Too busy to think about the future of your estate agency?

“In recent weeks we have been bowled over & haven’t focussed on anything but incoming calls & maintenance issues!” – sound familiar?

That is an actual quote from a client of mine, this week, telling me why they’ve abandoned every plan they have around ensuring the future of their business and engagement with their community – no social media, no marketing, no plans, not a single pro-active step taken to keep their business in people’s minds and make sure they are the first to get noticed. Let’s just hope everything keeps going well. Because hoping really works.

To me, this is the perfect argument for giving as much as you can to an outside source. I completely understand that in a busy estate agent, all you really want to concentrate on is getting deals done – successful sales and lets are what brings the money in. In fact, in most estate agents those are the only results the staff get paid for – very few people receive a bonus for successfully tweeting a picture of their coffee. So, if you only want to spend your time concentrating on the income generating side of the business, why on earth are you holding on to remaining responsible for the admin side?

If you are genuinely too busy to think about publicising your business, then you either need to free up some time, or (better), get someone else to make it happen. Otherwise what are you going to do when things quieten down – which they always do – and the phone stops ringing?

I don’t believe an estate agent can outsource all its work, but I’m happy to assert that 90% of its social media, admin and marketing can be done by someone outside the office. Your business needs to stay in the eye of the public through thick and thin, and if you are losing out on future business because your mind is stuck on today, then you are heading for a fall.