Upheaval at Countrywide as retailer takes charge of sales and lettings

Countrywide has made another major out-of-industry appointment and merged its sales and lettings divisions.

Samantha Tyrer, who joins from Dixons Carphone, will be heading up the chain’s agency business.

She is a key recruit for Alison Platt, Countrywide’s CEO who joined last September from Bupa, also without previous property experience.

The appointment means that out of six people driving the Countrywide business until this spring, just three are now left on the executive team but another high-profile departure is imminent, which will leave two.

Bob Scarff, Nick Dunning and – shortly – Nigel Stockton are the known departures. It is understood that Alyn North, formerly chief finance and operating officer for London and premier and commercial divisions, has also left within the last few days.

New appointee Tyrer takes on the chain’s sales and lettings businesses in her new role as managing director of retail.

She comes from a background where Sir Charles Dunstone’s Carphone Warehouse and Dixons merged last year in a £3.8bn deal, criticised as “two past-their-sell-by dates merging” in a cost-cutting exercise.

Tyrer was sales and services director at Carphone Warehouse, where she was responsible for 8,500 people across 1,100 branches, and her experience includes leading a “new digital strategy, transforming the customer journey”, according to the Countrywide announcement.

The Countrywide announcement says: “Sam’s vast retail experience will be instrumental in leading the transformation of our sales and lettings businesses.”

Tyrer’s appointment to the Countrywide executive team follows the abrupt departures this spring of Countrywide’s head of estate agency business, Bob Scarff, and Nick Dunning, who had been largely in charge of lettings.

Scarff left at the end of May after 37 years, saying only that he will not be leaving the industry.

While sales and lettings at Countrywide now become a single entity, a spokesperson told Eye that John Hards and Margaret Longden continue as joint managing directors of Countrywide Residential Lettings.

In addition to Tyrer’s appointment, other changes have been made to Countrywide’s executive team which “will lay the foundations for delivering the ambitions of our Building our Future programme”.

Nigel Stockton, the high-profile financial services director, will remain on the team for just under two months before quitting the mortgage industry.

He leaves on September 1 to become chief executive of wealth management business Bellpenny – chaired by Stockton’s old boss Grenville Turner, ex-Countrywide CEO and now its chairman.

Bellpenny is owned by Oaktree Capital Mangagement, which has a stake in Countrywide.

Stockton is replaced by Peter Curran, who will become managing director of financial services.

Andrew Pennells, formerly sales director with Countrywide’s estate agency division, becomes “group transformation & change director”.

In his new role he will “focus on leading the transformational change agenda” as part of Countrywide’s Building our Future programme.

Group HR director Kate Brown who, like Alison Platt, joined from Bupa, is another member of the new executive team, alongside chief financial officer Jim Clarke, and Graham Bell who has been appointed managing director, London.

CEO Platt said: “I firmly believe the [new] executive team has the experience and passion to create the best environment and structure for our people to deliver outstanding customer experience while ensuring we make the most of all the opportunities in the UK property sector, both residential and commercial.”

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37 Comments

  1. smile please

    If you read between the lines, and listen to the stories coming out of Countrywide Towers (just gossip not fact…..) it’s all gearing up for an online battle. Previous senior management did not believe this was the route to go down. Looking at the appointments I think they firmly believe online agency is the future. How long until the other corporates follow?

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    1. Ric

      So they are going to close all of their High Street offices to compete “Online”? Surely this is the only way to compare and compete with the Online Only Battle…… otherwise they are well….. High Street Agents with a website! as they are now. Not sure what battle there is to be won other than service, fee and reputation.

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      1. smile please

        Running the online along side (different name of course, public will not know) over time however many x years high street will be more bespoke higher end. That’s what I have heard anyway

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        1. Ric

          Public will know – High Street Agents will educate them including their existing clients – My opinion you cannot run two separate businesses which in effect are against each other and give 110% to both.

          What will the message be? Who will be their staff, valuers etc, they would have to employ a whole new workforce, as the local BM’s cannot turn up in a CW kit one day and the CWOnline the day after saying Forget HS Agents, Online is best. Can’t work wont work thinking you can master both.

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          1. smile please

            Coutrywide have many offices under different names in the same town.

