Author: Ben Hewitt

Christmas is a good time to reflect and ask ourselves where we get our inspiration. NVP’s investor, the Dutch businessman John Fentner Van Vlissingen (known respectfully at NVP as JVV), visits our offices in Montpelier Street periodically throughout the year, as well as keeping in touch by phone. He has been a part of the business from the outset, providing seed capital, and assisting us with strategy and further funding as we grow our company. As one of his niche investments, we are privy to a wide range of advice, and the vast experience he brings, in all matters surrounding NVP. John is the most successful, and one of the nicest people we know, and we are indebted to him for the support he has shown us. We wanted to share the key things we have learned from him, to remind ourselves of the great value of this partnership, share inspiration with friends in our network, and say thank you to John, as we approach the end of the year.

1.    Be autonomous

We are always inspired by JVV’s story, in which he had the opportunity to join a successful family business, but chose instead to go it alone. In doing so he was able to build a wide portfolio of investments, and grow them into market-leaders through his own approach and using his own voice. We met John when we were working inside the corporate machine, and his advice to follow our own path was some of the best we have been given, providing us with the self-belief and confidence to both take the initial leap, and weather several storms since we launched our business and became entrepreneurs. We experienced first hand John’s mantra of ‘freedom within the boundaries of responsibility’, in which he affords the people who run his businesses unusual levels of autonomy to make decisions and steer the ship. One of the first things he said to us when we shared our idea was ‘You’ll have to be brave, but wait a few years and you’ll reap the rewards’. John also taught us that in business you need to work hard and have some luck, and that the harder you work, the luckier you get. These insights soon became guiding principles for the way we run our business.

2.    Fly economy

We are guided by the fact that John, whose companies turn over tens of billions, still resists extravagance and exudes humility in everything he does. During the recession, John’s travel company decided that all staff would fly economy to save costs. John followed suit, including himself in this principle, and switching to economy during these tough times. This story inspires us to keep a close eye on our costs and keep our feet on the ground. Working in central London property, especially around Knightsbridge, can be mesmerizing. The people and sums of money involved are often a heady mix, and it helps enormously to see the principles that still govern John’s approach to business, even when leading thousands of employees. He remembers people’s names, invests authority in those around him, puts his faith in people, and walks his talk. These approaches help us to stay centered in what can be a volatile and deal-centric industry.

3.    Counter-intuition

Thinking against the grain is one of the main lessons we have picked up while working with John. When he invested in NVP, the trend was towards industry-wide consolidation, as businesses like Foxtons and Marsh & Parsons opened multiple offices across multiple territories, standardizing the levels of service being offered and driving a sales culture throughout their businesses. Conversely to this approach, John agreed with us that a gap existed for a boutique agency to specialize in the golden postcodes, delivering a very high level of service to premium investors. We wanted to play a smaller game, at higher prices, and thus maintain a strong margin through alternative tactics. JVV agreed with us, and has since supported our views that technology will never replace the highest levels of customer service (see our blogs this summer predicting the collapse of Emoov etc). As we clearly state on our homepage, handshakes are more valuable than clicks, and maintaining this perspective amidst the hubris of the online brands, has been the result of the counter-intuitive and counter-cyclical thinking we learned from John.

4.    Feed the baby

Family values are important to everyone at NVP, and John has always encouraged us to treat our business like our baby, and to see that it is nourished and protected accordingly. This means doing things at the right time, not taking on too much for the business to handle, and trusting that if we nurture in the right ways, nature will take care of the rest. Bit by bit the business has been ready to take more on, and after a period of successful integration following our first acquisition at the end of last year, and moving into our new premises in spring, we are preparing for further activity of this kind in 2019. Aside from growth through acquisitions, John has always impressed upon us that the trick to success is having a successful team around you. The right people are key to growing your business in the right way, just as the right parents, godparents, teachers and guides are key to raising your child.

5.    Play the long game

‘Always be prepared to walk away’ is a mantra of ours we do well to live by, and which we learned from John. Whether buying or selling houses, or buying or selling businesses, you make a fair offer based on your own reality, don’t try and undercut or price others out, and trust that if this isn’t the deal for us, the right one is just around the corner. Staying connected to the bigger picture enables us to play a long game, and remember that we love what we do so much that it doesn’t feel like coming to work. John told us that he invested in us because we are emotionally connected to what we do, which to him means we have the energy needed to navigate challenging times. We believe this is true, and as such we both see NVP as a 25-year project – so two decades to go! We are grateful to John for being such a huge part of that journey, and for all the support, trust and wisdom he has shown us from the outset.

