John Gray, Head of Management Development, CEA Learning & Development at Countrywide, steers how the company recruits and develops the talent it needs for its 50 agent brands across 1,500 locations. The biggest change John sees is the rapid change within the industry which, he says, is forcing Countrywide to think again about how it recruits and develops people.

“When I joined the industry in 1997 it was all about selling houses and getting the results,” he says. “But technology has changed all that because our customers now have access to so much knowledge and data about selling their home that their expectations of what we can do for them have changed.

“It used to be all about the agent being the main provider of information and guiding the customer through the process – but not so much any longer.

“That’s one of the biggest challenges for estate agents at the minute. We have to be much better at meeting the expectations of customers. Within Countrywide we have recently begun re-focussing and changing our attitude towards the customer, so Countrywide now trains and develops its staff to provide them with the knowledge to give customers what they want.

It used to be that anyone could be an estate agent; if you could read and write you were in, but I’m not sure that’s true any longer. We’re aiming to lift the quality – if customer expectations are getting higher, so does the quality of our staff.

“And of course we’re also trying to create a unique difference for the customer between dealing with Countrywide and dealing with other estate agents.”

Consequently, Countrywide is now changing the way it recruits raw recruits. It now has higher standards both of selection process criteria for those starting their first job. And whether you’re an apprentice, graduate or straight out of school then Countrywide, “has a higher standard that they must meet than even five years ago never mind a decade ago,” he says.

Recognised qualifications

“One of the things we have carried out in Countrywide for sales is that we have written two qualifications for the residential staff – Level 2 and Level 3 QCF qualifications – and submitted them to the government for approval – so we’ve created professional qualifications for our industry,” he says. “We expect our apprentices to do a Level 2 or 3 qualification in customer service too.”

And the shift in focus from results to the customer is also changing who they recruit from within the industry. John says Countryside now focuses on an individual’s attributes and characteristics rather than their skills.

“Our recruitment process is designed to find the right qualities within an individual and then we provide them with the skills when they join – we have a very good training support function,” he says.

“It’s about that person having the right attitude and ambition too. We want pro-active and driven people and yes, ‘results orientated’ for the customer but not the business.”

“So I have a profile of attributes that we look for in an individual. We’re updating our recruitment process now to tweak it and that’s being rolled out across the business very soon.

“Recruitment is very big for us – once we get the individuals on board we then induct them into our values in Countrywide. Our whole strategy is based around the customer, which is unusual.”

John says that this approach very new – developed and implemented in recent months rather than years and that among the larger estate groups Countryside is “ahead of the curve.”

“There are other organisations that are following suit with this ‘customer centric approach’ and even in front of us, but they tend to be the smaller independents. I knows a couple of smaller firms who have trained all their staff in customer service.

“It used to be that anyone could be an estate agent; if you could read and write you were in. But I’m not sure that’s true any longer. One of the things were aiming to do is lift the quality – if customer expectations are getting higher then so does the quality of our staff.”

Case studies

Young guns who went for it

Who: Laura Stein
Where: Islington, North London
Age: 26
Company: Felicity J Lord

You may recognise Laura. Last year she was Rising Star of the Year at The Negotiator Awards. How did she achieve such heights at relatively young age?

Laura studied business at Surrey University and always knew she wanted to do something in sales with a commission structure that would allow her to be in control of her earnings and fast progression.

At a graduate recruitment fair during 2012 she applied to join the company’s Graduate Lettings Management programme, a tough nine-month fast-track programme. Several thousand applied that year and eight people got on the scheme – including Laura.

“It was really exciting – I started in the Canary Wharf branch as a trainee negotiator and you have nine months to develop yourself and with the aim to become assistant manager,” she says.

“Every three months you moved a step up and you had to hit your targets and pass all the ARLA exams as well as training courses. It was intense but really good. After the nine months I was promoted to assistant manager in Bow which is our top lettings branch in the Spicerhaart Group. Then to branch manager in Surrey Quays in October 2013 – within 18 months of joining. In February 2014 we had a record income at the branch so I did quite well, I guess.

“Then I moved to Fulham – a cold-start branch for Felicity J Lord. It was good for me developing personally and my career. It’s all about contacts – getting to know landlords and talking to those I had worked with in other areas. They helped me directly or indirectly with leads.

“You have to be super motivated to be a success in lettings. If you’re not you will struggle because it is very competitive. When I was a negotiator and I liked to get on with everyone in the team but at the same time I needed to look out for myself.

“And you need to be tenacious, able to take the knocks and do it every day. And you need very thick skin AND do long hours outside 9am to 6pm. I loved it when I was a negotiator – I’d come in on Saturdays even when I didn’t have to!”

Who: Andrew Thorpe
Where: Wilmslow,
Manchester
Age: 27 years old
Company: Savills

Andrew left school at 18 and, despite having an offer from Liverpool University to study architecture, opted to become an estate agent. He chose it because it includes his passions – property, living and working in Cheshire and being near his family.

He joined a local branch of Bridgfords, part of Countrywide, where he quickly progressed from negotiator to senior negotiator before leaving to join an independent in Chorlton where he was promoted to sales manager. He was then poached back by Bridgfords to run its Knutsford branch as manager – where he worked for four years.

“It was the company’s worst performing branch; the year before I joined it lost £60k. But by 2013 we had made it the most profitable sales branch in the region. Then Savills came knocking in June 2014.”

Andrew has helped develop the Savills’ market in the area, expanding it beyond its usual core prime territory.

“The feedback we’ve got from each customer has been outstanding. It’s the time and attention to detail that we’ve been able to provide to our client,” says.

Andrew says three things have been key to his success. Firstly, attention to both “every detail of the process.” Secondly, he says you have to be tangibly different, “Lots of people say they offer the best service or are the best agent but you’ve got to actually be different in every area of your business wherever possible,” he says.

Lastly, Andrew believes that “you have to learn the rules of the game and then play better than everyone else – which, I believe, Albert Einstein said!”