Martin & Co.’s Worcester and Gloucester franchise have won the Gold Award for Best Small Lettings Agency at The Times and Sunday Times Lettings Agency of the Year Awards 2011. The awards are the pinnacle of the lettings industry and are hotly contested by all the top letting agents in the UK.

Husband and wife team Peter & Rani Grieve, who own the lettings franchise, picked up the award from double Gold Olympic champion Dame Kelly Holmes. Their Worcester office has been trading since 2008 and the Gloucester office was purchased as a resale 2 years later. They are supported by a team of 9 staff across the two offices.

Their success, however, has not come easily and Peter and Rani along with their well established team have worked hard to enjoy a large market share in the area and respect within their local community.

Peter and Rani have not just adopted the established processes and systems that would be expected of a successful franchise brand but have ensured these are put into practice day in and day out and have added their own local expertise and business experience to enhance the customer experience for both landlords and tenants and run a successful business.

Staff are given clearly defined targets and objectives with regular reviews. Training and development is also high on the franchise owners’ list. Utilising the highly ranked and well-established Martin & Co website they have an integrated approach to sales and marketing activity and have been earlier adopters of social media and related web and e-strategies. Backed by comprehensive local PR they have generated excellent results with business up by 40% on last year.

Ian Wilson Managing Director of Martin & Co also attended the awards added: ”This is just fantastic news for Peter & Rani. They are true ambassadors of the Martin & Co brand. Peter and Rani are no strangers to awards success having won an ESTAS gold award in 2009 based on great customer service feedback. They have continued to drive their business forward and this award is further recognition of this – a great achievement and the first office in the 170 plus national network to pick up a Sunday Times/Times award.”