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Ignite Your Estate Agency

Ignite Your Estate Agency

By: Sam Ashdown & Phil Jones
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About this listen

Welcome to the Ignite Podcast, specifically designed to help estate agents ignite the growth of their agency, hosted by Sam Ashdown and Phil Jones. We'll share original content on all things marketing and agency related - from growth and lead generation, to creating and developing your personal brand and building a dream team. You'll hear from the biggest and best marketers, experts and agency coaches from around the world in exclusive interviews. And discover our top level tips, tricks and tactics that are designed to help YOU accelerate the growth of your business. About Sam and Phil: Sam and Phil are mother-in-law and son-in-lawn and co-directors of AshdownJones (the Lake District estate agency), AJ Mastermind (the home of world-class independent estate agency growth) and several other companies. Collectively they have a couple of decades of industry experience between them. We hope you enjoy the Ignite podcast. Let us know what you think by leaving a review. If you want to find out more about AJ Mastermind and what we can do for your agency go to: https://www.ajmastermind.co.uk

© 2025 Ignite Your Estate Agency
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Episodes
  • The 5 Languages of Appreciation and How They Help You Build a Better Culture
    Jun 19 2025

    Let’s examine the five languages of appreciation in the workplace and their direct impact on team culture and retention. Sam discusses how to recognise, motivate and support your staff using strategies backed by research and shaped by real-life experience.

    With reference to her upcoming book, Sam talks about understanding what makes each team member feel valued - from words of affirmation to acts of service, and how that translates to improved productivity, loyalty and stronger team bonds.

    Matching your appreciation style to the individual can reduce staff turnover, enhance morale, and lead to a more harmonious workplace environment.

    The 5 Languages of Appreciation is based on ‘The Five Love Languages’ by Gary Chapman, which can be found on Amazon:

    https://www.amazon.co.uk/Five-Love-Languages-Secret-Lasts/dp/0802473156


    Here’s how we can help you to IGNITE your agency:


    Find out more about COSMO and take advantage of our exclusive podcast offer!

    LISTEN to another episode

    Request an AJ Mastermind brochure by calling 015394 40892 or emailing emma@ajmastermind.co.uk

    Connect with a community of ambitious agency owners on our private AJ Mastermind FACEBOOK PAGE

    For your questions, reach out to Sam Or Phil: sam@ajmastermind.co.uk OR phil@ashdownjones.co.uk

    Stay updated on our upcoming EVENTS


    Some key takeaways:

    ➡️ Team members receive appreciation in different ways; understanding their preferences can lead to higher retention and engagement.
    ➡️ Performance reviews and open communication make a team feel valued and clarify roles in your estate agency.
    ➡️ Approaches like quality time, tangible gifts and appropriate physical touch need to be applied with care and awareness.

    Some great moments:

    ✅ “You can only be as happy as your unhappiest team member… A happy team is a happy you.”
    ✅ “If you show your love and appreciation to them in the way that they prefer, it resonates much more clearly and deeply.”
    ✅ “What we're trying to do is help people be the best form of themselves they can possibly be. And that is going to take time and effort from you.”

    Cosmo: https://www.ajmastermind.co.uk/cosmoignite

    Listen: https://www.ajmastermind.co.uk/ignite-podcast

    Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ajmmforagencygrowth

    Upcoming Events: https://www.ajmastermind.co.uk/events/

    Show More Show Less
    29 mins
  • AI for Agents (Part 2)
    Jun 12 2025

    Here is part 2 of the AI for Agents webinar that Sam and Phil wanted to share with you! If you missed part 1, go and check out the previous episode.

    This podcast will help you understand the difference between SEO and GEO (That’s Generative Engine Optimisation), find out why clear, extractable website text is now essential, how listings on third-party sites like Rightmove can influence AI recommendations and learn how to construct prompts that improve your visibility and reach.

