Homesearch is the next generation property ecosystem, where property professionals and consumers can interact to buy, sell, rent, invest or simply research the housing market.
Holding 24 billion pieces of data on England & Wales’ entire property stock, Homesearch is a powerful platform that enables users to find comprehensive, accurate and impartial information on any residential property, whether it’s on or off the market.
As well as providing details for any home together in one place, Homesearch offers an expert advice hub for consumers, backed by a supportive and proactive network of thousands of property professionals.
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Be proactive, have a plan, and keep prospecting.
After the easing of lockdown measures, it’s safe to say the property market picked up pace pretty quickly which led to a busy and very welcome period for agents up and down the country. While activity over the last 60 days has been largely reactive with phone calls coming in, valuations being booked, viewings taking place, (and more calls coming in), it seems we could now be going into a different time as the mini-market starts to settle.
Now presents the perfect time for business owners and agency leaders to shift focus towards what the world might look like at the end of this year and into the start of 2021. Now is an opportunity to plan, prepare and prospect for what comes next.
As furlough comes to an end, it’s important to remember that the market will be tough for many people out there. They won’t want to move, but they will need to move. It’s right now that the world class agents are preparing for this time by prospecting and having those courageous conversations with as many people as they can.
For example, for letting agents, it could be the case that some landlords are concerned about the end of the furlough scheme as their tenants may not be able to return to work and continue to pay rent. This could then lead to tenants needing to move, and landlords needing to find replacements. Calling your existing Landlords (or those on your database who maybe chose a competitor of yours in the past) and talking them through the above is a wonderful way of making sure you’re top of mind (unlike that other agent) when this time arrives for their tenants. These advanced conversations serve to reassure your database that you are the best prepared (and the right) agent to help them when it is time for their next move.
Now that you might find an extra free hour in your day because there is one less viewing or valuation to go to, structuring your day wisely and filling this time with activities that are more proactive than reactive should be a top priority. Ask yourself what conversations you could be having with people who might have the opportunity to either do, or refer, business with you so that by mid-autumn the market hasn’t ‘gone’, you’re still busy, and you still have a strong, predictable pipeline.
The decisions you make in the next 30 days will affect the success of the next 60 and 90 days when the market starts to turn.
Smart prospecting means you can make your own market, and Homesearch can help you with that.
To enhance your prospecting activity, the Letters feature on Homesearch allows you to send targeted direct mail straight from the platform to every home in your market so you can keep communicating with every property in your patch. Whether you choose to send letters as part of a recently sold campaign to keep a neighbourhood informed of your recent success in the area; or whether you send letters to prospect off-market homes which fit the needs of a buyer you have, when partnered with powerful property data which can be found on Homesearch, letters can help you find new opportunities and generate new business.
Alongside sending letters, creating Sales and Rental Market Reports is a great way to keep your agency top of mind and raise your brand awareness (and if you’re talking to your database, they don’t cost a thing to email). Homesearch Reports are fully personalised, customisable and white labelled. Keeping your agency top of mind now is important for when people decide to move later.
As well as being the perfect nurture tool for keeping in touch with your database, the comprehensive information you can include in a Homesearch Report allows you to position yourself as the absolute property expert in your area, and can support you with winning new business and instructions when the time is right whether your client is looking to buy, sell, or rent a property.
Contacting the right people when building your pipeline is also very important. With the help of the Homesearch Network, you can strengthen your targeting and relationship building activities by prospecting smarter and finding homes which match your clients’ search history and fit their exact requirements.
Insights from the Network also make it possible for you to stay on top of when your connections are actively researching the market so you can begin nurturing them and guiding them through their property journey from the moment it begins. You can even make your own market and make the most of every opportunity by using the power of the Network to connect a seller with their potential buyers or one buyer with a long list of the homes that suit them best yet to hit the market.
Coming back to process to finish, it is crucial to stress how important it is to acknowledge that the people you are speaking to now are not operating in the previous market. Acknowledging this will help you make sure you don’t get caught up in just talking about the past. Yes, the past matters, but it’s the future your client’s really care about.
Instead of talking about how the market has been, talking about the reality of what is happening and how your client’s circumstances might fit into that reality is a much more valuable conversation. After all, it is often said that property is all about people, so instead of falling into the habit of making things all about the market and prices, make your stories about real people and circumstances.
Combining this quality of conversation with the tools on Homesearch to support you in building and sustaining your pipeline will allow you to be better prepared for the next turn the market takes, whatever that may look like.
