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There are just 10 places left for our National Conference “Risky Business: Cyber Crime in the Property Transaction”, taking place in London 1 week today! 

Held at the Institution of Engineering and Technology on Thursday 23rd February 2017, this free full-day event will focus on the challenges of cyber security and how law firms can better protect themselves from a cyber-attack.

There are now just 10 places left, so please register while you can to avoid disappointment. 

Click here to register

80% of conveyancing solicitors were "definitely more worried about security and risk of fraud in 2016" compared to 2015

“Risky Business: Cyber Crime in the Property Transaction” was developed in response to recent tmgroup survey findings, which revealed that approximately 80% of conveyancing solicitors were "definitely more worried about security and risk of fraud in 2016" compared to 2015.

With this in mind, tmgroup have invited a panel of experts – including the National Police Chiefs' Council's National Cyber PROTECT Coordinator – to discuss a broad range of cyber security challenges, and ensure that all attendees leave the event in a stronger position to safeguard both themselves and their clients. 

A variety of expert speakers will address both technology and people risks

In addition to the 3 interactive roundtable discussions, a diverse panel of 5 expert speakers will be presenting on both the technology and the people risks which law firms need to be aware of in order to effectively protect their best interests.

The full Agenda of seminars features:

Mark Payne (InfoSec Cloud) – “Cyber Security – How your frontline team can help protect your firm against cyber attacks”

Mark will primarily be discussing the sophistication of modern-day phishing emails – sharing a variety of real-life examples – and explaining how to help your team recognise them before they accidentally trigger a major security incident. 

Jeremy Swinfen Green (Teiss and Mosoco) – “Cyber Security - Managing third party supplier risks”

Jeremy will be discussing how to reduce the risk of having a third party (such as a business partner, contractor, or customer) who has access to your IT systems acting as a bridge for hackers. 

Graeme McGowan (BeCyberSure) – “Cyber Security: 2017 and beyond”

Graeme will be looking at some of the current cyber security risks law firms need to be aware of, as well as explaining the huge impact the forthcoming General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) could potentially have on law firms.

National Police Chiefs' Council's National Cyber PROTECT Coordinator – “Cyber crime – How to respond to an attack and support your team in preventing future cyber security incidents”

The speaker panel will also be joined by the National Police Chiefs' Council's National Cyber PROTECT Coordinator, who will be explaining how to respond to a cyber incident; touching on key areas such as Law Enforcement capability (national to local) and reporting to Action Fraud. 

Matthew Newton (Oosha Ltd) – “Cyber crime - Dealing with the undeniable threat”

Matthew will focus on helping attendees understand more about cyber crime; specifically looking at why increased IT complexity is good for cyber criminals, and the latest considerations relating to Professional Indemnity insurance and cloud technologies.

Event details

This free-to-attend event will be held at: Maxwell Library, Institution of Engineering and Technology, Savoy Place, London, WC2R 0BL.

However, there are now only 10 places left, so if you and your colleagues would like to join us on Thursday 23rd February 2017, please click here to register and secure your place.

CPD points will be available. 

If you have any questions, please get in touch with Gina Bolger on Gina.Bolger@tmgroup.co.uk, or 01793 714905

Some are firms beginning to take advantage of YouTube as a means to communicate with their clients and prospects.

Your firm could also benefit from having a YouTube Channel. Here are some pointers on where to start if you are thinking about setting one up.

Why should my firm have a YouTube channel?

YouTube is now one of the first places people turn to if they are looking for an answer to a question, whether they are trying to fix their dishwasher or fill out their tax returns.

Buying a house is no exception.

By building up a collection of useful YouTube videos, your firm can become a first point of call for people setting out on their house-buying journey and put you on their radar before they even begin to think about selecting a conveyancer. These videos can also help to liven up your firm’s website and social media output, and subsequently attract new clients.

Such videos can also help to save you time, as you will be able to direct clients to these informative videos early on in the process, once again highlighting your firm’s expertise and positioning you as educators.

