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Very Sad

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Countrywide have been practising social distancing for several years, keeping their branches empty and dealing with less and less people every year for the last 10!

From: Very Sad 04 May 2020 23:21 PM

Implosion!! The 'Yes Men' who survived the cull have no ability to turn this round. They do not have the ability to coach, train, develop and inspire which is needed, but was extinguished by the accountants from 2008. Sad, but agency today is all about great people and great IT, Countywide used to have one of the too, now it has neither!

From: Very Sad 25 June 2018 09:48 AM

Hope some of the beleaguered staff who have not had bonuses due to the 'corrupt' MBA style of the recent Senior Management benefit from the bounce back. Good luck to the 'returnees' shouldn't be a difficult task with the size of their market share and their technology to turn it round......

From: Very Sad 04 April 2018 08:49 AM

Good luck to all those who are still on the ship. The new decision makers were actually the ones who were unable to manage the 'dinosaur' previously, will the new king of the Dinosaurs be able to turn it round and find the skills, and talents they haven't shown in the last 5 years, mmmmm........ Is the answer to bring back the former dinosaurs, dusting down their white socks and reminiscing how good they thought they used to be. The only thing Peter Long has got right in the press release, is 'there is no quick fix' and 'it will look like we're moving backwards before we move forwards'. Break it up and sell it on, the only way to save some of the brands that have a little bit of equity left. Get some real industry experts in at key positions and remove all thoughts that bringing back the 'eighties' will invigorate the Group. Too late, move on and don't be thinking going back is a way forward!

From: Very Sad 08 March 2018 08:57 AM

Having to watch continual advertising on the main media outlets and losing a fortune tends to suggest its overheads are more than its turnover, sustainable? The overheads they are saving on are disappearing down the media black hole. 51.6% of properties within 10 months in a market that has one of its lowest ever supply numbers and demand remains high - that is really poor. The industry have to start outing these guys and taking them on. The independents have to wake up and start attacking them, before they get to a point and do the unthinkable, make a profit!

From: Very Sad 13 February 2018 08:21 AM

Really sad state of affairs, I hope Alison does the right thing and doesn't take her settlement after the number of people Countrywide screwed over giving them the opportunity to spend time with their family. Girl from Oldham let her roots down badly, joined the corruption bandwagon and ruined a lot of peoples careers.

From: Very Sad 24 January 2018 08:59 AM

This is a considerable achievement, considering the Group were on the acquisition trail 2015 & 2016. Not only 14% down on volume, the productivity must be about 20% down overall, that must be something they are very proud of.

From: Very Sad 18 January 2018 09:01 AM

Even more ironically, the post went up before I did a spell check, so... The IT illiteracy that this business suffered from 2008, has made this 'new 'model' unable to operate effectively if at all. Add this to the inability of Alison's senior management to train this out to the branches due to the chasm she has built in the middle management, means this cannot work. The only way to get this to work is with great leadership, huge market share and the ability to sell add-ons at an unprecedented rate, when they have little or no management control of the behaviours of their branch staff . Three more reasons why cutting your pricing by a third may not work. The old guard may have gone, but it looks like they left their broken calculators behind. Really ironic I keep getting spam from this publication from the businesses set-up by the original 'it illiterates' who broke the highly effective model of UKs Largest Estate Agency. I understand their enthusiasm withtheir 'new toys' however, their 'new toys' have been peddled by people who know how they work for decades.

From: Very Sad 14 November 2017 09:23 AM

The IT illiteracy that this business suffered from 2008, has made this 'new 'model' operate effectively if at all. Add this to the inability of Alison's senior management to train this ut to the branches due to the chasm she has built in the middle management, means this cannot work. The only way to get this to work is with great leadership, huge market share and the ability to sell add-ons at an unprecedented rate. Three more reasons why cutting your pricing by a third may not work. The old guard may have gone, but it looks like they left their broken calculators behind. Really ironic I keep getting spam from this publication from businesses set-up by the 'it illiterates' who broke the, simple math

From: Very Sad 14 November 2017 09:12 AM

Great entertainment though!

From: Very Sad 14 September 2017 10:06 AM

Blagging, is exactly the right terminology! Whilst the idea has legs, the very idea of trying to make Bairstow Eves cool is laughable. Will they ask the vloggers to wear white socks, shiny suits and an unhealthy amount of hair cosmetics?!?! The target audience will probably love the videos, however, I thought Jeremy would know in this current market his target audience are 40plus not 18 -21. Maybe it's something for the employees to watch and aspire to buy with their apprentice wages and use as a training video to understand what owning a house is like. In fact actually, the story is all wrong, it's a series of training videos. It can't be for a market who need 10 times income to get on the housing ladder. So very sad for thise great people still there yet very entertaining for the industry. Jeremy, next time do yourself a favour, don't invite Alison to your brainstorming!

