In 2016 the real estate industry found itself in the sweet spot – low and falling interest rates, a relatively weak Australian dollar, a lack of quality property, improving global economies and buckets of cash looking for a home. So is it any wonder that respondents to the Peter Lee Associates Real Estate Services research program reported paying total fees across all aspects of the industry of $512 million, an increase of almost 76% on the 2015 number. And it is worthwhile noting that 60% of those fees went to the real estate firm regarded as being the respondent’s principal provider.
Now, given the size of the fee pool and the pot of gold waiting for those deemed good enough to rate #1 with their accounts, it’s not too big a leap to expect every real estate salesperson to be out there trying even harder to further penetrate their customer base. You would expect that, wouldn’t you? But that’s not what our research shows.
It seems counter-intuitive but in 2016 business solicitation activity was only marginally higher than in 2015 and remained well below the levels of 2014. And worse still was the fact that only 1 in 3 business pitches were regarded as being effective – i.e. not a waste of the respondent’s time. Why?
Maybe the market environment in 2016 made it easy to do deals and no-one needed to push themselves. Perhaps everyone was so busy transacting they couldn’t find the time to commit to – or prepare for – pitching activity. Whatever the reason, isn’t it reasonable to assume that customers still need to know what you can do for them – and if you don’t tell them who will?
So, for those of you out there thinking about how you might be able to grow your business – and, after all, at the current time there seems to be more than enough to share around – perhaps a good place to start is by learning how to properly pitch to your clients. And if you make the effort and they come away feeling you have been worth listening to, shouldn’t you be well on the way to sharing in the spoils?