Lettings firm which scrapped sales commission wins top award

A lettings firm which rewards its sales staff solely on customer service results and not commission, has won South London Business of the Year.

Young London won the trophy at the South London Business Awards, which were held in association with HSBC and organised by South London Business.  

The company, which puts its business focus on landlords and tenants rather than transactions, also scooped the awards for Best Small Business, and Best Business for Innovation.

Founder and chief executive Neil Young said: “It’s a great honour. We just tried to do the right thing and run a business in the way we think it should be run.

“It came naturally to decide to change the model and put the focus on customer service, so it’s fantastic to be recognised for doing the right thing by our staff.”

Nick McMenemy from Towergate Financial, one of the judges, said: “Young London impressed by turning on its head the traditional business model of their sector.

“Sales staff are rewarded based on customer satisfaction, not commission. The commitment to making clients feel welcome both in their new homes and in their neighbourhoods is second to none. They have also successfully embraced a wide variety of digital social media, combining both revenue generation and providing genuine support to local residents and businesses.”

Young, along with Young London’s other directors, Sylvana Young, Michael Oakes and David MacKenzie, received the honour in front of an invited audience of 500 business people last Thursday.

Young London is a Southwark-based lettings agency which last year found homes for more than 700 tenants in around 400 of their landlords’ properties.  
 
The business puts the results of its own customer service survey online every month. Last month’s survey revealed that 100% of landlords and tenants said they would recommend Young London and 87.5% rated their experience of using Young London as ‘good’ or ‘excellent’.

“It’s really important to us that we put our customers first,” said Young.

“We retain 98% of our clients each year and get almost all our new business from referrals, which is unusual in our industry, and we think that speaks for itself.”

Young London is a founding firm of the SAFEagent consumer kitemark (www.safeagents.co.uk)