SellSmart helps estate agents, solicitors & property sellers comply with Trading Standards Parts A, B & C
When new legislation is imposed on a marketplace, it’s often seen as a challenge rather than an opportunity.
But when new Trading Standards legislation meant that property sellers must supply purchasers with property data upfront, the team at Arnold & Baldwin immediately saw the potential to leverage their expertise and create a faster, smarter way to sell property.
That’s where we came in, to deliver the brand strategy, develop the SellSmart identity, and create the full suite of marketing collateral.
Our challenge? To turn it all around and launch it at a high-profile industry event…
On Success
Cornering a whole new market…
With the pressure on, we developed a brand that sits cohesively under the Arnold & Baldwin umbrella and is both clean and clear about a consumer proposition that was brand new to the market.
The launch event and post-launch campaign proved to be a resounding success:
We delivered a diverse range of brand and communications materials in time for the SurventrixConnect event. This was critical to getting the new brand in front of 200+ guests and 20+ other exhibitors, and including like-minded business leaders, surveyors and property teams.
Our client secured:
12 sign-ups directly from the event, with further interest noted
Buy-in from 10 partner organisations
Digital impact within the first two months that include:
3220 website impressions
2445 page visits across our landing pages
Our industry partner referral scheme also quickly got buy-in from over 10 partner organisations and continues to build momentum for SellSmart, and creating additional opportunities for market penetration and future growth.
The success we continue to deliver for Arnold & Baldwin of course means more referrals and leads. We’ve also helped them to manage these more efficiently, reducing costs and time spent along the way.
“I’ve collaborated with Chris Heighton and HeightOn for over a decade, and their impact on my business has been monumental. Their skill in understanding the intricacies of the Chartered Surveyor sector has been invaluable. ”
Arnold & Baldwin Joe Arnold, Founder
On Arnold & Baldwin RICS Chartered Surveyors
Arnold & Baldwin is an industry leading, award-winning and forward-thinking general practice firm of RICS Chartered Surveyors.
Their growing team of Chartered Surveyors, along with their trusted partner network, work across England and Wales, having built a reputation for being honest, approachable experts.
They specialise in commercial and residential home and building surveys, lease extensions and secured lending valuations, but their success really lies in moving with the market, anticipating trends and implementing innovative approaches.
The development of their SellSmart products is just one excellent example of this – an opportunity others might see as a challenge but that Arnold & Baldwin not only grasped but ran with…
On the Challenge
Turning compliance into a strategic brand opportunity
Arnold & Baldwin asked us to develop a full brand identity and communication strategy for a new property marketing solution centred around upfront home surveys.
Prompted by the introduction of Trading Standards Part A, B, and C legislation, the goal was clear: create a brand and product suite that helps estate agents, surveyors, conveyancers, and solicitors navigate compliance – while making the property sales process faster and more efficient.
The result? A proposition designed to cut the average property sale exchange time from 17–20 weeks to just 4 – by ensuring homes are “sale-ready” before they reach the market.
This bold approach turned a compliance challenge into a strategic opportunity – simplifying sales, streamlining transactions, and bringing critical Material Information to the forefront.
The SellSmart proposition is built around a clear objective: to simplify the property sales process and support compliance with Trading Standards Part A, B, and C.
This upfront home surveys product suite delivers exactly what sellers, estate agents, and solicitors need – from legal documentation to material information and survey reports – all designed to get homes sale-ready faster, with less risk and more confidence.
Material Information
A comprehensive report providing clear property data (Trading Standards compliance), which helps identify key factors early in the sale process. Available in three tiers:
Intermediate Material Information
Advanced Material Information
Expert Material Information
Law Society Sellers Pack
A time-saving legal pack designed to support compliance and accelerate property sales. Sellers can complete all essential forms in just 30 minutes, including:
TA6 Property Information Form
TA7 Leasehold Information Form
TA10 Fittings and Contents Form
TA13 Completion Information and Undertakings Form
Sellers Property Survey: A property survey, provided by qualified chartered surveyors, that ensures any issues are addressed prior to sale. This helps eliminate the risk of renegotiations or aborted sales, providing peace of mind for both the buyer and seller.
On the Solution
Brand strategy, naming & launch collateral for SellSmart
To bring the SellSmart concept to life, we focused on creating a unified brand identity design and communications strategy that clearly conveyed its value to property professionals and consumers alike. Every brand touchpoint – from naming to launch materials – was designed to deliver clarity, build trust, and position SellSmart as a forward-thinking solution for the UK property market.
