ALONG THE TOWPATH

Topic

Entrepreneurship

Starting, scaling and surviving a property business. Founders and operators on funding, failure, patient capital and what building a company actually costs.

3 episodes · 11 reels · 10 quotes

Estate AgencyLeadership and ManagementMarketing and BrandPersonal DevelopmentSales and NegotiationTechnology and AIAI in propertyBuilding cultureFee objectionsFuture of the industry

Reels

0:41

You don't need the biggest market share

Matt Giggs

0:52

95 percent of agents are poor at sales

Matt Giggs

0:44

Work harder on yourself than your business

Matt Giggs

0:48

Company brand attracts, personal brand converts

Matt Giggs

0:38

Patient capital

Simon Thomas

0:44

Grow smartly, not just quickly

Simon Thomas

0:46

Target lawyers on exchanges, not billing

Simon Thomas

0:40

You cannot digitise empathy

Russell Quirk

Episodes

Work Harder On Yourself Than Your Business with Matt Giggs — Along The Towpath

EP 9 · Matt Giggs

Work Harder On Yourself Than Your Business

Matt Giggs on mentoring business owners, why company brand attracts and personal brand converts, working harder on yourself than your business, and his controversial view that 95 percent of agents are poor at sales.

Leadership and ManagementSales and NegotiationMarketing and Brand
Target Exchanges, Not Billing with Simon Thomas — Along The Towpath

EP 14 · Simon Thomas

Target Exchanges, Not Billing

Simon Thomas of Montpellier Legal on growing a conveyancing firm to 100 staff in five years, targeting lawyers on exchanges rather than billing, patient capital, and why the public undervalues how hard agents work.

EntrepreneurshipEstate AgencyLeadership and Management
Always Have a Plan B with Russell Quirk — Along The Towpath

EP 15 · Russell Quirk

Always Have a Plan B

Property commentator Russell Quirk on the collapse of his online agency eMoov, rebuilding with Proper PR, why failure is the path to success, the case for the self-employed agent who keeps most of the fee, and why you cannot digitise empathy.

EntrepreneurshipEstate AgencyMarketing and Brand

Quotes

We target our lawyers not on billing. We target them on getting exchanges through.

Simon Thomas · 20:53

Ross: Measure the outcome the client feels, and behaviour follows.

The work will come to you if you build quality. Build capacity, then fill it.

Simon Thomas · 05:14

Ross: Quality is the best sales team a firm can hire.

Imagine from day one that you're the big company, so growth is a natural pain, not a surprise.

Simon Thomas · 34:26

Ross: Decide like the business you intend to become. Growing pains beat growing surprises.

Always have a plan B.

Russell Quirk · 14:55

Ross: Optionality is oxygen. Build the alternative before you need to breathe it.

Stop making excuses on fees and do something about it. Stop blaming everybody else.

Russell Quirk · 41:08

Ross: The fee debate ends when the service argument is won. That is the whole of Worth Every Penny.

If you're on seventy percent of the fee, you're financially bought in. So you're going to be better.

Russell Quirk · 45:06

Ross: Ownership of the outcome changes the standard of the work. Our Partner Agent model is built on exactly this.

You cannot digitise empathy.

Russell Quirk · 1:00:08

Ross: The most defensible skill in the industry costs nothing to practise.

Company brand attracts, personal brand converts.

Matt Giggs · 14:33

Ross: The firm opens the door. The person gets the signature.

You've got to work harder on yourself than you do on your business.

Matt Giggs · 32:34

Ross: The ceiling on the business is usually the owner. Raise yours first.

You don't need the biggest market share. You need to do enough and do it well.

Matt Giggs · 42:13

Ross: Enough, done brilliantly, beats everything done adequately.