If I asked most real estate agents if they believe they deliver a good client experience, for the most part, they’d say, “Yes.” 

What I’m talking about here goes beyond just doing what you say you’re going to do. 

I’m talking about a strategy that will 10x your client experience—something that will help you deliver an experience that the client is going to remember. It’s going to stand out. And based on that experience, they’re going to want to talk about you to their friends and family. 

For a long time, I thought I was delivering a good experience. But I found something so simple and so straightforward—something every single real estate agent can do with their buyers and sellers —that will take your client experience to the next level. 

Simplifying the over-complicated

I find that real estate agents tend to overcomplicate things. If you really break down the fundamentals of this business, here are the essentials: 

  1. Know where to find opportunities (i.e., generate leads)
  2. Service each opportunity to create a good client experience and build a relationship
  3. Once a transaction has closed, keep that client as part of your insider group

Once a client, always a client. If they’re in your database, you need a plan that allows you to keep in touch with them moving forward, delivering value with each interaction. 

So, how can you take all this to the next level? Essentially, it comes down to two things:

  • Asking the right questions (making them the star)
  • Delivering an experience that makes you stand out from the competition (giving them the star treatment)

That’s where a survey can make all the difference. 

How do you get sellers to complete your survey?

First of all, people are busy enough without responding to every single survey invitation. Their time is precious. So, respect that, and make it very clear to them that your survey will only take a couple of minutes. 

“Hey, could you fill out this quick survey before we start the process? (It will only take you two minutes)”

Then, keep your promise. 

Step 1: Getting Acquainted 

Let’s go through the survey page by page to show you just how powerful it can be. On page one, we start with what is fairly obvious: “What is your name?” 

Beside the question, you can put a picture of your team, of you, of the area you service, or whatever you want to put there. 

The next page is very, very important, and I’ll tell you why. This is where we tell our clients how we work before we’ve even worked for them. 

I think it’s very important to include some type of mission statement at the beginning of the survey to make sure they understand how you work. And I also find, when they read this, they relax a bit. 

I can almost hear them thinking, “Okay…this is just something that’s gonna help me do what I need to do when I want to make that decision. I’m not going to be forced into doing something.” 

Step 2: Contact Info & Preferences

The next pages ask for their phone number and email address before asking, “What is the best method to contact you?” Everybody works differently, so we ask them, “What’s the best way for us to stay in touch?” 

Start with the obvious: phone, email, and text message. From there, you can get creative, especially if they prefer to communicate on their favorite social media platform. You can also include a nonsense option just for fun. Here’s what we include in our survey: 

  1. Phone call
  2. Email 
  3. Text message
  4. WhatsApp
  5. Carrier Pigeon 

Step 3: “How Did You Hear About Us?”

Then we ask them, “I’m curious, how did you hear about the Tom Storey team?” 

You can put a few obvious selections here, but I also want to show you how you can make yourself stand out. 

For us, they can choose

  1. I’m already a client
  2. Referred by friends or family
  3. Mailbox flyers
  4. YouTube/social media 
  5. Saw Tom on CTV/global news
  6. Our 5-star Google reviews
  7. Other

Let’s assume they found me because of YouTube. Or maybe they found me because of the mailbox flyers. And if you’d just given them the most obvious things to pick, they would have picked it. But now, they’ve read them all. And they’re thinking, “Oh! Tom’s on the news? Maybe I should go check that out,” or “Ooh, 5-star Google reviews! Maybe I should read some of those.” 

This gives you a chance to showcase other ways they could find you—things they might not be aware of yet that make you stand out as someone they would want to have in their corner while buying or selling a home. 

Step 4: Property Information

Next, we ask some questions related to the property they’re wanting to sell. 

  • “What’s your property address?”
  • “Is your property a condo or house?” (If they pick “condo,” the survey takes them to another question asking about condo-related fees)
  • “Do you know your property taxes?”
  • “Who is currently living in the property?” (If they click “tenant,” the survey takes them to another section asking them to provide the tenant’s details, so we can communicate with them directly)
  • “How many bedrooms do you have?”
  • “How many bathrooms?” 
  • “Have you done any significant renovations since you purchased your property? If so, please let us know (i.e., new kitchen, bathroom, flooring).”

Step 5: “Do You Have Any Pets?”

The next questions get more personal, starting with, “Do you have any pets?” 

Now, they’re going to assume you’re asking this because you want to know if there are going to be pets during showings—and what they’re going to do with the pet. 

What you’re actually doing is finding out their pet’s name because they love their pet more than anything else in their life, probably. And the second the property goes off the market, guess whose dog is gonna get a treat in the mail? Or you’re gonna do something special for the pet. Or when the property sale is firm, in the “Congratulations” email, it’s gonna say their name and the pet’s name because the pet is a part of their family. 

You could also ask their children’s names if you want, but we’ve just stuck with pets. 

Step 6: “What’s Your Favorite Restaurant?”

Then we ask them what their favorite restaurant is. And this is where it gets really, really cool because you’re finding out more information.

So, when the property goes firm—or let’s say it’s been on the market for a while and it’s not moving—we want to then send them a gift card to their favorite restaurant and encourage them to “go out for dinner on us.” Typically, when it gets to this point, they’ve forgotten they filled this out, and they’re floored by it. 

Step 7: “What Makes You Happy?” 

Then we ask them, “What makes you happy?” You can include any number of options for them to choose from. And they can select as many of the options as they want. 

Here are the options we list in our survey:

  1. Wine
  2. Movies 
  3. The spa
  4. Cooking 
  5. The outdoors
  6. Golf 
  7. Chocolate 
  8. Great food
  9. Coffee
  10. Reading
  11. No alcohol please

Let’s say they choose the last option, “No alcohol, please.” This is highly important information. If they don’t drink, you don’t want to send them an alcohol closing gift. 

Step 8: Closing Video 

The end of our survey automatically takes the seller to a 4.5-minute video of me going over everything they can expect from the selling process. 

In this video, you’re anticipating and answering all the questions they could have. And they’re reaching out to you less during the process because you’ve already explained everything. 

I would highly recommend to everyone that’s part of this community to make something like this—along with another survey for buyer clients.

The premise is simple: find out more information about your clients, and use that information to give them an unforgettable client experience with you.