Where do I start in setting up my own YouTube channel?

Talk to your fee-earners about frequently asked questions

A good starting point is to talk to all of your fee-earners about your clients’ frequently asked questions, and areas where they feel a video could help to clarify a situation.

You should quickly be able to spot some common trends, and write a list of high-priority content to work on.

Look at other firm’s YouTube channels

There are a number of firms already using YouTube channels to communicate useful information to their clients.

Set aside time in your day to do some research. Watching relevant YouTube videos, and looking at the number of views each video has had, should give you a good idea of what works well and what doesn’t.

We really like this “Guide to Buying and Selling a House” video from Gotelee Solicitors - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bIw2ZWRsh0

Decide how you are going to film your videos – and what your budget is

You can start a YouTube channel with as much or as little budget as you would like; from employing a professional team to create the videos on your behalf, to filming the content in your office on a smartphone.

Once you have settled on an approach, the important thing is to maintain some degree of consistency so all of your videos reflect your firm’s branding and look like part of the same series.

Share your content and start raising your profile

After you have created your first videos, you need to start placing them where they can be seen.

• Add links from your website through to your YouTube channel
• Embed relevant videos on the different pages of your website
• Embed videos in email campaign mailings
• Share videos on Twitter and other social media channels
• Invite your clients to subscribe to your YouTube channel

Don’t forget to regularly review all of your content

It is equally important to regularly review all of the content you have posted on your YouTube channel to make sure all of the information is accurate and up to date.

Remember, these videos will have your firm’s name on them and be seen by your clients. Displaying out of date information could undermine your firm’s credibility.

Just a handful of targeted videos can make all the difference

Managing a successful YouTube channel doesn't have to be a time-consuming endeavour, as you don't need to create hundreds of videos to make an impact. You just need to focus on answering your FAQs.

If you are really stretch for time, you could even consider bringing in an intern to get the project up and running. 

What are you waiting for?

Ben Harris, Marketing Director at tmgroup

Are you tired of feeling compelled to lower your fees to try and keep up with your competitors?

Join us in Portsmouth on Thursday 6th October to find out how you can keep your fees and maybe even consider raising them – without losing your competitive edge!

Click here to register

tmgroup’s 2016 “Because Your Worth it” CPD programme has been running successfully across the summer, with well-attended events in Birmingham, Bristol and (most recently) Manchester.

Through a series of expert-led presentations, these structured CPD sessions have been finding solutions to some of the commercial business challenges facing the industry, including:

• Do clients really just care about the price?
• How do I convert more telephone prospects into clients?
• How do I guarantee that my clients will refer my services?

These CPD sessions have also opened the debate to attendees; and provided valuable opportunities for peer-led discussion about the trials and errors of different initiatives.

Portsmouth is your last chance this year to find out why your firm really is worth it

With our 2016 CPD programme now drawing to a close, our Portsmouth event on Thursday 6th October will be your last chance this year to find out how to increase your fees and still deliver a competitive service offering!

Click here to register

The Government are continuing to welcome comments on the Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) filing and payment process until Friday 7th October 2016.

In honour of their Autumn Statement 2015 announcement, the Government are currently holding an open consultation on the proposed changes which aim to make SDLT filing and payment faster and easier. 

According to HM Revenue & Customs:

“The current processes for filing a SDLT return and paying the SDLT are effective, but improvements could be made which would increase efficiency, and reduce the compliance burden and costs for both HMRC and customers.”

This open consultation period follows an informal consultation with various interested parties, which has already taken place in HMRC’s SDLT Working Together Steering Group.

The Government wants to reduce the filing and payment window to 14 days

The key issue in hand is the proposed reduction on the Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) filing and payment window from 30 days to 14 days.

However, the Government are also considering whether conveyancers will only be permitted to file returns on behalf of purchasers online, using either the HMRC online filing service or third party software, by removing the paper return option.

