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Estate Agencies

Negotiating Fees in Estate Agency: Three Lessons from a Seller’s Journey

November 15, 2023

Recently I was helping my girlfriend to sell her house.  Three Agents were invited round for a consultation.  What an interesting experience it was.   The best part was that they all turned up on time.  An encouraging start.  

Agent 1 was professional until we started to discuss charges, where, without questioning their initial figure, they went from 1.25% to 1%, plus VAT.  Until this point, I had sat relatively quietly and they were quite taken aback when I asked why they would do such a thing.  Effectively, if they were already negotiating on their fee, how would they be at negotiating a premium price for my girlfriend.

Agent 2 was very clear on their charges.   1% plus VAT.  I loved the value they added by suggesting they bring an architect round to the house to see what planning potential the property had for potential buyers.

Agent 3 was ill-prepared, asking why our meeting was so formal.  He did not to want to give a marketing price at our meeting but when pressed, he was 20% more that the other Agents. 

My girlfriend was clearly aware that this was an overestimated property price at which point he came down by 20%.

So, what lessons can Agents learn?  

Lesson 1: A seller wants a skilled negotiator to achieve a premium price in an acceptable timescale for the seller and taking any stress out of the deal. If you’re an Agent, demonstrate to the seller how you are a skilled negotiator.  Bear in mind, the cheapest agent is the one who achieves the highest price for your property.  Not the one that charges the cheapest fee.

Lesson 2: What can you do to add value to the seller on an initial valuation?

Lesson 3: Prepare before you see the seller. Don’t wing it.

Authored by Stephen Brown,
Agents Together

Estate Agencies

A guide to planning your sales funnel for 2024

November 8, 2023

In our previous blog, Get a jump on your marketing for 2024, we examined how a suitably experienced Virtual Assistant can be invaluable in taking on the planning and implementation of a multi-channel marketing plan on behalf of a busy estate agent. This includes providing input into the overall marketing strategy and creating a detailed marketing plan. It encompasses overseeing content creation and rolling out a multi-channel marketing plan that:

· focuses efforts to connect and build a relationship with prospective clients,

· plans to engage with targeted customers via their preferred medium or channel.

According to HSBC*, from the start of a property search to completion, buying a property in the UK, on average, takes around 6 months – subject to any delays in sales progression. There are many potential client touchpoints, i.e. moments your customer can interact with your brand over their journey before, during and after their property purchase. It is essential to streamline the customer journey, to design a multi-channel marketing campaign that allows for an optimal number of touch points along the way. This results in being able to generate qualified leads and better guide them through a sales funnel and toward a desired action.

A sales funnel can be seen as a visual roadmap that shows exactly where a prospect is in the buying process at any given time. Good sales funnels guide prospects toward a purchase by capturing their attention, nurturing their interest and, ultimately, closing the deal. The typical sales journey of a prospect looking to purchase a residential property goes through the following phases:

TOP OF THE SALES FUNNEL

The need to build brand awareness

Top of the funnel marketing refers to efforts that are focused on brand awareness with new clients. It is all about creating reach, because the more buyers and sellers know about your brand, the more likely they are to engage with you when they need your service.

Prospective clients are:

  • Starting to think about buying a new home.
  • Noticing property-related news and information.
  • May not yet be talking with an estate agent.

How do you create awareness?

There are several ways to reach new prospects via digital marketing. These include:

  • Blogs and custom website landing pages
  • Social media posts
  • Search engine optimised Google Ads

Relevant content

Top of the funnel content should attract the attention of a wide audience within the regions and suburbs an estate agent covers. Ensure you have a consistent online presence and provide relevant and informative content to build trust and familiarity with prospective clients. Your digital marketing should help to drive more visitors to your website. Once there, you can create a sales funnel for different categories of visitors to go down.

MIDDLE OF THE SALES FUNNEL

Once a prospect moves to the middle of the sales funnel, they are likely to be qualified as sales leads, i.e. people who are actively looking to buy a property. At this stage you can make them aware of your services and specific property stock. Focus on how your knowledge and experience can help provide a solution to their needs or pain points. To promote engagement, you can provide the option to fill in a form to book a call, provide more information or download a guide.

What are some of your prospects’ considerations?

Home buyers will be asking themselves:

  • Is now a good time to buy?
  • What type of home do I need and want?
  • What can I afford?
  • What areas should I consider?
  • How far am I prepared to commute?

Buyers will be seeking information from friends, family, and online. They are interested in:

  • Specific market conditions,
  • What homes are worth in their area if they are first selling,
  • What homes are worth in their location of interest,
  • Tips on purchasing a home,
  • Details about what amenities homes on the market are offering, neighborhood and school information.

How do you create engagement?

