According to ‘Breaking the Mold’ by Kevin Clancy & Robert Shulman, “It costs five times as much to find new customers as it does to retain existing ones”. Couple this with the amount ‘real estate’ and ‘real estate agents’ are discussed at dinner or around the water cooler, it makes sense that agents should be focussing more of their time and marketing efforts around improving client service to existing customers.

Providing a superior service that goes beyond our competitors will see our existing clients return and will often lead to them recommending our service to others.

But, how are we to know what specific areas of our service need to be improved?

Well, in order to improve our processes, we need to analyse how they are currently received by our market. This data will enable us to pin-point where to focus the most attention immediately and improve strategies and create a system to ensure our service is delivered easily, effectively and in a timely fashion.

What do they expect, want and what would exceed their expectations?

In order to be a successful agent we should track customers’ perceptions of our performance to discover our strengths, weakness and ensure that we are delivering beyond their expectations.

There are many ways to do this, including making it easy for customers to make a complaint or suggestion, or even conducting a mystery shopping exercise. The main method I suggest for tracking performance is via the use of a Customer Service Survey.

When compiling a survey for your customers, remember to keep it short, relevant and easy to understand. More information about creating an effective survey can be found at All Business. Plus, here”s a great survey that I came across the other day ~ City of Ryde’s ‘Customer Service Survey’ .

Innovation and Implementation

Customer service surveys can provide some amazing insights into what you are doing right & what areas need to be improved upon. After receiving feedback on the quality of your work, strategies should be developed to overcome any limitations.\r\n\r\nFor instance, one of the customer surveys I did revealed that one of my customers felt that I had an impersonal approach to customers & yet prior to doing the survey I had no idea that some of my customers had felt this way about me at all. It was a bitter pill to swallow at the time, but now I”m a better agent for it.

I”m currently in the process of  implementing a system for customer relationship management so I can design a better daily approach to my workflow and communicate more effectively with my customers. I currently use Box & Dice’s BOOM, a Customer Relationship Management System. I now input every person I come into contact with into this system, and document any communication that is made. This allows me to refer to my past notes on a client and remember our last few conversations.

Another issue was my constant follow up. I discovered this was due to a lack of valuable information being provided, resulting in a negative relationship. My solution to this is a Quarterly Report, which includes facts about what”s happening within their suburb such as statistics, sold homes and more.

If you”d like a copy of this Quarterly Report please feel welcome to email me at chris.shepherd@rwfm.com.au and I”ll send you out the latest version.

Within the CRM, I have also set up specific campaign trails such as Hot, Warm or Cold seller trails so that the BOOM system reminds me of what communication I need to make, at the appropriate time.

While I encountered these two problems, there are many others and it is important to develop a solution specific to the weakness.

What to do?

Given the financial and time costs involved in getting new clients, it is important to fix our current systems and maintain a healthy relationship with our existing clients. By so doing, it is only a matter of time before lots of extra business is generated via ongoing referrasl.

Using client surveys, complaint/comment systems or even mystery shoppers can establish weak points within an agent”s current systems, which can then be enhanced for a much better customer experience. Plus, you”ll get a much better appreciation of what your clients needs & expectations really are, so you can deliver what they want and more.

Once these issues are highlighted then they simply shouldn”t be ignored by brushing them under the carpet. Find a solution and then take the necessary actions required to ensure that your customer service is implemented on an ongoing basis, you”ll very quickly generate lots of ”raving fans” and a fantastic reputation within your service area.

I”d be interested to hear if other agents have used Customer Service Surveys and what sort of response they”ve had? Or maybe what”s been the most enlightening question they”ve asked in their survey?

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We all know Coronas as that delightful Mexican beer that goes down an absolute treat on a hot day, especially with a little bit of lime in the top. They are standard in Mexico, kind of like a VB or XXXX, but here they are considered a “top shelf” beer.

Late last year I was given the opportunity to come down to Ray White NSW in Sydney and find out what would be involved in the role of Chief Auctioneer. I have since decided to take up this opportunity and I’m living in Sydney and loving it but on this trip I was just getting the lay of the land and talking to people.

One day I was on an office visit with the CEO of Ray White Corporate NSW, Stephen Nell. It was late afternoon, about 5:30, and the Principal offered us a beer and we of course accepted. Three beers were put on the table – a Carlton Cold, a Tooheys New and a Corona. I was given the option to pick first and straight away I picked the Corona as it is my favourite beer and was the best on offer by far. The CEO was amazed and pointed out, not in a rude way, how times had changed and that there is no respecting your elders. He said that if the situation had been reversed he never would have picked the Corona.

I thought about this for a millisecond and took a very quick sip of the Corona so neither Stephen nor the Principal could have it.

Now, the whole point to this story is that as a generation, we do respect our elders a great deal. We know that we can learn a lot from them. However, this does not mean we are going to let them have our favourite beer or stop us speaking up when we think something is wrong. Although they have the experience, we can often offer a fresh perspective on things and we should never underestimate the value of that.

In my opinion I think it is really important to know exactly what it is you want in business and life and if you go for it you will be amazed how many times you will get it. At the end of the day I know what it is I want and where I am going and, when a choice of beers is in front of me, I will always take the Corona.

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I am currently in the process of conducting a survey of real estate agents and their thoughts about what they feel could have the greatest affect on their commissions throughout 2010.

The response to date has been very interesting & has provided a great insight into what’s happening out there in the current marketplace.

Yesterday, I had a radio interview about this issue with Kevin Turner from REUncut about some of the feedback that I have received from real estate agents thus far, here’s the interview…

Click here to listen to the interview – Future Of Agents Commission – 2010

To have your say about this important issue affecting our real estate industry, make sure you share your view by clicking the link below & completing this quick survey (easily completed in under 90 seconds).

Please Click Here to access the Future Of Agents Commission 2010 Survey

Note: The survey will close on February 19th 2010 and results will be compiled & posted out shortly afterwards.

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I’d be really interested to hear some thoughts from young agents on your Property Sector forecasts for 2010 & where to from here?

I’ve been reading some killer reports recently on 2009: the year that was, but now the challenge lies in navigating through the unchartered waters of 2010.

Who is expecting a market recovery?

Will the rate rises at the end of 2009 lead to a stagnant market place for you locally? Nationally?

How are buyers reacting to recent rate rises and the potential / reality that there may be more to come in the first quarter of 2010?

Are you noticing a return of investors to your marketplace?

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts/comments.

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Well another year underway. This year I’m going to define my goals both business and personal and set about achieving them. I’m writing a business plan to keep with me in the office and review monthly.

This year I’ll be adopting a new approach. I’m taking advantage of an online system to help follow up on leads and to keep in touch with clients.

Last year I saw myself making lots of phone calls to keep in touch and thought this year I would mix phone, text and email to help keep me in touch with my clients (both existing and new)

I’m looking forward to a great year and wish that all the young agents have a fantastic and rewarding 2010 as well. Lets make the most of it.

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