Those that follow the NSW Fair Trading Complaints Register will note that real estate agency’s names often appear at the top of the list; usually involving property management. While property complaints have been around since the first mud hut was rented, perhaps a touch of after-care-service may go a long way to avoiding agency’s brands being damaged by Facebook testimonies, and the all-powerful digital media.
Here’s 2 stories in the same industry, with the same high-pressured problems, with radically different outcomes:
While United Airlines may take years to remove that imagery of a company that doesn’t care about its customers, Qantas still enjoys the immeasurable benefits of how their staff operated many years after the (above) event.
To underline how the world is now thinking of either competitive brand, Google each name. Unlike Qantas, you won’t see any videos like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Y8HdeHtOJs
Avoiding a real estate’s PR flying south
In these days of smart phone videos with instant exposure, let alone aggressive social media postings, companies that deal with the public — especially real estate agencies — should and must be prepared to mitigate any customer confrontation and the long-term brand damage that’s possible.
For those agencies that haven’t done so, it may be best to set in place a ‘Damage Control’ procedure and, if necessary, followed by providing pizza vouchers and an apology for any misunderstanding, or flowers and a phone call. As we’ve seen, these small outlays have the potential to save a business substantially… perhaps even $250 million?
Otherwise, in this new media landscape, it’s only a matter of time until your real estate company could crash and burn.