The Property Profession – A Deeply Misunderstood Industry - Part 3

The answer is simple. It takes only two steps.

The first is obvious – agents need to better communicate what they really do for their money.

The second step is even more critical. Agents need to explain to the public what they do that the public cannot reasonably do themselves.  You might be surprised by this but I fear that at the moment agents promote themselves by explaining such matters as

• how long they’ve been in business
• how professional their website is
• how many property portals they use

But, this only reinforces the public’s perception of property agents ie their success comes simply from marketing property. This just isn’t the case.

Some years ago I came up with an idea I called the M.A.N Principle ©. It suggests that there are three tasks that agents genuinely do for their commission. And, these three tasks are ones that the public would find a challenge to do themselves. So, they make the property agent indispensable.

Each letter of the acronym, M.A.N stands for one of those tasks.

‘M’ stands for ‘Manage’.

This is the agent’s ability to use their skill and knowledge to manage every aspect of the property process for a client. This isn’t something easily handled by the public because they likely don’t deal with ‘property’ on a regular basis. Done well it will help reduce the stress a client normally experinces during a transaction.

‘A’ stands for ‘Advise’

An agent uses their expertise to advise a client throughout the property process, helping them overcome any challenges along the way. .

‘N’ stands for ‘Negotiate’

This is self-explanatory. At heart, property agents are sales people. So, ‘negotiation’ is one of their strengths. There are plenty of opportunities during a transaction to negotiate on behalf of a client which once again is a skill the public are unlikely to have.

So there we have it. Three tasks that property agents should do which the public are likely to lack the desire or skill to do themselves. Undertaking them helps property agents become indispensable and provides the public with genuine value. But this is only if M.A.N is properly communicated to them.

This all leaves us with a question. What are the two best ways for an agent to demonstrate their worth and expertise to the public? We’ll cover this in the next instalment.