Give the staircase a rest!

In my last entry I said I was busy visiting offices and I was very pleased when I got there. I saw offices that were busy and working exceptionally hard in a market that is generally accepted as very slow. Proactive sales skills were being used to generate interest and obtain offers for our vendors consideration. Since then I have had a week off and spent another full week building on my never ending project which really does have to end soon! 2 Oak floors were laid and now I have an issue with backache! I gave the staircase a rest as I can't do any more on that until all the finished floors are in place.

Sales picked up while I was away and I was pleased with the results so as mentioned previously I think as we move away from the Olympics and out of holiday time I think we will see an increase in market activity generally. I have a very rare week this week being based in Head Office for the whole week which will give me a chance to catch up with everybody.

 

Francis Marshall FNAEA
Managing Director
Bradleys Group

...and now get buying!

The Olympics are over and didn't Team GB do brilliantly. I really hope there is enough feel good factor about to put a little more life into the property market. Our sales slowed a little last week and I am sure that was because of the interest in the Olympics combined with some exceptionally good weather meant buyers did other things than buy a new house. I hope this week will be a little different!

My week was quite Head Office orientated last week. This week I am out visiting offices each day in all of our major centres in Exeter, Torbay, Plymouth and far west to Penzance as well as fitting in a few Head Office appointments so will be racking up the miles but I am really looking forward to seeing how some of the offices I am visiting are doing. One thing for certain is I will be seeing teams doing everything that can be done to get buyers through doors and if I can give any help or advice along the way then my visits will be worthwhile.

Francis Marshall FNAEA
Managing Director
Bradleys Group

Bradleys Take Gold!

So one month closes and we start another. As ever we look at the figures which determine if it was a success or not. Watching  the Olympics over the weekend it is very apparent who is great and who is not and it is clear who has the talent and who when talent has been combined with hard work blow the competition away. Usain Bolt and Ben Ainsley spring straight to mind. I started to draw comparisons between what makes a great athlete and what makes a great estate agent. There are so many similarities! such as dedication, persistence, hard work, team work, stamina, strategy, communication etc. and then I wondered why there are no gold medals for estate agents?

Clearly there is no justice in the world but then competing estate agents is not really very interesting is it! If there was an estate agent games then I am sure Bradleys would have a few gold medallists as I am extremely proud of the efforts everyone is making in the current tough market. In the absence of estate agent games then there is something which is the closest we will get and it is called Allagents. This is basically Trip Advisor for estate agents so if you are reading this and have had a good service from us please give the office who impressed you a gold medal and give them a review on Allagents.  Just type Allagents in to Google and complete a review of your favourite office.

As you can tell I have been watching the Olympics instead of building this weekend so nothing to report there so what about the week ahead. I have Directors 1:1's on Monday, Office visits on Tuesday as well as an interview with one of our competitors Managers who is interested in working for us. Wednesday is the August Board Meeting and Thursday I have a meeting with the business that is destroying our industry…………Rightmove. Friday an office visit and then the afternoon on the phone with offices and Directors rounding off the week and seeing if any more gold medals are due!

August is usually a quiet month for estate agents, I think there is a good chance that the public spirit is increased and there is not much bad news about so this August we just might see better sales, let's see if I am right.

Francis Marshall FNAEA
Managing Director
Bradleys Group