NEWS
Teamwork – the VAS Group team ( left to right ) includes operations manager Natalie Keenan , chief commercial officer and co-founder , Stephen Todd , operations director Louise Chapman and Graham Moore , MD of VAS Panel , part of the VAS Group .
GROUP ’ S GROWTH PLAN
VAS team aims to raise profile after award shortlist
WORDS : SARAH WALKER PICTURE : TOM BANKS
A
multi-faceted national property valuations company based on Teesside is hoping to raise its profile in the North-East after being shortlisted in the Business of the Year category at the 2021 Tees Businesswomen awards .
VAS Group , which works with valuers , lenders and brokers to meet all their valuation needs , whether it ’ s instructing a valuation or checking their loan books for accurate numbers , has major clients all over the UK including high street and challenger banks .
But the firm , co-owned by Gina May , who started her career as a car saleswoman with Reg Vardy , has its roots firmly on Teesside .
Speaking of making the Tees Businesswomen Awards shortlist , Gina says : “ It ’ s amazing and we are very proud .
“ We are a national business , but we are not as well known in the North-East where our office is and all our team lives .
“ It ’ s quite amazing that we ’ ve been recognised in our area and we are hoping it will help us to raise our profile in the region .”
With 200 valuation practices on its panel , VAS Panel , part of the VAS Group , organises property valuations on behalf of lender clients , before sending the information to the lenders .
In addition , VAS Audit provides live and retrospective auditing and assurance services to reduce property specific lending risks , while VAS Software is a cloud-based valuation panel management system that allows lenders to better manage their own panels .
The company employs 26 staff in its Riverside Park offices in Middlesbrough and has just opened an office in Wilmslow , Manchester , employing a further four .
Gina sees great potential to work with clients around the North-East and wants to continue to grow the business in the region after four successful years in business .
She worked her way up in Reg Vardy as a top salesperson in the region in a male-dominated industry , before moving into implementing processes and systems to make the sales journey slicker and more efficient .
Realising she had a gift for this operations and customer service side , she became a franchise manager , before venturing into property and valuations .
She then met registered valuer Stephen Todd and set up VAS Group .
With her skills in operations , processes , efficiencies and customer service , and Stephen ’ s background as a registered valuer , Gina says they work really well together .
“ It ’ s grown very well in the last four years and a lot of hard work and dedication has gone into the business ,” she said .
“ We ’ ve invested very heavily in our technology – but we are very much a people with technology , rather than technology with people , business .”
This is a point Gina keeps coming back to .
She strongly believes the firm ’ s success is down to effective teamwork and the company has regular team building days and nights out and has seen many a friendship blossom between colleagues .
“ We still need the great people behind us making our technology come alive ,” she said .
“ We need people to have the handson approach , answering the telephones and being responsive to our customers ’ needs .”
VAS Group chief operating officer and co-founder Gina May .
Gina is also keen to grab good customer service with both hands when she experiences it .
She met one of her staff , Sarah , when shopping in Morrisons and was so impressed with her customer service , she offered her a job .
“ It was Christmas and the turkey I had ordered had been sold to someone else ,” Gina explains .
“ Sarah went over and above to sort it out , so I asked her to come and work for me ! She ’ s been working for me for four years now .”
Gina says it ’ s also important to her to employ young , talented people , who enjoy their work and learn new things every day .
This approach to producing happy employees has contributed to VAS Group winning three awards already this year , at the Bridging and Commercial Awards , the Specialist Finance Awards and the Business MoneyFacts Awards .
And Gina hopes VAS can add to this tally at the Tees Businesswomen Awards .
“ Everyone in the team feels like they have been nominated and we are very excited ,” says Gina .
“ It ’ s great that we ’ ve been nominated for an award locally . We want to be a name people know in the North-East .”
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