As the prospect moves through the funnel, engaging content can include a call to action to get their email address. For example, a free downloadable property guide could be accessible by providing their details. At the same time, an automated CRM system is the most efficient way to inform your marketing and sales teams of the prospect’s response.

Relevant content

Typical content within the middle of the sales funnel provides useful information, case studies, e-Guides, market reports, webinars on helpful “how to” topics and FAQs along with tailored communication and in-person contact. Once they request your download, you can add them into a nurturing email campaign and provide them with useful information.

BOTTOM OF THE FUNNEL

Once the qualified lead has reached the end of the funnel a degree of familiarity and trust should be established. You’ve spoken to their needs and addressed their concerns and have forged a person-to-person relationship. If you’ve nurtured the prospect effectively, making a sale should be more straightforward.

Clients have reached the point of action

Leads are involved in an active search for a home. Buyers at this stage are:

  • Aware of exactly what they want and what they can afford,
  • Need recommendations based on an estate agent’s knowledge of a local area,
  • Ready to view homes in-person,
  • Want specific information about the buying process.

At the point successful buyers are:

  • Looking for assistance in finding home inspectors and mortgage brokers,
  • Concerned about timelines and logistics,
  • Wondering if they are getting a good deal,
  • May need help in selling their current home.

How do you stay top-of-mind?

Once a prospect has moved through the sales funnel and you have started to nurture them and feed them content (even if at that time it does not lead to a prospect immediately becoming a buyer) you can remarket to them via Google or Facebook to ensure you remain familiar to them. Then when the time comes for that prospect to choose an estate agent, they will be more likely to choose you.

POST SALE FOLLOW UP

Keeping in touch with your customers is essential to secure repeat business and referrals. Your happy clients will appreciate knowing:

  • What is trending in the marketplace,
  • if their property is going up in value or not.

Building an effective sales funnel is about knowing your own brand identity and tone of voice, as well as who your buyers are, so you can supply the type of information they need throughout every stage of their sales journey. Creating a sales funnel is an extensive process. It takes time and effort to determine what channels will work best for your team and your buyers. But by systematically starting from the top and working your way to the bottom of the funnel, you can develop a seamless sales process that will allow you to generate leads, convert them to clients retain more customers than you would with ad hoc marketing.

*https://www.hsbc.co.uk/mortgages/timeline-for-buying-a-home/

Estate Agencies

Get a jumpstart in planning your marketing for 2024

October 30, 2023

With year end on the horizon, smart Estate Agents across the United Kingdom are already gearing up for business in 2024 – fine tuning business plans, setting budgets and creating tactical marketing plans. A marketing strategy and plan are two of the most important business tools in any company’s arsenal. Through having a plan, all associated staff have absolute clarity as to where the business is going, its growth targets, and how they will contribute.

· A marketing strategy should outline how the business is positioned, who its target audiences are, what its core mission, vision and values are and how these inform the marketing messaging. A strategy should also include the overriding objectives of what the marketing activity needs to deliver.

· The marketing plan is the blueprint of how the marketing strategy is going to be implemented. It is more tactical in its nature.

It takes specialised knowledge and consistent attention for an Estate Agent to strategise and implement marketing activities that will increase brand awareness, reach targeted buyers and create regular, meaningful engagement with people on their database. Happily, estate agents don’t have to handle daily marketing tasks if they have the help of a suitably experienced Virtual Assistant. They can hand over social media management, graphic design, content writing, video editing and email marketing to their VA.

Here are 5 ways your marketing savvy VA can help you grow your business.

1. Overseeing refreshing your branding

Your brand represents the heart of your business and what sets you apart from your competitors. Strong, successful brands have a defined purpose, a set of defined values and a mission that all speak to employees and customers who share them. Fundamental questions to answer in the context of consciously building your brand can include:

· Why are we in business?

· How is our brand different?

· Why would people care about our brand?

When it comes to marketing, it is important to develop a clear and consistent brand image that reflects the company’s values and the services. This includes the company logo and colour palette and can be consistently rolled out across all customer touch points and marketing messaging – both visual and written.

2. Managing digital marketing tools

In the digital era, people rely on search engines to solve their problems, including where to find property for sale. However, the customer buying journey (incorporating the three phases of awareness, consideration, and decision) has become increasingly more complex. For Estate Agents to be successful in reaching targeted prospects, based on their online browsing and buying behaviour, it is essential to employ up-to-date digital marketing tools to focus and streamline the planning, managing and measuring of multi-channel marketing campaigns.

3. Implementing a multi-channel marketing strategy

Multi-channel marketing is an integrated marketing strategy that aims to engage with customers via their preferred medium or channel. It balances efforts to connect and build a relationship with prospective clients using various platforms, both online and offline. A multi-channel marketing strategy has these benefits:

· Reaching more customers: Reach can be expanded by using multiple channels, making it possible to connect with more people in different geographic areas or with different demographics.

