Friday 23rd March saw our annual conference and awards return for another year, sponsored by Let Alliance, 2018 was not a disappointing year with a number of exhibitors, delegates, speakers and awards. The conference and awards were well received by all, however taking the spotlight this year had to be Vaughan and Sally Schofield of Belvoir Wrexham with their outstanding achievement of winning Belvoir’s Gold Award for Franchise of the Year.
“Vaughan and Sally sent in a fantastic awards submission, which really impressed the judges” says Dorian Gonsalves, our Belvoir CEO. “Highlights include the fact that this office was awarded Best Agent in Wrexham 2017 for the second year running at the British Property Awards and won the Silver Award for Wales. They experienced 21.4% organic growth in sales income in 2017, and dramatically increased the size of their newly refurbished office – as well as launching their own free monthly newspaper – The Wrexham Property News. Vaughan contributes massively to the network and is a member of the Research and Development group. He embraces and runs with all the ideas and suggestions that come from Central Office and is a worthy winner of the Gold Award for Belvoir Franchise of the Year.”
It’s fair to say that owner Vaughan Schofield was overwhelmed by the news and couldn’t wait to get back to the office to inform the rest of his team, here is what he had to say.
“We were very surprised to win, and absolutely delighted to have done so. At the end of the day, we don’t do this job to win awards, we do it because we want to do it to the best of our ability, but to win a prestigious award like this is a fantastic bonus. The past two years have been amazing for Belvoir Wrexham. The previous year was our best ever by some margin. We grew the business by over 25% compared to the previous year and this year, although we knew it would be challenging, we managed a further 11% growth, so it was another record year, achieved purely through organic growth.
“There is no doubt that entering into sales has been very good for us. It made perfect sense to do so, because this business is very cyclical, so when lettings is doing well the sales side might not be, and when sales are doing well the lettings market may drop off. For us, it is commercially logical for our Belvoir business to have a foot in both areas of the property business, as it helped to spread the risks. Sally and I are very grateful to our team for everything they do, and it would be impossible for us to achieve what we have without their fantastic work ethic and enthusiasm. They are very knowledgeable, but knowledge without the right work ethic to deliver it would be wasted and they have been unbelievably supportive.
“Our business is ten years old this year, and we have had amazing support over the past decade. I always felt that Belvoir Central Office has invested in me and the training they provided at the offset prepared me for what lay ahead. Over the years both my team and ourselves have attended many of the Belvoir training courses and I have got to know the franchise support team well. It’s a great feeling to be able to pick up the phone at any time and use the franchise support team as a sounding board and to get expert advice.
“My wife Sally has been fantastic, and can do every job in this office extremely well. Without her, none of this would have been possible. We have been fortunate enough to have won many awards over the past ten years, but winning Belvoir’s Franchise of the Year is a real jewel in the crown.”
The 2018 Belvoir conference was held at the impressive Hilton Manchester Deansgate Hotel supporting the futuristic theme of ‘THE FUTURE IS TODAY’, aimed to inspire and motivate. Out with the future and in with the past, the conference was followed by a prohibition-themed Speakeasy awards dinner, entertained by a cabaret and champagne it was an evening enjoyed by all.
There was certainly a lot of success at this year’s event and we would like to congratulate all of the offices that picked up an award, please see the full list of winners below.
2018 Winners!
Most Improved Office
Tim Hughes, Belvoir Newbury
Best Audit Award
Mick & Linda Green, Belvoir Burnley
Best Online Reputation Award
Daniel Bourke, Belvoir Dunstable
Group Contribution Award
Gold: Gary Pemberton, Belvoir Warrington
Group Contribution Award
Silver: Andrew Jack, Belvoir Belfast and Belvoir Edinburgh
Group Contribution Award
Bronze: Glenn Broadwell, Belvoir Leeds North West
Social Media Champions
Sue and John Warburton, Belvoir Leamington Spa
Innovation Award
Clayton and Nina Foston of Belvoir Hinckley
Charity Champions
Gary and Amanda Pemberton, Belvoir Warrington
Acquisition of the Year
Tim Hughes, Belvoir Newbury
Best Newcomer Award, New Office
Nidhi and Nitin Mehrotra, Belvoir Sutton
Best Newcomer (Resale)
David Devlin, Belvoir Devizes
Monthly Record Breaker
Belvoir Peterborough
Rankings Belvoir
Belvoir Peterborough
Customer Service
Gold: Sharanjit Gill, Belvoir Leicester Central
Silver: Ben and Daisy Davies, Belvoir Swansea
Bronze: Melanie Carter, Belvoir Evesham
Sales Office of The Year
Gold: Rob Forsyth, Belvoir Tadley
Silver: Mike Jones and Andrew Lowery, Belvoir Basingstoke
Bronze: Major and Bal Major, Belvoir Birmingham
Franchise of the Year
Gold: Vaughan and Sally Schofield, Belvoir Wrexham
Silver: Ben & Daisy Davies, Belvoir Swansea
Bronze: Sue and John Warburton, Belvoir Leamington Spa
Regional Awards
North: Glenn Broadwell, Belvoir Leeds North West
South: Glenn Wakeham, Belvoir Guildford
East Midlands: Charlotte Baker, Belvoir Melton Mowbray
West Midlands: Ben and Daisy Davies, Belvoir Swansea
London: Daniel Bourke, Belvoir Dunstable
Scotland: Lewis Stuart, Belvoir Aberdeen
Northern Ireland: Andrew Jack, Belvoir Belfast
