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Delivering points of differentiation to estate agents
Independent Estate Agency...at its best
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introduction
the tools delivered by the guild can be placed within four overriding themes:
01 02 03 04
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Marketing and exposure it and intelligence trust and confidence additional revenue streams
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introduction
The Guild of Professional Estate Agents the guild of professional estate agents (also referred to as the guild) was formed in 1993 when corporate estate agents such as halifax, prudential and Blackhorse were hitting the high street. these businesses appeared to the general public as market dominant simply because they had far greater marketing spends enabling them to have more presence in the media and smarter premises. However, in reality the best estate agents for a vendor to use was the smaller independent firms as they have good local market knowledge, know the property values and how to generate local interest in a far superior manner. The weakness of the local agents, though, was the lack of brand presence and marketing offering to compete with the corporates.
Since its creation The Guild of Professional Estate Agents has grown to over 600 Guild Members and still retains the same values and objectives – which is to work together to deliver a memorable and outstanding service to its clients. With time, the tools offered have changed, or, in reality, expanded, but the methodology remains the same.
With this in mind, The Guild was formed to deliver independent estate agents the tools to compete against the corporate estate agents including marketing collateral such as monthly magazines, centrally purchased services such as PI insurance and operated training schemes.
The Guild operates the membership on the basis of exclusive territories whereby each agent has a town or district within which they operate their membership with exclusive access to the tools enabling them to deliver the unique point of differentiation.
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your way to increased Market share
Your Way to Increased Market Share
01 Marketing and Exposure
The theory behind The Guild is that estate agents with unique selling points and constant marketing activity will gain market share. Differentiating your estate agency from the competition and communicating your message to the public, will attract potential customers, which, in turn, will create an increase in the number of valuations, instructions and eventually sales. Ultimately, your increase in market share will allow you to increase your fees, boosting your income without generating any extra sales. This theory, illustrated by the graphs overleaf, is depicted by the story of five estate agents operating in the same town. None of them have any point of differentiation and, as a result, generate the same amount of sales, have the same revenue and an identical market share. One day, Agent A decides to differentiate themselves and market their agency to the public. The public are more aware of the service offered by Agent A than the other agents and, therefore, more customers decide to contact Agent A. While Agent A is invited to more valuations and gains more instructions, the other agents each lose a percentage of their market share. The happy ending for Agent A is that, through regular marketing, they gain market share and increase their income by 300 per cent. Although it is very unlikely to find a town with all the estate agents having an equal market share, the theory of the point of differentiation and constant marketing is proven every day by the success of Guild Members.
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02 IT and Intelligence
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your way to increased Market share
03 Trust and Confidence
“Differentiation, unique selling points, impressing vendors and competitive advantage are very important profit generators. That is why The Guild only selects one member per town to deliver real compelling advantages and helps you win more instructions on your terms. The Guild will also help you deal with the unspoken issues of trust and confidence in estate agency practice and bring to bear the advantages of working together with other similar, quality, like-minded but non-threatening colleagues in a national network. The essence of a modern institution working for and on behalf of its membership.”
04 Additional Revenue Streams
Malcolm Lindley – GPEA Managing Director
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your way to increased Market share
The theory of unique selling points and constant marketing
Annual income - Year 1
Profit - Year 1
£250,000
£200,000
£150,000
£100,000
£50,000
£0
Agent A Market Share 20%
Agent B Agent C Agent D Agent E Market Share Market Share Market Share Market Share 20% 20% 20% 20%
Scenario Year 1
The way to increased market share
Imagine a story in which 5 agents operate in a town, each doing 100 sales a year at 1% commission with an average property value of £250,000, giving an annual turnover of £250,000. With average costs of about £200,000, each office makes £50,000 per annum. There is a constant battle between the agents, each promising to achieve higher prices and each decreasing their commission on a regular basis in order to stay competitive.
Agent A wins 10 per cent of the market of each of his competitors. He is now selling 140 properties a year generating 140 x £2,500 = £350,000. His net profit is now £150,000, three times that of his competitors. Agent A also wins an additional quarter of a per cent commission on his sales, now making the average commission £3,125. Agent A is now selling 140 properties per annum with an average sales commission of £3,125.
One day, Agent A decides to differentiate himself through competitive advantages and unique selling points, giving his vendors an extra reason for choosing him. As a result,
The result is, in theory, shocking! The agent providing vendors with additional reasons for choosing him increased his profit by over 400% to £237,500 per annum whereas his
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competitors each loose 50% of their profitability. Agent A is now making almost 10 times the profit of his competitors. 140 sales at £3,125 = £437,500 Less overheads of £200,000 = £237,500 profit Of course this story is not true and was made-up and over simplified. However, we have never seen a town where the market splits evenly. In almost every case, an agent dominates the market and is very profitable whilst the other agents continue to fight for the remainder of the market.
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your way to increased Market share
Scenario Year 2
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01 Marketing and exposure
some of the extensive marketing tools and services offered by the guild for members are: 13 regional publications graphic design studio with professional graphic designers and desktop publishers digital hub lead generation system park lane office press, public relations and the guild Media centre the guild home Move Box scheme Quarterly marketing campaigns guild Vendor pack guild property portal
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Marketing and exposure 01
01 Marketing and Exposure it is true that any product or service is only as good as its marketing; if it is not exposed to the target audience there will be no purchaser for the goods or service on offer. with this in mind, over the last 20 years, the guild focused on not only providing but delivering points of differentiation, competitive advantage and unique selling points via marketing services, promotional materials. these tools expose the agencies, their clients’ properties and the agents’ services to the widest possible audience. Guild Members are also committed to regular, widespread, high-quality marketing that enhances the location and character of the properties listed, while providing a wide selection of property for sale to the national market place. This impresses vendors with the perception of increasing their chance of achieving the result they want in the shortest possible time.
