It’s hard to imagine a tougher job than being a real estate agent. No salary, only commissions. Weekends are reserved for house showings since your clients work throughout the week. Real estate is an extremely competitive market, and the economy has the ultimate say. And you can get led on for months by potential prospects, spending hundreds on gas and wasting countless hours, just to have your client switch to another agent at the last minute.
But your real estate career has the chance to be rewarding. That’s why you decided to quit your job to start in the first place. You knew it would be tough, but perhaps you didn’t think it would be this tough.
Fortunately, we’re surrounded by technology to make our lives easier. The trouble is that there’s almost too much technology. You can’t dedicate a couple hours every night to keep up with all the new software companies that could potentially enhance your life. So you give up and tread on without it.
We’ve created this list to help you get some of your precious time back, to improve the experience of your clients, and to help you make your career as rewarding as you once thought.
10 Reasons Why Real Estate Agents Should Use Satisfaction Surveys
Many real estate agents aren’t aware how surveys could improve their average day, build a list of clients who are happy to refer you to their colleagues and take away much of the stress you deal with now.
Probably because surveys leave a bad taste in our mouths. When we think of surveys we often think of the market research guys at your local mall who stand, equipped with a clipboard, asking passersby if they’d be willing to donate their time for market research. And getting rejected nearly every time.
But surveys don’t have to be long, boring, and borderline useless.
When used correctly, surveys can unlock powerful insights that lead to higher client retention rates, increased growth, and ultimately, a better real estate agent.
The trick is asking only one question at a time. Your most important question. And you should be asking your most important question to clients and prospects.
Here are 10 ways you can use surveys to become a better real estate agent:
1. Ask prospects why they didn’t want to work with you
Nothing is more discouraging than spending months with a client only to learn he switched agents right before he decided to buy. You can’t get all the time you spent back. But you can proactively improve so it doesn’t happen again. Except, you’re not quite sure why your client left you.
Things were great in your mind. You’ve dealt with this client for months, through all the ups and downs that come with buying a new house. And you didn’t get discouraged when he hesitated to buy.
You know it’s just as stressful for him as it is for you, so you cut him some slack and told yourself that he’ll make a decision eventually. But it turns out the decision he made was to leave you and now you’re stuck wondering why.
You are thinking about calling him to find out, but you don’t want the conversation to go awry. He was a bit of a hot head in the past so you decide to play it safe. Yet, each night before you fall asleep, your brain replays past few months you spent with your client and is desperately trying to figure out why he left.
Instead, you can ask your ex-clients for feedback without talking to them with a one-click survey that organically embeds into your email provider. So it will alleviate your anxiety while saving you time.
And your client will be able to answer you with only one click of his mouse or thumb. Then, after answering he will be prompted to add additional comments if he chooses.
So get your rest! Our surveys will help you find the “why”.
2. Regularly follow up with clients
Real estate is one of the most competitive industries in America. It’s you vs. everybody. Your clients and prospects are on high alert for warning signs in your behavior. This is their biggest moment as a new family, so they want you to be perfect.
And your job isn’t done when they finally decide on a house. You need to check in with them regularly if you want to stand out from the crowd. And if you want your clients to turn into your biggest form of promotion.
A simple Google search will tell you that one of dominant warning signs of a bad real estate agent is not routinely following up. And if Google knows it, your clients surely know it too.
Conversely, the best real estate agents are the ones who stay in touch after the sale. And implementing one-click surveys is the best way to keep your pulse on your clients. New and old.
Regularly checking in with clients by phone takes more time than you would expect. And it’s impossible to know all of your client’s schedule down to the minute. So you don’t know if you’re interrupting dinner or causing a distraction for them at work.
And many times clients are feeling great and don’t need an interaction as intimate as a phone call. But if you miss the outliers, those who aren’t feeling great, it could cause a lot of headaches for getting new clients. 95% of people who have had a bad experience end up telling their circle of friends and colleagues about it.
So instead of calling all of your clients, you can cut your job in half by using a one-click survey software that makes it easy to share and answer directly in an email. You won’t bother the happy clients who didn’t need a phone call. And you can proactively handle the unhappy clients before they tell their circle of influence.
3. NPS surveys subtly encourage clients to recommend you to their colleagues
The NPS (Net Promoter Score) survey is the most popular version of a one-click survey. You ask how likely your clients would be to recommend you to a friend or colleague on a scale of 1-10. Then, the higher they rank you the more likely they are to recommend you to the people they know.
NPS surveys have many benefits, but the biggest benefit is that they subtly encourage word of mouth promotion. Asking your clients the NPS question will remind them to recommend you to others.
And studies show that consumers are 92% more likely to trust recommendations from people they know than from any other source.
4. Capture important information from cold traffic with website widget surveys
Website widget surveys are another form of surveys that could help you get more customers. The genius behind the website widget survey is that it can capture crucial information from the cold traffic that comes to your website.
Maybe you set up a website widget survey and realize that most of your website visitors are single women. So you can make your copy more relevant to single women, and you could become more familiar with neighborhoods where they would love to live.
Or perhaps you realize that your cold traffic makes a lot more money than your current clients. So you could use this information to familiarize yourself with the high-end neighborhoods and capitalize on the extra knowledge you have.
You will be able to test customizable one-click surveys, NPS surveys, and website widget surveys with YesInsights.
5. Organize your schedule
Real estate agents have some of the most hectic schedules. Weekends and evenings are consumed by meeting with clients and showing them potential houses. The weekday is filled with meetings, calls, and paperwork.
But implementing surveys can help get your sanity back.
You can use surveys to schedule if your clients are routinely answering survey questions. With YesInsights, you can trigger each response to go to another landing page where you could have a scheduling software with different available times.
