Say No to Fear (So You Can Charge What You’re Worth)
If “no” still rattles you, it’s costing you money. The bravest marketing move is pricing with enough conviction to hear no more than yes, then measuring it like a pro.
Late-stage, early-stage or somewhere in the middle every estate agency inherits the same hangover... a fear of rejection dressed up as “being competitive.” It sneaks into proposals, pitch energy, fee structure and even your posture in a valuation. You feel it when you shave the number “just to be safe.” You feel it when you follow up too softly because you’re scared of the word no.
We’ve seen again and again in conversations at Estate Agency X and hear's the truth...
an 80% conversion rate on market appraisals isn’t a medal. It’s a message. If eight out of ten say yes, you’re almost certainly underpriced. “Yes” feels good. It can still be wrong.
Look at it in black and white. Ten valuations.
Charge 1% and win 80% → eight instructions.
Charge 2% and win 40% → four instructions.
At an average £400k instruction, 1% nets £4,000 each. Eight wins = £32,000.
At 2%, it’s £8,000 each. Four wins = £32,000.
Same number of appointments. Same diary. Double the fee on half the wins.
Push to 50% at 2% and you’re at £40,000, more money for the same number of appointments. Swap in your numbers, the logic holds.
So what’s “healthy”? You should be hearing “no” more than “yes.”
A 30–40% win rate usually signals your fee sits where serious sellers still choose you and price-shoppers politely opt out. That’s not failure. That’s filtering.
If you’re at 60%, you’re likely 1.5×–2× away from the fee you should be commanding. At 80%, you’re leaving 2×–3× on the table.
Down at 20–25%? Either your price is out of sync with your proof or your positioning and pitch need tightening to fix the story or the scope, not just the sticker.
The enemy isn’t “no.” The enemy is vague. Here’s the weekly discipline that replaces fear with facts
Know your actual rate. Track the last 30 valuations - booked → pitched → won.
No guesses. Publish the win rate to your team on the same day each week. If you don’t measure it, you’ll mythologise it.
Price with a floor and a ceiling. Floor = the minimum that protects delivery quality. Ceiling = your full-fat service.
Start at the ceiling; if needed, trade scope, not price (leaner creative, tighter launch window) to meet a fence-sitter.
Design the pitch around proof. Three decisive moments
Clarity — one page that shows the plan: authority, timeline, pre-launch and negotiation method.
Evidence — what you’ve actually delivered (time-to-offer, % over guide, chain-save examples).
Meaningful comparables — not a pile of addresses; the story of why those prices happened.
Set a “no target.” If seven in ten always say yes, the fee is low. If six or seven in ten say no and three to four say yes, you’re likely in the right band. Celebrate the right no, it protects margin and time.
Run a fee rehearsal. Once a week, say the number out loud with the pause and posture you’ll use in the room. Then practice the two lines that follow it. Nerves hate silence; leaders use it.
Replace discounts with swaps. If there’s pushback, swap deliverables. Never cut the heart of the fee; it devalues the outcome and trains the market to chip away at you.
Guard the follow-up. One sharp proposal email within 24 hours: recap the plan, confirm the fee, set an expiry. No chasing energy. Quiet authority converts better than neediness then use follow up nurturing to reconfirm.
If you’re still carrying the early stage reflex to win at any cost, drop it. The cost hides at first.. extra evenings polishing listings for under-margin fees; opportunities missed because your diary is full of low-value wins; the resentment that seeps into delivery and dulls your brand. Saying yes too cheaply doesn’t just hurt this instruction. It trains the market to expect less from you, forever.
The work now is simple, not easy.
Hold the number. Hear more no’s. Use the data to keep yourself in the 30–40% band. Sharpen the pitch so the right clients feel led, not sold. And remind your team that a firm “no” on the wrong terms is a very expensive “yes” avoided.
Stand straight. Speak truth. Price like a leader.
A note for those who want to go deeper
At Estate Agency X, our Business Accelerator Programme takes a select 8–9 businesses per cohort. We bring in world-class, outside speakers, operators who have scaled to £30m+ and we run hands-on workshops. One of those workshops is dedicated to conversion mastery, crafting a pitch that carries quiet authority, structuring proof that lands, and aligning marketing so your fee matches your value.
Interested? Click here to register your details. We’ll let you know as we open the 2026 list.