Positive Steps with Rowan Waller of Wallers Estate Agents
1. Creating a viewing experience when we had no ability (or permission, by order of the government) to actually view. We set out creating video tours for all of our instructions and we encourage our clients to opt for our 3D Virtual Tours which we create using Matterport – these provide online users with an interactive online viewing experience, where the customer is in control of the viewing.
2. Allowing flexible working. We have always encouraged it here anyway, so fortunately it has been easy to adapt to a working environment where as often as not our Staff are working from home – that’s the way it has to be moving forward, especially for our staff with children… which as it happens, is all of us (including me!). As long as we’re productive then I’m happy! And there are enough of us that we can stagger our working hours to ensure that the needs of the business are always covered.
3. Avoiding the BBLS and CBILS for as long as possible…. Don’t get me wrong – these may yet be something I consider applying for, depending how long this looks likely to be going on and considering second waves etc., but being cautious when first offered what looked like free money has allowed me to graft our business back into a position that looks more financially stable and more able to cope with future repayments if I do later opt to take up one of these loans.
4. Saying ‘No’ to bad clients – we’ve got tougher in this respect. Life is too short to run around breaking my back for people I don’t like. The end.
5. Going heavy on social media – it’s free, so why not!? Try to do it with a social media strategy in mind. For my part, it has been about continuing to broadcast our positive news above rather than our adverts – a little bit of ‘look at this property for sale’ of course, but I prefer to broadcast news and stories and the fun stuff. People need to know that good stuff is still happening out there, because you won’t get to hear about it watching News 24/7.
6. Ignoring new contacts who introduce themselves with a sales pitch. Run a mile from contacts who use the term ‘reach out’ – eew.
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