Mike Griffiths
estate agency software consultant
I've spent over 30 years designing and implementing software solutions for UK estate agents.
If you are looking to get the best out of your existing software or looking to upgrade, I'd love to help!
My skills
Introduction
Are you getting the best out of your software? Is it really working hard for you? Does it make you money or cost you money?
Software is just a toolkit. Anyone can be taught to use a hammer or a screwdriver but using them creatively and constructively is a different matter. Implementing and getting the best out of an estate agency software product takes time, skill and commitment.
The best software has a myriad of features and diverse functionality – often with different ways to achieve the same result. The best software suppliers will train users in how to use their hammers and screwdrivers (hopefully without charge) but they won’t necessarily explain how each tool can be exploited to maximise rate of return on the software investment. In a career comprising nearly 10 years in diverse residential estate agency then 30 years running, developing and ultimately selling estate agency software businesses (GMW Systems 1988-2000 and Expert Agent 2003-2017) I’ve successfully advised on and implemented software solutions for thousands of UK estate agents. There's no secret formula to my success. I just have a fundamental understanding of estate agency workflow and can translate that into software process.My Services
Software Functionality & Agency Workflow Review
one day - at your offices
Cost: £500+Expenses+VAT
In an intense 10am to 5pm day, I work with your senior staff (ideally a senior administrator and a senior manager or the boss), investigating, challenging and analysing all steps of your sales or lettings* workflow and looking to ensure that they are efficiently and effectively carried out in your software. We go from valuation to completion with all steps in between, looking at tasks, outputs (letters, emails, social media & portal posts etc), brochures, letters, automation, sales progressing and lots more.
*If you want me to analyse 2 departments (normally sales and lettings), I'll need 2 days onsite. I don't do Lettings Finance - but can recommend a freelance specialist accountant.Includes:
- Full end to end Workflow Review
- Review and Remedial work on letters and emails
- Matching, Ring-Around and Applicant Contact Interaction Review
- Analysis of Client Interaction (website and portal enquiries, electronic document signing, vendor and applicant logins, viewing requests
:
- Brochure Review and Recommendation
- Website Functionality and Interaction Review
- Advice on latest PropTech developments
- Functionality and Data Review (I need access to your data before or after the meeting for this)
Consultancy for Software Companies and PropTech Providers
At your offices
Cost: by negotiation
I advise software companies, PropTech businesses and other players and potential players in this space. Recently, I've been asked to help an ailing small business create an engaging marketing and sales strategy. I've helped a new player add a raft of functionality to a soon to be launched product and I've advised another on the pros and cons of different customer support methodology. If you have a project you'd like help with, please don't hesitate to get in touch.
I Contribute:
- Unrivalled Market Knowledge
- Vast Depth of Industry Contacts
- An Active Users Forum to field test innovations
- Thorough Hands On Agency Workflow Experience
I Enjoy:
- Writing Marketing Copy
- Business Analysis
- Creating Interactive Help Systems and Training
- Day to Day Software Business Operations
Software Purchase Consultancy
Cost: £500+Expenses+VAT per day at your office
Cost: £400+Expenses+VAT per day at my office
Looking to implement new software into your business? I will visit you to assess your needs, help create a requirements statement and, if need be, a full specification. I will take this to the software vendors (with a formal request for tender if required) and I will consolidate the responses and make recommendations with the intention of securing the best price possible.
I will help plan data migration, staff training, website integration, portal uploads etc If you have a project you'd like help with, please don't hesitate to get in touch.I Contribute:
- Unrivalled Market Knowledge
- Vast Depth of Industry Contacts
- Experience based on 1000s of Successful Implementations
I Enjoy:
- Tough Negotiation based on Accurate "Recent Prices Paid" Intelligence
- Determination to Reduce Expenditure to the Minimum
- Good Technical Knowledge - hence no "Wool Pulling" from Suppliers
About Me
1979-1982B.Sc Land Management at Leicester Poly
I qualified with all I needed to become a Chartered Surveyor1982-1988Estate Agent
Volume Residential Sales in Leicester, Greater London, West Midlands and the South West culminating in managing offices for Black Horse Agencies then running my own estate agency for 18 months . This diverse work experience set me up perfectly for my later career - I learnt the intricacies of inclusive advertising, chargeable advertising, up front fees, disbursements, multiple agency, half-comms, joint agency, auctions etc. I also did a fair bit of lettings, property management plus building society surveys, housebuyers reports....1988-2003GMW Systems
Almost the first desktop PC estate agency software (I wrote it on an Amstrad PC), I rewrote it for MS Windows in the mid '90s and it became the UK's most widely used agency software in 2000. I was lucky enough to sell it to a now vanished Rightmove competitor and stayed on to run it for them.2004-2017Expert Agent
I started and funded Expert Agent and, joined by Pete, Tom, Dave, Steve, Marcus, Neil and later Barbara, developed Expert Agent into a £4m pa turnover business supplying cloud based estate agency and letting agency software to over 2500 estate agency branches. Again, we became the most widely used product in the UK. We sold to private equity in 2013 and I stayed on. They sold to Zoopla in 2017 and I didn't stay on!2017-??Independent Software Consultant
I work as an independent software consultant, two or three days per week.-
I advise small to medium sized estate agency businesses on how to get the best out of their existing software. Generally, this involves spending a whole day with them.-
I help estate agency businesses work out their requirements for new software then I create and submit tender requests to the software companies, negotiating hard for the best deal.-
I also advise software companies working in the estate agency space. I advise on strategy, marketing, documentation, support and product functionality.-
The rest of the week, I'm busy managing a small property portfolio and skippering trips on Zen Dog my commercial charter motor yacht. How about a Sunday blast up the Solent for your clients or an overnight stay in Lymington for the family?
Contact Me
Mike Griffiths PropTech Consulting
A trading name of Bear Data Ltd 9 Ostlers Yard, Lymington, SO41 9AF Registered in England: 11002192 VAT Number: GB 280 3607 14 Privacy, Data Protection and Modern Slavery Statement