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01 Marketing and exposure
Saturating Your Local Target Market – Digital Hub, Lead Generation and Design System Imagine being able to target market your local area of householders on a regular basis ahead of your competitors... An ongoing requirement for Guild Members is to continually be at the forefront of the local marketplace. Ahead of the competitors, The Guild offers a lead generation system allowing for geo-demographic lists to be compiled within a locality with all of the households in an area profiled based on: House prices Council tax bands Length of residency Household income Credit risks Age Mosaic classification of status Number of other demographic criteria Once these lists are produced, the system links directly to a state-of-the-art design system whereby direct mail cards, leaflets and even brochures can be easily and quickly tailored by the agent by selecting and inputting their own imagery and text without the need of a designer. Once the marketing piece has been designed it can be sent directly to the printers along with the mailing list which will be distributed within 24 hours.
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Marketing and exposure 01
Regional Publications From the very beginning, The Guild recognised the need for widespread exposure for property marketing and this was translated into 13 different regional publications. Every six weeks a personalised member’s publication, branded to the individual member, is created and combined with the listings of all the members within that particular region. The publications are then distributed across the entire region ensuring the vendor’s property is not just physically available through the instructed member’s office but through fellow members of The Guild across the region. As part of the full Guild Membership, Guild Members are entitled to: Personalised cover with full office details Personalised inside front cover with your company message First eight pages with your own listings and feature pages, plus one additional listing page 50 copies of the magazine Impress your vendors with your own regional publication. Frequent publications mean you are never far away from a copy deadline, delivering you an unbeatable closing tool. No agents in your vicinity has such an advantageous tool to greatly assist in winning an instruction, gaining greater commissions and refreshing your marketing offering.
Graphic Design Studio A team of graphic designers and desktop publishers is available for Guild Members to use for the array of collateral required, this is not only in relation to property promotion (brochures, window cards, newspaper advertisements, direct mail, etc) but also for the independent agents’ own brand identity (logos, stationary, signage). The Guild Studio is specialised in estate agency promotion and design and ensures a consistent and compliant approach to your individual design requirements. A graphic design studio... dedicated to your service.
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01 Marketing and exposure
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Marketing and exposure 01
Park Lane Office Park Lane Exposure With the recognised requirement for widespread exposure in property marketing, uniquely and exclusively The Guild offers its members a Park Lane office in Mayfair, London which serves as a multipurpose facility to access the lucrative London and international investor market. Continual ongoing exposure within the premises is offered to each and every Guild Member through the use of touch screens in the front windows which allow the passer-by to search for properties offered from all of the member agents nationwide and even internationally.
However, in conjunction with these teams, the premises also serve as a representative office for each and every member agent with a dedicated phone number answered in the member’s name. The facilities also include a 12-seat boardroom which is made available to member agents to utilise for conducting meetings and training sessions.
Static window displays in both A4 and A3 formats surround the walls internally and operate on a rotational use basis per region every six weeks, published automatically in line with the regional magazines produced. The premises are also made freely available to the membership for use in conducting London exhibitions to attract new properties, encourage price reductions and expose the properties to a different audience. These exhibitions are conducted either by one particular member agent or, quite often, by a collective of members across a region.
Members’ Representative London Office The Park Lane office does not just serve as a showroom but also houses the Media Centre (PR team), the Direct Relationship team and the marketing department.
Vendor Letter A pre- and post-instruction letter from The Guild CEO is available for members to use. The letters are posted from Park Lane and details the service offered to them as a client of a Guild Member, including exposure to the lucrative London and investor markets.
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01 Marketing and exposure
Press, Public Relations and The Media Centre A positive high profile of your company in your local market and the properties you represent can help generate instructions and get the phones ringing. Editorial coverage in the media has a value three times that of advertising due to the independent nature of the reporting. Current Guild Members are raising their profiles and gaining thousands of pounds of free publicity every week via The Guild Media Centre (powered by P1 Communications) as a direct route to the national property publications. P1 Communications is an independent, awardwinning PR company based in The Guild of
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Professional Estate Agents prestigious offices on Park Lane, Mayfair. The company is responsible for the launch and on-going public relations of many property developments, world-class hotels and destinations around the world from London to Nicaragua. Working closely with The Guild's marketing department, P1 Communications understands your business and the importance of positive publicity to generate instructions and sales. In addition to The Media Centre service above, P1 Communications can also provide a customised campaign for your office,
generating publicity around local events, special and interesting properties, press releases, newsletters, market comments, advertorials, new development promotion, press visits, interviews and any other aspects of your business you wish to publicise.
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Marketing and exposure 01
Leaflets and Mini-mags Regular and consistent communication is the key to any brand awareness strategy. A regular leaflet or mini-mag delivered door-to-door by Royal Mail will ensure you are kept at the forefront of your local market place. The Guild’s dedicated studio will create bespoke mini-mags for each member and will co-ordinate and manage an annual campaign with the distributors for you.
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01 Marketing and exposure
Free Quarterly Marketing Campaigns The Guild marketing team develops professionally written and designed quarterly marketing campaigns which allow Guild Members to promote their services and the benefits of using a Guild Member at the fraction of the costs of using an independent marketing agency. Campaigns cover themes such as estate agency marketing, use of online and technology, trust and confidence and the strength of The Guild network. The marketing campaigns give independent estate agents a truly competitive advantage when competing with corporate estate agencies.
