Yopa, the online agent backed by LSL and Savills, has been on a recruitment drive.
It has hired 21 new joiners to work in its contact centre in Watford since May.
Yopa has totally denied rumours that it has made ‘significant’ redundancies in recent weeks, but did say that three people had moved on.
In May, we reported that Yopa had reduced staff headcount, resulting in 16 departures including that of its national sales director Kane Henessy.
However yesterday Yopa emphasised that it is investing in its contact centre, where staff are a mix of ‘personal property advisers’ and staff dealing with inbound requests, for example, for valuation visits.
A number of those working in the Watford call centre are experienced estate agents, including the team leaders.
A spokesperson for Yopa told EYE: “A churn of staff in contact centres is not unusual – people come and go, and there is a higher churn of staff. But Yopa is investing in its customer service. It is simply not the case that there have been significant redundancies.”
This spring, Yopa won best online agent in the ESTAS.
Yopa is backed by the owners of the Daily Mail, as well as Savills and LSL. LSL has written down its £20m investment in Yopa to £7.8m.
In January, Yopa reported cumulative losses of £32m in its accounts covering the 12 months to the end of December 2017.
‘Business as usual’ says Yopa boss after 16 departures including sales director
Comments (8)
Reading between the lines it sounds like they are replacing field based LPE’s with warehouse based ones. So not exactly growth and i cant see how that specifically improves customer service. Yopa boards in Somerset are like hens teeth. We ended up co-marketing a property and selling it. No doubt they put it down as a sale on their stats. The other i am aware of has been on the market for over 2 years.
Can PIE improve the quality of their reporting – please see below! Yopa, the online agent backed by LSL and Savills, has been on a recruitment drive. GREAT POSITIVE SPIN – HOW MANY PEOPLE HIRED BY INDEPENDENT AGENTS THIS YEAR ? WE’VE DONE 3 ALONE
It has hired 21 new joiners to work in its contact centre in Watford since May. WHAT POSITION FULL TIME / PART TIME?
Yopa has totally denied rumours that it has made ‘significant’ redundancies in recent weeks, but did say that three people had moved on. WHO HAS DENIED IT? SPOKESPERSON/DIRECTOR? NAME PLEASE
In May, we reported that Yopa had reduced staff headcount, resulting in 16 departures including that of its national sales director Kane Henessy. SO PEOPLE HAVE LEFT ? ARE THEY ASKING TO RETRACT THIS STORY?
However yesterday Yopa emphasised that it is investing in its contact centre, where staff are a mix of ‘personal property advisers’ and staff dealing with inbound requests, for example, for valuation visits. SO NO NEW EXPERIENCED AGENTS HAVE JOINED – BUT THEY HAVE A COUPLE ALREADY IN PLACE – PROBABLY PART TIME?
A number of those working in the Watford call centre are experienced estate agents, including the team leaders. SEE ABOVE
A spokesperson for Yopa told EYE: “A churn of staff in contact centres is not unusual – people come and go, and there is a higher churn of staff. But Yopa is investing in its customer service. It is simply not the case that there have been significant redundancies.” HOW DO YOU CLASS THE TERM ‘SIGNIFICANT’ SO THERE HAS BEEN REDUNDANCIES ? I THOUGHT YOU SAID THERE WASN’T
This spring, Yopa won best online agent in the ESTAS. LOOK AT THE BALANCE SHEET – AND INVESTMENT AGAINST REVENUE – EASY TO GET NO SALE NO FEE, ONLINE INSTRUCTIONS
Yopa is backed by the owners of the Daily Mail, as well as Savills and LSL. LSL has written down its £20m investment in Yopa to £7.8m. WHY DOES THIS NOT GET MORE EXPOSURE? THIS IS A MAMMOTH AMOUNT OF MONEY!!
In January, Yopa reported cumulative losses of £32m in its accounts covering the 12 months to the end of December 2017. IT’S JUST NOT A VIABLE BUSINESS – IT’S A CROWD FUNDING EXERCISE THAT IS THEN USED TO ATTACK TRADITIONAL AGENTS – WHO DO MAKE MONEY – AND NEED FEE LEVELS THAT ARE SUSTAINABLE NOT ATTACKED BY PAID COMMERCIALS BY INVESTORS ON A MODEL THAT IS NOT PROFITABLE.
Love the positive spin. I could write a book on all the ******** spins that come out of the hybrids. In fact, I might just do that!
I have only read the headline. Is this for maintenance jobs in a Lettings’ arm?
Adding central support as losing Lpe due to over promising to the Lpe’s.
Once the low leaves new lpe doesn’t want to know about existing boards.
One of the Directors, Andrew Barclay, also left in May.
Someone must have pumped more cash in to keep this show on the road – have Savills/LSL also matched funds?
Does EYE not want to ask: 1) full time or part time? 2) zero hours ? 3) how is this being funded because we know its not through profits?
Can you also ask Savills and LSL why they fund this company that constantly criticises full service agency?
What? You want to add customer service to the Online offering? This means you then morph into the full service High Street model and thus your cost goes up which means your fees go up!
It’s all very simple, whichever way you turn it comes back to full service agency, there are no short cuts when it comes to the complexities of selling houses……