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April 23, 2008

A picture tells a thousand words

Selling a home is a courtship process and just like dating, first impressions count. Since the vast majority of house hunters begin on the internet, you have to make an immediate visual impact.

Good photography is by far the best way to make your client’s property stand out and get a potential buyer really excited enough to contact you.

You need to include interior and exterior pictures to maximise appeal and remember that bad photos are almost as bad as no photos.

What’s more, sellers and landlords are put off by agents who don’t invest in good photography.

They want their agent to present their home at its absolute best.

Which property below do you think received the most visits and enquiries?

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AdMeter - New Membership Feature

Track the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns with AdMeter - available to propertyfinder.com member agents.

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We’re pleased to introduce our new web-based system, AdMeter, which allows you to accurately track and measure online, in real-time, how many phone leads we send you.

PLUS you can also measure and monitor the effectiveness of ALL your marketing by assigning a specific ‘0844’ number to letterbox drops, signboards, advertisements in your local press and even your website? You can have as many numbers as you like!

With an AdMeter number, you will find out exactly which media is performing best for your agency.

For more information and to retrieve your login details for your AdMeter account, please email us at pfinfo@propertyfinder.com.

Retention, Retention, Retention!

It’s all too easy to forget about past or current clients and to just focus your time on gaining new ones. But when times are tough, it’s more important than ever to work on strategies to retain customers.

Brought to you by Owen Burns, Managing Director of The Academy

apr08_owen.jpgIt’s also important to remember that it’s not just the agent who is feeling the pinch right now, the home movers are too and so are our competitors, who, like you, will do anything right now to get their hands on your highly motivated vendors.

You should all be asking yourselves, “Why should that vendor stay with me?”

Have you achieved them a sale? Have you serviced them more than weekly? Have you gone above and beyond the call of duty to keep them happy and informed?

Regardless of your answer your competitors will be trying to convince them otherwise.

Below are 4 easy strategies that you can all implement today to help you retain your current customers;

  1. Use an Individual Marketing Plan. This is a great reason to go back and reassess the situation with your customers. A simple conversation around how the market is moving everyday and therefore we need to plan accordingly should impress your current vendor enough to grant you an audience. But don’t be afraid to tell them what they need to hear.

  2. Network with local businesses to create a service network where they will help you service your customers and you will help them attract new business. Perhaps you have contacts with local stores and could get access to boxes to help your customers pack for their move? Or you could arrange for a voucher for a coffee and cake at the local café. Better still, you could present this to them to use during accompanied viewings of their property.

  3. Use a handwritten letter or card. It’s the little things that make a difference and a personal handwritten note or card can really let your customer know they are top of your mind and not just another number in your inventory.

  4. Offer a service that puts your customer first. They will feel special and remembered and it will help generate more business than you thought possible. For example if you don’t have a suitable property for your buyer, book them into a “buying consultation” where you will of course take their details and requirements but also take them on a tour of your area showing them particular streets that may interest them and get their feedback whilst your are with them. If they like a particular street or property style then this gives you a reason to canvas that street because you know you have a motivated buyer.

    For more information on The Academy training or to activate your FREE 7 day trial, where you can download this lesson in full as well as access other online training lessons visit www.estateagencyacademy.co.uk

WIN a £5,000 dream room make over!

In April, we teamed up with Matalan to offer their millions of customers nationwide the opportunity to win a £5,000 dream room make over.

apr08_matalan.gifThe competition was heavily promoted through direct mail pieces to over 4 million Matalan card holders and to 720,000 customers registered to receive Matalan email communications, which resulted in driving hundreds of thousands of people to the propertyfinder.com website to look at your properties and to sign-up to Property Alerts and our monthly email newsletter.