According to the National Association of Realtors’ 2021 Member Profile, 59 percent of an agent’s future leads and 60 percent of their future revenue comes from former clients and their referrals.
That means a majority of their future earnings is dependent on how each client perceives their agent and transaction overall, making the customer experience in real estate paramount.
What is customer experience?
Customer experience is made up of much more than providing standard customer service when problems arise.
Customer service is a single interaction, such as a client calling with a question to be answered. Customer experience encompasses how a customer feels about all of their interactions and overall experience with their agent throughout a transaction.
From a client’s first impression, to completing paperwork, to property viewings, to the date they move in and everything in between – every exchange is a small piece of the larger puzzle of a buyer or seller’s customer experience.
According to J.D. Power and Associates, satisfaction with the customer experience in real estate is directly correlated to the likelihood that they will refer others – another significant source of future revenue for agents. J.D. Power also found that customer satisfaction is demonstrably higher for both buyers and sellers when their agents provide both quick responses to requests and also comprehensive information about the progress of their transaction.
The agent who has strong customer experience skills understands all of this and is able to provide a personal touch to every interaction with a client. They use buyer and seller knowledge, and the power of their personal brand to provide a wealth of information to clients. They can also anticipate a client’s needs, and proactively provide the right information and service at the right time.
What can agents do to help their customer experience?
Your goal as a real estate agent should be to make the process of buying or selling a home easier for your clients. You can do this by educating them about the process, giving them advice and recommendations, and by giving them all the tools and information they need to make the best decisions.
If you don’t have helpful tools in place, you won’t be able to do your job efficiently and effectively. Even worse, relying on the wrong or outdated tools can make you less efficient and effective, and may put your future revenue at risk.
Finding the Right Tools
Real estate transactions are complicated and having the right tools and processes in place can help make managing them easier. There are a variety of transaction management options to help agents and brokers keep track of their tasks and timelines. It can be helpful to have a single place to manage all transactions so nothing gets lost or forgotten.
ListedKit is an ideal tool to help manage and enhance your clients’ customer experience. It provides an interface for agents and clients to share up-to-the-minute information on the status of their many important transaction tasks and milestones. Having a centralized, collaborative transaction timeline helps provide peace of mind for buyers and sellers, and in turn, improves customer satisfaction and the likelihood of future referrals.
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ListedKit has also created a new way for agents to continue to provide value after the sale or purchase of a home. With the ability for clients to access their ListedKit transaction after closing, they can log back in any time to view their agent’s curated vendor list spanning a variety of home services, or download copies of their documents.
What’s the payoff?
Providing the right tools and support to create great customer experiences helps generate trust and promote loyalty from clients. These clients are more likely to return to their agent for future transactions and recommend their agent to neighbors, friends, and family. Using ListedKit creates a new way for agents and their clients to share and receive information, helping to keep clients satisfied throughout their transaction and long after closing.
