Tony Piccirillo, who has 25 years' estate agency experience, outlines insights on how to get the right mindset to strive in challenging economic times, to look beyond the short-term, and how to react.
Put yourself in the correct place
The market will come back and being positive now will help you understand and accept the situation to focus on the things that matter and that are in our control now. How you respond over the next six months will determine your next six years. Agents are unlikely to get this time to reflect again and how they respond will make the difference. No one likes uncertainty but making small changes now will reap long-term results.
'The only constant in life is change' - BUDDHA
Plan an attack
It is important to get into the correct frame of mind and see the opportunities. Having a start over attitude to make your company fitter, looking at this an opportunity to have world-class staff who are trained in processes to support vendors. The Sales Protocol Toolkit is one of those processes.
Focus on systems too and where service could be improved, as well as client care, and shout about what service you can offer to help vendors as soon as the crisis is over where there will be a massive bottle-neck for completions. The crisis is a real opportunity to enhance the core elements of your work. Creative solutions tend to appear when resources are scarce.
Do not be afraid to give up the good to go for the great. There are three hard decisions to look at to make a great business:
- Have you got the right staff?
- Have you got too much excess, e.g. offices, cars, etc?
- Training staff to better serve clients
Look to the future
Winning in life and business is not a straight line. We are in a Winter season at the moment, and like Spring, the market will grow again.
Charles Darwin said it is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change. At the end of the crisis, it will be a great time for proactive people with a great business future.
PROPERTYMARK RESOURCES
Further details on striving in a contracting economy can be found on a recording of our webinar which is part of Propertymark’s series of webinars responding to the COVID-19 crisis.
