee, this agent knows their stuff, I trust this agent.’

Sneak peek of some of TwentyEA’s Insight tool

 

Insight also comprises the Agent Health Report which gives you an overview of your performance at just a glance. It’s a traffic light system so it shows where you’re performing well and where you need to improve. It helps you to understand:

  • Stock levels
  • Time to complete
  • Sales ratio
  • Time to sell
  • Fall throughs
  • Initial asking price vs price you achieve

If you're not performing well in any of these areas, the tool will suggest actions to help you improve. Sometimes you’re so close to your business, that it’s hard to see the wood through the trees. The Agent Health Report gives you that objective view and highlights where you need to focus your attention most. Track your improvements through time and watch as those red or ambers turn to green – and your agency wins more instructions!

 

STEP #3: Market your brand on steroids

A well-recognised brand builds trust, reliability, and professionalism. Frequent exposure establishes your brand as an active, successful authority, making it top of mind for clients. Effective prospecting is crucial in achieving this visibility.

 

The power of best market data combined with Direct Mail

Prospecting is and always has been a strong strategy, but it is only as effective, as the completeness of your address database. We can help you identify and target potential properties most likely to need your services, so there’s much less wasted marketing spend – and wasted time. You can identify vendors most likely to instruct you. Our analytics identify those high-value leads. What’s more, it’s automated, so you can set up Direct Mail campaigns on autopilot. No more manual sending! You can customise your preferences and let the software handle the rest, saving time and ensuring consistent marketing. With our Prospect tool, you’ll have more time to close deals and spend less time chasing leads.

We give you access to 99.6% of all on-market listings, and off-market data. We charge just 50p per letter. (The current cost of a first-class stamp is £1.35 and 85p for a second-class stamp*.)

 

Mobile Marketing

Every man and his dog have a PPC ad. They’re high cost, time-consuming and frankly, people are desensitised to them at this point. What every man and his dog doesn’t have is our mobile marketing ads. Something original… something intriguing… something that does not disturb…

You know those scrolling tickers that run across the bottom of news and sports channels? They’re hard to ignore and always draw your eye. That’s what our ads look like. They are nothing like those infuriating ads that take up the entire screen and you’re desperately searching for the cross to get rid of it. They’re also not banner ads that appear in the middle of web pages that we’ve all learnt to ignore. The beauty of our text ads is that they don’t shout in the face of the users but at the same time are captivating enough to grab attention. There’s something about scrolling text that just makes you want to read it! The average person sees 10,000 ads per day (source). Ad fatigue is rife. That’s why we’ve gone for something unique to captivate attention.

What’s more, they’re easy to create. The ad is 160 characters with your brand logo next to it. You choose your colour scheme and then decide where the ad clicks through to. It’s that simple. You’ll get eyes on your brand with very little effort required at all. The typical click-through rate is 0.8% compared to 0.35% for a typical mobile banner. Whose mobiles are these ads appearing on? Well, we leverage GPS technology to pinpoint specific target locations to ensure your campaign connects with your target audience.

The ads offer a really strong way to increase your agency’s visibility. The more familiar the local area is with your brand, the more likely they are to instruct you. Uswitch reports that 40% of adults grab their phones within five minutes of waking up, and people check their smartphones every 12 minutes. If you want to reach your vendors, they’re on their mobiles! That’s why we advocate for mobile marketing but in a way that sidesteps digital ad fatigue. And it's why mobile marketing forms part of our Accelerate package!

STEP #4: Uncover the secret sauce in off-market data

The beauty of Accelerate is that it can help you locate off-market customers. In the 12 months leading up to June 2024, only 18% of instructions came from switching agents or multi-agency listings. That means that the remaining 82% of instructions were brand new to the market. So aside from going after current existing instructions, and trying to convince vendors to switch agents, you can now get ahead of the game.

Forecast is our AI tool that predicts which properties are most likely to come to market in the next two months. Forecast is part of the Prospect tool, so it allows you to set up campaigns, targeting properties most likely to come to market. There is a complex machine learning standing behind this magic, that predicts over 50% of all instructions every month. You can get in front of these vendors first and right when they’re considering which agent to use and knock them out of the ring.

 

Street targeting

Prospecting to 20 doors up and 20 doors down from a recent sale is and always has been a sound strategy. Much like 20:20 prospecting, with our Street Targeting option in Prospect, you can target a specific street, sector or radius. You can choose how many properties you target, the minimum and maximum value, the number of bedrooms, the property type, the market status and the council tax band. It allows you to narrow down your target audience to minimise wasted marketing spend.

 

STEP #5: Raise the bar in the living room and beyond

Having a different proposition that is clear to the vendor is key. Raise your standards, and you will find a way to raise your fees. Insight will wow your clients with your market knowledge, Spotlight can help you create customisable, white-labelled reports.

Valuation reports

Create valuation reports that are both detailed and professional and that clearly outline everything that’s impacted the final decision.

Property market packs

During your valuation pitch, include your marketing strategy. Use Spotlight to create a property market pack to showcase how the price has changed over time, the cost of the bills, EPC, amenities, area information and more. See an example of our extensive property market packs here.

Brand comparison packs

Follow up your valuation with a brand comparison report. Identify your agency's USPs and ensure they are front and centre in your pitch. Make sure potential clients understand why they should choose you over the competition. You can include independent data to highlight your strengths such as:

  • The percentage of the asking price you achieve
  • How quickly you sell/let properties compared to rivals
  • Your market share
  • How likely you are to sell their property compared to other agents.

With Spotlight, you can refine your pitch and tailor your presentation to each client. Highlight how your agency's unique services, market knowledge, and past successes align with their goals. Incorporate testimonials and case studies from satisfied clients into your pitch or packs. Spotlight will just give you that professional polished finish to impress landlords and vendors.

 

Ready to Accelerate

An agent who excels in every stage - from prospecting through to defending your brand’s position in the market - will find themselves consistently producing more revenue. Accelerate package helps you position yourself as a forward-thinking professional capable of meeting the dynamic needs of today’s estate agency market.

The power of Accelerate is not only accurate and powerful market insights but also that it saves you time. Time that you can use to focus on your business and your client base. Whether it's automated prospecting or our AI tool in Search writing listing descriptions for you, we are giving you back valuable time.

Stay proactive, embrace innovation, and watch your instructions skyrocket! Want to test out our real estate prospecting tools and data insight technology? Book a meeting with Alex and may the force be with you!

*Prices correct at the time of publishing