Dougal Mather

Dougal started his career at Corum in June 2006. The first of a number of “apprentices” hired from outside the industry, with the common goal of developing well rounded, knowledgeable, property professionals.

Dougal comments "My interest in the building environment began to formalise while at Glasgow University where I had the opportunity to specialise in architectural history. Following my graduation, I became heavily involved in the winter sports industry during which time I was able to travel extensively working both in teaching and technical roles.

Having been brought up in Scotland, it was something of a natural conclusion to return here on a permanent basis. My main goal upon my repatriation was to enter into a role that combined both an aspect of my earlier studies and my want for an advisory knowledge based career.

It was through consulting with family and friends in an effort to find a position that provided a close fit to my strengths that the notion of the residential property sector came up. Upon closer inspection, it quickly became clear that of Glasgow’s key players, the Corum model, with its emphasis on specialism and expert levels of local knowledge was most appealing.

Since beginning with the firm, most of my efforts and mentoring have focused on building up as much background as possible with regard to the intricacies of the Glasgow market. To facilitate this, my roles to date have been varied, with a structured pattern of change in place to expediate the learning process.

Initially, my training was based out of our Shawlands office. Working in an office based capacity to begin with, I was able to absorb all the vast majority of the required processes in an environment more conducive to learning and understanding rather than sink or swim.

Managing the sales of my own clients was the next logical step and has proved invaluable in terms of understanding first hand the pressures felt by many sellers during the sale of their home.

In order to tie up my understanding of the office based functions at Corum, I was fortunate enough to spend time working along side Lynsey Smith, Shawland’s Senior Consultant. At this stage I gained exposure to methods involved in the conclusion of deals, working with lawyers and the like.

To the best of my knowledge, this form of detailed, office based training is a real rarity within estate agency, despite the fact that the benefits are not only felt by the trainee, but also that person’s future clients. I certainly feel that this approach has allowed me a level of accuracy and expediated progress that I otherwise would not have enjoyed.

After my training continued, my position changed to work directly with the partner of our Shawlands Branch, Ewan Blair. Ewan’s knowledge of the industry is extensive and given his time served as an RICS Chartered Surveyor, it is fair to say he has a broader background than most. Shadowing Ewan has given me an indepth understanding of how best to present the case for Corum and also how to look after the practicalities of presenting a home to the market.

Consultative is probably the best way to describe the initial meeting between Corum and a potential vendor. As a result, a certain degree of rounded market knowledge and free thought is required as opposed to re-hashing a certain “sales pitch” verbatim, an approach that I am glad to say fits well with me.Over time in this new context and with continual input and assistance from the team, I was able to venture out unassisted and present not only the different approach Corum stands for, but also on the ground market advise.

As of October this year (2007) there have been further changes with regard to my involvement at Corum. I am currently based in our West End Branch, working closely with John Davidson assisting him on a day to day basis with a view to giving him a greater amount of flexibility through having an extra pair of hands at his disposal. While not a great distance away in terms of geography, there are marked differences in how the South Side and West End property markets behave, grasping and adapting to these differences has proved terrifically interesting and an ever changing challenge.

Again, as in Shawlands, it is my sincere hope that as my new positions beds in and importantly, knowledge grows yet further, I can begin to cultivate my own client base on the West of the City.