GOOD SIMPLE STUFF THAT WORKS.

Article written for Fish4Homes.co.uk, May 2009.

With every agent chasing the lettings market at the moment, it’s more important than ever that your offering is distinct enough to ensure that landlords come to you - and it need not be an expensive exercise, says marketer and former estate agent Charlie Snell.

There has, of course, never been a more important time to make sure that yours is one of the agencies that landlords talk to.

The good news, with cash-flows invariably tight, is that putting good minds to the task is more important than throwing good money at it.

Creating a distinctive position for yourself in the market is absolutely crucial, and the essential foundation for attracting and retaining customers. To be brutal, if you’re not distinct, you’re extinct…

Here’s an example. Imagine you’re in Boots looking at toothpaste. One is good for cavities, another lasts for 24 hours, another is only 38p and another promises American-white teeth. A quick glance at the shelves and it’s easy to see which toothpaste is right for you.

But now imagine you’re a (potential) landlord in your town. A walk down the high street or a flick through the local property paper offers little information about which agencies might be best to call.

Some office and advertising liveries are blue, some are orange, some are purple and so on... But relying on people making the decision based on colour is no way to build business.

And almost all claim to ‘really know the market’– that oft-trotted out platitude which, although it might mean something to you, almost never means anything to a potential client. It never meant anything to me before I was involved in agency.

And the fact that you’ve been there since 1839 does not, in the public’s mind, necessarily make you a good agent today. To me it means you’re good with a fountain pen, but hopeless with email!

Then there are those bland platitudes like ‘making lettings simple’. Of course it’s fine to say you make lettings simple, if you really do. But just saying it is not enough – give people some evidence, or why on earth should they believe you?

What are you famous for?

So the first step is to define what it is that makes you different. So one evening next week, bribe your staff with beers and pizzas to stay an hour late and brainstorm what does, or could, make your agency the best to let or sell someone’s property.

(Better still, ask a third party (ahem…) who knows what they are talking about but is not directly connected to your company, to facilitate that brainstorm for you.)

Maybe you’ve had a good record of letting recently at rents that aren’t just knock-down ones. So get together some statistics that really prove the point. Or some stats on how low your void periods are.

Or phone up recent vendors and ask them for comments on your service, and to score you out of ten. (If you care to email me and I can let you have a more in depth questionnaire, which will give you much more information about what people think about you and your competitors, and why they choose you.)

Why not have a think about how you could change your service to differentiate your business. Join a rent guarantee scheme, for example. Do a deal with a local cleaning company (they’ll be up for it in these times) to offer a ‘free’ end-of-tenancy clean.

Or make sure that every property has photos and floor-plans. I just can’t understand why more agencies don’t devote more time to getting this right. You can reuse them when the property becomes vacant, it helps tie the landlord in to you, and it reduces the number of wasted visits.

All of these things will give you something to say about yourself that is really different and, crucially, meaningful to your audience. Otherwise you are relying on people choosing you at random – or worse still, choosing someone else at random!

With such an infinity of ways that agencies can separate themselves from their rivals, it constantly amazes me that so many firms’ shop fronts, websites and adverts say nothing about themselves.

When you’ve got it, flaunt it.

And once you’ve identified what it is that makes you different from the rest, communicate that message to the death. Put it on your shop front, particulars, website, even your business cards. Drop leaflets (several times, as once is not enough) to every home in the area.

We all know that much of the value of local press ads comes from impressing potential landlords. So really impress them – instead of having yet another page of grainy photos take a full page in the paper, dedicated to that message.

Oh, and when you do your marketing, please get a professional to do it for you. Marketing is like tiling – anyone can do it, but it just looks so much better when a professional does it! After all, you wouldn’t recommend someone to sell or let their own house would you?!

There are such huge opportunities for agents who choose to really differentiate themselves from the rest, that its incredible why more don’t take a look at their business from the outside.

Charlie Snell, formerly the founder of a Brighton estate agency, is now founder of The Marketing Business, a Brighton-based marketing specialist. www.the-marketing-business.co.uk