REISA CEO Greg Troughton is a fan of Edward R Murrow, the famous American journalist, who once said “we cannot make good news out of bad practice”.
The recent REISA Awards for Excellence introduced a new concept – the mystery shopper. This is because, as Troughton says, you can’t hand someone an award based on a written submission if the experience in dealing with them personally does not stack up.
“This concept was a testament to our commitment to making the real estate profession as relevant and transparent as possible. The Awards have always been about submissions and interviews, but this year we wanted to test the finalists where it matters most – on the ground. We wanted to make sure the on ground experience matched what the nominees were saying in their submission,” says Troughton.
The mystery shopper has been added to the current evaluation procedure which has always included a written submission plus a face-to-face interview. However, this year more than 38 mystery shopper “calls” were made to the sales category finalists before important decisions were made.
“Too often, we hear the negatives, we read the headlines and we watch the tales of unhappy consumers. The service and integrity of an overwhelming number of real estate professionals gets lost in the crossfire.”
Troughton says that after the initial call from the mystery shopper, simple metrics were assessed such as how quickly calls were returned, and what sort of response was received from email. Happily, he says, everyone in the finalist group passed the test.
“The results from the mystery shopper experiment were fantastic and the consumer experience was rated as exceptional across the board.
At present, the mystery shopper is unique to REISA, and Troughton says he likes to keep one step ahead. He says it’s not out of the question that it may, in the future, become part of the consumer compliance protection training that agents in SA are required to complete in the future.
“If we’re going to accredit somebody with that title of being a certified professional member that we will actually be testing upwards of five per cent each year. And again if we have problems with that, then we’ll engage directly with the member to see why they are not meeting the community expectations of a real estate professional.
“As REISA rapidly approaches its 100th Anniversary, it is time to reflect on the good times. And REISA will keep the real estate profession on its toes.
“It’s all about Walking the Talk and we will make sure that they do” Mr Troughton said.
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