EAM: Estate Agency Mastery with Chris Buckler chrisbuckler123

Jason has a successfully exited a larg estate agency business. Jason opens with the fact he chooses who he works with and that agents should be in the same position. Don’t be the needy sales person during the market appraisal, but treat the valuation as a choice conversation… in favour of you, the agent

The quality of your questions will have a direct impact on your future”. Chris jumps in and highlights that during script practice at The Estate Agency, the agent can only respond with a question. This allows the vendor to self discover the right decisions. Practice breads confidence. Jason highlights that if he calls you as an agent and asks you tough objections, are you in a position to acknowledge, isolate and overcome the objection?  Whatever you do, don’t practice is on the public. If you want to sign up for some great scripts subscribe to www.chrisbuckler.co.uk



Jason mentions NLP, hypnosis and how he fully believes that if you want to be in the top 1%, then you need to be in the top 1% of communicators. Jason highlights that you need to go onto YouTube, follow Chris Watkin, etc as all the information is out there, but it is up to the agent to be learning based and go and find it. This is exactly the same  advice Dom Marcel gives us in Episode 8, when referring to marketing and positioning clients as your marketing department Podcasts (such as this) and other learning resources have never been more available than now. Agents Together offer you mentors for nothing, and brokerages will help you work from your goals through to the skillset you need to obtain in order to achieve those goals. 



Chris asks the direct question, “Do you have relationship with your goals”. And do your daily activities move you towards these goals, or at times are you often a busy fool? You HAVE to refer back to your goals on a daily basis. Jason highlights a technique for solidifying your goals is to put a red doc on every mirror in your home. This will then trigger thoughts of what his goals are everyday. 



Jason then kicks in with his 5 Killer Coaching Questions:




What projects have the highest impact on the future (3 years) Your long game.
How can I meet more people in my community? Knowing more people creates more opportunity.
What needs to be removed (not added to speed up) What doesn’t work or what is not contributing. Is XYZ best use of my time!
How can I improve my service levels. Over and above. This will equal more referrals and recommendations.
What is my north star? What is most important. Money or lifestyle. What and who are you doing this for? Remind yourself and tell the world.

Chris jumps in and highlights whether self employed agent or not, that you need to building your own google ranking but rather than just the 5 star review, it is all about the copy in the comments. This is what people pay attention to. 



Chris also then goes off piste and highlights before the val, get agents together with a picture of the property you’re about the value on screen, and text the client with a picture of a the marketing mastermind. “Hey, we are just masterminding a marketing strategy with my fellow agents in order to over expose your property to get the best price the market will allow”. WhatsApp the photo to the client. This is great point of differentiation. Chris then carries on highlighting that you HAVE to put yourself in the mindset that you are going to take the listing, not to give a valuation. 



Chris drops in that before it get’s to fee, always ask the questions?




Fee aside, am I your agent of choice? 
That’s great - do you mind me asking why?



Which then leads on to the close, especially if you can demonstrate your ability to negotiate (actually by not negotiating) on your fee. 



Jason jumps in with, ”if I can show you that the buyer is going to pay my fee, do you care what I charge”. Knowing your numbers as per the John Savage episode is key here.



Jason e

Dom is a very accomplished self employed agent who has gone on to become one of the most success self employed agents in the country. He now runs a team of self employed agents. 



His first hard hitting tip is that you aren’t in sales, but you are in marketing. This is twofold… you have to market yourself to people. You need to spark emotion as emotion inspires action. Marketing practices is a fundamental for any estate agency. Therefore you have to learn social media, advertising, etc if you want to succeed in our industry until 2030. Dom shares that he sounds like a human, and not an estate agent whenever speaking to clients and within his marketing mix. Dom’s marketing isn’t corporate, for example when doing an open house, reach out to other neighbours and let them know there may be some extra traffic. By doing this you are showing that you are human. It will often then create intrigue and is a great firm moment of contact with the street. Dom highlights that this indirect approach means neighbours will go online to be nosy and then see you great marketing. 



He adds other touch points such as, “we are out of your hair thanks for baring with us” which again indirectly highlights we’ve done our job, which in turn is non ‘estate agenty’ and also promotes more intrigue. 



His second tip is that you just “treat your clients like your marketing department”. So rather than spend on marketing, treat your clients on the standard of service  you provide to them, so that your clients indirectly become the marketing department and refer you business. Do not take for granted the importance a £500 increase with work on the final sale amount and the little things you can do throughout the sales process - they go a long way. Whilst Chris doesn’t discuss this, the fulls right in line with the teachings from the great book, “Full Fee Agent” by Chris Voss and Steve Shull.



By driving a powerful enough emotion to blow someone away, they will actively drive people towards you. Dom mentions a TV show called “The Bear” on Disney Plus (Season 2, Episode 6) in order to understand the levels of customers experience and how you can translate that to your estate agency business. If you can provide such outrageous service, you clients will refer you for life. Go and spend your entire marketing budget on ensuring the experience is so world class. Note it is actually Episode 7 as Chris found out, but WELL worth a watch.



