18 months ago, Adam Lawrence was a property investor with no background or experience in being a letting agent. With a pretty decent portfolio of around 30-40 properties, he began to wonder, as many of us do; what’s next? Where can I go from here?

With many years of experience and knowledge in the property buying sector, Adam felt that he was facing a cross roads. The path he was on was familiar, yet the landscape was beginning to change. He was well aware that to change with it, he had some challenges to overcome.

Adam’s extensive background in property gave him plenty of experience in working with letting agencies. But all his experience was from from a landlord’s perspective.

He was curious…

What did the agents know that he didn’t?

How did they manage such huge numbers of properties every day and make it look easy? How did they keep up with current legislations and the constant changes in the market?

Adam wanted to know how an agency worked from the inside. What would that insider knowledge give him? What new opportunities would he able to spot?  How could that knowledge help him manage his own growing portfolio better?

Searching for answers

Adam knew that no matter what path he decided to ultimately take, he would need to open himself up to learning. Even as a landlord, he felt the need to understand all the regulations and changes impacting the property and lettings sectors.

Legislation within the sector was already beginning to change. It was clear that to keep pace, both landlords and letting agents would need to stay up to date with these changes.

Adam decided it was time to invest in himself and increase his expertise.

He wasn’t really in becoming a letting agent. He didn’t want to change his career. He wanted to understand agents to help him work more closely with them. Adam saw that many landlords and letting agents are worlds apart in their thinking and attitudes. He saw an opportunity to do something different. He believed that by working together, landlords and agents could create something powerful and unique.

One deal away

Adam thought about buying into a letting agency, but assumed this to be out of his financial reach. He knew he was more than capable at making deals to buy property, but buying a letting agent? How could that work?

With a clear idea, but no idea how to make it happen, Adam came to an Agent Rainmaker workshop.

Adam freely admits that when first walked into the room, he was blinkered in his thinking. He was looking down a certain path. His course was set, and he wasn’t yet aware of how (or why) he needed to change it.

Most of the attendees at the workshop were existing agents. Adam had little in common with them. But his charisma and eagerness to learn helped him network with the agents and see a way forward for his business.

Over the next few months, Adam started to use the new techniques he learned at Agent Rainmaker. He soaked up as much knowledge as he could, and made use of his new contacts.

Agent Rainmaker Community

Being part of the Agent Rainmaker community, Adam could talk to existing agents and benefit from their experience. He connected with people who had been through many of the same things that he was now experiencing.

This not only gave him some insider knowledge, but also the confidence he needed.

What followed was truly amazing…

Adam grew his business by acquiring multiple letting agencies. This has taken him from a standing start to staggering turnover of £650k!

Nurturing the business

Acquiring the letting agents was just the beginning. The techniques Adam learned at Agent Rainmaker (along with his newfound confidence) are helping him nurture his new business. He is reigniting leads that had dropped off the radar. He is finding new ways to reach out to existing leads and find new ones. And Adam is confident that his business will continue to grow over the next 12 months.

It’s amazing how much things have changed for Adam. He now spends some time each week working within the agencies he has acquired. He is also maintaining his established property portfolio.

Adam has has fixed some of the things that weren’t working so well. He has also been active in talking with other agents about future partnerships.

New Opportunities

Before Agent Rainmaker he thought that his new business was beyond his reach. Now his whole prespective has changed. His net has widened in ways he never thought possible. This has allowed him to think about things from the point of view of the letting agent as well as a landlord and spot more opportunities than ever!

Whilst many believe the next 24 months will be tough going for letting agents, Adam sees that they also promise plenty of new possibilities. And you can bet that he will be there, heckling from the front!

The Problem

When you’ve been running a business for many years, it’s easy to fall into the daily routine and lose the passion for what you do. Sue had lost her mojo and with the Tenant Fee Ban announcement, she knew she had to do something.

What Sue did

Sue explains here how she achieved growth in her Letting Agency following the Agent Rainmaker methods that she never even realised was possible and got her mojo back with enough to share with her whole team!

See her at Agent Rainmaker Live 2019

Sue will be sharing her full story and how she achieved such an amazing result at Agent Rainmaker LIVE in October 2019.

Is it possible as a letting agent to NEVER take on a Let Only Instruction? It certainly is, Sue from Exmouth, has mastered how to convert EVERY appointment she attends into a fully managed instruction…

The RESULT is that she has nearly doubled her property stock in just 18 months and is still going strong! Sue explains here how she overcame her own previous beliefs by giving the Landlords what they need and not what they want, and serving her customers better PLUS growing her business.

6 months ago, Jayne O’Brien’s business was ticking along, as it had been for some time. It wasn’t making much of a profit – in fact with costs going up, it had begun to make a bit of a loss.

Jayne, as the owner of her own letting agent, was bored. She’d got stuck in a rut of servicing her existing clients, doing the same things she’d been doing for years. She hadn’t really done anything to encourage new business, for months, perhaps even years. And what’s more, her biggest selling point was that she offered free, yes free inspections!

One thing was clear… Jayne needed to do something different to change the status quo and revive her business.

