An awards scheme for agents looks set to expand this year.
The British Property Awards, which ran for the first time last year apparently without any advertising or publicity, is free to enter.
Agents in towns across Britain are automatically entered but are sent emails to opt out.
EYE became aware of it after an agent told us that they have opted out, partly because they had not heard of it and partly because they were concerned that if every agent bar one in a town were to opt out, the one that had not would be declared the winner.
However, the organisers told us yesterday that such a situation would simply not arise, and if it did, the award would be cancelled.
We were told that one winner per town is chosen after mystery shopping, and is then charged £199 plus VAT for a marketing package which includes the logo, a press release and window stickers.
Director David Gregory said that the scheme could now extend to 800 towns, with one winner per town. Winners can then be judged regionally and nationally.
He said last year’s scheme culminated in an awards bash in the Banking Hall in central London, hosted by Homes Under the Hammer presenter Martin Roberts.
There were, he said, over 100 winners, with the national title going to Jackson-Stops in Richmond, Surrey.
Gregory said that every agent in each town is judged against 25 customer service based criteria over a period of five weeks.
Emails are sent from fake accounts, to find out for example whether agents respond as quickly to buyer inquiries as to sellers, and how quickly email responses are sent and what their grammar is like.
Agents are also assessed on how quickly they answer the phone and the tone of their voice.
Gregory said that the idea behind the scheme is to encourage inclusivity. He said: “Other award schemes charge to enter.
“Our awards exist because is a need to encourage inclusion.”
The scheme is also different, Gregory said, because it does not take into account any customer feedback – which he said in other award schemes would only be solicited from satisfied customers.
The website expands on this, saying: “The British Property Awards was created by a dedicated team of previous estate agency owners who believe that the industry is unfairly judged by some consumers, due to the shortcomings of some estate agents.”
It goes on: “We judge agents on a town by town basis, ensuring that only those agents who meet a certain standard are awarded by our team. Should all agents within a given town fail to meet this standard, no award will be provided by our team.
“Once we began researching for our awards, we were simply shocked by the polarity of the service provided by different agents, service levels also varied wildly dependent on the time of day and the time of the week.
“We take our jobs very seriously at The British Property Awards, our mission is to provide a useful award for the consumer on a local level, highlighting excellence within their town, an award that can be trusted and used as part of their decision making process.”
The British Property Awards – whose company name is registered as BPA8 – is planning another awards bash this year, but Gregory said that the number of attendees will force a move to a larger venue. Ticket prices last year were £199 plus VAT.
The website shows the logos of some well known agents, including Belvoir, Knight Frank, Jackson-Stops, and Northwood.
Neither Belvoir nor Northwood was aware of the awards scheme, had not realised their logos were on the website, and nor did they know that any of their franchises were winners last year.
The Richmond branch of Jackson-Stops mentions its win in the news section of its website, saying it was “absolutely delighted”.
These awards are a joke. A mediocre, uninspiring Estate agent in our town, WON! It’s ridiculous, and I’m pretty sure they won by default as nobody else of value bothered entering. We will see how they continue to grow and you never know.
You must be logged in to like or dislike this comments.
Click to login
Don't have an account? Click here to register
Thank you for your comment, I have provided some additional information below in response:
We judge all agents within a local area who do not to opt out of our process. We have had an opt-out rate of less than 5% nationally and thus we are currently the most inclusive award. No agent is awarded by ‘default’, as stated in the above article “However, the organisers told us yesterday that such a situation would simply not arise, and if it did, the award would be cancelled.”
You must be logged in to like or dislike this comments.
Click to login
Don't have an account? Click here to register
This awards scheme seems laughably awful. Why would anybody pay for the privilege of being awarded a logo from an awarding body nobody knows or cares about?
on a side note… Peeps, have you got £250 to spare? I run a totally legit trading body and if you pay me £500 you get a written letter of approval – from me, personally – to endorse you as being a legitimate agent. You can then show the letter to customers and they will then use you instead of the agent who didn’t pay me £750.
And all it costs is £1,000!
You must be logged in to like or dislike this comments.
Click to login
Don't have an account? Click here to register
Thank you for your comment, I have provided some additional information below in response:
We feel that for an award to be valid it must be as inclusive as possible. To achieve this we adopted a model of not charging agents to enter, as other awards charged every entrant and had additional charges for each category. Charging only the winning agent a moderate fee has resulted in a significantly higher inclusion rate. This model has now been adopted by the most longstanding awarding body, who are charging the attributed agent £1200 + VAT, should the agent wish to license their branding for the year.
With our award, the winning agent receives a license to use our branding on their website, email footers, letterheads and other marketing related activities. Agents also receive a comprehensive marketing pack containing certificates, window vinyls, a press release and a number of different pieces of marketing artwork. Feedback from previous winning agents has been extremely positive with good value for money being one of the most common themes.
You must be logged in to like or dislike this comments.
Click to login
Don't have an account? Click here to register
From the website:
“DISCLAIMER: The British Property Awards do not endorse any of the companies beyond their qualification as an award winner. Any person wishing to make further enquiries about a winning agent should do so directly.The British Property Awards will not enter into any correspondence about a winning company.”
SO… they provide “awards” proclaiming these Agencies to be the mutt’s nuts in their patch – but they won’t actually go on to state that any of them are any good at what they do.
You seriously couldn’t make it up…
You must be logged in to like or dislike this comments.
Click to login
Don't have an account? Click here to register
Thank you for your comment, I have provided some additional information below in response:
We, like another major award, include this disclaimer on our website as we cannot afford to get into regular detailed conversations with members of the public relating to specific agents. We are of course stating that the winning agent is outstanding, as we have extensively judged them against their local competition. As this disclaimer has been misunderstood I will look into an alternative wording, thank you for bringing this to our attention.
You must be logged in to like or dislike this comments.
Click to login
Don't have an account? Click here to register
And you wonder why our industry is languishing at the bottom of the pile.
You must be logged in to like or dislike this comments.
Click to login
Don't have an account? Click here to register
Love your moniker Headache ! Made me laugh when so little to laugh about in PIE these days.
You must be logged in to like or dislike this comments.
Click to login
Don't have an account? Click here to register
Yet another company leaching off our industry.
You must be logged in to like or dislike this comments.
Click to login
Don't have an account? Click here to register
Is this the same lot that have bombarded me with emails to say my firm (one office property finding agency in the south west who does not sell property) has been chosen as the winning agent….? I can then choose the award level advertising that I want and at a cost. A joke. Forget them.
You must be logged in to like or dislike this comments.
Click to login
Don't have an account? Click here to register
Thank you for your comment, I have provided some additional information below in response:
I can confirm that the emails you are relating to are not from our company.
You must be logged in to like or dislike this comments.
Click to login
Don't have an account? Click here to register
Can we please hear from anyone who attended the awards bash last September?
How good was it?
How many were there?
We’ll be listening to the tone of your voice…
You must be logged in to like or dislike this comments.
Click to login
Don't have an account? Click here to register
Only just come across these comments…we attended both the awards ceremonies and had a great night, why all the negative comments and sarcasm?
You must be logged in to like or dislike this comments.
Click to login
Don't have an account? Click here to register
This company decides who is the best agent by making phone calls and sending emails …. it doesn’t actually monitor any of the lettings through the process, see how quickly maintenance issues are dealt with and how tenants and landlords are treated. Neither does it monitor sales through the process and check out how well viewings or progressions are conducted. It doesn’t compare fees, or value for money. Pretty useless awards really!
You must be logged in to like or dislike this comments.
Click to login
Don't have an account? Click here to register