Happy Christmas from us all at NVP!

Having recently celebrated four years of being in business together, we thought you might like to know a bit more about us, and what we think makes NVP unique, as told to a colleague…

You’ve worked together for fifteen years, at first in a corporate environment and next in an entrepreneurial capacity. How has your relationship evolved in that time?

Patrick: Well, first of all I think we are great mates and that’s why this has worked. It means we support each other and allow the other to be fully themselves. I’ve enjoyed seeing Nic evolve into who he is today, he’s changed a huge amount in fifteen years and it’s fun to support people through growth and change.

Nic: It’s always worked because, although we are similar in many ways, our working styles are very different, and we play to each other’s strengths. Patrick is very outwardly focused, he has market information on-tap, endless anecdotes, and some of the best intel in the industry. Whereas I know what’s going on in the business and focus more on our own structures and partnerships. That polarity works well.

Patrick: That’s right. For me it’s been a free flowing experience, very day to day, whereas Nic is more strategic, he thinks long-term and plans for the future.

Nic: Yes, that feels accurate to me, I hold the vision for the company and ensure that the commercial infrastructure is robust enough to cope with that vision. Another way of saying I’m more structured and controlling! It’s been an adventure for both of us – a constantly evolving, learning journey.

How was it making the move out of a larger business and setting up on your own?

Nic: We spoke about it for a long time when we worked at Douglas & Gordon, then one day I met an investor and, shortly after the conversation, we got serious. As soon as we realized we could do this where we wanted to, on our home turf in Knightsbridge, we didn’t bat an eyelid. A year later we opened our first premises on Montpelier St.

Patrick: We were top performers at our former employers and we always knew that we could sell houses, and lots of them, near the top of the market. I let Nic lay the foundations and he still does the same. I’m either on the phone or doing viewings, it’s all about deals for me. Nic is the business builder.

You speak five languages between you, how does this support the business?

Patrick: I’m Spanish and Nic is Italian/Austrian and that means we have good southern European banter, not just with the European crowd but also with the Middle East and South America. I also grew up in Knightsbridge which is a very cosmopolitan area containing a huge diversity of cultures. It gives me a root connection to long-term home owners and investors in this area. Knightsbridge is home to many great business people and, like us, they focus on quality relationships rather than clicks and websites. This means we riff with the local community on a daily basis, in nearby places like Abd El Wahab, Maroush and also Carpo for coffee, and that supports our sales funnel as much as anything else!

Nic: Agreed, maybe it supports us somewhat less than it did before Brexit, when more Europeans were buying in London, but I think that will come back. More broadly though, as Patrick says, I think our Mediterranean roots give us a great sense of elasticity in terms of relating to our customer base. I grew up in South America and Italy, and now London is my home, so it’s all the same to me.

What are the core strengths of the business?

Nic: We are specialists in this areas and our local knowledge is second to none. People all over the neighborhood refer to us for advice whether or not they are buying or selling and that gives us a certain position in the market that is human, visible and real. People appreciate that these days, when so much happens online. The preservation of traditional values is important to us.

Patrick: I agree, and I would add that we really love what we do – which is maybe because of what Nic said. We have so much human and social contact, and relationships are important to us. Because of that we don’t feel like we are coming to work, we laugh a lot and we gel as a team. I think, too, that the recent investments we have made in buying another business and moving to our new premises, have upgraded the NVP brand further towards the top of the market.

What does the future hold for you?

Nic: First of all, along with everyone else, we need to wait and see what happens in the geo-political situation. We’ve grown a lot in five years, throughout some very uncertain times, and we are now in a strong position having strategically laid the foundations through our merger. We may continue to make similar moves, and perhaps acquire other rental books as the opportunity arises, as we have the infrastructure to accommodate this. We will also diversify by increasing our depth of knowledge and reach in and around the Knightsbridge area and the rest of the Royal Borough.

Patrick: We’ve established the vessel we wanted and I can see us continuing in this vein for twenty years, if not more, and bringing in the next generation of people who will run the business when we eventually step back. It’s exciting being in a business with no glass ceiling, and trading in a neighborhood that supports the realization of that potential. I know I speak for both us in saying there’s nowhere else we’d rather be.