tm blog

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

Property Searches Scotland (PSS) has announced that it has achieved 20% market share of the Scottish residential conveyancing search market within just 4 years of being established.

Part of the tmgroup family, Property Searches Scotland was launched in 2012 after commercial director Michael Tolland (pictured right) identified the burgeoning opportunity to provide fast, accurate and cost-effective property searches to the Scottish conveyancing market.

The company is now the fastest growing search company in Scotland with more than a fifth of residential conveyancers ordering searches from them and more than 25% using their services for remortgage work.

Providing the full suite of property searches required by conveyancing professionals in Scotland, England & Wales, PSS also offer a range of anti-money laundering products.

As part of tmgroup, PSS can call upon their parent company’s significant technological capabilities to maintain the best search turnaround times in the Scottish market. Not only that but PSS recently achieved a ‘world-class’ Net Promoter Score of 79, making it comparable with just a few elite companies across the globe.

Net Promoter Score is a universal customer satisfaction metric which measures how likely it is that a customer would recommend a company to a friend or colleague on a scale from -100 to +100. Surveymonkey’s NPS benchmark (an average of 76,147 organisations across 2015 and 2016) was 33, meaning that Property Searches Scotland sits among the top 25% of companies in the world for customer service.

Michael Tolland said of the news:
“I’m really pleased that we have reached this milestone but certainly even happier for the team that their hard work is being rewarded with excellent customer feedback. Everything we do is with our customer firmly in mind and we look forward to introducing even more useful and innovative services soon.”

To learn more about how you can save time and money on your property searches, visit our website or get in touch:
Michael Tolland, Commercial Director | Michael.tolland@propertysearchesscotland.co.uk | 07415 613964
Debi Haren, Business Development Manager | debi.haren@propertysearchesscotland.co.uk | 07943 066314
Alastair Graham, Business Development Manager | alastair.graham@propertysearchesscotland.co.uk | 07943 066315
Mark Welsh, Business Development Manager | mark.welsh@propertysearchesscotland.co.uk | 07484 008686

tmgroup has announced 'Because You're Worth it' - a programme of unique CPD sessions designed to give conveyancers the confidence and knowledge they need to market and price themselves effectively.

Half of conveyancing firms have increased their fees over the past 6 months, a tmgroup survey has revealed.

The survey, conducted throughout the first part of 2016 by leading property and data provider tmgroup, asked conveyancers: “When was the last time your firm increased your conveyancing fees?”

It was revealed that 50% of firms surveyed had increased their fees within the previous 6 months and 80% had done so within the previous 2 years.

However, for 17% of firms it had been more than 2 years since they last increased their conveyancing fees and 3% said they had reduced them instead.

The subject of pricing is something of a hot topic in the conveyancing industry at the moment so tmgroup are on a mission to help conveyancing firms claim what is rightfully theirs in this respect, with a new events programme called ‘Because You’re Worth It’. The free events aim to help you analyse your firm from the ground up before rebuilding your approach to marketing so you can harness the potential that lies within and set your fees at the correct level.

Sales & marketing director at tmgroup, Ben Harris said:
“We are really pleased to announce these special events which will help conveyancers understand how to communicate their unique selling points better. With a really interesting selection of topics and a range of expert speakers to be announced shortly, we know that this programme is going to give conveyancers the confidence and knowledge they need to market - and price - themselves the way they should.”

Book your place

Because You’re Worth It | Conveyancing CPD

Birmingham – Wednesday 22nd June
Bristol – 23rd June

Ben Harris, sales and marketing director at leading property data & service provider tmgroup, has been announced as a judge at the first annual Eclipse Proclaim Modern Law Conveyancing Awards 2016.

These new awards will recognise those taking the lead in innovating to find unique solutions for their businesses and clients, those who have achieved successes as teams or individuals, and those championing client care.

tmgroup are sponsoring the Innovation of the Year Award where the judges will be looking for innovative projects or products that have either transformed a key element of a department’s culture or performance; or where a firm has broken new ground in the delivery of services to clients.

Ben Harris, Sales & Marketing Director at tmgroup said:

“I’m very much looking forward to seeing the entries and am really pleased to have been asked to join the esteemed panel for the launch of the awards. Innovation in the conveyancing sector is something that is close to our heart at tmgroup as the sector continues to streamline systems and processes to improve the way the property transactions are managed.”

The winners will be chosen by an esteemed judging panel, who have been selected based on their knowledge and experience of the industry. Chairing the panel is Eddie Goldsmith, senior partner at Goldsmith Williams and Chair of the Conveyancing Association.

Judges

Ben Harris, Sales & Marketing Director, tmgroup
Jonathan Smithers, President of the Law Society
Sheila Kumar, Chief Executive, CLC
Simon Law, Chairman, SLC
Heather Cameron, Editor, Todays Conveyancer
Rob Hailstone, Founder, Bold Legal Group
Andrew Stenning, MD, Searches UK
Graham Farrant, Chief Executive, The Land Registry

Awards to be held on Thurs 14th July, The Rum Warehouse, Liverpool.
Book tickets now

Applications close on Friday 22nd April.
How to enter

tmgroup have today announced the appointment of experienced industry professional Jamie Shah, who will serve as Key Account Manager for the South of England.

