Top tips for estate agents

To survive and prosper in the real estate industry, estate agents must understand and accept the challenge of rising client expectations. 

To differentiate themselves agents should learn to provide more and much better quality information and advice all the time and without hesitation.

This is according to Neville McIntyre, chairman of Jigsaw Holdings, the parent company of the national Aida real estate franchise group. 

Speaking at Aida’s recent national awards ceremony, he says the message that estate agents worldwide were getting now from clients was that they were expected to be effective, responsive, empathetic, specific and above all, reliable. 

To differentiate themselves, he says, agents were also having to learn to provide more and much better quality information and advice all the time and without hesitation. 

“For example, the quality of a simple listing photograph can make all the difference between a potential buyer noticing your client’s property among thousands of others advertised on the Internet. 

Similarly, he says, clients have much more confidence in agents who are well-prepared and can quickly provide knowledgeable, detailed information on the area they are interested in. They will also more easily trust agents who have learnt to communicate often and have put in the time and effort to become properly qualified and who conduct themselves professionally, he says. 

However, McIntyre says, agents also need to understand that clients will quickly see through them if they are only ‘going through the motions’ of being professional. 

“To be really successful, agents must also be proactive and forward-thinking in meeting client needs and above all, must genuinely love what they do.”