SPEakERS’ cORnER
Ivor Dickinson
MD of Douglas &
Gordon, says maybe it’s
time to batten down the
hatches; this could be a
dead cat bounce...
I
have worked at Douglas & Gordon for complaints they are receiving from the
22 ye
ars and been Managing Director public because agents are jumping into
for 15 of them. In that time, I have seen new disciplines that they know little about.
good and bad times and, let’s be honest, What messages are you giving to your
until 18 months ago we had experienced employees? Are you motivating and
the best three years of all. Throughout that encouraging but at the same time masking
time, the fundamental challenge has been the reality of your position? Should your
to gain market share. employees realise that things are very
The last six months in particular have difficult? Are you going to convince them
however presented a completely different to stick with you, even though they are
challenge – survival. In order to survive, earning so much less than in previous
we are faced with a host of new dilemmas. years? Are you telling them that you
The kind of decisions that now have to be believe their life is going to become easier,
taken are alien to many of us and inevitably
‘The last six months
and, if you are, do they believe you?
mistakes will be made. So what have you decided? Do you think
The first and most burning question is
in particular
that we may be over the worst and you are
when is the sales market going to return? going to make all your decisions on that
We all hoped that February and March this
have presented
basis or do you think that this year will be
year would see the first signs of recovery, even worse than last year and decide that
and they did. But with the desire to buy
a completely
further cuts are the answer? The agents
comes a new problem – we have very few that survive and thrive will be the ones that
properties to sell.
different challenge
call the market at a time when nobody
So when an agent’s finances are really knows the answer.
stretched to breaking point – do you keep
– survival’
So, no pressure then!
(or even employ more) sales negotiators to
take advantage of the turnaround in the A dead cat bounce is a figurative term used by
market, or maybe you can’t afford to take traders in the finance industry to describe a
that risk – believing that this to be a ‘dead that when the good times return, you can pattern wherein a spectacular decline in the
cat bounce’ and think a better tactic would take a much larger share. price of a stock is immediately followed by a
be to batten down the hatches. How about lettings? It’s all very well moderate and temporary rise before resuming
What about marketing? When revenue thinking you can suddenly branch into new its downward movement.
is so depleted, cuts have to be made. The territories, such as lettings or property It has the connotation that the rise was not
easiest thing to cut is your advertising, but management. However, these practices an indication of improving circumstances in
is that right? Publications are finding it as take vast resources and years of experience the fundamentals of the stock. It is derived
hard as we are and fantastic rates can now to do correctly and they do not provide the from the notion that ‘even a dead cat will
be found. The gurus (admittedly these are instant results that you are used to in sales. bounce if it falls from a great enough height’.
the advertising gurus) will tell you that you It is also no coincidence that The Property
should use a time like this to increase your Ombudsman has reported dramatic
Has he got a point? www.propertydrum.
presence and strengthen your position, so increases in the number of lettings
com/articles/speakerscornerjune
PROPERTYdrum JUNE 2009 61
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