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Imagine not needing to think about your next year’s marketing campaign... The Guild takes care of this for you. Each campaign comprises the following items:
T H E G U I L D A C C E L E R AT E D M A R K E T I N G S E R V I C E S
An additional marketing pack to accelerate your move
Thinking of buying or selling? Look for The Guild badge. An additional and accelerated marketing plan to ensure your property is promoted to the widest possible audience, generating the highest amount of activity in the shortest possible time. We care deeply about the professional marketing of your home which is why we go the extra mile to accelerate the selling process. In addition to the standard estate agency promotions, we offer an Accelerated Marketing Pack which drives the promotional process to get you moving quicker.
Make sure that you sell your home with an industry professional ! #
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Visit www.guildproperty.co.uk to find your nearest Guild member office or contact The Guild of Professional Estate Agents on 020 7629 4141 A C C E L E R A T E D
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M A R K E T I N G
Alternatively, scan me with your smart phone to find your nearest Guild member office.
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Canvassing / direct mail cards Window cards Emailer Newspaper and magazine advert templates Press release Videoette Social media Advertisement in The Guild regional magazines
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Marketing and exposure 01
Vendor Appraisal Imagine having a system that would allow you to communicate regularly with your vendors... A professional system is available for all Guild Members in order to regularly appraise the sales process of each and every home. This appraisal takes the form of: An appraisal report to be filled out by the negotiator in conjunction with the client A marketing services brochure to demonstrate the services available through The Guild The vendor appraisal enables the Guild Member to re-evaluate the price and promotional strategy, gain client insights into their property and jointly agree with the vendor the actions required and associated budgets.
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01 Marketing and exposure suMMary
Marketing and Exposure
Profiling, analysing and saturating your local target market with unique professional mailings created through the digital hub
Differentiate yourself from the competition with professionally designed bespoke marketing tools at a fraction of the cost through The Guild Studio.
Impress your vendors with your own regional publication that is exclusive to Guild Members delivering widespread property distribution - a great listing and closing tool.
A unique showroom on Park Lane ensures your vendors’ properties are exposed to the lucrative London and international investor market.
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A dedicated press, PR and media team keeps you abreast of national journalists’ requests for stories and place Guild Members at the forefront of the online and offline media.
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Marketing and exposure suMMary 01
IT and Intelligence
Trust and Confidence
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Stay at the forefront of your entire market place by regularly distributing a professional mini-mag showcasing your best properties.
Additional Revenue Streams
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Additional R Addiet venu i e o n al St R ev r
Report and communicate regularly with your vendors with a professional appraisal pack aimed at re-evaluating the price and promotional strategy of your properties.
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COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
Trust and C T on r u s t afide n d Cnc
Free pre-planned quarterly marketing campaigns allowing you to distribute professional instruction-winning tools to your market on a regular basis.
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02 it and intelligence
the guild currently offers guild Members: guild property portal intelligence system page turners newsletter updates Members’ hub facebook channel with property search youtube channel Videoette creator Qr code generator guild iphone app
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it and intelligence 02
02 IT and Intelligence it is at the forefront of today's guild offering. the expression ‘data is king’ is fully embraced by the guild with a variety of systems to analyse the marketplace, distribute the agents’ properties far and wide, share applicants and vendors and keep abreast of the latest changes. With over 600 Guild Members across the UK, The Guild could not rely on third-party suppliers to develop and maintain The Guild Members’ and its own extensive IT systems and online campaigns. In 2010, The Guild acquired an IT company (PropertyLogic) which works with a brief to ensure that The Guild is first to use and offer new technologies to its member offices.
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02 it and intelligence
Guild Property Portal The Guild property portal delivers an exclusive platform for Guild Members to promote their listings far and wide alongside fellow professional members of The Guild. Due to the exclusive basis within which The Guild membership is granted, the members are safe in the knowledge that the portal portrays only non-competitive properties to the clients, unlike the major national portals available. The Guild property portal is simple and straightforward to use and is well listed on the internet search engines. The content is impressive with links to local information, mapping and full details on each property featured. Properties are being uploaded daily from 24 different estate agency software companies and internet providers, making the transfer of your property from your estate agency software to The Guild property portal as easy and as fast as the click of a button.
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it and intelligence 02
Page Turners The regional publications (as detailed in section 01 Marketing and Exposure) are white-labelled for every Guild Member and are automatically produced in an electronic page-turning or e-zine format to allow for a wider distribution in electronic newsletters or regular online communications. The property particulars designed by The Guild Studio are also turned into page turners which can be sent by email, on an e-newsletter or linked to the property page on the member’s website. The Guild page turners are an impressive and economical modern method of distribution.
Intelligence System Staying ahead of the competition is crucial for any estate agent. Being able to analyse market share, view seasonal trends, monitor a downturn in the market or even predict forthcoming downturns based on length of time on market is critical in order to adopt suitable marketing strategies and comparative valuations. The Guild Intelligence system is a free management tool which allows Guild Members to track their businesses against the competition, get real time information on which properties are selling and which are not and create intelligent canvassing campaigns to build their market share and profits. Using The Guild Intelligence system, agents can: Map out their annual plan and react to market changes accordingly Set targets Measure achievements and current business status Monitor competitors’ market share The result of which can be increased market share and increased commissions.
