The last couple of months have seen activity lurch from busy to manic with many clients wanting small marketing and other projects started and completed at short notice. Now I pride myself on being able to deliver on time but must admit I do wish some clients would plan ahead a little more to allow me to allocate and plan time for their requirements a little more easily. Fortunately, I always allow for the “end of month” factor in my own diary to allow a breathing space but even I ended up short of breath last month! BTW I coach on time management as part of my business mentoring activities.
The last month has seen me commissioned to produce the content for two estate agency websites and I am enjoying working with The Property Jungle again who are the website developers in both cases. Social media accounts have also been set up for both clients.
A number of my clients are expanding their office networks and I have been working with them on drawing up their business plans for successful launches and the ongoing business.
I have been providing a considerable volume of training in areas of compliance for some time and with HMRC dishing out some significant fines to estate agents in recent weeks for non-compliance with Money Laundering legislation, there is a growing need for agents to ensure that their systems and processes are robust and their staff are fully trained. It is actually a requirement for a business to train its staff in this aspect and clearly makes sense to do so.
Consumer Protection Regulation, the recent changes to Consumer Contracts law and the forthcoming Immigration Law requirements of checks on tenants are all areas I am helping agent clients with in a practical and pragmatic fashion. I have now trained approaching 450 estate agency staff on Consumer Protection Regulations for example.
I have a series of short modules that I run with clients and many of these programmes have been run at their offices early or late in the day so as to not interfere too much with the normal working day.
I have recently spent time judging two categories for the Law Firm Services Conveyancing Awards and the judging panel got together at Arbon House in Warwick (home of the NFoPP) to finalise the winners a few days ago. The awards themselves will be announced and presented in September and so, until then, my lips are sealed!
I continue to run and manage social media accounts for many agents as well as produce website content and monthly e-newsletters. This combination is generating considerable traffic to client websites as well as engaging with target audiences and providing a level of ongoing customer relationship management. With packages ranging between £100 and £400 per month, the benefits provide a significant return on investment.
My near 40 year experience in the industry also often sees me act as an external resource for a number of estate agency clients who regard me as a safe pair of hands when faced with a major, complex or very detailed complaint, Ombudsman submission or regulatory investigation. In recent weeks I have investigated and produced responses for all of these scenarios.
Finally it was great to see so many clients of Integra win awards at the Sunday Times Lettings awards. In total, fifteen awards were won by my clients including a Silver for traceWise (where I am a consultant and shareholder) in the Supplier of the Year category. Picture shows Gavin and Juliette from traceWise collecting the award from Katie Piper.
I produced a total of five submissions for clients and I am delighted to report that I enjoyed an 80% success rate on the day, with my entries producing four awards and failing to pick up an award with just one entry.
I have also just completed entries for the Negotiator awards and another specialist set of awards on behalf of clients.
As always, I would welcome the opportunity of talking with you about your business and how we may work together. The testimonials on my website are testament to the work I do.