New portal OnTheMarket says that it has recorded one million unique visits.
In a statement to agents which have joined OTM, chief executive Ian Springett also says that a year ago some 1,820 offices were initial gold' members but that there are now 4,700 members - some 400 of them joined during January and some are still to be added to OnTheMarket.com pending the run-off of contracts with portals they are dropping.
Springett says more than 4,300 of the total 4,700 are contracted for five years as gold and silver members, providing an immensely strong anchor tenant' group for your portal. He says the balance is recently-recruited bronze members who commit, initially, for one year.
The OTM advertising campaign is centred on TV spots in a range of 10 second, 30 second and 40 second durations. These are being shown over 3,000 times during February.
To ensure we reach those who watch little/less TV, we are also advertising heavily in national quality press titles and property-focused magazines. Archant is running extensive (free of charge) advertising for us across all its newspaper and magazine titles until at least the end of April he says.
The letter to member agents is combative about the slew of pre-launch publicity in newspapers, financial analyses and industry comment which was broadly critical of the new portal.
The PR battle in the run up to launch was difficult as it was possible for our rivals (especially commentators and/or media associated with Zoopla) to make unsubstantiated assertions about your Company (eg it would fail to attract agents/funding; it was anti-competitive; it would not be a credible portal; it would not launch on time) writes Springett.
Since the launch of OnTheMarket it has been possible for us to engage more fully and many journalists have a greater appreciation of what is at stake and the scale and strength of our market entry. Our voice is being heard and this is very well illustrated in the coverage arising from last Thursday's trading statement by Zoopla Property Group he says.
He reiterates that it is his aim for OTM to become the second portal' by next January, adding that an equal objective is to become a credible alternative to the No 1 portal.
Springett's note concludes with five suggestions to member agents - to advocate OTM to non-members, help his sales team locally, increase co-branding and local promotion, "maintain and help us maintain strict adherence to one other portal' and implementing the earlybird' listing for new properties.
Comments
To all the otm members, what would you do if zoopla said to keep your business, they would not charge you anymore And if you were to remove your properties from rightmove, they did the same. Would one portal rule make sense
I second that, RA.
Or if they ARE currently working in Estate Agency, then let's hope that their next job takes them OUT of the industry as they clearly aren't suited.
Even better, though - they might end up working for one of our competitors down the street! ;o)
Yeah Im sure you did. This comment applies to your pal as well. Any agent who turns round and ever says he hated pushing a portal shouldn't be an estate agent anyway. Telling clients their property will be listed on a portal is one VERY small part of any valuation pitch. Thats how I know that neither of you are agents.
How is calling a couple of charlatans tetchy! They post that they are leaving the agent they work for because its joined OTM, one says he has lost several instructions because the sellers haven't heard of it.what about the other portal they are likely to be on then, might people have heard of that!!It was a blatant and pathetic attempt by some portal reps. For you to defend postings like that does you no credit.
@ Rob - agree Rob, how do we know Real Agent is real. Sounds like one of the OTM board just trying to run down those who think OTM is a badly deployed venture that doesn't work for most agents. Truth is - for me it cost me several instructions as vendors simply have not heard of it.
Could be Real Agent who's the JOKER.
@ Real Agent
Your living in cloud cuckoo. handed notice in today. Liked where I am and a friendly boss, but hate having to try and push OTM when Joe Public haven't heard of it.
Those in favour of OTM get awfully touchy and defensive when faced with criticism. Why is that You can't honestly believe that everyone is delighted with the new portal and the impact it's having. Believe it or not, shock horror, some people don't think OTM is the best thing since sliced bread.
How do I know their posts are any less genuine than yours They're both guests, yes, but there are a lot of guests who come below-the-line to comment and I seriously doubt they are all plants.
Grow up Rob, you honestly think that these comments are real.for a start OTM has been going three weeks, and it affects their pay packets..please transport me to their areas with sales going through that quick!
Oh for heavens sake, you honestly expect people to believe that this and @Jones comment are genuine. I am genuinely staggered to see that people would stoop this low!!!!!
As a member firm that is on with OTM I have to declare an interest. However, I would also like to feel that I can have an objective view. Our removing ourselves from Zoopla has had no negative effect on our business, neither has it limited our ability to sell property and to create enquiries as our sales levels have not diminished at all as a result of moving from zoopla, neither has it reduced our viewing levels.... or number of applicants being registered....! What it has done, is give us a platform to grow a sensible agent owned portal to combat or restrain future portal price increases in years to come. For those of you that are sitting on the fence or criticising OTM then that's your call. It will work but it would work even better and quicker (without having any negative impact on the consumer) if you got behind it and supported it. I have spent 30 years creating my reputation on thinking about the customer first and took the view that dropping Zoopla was in no way negative and would not impact on our sales, viewings or as a result our customers. SO FAR SO GOOD! The site looks great and those consumers using it will only increase month on month (for those of you that expected it to rival the existing portals from day one...... please have some common sense!).
Congratultions OTM. If this figure has been achieved it's a great start and credit to all the agents that have been promoting OTM heavily over the last few months.
Running before they can walk They haven't pushed Zoopla out the way yet and they're already targeting Rightmove. Ambition is to be commended, of course, but that's just pie-in-the-sky optimism. Springett talks a good game, you have to give him that, but I don't think OTM is having anywhere near the impact he believes it is having.
You talk of Rightmove's greed - and their rising fees are definitely a source of frustration - but to say that the group of agents who started OTM in the first place weren't looking after their own interests is naive in the extreme. Most people who are so stridently backing OTM seem to care more about their own businesses than the consumers who keep them in a job.
The backlash to OTM does seem to have begun. Can't say I'm very surprised. Despite their nifty website and multi-million pound advertising campaign, they don't seem to have had the desired impact. They're still as divisive now as they ever have been - as many people back them as bash them.
Ambitious or what There's no way they'll get anywhere near Rightmove - did you see their recent figures They're on another planet.
I am an agent and agree with what on the market are trying to achieve. Are we not all fed up of agents marketing properties that don't exist and then the portals charging us for searches in our area which are higher due to this, non stop advertising that if you don't agree a competitor will take it up forcing our hands for expensive unnecessary marketing and Righmove introducing yet additional fees if you want to advertise on smart phones additional to a home computer..... There greed has created this through their efforts to monopolize monetize at every opportunity. I fully support OTM and feel agents need to give it a chance. Have you emailed your client list and applicants to spread the word. The quicker we all do it the better the site will be.
Know what you mean Jones. Thinking the same. Im a neg on heavy commission. My boss too opted for OTM and Z. Mortgage has got to come first. Can't afford my bosses choice to stay there. Nice boss but OTM sucks.
Jacking my notice in. Boss stuck us on OTM and its costing my pocket. Been offered another job where they do the no.1-2 and 3 top portals.
Goodbye OTM - maybe I'll be able to pitch portals sellers have heard of again. One rule is stupid when no ones heard of OTM
Let's be honest with each other, every major traffic recording site on the site isn't saying 1/10th of that . I'm not saying I don't trust their internal figures .... No wait.... That is what I'm saying .Also from what I saw on hit wise Zoopla gets that a day , Rightmove gets twice that .
@Maths Expert
I think you'll find that it is 1 million unique visiors in under 2 weeks, now thats definitely not what Zoopla said.
One million hits in under 3 weeks, thats not what Zoopla said.