There's a film crew in our office!!!!

I was interviewed today and the topic was on the performance of the property portals and why I decided to take the plunge and say goodbye to Rightmove earlier this year.

I think a lot of agents are stuck in a rut and Rightmove has convinced them that they cannot afford to leave. As an individual I am happy to pay for something as long as it is value for money. I don't like to pay for something and get nothing in return. Sadly that's how i felt with Rightmove. We were getting so few leads and the quality was really poor. I couldn't justify wasting money on them and decided to leave and invest more in social media and video marketing.

Rightmove quite correctly say they get the most hits out of all the property portals. This is true but when I went through all the data of how many of those leads had turned into sales and lets over a 12 month period I was shocked......hardly any of them were from Rightmove. Then it dawned on me....every single one of my friends who like to browse property on the internet look on Rightmove. They have no intention of moving they are just curious as to what their neighbour is selling for, what houses are selling for in their street or what house they would buy if they won the lottery.......they are window shoppers!!

Rightmove has very cleverly convinced many agents to pay them four times what they pay the other portals and in return they have provided them with window shoppers, tyre kickers, time wasters for the most part. Where is the business sense to keep paying for that? 

As a small business I want to make sure I am getting the most from my portals and that I'm spending money on the right things. I don't waste my money and that's why, after starting my business in the recession 10 years ago, I am still going. I've invested smartly. Gone are the days of chasing leads from Rightmove that request a viewing yet never ever return a call or reply to an email and I can honestly say that leaving has not made a difference at all to my business. 

Our customers are satisfied as we are still securing viewings and completing transactions, where the lead comes from is of no consequence to them.

Julia Dajani