The value of an estate agency USP

I hope everyone had a nice Easter break? We all need a little break every now and again to recharge the batteries!

Regular readers of this blog will know that I believe having a USP gives your business a real advantage. Indeed, one of my first posts back in December 2009 was about the concept of losing customers to win customers.

Having a USP or niche allows you to focus on being the best within a tight set of parameters and - as long as the audience is big enough and well educated enough - helps you compete on factors other than price.

In the past few weeks, I've come across a couple of agents which take this to the extreme by selling castles and missile bases, but there are easier options!

Here are some ideas for estate agency USPs:

• Focused on types of property:
• Chain free or new properties
• Period properties
• Oast houses
• Farms
• Live-in businesses
• Barns
• Waterside locations
• Tailored to your audience:
• First time buyers
• Singles
• Friends buying together
• Divorcees
• Probate
• Based on your service:
• 24 hour agency, with an owner login area on your website
• Price related innovation
• Educational approach
• Use of video

Many of these niches require specialist industry or legal knowledge, where experience becomes a huge advantage. This has the added benefit of making it harder for new competitors to target your market, protecting your business at the same time as helping to grow it.

If you're an agent that focuses on a particular niche, please post a comment with a link to your site to show it off.