The Science of Managing Service Standards

While brokers can quantify an agent's performance with numbers like, say, their sales volume, measuring the quality of an agent's performance is much more challenging.

Agent ratings are one method brokers are turning to to solve this problem--and the results are measurable and significant. According to Leading Research Corporation, when systems for tracking and, yes, quantifying the client service quality are used, repeat and referral business increases by 17.74 percent for buyers and 12.48 percent for sellers.

But how does one quantify how well an agent serves their clients? Agent ratings platform Quality Service Certification (QSC) does it by standardizing the service process that participating agents are required to follow. When a transaction is completed, QSC sends your client a questionnaire asking them to rate, on a scale of 1 to 5, specific aspects of the service their agent provided. Questions cover details like consumer expectations for days-on-market, quality and frequency of communication, and the agent's knowledge of the area. (You can see a sample questionnaire here.)

Brokers who use QSC can track the results of returned surveys in a dashboard. They can view results at the individual agent level or office level; they can also view both individual surveys and the cumulative results of all surveys.

The cumulative option is a great way to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of agents. Just compare the ratings an agent receives from seller clients versus buyers. If their ratings as a listing agent are lower, for example, this is a signal that their skills serving sellers need some polishing. Brokers can use this information to identify coaching opportunities.