‘Keeping it local’ has been key to our success, says LRG senior
National Sales MD Kevin Shaw tells The Neg why local control, local people and high street branches are the key to success for a big firm like his.
Kevin Shaw, Leaders Romans Group’s sales chief, believes the best way for big agencies like this to success is to embrace the ‘local’ nature of estate agency.
While many companies take a more ‘battery hen’ approach to corralling hundreds of branches, and some online agencies are ‘barely there’ at all, Shaw says for LRG it’s all about giving branch bosses room to operate their businesses how they see fit and having teams that know their area.
“It’s all about empowering people – my favourite phrase is that ‘the price of independence is performance’ and that’s been hugely influential for us,” he says.
“But it’s about keeping it local in other ways – most consumers, when they’re deciding who to invite in to value their home, base their choice on local knowledge and in particular the For Sale boards they see around them, rather than ‘national’ brand marketing necessarily.
“That’s why we keep agency names when we buy them – unless they are small one-office acquisitions where it’s just a lettings book acquisition – so for example recent deals like Stirling Ackroyd have seen their identities preserved.”
Acquisitions
Talking of acquisitions, Shaw says he’s aware that the other way big agencies can grab market share is by acquiring smaller regional rivals.
He points to competitors such as Lomond, Connells and the Belvoir Group, all of whom are constantly on the hunt for estate agencies to buy. And let’s not forget Foxtons, which quit opening new branches several years ago and has instead been buying agencies small and large in London including, only a few months ago, Ludlow Thompson.
LRG has been similarly on the hunt, most recently in January buying Stirling Ackroyd and before that Gibbs Gillespie and Alexander & Co.
“Cold starts require deep pockets for the first 18 months to two years,” says Shaw.
“For us acquisition is all about measuring the recurring income and that invariably means lettings, which make up 70% of our overall business.”
One thing Shaw is keen to underline is that LRG is committed to the high street and that, in reality, the great ‘hybrid’ experiment has been very limited in its success – gaining approximately 6% market share so far, compared to the 30% or more it was predicted to take from traditional estate agencies.
Local teams
“All estate agencies are online and digital these days in one way or another, but for us the core is that we want to have local teams working in their local areas in branches backed up by strong services provided by the ‘head office’,” he adds.
“In many ways we are a retailer but unlike other types of business we can’t just order new stock – and my job is to use levers such as social media, digital marketing and the portals to ensure the ‘shelves are stocked’ for those local teams.
“Whatever all the changes within the industry might entail, it’s still crucial that our agents are on the batting order to be invited into those valuations.”
“Because more than anything – it’s all about keeping it local.”
BIO
Kevin Shaw is National Sales MD at Leaders Romans Group where he has worked for nearly ten years including at his current desk from which his role includes financial services and auctions, having before that held senior roles at Spicerhaart and prior to that at Countrywide and Halifax having begun his property career with Andrews in 1992.