Don't be the restaurant that doesn’t turn the a/c on in the summer…

It’s a brave business owner who actually invites criticism.  I speak from the personal experience of asking the opinions of the great and the good of the UK property industry for their thoughts every year after The ESTAS Awards. 

While all feedback is hugely valuable - be it negative or positive - I do have to remind myself every time I go through the process that I’m asking clients to tell me what they think to make sure that, in the event someone feels that there is room for improvement, I can address that and fold it into the planning for next year.  It may sting a bit at the time, but it’s a much better outcome for the business than finding out months later and not being able to do anything about it.

By the same token, client feedback plays a pivotal role in improving the overall buying and selling process for your clients, regardless of your profession within the property eco-system.  By gaining insights into consumers’ needs as their transactions progress, and actively soliciting feedback at all major touchpoints, you’re effectively giving your customers the opportunity to voice any concerns without any feeling of awkwardness.  We Brits are not a nation of complainers, that stiff upper lip and propensity to ‘not make a fuss’ is great but it can lead to a lot of pent-up frustration which can have serious consequences for a property transaction, and all those involved in the process, later on down the line. It could result in the client taking their business to your competitor down the road, or lead to a damning customer review or a rant on social media, or worst case, all three!

Soliciting feedback

At ESTAS Towers, we speak a lot internally about the need for companies to provide the opportunity to hear ‘the voice of the customer’.   By actively soliciting feedback you’re giving your customer the opportunity and encouraging them to voice any small concerns, so that you can address these promptly and take an appropriate course of action.   That’s also a great way for business owners and senior team members to understand where any internal processes may not be working quite so well and perhaps require improvement, or if any staff training needs are highlighted.   Any way you look at it, those are all much better outcomes than a customer stewing about something that they don’t feel able to talk about.

The other benefit of actively seeking and encouraging client feedback throughout the life-cycle of the transaction is that you then have the opportunity to not just meet but exceed customer expectations around ‘what good looks like’ in terms of excellent customer service.  And for this, I’ll use my favourite restaurant analogy…

Imagine that I’ve taken my family out for lunch to a really lovely restaurant for a celebratory meal on a warm, sunny day.  Once we’re settled at the table, which is next to a window which is closed, it becomes apparent that it’s rather hot, stuffy and airless in the room.  The waiter approaches our table…and has two options:

Option one:  Waiter asks for our drinks order, engages in polite chat and provides us with menus to peruse.

Option two:  Waiter asks for our drinks order, engages in polite chat, provides us with our menus to peruse and asks if we’re comfortable or if there is anything else he can do for us?

The first option represents a good level of service commensurate with a decent restaurant. 

The second option represents an outstanding level of service because the waiter is proactively seeking customer feedback, which then encourages the customer to mention that something isn’t quite right in a way that makes them feel comfortable and enables the waiter to then go on and deliver an even higher level of service…by fixing that problem.  In this example, that could look like opening the window, adjusting the air conditioning to reduce the ambient temperature and bringing iced water to the table promptly too.

Generous tip

The first scenario would probably result in me not saying anything to the waiter ‘for fear of being seen to cause a fuss’, yet sat there stewing for the entire meal which would have then made an negative impact on my dining experience. Also I might subconsciously criticise the food or wine, most likely resulting in me not wanting to visit the restaurant again, and telling other people that I didn’t have a great experience there – possibly via a review or social media.

The second scenario would have led to me feeling that the waiter and restaurant offered outstanding service and ambience, which would then positively affect my perception of the restaurant, leading to me recommending it to other people.  And perhaps also leaving a generous tip and of course, submitting a glowing customer review online

Now think about how that example relates to your own business…which of those outcomes would you prefer?  

That’s exactly why asking customers frequently throughout the often long and convoluted process of a property transaction how they are finding the service they are receiving and providing that opportunity to collect ‘voice of the customer’ feedback is so critical. 

All of which reminds me, I haven’t booked anything for my wife’s birthday yet – yikes!!!