Up Close in Twickenham with Darren Bartlett Real Estate...

Darren Bartlett is fuelled by helping people to find their dream homes. And he's been doing it for a long time. He began working in estate agencies in his twenties and found he was a bit of a natural. Now he has his own boutique agency based in Twickenham, Darren Bartlett Real Estate. Here Darren explains a bit more about his approach to business and growing his team in Twickenham.

Darren was snapped up as a young jobseeker and spent 16 years as an estate agent at the start of his career. He said: "When I first walked into an estate agents looking for a job in my mid-twenties, they took one look at me and immediately said I had got the job.

"I'm not sure what it was they saw in me, but clearly I fitted the bill.

"I am a people person, so being around people and helping them to move into their dream home was what fuelled me."

After a decade and a half as an estate agent Darren moved into property recruitment, recruiting for estate agents looking for people who could market homes and conduct viewings.

As with many jobs, this one wasn't all it was cracked up to be. He said: "Unfortunately, this role was not what I was expecting and there were a lot of no-shows.

"I can't tell you how many times I was told that someone's car had broken down on a Friday afternoon. Dealing with estate agents, I was always let down."

The stresses of his job in property recruitment eventually forced him to step back and revaluate. He said: "It was in this role whilst I was working long hours and finding that it wasn't really fulfilling me that I had a seizure due to my stress levels.

"My other half Anna reminded me of my dream to be independent and start my own boutique agency, and I took this as a sign that things did need to change. It was now or never."

Darren and Anna launched Darren Bartlett Real Estate with Keller Williams to offer a much more personal, open service than they felt was already available.

He said: "I knew the games that high street estate agents were playing with people and I didn't want to be part of it anymore. No mixed messages, no going back on our advice, no game playing, clear, concise, honest guidance."

And it's worked out well! "Now I work a much more flexible lifestyle," he said, "I am 'busy' but when it's doing what you love the way you love to do it, it genuinely doesn't feel like work."

The business has done amazingly well and Darren has just added two new members of staff to his team: "Lauren is our resident marketing and social media expert, and Lisa is my amazing Virtual Assistant.

"I'm also hiring a Buyer Agent who will be working closely with me and local buyers looking for properties before they even come to the public market."

"I created the Marketing Manager role to create a more systemised approach to my marketing, and upgrade the look and feel of my website and social media content to match the quality of the properties I market.

"I created the Virtual Assistant role to help me manage all the viewings, consultations and paperwork in a really efficient way."

For Darren the pandemic has only made him more determined to help people love their home environment.

He said: "I decided to build the team as I recognised that there is a demand for property - especially after the pandemic as people have spent more time than ever before at home.

"We've all realised the importance of our home environment in our overall happiness and the need for enough space for the whole family.

"I also know I offer a better experience and service than the high street agents - I am a property marketing expert and go above and beyond what other agents will offer."

Passion is at the heart of Darren's business. "I love what I do and the way I do it, and I believe ultimately that is the recipe for growth of any business," he said.

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