Veteran firm Jackson-Stops to launch online strategy aimed at the ‘self-serve generation’

Veteran firm Jackson-Stops – which this month dropped the ‘& Staff’ from its name – is expected to announce an online strategy in the New Year.

The business, with 45 offices, is also undergoing a strategic review.

Chairman Nick Leeming told EYE: “It is a challenge for the industry as to how far agents position themselves between the extremes of an automated offering and a full service.

“We need to look at what the next generation want – and they are the self-serve generation. They want to do everything online – they don’t even want to ring people up to arrange a valuation.

“At Jackson-Stops, we are in the middle of making fairly radical changes which will make our services more accessible to this self-serve generation.”

Leeming, the internet pioneer who launched Propertyfinder in 1995 and remained with it until well after its sale to Zoopla, said Jackson-Stops is also looking at other aspects of its business.

He said: “We are looking where our options are for growth – whether that is in sales, lettings, new homes or something else. However, you should never grow for growth’s sake.”

Leeming said that he expects the housing market to remain slow, as has been the case for the last two years.

“That said, our July figures were up on every measure on July last year. New applicants were up, as were new instructions and viewings. Mostly importantly, our SSTC figures were at their highest since March 2016.

“That was a bumper month just before the Stamp Duty changes, but July was only just behind it.

“However, I would never look at just one month’s figures as a marker for the future.

“It has been tough for the last two years because of the referendum and the general election. In London, because of Stamp Duty, the market has been very difficult on prices above £1.5m.

“Next year, we will still have the uncertainty of the Brexit negotiations, so I can’t really see anything changing. I think next year will be the same as this, and that we may have to accept that the new normal is a market of low transactions.”

Leeming also said that because over-pricing is so rife, it is difficult for sellers to know what advice they should take.

He said that agents who over-price to win the instruction usually lose out: “Statistically, as Rightmove has said, 70% of properties are sold by the second agent.”

He said that he himself can illustrate the problem, as an executor of a house, where there are several beneficiaries involved.

Leeming said: “The house is outside any area where there is a Jackson-Stops agent, so there was never any question of being able to instruct them.

“Instead, I did what every good seller does, and asked three agents along to value the property.

“The first quoted £875,000, the second £825,000 and the third £650,000.

“With such an unforgiveably wide range of valuations, I called in a fourth agent, who gave a guide price in the mid to high £700,000s.

“If I were an ordinary vendor, selling for myself, I would probably have gone with this valuation. But because of my duties to the number of beneficiaries, I went with a higher one. The house has still not sold.”

Leeming has taken on a number of non-executive director positions since leaving Zoopla. He is a director at Belvoir, launched by Mike Goddard in the same year Propertyfinder began, and of Scottish firm Lettingweb.

He is immensely proud of both firms, saying that Belvoir has made some shrewd acquisitions. He remains also a fan of Zoopla, paying tribute to founder Alex Chesterman: “He has stayed true to his roots. He always wanted to provide the broadest possible service to the public and to agents, and he has. He is always switched on to the business – I’d find emails coming from him between 10pm and 3am, not that I always answered at that hour.”

One possible source of contention between Jackson-Stops and Leeming could have been over their portal allegiances: the Jackson-Stops offices are all with OnTheMarket. However, Leeming says he has never expressed an opinion one way or another in terms of his chairman role.

Leeming also told EYE he has been investing in a portfolio of new proptech start-ups. He himself is a veteran – and one of the most highly respected figures in the industry – but he does not begin to look like the retiring sort, rather the entrepreneur still keen on new ideas.

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20 Comments

  1. Hillofwad71

    I think the main  reason they jettisoned  Staff from their  moniker was  perhaps being fed up  with being referred to as  Jackson stops and farts by other agents

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    1. Garret2

      Apologies for bogarting this response but point of clarification needed…

      Nick Leeming says: “Statistically, as Rightmove has said, 70% of properties are sold by the second agent’

      I have not doubt the % of “second agent” sales is pretty high but 70%…REALLY!!???

      Has anyone else seen this alledged Rightmove statistic out in the wild?

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      1. Petts1

        Agree. Absolute poppycock.