The proposed changes mark a positive step forward for the digitisation of the property sector

Industry experts are welcoming the proposed changes as a positive step forward for the digitisation of the property sector.

Managing Director of tmgroup, Paul Albone, comments:

“It is really exciting to see other organisations taking the initiative to streamline the property transaction.

“We strongly endorse the proposal to file Stamp Duty Land Tax returns online. We believe this will be a positive and significant step towards the property sector’s digital future, as we have already seen great success and increased efficiency through “going digital” with our own online services.”

“We look forward to integrating the service in our own platform when it becomes available.”

Responses to consultation questions must be submitted by Friday 7th October 2016

Conveyancing solicitors are invited to submit any comments no later than Friday 7th October 2016.

A response document is expected to be published in November this year, with implementation some time in 2018 or after (as some of the proposals will require IT, as well as legislative changes).

Consultation questions include:

• Are you aware of any issues that may arise as a result of the reduction in the filing and payment window to 14 days?  If so, do you have any suggestions on how they could be overcome? 
• What is your view regarding the option which would entail HMRC rejecting paper returns in circumstances where agents should have filed online?      
• What are the expected one-off and ongoing costs of reducing the filing and payment window to 14 days?
   

The full list of questions can be found in Chapter 4 of the Stamp Duty Land Tax: Changes to the Filing and Payment Process Consultation Document.

Find below the relevant contact details if you would like to submit a comment:

Email to: sdlt.digital@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk

Write to:

Stamp Taxes Policy Team (SDLT Consultation)
HM Revenue and Customs
Area 3C/20
100 Parliament Street
London SW1A 2BQ

tmgroup are continuing their mission to help conveyancers claim what is rightfully theirs, with their 2016 events programme called ‘Because You’re Worth It.’

The programme is designed to help conveyancers to ensure that their client sees the value in the service they offer, from setting up new business relationships through to demonstrating the breadth of support and knowledge you bring when helping them buy the right property.

The sessions will stress the importance of firms using their in-house expertise to maximise their customer service as well as ensuring they market their services effectively by communicating their unique values.

Just 1 in 10 home movers chose the conveyancer that quoted the cheapest fees last year, so it would appear that conveyancing clients understand what represents value for money and are certainly willing to pay for what they consider to be good service.

Indeed, in a competitive sector with many challengers, traditional law firms are in a great position to understand what clients want and how they can present themselves attractively to win more business and improve service to keep clients happy. tmgroup have created this programme to help conveyancing firms do just that.

Marketing Director at tmgroup, Ben Harris, said:

“We are passionate about making sure that conveyancers understand how to communicate their value to prospective clients and then prove this through every interaction with a client. We’re delighted to bring this exciting and unique CPD programme to conveyancers in which our experts will arm them with the tools they need to assess their current position and make the most of the opportunity.”

With experts from across the sector, the next seminars in the series will take place on Wednesday 21st September in Manchester and Thursday 6th October in Portsmouth.

Click here to learn more about our Manchester event
Click here to learn more about our Portsmouth event

Topics covered:

Know your worth

Do you know your firm’s strengths & weaknesses? What are your USPs? What do consumers want from their conveyancers? Includes results of the latest Home Moving Trends survey.

Know your market

The ever-shifting property sector contains a number of challenges and, with the onset of ABSs in recent years, competitors now come in all shapes and sizes. Do you know your market?

Educating your customers

An estate agent’s role in a property transaction is generally well known among consumers but the role of a conveyancer is often somewhat mysterious to the inexperienced. Learn how to communicate your worth.

Know your price

In a recent consumer survey, just 1 in 10 home movers chose the conveyancer that quoted the cheapest fees. Learn where to pitch your business to make the most of your value.

These sessions will be hosted by renowned industry experts:

• Allan Carton – He has been introducing law firms to innovative and more professional business development and management practices since launching Inpractice UK in 1992.
• Michael Porter – Since 2002, he has been involved with strategic business planning and implementation with a number of professional practices.
• Richard Hinton – He has spent 25 years working in strategic and business development roles in the conveyancing industry. He is also a founder member of the Conveyancing Association.

