How to Craft a Client Experience and Build Your Brand Reputation
FACT - 84% of companies that prioritize the client experience outperform those that do not. What does this mean for you?
Focusing on crafting a client experience will give you a competitive advantage that would be hard to replicate. In addition, it builds a solid brand reputation that results in repeat business and referrals.
Delivering a valuable experience instead of just a service is a strategic way to build a strong foundation for a business. But it is more than a mindset. It is a culture - one that you can keep improving on.
Psshh.. - Easy. Right?
From the first initial contact to closing and beyond, your clients need to feel like they are part of an experience, not just transacting the purchase and sale of a house. It takes more than just being friendly and professional.
It goes a lot deeper than that. And I don’t mean this to say I’m forgetting about this little nuance of being human AND a realtor; life happens. It throws curveballs, you get busy and life gets messy.
The Scenario
You find yourself barely managing that treadmill. The clients come and go, and you deal with them as best you can. The hustle that gives you the Sunday evening dread now comes every day! You get lost in all the details and perhaps even miss things that could cause problems down the road. Your team members have their idea of a good client experience which doesn’t align with yours, and you wonder how long the disconnect existed!
Does your reality share similarities?
I have worked with enough clients to know the deal. Drawing from their experiences and my years in real estate here is how to build a brand culture that is client-centric, strategic, and structured.
Where to Start
Service based on values is fundamental to an outstanding client experience. Start by identifying the values you strive to achieve in working with your clients. Then, evaluate how you can structure them, clarifying your vision of how your services should unfold.
Once you have a clear vision, you can create a strategy.
The next step is to align your team’s perception with yours. Clarifying your expectations and approach will create a supportive team culture, bringing consistency into your brand’s service delivery.
How to Connect Your Values & Vision to Client Expectations
Building customer personas is not only for marketing purposes - on a deeper level, but they also assist you and your team in envisioning the types of clients and situations you may encounter. It creates a client-centric mindset. With time and experience, you will be able to perfect these client types.
This information is invaluable to improving your vision and resulting actions. It evolves into a dataset for evaluation in all aspects of your service offering.
About That Human Connection
Think about how much emotion plays a part in building true loyalty. We can spot someone being fake from a mile in most cases. But when we are authentic, we start feeling a connection and may even start to bond.
Be mindful, though, when we try to replicate this in our marketing, there is a big chance of coming across as insincere if you do not genuinely care about your client. It’s a fine line. But when we strive to connect with our clients, truly, we build loyalty.
Understanding their emotional needs when it comes to the transaction will help you be empathetic to their viewpoint. Listen to them. Along the way, look for opportunities to add value to their lives - be it a small gift or a simple call from a sincere place when they experience a setback or a win. Even if not specific to the transaction. That is the beauty of real estate! We can build authentic connections because it is such a personal journey for the client.
The Power of Feedback
Don’t just strive for testimonials - encourage feedback. Even when negative, use this information to perfect your unique approach to the client experience. Look for ways to identify:
Development and training needs of your team
Ways to mold your team culture
Areas to craft realistic, practical customer personas
How to improve on your service delivery
Instead of waiting for testimonials, encourage and ask for feedback. Doing this allows your client to voice their feelings in a safe space. Then, when the feedback is positive, simply ask for permission to publish it as a testimonial.
Technology as an Enabler
Technology won’t rob you of your human connection! I see so many agents get stuck on this view. By automating aspects of your business, you get to clear away the daily clutter, opening time and energy to focus on our clients. You also create a sound and consistent structure (you know, being on time, the reminders, and technical details that boost your productivity!)
Technology is not a replacement for your human connection, but it is a powerful aid to enhance and facilitate it.
Approach the information as an ongoing strategy. We all fail, and we can all succeed. So give yourself time, focus, and put in consistent effort. I guarantee it will build into a service experience that will give you that top brand reputation.
meet Sheena
Backed by two decades of demonstrated experience, I help purpose-driven women in real estate grow their businesses and achieve ultimate success with proven systems.
