Design your dream Estate Agency.

clairehi

Estate_Agent wrote: »

Thanks Claire. We already do a lot of what you suggest, but actually putting it on a checksheet and diarising is something I know we can get a lot better at.

I'm sure you do already do these things, (sorry if teaching you to suck eggs here) but I bet if you could sharpen it up a bit it would give you a real edge over the competition.

Buyers and sellers (usually) want house transactions to go through as quickly and smoothly as possible, although its interesting that virtually noone on this thread has mentioned this as something they want from an EA. I think most people are completely overlooking this aspect of the service you offer but its really important.

I have the distinct impression that most EAs just sit back and wait for the fee to arrive once an offer is accepted - they dont chase things up unless the client is on their back. Speaking as a client I would love to not have to chase every step in the process myself.

MissMotivation

googler wrote: »

Standard practice in much of Scotland, since the offer letter forms part of the contract to purchase, is to fax an offer to the selling agent, prior to sending the offer via post.

The first stage is to type it up, on letterhead of course, then fax it, then post it.

What else would you do?

Scan it as a picture, save it, compose e-mail, attach it to e-mail, send e-mail? I'd rather just fax it.

Save the document as a PDF and attach it to the email, dead easy....and quick!

MissMotivation

clairehi wrote: »

I'm sure you do already do these things, (sorry if teaching you to suck eggs here) but I bet if you could sharpen it up a bit it would give you a real edge over the competition.

Buyers and sellers (usually) want house transactions to go through as quickly and smoothly as possible, although its interesting that virtually noone on this thread has mentioned this as something they want from an EA. I think most people are completely overlooking this aspect of the service you offer but its really important.

I have the distinct impression that most EAs just sit back and wait for the fee to arrive once an offer is accepted - they dont chase things up unless the client is on their back. Speaking as a client I would love to not have to chase every step in the process myself.

Clairehi

Every agency I've worked for has had a dedicated Sales Progressor.....I thought that this was standard practice. Obviously in smaller agencies this is done by a Negotiator but bearing in mind that the EA does not get paid until completion, chasing the sale is one of the most important jobs!

princessamy86

MissMotivation wrote: »

Clairehi

Every agency I've worked for has had a dedicated Sales Progressor.....I thought that this was standard practice. Obviously in smaller agencies this is done by a Negotiator but bearing in mind that the EA does not get paid until completion, chasing the sale is one of the most important jobs!

I wish we had a sales progressor...but no! It's me! Along with my viewer, negotiator, occasional valuer hat. Still, I do agree with Claire-it's not difficult to blast through sales updates on a Monday, ring everyone in the chain and check we're on the same page. I can't believe some agents don't do this!

Estate Agent: you most certainly can get data off RM to show how you are doing compared to other agents-when you log into RMplus you can see how you compare in the area with new listings, percentage of stock sold, all sorts of things. Have a play around with it, it's pretty unbreakable.

Doshwaster

googler wrote: »

Standard practice in much of Scotland, since the offer letter forms part of the contract to purchase, is to fax an offer to the selling agent, prior to sending the offer via post.

The first stage is to type it up, on letterhead of course, then fax it, then post it.

What else would you do?

Scan it as a picture, save it, compose e-mail, attach it to e-mail, send e-mail? I'd rather just fax it.

I understand why the the final contracts have to be done by post but I don't see why general update correspondence cannot be done by email.

I run by life by email so if a EA/solicitor cannot or will not communicate that way then I'll find someone else to do business with.

googler

MissMotivation wrote: »

Save the document as a PDF and attach it to the email, dead easy....and quick!

You save it as a V.8 Adobe pdf, then send it to someone who's still on V.7, and they can't open it, and you're forcing them into downloading another version...... just fax it.

googler

Doshwaster wrote: »

I understand why the the final contracts have to be done by post but I don't see why general update correspondence cannot be done by email.

I run by life by email so if a EA/solicitor cannot or will not communicate that way then I'll find someone else to do business with.

Nobody's saying that other correspondence can't be by e-mail, or that anyone is refusing to use e-mail, just that most everyone has settled into this as standard practice for the actual submission of offers.

And, rather than being the final contract, this is actually the first contact between buyer agent and seller agent (for this particular property)

MissMotivation

princessamy86 wrote: »

I wish we had a sales progressor...but no! It's me! Along with my viewer, negotiator, occasional valuer hat. Still, I do agree with Claire-it's not difficult to blast through sales updates on a Monday, ring everyone in the chain and check we're on the same page. I can't believe some agents don't do this!

Estate Agent: you most certainly can get data off RM to show how you are doing compared to other agents-when you log into RMplus you can see how you compare in the area with new listings, percentage of stock sold, all sorts of things. Have a play around with it, it's pretty unbreakable.

Aww princess....you want to come work for me lol

RMPlus is brilliant.....i love seeing how we compare to other agents.....it's brings out my competitive side.

princessamy86

MissMotivation wrote: »

Aww princess....you want to come work for me lol

RMPlus is brilliant.....i love seeing how we compare to other agents.....it's brings out my competitive side.

Well missm it's a toughie...can you beat £5.85 an hour with no commission?

MissMotivation

princessamy86 wrote: »

Well missm it's a toughie...can you beat £5.85 an hour with no commission?

no commission??????