David Pollock is managing director of Greene and Co, one of the UK’s best-known, most innovative and successful estate agencies which, as well as covering some of London’s most glamorous northern postcodes, has been helped by David’s ability to enlist famous friends to help steer its fortunes.
We pinned him down this week for a five-minute interview.
What’s all this about famous friends?
Both Julian Richer of Richer Sounds, John Hitchcox of developer YOO and Harry Handelsman, the founder of Manhattan Loft Corporation have at one point or another been kind enough to offer me both their friendship and business advice. I am just friends with Julian these days, but Harry and John are still involved in the business and also mates.
Where are you based?
Greene and Co covers Belsize Park, Crouch End, Maida Vale and West Hampstead in North London. I also own Urban Spaces, an agency specialising in loft-style apartments that’s based in Clerkenwell.
What do you think of today’s property market?
I can’t get my head round it, really. I would understand the speed if I had seen the pain but despite the depth of the downturn very few agents or developers in London have gone bust. It’s like someone who’s been punched but doesn’t bleed or wince – you know it must be hurting so you wonder how they’re covering it up. So far the market has been shielded from the credit crunch by both low interest rates and low stock levels, so I wonder what will happen if rates start to rise again or properties flood onto the market.
What other big market changes have you noticed?
The downturn has created uncertainly both for buyers and sellers – and this makes everything more difficult because people don’t know what to do. A couple of years ago the selling cycle was easier to manage – if a vendor got an offer it was likely that it would be higher or lower the longer they held out, depending on the market. At the moment offers made in week one are often the same as ones made in week ten. People just don’t know.
Are you recruiting at the moment?
We only recently started recruiting again, partly to be positive about the market and partly because we decided to approach new homes sales differently and we’re recruiting for that. Basically, we can now enable developers to outsource their sales rather than having to run it in-house.
Why do you use portals?
It’s all about cost. At the start of the credit crunch we looked at ours and in particular our cost per lead. The figures were something like 68p a lead online and £4 a lead when we advertised in a newspaper. I’m not saying papers aren’t important. They matter particularly when it comes to keeping customers happy as a big colour ad can be shown to all their friends. But as a business the portals are the quickest and cheapest way to get to market. It’s like having a national, rather than street-level, for sale board.
What have been the worst days, and best days of your career?
The worst days are when I’ve had to get rid of people we’ve wanted to keep in the business but couldn’t – I believe we are an innovative and caring company when it comes to staff, so having to let them go is pretty horrible. The best days are those when you really enjoy the thrill of the deal – whatever form that takes.
What makes Greene and Co different to other agencies?
We always assume that we’ve got to do better – that ‘we’re not there yet’. And that applies to all areas of the business including managing people, customers, everything.
What are your tips for surviving a recession?
You’ve got to cut costs quickly and harshly – it’s better to overreact than to under react. And then, at the same time, go out and look for any opportunity you can find to bring business in.
Why did you go into estate agency?
I left home at 16 and the only work experience I’d got was a few Saturday jobs. But I had always admired a friend of the family, Reggie Shaw, who ran one of London’s most high profile agents – Druce and Co (which lists on The Digital Property websites) - and I’d always looked up to him. So off I went to be an estate agent. It was perfect. I had left school with no qualifications but here was a job I could do that didn’t need any.
Massive thanks to David Pollock for taking time out of his very busy schedule to answer our questions.
This is a regular feature in our newsletter, so if you would like to be interviewed for the TDPG Newsletter, please contact camilla.andersen@tdpg.com
