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.
Of course, we were on board with the brand development and creating all the 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 admin teams.
We secured:
12 sign-ups directly from the event, with further interest noted
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. Read more about LeadSyncPro here…
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“I’ve collaborated with Chris Heighton and The Heighton Agency 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, CEO
On Arnold & Baldwin
Arnold & Baldwin is an industry leading, award-winning and forward-thinking general practice firm of 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 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
Arnold & Baldwin asked us to help them create a brand identity and communication strategy for their new up front home surveys proposition.
With the introduction of Trading Standards Part A, B, and C legislation, Arnold & Baldwin wanted to create a product suite that would help estate agents, surveyors, conveyancers, and solicitors comply with these new requirements while simplifying the property sales process.
Their up front home surveys proposition was designed to reduce the average UK property sale exchange time from 17-20 weeks to just 4 weeks by ensuring properties are “sale-ready” before they even hit the market.
This approach was essential given the new regulations, which mandate that critical Material Information be provided upfront.
On the Details
The value proposition for consumers is built around three core offerings:
Material Information: A comprehensive report providing essential property data, 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 solution allowing sellers to complete essential legal forms within 30 minutes. This pack includes:
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
The value proposition for consumers is built around three core offerings:
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 key offerings together under one impactful, engaging and easily understood identity.
Our brief was to produce that identity and a suite of communications that would appeal to surveyors, estate agents, conveyancers, and solicitors, and present a clear value proposition: quicker sales, fewer surprises, and better-prepared buyers and sellers.
On Naming
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.
On Content creation
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
Our tailored brand positioning and communication strategy ensured that SellSmart made a significant impact at launch, positioning it as a disruptive force in the property industry.
By delivering clarity and simplicity through our branding and messaging, we helped Arnold & Baldwin present a compelling offering that appealed to both professionals and consumers alike.
With strong early interest and a scalable, market-ready product suite, SellSmart is now positioned for continued growth.