· Boosting engagement: A multi-channel marketing campaign will reach suitably targeted customers via their preferred channels where they are more likely to engage with your content.

· Streamlining the customer journey: A multi-channel marketing campaign allows for more touch points along the customer journey. This results in being able to better guide them through a sales funnel and toward a desired action.

4. Managing automated CRM systems

To be competitive, efficiency is vital when it comes to speed to lead. The introduction of automated Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems has revolutionised the follow up of leads in the property industry, offering Estate Agents more opportunity to maintain meaningful marketing touch points with existing and potential customers. CRM automation:

· captures, tracks and nurtures leads efficiently,

· empowers businesses to deliver personalised communication at scale,

· provides comprehensive customer insights by automating data collection and analysis.

5. Keeping up to date with emerging technology

Generative AI (GenAI) is the next step in the evolution of artificial intelligence. GenAI can create new content based on data it has been trained on, giving users the capability to perform a variety of tasks very rapidly. Here are some of the most common potential uses of AI marketing tools in real estate.

· AI tools can use data gleaned from customer profiles to learn how to best communicate with each of them in a tailored fashion.

· AI can generate personalised property recommendations as per a prospect’s preferences.

· AI-powered chatbots can help enhance customer support.

· Generative AI in estate agencies can help create a wide variety of product listings and other content.

· AI enhanced software can organise data, including analysing customer behavior, to plot future market trends.

A marketing plan is one of the most important business tools for any company to utilise. It schedules all channels and costs, assigning specific actions and deadlines. It serves as a guide for team members to follow and allows business owners and leaders to check in on progress to ensure the company is on track to reach goals. It keeps a clear record of what has been done and is a means to monitor successes and activities that didn’t work well. It allows for post campaign analysis to measure activity against return on investment and plan effective forward planning.

Estate Agencies

Top 5 Ways a Virtual Assistant Can Make Your Halloween Perfect

October 17, 2023

Planning on making Halloween a fun time for your family and friends this year? On top of your busy schedule, it can be incredibly stressful to plan and purchase everything you will need for a Halloween event. Even shopping for Halloween trick or treat candy for your kids to dish out can be a pain. Luckily, if you are a busy professional and you want to get the most out of this holiday’s traditions, getting logistical support is super easy.

We recommend you delegate all the organising and running around to your personal or executive Virtual Assistant. Whether you plan to be out trick or treating with your children, throwing a cocktail party for your clients or holding a themed dinner for your friends, your Virtual Assistant can have great fun breaking away from office tasks and exercising their creative brain to help you put together the best Halloween ever. Then you can relax and enjoy yourself being a guest at your own Halloween party!

Here are 5 ways that a Virtual Assistant can help you plan your Halloween celebration:

1. Order your favorite trick or treat candy

Buying Halloween candy from the supermarket can be tedious. Retailers run out of the most popular sweets and appropriately themed candy can be particularly expensive in October due to supply and demand. If you have a favorite selection of Halloween sweets that you and your family love to hand out, your Virtual Assistant can help. They can pre-order your favourite sweet selection from an online retailer. All you need to do is let your assistant know what is on your list of must-have candy.

2. Help plan and order your decorations

If getting into the spooky spirit by decorating your entrance hall or office reception area is part of the holiday fun for you, your Virtual Assistant can help with that too! Your VA can research themes and coordinated decoration ideas for you. They can go on online shopping forays and create a Pinterest board if you don’t have a particular theme in mind or know precisely what decorations you want. All you should do is let your assistant know what budget they have at their disposal and then let them do the research and present you with ideas before shopping for your diabolical décor online.

3. Help you get your Halloween costumes together

Do you and your kids love getting dressed for the occasion – or perhaps you’ve been invited to a Halloween dress up party? Whether you want to get kitted out like your favorite TV character or fancy something more ghoulish, your Virtual Assistant can help you find all the elements of a perfectly themed costume for you and your family. Start by briefing your Virtual Assistant on your characters and what you’ll need to put your costumes together. Then, give your Virtual Assistant your budget and let them go on an Internet hunt for what you need.

4. Research fabulous events in your area

If you have a hankering for a night out on the town to see in the witching hour this Halloween, but don’t quite know what to do, a Virtual Assistant can be a huge help in finding the perfect event or club in your area. Just let your Virtual Assistant know if you want to dance the night away or keep the evening more intimate and low-key – and how far you are willing to travel. They can put together a list of all the Halloween happenings in your area so can pick your favorite club, parade, or party opportunities, and have your VA purchase tickets or make reservations for you.

