Today’s real estate customer has high expectations when it comes to the service you deliver. They want better. They want more. And they want it now. How can you harness the power of technology to meet their expectations?
We live in a world where you press a button and a car turns up. You press another one and dinner arrives. And then you can press yet another and find the potential new love of your life.
Today’s real estate customer doesn’t want to be caught up in onerous and time-consuming tasks when it comes to buying and selling property. If they could press a button and make everything happen now, they would.
In this world of immediacy, you need to redesign your customer service offering so that you can get more of the jobs done. Technology helps to scale service. As software eats into your tasks list, automation takes over and helps you to do more with less. If you don't embrace new technologies, you’ll be
left behind and stuck with archaic time-consuming processes.
The role of technology is to make things easier so you can focus on the things that drive your business, like getting on the phone and putting yourself in front of customers.
Today’s customer has unmet needs, unidentified needs and unsatisfied needs. The agent who can meet, identify and satisfy those needs is the one who wins. Technology allows you to scale your service by evolving systems. Systems like forms (to capture information), checklists (to ensure consistent service), visuals (to communicate powerful messages) and dialogues (to be more active on the phone) are the essential elements to scale a business.
No one piece of software will ever be your solution. What you need to build is an app stack. Just like on your phone, it’s a group of apps that complete specific functions, so you can minimise stress, maximise output, and drive efficiency and personal effectiveness. With API's apps can talk to each other, sharing data, causing trigger events and automating essential elements of customer service, so you can focus on really adding value.
Service is the way of the future, the secret to higher fees and return customers. Technology allows you to automate, so you can focus your energy on what counts – real customer interaction.
When selecting technology, ask yourself these questions.
1. What’s the problem you’re trying to solve?
What you think is the problem rarely is the problem. When you understand the problem you’re trying to solve, you can put the best technology in place to get the result. Defining the customer service journey allows you to understand workflow. What needs to happen next? Moreover, who's involved? Are there any pain points? What technology is required?
2. How does it work with your existing app stack?
Tech needs to talk, but not all tech is the same. Syncing needs to be two-way, immediate and in the moment. As you scale and grow, you need a robust tech platform that can handle the load as you go from one office to many, from one salesperson to a team.
3. Is it mobile first?
You can do everything on your smartphone or tablet. Make sure every app is mobile ï¬rst, that way you keep your team mobile and your systems simple.
4. Does it scale, especially to multiple team members?
Workflow matters. As your team grows, you need adoption of all of your essential systems. How does the application work with multiple users to ensure maximum efficiency?
5. Can you talk to real life users and see it in play?
There’s nothing like seeing the technology in play and learning from power users who’ve mastered the tech. Seeing tech in new applications opens your mind to new possibilities. And it’s OK only using 10 per cent of an app if that 10 per cent solves a significant problem.