
Don?t forget the basics
For a hands-on business-like estate agents, creating a seamless customer experience is vital. It?s all well and good spending a large chunk of your budget on marketing to get prospective clients through the door, but if you can?t manage appointments, reminders and calendars, you?ll really struggle to retain clients. There are numerous software tools on the market that allow you to quickly set up booking systems ? before taking your pick, make sure they are device-agnostic (so all consumers can use them) and that reminders are automated. While this is a relatively simple function of a business, it can become laborious if you?re having to do this all yourself It?s important to create the impression of engagement with clients. Automated reminders and calendar appointments make you seem like you?re keen and engaged. In a busy market, such as that estate agents, things like attentiveness and good customer service are effective ways to set yourself apart.Suss out the competition
While online estate agents are shaking up the market, you?d also be na?ve to underestimate the significance of high street presence before you launch an estate agency. If you are looking to buy out a shopfront, it?s worth checking out the local competition. How much do other estate agents charge in fees? How often are properties turned over in your area? If you want to see what the size of the market is in your area, it?s worth looking at the level of market activity and weighing that up against the number of estate agents operating locally. You can get an idea of sales per month using tools like Zoopla.Take a thorough look at costs
Keep an eye on the cash
Clich? as it might sound, cash really is king ? especially when starting your own business. Late payments are a sad inevitability of running a business, but you can reduce the likelihood of this by putting your own systems in place. Using simple invoicing software can help you make sure you keep abreast of when you need to issue invoices and when they are due to be paid. It?s also important that with the boom in mobile payments, your system supports more modern forms of payment. When you launch an estate agency, clients may want to pay with Stripe and Paypal, for example. Jahan Safdar is the founder of new online business management tool Grow in CloudSign up to our newsletter to get the latest from Business Advice.