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How estate agencies can truly differentiate from their competitors

Acaboom offers a market appraisal toolkit that helps agents create impactful digital presentations and proposals that give undisputable reasons to select an agent – regardless of fees. Here, CEO Brian Farrell discusses the importance of differentiation.

Brian Farrell, CEO, Acaboom

Standing out from the crowd

One of the first things we do when onboarding a new client is a “discovery session” where we look to learn everything there is to know about their agencies’ unique offering and, quite specifically, the reasons a homeowner should choose them over a competitor.

Now, one could be forgiven for thinking that any agent should have a well-rehearsed, company approved elevator pitch at hand whenever needed, but the reality is it’s not easy to do (even though a valuer could be trying to deliver their message several times each day).

The discovery call drills into the company’s history, ethos, team, processes and tools used to deliver the service, along with a competitor analysis to look at their strengths and weaknesses too.

Once that’s all on the table, we can start to piece together what are the clients’ strongest USP’s and how these are best put forward, so they truly help win the instruction and at the best fee. Simply, a strong differentiator is way to ensure a valuer really stands out from the crowd and is not doing/saying the same things as the competition.

What’s important is to not only identify the USP’s but to ensure each is not just a statement – e.g. ‘we sell the most properties’, or ‘our customer service is excellent’ – because every agent will likely be saying something similar. The key is to evidence what’s said and back up any claims made. As the saying goes, “That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.”

Some agents may be a step ahead in what they offer– but only the very best are using proper presentation to ensure they are remembered…”

This different method of talking about the service starts to create a compelling story for the valuer to tell, and from this narrative our copywriters can work their magic, with designers creating images or gifs to help bring each of these differentiators to life.

Some agents may be a step ahead in what they offer– but only the very best are using proper presentation to ensure they are remembered, and many still rely on verbal communication alone. Images are critical, and the Pictorial (or Picture) Superiority Effect has been long studied showing how much better we are at remembering and recognizing information presented visually. It’s even more helpful when other decision-makers, who were not met, need to understand a proposal without an agent there in front of them. From a business owner or senior manager perspective, it also gives confidence that complete uniformity of key sales messages is being achieved across all valuers and every market appraisal.

There will always be a challenge in the property sector to overcome. Whatever the issue of the moment – the best guarantee an agent has to succeed is visually show firm, evidenced reasons to choose you over another agent. Fail to do so and you will always be a step behind, or only win based on price – a race to the bottom best avoided.”

Find out more about differentiation and Acaboom here.

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