BUSINESS
CASE STUDY: CAVENDISH RENTALS
Established in 1999, Cavendish Rentals is a small lettings agency based in Chester, with a second branch in Mold, North Wales. The company deals in lettings for both corporate and private clients. Chris Collins, from Cavendish Rentals
says: “Heavy call volumes and busy branches were stretching the team to the limits. We were concerned that our normally good service would become affected. We needed a solution that could be easily deployed, that took pressure off answering calls and one that was costed so that we only paid for what we used.” After a recommendation from The
Home Sale Network and a client, Cavendish Rentals approached Moneypenny in October 2006 to handle any overfl ow inbound calls to the agency. “Moneypenny has been a great
support to the team at Cavendish Rentals. They handle any calls that the team can’t answer, take messages and fi lter non essential calls where appropriate. The branch staff can now concentrate on the job in hand and not worry that calls will be missed.” More than 400 calls a month are
being diverted to Moneypenny teams and effectively managed on behalf of Cavendish Rentals, giving automatic cover at all times, including breaks and holidays. The fi nal word from Chris:“Having
experienced the cost effective, professional and reliable service that Moneypenny offers we have now extended the offer to our second branch and offer a new out-of-hours service. “The Moneypenny team is also
briefed to take more detail from callers ensuring our agents are passed the full details so they can return calls very effectively.”
experiences to challenge the accepted wisdom of how to manage lettings portfolio and offer a new approach to the property market. “Core to this was offering professional support and expert thinking, whenever needed, meaning our partners could concentrate on the bigger picture” And there lies the attraction; having the
time to focus on the front end – gaining instructions, finding tenants, without having to spend time on administration. Excellent property management, says
Simon, is “not the most exciting aspect of lettings but it is the key to growing a successful and profitable lettings business. “If it isn’t taken seriously it can have a damaging impact on their business and will generate little income”.
IS IT IMAGE OR SERVICE – OR BOTH? Buying into an outsourcing service is one thing, but some businesses prefer for their clients to perceive a complete service offering from their agent. EPM offers a ‘white label’ service where the agent’s property management function is run by a dedicated team at EPM and the phones answered in the agent’s name. The landlords and tenants receive the full attention they need and have no complaints, the agent can develop the front end of his business comfortable in the knowledge that his clients are enjoying that comprehensive service.
We identifi ed the areas of your work that take time and developed solutions
around them. DAVID BRIERLEY EVOLVE
36 OCTOBER 2011 PROPERTYdrum
One EPM client, who uses the white
label option so cannot be named, says “I have used EPM almost since they launched and to date have had nothing but great service. I transferred my portfolio from a well established management company to EPM. “The transition was managed seamlessly
by Anouska and her team and has resulted in a far better value for money service. What you need to keep in mind is that EPM may be less than 2 years old but the experience of the ARLA trained and licensed staff stretches much further than that. The team take away not only my day to day tasks but any issues that arise are also generally taken away and dealt with. Advice is also always a phone call away and the team are always more than happy to help and support”.
ARE YOU GOOD AT EVERYTHING? It isn’t only administration that can fray the nerves of a busy agent. Some hate photography, others deplore the detail of the inventory, clients now expect a crisp floorplan to accompany their details and legal requirements such as EPCs simply add to the list of procedures to undertake before you can sell or let a property. Help is at hand for all of these trials, and
for many others. Companies like Evolve Partnership offer single or multiple services to use as and when you wish, saving time, stress and, in the end, money. They say: “We have identified the areas of your work which take up an unnecessary amount of your valuable time and developed solutions around them.” Evolve came into being in 2007 to supply
EPCs and HIPs, with a view to using the EPC as an opportunity to supply other services whilst the DEA was at the property. MD David Brierley says, “EPCs only now form a small part of our instructions as about 85 per cent of our
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