Why Beercocks Said Yes to Leading Estate Agents of the World
We’ve never been particularly interested in collecting badges. But when we were invited to become a founding member of Leading Estate Agents of the World, we said yes. And there was a very simple reason why. It fits with where we believe estate agency needs to go.
More transparency. Higher standards. Better estate agency.
Beercocks has been selling homes across Hull, East Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire for three generations.
During that time, estate agency has changed enormously. Technology has changed. Marketing has changed. The way buyers search for homes has changed.
But one thing shouldn’t change.
An estate agent should be accountable for the advice they give and the results they produce.
That is one of the things we liked about Leading Estate Agents of the World.
It brings together independent estate agents from different markets who are prepared to share ideas, learn from one another and, importantly, be more open about how they actually perform.
Not just what they say they can do.
Why we joined
Being one of the biggest estate agents in our area doesn’t mean we think we have all the answers.
Quite the opposite.
One of the reasons Beercocks has continued to grow is because we’re constantly looking at how we can do things better.
How do we market homes better?
How do we create more competition between buyers?
How do we reduce the chances of a sale falling through?
How do we use technology without losing the human side of estate agency?
And how do we give sellers better information so they can make better decisions?
Leading Estate Agents of the World gives us the opportunity to share ideas with some excellent independent estate agents operating in very different property markets around the world.
We can learn from them.
And hopefully they can learn something from us too.
A rigorous standard for membership
Membership is not simply about putting another logo on a website.
There is a high bar to meet, with rigorous tests designed to assess how an estate agent performs in the areas that matter most to clients.
That can include the percentage of the asking price achieved, the success rate of completed sales, the speed at which properties sell and the quality of the customer experience, including independent feedback such as Google reviews.
Those measures matter because they provide a more meaningful picture of an estate agent’s performance than marketing claims alone.
To be invited to become one of the founding members is a real honour and a privilege. It recognises the standards Beercocks has worked hard to maintain across Hull, East Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire, while also giving us a responsibility to keep improving.
What does it actually mean if you’re selling your home with Beercocks?
This is the important bit.
We haven’t joined because we wanted another logo to put on our website.
We joined because we believe the best estate agents should be prepared to demonstrate what they actually deliver.
For years, our industry has been very good at making claims.
“Number one agent.”
“Best agent.”
“Most experienced.”
“Five-star service.”
But sellers should be able to look beyond the claims.
How many homes does an agent actually sell?
How close do they get to the asking price?
How many of their sales reach completion?
How quickly are they finding buyers?
What do their customers say about them?
What are they doing differently to give a property the best possible start when it reaches the market?
Those are much more useful questions.
And greater transparency around those numbers can only be a good thing for people choosing who to trust with what is often their biggest financial asset.
Local knowledge still matters
We may now be part of an international network, but our business remains firmly rooted here.
We know Hull, East Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire because this is our home too.
Our teams understand that selling a house in Kingswood can require a completely different strategy to selling one in Beverley, Hessle, Holderness, Willerby, Driffield or across North Lincolnshire.
Property markets are local.
Buyer behaviour is local.
And the advice you receive should reflect that.
Joining Leading Estate Agents of the World doesn’t change that. It gives us another way of challenging ourselves, learning from other successful independent agents and bringing the best ideas back into our own business.
Three generations, still pushing forward
Beercocks has been around for a long time.
We’re proud of that history, but history alone doesn’t entitle any business to a future.
You have to keep earning it.
That means questioning how things have always been done, investing in better marketing and technology, developing our people and being prepared to measure whether what we’re doing actually works.
So yes, we’re proud to have been invited to become one of the founding members of Leading Estate Agents of the World.
It is an honour and a privilege, but it is also a responsibility.
The standards are high, and rightly so.
For us, the important part isn’t simply the badge.
It’s what we can learn, what we can share and how we can use it to become an even better estate agent for the people who trust us to sell their homes.
And after three generations, that remains the bit that matters most.
Steve Beercock
Executive Director
Beercocks
