We humans have a hardwired love for consistency. It’s what allows us to understand, predict and control the world around us. So when things are consistent (i.e; your brand and service) we trust them.Take McDonald's. They have 36,899 restaurants scattered all over the world like viral pustules. Yet no matter where you go, the menu is the same, a Big Mac tastes like a Big Mac, your food is ready in a similar timeframe, the toilet is clean - each visit is a carbon copy of the last.McDonald's is so successful, they’re currently sitting on a net worth of over $90 Billion. But I think anyone who eats there can tell you it’s not down to their menu offerings. It’s all thanks to this obscenely consistent service. There’s a lesson here somewhere...
Consistency comes from standardisation
First things first - how do they pull off this magic act? How can 36,899 restaurants all dance to exactly the same tune?It all starts at HQ. The franchisee controls everything to deliver a certain, definite level of service. From the ingredients in your McFlurry, to the cleanliness of the toilet - each step of the journey from factory farm to plastic table is uniform, systematic and easy to follow. The result is a soothingly familiar experience at every McDonald's you enter.This is what is known as ‘standardisation’ - and service industries like real estate have much to learn. Obviously agency owners don’t require quite as much control over agents as the McDonald's board needs over a million-strong army of 13-year-olds - but process standardisation is key to driving referral business, efficiency, boosting agency insight and earning more commission.I agree. Real estate is a people industry. And ‘standardisation’ does sound like something straight out of Pink Floyd’s The Wall. But we’re not talking about turning your agents into homogeneous bricks and plastering them together in dull uniformity. We’re talking about implementing basic workflows so you can maintain a consistent quality of service with as little effort as possible. Remember: standardisation doesn’t always mean ‘no personality’.So let’s take a look at how Rex can help you easily set guidelines and workflows for your agents to keep your brand and businesses booming.
Tracks in Rex for process standardisation
‘Tracks’ in Rex are pre-defined lists of reminders. By that we mean, you can set Rex to alert you when certain task needs to be done - effectively taking the mystery out of best practice follow up.Actually, the most obvious benefit (and most used feature) of Tracks is that they can paired with letter, email and SMS templates for rapid fire follow up. It’s like putting your correspondence on autopilot. Time for that warm lead’s three month touch point? Send an email in a single click. Easy. But Tracks, are so much more than just a convenience measure. They’re your best friend when it comes time to standardize your sales process. And this has some huge benefits.
Consistent quality
Consistency creates lifelong customers - which is exactly what we strive for in real estate. If you make a clients journey easy on them the first time, you can double or triple the commission you earn should they choose to enlist your help again. How? Repeat and referral business.If you’re hoping to build up a solid base repeat and referral business, you need to be sure people are certain you’ll deliver the quality of service they promise you will to their friends and family. By standardising your processes with Tracks - this is easy to do.
Higher conversion
These solid processes don’t just ensure consistency. They also ensure repeatable success. If a workflow works well for one client there’s a higher chance it’ll work for another. And if it doesn’t work - it’s easy to tweak your process for better luck the next time around.As you eventually refine your processes to the same degree that McDonald's refine their sugar, you’re going to start seeing a much more consistent conversion rate on leads and sales.
Efficiency
Practice makes perfect. And having familiar and predictable routines is what keeps the majority of us sane. So it makes sense that following a predefined system saves us time (and the the mental energy you would have wasted deliberating what to do for every action you take).Standardized processes aren’t just about consistency - they’re also about efficiency. They oil the cogs and keeps things running smoothly. And it’s not just agents that will benefit. Having a repeatable weekly list of tasks for your admin staff (or virtual assistants) and directors can greatly streamline their days and workflows too.
Greater insights
Finally, Tracks are great for directors or managers who need to keep an eye on how their agents are working. If someone is falling behind on their KPIs, it’s a lot easier to see if this is their fault or the market’s by checking to see if they’ve been following the workflows you’ve established for your agency.
Customising your own Tracks in Rex
You’ve probably already used Rex’s default Tracks at one point or another if you’re one of our users - so you’ll know how easy they make following up leads or remembering to get in touch with past buyers or sellers. But their usefulness goes well beyond that.Every agency is unique, and taking the time to jot down your ideal sales, prospecting or marketing processes is a great idea. While Rex comes with plenty of great default Tracks, you also have the option to create your own. And we strongly recommend you do.Endless customisations mean that you can tailor-make your own Tracks in Rex for just about every single process you can think of - and their flexibility means they can be easily adjusted on the fly.Ergo, Tracks are every manager’s best friend when it comes to generating a little consistency. If you haven’t already, I’d strongly recommend taking a quick look at our help documentation:Protip: like many aspects of the Rex system (reminders, documents, etc), Tracks need to be assigned to a record. If you’re creating a generic Track that does not relate to any of the specific modules in Rex, you can always create a dummy contact record to assign it to. Dummy records are also particularly useful for storing documents against, setting yourself generic non-specific reminders, and more.
Tracks should be an integral part of every agency’s workflow. They help your agency easily maintain a consistent quality of service, generate more referral business, boost conversion rates, and maximise efficiency - all while giving managers greater oversight.
