A First for the Estate Agency Industry

MANCHESTER, England, February 17, 2011 - Over the last 18 months the estate agency sector has suffered more than
most. House values and sales have slumped leaving many companies facing
closure. North West based Frank Marshall & Co
(www.frankmarshall.co.uk/) decided to take decisive action to stay
ahead of the competition while increasing profitability and customer service.
They are the first estate agency in the UK to adopt the manufacturing
principles of Lean and Six Sigma to improve their business and respond to
changes in the housing market.

Frank Marshall & Co has three branches in Buxton, Northwich
and Knutsford and they asked Altremis Ltd (www.altremis.co.uk/) to
help them analyse and improve company performance. Specifically, they wanted
to understand why one of the branches performed better than the others and to
replicate its success.

The senior management team decided to initiate a business
improvement programme. The key objectives for the programme were:

    - To analyse existing performance data and explore the root causes of
      different performance levels. This included comparing and
      contrasting data and trends.

    - To extract and share best practice between Buxton, Northwich
      and Knutsford to help ensure all branches performed consistently and at
      the highest level possible.

With a few short months Frank Marshall & Co have made
significant strides forward. The business is now outperforming many of their
competitors and they are in a strong position to deal with a turbulent
housing market:

    - Consistent processes and best practice is now across all branches -
      enabling them all to respond to the market quicker and capitalise
      on that speed.

    - New best practice has been formalised in the sales process
      by process mapping techniques.

    - Significant cost savings have been made by reducing
      identified wastes.

Notes for Editor

Altremis Ltd (www.altremis.co.uk/) is an innovative business
improvement consultancy based in the North West. Specialising in Lean and Six
Sigma methodologies they successfully work with clients to make their
businesses more effective, efficient and help them achieve exceptional levels
of customer satisfaction.

    George Forrest | Managing Director
    Altremis Ltd
    82 King Street | Manchester | M2 4WQ
    Telephone +44(0)161-935-8021 | Fax +44(0)161-935-8001
    Email george@altremis.co.uk | Website www.altremis.co.uk

George Forrest | Managing Director, Altremis Ltd, 82 King Street | Manchester | M2 4WQ, Telephone +44(0)161-935-8021 | Fax +44(0)161-935-8001, Email george at altremis.co.uk