Service Still Wins Estate Agents Instructions But It's More Complex Than It Was Before

Service still wins instructions but it's more complex than it was before.

If I'm booking a restaurant, I don't call and hope someone answers. I go to, or am directed by the business itself to OpenTable. I check availability instantly, adjust the time if I need to, maybe look at an alternative nearby. It feels proactive and it feels like the business is ready to support me.

Property transactions are obviously more complicated and more emotional than booking a place for dinner, but the expectation of responsiveness is the same.

People can find you on multiple portals, read reviews, send a WhatsApp at 8pm, compare two or three agents before you even know they exist. So when they reach out, they expect you to get back to them and they expect clear answers, they expect momentum and to feel you're there to support them.

In some ways, that hasn't really changed, it's always been that way but it has intensified. Goodwill alone will not help you really stand out.

In local markets especially, service is still the biggest differentiator. People absolutely talk to their friends and family about who handled their sale or purchase and a good experience travels just as fast as a bad one.

The challenge isn't whether agents care about service, they do, the best ones always have. However, with the increase in intensity and volume across message channels and touchpoints, the question is whether or not they have the tools around them to deal with the complexity and deliver high quality, personal service consistently.

Out of hours response is the obvious place to start. It's visible, easy to measure and you can see a quick uplift in the service you deliver by making some pretty simple changes to how you operate. However, in my experience the real strain doesn't happen at 8pm. It's also during opening hours, for example 11am on a busy Saturday when valuations are being booked, viewings are stacked up, buyers are calling, landlords want updates and the team is stretched.

If you were onboarding a new negotiator, you wouldn't train them in the quietest hour of the week. You'd put them in the middle of the action so they understand how it really works.

The same applies to how we use technology to help provide a better overall experience for your clients and customers. Supporting out of hours enquiries is sensible, supporting peak time pressure is where you genuinely free people up to do what they're good at.

When conversational AI is used properly, it takes the routine qualification, the repetitive questions, the straightforward handovers and keeps them moving while your team focuses on the high value work negotiations, face to face conversations and winning instructions. While at the same time, solving and answering genuine customer and client issues along the way.

If you're not proactively moving those moments forward, someone else will.