It’s almost 30 years since the Hollywood hilarity that was Ghostbusters hit our screens and things in the outsourcing world have moved on. The more mundane practicalities of business life, are, these days, easily outsourced. So who are you going to call? There are specialist service providers for telephone management, floorplans, EPCs, photography, audio tours inventories and check-ins/outs and more. They can save you employing staff tearing your hair out and / or losing business. The Negotiator meets just a few of the good ones.

MULTIPLE SERVICES

Evolve

Evolve’s services include Energy Performance Certificates, Green Deal Reports, floorplans, property particulars, photography, photo editing, inventories, check ins/outs, mid-term inspections and void property inspections; which has to help! David Brierley, MD says, “Our most popular service is a Marketing Pack with an EPC, floorplan, brief particulars and photographs. It’s all completed by an Energy Assessor trained to take marketing photos, which we enhance, ensuring blue skies, no wheelie bins etc. This requires one visit, reducing the imposition on the vendor.

“Listers are very happy and very good at the appraisal process but less enamoured by measuring a property, producing a floorplan and taking photos. Letting Agency services help the marketing of the property and our property inspections are fully independent, consistent in style and content, enabling property managers to assess maintenance issues. They provide the landlord and tenant with an insurance policy if there is a dispute at the end of the term and the agent with a clear report on the condition of the property at various points of the tenancy.”

Agents can log instructions through a web based platform which can be integrated into their CRM system, eliminating duplication of data. They can also track the instruction and retrieve the data when completed.

What makes Evolve special? “Our administrative staff have estate agency experience and understand the importance of good quality material combined with fast turnaround times to allow marketing to begin. Our attention to detail, willingness to do our best and our approach as an extended member of staff in each client’s office makes us stand out from the crowd.”

ETSOS
ETSOS also has an online ordering platform for EPCs, 2D and 3D fl oor plans, inventories and Audio Tours (amongst other services).

Our marketing pack has an EPC, floorplan, particulars and photos; all done by one specially-trained person. David Brierley Evolve

Their most popular service is EPCs, but floorplans, especially 3D, are increasingly popular with over 60 per cent of EPC orders now including a floorplan. “This is because they are so cost effective to produce whilst carrying out the EPC and provide potential purchasers with a great idea of the property layout,” says Ben Robinson.

They must be doing something well – 96 per cent of clients are very happy with the considerable time savings, ease of use of the online ordering platform, service levels and innovation as the main factors for using us.

What makes ETSOS special? “Our free online system that allows all of these products to be ordered and tracked from one screen, with preferred attendance times and dates,” says Ben. “We also offer a free tool for agents to generate instant conveyancing quotes from their solicitors.”

FLOORPLANS

Metropix 
At least four floor plans are created using Metropix every minute of every working day, which is impressive. Their range includes 2D, 3D, interactive plans (photos and a room layout), and 3D Walkthroughs.

Free services are included with Metropix subscriptions: Space Planner – to ‘drag and drop’ furnishings onto the floorplan and visualise how you might live there; PicturePlus – a revamped interactive floor plan solution; Plan Bank – a repository of 4.5m plans providing templates of similar properties and Branding – using the agent’s logo and colour matched plans.

Metropix’s ‘AutoDraw’ service is simple – agents send a sketch of the property layout and within 24 hours, Metropix returns a finished plan.

Brian Farrell, MD, says, “2D plans are historically, the most popular option, however we are seeing a continuing uptake of both Interactive and 3D plans.”

“Our floorplan software is very quick and easy to use, 94 per cent of entrants to our ‘speed drawing’ competition drew a plan in less than five minutes!”

What makes Metropix special? “The breadth of services, fully accessible online from any place at any time. We take pride in developing tools based on what our customers want; 98 per cent of our survey respondents say they are treated as a valued customer by Metropix.”

The Mobile Agent

The Mobile Agent supplies high spec floorplan software that lets agents create their own 2D and 3D floorplans as well as plans with photo hotspots.

“3D floorplans are certainly becoming more common, says James Davis. It’s our biggest growth area.“

What makes The Mobile Agent special? “This software is quick and easy to use – an average floorplan takes around 15 minutes to draw and they are great value, £29.99 + VAT gives full access to our software and outstanding phone call support. We are also close to releasing an iPad app that will let agents draw plans on site.”

