Is your MA too late? And what to do about it.

Ouch! Here’s a hard truth: the moment you leave a market appraisal, many sellers go straight online to check everything you’ve just told them.

A striking piece of analysis from Acaboom has revealed a pattern that should give every estate agent pause for thought. After their AI Concierge tool reviewed hundreds of post-appraisal interactions, they found that more than half of all conversations centred on pricing, fees, marketing strategy or length of sole agency.

In other words, the majority of sellers are not immediately convinced and seek either a second opinion or some sort of proven justification for what you just told them. In  other words, they don’t trust you!

They’re asking AI how accurate you valuation figure is. They’re questioning whether the asking price is realistic. They’re scrutinising fee structures, tie-in periods and portal exposure. They are effectively doing exactly what someone does when they’re not entirely sure they can trust the agent they’ve just met.

This is mind-blowing – it’s a trust gap that nobody talks about!

Our industry has long treated the valuation appointment as the main event - the moment where skill, presentation and local knowledge win the instruction. And that matters enormously, but these findings reveal something uncomfortable: the market appraisal is no longer the finishing line. Nor is it the starting point either as we know that according to ValPal, most people start to research estate agents up to four months before actually inviting them to pitch!

So the Market Appraisal meeting is basically only part of a much wider decision-making process that happens entirely without you in the room.

Going back to the issue of sellers consulting AI – I wonder if it’s because people are more comfortable anonymously asking questions they might have been too embarrassed to ask you in person, especially around pricing and fees. They effectively have doubts they didn’t voice during your appointment. Doubts about your pricing rationale. Doubts about whether your fees are worth it. Doubts about whether you’re the right agent for them. And rather than pick up the phone and ask you directly, they’re turning to AI for a low-pressure way of getting a second opinion as part of their decision-making process.

That’s not a technology problem. It’s a trust problem and it’ll get worse, because today’s sellers are more informed than ever before. They’ve already browsed the portals and are increasingly relying on comparison sites such as Swoople. Some have already had two or three other agents round and by the time you’re sitting at their kitchen table, they’re not passive recipients of your expertise - they’re active evaluators, cross-referencing everything you say against what they already believe.

When your valuation, or your fee doesn’t match their expectations, they don’t necessarily challenge you. I wish they would! They smile, nod, and as soon as you’ve left they Google it.

The uncomfortable reality is that a single hour-long appointment, however polished, is rarely enough to build the depth of trust needed to win an instruction outright. Sellers who genuinely trust an agent don’t need to fact-check them afterwards. So, more than ever before, the seller needs to be predisposed towards you, long before they make that appointment.

It’s not just what you say on the day, and it’s not that letter you leave behind – it’s a better first impression – ideally corroborated and reassured by your Google reviews. Forget Trustpilot, it’s Google reviews that matter, along with an enhanced Swoople profile where people are comparing agents in advance. Because if that trust deficit happens after the appointment, the solution has to happen before it. Weeks before it. – when sellers are typing agent names into search engines, reading reviews, comparing profiles, looking for signals that one agent knows their market better than the others. By the time they book a valuation, they will have formed a view.

And that’s why your Swoople profile matters so much - and why getting it right is one of the highest-leverage things you can do to supercharge your marketing and win more instructions.

Swoople is where sellers go, to research and compare local estate agents. It’s the moment before the moment - the research phase where trust is either built or withheld before you’ve even rung the doorbell. A strong Swoople profile means that when a seller books you for a valuation, they’re already leaning towards you. They’ve already read your reviews, understood your approach, seen evidence of your results. They come to that appointment predisposed towards trusting you because they already feel they know you, and they are impressed.

On the other hand, a weak or incomplete Swoople profile, means you’re starting from scratch every time. Even worse, if a competitor’s profile is stronger than yours, sellers may book you as a courtesy, a box to tick, like a passive due diligence, while already planning to go with someone else. Ever had that?

So, think of your Swoople profile not as a directory listing, but as your pre-appointment pitch. It’s doing your selling before you arrive, and it’s doing your reassuring before the seller even thinks to second-guess you.

It’s easy to enhance your default Swoople profile. Just make sure you:  

•       Demonstrate genuine local expertise - not just the areas you cover, but evidence that you understand the specific streets, price points and buyer behaviour in those areas.

•       Showcase real results - sold prices, time-on-market figures, and testimonials that speak of your ability to achieve what you promise.

•       Communicate your approach clearly – let sellers understand who you are, what you and your colleagues are like, and how you work, so they’ll instinctively feel more positive towards you.

•       Build social proof - reviews from recent sellers that address the exact concerns that Acaboom’s research identified: Did you price realistically? Was your fee justified? Was the service worth it?

The Bottom Line is: Remembering what makes them trust you before you’ve even spoken - is specifics, transparency, and evidence; with a bit of charm, character and expertise thrown in.

Your Swoople profile is not a nice-to-have. For many sellers, it’s the moment your relationship starts - and at that moment their trust in you is either established or withheld. So make sure your Swoople profile is doing its job.