An agency appointment benefits from clear service expectations, but those expectations should describe work the agency can control. Promising a transaction by a fixed date can be misleading when the outcome depends on owners, advisers, approvals and the buyer's own decisions. Measure the agency's contribution without confusing it with the whole transaction.
An agency appointment benefits from clear service expectations, but those expectations should describe work the agency can control. Promising a transaction by a fixed date can be misleading when the outcome depends on owners, advisers, approvals and the buyer's own decisions. Measure the agency's contribution without confusing it with the whole transaction.
Agree the main contact, escalation route and frequency of search updates. Specify what an update should contain: suitable new options, changes to existing options, unanswered questions and decisions required from the buyer. A message saying the team is still searching provides limited decision value on its own.
Identify how urgent changes are communicated, especially cancelled viewings or withdrawn properties. The agency should know who needs to be told and how to confirm that the message was received.
Require proposed properties to be assessed against the brief before submission. Ask for the source and date of important information and for assumptions to be labelled. Agree how the agency will correct inaccurate or incomplete submissions.
Avoid a target that rewards listing volume without regard to suitability. A small number of well-investigated options can be more useful than a large list that repeatedly fails mandatory requirements.
For each important stage, identify the agency's action and the parties it depends on. For example, the agency may undertake to request a document and follow up, while the document's production remains outside its control. The buyer needs visibility into the delay and its implications, not a misleading claim that the agency guarantees every response.
When a deadline is missed, examine the cause. A late buyer clarification, an unavailable owner and an agency failing to follow up require different corrective actions. Treating them as the same failure weakens the review.
Use periodic reviews to discuss recurring screening errors, unresolved enquiries and the quality of communication. Record corrective actions that change the process. If the requirement has shifted, revise the brief and service expectations together.
For example, a search moving into a different property type may require specialist input and a different submission format. Continuing to measure the agency against the original workflow can create activity without progress. A useful service agreement keeps responsibility clear while allowing the search to adapt to evidence and legitimate changes in the buyer's needs.
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