Dave Warburton: Hello and welcome to another episode of the Complete Agent Podcast, where each week we get together to talk all things a state agency. My name is Dave Warburton. I've recovered from a serious bout of mamma flu over last week, and the guys have been really sympathetic to my my problems. And I'm glad to say that everyone is here today. We have a full house. Michelle Smith, JK, and Ian Story. Guys, it's great to have us all in the same. What would it be? Like a chat
JK: Virtual Room.
Dave Warburton: chat room? Virtual chatroom? Yeah. Anyway, shittiest intro you've ever heard. Let's get straight to How's your week been Michelle?
Michelle Smith: Superb. Been in Manchester for the Mastermind. So we have had that just fantastic experience with all the members together. So much good stuff being shared and I love coming home and getting all the messages from the members the next day to say how helpful it's been and what a great time they've had. So yeah, best of weeks.
Dave Warburton: Brilliant. And what about you, JK?
JK: Yeah, yeah, really good. Even more messages than Michelle. Even better week. No, no, just kidding. No,
Ian Storey: you
JK: no, to be fair, it's been a decent week. We, well, yeah, I mean, obviously Manchester has been really, really good. It's really good to obviously meet up, see everyone, see you guys as well. And yeah, come back energized and ready to attack the rest of the year. We are working on some price reductions and price realignments with a lot of our clients at the moment. Cause one of the things that was going around the room and it seems to be a national thing at the moment is the sort of sticky stock and moving and educating clients on price and changing things up. But yeah, we're doing okay. I August wasn't great. I was very honest with everyone on that. And I think I said it on the pod last week, August wasn't great. September hasn't been phenomenal so far in terms of sales, but we've got some stuff we're putting together. and I think we'll have a decent result by the end of the month, but, yeah, overall fairly positive week. You know, it's, hard, hard yards, but let's get the week done and we can get into the nitty gritty. so on my screen, I'm going to go clockwise. I'm going to go to you, Mr. Barn conversion himself, the barn King, according to chat GPT, Ian story.
Ian Storey: Thank you, James. We're having a nice month here at Stories with 12 listings so far and well, hopefully after today, nine sales so far this month, which good. And the really good thing is that most of those aren't me because of how well Matt and Vic and their team are performing, which is what I wanna see. So good, know, good solid start to the month. We are recruiting for another value another senior value and Matt is getting things moving in our new branch as well so everything feels pretty good we've got about five or six really really big chunky sales that are so close to completing you know like within the next month within the next four weeks they could eat I think they should hopefully all complete and they're all really big fees so but none of them have exchanged. So we're sort of in that bit where there's a few last minute bloody niggles and boundary questions and people getting emotional about decisions and all this sort of stuff, which obviously happens all the time, but just hoping that they come off, because that would give us quite a nice end to our year. But overall, no complaints. The team are doing really well. And obviously, yeah, we had a fantastic day yesterday at the TCA Mastermind. Three. four members of Team Stories there yesterday. So hopefully they got loads out of it, which I think they did from what they've said to me on WhatsApp. So no, it's good. All good. Thank you very much.
Dave Warburton: Okay, good stuff. my week has been the same. You know, it's been really, really good. Really enjoyed the mastermind. That was brilliant. Like you said, it's amazing to have everybody in the room. and seeing how everybody's getting on. Challenges, successes as well, guys. I think we've seen some a lot a lot of successes now, particularly from some of the members that have been with us for a bit longer and have had the time to implement. So that was a really great sort of it's obviously the middle of the week, but you know, the way we look at everything, the the end to my last week of being ill. Do you know what I mean? Have we talked about that? Don't think we have. yeah,
JK: Are ill? Have you got a new watch?
Ian Storey: the library.
Dave Warburton: yeah, it was we'll talk about that in a minute, JK. but no, I've in in terms of the business, yeah, it's been a really good week. We've actually agreed three sales, all gold dusters, six seven five, four fifty-five, five seven five. I've got offers on three this week. Can we please know JK at 1.275, 1.9, and 650? we've just launched three, 950, 550, and 750. And we've got take-ons done and booked in. There's a couple more this week, but 1.2, 650, 600, 1.3, and 500. So all really good stuff, all really great fees. pipeline for me is is the best it's ever been. And we keep topping it up. You know, sales are not not quite where I want them to be. I'm finding that the new stock that's coming to the market is being a bit more realistic because we've got a lot more data to give them and experience to give them from the market. and the old sticky stock, we're starting to have more serious conversations and we might get into this. But one of the s the things that I was sort of saying to some of the members yesterday was, I think it's I think we're in we' we we're into that market where You need to start being a bit more ruthless. Be be prepared to walk away from people that are telling you that they think the house is worth more than it is, or another agent has told them that it's worth more than there is. Be prepared to walk away, service the shit out of that client anyway when they go on the market with the other agent and get it back at your price. and then the other one, of course, was your your sticky stock as it is, just reduce as much as you possibly can. so yeah. It's I think there's there's there's
Ian Storey: signal's gone.
Dave Warburton: a lot to be said for walking away from instructions that are overpriced and also reducing your stock and letting it go if you have to. And Ian, yes, with regards to the signal, it does occasionally go, but you can carry on as if it hasn't because it's recording me at my end and it won't get picked up. So don't worry about it. Don't worry about
Ian Storey: on the note.
Dave Warburton: it. And JK is your watch is mint, mate. I love it. Thanks for showing it off.
JK: sorry, mate. I'm sorry. I just hadn't realized. Are you not?
Dave Warburton: Not wearing mine. Not wearing mine today. No. So overall, anyway. yeah, great week. So today I think what we're gonna do, I'm gonna sorry, JK, you were better today, I'll let you do it. No, you're you're better than me. You're better than me. I just understand.
JK: fantastic. So I think we should. No, no, you're fine. You're podcast, mate. You crack on. No, no, I am better than you, but you go on. go, mate. You go first.
Dave Warburton: Well, I think that we were going to unpack the mastermind. I think that's
JK: listen, there's only one person that likes to run pack around here. And if you ask my missus after I've been away in Manchester for two days, it's not me. Why is that case still on the kitchen floor?
Michelle Smith: Thank you.
Dave Warburton: dear. yeah, so we're going to have a little chat about what we discussed at the Mastermind yesterday. and I think obviously it's going to be very relevant to to anybody who's listening that wasn't at the Mastermind because it's it's just very, very important to do this sort of exercise. And Michelle was right at the heart of it, delivering in a master class. and I and I think there's a lot of value to be had. So let's shall we crack on? Michelle, do you want to give us an overview of where we we we went from?
Michelle Smith: Yeah, absolutely. So in this type of market, think securing the right stock is absolutely essential and building your credibility and expertise, not just in the front room. So we kind of started from the beginning. the thing I think why the masterminds are so valuable is it takes you out of working in your business to working on your business. And
JK: Mm-mm.
Michelle Smith: one of the first things that the mastermind, well actually the first thing that mastermind did was look at AI tools but I'm going to let JK speak about that because he obviously is the guru. But from a kind of business perspective, we looked at all the ways in which we signal our kind of pedigree I suppose to clients before they even think of engaging us. And there was a lot in that, but I think the thing that I really enjoyed the members doing was actually approaching them, their business as if they were a client. So doing the usual things that you would do to find out about an agency and looking for congruence because trust is built through alignment and congruence. So you can do something really, really well somewhere, but then you can undo it all if it's not aligned. So we actually did an exercise where we got them to go and kind of Google themselves, have a look, have a look at all their social channels and just see where were the gaps, where is the alignment and where's the opportunity to fine tune it and tighten it up. And the types of things that members found in some instances were just quite basic in terms of not having the right information on the Google. kind of interface, or it was having social channels that just weren't used. It was having reviews that maybe hadn't gone on for a couple of months, even though the overall Google review score was great overall, you still need the consistency of bringing them in. There was some things on the social channels that they felt was missing. So doing things like that is so valuable because you never do it, you know, who has time to do that, to really review and kind of look at where the alignment and congruence is. So the members got a lot out of that, they really did. And they did it with each other as well. So in groups, with other businesses, the fact that they're non-competing agents and there is such a community of trust and support, everybody wants each other to succeed, you know, when they're working on each other's businesses. It's so powerful because it's a fresh pair of eyes and they know that each other has got the best interest at heart. So I love that. I really enjoyed that and seeing the benefit that they got.