5. Help you plan a Halloween event

Halloween traditions make it a very social night of the year, and your Virtual Assistant can help take the horror out of you planning and shopping for a client cocktail party or full-on bash for your friends. With a thorough brief and budget in mind, your VA can arrange all logistics and liaise with hiring companies and the caterers. They can purchase the decorations, food and drinks for you online. Your Virtual Assistant can take care of researching venues, sourcing décor around a theme, sending out invitations and monitoring RSVPs, organising catering, hiring crockery and glassware, organising the bar and drinks. They can also arrange a post party cleaning service to put your space back to rights.

When it comes to holding a work event on Halloween your Virtual Assistant can create a budget spreadsheet to research vendors and services within your price range, and keep an eye on expenses, tracking costs so that you don’t overspend and can accurately allocate the expenditure as coming from your annual marketing budget.

Estate Agencies

Start 2024 with a twelve-month strategic business plan

October 10, 2023

While you may have created a comprehensive business plan in the lead up to starting your business, change happens. It is very useful to develop a 12-month strategic business plan as an action and accountability tool that will set goals and keep your team and company on track over the year ahead.

The aim of a strategic business plan is to focus on specific initiatives to develop the business. It emphasises tactical actions to sustain a competitive advantage in the current marketplace, increase market share and foster business growth.

Here are three ways a strategic business plan can help you
succeed in 2024:

It reminds you of the big picture

It grounds your thinking and helps to reinforce company culture by helping you refocus on your foundational vision, mission and values.

It steers you in the right direction

It helps in taking stock and setting fresh goals. This paves the way to establishing an action plan for the following 12 months, from which leaders and team members can gain a clear sense of each person’s part in the success of the business. This action plan can be broken down into quarterly or seasonal segments to maintain focus and allow flexibility.

It focuses marketing

Marketing success relies on updating your business plan on an annual basis, allowing it to keep pace with company and market developments. It helps to clarify what makes your business unique, define exactly what you are offering and fine tune who your target market is. In other words it breaks down how your business is going to make money in the 12 months ahead.

The information gathering and analysis required to craft a worthwhile strategic business plan can appear daunting, but it is well worth it. Virtual Assistants with administrative, financial and marketing expertise can all be very helpful in gathering and tracking the necessary sales, financial, client, lead and market information. And when it comes to putting your strategic business plan into action, a Virtual Assistant or two can make all the difference to reaching your goals and cost-effectively growing your business.

Here are five steps to take in crafting your strategic business action plan for 2024.

1. First take stock

This involves gathering and reviewing information on your current and target clients as well as competitors, industry size and market trends.

  • Market analysis: involves examining the size of your market both in volume and in value, along with the economic environment in terms of barriers to entry and regulation.
  • Customer analysis: will allow you to understand more about ideal customer groups and their buying patterns with a view to tailoring your marketing communications accordingly. With this information you can shape your marketing to address customers’ needs and speak their ‘language’, define what marketing channels will best reach them and focus communication through target market segmentation.
  • Competitive analysis: involves gathering information on who your competitors are, researching their strategies, and analysing what they do well and where they fail. This process can shed light on your company’s strengths and weaknesses, as well as revealing how to remain a meaningful competitor in your industry. The process will benefit from drawing up a SWOT analysis to identify internal strengths and weaknesses and external opportunities and threats for your company.

2. Qualify your competitive advantage

It is essential to determine how your business is uniquely qualified because this value proposition will go a long way towards determining the success of your company including navigating setbacks. For example, is it your service excellence that sets you apart? Or are you a knowledge leader in a particular area? Whatever your value proposition is, make sure that it is made crystal-clear across all your marketing channels.

3. Plot financial projections

Financial projections show that you have discipline in financial management, and they are a helpful tool to predict future financial performance. This includes how the company earns revenue, where it spends money and whether the company is making a profit. In addition, it is a great tool when making business decisions, such as when to take on more people or make a capital investment. It can also help you monitor month-to-month cash flow.

4. Set goals for the 12 months ahead

Goals are an important part of running a successful business as they provide a clear focus and set targets for your business to work towards. A quarterly action plan can provide a way to break down your annual goals into four manageable timeframes, allowing flexibility and the regular assessment of progress. Having a 90-day plan will keep you on track and motivated as you progress towards your overarching goals.

5. Turn your goals into an action plan

Linked to point four, an action plan is a definitive checklist of tasks and resources needed to complete a project or achieve a goal to required standards. Developing an action includes listing the teams and service providers to be involved. It breaks down tasks and resources needed to complete the project – including timelines and deadlines. Action plans help maintain operational efficiency and are great for reaching upfront agreement on how the work should be done.

