Last Thursday I was up earlier than usual and sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of tea.  I was using this quiet time to think over a question which had been bugging me for months:

Do we really need to have an expensive office location?

I knew we were very rarely visited by buyers or sellers.  Most of them phoned or emailed us and on the rare occasion they did visit, it wasn't anything that coudn't have been sorted out by telephone or email.

Anyway, as I was sitting there my eight year old son came in and asked what I was doing.  I explained the situation as simply as I could, not expecting any kind of revelation.  He's only eight.

He thought about my predicament for a moment and said if he was looking for a house he'd use the internet because it would be quicker than getting his bike out. If he wanted more information he'd call the company and ask his questions.  Because of this he said there was no point in having an office which meant there was more time for me to play football with him after school, "can I have some frosties now please dad?"

His answer was from his own 'world view' but amazingly accurate.  He wasn't taking pr, marketing and the other 101 things I thought were needed to answer this question into consideration.  To him it was simply black and white.

Without realising it he'd become a marketing 'Guru' by placing himself firmly in the shoes of the customer.  He didn't want to waste time, so decided on the internet as the first point of call, and if he found a house he was interested in he didn't care who was selling it or where they were, he'd just call them and get his questions answered.

So there's 2 points to my ramblings.

  1. If you've a question you can't work out the answer to, ask a child.  There's no baggage to worry about, just a black and white view of the world.
  2. It's about time Dominic James made a commitment to doing things differently and worked out a more effective and economical way to run the business.

It's now Sunday afternoon, 3 more days to make a decision, but hey, I'm a grown up.

First thing tomorrow I'll be speaking with my partner regarding this matter and will follow up with part two. 

In the meantime, how do you feel about agents offices?  If the estate agent could save you £1,000's by working somewhere less expensive, would you be bothered where that place was?

Why not leave your comments below.