tm blog

We’re always listening to our customers and adapting our tmconvey platform around your needs. That’s why we’re pleased to announce that we’ve made some enhancements to tmconvey’s Map Search – based on your feedback – to help you save even more time in the property transaction. 

Here’s a quick overview of the differences you’ll notice the next time you login to tmconvey:

> Postcodes and towns against almost every title number 

We’ve updated our dataset with an additional 6 million records, so you’ll now find a postcode and town against almost every title number. 

Not only will this give you a better indication of where every property is located much sooner but, as we populate this information where it is most useful, it will also help to speed up the search ordering process.

For example, instead of seeing ‘find address’ under ‘Create Case’, you’ll notice that this has been pre-set to ‘enter address’ and is already populated with the town and postcode – so all you have to do is add the house number and street name. 

You can see an example here:

> NEW pop-up box reminds you to ‘save and exit’

To help make Map Search more intuitive and easier to use, we’ve added a new pop-up box to remind you to save your case before you leave the page and return to the case dashboard. 

You can then either choose to “discard” the information you’ve entered so far, or go “back” into the map, where you can continue with your order or click “save and exit”. 

You can see an example here:

> Enhanced functionality of ‘save and exit’ button

We’ve also enhanced our ‘save and exit’ button, so by clicking ‘save and exit’, a title plan will now be saved automatically under ‘plans’ – so you’ll be able to return to the case later on and continue ordering your searches. 

It’s just another way we make time for you. 

You can see an example here:

If you have any questions about these enhancements, please contact your Account Manager, or get in touch with Helpdesk on 0800 840 5571 or email helpdesk@tmgroup.co.uk

As part of their annual product review, Argyll have advised us that they will be increasing prices across 6 of their reports on 11th May 2018. 

They will also be retiring their Estate Solutions Brief report. 

These changes will be implemented automatically on the tmconvey platform, and will be reflected in any new orders from 11th May 2018.

Find details below:

Price changes:

Estate Solutions Brief : Retired as of 11th May 2018:

Argyll will also be retiring ‘Estate Solutions Brief’, so we’ve put together some alternative products, also available to order on tmconvey: 

Argyll Site Solutions Residence

This product can be ordered for:

> Residential properties 
> Landed estates (only <10ha as size limit) 

Argyll Estate Solutions Farm

This product can be ordered for:

> Agricultural land/farms
> Any Landed estates

Groundsure Agricultural 

This product can be ordered for:

> Farming sites

If you have any questions, please contact our Helpdesk on 0844 2499200 or email helpdesk@tmgroup.co.uk

Groundsure have advised us that they will be increasing the price of their Enviro Insight report on 1st May – with price changes across all bandings. 

These changes will be implemented automatically on the tmconvey platform, and will be reflected in any new orders from 1st May 2018. 

The price changes are as follows:

If you have any questions, please contact our Helpdesk on 0844 2499200 or email helpdesk@tmgroup.co.uk

A reported shortage of estate agency staff is putting new pressure on branches, forcing many to explore innovative ways to save time and harness the benefits of the latest PropTech solutions. 

According to a recent article on Property Industry Eye, a long-established specialist recruiter has reported the worst shortage of estate agency staff in a generation. As Anthony Hesse, founder of Property Personnel, states; “The agency sector is experiencing the worst staff shortages at a point when the property market is going through a very challenging time.”

This is increasingly making PropTech solutions a necessity – rather than a luxury – as branches struggle to find ways to bridge the staffing gap and successfully progress their sales. 

PropTech can help teams feel like they’ve got an extra person in the office 

Embracing the latest technology, such as tmgroup’s mio solution, can help estate agents adopt a smarter approach to managing the home buying process – and increase overall efficiency. 

Designed to help estate agents speed up transactions, reduce fall-through rates, and win more business, mio is a sales progression and communication tool created by property experts for property experts. Referred to recently by an early adopter estate agent as: “Like having another person in the office.”

This is exactly what estate agents need right now; to be embracing the latest PropTech solutions to make sure their teams thrive in a challenging market place – even if their employee numbers aren’t at full strength. 

Jon Horton, Product Director – mio, comments:

“The days of having dedicated members of the team taking care of sales progression is over. In such a challenging market, there is an inevitable squeeze on resources. 

With this being compounded by the lack of estate agents available to hire, it’s down to the individual employees across the branches to pull together and deliver business as normal. Effective sales progression that puts the customer at the heart of the process is vital to quickly convert the hard work invested in winning the listing and finding a buyer into real income. Harnessing the benefits of PropTech solutions, such as mio, can help branches work more efficiently and stay ahead of the game.”

To find out more about mio, connect with Jon Horton on LinkedIn.  