Customer Experience trumps Customer Service and if you offer what Dom suggests and combine it with excellent database management, this should lead to 85% of business being referral business. In the theme of this Dom shows us how to use yearly events to promote your business to the community. He highlights linking this to local Facebook group and how quickly it can help grow your reputation in the community. Events are massively underrated, and there are no such things as past clients. Chris shares all the events (and the events calendar) that he utilises and drives Associates to at The Estate Agency.



The hard thing is that you don’t want to treat giving back like running a business (even though that is what you are doing). Be human and focus on the relationships and not transitions.



Chris closes the podcast by asking Dom what the best piece of coaching advice he has been given. Dom highlights that as you grow you HAVE to document your processes. You will get very busy, very quickly. You need to be able to leave the business tomorrow, and by documenting processes from the off, this will be possible. Learn from Dom’s mistake, who had to take 4 weeks out in order to document his processes. Dom leaves by highlighting that it isn’t fair for clients to receive different experiences  because there is someone else in the business looking out for them. 

With an ex Military background and self proclaimed no BS approach John starts with agents being able to “tell the truth and get away with it’. Especially when other agents may often lie in order to win the business.



So how do you act with integrity and turn yourself into a trusted advisor? John jumps straight into the “anchoring effect”. When it comes to selling a property, the highest figure the vendor is given, then will ankle every decision based on that figure. So if agents are artificially inflating prices in your town, how do you get around it?



Firstly, google the anchoring effect. Secondly remember this Tom Panos quote, “property is not in isolation, it is in competition”. So your goal is to help the vendor self discover what the right price is. 



Agent: “Mr or Mrs. Seller, would you agree with me that property is not in isolation”

Vendor: “Yes”

Agent “So would you agree your property is in isolation”

Vendor “Yes”

Agent “Well at the moment, there are X properties for sale similar to yours on the market, what are you going to do to make all the very best buyers  way from what they are currently looking at, to come and see your property instead?”



This will allow vendors to move away from the anchor and as an elite agent that understands consumer psychology. Chris, jumps in and highlights the importance of asking great questions is key for agents. 



John moves onto data, and the data play. Who is the most competent is the one that wins the conversation. When it comes to objection handling, most agents don’t know how to handle being town they aren’t great. John goes onto share data that you need to prepare in order to ensure you aren’t caught short on the valuation. He believes you HAVE to know the answer to the 20 questions below, before you go into battle?



The first 10 of the 20 questions below are from John’s agents course called ‘Highest Net Profit Formula…’



1. What is the pounds per square foot for the good, the bad and the ugly?



2. What percentage of asking price do you or your agency achieve on average for your sellers?



3. How many days are your current clients property’s on the market before they go under offer?



4. What has been your viewing to offer ratio been in the last 12 months



5. How many properties have you been instructed to sell and how many of these have you completed on (last 12 months)



6. How many properties have you sold at the asking price or above in the last 12 months?



7. Can you explain in detail what other properties similar to the property your valuing have sold and when?



8. How will local, national and international economies affect the sale of property in your area?



9. What questions will you ask buyers to be absolutely confident they will make your client an offer before they go to your clients home?



10. What are your sole agency fee’s? If below 1% why? If 2%, why? 



Chris highlights when he sold his last property that agents he invited in offered a 26% price variance, which is shocking. If you have a world class pre valuation call, this should never happen. 



Do not be afraid of other agents in your area. It is OK to share what other agents sell for / their stats and John believe this is a superpower. By being confident John wins the conversation. Turn your vendor into a critical thinker and allow other agents stats to do your talking. Chris ad to this, that you should never bad mouth another agent. 



What is great about John is he turns the table on the vendor that he is interviewing them.



Final thoughts, property is not in isolation it is in completion. Remember that takeaway and 



John SavageTikTok · John Savage55.7K+ followers

Chris Webb is an estate agency author, coach and all round nice guy. In this episode he shares some fundamentals which offer a great refresher for the experience agent, and a no nonsense approach for those newer to the industry.



Chris starts with lead generation, highlighting that if you are good at it, everything else falls into place. Both Chris’s are in agreement that everything else is downstream of lead generation. 



Chris B, highlights that you are a lead generator first, and an estate agent second. Chris W uses a tool of asking agents to rank themselves out of 10 as an agent, then ask the same question but for how well known they are in that area. There is often a difference and that is the chasm that the agent needs to cross. Chris W uses a tool with his clients of writing down all the ways that you can get leads into your business. Withdrawn letters, build emails, etc. Then write down what you are actually doing in the next month. Both set of questions show disparity on where agents want to be and where they are now. 



Again, Chris W hits on that 80-90% of agents time should be spent lead generating. If you’re self employed and you only have 4-5 properties on at then this is only 10 hours a week to service. The rest of the time needs to be spent lead generating.



“If it isn’t in your calendar is doesn’t exist” if a quote both Chris’s agree with when it comes to time block in the above. You can move appointments around as agents we need to be fluid. “If you erase you replace”. 



Chris W highlights that it isn’t a one size fits all and you have to work out what to use. 



Chris B curve balls Chris W by telling him then he firmly believe agents should not take a call of a buyer wishing to offer, if they agent is in a middle of a lead generation task.



