Great Service is in the Eye of the Beholder

Let’s say you’re shopping for a new jacket, and you pop into a clothing shop. Immediately, a salesperson comes up to assist you, asking if you need any help and what you’re looking for. Usually, that’s a great thing, so much better than those times you go into a shop and you can’t find anyone to help you because the sales clerks are all in chatting in the back or sneaking outside for a smoke break.

Sometimes, a salesperson coming up to help you is just annoying.  Maybe because you’re just browsing and you’d rather just look on your own.  If you start talking to the salesperson, you’re going to start feeling sales pressure. The more time they spend with you, telling you how great everything looks, the more likely you are to buy something that you don’t really need.  Or it might just be that you don’t want to waste the salesperson’s time and effort when you’re not really in the mood to buy.

Your service experience did not depend on what the salesperson did.  They did the same thing BOTH TIMES.  The difference was you and what you wanted.

Clients looking for property are like that. Their service experience depends not just on what you do, but what they want at the time. The key is to figure out how your client wants to be serviced.

Now, of course, some aspects of delivering a good service experience are foundational and universal. A good attitude, product knowledge, communication, etc.  I can’t think of anyone who would want to work with an estate agent who doesn’t care about doing a good job, doesn’t know their stuff or drops completely out of touch.  Even a salesperson who jumps to assist you is useless if they don’t know thier inventory.

How you deliver that service experience depends on what your client is looking for.  Some clients want constant attention and some take a “don’t call me, I’ll call you” approach.  Some want you to do all the work and some want to look for homes on their own and send you the ones they like.  Some want to talk to you on the phone and some would rather you just email or text them.  They’re all different and they all have different needs.

So how do you figure out what they want?  Ask them.  Ask them about how they want you to communicate with them.  Ask them how often they want to go out.  Ask them about what their expectations are for their sales experience. Basically, ask them what they want and then do that.

Tom Benedict
Marketing Director,
@britainbesthome
Google+
www.britainsbesthome.com