The key to crafting and implementing a successful strategic business plan that works, is firstly to engage the whole team with the plan as early as possible in the planning process. This way everyone will be familiar with the aspirations and challenges of the company’s overall plan for the year and understand their contribution to a successful outcome. Secondly it is to build in measures and implementation steps that allow you to monitor the outcome at regular intervals. When you do this, goals become steppingstones to even greater goals.

Estate Agencies

3 Ways your Virtual Assistant can help to generate more leads

October 5, 2023

Today, since the advent of Covid, having an online sales funnel that facilitates lead generation could not be a more important tool within an estate agency’s marketing arsenal.

Traditionally, leads were generated through cold calling, knocking on doors or word of mouth. Marketing tools included estate agent boards and flyers in post boxes. Today, lead generation includes a working knowledge of estate agency-specific lead generation, nurturing software, and social media marketing in order to drive and increase website traffic and persuade prospective customers to provide their personal information and contact details.

Just like it does with online lead generation, the process of nurturing qualified leads uses multiple channels leading up to the very important element of person-to-person interaction. It entails the process of growing relationships with buyers at every stage of the sales funnel through providing interesting and valuable information.

MAKE LEAD GENERATION WORK FOR YOU

Generating leads and then following them up through various communication channels is the lifeblood of an estate agency. Here are 3 great ways to generate sales leads and optimise converting them into clients.

1. Use traditional and digital channels to generate new leads and follow up

There is no getting away from it. Even with the world opening after Covid lockdowns and estate agents resuming pre-Covid lead generation practices, building an online sales funnel is what makes all the difference to an estate agent’s success. There are multiple channels at an estate agent’s disposal to create a sales funnel that will generate warm leads. For example monitoring and posting on community websites and forums, maintaining a social media presence, purchasing a list of property leads then cold calling or emailing them, posting search engine-optimised blogs to drive traffic to a website or investing in paid online advertising.

2. After sales follow up: Regularly conduct customer care calls

Follow up equals fortune. Keeping in touch with your happy customers will ensure that you stay their go-to estate agent for life. This way you may be the agent who found them their ideal home, or who also sells it on for them down the line when they wish to downscale or upscale. This will also give you the opportunity to ask them for referrals. Personal referrals are the best lead generation strategy. Nothing will boost your credibility more than a satisfied customer telling their family, friends and colleagues about you and singing your praises.

3. Lead nurturing: Keep in contact with existing referrals

Not every lead you follow up will be ready to buy or sell property at that time. But you do want to be top of mind when the time is right. This makes nurturing existing leads vital in the lead generation process. Your lead nurturing efforts can be helped by being a trusted source of information. There is no better way to do so than online. Posting relevant and valuable content will result in you being seen as an expert in the property field – an advisor that they can trust.

When considering the relentless and time-intensive nature of generating, following up and nurturing leads: Industry specific digital lead generation tools (such as CRM’s provided by Lifecycle and Angel Media’s Valpal and Movepal) are a game-changing tool in the hands of the support person who takes care of lead generation and conversion in an estate agency. They fulfil the role of an automated assistant who is on duty 24/7 – focused on the repetitive daily task of maintaining consistent lead generation activity. In the process of qualifying leads, the software not only saves time, but it also acts as a less in-your-face client interface – a win-win for estate agents and their prospective clients.

Paula Russel, Angel Media’s, MovePal Support Manager.

Paula Russel described the use of Angel Media’s Lead generation software this way:

“Lead generation and lead nurturing are the cornerstones of success for estate agents. Like seeds in a garden, leads are the potential for a fruitful harvest, and nurturing them with care and attention is the key to reaping a bountiful future. Facebook/Google Ads and ValPal are the source of your seeds. Social Media Management ensures quality, high volume, low cost per lead ‘speeds’. MovePal is the tools used to harvest your potential growth, not only streamlining the process but it also provides a better way to cultivate and convert leads into lasting client relationships. Virtual Assistants are the ‘farmers’ that use the software as tools to turn those nurtured leads into new instructions. In the end you get a bouquet of business with ease.”

3 Ways Your Virtual Assistant Help You Generate And Convert More Leads

Virtual Assistants with lead generation experience have the knowledge and expertise to align your business and marketing strategies and oversee the design and implementation of a sales funnel that incorporates the lead generation, follow up and nurturing process. This includes overseeing the use of the right digital tools and software.

Here are 3 ways your Virtual Assistant can help to champion your lead generation and conversion:

1. Overseeing Digital Marketing and Social Media

A VA who understands lead generation will help you figure out how to turn casual interest into brand engagement. To do this they will help to create an effective lead generation strategy for your agency. They can maintain your website, create and curate engaging content for your social media platforms, schedule posts, and monitor engagement. From website content to blog posts, newsletter articles and email newsletters, a Virtual Assistant can assist in creating compelling and relevant content that speaks in your brand voice and resonates with your target audience.

