How to 3X Your Vals in the Next 3 Months
Here’s the problem: there’s no stock.
This leads to two further problems:
- Pressure on fees
- Over valuing
It’s a dangerous time ahead for independent agents like us. Over the next 6-12 months, you could be facing a serious cash-flow crisis. Low stock now leads to no cash in the bank in a few months’ time, and this can put your business in a precarious position.
Imagine you’re you in a year’s time, looking back at the you today. What could you do today, this week, to make you in a year’s time feel happy and relieved you took decisive action?
What would those actions look like?
That’s what we’re going to focus on, in this article, specifically:
- How to create your own valuation-generation system (hint, it’s not marketing funnels)
- How our GDR PlanTM can get you more vals
- How bespoke property marketing can win you the best instructions at the right fees.
The answers to your stock and fees problems could be simpler than you think (but not easy – otherwise everyone would already be doing it).
First, a warning: these are NOT the answers you’re seeking:
Fancy marketing funnels – the last thing you need when cash is tight, and your diary is empty of vals, is a complex marketing funnel. Sorry, but your audience is not out there waiting for you to create a clever lead magnet….
Facebook ads – many agents we know revert to creating Facebook ads whenever vals begin to dry up. In our experience, this just doesn’t work. Facebook ads work best when the market is buoyant, and homeowners are looking to be tempted to take the next (very small) step towards considering selling. That’s not the property market we’re all experiencing right now.
Instant valuation tools – when vals are scarce, it’s usually the lowest-value properties that you’ll see using your online valuation tool. This can waste time and energy pursuing fees that may be borderline minimum.
If that’s the case….
What IS the answer to persuading owners of the best homes to go to market – with you?
You need to give homeowners proof of your promises.
We’ll show you exactly how.. but first we want to share how we put our money where our mouths are (mouth is..?).
We started AshdownJones in April 2017, 4.5 years ago at the time of writing. Starting from Sam’s dining room with just a couple of old Macbooks, we battled long-established competitors as a complete unknown, and each year, gained a little more traction and a bit more market share in the high-value homes market, here in the Lake District.
Today, we’re a core team of 5, working from a lovely converted farm in the fields outside Windermere. Every month, we track the top 10 agencies here by properties listed over £500,000. It’s our yardstick for how we are performing. Currently, we list 17% of all the listed homes over £500,000 within a 15-mile radius, and the second highest price property, at £2.75m. (Highest is currently a country estate at £5.8m listed with Savills.)
Our first year’s turnover was just £54,000. This year, we’re on track to crack a million pounds. Sales only, no lettings.
Our secret? A simple but robust operating system we created, and that we follow consistently.
We’re not a fluke. Our Firewave members also have great success with our system.
Success isn’t accidental: it’s deliberate and intentional. It all starts with..
A valuation-generation system you can rely on
It must be:
Simple to follow
Clear to delegate
Easy to replicate
Let’s talk DELIVERY
Delivery is where you get to prove your promises, aka, where the rubber meets the road.
To get the best valuations, you HAVE to have the best property marketing.
A question for you:
When you think of prestige property marketing, which agents come to mind?
Savills? Knight Frank? Fine & Country?
15 years ago, Savills, Knight Frank and Fine & Country were agents at the cutting edge of luxury property marketing.
Now the property marketing landscape has changed.
What was cutting edge is now normal. What was innovative is now standard.
BUT – you can’t charge good fees and deliver normal and standard property marketing.
Owners of the best homes expect bespoke marketing. So to truly stand out in the ways that matter to the homeowners you want to attract, you need to take your property marketing to a whole new level.
What is bespoke property marketing?
There are lots of ways you can make sure your property marketing stands out above that of your competition, but you have to have the three key elements in place first. These are:
- Home styling
- Lifestyle photography
- Bespoke brochures
Home styling – making sure every room is ready for photography, by taking out distracting items, and adding in stylish accessories.
Lifestyle photography – what agent doesn’t offer professional photography for high value listings? Lifestyle photography takes your images to a new level of sophistication. Shots are set up to showcase the lifestyle that the home offers, be it a hot tub with flutes of Champagne, a pretty pile of scones and strawberries on a kitchen side, or candles and bubbles in a bathroom.
Bespoke brochures – this is where our home styling and lifestyle photography meld perfectly. We’re incredibly proud of our beautiful home brochures. They are magazine-like in their design, and reminiscent of luxury cars or jewellery, not the brochures you expect to see to market a home. They are a trademark of ours, and because of the years of experience that have gone into their creation, one that is almost impossible to copy.
Other bespoke marketing elements we use:
Bespoke for sale boards – ours are individual to each home and carry a photograph of the house, usually at twilight
Specialist brochure print finishes and formats – foiling, spot uv and special folds are all used often to differentiate our marketing Twilight photography – not only is this now regarded as an AshdownJones’ marketing ‘signature’ (so almost impossible to copy without it being obvious), our properties listed with the twilight shot as the main image on Rightmove get about 30% more clicks – a statistic our vendors are always excited to hear and impressed by.
Professional copywriting – not a job you should be doing, even if you can write! Hand it over to a pro and the result will be exponentially better.
Vendor interview – to enhance the property descriptions further, our copywriter calls the vendor to find out how they use their home, and this guides the written description. The bonus is that our vendors love this part of the process, as it makes them and their homes feel special.
Visual branding – for every home we list, we create a special visual branding, personalised to the home and its owner. This adds value and uniqueness to the home via the marketing, helps buyers emotionally identify with the home more strongly, and provides a great visual foundation and theme for the brochure and for sale board.
Bespoke marketing differentiates your agency
Professional photography is no longer a differentiator. You need lifestyle images of beautifully styled homes to prove you are different.
