The survival and success of any business largely depends on its ability to satisfy its customers. This should be obvious to any business that wants to remain competitive and become a successful franchise owner.
Think about it: how would you survive if what you’re offering, producing, or doing is not what your customers want. There is no point in running your business if you are doing little to put your customers at the very heart of everything you do.
This is what customer centricity culture is all about. Everyone in a customer-centric organization is always focused, from the start of each process to the end to making the customer experience great. Such organizations ensure their customers get the best treatment possible every step of the way.
Components of a customer-centric franchise culture
- Leadership: A customer-centric culture doesn’t occur by accident, and the top leadership must demonstrate their customers are the center of all they do. Ensure to reinforce that a good customer experience is vital.
- Core values: Your core values (people first, listening, customer focus, etc.) must support customer-centricity to keep this culture.
- Cooperation: Every department in the franchise must know you have a common goal: to infuse customer-centricity in everything you do. That way, it will be easier to address all customer-related challenges.
- Responsibility: Employees need to be ready to handle any issues customers have on time. If they can detect them earlier and provide solutions, the better.
Building a customer-centric culture: What it takes
It takes time to build a customer-centric culture, but it is achievable if consistent. To build this culture for your real estate franchise and reap its benefits, remember to keep these rules in mind:
Create awareness
The impact of a customer-centric culture is real and can be calculated over time, for example, higher valuation and better ROI. To create and maintain this culture in your franchise, you need to create awareness about the impact of customer satisfaction. Ensure to use facts where possible.
Encourage direct interaction with customers, not just transactions
Every one of your workers impacts customers’ experiences somehow, and therefore developing ways for your employees to interact directly or indirectly with customers should be a priority. When they interact with customers, they better understand what they need, making it possible to close deals faster.
Democratize customer insights
To build and maintain a customer-centric mindset within your franchise, you must first understand your customers. Who they are, what they are looking for, etc. Creating a common point where all employees can access customer insights helps. Adobe Systems, for example, opens access to customer insights for all workers.
Be prepared
Come to work ready to work and to address any circumstance that may pop up. Ensure you are always ready to act when your customers are available. That way, it will be easier to offer the experience your customers are looking for. Consider this: a client is ready to sign on a property on Sunday morning, and you are not. Outright the client will feel unvalued. That is not what you want.
The ROI of being customer-centric
Customer centricity delivers returns on investment(ROI). The key benefits of customer-centricity are customer retention and loyalty. A happy customer will not only come back but also spread the word widening the potential marketplace for you.
According to Genesys, offering a better customer experience results in customer retention improvement (42%), customer satisfaction (33%), and an opportunity to cross-sell and up-sell customers (32%). And with 89% of businesses expected to focus largely on customer experience, it makes sense to say that it pays when you focus on bettering the customer experience.
Wrap up
You can not underestimate the importance of customer-centricity in real estate franchising. It is the best way to identify prospects and nurture loyalty. Are you reaping the full benefits of customer-centricity? How are you using it to take your real estate franchise to the next level? Here at 1 Percent Lists, we ensure you benefit fully by becoming a franchise owner. Benefits include:
- Inbound seller leads
- Low franchise overhead
- Listing presentations
- Digital marketing
- Work smart and more
When you place customers at the very heart of everything you do, you are making a big input towards your long-term success and profitability. So try your best to adopt and maintain customer centricity!