Everything you need before you walk into your first meeting with Carol Davies. Read it through, then head back to the simulation and start your kick-off.
Hi,
Thanks for agreeing to take this on. I'll keep this short because frankly I don't know where to start — that's why I need you.
We've been running two branches for three years and we still manage all our property viewings by phone and a paper diary. Each branch has its own diary. Neither branch can see the other's. When staff are out on viewings (which is most of the day), calls go to voicemail. Buyers don't leave voicemails. They call the next agent.
In March we had a situation where a buyer arrived at a property and found another buyer already there with one of my other negotiators. He was a cash buyer with no chain. He didn't come back to us. I worked out that cost us around £4,200 in lost commission. That was the moment I decided something had to change.
I spoke to an IT company in February — they quoted me £45,000 for a custom system. I'm not spending that. My accountant looked at a couple of off-the-shelf estate agency platforms that apparently have online booking built in, but I don't know if they're right for us or if I'm even solving the right problem.
A colleague suggested I bring someone in to look at this properly before I spend a penny. She gave me a rough steer of £10k–£15k. I've set £12,000 as my ceiling — that includes any consultancy, setup, and first-year licensing if it's a subscription product.
I need a recommendation in eight weeks. We're heading into autumn which is our second busiest season and I don't want to go into it with the same system we've got now.
I've told the team you're coming in. You'll meet them on the ground rather than from me — I'd rather you formed your own view. What I'll say is that some of them are more enthusiastic than others. One of my senior people has been with us thirty years and isn't a fan of "computers running the business". Another has been pushing me on online booking for two years. I'll let you work out who's who and what they each need from this.
I'll give you an hour this morning. After that I'm in viewings until 4pm.
Maple & Stone is a small independent estate agency on the south coast. Two branches: Northgate (the older one) and Market Street (newer, slightly busier). About twelve staff across both sites. Trading for around fifteen years.
Most of their business is residential sales and lettings. The bread and butter is booking property viewings — buyers ring up, ask to see a property, and one of the team books them in. Each branch keeps its own paper diary.
The problem is everywhere in the day. Calls come in while the team are out showing properties. Both branches book separately, so a buyer who rings one branch about a property managed by the other has to be put on hold while someone phones across. Some viewings get double-booked. Some never get confirmed. Some never get returned.
Carol has tried to fix this before. Four years ago she invested in a cloud-based phone system that was meant to route calls between branches. It cost roughly £3,000 to set up. It never worked properly. Half the team couldn't work out how to transfer a call. That experience is going to come up in your conversations. People at Maple & Stone remember it.
Carol is warm but no-nonsense. She'll give you straight answers if you ask sharp questions. She doesn't enjoy long email chains. She'd rather you spent fifteen minutes in the office with her than send a deck.
She'll also remember if you turn up to your first meeting having read this brief — and if you don't. Asking her things this document already answers is going to cost you credibility. Asking her things this document doesn't answer, on the other hand, is exactly what she's paying you for.
Head back to the sim and start your kick-off meeting with Carol.
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