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02 it and intelligence
Members’ Hub A central web resource hub provides a one-stop shop to the tools and facilities pertinent to Guild Members. Marketing collateral, marketing campaigns, IT services, referral system and Associate Scheme training all stem from this central portal. The Guild Members’ hub is updated on a weekly basis to ensure Guild Members keep abreast of the latest Guild developments. This quick access facility enables members to access these all-important instruction winning tools wherever they have internet access 24/7.
Newsletter Updates
Quarterly Round-up
In this issue
Members of The Guild benefit from a weekly internal electronic newsletter to keep them abreast of changes in regulation within the industry, the latest tools and techniques employed by The Guild to provide differentiation or additional revenue for members and on new joiners by region.
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MARKETING UPDATE – Welcome to the new, improved Guild Member's Hub – Android App for Guild Intelligence
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LEGAL & TECHNICAL – New Ombudsman Code for Lettings – Planned EPC Changes Delayed until October
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GUILD EVENTS Guild Regional Meetings – Quarter 3
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Look for The Guild badge!
A printed quarterly round-up is produced to further highlight important elements to the industry. All newsletters are intended to be consumer-facing friendly to ensure members can keep contact with their clients professionally and frequently.
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September 2011
Independent Estate Agency...at its best
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YouTube Channel The Guild YouTube channel extends the social networking capabilities of Guild Members further still with property videos or videoettes housed within a central YouTube channel. Customers can rate, share and comment on properties within a social media friendly focused environment. Properties are shared with like-minded individuals increasing the properties exposure to a targeted audience.
Facebook Channel with Property Search The Guild Facebook channel delivers two principal functions for Guild Members:
1. Consumer-facing marketing tool The Guild Facebook channel is a central point of reference for professional consumer-facing articles, from tips to preparing a home for sale to update on the market conditions. Members can link to the content, tweet or re-publish it on their own Facebook channel.
2. Property search A property search function embedded within the channel containing all membersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; properties provides a conduit to viral property marketing. Customers can share, comment or link to the properties, thereby sharing homes for sale or to rent with hundreds of like-minded potential customers.
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Videoette Creator A videoette is an animated showreal of property images combined with background music and a voiceover to produce a small video clip. These videoettes truly bring a property to life and differentiate a Guild Member offering from their competitors. A simple and easy to use creation system enables members to upload still photography and select text from the entire property particulars to create a stunning animation of the property.
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LEGAL & TECHNICAL
QR Code Generator
Guild iPhone App
Quick Response (QR) codes are for the first time in history a facility to seamlessly link offline marketing with online virtual marketing using a bar code that can be scanned with ease from any smart phone device.
With the vastly increasing usage of the iPhone, an app is now necessary. The Guild developed its own app to ensure the widest possible exposure for Guild Members’ properties. The app is quicker and more responsive than a mobile version of the website as the framework and structure of the site resides within the app itself. Consumers are able to search and browse members’ properties, watch the videoettes or simply search for their nearest Guild Member.
The Guild has embedded a QR code generator within the Guild Members’ hub to generate a series of codes per property linking to the property’s web page, videoette and page-turner brochure. These codes are automatically positioned within printed collateral and available for window cards and signage.
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Bespoke it services The Guild recognises the importance of the independent estate agents’ website to their business. With 70 per cent of consumers looking at an agent’s website before instructing them, one of the website’s roles is as a reassurance tool. It has been much debated as to whether the agent’s website serves as a tool for property enquiries as portals perform this role very well. However, a properly optimised website can assist greatly in delivering enquiries for the agent’s properties. In recognition of this factor, The Guild studied the membership’s requirements for websites and discovered that the majority of the agents followed a typical pattern whereby the agent would instruct a website design company paying a substantial sum upfront (anything from £3,000-£22,000) then paying a hosting fee and a fee every time a modification or addition was made to the site. In 80 per cent of the cases the properties were not even embedded within the website and integrated from the software provider but instead were framed into the site meaning they were not recognised by search engines. The reality then is that the next agent who comes along gets the same code as the previous agent but is still charged the same substantial sum. This pattern then appears to repeat itself every two, three or four years as the agent’s site becomes outdated and a new website needs to be built to keep up with the times.
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Website Creation and Hosting With flexibility, search engine optimisation (SEO) and national search facility in mind, The Guild set about delivering a system to create agency websites with ease. All of the elements of the website are divided into modules to allow them to be plugged into a site easily and designed to suit the needs of the siteâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s look and feel. Rather than charging any upfront fee, a subscription-based model is adopted to encompass the monthly hosting and modifications required. This also eradicates the need to rebuild a site every four years as new enhancements are delivered on a continual basis and can be added into the sites with ease. The entire navigation and look can even be altered by simply changing an option in the menu system. Here are the features our websites include: The Guild National Property Search creates an automatic upload of listings direct from Guild Property, offering clients a much broader range of properties and generating valuable referrals The website will be designed to be largely automated in the art of SEO â&#x20AC;&#x201C; vital to securing high rankings on Google and mainstream search sites Each website incorporates user generated 'e-zines' allowing clients to create their own online magazines featuring the properties of most interest to them Our simple to use magazine creator allows members to upload images and text for a selected property, instantly populating The Guild Property and New Home Magazines for each edition directly from their website With the click of a button, our new software allows members to produce high quality videoettes in minutes, automatically populating the images and text directly from their website Advertising carousel to generate third party advertising revenue
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Web TV Channels An increasing number of people regularly watch television online. With this growing trend The Guild is offering its members the ability to embrace these new technologysavvy consumers with their very own web-television channel. The Guild is offering all member agents a completely free web television channel for 12 months, a state-of-the-art channel pre-populated with buyers, sellers and services guides together with fortnightly buying and selling top tip videos.
