A different estate agency franchise

In this post I don't want to talk about the brand appeal of Monapart, but rather about its real estate services franchise model; much less known, but just as interesting, if not more so.

In this post I don't want to talk about the brand's interest Monapart, but of its model of estate agency franchise; much less known, but just as interesting, if not more so.

It has been almost three years since we started franchising our estate agency model and from the very first moment we did it on the same terms as we do everything at Monapart: “If we’re going to do it, let it be the best there is”. We may or may not achieve this goal, but this attitude of a permanent quest for excellence will surely make us as good as we can possibly be; and believe me: there is a lot of talent at Monapart.

I'll start by briefly listing the things that all real estate service franchises offer, I'll go on to explain in detail what Monapart does for its franchisees that (I believe) no one else does, and I'll finish by describing the profile of our ideal franchisee. Let's go!

WHAT WE ALL DO (in bullet points)

· Every franchise has a brand and licenses its use (quite apart from how that brand is perceived in the market).
Every franchise has a method that (supposedly) sets it apart from the rest (whether that method is updated as the market evolves is another matter).
· Every franchise has a network (but if this network is actually useful, it means there are other franchisees in the network competing in an area/municipality or sharing it with you).
· Every franchise does group marketing (a full page in a national newspaper or sponsoring a polo match, for example).
· Almost every franchise has proprietary software (I only know of one whose software represents added value).
· Almost every franchise offers training of some kind.

WHAT ONLY MONAPART DOES

There are 7 things that only Monapart does that characterise our Franchisee Value Proposition and which, in my view, makes us the most interesting franchise:

We develop a Specific Annual Action Plan for each franchisee.
· We provide 360-degree management of the brand's social media.
· We do ultra-local marketing for each franchisee.
· We centralise the editing of text, photos and videos for each franchisee.
· We centralise the management of each franchisee's online sales channels.
We are constantly improving our processes and materials.
We never do cold calling.

Let's look at them in detail:

1. We draw up a Specific Annual Action Plan for each franchisee

Each year, between the months of November and December We meet with our franchisees and agree with them on the actions that each party will carry out during the following year to ensure the achievement of the annual objectives. Together we draw up a document that sets out in writing (1) those actions that we at Head Office will undertake for the franchise; (2) the actions that the franchise commits to undertaking for itself, which will necessarily benefit Head Office; and (3) actions that we will develop jointly.

Thus each party is committed to the other and can demand performance and be held to account if at the end of the year what was agreed has not been fulfilled.

2. We provide 360-degree management of the brand's social media

There is no agency or franchise in Spain that handles social media with the intensity and rigor of Monapart. That is why in the ranking Klout in online influence Monapart is third behind Idealista and Fotocasa, huge companies with hundreds of thousands of euros allocated to marketing and communication resources.

At Monapart we teach our franchisees to take to Twitter and Instagram like a duck to water, but all other social media are managed from head office.

3. We do ultra-local marketing for each franchisee

Yes, we also do group marketing or corporate marketing, but we are clear that these branding activities will help our franchisees build a brand, but not win more business. That is what proximity marketing is for, which at Monapart we adapt to each location to achieve maximum identification of clients with their agency. We design and deploy guerrilla marketing campaigns that help us acquire customers, sell, and get recommendations or what our franchisees tell us they need. We do it so well that this year we were nominated for the real estate marketing awards at Inmociónate 2015 for our off-line proximity marketing for the Barcelona franchise.

4. We centralise the editing of texts, photos and videos for each franchisee

Just like it sounds: Our franchisees send us the texts and photos they have taken of an acquired property, and we correct, edit and translate the texts into English, edit the photos using Photoshop, and edit and assemble the videos. All of this to guarantee the highest possible quality and a consistent style across all our marketing materials.

5. We centralise the management of each franchisee's online sales channels

At Monapart we are clear that we do not want our franchisees to carry out low-value-added tasks and at the same time we want to have centralised control of the sales channels for all Monapart properties, regardless of which city or franchise they belong to. That is why, once we have edited the texts, photos and videos, the Central Services department takes care of inserting our franchisees' adverts on the corporate website and portals, as well as disseminating them across various social media platforms.

We constantly improve our processes and materials

The real estate sector is changing and every so often new companies with new business models, new services and/or new materials that are inspiring appear in our city, our country or around the world. The desire to stand out has always been present at Monapart and to achieve this we must incorporate continuous improvements into our model that always maintain our franchisees' advantage over their competitors in each and every one of the locations where we operate.

Every year we send our franchisees at least one updated and improved version of our processes and of our sales models, templates and materials.

7. We never ever do cold-calling

Why would anyone join a franchise only to end up doing what unbranded agencies need to do? Cold calling? Handing out flyers door-to-door yourself? Unsolicited calls? At Monapart, we will never tire of testing, experimenting, inventing and proposing all kinds of actions for lead generation so that our franchisees never have to do things they never wanted to do.

Right, if all this I've told you sounds interesting and you're about to pick up the phone to call and «join the queue»… Take a moment to read what kind of person our ideal member is:

THE PERFECT FRANCHISEE (in bullet points)

Our perfect franchisee:

· He/She has a vocational calling to service.
· Appreciates things well done. Seeks excellence in everything they do.
He wants to earn a very good living, but not at any price.
· You are willing to take reasonable risks in exchange for owning your own business.
· Preferably an architect or interior designer.
· Preferably speaks English and/or German and/or French and/or Chinese and/or Urdu and/or Esperanto…
· Preferably knows how to write sensitively and correctly.
· If you knew us, you would never franchise with any other brand.

Is that you? Thank you for reading us.