Chris W moves the conversation to what can we do to get properties on the market. What do you do pre and post market appraisal to increase the changes of wining. If you don’t win the appraisal, then get someone else to ring for feedback, but will highlight areas for improvement, but is also a time to re-pitch and ask “if it doesn’t work with the current agent, would you be happy to use is as your second agent of choice”.



“Is it too greedy of you to want to be first and last”, from Chris W rounds off the conversation of his post val tips.  



Your property details are not there to sell the property, don’t give it all away. Show off the best 8-12 photos of the property. Don’t repeat what the portals already tell you such as bedrooms, etc in the first line. 



The conversation then moves to client feedback. Chris W is a a huge advocate of vendor care and that it needs to be weekly. This also allows you to work towards a price adjustment conversion. It is very agents for agents to shy away from this, but in essence you’re opening up your clients to competition who will be hearing from them, more than they hear from you. 



Chris B highlights as agent sending videos to clients, which most agents wouldn’t do, but Chris W highlights that you don’t get two way feedback. If in doubt pick up the phone. Chris B highlights the importance of when you update the vendor and allowing it to be on your time and not on theirs, especially if they’re on a long motorway journey and are ringing “for a quick check in or update”.

The real message in this podcast is that you have to be structured, create your own processes and protect your time and make sure that your number one activity is lead generation. 



Choosing Another Agent: Could you share what led you to that decision? Were there particular services or offers they provided that you found more appealing?Future Consideration: If things don't work out with your current estate agent, would you consider using our services in the future? What could we do to be your first choice next time?

Alex is a world class agent who has recently stepped into the self employed word. He kicks off by saying "don't be afraid to do the things that everyone's afraid to do". You have to get comfortable being uncomfortable.



Chris resorts by asing how you get into that mindset. Alex highlights there are people that have to knock on doors and offer world shattering news to people. He touches on door knocking but highlights that they have had some nice conversations. Alex leads with leading with value whether door knocking or with a video. Chris asks "do you think every agent in the UK should door knock?".



Alex suggests you need to do what works well for you, but that every agent should try it. Alex tells Chris in order to get into the mindset, you have to remind yourself what you are doing and that it becomes far more real when you become a self-employed agent. He highlighted there was a house he didn't knock on, and now they have changed agent. Alex highlights that the "lost listing" could have led to a lot more business, but you have to move on and learn from it. Fail forward, fail fast, fail often.



Chris closes the conversation that every agent should door knock with value. The UK is one of the only counties where you can knock on someone's door with a for sale sign. In other countries you can lose your license.Alex highlights that don't copy what other agents do. Do your own thing and work out what you can do better than the other agent, such as Sunday openings. Work out what it is, and create this as you USP and become the digital mayor of your town.



Alex then goes on to mention that if someone wants to choose another agent, you have stats and data that highlight why you will perform better than the other agent. This is key. Chris then highlights if you work this with scripts (and ask great questions) then you should be onto a winner. The conversation is rounded off with charging what you are worth. Chris pushes Alex on whether agents should drop their fee. But actually, the client isn't as fussed on fees as the agent. Alex calls fee promotions "a loose around your neck", and that is what you become known for - a discount agent. The reason I am £5k more Mr Vendor... If you ask most people what 1.25% of £575,000 is, most people can't do maths. So often it works putting things into figures allows clients to make decisions. He also mentions that he casually drops his fee, and then mentions that he will come back to that later. Chris loves this and highlights that fee only becomes an issue when value comes into play. Chris goes on to share some scripts when charging a higher fee, "do you think I will outperform, outnegotiate or both the other agents?". Getting the client to tell you this, reaffirms what you should charge a high fee and "If I can't negotiate on my own money, how do you expect me to negotiate on yours?".



Alex discussed turning business away. You have to get yourself into a position where you can choose to walk away. To sum up, Alex highlights "input = output". Always try to be 1% better every day.

Ali Harper is long time friend and one of the top agents at Exp UK (other models are available such as The Estate Agency).



On this quick fire post cast Ali talks about the importance of growing you team with individuals that aren't the same as yourself. You need to recognise your own weaknesses and employ people to fill those gaps.



Ali pushes the importance of taking the leap into self-employed estate agency as wish he would have done this sooner. "I've never felt freer or happier... life is on my terms now".



The discussion then goes onto fees... Asking for the business and going high on fees is a message Ali pushes charging 9x that of his local competition. He goes out with the mindset of knowing he is going to win the instruction. If you want to run your own business, then you need to back yourself. If you don't then don't go self employed. But when you do, ask for the business.



Chris highlights using a "10% over" fee strategy on what Ali terms "your already high fee" work very well, as they often do in Scotland. "If the client invites you out, it is yours to lose".



Chris reemphasises that the lead generation should form the start of every day, especially if you're not great at admin. Ali goes onto agree that in order you grow the business, then this is a non negotiable.



Being raw, Ali goes into different aspects of his business and highlights that he focuses on the thing that is going to make the most money.



He highlights @https://www.instagram.com/daniel_daggers/?hl=en being the best agent in the world to follow.



Ali can be found at https://www.facebook.com/harpersprop/