Social Networking Creation The Guild IT offering does not end with the creation of the website offering. Recognising that social networking is and will increasingly play an important role in service industries and especially for estate agents, The Guild sets about developing integrated systems within Facebook, YouTube and Twitter for members to use within their own businesses.
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iPhone Apps The Guild can provide iPhone applications at very competitive prices. The advantages in this is that The Guild already has access to your property information through the guildproperty.co.uk website so we can link the app together with the Guild-built website if applicable or to the guildproperty.co.uk website. The application offered by The Guild includes the same national search function as The Guild websites meaning referrals can be auto-generated.
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Advertising Carousel Guild Members can offer local partners the opportunity to place advertisements on their websites using The Guild’s attractive new carousel technology. These adverts can be placed across the entire website, within specific geographical locations (postcodes, towns, villages) or even against specific price bands or particular types of properties. This is a great opportunity for Guild Members to cement and forge new relationships with local businesses in their area, creating more interest in their website and driving more traffic through it. The sale of a property is quite unique as it opens doors to many other types of purchases including interior design, kitchens, bathrooms, flooring and so on. These types of businesses are an ideal fit for advertising on Guild Members’ carousel earning an agency anything up to £30,000 per annum.
iPad Presentations Guild Members can now present their services and agencies professionally with an iPad presentation especially created for their use. The iPad presentation is tailored to each agent and can include information such as property marketing, agency history, information on the agency’s team, previous sales and customers’ testimonials.
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IT and Intelligence
Display your properties to hundreds of thousands of potential buyers and vendors on guildproperty.co.uk, an exclusive portal for Guild Members.
Access local market information to present comparables, analyse market share, forecast trends, set targets and measure achievement with The Guild Intelligence website and App.
Use impressive and economical modern methods of distribution of magazines and brochures with a page turner branded exclusively for each member agent.
Keep abreast of the industry with weekly electronic newsletters and monthly bulletins.
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Delivering your clients the tools to virally market your properties and company on The Guild Facebook channel which promotes the sharing of information and homes amongst peer groups.
Facilitate the sharing of unique video clips of properties with The Guild Members’ YouTube channel.
An exclusive Members’ hub provides access to all the tools and marketing facilities that differentiate you from the competition.
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Impress vendors and potential purchasers with animated property showreels or ‘videoettes’ created with ease on an exclusive Guild creator tool.
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Trust and Confidence
Link all properties both online and offline seamlessly with QR codes automatically generated for all Guild Member listings.
IT and I nte Tru llige st a nc nd e
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Additional Revenue Streams
Additional Re Marvenue s ket S eam Str i n g a tr
To differentiate agents online in their own local community a range of bespoke IT solutions are available exclusively to Guild Members to keep them ahead of the competition.
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COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
Trust and Ad Co d i t i onanfid e l R ev nc
A Guild iPhone App promotes exclusively membersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; properties to the technologysavvy consumers, including a national seach and enhancing properties with videoettes.
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Marketing and Exposure
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aspects where the professionalism of the guild shines through are: all participating agents operate to a carefully defined guild code of conduct Members must sign up to both formal and informal third-party redress systems (the first group of agents in the uk to do so) all guild members must have professional indemnity insurance in place the provision of a free business helpline to help ensure that they act correctly at all times Member agents attend regular academy training for staff at venues across the uk an associate scheme regulates training and provides a level of qualification for individuals within agency businesses
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03 Trust and Confidence trust and confidence remain essential parts of the estate agency selection process as only six per cent of the public reportedly choose their estate agent on fee alone. estate agents have long been held in relatively low esteem by the public. while this has improved significantly in recent years (85 per cent of recent consumers were happy with the service provided according to tpos), there remain fundamental questions in the media at large about the training and professionalism of the average estate agent. Maybe because there are so few barriers to entering the industry, and also because the financial and emotional stakes are so high, vendors, landlords and tenants want to know that they are choosing an agent who will be honest, diligent and professional at all times. But you canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t easily ask this question of an agent. So how can the public make informed
choices about which agent to select? Local reputation and customer referral can be useful but not always sufficient, especially for a relatively new agency. The Guild recognises the need to professionalise the independent estate agents in an industry still relatively unregulated and offers member agents the possibility to become Guild
Associates (estate agency accreditation), giving them a powerful differentiator versus the competition. All Guild Members agree to operate to extremely high, common standards of practice. Members are carefully selected as the exclusive representative for their area after a rigorous and refined selection process.
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Associate Scheme The reputation and success of an estate agency relies heavily on trust and confidence which, in turn, is largely determined by the quality of service delivered by its staff. The Guild places significant emphasis on proficiency and training to ensure high levels of competence and client satisfaction. The Guild is therefore pleased to offer all members the opportunity to obtain, free of charge, a minimum qualification in estate agency practice for all their staff. The Associate Scheme consists of a series of short videoettes which aim to provide an
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important, up to date and relevant information over a range of estate agency disciplines including: The Estate Agency Act 1979; The Property Misdescriptions Act 1991; The Property Ombudsman Scheme; money laundering; and EPC legislation as well as covering sound principles in estate agency practice. These videoettes are regularly updated to ensure that the levels of knowledge are always relevant and appropriate. After studying all of the sections, applicants are encouraged to complete a multiple choice online examination to assess their level of knowledge and understanding.
