“It’s not what you know, it’s who you know”. Although this isn’t entirely true, there is a measure of truth in the saying. The right relationships can allow you to get your foot in the door, but then you have to earn the right to stay.
For a Letting Agent the contractors (including inventory companies) are an important cog to keep the wheels of the rental market turning. Unreliable, abrupt, unhelpful and rigid contactors who complete average work can cost your business valuable time and money, as well as tarnish your own good reputation. These poor contactors have and will ultimately cost you customers. Sometimes the busy nature of the letting agents office means that a poor contactor and their average work often goes unnoticed for quite some time and by the time it comes to your attention, the damage has already been done. This is why it is of the upmost importance to choose your contractors wisely and to review these regularly. This ensures that the best relationship and service available to you on the market and within your budget is being provided to you, your brand and your customers.
Just as selecting the wrong contractor for your business can be wholly detrimental, conversely taking steps to ‘make the switch’ and choose the right contractor for your business can be a great way to instantly save money and time, whilst adding tremendous value to your lettings service.
We believe that the foundation of a long-term relationship is reciprocity. In other words giving value to the other person is what keeps the relationship alive over time. If the value flows only one way, the relationship is doomed to a short life-span. We understand that when you instruct SC Inventories that we are an extension of your brand and we are extremely proud to be a considered a trusted supplier to so many respected businesses. We supply robust and defensible property reports to national chains, commercial businesses, unique boutique agents and private landlords and we work hard to ensure that all of our clients receive an unrivalled level of customer experience to make using SC Inventories as your preferred supplier both effortless and enjoyable.
We continually look for ways to innovate and to add value to our service. We consciously look for ways to improve processes, help others and always operate our service with a smile. We have been working even harder over the last two months and are very excited about the recent launch of our new system, which in our opinion is the most advanced property inventory service available. We have been sharing this with our clients this week and the feedback has been superb across the board.
Over time we have found that the law of reciprocity dictated that others will do the same for us. Of course these reciprocal relationships are not built over night and it really has been a long-term commitment to consistently make this a part of our business, however through doing so we have found that we have been richly rewarded with great opportunities for strategic alliances and word-of-mouth referrals and recommendations.
It can be hard for business owners and property managers to find the time to muddle through the flyers and leaflets which they have been handed daily from other companies trying to get ‘a foot in the door’ and then decide to make the switch relying on trial and error alone. This is especially true as the existing contractors become part of the ‘better the devil you know’ daily routine with the office staff going through the motions and become accustomed to booking the same average contractor or company month on month and without any understanding of the alternatives available.
Taking the time to research and select the right products and contractors for your Letting Agents can take some time, however it is a great way to instantly improve service levels, create new and exciting relationships and add maximum value to your business with little or no extra cost.