        Yes there are more agents out there willing to say any price to secure an instruction, however, our experience across our offices is that the 3 market leaders’ in each town enjoy approx 55/60% Market Share and (thankfully being one of them) we expect to sell 75/80% of secured instructions, of which 90% are new to the market (i e we are the first agent).

        Based on these figures it would suggest that by a conservative estimate at least 44% of the properties sold in the areas’ that we cover, are sold by the first appointed agent. Although, I would expect the percentage to be 65% plus in reality as obviously some of the ‘smaller’ agents also succeed in selling their Sole Agency instructions when they have been appointed first.

        It still is a strong sellers’ market after all.

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  2. Simon Bradbury

    Completely spot on Nick…”…we are in the middle of making fairly radical changes which will make our services more accessible to this self-serve generation.”

    This is what we all need to do if we are to ensure that our businesses survive and thrive in the years ahead.

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  3. smile please

    More dumbing down of the industry. Shame.

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    1. AgencyInsider

      Sorry to disagree Smile but Nick Leeming is no fool and he has a track record of being ahead of the curve. Far from dumbing down of the industry this is part of its evolution.

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      1. smile please

        Good luck to Nick.

        But JSS is a premium name and brand.

        Show me just one online offering in the last 5 years that have a profit and is a credit to the industry.

        JSS will not be launching a multi million pound TV advertising campaign.

        It’s a knee jerk reaction to loud shout onliners saying it’s the future.

        There is no viable business in it.

        I thought JSS was better than this.

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        1. RealAgent

          Totally agree, Ive yet to hear one agent cry “profits are massively down because customers are choosing to sell through online agents”

          I’m all up for making my services more accessible online but you know what, for my customers it comes at the same price and I hasten to add I have actually taken more instructions not less!

           

           

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        2. Simon Bradbury

          Hi ‘Smile Please’,

          Respectfully, I didn’t see this as JS moving to a completely “online” model, or even necessarily (though they may) offering a formal “online option” as an alternative. I had assumed that they are looking to integrate additional digital services within their current set-up to cater for as Nick puts it  “…the self – serve” generation.

          This may or may not be the case, but I for one believe that all forward thinking agents should (and indeed must) look to some of the digital options that are currently on offer if so-called ‘traditional agents’ are to continue to compete with so-called “online agents”.

          As i have said before, ultimately we are (nearly) all and will increasingly become “Hybrids”.

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          1. smile please

            Respectfully Simon, Its a pointless exercise that is for vanity rather than profit. Also highlights a lack of understanding in the marketplace.

            How much will they charge, £1000 at most at the expense of watering down their brand?

            Just look at the CW option doing this, even they have come out and said less than 5% of customers take them up on the option.

            Look at the stat of less than 50% of properties sell with an online agent.

            Look at the RM stat 70% of properties sell with a second agent.

            If you pay JSS, CW or Thomas Morris £1000 upfront to sell a property and they do not, are you going to say good things about them to friends and family looking to move who ‘May’ have used the full service option?

            Its insane a full service agent would even entertain the idea.

            Just look at the fiasco of OTM – The majority of estate agents have shown themselves up as not having a clue when it comes to running a business and making the right choices. Time and again our industry shoots itself in the foot.

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            1. 1stTimeBuyer

              Countrywide, LSL, JSS, OTM’s very own Savills and others are all investing heavily in online models.  Even online businesses such as yopa.  Get with the times man!

              People who move into new and developing areas of business are in most cases, the ones who come out the strongest in the end.

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        3. 1stTimeBuyer

          When the internet came along, Bill Gates and Microsoft didn’t react to it quickly enough, in fact dismissed it as just a passing fad.  Bill famously spoke of his regret in MS acting to slowly of the internet.

          A few fitting Bill Gates quotes which fit quite well in the Estate Agent industry…

          – Sometimes we do get taken by surprise. For example, when the Internet came along, we had it as a fifth or sixth priority.

          – There will be two types of businesses in the next 5 years, those that are on the Internet, and those that are out of business

          – In this business, by the time you realize you’re in trouble, it’s too late to save yourself. Unless you’re running scared all the time, you’re gone.

          Many agents in denial and living in the past should take note!

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          1. smile please

            Nobody is denying to embrace the internet.

