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Christopher Watkin
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About Me

my expertise in the industry

Christopher's Recent Activity

Christopher Watkin

From: Christopher Watkin 06 April 2021 10:03 AM

Christopher Watkin

From: Christopher Watkin 26 May 2020 12:33 PM

Christopher Watkin

From: Christopher Watkin 24 March 2020 10:59 AM

Christopher Watkin

From: Christopher Watkin 09 January 2020 10:21 AM

Christopher Watkin

From: Christopher Watkin 24 September 2018 07:56 AM

Christopher Watkin
You all might laugh at the Purplebricks and Yopa’s of this world and post comments online about them being rubbish, saying stuff like their service is cr*p, they get paid on the listing – not the sale, they aren’t local, they don’t offer a great service, they haven’t got people on the ground, they run it from their kitchen table etc etc … and yes, I would agree with you on all those points .. but most of you agents aren’t doing anything to counter the threat of them ….. apart from posting comments from behind the desks your expensive High Street premises. They have enough money to last two and half years - even if they spend a million a month on TV advertising Some of you have even gone further …I have had many phone calls from High Street agents asking my opinion if they should offer two services …… a High Street offering and an Online Agent offering? Unless you a regional player whereby you can set up your own mini contact centre or as a good friend of mine in the industry suggested … few of you band together as a cooperative of independents (one per town) ..so you can keep the online and High St offering completely separate (so you can make money at it) … if you are an independent, with between one and five offices and you do offer the two services (High St and Online) … you be creating the monster you fear the most, you will make all your potential vendor think they need the cheaper option. "You can have our expensive High St option fee .. or our cheap Online Fee…" ..but if you don’t have the contact centre .. what will you do if a vendor walks into your office to ask a question. Turn them away? Or deal with them .. and that makes a mockery of your online package. You will be devaluing and dumbing down your service, you will be saying, we have this awesome service but we don’t think we are worth it, so you can have this ‘cheap as chips’ option instead. Come on .. wake up and smell the coffee fellow agents in the UK Its time to prove your value, your worth, your value .. how do you do that? Do this ... https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/beating-purplebricks-yopa-own-game-christopher-watkin

From: Christopher Watkin 16 June 2016 20:05 PM

Christopher Watkin
Smile Please - I agree an agent based in a town will have greater knowledge of the local market than an agent who covers many postcodes from their kitchen table. A High Street agent gets paid on the sale whilst a PB get paid on the listing. Physically being there should mean a better service. 100% agree with you. .. but the fact is, they are selling on fee. .. and some agents will try an compete with them .. by lowering their fee. At first, the process of lowering your fee involves smart efficiencies. It forces hard choices that lead to better outcomes. Over time, though, in a competitive market, the quest for the bottom leads to brutality. The brutality of harming your suppliers, the brutality of compromising your morals and your mission. Someone else is always willing to go a penny lower than you are, and to compete, your choices get ever more limited. As Seth Godin says, "The problem with the race to the bottom is that you might win. Even worse, you might come in second" To cut the price a pound on that ebook or ten dollars on that plane ticket (discounts that few, in the absence of comparison, would notice very much) you have to slash the way things are edited, or people are trained or safety is ensured. You have to scrimp on the culture, on how people are treated. You have to be willing to be less caring or more draconian than the other guy. Every great brand (even those with low fees) is known for something other than how cheap they are. Henry Ford earned his early success by using the ideas of mass production and interchangeable parts in a magnificent race to the most efficient car manufacturing system ever. But then, he and his team learned that people didn't actually want the cheapest car. They wanted a car they could be proud of, they wanted a car that was a bit safer, a bit more stylish, a car built by people who earned a wage that made them contributors to the community. In the long run, to be the cheapest fee is a refuge for agents who don't have the flair to design something worth paying for, who don't have the guts to point to their agency service and say, "this isn't the cheapest, but it's worth it." ... and this is my point ... estate agents are rubbish at proving that value .. they all look the same.. they all market themselves in the same way ... and if we aren't careful ... we will all start to look the same .. and in the absence of value and differentiation .. you cant blame people going for the cheapest agent

From: Christopher Watkin 13 June 2016 10:18 AM

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