Opening The Gates To More Listings

Simon Gates
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Opening The Gates To More Listings with Simon Gates is a podcast designed to help estate agents find more listings and increase the profitability of their business. There will be a variety of different guests across the industry being interviewed to share their knowledge on how to achieve this.

  1. 1d ago

    Episode 334: One Year of the Opening The Gates Journal

    On the 26th of October 2025, I pressed publish on the first edition of the Opening the Gates journal, not even sure anybody would read it. Fifty two Mondays later it has just turned one, and I haven’t missed a single week. To mark the anniversary, I sat down and read every edition back, from the very first to the most recent. What surprised me was how often the same few ideas kept coming back. Seneca in December, Alex Hormozi in September, Tom Panos over lunch in June, an Olympic rowing crew and a snooker player. Different people, different weeks, all telling me the same handful of things. So in this solo special, I’ve pulled out the seven biggest lessons from a year of writing to the estate agency community, where each one came from, and what I think it actually means for you, your branch and your diary. In this episode: How the journal sat empty for three months, and the late nights in Marrakesh, a hotel room and after a stag do in Mallorca that kept the streak goingLesson one: stop waiting for perfect information, plus Alex Hormozi’s two decision hackLesson two: execution beats education, the forgetting curve, and how Dean Coleman won a £1 million instruction within minutes of a chatLesson three: consistency and the boring middle, and what Ben Hunt-Davis and the British rowing eight can teach agentsLesson four: making your own luck, from James Clear’s dartboard to Dr James Austin’s four types of luckLesson five: why the market is never the excuse, from the credit crunch through to permacrisisLesson six: your fees, your worth and the people you surround yourself withLesson seven: confidence, and looking after your headSome of my favourite things that made me laugh this year, including Mark from Perfect Property, South Park and a half eaten fry up on RightmoveWhy a quote often credited to Bill Gates (no relation, sadly) ties it all together If one of the lessons makes you shift in your seat a bit, write down one thing you’re going to do about it and do it in the next seven days. The journal lands every Monday and it’s completely free. Subscribe at simongates.substack.com, or find everything else I do at linktr.ee/Gatesy91.

  2. 3d ago

    Episode 333: Healey's First Budget - What It Really Means for Your Market

    The Autumn Budget, what it means for the property market, and what to do about it this week. On Wednesday I was on back to back calls while the Chancellor was on his feet. Then I got a train down to London for The Spectator’s post Budget briefing at the Emmanuel Centre, chaired by Michael Gove, with James Kendall. I got home at midnight and was back at my desk at 6am the next morning reading through the lot. That meant the Budget documents, the OBR’s 200-page forecast, the Lloyds Market Insights call, and the reactions from Rightmove, Zoopla, Savills, Knight Frank, Moneyfacts, the brokers and plenty of agents. This episode is the bits that actually matter for our industry, explained the way your clients will want to hear them. I cover what was announced and, just as importantly, what wasn’t. Stamp duty is unchanged, and the big tax reliefs that protect homeowners all survived. Then the bit that barely made the news. How the gilt markets reacted, how gilts feed into swap rates and fixed rate mortgages, why “boring” was the best result your buyers could have hoped for, and why that still doesn’t mean cheaper mortgages are coming. Your First Home, the new 2.5% deposit scheme for first time buyers. How it works, the small print, and why Rightmove found most new builds in some areas wouldn’t qualify. What it means for sellers, including the mansion tax bands, and why your lettings book could be your best source of sales instructions after landlords took their second tax rise in twelve months. What it means for tenants and rents, what the government’s own forecaster expects for prices, sales and new homes over the next five years, and what happened to the market around the last four Budgets. Plus what the Spectator panel and Lloyds’ economists think could happen next, from rate rises to election talk, and why every time you hear it, you should think gilts, swaps, mortgages. And finally, the six things I want you to do this week. Starting Monday. Your clients don’t need you to have an opinion on the Chancellor. They need you to explain what it means for their move, calmly and accurately, before anyone else does. If you have any questions at all, or want a copy of my written Budget article to share with your own clients, send me a message and I’ll happily share it with you.

