Chris Willey & Son moved from a manual process to EA
1 branch firm based in Taunton – joined Expert Agent in 2011
Michael Willey says: “Since my father started this business – quite a few years ago now! – we’ve done all our admin and so forth manually. Although the jump to any computerized system would be quite a large step, I could not fault the team at Expert Agent in the way they helped us. They were, and are, quick to react, and keen to find solutions to our questions. They were even helpful in making sure their system worked with our website, even though we were not using an Expert Agent website.
Now that we’re up and running? Well, I must say it is has improved our efficiency no end, particularly with regards to creating offers, sending out all the offer letters and ensuring we’re compliant with all the legislation, such as keeping records of what was sent to whom.
We’ve also gained efficiencies in other ways. For example we’re able to deal with a much greater volume of applicants, and send out details of new instructions to more people more easily.
If we have sold more it is because we use our time better now that we’re with Expert Agent. In a word: excellent.”
Sansome & George gain better visibility across their multi-branch business with EA
8 branch firm covering North Hampshire and West Berkshire – joined Expert Agent in 2003
Managing director David Sansome said that the benefits were immediate: “OVERNIGHT we saw that this was a better system than we had previously used, giving me greater visibility of what each office was up to, in real time. It has also allowed us to communicate more effectively with our clients and to offer them an enhanced service.
We have found the support team “fantastic – getting us up and running quickly. The people at EA are friendly, helpful and knowledgeable, not just in their own system – which I’d expect – but in estate agency also. Latterly we’ve used the online training as an easy and quick way to get our newer team-members trained up in how to use the system most efficiently.
Since the new Potential Valuation Alerts system went live [relaunched in 2011] we’ve had a head-start in booking valuations, and quickly had a steady stream of alerts a week about properties that might soon go on the market.
We also use the relaunched lettings and property management module, along with another system. Having one system for both sales and lettings means above all that I can get each team-member doing both too, making them more efficient and productive, which these days is vital”.
Rook Matthews Sayer praises EA for helping him communicate with his customers and in turn gain more business
17 branch firm across North-East England – joined Expert Agent in 2007
“Expert Agent is great for keeping in touch with our clients – we can email a mailshot out and give them our latest news. We email buyers every month to remind them our monthly auction is taking place. Our auction attendance is going up and as an added bonus we get at least one lead a month asking them to put their unsold house in the auction as well.
Our Valuation Managers access Expert Agent via their iPads in the living room and go through similar sold properties with the potential vendor. Expert Agent enables us to keep an eye on our vendors’ properties, the level of much interest, the offers and crucially to identify those that need extra attention – this improves our service to vendors, who tell their friends, which means more valuations for us.
If we ever have a technical query with Expert Agent they fix it straight away – particularly important to keep such a fast-moving business going”.
Cooper Adams gain instructions from EA membership
1 branch firm based in Sussex – joined Expert Agent in 2007
Shaun Adams says: “We found that Vebra got complacent and were very slow to evolve so we started to look elsewhere. Expert Agent seemed to tick all the right boxes for us, especially being able to view the diary from anywhere (I quite often keep an eye on things on the iPad if the wife’s watching some rubbish on telly!).
Have we ever gained a vendor because of Expert Agent? Definitely. One lady, a driving instructor, was on the market with another agent, and because she was an applicant with us we sent her regular email and text updates of new properties, which impressed her so much she switched her instruction to us”.
Fellow ESTAS award-winning Bassets choose Expert Agent to improve communication and customer service
3 branch firm based in Wiltshire and Hampshire – joined Expert Agent in 2011
David Clayton, MD of Bassets with 3 offices in and around Salisbury says: “Modern estate agency is all about communication – good and timely communication with applicants, sellers and buyers – and if you get that right, excellent customer service naturally follows. We’d been using a system that quite frankly was not built with modern communication in mind, and it was time to change.
I looked at many software packages and chose Expert Agent because it offered us the best means of communicating with all parties at all stages of the process. Yes, there is the standard matching of properties to applicants and vice versa by email and text, but it’s the little things like the automatic confirmation of a viewing two hours beforehand which demonstrates an attention to detail and service that is rare.
In my opinion, Expert Agent would be of considerable benefit to any agent. Since joining Expert Agent we’ve scooped a number of different awards at The ESTAS – no doubt using Expert Agent has contributed to these wins!’
EA’s flexibility allows Newton Fallowell to tailor the system to meet their requirements on an on-going basis
21 branch firm based in the East Midlands – joined Expert Agent in 2009
David Newton, IT & Marketing Director says: “We’d been using VebraSolex for ten years by 2009, and found that for a dynamic business like ours we needed a system that was more flexible – that we could configure how we wanted it, and that would work better with our website, allowing consumers to update their own details or requirements right there for themselves without having to phone our offices.
That’s when we chose Expert Agent, and we’re loving it – it’s fantastic! Of course the change from an ingrained system to a new one will have its problems, but the team at EA were great and made it as painless as possible. After a month, we were away and have not looked back!
Our valuers take an iPad with them and show potential clients, right there in their living room, how their property would look on our website, and also show them the number of applicants that we have for their property, as well as selected comparable properties to justify the valuation.
We also find that many of the functions of Expert Agent are sure-fire instruction-winners, such as the vendor login, that their property will be visible to all our 15 offices – and on the website – immediately, and the weekly email to applicants to give that constant reminder to all relevant applicants about their property.
I guess there is no better word to say than we have recommended it to other agents – as long as they are outside our area!”