Parkgate voted Best Letting Agent in Richmond for sixth year in a row

Parkgate Estates was recently voted as the best letting agent in Richmond for 2018, winning the allagents.co.uk award for the sixth year in a row.

Naturally, we are delighted to receive this distinction once again, especially in an industry where reputation, trust and repeat custom are so important. Anything that can rubberstamp or highlight an agency’s credentials can help consumers to make a decision on who they should use more easily.

What are the allAgents awards?

Funded by allAgents – the UK’s largest customer review website for the property industry – the awards allow everyone on the site’s directory to be automatically entered, in turn making it the ‘UK’s largest free customer awards scheme for property industry’.

This is important because the free nature of the awards means winners achieve recognition based entirely on feedback from clients, who use the site to share their customer service experiences.

To be eligible for an award, an agent must meet a ‘minimum review target of AllAgent’s 4 star band, which is an average rating of 3.5 or above’.

Parkgate has an overall 5-star rating on the site thanks to 211 5-star reviews left by customers. What’s more, we’ve been given a 84% valuation accuracy and a 97% fee satisfaction rating, while 99% of customers would recommend us to someone else. Even now, a lot of business is still achieved through word of mouth and recommendations, so being an agency that customers are happy to recommend to others is something we pride ourselves on.

Jonathan Mills, Managing Director at Parkgate Estates, said of the latest win: “We are delighted to win the best letting agent award for the sixth year in a row. We really appreciate these awards as they are voted for by the public so to come out on top again has been fantastic. We always aim to provide the best professional service and I think most landlords and tenants appreciate the benefits of being with a fully trained, experienced agent.”

Why are awards important?

For landlords, choosing the right agent can feel like an overwhelming task, with so many to choose from. Awards are one way of narrowing the shortlist – after all, if an agency has received a number of awards over a number of successive years, there must be a reason for that and it is more than likely that they stand above their rivals when it comes to customer service, professionalism and value for money.

In much the same way as the major awards for sports, literature, TV and theatre, property-based awards also provide credibility, kudos, prestige and a marker of quality. They are reputation enhancers; something to shout out about and revel in.

Of course, awards alone aren’t the be all and end all, but agents providing the best service are more likely to receive them as recognition for the excellent work they do. If the awards are based on public feedback, this helps to give them even more gravitas.

Awards also act as an incentive to agents to provide a better service. Everyone wants to be the best of the best, or recognised for their work, and awards can be the thing that confirm an agency is on the right path.

Why should you choose us?

You might now be asking what makes us special. Why should you instruct us over one of our rivals? Well, as one of the only remaining independents in the area, our focus is entirely on the customer rather than industry targets. We pride ourselves on a friendly, professional and approachable manner, hassle-free service and expert, honest advice.

As we said above, we rely heavily on recommendations and referrals, which means we have to work hard to please our existing customers so they will spread the word about the services we offer. This has been our modus operandi since we were founded in 1976 and continues to be the ethos by which we work by today.

We’re also an agency that is embedded in the local community, with all our staff experienced agents who have lived locally for some time in either Richmond, Sheen or Putney. This helps to give us excellent knowledge of the local area, which is important to landlords and tenants alike. It allows us to be up to speed with local events in the area – an important consideration for tenants with active social lives – and on the ball with local property trends, which is something landlords will appreciate.

By combining good old-fashioned customer service with the latest marketing techniques, we can help clients get the most from their properties.

For more information about how we can get your home let, please get in touch with Parkgate Estates on 0208 940 2991. If you are thinking of letting your property and would like to know how much it is worth, you can request a free and instant online valuation.