Web Site for a Firm's In-house Estate Agency
by Lawrence McNulty
Hundreds of practices now have web sites, and some genuinely sell legal
services from them. This was considered innovative when it first started but we
have got used to such stories of late. However, a quiet, almost imperceptible
revolution has been happening with just a handful of English firms - some are
actually selling property off their own web sites!
Yes, I am still talking about the web sites of law firms but these are firms who have formed their own, in-house estate agencies. One such firm recently approached me to help them develop and market a basic web site that would promote their legal services and, more importantly, sell property direct to clients. The firm is Campbell Hooper & Co. LLP, www.campbellhooperco.co.uk of Sunningdale, Berkshire and it had occurred to them that they were giving out house-sales to local agents on behalf of their clients and, in the process, not only losing some control over their clients but also losing out on the fees that the agents were collecting.
I only know of three other practices in the south of England that have added
estate agency services directly to their websites:
However, there are a good number of Scottish solicitors who combine the two functions - presumably because of the different rules to which they operate north of the border. The Solicitors Property Shop, www.sps.net, operates primarily in the north of England but, from what I can see on their web site, all property details are held centrally by them and the practices that have joined that service have a simple web-link to the main SPS site.
As a private-client practice, Campbell Hooper & Co. LLP (a totally separate firm from that called Campbell Hooper based in London) need to dispose of property through their probate department, and also get involved in the sale of houses for their family-law clients. So, instead of involving estate agents, why not sell the properties themselves and collect the agency fees? The great benefit to their clients is that the property transaction and the legal process all happens under one roof which means matters can be dealt with much more quickly and at a lower overall cost than if the property disposal was handled by a third-party agent. It seems to be a win-win proposition (except for the agents, of course).
There was one potential drawback to the plan; would it prove prohibitively expensive to develop software for the property-advertising side of the web site? This is a highly specialised area of software application but senior partner Stephen Aldred had already found the solution. Just down the road from his office is a company called Clarks Computer Systems, www.clarkscomputers.co.uk, and their website describes them as "the quiet giant of agency software". But could it be linked in a seamless way to a conventional web site for a legal practice? Absolutely!
If you visit the web site of Campbell Hooper & Co. LLP and click on the menu item "Property for Sale", pages will pop up displaying property pictures and details - looking for all the world as if it is just another aspect of that site. And that's the clever part about it; the property module links seamlessly to the legal web site and is tailored to match the corporate image of the site. This is made easier because Clarks Computer Systems actually host the entire site on their own servers, but my web designer is able to modify all the legal-services pages without difficulty through standard ftp routines.
A key question was how easy would it be for Campbell Hooper & Co. to add new properties, and how could they control the passing of information to interested house buyers? The answer was very easy because Clark's are not the "quiet giant of agency software" for nothing. A simple set-up form is completed on-line by Campbell Hooper & Co.'s in-house agent, and the property details, with photographs, are immediately uploaded to the site. A "New Property" coloured flash is automatically added to the displayed details and remains there for 14 days before it is automatically removed. Visitors to the site can print-off full details on their local printers.
An additional feature of the system is that new properties are also uploaded automatically to Rightmove.co.uk and PropertyNews.com and people making an enquiry through those sites trigger an e-mail to Campbell Hooper & Co. The in-house agent then emails full details to the enquirer. If a client wants to change any of their details, for example, a new sale price, an on-line change-form is used by the agent to reflect the changes, and a change-letter is automatically generated and sent to the client confirming the instruction.
The property software provides all the facilities that you would expect to see on a normal estate agent's web site. Multiple views, expanding descriptions, virtual tours, on-line enquiry facility - as much as the in-house agent wants to put on the site.
And that has been an important piece in the jigsaw for Campbell Hooper & Co.; they have now employed an experienced estate agent to run the agency side of the practice who has taken over the main, street-level office and turned it into a genuine estate agent's office, complete with its own Reception and separate telephone number. It is, however, obvious to visiting clients that it is a joined-up service that is available, with the in-house agent being able to walk into an adjoining office to speak to a solicitor- colleague about the progress of a matter. Once a property has been sold, he merely sends an internal e-mail to the appropriate property lawyer to initiate the conveyancing process.
All this has not prevented the firm's legal team from dealing with conventional property sales and purchases. Clients are still approaching the firm to handle conveyancing of properties not on sale through the firm and so the number of transactions brought in by local agents is hardly affected.
Campbell Hooper & Co.'s new web site is only a start, but already they are experiencing the benefits of an unusual client service
Lawrence McNulty runs Client Appeal, www.clientappeal.co.uk, a public relations and marketing consultancy for lawyers operating in the Thames Valley. Email mcnulty@clientappeal.co.uk.
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