Once they pass the exam, they are issued with a personal certificate which can be displayed in the memberâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s office. The successful applicants are also fully accepted as a Guild Associate and recognised as belonging to a body which represents professionalism, competency and high standards of care. There are currently more than 700 qualified Associates across the UK (August 2011) and this is growing at over 100 new Associates per month.
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Compulsory Ombudsman or RICS Membership In order to become a Guild Member, the estate agency has to follow a list of criteria, one of which being compulsory membership of either The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) or The Property Ombudsman (TPO). The Property Ombudsman provides a free, fair and independent service for dealing with unresolved disputes between sales and letting agents who have joined the TPO and consumers who are actual or potential buyers or sellers or landlords or tenants of residential property in the UK. The Ombudsman is a member of the British and Irish Ombudsman Association and follows
the standards and rules of the Association. The Ombudsman is totally independent of agents and reports directly to the TPO Council which has a majority of non-industry members. The Ombudsman's role is to reach a resolution of unresolved disputes in full and final settlement and, where appropriate, he will make an appropriate award of financial compensation or other action, for example, make an apology. Dealing with a TPO member offers potential customers piece of mind when selling, buying or renting a property.
For more information on The Property Ombudsman contact: The Property Ombudsman, Beckett House, 4 Bridge Street, Salisbury, Wiltshire SP1 2LX Tel 01722 333306 Fax 01722 332296 Email admin@tpos.co.uk Website www.tpos.co.uk
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Business Support Helpline As part of the The Guild, members have access to a free and confidential independent service and solution for all business support queries including: Health and Safety Employment law VAT Taxation Money laundering
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Professional Indemnity (PI) Insurance PI insurance for Residential Estate Agency is included free of charge as a part of the membership.
Eligibility All offices who are members of The Guild of Professional Estate Agents are eligible to participate in the Group Policy, subject to confirmation of Ombudsman Membership and adherence to The Guildâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Code of Conduct.
Group Policy Restrictions Offices must have a turnover that is not in excess of ÂŁ1 million per annum and must have no previous professional indemnity claims history. Only residential sales and lettings activities are covered. The insurance company will consider providing terms subject to underwriting and payment of an additional premium upon receipt of a fully completed proposal for offices that:
Exceed the annual turnover limit Undertake additional activities over and above sales and lettings, eg, RICS valuations or financial services Require increased sum assured Have a previous claims history Are not members of The Guild An additional premium amount must be paid direct to the insurer.
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National Conference The Guild Conference takes place every year and gives an opportunity for Guild Members to: Network with other agents around the country Get an overview of The Guildâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s successes over the past year Receive an update on The Guildâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s new developments The Guild also organises an exhibition attended by industry suppliers to give members an insight into new developments within the industry and promote new services and products at a competitive price. In the evening, The Guild organises a gala dinner along with a charity auction supporting a different charity every year. The event culminates with the prestigious Guild Annual Awards that recognises the best agents in eight regions as well as an overall UK winner.
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Regional Meetings The Guild Regional Meetings take place every three months. They are free to attend and they give Guild Members the opportunity to keep up to date with new Guild initiatives as well as sharing their knowledge and expertise with like-minded agents. The Guild Regional Meetings are in two parts: The morning session is free of charge and hosted by The Guild Head Office team. This is a unique opportunity for members to discuss the market, reflect on recent initiatives, offer tips and generally share information that will help The Guild become even more successful The afternoon session is hosted by trusted third-party training agencies and will cover different topics each time. Past topics have included: building your marketing plan; managing your team; and ensuring excellence across your business. The cost of the afternoon session varies but is always affordable and fully booked
Academy Days The Guild Academy Days provide a great introduction into all aspects of working with The Guild. The four-hour workshop is delivered by Marcus Whewell, CEO of The Guild, and will not only demonstrate how to use the members hub to its full potential, but will also advise members and pass on some tips about how to successfully utilise The Guild to its full advantage. This complimentary course is free of charge, provided as part of membership of The Guild.
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Trust and Confidence
An Associate Scheme keeps Guild Member employees up-to-date on industry policies and regulations, a unique selling point when demonstrating the quality reputation of your business.
Your clients are comforted by professional indemnity insurance to ensure your business is automatically covered as a member of The Guild.
Ensure you and your business have the correct advice on administration, regulation, legal and financial matters with a Business Support Helpline
Reassure clients with compulsory membership to the OEA and RICS redress scheme.
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A â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;members onlyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; national conference provides a forum for sharing ideas and delivering new tools to the members as well as celebrating successes with highly sought-after regional and national awards.
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Marketing and Exposure
IT and Intelligence
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The Guild CEO hosts Academy Days in the Park Lane office to demonstrate the power of The Guild tools and ensure they are used to their full potential as true differentiators.
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ms trea eS nu ve
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â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Member onlyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; regional meetings to share membership tools, training, top tips and expertise that differentiate Guild Members from their competitors.
Additional Revenue Streams
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currently, the guild offers the following additional services: T H E
G U I L D
O F
P R O F E S S I O N A L
E S T A T E
A G E N T S
N AT I O N A L N E W H O M E S M AG A Z I N E AUTUMN/WINTER ‘09 | £4.95/€5.50
A step-by-step guide to
buying your new dream home... An interesting comparison of New v. Old – why new is
Cool!
premier Marketing packs telephony deal tenant referring and insurance new homes and international property guild professional services accelerated Marketing packages
Colour your World! Top tips for personalising your new home...
