As I sit down to write this post, I can’t help but reflect on the incredible journey we’ve been on at AshdownJones. Like any new venture, it’s been a rollercoaster ride filled with ups and downs. While we’ve celebrated many successes, we’ve also stumbled upon some rather humongous mistakes along the way. Want to hear about them? Well, let’s dive in!
Learning from Our Mistakes
One of our early blunders was hiring a Business Development Manager just four months into our journey. We thought this would free up our time for more strategic tasks, but as Julia Roberts would say, “Big mistake. Huge!” Instead of easing our workload, it added complexity and didn’t yield the results we were hoping for.
We also invested in a plethora of software tools that turned out to be underutilised. Hands up if you’ve ever done that! And let’s not forget the money we wasted on direct mail campaigns with time-sensitive offers that quickly became obsolete.
However, amidst these missteps, we discovered what truly works in attracting high-value property listings. These strategies have propelled us to the forefront of the luxury market in the Lake District, an area saturated with competition—there’s an estate agent for every 755 residents! Competing against heavyweights like Savills and Knight Frank is no small feat, especially when you’re dealing with properties priced over a million pounds.
Understanding Your Audience
Perhaps you’re facing similar challenges. Whether you’re a solo agent working from home or you run an established agency that’s not reaching its potential, you might be wondering how to secure those coveted high-value listings without slashing your fees.
To help you navigate this landscape, I’m excited to share what’s been working for us at AshdownJones. With a current portfolio of 50 live properties, we’ve honed in on effective strategies for attracting high-value instructions.
After analysing our last 100 property valuations, where we were instructed on 91 of them, I found some fascinating insights. While 13% came from personal connections and 15% from referrals, a whopping 72% stemmed from our own proactive efforts. Here are the top four sources of our success:
- Direct Mail
- Content Marketing
- Applicant Conversion
- Facebook Engagement (including Ads)
Let’s explore each of these strategies in detail and uncover actionable steps you can implement right away.
1. Direct Mail: The Personal Touch
What It Is: Direct mail involves sending targeted letters, not just generic leaflets, to potential clients.
How We Do It: We craft personalised letters and send them in small batches to homeowners whose properties we’re keen to list.
What to Avoid: Sending just one letter is a common pitfall. Our data shows that the real returns start to materialise after sending at least three letters. In one instance, we sent 13 letters to the same homeowner, and it paid off with a £14,000 listing fee!
Quick Win: Make your letters longer and more engaging. The more value you provide, the better the response.
Financial Impact: From our last 100 listings, direct mail generated £211,965 in fees.
2. Content Marketing: Share Your Expertise
What It Is: Content marketing encompasses any medium you use to communicate and educate your audience.
How We Do It: We publish a blog post every week and utilise our ‘21 Step Repurposing Schedule’ to distribute this content across various platforms.
What to Avoid: Don’t let your posts gather dust after publishing. Break them down into smaller pieces for social media, and aim for evergreen content that remains relevant over time.
Quick Win: Commit to writing a monthly blog post of at least 1,000 words. Collaborate with a creative designer to produce graphics that highlight key tips and quotes from your posts.
Financial Impact: Our content marketing efforts have brought in £93,500 from our last 100 listings.
3. Applicant Conversion: Turning Interest into Listings
What It Is: This strategy focuses on converting potential buyers into sellers.
How We Do It: Our team is trained to ask the right questions to identify if a viewer has a property to sell.
What to Avoid: Missing the opportunity to ask about a viewer’s selling intentions can be costly. Our weekly ‘Mystery Shops’ reveal that less than 25% of agents inquire about a buyer’s selling position.
Quick Win: Equip your team with a prompt sheet to ensure they ask the right questions during every interaction.
Financial Impact: This approach has generated £110,150 from our last 100 listings.
4. Facebook Engagement: Building a Community
What It Is: This includes all activities on Facebook, both organic and paid.
How We Do It: We utilise our B.L.A.S.T formula for engaging content.
What to Avoid: Avoid posting purely property ads; this can make your page look spammy and lead to penalties.
Quick Win: Make all team members admins on your page and provide them with guidelines on effective posting.
Financial Impact: Our Facebook strategies have brought in £41,375 from our last 100 listings.
The Big Picture: Total Financial Impact
These four strategies have collectively generated an impressive £456,990 in listing and sales fees from our last 100 properties. Not too shabby for an agency that started from scratch just two years ago, especially in a competitive market where we had no prior recognition.
Your Turn: Assessing Your Performance
I challenge you to conduct a quick audit of your last 100 listings. Create a simple table to track where your inquiries are coming from and score yourself on your top sources. This exercise will help you identify areas for improvement.
Supporting Independent Agents
At AshdownJones, we’re passionate about empowering independent estate and letting agents. We provide world-class lead generation services, utilising technical sales letters and authority content to help you consistently and profitably open more doors.
If you’re curious about whether we could be a good fit for your agency, let’s have a chat. Together, we can crack the luxury market and elevate your property listings to new heights!
******************************
When you’re ready, here are 3 ways we can help you:
1. Reach out for a call with Sam – choose from three different calls to help you overcome your specific challenges. All free and without strings. Grab a coffee and let’s get to work.
2. Come and spend the day with Sam and Phil, at AshdownJones’ HQ, in our beautiful Lake District. Meet the team, check out our systems and marketing, and enjoy meeting like-minded (non-competing) agency owners. We’ll even put on lunch! Book your place here.
3. Join our Facebook community of super-ambitious independent agents.
Hope to catch up with you soon and find out how you’re growing your business!
Till then,
Sam and Phil