Having joined tmgroup in March 2015 as business development manager, Jamie has now been promoted to look after Legal 100 firms in the South.

With a decade of experience in the property market, Jamie calls upon a wealth of knowledge and expertise and is looking forward to working closely with our existing portfolio of clients to bring them market-leading online property and conveyancing solutions.

Having begun his career at Bairstow Eves, an estate agency part of Countrywide Group, Jamie was then head hunted by CLC-regulated firm Fridays Property Lawyers and managed a sales team of a dozen people there for 3 years. Jamie then worked with foreign investors in Canary Wharf at high-end residential estate agency Felicity J Lord and, most recently before joining tmgroup, was at unique start-up company Lifetime Legal helping to bring estate agents and property solicitors closer together.

Speaking about his promotion, Jamie said:

“I’m extremely excited to continue working with a number of top firms across the south, having been covering the role for the past couple of months. tmgroup are a really exciting company to be at and I’m delighted that my hard work and years of experience have been rewarded.”

Sales and marketing director, Ben Harris, said this:

“Jamie has proven himself to be a valuable member of the team and I’m really pleased we can take this opportunity to recognise his contribution to the business. As we continue to innovate we are excited to see the impact he will have, particularly as we diversify our product range and introduce new, unique services to both residential and commercial conveyancers.”

To discover how tmgroup can work best with you, please call Jamie on 07977 256783 or email jamie.shah@tmgroup.co.uk

A Manchester Law Firm, BBS Law, has saved days of intensive administrative work by using tmgroup’s Land Registry Register Extract Tool when processing property portfolios. BBS Law are a boutique commercial law firm of choice and provide proactive, lateral thinking, efficient and cost-effective advice.

Partner Daniel Berger (pictured) heads up the property department, which has acted for substantial real estate clients for many years. The highly skilled property team delivers advice on a wide variety of property transactions and issues.

However, with the undertaking of property portfolios, there was one particular process which caused BBS Law problems. Daniel said:

“Whenever we’ve undertaken a property portfolio, we’ve always found the bulk order of title information from the Land Registry to be a tiresome and repetitive job.

Ordering title information from the Land Registry for just one or two properties can sometimes be a cumbersome affair, let alone when processing a portfolio of 50, 100 or 1000 properties. Daniel continued:

“The process generally holds up one of our secretaries for at least half a day to work on it and that’s just for a relatively small portfolio.”

With larger portfolios the administrative work scales dramatically because much of Daniel’s time was taken up by manually interpreting the initial plans and deciding which title numbers to order registers against.

The Land Registry tool, which was created by tmgroup as part of a collaborative development with existing clients, helps solve this issue by integrating with the Land Registry to bulk order title information and export it in a manageable, easy to use format. Speaking about his initial experiences with the unique service, Daniel said:

“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.”

The service has also been independently verified by Legal Eye, a leading provider of best practice, risk management and compliance services to the legal services market. Managing Director, Jaunita Gobby said:

"Legal Eye (subsidiary of ULS Group) conducted an extensive audit of the tm LR Register Extract Service. The information was cross-referenced with the Official Copies (OC1s) and the data was 100% accurate. The audit has shown that the service is able to accurately pull through the exact information from the registers onto its portal so as to make it more user friendly and accessible to its clients. The tm summary screen gives a helpful indicator to detailed information contained within the OC1 which lawyers can then refer to. In our opinion lawyers should feel satisfied that the information provided on screen via the LR feed matches the information relied upon in the OC1s."

The tool is available now for commercial conveyancers through tmconvey. Learn more

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

7 out of 10 of home movers want to be updated by their conveyancer at least once a week on the progress of their property transaction, a report compiled by leading property and data provider tmgroup has found.

With the property market continuing on an upwards curve throughout 2015 and peaking before the SDLT surcharge came into effect on April 1st 2016,  conveyancers have been inundated with new cases and subsequently experienced unprecedented levels of chasing from clients, lenders and estate agents.

The Home Moving Trends survey, conducted by the Property Academy in partnership with tmgroup, asks more than 5400 home movers a number of questions designed to reveal how they found, selected and rated their conveyancers. Among the questions posed at the end of last year, respondents were asked: “How often do you want your conveyancer to update you?

Most clients want an update at least once a week
Continuing a trend from 2014, around 70% of home movers wanted to be kept updated at least once a week but perhaps the surprising part is that they still want an update even if there is nothing new to report.

Some only want an update when there is something to report
In contrast, the survey found that 22.1% of respondents only want their solicitor or conveyancer to contact them when there is something they need to know, such as when searches are returned or contracts are ready to be exchanged.

tmgroup account director Jon Horton said:
“With differing expectations from clients over how often you contact them, our advice is that you consult with each client at the outset and ask how frequent they would like progress updates. Tailor your contact with each individual client if you can but if you know you can’t meet their expectations, let them know as early as possible. 7 out of 10 clients are looking for weekly updates, so taking a leaf out of Transport for London’s book in providing a ‘There is a good service on all London Underground Lines’-type of message when things are just ticking over can offer the reassurance they need.”

Read the full report