Understand this right now. I am offering you free information, in order to move you along a funnel and get you to talk to me. I have ZERO expectation that you will, but the data indicates that at least 25 - 30% of you will nosey in further. If my sales copy is amazing (like this well organised article) then maybe 50 - 75% of you will be attracted. You don't have to speak to me at all. Like I said… I have no expectation that you and I will strike up a conversation. After all, we’ve only just met. You wouldn't ask someone to marry you on a first date… Right?
There is NO reason why you can’t do exactly the same with Landlords.
Here are 5 PROVEN steps to attract, convert, and retain Landlords.
(PS - One of my tips will of course be about Vaboo, but by that point it should make perfect sense. Brace yourself)
1 - Understand your DREAM customers!
This is really important. You should already have an OK understanding of your dream Landlord. But don’t just think about gender/age/location either!
Understand that not all business is going to be good for you. I’ll repeat… NOT ALL BUSINESS IS GOOD FOR YOU.
Now of course your dream landlord is probably going to be happy with your fees, they probably have some empathy towards tenants, they are probably very hands off, like to leave you to do things and trust you. (Does this landlord even exist??) But you must also understand their goals and dreams as well and maybe more importantly, their biggest fears and what keeps them up at night. Understanding the deeper needs will make it easier to convert and retain them.
Visit forums that Landlords visit online regularly, Facebook groups, and a hidden gem is ‘Answerthepublic.com’. Type in 'letting agent' in the bar on the website, and it will come up with the biggest google searches based around 'letting agent'. You will see various questions that landlords are asking in the UK.
Once you know all of this you should:
2 - Give FREE High Value Content Offers to your dream buyers BEFORE they are a customer! And move them through the funnel.
There’s a whole list of ‘easy to put together’ content pieces that landlords will find useful.
Firstly, there are tools:
Checklists, cheat sheets, quizzes, VIDEO, interviews, physical product, eBooks, industry stats, case studies, ‘How to’ guides, PDF downloads, webinars and many more!
Pair these ’tools' with high quality industry content and you could have some downloadable resources on your website that drive leads constantly.
Examples:
- Webinar on the latest legislation for landlords.
- Checklist for Landlord compliance.
- 'How to get better tenants' cheat sheet.
Combine different tools with different content and see what is driving business to you, and don’t forget to make sure they are leaving you an email and phone number in return for this HOT content.
3 - Stop pitching like your neighbours and ensure your customer service stands out.
Right! We now have a landlord who is in ‘research mode’. They've downloaded some FREE content and are ready to hear your proposal.
Customer service can be a deadly USP, but only if you make it stick. And what I mean by this, is that sometimes 10 agents or even more will be pitching for the same business, and I can GUARANTEE you they all say they are great at customer service. Generic sales phrases on a website like ‘Exceptional Customer service’, or even worse, ‘Goes above and beyond’ are the biggest turn offs! You’ve got to pierce through the noise and stand out!
59% of Landlords leave their agent due to poor service! This makes any Landlord speaking to you very sceptical when you say your customer service is amazing!
They’ve probably heard this before and are actually very wary. But what you can do is:
4 - SHOW the client PROOF that you are exceptional at customer service!
Don’t TELL them. Be the agent who doesn’t just have reviews ready, but has case studies from tenants and other landlords, and has the best content and blogs on your website to help landlords. Have proof that you get the best quality tenants and keep them in the property as long as possible.
Things like Vaboo (I told you it’d come up) which help you to reward tenants and therefore retain them, offer prize draws to win a month’s rent free, AND give you data reports every quarter meaning that you are an EXPERT agent who UNDERSTANDS the market and can confidently speak to landlords and back up your talk with proof.
Aftercare and Retaining Landlords
The age-old question is this - Why focus on putting stuff in the top of the funnel, if other stuff is falling out the bottom? In other words, get your retention right before you start building your new business.
Now we’ve understood our ideal client, we’ve offered FREE value to them, we’ve PROVEN our USP and they have understood this. Now we need to keep them.
Many letting agents only pick the phone up to the landlord when there is an issue. The biggest key to retention is proven metrics (data) and continual engagement with them. At Vaboo, we do a survey every single month that tenants fill in to get all important data, and we also engage weekly with both tenants and landlords to remind them of the great things your agency is doing. Having reports on tenant behaviour AND reminding your landlords every week what you are doing above and beyond others is a great way to keep business.
If you want to discuss any of these scientifically backed steps to driving growth in 2021 feel free to book 10 minutes in with us here.
If you don’t fully understand the power of customer service yet, then you have to read this article:
