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Changing face of customer service
The retail industry is bracing itself for a major change to business practice in Cyprus. The reasons are many, but opening the marketplace to ‘outsiders’ and smarter and more demanding customers have contributed significantly.
Liberalising shopping hours is good news for customers, but the change is poised to cause grief to small family businesses, the majority of the retail sector. Notwithstanding the difficulties for the retailers, one thing is certain – the customer will come first!
Most fundamental changes are taking place in the property market, particularly in the coastal regions which claim the lion's share of the tourism industry and the tourist dollar (or pound)! Interest in Cyprus property by non-Cypriots is nothing new, but the spectacular growth in the number of property retailers in the past year or so suggests that an increasing number of ‘foreigners’ (and now our EU partners) see today’s Cyprus as an even more attractive property opportunity.
This opportunity has not been lost on local developers, would-be developers, agents, subagents, pointers, etc. It has not reached the saturation point as yet but, from the customers’ point of view, buying property is getting harder not easier. For a start, there is a lot of retailer choice but little differentiation. Secondly, as competition increases, many prospective buyers find themselves ‘locked’ in the chain of agents and their increasing entourage of associates who offer property advice with nothing more on their minds than the prospect of making a major scoop in commissions. Many would-be buyers feel that they are being left out of the equation as sellers 'chase a sale’ with little attention to 'customer service'.
Delivering ‘customer service’ is an all-encompassing and fashionable statement but few retailers would volunteer to define it. Some retailers focus on recruiting more sales people or extending their working hours; some create 'plush' interiors or focus on the technology edge; and others produce a mountain of promotional material to ‘inform’ the customer, or produce a rather long ‘short’ list that dominates the customer's time, etc.
In the short term, any of these strategies may produce results, but today’s savvy and busy customer is looking for the ‘total’ package that addresses all his needs and preferences, or at least the greatest proportion of them. In other words, it is interior, exterior, administration, people skills, product knowledge, advertising, promotion, professionalism, reliability, choice and convenience. Addressing the issue of customer service by focusing on limited key services leaves many customers exasperated, with little ‘visible and experienced’ improvements in the levels of customer service that they actually receive.
Help is on the way, though. Some property retailers are coming to the conclusion that ‘less is more’. For example, rather than chasing all the projects in the area they choose a select few that cater to their customer needs, with the very distinct difference that they know all there is to know about them.
"We like to think that we save our customers time and money", says Daryl Fitzgerald, from Fitzgerald Estates . Daryl has been a prime mover in the property market in Paphos for the last 12 years so his intimate knowledge of the local market inspires confidence. "It is not the number crunching that drives us when it comes to selling a property. We find out everything about the property so that we are able to determine very quickly whether the property meets customer requirements, without having to take the customer on an unnecessary viewing trip. The more time the customer has to focus on the desired property the greater the chance that he will make a more informed decision". And what about making the sale, we ask? "We see it as part of an enhanced customer service", says Daryl.
Although a small family business, Fitzgerald Estates is open six days a week to meet customer needs. "It is difficult at times but, if you see it from the customer perspective, we cannot offer anything less", explains Daryl. Given the limited time holiday makers have at their disposal, this extra service is highly commendable. With an extremely approachable attitude, unpretentious interiors, differentiated display, high level of knowledge and definite customer focus, this is one retailer meeting change and making a very positive contribution to the workings of the property market.
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