I have been an estate agent for the last eighteen years and I am extremely fortunate that it has been my passion my entire working life. After working for several independent estate agencies being instrumental in setting up new offices and then trouble-shooting offices for a large corporate estate agent helping to turn their poor performing branches into top profit and services branches within record time throughout my career, it was always the natural progression that I would eventually one day have my own.
It all started in December 2017. I had finally announced after months of planning that Harper Williams was officially opening our doors to the public on 2nd January 2018.
I felt like the new kid at school or equally like a rabbit in the headlights, absolutely petrified after months of getting ready to launch my own estate agent.
Things suddenly got real.
Despite the fact that estate agency is all I know, everything felt different this time and it was. It was my name and face behind the brand.
I had everything to lose if it didn’t work out, but also everything to gain when it did!
Everyone thought I had gone bonkers!
Who sets up and estate agency business in a market where transaction numbers were declining asked my old accountant?
There is so much competition people would say.
But being a typical red personality type I chose to ignore the white noise, as my inner belief system was guiding me otherwise.
So with a shoe string budget (literally), no CRM system and no properties on the books….I had less than six months to make it work. That was the reality of the situation, I was being driven by the cash-burn rate which was scary at times!
Usually, an agency setting up would have at least twelve months running costs to buffer themselves while they get off ground, giving them chance to establish the brand, build a pipeline, a team and so on.
But what I had which others setting up maybe lack, was fourteen years hands-on experience behind me, a strong business plan, and the winning mentality that it was only ever going to go one way. I just had to keep reminding myself that it was nothing a hadn’t done before. Only it was for me this time, which made it even more exciting, although more daunting at times too!
I knew I was a great estate agent. I have never over-valued to win listings (oldest trick in the book for less skilled agents), always do the right thing for my customers and have a proven ability and track-record to provide honest market appraisals and deliver successful sales and marketing campaigns that get my clients moving!
No rocket science, but an unrivalled passion for the job to deliver exceptional customer service, backed up with a winning success formula.
So you may still be wondering why you haven’t heard of us before now then if we have been open for 5 years? And this is simply because we haven’t done much brand awareness as business.
This has been for a two fundamental reasons. Firstly, it takes a while to build a stable, happy and award-winning team who can look after customers to the highest of standards we expect. Secondly, I personally become a mum for the first time during the Covid-19 pandemic and so have enjoyed being a busy working mummy for the two years to my beautiful daughter.
But despite our lack of brand awareness, having a baby, and surviving Covid-19, we have still been very busy building an award-winning business that is now ready to support our exciting growth plans over the next five years and beyond.
Let’s talk a look at some of our highlights in a snapshot of the last five years: -
· We have helped 508 families move home.
· We have sold £68,701,780 worth of property.
· We have carried out 5003 accompanied viewings.
· 78% our business has come from recommendations or via our online review platforms.
· We have won 9 industry awards voted for by our customers – including Best of Cheshire for the last 4 years at the National Estate Agency Awards & Silver Winners in the whole of the Northwest for two consecutive years.
· We have sold 82% of all properties we have listed.
· On average we have negotiated 110% of our sellers asking prices (meaning significantly more equity for our clients).
· On average we sell our properties within 5 weeks.
· Only a 6.9% Fall-Through rate once sale is agreed vs the 33% industry average.
· We complete our sales in 10 weeks on average from offer accepted to legal completion.
· 5* Customer Feedback Reviews.
And you may be thinking, what does the above mean to our customers?
It means that you are working with trusted professionals who have a proven track record to secure some of the best results across our entire industry, putting more equity in our sellers back-pockets and making their moves as stress-free as possible.
Our culture to go above and beyond for our clients is the heartbeat of our business.
But we couldn’t have done it without all our fabulous clients, everyone who has taken a leap of faith in us and the fact that 78% of our business overall has come from customer recommendations or our online reviews, proves that are loyal raving fans are now part of our unbelievable salesforce.
With your help, we have built a sustainable, values-based business that we live and breathe by, is ready for growth, with an amazing team who will continue to spread our passion for delivering a world-class estate agency experience. All while helping to change the negative perception of our industry, one happy customer at a time.
Finally, from the bottom of my heart, I want to say a massive thank you to our incredible team who support all our wonderful customers and myself week in and week out, and to all our amazing customers who continue to fly the Harper Williams flag and trust us to deliver those impressive result and great customer experiences. We will never take it for granted and it really does mean the world to us.
The best part now, is that the best is yet to come!