JK: I think it's really good when you, when you make people split up, like you say, with their own businesses, like when they're in there and work with people in another business, because
Michelle Smith: Yeah.
JK: then you have to sit there and be honest about each other's business. And it's sometimes nice because if you're there sat with your team, your team might be thinking, do I want to critique this here? Or, you know, whereas if you're away with someone else, there's almost that sort of bit of safety really. And also that honesty. And it's so good to have those other people in the room all working to a common goal. And one of our new members, Jez, said exactly that to me right at
Michelle Smith: Yeah.
JK: the end. Really great guy. a great chat with him on Tuesday evening about all bits and pieces. We literally slept the road from me. And I just think, yeah, sorry, I cut across you there, but I just wanted to jump in and say that.
Michelle Smith: No, I agree. And it isn't accidental that, you know, we do curate that environment and those relationships. And that is the magic because there has to feel safety. You know, people have to be able to be vulnerable and share actually what is really happening in business. Otherwise, it's all nonsense. You know, it's all a bit like slap on the back and woohoo, you know, and that doesn't get growth. You know, you have to be able to be vulnerable. understand where the opportunities for growth are and then have the support to kind of make the change. So it isn't accidental that JK, I think we all work very hard at making that the environment of know TCA in general and the mastermind.
JK: what I loved out of that present.
Dave Warburton: think the other thing as well just to just just say that well you mentioned being working on your business. If you said to someone, right, block two days out in your diary next week and work on your business, not in it, and just said that to them, how many times and I'm guilty of this, how many times would that get cancelled? A valuation comes in, a take on comes in, something else comes in. It just doesn't happen. So when
Michelle Smith: No.
Dave Warburton: you've got the actual structure, I mean not only are you in a room with like minded people, you know, bouncing off each other and stuff like that. But you've you you have that dedicated time. Like you've just said, people can be honest with each other. I mean, when we were doing the group work and we were sat down, it was really nice. I was sat with some of your guys Ian, and one of the other members, and there was a there was there was genuine critique going on of of the website. And it was it wasn't like, What is what are you saying that for? Don't don't insult me. It was more like, how can we improve this to make you a bit more successful so that when you turn up next quarter you've made some changes and You're at you're genuinely going to be on a different path and and it's things are gonna be better for you. and it's really nice to be able to have that conversation. So people are getting that dedicated two days pretty much. I know it's a full day, but they get there early usually, and there's the evening, and you can bounce off each other there. but you you they're getting genuine time out of the business, and all they are doing is focusing on the business and going away with some implementable stuff. And I think right at the end we were talking about. you know, what's what are your key takeaways from today? And for a lot of people there's too many. Th so you've just got to tune into one, haven't you?
JK: Choose one.
Dave Warburton: Yeah, and really really tune into that and just make these steps each time. You can't do it all at once. But what you generally find as a as a business owner and an estate agency owner is that you can become a busy fool and you you end up just being in in the the day to day grind, valuing houses, sitting viewings, taking offers, dealing with the crap that becomes as a business owner. And and that that full day just gets you out, you can act properly work on it, set some structure up, ask questions that you need to ask, and it makes a huge difference. And we like I say, for me, I love seeing the new members come in and and get value out of it. But equally, it's always nice three months on to speak to members and hear the hear what they've done. I don't know whether I should say the name of the member because I well I don't think they mind anyway, but there's two members in particular that w that work together. And yesterday they told us that they'd put their minimum minimum fee up. And she was just
JK: Yeah.
Dave Warburton: so she was just like just absolutely no way. Nothing less than ten grand. And there's absolute yeah, plus fine
JK: Yeah, plus fat.
Ian Storey: Yeah.
Dave Warburton: there's absolutely no way, absolutely no way that twelve months ago, not even three, six months ago, they'd have done that. And
JK: No.
Dave Warburton: they're just like, I'm not doing
Michelle Smith: Yeah.
Dave Warburton: it anymore, I've enough. It's you know, and they genuinely lost.
JK: It would be interesting if you could, like, you could get the person of the future to speak to the person of the past and get to meet
Ian Storey: Thank
Dave Warburton: Yeah.
JK: them two years ago, what conversation would they be having with one another? Like, by the way, you're now charging this and this is the minimum fee you'll walk away from. I think they would be like, we're never going to do that.
Dave Warburton: Yeah.
Ian Storey: Mm-hmm.
JK: And now you just look at the confidence. I think, you know, I think that's incredible. There's a line that came out of that session. that Michelle put together and I'll take full credit for it. it was that presentation gets you considered pedigree makes you credible and consistency makes you trusted. Like that, that line, it is, it's just so true. And it was kind of the, I suppose the, what's the top line for everything underlined what we just talked about. So, you know, brand presentation and pedigree, you know, does your brand match the fee you want to charge? Does the seller know you before they meet you? Does your stock support your positioning? Evidence beating claims, all of those kinds of things. So from my point of view in my business, obviously my guys were there and did the same exercise as well. And one of our things that came out of that was we had a load of old YouTube videos that still showing. And while we were there, we just messaged our videographer in the office and just said, can you just log into YouTube and just hide all the old videos from YouTube? And that was it, done. But the congruence is so, so important, especially with AI and generative search and how things are moving forward with that. It's just so, so important because as Michelle rightly pointed out, a great exercise. If someone goes into the likes of chat GPT now where people are starting to search for these answers, not just about Google. If they go in and say, who is the best agent to sell my house, my million pound house within master Mortain, for example, where I am, you know, who's going to come up first on the list. And the congruence is, what's going to, you know, cause AI is searching for all of those different things. They're looking at your website. They're looking at your reviews. They're looking at YouTube. look, know, Gemini is more likely to be weighted because it's Google is more likely to be weighted to things like SEO search. and things like YouTube, for example, and your Google profile and Google reviews, whereas chat, maybe not so much, but still is going to rely on those sources. And that exercise there was so, powerful. And I think from speaking to different people in the room that I walked around and spoke to, they got so much out of it.
Michelle Smith: Yeah.
Ian Storey: I also think that I love how the members are all at different stages of their career and their
Michelle Smith: Hmm.
Ian Storey: business growth. So, you you've got people in there who are very, very new to, I mean, some of them aren't even listing necessarily the higher end homes they want to list, which is why they're members. And you've got some who are doing it and have got several branches. But there's always stuff to learn, isn't there, no matter what stage you're at. That always comes across to me, sat in that room, and I think it's about the person rather than the stays at the right in their business.
Dave Warburton: Yeah, th there were two there were two people in the room yesterday that said things that to me were quite powerful from where they were maybe well definitely before they joined. And both members are quite established now, one less so, but still established. And we just mentioned one. Like it was so funny the way she said it. Like I I'm not charging anything less than ten grand plus fat now. And you've
Ian Storey: Yes.
Dave Warburton: got some newer members in the room looking going, What? Ten grand plus fat? as a minimum fee. And then somebody else said I've got my first two percent fee. When we did the the sort of wins at the start, I got my two percent fee.
Ian Storey: Yeah. Yeah.
Dave Warburton: and and I'm get in, 'cause that's what it's all about. And these people are at point seven five, one percent fees, average low fees of three and a half grand. And now they've got to that stage where it's minimum fee ten and two percent plus that. And it just you just get a sense of you just feel proud for them, don't you? It's like, well done.
Michelle Smith: Yeah.
Dave Warburton: You know, you you're sh you're showing it's it's really possible. And I I just l I just love that if you implement and you actually do the work and are consistent, that key word, anything is possible. It really is.