2. Engaging in first response and follow up

Studies have proven that the faster you respond to a potential lead’s question or inquiry, the more likely you are to make a sale. First contact may come in the form of answering a phone call, responding to an email or receiving a completed online form. A Virtual Assistant can quickly respond to customer inquiries and provide helpful information, which can help you build stronger relationships with your leads.

3. Managing CRM and list building

It is vital to generate leads, but following up and managing these leads using the right tools is as important. Virtual Assistants who are skilled at data entry and organising can help you maintain your client database as well as organising and managing your lead data more effectively. With the help of CRM software, your Virtual Assistants can organise all customer and lead information, keep track of sales calls and follow ups, and automate any repetitive tasks that do not necessarily require human interaction. The VA will also use a variety of strategies to build your list and nurture it so that it grows over time.

Overall, a skilled Virtual Assistant will have the traits of being knowledgeable, accurate and consistent. This means that you can rely on them to oversee ongoing lead generation, follow up timeously and track lead generation and conversion with a high degree of accuracy. This will avoid mistakes and missed opportunities to ensure that your lead generation efforts are as effective as possible.

Estate Agencies

How to Onboard Your New Virtual Assistant in Less Than a Week

September 28, 2023

Onboarding refers to the process through which new members of a team are integrated into the company. This generally includes an orientation process that involves learning about the organisation – its structure, culture, mission and values. A comprehensive onboarding process also aims to equip people with tools that will help them to become a productive member of the team and learn what is expected of them.  

While it will take some upfront thought and work, having your ducks in a row even before your new Virtual Assistant starts will streamline the onboarding process considerably and have your VA up to speed in no time. Here is a short, comprehensive guide to help you. 

Mini guide to the onboarding process 

Before 

There are some useful elements of onboarding your new Virtual Assistant that should be in place even before the right person is offered the position and starts work.  

  1. For the recruitment process and when discussing the nitty gritty of the position with your new VA, it is important to write a clear job description that explains the function and scope of tasks and responsibilities of the position. It should ideally detail each duty along with the frequency and purpose of the work.
  2.  With remote team members, technology is fundamental to them being productive. Before the successful candidate starts work, create appropriate access to technology systems. For example: 
  • A company email address with tailored signature 
  • A company phone number (or VOIP option) that forwards to their location 
  • Calendar, scheduling, and travel software 
  • Access to internal messaging and video conferencing systems 
  • Cloud document and file storage 
  • Task and project management software 
  • Your CRM for managing any contact or prospective client 

During 

You can’t cover every possible list of tasks or work scenarios that may come up. Rather, the aim of onboarding should be to create a foundation from which your VA has the information necessary to think on their feet and get to work right away. Here are four steps to take:  

1. Start with your company culture 

It is important to explain your values and other cultural norms to new team members. This is especially important as a VA will not be a part of day-to-day office interactions in person. For example, what is the attitude towards working after hours? Is it okay to share funnies or more personal information on the company WhatsApp group?  

2. Provide company information and a “reference library”  

  • Basic information about your company 
  • Employee handbooks 
  • Team information and contact details  
  • Security and privacy protocols 
  • Templates for documents, emails, meetings, etc. 
  • Any step-by-step manuals on how to perform tasks or operations 

3. Communicate your personal preferences 

While you may cover these in a meeting, it’s better to write them down for easy reference until your VA is in the swing of things. These may include: 

  • Meetings: When do you prefer to have regular meetings? How long should they be? Who should be in them?  
  • Availability: What hours are you not available? How do you like to structure your workday? Do you have no meeting days? 
  • Company voice: How formal or friendly do you want the emails and communication that comes from your office to sound? How do you want the phone answered? 
  • Personal: Are there personal tasks executive assistant VAs will be doing for you? Do they need to know about family birthdays? Who are your favorite florists and restaurants? 

4. Create a checklist to track task progress 

Have a task list ready to go on day one for your VA. Over their first few days, this list should include onboarding items that need their response. For example: 

  • Sign employee forms 
  • Create any personal logins necessary for key systems 
  • Complete training on software 
  • Set up email with IT 
  • Read through required documentation and reference library 

Have your VA check in with you at the end of each day with what they have completed, any questions they have, or to discuss issues that arose.  

After 

In the days after your Virtual Assistant starts work, it is important to communicate with them often to give performance feedback – and acknowledge what they have done well.  

1. Track prescribed key performance indicators from the start 

While you may mention KPIs in the first interview and subsequent meetings, it is a good idea to also have set metrics against which you can track and measure performance. These may include: 

  • Good verbal and written communication 
  • Coordination ability  
  • Organisational ability 
  • Good time management 
  • Correct scheduling 
  • Efficiency in meeting deadlines 

At VA Central, equipping our Virtual Assistants does not end with the onboarding process. We believe in life-long learning. This is why our VAs receive continuous training and mentoring along with expert support through participating in monthly Zoom Masterclasses to develop their skills for the benefit of your team. 

