Do you ever wonder what your customers think when they interact with you or your office?  What we don't know about our clients perceptions about our service, the quality of service and the level of services we are offering can hurt us. 

I invite you to put yourself or a trusted colleague in charge of this task and ask you to put yourself in your customers shoes and truly see what they see. 

In my old company we often hired mystery shoppers for clients to truly evaluate a customer's perspective of their business.  More often than not, they were quite surprised by the results, thinking all along that they had a true handle on customer service and the  overall customer experience they were offering their customers. 

Today, I spent some of my day catching up on reading blog posts from identifying broken links to getting feedback from your clients and it got me thinking about the question "do you see what I see?" 

Have you ever stopped, stepped back and truly looked at some of your work - the blog you posted, content on your website, your listing presentation, etc and looked at it as if you were a customer receiving that information?  Are you able to do that?   Should you? 

Many of you advise your clients of their "to do"list that is necessary as they prepare to place their home on the market - perhaps painting a more neutral color, or fix ups that will truly make a great impression to home buyers.  Are you doing that with your website and blog?   Are they inviting with great and relevant content and photos that help them relate to what you're saying?  

Some examples of what can you do in this test? 

• Phone Impressions: Call your office and see what results you get.  Did it take awhile for someone to answer?  Was the person on the other end of the phone pleasant, helpful or was it a bother for you to call?  Do you use the "smile" method when you answer the phone?  Do you stop doing things at your desk when a prospect or client calls and truly focus on what they're saying and needing?

• Test your website.  Was it easy to complete the contact you form?  Do they receive some kind of confirmation that your information was received?  Were the links working?  Was the site visually appealing and easy to navigate?  Could you locate the information you were searching for easily? 

• Blog - Could you easily subscribe to your blog or was that not working?  Were the links on the side of the profile working?  Was the contact information easy to find or non existent?  Does the content on the blog relate to the services being offered on your profile and website?  Are there photos that break up the words and help relay the message?

I often find it helps to have a trusted colleague to be another set of eyes for me in reviewing my work - letting me know if something is missing, needs more detail or just doesn't flow.  Do you have someone that you consider your extra set of eyes? 

Think about the message you are sending to your prospects and clients in every areas of your business and make it easy and a pleasant experience to do business with you. 

Weigh in with your thoughts:

Have some ideas or suggestions for other areas of your business that could be tested? 

Can you honestly answer the question "Are you prospects and clients having a great customer experience when they choose you?"