The Survey Says
C.A.R.’s Client Satisfaction Program plans to
measure customers’ real estate experience
By Martin Bosworth
It used to be that the sole measure of success in sales was how many
units you moved. It didn’t matter if you sold brownies, cars, or real estate—at
the end of the day, your reputation was made by the deals you closed. •
Today, success isn’t just measured by the deal, but by how the involved parties
felt about the deal. Sellers on eBay live or die by the recommendations buyers
post about transactions with them. Shoppers on Amazon.com can not only write
reviews ofproducts, but grade each other’s reviews for how useful and relevant
they were to making the decision to buy. And real estate brokerages around the
country are adopting highly organized customer feedback systems to enable
buyers and sellers to rate how their agent handled a transaction, to measure
what they did right and wrong, and to help them improve their performance
according to quantifiable scales of excellence.
Client Satisfaction Program
Now it’s C.A.R.’s turn to evaluate a method to gauge customer satisfaction.
C.A.R. is evaluating a pilot Client Satisfaction Program that will utilize
tools for customers to provide feedback for brokers’ and agents’ performances
in their jobs. Leslie Appleton-Young, vice president and chief economist for
C.A.R., sees this as a logical transition for the real estate industry, from a
purely sales-oriented model to one that incorporates service as well.
“We are out to measure customer satisfaction in different areas in order to
improve the quality of their representation,” she says. “In our world, the
customer is now king. Evaluating agents on quantifiable service standards will
improve reliability and accountability.”
The Client Satisfaction Program will incorporate several approaches, including
training brokers and agents in utilizing customer-oriented approaches to their
business, how to implement regular feedback from customers into improving their
performance, and how brokers can use the survey results to coach agents and
ensure consistent service delivery across the entire office or firm.
The Client Satisfaction Program will be based on systems utilized by Quality
Service Certification (QSC), the nationwide system that provides consumers with
tools to evaluate their real estate broker’s performance. QSC will be acting as
a third-party vendorand tester for C.A.R.’s Client Satisfaction Program,
providing the tools and training necessary to help C.A.R.’s members utilize the
new system.
Larry Romito, founder of QSC, believes regulated systems to rate customer
service are an essentialcomponent for the real estate industry of the 21st
century. “Until recently, our industry’s focus has been on acquisition and the
promise of service,” Romito says. “Service is the delivery of that promise, and
the industry needs metrics, standards, and systems of promise-keeping.”
Romito founded QSC in 1998 after three decades in the real estate, marketing,
and sales industries. His intent was to, in his words, “assemble the resources
to help companies manage service delivery.” As he sees it, the consumer’s needs
take precedence in the real estate business now more than they ever have, and
every REALTOR® needs to incorporate feedback they receive from other sources
into how they perform their business.
The QSC system engages participating agents in training that emphasizes the
importance of customer service and meeting clients’ needs in the course of a
deal. To become certified, agents can take courses online or participate in a
live training session sponsored by their brokerage or parent
organization.
Upon passing the course, an agent signs the “Commitment,” promising to complete
an evaluation survey on every closed transaction, and to provide both buyer and
seller with surveys to gaugethe agent’s own performance. Members of the program
have their performances regularly evaluated and published in a “hierarchical”
system that is tailored to the user.
QSC-vetted brokers and agents have their customer satisfaction ratingspublished
on the Web, with the scale starting at 1 (“Very Dissatisfied”) to 5 (“Very
Satisfied”). Members also agree to be regularly reviewed to ensure that buyers
and sellers’ data is consistent with the deals an agent closes.
According to Romito, only one in four buyers and one in five sellers are
contacted by their agent or broker after a sale to follow up. By contrast, “90
percent of QSC-rated agents” will contact their clients and ask for feedback on
their jobperformance.
The secret to providing predictable customer service revolves around
transparency and accountability, in Romito’s view. By “keeping the room bright,
the light will push [agents] to higher levels of behavior.”
Agents whoattempt to “cook the books” on their ratings are summarily removed
from the program. “It’s unforgiving—there are no second chances,” Romito
says.
Although Appleton-Young agrees that there is a definite need for
greatertransparency to consumers, C.A.R.’s program will be geared more for
individual brokerages and agents to view their progress than for the general
public.
“The [feedback] results will be available to the agent and broker on the Web,
but the system isn’t consumer-oriented,” she explains. “It’s more of an
internal system at this point…we’re still putting our toe in the water.”
The Client Satisfaction Program is voluntary at this stage, emphasizing the
willingness of REALTORS® to have their performances audited by independent
parties. Appleton-Young says that this demonstrates the ability of the real
estate industry to police itself, rather than wait for outside forces to impose
standards.
“If we don’t do it, someone else is going to step in and do it for us,” she
says. “Many other industries have been doing this for some time, and we need to
demonstrate we can keep the lights on.”
Customer-Related Agents
David Thomas believesthat introducing regular customer satisfaction programs
into his business has made him a better REALTOR®.A Century 21 agent out of
Petaluma, Thomas has been a member of QSC for four years, and believes there
has been a distinct “intangible uptick” in how he closes deals from using the
system.
“There have been no liabilities in my using the program,” Thomas says. “The
ability to share our results with prospective clients and hear information from
customers has been invaluable.”
Debra Parkinson agrees. A C.A.R. member and broker for Lake Arrowhead GMAC,
Parkinson was initially skeptical of utilizing customer surveys for feedback,
but has come to believe it provides a valuable service. “The general public
deservesa chance to tell us how we’re doing,” she contends.
Parkinson is highly rated by customers using QSC as well as being a Premier
Service agent with GMAC, and is very cognizant of how important customer
satisfaction and standardized feedback have become to REALTORS®. “It’s
essential to have someone you trust working for you when it comes to buying or
selling your home…if your clients aren’t happy with you, it can ultimately hurt
your business and your broker’sbusiness.
“We’re handling the most valuable assets of people’s lives—their homes,”
Parkinson says. “[Customer feedback systems] are used in the auto industry, and
we sometimes have an image to the public of being just above used car
salespeople. A REALTOR® can mess up someone’s life by not representing them
properly.” Parkinson thinks the ability to distinguish the best brokers and
agents through client feedback will make the industry stronger as a
whole.
Performance evaluations and independent reviews are rarely high on anyone’s
list of things to do. Appleton-Young acknowledges that the idea of standardized
measurements and surveys is a “tough sell.” “Real estate is the Wild, Wild
West, and it’s too early to tell if something like this [program] will work,”
she says.
Larry Romito sees the feedback results as “report cards,” but emphasized that
these report cards have the advantage of immediacy and transparency. “Customers
should share their opinions immediately after the deed,” in his view. “No data
are as important as independently validated records of customer
satisfaction.”
“Do we ignore this opportunity,” Romito asks, “or do we embrace it? Does the
business have the will to change?”
Leslie Appleton-Young reiterates that accountability and openness are essential
parts of the modern REALTOR®’s job. She views the Client Satisfaction Program
as an essential step in ensuring a high standard of business practices, and
that step involves implementing recognizable metrics and standards. As she sees
it, providing predictable customer service is “all about getting our business
to the next level.”
Martin Bosworth is a Washington, D.C.-based writer.
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