Customer communication is considered important in most industries, but it is truly foundational in the title insurance industry.
In addition to the traditional idea of communication as a sales tool or a as an important aspect of customer service, title agents know that communication is critical to actually creating the title insurance product and the real estate closing and escrow services.
Effective communication therefore is not a nice to have, but a must have, and to achieve excellence the entire staff must have its collective hand on the buzzer, ready to deliver at any moment in the process.
Here are the 4 Cs for improving communication in the coming year: Consistency, clarification, collection and coaching.
Consistency
Of course, you knew we had to start with the obvious.
Automating your communications with your clients ensures a consistent communication that is both necessary to keep clients informed and reassuring for those customers who are unsure why this whole closing process takes so long.
That’s where Alanna comes in!
Our technology allows you to proactively send text messages to everyone in the transaction, so they know exactly what is happening behind the scenes to move their transaction forward. Alanna can also answer general or file specific questions 24/7/365, so those nervous clients who are online at midnight can proactively resolve whatever is keeping them awake.
Clarification
The title insurance industry is very esoteric and mysterious and rife with terminology that is like Greek to the rest of the world.
In the New Year, it might be a good idea to carefully review all of the communications you send to your clients to ensure they are written in a manner that can be easily understood by your homebuyers and sellers. This is particularly important in any information you provide alerting them to wire fraud. Be direct, simple and use bullet points to elucidate specific actions they need to take to protect themselves.
Collection
Communication is a two-way street and feedback from customers – good and bad – should be carefully collected, logged and reviewed in order to improve processes. Most of this feedback is going to arrive through your electronic channels during the course of the transaction. Advise your employees to pass on any specific communication that includes feedback. And don’t forget to ask customers to fill out surveys, invite them to leave reviews on your social media channels, and occasionally pull a core group of clients into focus group to really dig into how you can improve your services.
Coaching
And finally, whatever plan you come up with for improving communications with your customers, make sure it is rolled out to your front-line staff. Consistent and effective coaching is a gift, especially to younger employees as they take their first tentative steps in the industry.
And remember, coaching is not “ordering” or “bossing” or “criticizing.” It is modeling effective strategies and helping your staff think through for themselves how to respond to customers. Asking them questions about an encounter, like “what went well in the conversation” or “how might you have handled that differently” can empower them to approach the next encounter more thoughtfully.
Whatever your plans entail for the New Year, Alanna.ai is here to assist. In addition to streamlining your client communications, we can open new orders in Resware, SoftPro and Ramquest 24/7, create buyer and seller net sheets, and collect and process seller and buyer information to free up your staff for those all-important customer phone calls. Call us today to learn more!