Feel good on the outside too with outdoor living space tailored to suit your requirements...
referral fees conveyancing
W W W . G U I L D N E W H O M E S . C O . U K
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04 Additional Revenue Streams the guild is always striving to offer guild Members the best available deals on a range of related services that could help their business to become more efficient and effective. the guildâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s commercial acumen and leverage could save guild Members significant money without compromising the quality of the service they offer.
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Premier Marketing Packs Distinctive properties deserve inspiring and memorable marketing. The Guildâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Premier Service offers such items as professional photography, carefully composed lifestyle editorial, professional floor plans, an EPC, bespoke eight page particulars and a page turner, plus optional videoettes within a marketing package. All this is taken care of by The Guild Premier Service department, with just one instruction from The Guild Member.
Lettings Property Management and Tenant Referencing Your property is in safe hands
Lettings are an integral part to most estate agency businesses, providing a supplementary or quite often mainstream source of income. As such The Guild provides a series of marketing tools, training and even a lettings advice service for members. The marketing tools include: Direct mail cards to target landlords and tenants Window cards HTML mailers
Renting in total safety
46
Members are also provided with a variety of videoettes, press releases and articles to demonstrate their knowledge in this specialist arena. Tenant referencing, inventory services and tenancy deposit schemes provide a valuable additional revenue scheme for lettings businesses.
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Telephony Deal The Guild has negotiated with Global 4 Communications a telephony package enabling members to benefit from specially discounted pricing plans on all systems, along with group purchasing rates for line rental (both Analogue and ISDN), call minutes and broadband (both ADSL and SDSL). In addition to the cost savings available on the estate agents' own telephony solution Global 4 Communications has also designed a mechanism to earn additional revenue from referring homemovers for home phone solutions. Designed by lettings agents, Home Telecom provides tenants with phone and broadband services, with contract lengths to match their tenancy terms. Administration is kept to a minimum on the memberâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s side and, for every tenant that signs up, the member receives a residual share of the income (even if the tenant moves property). A typical portfolio of just 350 tenants could return to the member somewhere in the region of ÂŁ8,000 to ÂŁ10,000 per annum.
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New Homes and International Valuable additional revenue can be earned by members showing to have specialist expertise in the new homes arena. The relationship between developers and estate agents is often fraught as home builders believe that estate agents do not offer a full service required from start to finish when marketing new property. Equally, estate agents believe the clients will not be treated as well as they would by the builders' own sales staff. However, the key to a harmonious relationship with a new build developer is to demonstrate the ability to schedule a full marketing campaign. Together with The Guild Studio, marketing department, digital hub and intelligence tools the members are able to offer a full suite of services including corporate brand image creation, brochure design, signage, show home launch events with direct mail campaigns, advertising and PR support. These services, coupled with the agents’ own local knowledge to advise of suitable site make-up, comparable pricing and regular reporting, offer the developer a one-stop shop service.
Advertising Sales
The international property market offers Guild Members an opportunity to demonstrate a wider spread property offering and the ability to earn valuable referral fees from the promotion of international property. Guild Members are provided with a fully branded website with all of The Guild international properties contained within a global property search. Any resulting enquiries automatically populate a sophisticated referral system generating a trackable enquiry from the respective member agent directly to the international agent or developer.
For an advertiser an estate agent offers the chance to be in front of a motivated consumer; an individual looking at buying or even selling a property has an inherent need to purchase other consumables and services.
T H E
G U I L D
O F
P R O F E S S I O N A L
E S T A T E
A G E N T S
N AT I O N A L N E W H O M E S M AG A Z I N E AUTUMN/WINTER ‘09 | £4.95/€5.50
A step-by-step guide to
buying your new dream home... An interesting comparison of New v. Old – why new is
Cool!
Colour your World! Top tips for personalising your new home...
Feel good on the outside too with outdoor
A property purchaser needs to buy utility services, financial products such as insurance, interior furnishing and materials, fixtures and fittings to name but a few. They may also be interested in understanding more about what amenities a local area has to offer - bars, restaurants, leisure activities or even hotels to stay in during the search process.
living space tailored to suit your requirements...
W W W . G U I L D N E W H O M E S . C O . U K
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These potential advertisers offer a valuable additional revenue stream as agents have the ability to place advertisements (often videoettes) directly within their website and magazine.
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Guild Professional Services One key advantage to being a member of The Guild of Professional Estate Agents is the power of being part of a collective which can often lead to negotiated rates for various products and services supplied that are key to the business operations of an estate agent. Such products include EPC, floor plans and other professional services.
EPC and floor plans The Guild has chosen to partner with Evolve to supply Guild agents with EPC and floor plans as they offer an excellent service, including a commitment to contact the client within three hours of instruction to secure an appointment and to always offer appointments within three working days. Full tracking systems are also in place for instructing, progress monitoring and accessing EPCs, including email notification of completion and access to floor plans.
Photo finish The Guild knows that you can’t control the weather on the day you take photos and it’s not always possible to move cars or wheelie bins, tidy the garden, rearrange the interior and screen out competitor’s boards. Having to return to the property just to retake photos is inconvenient and time consuming. Fortunately The Guild offers a simple solution; at a low cost Guild Members can simply load their photos to The Guild’s dedicated server and within 24 hours they will be returned with fantastic blue skies and the colours and brightness tuned to the ideal levels.
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Conveyancing More than 70 per cent of clients expect an agent to recommend a conveyancing partner, yet only half of all agents make any monies from this ready opportunity. The Guild has secured some fantastic conveyancing rates from proven partners, offering Guild Members an average ÂŁ300 net commission per case. Guild Members simply choose those providers they want to work with from the pre-selected panel and The Guild will provide access to our free software platform. Guild Members can also adjust their desired commissions, add their own local relationships to the panel and opt out of the system at anytime for any particular transaction - so every option is open to them.
