Out with the new, in with the old and lessons to be learnt

ONCE upon a time, a new type of estate agency felt it would run all high street estate agents out of business and reform how we all thought about property, with their disruptor model of working.

Brazen marketing, ultra low costs and consumer-led sale management, they were poised to take the world by storm and following their flotation on the stock market, investors were licking their lips.

However, despite this, the company has been regularly in the news not always for the right reasons

They are now up for sale having seen their share price plummet, which is quite a fall from grace. I am referring to Purplebricks (PB). I admit, I have never been a fan of their stack ’em high, sell ’em cheap model but I actually feel the property sector should be grateful to Purplebricks for a number of reasons.

The company initially had a lot of agents worried. Could this new tech-orientated firm fully disrupt the sector as its rhetoric claimed?

Firstly, Purplebricks did some brilliant marketing and self-promotion and razor sharp campaigns really got the attention of the media and public.

Everyone was talking about it and forced established high street agents to up their game when it came to marketing, so we now see in the wake of PB many agents utilise social media and videos to broaden their reach. They even invented a new type of estate agent, with those using just the digital sector, to agents being hybrid and partly still having a high street presence.

However, PB demonstrated that cutting costs too far came at a price. When it came to a property going under offer, the firm fell short, in my opinion, and illustrated just how important this stage of the process is both for getting transactions over the line and living up to what the consumer expects from estate agents.

Many conventional agents broadened their thinking and now have higher grade sales progression, dedicated teams to oversee this and have focussed in on the most difficult part of a property transaction.

Mass volume PB-type conveyancing solicitors are out of favour, as agents and consumers turned their attention to greater accountability and communication.

Digital only took PB so far. The market didn’t want any business to hide behind emails and call centres.

If there was an issue to overcome, the market wanted to see people face to face and ‘old school’ communication came to the fore again.

So too was the realisation that being an estate agent was hard and proof that experience in the sector was key in order for transactions to get over the line in an orderly timeframe while removing a high element of stress.

PB proved that technology was a tool with upsides, however it could never replace people and emotions.

After all, people buy homes, not computers. To base a business model largely on technology was brave, but never took off, as we saw with other online agents.

So, thank you Purplebricks for trying something new, forcing estate agents up their game and making the rest of us look good.