Creating a Sales Machine

Frustrated and disillusioned with the way things were, Jayne knew it was time for change. She did some research and signed up for a one day course with Agent Rainmaker.

It didn’t take long for her to realise that her whole mindset was wrong. She’d been approaching her business the wrong way. She was incorrectly thinking of her business as a service, where her ONLY focus was pleasing the clients she already had. It was getting her nowhere.

One of the most valuable things she learned on the course was something she hadn’t even considered before. Jayne needed to have a sales machine in her business and not only service her existing clients. With a background in sales, it was up to her to use her past skills to get that machine up and running.

Jayne set about creating new ways to reach out to landlords. Using techniques she’d learned on the Agent Rainmaker course, she re-learned how to sell. She began cold calling (something she used to be quite practised at, but hadn’t done for years), contacting old clients, setting up an email database…

In simple terms, Jayne started talking to people. It was something that she’d been neglecting for a long time. Her sole focus had been ‘getting the job done’ for her existing clients. She hadn’t been generating any new business at all. For years Jayne had been recycling old business, over and over.

Sales and marketing in Jayne’s business had taken a back seat. Now she had the tools, the skills and support to change that.

Becoming the local expert

Jayne shifted her focus and started to communicate with landlords. She give them the wisdom of her experience. She took the time to share her knowledge and experience with them.

By doing this, she built valuable relationships and became the local expert.

Jayne was no longer giving free inspections – an idea which now seemed ludicrous – but was giving something much more valuable. And she was reaping the benefits.

By getting to know her landlords on a more personal level, she quickly became their ‘go-to’ advisor. The trusted friend they call for advice and guidance.

It’s safe to say that Jayne has got her confidence and enthusiasm for her business back. By using the skills and knowledge she has gained through Agent Rainmaker, her business is going from strength to strength. From having no new instructions for so long, she has, in just the last 6 months, gained ten, yes TEN new instructions!

Fully managed

Every single one of Jayn’es new have signed up for full-management! Many of her existing clients have converted too! Even those landlords who were seasoned in ‘running the show’ themselves, and who had years of experience in managing their own properties, have handed the reigns over to Jayne’s team.

From making a loss back in January, Jayne is making, on average, £4,000 profit each month! Impressive, by anyone’s standards.

There have also been some other changes; by scrutinizing other aspects of the business, changing suppliers, and looking at the way things are run within the office, Jayne has been able to reduce her business costs by around £2,500 per month.

Nowadays, there is a new word frequently uttered around the office – Upsell. The business is evolving, and the team growing. As we speak, Jayne’s business is about to launch into property sales as well and letting properties. No longer muddling through, Jayne is now soaring!

For her, the Agent Rainmaker course has been an inspiration.

The people she has met, the ability to share ideas and be part of such a great support network has, and continues to drive her forward.

Double Profits!

Armed with all the new invaluable tools, new ideas, and new knowledge and skills, she has more than doubled her monthly profit. And she is confident that the business will continue to grow, as new ideas and plans are being put into practice every day. For Jayne and her business, the sky really is the limit!

At the beginning of 2018, Sarka Wilde was not in a good place. Like many business owners, she felt that she was very much chasing her tail. She was overwhelmed, and was feeling as if she were a slave to her business.

The dream of running a thriving business which would allow her to earn enough money, and give her the freedom to spend time with her family had long faded.

She felt trapped, and isolated – a feeling made worse by the unexpected loss of her Mother.

After spending a little time with her family, she returned home feeling more fed up than ever. The business she’d worked so hard on was no longer bringing her joy.

Sarka knew it was time to make a BIG decision; throw in the towel and sell her business, or take some radical action and make it work on her terms.

She began to think about what was happening in her business, and what was going wrong. She was running herself ragged, working long hours, barley getting time to see her family. And what she was earning wasn’t enough for her to be able to hire enough staff to free up any of her time. Sarka was stuck and unsure how to make the changes she so desperately needed.

I needed my CPD hours

Sarka attended an Agent Rainmaker workshop. She didn’t expect to get any answers to her problems. She’d been on courses run by other providers before and didn’t think she would hear anything new. Her reason for attending? The deadline for getting her CPD for her ARLA membership was creeping up!

In just one day, it became clear that there was actually quite a lot that she hadn’t considered before. Sarka was pleasantly suprised to come away with some new ideas and quickly set about implementing them.

What was glaringly obvious to her was that she wasn’t charging enough for the services she offered. For so long, she’d been afraid that any increase in her fees would frighten away her clients, old and new. But with a little more confidence, she made the decision….and doubled her fees! She was amazed to find that no-one blinked an eye – in fact, they still told her that her fees were more than reasonable!

An unexpected consequence

Sarka discovered a unexpected consequence of her new fees. She started attracting a completely different clientele. Increasing her fees had put her in a position where she could market herself to a larger audience. Her higher fees got rid of the time-wasters, and earned her more respect.

Just by making that one decision, Sarka no longer needed to work with clients who didn’t appreciate her. She was no longer having to compete on price alone and instead could focus on the quality of her services. And on this point, she stood firm.

Restructured services

As well as her fee changes, Sarka took on board some of the points made about restructuring and re-layering the services she offered. Her new services became the foundation to move her business forward.

