5 Ways to Wow Your Real Estate Clients

dotloop

January 02, 2020 | comments

Deliver Memorable Experiences That Win the Business and Wow Clients Everyday.

Today’s consumer is mobile-first and more educated than ever about real estate. Likewise, they expect and demand that their real estate agents deliver personable, responsive and tech-savvy experiences with complete expertise in their market.

Here’s how to create compelling client experiences before, during and long after the deal has closed.

1. Cater to Your Clientele.

First impressions are mission critical for real estate agents trying to capture the hearts and minds of potential new clients.

Zillow Consumer Housing Trends Report research shows that sellers use these initial impressions to shape and inform their decisions. Specifically, 86% say trustworthiness and 81% cite responsiveness as “extremely or very important” qualities they seek when selecting an agent. Also, 80% favor agents who can serve as experts within a local market.

For listing agents, there’s no better way to engender trust in the agent’s expertise within a market than with a customized listing presentation highlighting their strengths and the home’s specific features.

With more buyers and sellers using curated data to customize their internet experiences on their mobile apps and devices, more than half of U.S. digital device users say they’re more apt to make a purchase when marketing content speaks directly to their needs, according to the 2019 Adobe Brand Content Survey.

Dotloop’s customized listing presentation template provides an easy way to drag and drop listing images and update with a city’s median sales prices and home values.

The template’s client consultation worksheet encourages conversations with prospective clients and helps create a compelling marketing story that will resonate on an emotional level with potential buyers.

2. Offer Mobile Transaction Solutions.

Zillow’s 2019 Consumer Housing Trends Report found that nearly 4 out of 5 U.S. homebuyers (79%) use an online resource at some point in their search. Also, more than half of first-time homebuyers who look online use mobile to research their prospective properties.¹

Today’s client is online 24/7 and wants to know that they can connect with their real estate agent on their mobile devices to search properties, message questions and transact whenever and wherever they happen to be.

Dotloop’s robust app gives customers and agents maximum mobility with on-the-spot eSignatures, on-screen document scanning and a convenient mobile “submit for review” feature.

Dotloop’s in-app text Messenger also archives text conversations and offers real-time notifications, alerting the agent instantly when activity has occurred on a transaction.

All add up to quicker customer service and expedited deals that let clients and agents navigate outside the confines of a desk workspace.

3. Improve Response Rates.

As responsiveness ranks high among clients in their agent evaluation, consider the fact that consumers take an average 90 minutes to respond to an email versus 90 seconds to respond to a text.² and it becomes clear how dotloop’s text Messenger can significantly improve client communication response times.

Not only do texting and direct messaging improve response rates; they’re also a preferred means of communication among clients. A Facebook-commissioned survey of 8,156 people found that 65% of people feel more confident messaging a business than emailing, filling out a form on a website or calling. Also, 74% of those surveyed said they expect messaging to enable better customer experiences.³

With dotloop’s text Messenger, clients don’t have to download any software; they can simply answer their agent’s texts and share and eSign docs from their smartphone.

Text Messenger also makes a great way to make first contact with buyers at an open house when you only have a phone number and want fast, efficient followup.

4. Streamline Referrals.

Clients trust and highly value agents who offer referrals to third-party vendors, including home warranties, title insurance, mortgage lenders, contractors and home inspectors. They rely on their agents to provide professional expertise and insight on trusted referrals who can help complete the transaction.

One Phoenix-based agent won the rave reviews of a happy buyer for going “above and beyond coordinating the repair and negotiating a deal where everyone left comfortable. He wore all the hats during the process and his network of contractors provided a very useful service to us.”

Dotloop can help by giving real estate agents and admins the ability to seamlessly connect clients with third-party referrals, using the Trusted Service Providers feature on the paperless transaction management platform. Business+ admin profiles can also create brokerage-level Trusted Service Providers that will appear in all agent loops.

5. Offer the Little Touches.

Long after the transaction closes, agents should continue creating memorable client experiences by sending clients thank-yous for their closings and check-ins for home anniversaries, birthdays and special occasions. Dotloop’s integrations with our app partners makes it easy to set up drip campaigns to auto-trigger a congratulations email post-closing or a check-in email at a one-year anniversary.

APINation, for example, can automatically sync dotloop contacts with specified MailChimp audiences to initiate email campaigns, such as an agent’s monthly newsletter, holiday greetings or home anniversary celebration notes.

Also, APINation recently launched a new integration for dotloop, enabling agents to give clients a unique closing gift, a digital “HomeBinder”. This digital organizer helps buyers store and manage their new home information, including appliance warranties, paint color names, project details, contractor contact information, photos and more.

Video, too, is a great way to engage and keep an agent’s name top of mind long after the closing. With the BombBomb integration, dotloop agents can easily follow up with segmented contacts via an automated video email.

Read more about all of dotloop’s integrations to create a top customer experience.

In the end, it’s those agents who add thoughtful touches to their client relationships who really make a great lasting impression and help prompt referrals.

Here are some ideas to consider:

• Order pizza on moving day for new homeowners.
• Throw a housewarming party so neighbors can meet new residents and bid farewell to sellers.
• Hire a cleaning crew for sellers to help prepare for showings.
• Create a housewarming basket full of move-in essentials, like paper towels and hand soap.
• Send a handwritten card thanking your clients for their business at close.
• Invite past, present and future clients to an appreciation event.

Click here for additional customer appreciation event and gifting ideas.

What do you do to wow your clients year-round? Tell us more in the comments section below.

Sources:

¹NAR 2017 Real Estate in a Digital Age
²Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association
³Facebook IQ Source: “Motivations, Mindsets and Emotional Experiences in Messaging (vs. Feed)” by Sentient Decision Science (Facebook-commissioned survey of 8,156 people in BR, GB, IN and the US), June 2018.