What would you be willing to do to be the most well-known agent in your patch? – London Wallet

Originally this piece was titled ‘Not another ****** podcast’. But honestly, who would have read that.

Over the last 20 years I think I’ve been a pretty good student to the industry. Like most of us, I wasn’t a strong ‘learner’ at school and didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life, so naturally, I became an estate agent. Now, however, I’m a reasonably obsessive learner, and I estimate 90% of that learning comes from listening to podcasts.

One of my major take-aways, no matter how naff that sounds, from 2023, was the impact a podcast can have. I’ve been an agent for 20 years, an active member of the Property Academy, set up my agency in 2008 and sold it to one of the big boys in 2022, and currently a Fine & country licensee in West London.

Over the years we’ve picked up close to 50 industry awards, and naturally, I’m bias, but I also think we’ve done some pretty cool stuff that have earnt us some industry fans. We’re also the team that set up the business rates relief appeal during COVID, which managed 9,246 signatures, which we like to think helped us all.

Which podcast had such an impact, I hear you cry. Somewhat unsurprisingly, my own, which is currently ‘on ice’. The podcast ‘Pass the Syrup’ and was set up to combat the lonely existence being an agent can be, especially in the wake of Truss and Kwarteng. 1 2023 was tough for a lot of agents, but most couldn’t get their head above the parapet to see it was industry wide. They had slipped into the mindset that their problems were their own, when in fact, they were all of ours.

My overly simplified solution was a light-hearted agency podcast, featuring agents talking all things agency, allowing everyone to realise that we were in it together. I think a few people enjoyed it.

A weird thing happened. I started receiving nice messages and agents would introduce themselves to me at industry events. I’m no Simon Whale, but in the space of nine months this silly little podcast had given me some credibility and status. I didn’t let it go to me head, I shut it down, for a few months anyway.

So, what did I learn. The world listens to podcasts. I clearly already knew this, given my own obsession. More importantly though, I learnt that if your content is relevant to your chosen audience, you can capture attention in a way that isn’t completely saturated, yet.

We’re now creating a hyper local podcast that we hope our community will enjoy and find interesting, my advice is you try the same. And if you’re already doing it well, please give me a call and educate me on a little best practice.

Ben Madden is a principal director at Fine & Country Turnham Green Terrace