Best Practice for letting agents finding new business

Finding new landlords can be a challenge. Our aim is to help you find those opportunities and get the most out of your Zoopla membership.

In this article we'll look at the tools available to help you attract new landlords.

This article includes: 

• Reviewing ZooplaPro
• Identifying new opportunities
• Converting valuation enquiries to market appraisals
• Preparing for market appraisals

Reviewing ZooplaPro

First impressions can be formed within seconds. Review your Branch Profile to ensure you're promoting your brand and highlighting the service(s) you offer.

When writing your branch Description, make it eye-catching with important information to help you stand out from your competitors.  You can change your Branch profile often so you may consider highlighting a special promotion, your unique service or shouting about your reviews.  Our research shows that recommendations and reviews are essential with over 90% of respondents relying on these when choosing an agent!

Ensure your social media is linked to your Branch profile. Our Zoopla Advantage platform provides you with regularly updated news, research and insights, including our quarterly UK Rental Market report which you can use to showcase your expertise when targeting landlords by building great social media content.

Your outcodes (first part of your postcode) form a vital part of Market views which are set up for use in reports and Market email alerts.  You can access data for current and historical listing information from Zoopla in any of the outcodes you've added to your account.  You can add up to 10 outcodes within your membership.  Check these for the key areas you cover.  Consider adding outcodes for the areas that you wish to break into which can help you expand your reach into new regions.  By adding these, you can keep an eye on what the market is doing and its' performance and look for additional areas where you may also perform well in.

Advertise your brand and keep yourself front of mind with landlords by using promotional merchandise and a variety of Marketing materials which can be downloaded/ordered.

Identifying new opportunities

Find new opportunities and encourage landlords to use your service by tracking your competitors' new instructions, fallen throughs, properties withdrawn from the market and slow moving listings.  Use the Monitor market tab to access key reports where you can find data and analysis on your competitors, allowing you to focus your efforts in the right place.

The Let historical tab allows you to track your past performance against your competitors over set time periods.  Review the data to see where you could make improvements to your service and/or target new business.

Identify when your competitors' properties are likely to come out of contract by using the Slow movers report and reach out to the landlord.

Receive notifications of changes to your competitors' listings such as slow movers or withdrawn properties by setting up Market email alerts.  This allows you to seize an early opportunity to win new business.

Plan marketing campaigns by using key reports. Identify property types and rental history for your campaign with the Property search tab which gives you a detailed view of a specific area.

Plan targeted advertising by using the map view in All market activity.  Our research suggests there are approximately 7m homeowners in the UK over the age of 65 who haven't moved for over 20 years.  They could think about down-sizing and may be your future investors!  They are also the least likely group to visit your website or use social medial so you may want to consider using printed advertising materials to ensure you're at the forefront of their minds if they're looking for an investment opportunity.

Converting valuation enquiries to market appraisals

Track incoming Zoopla leads with the Leads report within the Manage performance tab.  Valuation leads found under the sub tab keeps track of all the leads received from potential landlords, their details and their preferred contact method and time.

For those leads who you can't contact, or who are not ready, you can download spreadsheets and set a reminder to contact them in the future.  Nurturing leads helps you stay front of mind when they're ready to invest or let.

Our research highlighted that 83% of consumers felt it important to have regular communication.  This could present an opportunity to show self managing landlords the benefits of using an agent and keeping their rental income in line with current market values.  Where portfolio landlords may be consolidating their portfolio, engaging with them could result in you taking over their management from a competitor.

Preparing for market appraisals

Building rapport and trust with potential landlords will make them more inclined to use you.  Prepare to demonstrate your knowledge and expertise by keeping up to date with insights and performance data in your area.

Demonstrate your expertise, build confidence in your valuation and manage landlord expectations by using the Comparables report builder, found within the Winning instructions tab.  This is a fully customizable report presenting comparable properties including rental price history, map, charts and estimates.  It's the ideal leave-behind after a meeting.