Surveyors And Marketing Education

The market place for General Practice surveyors, particularly those practising in agency work, is fast changing from an enviable monopoly to one of fierce competition. Four main factors are predominant in creating this prevailing situation: the changing needs of clients; a decline in client loyalty; an increase in competition between surveying professionals; and non-surveying professionals making substantial in roads into the property market offering a more comprehensive and attractive package of services. Many agency surveyors recognise the threat to their dominant status in the property market. The two principal professional bodies, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and the Incorporated Society of Valuers and Auctioneers, are joining forces to generate discussion regarding the need for change in the face of these challenges. Even in the absence of such a debate, agency surveyors need to upgrade their knowledge and skills in marketing to combat the threat of competition. Basic marketing skills in agency practices need to be developed, strengthened and above all promoted. The principal objective of this research is the understanding of the role of marketing in the education of property professionals. This encompasses an investigation into the development of marketing education in the surveying profession; the development of needs among professionals and the subsequent curricula implications for surveying education; and the examination of informed opinion on the desirability of developing marketing as an academic subject within the professional education of the General Practice surveyor. The questions addressed by this research are the adequacy of knowledge and skills of marketing amongst agency surveyors; the personal and institutional views on the relationship between marketing and surveying profession; and the match between these expressed views and educational development. The methods used to investigate these matters were content analysis of curricula documents, interviews with key personnel in professional and educational institutions, and a questionnaire survey of practitioners. Analysis of the data generated shows the need for specific academic marketing education and training in the context of current policies and techniques required in the General Practice surveying profession. Finally, the study seeks to generate an interest in marketing education leading to the formulation of proposals for future developments arising from the analysis of the survey findings.