Michelle Smith: Hmm.
Dave Warburton: And there's people in that room demonstrating it. And I'm dead passionate about that because I remember being that person in the room. And I've sort of told the story many times, but listening to people when we were asked what our average fee was in the room. And actually when my average fee was the best part of three, three and a half thousand pounds at volume, I I wasn't I was no nowhere near the worst. There were people there quite a bit well off me and not taking salaries. And then there were three or four people that that stood up and said fifteen grand, sixteen grand, eighteen grand. And I like, what? And that was average fee. I'm like, is that even a thing? And now fast forward to where we are, and I know it's possible because we're doing it every day. And then to see people implementing it many years on and getting the same results, I just I I absolutely love that.
Michelle Smith: Yeah, I do too. And also
Ian Storey: Hear hear.
Michelle Smith: I would point out, and I think both of those members would absolutely be fine saying that it's not the finished article. You know, there's still things that they need to implement. There's still things that they want to do to kind of grow even further. But on the journey, they're still getting those results. know, there's no kind of, you don't pass the finish line and put everything in place and then you charge those fees. It's an evolving thing. You just get to that point where you think, actually, now's the time. You know, we're going to put the fee up. We're going to put the minimum fee up. We're going to say no to those houses that don't align with the brand. And it's the confidence it's built over time. It's great. Absolutely phenomenal.
Dave Warburton: Yeah, amazing. Amazing.
Michelle Smith: the other thing, so we then talked about, the actual valuation booking process and, know, very rightly, you know, what we're booking is not evaluation. We're booking an instruction. So how are the teams set up and how are your systems set up to make sure that you're booking an instruction and not evaluation. And one of the very early things that we talked about was actually automation. and which members still had the facility to book evaluation straight into a diary. And really the pitfalls of that, because that first contact telephone conversation is actually gold. That's the point where you really, really set your stall out and build that credibility and trust. just don't think there should be any option of booking it in a diary without, you know, speaking to someone and having that relationship built. And we even spoke about the fact that people can book it in the diary, but then there's a kind of follow-up call after to do that. But when
JK: Mm.
Michelle Smith: you put yourself in the client's shoes in the client journey, you've just got to be really careful. Is that a point of friction or is that a point to build trust? And until you look at it from the client perspective. it's really hard to know. So that was the encouragement. It's look at that process through the client's eyes and are we building trust or are we building friction? Are we gearing up to book an instruction or is this a process? so again, that was looking at from macro level and what are all the things that we can do that is working towards booking an instruction rather than ticking a box.
JK: Brand positioning is so key with that as well. You know, if you're super available on your website and you've got the book evaluation on my website, you know, we went, we went all down the rabbit hole in terms of wording and this, that, and the other, but, you know, if somebody can go onto your website and book into your diary tomorrow, what does that say about you? You know, it's that brand positioning where, you know, if you can book a trades person into plaster your house tomorrow. And one of our members actually said ironically that they were getting three cloaks. quotes for getting plastering on their house. And there was one person that was the cheapest and he was available the next day and he keeps bringing in for the business. So much so that it's just put him off. And it's just that, you know, if there's a sweet spot, isn't there, you know, if you, don't want to be four weeks off before you can book a val because you're going to end up losing instructions and going to, you know, and I think you said Ian as well, you know, cancellations, you know, since Obviously your team's grown, your cancellation rate is, down. And the sort of sweet spot is maybe around a week to sort of 10 days ish, for people to, because the thing is, you know, you are, you're not just the guy that's available. You're not the throwaway agent. not readily available. You can't just be a commodity because as soon as you start commoditizing yourself, then that's when you're, you're the same as everyone else. You know, and you, you, you blend into the background. Whereas, you know, if somebody wants that bespoke service and they want that premium agent, they're approaching you for a reason, right? They've checked out your website. They've checked out your socials. They've had. market updates from you. They've probably seen other things you've sold. They've been recommended by somebody. So, you know, remember these people are coming to you to ask you to quote for the business or asking you to sell their house. And I think that's really important to remember that, know, you're, whilst we might be sending out market updates or letters, et cetera, they've still got to make the effort to pick up the phone or go onto the website and get in contact with you and I do think the process that you have in place, your website, et cetera, is really key on how it sets relationships out in the beginning.
Ian Storey: Yep. 100%. We actually used to have an automatic booking tool when we first started and we took it off. We used to have an auto val, took it off and we rebranded within about 18 months. The company, we took estates off and just had stories, changed the color to a darker green. So we really looked at that early on and considered how we thought it was impacting us. And I do think it sets you apart. What you've got to make sure of course is that if people are filling out that form on your website, they're getting a swift response to that.
Dave Warburton: Yes. Yeah.
Ian Storey: and there's some mechanism for picking that up when you're closed somehow, or they're getting some sort of response.
JK: Just on that as well, like one of the things that did come up was, was automations and stuff as well. we're not, don't go too deep down that rabbit hole now, but that's one thing that we, kind of have in house here with, the likes of agent connect. So anytime an inquiry comes from our website, not only does the team get an email, not only does it go an inquiry center, but there's also a, dedicated WhatsApp group that we've got set up that automatically sends a WhatsApp to the whole team and says new inquiry. So there's no way that it can be missed. And as soon as that's there, it's done. It's acted on. So I think there's, there's, there's no excuse really for missing it. And, know, that's the thing speed to deal with the inquiry. Like even sometimes if it's a holding message, like for example, sometimes I'll get a vow request coming on a Saturday night, sometimes at nine o'clock and I'll see it coming in the WhatsApp group and I'll just send the person that's requested it, a holding message sometimes on WhatsApp and just say, just seeing that you've requested a consultation, through the website. I'll, we'll give you a call on, Monday morning, if that suits you, is there a best time to get in touch? I just think that's impressive. and one of the other things that came out of this as well is that, you know, people talking about, people using AI systems, to get in touch with people, when inquiries are made and also other agents that are going out there touting for business. and you know, undercut, you know, it happens. We like, we joke about it on the pod, but you know, people in my area overvalue and undercut on fee, said every estate agent ever. but one agent brought something up. won't obviously going to name names, but one particular firm is, going out and undercutting massively. But if they, if you actually ask the client to book a viewing through that, company, like that particular agent said in, in, that example where They did a bit of market research and they rang up that agent to book a viewing and it actually goes through to a contact center. And they asked the question, is that near such and such and such and such? And the person was like, I don't know. I'm, I'm in India or wherever it was. And, and that's the thing that's so powerful to you. So, you know, do you want your inquiry dealt with by somebody that knows the area or knows the location that they're selling? Do they want a professional or do they want someone that's farmed out? you know, in a call center in the middle of nowhere has no idea about your property and you can't can't get them booked in and you're not going to get to speak to an agent because it's all farmed out to a call center. So I think that that also was important. This I mean, it's multifaceted for kind of what we went through. Yeah.
Dave Warburton: I think the the ki the key for me on the valuation side just briefly, I know we need to move on, but it was always it's it's about it's not just about the house, is it? It's about the people. And when you've got you know, speed to answer it and stuff like that is is great and you've got to have it. But we talked about the sort of the robot, didn't we? I know you mentioned obviously AI stuff there, but going into robot mode when you book in a valuation, you know, what type of house is it? How many bedrooms, how many bathrooms, how are you financing this purchase? Have you got a house to sell? Asking a lot of questions without signposting. when actually you you know, that's the the friction that you're building, isn't it? You want to try and get to know the client a
Michelle Smith: the
Dave Warburton: little bit and understand what their why is, what's what's going to get them from A to B, so that you can give the valuer as much information as you possibly can. and then obviously through a pre-calls and all that sort of stuff come after. But giving them an experience on the phone, it's always stuck in my head that from what Michelle said about the feeling that someone gets. You know, it's too easy to get things off your desk, sometimes and get
Michelle Smith: Yes.
