Ealier this week,  Nick and I spoke to 150 people in Cardiff at a Business Scene event about social media. On our way back on Friday morning, we stopped off in Bristol to view a flat belonging to one of our clients that had recently become vacant. Our client is unable to do any management himself, as he is in the Army and currently serving in Afghanistan.

We checked the flat over, and went into a local letting agent (who we had previously researched) to appoint them to let and manage the flat. We were able to negotiate a small discount off their fully managed fees while we were there, as we always try and help our clients out on reducing commissions.

However, after leaving the shop, they phoned us back about an hour later and said, that, due to our client serving in Afghanistan, they would like to offer him 10% fully managed as a gesture in recognition that he was serving his country. I thought that was a very generous gesture and I think it says a lot about the letting agent and their values as a company.

My question is: what could you do today in your property business to help someone (a customer or a tenant) out a little bit? How could you go that extra mile and make a difference? How might that person talk about your business in their network and how could that reflect on your business in the future? How much more powerful is it when a third party advocates your product or service, rather than you yourself saying "I am brilliant. I am the best"? Can you see the potential that social media has for advocacy - getting a whole army of followers spreading the word about you? This is social media in action right here!

We are now in the era of the "linked" or "networked" economy. One of the features of this is that a small action is amplified by networks. I have now spread the word about this letting agent through Twitter, ecademy, and Property Tribes. The linked economy also follows the law of increasing returns, meaning my one action in publishing this story on the web, means this story is on-line in perpetuity and can be read by an unlimited amount of people. It is also highly targeted to property people in this format. Have a think for a moment how powerful that is and think of how you could apply this to what you are doing in property.

We tend to always hear negative stories about bad service, so let's focus this thread on positive stories where a business has shown that they value and care about their customers.

Let's hear it for the good guys of property!

BTW - the letting agent in Bristol is Clarks.

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 For details of how you can get involved in social media, have a look at our sister website http://www.socialmediagraffiti.com/.