A standard laminated tent-fold brochure no longer impresses. A bespoke, 16-page magazine-style brochure will get you into the right homes, and convert at the best fees. A standard branded for sale board won’t help you stand out from the crowd. But a bespoke board will and get your agency noticed by other vendors for all the right reasons.
Are you STILL trying to sell your promises?
Promises are cheap. Your property marketing is the PROOF of your promises.
Tangible property marketing beats promised service levels every time.
Once you get your bespoke property marketing right, it becomes part of your GDR Plan, an always-improving and increasing cycle of getting noticed, generating valuations, winning instructions and selling homes.
Your bespoke property marketing plan
How to create your own bespoke marketing that will 3x your vals in the next 3 months.
Step 1 – Learn how to STYLE
- ask a stylist to show you – pay them a day rate to teach you
- watch YouTube, there are some great tutorials on there
- practice on your own home!
Step 2 – Find a lifestyle PHOTOGRAPHER
- not an agency one, you want your images to look and feel very different from the norm
- look at hospitality photographers – they are often more skilled at capturing not just the right light and texture, but also a lifestyle element in their images
- invite three to your house as a trial and test them out in a couple of rooms you’ve styled
Step – 3 Use an amazing DESIGNER
- don’t use templates – it’s all too easy to fall into the trap of all your property brochures looking the same, and the same as every other agent’s
- give them a detailed brief eg colours, brands that fit the house, favourite pictures or furniture pieces you can use for the brochure
- don’t settle for standard!
How bespoke property marketing creates valuations
Once you have beautiful brochures, you need to use them. But not just to sell homes – to create new listing opportunities.
Once you have your first bespoke brochure, you can use it to get invited into other homes of the same or higher value. Showcase it on your socials, send it out to neighbouring homes, and show it to as many people in person as you can. If you join Firewave, you’ll have access to our special ‘Show-off, Show-up, ShowcaseTM, strategy that has helped us win over £300k-worth of fees to date.
Every brochure can win you new valuation opportunities and new listing possibilities – and even better – at the right fees. When you show one of your beautiful bespoke brochures to a prospective vendor, they can instantly see how you’re different and why you charge the fees you do. You’ll get far less fee pushback, and this will give you a more profitable, more sustainable growth strategy for your agency.
We listed £500k in fees in our first 13 months using bespoke property marketing – how many could you list?
Your objections
Yep, we know you have them. Here are the ones we hear most often:
“I can’t afford to pay for this kind of marketing up front”
Either charge an upfront fee and take the conversion hit, or write a withdrawal into your contract (we do the latter).
“I’m a franchisee”
We work with many franchisees, including Ewemove, Open House, Keller Williams, Northwood, Belvoir and more, They all use bespoke marketing to generate more vals, win more instructions at better fees, and sell more homes.
“Aren’t brochures outdated?”
Nope. (But we’re very glad our competitors believe they are!)
When you buy a luxury car, you expect to experience a luxury brochure. People love tangible marketing they can hold and enjoy.
“I’m getting pushed down on fee”
We get it, and so are we!
Bespoke marketing is your WEAPON against the low fee trap. When a vendor can see WHY you charge more, they will be happy to pay it.
DIY or DFY? (‘Done for you’)
The DIY Option
Can you create bespoke brochures yourself? Absolutely. And to help you, we’ve created a short how-to, to make sure you don’t miss any steps:
- Find a designer – you may have to try a few. The best ones are hard to find and in high demand. Try LinkedIn, Fiverr, Upwork and your local network.
- Give them a detailed design brief – don’t scrimp here. Design briefs can take an hour or more to create, but it’s worth the time you spend now to save time in edits later.
- Manage the design drafts closely – has the designer followed your design brief 100%? Have they come up with ideas of their own? Do you like what they’ve created?
- Give specific feedback – if you’re not sure, say so. A talented, experienced designer will understand the process and give you the best guidance, without compromising your ideas and design brief.
- Don’t settle – demand the very best finished product! It’ll be so worth it once you see the finished article
Expect to pay around: £150 – £400 per brochure
Most designers charge £25 – £40 an hour and take around 6 – 10 hours for a 16-page brochure design.
Done for you – Firewave EDGE
We’re the industry’s bespoke marketing experts. Want us to do it for you?
We have an in-house design team, run by our lead designer Bex. She’s been with us from the first few months of AshdownJones and she’s responsible for every one of our stunning brochures today. Including two properties we’ve sold in the last year or so at £50k+ fees.
How it works
You upload your images and copy to us, and complete the design brief. (We can help and guide you if you’re not sure how to create a brief.) We keep your office details and company logo on file so your brochures will be bespoke to you.
What it costs
Set-up fee £150 + vat includes your bespoke for sale board template
Monthly £200 + vat (includes a monthly brochure design, additional brochures at £100 each)
(Minimum 6 months sign up)
What you get
Unlimited edits
Guidance from our amazing lead designer Bex
Turnaround usually within 48 hours (sometimes faster)
Print-ready and pdf versions so you can immediately upload to web and send to print
Your exclusive area – lock out your competitors forever!
What to do next
Go to this link – https://fire-wave.co.uk/edge
Put in your regular details
We’ll give you a call straight away to let you know if your area is free
If it is, we’ll get you on board, and if not, we’ll offer to waitlist you.
One final piece of advice – don’t ponder. Either go get your bespoke marketing system created and implemented, or pop us an enquiry now. Anything else, and you risk losing your area and your EDGE to one of your competitors. And the YOU in a year’s time is going to be pretty mad at you for that…
Speak soon!
Sam and Phil