Jon Horton

Jon is pleased to take a lead role in the next chapter of the journey for tm as we launch mio – a sales progression and communication tool designed to help Estate Agents.

 

Want to improve the reputation of your firm? Talk to Clare Yates! She has over 25 years’ experience in the property industry and is more than happy to share what she knows to help you get the best out of your business. 

Here, she explains how language choices can help to create customer confidence (or doubt!) during a telephone conversation. 

Never forget that customers are coming to your team because they can’t find a way to do it themselves. This puts customers in a very vulnerable position, and they can quickly become angry if they feel helpless, dissatisfied or patronised.

This is why it is so important that your team use words and phrases that help to instil confidence – instead of saying, “I’m not sure…”, “I’ll try to find someone to help you” and “I’ll have a go at sorting that for you…”. 

Here are some positive words and phrases that can make all the difference:

• “Yes, you are through to the right person to help you…”

• “I can definitely help with that…”

• “I’m sure I can do that for you…

• “Certainly…”

• “Let me assure you…”

• “I’m handling this for you today, and my name is….” 

• “Don’t worry, I’ll talk to my colleague and find the answer for you…”

Take a step back…

If all of your team members started using these positive words and phrases in every telephone call, would they have easier telephone conversations with customers? Would they be able to wrap up calls faster – rather than answer the same question 3 times to try to reassure the customer? What could this do for your efficiency, overall customer experience and reputation of your firm?

With thanks to Clare Yates, Senior Business Development Manager at tmgroup. 

Got a question? Connect with Clare on LinkedIn.

Conveyancers will soon be able to reduce the number of requisitions their firm receives with the arrival of Post-Completion services on tmconvey - from 30th April 2018.

Designed to diminish the chance of manual error, this newest addition to the tmconvey platform will help conveyancers rise to the increasing pressure from Land Registry and HMRC to submit their SDLT and AP1 forms more efficiently. 

Validation and error checking helps users get it right first time

Easy to navigate, electronic SDLT and AP1 submission forms enable every user to progress quickly by only showing the questions that need to be answered. Whilst the online SDLT calculator makes it easy for even the newest members of a team to pay Stamp Duty Land Tax fees with confidence.

To reduce the chance of mistakes, the SDLT and AP1 submission forms come with built in validation and error checking. Accompanied by clear summary pages, users can also jump to any section that requires their attention.

Prepopulated fields make it quick and easy to submit SDLT and AP1 forms

As tmgroup are a compliant software vendor for HMRC and Land Registry, the SDLT and AP1 forms are always up to date, and submitted directly to them – without incurring any delays or additional costs.

By being fully integrated with tmconvey, users can process their SDLT and AP1 submissions without wasting timing logging in and out of multiple websites. Users also benefit from shared information and prepopulated fields across their SDLT and AP1 submission forms, as well as their cases – reducing the chore of double entry and saving time.

Automated audit trails provide improved visibility and proof of compliance 

With clear time stamps and status updates within tmconvey, automated audit trails enable Heads of Department to track every SDLT and AP1 submission status across their team – and even multiple offices – for improved visibility and proof of compliance. 

Users can also login and reply to requisitions – without having to check their emails. Whilst ‘impending cancellation date’ reminders prompt to close an unanswered requisition and complete AP1 submissions, so they don’t waste time resubmitting. 

Jane Towner, Customer Experience Director at tmgroup comments: 

“With lenders reviewing AP1 submission times, and the SDLT filing and payment window set to reduce to 14 days later this year, the latest evolution for tmconvey will make it easier for firms to maintain a good reputation in the market. We’re looking forward to launching AP1 submission and offering full post-completion services to our customers.”

Post-Completion services COMING SOON to tmconvey 

Complementing the existing SDLT submission service, new AP1 submission will be available on tmconvey from April 2018.

If you would like to request a demo, please get in touch.

The Coal and Water Authorities have advised of their annual round of price increases – taking effect across April 2018. 

The Coal Authority are also making changes to their cancellations policy.

These changes will be implemented automatically on the tmconvey platform, and will be reflected in any new orders as the changes take effect across the month. 

The full details can be seen in the tables below:

Coal Authority Price Changes: Effective from 16th April 2018

Changes to the Coal Authority’s pricing will be implemented automatically on the tmconvey platform, and as such any new orders placed on or after 16th April 2018 will reflect the new pricing.

Coal Authority Cancellations Policy Changes: Effective from 16th April 2018

Alongside their annual prices increases, the Coal Authority’s cancellations policy will also be updated from 16th April 2018. 

The main changes to the cancellations policy are:

> To provide clear examples of where cancellations can be provided.  

> The limit of 3 cancellations will also be applied to duplicate reports and incorrect reports types being ordered.  

