The housing market right now is… unbelievable.
According to Nationwide, house prices have increased by 13% since June 2020. The average price for a home back then was £216,403. It is now £245,432. We haven’t seen prices like this since November 2004.
Because of market conditions and the degree of competitiveness, the average sale, today, takes only 41 days to agree. This is the shortest average time since the pandemic began.
With a market as competitive as this one, it can be difficult to be heard amongst all the noise. You need your customers to start shouting for you if you want to be the loudest. To achieve this, your levels of customer service need to be outstanding.
Customer needs are changing quicker than ever before, and customer expectations are higher than ever before. Here’s how to exceed the expectations of home buyers in a record-breaking competitive market.
Collect feedback
Firstly, you need to establish where your customer satisfactions levels are right now. To do this, you need to ask them. Send out an anonymised questionnaire or just ask your customers privately!
Choose the right time to collect this data. Collecting feedback at the end of the buying journey isn’t always the greatest idea, particularly with property sales. The process can last well over a month, and essential detail may be lost.
Remember, with feedback, you aren’t just collecting reviews, you’re trying to receive constructive criticism. You want a healthy amount of criticism because no company is perfect, and you need to find out what you could do better… constantly!
Collecting feedback is just the first step. You need to identify patterns and anomalies. Patterns are a sure sign that you have a problem. Anomalies might not always be worth taking seriously, but the most proactive companies will still investigate, particularly if the problem is severe enough.
Provide real-time communication
Communication is important in every sales process but with selling homes… the customer might just be making the most expensive purchase of their life. You might see this every day, but it’s a big deal for them. They are going to want to know what is happening constantly.
Communication between customers and sales teams is tricky. Of course, the customer is going to want to go about their lives during the sales process and, simultaneously, your sales team is going to want to continue handling other enquiries.
For sales teams to handle multiple enquiries at once from prospective buyers and existing customers, you are going to need software to help you out.
CRM systems are designed to do just that. CRM systems allow sales teams to build up a library of contacts and keep on top of leads as they get closer to a sale. For fast growing companies, bespoke CRM systems work better at streamlining sales workflow while facilitating growth. Better yet, project management systems offer a more comprehensive solution for companies that want to manage more than just sales.
Establish relationships
“People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel”.
This couldn’t be truer when it comes to sales. We like to think of ourselves as more, but people are emotional creatures. Sadly, an increase in leads tends to lead to a decrease in quality for the individual customer, and people are going to remember poor service.
In the whirlwind of a typical working week for a growing business, remember that your clients are people. Get to know them, treat them well. Word of mouth is everything in this industry.
Let us help you deliver the perfect service
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