12 Slightly Deranged Ideas That Might Just Grow Your Business

Most business advice for estate agents sounds the same: "Be consistent on social media." "Provide great customer service." "Build your brand."

Thanks for that.

This week, I wanted to do something different. I've put together 12 ideas that sound a bit unhinged on first read, but every single one of them has genuine business logic underneath. Some are cheap. Some are free. A couple might make you twitch. All of them will make you more memorable than the agent down the road who's still posting "Just Sold!" graphics from Canva.

Let's go!

1. Draw on your own for sale boards.

You know when someone draws glasses and a moustache on a for sale board, and the photo goes viral on social media? Beat them to it. Doodle on your own boards first. Add a speech bubble. Give the house a face. Whatever makes people stop, photograph it, and share it. You get free social media reach, and you didn't even have to post anything - your audience did it for you.

2. Ask unusual questions on your instruction form.

Favourite movie? Best local restaurant? Guilty pleasure takeaway? Sounds odd, but now you've got a goldmine of personal information that lets you curate a customer journey nobody else is offering. Massive fan of westerns and Italian food? Send them a thank-you postcard of The Magnificent Seven and a restaurant voucher on completion. That client is telling everyone about you.

3. Take a kids' colouring pack to every family viewing.

You know the feeling. You're trying to have a nice meal out, but the kids won't sit still. Then a waiter appears with crayons and suddenly you've got twenty minutes of peace. Be that waiter. Bring colouring packs to viewings at family homes - give the parents space to actually look at the property.

Bonus points: use AI to generate a colouring sheet of the actual house. Now the kids are colouring in their potential new bedroom, and the whole family is building an emotional attachment before they've even left the driveway.

4. Let your clients set their own fees.

Yes, really. Agree a range with a minimum and a maximum upfront. Then, on completion, let the client choose their fee based on how happy they've been with the service. It's terrifying on paper, but think about what it signals: absolute confidence in your ability to deliver. And here's the thing - most people, when they've had a great experience, pay towards the top of the range. It's a trust exercise that pays for itself.

5. Pet photoshoots.

You've got a photographer in the house anyway. When there's a beloved family pooch or mog lurking about, stage a quick portrait session and present a framed print to the client as a gift. It costs almost nothing, it takes five minutes, and it creates a moment of genuine delight. People frame photos of their pets. That frame is going on a shelf, and the story behind it is going to come up in conversation.

6. Create an exclusivity window.

Only take on new clients in the first week of each month. The rest of the month? You're focused entirely on selling the homes already on your books. Put a waiting list on your website so people can register for the next onboarding window. It sounds counterintuitive - turning away business? - but scarcity creates demand. And the clients who do get through the door know they're getting your undivided attention.

7. Film a house tour narrated by the owner's kids.

Kids are brutally honest and accidentally hilarious. "This is my room. It's the best room. Don't touch anything." It's warm, it's shareable, and it gives a family home genuine emotional texture that a scripted walkthrough never could. Stick it on social media and watch it fly. You're not selling a property - you're selling a home, and nothing says home like a seven-year-old giving a guided tour of where they hide their snacks.

8. Invite the neighbours round, not the buyers.

Before the property even hits the portals, host a "meet your future neighbour" evening with drinks and nibbles for the street. Neighbours know people. They'll text their mate who's always said they'd love to live on that road. They'll mention it at the school gate. You've turned a street into a sales force - and you've got to meet a whole street of future sellers.

9. The time capsule.

On completion, hand your client a sealed package. Inside: a personal note from their agent, a photo of them on moving day, and a bottle of something nice. The instructions? Don't open it until your one-year anniversary in the house.

It creates a future moment of delight that you're not even in the room for - but you get the credit. And when they open it twelve months later, it's going straight on Instagram. You've just generated social media content a year after the sale, without lifting a finger.

10. Start a local podcast.

Not about property. About the place. Tell stories about the town. Meet local characters. Dig into the history of the high street. Interview the woman who's run the bakery for thirty years. Chat to the bloke who knows everything about the old railway line. Nothing to do with estate agency whatsoever... oh, but it might be sponsored by your company. You become the voice of the community, and when people think about that area, they think about you.

11. Write your clients a five-star review.

Everyone asks clients for reviews. Nobody writes one for the client. After completion, send them a glowing, tongue-in-cheek five-star review of them. "Would absolutely sell their house again. 10/10 biscuit selection at every viewing. Excellent taste in wallpaper. Always responded to messages promptly. A pleasure to work with."

It's funny, it's flattering, and nobody has ever done it. They'll screenshot it, share it, and suddenly your brand is attached to a laugh instead of a sales pitch.

12. Use AI to turn their house into the house from Up.

You know the house from Pixar's Up - colourful, covered in balloons, impossible not to smile at. Use AI to reimagine your client's actual home in that style, print it, frame it, and present it as a completion gift. It costs next to nothing, it takes minutes, and it's infinitely more memorable than a generic bottle of fizz.

It'll end up on their wall, on their fridge, or on their social media. Either way, your name is attached to the thing that made them grin.

The common thread?

None of these ideas require a massive budget. Most of them cost less than a round of drinks. What they do require is a willingness to be a bit different - to be the agency that people talk about, not because you sold the most houses, but because you made people feel something.

The agents who win aren't always the ones with the biggest offices or the slickest websites. They're the ones people remember. And people remember the ones who made them smile.

Go on, try one. I dare you.