Winning market appraisals is fundamental to the success of your estate agency.
However, converting valuations into instructions takes skills which are different to those required for selling property.
Therefore, it’s vital that you have members of your team who are skilled in undertaking valuations and selling your estate agency services.
With this in mind, we explore how to train your staff to undertake valuations.
Understanding vendor requirements
Not all sellers have the same motivations. While of course almost all homeowners want to get the best possible price for a property, they will often have different priorities.
It’s important that your team understand how to listen to vendors and ask the right questions prior to undertaking any on site valuation.
For example, are they simply testing the market, or do they need to move by a specific date? Are there any barriers to them choosing an agency?
By understanding what a seller is motivated by before undertaking the market appraisal, your staff will be in the best possible position to advise accordingly and win the instruction.
Know the local market
For a vendor, an agent who shows an in-depth knowledge of the local market will always be attractive. So make sure that anyone going out to undertake a market appraisal is familiar with the area in which the property is located.
While using comparables is a valuable tool, ensure that these are researched properly and that you use like for like properties which reflect the property you are visiting.
Vendors want to know that the agency they instruct knows the local market and can highlight the benefits of their property accordingly. For example if it’s in the catchment area for a popular local school, or offers parking in an area where there are few spaces.
Pitching your services
With ever increasing competition, it’s vital that anyone who undertakes market appraisals for your agency is clear on your offering and how you add value to your vendors.
This means presenting a clear strategy for marketing their property, a strong knowledge of the local market and showing your track record.
While some vendors may be price sensitive, in many cases, a vendor is more interested in your customer service offering, especially if they have had a negative experience in the past.
Therefore it is imperative that your valuers are able to clearly state how you can help them based on their specific requirements. For example, do you have history of selling quickly, are you price competitive? Knowing your value will help your valuers to shape their pitch appropriately
Understanding feedback
While you can ensure that your teams get great training, you can’t be with them on every market appraisal. Therefore understanding the reasons you don’t win an instruction are vital.
At KnowYourMarket, we can help you to properly obtain feedback when things don’t go your way.
Our customer experience dashboard enables you to look at trends in your market appraisals to properly feed back to your teams and adjust your training accordingly.
