subject: Independence: The Prime Characteristic for Successful Estate Agents UK [print this page] There are, of course, more estate agents in the United Kingdom than even a person with all the time in the world on his or her hands would be able to shake a stick at. These days, mind, not many of them are doing all that well and a lot of the major companies have become the subject of varying degrees of public vilification through boom and bust years both, hoist by their own twin petards of enormous fees and poor customer relations. Independent estate agents UK, a breed still very much in the majority, have had a far greater degree of success in holding the loyalty and appreciation of their customers. It's all about contrast in the way companies do business, and in the way customers get treated.
The difference wasn't so evident in the boom times, when houses were being bought and sold like so many railway shares. Since everything got a little harder, though, the way that independent estate agents do businesses has allowed them to continue servicing their customers at much the same rate, while sales and confidence in nationwide or city wide chain estate agents have fallen sharply.
An estate agents UK that takes the time to listen to its customers, to work out exactly what they want and then go out and find it, is worth the money it asks for. An estate agent that tries to interest customers in whatever properties it happens, currently, to have on its books, is not. That's the basic difference between the independent model and the chain model and it's a difference that is starting to make itself known.
Take London's Spencer James, for instance. This is an independent company, trading since 2002 and still gathering in repeat business, glowing client testimonials and so on, even in the face of the worst housing slump the UK has seen in decades. Why? Because, as an independent estate agents UK, Spencer James relies on a comprehensive contact book of investors, private owners and estates, which it uses to match its customer's requirements. A less independent business is more likely to try and match its own requirements (i.e. the properties it has on its books and needs to rent or sell) with its customers. Non independent estate agents tend to do things backwards, trying to satisfy themselves by knocking out sales and rents to customers, while the good guys like Spencer James go for customer satisfaction instead.
The best estate agents UK for any climate are the ones that understand that fulfilling a customer's wishes takes precedence over notching up commission based sales. It's no coincidence that one never sees an employee of Spencer James, or a like minded independent agent, driving around town in a conspicuously logoed car they got for selling a certain quantity of properties within one quarter. The independents are retaining the loyalty and good feeling of the house buying and house renting public, while the national chains continue to shoot themselves in the feet. In these times, the only estate agents UK still enjoying success seems to be the private ones. That's a good business ethos, paying off.
Independence: The Prime Characteristic for Successful Estate Agents UK
