Estate Agent Today

New trend emerges as markets pick up

Paul Connaughton & three very well known industry names have teamed up to apply their collective know-how to finding top quality candidates for estate agencies in the form of Buzzrecruit.com.  Their client list is certainly impressive with many household names amongst them which is testament to the high esteem that they are all held in by the industry.  Paul Connaughton,  Craig Ryan, Fiona Catanach and Amanda Wise of Buzzrecruit.com know though that the market they are dealing in today is highly distinguished from the market that has gone before 

Paul comments: “We are seeing a distinctive trend in those estate agencies that are enjoying buoyant business in that they have adopted a very much more sales driven ethos but one that is based on honest pricing and straightforward customer advice.  What really matters is that they have a team of staff that can effectively close good quality business day in and day out.  I think it is quite apparent when you look at the agencies that are doing well and those that are not that their staff and their attitudes to their customers are at quite opposing ends of the market. In turn of course it means that we are now being asked to find a different calibre of candidate entirely and this means a different scale of salaries and benefits are available for capable candidates.

“A good valuer can command a salary of £18k upwards and will share a lot of the responsibility for ensuring that quality customers are brought on to the books.  I believe that this commitment to ‘honest pricing’ is going to be a main differentiator between those agencies that succeed in the future and those that do not.   Of course this has to be complemented by an excellent team of estate agents that convert enquiries into actual viewings and then sales.  Again, successful agents need personnel with all of the right customer services skills coupled with the sales drive to take an enquiry, understand the requirements, offer advice and guidance and then to promote the properties they have available in the right way to appeal to the house-hunters.  It is a real skill and one that has to be rewarded in the right way. 

Amanda Wise concurs: “A good negotiator can earn between £27-£35k and this salary will attract high calibre sales people not only from within the industry but also outside the industry.  Whereas the low basic salaries in estate agency were once a turn off to sales people from other industries who have all the right customer services skills but with that invaluable sales quality as well.

“Similarly, a good quality Branch Manager that has a track record of consistent performance can now command salaries up to £50k..

Of course, as Paul explains, the downside to having identified the need for high quality staff is actually finding them: “Standard local newspaper advertising simply isn’t going to attract the right sort of candidates and I know that the last thing estate agents have time for is preparing an advertisement and trying to condense into a couple of paragraphs all that you need from your ideal candidate. The there is the time taken with trawling through the applicants, setting up interviews and interviewing itself.   The alternative is to use an agency like ours.  We are tapped into the job market and can quickly identify the right candidates and interview them to give you a shortlist for consideration.  So much wasted management time is taken up with recruitment that many of our clients simply don’t bother with newspaper advertising any more and instead ask us to do the hard work instead and find it far more cost-effective in the long run.”

Fiona Catanach is a familiar face to many, having overseen many career progressions of candidates:  “Candidates will register with agencies because they want to know so much more about a position before they apply such as if we feel they will fit in, what the career prospects are and what the benefits package is.  They also know that many positions are not advertised and that we will have positions on our books that they not likely to see advertised.  If we have a particularly impressive candidate then we will contact our clients to tell them about the person specifically even if they are not currently recruiting.  This is the added value we bring to a candidate’s job search. 

According to Fiona one of the hardest issues to tackle is negotiating on salary and benefits. “We take the pressure off by establishing what is on offer from the clients and what the expectations are of the candidate.  There is no point getting to interview stage and everything appearing to be just right only for it to fall apart over salary and benefit negotiations.  We can advise the client what they should be paying and specifically what we feel the candidate is worth and similarly we can ensure the candidate is realistic about their expectations and that their previous experience is genuine.  This really does save a lot of headaches further along the road and really we are all about removing the headache from recruiting & ensuring our Clients have the vest staff available to them & in turn helping their business grow.