Top industry trainer promises to 'rattle industry cages' on tour

One of the country’s leading estate agency consultants and trainers, Richard Rawlings, this week embarks on a six-week tour of the UK, holding seminars at 15 venues and promising one thing - that he will ‘rattle cages’.

Rawlings says he hopes the seminars will act as a ‘wake up call’ for those who attend.

“Intense competition, lower transaction volumes, innovative agency models, lower fees and political/economic uncertainty are already increasingly evident,” claims Rawlings.

“When these are combined with changes in rapidly changing consumer expectations and behaviour, then the very core of our industry will be affected, and soon. Progressive agents who want to secure and increase their revenues will have to swallow hard and face up to some fundamental shifts in their focus” he adds.

The majority of the seminar content will be revealed at each event but Rawlings says delegates will need to consider what their future competitors might look like - and he suggests those who attend will be encouraged to think like an online agent of today.

This part of the session will focus on a series of topics, including how incorporating a website traffic conversion tool can improve an agency's number of vendors and landlord leads. This will be demonstrated by ValPal – owned by Angels Media, the publisher of Estate Agent Today – which is now used by over 2,500 agency offices.

Seminars will also discuss the benefits of boutique agency principles, with examples to be showcased by conveyancing firm AV Rillo.

The seminar will also include input from Ed Mead, the founder of Viewber and well-known industry commentator. Mead will be contributing a practical component by explaining how to simultaneously cut costs and scale up a progressive agency.

The 15 seminars will take place between January 17 and March 1 - the full list of venues, dates and booking information can be found here.