A three-office independent is celebrating after winning Relocation Agent Network Agent of the Year for the second time in three years.

The Northamptonshire firm of Richard James is the winner of the title, which it also won in 2016.

As a direct result of that earlier win, which the firm heavily promoted, valuations went up 22% and sales rose by 10%.

Owner Richard Fowler said he was absolutely delighted to have won again: “As a smaller firm up against very strong competition, it shows that winning something like this is not just about size.

“I like to think our success will motivate other smaller agencies to compete, and be the very best they can be.

“When we won two years ago, it gave us so much credibility and really raised our profile.

“Last year, we thought we actually put in a better submission that the year before, but although we were short-listed we didn’t win – we weren’t good enough.

“This year, we worked harder on our submission than ever, as the bar gets raised every year.”

This time, Fowler said, the submission focused on customers, their feedback and reviews on Feefo.

The firm became a Feefo customer a year ago, and since then has had 150 reviews with an average 4.9 rating.

Fowler said: “We felt it was easily the most robust system for reviews. Only genuine customers are asked by Feefo to submit a review, and once they have done so, you cannot do anything to alter it or get rid of it, no matter how negative it might be.

“On top of that, we have had Facebook and unsolicited reviews – we take notice of them all.

“We have also worked hard in the community, supporting all kinds of events.”

In terms of business, Fowler concedes it has been a challenging year: “There is no doubt that sales business has contracted, but we have maintained our market share.

“We have also focused more on lettings and brought another lettings portfolio into our business.

“Before the fee ban comes in, we want to be more reliant on revenue from managed properties rather than on new fees.”

As with their previous win, Fowler and two colleagues out of the 20 employed by the firm will go out to America for the Cartus conference there.

Previously, their destination was Arizona: next March it will be Las Vegas.

Fowler said: “We had a great time before, and picked up a lot of new ideas. I’m sure we’ll do the same this time. There aren’t many award schemes where you get a trip to America.”