From: Very Sad 14 September 2017 09:06 AM

One of the biggest examples of Corporate theft. Countrywide's management team rolled in their mates/management consultants, took their advice at the cost of millions of the shareholder's profits and the result is a share price at less than 25% of the top price in 2014 and the staff at the sharp end's salaries have been decimated during the process to try and hide the lack of productivity caused by the chaos of the MBA educated thieves who now run the business, very, very sad!

From: Very Sad 25 August 2017 08:44 AM

There is nothing wrong with the majority of people of branch level, unfortunately upward from there is the issue and has been not just since Alison's super girls took over. They just listened to the boys as they left, thought their plan would work and.........

From: Very Sad 16 February 2017 13:53 PM

Did well to hang on so long? Some senior managers make a positive difference, some don't........

From: Very Sad 14 February 2017 07:55 AM

Really difficult for Sam having come from failing businesses earlier in her career, to have such an equally negative time in her leadership of this once great 'service' business, however, in her short time with Countrywide, she has managed it. Increases in market share are only due to acquisitions, if you added the market share of the businesses bought in the last 5 years to Countrywide's market share in 2012, the total would be significantly higher than it is today. That is because factually Countrywide's acquired businesses are dismantled by the ability of the Countrywide senior managers to integrate the great businesses they buy, into really poor business they run. 'Getting really focused on our customers has really paid off', absolute rot! If you look at the real figures without the acquisitions the market share has dropped like a stone, if you look at the market share of the acquisitions post buyout, they have dropped like a stone. That is the measure of how Countrywide's customers feel about bringing the sales and lettings businesses together. The lettings business at Countrywide was always been really poorly run, now they have been able to take over the agency and they are destroying it. Fixflo is a software which means the clients can email the Property Managers rather than ring, as their Prop Man is so poorly resourced they are either unable to answer the phone or deal with the issue the caller is raising. That is why Fixflo was born, good piece of kit dividing unpaid invoice enquiries from leaking taps, but doing the filing won't solve the underlying issues. The phone lines are jammed by contractors who are trying to get paid, as Countrywide's infamous Finance Team have lost the invoice again and again..... Poor old Finders Keepers, I hope their reputation, brilliant staff and customers don't go the same way as Snapes lettings, JP Brimelow, lettings, Curtis Baines, and the other acquisitions who get plugged into a far more inferior IT illiterate business, that is definitely not customer focused that line is a complete sham throughout the organisation. Now the wrecking ball has well and truly destroyed Bridgfords and Blundells, two of the great northern brands, maybe it would just be better for Countrywide to just concentrate on London. Piece of advice Alison & Sam, the software can't rescue the management structure you have destroyed in the North, get out of the North as your operational and market knowledge about it, is as good your IT. I'm sure London would welcome the concentration of HMV rejects cocking up their businesses soon.

From: Very Sad 14 January 2017 09:56 AM

The company is flouting Employment Law throughout it's organisation. Unreasonable hours, changing terms and conditions without consulting. Preying on their staff's insecurities and acting consistently in constructive methods of forcing people out of their business. Dramatically reducing market share, no clear plan, demoralised and over-reached middle management, unskilled in their roles and hanging onto dear-life trying to deliver objectives that change daily, all in an environment of IT illiteracy and senior management trying to work out why 'Building their future' looks more like a demolition site rather than an organisation to be proud of! Can anyone calculate how many sales at £995 it would take to pay Alison's and Sam's wages. Don't let Countrywide's Finance team work it out, they don't have any batteries in their calculators, and seem to have budgeted again without putting a provision in for staff commission's. This is really, really, really sad! If they want to survive and grow - give the mandate back to the Regional Managers, buy back your IT, and send the HMV failures back to the one-dimensional arenas they failed in previously

From: Very Sad 13 January 2017 11:36 AM

Oh dear, another brand tarnished, another few hundred hard working and talented people exposed by the incompetencies of Northern lass’s senior management team. When will this team understand they don’t own the intellectual wealth of the business, that is what makes agency unique. How to grab market share sits with the fee earners and quickly dissipates when you get rid of the experienced people who hold the knowledge. Strip out all the data from recent acquisitions in agency, lettings, and financial services and inspect those numbers and you will see the real impact made by this current exec. A shocking waning of market share in their traditional strong holds. Buy a business and let their key people leave, not a business model for success. Give agency to people who can only use a calculator is proving to be a disaster. Next plans are to bring Hamptons back to the north, where it failed spectacularly previously even though it was staffed by great people and run by agency professionals in Robin Paterson and co. Good luck to Alison and Jim on their next jaunt across to the US to find some more half-wits who think they know what they are talking about. Start at the Whitehouse, tell the tenant you’re scottish and like golf and maybe you might get some more dirty dollars to poor down the drain. Really sad for the great people at Countrywide who remain, have a Merry Christmas, think about a happy new year when you have found a new employer who appreciates, values and understands their business

From: Very Sad 16 December 2016 09:05 AM

Too many grown-ups in the LSH business who are able to challenge the decisions of the Senior Management and harder to remove as it is too expensive to buy out their contracts. Hope the new owner gets it at a knockdown price and realises the huge opportunity it presents.

