EA LIVE Overview

Attended by estate agency’s elite, EA LIVE on 2nd December was a great success, providing information, insight, ideas and inspiration to all in attendance.

The theme for the day was ‘The Key to your Success’ and in this article we reveal some of the take-aways for you to consider.

The event kicked off with Property Academy expert speaker Pete Wilkinson presenting ‘Unstoppable’. Based on his workshop ‘The World’s Best One Page Action Plan’, Pete shared what he believes it takes for you to become unstoppable. With suggestions such as ‘Success is sequential’ and ‘Progress not perfection’, it was an inspiring presentation.

One particular concept I noted down was ‘Certainism’. Pete said: “there are those who are optimistic, those who are pessimistic, and then there are those who are certainistic…”.

Pete believes that working positively towards a goal with ‘Certainism’ is an absolute must to achieve it – we all get the same number of hours in a day, so it’s how you use them that makes the biggest impact. “Are we confusing busyness with business?” was a question Pete posed and offered that if tasks should definitely be done, should they be done by you?

So as you plan next year and beyond, remember some of Pete’s suggestions above. In addition, remember to acknowledge the progress you have already made. Pete believes it is incredibly important to recognise how far you have come already, alongside looking ahead.

The Property Academy’s Peter Knight presented the highlights from this year’s Home Moving Trends Survey, where 14,530 home movers responded, sharing their expectations and experience when using an estate agent. You can take a look at some of these in our brochure here.

‘Control the Controllables’ was the topic of the next presentation delivered by Rightmove’s Commercial Director by Miles Shipside. He shared the top three demands of vendors:

• Updates on efforts to find them a buyer
• How many people have viewed their property online
• Advice on how to generate more interest in their property

Through their new innovate Intel tool, Rightmove know that you are 40% more likely to sell a property if it is priced correctly on day one. Through interaction with Paramount Estate Agents in the audience, Miles took us all on a journey with a real case study. He showcased the interest in Paramount’s property over time vs comparable properties in the area, and the real-time impact of a price reduction. This is a new tool offered by Rightmove – find out more about how you can use this within your Rightmove Intel member area.

Next, James Dearsley provided us all with a PropTech update mentioning the likes of Yomdel and Matterport as services that should be used today. James offered: ‘there is the two-year view and then the 10-year view’ and quoted Bill Gates:

James’ presentation offered much food for thought on what Estate Agency will look like in 10 years time, and whilst we do not know the exact picture, James encouraged all forward-thinking agents to embrace the inevitable evolution of technology.

We then moved on to our popular panel debate with leading industry guru’s including Karl Tatler, Peter Rollings, David Pollock and Peter Knight. To get the full value you needed to be there but some of the take away comments included David Pollock’s observation that not only are great people hard to find, they are expensive, and therefore “brilliant systems and processes have got to be in place; they compensate for the lack of talent”.

Peter Rollings believes that the biggest challenge for estate agents going into 2017 will be “lack of stock”. He believes strongly that service is the most important thing and that creating a brand and your own company culture is absolutely essential to business success.

Karl Tatler shared how he now has a complete, clear vision on where he is headed for the next three years, and that “it has been invaluable to be a part of the Property Academy’s Summit Group“. Karl believes that the secret to his success is his honesty with his whole team.

Both David Pollock and Peter Knight commented on the importance of always learning in business. Peter also highlighted the importance of having in place a staff recognition plan, and that this is just one of 6 ‘R’s shared within the Summit Group membership tier.

Our final speaker session was an audience with Martin Kemp, where our host for the day Penny Smith interviewed him on stage, gaining an insight in to his successes and also his challenges (he overcame two brain tumours). Martin commented that in his view it is incredibly important to “breathe in the great times” – in other words, to really enjoy the moment for every success or achievement reached. He has accomplished so much throughout his singing and acting career and commented “how easy it is to just move on to the next bigger/better thing very quickly” – now he has learned to take time to enjoy his everything as it happens, to “soak it in to your body”, which echoed Pete Wilkinson’s comments earlier in the day.

If Martin was the CEO of an Estate Agency, we asked ‘What would keep you up at night’? He replied to say that for him, staff happiness is the most important thing, and this would be his biggest concern.

When asked what his ideal Estate Agent would look like, he responded “Smart, but not overly smart, oh and not too much perfume! Too much perfume is not good!”. (He went on to explain that he likes to smell a house when he views it, not the agent showing him round!)

EA LIVE was a brilliant morning, and the feedback has been fantastic. Watch this space for next year’s event line-up.