HOW FEEDBACK IMPACTS PROCESS
NPS is only part of the customer experience journey - written testimonials and feedback are crucial to improving your business processes and communication . When advising customers that they ’ ll be receiving a survey from his team , Richard Thode , Licensee Salesperson at Ray White Epsom , always asks , after a successful sale , for his customer to score him a 10 out of 10 .
However , if his clients aren ’ t prepared to give him a perfect score - he wants to know why . “ Being scored lower than you ’ d like is never great , but it gives you an opportunity to improve . One of our lower scores recently was due to a lack of communication from someone in our team . We ’ ve made sure there are rigorous processes in place to ensure this doesn ’ t happen again .”
Kelly ’ s clients and colleagues know she is a woman of her word . She works hard to be the best she can be everyday , and although she is regularly entrusted with referrals to clients ’ friends and family members , she treats the customer no differently :
“ I am passionate about providing superior customer experience to every client ,” she says .
COMMUNICATION , COMMUNICATION , COMMUNICATION
Preparation and communication are key for Kelly . “ You ’ re not simply selling a house , you ’ re helping people move forward with their lives - and hopefully allowing them to follow a new dream . A big part of the process is understanding their reasons for selling - and to do this you need to ask the right questions and understand who they are and what motivates them . Yes , you need to establish a sales process , but first you need to discover how selling their home is going to help them in the long run . The key is listening , asking the right questions and finding out how you can facilitate the sale to meet their goals . This is a big responsibility , but it ’ s also a privilege .”
Richard agrees that communication needs to be front and centre from the first appraisal meeting to settlement .
“ If I sell something at auction , the very next day I ’ ll let them know that the deposit has been paid and I ’ ve just had notifications of the deposit being paid ; they might get an email from their lawyer but I ’ m already one step ahead of that ,” he said .
His team has a meeting every Monday to analyse where every listing is sitting , which sellers and buyers need to be contacted , and where they ’ re each at in the process . Just because a house is sold , it doesn ’ t mean your job is done - there must be follow through all the way to settlement .
“ We ’ re talking about our listings regularly and discussing what we need to be doing ,” Richard says . “ We ’ ve got action points on every stage and thought process ; prompting us to go back and communicate - fundamentally it ’ s just communication - regular and good communication .”
Similarly , Stuart says “ we ’ re fairly strong communicators and that I can ’ t stand it when a client rings me to find something out , it means I ’ ve been too slow . Almost every problem ever encountered during life let alone real estate can be put down to poor communication .”
SO , CAN FOCUSING ON CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE CHANGE YOUR BUSINESS ?
“ Absolutely ”, says Matt Sabin , Ray White Customer Experience Manager . “ Customers ’ needs and expectations are at an all-time high , and with strong competition and new players disrupting the industry , understanding our customers has never been more important ,” he said . “ Market conditions also play a huge part in the level of service that a customer expects , and receives ; so it ’ s critical that businesses are always listening and adapting to the changing needs of their customers . Our customer experience program provides that listening device ; ultimately the business must utilise the tools if they want to keep their customers ’ needs front and centre . As it ’ s often said , ‘ If you don ’ t listen to your customers , your competitors will .’”
Customer obsession and customer service have long been seen as non-negotiable in the retail space , and when these tenets underpin businesses , they thrive .
13