The year we started with our why

2017 was a good year for us. We had a very strong financial performance and continued to grow the business. And we moved our Leicester office into a new, modern space, reinforcing our commitment to a presence in the three East Midlands cities. We want the East Midlands to succeed; that’s part of our long-term game plan. But 2017 was also an interesting year in which we took a look at ourselves to capture our company DNA and articulate it. Managing Director Tim Garratt explains...

We’d already identified our core values – peerless, trusted, courageous and legacy-conscious - but we needed our brand to reflect them. We knew what we did. We knew how we did it.  We needed to find our ‘why’.

If you’re a fan of Simon Sinek, this will sound familiar. His book Start with Why is a global bestseller and the TED Talk based on it is the third most watched of all time. If you haven’t read Simon’s book, I encourage you to do so.

We didn’t have Simon, but we did partner with a great branding agency – Fifteen -- who helped us drill down to the essence of what makes us tick. It was a fascinating process.

After numerous workshops – with a wide selection of people who I’m privileged to work alongside – we discovered that what runs through our business is our wish to save clients from making mistakes. We want them to be successful, to grow and thrive. We are about giving great advice. That’s why we exist - it’s what we believe. We want to help our clients make a great decision. And that’s (roughly) how we came up with our new strapline.

There's more to values than being valued

I was also keen to try to express that there is something else. Most brands aspire to be trusted and peerless – these are great values. We can demonstrate these principles by our membership of the RICS, by winning awards and by the amount of repeat business we get.

But being courageous means that we might sometimes try something new or challenge the status quo. We love pushing the boundaries, exploring the art of the possible and positively encouraging change.

My personal favourite value is ‘legacy-conscious’. Some say it’s difficult to explain, but I don’t think it is. Personally, I want to make sure that we leave something better than when we found it. I want to leave a legacy – and it turns out that my colleagues do, too. It can be a small thing – raising a few pounds for charity -- through to training and mentoring a graduate to grow to be a qualified surveyor. It means leaving a positive mark, taking pride in what we do, investing in people, being interested in our communities and caring about the environment.

I’m looking forward to 2018 with a renewed sense of purpose. We hope to help lots of people make a great decision. Talk to us!