Countrywide’s new management has taken immediate steps to try to stem the loss of market share by the troubled agency group, following the announcement this morning that chief executive Alison Platt is leaving.
A note circulated to staff this morning by executive chairman Peter Long, and sent anonymously to Estate Agent Today, says that Paul Creffield will take immediate responsibility for sales and lettings.
“Our branch management will be empowered and given the resources to restore our lost market share” says Long’s note.
He continues by saying that within the new management structure (see below) he has four reports - chief finance officer Himanshu Raja, operations director Paul Creffield, financial services managing director Peter Curran and business-to-business managing director Paul Chapman.
His note concludes by saying that “whilst I understand that this is an unsettling period and there will be some tough decisions to make along the way, I have real confidence in the Group and its future.”
He says: “There is no doubt that we are operating in a challenging market environment but we have real strengths across the Group. The diversity and breadth of operations we have means that with the correct focus we can once again be a winning Company and as I said earlier, one that we can all be proud of.”
More details on Countrywide’s strategy will be released in the full 2017 results which are presented to the City on March 8. “There is much to be done in the coming weeks before we announce and many of you will be seeing a lot of me during that time” says Long.
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What an unusual step, someone managing an office being allowed to manage that office, and not be a robot. Played on it for years and won business stating just that. Will take a while for the old guard to change mentality though.
Problem is no quality agents left in branch and no experience to train new blood. Business will not recover
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