Completion day, and the moment passes
Completion is when vendors and buyers are happiest. The keys are handed over, the stress is over and your team was part of it. It is also the busiest day in the file, so nobody asks for a review. A month later, someone sends a batch of generic requests to everyone who completed recently, and a few people respond.
Meanwhile the reviews that do appear are often from the clients who had a bad experience, because they are the ones motivated to write without being asked.
Why reviews are hard to collect
Asking for a review is a small task that belongs to nobody. Negotiators feel awkward asking, and progressors are dealing with the next completion. A batch request from head office arrives out of context and reads like marketing.
There is also the question of who to ask. Asking a vendor whose sale nearly fell apart because of a problem on your side, before anyone has addressed it, is not wise.
| Approach | Usual result |
|---|---|
| Nobody asks | Reviews come mainly from unhappy clients |
| Batch email weeks later | Low response, generic tone |
| Personal request at completion | Better response, but rarely done |
| Asking everyone, regardless | Problem cases vent in public |
What thin reviews cost
Vendors choosing an agent read reviews, and so do buyers deciding whether to register. A small number of reviews, or reviews dominated by complaints, makes your branch look less trusted than it is. Staff also lose the encouragement that good feedback brings, and managers miss a useful signal about which negotiators and branches clients rate.
Review platforms and advertising rules set limits on how reviews can be requested and presented, and your business should follow the rules of the platforms you use.
There is a missed learning opportunity too. Clients who had a good experience will often say exactly what made the difference, such as a progressor who kept them informed or a negotiator who handled a difficult chain. That feedback is useful for training and for recognising staff, and it is lost when nobody asks.
How we build timed review requests
- Completion trigger: when a sale is marked completed in your CRM, a review request is queued for the vendor and buyer if they are your clients.
- Problem check: files with a logged complaint, or flagged by the progressor, are held back and sent to a manager to decide whether and when to ask. Everyone else proceeds.
- Personal message: the request names the negotiator and progressor who handled the sale and is sent by text or email a short time after completion, when the moving boxes are down.
- Platform link: the message links to the review platform you use, such as Google or a property review site, following that platform's rules on requests.
- One reminder: a single gentle reminder if there is no response, and nothing after that.
- Tracking and replies: new reviews are collected in one place, and your team is alerted to reply, especially to any negative ones.
A review request for every completion
Every completed client is asked, at the right time, in a personal way. Unhappy clients are spoken to by a manager instead of being prompted to post. Branch managers can see reviews per negotiator and per branch, and your team replies to every review quickly because they are told when one arrives.
The request also becomes part of the service rather than an afterthought. A short, personal message after completion, thanking the client and naming the people who worked on their sale, is a pleasant end to the file whether or not they leave a review. It keeps your branch in mind for the next move, and for the friends and family they might recommend you to.
Are reviews left to chance in your branch?
- Nobody consistently asks for reviews at completion.
- Most of your reviews come from clients who had a problem.
- Review requests go out in batches, long after completion.
- You do not reply to reviews promptly because nobody notices them.