A friend told me recently that he was dissatisfied with the property agent that he’d hired. His opinion was that the agent had brought ‘no value’ to the process of selling his house and had mainly offered an online platform to attract interest and not much more. The agent was, ‘A middleman, who when showing potential clients around, pointed at the kitchen and announced, “This is the kitchen,” with nothing else to say.’ Clearly, with feedback like that circulating the market, unless the agent enacts a radical change, they are going to establish a poor reputation and suffer accordingly. But what is it that makes a truly successful agent in today’s world?
Honest and hardworking
it’s simple, it’s obvious: no one wants to do business with someone who they cannot trust. No one wants to use the services of someone who is lazy.
A successful agent must establish a good reputation. It may mean that he or she sometimes has to say things that the client doesn’t want to hear, especially over such things as unrealistic selling price expectations, etc. But in the long-term, honesty will enhance the reputation and help build trust between the agent and client.
Understanding the local market
Each market has its own characteristics, eccentricities, and trends. Any agent with self-respect always understands the local market. While the agent who is new to a market gets to grips with this as soon as possible by doing as much research as is necessary.
Quick-thinking, organised and reliable
Agents should be able to spot immediately all of a property’s potential and what might be needed to boost that potential. They’ll want a property ‘set up to be sold’ at the best price possible, as soon as possible. They’ll devise the best strategy open to them in the circumstances, and if that means delaying the marketing to clean a property up, then that’s what they’ll do. But when they do launch the property onto the market, they’ll ensure all sales tools, photographs and adverts are utilized on-time and with good quality.
Any interest from prospective purchasers will be followed up and all calls will be returned. It should go without saying, but reliability critical and any successful agent will do his or her utmost to be punctual for appointments. Naturally, an agent that fails in any of these areas may lose potential sales and may develop a bad reputation.
Contacts and flexibility
a professional agent should be keen on developing contacts throughout the entire industry.
When it comes to clients, they should keep a list of prospective purchasers at all times. Obviously, this list should include relevant information enabling them to match purchasers with the right properties. But in addition to buyers and sellers, there are other contacts that need to be built:
With mortgage brokers, property evaluators, and banks, helping to push the loan process towards completion. And if they know a reliable and speedy solicitor, surely it makes sense to recommend their services to clients.
Many will find reliable local builders and decorators who may help prepare a property to be marketed.
Relentless, self-motivated, creative
Successful agents are always open to business. They’ll take every call, no matter what day of the week. In a difficult market or with a difficult property on their hands, the successful agent thinks creatively and comes up with options.
Committed to the sale
the successful agent, although polite, balanced and professional, take the sale personally. They will not feel good about having an unsold property on their books that is seemingly going nowhere.
People skills
if the agent appears ill-at-ease in promoting a property, a potential purchaser might just wonder why: ‘Is there something wrong with the property?’ The good agent makes a good impression. He or she is comfortable with people and makes others feel comfortable in his or her presence.
An interest in property and architecture
The more an agent knows about the field, the better. If a client can see that an agent is knowledgeable and can explain factors about a property, all of this will increase trust and enhance reputation. It may just be that a deal is wavering due to a minor property flaw that once explained, is easily put in the right light and the deal can go ahead.
Open to innovation, willing to learn
an agent with a future in the business should never be tired of the world in which he or she is operating. It’s crucial for an agent to use every tool available, and if that includes learning to use some new software, app or tool, then so be it. Looking at the incredibly innovative market today, it’s obvious that this has become more important than ever.
Taking all things into consideration, if an agent positively complies with all of the descriptions above, it won’t just indicate their potential for success, it will also tell you something else: these agents love what they do.
And yes, such agents do bring ‘value’ into the business.
