An agent who set up shop with no industry experience has been named EweMove’s franchisee of the year.
Chris Walthall’s Leek and Hanley franchise received the accolade at the hybrid agent’s annual conference held at the Belfry golf resort. Walthall joined EweMove in 2014.
More than 150 delegates flocked to the event last weekend, the first with new managing director Nick Neill at the helm after founders David Laycock and Glenn Ackroyd “woolked” (walked, get it?) away from the business last June.
Ok, enough sheep puns.
Also in attendance were industry figures and guest speakers Peter Knight from The Property Academy, James Sinclair from Entrepreneurs Network, and Alex Rose from Hometrack.
Neill said: “This really was a fantastic event which saw our franchisees from across the country come together to celebrate what has been yet another remarkable year for us as a brand.
“The industry as a whole is continuing to face a number of challenges, but whilst other agencies are reporting stagnation and recurring profit warnings, we’re not only seeing our network grow in numbers month by month, but we’re witnessing the continued profitability of our franchisees across the UK.
““With our unique hybrid model, offering our on-the-ground agents with the ability to provide a personal face-to-face service on a local level whilst benefitting from cutting-edge technology and comprehensive support via our national operations centre, we’re in an exceptionally strong position for future growth and profitability and are very much looking forward to marking further successes over the months ahead.”
Comments (5)
A fantastic result for Chris and his team who have chosen to build their business by focussing on lettings and now have a very sizeable portfolio under management. Baaarilliant! It’s great the way franchisees can choose to focus on sales or lettings, or some do a combination of both.
Fantastic achievement with 13 properties within 5 miles!
No experience back in 2014, if you read carefully. Much of estate agency isn’t rocket science to bright people who have worked in other industries, especially those industries which have moved with the times.A lot of the job is about attitude, being available when customers need you, caring about customers experience, attention to detail and quality. Experience helps, but some agents are hoping to get away with delivering the customer experience of the 1980s and haven’t really moved on.
Apologies, I should have picked up on this.
As it was more the pun I was focusing on, maybe this is more apt – So, someone with experience wins! The baa has been set very high.
So, someone with no experience wins! The baa has been set very low.