Dave Warburton: the valuation booked. But how does that client feel? What do they want? Get to know that client a little bit and give them an experience.
Ian Storey: One thing I took away from yesterday, Dave, now you've said that is making sure that we have regular, you know, make sure the team are sort of, that that's raised with the team on a regular basis because you can't blame the team. You know, they are extremely busy and it's a stressful environment and there's a lot going on, isn't there? So you can't blame them for thinking, right, there's a valve to book. I'm to get this valve book and I can move on to the next thing. I think that's probably just human nature. So I think. regular coaching and training to remind them how important that is and how important it is for them long term is really, really key. I really picked that up yesterday.
JK: I think that's why it's so great that the members can bring team members to the mastermind.
Ian Storey: Yeah. huh. Yeah.
Michelle Smith: Yeah, yeah, I do too. Just on that actually, know, I'm, whatever you focus on is where the team's energy will go. So, you know, if you're the owner, the manager, the director, the leader, you know, pick it up. So you can see from either the notes that they're taking or the notes through Agent Connect, the type of conversation they've had because of the information that they'll hand you on the... kind of handover sheet. So praise it, call it out. Just say, that looks like an amazing conversation. Well done. I can see you've built a great relationship. Or if you get that feedback in the front room, always feed it back. And likewise, if there is just very basic information, say what happened with this one, and try and get more information. Because what you accept is actually the standard that you're communicating that's acceptable. I just want to say one more thing, because I know we did a kind of really robust client touch point process. So there were kind of six touch points from the point of booking to the point of you arriving in the front room, which the members loved and I know they'll adopt. But one thing I want to kind of share for everybody, and I think it's missed massively. And I've got to thank my old regional ops director, cause he was a huge advocate of this. And it's something that I implemented with my teams. Always, always service the seller as a buyer. So in between that valuation call and you visiting them in their home, make sure that you have picked the phone up. So the client execs or the negs, whatever you call them, has picked the phone up and literally serviced them as if they were a buyer. So they get that gorgeous golden five-star service. So they can actually feel what you like. And then it's not empty promises in the living room because I can guarantee every agent will sit in front of them and say, and the team in the office, they will be matching out your properties. Well, what does that mean? And do they actually do it? You need to give them the experience. So don't miss that opportunity to really show them how good your service is. Because often it's just not done. They're not kind of seen as a full client until after the valuation appointment. So don't miss that opportunity to showcase what you can do and give them that five star service.
JK: Do want me to go into a little bit of the AI stuff while we're on here or not? How are we doing for time?
Michelle Smith: think the one key takeaway, JK, I mean, you gave so much great stuff that I know they're going to implement, but just share one thing because we are a bit put...
JK: think personally was the highlight of the mastermind for me, like that and the, secret photo that was taken. That was a, that was a personal
Michelle Smith: Hahaha
JK: highlight for me. But no joking. To be fair, I mean, there isn't an awful lot to kind of go into without going massively down a rabbit hole, but the whole point of the presentation was to show you that AI is there to help you not there to replace you. And it's all about how you can use technology to make your life easier, free up your time, but also provide again, just underlining what we've just been talking about a better client experience. So for example, when it comes to writing up our posts, cause I mean, Dave, I used to send obviously we use better proposals. We've talked about it no end of times and we always used to send quite a templated proposal, but we would, I know I would send a video. like a personal video at the time. But then what I discovered was a lot of people weren't actually watching the video. They watched the start of it, but then just like whizzed through the proposal. But what I am seeing now is, know, again, it was my idea that I stole off Dave. But the more in-depth reporting part of the proposal that we have now where, you know, it's those personal things you go through, for example, the dog's name. know, the partner's name, where they're moving to, where they're going, this, that, and the other, then using the AI to articulate the data that you've presented, in, in, and format it in a way that they can understand that's bespoke to their home. and these reports, you know, I mean, Dave, you said it used to take you half hour 45. It's probably the same for me as well, you know, cause I go into the detail. and people know, yes, probably 70 % of the report is templated. So, know, it's test cases, this has happened. This is the latest HPI update, for example, that stuff is templated and doesn't generally change. But it's the bits that do change for, you know, the data on their house, comparable sales, where they're moving to, how we would market their house. Like that's where AI, once it understands you and your business operations and your fundamentals and your core values, et cetera, and how you do business. you can effectively create a 45 minute report in about five, 10 minutes. By the time you've QC'd and checked it, they're then getting a bespoke report and the proof's in the pudding. said, again, the example I gave, a house I went to is 1.1, had another agent out and that agent had literally just sent a two page PDF. I mean, that actually had a mistake on it at the time as well. But even if it didn't have a mistake on it, you know, two pieces of A4 for a client that's selling a home at 1.2 million pound house. It's just absolutely ludicrous. And that client said, I mean, that wasn't why they instructed us, but that's part of the reason why. just said, you can just see that the effort and the level of detail that you go through before you've even marketed a house speaks volumes before they've even signed on the dotted line. So they know that they have confidence that they're going to move forward with you and you're going to get a result.
Michelle Smith: Do you know what, there were so many my god moments when you said that because you could see how much time you spent doing, you know, a quality proposal and you know, you're writing what six to eight of those a week that's that's hours. Hours.
JK: And the rest sometimes, sometimes you're doing three
Dave Warburton: Mm.
JK: valves a day. you know, you, mean, well, to be honest, anywhere between two to three valves a day, three to five days a week, sometimes, you know, it's 15 valves. That's, know, 15 hours. You know, if you think about a working day, plus your valves, like how much time is that, that you're just losing in a day, but with the help of AI is there to help with market research as well. So even before the vow and, one of the things that I put out a lot of people and obviously I'll upload it onto the portal soon, but the, the prompt instructions now, I think it blew a lot of people's mind with a data loft with what they could do with the CSV and the workings of the files, literally drop them in and within seconds, they've got a curated and market, presentable reports to show their clients. and it just saves so much time with a prep as well. It looks
Michelle Smith: Yeah.
JK: more professional. it helps them with, with the valuation and give them confidence. And most importantly, it saves them time. So yeah, they were, they were, I suppose the two things, you know, we talked about things like whisper flow and stuff like that as well, which we won't go into now, but, I think those were the real big wins from the AI section. So, I mean, we're, we're nearly 40 minutes now. We said it was going to be. a short, to be this has been really value packed. I feel like I've been at the mastermind in 40 minutes,
Dave Warburton: Yeah.
JK: but Dave hasn't mentioned he's ill and I haven't seen his watch.
Michelle Smith: Not as nice a lunch. Yeah, not as nice a lunch. Yeah, definitely. Do you know, I just want to say as well, I've had a look before, because I recorded the Mastermind on Plaude. The notes are incredible. Absolutely incredible. Some
JK: Yeah. My idea.
Michelle Smith: choice agency names. I might just have to go and do a bit of editing.
JK: Yeah.
Michelle Smith: But yeah, amazing. the members will get the mastermind kind of slide deck and all of those notes and all of their action steps uploaded to the portal along with your prompts. I think if you don't put those on JK, they'll be driving to your house to get them.
JK: Yeah. Well, there's also the, the script files and everything as well. Cause I sent, did, I did get a couple of messages afterwards and said, can you, I just want to have a play on the way home. Can you send me the prompt over? which I, which I could do. And, there's all the script files and stuff as well. The Python files and stuff as well that are part of it. Cause it's quite comprehensive. so I've got them to send over, but I'll upload to the portal as well. So, so people can get cracking on with that.
Michelle Smith: I know. Anyway, I think we're done. We're now doing admin on the pod. So we're probably done, we?
JK: Right. So thanks everyone for listening. And also just before we go, if this sounds like something you would like to be part of, we are now planning for the Q4 Mastermind, which will be a Christmas Mastermind. It's on the 1st of December. If you would like to be a part of this and you'd like to be in the room, please do reach out to any one of us or check out the website, thecompleteagent.co.uk. I'm James Kendall. This is David Warburton, Ian Storey, Michelle Smith, Dave's Watch. He's no longer ill. We will see you next week. Thanks for listening.
