Follow us on Twitter @TheNeg


Feature


or your colleagues will be available, enabling an intelligent response and a clear service message. The intelligence part of the service is going


down particularly well with agents; Simon Bradbury, Director of Fine &


Country’s Cambridge office, uses the Moneypenny service. “Fine & Country is breaking new ground with its creative marketing, coupled with a very professional approach to the sale of individual and country property. In our minds, ensuring the telephone is answered quickly and effectively at all times is business-critical. “No one could have predicted how perfectly


Moneypenny would fit with the way we run our agency. Jess, our Moneypenny Receptionist, is on hand to answer any engaged or unanswered calls. Jess takes detailed messages which she then sends back to us via email to be dealt with immediately. Together with evening and weekend cover, such attentive service doesn’t go unnoticed by our clients.”


PACKAGED SERVICES


In contrast to the simple premise of the call answering service, is the property management ‘back room’ service offered by a small number of intrepid companies. It has long been acknowledged that with the raft of legislation relating to letting homes that has built up over the last twenty years, the letting agent’s job is not a simple one. Finding tenants is relatively easy, capturing landlord instructions is less easy but an interesting challenge; but for many people wishing to start a letting agency or needing to provide a lettings service in addition to their sales operation, the administration of let property, whether let-only or full management, can be a hideous nightmare. Before launching their company, EPM (or Expert Property Management) Iain Mckenzie


“I knew we could bring the portfolio management back into the franchise fold and do a better job, for a


lower cost to the agents.” Anouska Foss EPM


and Anouska Foss had both been involved with a national franchise of estate agents whose lettings portfolio management was outsourced. Anouska says, “Having come from a lettings background, and managing lettings agencies, I knew we could bring the portfolio management back into the franchise fold and do a better job, for a lower cost to the agents. That was two years ago now, and we still have that franchise as a client”. Simply put, EPM take responsibility for the


entire back end management of a lettings portfolio. “Our experienced team handles everything from collecting rent, chasing arrears, dealing with tenant queries, arranging periodic visits, 24 hour property maintenance, managing accounts, deposit disputes etc.” It doesn’t sound simple, and it isn’t, but it is


definitely easier when you know how. “Almost all EPM staff members were lettings managers/negotiators/property managers themselves before coming to EPM, so they know exactly where the agents are coming from. They are fully trained, some are individual members of ARLA, and of course EPM is accredited with ARLA.” Another big attraction is that EPM runs a


client account for the tenancies, which is audited yearly at no cost to the agents, so if they wish to be members of ARLA, this offers a significant cost saving.


CASE STUDY: Technology Blueprint Ltd


Technology Blueprint Ltd (TBL) specialises in software development with expertise in web and application based solutions offering outsourcing, project management, and IT consultancy services. TBL Director, Deepak Chandrababu, says, “Outsourcing removes the distraction of time consuming, non-revenue generating, but critical activities, enabling expansion without the usuall operational costs.” Moving services out of house still comes with a quality assurance. “We are an ISO 9001 certified company. All processes


www.thenegotiator.co.uk


have documented procedures which are benchmarked and reviewed with the client.” TBL Outsourcing’s


‘PropCo Enterprise’ product is being used by the country’s largest letting agency. TBL provided them with a team of business analysts and a dedicated account manager to carry out a knowledge transition with the objective of identifying key business processes that aid core business strategies. They also established standard operating procedures and documentation processes and created controls for the client to manage and


measure the performance of the outsourced process. The whole transition was done off-site, saving considerable costs and time for the client. Turnaround time was minimal as the transition project team performed the implementation, reducing time on training efforts. In less than a year the


client successfully outsourced several accounting processes; TBL regularly exceeded the benchmarks set them. The client has increased customer service levels and has focused resources on implementing its core business strategies.


WISDOM, SUPPORT AND EXPERTISE ARPM, offering a similar service, was launched by Simon Duce in 2006. Simon had spent a couple of years running a letting office and seeing some of the ‘services’ being offered by competitors; “I thought that some of these guys were not


giving their clients good service at best and at worst they were operating outside of the law. I saw an opportunity to take these experiences, as well as my own, to challenge the accepted wisdom of how to manage a lettings portfolio and offer a new approach to the property market. “Core to this was offering professional support and expert thinking so our partners could concentrate on the bigger picture.” And there is a bonus, Dave Hunt, Business


Development Manager at ARPM says, “We save, and make, the client money; we look to generate income back to the client by operating as a sales function not just an administration one.” Excellent property management, says


Simon, is “not the most exciting aspect of lettings but it is the key to growing a successful and profitable business. And Dave points out that as we move towards a European model where the average tenant becomes older, more discerning and demanding then offering a professional and expert service to the end user will become even more important.


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. 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


TheNegotiator l July 2012 l 31


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45