This spring, The Guild of Property Professionals will be holding its Annual Conference and Awards Ceremony on 22 March 2024 at the QEII Centre in Westminster, London. Titled ‘Sharing Success’, the full-day conference brings innovative and passionate Members together with industry pioneers for an event that is totally unique to The Guild’s exclusive network.
Iain McKenzie, CEO of The Guild of Property Professionals, says that this year’s Annual Conference will be focusing on championing industry successes both inside and outside the network. “The conference will provide Members with the opportunity to network and hear from some industry legends across sales and lettings. All topics and speakers will be industry related, with a focus on providing Members with insight and inspiration for the year ahead. We want to our Members to be able to gain something from the conference that they can practically apply to their businesses and that will help them navigate the ever-changing property market,” he adds.
According to McKenzie, one of the key speakers will be well-known industry figure, Peter Rollings, who headed up Foxtons and who owned Marsh & Parsons. The former Foxtons boss will be discussing getting higher fees, something he is well-versed with considering Foxtons’s average fee of around 2.48%. Rollings will also be discussing getting over challenges and blockers.
“Given the impressive average fee that Foxtons achieves, it is clear the brand understands how to articulate value. There is much that can be learned from the ethos and delivery that has helped the brand get to where it is today. By reducing your fee from 2% to 1.5%, you will have to sell 33% more properties just to stand still in a market with less stock, something particularly pertinent in the current market. Rollings will provide agents with some practical advice they can use within their business to achieve the fee they deserve,” McKenzie comments.
Looking at the lettings side of the business, CEO and Founder of Agent Rainmaker, Sally Lawson will be delivering a talk on additional revenue streams. “With over 30 years of experience and one of the top lettings trainers in the UK, who better to provide ways that agents can use to add to their bottom line. Lawson has poured herself into learning as much as she could about the sector, legislation and successful tried and tested practises used by the top lettings agents around the world. It is this knowledge, coupled with her experience that has led to her business’ success and her becoming a market-leading lettings trainer,” says McKenzie.
He adds that knowledge is opportunity for agents. “We wanted to have speakers that can impart knowledge that will help our Members to grow and thrive, even in a challenging market. If you have knowledge and can deal with complex issues, you have the ability to charge more, do more and serve more, providing huge value to your customers,” says McKenzie.
There will be several other speakers throughout the day, including Paul Offley, who heads up all things compliance related within The Guild. “Much has happened over the past 12 months with regard to the external economic influences on the sector, as well as legislative changes that agents need to adhere to within their business. We are fortunate to have experts at the conference who can provide some insight into these elements,” McKenzie comments.
The conference is not only about gaining insight, but also a great opportunity to both reflect and recognise the amazing accomplishments that many of the Members have achieved during 2023. “Despite a tougher market, many Members have achieved some incredible results over the past 12 months, so being able to acknowledge that as a network is always special,” he adds. “We will be presenting the Guild Awards during the afternoon. This gives us an opportunity to recognise and honour agents who have gone above and beyond for their clients and the industry in 2023. We are looking forward to celebrating together,” McKenzie concludes.