Dave Warburton: Cheers guys.
JK: Virtual Room.
Dave Warburton: chat room? Virtual chatroom? Yeah. Anyway, shittiest intro you've ever heard. Let's get straight to How's your week been Michelle?
Michelle Smith: Superb. Been in Manchester for the Mastermind. So we have had that just fantastic experience with all the members together. So much good stuff being shared and I love coming home and getting all the messages from the members the next day to say how helpful it's been and what a great time they've had. So yeah, best of weeks.
Dave Warburton: Brilliant. And what about you, JK?
JK: Yeah, yeah, really good. Even more messages than Michelle. Even better week. No, no, just kidding. No,
Ian Storey: you
JK: no, to be fair, it's been a decent week. We, well, yeah, I mean, obviously Manchester has been really, really good. It's really good to obviously meet up, see everyone, see you guys as well. And yeah, come back energized and ready to attack the rest of the year. We are working on some price reductions and price realignments with a lot of our clients at the moment. Cause one of the things that was going around the room and it seems to be a national thing at the moment is the sort of sticky stock and moving and educating clients on price and changing things up. But yeah, we're doing okay. I August wasn't great. I was very honest with everyone on that. And I think I said it on the pod last week, August wasn't great. September hasn't been phenomenal so far in terms of sales, but we've got some stuff we're putting together. and I think we'll have a decent result by the end of the month, but, yeah, overall fairly positive week. You know, it's, hard, hard yards, but let's get the week done and we can get into the nitty gritty. so on my screen, I'm going to go clockwise. I'm going to go to you, Mr. Barn conversion himself, the barn King, according to chat GPT, Ian story.
Ian Storey: Thank you, James. We're having a nice month here at Stories with 12 listings so far and well, hopefully after today, nine sales so far this month, which good. And the really good thing is that most of those aren't me because of how well Matt and Vic and their team are performing, which is what I wanna see. So good, know, good solid start to the month. We are recruiting for another value another senior value and Matt is getting things moving in our new branch as well so everything feels pretty good we've got about five or six really really big chunky sales that are so close to completing you know like within the next month within the next four weeks they could eat I think they should hopefully all complete and they're all really big fees so but none of them have exchanged. So we're sort of in that bit where there's a few last minute bloody niggles and boundary questions and people getting emotional about decisions and all this sort of stuff, which obviously happens all the time, but just hoping that they come off, because that would give us quite a nice end to our year. But overall, no complaints. The team are doing really well. And obviously, yeah, we had a fantastic day yesterday at the TCA Mastermind. Three. four members of Team Stories there yesterday. So hopefully they got loads out of it, which I think they did from what they've said to me on WhatsApp. So no, it's good. All good. Thank you very much.
Dave Warburton: Okay, good stuff. my week has been the same. You know, it's been really, really good. Really enjoyed the mastermind. That was brilliant. Like you said, it's amazing to have everybody in the room. and seeing how everybody's getting on. Challenges, successes as well, guys. I think we've seen some a lot a lot of successes now, particularly from some of the members that have been with us for a bit longer and have had the time to implement. So that was a really great sort of it's obviously the middle of the week, but you know, the way we look at everything, the the end to my last week of being ill. Do you know what I mean? Have we talked about that? Don't think we have. yeah,
JK: Are ill? Have you got a new watch?
Ian Storey: the library.
Dave Warburton: yeah, it was we'll talk about that in a minute, JK. but no, I've in in terms of the business, yeah, it's been a really good week. We've actually agreed three sales, all gold dusters, six seven five, four fifty-five, five seven five. I've got offers on three this week. Can we please know JK at 1.275, 1.9, and 650? we've just launched three, 950, 550, and 750. And we've got take-ons done and booked in. There's a couple more this week, but 1.2, 650, 600, 1.3, and 500. So all really good stuff, all really great fees. pipeline for me is is the best it's ever been. And we keep topping it up. You know, sales are not not quite where I want them to be. I'm finding that the new stock that's coming to the market is being a bit more realistic because we've got a lot more data to give them and experience to give them from the market. and the old sticky stock, we're starting to have more serious conversations and we might get into this. But one of the s the things that I was sort of saying to some of the members yesterday was, I think it's I think we're in we' we we're into that market where You need to start being a bit more ruthless. Be be prepared to walk away from people that are telling you that they think the house is worth more than it is, or another agent has told them that it's worth more than there is. Be prepared to walk away, service the shit out of that client anyway when they go on the market with the other agent and get it back at your price. and then the other one, of course, was your your sticky stock as it is, just reduce as much as you possibly can. so yeah. It's I think there's there's there's
Ian Storey: signal's gone.
Dave Warburton: a lot to be said for walking away from instructions that are overpriced and also reducing your stock and letting it go if you have to. And Ian, yes, with regards to the signal, it does occasionally go, but you can carry on as if it hasn't because it's recording me at my end and it won't get picked up. So don't worry about it. Don't worry about
Ian Storey: on the note.
Dave Warburton: it. And JK is your watch is mint, mate. I love it. Thanks for showing it off.
JK: sorry, mate. I'm sorry. I just hadn't realized. Are you not?
Dave Warburton: Not wearing mine. Not wearing mine today. No. So overall, anyway. yeah, great week. So today I think what we're gonna do, I'm gonna sorry, JK, you were better today, I'll let you do it. No, you're you're better than me. You're better than me. I just understand.
JK: fantastic. So I think we should. No, no, you're fine. You're podcast, mate. You crack on. No, no, I am better than you, but you go on. go, mate. You go first.
Dave Warburton: Well, I think that we were going to unpack the mastermind. I think that's
JK: listen, there's only one person that likes to run pack around here. And if you ask my missus after I've been away in Manchester for two days, it's not me. Why is that case still on the kitchen floor?
Michelle Smith: Thank you.
Dave Warburton: dear. yeah, so we're going to have a little chat about what we discussed at the Mastermind yesterday. and I think obviously it's going to be very relevant to to anybody who's listening that wasn't at the Mastermind because it's it's just very, very important to do this sort of exercise. And Michelle was right at the heart of it, delivering in a master class. and I and I think there's a lot of value to be had. So let's shall we crack on? Michelle, do you want to give us an overview of where we we we went from?
Michelle Smith: Yeah, absolutely. So in this type of market, think securing the right stock is absolutely essential and building your credibility and expertise, not just in the front room. So we kind of started from the beginning. the thing I think why the masterminds are so valuable is it takes you out of working in your business to working on your business. And
JK: Mm-mm.
Michelle Smith: one of the first things that the mastermind, well actually the first thing that mastermind did was look at AI tools but I'm going to let JK speak about that because he obviously is the guru. But from a kind of business perspective, we looked at all the ways in which we signal our kind of pedigree I suppose to clients before they even think of engaging us. And there was a lot in that, but I think the thing that I really enjoyed the members doing was actually approaching them, their business as if they were a client. So doing the usual things that you would do to find out about an agency and looking for congruence because trust is built through alignment and congruence. So you can do something really, really well somewhere, but then you can undo it all if it's not aligned. So we actually did an exercise where we got them to go and kind of Google themselves, have a look, have a look at all their social channels and just see where were the gaps, where is the alignment and where's the opportunity to fine tune it and tighten it up. And the types of things that members found in some instances were just quite basic in terms of not having the right information on the Google. kind of interface, or it was having social channels that just weren't used. It was having reviews that maybe hadn't gone on for a couple of months, even though the overall Google review score was great overall, you still need the consistency of bringing them in. There was some things on the social channels that they felt was missing. So doing things like that is so valuable because you never do it, you know, who has time to do that, to really review and kind of look at where the alignment and congruence is. So the members got a lot out of that, they really did. And they did it with each other as well. So in groups, with other businesses, the fact that they're non-competing agents and there is such a community of trust and support, everybody wants each other to succeed, you know, when they're working on each other's businesses. It's so powerful because it's a fresh pair of eyes and they know that each other has got the best interest at heart. So I love that. I really enjoyed that and seeing the benefit that they got.
