Cumbrian Estate Agents Show Lack of Care in Basic Test of Sales & Service

A market research company, Performance House, has carried out a mystery shopper survey on estate agents in Cumbria. The results make interesting reading with many of the agents providing inconsistent quality of service over the telephone.

(PRWeb) February 26, 2007 -- Market research company, Performance House, has carried out a mystery shopper survey on estate agents in Cumbria. The results make interesting reading with many of the agents providing inconsistent quality of service over the telephone. More surprising are the results of the sales skills analysis. Researchers telephoned 41 different estate agent offices with 5 different scenarios. The scenarios included;

Þ    "I am considering moving to ****. Can you tell me the best areas to live in?"

Þ    "I am looking for a renovation project in your area. Do you have anything?"

Þ    "My family member is looking to move here from down south. They want a three bedroom house. Do you have some details you can send me?"

The call centre, based in Cumbria, telephoned each of the estate agents five times asking the different questions and analysed the telephone calls using the Performance House Service Mark (PHSM). As well as this customer service analysis researchers checked the promotional and sales skills of each company.

The days of Glengarry Glen Ross type estate agents may have passed but the success of any business still relies on the sales skills of its people. As the researchers were making initial enquiries the overall approach of the companies was analysed rather than the actual sale or purchase process. The researchers analysed the following sales measures and the key findings included;

Sales Measure                Results

Agents that asked for name & address      45.83%

Asked for phone number              26.09%

Asked for further contact details          25%

Asked callers purchase time scale         0%

Requested to know budget             100%

The study highlights that there are inconsistencies in what is expected of employees who answer the telephone, with less than half asking for further contact details. As a potential buyer of properties you would expect the agents to take an interest in your plans and your contact details.

"Every mystery caller could have been a potential buyer or future customer of these estate agents. Even if brand image and customer service is not the prime focus for the agents then the above statistics should shock every estate agent owner & branch manager. Potential sales opportunities are obviously being missed" Stated Jodie Law of Performance House.

The PHSM is a weighted benchmark framework with more than 20 individual measures. The overall score provides a guide to how businesses compare against their competitors and other organisations. The PHSM is utilised by organisations around the globe and all across the UK.

The key findings show that the more brand focussed organisations like Your Move take telephone skills seriously and have implemented basic standards for all interactions.

The leading individual office for customer services is Your Move in Carlisle followed closely by Farrell Heyworth in Barrow in Furness.

The PHSM league table shows the following offices as the ten best in the county;

Rank    Company                PHSM

1.     Your Move - Carlisle            94.72%

2.     Farrell Heyworth - Barrow        93.89%

3.     Tiffen - Workington            90%

4.     Your Move - Wigton            89.72%

5.     Cumberland - Cockermouth         88.61%

6.     Your Move - Workington         87.22%

7.     Ross Estate Agents - Ulverston     86.67%

8.     Tiffen - Cockermouth            84.72%

9.     Reeds Rains - Cockermouth        84.17%

10.     Your Move - Whitehaven         83.33%            

The lowest scoring offices included; Hopes - Wigton, Matthews Benjamin - Ambleside & Windermere, Poole Townsend - Barrow, Ross Estate Agents - Barrow and Smeatons - Maryport. With regards the sales measures, including requesting contact information, Your Move leads the way although none of the offices are consistently requesting callers' information.

About the research;

This independent mystery shopping study was carried out during February 2007 and involved researchers employed by Performance House in their Cockermouth Call Centre. The project was carried out in accordance with the Market Research Society's Code of Conduct. The calls were analysed against the PHSM measurement framework; a best practice framework developed by Performance House through extensive customer research. The framework is broken down into 5 key areas; Welcome, Communication, Knowledge, Ownership & Close within each of these areas is a number of attributes that are all individually marked by the researchers. The overall PHSM score is a weighted indication of the achieved benchmark and allows for easy comparison against competitors.

About Performance House;

Performance House was established in 2002 and now has a global client base including some of the worlds leading brands. Performance House specialise in helping organisations measure, manage and improve their customer services. Through the use of mystery shopping, customer surveys and market research methods, Performance House guides their clients with competitor and customer insight. Working across all methods of communication they produce objective analysis and reporting to give you a clear view of how your organisation, people and service are performing against customer expectations, your competitors and your own standards.

For further information about the analysis methods and future studies, or to enquire about monitoring your organisation's service with our, low cost high value, research services contact Jodie Law Telephone: 01900 820500.

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