Business Networking are you overdosing ????

Don't get me wrong I love a bit of networking particularly where it involves golf, food and drink

For many people business networking has become a way of life, the concept of meeting like minded entrepreneurs and creating trust in the hope of acquiring new business is wonderful and does work. Business network groups spring up everywhere and every month there is a new group/community inviting you to spend time in their meetings. The question I raise is do some people simply spend too much time at networking events at a cost to their own business.

There are people involved in this form of business promotion who live and breathe it. I can see that it does provide many people with more than just promotional value and can give people in business a needed confidence boost to be part of a business group, often once they become known in once circle these people join every network group around and often create a social life from their network contacts.I know a number of people who have little self confidence who thrive in these environments. Yet what is the true value to a business in pure time spent.

Networking face to face is a very good thing but I would ask you the question what are the alternatives to spending many hours a week sipping coffee and socializing on the slight chance you may get publicity and maybe a lead. There are people who spend up-to 15 hours plus a week maybe they gain maybe they don't but have they ever stopped to calculate

Some 15 years ago I took the decision to reduce my involvement in networking after my own experiment suggested i was losing business by spending a morning at such meetings.

The first step was to evaluate results over 4 meetings. My first task was to log meticulously who I met and what benefits I expected to gain as a result of the person to person meetings.

In 4 meetings I listed per meeting between 6 to 8 people that I engaged meaningfully per meeting of those 27 persons 5 were new to me.

So out of the 22 people, most I had known from joining 3 years previous. Of the 22 known to me I had converted 6 customers in 3 years and of the new introductions 2 were way out of my area. This meant that I had an opportunity to promote myself to new 3 local persons which I did with usual great enthusiasm. The 4 attendances took up 16 hours I never met or came across those 3 people ever again.

Yes Yes Yes I know i cannot measure referrals by members that go on out of my earshot and back in day to day life and obviously that is a factor in favor of attending

The following month I decided to set aside the same mornings as the networking events and try spend that 16 hours of my time in a quiet room with a PC revisiting old ground.

Day 1 spent 4 hours reviewed diary meetings back 2 years & contact info in diary

Day 2 spent 4 hours extracting info from old note books went to a period of 6 months from 3 yrs ago

Day 3 spent 4 hours reviewing old emails from a 12 month period 4 years ago

Day 4 collating the list of information and contacting ex customers/clients from contact database

In the 16 hours spent quietly working I sent out emails reconnecting with long lost clients, making phone calls, reminding ex tenants & landlords about us and saying hello to old business social contacts who had referred friends relatives colleagues to me in the past.

Result. Tailor Made re-acquainted with 300 persons. Responses from 140 and new instructions/inquiries 38.

These figures date back many years ago and are the only ones I have methodically measured. I still continue to practice these type of reviews of existing info. Yes some of those people I recontacted I did know through social networking for business but I do feel the harvest I reap that sits in my records can be more productive.

I am not saying do not go to networking events at all I am simply questioning the value of over attending with the same people.

As always there is a balance to be found and its often worth reminding one self about the options. I am off now to review my diary for Landlords we no longer act for from 5 years ago

article Francis Payne Tailor Made Letting Agency Tailor Made Letting Agency Poole Town Centre office 01202 770040

Fast moving rental market in Poole Dorset say Poole town centre Letting Agency Tailor Made Lettings

Try finding a property to rent in Poole Dorset The task is not an easy one as anything that is left on the market for more than 7 days tends to be very over priced or simply not of a standard acceptable to the price range its in. A quick glimpse at our website is a good indication of the residential letting market today. Our Tailor Made Letting agents website only has two properties available and we anticipate both will be rented to fully vetted tenants by the end of this week. The average time to rent out a house or apartment in Poole or Bournemouth for this market is now 7 days.

These figures are based on our Poole & Bournemouth operating area over the last 6 weeks during which time we have placed tenants in 14 properties from Westcliff to Sandbanks and as far West as Lytchett. Of course in this market where demand far exceeds supply finding a tenant is easy but Landlords should still be wary as in a market where there are few properties it normally means there are a lot of dubious people seeking to rent and rigorous vetting is still the best way to eliminate risk. Historic checks and credit checking is a must no matter who the person is check them out properly and ask your agent to provide details of the checks. The other check that a property owner should look into is the actual rental value. Many agents who do not specialize in renting homes do not keep their eye on the ball and we seen last month similar property rented out next door to each other with a discrepancy of One hundred & fifty pounds a month simply because it was easier for the estate agent to offer it at the same rent it had been let for for the past 18 months. Essentially the property came vacant and because of the agent it cost the landlord owner 1800 pounds for the 12 month rental. Are you getting the correct rental This is why at Tailor Made Lettings when a property comes up for renewal we use a market rental analysis system to create a written report for that particular street and the immediate surrounding location. The analysis creates a report dating back 12 months. Essentially you feed in property details bedrooms street detached etc and stats are produced and sent to the property owner for a decision on how much rent should be asked. The system works well where a tenant is due for renewal and when faced with a report detailing surrounding similar homes and the rentals for those homes the tenant is more inclined to accept an increase or at least negotiate, whereas without such proof a request to increase rent may result in being given notice by a tenant you do not want to lose.