Referrals Every buyer is normally a seller and vice versa. With over 600 offices across the UK Guild Members take every advantage of the opportunity to refer business opportunities between themselves. Referring both buyers and vendors to other Guild Members can earn valuable extra commission and add a valuable new income stream to Guild Membersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; businesses. Guild Members can be confident that any referral they make will be properly qualified, quickly distributed and robustly managed by The Guild referral team based at the Park Lane offices. The referral team will also monitor the sale, collect any commissions due and distribute them to the appropriate member(s).
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Mortgage Service The Guild offers its members a premier mortgage service, providing the following benefits: No need to employ mortgage advisers in your branches Simply ask clients to call The Guild mortgage freephone number or logon to The Guild mortgage portal to send the client details to the mortgage team who will call the client back You will receive 25% of whatever fee London & Country receive from the lender / life assurance company when the case completes The Guild Mortgage Service is provided by London & Country one of the UK's leader NO FEE brokerage services. With a whole of market (leaner) proposition London & Country are well positioned to offer Guild Member clients a fitting proposition. The service is accessed both online with white label enquiry forms to be incorporated within Guild hosted websites and via the telephone with dedicated numbers. London & Country have over 150 dedicated advisers and actually provide the service that supports; moneysupermarket, Tesco's, the Guardian, Confused....and they are open 7 days a week. The Guild Mortgage solution is a NO FEE arrangement with access to exclusive mortgages not normally available to the public.
The Accelerated Marketing Service is a fantastic marketing package for new and existing properties. The benefits of the Accelerated Marketing pack are as follows: Facilitate the generation of additional revenue to members’ business through retail pricing methods inclusive of a commission Fresh marketing campaigns for 'stale’ properties Superior quality and presentation of stock (both online and offline) Win more instructions with a cutting-edge marketing programme Generate more viewings and buyer interest To help Guild Members promote this package, The Guild has also provided Guild Members with the tools to conduct a full Vendor Appraisal on all of their existing stock in a professional manner. This provides the opportunity to re-evaluate the price and promotional strategy, gain client insights into their property and jointly agree with the vendor the actions required and associated budgets. M E M B E R
O F
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An additional marketing pack to accelerate your move
“Coming back to Reservoir House after a busy day is an absolute joy – once home we do feel as if the hustle and bustle is far away. It is really nice to have the countryside around us and there are lots of opportunities for country walks.”
The Guild provides its members with posters, advertisements, press releases and emailers to promote the service to their clients. A flyer is also downloadable within the digital hub that incorporates the top 5 best buy mortgages of the day on a live feed.
An additional and accelerated marketing plan to ensure your property is promoted to the widest possible audience, generating the highest amount of activity in the shortest possible time. We care deeply about the professional marketing of your home which is why we go the extra mile to accelerate the selling process. In addition to the standard estate agency promotions, we offer an Accelerated Marketing Pack which drives the promotional process to get you moving quicker.
Reservoir House A C C E L E R A T E D
M A R K E T I N G
Loughborough | Leicestershire
Price on Application
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Additional Revenue Streams
Compete with ease in the lettings arena with a full management facility for let properties secured at a fixed per-property rate.
Win instructions against competitors with the amalgamated process of The Guild Members in the new homes arena.
The power of The Guild Members collective is demonstrated by centrally sourced services such as telephony service for Guild Offices and their consumers.
Professional marketing packs generating valuable additional profit for members by retailing on promotional materials to your vendors.
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Professional services such as EPC, floor plans or photography not only generate additional revenue but also ensure members differentiate themselves with professionally presented promotional materials.
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IT and In t Marellige ket nc ing e a sure po Ex nd
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Trust and Confidence
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A true network working together is realised within a referral system exclusively for Guild Members to connect buyers and sellers nationally and internationally.
IT and Intelligence
s ence m a nfid o
Additional Rev e T nu r u s t ae S n d Ctre
The Guild conveyancing solution demonstrates the collective amalgamated power of The Guild membership with a solution paying average fees of ÂŁ300.
Trust an d Co I nf T a nd iden I nt c e
COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
nce e lige l
Marketing and Exposure
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deliVering points of differentiation to estate agents
Marketing and Exposure
IT and Intelligence
Trust and Confidence
guildproperty.co.uk
Regional Publication
‘Videoettes’
Associate Scheme
Bespoke IT solutions Showroom on Park Lane
The Guild Studio
Business Support Helpline The Guild Intelligence website and App Compulsory membership to the OEA and RICS redress scheme QR codes
Digital hub Guild iPhone App Free pre-planned quarterly marketing campaigns
Professional indemnity insurance
The Guild Facebook channel National conference
Professional appraisal pack
Page turner Regional meetings
PR and media team
Mini-mag
The Guild Members’ YouTube channel
Electronic newsletters and monthly bulletins
Members’ hub
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Academy Days
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deliVering points of differentiation to estate agents
Addi tion al
Trus ta nd
The Guild conveyancing solution
nce e fid n o
COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
New homes
Re ms trea eS nu ve
Centrally sourced services
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Additional Revenue Streams
nce e lig l e
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Professional marketing packs
sure po Ex nd
Professional services
Ma r k eti n g a
Full management facility for let properties
Referral system
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www.guildproperty.co.uk
the guild of professional estate agents 121 park lane, Mayfair, london, w1k 7ag tel 020 7629 4141 email admin@guildproperty.co.uk
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