As any new business will know the first few weeks can be a bit nerve racking – will the phones ring, how will people react to the proposition, however for us, those nerves quickly vanished after day one and whilst the European Referendum Vote had us a bit squeaky bum for an hour or so, we’ve received an overwhelming response following our official launch 10 days ago.
The first two weeks have seen us covering nearly every county and meeting many great agents, however this week our travels have taken us to Hampshire, Sussex, Worcestershire, London, West Midlands and Northamptonshire and we’ve been inspired by the positivity shown in their desire to embrace the Land & New Homes Network and the tools and support available to them. Without blowing our own trumpet, the agents have really engaged with us and in many instances we’ve had multiple agents in the same town wanting to come on board which is really positive although clearly there can only be one due to the nature of the non competing element. Our business might be new but the people who run it have great expertise and personal networks – add into the mix a completely innovative and unique approach and that’s when the magic starts to happen.
For many, Land & New Homes is unchartered waters having been wary of what it entails working for house builders albeit upon probing the standard line has generally, been “we’ve provided lots of pricing advice but never got much further” – well did you actually ask for the business or did you run scared?
What has probably surprised us most is the agents surprise when we reveal some of the planning information and overlayed with showing sites that remain unbuilt but do have planning consents. In many instances when we’ve thrown a few names at them, they’ve tapped it into their CRM systems and found that they have all of the contact details to engage in a conversation – therein lays the opportunity for well established independent estate agents because they are in many cases part of the fabric of most local communities.
Its safe to say that our new member Induction/Onboarding Days are filling up fast, although on a positive, due to the great response in the West Country, we’re hoping to link their Induction Day with a sneaky weekend away in Cornwall – there have to be some perks.
What does next week entail – well first of all we’re helping two new members pitch for sites in their areas with a combined 140 units and assisting a member in Bedfordshire sell a site on behalf of a vendor for over 100 new properties, so it will be interesting to see how competitive the house builders will bid.
If you’d like to know more about the Land & New Homes Network, please get in touch.