JK: I think it's really good when you, when you make people split up, like you say, with their own businesses, like when they're in there and work with people in another business, because
Michelle Smith: Yeah.
JK: then you have to sit there and be honest about each other's business. And it's sometimes nice because if you're there sat with your team, your team might be thinking, do I want to critique this here? Or, you know, whereas if you're away with someone else, there's almost that sort of bit of safety really. And also that honesty. And it's so good to have those other people in the room all working to a common goal. And one of our new members, Jez, said exactly that to me right at
Michelle Smith: Yeah.
JK: the end. Really great guy. a great chat with him on Tuesday evening about all bits and pieces. We literally slept the road from me. And I just think, yeah, sorry, I cut across you there, but I just wanted to jump in and say that.
Michelle Smith: No, I agree. And it isn't accidental that, you know, we do curate that environment and those relationships. And that is the magic because there has to feel safety. You know, people have to be able to be vulnerable and share actually what is really happening in business. Otherwise, it's all nonsense. You know, it's all a bit like slap on the back and woohoo, you know, and that doesn't get growth. You know, you have to be able to be vulnerable. understand where the opportunities for growth are and then have the support to kind of make the change. So it isn't accidental that JK, I think we all work very hard at making that the environment of know TCA in general and the mastermind.
JK: what I loved out of that present.
Dave Warburton: think the other thing as well just to just just say that well you mentioned being working on your business. If you said to someone, right, block two days out in your diary next week and work on your business, not in it, and just said that to them, how many times and I'm guilty of this, how many times would that get cancelled? A valuation comes in, a take on comes in, something else comes in. It just doesn't happen. So when
Michelle Smith: No.
Dave Warburton: you've got the actual structure, I mean not only are you in a room with like minded people, you know, bouncing off each other and stuff like that. But you've you you have that dedicated time. Like you've just said, people can be honest with each other. I mean, when we were doing the group work and we were sat down, it was really nice. I was sat with some of your guys Ian, and one of the other members, and there was a there was there was genuine critique going on of of the website. And it was it wasn't like, What is what are you saying that for? Don't don't insult me. It was more like, how can we improve this to make you a bit more successful so that when you turn up next quarter you've made some changes and You're at you're genuinely going to be on a different path and and it's things are gonna be better for you. and it's really nice to be able to have that conversation. So people are getting that dedicated two days pretty much. I know it's a full day, but they get there early usually, and there's the evening, and you can bounce off each other there. but you you they're getting genuine time out of the business, and all they are doing is focusing on the business and going away with some implementable stuff. And I think right at the end we were talking about. you know, what's what are your key takeaways from today? And for a lot of people there's too many. Th so you've just got to tune into one, haven't you?
JK: Choose one.
Dave Warburton: Yeah, and really really tune into that and just make these steps each time. You can't do it all at once. But what you generally find as a as a business owner and an estate agency owner is that you can become a busy fool and you you end up just being in in the the day to day grind, valuing houses, sitting viewings, taking offers, dealing with the crap that becomes as a business owner. And and that that full day just gets you out, you can act properly work on it, set some structure up, ask questions that you need to ask, and it makes a huge difference. And we like I say, for me, I love seeing the new members come in and and get value out of it. But equally, it's always nice three months on to speak to members and hear the hear what they've done. I don't know whether I should say the name of the member because I well I don't think they mind anyway, but there's two members in particular that w that work together. And yesterday they told us that they'd put their minimum minimum fee up. And she was just
JK: Yeah.
Dave Warburton: so she was just like just absolutely no way. Nothing less than ten grand. And there's absolute yeah, plus fine
JK: Yeah, plus fat.
Ian Storey: Yeah.
Dave Warburton: there's absolutely no way, absolutely no way that twelve months ago, not even three, six months ago, they'd have done that. And
JK: No.
Dave Warburton: they're just like, I'm not doing
Michelle Smith: Yeah.
Dave Warburton: it anymore, I've enough. It's you know, and they genuinely lost.
JK: It would be interesting if you could, like, you could get the person of the future to speak to the person of the past and get to meet
Ian Storey: Thank
Dave Warburton: Yeah.
JK: them two years ago, what conversation would they be having with one another? Like, by the way, you're now charging this and this is the minimum fee you'll walk away from. I think they would be like, we're never going to do that.
Dave Warburton: Yeah.
Ian Storey: Mm-hmm.
JK: And now you just look at the confidence. I think, you know, I think that's incredible. There's a line that came out of that session. that Michelle put together and I'll take full credit for it. it was that presentation gets you considered pedigree makes you credible and consistency makes you trusted. Like that, that line, it is, it's just so true. And it was kind of the, I suppose the, what's the top line for everything underlined what we just talked about. So, you know, brand presentation and pedigree, you know, does your brand match the fee you want to charge? Does the seller know you before they meet you? Does your stock support your positioning? Evidence beating claims, all of those kinds of things. So from my point of view in my business, obviously my guys were there and did the same exercise as well. And one of our things that came out of that was we had a load of old YouTube videos that still showing. And while we were there, we just messaged our videographer in the office and just said, can you just log into YouTube and just hide all the old videos from YouTube? And that was it, done. But the congruence is so, so important, especially with AI and generative search and how things are moving forward with that. It's just so, so important because as Michelle rightly pointed out, a great exercise. If someone goes into the likes of chat GPT now where people are starting to search for these answers, not just about Google. If they go in and say, who is the best agent to sell my house, my million pound house within master Mortain, for example, where I am, you know, who's going to come up first on the list. And the congruence is, what's going to, you know, cause AI is searching for all of those different things. They're looking at your website. They're looking at your reviews. They're looking at YouTube. look, know, Gemini is more likely to be weighted because it's Google is more likely to be weighted to things like SEO search. and things like YouTube, for example, and your Google profile and Google reviews, whereas chat, maybe not so much, but still is going to rely on those sources. And that exercise there was so, powerful. And I think from speaking to different people in the room that I walked around and spoke to, they got so much out of it.
Michelle Smith: Yeah.
Ian Storey: I also think that I love how the members are all at different stages of their career and their
Michelle Smith: Hmm.
Ian Storey: business growth. So, you you've got people in there who are very, very new to, I mean, some of them aren't even listing necessarily the higher end homes they want to list, which is why they're members. And you've got some who are doing it and have got several branches. But there's always stuff to learn, isn't there, no matter what stage you're at. That always comes across to me, sat in that room, and I think it's about the person rather than the stays at the right in their business.
Dave Warburton: Yeah, th there were two there were two people in the room yesterday that said things that to me were quite powerful from where they were maybe well definitely before they joined. And both members are quite established now, one less so, but still established. And we just mentioned one. Like it was so funny the way she said it. Like I I'm not charging anything less than ten grand plus fat now. And you've
Ian Storey: Yes.
Dave Warburton: got some newer members in the room looking going, What? Ten grand plus fat? as a minimum fee. And then somebody else said I've got my first two percent fee. When we did the the sort of wins at the start, I got my two percent fee.
Ian Storey: Yeah. Yeah.
Dave Warburton: and and I'm get in, 'cause that's what it's all about. And these people are at point seven five, one percent fees, average low fees of three and a half grand. And now they've got to that stage where it's minimum fee ten and two percent plus that. And it just you just get a sense of you just feel proud for them, don't you? It's like, well done.
Michelle Smith: Yeah.
Dave Warburton: You know, you you're sh you're showing it's it's really possible. And I I just l I just love that if you implement and you actually do the work and are consistent, that key word, anything is possible. It really is.
Michelle Smith: Hmm.
