I'm instructing an estate agent - Part 1

For those of you that have been following the podcast and know that I am thinking about selling a property in Machrihanish, it has now come to the point where I need to look at appointing an estate agent. The estate agents market in Kintyre is limited and I have to be cognisant of the fact that it is likely that someone outside Campbeltown that is going to buy the place. To this end an out of town estate agent may be the answer. For now I have decided to fish in a smaller pool of local agents.

Now let's be clear here, I have not sold a property for nigh on 10 years and whilst I deal with estate agents on a daily basis, this is in a professional capacity and not as a client. It was with some trepidation therefore that I lifted the phone and asked for three agents to come out and have a look at the place.

Now I like to think that I know a little about sales and the various techniques one should use to sell a service or product. To me the sale is all down to trust. If I trust the person then they are more likely to get my business. Trust is the bedrock of a relationship and if this is not there then no one is going to get my business. The starting off point for establishing that trust is in my eyes the building of rapport. It was therefore with some disappointment that only one of the three actually took any interest in my situation and even then it felt like this was being forced.

The second thing that I look for is that someone is actually interested in my little life or at least feign that they are. For goodness sake you only have to speak to me for a couple of minutes and then I will be out of your hair. Could you not look as if you appear to be at least a tiny bit enthused about the prospect of marketing my property. It may be a tick the box exercise for you and another property into the pipeline funnel but for me it is probably one of the more important things going on at the moment.

Maybe I just caught them on a bad day or maybe I was having a bad day but the initial signs are not encouraging. The agents will report back to me over the next couple of days and I wait with baited breath!