Collaboration versus Marketing

Finally at last, overseas developers/property owners are realising that they cannot expect UK agents to supply free leads and provide hours of work and expense in order to get a prospective client on a plane for the purpose of purchasing an overseas property.

It costs in the region of £500 to acquire a quality lead and on average only 1-3 out of 100 leads finally purchase an overseas property.

Many estate agents throughout the UK tried advertising overseas property alongside their UK properties in the local papers and in their windows, but most did not have the knowledge or expertise to actually achieve a sale. For the few that did, they found that for a new build property in some countries they had to wait years for their commission, whilst for others, it didn’t materialise at all… not a professional way of doing business!

There are a very small number of developers who have got it right and work in conjunction with UK and other overseas property agents, paying for international advertising, exhibitions and giving general support, leaving the agent to qualify the leads that come in from advertising and helping the client right through to close of sale. Sadly though, many agents in the UK are not experienced enough to be able to carry the procedure through to completion.

Developers in various countries often shy away from instructing a marketing company to take the whole responsibility of marketing their development away from them. This is a pity, because this really is the only way of making those hard earned sales without breaking the bank and dying of stress! Big brand names in the UK property market have recently come into the business of taking on overseas property to add to their portfolios, particularly now the UK housing market is in the doldrums. However, they are giving marketing a bad name by taking money up front for so called ‘marketing’ and then only provide point of sale material before disappearing off the scene. This is usually due to the fact that they do not have the expertise to market overseas property – it is a totally different ball game to UK property. I explain this in the ESI Video that you can see by clicking here

More and more developers/property owners in all parts of the world are now becoming enlightened about the advantages of taking on the services of an experienced/qualified marketing company who have been in the business for at least 10 – 20 years and have specialised purely in overseas property. To find out more about ESI marketing services, click here