Estate Agencies

Choosing the Right Virtual Assistant: Essential Traits for Successful Collaboration

September 20, 2023

A Virtual Assistant is an individual who works remotely to support business owners and professionals by providing administrative, technical and creative assistance to their clients. Ultimately, the scope of VAs’ skills can be wide-ranging, depending on their client’s needs. But what about their personal traits – their distinguishing qualities? What traits are desirable in a Virtual Assistant?

A positive attitude always looks for the good

Modern business wisdom tells us, “Hire for attitude and train for skills.” We agree! It’s the number one trait we look for in our Virtual Assistants. For VA Central, a positive attitude is everything. Passion and enthusiasm trump existing know-how, because skills can be learned, but a positive attitude can move mountains. It enables people to manage stress, overcome challenges in a productive way, achieve goals and maintain overall mental and physical wellbeing – and it inspires others.

Cultural fit creates a positive work environment

After attitude, a good cultural fit is at the heart of what we look for in our Virtual Assistants – based on their alignment when it comes to our values, beliefs and our professional work ethic.                    VA Central has a very particular culture – and so do the clients we recruit for.  We are a young, dynamic and growth-minded community. We are a lot of fun, very supportive of everyone in the team and highly competent in what we do. We believe that age is a state of mind. Our most mature VA is in her late 60’s. The estate agents for whom we recruit have a variety of cultures and their own requirements but, in the main, they are highly professional and fast-paced and tech-driven.

A wide range of skills but common attributes

A Virtual Assistant, particularly one working for a UK-based estate agency, has responsibilities that may include general office administration, scheduling appointments, sales and letting negotiation, overseeing lead generation channels, conducting property research, social media management, creating marketing materials and financial administration.  While these responsibilities each require different skills there are several common traits that serve our VAs very well.

Here are 10 essential qualities we look for in our Virtual Assistants:

  1. Self-discipline: Self-discipline is one of the most important traits of an ideal Virtual Assistant. It allows them to manage their own time correctly and keep track of deadlines. They have the ability to work independently and follow through on tasks without being micromanaged.
  2. Resourcefulness: More than the ability to make decisions and act on one’s own, resourcefulness is the ability to find quick and clever ways to overcome difficulties. Since our Virtual Assistants work remotely, they need the ability to solve problems.
  3. Proactivity: Virtual Assistants that are experts in a particular role should proactively stay on top of industry trends, what’s happening in the marketplace and the latest technology. This could be a game-changer for their clients’ business.
  4. Impeccable ethical standards: Virtual Assistants are expected to have certain work ethics or values that underpin their professional conduct. Honesty, integrity and confidentiality are three of the important traits we look for in our VAs.
  5. Attention to detail: Virtual Assistants often liaise with clients, schedule important bookings and reply to emails. This takes investing the time and attention to look for and correct mistakes – a person who goes the extra mile to make sure every detail is sorted out and correct.
  6. Creativity: Not only describing the ability required by graphic designers or content creators, but creativity is also a soft skill that requires an openness to innovation and mental flexibility when finding solutions to problems.
  7. Flexibility: VAs must be able to adapt to changing circumstances and be flexible in their approach to work to deal with different challenges and demands from different clients and projects.
  8. A desire to learn: We look for someone who loves learning new skills. They’ll help push your business forward in a multitude of ways. The more they understand, the more valuable they will become, especially if you’re using tools or processes with a high learning curve.
  9. Kindness: Any work environment will benefit from a team that works well together and is committed to developing solid professional relationships that enhance communication and collaboration. Contributing to a culture of kindness at work can lead to better collaboration and teamwork – and make work more enjoyable.

And the tenth quality we look for is in our Virtual Assistants is well-developed communication skills. While the ability to communicate is a soft skill that can be nurtured, rather than an innate characteristic,  it is central to working as a Virtual Assistant – especially because working remotely means having to use technology as a communication interface. It involves the ability to listen actively, be quick on the uptake in understanding team and client needs, and to respond professionally and courteously.  Communicating well fosters an important sense of trust and professionalism in a Virtual Assistant’s business relationships.

Estate Agencies

Estate Agency in the Digital Age: How Virtual Assistants are Transforming the Industry

September 11, 2023
Staying up to date is important if you want to succeed as an estate agent in a rapidly changing world.