> All of Groundsure’s “Enviro All-in-One” reports will be subject to a further 3 cancellations outside the 72 hour timeframe.

Water Authority Price Changes: Effective from early April 2018 

Changes to the Water Authority’s pricing will be implemented automatically on the tmconvey platform, and as such any new orders placed to the respective Water Authorities on or after the below stated dates will reflect the new pricing.

If you have any questions, please contact our Helpdesk on 0844 2499200 or email helpdesk@tmgroup.co.uk

Want to improve your staff’s morale and ability to deliver a great customer experience? Talk to Clare Yates! She has over 25 years’ experience in the property industry and is more than happy to share what she knows to help you get the best out of your business. 

Here, she explains how your team may unknowingly be upsetting customers and each other – and compromising the customer experience. 

I previously spoke about how your customers can bring their own experiences, mood and emotions to the telephone conversation. The same can apply to your team. 

What happens to everyone’s mood if there are roadworks in the local area that delay your team’s journey to work? Or if a storm or a power cut limits access to hot water and a morning shower? 

If your team are in a low mood due their recent personal experiences, it is important that they don’t let this have an impact on their colleagues and any customers they speak to.  

Take a step back…

Can you think of an occasion where a member of your team has acted out of character and been noticeably grumpy with you or a customer? How did you handle the situation? Did your team member even notice their behaviour had changed?

If you took 5 minutes to speak to your team about how their mood and personal situation can affect their working relationships, would they be more likely to step outside or make a cup of tea before they let their mood affect others – and possibly impact on business relationships and paying customers?

With thanks to Clare Yates, Senior Business Development Manager at tmgroup. 

Got a question? Connect with Clare on LinkedIn.

The number of house sales falling through pre-completion during the first quarter of 2018 reached its highest level for a decade – with slow sales progression being blamed as a key contributing factor. 

The fall-through rate from 1st January to the end of March 2018 hit 38.8%, according to Quick Move Now, a quick buy firm, which has monitored fall-throughs for many years. This marks a further increase on the 34.9% of fall-throughs seen in Q1 of 2017.

Slow sales progression is being highlighted as a key factor in the sheer volume of unsuccessful property sales, as Quick Move Now says “46% were attributed to the buyer changing their mind or the seller feeling that the sale was not progressing quickly enough”. 

Additional factors attributed to the high fall-through rate include: 

> 23% fell through because either the buyer or seller wanted to renegotiate after the initial deal had been agreed.

> More than 10% fell through because the property survey highlighted issues that caused the buyer to pull out of the sale.

> 11.5% of sales fell through because the buyer was unable to secure sufficient funding from their mortgage provider.

> 8% of failed house sales were the victim of a collapsed property chain.

Jon Horton, Product Director – mio, comments: 

“46% of all fall-throughs being attributed to slow sales progression is alarmingly high, however we all know that poor communication jeopardizes a buyer’s position. 

PropTech companies, such as tmgroup, are rising to the challenge to help agents and their customers by developing technology that connects the transactional parties together – such as the mio app fast-becoming the customers’ choice to see the progress of their home move, as well as send and receive messages with their agent at their convenience. 

The success of this is already being seen in the pilot of our mio solution, which has not only helped estate agents to win more business, but has helped to raise the bar in terms of sales progression and customer engagement throughout the transaction."

Liverpool, Leeds and Nottingham will be the first cities to host a brand new series of breakfast meetings this May; bringing property professionals together from across the industry to discuss everything from the true impact of the bank of Mum and Dad, to the ongoing challenges posed by increasing house prices. 

Facilitated by tmgroup, these property hub breakfast meetings will each take place from 7.30am to 9.30am; getting the working day off to a fresh and insightful start discussing local challenges from different points of view.

Set to expand across the country in 2018, this new series of property hubs is kicking off with the following dates and locations: 

• 15th May : Liverpool

• 16th May : Leeds

• 17th May : Nottingham

Click here for more information about our property hub breakfast meetings

Adapting to local challenges and opportunities is key to your firm’s success

Why attend a property hub breakfast meeting? Knowing what is happening on your doorstep is key to adapting to the challenges facing the property industry – and making sure your firm not only survives, but thrives.

By bringing local experts together for regular breakfast meetings, property hubs make it easy for you to not only stay up to date, but also grow your network in your local area – so you are first to take advantage of opportunities as they arise. 

Want to join the conversation?

If you would like to get involved in our property hubs and regularly share your voice with your local property community, please get in touch. 

Please note, places are limited and are allocated with care to ensure that every conversation is balanced by representatives from across the industry.

15th May : Liverpool

Find out more about joining the conversation 

16th May : Leeds

Find out more about joining the conversation

17th May : Nottingham

Find out more about joining the conversation