Lee Riche, Commercial Director
In today’s market, many brokers are focused on improving service and speeding up transactions. But the bigger opportunity often sits just beneath that: how those improvements translate into stronger, more predictable business performance.
Because when transactions move more efficiently, the impact isn’t just operational – it directly affects income, pipeline stability and long-term growth.
Why getting clients ready to move early is a commercial strategy
We talk a lot about service, speed and communication (and rightly so), but there’s a more fundamental shift happening underneath that: a move towards getting clients ready to move early as a commercial strategy, not just a process improvement.
We’re seeing it with movements like The Project 28 Charter, which aims to bring certainty to the sector with the eight commitments focusing on early, trusted data. Because the industry knows that when transactions complete faster and with fewer fall‑throughs, the impact isn’t just great for clients; it’s great for business.
One fundamental way we’re working towards faster transactions is by encouraging our brokers to get their clients ready to move much earlier. When buyers or sellers are prepared with the information they need for their transactions we see:
This is where I think many brokers are still underestimating the opportunity. This is understandable as it requires a mindset shift to switch entrenched ways of working. But when passing the responsibility of admin onto conveyancers, you aren’t able to focus on your clients’ experience, or creating a more scalable, more resilient way of working.
One of the clearest examples of this is how surveys are handled. Right now, they’re often still treated as something that happens later in the process, or as someone else’s responsibility entirely. However, done early, surveys don’t just tick a box, they actively reduce risk. They surface issues sooner, give clients greater clarity, and help avoid the kind of late-stage surprises that can derail a transaction.
Turning early action into commercial advantage
There’s a commercial upside to this approach as well. When brokers refer surveys at the right point, they’re not only strengthening the transaction, but they’re also introducing an additional revenue stream. With the right partner in place, that process can be handled end-to-end, meaning there’s no additional admin burden, but a clear financial return. This is exactly the kind of practical, real-world advantage that often gets overlooked amongst brokers’ busy workloads.
What stands out to me is that the brokers seeing the most consistent results aren’t necessarily the busiest – they’re the ones making deliberate changes earlier in the process that reduce risk and improve predictability.
Over time, that creates something that’s increasingly valuable in today’s market: a pipeline that behaves consistently, income that lands more reliably, and a business that’s less exposed to the uncertainty that often surrounds property transactions.
Because in a market where margins are under pressure and expectations are rising, improvements at the start of the journey can have a disproportionate impact on the bottom line.
Download our playbook with five practical steps (plus ready-to-use scripts and objection responses) to help brokers reduce delays, increase certainty and see how getting clients ready to move early delivers real commercial value.