“IT’S THE FIRST TIME I’M SEEING THIS PROPERTY TOO”

The most depressing thing an estate agent can say when you turn up to view a property you’re interested in purchasing – “it’s the first time I’m seeing this property too”. Unfortunately, this happens over and over again in this country, and all because we’ve built an agency model where individuals aren’t responsible for property listings. This is very apparent with the larger and more traditional agencies where commission pots are pooled, full customer service job roles are divided up into valuers, negotiators (my most hated term) and sales progressors.

It’s an inefficient production line system that leaves customers feeling like they have no single point of contact, no one to create a valuable relationship with and no one to hold accountable for success or failure.

Even still, that is no excuse for an agent turning up to show a property having never seen it, and unable to answer the most basic of questions. How can you try and sell a product worth hundreds of thousands of pounds and not know anything about it or not even have seen the product before. It’s madness and wouldn’t be accepted in any other industry so how does it happen so much in estate agency? Surely the person that should be “selling” said property is the one that has all the information on the property and has the relationship with the vendors. It’s a real shame and is one of the most reputation damaging aspects of this industry.

Once you give someone full control of the listing, marketing and selling process and link their financial returns to their success, then you create a model of responsibility and accountability and one that ensures people are motivated, which in turn creates a far greater experience for the customer. Good end result.

Published by Jamie Gray | jamie@nexaproperties.com