Most people in Arun will have come across local estate agency Michael Jones & Co., whether through selling or buying a property, or simply seeing the company’s boards located around the area. Neil Hopkins meets the man behind the household name.

 

Beginning a business on the first official day of the 90’s recession is something that Mike Jones can laugh about now.

“But it wasn’t funny at the time,” he admits.  “Starting a business when the economy is good is hard enough, but when you add in the factors out of our control and the damage done to the property market, it was tough.  But we got through it!”

Getting through it is perhaps an understatement for the amount of hard work and trying times that the three-strong team had to go through to get the business flourishing.  Much of the early success was due to Mike’s diverse approach.

“We had to make sure that we covered ourselves by not being ‘pigeon-holed’, he explains.  “It was important to be able to offer a wide range of property services to protect ourselves against the recession that was really beginning to bite as the company was formed.”

It’s an approach that worked well, and the company’s commercial and residential sales and lettings business continues to grow. 

“I think the key to our early success was the fact that the entire team pitched in,” Mike continues.  “Teamwork and maintaining good staff morale remain the cornerstone of our business and the reason, I believe, that we’re able to offer our customers the highest standard of service.

“Furthermore, the recession taught us some valuable lessons, especially in relation to cash flow and marketing.  While all new businesses have to watch the pennies, we had to be especially vigilant to ensure that we had enough of a buffer against the downturn in the market in order to survive. It also meant that we had to work even harder to make Michael Jones & Co stand out from our competitors.  We’ve kept this prudent ethos and market focus to this day, which has allowed us to invest more money in our customers, our staff and our business.”

Mike’s grounded approach has seen the company grow from a single office in Worthing to its current six branches across West Sussex and recent doubling in size of its Commercial Property division.  In fact, they’re due to open a new office in the next few months, expanding their team and the range of properties that they offer to their customers as well as the geographical area they cover.

Growth throughout the company’s history has been organic, fulfilling the needs of the expanding company.  Importantly, this growth has never meant that Mike or the team have become too removed from their customers. 

“It may sound clichéd, but our customers are our lifeblood and it is in our best interests to look after them.  Every customer who comes to us is provided with a customer satisfaction questionnaire – and I get to review each one – to help us better understand their needs and, if necessary, adjust our working practices to stay one step ahead.”

More and more customers are now coming to Michael Jones through recommendation or their website in the first instance, which is why the company decided to invest in a brand new site earlier in the year.

“I can see that it’s not going to be long before traditional marketing is replaced by  e-marketing.  And I feel that it is important for us to keep ahead of the game, ready for the changes that are going to come.”

It’s this dedication to ‘future-proofing’ and customer service that has seen Michael Jones & Co. scoop a number of awards recently.  Not only did they take the Customer Care Award home from the Arun Business Partnership, but they have recently been told that they’re one of the best estate agencies in the south, thanks to the ‘Estate Agent of the Year Awards 2007’ .

Much of this is built on the care and training that the Michael Jones staff receive.  Each year the company takes on a number of trainees who learn back office skills and are put on an NVQ programme before moving onto customer facing roles. 

“In this way,” Mike explains, “all of our staff have a thorough knowledge of the business and the industry before they start selling a customer’s house.  We believe that this approach raises our team above others in terms of customer service and satisfaction.”

While the estate agency industry may have had a bad reputation in the past, Mike Jones and his team are doing their best to dispel this.  If you want to sell your house with an agent who has been recognised for their customer service, give them a call on 01903 213281 or visit www.michaeljones.co.uk.  You’ll be very pleasantly surprised…