I believe that perception is everything and at the moment estate agents are having to deal with the perception that some of them don’t give a good enough service and that because of this the public’s expectations are low.
What does this mean? Well, in my experience when people believe that the majority are giving bad service and can’t be bothered, they will go for the cheapest version of that bad service they can find.
My company has just completed a mystery shop campaign to over 500 agents. The results were interesting to say the least.
Over 60% of people we spoke to responded to our enquiry by asking “What’s your budget” followed by quite incredibly, “Have you got anything to sell?”
Of course I understand how vital it is to capture that information.
However, firstly no one wants to be asked their budget before they have been engaged or treated like a client rather than another irritant to get rid of because “we are busy”.
It’s quite incredible to me that not 45 seconds after taking or making a call the negotiator is asking if you have a property to sell.
This is the most selfish question ever. It adds no value to the customer who, remember, was enquiring to buy, and leaves a very nasty taste.
Why not find out where they live at present, what’s prompted them to move to ***** and find out more about them. If you do that and then ask what they are intending to do with their current home, you have more chance of having a business conversation rather than a tick box registration.
If we are just “registering” customers, then they might as well go to an online agent who are in some cases very clear about how little they will do (we mystery shopped them as well).
We need to be adding value at every stage.
Do our customers know that if they go the online agent route, they will probably be dealing with sales progression themselves?
Are they aware that they are talking to a faceless person in a call centre who could not and cannot tell them where the nearest doctor, dentist, school or A&E is?
Of course not, but if we don’t add that value – if we are not calling our tenant on his/her first day in the property (too many agents say they don’t want to do that as it opens a can of worms) to welcome them home and ask for a review and a referral – then we will fail.
How can we expect to survive the onrush of online agents if we don’t up our game?
We have to deliver world-class customer service to everyone, and if you have an issue with negotiators saying they don’t have enough time to “be nice” on the phone, then something is very wrong.
Our estate agent clients are finding that by constantly reinforcing a culture of world-class service they can not only stay ahead of the game but can also drive their business forward.
* Boyd Mayover is co-founder of The Sales Doctor
Comments (17)
But what if the writer has a point. You all berate solicitors on a regular basis but here you all seem to be dismissing out of hand the suggestion that any agents could possibly be offering poor service. And yet the public often does have a very poor opinion of agents. That must be for a reason? I know who will be the first to knock me down on here for these comments. However, this is worthy of you looking at the service you provide. Some, who have put a lot of effort into customer service would probably get very good feed back on a mystery shopping exercise. Those, often who think they do no wrong, are probably losing quite a lot of business. I have a friend who goes round the country training teams of agency staff how to do it better. Those are the firm’s willing to invest in their future and those are the firm’s that will probably grow and prosper. This applies to any industry in any country.
‘firstly no one wants to be asked their budget before they have been engaged or treated like a client’
Why would anyone be bothered if someone asked what their budget was?
Personally id be happier that an agent done that and not wasted my time with meaningless questions.
Those that can, do. Those that can’t, teach.
Or something like that. I’d love to see the raw data of who said what! (If it exists)
OI, you…!!
I’ll have you know that I “can” – AND I can also teach.
(although I was once described as “dangerous” following a particularly fun-filled sesh…)
;o)
I’d be really interesting in the details of this 500 mystery shop, dates area etc otherwise it is like most stuff on the internet; unverifiable.
You’d think a bloke good enough to be a consultant, finding such poor performance by his competitors would think to themselves “Ay up here’s a massive opportunity to open up a market dominating agency to sweep all before it”
A “Jumping the shark” moment for ‘The Sales Doctor’
If you watch their intro video (thats 2 minutes of your life that you’ll never get back) they state that they ‘have a total understanding of your business’. In their ‘article’ they state that asking a buyer whether they have something to sell is ‘the most selfish question ever’ but apparently if you ask it at the right time then it is perfectly ok? Perhaps there was an upload lag and the story should have appeared 3 days ago?
It leaves me wondering that someone has read and re-read the article prior to submission fine tuning as they went along and then at the end said to themselves: ‘that’s perfect, a to-the-point logical explanation as to why agents need training’. Simply mind boggling and not even sure why PIE would run it.
Are you busy just being busy though? The piece is spot-on in highlighting what a bunch of money grabbing tossers many estate agents, just after the sale and using being busy as an excuse…most of these should just shove off and go back to selling cars…
Treat your customers with respect…your buyers are your potential vendors in the future – being ‘busy; is a short-sighted and lazy attitude to work, not just in our industry, and one of the reasons why people dislike estate agents…
If you went into your local supermarket and the assistant asked you what your budget was then you would head straight out to the their competitors…think about it – whilst a buyer may be forced to use your services because you have the home they want, they won’t go anyway near you when it is time to sell up because you were too ‘busy’ being a self-obsessed money grabbing ******…
New poster, sticking up for a poorly written article and using a lazy stereotype.
Wonder if they are linked to the “Sales Doctor” by any chance ….
Careful Smile; typical House price crash malcontent who blames agents for the value of property and their inability to compete with their contemporaries. Obviously irked at the negative reaction to the press release so probably the one who wrote it.
So, I would like to buy a house, please only send relevant properties to me and don’t even think about asking my budget or I will go to your competitors (which i already have as it makes sense to register with as many agents as possible)
Not even sure why I am wasting my time replying…….
haha, love it, welcome to Eye and good luck with The sales Doctor.
“If you went into your local supermarket and the assistant asked you what your budget was then you would head straight out to the their competitors…”
Just one sentence from a sloppy dollop of MDT that reinforces the need for Estate Agents asking the questions in the first place…
What a load of scaremongering nonsense. ‘In my experience’?? What experience? He needs to visit a busy office and educate himself on what the market is really doing.
“Personal opinion piece…” my @r$£!
Blatant tout for business – and an ubersloppy one at that.
Scaremongering as a business opportunity, classy.
Don’t panic the online agents are coming Mr Mainwaring.
Thanks for the ‘Dislikes’ – it’s great to have confirmation that I’m gnawing at the correct ankles…