Inspiration

It’s no longer good enough to be good!

Getting radical with the delivery of extraordinary customer service.

It’s time to go beyond giving customers what they say they want, and start giving them unexpectedly amazing service.

The commercial world craves continual acceleration, yet I speak to estate agency principals who cocoon themselves in their parochial environments, apparently oblivious to the innovation and progress in customer service being made in other sectors, and unaware of the learning that could profoundly improve their performance.

The “big fish in a small pond” factor seems to have led to a degree of complacency among successful agencies, especially following the recent years of plenty. The trouble is, in a competitive environment, if you simply maintain your speed, you are effectively decelerating to a point at which you will stand still.

Standing still allows others to pass you. Market share diminishes, good staff jump ship, profits fall, and hitherto successful agency principals ask, “What went wrong? Our methods have always served us well in the past.”

This is precisely the problem. In the past, businesses were judged on their stability, constancy and predictability. Today they are measured by their vibrancy and their ability to evolve with the times, respond quickly to change, provide innovative solutions and harness complementary product/service offerings.

In the same way, so your target audience (the home-owning public in your area) has changed (oh yes it has). There is a new population that has requirements of you that they themselves do not even yet know! Your 21st century customer finds himself in a more hostile environment than ever before. He is bombarded with information from all angles – TV, Internet, Email, Text Messaging and Direct Mail. He does not have the time to sift the relevant from the dross, and suffers “option overload”. He hates being “sold to”, and, living in a more transient, less neighbourly society, he is reluctant to trust anyone.

As a result of this he relies on no-one but himself, and takes it upon himself to become better-informed, entitling him to more respect, which he seldom receives. He craves comfort, both from the tangibles he has the resources to buy, and from the relationships that cannot be bought.

Too many estate agents are missing this, and continue to use the same old techniques that they assume will impress their publics, such as mailshots asking if the nameless recipient would be interested in selling his home; and having the crass arrogance to assume that they have a right to be involved in the sale.

The potential customer, along with the other 93% of the population, is probably not thinking of moving anyway, so the amazingly generous “free valuation” or the unique “no sale-no fee” is wasted. OK, forgive my cynicism; as we know this approach “works” sometimes, but it does nothing to enhance market share when your competitors are simultaneously employing similar tactics. Even worse, it misses a great opportunity to build a long-term reputation with local homeowners so that when they do want to sell, which they ultimately will, you will be their agent of choice.

It follows that anyone still using the ABC of estate agency (Always Be Closing) is likely to have a poor reputation, and is probably having to work incredibly hard just to maintain market share, let alone enhance it.

Over recent years, agents’ marketing focus on sales results has begun to fall on deaf ears; with futile and insubstantial promises such as “We can sell your house” or “The best agent in town”. This is because there is more to buying and selling than the sale. Much more. If you are to be the agent of choice, then you should be looking way beyond the actual result (which should be taken as read) and thinking about how to deliver an exceptional selling/buying experience. It is thisthat will be remembered long after the sale has been forgotten, forming the foundation of your reputation.

So how do you deliver an experience that is way ahead of expectation? Some would say firstly find out what customers’ expectation is. I say don’t bother! Sure, you could do a load of opinion surveys, and ask people during a take-on. But what would happen then? You would deliver a service that tries to at least meet that expectation. Whilst this is not unreasonable, the planting in our minds of an expectation stifles our ability to go way beyond its delivery.

Instead, we need to employ some radical independent thinking, based not on “what do our customers expect of us?” but rather “what would really delight our customers?”

For example, in the 1970s, Barclays banking customers never craved a Cash Point. Opinion surveys just said they wanted reliable banking, extended opening hours and shorter queues. The bank could have improved its counter services in response, but an imaginative banker went beyond the customers’ dreams and gave them the hole-in-the-wall. The rest is history.

Likewise, no-one ever asked for car reversing sensors, cappuccinos, Alton Towers, 1471, or even the home PC. Innovative businesses thought “what would delight our customers?” and went several steps beyond.

Estate Agency customers’ expectation is, by definition, usually limited to the best service offered by a local competitor and, frankly, most British estate agents do not offer anything extraordinary in order to differentiate themselves significantly (please, please correct me on this if you do!).

In summary, the key is to provide innovation that anticipates needs. Sometimes this can be the smallest of brilliant ideas (such as arranging for a takeaway meal to be delivered to the buyer/seller on moving day), but bear in mind that if everyone feels comfortable with your idea, it is probably not an idea, but an imitation. Sometimes you have to step out of your comfort zones to conceive the distinctions necessary to generate a long term, sustainable and profitable business reputation.

Only when you offer a level of service that amazes your customers will the value of your service be truly recognised and translated into a significant improvement in your turnover, commission percentage, profit and growth.

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© Richard Rawlings 2010
Richard Rawlings is the founding director of Estate Agency Insight, which specialises in helping estate agencies harness opportunity through innovative method, marketing, publicity, and training. He can be contacted at or on 0845 838 1354.

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