Estate Agency Survival Tactics for 2023
Out of 2022 and into 2023. Out of the frying pan into the fire?
2022 was when the 14-year honeymoon of cheap mortgages, stamp duty holidays and desperate buyers allowing agents to “make hay while the sun shines” screeched its tyres and smashed into a brick wall. It’s over, for good.
2023 is going to be a starkly different world for the moving industry, which will benefit the prepared.
I’m an optimist, but not to the extent that I ignore the oncoming storm and pretend it isn’t happening.
No. As an optimist I take the opposite view. Being prepared for a storm makes me more optimistic about my chances of survival.
Fireproof overalls
That’s the purpose of this post: to share with you, estate agents of the UK, all of the best tactics and strategies I’ve encountered in 24 years working alongside agents of all kinds. This isn’t advice. This is sharing the observations of which agents I’ve seen outperform their competitors in previous downturns. The 1990s, and particularly 2008.
Dealmakers
2023 belongs to agents who are the best dealmakers. The agents who focus intensely, aggressively even, on only allowing their time to be spent talking to customers with the strongest motivation to move, and ignoring all the tyre-kicking time-wasters with equal intensity.
Let them waste the time of other, less focused agents.
The mistake inexperienced agents will make
As the cake of transaction volumes shrinks, as it most certainly will, the least experienced agents will make the mistake of continuing to focus most on winning instructions. Huge mistake. This will speed up their downfall as they end up with a portfolio of unsellable stock, and no proceedable buyers in their applicant box.
In a falling market, the agent with the most registered, proceedable buyers will be the ones winning the realistically saleable instructions, and doing the deals.
Don’t take it from me. Here’s an agent veteran of several downturns
I haven’t walked the walk. But John Durrant has. He cut his teeth in agency as a junior in the 1970s downturn. He then started his own award-winning agency in the depths of the 90s downturn. So 2008 was a picnic for him. In this article he gives an in depth perspective of what agents need to understand to make the most of a falling market. Priceless advice from the horses mouth.
Here’s a 5 minute video of the 5 tips I’ve picked up from the best agents
Everything here is doable, if you decide to do it.
The golden survival rule if you are an agent who hasn’t been through a downturn before is to find a local mentor. It must be another agent who has been around long enough to share their direct experience of what a downturn is like in your local market. You won’t find better or more relevant advice for you and your agency than that.
Everything in John’s article and my 5 tips video is entirely within the reach of any agent who decides to do it.
So, I hope you’ve found this useful and helpful, and that it helps give you a little more confidence to face the difficult market that 2023 will bring.
So, here’s wishing you all the best for 2023 and remember, figure out what you need to change, and just do it!
Find me on LinkedIn if you have questions or would like any help. Best wishes Charlie Lamdin.
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