Across the world Estate Agencies are starting to open their doors to the business that has been taken away from them in recent months. But what will you do when you get back into the office? I suppose this really depends on what you have been doing whilst you have been in lockdown, for those estate agents that have used the time effectively then it may be much easier to ease back into working life, but for those who have taken the time to relax then it may take a little more time. To help you get the most out of the next few months and become the estate agency of choice as the Property Industry strikes back, we have compiled a list of things you should be doing to get the best possible return from this pending property boom!
Before even considering opening your offices, inviting team members back to work and conducting viewings with clients and prospects, you MUST first adhere to specific safety regulations advised by your local government.
Some of the safety measures you may wish to consider are as follows, apply them accordingly and stringently to your business operations for the foreseeable future.
Useful documents produced by UK government:
Extra guidance you may find useful can be found here: https://propertyindustryeye.com/eye-newsflash-government-publishes-advice-on-home-moving/
Disclaimer – We are not scientists/professors or doctors and the above advice is given in a general common sense way. If you do not agree, then feel free to follow your own initiative.
As you should know, there is now huge pent-up demand for property on a global basis and there is real opportunity in the coming months for you to take advantage of this to grow your business and provide an impeccable service to your clients.
The demand and desire to move home will be at an all-time high, this is largely due to the fact that people will have been largely stuck in homes that they simply have no love nor passion for. For those looking for a second home abroad, if now isn’t the time to go and grab your dream home in the sun then I don’t know when it is.
The pent-up demand is not specific to just one client type, there is demand across the board:
Ultimately, we feel that people will be more inclined to take risks following the crisis. This will be largely due to their experience of missing out over the last few months. The time is now to grab life with both hands, and we feel that this will be reflected in property transaction activity on a global scale.
International transactions will take longer than others, due to the restrictions on travel over the coming months. Many of our clients have experienced this first hand BUT the intent is still there and we have data to back that up. Real Estate/Property searches are reaching peak levels, and our clients are receiving the benefits of this with increased traffic volumes and high enquiry levels.
We understand that transactions will take another 2-3 months to get back to normal but it is vitally important for you to maintain your efforts in the following areas:
Perhaps the most important strategy of all is to keep your existing clients happy. Hopefully you will have acted on our previous advice to stay very close to existing clients, so during this period you should have strengthened your relationship even further. But now is the time for solutions, and your existing clients will want to know:
You, as the estate agent, may also want an update from the client. You may wish to ask them the following questions:
This is a great opportunity to ignite a thorough conversation with your client. CALL them, don’t hide behind email or marketing automation, speak to them verbally! We can’t stress this enough!
We really hope that you have maintained your marketing activity during this period, if you have a productive marketing strategy then you should be arriving back to work with a healthy pipeline of prospects. If this is the case, the time is now (if you haven’t already) to start working on those prospects more directly. If you have ignored our advice from a marketing perspective, then your pipeline may look very poor indeed.
If you do have a reasonable pipeline of prospects then you should do the following:
If you are an estate that has dropped all marketing activity and effort, and find yourself with ZERO leads. This is where the hard work starts, focus on the following to get that pipeline moving again:
It now appears that we are on our way to coming out of what has been an extremely challenging time for Estate Agents around the world. Those who have maintained the same efforts that were in place pre-lockdown will find the transition to returning to normality an easier and more profitable one than those who haven’t. They should now have a pipeline ready to hit the ground running with and make up for all of the uncertain time that this pandemic has caused. Your brave and bold efforts will be rewarded!
Although those who’ve had to pause or reduce their efforts in certain areas of their business have a lot of hard work and catching up to do, they can still make the return to normality productive by following the strategies we have mentioned above. If done correctly, the upcoming months could be the most rewarding and exciting times estate agents have ever seen. However, it’s up to you to make sure that it is!
COVID-19 has had an obstructive effect on almost every industry in the world but it’s those who react to the disarray the best who will come out of it the other side and rise to the top.
As always, if you’d like to discuss this with a more detailed and personal touch, our team is here to offer our advice and help you in any way we can.
By Adam Jennings
By Ben Spowart
By Ben Spowart