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Real estate agents have ranked the seven biggest challenges they encounter when it comes to securing new business.
In a recent survey rolled out at this year’s AREC conference, ProposalPoint was able to determine the consistent obstacles agents have that they believe prevent them from winning more listings.
1. Maintaining a key point of difference
According to the results, 47 per cent of agents surveyed said not being seen differently from other agents is their greatest difficulty in securing new business.
“It’s no surprise that this was ranked as the number one challenge,” a statement from ProposalPoint said.
“Competition is fierce in all suburbs across Australia when it comes to property sales and management, and with highly empowered vendors and landlords becoming more discerning and tech-savvy, it’s important to be able to present something distinct which stands out.”
2. Personalisation
Coming in as the second biggest headache is the need to personalise for each new prospect.
Thirty-nine per cent of respondents said they find personalisation difficult, given every home and every potential client is different.
“Today, people demand a tailored solution — especially when it comes to real estate services, where the money exchange can be in the million-dollar vicinity,” ProposalPoint said.
“Presenting a generic proposal doesn’t make a good impression, particularly if other competing agents are taking the time to customise their presentations.
“It looks far more impressive to a potential client if the presentation discusses their unique circumstances and addresses their specific requirements to best sell the home.”
3. Getting timing right
The time it takes to produce customised real estate proposals was cited as a challenge for 32 per cent of respondents.
“There are a limited number of hours in a working day, and it can take a disproportionate amount of time to produce customised real estate proposals to help agents stand out at every meeting,” ProposalPoint’s statement noted.
“Even with an assistant or a team, producing a personalised proposal can be difficult and time-consuming, which therefore means it is a costly and inefficient process.”
4. Being kept in the dark
Not knowing when the prospective client is looking at a proposal is also a struggle for 26.5 per cent of agents surveyed, noting that some clients take much longer than others to make decisions.
“During this period, an agent should follow up with the potential client, as this will generally keep that agent top of mind. However, the challenge is how to know the opportune time,” ProposalPoint said.
“As digital technology quickly shifts the real estate landscape, with it comes the ability to track and monitor client interactivity with an agent’s proposal. Once an agent is notified that a prospect has read their proposal again, the agent should contact them.”
5. ‘Visually appealing’ presentations
In order for a presentation to have an impact, it needs to be impressive both by way of content and design, according to ProposalPoint, whose survey showed 26.5 per cent of agents rank this as being in the “too hard” box.
A visually appealing presentation “helps separate one agent from others, and conveys the message in an engaging way”, according to ProposalPoint.
“However, this also requires a lot of time and effort to continually update the proposal with the right creative elements.”
6. Delays in delivery
Fifteen per cent of agents said a challenge is coping with delays in getting presentations delivered to the prospect.
“This challenge ties in with some of the earlier ones. When an agent is dedicating time to construct and personalise their presentation for each proposal meeting, it can significantly delay when they’re able to send it to the potential client,” ProposalPoint noted, adding that to a vendor or landlord, “this can seem like poor customer service or that they’ve been forgotten”.
7. Tracking
Difficulty in tracking the presentations produced versus the ones won was identified as an obstacle for 14.5 per cent of agents.
“Just like in any other profession, numbers matter,” ProposalPoint said.
“It’s important for agents to be able to track their success rate of how many presentations they undertake compared to how many they win in order to improve. However, this can be difficult as it requires ongoing manual monitoring.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Emma Ryan
Emma Ryan is the deputy head of editorial at Momentum Media.
Emma has worked for Momentum Media since 2015, and has since been responsible for breaking some of the biggest stories in corporate Australia, including across the legal, mortgages, real estate and wealth industries. In addition, Emma has launched several additional sub-brands and events, driven by a passion to deliver quality and timely content to audiences through multiple platforms.
Email Emma on: Emma.Ryan@momentummedia.
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