Q&A with Kelly Stillman, Head of Operations

How long have you worked at iamproperty?

I joined iamproperty in July 2021, so approaching 2 years now.

What is your career background?

I began my career in 2011, working at a leading Estate Agency. I then moved to work for the UK’s leading retirement Housebuilder, where I worked my way up from a Sales Progressor, to heading up the national Part Exchange strategy for the business including running one of the largest funding facilities in the country. This was very much an all-encompassing role, and I gained a huge amount of experience during my time there, leaving me well-equipped for my role at iamproperty.

What is your role at iamproperty?

I am Head of Operations at iamproperty’s auctions service, iamsold and also auction conveyancing service, Medway Law.

My role is to look after the operational and support functions for the business, and to create, define and implement effective processes and policies.

It is my responsibility to ensure that our customer experience is 5 star, and that our partner agents are getting the best possible service. We achieve this by building great teams full of great people and giving them the tools they need to deliver the role effectively, including having slick operating procedures in place which pay particular focus to speed and service.

The customer and Estate Agent experience is at the heart of all our operations, and everything we do is to make sure it’s as seamless as it can possibly be.

How did you find settling into your role and what is the culture like in your team?

It’s been very busy, and very productive. The teams have gone through a big transformation program and are now operating at a really high level. We are pleased with the progress made but our culture is centered around continuous development and improvement of the service.

We have worked extremely hard to build a winning culture within the teams, where each individual is focused on living up to our promises of speed and security, and making the client experience the nucleus of all we do.

Our Completions and Conveyancing teams deserve a special mention, as they have made huge strides forward within the last 12 months, which is absolutely critical, as they are the lasting impression of our service.

How do you or your team help our Partner Agents?

A great example is the conveyancing logjam in the UK, which is still very much an issue. We know that open-market transaction times were and continue to be protracted, so whilst properties have been selling quickly, the completion timeframes have been a very real problem. It was important for us to support our agents with pipeline churn and getting completions through much quicker than the open-market timeframes, and to give them an edge over their competitors.

The conveyancing process is not just a Solicitor, a buyer and a seller, there are many other parties involved including Surveyors and Mortgage Lenders and all parties need momentum and pressure to keep the transaction moving. Our dedicated Conveyancing & Completions teams are experts in auction transactions; they understand the complexities and obstacles that come with selling a property, and pay particular focus to speed and service.

What motivates you?

Seeing how far the teams have come, and all the records we broke last year. It’s very exciting, and I can’t wait to continue on this path!

Is there anything else you would like to add?

I think this is a good opportunity to say thank you to our Partner Agent network, we love working with them and want to keep improving our services for them!