This article by our Founder and CEO, Chris Pollinger as published by Inman News shares insights about customer experience starting with these 20 things.
Customer experience needs to become your obsession.
The real estate industry is finally waking up to notion that the customer experience is becoming a focal point in our value proposition.
To improve the experience of the external client, we need to recognize this starts internally within the team. Taking care of those on your team isn’t only a moral imperative, it’s good business. When we start with providing a great experience within our team turnover goes down. Productivity also raises and our clients experience (and satisfaction ratings) goes up.
Here are a few questions to get you thinking.
- Is the level of trust within our team members high or low?
- How do we intentionally help every team member cultivate a feeling of pride in what they do?
- When we delegate responsibility, do we also assign the necessary authority to see the task completed along with it?
- Do we have a collaborative culture where everyone’s input in matters, regardless of their role?
- Is ongoing training and development an important part of our team’s strategic plan?
- How do we show people we appreciate them and their contribution?
- How do we reward and celebrate displays of providing great customer experience?
- Do our team members believe they can be open and honest without damaging their future on the team?
- What are we doing to encourage people to consistently make improvements to the processes and systems of the team?
- Do you have flexible work practices in place to accommodate the growing need for life balance within our culture?
Ready for a few more?
- What are the five most important values in our organization? How do we intentionally demonstrate them every day?
- On a scale of one to ten, how much fun are people having on our team?
- What are five things do we have in place to support “wellness” for those on our team?
- What are we doing to foster emotional and financial literacy in our team?
- Are we accepting the failures as learning experiences as much as we do the successes?
- Is each person on our team empowered to do their role?
- Are there negative consequences when someone makes the decision to please the client rather than please the Team Leader?
- Do our definitions of success to encompass the non-monetary? Things like job satisfaction, life balance and individual growth?
- Have we recently surveyed our team and our clients to find out how they really feel about how we are doing?
- What transparent benchmarks do we use to foster a culture of accountability?
An extraordinary client experience starts internally. If we take care of those on the team, they will take care of the teams’ clients. This all takes an intentional focus. Creating the right culture is low cost and a high return on investment. It’s good for increasing production and reducing turnover. While also reinforcing your value propositions through providing a great customer experience.
If you got stuck on any of the above questions, shoot me a message. I’d be happy to share a specific strategy which has worked brilliantly with the teams we work with.
