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newhomesagents


Special Agent


by Bridget Cordy This month:


JOHN SAVILLE Head of spicerhaart land & new homes London


In spite of having doubled turnover in the last three years, John Saville remains focused on future growth for spicerhaart’s London operation. “Last year has been fairly


astounding in London,” says Saville. “We’ve not had a stock unit in 2013 and only one marketing suite. We do a lot of planning, SEO and digital marketing and we’ve still achieved top money.” From his offices in Shad Thames, SE1, Saville covers central and east London for spicerhaart’s land & new homes operation, working closely with the agency’s Felicity J Lord network of offices across the capital. He loves the SE1 borough, which has proven an ideal base to get to the West End or out to Greenwich and has achieved his long-term goal to work in London having grown up in the Cotswolds.


recommended me to Brendon O’Neill, then MD of Persimmon in Weybridge,” he recalls. Fortunately for Saville, Persimmon had just introduced a graduate scheme so he upped sticks to Surrey where he spent time with the land, technical, sales and legal divisions. At the end of his graduate year, a permanent position with the sales team came up and Saville jumped at the chance to become involved with their schemes in Wandsworth and Clapham.


When tasked with researching


agents for their Horton Hospital site in Epsom, it proved an eye-opener, with one particular manager at Barnard Marcus standing out. “He already knew all about the site and had all our site drawings; he put me in touch with his colleague, Ross Culhane, and they were appointed on the scheme.”


“I love the massive diversity. One


day could be with an RP and the next, a one-off luxury house. We’re not prissy, we’ll work with developers just getting going; you get to enjoy that journey with them and get involved with some really interesting schemes”


“My mum’s partner was a developer in Evesham, which is a lovely part of the world. In the summer holidays I’d be on the building sites, mucking in doing a couple of month’s work. That was my introduction to the industry.” After studying geography and politics at university (and a ski season in Canada), he joined a firm of chartered surveyors but still had his sights on London. “They did me the favour of calling everyone in their contacts book and


When Culhane later moved to spicerhaart, he offered Saville a role and he felt it was a good time to move on and an opportunity for exposure to the London market. After Culhane left, there was no


figurehead until Peter Krelle arrived as MD. “He was like a breath of fresh air and has helped in terms of what we’re able to offer clients,” says Saville. “We’re at the forefront of digital marketing, we have a huge database and do a lot of direct marketing, which is essential as we


have about 800 or 900 applicants register per week with Felicity J Lord.” There are 14 offices across London and more in the pipeline. Each office is incentivised to help achieve new homes sales. “100% of the land & new homes income goes in to the offices, so we are a service to both the client and the agency and we need to outperform our rivals. I’ll take the internal politics of competition


if the clients are happy!” Saville holds regular meetings with the firm’s negotiators, focusing on skills, knowledge, understanding incentives, and how to sell off-plan. “I have a very open-door policy and I’m there to nurture, but, on the other hand, I’m a hard taskmaster and my sales team should get results. Work is a great place to be; when planned properly, you minimise mistakes.” Having come out of the recession with a lean team, Saville is now on a recruitment drive to fill the new roles of a senior business developer and land junior to get as much land as possible out to clients. As a results-paid industry, Saville finds he does a fair amount of consultancy work on spec, with some sites taking five or more years to eventually come to the market. “I love the massive diversity. One


day could be with an RP [registered provider] and the next, a one-off luxury house. We’re not prissy, we’ll work with developers just getting going; you get to enjoy that journey with them and get involved with some really interesting schemes. “Working with all walks of life and all sorts of characters keeps you grounded – it’s fantastic, London’s so diverse. I realised a long time ago the need for RPs and developed a


lot of contacts. The focus is helping those on a growing path. “We don’t just take a brochure and sell. You’ve got to set your stall out, deliver the life-blood of land, provide a very good service and add value. It’s about client retention and good referrals.”


When not at work, Saville enjoys


being a hands-on dad to baby Clio who was born in November, Freddie (5) and Amelia (2). An Aston Villa fan, he plays 5-a-side football but prefers to watch the rugby. If he hadn’t ended up in new homes, Saville likes to think he’d have gone back to being a ski bum like his best mate has done. “I massively appreciate all the skills I learnt from shadowing the directors at Persimmon. I have been very lucky to have had the career path I have had. You’re only as good as your last site and if that’s good, you’ll only grow.”


sh showhouse January 2014 | 47


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