Three ways to win instructions from withdrawals

Did you know that 46% of withdrawn properties will return to the market within 24 months? Here are 3 steps showing how you can easily win instructions from withdrawn listings in your area.

Between October 2020 and October 2022 around 600,000 unique property listings withdrew from the market, only to return by December 2022. Within as little as 24 months, 46% of the withdrawals returned to the market with fresh motivation to sell.

In the last two years, almost half of properties returned to the market after initially withdrawing, but what does that mean for agencies? It’s vital that agents use this behaviour to their advantage, acquiring new instructions from properties especially from those who weren’t already listed with their agency. By targeting the withdrawn listings in your area, you could increase your rate of new business and make 2023 your best year yet!

Wondering how you can make this work to your agency’s advantage? Read on to discover our 3 top tips for winning instructions from withdrawn listings.

Utilise your prospecting software.

Don’t let your competitors beat you to it, use your prospecting software to swiftly seek out withdrawals in your area and get in contact with the vendor. Take time to understand the reasons why the vendor has withdrawn from the market. Uncover whether the vendor withdrew because of low interest, difficulty finding an onward purchase or something else and use it to tailor targeted letters and off-market campaigns.

Consistency is key.

Tailoring your marketing strategy and making considered decisions which focus on off-market properties is always important - especially when it comes to withdrawals. It’s vital to map out a structured strategy that has consistency, ensuring you’re not just contacting potential clients once, but multiple times instead.

Sending consistent communications to withdrawn properties is the perfect way to keep your agency at the forefront of every vendor’s mind, and it can be done in just a few simple steps…

1. Decide which time-frames are suitable for reaching out to vendors. Do you want to contact them as early as three weeks post-withdrawal? Or do you want to wait a little longer until you send the first message?
2. After deciding the frequency of your communications, you’ll need to write a series of engaging letters which will be sent at every trigger point. Not sure how to write an effective prospecting letter? Check out our simple plan below.
3. Once you’ve collected your range of letters, send them out via post at each time trigger and wait for their response.

Sending regular updates and targeted letters from your agency can help influence the vendors to re-list with your agency. In a recent study carried out by Spectre, it was found that their ‘Withdrawal’ letter trigger had a success rate of over 1 in 10, highlighting that letters directed to withdrawn properties had one of the largest success shares out of all the top triggers.

Try sending one-off marketing campaigns.

Investing in great marketing is a sure-fire way to win instructions from any property, not just withdrawals. There are so many innovative and creative ways to keep your marketing fresh, so your agency will always stand out, including:

Sending regular postcards

Send eye-catching postcards to withdrawn properties, they can be made with your agency’s branding or logo, or you could get a little more creative and send seasonal postcards or include promotional offers to further capture the attention of vendors.

Creating targeted campaigns

Target withdrawals by area with one-off campaigns to start the conversation and make some noise about your agency. Send different forms of collateral with scannable QR codes that generate personal property reports, showing potential clients detailed insights into their property’s history and value to further pique their interest.

How to create the perfect prospecting letter for withdrawals.

Writing targeted letters to withdrawn properties doesn’t need to be daunting - follow our tips to craft the perfect letter every time!

• Address the vendor using their name or house number to capture attention.
• Mention the potential reasons they might have withdrawn.
• Introduce yourself and talk about your agency’s success.
• Include a testimonial or case study.
• Use your agency’s tone of voice and branding.

Targeting withdrawn properties in your area can be a great way to win instructions and grow business for your agency. But what if you could get someone to do it for you? While prospecting to withdrawals is valuable, it can be time-consuming and busy agents may not always have a free moment spare - that’s where Spectre comes in.

With Spectre, you can automate your withdrawals with handy triggers that start from 3 weeks post-withdrawal which can be set up initially by an agent at your branch and then will operate automatically at just a click of a button.

But that’s not all… Avoid spending time staring at a blank screen waiting for your prospecting letters to write themselves, utilise Spectre’s AI Content Generator to write your letters in seconds. Simply, fill out your tone of voice and what you want each letter to say and watch them write in front of you, just like magic.

If you’re intrigued to find out how Spectre can help streamline your prospecting, visit our webpage here or speak to our sales team to get a demo.