I recently read a ‘Day In The Life’ blog of a London agent and thought to myself, “thank God I don’t run my business in that way. He is, as an agent, everything that I am against.”

If I am buying a ‘service’ I will always go to an expert. If my toilet is leaking, I will go to a plumber, if my car breaks down, I will go to a reputable garage and if I fancy a burger, I will try my best not
to buy one containing any more than 20% horse meat. The same goes for property, an agent should be a property expert and not a salesman.

Post university (what a waste of money that was – but that rant is for another day) I spent time travelling and working in Australia. Like many travellers I became a commission only door to door salesman, basically pestering people to switch their gas and electricity supplier (G-Day Sheila, don’t be a flamin’ galah and make sure you sign up for one my ripper utility deals). It would seem that most agents run their businesses in the same manner as these door-to-door sales teams, pushing buyers into paying more than they can afford and pestering vendors to accept a lower offer than they would expect/can afford. Basically, they put their commission above client care.

The blog that I read was hilarious. Half of his blog focused on his pushy sales team & the other focused on what he classed as top-notch customer service from his lettings team. To cut a long story short his lettings team arranged for a new tenant to move into a vacant property without the landlord’s permission. The move in day came around & there was still no word from the landlord, leaving both the new tenant & their previous landlord in a pretty stressful situation. Towards the end of the day the landlord gave the go ahead & the tenant moved in, which this particular agent put down to his superb lettings team.

Why was a move in booked in before everything was 100% sorted (rolls eyes)? My guess would be that they were too busy acting like door-to-door salesmen, hungry for the next sale, to follow through on the relevant move in admin work properly. I just found the whole thing funny as this guy has posted these experiences in a marketing blog on his website, meaning that he clearly thinks that this is what potential clients are looking for in an agent. I could be totally mistaken however I believe that a landlord or vendor will be in a much better position turning to a property expert rather than a salesman.

There is so much that can go wrong in property that it is vitally important that you do things right in the first place, rather than rushing someone into a
property & doing something wrong.

If this particular agent failed to contact the landlord prior to the move in date I wonder what other move in related duties else they failed to complete?

Lettings can be a complex business. Don’t entrust your property portfolio with salesmen, find the nearest expert & stick with them.

Mark