A few weeks ago I visited my local Lululemon store and picked up a pair of jogging pants. As I brought them to the register, one of the associates intercepted me to ask if I’d like to have them hemmed for free. That caught me by surprise. Most stores would intercept a customer to try to up-sell them, or maybe have a sales rep take your purchase to the register so they can get a commission, but this was a genuine offer for a free service I could really use. Within five minutes I tried on the pants, had them marked for hemming and was told to come pick them up on Saturday.
That Saturday afternoon, I entered the insanely busy store. Wendy, one of the associates, was quick to greet me and grabbed my claim tag as she went off to look for my purchase. After a few minutes I saw Wendy coming from the back of the store with a disappointed look on her face. She started apologizing. Apparently, my pants never returned from the tailor and were nowhere to be found in the store. What happened next completely caught me off guard.
“We’re going to refund you for the pants,” she said. With all the noise in the background, I wasn’t sure I heard her correctly, so I quickly clarified. “No, I don’t want a refund, I want the pants.” Wendy looked up with a smile and said, “No, we’re going to refund you the price of the pants and have them shipped to you overnight, so you’ll have them for Monday morning.”
I was dumbfounded. I’ve been in so many situations where the person on the other side of the counter messed up and didn’t even apologize, let alone rectify the situation. On Monday morning, a courier arrived at my front door with a pair of hemmed pants and a personalized note, thanking me for my business and apologizing once again. Huh?
Like many other top brands, Lululemon clearly understands the value of customer experience. They may have taken a loss on me this time as a customer, but their gesture not only delighted me, it encouraged me to share this story with many of my friends, and now you. How much are those free pants worth now?
Lululemon is not alone. There are good reasons why the Apple Store is always crowded or that Starbucks is the second most Instagramed brand in the world. Brands that understand the value of customer experience consistently see their clients spending more, coming back time-and-time again, and best of all, telling all their friends and family. You simply cannot buy this level of exposure.
In real estate, where most clients choose their agent based on referrals and previous clientele, the single common element should, in theory, be providing clients with the best experience for their needs. It sounds like a logical and practical way to grow a business; make your customers super happy and in return, they will keep coming back and tell all their friends how great an agent you are.
However, reality is very different. Many agents are placing their time and hard-earned dollars on methods that don’t necessarily provide the best returns. The National Association of Realtors’ Home Buyer and Seller Generational Trends report is full of great insights that show popular marketing methods such as search engines or newspaper ads account for less than one per cent each of all closed seller leads. Mobile or tablet applications, direct mail pieces (newsletters, flyers, postcards) and advertising specialty (calendars, magnets) also account for less than one per cent of closed seller leads, according to the survey.
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with spending on marketing and building a strong, recognizable brand (and doing a stellar job marketing your client’s property). However, in a world that’s increasingly full of noise and distractions, where the average human attention span is now eight seconds, a 33 per cent drop since 2000, getting great results is becoming increasingly difficult and expensive. Still not buying it? Google the words “free home evaluation” and see how many results are returned (366 million on the day I wrote this post).
This isn’t an argument against marketing. Marketing is a staple of business and will always be at the core of the real estate profession. However, the results of delivering a really great client experience go beyond any marketing you could buy. It’s the one critical aspect of the business that presents the greatest opportunity, yet is so often overlooked as the agent’s focus shifts to the next transaction.
There may have been many new technologies and marketing advances over the last decade or so, but the secret sauce of getting clients to buy again and again still remains the same. Clients will come back because they’ve either had a good experience with a company (or agent) in the past, or know someone else who has.
You may not be able to give away a free pair of pants, but what you do have at your disposal is the ability to create a memorable experience that “wows” your clients. So what’s your client experience strategy? How will you deliver a service that is a notch above the rest?
Reuven Gorsht is the CEO of MoveSnap, a start-up that helps anyone who is relocating organize and get all their moving tasks done seamlessly. Prior to co-founding MoveSnap, Reuven spent 15+ years as a senior executive helping fortune 500 companies innovate and evolve their business models and organizational culture. He holds degrees in business and human resources and is an alumnus of the Harvard Business School.