    Why is PR going to become even more valuable, how AI is changing search habits and which areas of your agency can you automate with AI integration tools?


    Here’s how we can help you to IGNITE your agency:

    Find out more about COSMO and take advantage of our exclusive podcast offer!

    LISTEN to another episode

    Request an AJ Mastermind brochure by calling 015394 40892 or emailing emma@ajmastermind.co.uk

    Connect with a community of ambitious agency owners on our private AJ Mastermind FACEBOOK PAGE

    For your questions, reach out to Sam Or Phil: sam@ajmastermind.co.uk OR phil@ashdownjones.co.uk

    Stay updated on our upcoming EVENTS


    Some key takeaways:

    ➡️ AI is rapidly shifting the landscape for independent estate agency marketing and search visibility.

    ➡️ Getting your website and content AI-ready is now vital to capture new leads and referrals.

    ➡️ Third-party profiles, comparison pages, and clear, extractable text make a difference to how AI recommends your agency.

    Some great moments:

    ✅ “At the moment AI is using our own website to feed back towards that information, but it's also using third party and it prefers third party websites.”

    ✅ “Language needs to be simple, straightforward and extractable...It doesn't go into videos... it's going to go to the most easily extractable text.”

    ✅ “Create comparison pages...you can put yourself at the top of that ranking and AI will take that as fact and then report that back to a searcher.”



    Cosmo: https://www.ajmastermind.co.uk/cosmoignite

    Listen: https://www.ajmastermind.co.uk/ignite-podcast

    Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ajmmforagencygrowth

    Upcoming Events: https://www.ajmastermind.co.uk/events/

    Show More Show Less
    31 mins
  • AI for Agents (Part 1)
    Jun 5 2025

    Recently Sam and Phil hosted a webinar called ‘AI for Agents - 5 Easy Ways to Use AI in Your Estate Agency TODAY’ and they wanted to share it with you on the podcast, so we’ve split it into two parts and you can listen to part 1 this week and part 2 next week.

    You’ll hear practical examples of how to use AI for property descriptions, summarising complaints, market analysis, and automating everyday admin. Sam shares how AI helped structure an entire action plan for a client, while Phil highlights the impact of AI on consumer behaviour and how this could shift the way agencies are chosen.

    Which AI tool should you choose? ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google Gemini? We take a look at the strengths and limitations of the most popular AI assistants and demonstrate how to craft better prompts, making AI outputs more human, and developing templates that save time for busy agency teams.


    Here’s how we can help you to IGNITE your agency:

    Find out more about COSMO and take advantage of our exclusive podcast offer!

    LISTEN to another episode

    Request an AJ Mastermind brochure by calling 015394 40892 or emailing emma@ajmastermind.co.uk

    Connect with a community of ambitious agency owners on our private AJ Mastermind FACEBOOK PAGE

    For your questions, reach out to Sam Or Phil: sam@ajmastermind.co.uk OR phil@ashdownjones.co.uk

    Stay updated on our upcoming EVENTS


    Some key takeaways:

    ➡️ AI can streamline core business operations and free up time for agents to focus on higher-value tasks.

    ➡️ Prompt engineering is essential! How you ask determines the quality of AI output.

    ➡️ Keeping updated and open to new AI tools enables you to stay ahead in a changing industry.

    Some great moments:

    ✅ “All the information that it's collated is available on the web, but AI has found it, amalgamated it and put it into a list form which, which would take hours or days.”

    ✅ “It’s the consumer’s attention that’s going towards AI, which is where your changes will need to be made.”

    ✅ “Treat it like a child, be very accurate in what you ask for. If it gives you the wrong answer, tell it what you need.”

    Cosmo: https://www.ajmastermind.co.uk/cosmoignite

    Listen: https://www.ajmastermind.co.uk/ignite-podcast

    Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ajmmforagencygrowth

    Upcoming Events: https://www.ajmastermind.co.uk/events/

    Show More Show Less
    40 mins
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