How new technologies are driving the real estate market?
The real estate market, whether it concerns property management or sales, is extremely competitive. In times of rapid development of digital technologies and changes in customer profiles, competitiveness is less and less determined by the product itself or its price. Instead, what becomes significant in the real estate market and beyond is brand culture, which essentially relates to the high quality of customer relationships. Therefore, among other things, to stand out in the real estate market, one should consider implementing new technological and organizational solutions in sales and comprehensive customer service.
How to serve?
Clients of real estate agencies are buyers or tenants - both of these groups, due to the nature of their involvement, require special attention and excellent service quality. Potential property buyers, due to the high competition in the market, must be treated exceptionally - one needs to communicate with them effectively at a time and channel convenient for them, building their trust and sense of comfort; otherwise, they can easily lose interest in the offer and move to competitors.
On the other hand, tenants need quick handling of requests, especially in situations involving major failures when issues arise from managing a large number of requests at the same time. Quality customer service can work wonders. However, this requires tools to, for instance, increase call reachability, provide new communication channels, and gain control over the work of consultants in the Customer Service Office.
Personalising contact - a new approach to customer service
A client who contacts a real estate office or manager expects their problem to be resolved as quickly as possible. They certainly do not want to be referred to multiple individuals to repeat the history of the issue they are presenting. Therefore, customer service should also be based on data collected about the client - meaning it should be profiled and personalised. This is possible when consultants who talk with the client have access to a database that collects the history of all contacts with that person. This way, they can not only serve more quickly and effectively but also ensure the client feels treated individually and with attention.
It should also be noted that a lack of sufficient knowledge about products, as well as the market and specifics of a given industry among consultants is perceived as incompetence and a serious error in service, and greatly impacts the overall perception of the brand. A real estate agent must possess basic knowledge about the legal status, fee levels, or technical data of the property. This is certainly facilitated by a database, and in the case of telephone consultations - a conversation script. Knowledge about what we are selling ultimately builds our image and undoubtedly translates into sales.
What solutions can enable this?
The following tools can help in achieving these technology-related customer service tasks:
- configurable IVR voice menu that directs the client immediately to the right person
- call queuing (especially useful in situations with many requests)
- automation of requests
- Predictive Dialing feature - making calls at the best moment (set by us)
- automatic callback feature (Recall)
- customer order data collected in one place - ability to gather and manage it easily, and above all, access to it for consultants
- ability to establish and receive contact through multiple communication channels
- options to survey customer satisfaction through surveys.
It is certainly worth considering a telecommunications solution in the form of a ticketing system that provides us with these tools. This will undoubtedly save us time, money, and provide significantly greater comfort in work utilizing the ticketing system.
Author:
Agata Ludwikowska