Or you could send out a survey to all of your clients actively seeking houses and coordinate with them on which times would be best for them to look at houses with you. The best part about YesInsights is we will track all of your responses in real-time, so you can even offer some timetables on a first come, first serve basis.
And you can get the general pulse of when people want to meet. Of course, each client will be different, but you could uncover some general insights that could help with future clients.
6. Leverage your happiest clients for social proof
If you’re following some of the steps I’ve mentioned above, you should have a clear picture of which clients are happy and which are not.
Most of your time will be spent on the clients who aren’t happy. You need to be proactive with them because the last thing you want is for them to tell their circle of influence how bad of a real estate agent you are. And usually, their problems can be solved by simply listening to them vent and showing them that they matter to you, not the money you’ll get from them.
However, you shouldn’t neglect your happiest clients. Social proof is important in any industry, but it’s especially important in real estate. Real estate naturally comes with worried and stressed customers. And their decision could impact their life for the next 20 years. So they want to make sure they’re going to an agent who is highly trusted by people just like them.
And this is where you leverage your happiest clients for social proof. You could take a family picture in front of their newly purchased house for social media and advertisements. Or you could ask them to leave a review your Facebook page or website. You can even ask them for an interview to post to your blog or to use as a testimonial.
The important part is that you get the social proof. This will alleviate many worries some of your prospects might be having. And you can ask if they’re interested in giving you social proof by using a one-click survey (you might want to entice them to lunch too).
7. Check in with clients you haven’t heard from recently
Sometimes communication breaks down. Either you lose communication from a client you served in the past. Or a dubious prospect hasn’t returned your calls and you know they haven’t switched to another agent.
Sometimes it was your fault, but not always. They might’ve hated you and never want to see you again. Or maybe an emergency came up in their life and postponed their ability to purchase a new house. But you won’t know until you ask. And if they won’t return your calls, then using a one-click survey is your best option to reestablish the communication you’ve had with them in the past.
A simple yes or no question such as, “Are you still interested in buying a house?” could work wonders. And with YesInsights, responders are prompted to fill in additional comments after responding to your survey, which will give you the insights you need.
Let’s say someone responded with a Yes to your survey. And his additional comments tell you that he was involved in a bad car accident. Now you know that he’s not in a position, physically, financially, or mentally, to buy a house. But you know he still wants one when he’s healthy.
Then you could send him a get well card and a gift card to his favorite pizza shop (which you could ask him with another survey). If you’re treating your clients when they aren’t ready to buy a house, you will surely stand out from the rest of the agents in your area. And I’m sure he will tell all his friends about how his real estate agent treated him better after his accident than they did.
8. Routinely asking questions will help you learn the particular area better
Half of the battle real estate agents wage on everyday is dealing with clients and prospects. The other half of the battle is learning about the many neighborhoods where you have sold or will sell houses.
Real estate is as much as a marketing job as it is a sales job. And spending the extra time to learn about the culture, hobbies, schedules, interests, etc. of particular neighborhoods will pay dividends down the road. In terms of both money and satisfied clients.
Once you’ve implemented surveys into your workflow and your clients are used to answering your surveys, you will have the ability to ask more “off-topic” questions. So you can use one-click surveys to discover some key insights from all the communities you have clients in, instead of doing the research yourself.
This tactic becomes twice as powerful as your client list grows. It’s a great way to stay in tune to the general pulse each client has at the community level, and you can use the data to put your prospects into their dream homes, in their dream neighborhood.
Then you can tweak your unique selling proposition to emphasize that not only will you put clients into their dream home, but you’ll find a house in their dream neighborhood too.
9. Gather and share feedback from potential buyers with your clients
One of the main reasons for the general mistrust in real estate agents is clients feel like their agent will try to make the quick buck instead of finding the best deal when you’re selling their house. A great way to avoid this problem is to capture and share feedback from potential buyers with the sellers.
So for example, during an open house presentation, you could ask each prospect for their email address and tell them that you use it to show their feedback to the sellers. Usually, they will be happy to potentially help a client avert a scam from a real estate agent.
And, it will show them that you care enough about your clients to present them with all the available information.
You could then send out an NPS survey to these prospects asking if they’d recommend this house to someone looking for a house. You could send them a list of price ranges and ask them, in a perfect world, which range they would purchase the house at. Or you could ask them what their biggest grievance was with the house, and fix it before the next open house showing.
You know your industry better than I do. So get creative when asking questions and always work to serve the best interests of your clients before yourself.
10. Prove you’re tech savvy to clients
According to the internet, one of the top warning signs of a bad real estate agent is carrying a clipboard. Specifically, Jennifer Monroe, a consumer’s real estate blogger writes on “Top 5 Signs Your Real Estate Agent Sucks!“,
#2. They carry a clipboard. Or file folders. And/or they don’t text! And they generally load you up with real paperwork. Hello Twenty-First Century! If your agent isn’t employing the latest high tech solutions, you’re just not being well served.
If you’re able to find that article, then your clients are able to find that article. And it’s especially important as millennials start getting jobs and moving into places of their own.
We grew up with technology and we hate talking on the phone. So we’ll be more than happy to substitute another medium of communication for a phone conversation.
And you’ll impress other generations of people with how much more organized, professional, and concerned about your clients you are compared to your peers.
Conclusion
We hope that helps paint a picture of how you can benefit from adding surveys into your workflow. You can stay more organized, fix past mistakes, and create ecstatic customers which all leads to more growth!
You don’t need to be a programmer or power user to start surveying your clients. Sign up for a free 7-day trial and let us show you how simple surveys can be.
