‘Outstanding recognition’ for estate agency always looking to improve

St Ives estate agency Wellington Wise won the Online Innovator category last year, which was, and remains, a positive experience for them.

The Hunts Post caught up with director Tom Hookham to find out what it’s meant for the agency, which also has offices in Hitchin and Royston.

“Winning the award was great, it’s always nice to be recognised for being outstanding at what you do, however, the best thing was spending the evening celebrating with our team. My advice for anyone entering is to get all staff involved,” said Mr Hookham.

Wellington Wise found that winning the award has spurred the business on to develop its online presence. It has also helped it look deeper into how it can improve its business.

“Since winning the Online Innovator award Wellington Wise has continued to build and develop its online presence. Our market share has continued to grow and we’re breaking previous sales records on an almost monthly basis,” Mr Hookham added.

“We’re always looking at how we can improve, I think that was the main reason we won the award. In any business if you don’t look for improvement and have that hunger to better yourself you’ll soon be overtaken by someone who does.”

Along with The Hunts Post business award, the agency also went onto win a sector award highlighting its honest and pro-active customer service.

Mr Hookham said: “It might sound a bit cliché but for the team, every sale we make for a client is a success. The best thing is we get to celebrate successes almost every day. We’re also very proud to win the 2017 British Property Award for customer service in St Ives.”

For those thinking of entering the Online Innovator of the Year award, examples of the use of online tools that have improved and affected the business will be taken into account.

The judges will also be looking for the majority of the following:

Innovation and creativity – is this site or development/products within this site innovative? How is the concept of this site, the way it is managed, run and developed?

User friendly – what steps were taken to make sure the site was user friendly?

Social media – evidence of a strong online promotional strategy

Impact on business – how has this increased the businesses online footprint and visibility, show evidence of return on investment

Impact on development – what impact has the implementation of these mediums had on the business overall, how has this effected the running of the business in other areas, have changes been initiated by this development.

Engagement of staff – how you have trained staff in the use and understanding of social media.

Cost impact – what cost has been taken into consideration when establishing the internet site and social media sites and has it proved to be cost effective?

All entries need to be received either through the dedicated awards website or via the post by September 8.

There are 12 categories and businesses can enter up to three, with a different application for each award entered.

You can find information on how to enter the awards by visiting www.huntsbusinessawards.co.uk.