PRODUCT REVIEW Technology that counts
Sheila Manchester looks at a new way of winning instructions, counting boards and calculating success.
T
ime was, not so long ago, when the estate agency boss used to leave the office every Friday at 11am, come back at 2pm. Long lunch? Yes.
Cover story? He was board hunting. Hunting down the number of boards his agency had, compared to his competitors. Sometimes he came back flushed and
jovial, nothing to do with red wine, no, the agency reigned supreme in the board charts – For Sale was good, To Let was good, Let By was even better and as for Sold – seventh heaven, smiles all round, beer in pub for all the team. Thanks for a good week. Or not; sometimes there’d be barking all afternoon, get on that phone, why do we still have John Jones’ flat to rent, should’ve let weeks ago! No beer. Simple days, highs and lows that
probably sound familiar. Those days are gone; now, the flack hits or the praise flows on a far more regular basis.
NEW WAYS TO SKIN A CAT Agency bosses that want to steal a march on their competitors don’t trek around town on a Friday, they seek, view and
calculate – online. Every morning, before the staff arrive, let alone any clients, the performance of the business is laid bare on his screen, prepared by invisible magicians, who spend their evenings hurtling around town with clipboards and calculators, entering data through the night. Welcome to 2012 estate agency. Want to
know whether Marshalls round the corner have more properties than you? Want to know which wretch got the instruction for that four bed detached that you have buyers for? Want to know where you stand in the local rankings for sales? It’s all there in black and white, and quite
a few colours too. Pie charts, graphs, listings, more details than you could imagine. It’s a bit like Top Trumps for property, but this is no game. The magicians aren’t magicians of
course, nor do they rush around all night checking who’s done what. The magicians are the largest data source in estate agency data – the portals – and they have products that could change your life. The product under review here is Market View Pro, for subscribers to
It’s a challenge to get agents to change attitudes and reallocate budgets, but there’s a strong rationale for doing so.’ RICHARD SHAMSI, COO, DPG
PrimeLocation.com and FindaProperty. com. It is part of the suite of business services available to all 13,000 branches of DPG clients and it is very interesting. Richard Shamsi, COO, DPG, says
Market View Pro helps agents win new instructions, “Market View Pro has gained significant traction, the latest month on month comparison saw a 298 per cent increase in subscribing agents. Now nearly seven out of 10 customers take one or more service or product from DPG Business Services.” It isn’t just about boards. The system
requires agents to enter various parameters. Once set up, the system generates data charts on your business and the other agencies in your area, available properties, which they have sold or let, fall-throughs, withdrawn, time on the market and price changes.
RESISTANCE IS FUTILE This data forms the basis for a series of report options, including plotting your market share of new instructions, sales and numbers of properties that are for sale. At first, it may be easy to resist the
Monitor, monitor on the wall, map my boards, show me them all!
38 MARCH 2012 PROPERTYdrum
charms of Market View Pro; it’s like buying a new flashy coffee maker – you know how to make coffee, you have a cup, instant coffee is, well, instant, why change? But a new machine’s coffee is better, you have
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