Building a Quality Client Experience

Tags: Real Estate, buying, selling, real estate tips, residential, commercial, Contractors, Renovators, community, agent, downsize, client experience, building a client experience, what is client experience, what is a client experience specialist, what is a client manager

5 minute read.

Regardless of what your business is: your customers should always be a top priority. Building meaningful and quality long term relationships is the foundation of any business that looks to be around for years to come. Businesses that are built on a transactional basis are constantly seeking to find new customers as most only do business with them once. Making sure your clients feel special and appreciated is what keeps you #1 in their minds. This week, we discuss the three parts to perfecting your client experience. As always you can listen here or read on to see highlights from this week's episode.

Building Lasting Client Relationships

Whether in person or over the web, you have the ability to impact your customers in both positive and negative ways. We consider the initial client interaction the most important as it speaks values for the entire working relationship. Small things such as making eye contact, listening attentively and asking questions can go along way during the first communication. During the first few minutes, clients will form a lifelong opinion that will impact your entire working relationship.

Here are a few more ways to build a strong client relationship from the get-go:

Approach Them Before They Approach You
Learn Their Name and One Interesting Fact About Them
Maintain A Positive Attitude and Monitor Your Body Language
Maintain Constant Communication in Person or Online
Tell Them About Yourself
Be Patient with Them and They Will Be Patient with You
Treat Them Like They Are Your Only Client
Take an Interest in Them and Their Personal Lives
Invite Them to Company and Community Events

These are just a few ways to make a substantial first impression. In different industries, some options may seem more doable than others. But this is your opportunity to customize some of these ideas and search for resources to help improve your interactions.

Building A Personalized Client Experience

Now that you have built a strong foundation for your client relationship, expand your knowledge into personalizing each client's touch. Whether you are online or in-store, you can do this. For example, look at Canon. They have an online quiz that each customer can take to determine the perfect camera for them. Alternatively, in-store, they have highly knowledgeable sales associates ready to help you. In both ways, Canon is personalizing and learning what the specific needs and wants are for their customers.

Not every customer is the same and thus should be treated uniquely. From five-minute interactions to maintaining long term relationships, here are some of the ways you can personalize your client experience.

Specify Their Initial Request: If someone wants to buy a house, ask them what size? Where? How much? etc. This not only helps you determine what is best for them but allows your clients know that you are listening to them.
Segment Your Email Lists: Whether it be by age, content or products - curate different lists depending on your customers. This will not only prevent them from being bombarded but also have them see what is individually aligned with them.
Ask for Customer Feedback: Consistently allow customers to give feedback. This demonstrates how important their input is to you.
Recommend Relevant Products or Information: After a client has bought something, consider recommending another service that would also be a match. For example, if someone buys boots, ask if they need socks. This isn’t just a way to earn more revenue but shows your willingness to enhance their entire shopping experience.
Write in The First Person: When writing blogs, emails or articles, write from in the first-person perspective. This adds intimacy and makes clients feel as though you are speaking to them directly.

Our Secret Weapon

Once you have a customized experience underway, it’s time to perfect it and there’s only one person for the job. A client experience manager! As the name implies, a client experience manager is tasked with improving and creating new ways to interact with clients. Besides offering unbeatable customer service, they can also do the following:

They Offer Marketing and Product Analysis
They Can Act as a Fly on the Wall
They Monitor Interactions and See Where Improvements Can be Made
They Can Learn the Motivations and Emotions of Customers
They Will Articulate Multiple Perspectives of a Problem or Project
They Will Help You Make Your Dreams A Reality

Six months ago, Knowledge Broker hired its first Client Experience Manager, Jaimie. From experience, we can speak highly about the impact Jaimie has had on our entire company and our customers. She embodies the mentioned qualities and even more. If you truly want to perfect your client's experience, look no further than hiring a client experience manager.

At the end of the day, your clients should be your number #1 priority. Their opinions and feedback are what keep you in business. Offering them the highest quality of service not only speaks volumes about you but your entire organization.

That was it for this week’s podcast. Just as a reminder, our weekly podcast comes out every Tuesday on YouTube, Spotify, Google Podcast and Apple Podcast.

As always you can connect with us on social media @knowledgebrkr or email me at trish@knowledgebroker.ca with your comments and ideas.

Our job at Knowledge Broker is to cultivate an open source of information. Knowledge is power and creates experts and understanding. Do you want the power? Connect with us here on our website or on social media at “@knowledgebrkr”.

“My knowledge becomes your asset and my hard work is your vehicle to success.”

JOSHUA CAMPBELL (@knowledgebrkr)
Real Estate Broker
Coldwell Banker The Real Estate Centre, Brokerage
www.KnowledgeBroker.ca
249 Avenue Road • Newmarket, ON L3Y 1N8
Phone 289.231.0001