Looking to attract more clients to your conveyancing business? Being able to out-compete your competitors is vital if you want to succeed.
Yet, it has been well published that the number of conveyancing firms in England and Wales is falling. In fact, recent data suggests that 700 firms have dropped out of the market in the last 7 years. That puts the number of active firms at the lowest since the data collection began back in 2011.
Sure, fewer competitors may appear to make your job of attracting new clients easier. However, what’s concerning is that the rate of decline shows deeper issues that, if left unchecked, will continue to spread faster than Japanese knotweed.
The cause of the rate of decline can be debated, but it’s clear that if you want to survive and prosper, you need to attract more clients than your competitors.
Here are five quick things you can fix in your marketing to ensure your business doesn’t become another statistic.
1) You’re Using TMJ (that’s ‘Too Much Jargon’ to you and me!)
Conveyancing can be a complicated and confusing process, especially for those who are buying or selling a property for the first time. Ultimately, when someone hires a conveyancer they are buying their knowledge and an opportunity to ‘pass the buck’ on the things they don’t really understand.
Unfortunately, the legal industry is one of the worst sufferers of ‘the curse of knowledge’. That’s to say that when legal professionals get talking, they often use highly technical terminology and jargon that are difficult for the average person on the street to understand.
The conveyancing firms who not only understand this, but who also find a way to avoid it and simplify even complex terms are the ones who will prosper.
2) You’re Too Expensive
Like it or not, most of your clients are driven by money. They see the conveyancing process as a necessary evil and so, if they can get it cheaper elsewhere, you better have a good sales pitch prepared!
In most cases, if you are offering a comparable service to your competitors, but are charging less, you’ll win more clients. However, there is also such a thing as being too cheap.
If you try and be too aggressive on lowering your fees you’ll land yourself in trouble. For one thing, there’s the obvious issue of cash flow and profitability. However, since those moving house will do anything to avoid being gazumped, being cheap may actually be perceived as reflecting the ‘lesser’ service you offer and end up putting people off.
So, always try and be competitive on price but don’t overdo it.
3) There’s A Lack Of Trust
When a client asks you to handle the legal transaction of their property purchase or sale, they are putting incredible amounts of trust in you.
If you don’t do the right searches and scrutinize the paperwork properly, you risk landing your client with unexpected problems (many of which can be financial) in the future. Your clients know this and need to have implicit trust that you’re working in their best interests.
To overcome this, make sure your prospective clients know what qualifications you have (both individually and as a business). Sure, you may think that some of them go without saying, but if you were faced with two similar options but one emphasized how qualified they were to do the job, which would you lean towards?
4) You’re Not Online
Anyone who is anyone is now online. Businesses who want to be successful cannot get away from it. Every year, more and more tech-savvy consumers enter the property market. They expect businesses they work with to have an online presence.
But don’t make the mistake of thinking simply being online is enough. Your website is worth spending money on. It’s not just a potential lead generator, it’s also a trust-building tool. And a cheap or badly designed website can destroy trust in a heartbeat.
So, find a design agency who can build you a professional looking website. You don’t have to have all the bells and whistles, but at least put some effort into making yourself look presentable online.
As you can see, attracting clients isn’t exactly rocket science. Put together a good offering at a fair price and you’ll soon grow in reputation and beat your competitors.
The factors we’ve discussed in this article are by no means the be all and end all but they’ll certainly go some way to ensuring you don’t become another statistic.
This article was submitted to be published by Property Road as part of their advertising agreement with Today’s Conveyancer. The views expressed in this article are those of the submitter and not those of Today’s Conveyancer.