Gone are the days when websites and social media were a “nice-to-have” optional extra. For contemporary estate agencies these are important content channels for lead generation campaigns. Using digital technology is no longer just about listing properties online. Property agents are now engaging with potential buyers virtually:

  • through mobile apps,
  • in real-time through virtual property showings, and
  • in 3D walkthroughs that can include interactive floor plans – a helpful feature to show what’s possible when buyers are considering buying a “fixer-upper” or want to envision home improvements.

Then there is the rise of proptech. This is the latest buzzword for all the tech tools estate agency professionals are using that are useful for streamlining the process of buying, selling and letting of property.  Proptech can save a lot of time in research and data gathering, as well as property marketing and the management of properties in a letting portfolio.

It is time for estate agents to embrace technology – not fear it

Like many long-standing industries, there is a fair amount of resistance in the property industry to the adoption of new technologies. This reluctant attitude not only slows up the property industry’s potential growth but also negatively impacts property owners and renters – who are estate agents’ bread and butter, their primary clients.

Proptech can help estate agents by providing:

  • faster speed to lead time and more efficient customer service,
  • the ability to directly connect agents with buyers and sellers, 24/7,
  • big data gathering and analysis capabilities that help in providing strategic information on the property market,
  • tools to process a far greater volume of transactions, servicing more clients in less time.

Technically skilled Virtual Assistants are transforming the industry

While the buying, selling and letting of property will remain people-driven, with an experienced estate agent playing the key role, today’s consumers want an easier and more direct route to market. Particularly as they already have instant access to a wealth of information on the Internet. So, instead of viewing tech as an intimidating industry disruptor, estate agents should treat it as the phenomenal tool it is – one that serves to free up valuable time and boost productivity.

The good news is that the majority of today’s Virtual Assistants are digital natives who grew up with technology and are uniquely positioned to leverage it to their estate agent-employer’s advantage. They are skilled at using software and digital tools to streamline processes, automate customer management systems, gather and analyse information, maintain websites and implement digital marketing campaigns – and they can assist with content creation.

Virtual Assistants can keep you ahead of the curve

As the business landscape continues to evolve to become more automated, embracing the benefits of employing a Virtual Assistant can help you stay ahead of the curve; to remain agile in adapting to changing circumstances while sustaining a competitive edge. Virtual Assistants who have experience in the property industry are versatile and skilled professionals, able to assist estate agents as administrators, sales and letting negotiators, bookkeepers and social media managers. Their responsibilities can also include providing customer service management, managing databases, and conducting market research.

Estate Agencies

Redefining Customer Service – The Integral Role of Virtual Assistants in Enhancing Customer Experience

September 7, 2023

Customer service is a critical component of any successful business, but it takes consistent time and effort to ensure that every customer benefits from a great customer experience. A Virtual Assistant can make all the difference to a busy estate agent’s business when they take on a customer service role – immediately responding to customer inquiries, providing timely feedback and ongoing support. Their role in customer service can also include providing quality after-sales support with a view to nurturing customer loyalty and retention. This includes obtaining word of mouth referrals from happy customers. And the benefit? Enhancing your customer experience will drive increased sales and business growth.

Virtual Assistants can ensure a quick speed to lead time

Replying to clients fast is a competitive advantage. An MIT lead response management study1 found that the odds of qualifying a lead drops 21 times if called within 30 minutes versus being called within 5 minutes. Yet, a Forbes study2 cites the average business lead response time as 47 hours. It follows that estate agents who can respond to a lead within five minutes have a much higher chance of success than those who only get to it in hours or even days.

A Virtual Assistant can take on critical customer service tasks such as rapidly replying to leads and enquiries, and understanding customers’ needs so that they receive appropriate services quickly and efficiently.

Virtual Assistants can nurture your database

When it comes to converting leads into customers, not every client prospect is ready to buy now. Once prospects are in your sales funnel, you can nurture them with helpful, relevant content that moves forward as potential buyers, until they’re ready to buy from you. Think of lead nurturing in terms of creating a targeted series of communications, in which each one has a clear and concise objective – to move a sales prospect to the next stage in the sales funnel or drive a particular desirable action.

Virtual Assistants are highly skilled and versatile professionals who can handle a wide range of tasks, from administrative support to specialised tasks like graphic design or content creation. A digitally savvy Virtual Assistant will have all the tools at their disposal to nurture your database and spearhead the delivery of a customised experience to your prospective clients via your website, email or social media.

A Virtual Assistant can manage existing client communication and reach out to customers after their initial purchase, in person, to check if they need any further assistance. Having “real person follow-up” with clients shows that you value them and their business and keeps your brand fresh in their minds.

 

1 https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hub/25649/file-13535879-pdf/docs/mit_study.pdf

2 https://www.forbes.com/sites/theyec/2019/09/10/step-by-step-guide-to-following-up-with-b2b-leads-generated-by-sdrs/?sh=1491a8192309