boost start marketing plan

The obvious advantage of setting up your new letting agency or estate agency with the Southcourt Business Package is that you will benefit from our considerable experience. We’ve done all the legwork, and have tried most marketing methods in the course of growing our own successful agency. We know what works and what doesn’t work, and therefore so will you.

OK, so you’re ready to start trading, and all you need now is some customers. The big question is, how do you find them, and which come first – landlords or tenants, sellers or buyers? The answer may surprise you, but getting this stage right will enable you to make a rapid and satisfying start, and quickly begin generating income.

The most effective methods of locating, contacting and signing up local landlords or sellers onto your books do not involve advertising at all, and are more or less cost-free! Local press ads are not really very effective, because only about half of the potential lettings clients who own properties in your town will live locally, so 50% will never see your ad. However they can be partially effective for owner-occupier sellers.

Instead, we explain a couple of very effective ways to find and sign up landlords and sellers. Provided you do as we recommend these methods should work wherever you are located. Once up and running you can of course continue to utilise the same cost-effective processes time and again to keep up a regular supply of clients and steadily build your agency business, instead of your advertising bills!

But this is only part of the answer. You will also need one or more USPs (unique selling points) in order to stand out from the competition by offering something different, and better, than other agents in your area. We explain several ways to achieve this.

Once you have properties on your books, one of the most cost-effective and efficient marketing tools these days for independent agents is the internet. It is also a great equalizer, enabling smaller letting agents and estate agents to compete successfully, and appear as established as ‘the big boys’ at minimal cost.

In the early days of your business, when you are perhaps on a limited budget you can advertise your properties on the numerous free property portal sites that we list, and as time goes on you may also wish to utilise one or more cost-effective portals such as Zoopla, and even subscription portals such as RightMove and FindaProperty.