Whats the best thing about losing an instruction? Not all is lost when all is lost! When you put work into a valuation its always disappointing to lose it, but the best thing about estate agency is that you might get another bite at the cherry. Be smart and organised and you can maximise the business that you eventually get from these lost clients:
1. Diagnose the problem: Ask the client a short series of questions and determine why your service isn’t suitable. Remember to record the results for future analysis
2. Empathize: If any of the reasons for leaving are related to issues within the control of your estate agency, such as product or service problems, apologize for the problem, state the importance of the customer relationship, and ask if there is anything that could be done to keep the customer from leaving. If its price, explain why your prices are higher. Ensure you have a well written script with some benefits over all of your local competitors.
3. If appropriate make a counter offer or offer assurances to rectify the service issues.
4. Whether or not the employer is successful in keeping the customer from leaving, a follow-up letter should be sent to the customer within one day.
5. Analyze the data relating to lost business. Understand where you are losing business
6. Make Adjustments to Business Practices: The data analysis should clearly identify areas in need of improvement. Management should address these areas, which may consist of the treatment customers receive from employees, product problems, pricing, etc.
7. Ensure the timing of your follow up is good. Having established the clients agency period in step one, a well timed call and letter can do wonders. Include some USP’s of your business, good local price information and some information of your recent sales. These may well add some doubt into the clients mind and give you the second bite at the cherry
Give us a call at dezrez. We can show you a simple way to set up a workflow to do exactly the steps above, and if you win any instructions as a result, I will let you buy me a beer at the next property computer show.
