Within any industry, personal recommendation carries far greater strength than any marketing activity a company can undertake.  And it is this form of communication that influenced another thriving Estate Agency business to join the growing number of agents using Aspasia.

Guy Leonard, a 3 branch organisation based in Sussex is using both the Lettings and Sales functionality within the system.  The decision to change from their existing solution, GMW, was led by the Sales business, headed up by Director, Neil Moore.  "The main problem we had with GMW was its inability to synchronise between offices and we were getting increasingly frustrated with the huge amount of administration time tied up in the manual updating of web sites" stated Neil.   It was then a recommendation from local agents Henry Adams that led Neil to look at Aspasia.  "We had a specific need in terms of data transmission between locations but were sceptical about the security of internet based solutions.  However we were assured by Henry Adams that any such concerns had proven unfounded in their experience"  Neil did look at a number of options on the market, but SPA Microsystems was the only company he contacted directly and as the cliché goes, the rest is history!

"Aspasia ticked all the right boxes, especially the facility to automatically update the web site.  The matching functionality was far superior to GMW and the e-mailing and SMS texting facilities were attractive" commented Neil.  Since the rollout, Guy Leonard have opened a third office and are experiencing the benefits of operating a live system.  "Within 48 hours, having purchased 2 new computers, the office was up and running on the system.  We have also been able to centralise all advertising in one office supported by Aspasia and are starting to expand our business into commercial property sales because again, it can be supported through the one system"

However, the changing of IT solutions is rarely all plain sailing and the transfer of data from GMW to Aspasia was a concern.  "The fact that SPA could manage the transfer from GMW helped convince us they were the right partner to go with but ultimately we decided not to use this facility.  We took the opportunity to cull a lot of the old information and manually input the details we wanted to keep.  This also had the advantage of helping people become familiar with the system" said Neil.  And training was one area that did surprise the business.  "The up-front costs represented great value for money, but we had underestimated the level of training required" he added. However, they rely heavily on the on-going help facility provided by SPA, "who are always very responsive and patient with what must be to them, very basic questions!"

As with any system, there are ultimately some clashes between old practices and company culture and the "new" way of doing things.  "The system has been received very positively.  There can be some duplication of effort, but this tends to be more user-based.  For example, if everyone added a note every time they spoke to a vendor or applicant, then the system would be invaluable, but realistically, that doesn't happen.  The staff were very disillusioned with GMW so we had to overcome negativity surrounding systems but Aspasia is now being seen very positively" stated Neil.  He also feels that the management facilities are superior to past solutions.  "We were recently able to make an informed decision about changing from one internet portal to another because we had specific measurements on sources of enquiries".

The real proof however is always best seen from the customer's perspective.  "The real-time factor impresses clients.  For example, we can be discussing price changes and the decision is implemented immediately.  We have also had examples of customers calling in to say they are not entirely happy with something in the details and then are hugely impressed when it is changed online there and then" commented Neil.

The Lettings side of the business, whilst although a smaller part of the Guy Leonard organisation, has also seen Aspasia have an impact.  Their solution prior to Aspasia was Carl Communications which was being used mainly for Rent and Tenancy agreements with most other areas of the business being managed manually.  They now use Aspasia all of the time and are increasingly moving towards a 'paperless' business.  Cathy Moore who heads up this side of the operation also had positive feedback on Aspasia.  "It has definitely saved time.  We are more efficient with managing inspections and processing rent, and as we are now 6 months into the process, are going through renewals which is also proving more proficient. The system is very slick especially for new tenancies" she stated. 

And as a multi-branch business, we come back to the benefits of data sharing.  "Sharing information with the sales department is invaluable – for example turning tenants into purchasers as all their information is already logged.  It also provides a great back up when we need to cover the sales operation, the data is all there and we can continue to provide a professional and seamless service"

So as the word spreads, more businesses join the growing number of satisfied Aspasia users!