Outsourcing can revive prospects to keep boom alive, agents told

An industry supplier is urging agents to dust off old prospects to build their pipeline and keep the market boom going throughout this summer.

The advice comes from Joanne Tattum, head of estate agency at outsourced telephone and chat service Moneypenny.

She says: “Attracting new stock is a priority which means reaching-out to past buyers and sellers and prospecting in the most sought-after areas. It’s time to dust off databases and proactively pick up the phone.  It needs doing in tandem with handling current transactions though, otherwise there could literally be a break in supply - but we know most agents are struggling for resource.”

Tattum adds: “We know many agents are reluctant to tie their team up making outbound calls when they’re dealing with high volumes of inbound enquiries and negotiating sales over the line – but it’s not a task that can wait. More than ever, agents need to have the flexibility to outsource their front-line support, particularly if they want to try and mitigate the risk of a dramatic slowdown once the stamp duty holiday ends.

“Agents pride themselves on their reputation and the personal touch so outsourcing outbound calls, where the conversational remit has the potential to be bigger, can seem alien and uncertain. It’s why we’ve made sure that our outbound callers are specialist in the field. They can talk competently, convey brand values, and give the stellar customer care that’s so crucial to reputation – all while prequalifying callers and capturing property type, location and other details. They also know how to respond when things extend beyond their remit.”

She suggests that outsourced outbound calls that display a branch’s phone number help to give complete reassurance to customers and appears seamless to the wider public.