Click here for more information about our guest speakers and topics

With Richard Hinton, Pitsford Consulting Ltd.

Just how well do you know your market? Are you confident you know who you’re competing against and how well you’re doing in that competition? Which firms present threats and which present opportunities? Do you know the size of the market you’re competing for? Do you know the size of adjacent markets? How in fact do you define your market? Is it by value, by geography, by introducer? Where do your strengths lie relative to your competitors and if the grass truly is greener, just where is it?

Unhappily, the answers to these questions are becoming ever more varied and complex. Gone are the days when conveyancers always knew the firm on the other side and operated within a geography dictated by how far clients would travel to their office. Today the market has seen the rise of the direct conveyancing industry operating without any such constraints and the related emergence of the national online conveyancing offerings and panel managers who have proved themselves adept at capturing and placing conveyancing instructions.

Traditionally conveyancers have had to rely on intuition, hearsay and best guesses to answer these questions and inform their business and market planning. My personal theory is that because there’s a historical dearth of empirical data available to provide objective insight, conveyancers have tended to shy away from the whole question of planning – both for the business as a whole and its sales and marketing functions. Conveyancers are trained to minimise risk in everything they do and relying on unsubstantiated, subjective views is after all, inherently risky.

Increasingly however, forward thinking firms are starting to tackle the issue. Employing or retaining professional marketing staff represents a step change in a firm’s capabilities and the ability to project a firm and its proposition onto the consciousness of the market using traditional and modern media is to be welcomed. These same firms will be more diligent in collecting information and forming informed opinions around the market questions posed above.  Where they are not confident of the answer they will either conduct their own research or uncover suitable data sources.

Certainly more and more data is becoming available that lifts the veil on just how a market is structured. The Land Registry for example publishes datasets on house prices, transaction volumes and conveyancer activity levels and new tools are emerging that refine this data and present it to conveyancers in a readily digestible format.

Being certain you know your market is the most important baseline component of a successful business plan and the execution of such a plan will normally be stronger because of the compelling logic that underpins it.

Richard Hinton from Pitsford Consulting will be presenting ‘Know Your Market’ at tmgroup’s upcoming unique conveyancing CPD ‘Because You’re Worth It’ in Birmingham on Wednesday 22nd June and in Bristol on Thursday 23rd June. It's completely free to attend and lunch will be provided - book your free tickets now.

About Richard

Richard Hinton has spent 25 years working in strategic and business development roles in the conveyancing industry, first with a 12 year stint as Business Development Director of Shoosmiths solicitors then as Head of Residential Property for LexisNexis Visualfiles and most recently as Head of Business Strategy for DIIG. He has owned and operated Pitsford Consulting for the last 3 years and is a founding member of the Conveyancing Association.

Leading property data and service provider tmgroup have announced that just 3 weeks after launching their new LR extract property portfolio tool they have made further improvements to save conveyancers even more time.

The Land Registry Register Extract Tool helps conveyancing firms save days of administrative processing when bulk ordering registers and plans from the Land Registry as part of a property portfolio.

It was created by tmgroup after they found that bulk ordering OC1 documents was an arduous and time-consuming task for many property solicitors and were able to take advantage of their access to the Land Registry’s Business Gateway to create this unique service.

Daniel Berger, a partner at BBS Law - a commercial property lawyers in Manchester – said this after using tmgroup’s LR Extract Tool:

"We instantly saved more than half a day of processing time and received the information online in one go in a really easy-to-use format which did away with all of the hassle usually involved with interpreting the data. I would absolutely recommend tmgroup’s LR Extract Portfolio Service to any conveyancing firm undertaking a property portfolio.”

When initially launched, the tool was designed for conveyancers to upload any number of postcodes or addresses before checking them against the Land Registry’s database and returning title information.

