Many thanks to Tim Luckin, director of Mansell McTaggart in East Grinstead for providing a chuckle by sending a snapshot of an anti-OnTheMarket sign that's appeared on the mean streets of Sussex.
Tim - whose firm is in fact an OnTheMarket member - nonetheless saw the funny side when the handwritten board (below) appeared outside rival agency Cubitt & West.
If your eyesight can quite work out the message, here it is:
If your agent's on OnTheMarket more people can fit into Wembley Stadium than will see you home per day!!! OnTheMarket 38,000 visits per day, Wembley 90,000 capacity.
Cubitt & West reach a whopping 2.65m per day on Rightmove and Zoopla.
Who would you rather use
Tim says that despite the figures and the board, he and other OTM agents locally aren't concerned.
We signed up for OnTheMarket and as expected are getting mixed response across our 17 offices. I can only answer for East Grinstead but we are getting positive feedback from the public with a reasonable amount of enquiries he says.
If the portal wars have reached a new guerrilla-action phase in your neighbourhood, please let us know. Are agents up in arms Are they gently ribbing each other about their portal choices
Send a picture to us at press@estateagenttoday.co.uk and if it raises a laugh, we'll use it on EAT.
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Comments
this really has run out of steam. devoid of ideas and when the staff start leaving then the downward spiral begins
"How many people would you rather your property was seen by, a White Hart Lane sized crowd or a Wembley one"
ONE would do me, Mr Davies - as long as they buy. I'm not a greedy man.
Eh Isn't that how a discussion works People replying and responding to each other, people putting across their own points of view. If everyone thought the same and agreed with each other, it would be a boring old world, wouldn't it
Just because you're pro-OTM doesn't mean everyone else is. In fact, I'd say it's probably half and half if you analysed most of the comments here. Some, of course, are on the fence.
Just because you didn't find it funny and thought it looked like a child scrawled it - maybe that was the point, to mirror Springett's tactics at times (and Zoopla too, before you accuse me of bias) - doesn't mean no-one else found it funny.
Are people not allowed their opinions in your world Are people not allowed to reply to things they don't agree with
Oh dear Rob, you have to respond to every comment don't you. The on the market logo is the only thing that stands out on the sign, and with most people probably not stopping to look carefully at it, the only thing that will stand out is the logo.
@RealAgent
[quote]Well its your publication Rob so whatever you say![/quote]
How do you mean
Well its your publication Rob so whatever you say!
No I think pathetic was exactly the right word, if any of my offices scrawled anything like that and placed it outside the office I would have plenty to say about it whatever the message.
I find it hard to believe that the directors at Cubitt & West would sanction such a preposterous sign. Not only is it childish but it looks like something that a child would draw in year 3 art class. I'm sure someone will be getting a ticking off other this!
LOL
I don't except that I have treated anyone like an idiot, what I have done is to surgically destroy the logic behind the OTM reason D'tre and the ludicrous nature of its 'let's all get Zoopla' strategy. Now if the truth hurts the truth hurts, believe me it's for the good of everyone involved to know the truth and act on it, pride goes before a fall. Of course I understand the resentment towards RM I myself have always felt they have been a cumbersome block that needs dealing with. The Irony is Z was doing just that and all OTM has done is buy RM some more time to entrench itself. Hubris delusion and poor judgement are not the preserve of the masses, even the great and the good suffer from these things and anyway, how many of the leaders of the elite agents behind OTM originated their businesses I can tell you not many and to have good business judgement you have to actually be a business person not a successful corporate career agent. It is self evident that a number of upmarket and London based agents have felt very threatened by the rise of the Internet and their lack of control over it. OTM suits them because it may raise the barrier to entry to their market, it may give them a point of difference when winning instructions from the riffraff. I think the only clever thing about OTM is how they have managed to subsidise their venture with cash raised from their out of town brethren most of whom exist in a very different world
All these words created by a silly childishly scrawled sign. The public must think that we are real professionals - not!
@Simon..."Well to be accurate, it was Ian Springett who started it when he banned me and my FD from one of his meetings to which he had actually invited us."...
So all of this is mainly due to a personal vendetta against Ian Springett
This is good enough reason to treat some of the most respected companies and their employees like their idiots whilst all they were doing was mind there own business.
Well to be accurate, it was Ian Springett who started it when he banned me and my FD from one of his meetings to which he had actually invited us. I then called him to ask why and got some tosh about dissenters causing trouble, so I thought, you don't want dissenters causing trouble, I'll show you trouble! Now I'm not saying his treatment of me determined my very logical views on the subject which are well rehearsed but it added an additional dimension and told be a lot about the kind of person who would be in charge. If he had been polite I still would not have supported OTM but I probably wouldn't have paid them so much attention either. Even now the big thing to do would be to apologise for his high handed behaviour, a bigger person would have done so already.
@Simon said....."As far as respect is concerned I have shown far more than has been shown to me and will endeavour to continue to do so."
No I think you will find that you started it Simon with your opening gambit in the very first Industry quake series with.....