From: Very Sad 15 December 2016 21:48 PM

Really sad situation, do not know about the South, but at least three brilliant Bridgfords branches shut today, and allegedly about 30 regionals gone nationally, I believe. This is a great opportunity to get some really good people on board from this once great brand. This brilliant brand in the north has cascaded into the doldrums as a result of the misconception the current exec board's view the Group's wealth is in the South, however, Countrywide's strength and attraction was heavily weighted on the sheer volume of transactions generated in the North. Sadly, through no fault of it's key fee earners, this brand has been ruined by the lettings senior management buying strong local letting businesses, however, plugging them into a really poorly managed lettings business, which has destroyed the brand's reputation over the last 5 years. Really sad to see the careers of so many great people in confusion, because the Board think they know what the future looks like. Bringing Hamptons back to the north to resurrect their results in the area is highly flawed, as even when Hamptons was well managed by quality experienced managers, it failed spectacularly! How can today's model ran by ignorant, uninformed, poorly educated in locality and history, city-types lead this once proud and inspiring business. However, this degrading, slow death of UKs largest agency should not solely be blamed on the current encumbants, they have only speeded up the process in their obvious recent naivety. This process began when lettings management first became involved and the regional manager's mandate was reduced from 2012. When ownership of their IT was given away at a similar time, the opportunity to take advantage of their market strength dissipated. I'm sure something this large may continue for some time, however, I'm pretty sure the talented Countrywide people thinking what to do today, will go out and grasp the rest of the little market that Countrywide has in the North. It claims still to have wealth in it's managed book, well due to new legislation and their horrendous service standards watch that dwindle as quickly as the IQ of the USA and Essex voting population has in recent times! Advice - Take the operational decisions away from the accountants and rely on the local intelligence which worked successfully for decades. Countrywide has become what it avoided for years the next Corporate Agency failure, whose strategy has been led by 9 years by the last set of Corporate failures, Countrywide is the new Bradford & Bingley, Prudential, Halifax, Lloyds, General Accident et al. Hang your head Oldham girl, Alison, you've sold out to the City to the cost of the North and your shareholders!

From: Very Sad 09 December 2016 16:03 PM

Really sad situation, do not know about the South, but at least three brilliant Bridgfords branches shut today, and allegedly about 30 regionals gone nationally, I believe. This is a great opportunity to get some really good people on board from this once great brand. This brilliant brand in the north has cascaded into the doldrums as a result of the misconception the current exec board's view the Group's wealth is in the South, however, Countrywide's strength and attraction was heavily weighted on the sheer volume of transactions generated in the North. Sadly, through no fault of it's key fee earners, this brand has been ruined by the lettings senior management buying strong local letting businesses, however, plugging them into a really poorly managed lettings business, which has destroyed the brand's reputation over the last 5 years. Really sad to see the careers of so many great people in confusion, because the Board think they know what the future looks like. Bringing Hamptons back to the north to resurrect their results in the area is highly flawed, as even when Hamptons was well managed by quality experienced managers, it failed spectacularly! How can today's model ran by ignorant, uninformed, poorly educated in locality and history, city-types lead this once proud and inspiring business. However, this degrading, slow death of UKs largest agency should not solely be blamed on the current encumbants, they have only speeded up the process in their obvious recent naivety. This process began when lettings management first became involved and the regional manager's mandate was reduced from 2012. When ownership of their IT was given away at a similar time, the opportunity to take advantage of their market strength dissipated. I'm sure something this large may continue for some time, however, I'm pretty sure the talented Countrywide people thinking what to do today, will go out and grasp the rest of the little market that Countrywide has in the North. It claims still to have wealth in it's managed book, well due to new legislation and their horrendous service standards watch that dwindle as quickly as the IQ of the USA and Essex voting population has in recent times! Advice - Take the operational decisions away from the accountants and rely on the local intelligence which worked successfully for decades. Countrywide has become what it avoided for years the next Corporate Agency failure, whose strategy has been led by 9 years by the last set of Corporate failures, Countrywide is the new Bradford & Bingley, Prudential, Halifax, Lloyds, General Accident et al. Hang your head Oldham girl, Alison, you've sold out to the City to the cost of the North and your shareholders!

From: Very Sad 09 December 2016 16:03 PM

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