            They will have “Patch managers” probably ex local high street staff that cover a 5 x 5 mile radius. The branches are mostly using tablets now anyway same as the surveyors. They will get one of these to upload from then a call centre and back office email system deals with the rest. like all onliners they will not be estate agents they will be mobile listers.

            I think the staff at high street offices will hate it though, imagine trying to keep your average fee and upfront costs up when a member of staff from the same firm undercuts you by some margin!

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    2. GIOpoint2

      Alison, it’s so reassuring to have the old Bupa team  behind you ,
      Lieutenant K Brown , roll… on the implementation of peoples agenda.
       

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    3. Robert May

      Or how long before it fails? The accountants should be all over this Baldrick cunning  (trending) plan and someone needs to listen! Harry Hill did a cost breakdown of selling property which eloquently set out the viability formula.  Although there are huge wads of cash being thown at online agency it is a flawed strategy for selling property, but that isn’t the game plan though ist it?

       

       

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      1. smile please

        It wont fail, it just may not bring the success of he high street in the short to medium term, CW are heavily pushing this you can expect them to dominate the online market, its a question of if it over takes the high street.

        The personnel they have invested in and let go, and the conversations they are having about driving this forward, it will succeed (to an extent) As for no money in it, look at the cross sale opportunities and also the infrastructure / data CW have in place.

        Their market analysis has shown the future is online (they maybe right or wrong) and they dont want to play catch up.

         

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        1. Robert May

          Their market analysis? really of is it the  pressure/ investor fear of missing out?
          This whole business of delayed  success, are the Prudential and Halifax hibernating bears just sat there waiting for spring?
          Corporate Agency has been having a go for the best part of 30 years and have managed a fairly static 20% penetration into agency but this is not about selling houses; heir end game is still the same one as it was 30 years ago but  is a different end game to yours.
          Why were Black Horse, Prudential etc  interested in agency in the mid 1980’s? Financial services leads. It is  the vertical or horizontals (depending on you  viewpoint) associated with property instructions . It is fine to sell property at a loss if you are picking up  lucrative FS leads and utility switching commissions, in some ways it is better to never win the instruction, just get the heads up on who is moving. That is the game that is being played right now and the really smart corporate types are using agents as worker bees to go fetch some pollen.

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  2. agency negotiation limited

    Takes a long time to turn a big ship around and one of the disadvantages of being corporate owned is that branches don’t have the autonomy to act, think or respond to market forces. It’s up to the Captain and her mates to make it happen. Hope they know what they’re doing, unless of course, it’s just another job rather than a passion.

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  3. followme

    With an extensive online presence and the largest offering of High Street offices Countrywide is going to be a formidable force! Watch out Purple bricks and the like, a new predator will arrive soon!

    All good agents can rest assured that the same poor service, over valuing and pushy cross selling will of course keep them from being the no 1 agent, yet they will make a splash.

    Perhaps this is another reason for all non corporate agents, who wont have the money to spend on an online presence such as countrywide, will now reconsider not joining OnTheMarket.com!

     

     

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    1. wilko

      I agree with the overall sentiment but there are some good agents working at Countrywide.

      It certainly seems to me as if they are moving forward with the online proposition for definite now.

      I can see a lot of staff that don’t agree that onlinc is the way forward onsidering a move away.

       

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  4. GIOpoint2

    This ship is sinking,  the crew that built country wide have abandoned it , or should i say been made to walk the plank.

    Very, very foolish to parallel insurance industry with the  estate agency it will cause major antagonism within the remainder of what’s left in the galley.

    Alison you just do’t get it, your ballast has also drained ….

     

     

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  5. GIOpoint2

    not even a fishermen’s friend can save you 🙂

     

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  6. GPL

    Kirk to Enterprise?

    Scotty replies…. Yes Captain

    Kirk…. beam Bones & Spock down to Planet Countrywide

    Scotty…. Yes Captain

    Scotty…. anyone else Captain?

    Kirk…. Don’t know yet Scotty…. beam some of those Crystals…. we’ll need those as well!

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  7. Woodentop

    Countrywide is an animal that is only concerned in making money. It was originally run by an estate agent but now ……. the ships captain and crew chiefs only expertise are profit analysts. No surprise that someone  has sat down and on paper noticed they can reduce overheads and make more money being tech savvy rather than employers. BUT so many business fail year on year with this principle.

