Support for the Say No To Rightmove campaign shows no signs of waning.
Following a webinar between members of estate agency group, The Experts in Property, to which Rob Sargent was invited to speak, the group has pledged their allegiance to the campaign.
The multi-agency group, led by Steve Moir, represents some 80 offices in the South-West.
Moir explained the decision:
“Rightmove have refused to negotiate with us as a group, and their attitude, especially to smaller independent agents, has been divisive and unhelpful with upward-only price increases completely out of proportion.
“They only exist because of the data provided to them by agents, and they do not respect the value of that.
“Rightmove have not moved with the times and developed their technology, but instead have concentrated on leveraging their customers for more and more money.
“Even their market intelligence tool, Rightmove Plus, has been overtaken by better products available elsewhere in the market.”
“With the volume of sales likely to be drastically reduced for some time, all agents need to look at reducing their overall running costs.
“Rightmove has simply become unaffordable for many.
“We have a number of agents within our group who have already left and many more prepared to do so.
“The public will look and naturally migrate to wherever the properties are promoted.
“We’re receiving feedback from members who use only OnTheMarket and Zoopla that leads are of higher quality and quantity than they were on Rightmove.”
When asked what advice he would give to someone considering ending their contract with Rightmove, Moir responded:
“Ideally, talk to other local agents and get their support.
“It is one of the rare times you can work together to reduce your overheads.
“Support the Say No To Rightmove campaign and work on promoting your own website and social media channels.”
The campaign told EYE that they now have over 3000 offices in support and that recruitment continues to accelerate.
Comments (26)
I’ve just spoken to a developer who was going to instruct me on the sale of four new homes. Rightmove has offered him free listing for 3 months so he’s going to sell direct, losing me around £28,000 in fees that are already in my budget!
Sorry to hear that Lance.
Does the developer have killer neotiating skills? Will he do his own viewings? Will he let just any nosy parker view his homes?
LIsting is just the start of it. Keep in touch with him and tell him the listing compnent of your service was only £X and you planned to do ABCDEF and G to find the best buyer for his properties.
Can he also do all that himself now or does he still want you to do it?
Posted again here for posterity:
Today’s action plan for agents:
1. Cancel your Rightmove subscription, make the call TODAY and don’t delay another day
2. If you’re not ready to give up Rightmove membership, only subscribe to the MOST BASIC package, ditch worthless micro-sites, banners and featured properties.
3. If you’re not giving up RM membership just yet, remove all Rightmove stickers in your office, logos from stationery & web sites
4. Start the conversation with existing & potential customers that Rightmove prices are forcing the industry to have a re-think about membership and whether it provides enough value-for-money. Stress that savings from leaving RM would enable your business to expand its marketing and improve service to its clients. Back it up by confirming that 100s of branches are leaving every month, that you expect this figure to increase and that you are preparing for the day you say goodbye.
5. If you share property details on social media, use links to your OWN website NOT to Rightmove or any of the portals
6. Upload your content to your own website first. Upload to the portals (if you must) a couple or a few days later.
7. Ensure you promote YOUR website FIRST, don’t give any portal traffic
8. Stress that people register their details with YOU rather than the portals. Remind them that property does sell ‘off market’ or without the need for a portal upload.
9. Make your feelings known to Rightmove. OK, they’ll probably ignore them but you never know.
10. Finally, put the action plan together for when you finally give Rightmove the heave-ho. Remember they thrive on your fear of leaving, there is life after Rightmove. There are an increasing number of agencies on this forum that have left and report NO downside.
11. Don’t moan on industry forums like this one about Rightmove fees if you’re not prepared to carry out any of the points above. Also make sure you’re signed up at http://www.saynotorightmove.co.uk and the various Facebook campaign groups. This is the best and probably last chance to take them down.
TAKE BACK CONTROL TODAY!
12. Remove your lettings branches
Good shout!
With just 70 days to go till the expiry of the RM discount period our recruitment is accelerating again.We have no desire to polarize the industry, every Agent is in a slightly different position nevertheless there is a common goal.
RM have succeeded thus far by dividing us,time now to respectfully support one another and reverse the RM network effect that is strangling our businesses.
The SNTRM team, along with our supporting Facebook groups, continues to work daily building support which will turn into tangible actions.
Rob,
You seem to be collecting agents like Pokemon!
Whats the point? Just to say you have X thousand agents that dont like dealing with RM, we already know that so do RM.
