Customer service tops priority list
In real estate, customer service is high on the agenda. It's important in the introduction of the client to the firm, to the product and to the selling process itself. It's also an essential component of property management which is the after-sales service provided by a real estate company. If your customer service is up to scratch, not only will your client come away satisfied with his or her property purchase, they will recommend you to other clients thus increasing business and improving your company's reputation.
Certain markets differentiate between clients when it comes to levels of customer relations. For example if you pay more for your purchase, then your level of customer service will be higher.
What can differ, however, is the number of people attending to a client. So for example in a real estate deal if it's a high profile client investing a lot of money, there may be 10 people working on the project, but if it's a smaller project it could take just one person.
But whether you're dealing with a person buying a studio or a multi-million dollar estate they should be treated in exactly the same way with the highest level of customer service possible. People need to feel good about a purchase and a relationship of trust needs to be established. The customer should be made to feel like a king.
Increasingly companies in the Gulf are recognising the need, resulting in a trend towards investment in training in the area. These days companies across the board are investing in external communication trainers and holding seminars in order to improve customer service relations.
It may seem like a very basic subject, but the reason I'm writing about it today is because real estate brokerage here in the UAE has recently come under attack. The criticism is grounded. It came about because of a high number of clients having bad experiences with brokers.
Take someone for example who knows very little about real estate, but who wants to purchase a property. They open a newspaper, find something they like and call up a broker. The broker answers and promises to call them back but they don't. Or maybe they do and then in ensuing negotiations they appear genuine when in fact they are not. People have also lost large amounts of money because of these bad brokers and the net result is that the industry in general has garnered a bad reputation directly because of a few bad eggs.
This scenario is partly a symptom of the way the market has developed here. In the Gulf and in Dubai in particular, it is a relatively new industry.
As a result, it has attracted many amateurs; people who wanted to learn how to broker but had little or no experience and no training or education behind them. As the industry boomed it attracted even more of these people: people who were not only unqualified or corrupt but who lacked the understanding of a need for customer relations.
The good news, however, is that although many businesses, including real estate companies, have suffered because of the recession, it has also served to weed out many of these bad brokers.
The Real Estate Regulatory Agency (Rera) in Dubai has also clamped down on many corrupt brokers by introducing a need to have acquire a specific license or broker ID. This has helped to rid the industry of corrupt people with unlicensed practices.
The problem is that many people opt for unlicensed individuals and unfortunately even a licensed broker in an individual company could be untrustworthy. emember you are the one with the choice. Go to a professional company like where you can choose your own agent. And in the event of something going wrong you can complain directly to the management of the company and immediate action will be taken.
- The author is CEO of Leo Sterling Real Estate. The views expressed are her own
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