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Agents who want a competitive advantage have been urged to hit the phones on Saturdays and stop making life hard for buyers.
Harris Real Estate managing director Phil Harris said agents need to scrap for every advantage they can, because the margin between winning and losing listings is usually small.
“Every time you win a listing presentation, I guarantee you've only ever just won that listing by a little bit,” he told One Agency’s annual conference.
“And then when you lose a listing presentation and you feel absolutely depressed, I guarantee you only missed it by this much.”
Mr Harris said one way for agents to get an edge is to make five prospecting calls every Saturday.
Agents should phone consumers who are likely to list in the next 30 days and provide them with local results.
“It might be a competitor’s auction, it might be your auction, it might be about an open home – but touch base and give them some update on the marketplace, because these people are about to drop at any moment,” he said.
Mr Harris said another way to gain an advantage is to be easy to deal with, because about 80 per cent of agents make life hard for consumers.
“I have a question for you: are you the easiest agent in your marketplace to deal with? I talk to my team about this probably every single day because I think it’s your competitive advantage now,” he said.
Agents need to make it easy for buyers to operate without their assistance, because consumers don’t want to deal with agents when they look for properties, according to Mr Harris.
“They want to go online and see water rates, house rates, council rates, strata fees, price guide, auction date, open time – they want to see the whole lot,” he said.
“They only want to engage with you on their terms when they feel like it. And when they feel like it – you better be there at that moment.”
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