Watched your interviews with interest but still no idea where this is going, As bad as old Trev in London, saying he will not stand for it then goes and starts a new portal and continues to list with the previous 2!
Words, nothing more than words. Lets seeing some action!
Say no to Rightmove (and every other similar group) are fast becoming a laughing stock. No action just weak words.
Apparently RM are aware and dont care, they know agents will not do anything in any real numbers.
Hi Smile please
Your paragraph one – Spot on
Your paragraph two – Make no mistake, RM are watching at a distance (this daily blog included) and they’re worried. This pandemic hasn’t hit them properly yet, it will. Agents will be haemorrhaging money soon, then they’ll leave and RM will never be the same again.
The real test is yet to come
If the original business model is shot down, then Rightmove will evolve without any need for Estate Agents.
Plenty of bullets left in the Rightmove Armoury.
Easy access to huge volumes of data going back a number of years has diluted the skill set in this industry.
Very frustrating!
I’d suggest that has been trialled… and failed. FSBO/ Passive intermediaries taking listings and putting them on Rightmove peaked briefly at 7% market share with vendors achieving about 5% less than they could expect from proactive agency selling.
Rightmove could easily become the new Purplebricks but it would face all the same issues list it and leave it selling faces.
Robert, I’m not going to make a habit of suggesting alternate words when you post, last time I promise, today’s is ‘ selling faeces ‘
This campaign is a waste of time. My firm left at the end of April and, although proceeding carefully in this revised market place, we have plenty of viewings and appraisals booked in from OTM and Z. If you price and present properly your properties will sell. Just leave.
Agreed. We left at Christmas. Made no difference to us aside the money saved to reinvest in other things.
Rightmove need agents, agents don’t need Rightmove. They have taken us for mugs and suckers for too long and have greed and arrogance firmly embedded within business plans. The only way to deal with them, is not to continuously moan, but leave and remember that we are the agents, we sell the properties and we should be promoting ourselves, not any portal. We’ve left and the money they were taking is coming in very handy, especially during this lockdown.Be brave and trust in your own ability
This is like groundhog day, if you don’t like it then leave it’s really quite simple.
Rob Sargent was very clear initially but seems to be distancing himself from all the noise recently.
Funny, that. Probably too busy opening his offices before they were allowed to, if our high street was anything to go by.
We didnt have other agents opening, but the amount of times I was asked to do a valuation (and refused) and the owner said “Another Agent was going” and THEY DID! Shocking.
We’d had the same re viewings. Incredible really, but perhaps not entirely surprising.
Morning all.
So anyone got any stats on “leavers” not letter of intents or want a discount, every agent wants a discount.
It would be interesting to know the 23rd March Agent/Office count and the 23rd May Office count.
Is it even possible to track back and see the change?
i saw a stats on one of the FB groups last night (not sure where they got their data) but apparently RM have lost circa 250 branches since Covid.
Agents in the same area working together??? Pull the other one……always a back stabber in every agency community…….
Many agents would rather pay their very last cheque to RM, before closing for good, than be seen to be helping a competitor…..
Whilst well meaning, many in these groups will never leave; and to be honest they should make the decision that is right for them, not necessarily be pulled along by the crowd.
Do what your business needs.
If it is to come off the horrid insensitive toxic bully that is RM; then do it for your own reasons……
Rightmove’s CEO, who should not still be in his job, has been particularly silent of late. As always actually. Probably in his ivory tower counting his money as the share price recovers….
When we return to work, if it is weather like this, sounds like shorts and a stab vest would enable agents to all leave together.
Just kill the beast that ate your hand once and for all.
Send the signal so hard to all portals that if they think they can increase fees – then think again.
No portal should charge more than £200 per month. Simple.
We came away from Roguemove July 2017 – makes no difference. REAL Estate Agents strive and thrive in any market and adapt accordingly.
Under current market conditions agents cant afford to waste money. Come OFF RM and choose ONE portal and pay no more than £200. If OTM or Z dont accept, then come off that too.
Sick of being dictated by portals!!
#AgentPowerInAction
Its great to join the Leave Rightmove group but the very agents pushing this are still on RM and have not taken their business away and are the very agents making RM stronger with their property stock , whilst the smaller agents who have left are dealing with the consequences of perhaps leaving the RM portal and having to battle for business with agents such as ACORN who started the campaign.