However, after early feedback suggesting an enhancement that would save conveyancers even more time, tmgroup reacted to customer requests to allow conveyancers to upload title numbers where known as well and then simply order registers and plans against those.

Ben Harris said:

“We met with our prime commercial customers and then developed this tool to meet their needs and in the first three weeks since launch over half the firms we have met with have signed up to use the service straight away, confirming that our customer led innovation is as strong as ever.”

If you would like to learn how you could save time on a commercial property portfolio, visit http://www.tmgroup.co.uk/convey/LRExtractTool

Each quarter, tmgroup offer a technology prize bundle for conveyancers who answer a topical question at industry events and exhibitions. Come and see tmgroup at an upcoming event to enter.

Commercial property solicitor Howard Meakin of Spratt Endicott Truman has won tmgroup’s quarterly prize draw, bagging himself a coveted technology prize bundle.

Each quarter tmgroup asks conveyancers an industry-related question at legal conferences and exhibitions and, throughout January to March, tmgroup asked conveyancers: “When was the last time your firm increased your conveyancing fees?”

Although there was no ‘right answer’, all respondents were put into a draw with the winner chosen at random in April. 

Featuring an iPad, a Fitbit, Bosch coffee machine and some other high-tech goodies, the prize bundle was presented to Mr Meakin (pictured) by tmgroup’s southern area manager Nick Ball.

Howard Meakin said:

“I am a complete technophobe but hopefully will be inspired by the iPad to become less so. It is a rather smart machine. I think the wristband heart monitor might be something to avoid as if I looked at it when I play squash (which I do regularly) I might be rather alarmed. Time to go and make a cup of coffee! Thank you again.”

tmgroup’s southern area manager Nick Ball said:

“We really look forward to getting to meet with our customers face-to-face at industry events and hope to see many more at exhibitions and sessions over the coming weeks and months.”

Look out for tmgroup at LegalEx and Professional conferences across the country and you could be in with a chance of winning the Q2 prize bundle!

View tmgroup events

tmgroup have announced a unique CPD series that aims to help conveyancers understand why 'they're worth it'. Register >

tmgroup are on a mission to help conveyancers claim what is rightfully theirs, with a new events programme called ‘Because You’re Worth It.’

The programme is designed to help conveyancers to ensure that their client sees the value in the service they offer, from setting up new business relationships through to demonstrating the breadth of support and knowledge you bring when helping them buy the right property.

The sessions will stress the importance of firms using their in-house expertise to maximise their customer service as well as ensuring they market their services effectively by communicating their unique values. Just 1 in 10 home movers chose the conveyancer that quoted the cheapest fees last year, so it would appear that conveyancing clients understand what represents value for money and are certainly willing to pay for what they consider to be good service.

Indeed, in a competitive sector with many challengers, traditional law firms are in a great position to understand what clients want and how they can present themselves attractively to win more business and improve service to keep clients happy and tmgroup have created this programme to help conveyancing firms do just that.

Sales & marketing director at tmgroup, Ben Harris said:
“We are passionate about making sure that conveyancers understand how to communicate their value to prospective clients and then prove this through every interaction with a client. We’re delighted to bring this exciting and unique CPD programme to conveyancers in which our experts will arm them with the tools they need to assess their current position and make the most of the opportunity.”

With experts from across the sector, the first seminars will take place on June 22nd and 23rd in Birmingham and Bristol with more to follow later in the year.

Learn more and register

The largest survey of home movers returns next week with more than 5400 respondents giving feedback on their experiences with their conveyancers. Conducted by the Property Academy in association with tmgroup, the comprehensive annual survey seeks to shed light on the opinions of those who have moved house over the previous 12 months, including what they really think about their property solicitors.

Ahead of the Home Moving Trends' report publication next week, we sat down with the Property Academy’s Managing Director Nicky Stevenson (image right) to find out what has been revealed in this year’s study...

Q1. How did HMT come about and for how many years has it been published?

