We were selling a high end one-of-a-kind contemporary waterside house.
We are thankful that, after working for some time with another well-known estate agency, we engaged with Knight Frank’s Exeter office led by Mark Proctor in a Joint Agency engagement.
Prior to moving from sole to joint agency we did a lot of thinking ourselves on who the buyer might be, where they might be, why they might buy the house, and how we might therefore redesign our marketing. We learnt from an advisor to this rethink that Mark had just come down to lead the Exeter office after a successful period in London. At about the same time, Mark called us as we had interviewed and not selected Knight Frank earlier in the process and we agreed to meet to explore ideas. We gradually realised that he brought a more assertive approach to the table and held out the possibility of reaching out to some of the audience that we were needing to target.
When we first met Mark, he challenged us all on the content hosted on the websites, in the brochure, as well as the magazines and newspapers being used for the marketing campaign and the approach being taken in conducting show-arounds. We decided that his approach would add real value to us and employed him as a joint agent from this point. As a result of this open and transparent approach in which both agencies played a full role, we changed some of the images and some of the key messages. We made use of still aerial photography obtained from the drone video that we commissioned around this time which the first agent had recommended to us. And we agreed a revised approach to show arounds.
Critically perhaps, during this rethink, Mark took part in a robust discussion involving all parties which saw us agree to reposition the house with a lower Guide Price; one that was aimed to be attractive to upselling to buyers primarily viewing properties in a lower priced category.
Mark also made sure that "Flic" the home-viewer used by Knight Frank to show homes in South Hams, had the chance to spend a good amount of time at the house understanding its USPs.
On being given the Joint Mandate, Mark and his team immediately made contact by phone with a number of clients to whom Knight Frank had shown houses in the same physical location and at prices below, sometimes well below, our revised Guide Price.
It was a result of one of these calls that reawakened a family's interest in the village and its lifestyle potential and encouraged them to visit several properties marketed by different agencies on one day within a week of the Joint Agency being in place. Flic accompanied the family on their visit to our house. (FYI The buyer later expressed disappointment that at this price point the Knight Frank partner responsible had not deemed it worthwhile to conduct the show-around himself). At the end of these visits, our house was first included in the short list for debate overnight by the family and then selected as the preferred choice. .
Mark discussed the matter with the other agency and they both recommended that we accept the offer which was on Guide Price.... Read more
1712 days ago