Dave Warburton: And there's people in that room demonstrating it. And I'm dead passionate about that because I remember being that person in the room. And I've sort of told the story many times, but listening to people when we were asked what our average fee was in the room. And actually when my average fee was the best part of three, three and a half thousand pounds at volume, I I wasn't I was no nowhere near the worst. There were people there quite a bit well off me and not taking salaries. And then there were three or four people that that stood up and said fifteen grand, sixteen grand, eighteen grand. And I like, what? And that was average fee. I'm like, is that even a thing? And now fast forward to where we are, and I know it's possible because we're doing it every day. And then to see people implementing it many years on and getting the same results, I just I I absolutely love that.
Michelle Smith: Yeah, I do too. And also
Ian Storey: Hear hear.
Michelle Smith: I would point out, and I think both of those members would absolutely be fine saying that it's not the finished article. You know, there's still things that they need to implement. There's still things that they want to do to kind of grow even further. But on the journey, they're still getting those results. know, there's no kind of, you don't pass the finish line and put everything in place and then you charge those fees. It's an evolving thing. You just get to that point where you think, actually, now's the time. You know, we're going to put the fee up. We're going to put the minimum fee up. We're going to say no to those houses that don't align with the brand. And it's the confidence it's built over time. It's great. Absolutely phenomenal.
Dave Warburton: Yeah, amazing. Amazing.
Michelle Smith: the other thing, so we then talked about, the actual valuation booking process and, know, very rightly, you know, what we're booking is not evaluation. We're booking an instruction. So how are the teams set up and how are your systems set up to make sure that you're booking an instruction and not evaluation. And one of the very early things that we talked about was actually automation. and which members still had the facility to book evaluation straight into a diary. And really the pitfalls of that, because that first contact telephone conversation is actually gold. That's the point where you really, really set your stall out and build that credibility and trust. just don't think there should be any option of booking it in a diary without, you know, speaking to someone and having that relationship built. And we even spoke about the fact that people can book it in the diary, but then there's a kind of follow-up call after to do that. But when
JK: Mm.
Michelle Smith: you put yourself in the client's shoes in the client journey, you've just got to be really careful. Is that a point of friction or is that a point to build trust? And until you look at it from the client perspective. it's really hard to know. So that was the encouragement. It's look at that process through the client's eyes and are we building trust or are we building friction? Are we gearing up to book an instruction or is this a process? so again, that was looking at from macro level and what are all the things that we can do that is working towards booking an instruction rather than ticking a box.
JK: Brand positioning is so key with that as well. You know, if you're super available on your website and you've got the book evaluation on my website, you know, we went, we went all down the rabbit hole in terms of wording and this, that, and the other, but, you know, if somebody can go onto your website and book into your diary tomorrow, what does that say about you? You know, it's that brand positioning where, you know, if you can book a trades person into plaster your house tomorrow. And one of our members actually said ironically that they were getting three cloaks. quotes for getting plastering on their house. And there was one person that was the cheapest and he was available the next day and he keeps bringing in for the business. So much so that it's just put him off. And it's just that, you know, if there's a sweet spot, isn't there, you know, if you, don't want to be four weeks off before you can book a val because you're going to end up losing instructions and going to, you know, and I think you said Ian as well, you know, cancellations, you know, since Obviously your team's grown, your cancellation rate is, down. And the sort of sweet spot is maybe around a week to sort of 10 days ish, for people to, because the thing is, you know, you are, you're not just the guy that's available. You're not the throwaway agent. not readily available. You can't just be a commodity because as soon as you start commoditizing yourself, then that's when you're, you're the same as everyone else. You know, and you, you, you blend into the background. Whereas, you know, if somebody wants that bespoke service and they want that premium agent, they're approaching you for a reason, right? They've checked out your website. They've checked out your socials. They've had. market updates from you. They've probably seen other things you've sold. They've been recommended by somebody. So, you know, remember these people are coming to you to ask you to quote for the business or asking you to sell their house. And I think that's really important to remember that, know, you're, whilst we might be sending out market updates or letters, et cetera, they've still got to make the effort to pick up the phone or go onto the website and get in contact with you and I do think the process that you have in place, your website, et cetera, is really key on how it sets relationships out in the beginning.
Ian Storey: Yep. 100%. We actually used to have an automatic booking tool when we first started and we took it off. We used to have an auto val, took it off and we rebranded within about 18 months. The company, we took estates off and just had stories, changed the color to a darker green. So we really looked at that early on and considered how we thought it was impacting us. And I do think it sets you apart. What you've got to make sure of course is that if people are filling out that form on your website, they're getting a swift response to that.
Dave Warburton: Yes. Yeah.
Ian Storey: and there's some mechanism for picking that up when you're closed somehow, or they're getting some sort of response.
JK: Just on that as well, like one of the things that did come up was, was automations and stuff as well. we're not, don't go too deep down that rabbit hole now, but that's one thing that we, kind of have in house here with, the likes of agent connect. So anytime an inquiry comes from our website, not only does the team get an email, not only does it go an inquiry center, but there's also a, dedicated WhatsApp group that we've got set up that automatically sends a WhatsApp to the whole team and says new inquiry. So there's no way that it can be missed. And as soon as that's there, it's done. It's acted on. So I think there's, there's, there's no excuse really for missing it. And, know, that's the thing speed to deal with the inquiry. Like even sometimes if it's a holding message, like for example, sometimes I'll get a vow request coming on a Saturday night, sometimes at nine o'clock and I'll see it coming in the WhatsApp group and I'll just send the person that's requested it, a holding message sometimes on WhatsApp and just say, just seeing that you've requested a consultation, through the website. I'll, we'll give you a call on, Monday morning, if that suits you, is there a best time to get in touch? I just think that's impressive. and one of the other things that came out of this as well is that, you know, people talking about, people using AI systems, to get in touch with people, when inquiries are made and also other agents that are going out there touting for business. and you know, undercut, you know, it happens. We like, we joke about it on the pod, but you know, people in my area overvalue and undercut on fee, said every estate agent ever. but one agent brought something up. won't obviously going to name names, but one particular firm is, going out and undercutting massively. But if they, if you actually ask the client to book a viewing through that, company, like that particular agent said in, in, that example where They did a bit of market research and they rang up that agent to book a viewing and it actually goes through to a contact center. And they asked the question, is that near such and such and such and such? And the person was like, I don't know. I'm, I'm in India or wherever it was. And, and that's the thing that's so powerful to you. So, you know, do you want your inquiry dealt with by somebody that knows the area or knows the location that they're selling? Do they want a professional or do they want someone that's farmed out? you know, in a call center in the middle of nowhere has no idea about your property and you can't can't get them booked in and you're not going to get to speak to an agent because it's all farmed out to a call center. So I think that that also was important. This I mean, it's multifaceted for kind of what we went through. Yeah.
Dave Warburton: I think the the ki the key for me on the valuation side just briefly, I know we need to move on, but it was always it's it's about it's not just about the house, is it? It's about the people. And when you've got you know, speed to answer it and stuff like that is is great and you've got to have it. But we talked about the sort of the robot, didn't we? I know you mentioned obviously AI stuff there, but going into robot mode when you book in a valuation, you know, what type of house is it? How many bedrooms, how many bathrooms, how are you financing this purchase? Have you got a house to sell? Asking a lot of questions without signposting. when actually you you know, that's the the friction that you're building, isn't it? You want to try and get to know the client a
Michelle Smith: the
Dave Warburton: little bit and understand what their why is, what's what's going to get them from A to B, so that you can give the valuer as much information as you possibly can. and then obviously through a pre-calls and all that sort of stuff come after. But giving them an experience on the phone, it's always stuck in my head that from what Michelle said about the feeling that someone gets. You know, it's too easy to get things off your desk, sometimes and get
Michelle Smith: Yes.
Dave Warburton: the valuation booked. But how does that client feel? What do they want? Get to know that client a little bit and give them an experience.