The first Home Moving Trends survey was carried out in September 2007 but the survey has included questions about conveyancers since 2013. We wanted to help our clients make better decisions by understanding consumer behaviour as much as possible, thus enabling them to shape and direct their business activities as effectively as possible.

Q2. What do you think are the major findings for conveyancers from this year's survey?

What stands out for me is that 51% of home movers chose their conveyancer based on their estate agent’s recommendation. This is over half of all customers and a massive increase from the same question 12 months prior where it was 38%. Consumer behaviour has changed and it appears they trust their estate agent! It shows that, for conveyancers, relationships with estate agents are extremely important and highlights a need for marketing activities to be reviewed.

Q3. And for estate agents?

Just 18% chose the cheapest estate agent. It is not all about the fee and, at a time where different models of estate agency are evolving, the cheapest is not necessarily going to win. Consumers are looking for more.

Q4. In recent years, the survey has revealed that home movers would rather their conveyancers contacted them via email rather than phone or post. Do you see this shifting towards online and smartphone notifications in the coming years?

There is definitely a change in consumer behaviour and we know that property searches are now carried out on mobile devices over 50% of the time, and 60% said in the Home Moving Trends survey that they would rather receive updates from their conveyancer via email or online. My view is ‘embrace not replace’ when it comes to technology. It should definitely be embraced and we all need to evolve our businesses to keep up with consumer expectations, but it should not replace all human interaction. There is still a need for a personal touch ensuring that the customer feels important.

Q5. Online estate agent Purple Bricks floated on the stock market in mid-December with a valuation in the region of £240m. Did the survey reveal anything about whether the market is ready for online-only estate agents?

We asked if sellers considered using an online-only agent and 22% said yes, so not an insignificant amount. There is no doubt that times are changing but then change is constant and if you are not evolving you are effectively going backwards, allowing innovative competitors to come in. Which is what has happened. In any sector, customers have freedom of choice and now they have a variety of different options when it comes to selling their property. The survey did show that 70% of sellers visited their estate agent office at some point during the transaction so the high street obviously still has its place.

Q6. What goes into producing the report?
It takes a lot of time and effort to get the survey prepared, generate responses and then create the final report. Also to those agents that generate a good response we provide them with their own personal data vs the national average.

Q7. The report is provided free of charge to estate agents and conveyancers and, as you say, takes a lot of time and effort: why do you keep doing it?

It is extremely important that we keep doing it for the benefit of the whole industry. Amongst many others, we are keen to see standards raised across the whole of the sector. Understanding our customer’s expectations and behaviours offers valuable insights into how to achieve this and continually improve our offerings.

Q8. How would you reply to people who say that the feedback doesn’t match their personal experience or that it’s not reliable?

We have had some people over the years believe that the data just does not apply to them or ‘their area is different’ but each year the survey incorporates responses from across all of England, as well a small percentage from Wales and Scotland. In the past, we have broken the data down by region and there are minimal differences in the results.

Q9. How can firms use the information and do you have any examples of firms that have directly benefitted from applying the insights to their businesses?

Conveyancers and estate agents are using the data to make more informed decisions when allocating marketing budgets and sales training by using the survey to understand how customers choose them and how they rated the experience. One estate agent, Thomas Morris in Cambridgeshire, has told us that it is a crucial part of their strategy each year and they use the findings to inform their training, advertising and PR.

Q10. Consumer behaviour is changing rapidly and expectation rising – what do you think is the next big challenge on the horizon for the property industry?

I think the biggest challenge will be staying relevant. We are not just in the business of property transactions but delivering on hopes and dreams – helping people move into their ideal homes. Customers have access to choice when choosing their estate agent and conveyancer. Those that are relevant and have the attention of customers will win.

The full Home Moving Trends 2015 report will be published next week.

The Property Academy provides; Information, Insight, Ideas and Inspiration to those in the property sector, helping them fulfil their potential. They run live events, mastermind groups, have a membership programme and provide a free newsletter. You can find out more about them at www.propertyacademy.co.uk