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Episode 22 – Part 2 – Understanding your customers to provide better reports
48 Plays2 years ago
In PART 2 with Marion Ellis, we're discussing how understanding your customers can help you provide much better reports.
Across the three parts we discuss relatability and approachability and how these can be the keys to a successful surveying business.
Marion has over 20 years of experience in the residential property sector and has seen the profession from every side with a focus in much of her career on customer complaints and claims.
In part 2, we're discussing how understanding your customers can help you provide much better reports. We cover:
🤝 The importance of communication and understanding between surveyor and client
🫶 Understanding client concerns and being supportive of them
👟 Being able to put yourself in your clients' shoes
🤲 Providing a consultative approach, not a sales pitch
🥳 The importance of enjoying your work
💶 Understanding how to price your services to deliver quality reports
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Transcript
Building Rapport with Clients
00:00:00
Speaker
I think, yes, topic two, ties in quite nicely with some of the things you mentioned in the first one. Ultimately, really what we're looking at here is how does being relatable and approachable help you achieve better reports? I suppose it ties in also to getting better customers or getting a better balance in your
00:00:17
Speaker
business in terms of what you want to achieve. I suppose how does understanding your customer through being relatable or being able to have that conversation with them help you achieve better reports? I suppose ultimately you provide a report that answers their questions rather than just generic, this is the property. We've got a framework of guidance on this is what a report should include.
00:00:44
Speaker
but they're minimum standards at the end of the day. You can provide your client with whatever you want so long as you meet the rules, you're in charge of the service that you give your client.
00:00:59
Speaker
When it comes to the content, yes, again, there's case law, best practice, mandatory things that you have to do, but it comes back to starting asking your client, why do you want to survey? What do you know about surveys? Why do you want to survey? Who's told you that might be a good idea? Have you ever had one before? Then tell me what you're worried about.
00:01:25
Speaker
How do you feel about this property? Are you anxious about the fact it's got a flat roof or a dodgy conservatory? Tell me what you're worried about. What would be most helpful for me as a surveyor to help you? And they might say, just tell me it's going to be OK. And you say, I can't tell you it's going to be OK, but I can help you work that out yourself. And this is how I will do that. Yes.
00:01:51
Speaker
And that's where, you know, just tuning into, to
Client Role and Engagement in Survey Process
00:01:55
Speaker
clients' needs. They just, clients just want, you know, we talk about feeling reassured, you know, I'm sick of hearing helping you make an informed decision. Um, cause it's only one really, really part, one part of it. Clients want to know that, um, they've done the right thing in choosing you.
00:02:16
Speaker
They want to pat on the head. So always remember to tell them, well done. You're doing a good thing getting a survey. Tell me your worries. Okay, let's address each of these. Can we do it in a really supportive way? And none of that is about the scope of the inspection. It's helping them use the tool.
00:02:40
Speaker
Then it's really about setting the scene. They're not buying an insurance guarantee.
00:02:47
Speaker
And where that gets difficult is people talk about it in that context. If you have no customer contact and it just sails through and comes in your diary, the expectation is that it's gonna sail through back and they don't need to talk to you. Whereas you've got to change that thinking and let them know that there's a responsibility on their part. You're buying a property,
00:03:17
Speaker
You're having a survey. It's going to help you. I'm going to help you use that to anything that you're not sure about. I'm going to help you use it. But you've got a responsibility to read it. You've got a responsibility to understand it. And if there's something that you don't understand, then we must talk about it.
00:03:35
Speaker
It's that expectation. It should be a non-negotiable that if you're buying from me that we talk once I've done the inspection and you've got the report, I'm not going to be chasing you to have a phone call and you can choose not to have one.
00:03:51
Speaker
That's not how I work.
Empathy vs Sympathy in Client Understanding
00:03:53
Speaker
We have one. For my part, I want to make sure that you understand. And you're doing that on a reassuring point of view. But on the other hand, for yourself as a surveyor, you're protecting yourself and your PI. And it's all part of that sweeping up because it's not completed yet. So if there's anything wrong, you can fix it.
00:04:13
Speaker
before you get to that stage. You can approach it from a risk point of view, but also really knowing your clients means you can tailor it. Your reports may well be standard to a point, but the service around it you can tailor. People often think that that takes time, it takes money, it doesn't because a claim can wipe you out.
00:04:40
Speaker
Oh, very quickly. Yeah. It's a lovely way of reframing that initial start point, actually, in terms of the customer's obligations in the process and also really understanding their motives. Because it would be very easy to understand, or very easy to assume, sorry, that if a customer has come to you and they've searched for a home survey, they know they need a home survey, they just need to understand exactly what it includes and therefore they can book. But actually, that's not necessarily the case. It might just be a
00:05:06
Speaker
them a starting point of just trying to get a bit more info. I really like that reframing on how people understand it. I think something that surveyors need to do is to understand a lot more about the home buying and selling process. We talked at the start, not everybody buys and sells a house very often, surveyors certainly don't.
