Property industry needs to up its game to support higher fees

Russell Quirk has made the controversial comments during a podcast hosted by Simon Gates in which he links industry performance with commission rates.

property opening the gates

Property commentator and PR agency owner Russell Quirk (main image) has caused a stir after telling a popular industry podcast that he doesn’t think many estate agents are good at their jobs and that if they want to win higher fees, they should work harder rather than ‘whingeing’.

The former eMoov founder has made the comments on the Opening The Gates podcast presented by Simon Gates, who has worked within the industry since joining as a sales neg in 2009, later joining Homesearch and more recently The Agency.

“I know I am going to get castigated for this by your audience, but I just don’t think that UK estate agents – generally and I don’t mean everyone – are very good,” he told Gates.

“Most sit on their arses, are not innovative, don’t work particularly hard, are not proactive or have get up and go, don’t prospect or follow up.”

Prospecting misses

Giving an example, he claimed that 99.9% of those listening to the podcast had never phoned up a buyer they’d sold a property to five years ago to see if they were on the move again.

Quirk also had a pop at big corporates, criticising Your Move for the firm’s social media posts, which he claimed always say the same thing about each home offered for sale.

“I’ve been to the US to property conferences and there they really do prospect for new business and nurture existing ones – something we don’t do here in a meaningful way,” he added.

“There are some great prospecting platforms in the UK, but it’s not part of our industry culture.

“Overall, it drives me insane that we are so reactive [rather than proactive] in the UK – the money that we’re leaving on the table is phenomenal.”

Listen to the podcast in full.


What's your opinion?

Back to top button