  3. Oct 26

    Episode 332: Peter Knight

    Today's guest is the Founder and Creative Director of Leaders.inc, Founder of Estate Agency Events and Chairman of Agents Giving. Before this though, he started as a 17-year-old trainee at Samuel Rains and Son before he could even drive and then built a 30-branch agency, ran a property marketing agency, has been personally coached by Stephen Covey. He is an international business speaker and coach and advises CEOs and board members - helping them to design and implement strategies to achieve profitable growth and maximise business value. He also develops learning programmes tailored for the wider business, delivering memorable and motivational workshops that drive performance improvement. He has spoken at 400+ events in the UK, Ireland, USA, Australia, Indonesia, UAE, Spain, Latvia, Lithuania, Portugal and Estonia, and his speaking awards include UK New Speaker of the Year in 2003, Outstanding Speaker in 2010, Lifetime Speaker Award in 2012 and Businessperson of the Year. Prior to becoming a speaker, he ran an award-winning marketing agency and he worked with businesses large and small including First Choice Holidays, David Lloyd Leisure, Moneypenny, Barratt Homes and Halifax. Lastly, he is author of the best-selling book, 'HEMP - the Highly Effective Marketing Plan', which has been translated into 11 languages. We get into: Where his ideas come from, why being observant is “a curse”, and the 6,000-book library with an “important shelf” he goes back to when he’s stuckThe one book he insists future leaders read before he’ll recommend anything elseWhy he thinks there’s an absence of leadership right now, and why culture and leadership are the only differentiators left when everything else can be copied overnightOpening seven days a week before anyone else and averaging 2.75% across 30 branchesThe day Roger Federer rented his house for Wimbledon, and what it taught him about reviewing your own performanceWhy Paul McCartney rehearsed his ad-libs, and what that means for your next valuationRecording your market appraisals, debriefing with a buddy straight afterwards, and how I’ve seen agents use AI to turn that into a coach in their pocketBringing the fee up first, and how it sent one agent’s conversion rate through the roofWhy tougher markets are the best time to make changes If you’re not on his Monday newsletter, sign up and EA Masters is on 3rd November, with some of the best agents in the world on the bill. Enjoyed the episode? Please like, review, subscribe, follow and share with an agent who needs to hear it. All my links: https://linktr.ee/Gatesy91

  4. Oct 23

    Episode 331: Simon Leadbetter

    Today's returning guest is the founder of We Are Unchained, a strategic marketing consultancy that helps businesses grow faster by enhancing their market insight, strategy, activity, and talent. Over his 8 years experience in the estate agency industry, he has worked with Countrywide, Fine & Country, Keller Williams, and Knight Frank. He's also a mentor at Agents Together, Propertymark Trust Ambassador and Fractional CMO for Lemon and Lime Interiors. With over 30 years of marketing experience across multiple sectors, from startups to FTSE100, he has turned failing marketing teams around, and educated hundreds of people on the science and art of marketing. His mission is to make quality strategic marketing and practical advice accessible to every business, whether they need a virtual CMO, a one-to-one mentor, or a marketing trainer. In this episode, we discuss the results of part nine of the Voice of The Agent 2026 (Mental Health & Discrimination), covering topics such as The Boys Club, Women In Estate Agency, the emotional demand of estate agency, gender imbalance, discrimination from colleagues and clients, plus many more very important points. If you've not already read part nine of the report, please do contact me for a copy of it and I will happily share it with you.

  5. Oct 19

    Episode 330: Ev Foster

    Today's guest is Estate Agency Mentor at The Estate Agent Consultancy, a regional champion for Women In Estate Agency in Scotland, a speaker, author of Change Starts With Choice and creator of the CHOICES Framework. She works with capable women who look successful on the outside but feel stuck on the inside. They're overthinking, second-guessing and waiting to feel confident before they move. As a Choice Coach, she helps women leaders, founders and women in business cut through the noise, trust themselves again and make the one honest choice that changes everything. Her work is built on the CHOICES Framework, which she created to turn intuition into implementation and courage into real, lasting change. Her background in property runs deep, through her experience with Keller Williams that has seen her coach hundreds of agents, and she now mentors estate agents through The Estate Agent Consultancy. We get into: Why knowledge isn’t power, and why acting on it is“Change starts with choice”: if you’re not changing, you’ve chosen not toWhy your brain would rather keep you in a rubbish situation you know than a better one you don’tThe elastic band: finding the sweet spot between comfort and burnoutSun loungers, training course seats, and how quickly comfort zones formThe forgetting curve and why you should act on what you learn straight awayHabit stacking, marginal gains and the one small change that could transform your businessBuilding a business as a single mum of four, when the “why” was simply paying the rentWhy lead generation should be the first appointment in your diary, every dayGhost valuation slots, and what to do on a Monday when they’re emptyFollow-up: how much is too much?Hunting versus farming, and Ryan Serhant’s find, keep, doMaking time, not finding it, and why everything has expanded apart from timeHer role championing women in estate agency in Scotland If you enjoyed this one, please like, review, subscribe and share it with an agent who keeps going back to the same sun lounger.