     

    Do you remember when many of the insurance/financial organisation jumped on the bandwagon in the early 1990’s? How many are left today …. zero after they spent £millions. Some were more wise than others and got out just as quick, while others nearly went under (remember Cornerstone). There is a very good reason for this ……. looked good on paper!

     

    Organisation like PupleXXXX are spending millions on advertising from crowd funding? To get the return for their investors, we are talking £megamillions from cut throat fees and not one web only portal has ever succeeded to date. Another dot.com boom and bust on the horizon?

     

    There is a reason why they all fail, the same reason why the insurers/financial organisations got out, it doesn’t work on paper.  It would need a complete web revolution, which is being sold as the way forward. The wheel is round, you can grease the axle to make is run smooth but you can’t change its shape to make it better. Alas these tech savvy people have yet to learn this lesson ……….. estate agency needs to and does adapt but don’t go up a Cul-de-sac or you’ll be in the same mess as Greece.

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  8. GPL

    Well, I don’t think it can get worse at Countrywide…. seems to me to another screaming signal to join/support OnTheMarket.com as the various battlelines get drawn.

    High Street Agency certainly needs to finds its Flag Bearer over and above individual company websites. Rightmove support themselves, Hoopla are becoming the Win a Prize Stall at your local circus…. so, time for OnTheMarket.com to start beating the High Street Estate Agency Drum a lot L O U D E R!

    Interesting times ahead…..so many undecided agents can either do an emu impression and sing lalala lala…. or make a decisive decision on our industry…. either support our future thru driving OnTheMarket.com forward or look back in future years and wish you had done things differently.

    Rightmove are certainly gearing up for a different future which will most likely not feature estate agents! Do we have a future estate agency industry or do we sit by and watch our business diminishing!? So many property professionals watching & waiting…. for what?!

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    1. 1stTimeBuyer

      Oh please let just one post go by without you having to mention OTM, who might I add, are causing a lot of damage to small businesses who joined.

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      1. Paul H

        “who might I add, are causing a lot of damage to small businesses who joined.”

        What on earth are you talking about? If this was the case then these smaller businesses (like mine) would be leaving OTM in their droves.

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      2. PeeBee

        “Oh please let just one post go by without you having to mention OTM, who might I add, are causing a lot of damage to small businesses who joined.”

        So… YOU ALSO mentioned it – perpetuating what you seemingly have such a problem with (good move, chum…).

        Secondly – you “add” what you “might” – but without ACTUAL PROOF it’s just 5h!t badly wrapped in very flimsy Christmas paper.

        Your agenda becomes clearer with every post, 1TB…

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      3. Robert May

        Details please! how about a link? who actually reckoned that? Don’t you think if OTM was damaging (a lot) the small businesses who joined at least one of them would have posted to that effect.

        How about we discuss the negative affect of Zoopla providing  inaccurate advice to value to the general public? What about how the availablity of online valuation systems to agents who would be unviable without such information is causing fee erosion  roughly equivalent to  £11,000 per annum per 0.1% fee reduction?

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  9. Paul H

    Andrew Pennells, formerly sales director with Countrywide’s estate agency division, becomes “group transformation & change director”.
    Why on earth do Countrywide need a “group transformation and change director”? Says it all really, who on earth is steering this ship?

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    1. Ric

      Would love to meet the “Director of New Titles” at CW, must be a highly paid job to thinking of all these new positions.

      Anyway I am off to see my “Director of Porcelain and Energy” makes a bl99dy brilliant coffee! That’s why I promoted him from “Head of Collecting Dairy Produce”

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      1. Paul H

        Barmy isn’t it Ric. These corps are a different breed and seem hell bent on heading in a completely different direction for everyone else!

        “Director of money wasting ideas”

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  10. Woodentop

    Before the fore and against OTM takes over this thread (please don’t, its getting to be a switch off) GPL has really highlighted the main point I have been trying to get over for I don’t know how long. It is not who’s camp you wish to be in or out, for estate agents they need to recognise what the future may hold if they continue blindly along the motorway which may have  a cliff at the end. To-date not one person has been able to answer this question on EYE  ….

     

    Why would an high street agent want to help support ANY web company that could be the cause of their end? No other business supports another business that will cause its own downfall.

     

    Just stop and think what web companies offer you and what they are actually doing to you. The latter is the key to you staying in business. If they support other organisation and business that want to put you out of business and are likely to increase the level of competing business  ……… hello!