Tailor Made Lettings are happy to provide owners with rental analysis report for your property. To obtain your report simply email us the address of the property, brief description, number bedrooms & postcode to jamie@tailormadelettings.co.uk or phone Poole 01202 673454 to go to our website click on our name Tailor Made Letting Agents

Beware! Good Agent Bad Agent

BEWARE BAD RENTAL AGENT: Choose the right agent In property Lettings Specialising is King How many of us ask the right questions when choosing an Agent The world economic crisis resulted in a strong rental market as ability to buy is diminished with of finance. The result has been many new letting agencies opening and many Estate Agents who never offered rentals or property management turning a hand into the letting market. A Question I get asked often "what makes a good letting agent" When Tailor Made Lettings first opened the Poole Town centre office in 1992 it was as a dedicated rental office. At that time I had worked in property management for 15 years during a time where the wrong word on the receipt of a prospective occupier could result in your property value halving overnight. In the 1970s and 1980s caution was key slip up in law. These days it has been simplified but the duty of care is still paramount and as in every industry specialising is king. During the late 1990s my wife wanted to return to work and came up with the idea of opening an estate agent. I had lots of room in the Rental office and so suggested that she may like to use a couple of desks and part of the window space to sell property. Within a month with 2 new staff the Sales venture opened. What became apparent very quickly is how different sales staff are in comparison to trained rental staff. The property management team were entering finite information and figures requiring a degree of concentration, suddenly we had some chatty sales staff talking over our heads about deals and applicants constantly thinking out loud. The disruption continued for several months and in the end I told my wife to find her own premises. Within 6 months she had vacated and moved to Sandbanks. The office returned to normality with my team concentrating on the task of managing the issues that arise when renting property. The team of 6 comprised as follows: 1. Owner manager 2. Financial controller 3. Lettings negotiator 4. Property inspector_ problem solver 5. Compliance Administrator 6. Receptionist - Administrator All have been through various levels of training and qualifications. All have been kept up-to-date with the latest changes in Law and compliance. So tell me how many Selling Agents that converted to rentals provide this kind of staffing and where did the training come from. An established letting agent has been through the mill and back many times. Along the way the agency has made errors paid for them and rectified the systems to avoid them in the future. This build up of experience is very important. Too often over the years I have heard agents at conferences or seminars at the bar making silly comments "I don’t take any nonsense from my tenants I really tell them where to get off if they dare question me" Hello Mr Agent! This is no longer a feudal system the likelihood is that your tenant is more qualified than you and earns 5 times your wages. No doubt this is an agent who alienates tenants and as a result looses respect and good communication. Most of the time the ones making the comments turn out to be inexperienced or migrating from sales to dabbling in lettings as well. So a Letting Agent - Property manager is a specialist that you as a client employ to find a tenant and minimize risk. My approach has always been nice people in nice property makes my life as an agent easier and I do prefer a hassle free work environment as opposed to Get them in at whatever cost because we need the commission . This attitude by agents results in problems. It’s frustrating when we refuse a rental tenant due to poor references then they go to the agent along the Road and are accepted immediately. You have to ask yourself did they reference and if they did what did they actually produce to the owner. Over the years as an agency we have turned down offers to manage bedsitters, houses in multiple occupation and student accommodations. Why? Because these types of properties are problematic and managing them will result in a lot of time being spent resolving issues taking staff away from their day to day management tasks. There may well be some good estate agents who double up as letting agents but finding the good tenant may only be half the necessary qualification. The real Letting Agent Property Manager has the knowledge and expertise as to how to deal with things when a good tenant goes bad. Francis Payne

Poole rental agent

The rental agent in Poole Town centre committed to the rental market

Tailor Made Lettings is proud that it has remained committed to the rental market and next month will be our 18th year for the Poole town centre office on the Barclays international Round-about at High Street North.

Whilst many of our competitors start off as selling agents who incorporate rentals as a sideline the Tailor Made office located at the end of Longfleet Road Poole has never sold property.

Jamie Rolls managing partner states “our business at Poole town centre is about risk minimization and for this reason each member of staff needs to be trained to specialise in rentals & management” The firm points out that their systems and techniques in minimizing risk has developed over many years resulting in virtually a trouble free management programme. Francis Payne senior partner confirms “ If you permit a troublesome problematic tenant into a property you will end up spending most of your time dealing with problems and too many agents who are inexperienced or simply greedy for commission permit the wrong people to occupy creating a headache for everyone involved. With experience, the correct vetting and the right approach problems are avoidable” Whilst the Tailor Made brand name has become synonymous with high end luxury homes the firm is quick to point out that the Poole office applies the same standards of care and risk minimization to all property be it a 1 bedroom town centre apartment or a 6 bedroom waterside mansion the systems are the same for all and are tried and tested. In 18 years Tailor Made Lettings are probably now one of the largest local letting agents and if you are thinking of renting a property the likelihood is that they will have a number of comparables in your area of Poole to support achieving the maximum rent possible without the property remaining empty for too long.