Haslams Estate Agents aims for best in class service with the help of beSlick

When society’s general perception of your industry errs on the negative side, you have to work that much harder to demonstrate and deliver exceptional service levels to counteract any preconceived ideas about your business. With its mission to be the best estate agency services business in the UK, Haslams is committed to doing things differently – to being truly customer-centric, to providing a great working environment with the best tools to help its employees thrive, and to supporting and providing for the community in which it operates. And with the help of beSlick, Haslams’ mission is well and truly on track.

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Background

Established over 180 years ago and operating under its current ownership since 1995, Haslams is the largest single office estate agency in Reading. The team has grown from 20 employees five years ago to nearly 60 employees, all working together from under one roof in Haslams’ landmark Friar Street office. This rapid expansion has allowed the business to grow its lettings portfolio to more than 1,000 properties, and the team now sell and let more homes than any other estate agency in the area.

The challenge

A quick read of Haslams’ reviews on Google will paint a glowing picture of customer satisfaction, but reaching this stage hasn’t always been plain sailing for its committed team.

Rapid growth and restructure

With such rapid growth over the past five years, Haslams needed to re-think and adapt its internal structure, introducing new departments, roles and responsibilities, whilst maintaining its high standards of service. In such a fast-paced working environment, Haslams’ management team were conscious that basics could easily be missed amidst the chaos of change.

High staff turnover

Staff turnover is notoriously high within the estate agency industry, especially in a toughening market and during periods of change. With a lack of clearly documented processes for new starters to follow, the Haslams management team found it was spending too much valuable time and resource training new recruits on the basics instead of being free to focus on winning new business and nurturing customer relationships.

Legislative changes

With approximately 170 pieces of legislation having a direct effect on the lettings industry alone, and new property legislation coming into force on a regular basis, documenting compliance was demanding constant attention from the Haslams team. They knew it was vital to have clear, regularly updated policies and processes stored in one central, shared location, but needed a way to demonstrate that the latest versions were being followed by every team member, every time. 

The solution

beSlick is a simple, easy-to-use online software for process enablement. You can map your processes step-by-step and ensure they are performed the same way, every time, giving you reassurance that all the business basics are being taken care of, and enabling you to focus on the fun stuff, like strategy and growth.

With its mission to deliver exceptional service, every time, Haslams wanted to ensure its foundations were sturdy and its team were empowered to work at their best and most efficient, without the need for micromanagement. Part of the strategy for achieving this was to embed clear processes throughout the business, and beSlick provided the ideal platform to achieve this.

Melissa Hughes, Haslams’ Marketing Manager, explained why implementing beSlick was an easy choice:

“As a head of department within an incredibly fast-paced full service estate agency, I need to know that tasks are being completed as efficiently and effectively as possible, and that processes are running like clockwork. I could immediately see that beSlick would make all our lives easier, and help us to avoid any slip-ups that could affect the quality of service we give to our clients.”

The Results

Efficient and effective training methods

“When a new starter joins the Haslams team, training them on our business processes couldn’t be easier now we have beSlick. Not only do we have a full library of our processes stored in one central place, so nothing gets missed in their training, we only need to demonstrate each process once before they can begin to repeat them, easily and effortlessly.”
“Reminders to complete their steps automatically drop into their inbox and to-do list, and as managers we can check in and see that these steps are being completed each and every time. Plus any employee can easily recommend changes to the processes to help improve efficiency – and we’ve found new starters are brilliant at bringing a new perspective and helping to refine how we work.”

A smarter way of working

“It was important that our chosen solution complemented the way in which we use our CRM system – we didn’t want to duplicate work, we wanted to empower our team to work smartly, efficiently and effectively, thus freeing up resource to focus on (1) winning new business and (2) nurturing customer relationships.”
“With fees under pressure due to increased competition from online and hybrid agents, and Rightmove forever raising their prices, beSlick has enabled us to reduce time and resource wastage, and differentiate ourselves by delivering best in class service from the ground up.”

Compliance comes as standard

“One of the reasons I love using beSlick with my team is the ease in which I can now check, using the reporting feature, that every step within a process has been completed, when and by whom. This gives me peace of mind that we’re remaining compliant and gives me a simple, instantaneous way to demonstrate this compliance.”

Fewer time-consuming meetings

“A recent article in The Times, “Sorry, I’m in a meeting… for half of every working week”, claimed Britain is in the midst of a meetings epidemic, with the average worker now spending 213 hours a year stuck in them. An unintended but welcome side effect, beSlick has helped us to improve our internal communication and reduce lengthy meetings, thanks to the open and transparent way it enables everyone to stay informed. We also run our meetings themselves via beSlick, with agendas set out as step-by-step processes, keeping them on track, valuable and quick.”
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Anthony Murphy
Co-founder

"We've seen real changes in efficiency and accountability ... we've got an operating system now"