INVENTORIES

The service that can avoid horrendous issues with departing tenants and disgruntled landlords. There are many choices for letting agents, from the single operator to recently burgeoning companies and franchises.

Pinstripe is a swiftly growing franchise, operational in Edinburgh, Perth, Dundee, London and the Thames Valley. Vicky Harris, Office Manager in Edinburgh says, “We supply Inventories, Check Ins /Outs and Interim Inspections for our student and professional client portfolios.”

Using an independent inventory provider is recognised as best practice by the Tenancy Deposit Schemes and for letting agents it demonstrates that their clients are best protected and treated impartially.

“Service requests can be booked online, scheduled jobs are viewed on a calendar or a map, completed reports can be viewed online The Pinstripe Live system is integrated with the Royal Mail postcode database and Google property mapping and we offer iPad Inventory software. For Letting Agents with portfolios of over 2,500 properties we can integrate Pinstripe Live into their management system.”

What makes Pinstripe special? “Pinstripe is geared toward high volume inventory work for lettings agents that need the reliability of a larger, professional inventory provider. We offer 24 hour turnaround on reports, with clerks available from 8am to 8pm, seven days a week.”

TELEPHONES

Moneypenny
Gary O’Hare, Founding Partner of Streets Ahead is so impressed with his telephone answering service from Moneypenny, he is featuring in a video to share his experience.

Gary says, “Moneypenny knows our business, our staff and culture and understands that first class customer service is what we want to deliver. We have won awards for going above and beyond to help our customers; not missing calls and getting back to people straight away played a big part in that. We can’t be without Moneypenny.

We know that the best people to answer your phones are your staff, but we also know that isn’t always possible. Samantha jones, Moneypenny

The service absolutely pays for itself and I would recommend it to anyone.” With 12 years in the business and trusted by 700 agents, Samantha Jones says, “We know that the best people to answer your calls are your staff but that isn’t always possible. When you’re particularly busy, staffing levels are low, or even to cover lunchtime, your calls are routed seamlessly to Moneypenny, making sure no calls go unanswered and you capture every opportunity coming in.”

Most agents use Moneypenny on an overflow basis, directing unanswered and engaged calls to a fully briefed receptionist who looks after the call as if based in-house avoiding the impersonal answerphone or even worse, the phone just ringing out.

What makes you want to call Moneypenny? “Our receptionists really get to know their client’s business considering themselves as a part of their clients’ teams. Our new 24/7 service has seen a great uptake too, and has really helped some agents stand out.”

Global 4 Communications
Global 4 Communications offer complete business communications solutions that streamline telecoms and provide a service specific to the estate agency’s requirements. Lines, calls, data and IP Solutions and cutting edge telephone systems are supplied, they say, to 34 per cent of UK estate agencies, with savings of up to 40 per cent on year one telephone costs.

What makes Global 4 special? “Uncompromisingly transparent, per second billing (to 4 decimal places), when the majority of our competitors are rounding up their monthly telephone bills to 2 decimal places, combined with a 30 day rolling contact and a inherent understanding of the estate and lettings industry.”

VoIP Unlimited
VoIP Unlimited provides professional, reliable SIP trunk services, allowing businesses to make and receive calls via a broadband or Ethernet connection. VoIP Unlimited can manage multiple services from the VoIP phone numbers, the IP connectivity and the underlying copper lines.

This is an ideal application of VoIP providing agents with a virtual presence in multiple areas for next to nothing. Steve Bieniek VoIP Unlimited

For estate agents running multiple regional offices, with staff off site, VoIP helps to ensure continuity of service and a better customer experience by answering more calls first time.

Communication overheads can be high on PSTN or ISDN lines at around £30 per 2 channels, VoIP Unlimited’s flat fee is £10.99 per month for “Unlimited” channels with 10 new numbers, allowing a mix of regional area codes if required.

What makes VoIP Unlimited special? “Geographic rules do not apply in the world of VoIP,” says Steve Bieniek, Strategic Alliance Director, “Just from a marketing point of view this is an ideal application of VoIP, providing agents with virtual local presence in multiple areas for next to nothing.”

• www.etsos.co.uk
• www.evolvepartnership.co.uk
• www.global4.co.uk
• www.metropix.co.uk
• www.themobileagent.co.uk
• www.moneypenny.co.uk/property
• www.pinstripeinventories.co.uk
• www.voip-unlimited.net