Wealth & Finance July 2017

Wealth & Finance International 28 Bringing Property and People Together ountrywide Conveyancing Services (CCS) operate as an alternative business structure, regulated by the Council for Licenced Conveyancers. CCS is an intrinsic part of Country- wide PLC, the UK’s largest property services provider. They employ over 400 members of staff located in Manchester and Cardiff. They complete over 30,000 cases per year; managing over 200,000 calls. They are the only major conveyancer to hold ISO27001:2005 accred- itation and the firm is plain English approved. Their mission is simple; to be the property partner of choice by bringing property and people together. On winning the Most Outstanding Law Firm 2017 and Best Residential Conveyancing Services – UK awards, the firm’s Lianne Scott sums up her thoughts on these achievements. “We are delighted to have won the Most Outstanding Law Firm – Best Residential Conveyancing Services UK awards. The award recognises the consistent commitment of our people to our customers. This award is for them; our lawyers go above and beyond every single day and we’re proud of them and of the service they deliver. “Our award is the culmination of our clear vision and values. Over the past few years we have built on our strengths and capabilities. We are proud of our achievements and have high ambitions for growth and our future. We asked ourselves, what more can we do? Our industry is evolving rapidly and we knew we could take the leadership role in shap- ing its future by putting people at the heart of everything we do. “We are thrilled that our approach makes us award winning; but more importantly that our focus on people has created brilliant customer experiences and made Countrywide Conveyancing Services a fantastic place to work.” CCS are 100% committed to their customers and this is driven by and supported by their values: • Be responsible: They do the right thing, they listen, they take time to understand and they always tell the truth. • Be personal: They are a people business; they care about their customers and each other. • They have fun. • Be straightforward: They keep it simple, dealing with the complicat- ed things so their customers don’t have to. • Be passionate: They love working with property and they work hard knowing what they do matters. In terms of the legal products and services the firm provides, they are a residential property law experts, as Lianne goes on to explain further. “It’s all we do and it allows us to have a laser focus on conveyancing services and offer innovative market leading panel management. With unrivalled customer service and transaction cycle times, we offer a range of services including: sale and purchase (freehold and leasehold); re-mortgage and separate legal representation. Concerning how the firm stands out from the crowd, Lianne reveals the undoubted commitment the team shows towards their customers. “Our commitment to our customers is embedded in our culture and DNA at every level of our business. We’ve invested £2million in a tech- nology overhaul and a bespoke portal (Conveyancing Connect) to bring our lawyers, customers and referrers together in one place. This gives us a complete solution for instructing, case tracking, milestone updates, online protocol forms and uploading and downloading documents. This has enabled us to make our large organisation feel personal and our lawyers have embraced building a rapport with their customers. Closer relationships have paved the way so that our lawyers regularly go the extra mile for our customers, because they have formed a personal connection and they care. “Our Conveyancing Connect portal has meant that we can reduce the turnaround times, speeding up the conveyancing process. Within two hours of opening a customers’ case we’ve received their completed protocol forms back meaning we can issue contracts the same day. The feedback from our estate agent referrers has been fantastic because of the transparency this brings to the process. “We’ve also initiated a bespoke Communication Experience Training programme and delivered this to every individual member of staff; this programme proved to be the catalyst for a cultural shift within the busi- ness truly putting people at the heart of everything we do. Our commit- ment to our customers means that our Hearts and Minds programme is now mandatory for every new member of our business.” Countrywide Conveyancing Services (CCS) is one of the UK’s largest residential conveyancing businesses undertaking the legal work when their customers are selling, buying and remortgaging their homes. As winner of the Most Outstanding Law Firm 2017 and Best Residential Conveyancing Services – UK awards, we took the chance to speak with the firm’s Lianne Scott. C 1705WF17