Naming and positioning
Brand development
Communications strategy
Event collateral
Streamline leads, save admin time
Maximise sales opportunities
Arnold & Baldwin asked us to deliver a cohesive brand and communication strategy that could bring their three core offerings together under one clear, engaging and impactful identity – one that would resonate with surveyors, estate agents, conveyancers and solicitors alike, and drive home a powerful value proposition: quicker sales, fewer surprises, and better-prepared buyers and sellers.
Our naming strategy was rooted in simplicity and effectiveness. The client needed a brand name that communicated exactly what it offered while being memorable and easy to understand.
Through extensive market research and creative ideation, we developed a name and positioning strategy that expertly captured the products’ key benefits: speed, simplicity, and readiness.
After ensuring our ideas aligned with Arnold & Baldwin’s goals, we proposed the umbrella brand SellSmart, with sub-brands for each of the core offerings.
We then worked through a naming structure – Ready, Steady, Complete – that neatly leverages the simplicity, familiarity, and clarity of known, dynamic and energetic phrasing, to immediately engage our audience of sellers, agents, and other stakeholders, and with both impact and understanding.
ReadyData: Representing the Material Information offering, this brand name neatly communicates the benefit of having all key data prepared in advance.
SteadyLegal: Representing the Law Society Sellers Pack, this brand name neatly conveys a sense of legal readiness, ensuring that all forms and legal documentation are handled smoothly.
CompleteSurvey: Representing the Sellers Property Survey, which neatly communicates the through, comprehensive nature of the professional insights provided into their property’s condition.
On Brand development
Our approach to brand development is to create a look and feel that embodies the benefits of the product or service. In this case, we set out to capture the speed, transparency, and simplicity that SellSmart gives to in the property sales process. the SellSmart brand that delivers on these qualities with vibrancy and dynamism that represents a fully compliant and efficient product suite designed to get properties ‘sale-ready’ in record time.
Material Information – ReadyData – provides all essential data upfront, helping avoid delays later in the sales process.
Law Society Sellers Pack – SteadyLegal – simplifies the completion of necessary legal forms, making the property legally ready for sale – in just 30 minutes.
Sellers Property Survey – CompleteSurvey – allows sellers to present their properties in the best possible light by addressing potential issues before they become negotiation points.
Just as the three products are key and complementary, our three brands work together seamlessly to ensure that properties are well-prepared for a fast and efficient sale, giving sellers, buyers, and professionals confidence throughout the process.
On Identity design
Our next challenge was ensuring that the identity matched the clean, professional tone established by our naming conventions, and one that would work flexibly and consistently across digital and physical platforms.
A fundamental tenet of our brief was to communicate both trust and innovation, while also ensuring our new identity worked seamlessly with Arnold & Baldwin’s established branded materials, such as their survey reports. This is key to getting all the elements working together to create dynamism, building on a strong brand while also introducing a whole new suite of services.
Confident our brand would appeal to diverse range of audiences, we still had to ensure each piece of collateral was tailor-made to communicate key messaging for each.
Our tailored content for each of the three main audiences – surveyors, estate agents, and solicitors, included:
Consumer and partner communication PDFs
Focused on the unique benefits of the SellSmart offering for each audience. For surveyors, we emphasised the opportunity to create a new revenue stream through licensing the SellSmart product. For estate agents and solicitors, the messaging revolved around simplifying the sales process and ensuring transparency for buyers.
Stand design and event collateral
Joe Arnold of Arnold & Baldwin had been invited to do a keynote speech at SurventrixConnect, a major property industry event. We created a range of event collateral, including pop-up stands, banners with QR codes for easy sign-ups, and flyers that succinctly communicated the SellSmart proposition. The stand messaging focused on the disruptive nature of SellSmart, positioning it as a no-risk, revenue-generating opportunity for surveyors.
On Website design and landing pages
Joining the dots on the customer journey and complementing the physical marketing materials, we designed landing pages on the client’s website that were fully optimised for conversion. These pages were used to capture interest at the event and allowed attendees to sign up for further information about the SellSmart products.
On Disruption
Launching a property brand that breaks the mould
Our strategic property marketing and brand positioning work ensured SellSmart launched as a truly disruptive force – tackling compliance, simplifying communication, and redefining how upfront home surveys are delivered.
By blending clarity with compelling messaging, we helped Arnold & Baldwin introduce a powerful new proposition to agents, solicitors, and sellers – one built for growth, grounded in Trading Standards compliance, and ready to reshape the property sales experience.