I'm up in Grantham on Chris Watkin's sofa for the Letting Agent Podcast, and he gets straight to it.
"Everyone talks about being an attraction agent, but in your words, you think they should be all about retention, retention being revenue. Talk to me."
"I'm not saying you don't need to attract new people," I tell him. So many agents put everything into the next landlord and the next instruction. Then I ask, "How well do you look after the existing ones?" I say it twice.
That episode went out in August 2022. It was aimed at letting agents, but it works for anyone with clients and a team.
Work out what a new client costs you
I told Chris there's "one question that every business should be able to answer is how much does it cost you to acquire a new customer?" Work that number out. Then ask what you spend keeping the clients you've already got, so they don't become a new client for somebody else.
Even if it's only 10% or 15% of what you'd spend winning someone new, you're holding on to a person who already knows you and trusts you. And happy clients are where referrals come from. That's the best business anyone can get.
Chris put it bluntly. "Most landlords don't love their letting agent, they just can't be bothered to move." I went a step further. Plenty of those landlords have properties that aren't with you. If they learn to love you, they'll bring those over too.
Ring when it isn't bad news
When Chris asked for something practical, I gave him the easiest one I know. "When's the last time you phoned your landlord when it wasn't bad news?"
We ring when there's a problem. We ring when there's a maintenance issue. Hardly anyone rings just to say everything's fine. Or shoots a 30-second video outside the property after an inspection to say the report's on its way and it's all looking okay.
I told Chris about my car. Every time it goes in for a service, the dealership sends me a safety video. It's pretty boring and it normally says the same thing. "There's nothing wrong with your car, Neil." Then I asked him, "But do I appreciate them more because they took the 20, 30 seconds to make it? Absolutely, I do."
You can go further. A landlord seminar on legislation keeps people up to date, and it shows them how complicated it is to do it themselves. An unexpected gift in the post stands out far more than a routine Christmas card from the team. "Can you find out when someone's birthday is? That's more meaningful than Christmas."
The same goes for your team
Estate and letting agency can see fairly high staff churn. So I asked the same question about people. What does it cost to recruit someone new, train them and get them up to speed? Then what can you do to make your good people feel valued?
Chris said it isn't necessarily about paying them more. Definitely not. At the time I was working with an agent who'd started giving everyone their birthday off. "It's like your birthday is a day off, always. If it's on a weekend, tough."
If someone comes in having a bad day, take them to one side. Walk to the coffee shop with them and tell them you've noticed they don't seem quite themselves. If it's right, let them take a personal day or a mental health day. Yes, someone could abuse that, and you can't allow it. But the investment is tiny. "Giving someone a couple of hours off is not a big deal." Fifteen minutes listening to someone isn't either. "That's all it takes."
I compared it to insurance and phone companies that save the best deals for new customers, so we all switch. If my insurer put some effort into making me feel valued, I might not even look at other quotes. People stay when the price feels fair for what they get, not necessarily the cheapest.
Show people what you actually do
Value for money depends on people understanding what you do. Otherwise you get the old cliché. "Don't they just photocopy some paper?"
With one agent I'd done quite a lot of work with, we made a 15-minute video explaining a letting from market appraisal right through to someone moving out. They sent it as soon as an appraisal was booked and asked people to come with questions. The landlords who turned up were more qualified and asked better questions. And when Chris asked if it made a difference, I told him exactly where. "More people go for a higher service level, because the video explains everything they do."
Watch the full chat
Make one call with nothing to fix
Pick one client you've only spoken to lately because something went wrong. Ring them today, tell them things are fine, and ask how they're doing. Then look round the office and see if anyone fancies coming for a coffee.
First published August 2022 on Christopher Watkin's Letting Agent Podcast.
