Yorkshire estate agency Linley & Simpson is launching a fee structure linked directly to what it calls the “customer experience.”
Linley & Simpson - a letting agency for more than 15 years before making a foray into residential sales last year - is offering vendors the opportunity to choose the sales fee based on the service they receive.
It has a sliding scale of five different commission rates tailored to performance. These range from 1.5 per cent plus VAT where customer satisfaction from initial instruction to final completion has been judged to be "excellent", to 0.5 per cent +VAT where clients feel it has not delivered the highest standards.
The firm is also retaining a flat rate of commission as an option, with one branch - Leeds city centre - operating only the flate rate option. All its other branches - Roundhay, Horsforth, Chapel Allerton, Wetherby, Wakefield, Ilkley, Harrogate, Ripon, York and Saltaire - will offer the new fee structure.
"This is an innovation that is over and above, not a replacement for, the single fee structure that currently exists" says Mark Christopher, the agency’s head of residential sales.
"It adds a different dimension that will appeal to many wanting to break with tradition and have a more modern and personalised approach to payment. For the first time, vendors will be handed a bigger choice - and say - in what level of commission they pay and how.
"Estate agency has been in existence for hundreds of years, yet the way it charges for its services has largely remained unchanged. The world - and people's expectations - have moved into a different era” he says.
.png)
.jpg){kind=logo}
.jpg)
%20-%20IMAGE%20Client%20Accounting%20%E2%80%93%20what%20are%20your%20options.jpg)
.png)
.png)
.png)
%20(002).png)
%20(002).jpg)
.png)
Join the conversation
Jump to latest comment and add your reply
Plaudits to Mark Christopher and the team for introducing a sliding scale fee structure. Sliding scale fees work for both agency and vendors. The agency is better motivated, so more likelihood of getting the service.
Fixed commission only works in favour of the agency. If the offer is lower than an asking price, the agency has little incentive in holding out for a better offer!
Good work guys:-)
Innovative thinking a real instruction getter! Good job.
Great idea guys; innovative, transparent and customer focused. Not sure if 1.5% is perhaps a bit on the low side - if you really are delivering exceptional service then the top end fee, say 2%, should match this. But that's just me - well done anyway! Richard
Please login to comment