An estate agency is celebrating after doubling its number of award wins at the industry’s recently held equivalent of The Oscars.

Butters John Bee won six trophies at the 2015 ESTAS, a national competition based on customer feedback which aims to recognise and reward the best estate and letting agents in the country.

And Butters John Bee says that doubling the number of ESTAS trophy wins in 2014 proves that it delivers value for money and excellent levels of service for its customers, regardless of whether they are buying or selling.

Butters John Bee took the gold medal for the Best Agency Group with between six and 20 offices, the gold and silver for the best individual offices in the west Midlands (Telford and Longton respectively) and the silver and bronze award within the north west category with Sandbach and Alsager.

In addition, Diane Booth, who works at Sandbach as senior sales negotiator, was one of just five from the 7,000 who were eligible to receive an ESTA for the People award.

Lauren Ellison, Winsford branch manager, said she is delighted with the awards, which she believes reflect the skill and dedication of all the staff.

“We are absolutely thrilled to be recognised at this year’s ESTAS,” says Lauren. “It means so much to us as we know it’s our customers who have judged our performance.

“Winning the gold award for the Best Agency Group in the UK is a fantastic accomplishment for all of our 17 branches.

“We are also delighted that we had so many of our branches shortlisted into the two geographical areas that we cover.

“We had six branches shortlisted for the west Midlands (Shropshire and Staffordshire) category and six in the north west (Cheshire) category.

“We walked away with six awards, doubling our winning total for 2014.

“The awards success is testament to the hard work and dedication that our sales team aim to deliver to our customers each and every time.”

She describes the awards as ‘crucial’ because they are based on customer feedback.

Now in its 12th year, The ESTAS awards determine the best estate and letting agents in the UK through research carried out among customers who are asked a series of questions about the service they have received from their agent.

More than 25,000 questionnaires were completed by customers during the competition.

“The ESTAS are hugely important to us as a business, as it’s the feedback from the most important people involved in buying or selling who vote, and those people are our customers, who either buy or sell through Butters John Bee,” added Lauren.

“Our customers comment on various aspects of the service they personally received from the branch they dealt with, together with giving a score on their overall experience, the marketing of the property, how we handled the sale and if they felt that we offered value for money.

“The way in which they rate us then determines the final score for that branch, which results in the branch then being shortlisted for an award.”

Simon Brown, who owns The ESTAS, said: “The ESTAS are special because shortlisted and winning firms are selected purely on the service they deliver to their clients.

“In fact, just taking part shows an agent’s commitment to their customers, and to be shortlisted is a great achievement in itself.

“For the winners this is the highest accolade they can receive in the industry.”

In addition to its multiple successes at The ESTAS, Butters John Bee was also recognised by The Times newspaper last year, winning silver awards for the best medium sized agency in the Midlands and gold for the best auction estate agent.

Unlike the ESTAs, The Times’ awards are based on the opinion of industry experts.

Lauren added: “We take our levels of customer service very seriously because we know clients have a choice.

“We have always been very proud of the personal service – and this proves we are delivering what we promise.”