Conveyancers Up Their Game to Cope with Market Slowdown

Conveyancers have experienced their first significant dip in workload for a decade, providing further evidence of a marked slowdown in the housing market.

Firms are now having to shift gears.

For the last few years the primary concern of conveyancing practices was how to cope with the volume of instructions. Particular attention was given to improve efficiencies.

Focus is now shifting towards how to create, win and convert more leads and enquiries.

The two obvious places to look when it comes to increasing leads is  Google via ‘pay per click’ or paying estate agents/brokers for leads. Both options are extremely expensive. Firms will often expend lots of time and money before eventually realising that experimenting in these two areas yields inadequate return on investment.

Ideally, word-of-mouth recommendations and repeat clients would support firms through lean periods. Yet for many, when the market takes a turn for the worst, repeat clients are rarely enough to sustain the firm without making redundancies.

Progressive firms, mostly with Business Development Managers, take the time to scour the market and discover cost-effective ways to find new leads and instructions.

These managers have been flocking towards LenderPanel.com who have witnessed a 400% increase in the last two months.

LenderPanel.com is an online tool enabling borrowers and estate agents to know which firms have been approved by the lender to act. Approximately 80,000 searches were conducted last year by visitors looking to find and appoint a lawyer. Listings are displayed by location to those firms nearest to the borrower.

The rapid growth in law firms listing themselves on the directory service is driven by firms wishing to reach borrowers at a key decision point in the conveyancing process.

Most firms have spent significant time and energy to join a lender’s panel or retain their status. It is essential, especially in tougher times, to capitalise on your panel membership.

For as little as £10 a month you can gain a significant competitive advantage!

Kindly shared by Simon Seaton – non-practising solicitor