            We all do to varying degrees.

            But offering a client practically zero service for an amount of money that will not even pay a junior negs wage for the month, and risk running a well established brand is just stupid. Especially when its obvious the public have not embraced it in 5 years despite MILLIONS spent on advertising trying to convince them.

            The times i have seen on this site and others that the likes of ‘Shelter’ want us to act as a charity on lettings and the industry is up in arms about it.

            Here we have agents basically saying, yep to sell a house all you need to do is pop it on RM – Let me discount my fees so i can have my brand name associated with your property on RM.

            For every Bill Gates internet story there are 100,000 where people have been naive and not understood what is needed. Last night in Dragons Den, A chap stood there and tried to convince them people needed reminding to drink water and he had developed an app for this! – He left with nothing. But hey it might be the future, why not call him today incase you miss out!

            While you are at it buy yourself some CW shares, they have had an amazing reaction from going down this route. Shares from over £6 to now £1.30 (circa) – Sounds like where i want my business to head.

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  4. LandlordsandLetting

    Actually, I think that the future for all agents is to abandon their expensive high street offices and just have low cost offices in office blocks and to still offer traditional service. I wrote about it here: https://www.landlordsandletting.co.uk/Blog/traditional-estate-agency-future/

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    1. smile please

      No offence but do you have any clue about running or owning an estate agents?

      “Actually, I think that the future for all agents is to abandon their expensive high street offices and just have low cost offices in office blocks”

      You do know that the office you talk about (apart from central London) are probably one of the lowest outgoings every month?

      The saving comes from employing less staff that are not as experienced.

      Look at the loud onliners, the reps they have are either.

      1, Journeymen, bounced round the industry for years, going from one firm to another. Never really settling as do not like the detail their employers want in regards to service and process.

      2. Newbies, never worked in agency probably flogged mobile phones or worked in a call center. Does not really matter as their only job is to sign up the homeowner, stuff knowledge and service.

      There is of course a place for this in the industry, but the likes of JSS its well beneath them, they have built a company on reputation and brand,

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  5. LandlordsandLetting

    Can’t quite understand this response. No, I have not owned or run an estate agents but I have bought and sold lots of property and common sense surely shows that whereas it was once important to maintain a high profile high street presence, in the internet age that is surely an unnecessary expense.

    I am not a fan of online only agents where you pay up front. Admittedly it’s a lot less than the commission you pay to a traditional agent but I know that the real work of an agent begins once a buyer is found and an agent who’s already got your money is not going to be so motivated as one who hasn’t.

    Finally, my point about unnecessary expense of ‘high street’ offices is that I can’t remember the last time I went into any agent’s high street office to start a property search. The first stop for practically everyone these days is the internet. Maintaining high street offices with their inevitably sky high rents and other costs means that traditional agents cannot cut their prices to compete effectively on price with online only agents.

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    1. smile please

      Okay do some research of how much a high street office is per month to lease.

      Now look at the cost of a serviced office.

      You will see there is little or no difference. Maybe a few hundred quid, which in my monthly budget running in five figures is nothing.

      The biggest expense is advertising and staff. saving a few quid on the high street really does not make it worth closing.

       

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      1. fluter

        Totally agree Smile. The rent for our High Street office is a massive 4% of our operating costs whereas employing highly experienced and knowledgeable staff comes in at around 60%. Pay peanuts etc……………

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    2. PeeBee

      “Maintaining high street offices with their inevitably sky high rents and other costs means that traditional agents cannot cut their prices to compete effectively on price with online only agents.”

      Ridiculous comment.

      Who says that we either need to – or want to – compete on price?

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  6. revilo

    ‘The first stop for practically everyone these days is the internet’

    Yes Landlordsandletting, the first stop for a long time has been the internet, but the internet doesn’t replace all the work done by staff in processing the marketing, selling and progression to completion of sales, or the increasingly bureaucratic renting and property management processes!

    The needs real, approachable and available people and people need housing in their business day. Any premises costs money and requires the correct planning use.

    The internet will never reassure worried, concerned and uninformed buyers or sellers, manage chains or expectations, or deal with the complexities of the landlord and tenant process.

    Anyone who believes the future is entirely online in our business is deluded!

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