  6. Oct 16

    Episode 329: Royston Guest

    Today's guest is the CEO of Pathways Global, a bestselling author and speaker. Over the last 20+ years, he has helped 500,000+ Business Owners and Leaders across the world generate over £3.6 billion in additional revenue and profits. He is back for his third appearance on the show (after episodes 107 and 133), and this one lands on a very special date for him. Today, Friday 16th October, is exactly ten years since the original Built to Grow was released, and it’s the day Built to Grow Rewired comes out. Ten years on, having worked with businesses in 57 countries, and the world those businesses operate in looks nothing like it did in 2016. Brexit, COVID, AI, the rise of self-employed agents, and a word we are both big fans of, which is “permacrisis”. So how many agents are still running a 2016 playbook in 2026? We get into: Why AMR (acquire, maximise, retain) is more relevant now than ever, and why most agents have an “addiction to acquisition”The three pillars of a resilient independent agency: sales, lettings and financial servicesThe “Who First” strategy, and why you don’t need to be the expert in everythingBuilding a business that scales beyond you, rather than a job where you work for yourselfThe machine in the factory story, and why you get paid for what you’ve done, not just what you doWhy “the investment is…” changes the fee conversationHuman-led, technology-enabled: where your people add the most value and where AI should do the heavy liftingBeing busy versus being productive, and the discipline of actionMeasures that matter, and why most businesses are “KPI overloaded but insight poor”Racing in the wet: why tough markets show you who the world-class agents really areSwitcher strategy, with Rightmove reporting 29% of properties selling with a second, third or later agentChapter Zero: rewire yourself before you rewire your businessBalcony time, and whether you’re dancing to your own music or someone else’s Businesses don’t grow on their own. Leaders grow businesses. Built to Grow Rewired is out now on Amazon, Waterstones and all good bookshops. Follow the link below to get your copy: https://roystonguest.mykajabi.com/startyourrewire If you enjoyed this one, please like, review, subscribe, follow and share it with an agent who needs to get off the dance floor. All the show links: https://linktr.ee/Gatesy91

  7. Oct 12

    Episode 328: Alice Bullard

    Today's returning guest is back three years after her first appearance on episode 72, and a lot has changed since then. She’s gone from MD to CEO of Nested, become a mum to baby Archer, and watched the self-employed model take off across the UK. We get into Nested’s journey from bridging loans to a fully self-employed model, why February 2023 (post mini-budget, rates spiking) was actually a good time to launch outside London, and why there’s never a perfect time to start. She is refreshingly honest about who self-employment isn’t for, why Nested turns agents away every single week, and the red flag she hears when someone’s first question is “how are you going to get me leads?” We also cover: Burning the boats, and why “I’ll give it six months” doesn’t workHow Nested’s territory system stops agents piggybacking off each other’s successFaces on boards: why she changed her mind, and why around 80-85% of Nested agents now use themCollaboration between self-employed agents, even across different brandsWhy traditional high street agencies need to buckle up as top talent leavesAI: friend or foe? Lazy AI-written emails, losing your own tone of voice, and how I use Wispr Flow to keep mineGoing back to work as a CEO after maternity leave, letting go, and surrounding yourself with cheerleaders Plus some impossible decisions to finish, including whether she would rather be well paid in a job she hates or badly paid in a job she loves. Make sure to check this episode out and hear from one of the most senior people steering the ship at one of the biggest self-employed brands in the UK.

  8. Oct 9

    Episode 327: Unreasonable Hospitality for Estate Agents - An Evening with Rory Sutherland and Will Guidara

    I booked two tickets to see Will Guidara and Rory Sutherland in conversation in London as a thank you to Toby Martin. No agenda, nothing expected back. Before we'd even sat down, Toby handed me a book I didn't know existed, Unreasonable Hospitality: The Field Guide. That set the tone for the whole night. Will Guidara took Eleven Madison Park from a two star brasserie to the number one restaurant in the world. Rory Sutherland is one of the sharpest minds in advertising and behavioural science. In this solo special, I take you inside their conversation and show you how almost everything they said applies to your estate agency. In this episode: Why the opposite of a good idea should also be a good idea, and why "reasonable" agents get forgottenThe famous two dollar hot dog, and what it teaches us about listening to sellers and buyersReverse benchmarking: how to find what other agents in your town are getting wrong and become famous for itThe Popsicle Hotline, Buc-ee's toilets and what your agency should be known forWhy valuations are won and lost before you arrive and after you leaveCharging what you're worth, and why the second cheapest agent is in the most dangerous placeTechnology as a choice: automate the predictable, humanise the exceptionalHiring slowly, looking after your team and finding their superpowersWhy 99% of your competitors will never copy you And stay to the end for the moment that summed up the whole evening: a gentleman in the audience who never got his champagne, and what Will did about it.

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Opening The Gates To More Listings with Simon Gates is a podcast designed to help estate agents find more listings and increase the profitability of their business. There will be a variety of different guests across the industry being interviewed to share their knowledge on how to achieve this.

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