The appraisal went well, and then nothing
Your valuer spent an hour in the vendor's kitchen, walked the garden, talked through the local market and left a proposal. The vendor said they would think about it. A week later the valuer had four more appraisals, and that one slipped. Two months on, the property appears on Rightmove with a competitor's board outside.
Most branches can name several of these each quarter. Nobody decided to stop following them up. The follow-up just lived in someone's diary, and diaries fill up.
Why valuation follow-up leaks
Market appraisals are recorded as appointments, not as a pipeline. Once the appointment is done, the record has no next step. Vendors come in at very different stages: some want to list next week, some are thinking about the spring, some are testing the water after a divorce or a death in the family. A single follow-up call after a week suits only the first group.
| Vendor stage | What they need | What usually happens |
|---|---|---|
| Ready to list now | A prompt call and paperwork | Usually handled |
| Listing in a few months | Occasional contact until then | Forgotten |
| Undecided or selling for difficult reasons | Patience and a light touch | Either pestered or forgotten |
| Chose another agent | Nothing now, a record for later | Record left open or deleted |
The second leak is visibility. When a valued property is listed with someone else, you often only notice by chance.
What each lost instruction costs
An appraisal is one of the most expensive activities in the branch: a senior person's time, travel, preparation and the marketing that generated the enquiry. Losing the instruction because of a missed follow-up throws all of that away, and it is income that never shows up in any report because it simply did not happen.
It also hides a useful signal. If you cannot see why instructions are lost, you cannot tell whether the problem is fee level, presentation, or follow-up.
The valuation pipeline we build
- Outcome capture: after each appraisal, the valuer records a stage and an expected timeline on their phone in a few taps. That is the only extra step we ask of them.
- Follow-up schedule: the system sets tasks according to the stage, with more contact for ready vendors and occasional, useful contact for the ones listing later, such as a note when a similar property sells nearby.
- Drafted messages: follow-up emails are drafted from the appraisal notes for the valuer to edit and send, so they read as personal rather than a newsletter.
- Portal watch: we match new listings from the portals or data feeds you have access to against addresses you have valued, and alert the branch when one appears with another agent.
- Lost reasons: when an instruction goes elsewhere, the reason is recorded, so the branch manager can see patterns over time.
All of this lives alongside your existing CRM. Where the CRM already has a valuation stage, we use it instead of creating a second list.
What the branch gains
Every appraisal has a next step and an owner. Vendors who said the spring get a call in the spring. The branch manager can see the valuation pipeline by stage and by valuer, and loses fewer instructions to silence.
Valuers also stop carrying a private list. When someone is off sick or leaves the business, their appraisals do not vanish with them, because the stage, the timeline and the next contact date are on the shared record. A new valuer picking up the patch can see exactly who was promised a call and when, and what was said at the appointment.
Recognise any of these?
- You regularly see properties you valued go on with a competitor.
- Appraisal records in your CRM stop at the appointment itself.
- Follow-up for vendors listing later depends on individual valuers.
- You cannot say why the instructions you lost were lost.