Watch: Interview with Power Bespoke

Perry Power, Managing Director of estate agents Power Bespoke, spoke to Moneypenny’s Head of Estate Agency, Joanne Tattum, about his thoughts on customer service in the industry, how he has improved his business, and the power of Live Chat for agents.

You quote that 75% of the population don’t trust estate agents. Do you think this is tied to customer service, and what steps can agents take to rectify this?

“I think that statistic has been battered around for years. It comes around to communication as a whole. One of the biggest gripes people have with estate agents is that they don’t speak to them enough.

“They list their house, promise them the world, and don’t really follow up after that.

“Viewing feedback communication is usually a bit of a gripe. Having rung them six times and not had a reply, or left voicemails.

“So yes, anything to improve communication, I  believe, is going to improve the  perception of estate agents.”

What changes – large or small – have you made to your business that have really made a difference? 

“We’ve brought in WhatsApp groups for every client. It’s really powerful, really great. You tend to find it cuts down the incoming phone calls and it cuts down the outgoing phone calls too, because we use the WhatsApp groups to communicate the little things.

“The things that normally wouldn’t be communicated because you’ve got to pick up the phone, dial a number. whereas a quick [message saying] ‘Hey John, heads up, there’s another viewing for Saturday, 10:15’.

“It’s really nice, quick communication. We also rolled out Moneypenny Live Chat, which is incredible.””

Is Live Chat a luxury or a necessity? 

“We used to have a widget on our website where you could tap it and ring us or message us, and no one used to use it.

“So I thought: ‘Why would I use Live Chat when no one is using the thing already in that space on the website’. Then as part of lockdown life I went straight in with 24/7 Live Chat as well. I’m absolutely flabbergasted and blown away by the amount of people who prefer to use it.

“Previously, I never liked it because for it to work properly someone’s got to be on it 24/7 365, and my team can’t be. They’re either on the phone, or 6 o’clock comes and the office is closed, unless someone’s got the app on their phone to respond to it, it just won’t happen.

The customisation is incredible. I’d never take Live Chat off our website because it’s relieving our team so much.

“We run Google Ads to certain pages on our website, and I can see the landing page, they’ve come from on their chat. They’ll ask: ‘Oh hi I’m looking to buy a property in the midlands, can I speak to someone about your property search and secure service?’.

“Moneypenny’s team know those kind of enquiries go to the person who heads up that side of the business, they tell the person that they’ll get a call back as soon as he’s free.

“It’s more than a necessity. The world’s becoming messaging crazy. I think a lot of people prefer to have a message than a call.”

Discover more about how Live Chat can help estate agents get 6x more engagement from their websites.