00:05:32
Speaker
not every surveyor can afford to buy a property, certainly early on in their careers. So you have to work extra hard to put yourself in the client's shoes as a surveyor.
00:05:45
Speaker
But that's a big ask. We think we're doing that, but we're not really. Because we're very in our head thinking about the technical side, thinking about our own businesses. And so it's a big ask to put yourself in your client's shoes. And you might be a totally, totally different character. And so you can't necessarily put yourself in your client's shoes. And it's thinking about the difference between sympathy and empathy.
00:06:14
Speaker
You know, I sympathize with you, this is really difficult. Whereas you want to say, I understand this is hard. I understand it's really difficult.
00:06:22
Speaker
You know, and so it's having an appreciation of what people are going through, not necessarily putting yourself in their shoes. And I saw that, you know, over the years as my complaints and claims teams, you know, I had admin staff who were on average, you know, low salaries, would never be able to buy a property. And they were dealing with valuation complaints on very expensive houses, you know, and it was a big ask to say, care about this.
00:06:51
Speaker
you know, when they're thinking, well, I'm living in my spare room, my mom's spare room for the next 10 years. Why should I care about your 20,000 pound down valuation or whatever? You know, so you have to work hard to have a good understanding and appreciation of what people might be feeling. And that's why I do customer journey mapping with clients while we sort of work things through, just getting people to think about situations.
00:07:17
Speaker
But also then you know it's not just buying houses you know as consumers we buy all sorts of things and if you think about car you know you won't buy a car without doing some research you wouldn't drive a car without a license or move from manual automatic without someone showing you the buttons and i,
00:07:37
Speaker
I did drive from Milton Keynes to Derby once many years ago with a new automatic car on my full beam. I couldn't work out to turn it off until I stopped. No one said anything. We need those things. That's why homeowners have a responsibility too, but also we need to be there for them too.
Consultative Approach to Surveys
00:08:05
Speaker
You can do a technical job, but you need to do it in context. I think that's really, really important. As we're recording this today, there's a lot of discussion about upfront information, surveys, upfront. That will totally change the landscape.
00:08:21
Speaker
of residential surveying in the UK. They've got a system in Scotland, but does that mean people are getting better advice or not? I'd probably argue not. It would really change things.
00:08:37
Speaker
you know, understanding what clients need means that you are alive to the opportunities and you're not going to be caught in the churn, you know, so you're going to be there in an advisory role, which is actually what we're there to do, not just issue out reports.
Articulating Surveyor Value
00:08:54
Speaker
So I think understanding context is really critical. Something you touched on there in terms of context then was, it sounded by going through the process with the customer of discussing what they're trying to get out of it, it was more of a consultative approach, there we go, where you're actually going through
00:09:19
Speaker
and understanding what the customer needs rather than trying to give a sales speech about a level two, a level one, a level three, and what the differences are. We've touched on this before outside of the podcast where as soon as you start talking about a level two is this, a level three is this, you end up in a comparison process with other firms potentially because it's perceived as the same.
00:09:41
Speaker
Is there any way you can handle that sales process to, I suppose, not remove the competition because people will be thinking about others in the process, but it's where you can focus more on the value aspect of your service and tying in to what the customer is looking for, rather than just being a reeling off the same list that other people might be reeling off. It's interesting because when I talk to surveyors and if I said, what value do you bring
00:10:12
Speaker
to the work that you do. There are some that will say, well, I help people with their homes and their lives and to get their kids in school on one scale. And on the other, it's, well, I do level two and three surveys and I'm no different to anybody else. And they really struggle with it. What value do I bring?
00:10:34
Speaker
I would say, well, and actually, you know, if I think about the arguments that I sometimes see about the fee levels for surveys, and I come back to, you know, it's a minimum standard at the end of the day, and a consumer doesn't know why one building survey costs 500 quid or one cost 1500 quid. And you'd think it would be to do with level experience and expertise of the surveyor, but it's not.
00:11:04
Speaker
It should be that, I wish some of that was that, but it's not. It's about how somebody markets themselves, the way that they support clients, they believe they can charge more and they've earned the right to charge more.
Business Strategy Differentiation
00:11:21
Speaker
And this is where as a small business owner, you've got to be working on your business and understanding what you're selling, who you're selling it to. And if you don't like the word selling, take the word selling out. But what's the conversation? What's the invitation to your client? What do you help them with? And the more you work you can do on that, the better understanding that you will have of how you in particular add value.
