With the E-word now forever associated with less than Honourable Members of Parliament and their extravagant expenses claims, another e-word is keeping a very low profile – entertaining.

Entertaining clients, journalists and lawyers used to be an integral part of the gentleman estate agent’s diary. Parties would be flown by helicopter to Badminton, to enjoy the three day eventing and a good lunch in the corporate marquee. Limousines disgorged favoured clients by the main entrance to Ascot, free tickets in hand, with the promise of champagne. Christmas and summer parties were held in exclusive private clubs.

Now few agencies would like to be seen to be splashing out on such a grand scale. Conspicuous spending is off the menu, but is the party entirely over? How else do agents manage to glad-hand established and potential customers? Tighter budgets, button-eyed corporate accountants and cost-conscious clients have encouraged agents to be more creative with their limited largesse.

SOMETHING DIFFERENT

Sam Butler of Butler Sherborn in the Cotswolds explains how he does it. “Networking is a vital part of our business, but when money is tight in a recession we are more focused on who we are entertaining and how. We do it well and we do it more exclusively. We like to get a small group of like-minded people together, but it needs a bit of thought, we’re not just trying to schmooze with clients or lawyers. I haven’t got a big budget, so I have to make it work. For instance, we took a small group around a garden that was having an open day and we booked lunch there. It is something a bit different. We find people these days don’t want to spend a lot of time at parties or lunches.”

Butler Sherborn count trusts, charities and estate owners among their clients, as well as landlords and individuals, and, like everyone else, they expect value for money.

“We organised a group of people to go to the CLA Game Fair, but we don’t do the corporate stands. Anything you do is expensive these days,” says Butler. “But you have to work at it. This is a competitive business. People tend to contact the last person they spoke to, so if you don’t keep in touch, you drop off their radar. It is amazing how easily you can be forgotten. But we do pick our moment, people don’t want to be bothered all the time. You have to be subtle and intelligent about it.”

RACIN’, SHOOTIN’, PUNTIN’

A much bigger firm, with 13 offices in Scotland and England, Bidwells has a wide range of clients. Guy Jenkinson is Head of Research and New Homes, based in Cambridge, where client entertaining is low key. He says, “We tend to invite people out to a good lunch at the Newmarket races. The commercial division has a lot of people come for that, possibly with a band in the evening. The rural division may take clients out shooting, or, as to a Varsity rugby match. We also take people out punting on the Cam with a glass of Pimms.

“However, client entertaining often happens the other way round. It is the developer who takes the agent out. I deal with a lot of developers and they tend to spend more money entertaining agents than we do on them. We build on relationships. For instance I recently spent a day fishing and had a really nice pub lunch with a client, and it was he who laid it all on. “In the last two or three years, estate agent largesse has been considered a little tacky. Instead, we have small friendly dinners. It fosters friendships, after all, our firm has been dealing with some clients for 30 or 40 years. We don’t even spend the time talking about work.”

There is, of course, more to maintaining a professional relationship than popping a few corks. Close community ties keep an agency name visible, with benefits for both sides. “We keep in touch with clients by sending out monthly newsletters and attending industry events which combine both the networking and social aspect of entertaining,” says Peter Ford, Group Operations Director for Townends & Regents Estate Agents, with 40 offices in London, Surrey and Middlesex.

“In addition, we remain interactive with our clients through our work with charities such as the Shooting Star Children’s Hospice. This is an approach to client entertaining which enables us to work together with our clients in order support something very rewarding. “Our Executive Chairman, Tony Addinall, is heading up this year’s big fundraising challenge, The Wessex Way Off Road Bike Ride in support of the Hospice. Clients were invited (and have accepted) to join the event or support through sponsorship.

“Client retention is vital but it’s winning new business on the back of the service provided and the relationship we have built with clients, rather than a jolly and that is more important to us in the long term. However, despite the difficult times the industry has experienced as a whole, it is still important to thank clients for their continuing support.”

NO HIGH JINKS AT MAYFAIR OFFICE

Party time is over, if there ever was one, declares Nick Churton, MD of The Mayfair Office, which represents 100 estate agencies around the country. “Estate agents have always tended to go to events, rather than put them on themselves,” he says. “Agents in the sales sector have few long-term clients and therefore little need to entertain. Those clients that are long-term tend to stay the course because of the service they are given, rather than any entertainment they might receive. I suspect that most, if not all of our firms would think the same.”

However, George Frank, Sales Director of Douglas & Gordon in London stresses the importance of client retention and says it doesn’t have to cost a fortune. “It is terribly important. We have to know the movers and groovers. However, it might be nothing more than sitting down with a bottle of beer, or a quick lunch, or a glass of wine and a bowl of pasta, maybe costing £100, but well worth it if you get more business. We have moved away from party entertaining to a more one to one basis.

“We tried seminars once, but it didn’t work in our patch. If you are in central London, people think they know everything anyway.

“We get involved in community events, a lot of school fundraising. It has huge benefits for a company. We are also involved in a tennis championship in Battersea. As an industry it is easy to shine, but getting the basics right is a plus.”

AND FINALLY…

The last word goes to a past president of the National Association of Estate Agents, Trevor Kent, who has just one office in one of the most expensive postcodes in the country, Gerrards Cross in Bucks.

“I have never entertained a client, or even prospective client, to anything more than a reluctantly provided cup of lukewarm coffee in the office in my life, he says. “The same goes for suppliers and solicitors too. I find social circle entertaining tedious enough; the mere contemplation of having to do it with business contacts brings me out in hives. Not to mention the sting of the expense on top. This means no-one invites curmudgeonly Kent to anything either, but that’s OK by me. While others are out carousing, I’m completing on a sale (except that I can’t because all the damn solicitors are out carousing...).