What is Your Property’s Value Proposition?

Business owners are often asked, “what’s your value proposition?” In layman’s terms, why should someone buy your goods or services instead of someone else’s that does the same job? The same principal applies to sellers of rural property.

To answer the question, we must understand what it is that differentiates our business (or farm) from others.

For me, first and foremost my value centres around the priority I give to ensuring my clients are prepared for the sale of their asset so they can act quickly and appropriately at any time during the sale process. Then there is my track record, attention to detail, knowledge of the property, district and industry, one-on-one negotiation and diplomacy skills and absolute discretion that no one can question.

It can be confronting and perhaps a little awkward to perform a self analysis, but important to do so to quantify what makes us and our business any different from the dozens of others in the marketplace.

So too, it is for sellers of rural property. Their property is but one in a market of many. I almost do my head in when I see a multi-million dollar property described by dot points simply stating size, location, carrying capacity etc. Then there’s the old standard, “rare opportunity to secure a quality property located in a tightly held blue ribbon dress circle”. Aren’t they all?

When describing the virtues of your property, think hard about what it is that sets your place apart from others.

Go for facts, go for figures, go for X-factors. Get away from generic terms. Tell it as it is. If there is a timbered area at one end, explain the benefits of it (if you can’t think of any, what hope has anyone else got). If there is an exceptional water source available or if the property has backgrounded 1,000 steers annually for ten years, then tell the world. But if it hasn’t, don’t dare exaggerate as you’ll be found out and Murphy’s Law will ensure it happens just as you are about to enter into a contract. The market hates unpleasant surprises.

Most buyers inspect a number of properties before settling on one. The bombardment of information they take in about different properties in a short space of time can be overwhelming for many.

Simple things, such as providing an additional dossier accurately outlining the electric fencing system, water pipelines throughout your property, fertiliser history, pasture programs, quantifiable production and the like go to clearing the fog from buyers’ heads, and gives them the confidence your property has been successfully managed.

Most importantly, identifying and publicising what is unique about your property sets it apart from “Dot-Point Downs” up the road.

Graham MacDougall
MacDougall Rural Property
02 6772 4200

Graham MacDougall has a lifetime association with rural property. In addition to 30 years in the cattle industry, for the past 10 years he has been specialising in the marketing of commercial agriculture and rural lifestyle properties in northern New South Wales.