And now? Sarka has been able to hire more full-time staff. In doing this, she has delegated some of the tasks she used to undertake. She has restructured her own job, so that her time is being spent more effectively. She is working on the business rather than just in the business.

Becoming the local expert

Sarka put a new focus on marketing her business and getting her name out there. She is now seen as a local expert in the property market. Some of the results? She has been featured in the Oxford Times, and has been asked to join in a discussion on BBC Oxford’s live Breakfast Show!

Her hours are still long, but her business is growing the way she wants it to. There has been a 20% growth in business on last year, and now that she has her team in place, she can see the potential of how it can continue to grow well into the future.

Continued growth

Over the next 12 months, Sarka sees her business portfolio doubling – an ambition she’s well on track to achieving.

She wants to move forward in other ways; by collaborating with other agents and making new acquisitions. And longer term, she aims to have over 1000 properties on her books in the next 5 years.

As well as this, she wants to explore another passion, and become a motivational and public speaker – something that’s been a dream for some time.

Both personally and professionally, Sarka’s life has changed dramatically.

She is ell on her way to achieving her goals; a fact which she says is thanks to the advice and support she has received from her time with Agent Rainmaker.

She urges anyone thinking about attending an Agent Rainmaker event to do it!

Sarka says; “I thought I knew everything… you will get your money back tenfold, this course is so worth paying for – more than worth it!”

Hannah Fargher is a property developer. She specialises in buying and renovating HMO’s – something she’d been passionate about for some time. But she discovered a problem… Finding a suitable letting agent.

Hannah found that high-street letting agents had very little understanding of multi-let properties. Out of frustration, she decided to do something radical – she started her own agency.

For the past few years, Hannah had been working for a local authority. Before that, she had worked for another letting agency. This gave her the knowledge and systems she needed to set up on her own.

The trouble was, when she had last worked in a letting agency environment, it had been 1990.

A lot had changed since then. There were new legislations, new technology – the whole industry had moved on. Hannah’s way of doing things was now… well, a little old fashioned.

Hannah knew that to move forward, she would have to get herself up to date. She needed to learn how the lettings industry worked in the new millennium. But she was on her own, running the business, doing all the viewings, property inspections, bookkeeping, landlords statements, banking, repairs… it was overwhelming.

The stress and the long hours were taking their toll, and Hannah knew that she had to change something. She just didn’t know what.

Creative flair and working for free

What Hannah did know was that what had drawn her to this line of work was her creativity. She loved the side of the business which allowed her to explore that. But she was beginning to discover that the other stuff, the pouring over numbers and accounts, was not her thing at all. All those things she found boring and painful to deal with every day. But she had no choice. She didn’t have anyone to fall back on, and she couldn’t afford to hire staff to help her with the day to day.

It wasn’t until she attended her first one-day course with Agent Rainmaker that some things began to hit home.

During the 90’s, when Hannah had worked in lettings, it was usual for agents to offer all their services to landlords for a fixed monthly fee. The market had moved on, but Hannah hadn’t. It meant she had been offering many of her services for free! It was a bit of a revelation, but one which she was able to put right pretty quickly.

Restructuring her charges was essential to her business, but it wasn’t something she was comfortable doing. Approaching landlords to inform them of the changes was difficult, but in explaining that the new pricing structure meant that they were actually getting a better, higher quality service, helped her to ensure that all of her services and charges were completely transparent going forward.

Back to the Future

Hannah now had a much better understanding of how a modern letting agent worked. She had a framework in place to help her to get where she needed to be – and back in the right era!

Once she had tackled the issues of charges head on, she was able to focus her attention on her other problem… Her staffing!

Before, she had been having to do everything within her business on her own. It was far too much for one person to do. Now that she was charging more for her services, she was finally able to think about hiring staff to help her. Hannah began by looking in all the usual places for staff – recruitment agencies, job centres… While they were of some help, further research lead her to seek out alternatives.

A virtual workforce

It was time to take advantage of the new digital era. Hannah found that it was possible, and entirely affordable to outsource some of her work. She found that she was able to easily hire VA’s (Virtual Assistants) who were able to work remotely, when she needed them.

This meant that she could hire highly skilled staff to undertake the tasks as and when she needed them. They didn’t have to be located in the office, or indeed in the UK at all.

Hannah hired 3 VA’s, all based abroad, and all totally reliable, loyal, and affordable to her business. She is able to communicate with them regularly using Skype, a system which she has found to be very effective. She has 3 brilliant members of staff which she will be keeping on into the future.

She now also has some office based staff. This means that she rarely has to deal with landlords and tenants herself, but is able to concentrate on running her business, the way she wants to run it.

More time for following her passion

From the methods Hannah learned at Agent Rainmaker, she has managed to double her portfolio. She is now able to spend more time on the things she is passionate about.

Hannah now uses more of her time doing property renovations, creating stock for her agency! She has even renovated a pub into a 15 bedroom HMO!

Hannah is excited for the future of her business, and for that she thanks Agent Rainmaker.

Hannah says: ‘There is always something new to learn, and there is something for everyone.’