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TheNews Spicerhaart to save £1m from car fleet switch EXCLUSIVE
Spicerhaart is to save more than £1m by switching its BMW car fleet contract to Audi. The saving is expected to be
made over the duration of the three-year leasing contract, which will see 800 Audis rolled out to each of the group’s brands, including Darlows, haart, Haybrook, Felicity J Lord, Fine and Spicer McColl. BMW 1, 3 and 5 Series models
will be replaced by the Audi A1, A3 and A4. A spokesman for the group
says, “Style-wise, they look good and they also offer the fuel economy we need. They work well with the signage, too – they’re all white, so the colours in each of the brands stands out well.”
NEW HOMES Sales success for Linden
Julie Dyson (centre) with, from left, Alison Davis (Audi), Chris Howell (Spicerhaart) and Steve Lawrence (Essex Audi)
Paul Smith, chief executive
officer of Spicerhaart, adds, “We are delighted to have chosen Audi as our car fleet partner. They have one of the best in
class model ranges, and I am extremely confident that when combined with our brands livery, they won’t fail to be noticed wherever they are.”
MARKETING Ward & Partners overhaul brand
Despite reported slumps in house sales nationally, regional developer Linden Homes is celebrating its best January for five years – selling a home a day for the entire month. HMRC recently announced house sales in the UK fell by one per cent during 2011. However, the early part of 2012 has already seen sales top £5m at the company’s developments across Cambridgeshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire. Seven new homes were sold
every week in January. Sales director Steve Garton said, “This has been an amazing start to the year, and we are delighted that new homes and Linden Homes Midlands region in particular seems to bucking the national trend. This January is our most successful start to the year for five years.”
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Ward & Partners has refurbished all 44 of its offices in just three months. The Arun Estates-owned brand has updated its fascias to display its transformed logo (pictured). All Wards’ office interiors now feature the new, bolder colours and contemporary furnishings, alongside which hang large photos of local landmarks, taken by the firm’s own photographers. The agency has also
redesigned its website, marketing literature and boards to reflect the new design. David Lench, Ward &
Partners’ managing director, says, “Relatively speaking, 2011 was a very successful year for us, with an increase of around 2 per cent in instructions and 2.5 per cent in sales. Nevertheless, market research revealed that while our old image was very familiar to the people of Kent, it was overdue for an update. “Clearly, what we needed was a radical overhaul of our visual identity, particularly to engage with the younger segment of the market - so fresh colours, which would render as well online as in the the more traditional media, were a primary requirement.”
NEW BUSINESS Ex-Sequence manager launches London agency
The former central London area manager for Sequence has launched his own agency in South West London. Jason Lewis, who worked
for the Connells Group-owned brand for six years, has launched Chaplin Estate Agents on Westminster Bridge Road with a silent partner. He has recruited Felicity Koller,
a former Sequence colleague, as his office manager and is in the process of recruiting two negotiators to cover sales and lettings.
The Chaplin brand is based on 1920s US comic actor and director Charlie Chaplin, who resided in and around the area along with his family. Chaplin is also the name of Lewis’ dog, who features within the company logo. Speaking to The Negotiator, Lewis says, “One of the reasons I wanted to leave [Sequence] is that I’ve always worked for corporates, which are great because of the stability they provide, but you can’t always implement your own ideas. “You can put them forward,
but they always had to be good for the whole group and not just your patch.” The firm opened two weeks ago
and already has six sales and eight rental properties on its books, with properties for sale ranging from £255,000 and £1.8m in price. Lewis, a former professional dancer, adds, “We’ve a lot more enquiries for lettings at the moment. The problem with sales is that you still need a deposit of at least 20 per cent.”
TheNegotiator l March 2012 l 7
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