"Would you sign up to a five-year franchise agreement with an unknown, unproven company, which compelled you to promote their brand, made you into an appointed representative and took away your freedom to determine your marketing strategy
If you are thinking, what a ridiculous question I agree, it is ridiculous yet, from my reading of the situation that is exactly what thousands of estate agents have done, or are considering doing between now and the end of the year."
You have from the outset treated everyone involved as being stupid and anyone considering signing up as stupid.
Seems like we both struggle with basic comprehension at times. I said witty or petty depending on your viewpoint, I didn't say it was witty myself. If you actually read the article, you'd see that it was an agent who is actually on OTM who brought this to light. He found it funny. Others, on both sides of the fence, will find it funny. Some will find it childish and pathetic, like you.
I don't think it's particularly funny - more mildly amusing - but I think it's way over-the-top to call this tongue-in-cheek stunt pathetic.
Ah, fair enough - you're right. I misread it. We'll make that 2-1 to me, shall we
Wow, that's really interesting. Thanks for pointing it out.
Actually I don't think the majority of estate agents are seasoned entrepreneurs, do you As far as respect is concerned I have shown far more than has been shown to me and will endeavour to continue to do so. Personally I see OTM as an entirely negative proposition and I think the agents that have joined would have been much better off using the energy they have expended in supporting this lost cause on making real improvements in their businesses. I have created the most innovative and one of the most successful agencies in the country outside London, I have originated new business models for sales Lettings and investments that are the envy of many in the industry. Yet if I were to show the average agent how we do things and how they could double their profitability, never mind about saving a few quid in portal fees, most of these seasoned entrepreneurs of yours wouldn't be capable of implementing change in their businesses. The market we are in is changing at a rapid pace, I for one take nothing for granted, I have had to earn the right to sit at the table and every month I have to earn the right to keep my place. You may see yourself as part of a like minded group of comrades all pulling together for the common good, I don't see it like that at all. What I see is a few leaders acting in their own interests and a lot of sheep being lead to the slaughter, so which are you James, one of the leaders or one of the sheep
Playground stuff, to be honest. Having said that, they do have a point.
It's not exactly like OTM have been beneath this sort of thing in the past.
@Rob
So, you could argue, does the OTM logo, given the person who wrote this has replicated it pretty well.
Has the OTM logo itself been replicated Google "Medigo'
And the problem with being blinded by a red mist is that you don't read posts correctly. He was, I agree, making a statement not backed up by facts, but he was actually agreeing with your point of view!!!
Why does it have to provide anything positive for the industry. Its a service a it provides something positive for my business thank you. I'm sorry you can't join it, I'm sure you would see the benefits I am enjoying too.
Come on Simon.
Your lack of respect for your audience, the agents that have signed up and what's been achieved thus far is beneath you. It is as though you are talking to kids as opposed to seasoned entrepreneurs.
OnTheMarket is now hear to stay, deal with it and get used to it.
Oh what a surprise Rob Davies describing a pathetic hand written sign as witty and simply because it knocks OTM.
On the who I know this is facetious but really, does anyone really think OTM is going to achieve anything positive for the industry anymore
[quote]the rest looks as if written by a child[/quote]
So, you could argue, does the OTM logo, given the person who wrote this has replicated it pretty well. If the writing looks like it was done by a child, so does the picture.
Can't really see how this is great advertising for OTM. If anything, what is being said does than more harm than good. Sadly, even though OTMers don't like to admit it, they're still pretty irrelevant - people don't really know who they are, despite the multi-million pound ads and plastering of the logo over estate agent offices (does anyone actually think that looks good)
Petty or witty depending on your viewpoint. Might seem a little childish, but they've got a point. How many people would you rather your property was seen by, a White Hart Lane sized crowd or a Wembley one (apologies for continuing the rather lame football analogy).
That's the problem with anecdotal evidence, it's not usually backed up with stats. Because you and a few others on here have been getting more leads from OTM doesn't mean everyone else has - it all depends on location and a number of other variables.
Most of the independent findings would suggest limited success from OTM. It's going to work for some, and won't work for others. What it has done, though, is make RM stronger, which is what it was trying to stop in the first place - the portal market being dominated by the Big Two. In that sense, its success has to be questioned.
All I would notice on that sign is the Onthemarket logo, the rest looks as if written by a child. more great advertising for OTM members.
To Scott & Harrow agent.... My leads have also gone up this year and i'm on OnTheMarket.
I have to agree with Harrow Agent, our leads have also gone up !!
Ummm that looks professional!!!!
FOR ONCE, I'm not going to argue with you.
However, I seriously doubt whether it could possibly have - or for that matter, afiord - MORE advertising coverage.
OTM will take time to become a challenger to Rightmove and Zoopla. The focus will have to be on brand awareness and advertising to drive more buyers and seller to use it.
Cubitt & West must be losing business to pull out this sort of childish trick!
Pretty desperate really.
Since loads have left zoopla and rightmove our leads have gone up. Thanks OTM for convincing 5000 agents to pull away, leaving us to gain more. Funnily, some days our own website gets more leads than we get from Rightmove