"Boards breed boards" - simply an outdated concept or the road to bankruptcy for your estate agency?

If you've been around the estate agency industry for several years, you'll no doubt have once been told by a manager that "boards breed boards".

Back in the day, this was a buzz phrase used by agents all over the country. 

Boards Breed Boards.

What does it even mean? 

It's basically referring to your market share. The more boards you have around the area you cover, the more new sellers will instruct you because you appear to be the most prominent agent. 

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Every corner this potential seller turns, they see one of your boards. Your branding. Your colours. And they think of your company every time they pass it. So, when the time comes that they want to sell, the hope is that they'll think of you and your company. 

But does it still matter?

No one drives around the local area to count boards anymore - I suppose the modern-day version is the Rightmove pie chart. And let's be honest, the only person that cares about those is the agency owner.

A for-sale board will be like white noise to most people unless they're looking to buy a house. The majority of people conduct their research online now. So, you and your company need to show up there, not by sticking a 6-foot white post up in the garden of the properties you sell.

And bigger doesn't necessarily mean better. Think of the independent coffee shops that serve the best coffee, and compare them to the big multi-national chains. The coffee is usually much better at the small independent coffee shops, likewise, for smaller independent agencies that run a smaller book of properties. The "boards breeds boards" concept only works for those agents with the most significant market share, but the very best agents often don't chase market share. 

The only real way to grow your market share quickly is to cut your fees (which is a terrible idea!) or overvalue the property so that the seller picks you (also a terrible idea!)

If you overvalue a property, you'll end up with a disgruntled seller who has had to reduce their price. If you're lucky, they might keep the property on with you and reduce it, and you might be able to sell it before they get really pissed off and change agents. Or, you won't be lucky, and you'll lose the instruction. 

You have paid to value, instruct, market and promote a property, probably including viewings. Make time to call the seller weekly with an update on the marketing and possibly even lengthy conversations about price reductions. If you lose the client, you've done all that work for free. And in an almost exclusively no-sale no-fee industry, this is a cost to your company.

If you cut fees to attract new clients, you'll possibly get the instruction at a price you can sell at. You've more chance of getting paid, but the amount you'll be paid is less. So you do the work for less money - far from ideal when inflation is rising and the cost of living increasing. Not to mention staffing shortages and more time off for illnesses; the last thing you need in a business is less revenue.

I wouldn't recommend reducing fees or overvaluing unless you have a vast savings pot and can afford to make less money? Particularly in a market where new stock is sparse and the battle between agents to win the instruction is rife. These two strategies have only one outcome - less money for your business.

There is a simple solution. 

Demonstrate your expertise, knowledge, experience, ability, professionalism and customer care. Simply by posting blog post articles that will help your potential customer through their home moving journey and sharing tips to make their lives easier, they will naturally build trust in your firm. This will increase your market share at a reasonable selling price and a good profitable fee.

Practical, helpful, insightful content will encourage potential sellers to engage with your company online in the research phase long before they call anyone out for a valuation. 

If you can show up to these people at this stage, you will have a more significant impact on the potential seller than if they simply drive past your boards on their way to the shops or the school run. 

It must be consistent, and it takes time to have an impact, but you will soon build up a rich library of valuable articles for potential new sellers to read. They'll find these articles during their research before they call for a valuation. So, you can nurture your future clients, probably before they've even decided that they are going to move. 

And if they've found the helpful information from your agency, not your competitors, who do you think they're going to call for a valuation? 

So, don't chase market share at any cost. Use a content marketing strategy to attract sellers to you to keep your business profitable.

Want to know how to implement content marketing in your agency? 

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