00:11:52
Speaker
you know and
00:11:55
Speaker
You know, just think about some of the surveyors that I've come across over the years. And, you know, some are really successful because they churn it out, you know, they stack them high, pile them, get them out and things. And others are just really considered over who they work with. They know who they can help. They know the kind of work that they enjoy doing. And I think that's a really key part of enjoying your work, because when you do something you
Comprehensive Pricing Strategies
00:12:22
Speaker
enjoy, you're more positive about it.
00:12:24
Speaker
You have that fears, that buzz, that energy about it. And that absolutely comes through even in the most boring of technical reports. Because people work with people at the end of the day. So it's about working on your business, understanding your clients, going through all of those different parts that can help you get to a point where you can tell a story about your business and about you and about why you do that work.
00:12:52
Speaker
and you'll be able to see where you add value to your clients. But players don't do the work on that.
00:13:02
Speaker
don't do the work, or they'll pay a copywriter to write something simple. Yeah, yeah. You know, they might get a copywriter to do some stuff, you know, do some website pictures of the same pictures that have been downloaded from some free site. And that, you know, it's all right to get you, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's all right to get you to a point. But at some point, you need to do the work or to get help to do the work.
00:13:29
Speaker
Yeah, that's very interesting. I think one of the points I've got written here is being able to explain value to customers, but I suppose ultimately, from the perspective of how do you solve their problems, which is what you mentioned in the LinkedIn titles really, which is one explaining, I hope you get into the right area or understand the concerns versus I sell level ones, twos, threes. I suppose that
00:13:51
Speaker
I suppose changes the conversation around how the price you can get versus just selling a product and then trying to see customers as a cash cow effectively, where you've got a different level of service in terms of one, two, and three. You've got different upsells in terms of photos in report and so on. But does that change how easily you can charge a higher price if you're able to understand value better rather than just trying to segment on level? Yeah. When it comes to charging fees,
00:14:20
Speaker
A lot of surveyors will have a fee scale on a spreadsheet, and this is what I'll do. If it's a job that comes in they don't want to do, they price it high. Whereas I just say, no, it's not for you, and refer them to someone else. They're the worst jobs to do. I know the times when your diary is really empty, you will have that race to the bottom on fee, and it becomes a loss leader.
00:14:47
Speaker
And they're the ones not to do either because you'll get a claim on it because you don't really want to do the job. You're more likely to make a mistake. I know you're going to, you're not paid for it. And then you're paying for it 10 times more. Um, so the thing with, with pricing is that we often look at what our competitors are doing, which gets us straight into comparison items. And you're, you know, when you know who you are, you're not competing, you know, so knowing who you are, what you offer to clients.
00:15:17
Speaker
and pricing accordingly is really important. But I would start with, from the number of weeks that you work, a year, number of days that you work, work back because you're overheads, work back that way. So what is the minimum that you should charge for a fee for a survey or a day rate? What is the minimum that you should charge? And then look at ways that you can earn that money
00:15:46
Speaker
And it's thinking of yourself as not just churning out reports and surveys, but you're offering consultancy, property, new surveying consultancy to clients that includes a report, and thinking about how you package that. So you offer a package which includes conversations
Boosting Visibility and Credibility
00:16:03
Speaker
before, conversations afterwards, meet out on site, if that's what you want to do and the client wants to do, and you get this report that you talk through, rather than here's a report which will be interpreted as an insurance guarantee,
00:16:16
Speaker
You know, so it's really thinking how you offer and what you offer. The other side of it, you know, is looking at your visibility and visibility plus credibility equals opportunity. And a lot of surveyors are invisible. And it's not about being on social media and doing stupid TikToks and whatever. It's about being where your clients are potentially hanging out.
00:16:42
Speaker
So it's being visible, but that credibility piece isn't about the alphabet of letters after your name. It's being, you know, really clear of this is what I do. You know, I help downsizers find a new home.
00:16:56
Speaker
I help first-time buyers, I help that expanding family, because guess what? I'm a dad and I've been through that as well, trying to get a lot of conversion done. It's that credibility piece that says, not just that I'm qualified, but this is the kind of stuff that I do day in, day out, and I get it, and I'm here to help you, and this is how I will help you, and this is what I charge. Now, there'll be some people who just can't afford it, and in which case you can signpost them, be as helpful as you can to a point.
00:17:26
Speaker
But you want to think of yourself as a magnet attracting the right clients rather than chasing the clients at every stage. So I think that's how I do it and that's how I advise my clients to think. But it's a big ask when you've never done it before. You're not going to do it on day one when you're not feeling
00:17:49
Speaker
very confident as a business owner and all of those things but it's bringing awareness to it and learning how to do it is where you get the good fees.