Ian Storey: One thing I took away from yesterday, Dave, now you've said that is making sure that we have regular, you know, make sure the team are sort of, that that's raised with the team on a regular basis because you can't blame the team. You know, they are extremely busy and it's a stressful environment and there's a lot going on, isn't there? So you can't blame them for thinking, right, there's a valve to book. I'm to get this valve book and I can move on to the next thing. I think that's probably just human nature. So I think. regular coaching and training to remind them how important that is and how important it is for them long term is really, really key. I really picked that up yesterday.
JK: I think that's why it's so great that the members can bring team members to the mastermind.
Ian Storey: Yeah. huh. Yeah.
Michelle Smith: Yeah, yeah, I do too. Just on that actually, know, I'm, whatever you focus on is where the team's energy will go. So, you know, if you're the owner, the manager, the director, the leader, you know, pick it up. So you can see from either the notes that they're taking or the notes through Agent Connect, the type of conversation they've had because of the information that they'll hand you on the... kind of handover sheet. So praise it, call it out. Just say, that looks like an amazing conversation. Well done. I can see you've built a great relationship. Or if you get that feedback in the front room, always feed it back. And likewise, if there is just very basic information, say what happened with this one, and try and get more information. Because what you accept is actually the standard that you're communicating that's acceptable. I just want to say one more thing, because I know we did a kind of really robust client touch point process. So there were kind of six touch points from the point of booking to the point of you arriving in the front room, which the members loved and I know they'll adopt. But one thing I want to kind of share for everybody, and I think it's missed massively. And I've got to thank my old regional ops director, cause he was a huge advocate of this. And it's something that I implemented with my teams. Always, always service the seller as a buyer. So in between that valuation call and you visiting them in their home, make sure that you have picked the phone up. So the client execs or the negs, whatever you call them, has picked the phone up and literally serviced them as if they were a buyer. So they get that gorgeous golden five-star service. So they can actually feel what you like. And then it's not empty promises in the living room because I can guarantee every agent will sit in front of them and say, and the team in the office, they will be matching out your properties. Well, what does that mean? And do they actually do it? You need to give them the experience. So don't miss that opportunity to really show them how good your service is. Because often it's just not done. They're not kind of seen as a full client until after the valuation appointment. So don't miss that opportunity to showcase what you can do and give them that five star service.
JK: Do want me to go into a little bit of the AI stuff while we're on here or not? How are we doing for time?
Michelle Smith: think the one key takeaway, JK, I mean, you gave so much great stuff that I know they're going to implement, but just share one thing because we are a bit put...
JK: think personally was the highlight of the mastermind for me, like that and the, secret photo that was taken. That was a, that was a personal
Michelle Smith: Hahaha
JK: highlight for me. But no joking. To be fair, I mean, there isn't an awful lot to kind of go into without going massively down a rabbit hole, but the whole point of the presentation was to show you that AI is there to help you not there to replace you. And it's all about how you can use technology to make your life easier, free up your time, but also provide again, just underlining what we've just been talking about a better client experience. So for example, when it comes to writing up our posts, cause I mean, Dave, I used to send obviously we use better proposals. We've talked about it no end of times and we always used to send quite a templated proposal, but we would, I know I would send a video. like a personal video at the time. But then what I discovered was a lot of people weren't actually watching the video. They watched the start of it, but then just like whizzed through the proposal. But what I am seeing now is, know, again, it was my idea that I stole off Dave. But the more in-depth reporting part of the proposal that we have now where, you know, it's those personal things you go through, for example, the dog's name. know, the partner's name, where they're moving to, where they're going, this, that, and the other, then using the AI to articulate the data that you've presented, in, in, and format it in a way that they can understand that's bespoke to their home. and these reports, you know, I mean, Dave, you said it used to take you half hour 45. It's probably the same for me as well, you know, cause I go into the detail. and people know, yes, probably 70 % of the report is templated. So, know, it's test cases, this has happened. This is the latest HPI update, for example, that stuff is templated and doesn't generally change. But it's the bits that do change for, you know, the data on their house, comparable sales, where they're moving to, how we would market their house. Like that's where AI, once it understands you and your business operations and your fundamentals and your core values, et cetera, and how you do business. you can effectively create a 45 minute report in about five, 10 minutes. By the time you've QC'd and checked it, they're then getting a bespoke report and the proof's in the pudding. said, again, the example I gave, a house I went to is 1.1, had another agent out and that agent had literally just sent a two page PDF. I mean, that actually had a mistake on it at the time as well. But even if it didn't have a mistake on it, you know, two pieces of A4 for a client that's selling a home at 1.2 million pound house. It's just absolutely ludicrous. And that client said, I mean, that wasn't why they instructed us, but that's part of the reason why. just said, you can just see that the effort and the level of detail that you go through before you've even marketed a house speaks volumes before they've even signed on the dotted line. So they know that they have confidence that they're going to move forward with you and you're going to get a result.
Michelle Smith: Do you know what, there were so many my god moments when you said that because you could see how much time you spent doing, you know, a quality proposal and you know, you're writing what six to eight of those a week that's that's hours. Hours.
JK: And the rest sometimes, sometimes you're doing three
Dave Warburton: Mm.
JK: valves a day. you know, you, mean, well, to be honest, anywhere between two to three valves a day, three to five days a week, sometimes, you know, it's 15 valves. That's, know, 15 hours. You know, if you think about a working day, plus your valves, like how much time is that, that you're just losing in a day, but with the help of AI is there to help with market research as well. So even before the vow and, one of the things that I put out a lot of people and obviously I'll upload it onto the portal soon, but the, the prompt instructions now, I think it blew a lot of people's mind with a data loft with what they could do with the CSV and the workings of the files, literally drop them in and within seconds, they've got a curated and market, presentable reports to show their clients. and it just saves so much time with a prep as well. It looks
Michelle Smith: Yeah.
JK: more professional. it helps them with, with the valuation and give them confidence. And most importantly, it saves them time. So yeah, they were, they were, I suppose the two things, you know, we talked about things like whisper flow and stuff like that as well, which we won't go into now, but, I think those were the real big wins from the AI section. So, I mean, we're, we're nearly 40 minutes now. We said it was going to be. a short, to be this has been really value packed. I feel like I've been at the mastermind in 40 minutes,
Dave Warburton: Yeah.
JK: but Dave hasn't mentioned he's ill and I haven't seen his watch.
Michelle Smith: Not as nice a lunch. Yeah, not as nice a lunch. Yeah, definitely. Do you know, I just want to say as well, I've had a look before, because I recorded the Mastermind on Plaude. The notes are incredible. Absolutely incredible. Some
JK: Yeah. My idea.
Michelle Smith: choice agency names. I might just have to go and do a bit of editing.
JK: Yeah.
Michelle Smith: But yeah, amazing. the members will get the mastermind kind of slide deck and all of those notes and all of their action steps uploaded to the portal along with your prompts. I think if you don't put those on JK, they'll be driving to your house to get them.
JK: Yeah. Well, there's also the, the script files and everything as well. Cause I sent, did, I did get a couple of messages afterwards and said, can you, I just want to have a play on the way home. Can you send me the prompt over? which I, which I could do. And, there's all the script files and stuff as well. The Python files and stuff as well that are part of it. Cause it's quite comprehensive. so I've got them to send over, but I'll upload to the portal as well. So, so people can get cracking on with that.
Michelle Smith: I know. Anyway, I think we're done. We're now doing admin on the pod. So we're probably done, we?
JK: Right. So thanks everyone for listening. And also just before we go, if this sounds like something you would like to be part of, we are now planning for the Q4 Mastermind, which will be a Christmas Mastermind. It's on the 1st of December. If you would like to be a part of this and you'd like to be in the room, please do reach out to any one of us or check out the website, thecompleteagent.co.uk. I'm James Kendall. This is David Warburton, Ian Storey, Michelle Smith, Dave's Watch. He's no longer ill. We will see you next week. Thanks for listening.
Dave Warburton: Cheers guys.