     

    So what could you do or more importantly what you need to do before it is too late? Try another business model that doesn’t hurt your business. Well there is a choice, actually more than one but they certainly are not RM or Z. Customers don’t care where they go as long as they are told, why and it works. They will follow but do it now, not tomorrow.

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  11. Clarkuk

    If all the CW estate agents are out of a job soon then who is going to make us all look good?

     

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  12. PeeBee

    JAM001 – where are you when a story breaks concerning your company?

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  13. The Outsider

    I must be the only one who thinks this is a good planning by CW.  This isn’t about them becoming a solely online agent.  This is about making the most of your scale to leverage costs, and future proofing your business.  To that extent, I think it’s smart.
     

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    1. smile please

      I agree, but its bad news for the likes of me as a high street agent. If a big player like CW do this others will as well and we will be sucked into offering the same shoddy service the fees dictate.

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      1. Robert May

        With respect CW are not actually a big player in practical local terms.

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        1. smile please

          You do not think CW are a big player? – think it depends on where you look. As much as i think the staff and service are shocking in the main, they have pretty good record of market share on sales and lettings. The mortgages they arrange i believe is over 30% of the whole of the UK. I would not mind my company being as small as them.

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          1. Robert May

            For sure they are a big player but on a local level they struggle to compete against firms like you and I bet Alison  wishes each local branch was as good as you.
            In respect of Mortgages that is what they are about,  grab the FS leads, grab the verticals. That is the game  that and some service suppliers are chasing A  business with 5% penetration should not achieve 30% penetration in any area, it means their focus is  demonstrably different to yours.
            I have full respect of CW, that doesn’t mean I can’t see them as not a real threat. And one quite easy to control.

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      2. Ric

        smile please – stop it and I say that with a smile! Robert is 100% correct that the local market will not get nor see what you seem to be fearing.

        How you perform locally will ALWAYS carry more weight than a company who’s only boast is lots of offices or the possibility of a cheaper online type deal (if this happens). If this was not true CW would be market leader in every post code and the online only agents would be well above 2% of the UK market.

        CW who’s fees used to be 1.5% and no less, around us have been charging less than 1% for I don’t know how long now and still cannot get a foot hold, despite the endless Z & RM chants and we have offices all over rubbish! Who cares.

        I just don’t get how you can be worried about this, UNLESS they (your local CW offices) already have better market shares of both sold and for sale compared to you and their reputation is already better. If this is the case you need to look closer to home and get your own house in order pretty darn quick.

        Their mortgage arm is no longer nearly as powerful as it used to be, we have taken 2 or 3 FA’s off them for who we use M.A.B and they now write 3 and 4 times more business than they used to at CW as they are not confined to the CWFS ways. All were worried will I earn the same as I did at CW and they are now wishing they had left years ago.

        anyway, again sorry I mean stop it in the sense of stop running yourself down, CW are pants and as a HS Indep EA you should be wiping the floor with them or poaching their staff if they are great in the hope now might be perfect timing to recruit some nervous staff.

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  14. Woodentop

    CW are just about big enough to cause that web revolution …. for if they keep the offices but ditch the staff to just a lister, receptionist,  mortgage advisor, control expenses and half their fees  ….. looks good on paper. The key for them is keeping the High street presence when other web portals have none. Which would you use if you were Joe Public? Not only would the likes of PurpleXXX etc collapse, so would many medium size High Street agents as a price war would be inevitable. Small agents are best to weather the storm as their overheads are low for adapting? Hindsight is a great thing but forward planning is always a wise move? What one needs to remember web only portals are trying to change the attitude of the public, make the vendors do their work for a reduced fee and the internet has been successful in other industries making things cheaper for supplier and consumer. Its the old guard that remembers quality counts.

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    1. Woodentop

      The clock is ticking and the consumer needs to see a move away from RM & Z for the  High Street agent. Leave it too late you have helped the revolution and your own downfall?

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  15. followme

    Purpledicks could get blown away by the new countrywide online proposition! Sorry I couldn’t resist!!!

    ONTHEMARKET.COM the saviour of the little man!

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  16. inthefield

    Spread the word to all the “on the fencers” they need to get on OTM before it’s too late. RM I’m sure are planning to flick a switch so that they are the online agent of choice. They can only do that if they have stock from us.

    DO IT!!!

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