1. Outdated customer service methods

It’s a simple fact – consumers today expect a seamless, on-demand experience across all industries, and will look to you to provide this as their estate agent.

Unfortunately, many agents still rely on outdated customer service practices, such as inconvenient phone calls or back-and-forth email conversations. These slow, manual processes frustrate modern vendors and buyers, who are accustomed to the instant services they receive from other industries like banking, or retail.

When estate agents fail to deliver a smooth and efficient experience, vendors may decide to look elsewhere for more tech-savvy competitors who can provide better service.

To make sure you’re staying competitive in this area, consider offering self-serve tools like online booking tools (more on this next). 

2. Lack of Online Booking options

The way customers book services has changed dramatically in recent years. 

Consumers expect to be able to make appointments quickly and easily online, at any time of day. If your estate agency only offers traditional booking methods that require phone calls or emails, you may already be falling behind. Worse, these delays give competitors with streamlined systems the opportunity to secure an instruction first.

Put yourself in the shoes of a vendor – moving home is a hugely stressful, and often time-sensitive, life event. Couple this with the fact that most people will be unavailable to take calls or emails during traditional working hours, and it’s easy to see why vendors would find missed calls (or emails) frustrating. 

Providing online booking for property viewings or valuations gives your agency the upper hand. With instant booking options, vendors and buyers don’t have to wait for office hours to progress their sale or purchase – and agencies that meet them where they are will ultimately win their business. 

Street.co.uk’s Online Booking tool goes one step further. By automatically calculating travel times (including local traffic data) of every journey between properties in your patch, automatically eliminating double bookings, and allowing agents to select which days and times are preferable for vendors and specify pre-approved slots for instant approval, Street.co.uk makes sure you’re never wasting any of your agents, or your clients’, time – and making the viewing process as stress-free as possible for everyone involved.

3. Limited availability and responsiveness

Speed matters. Vendors often choose the agent who responds fastest, particularly when they’re ready to sell. 

Take property valuations, for example. Say a vendor is researching local agents in the area, and they’re looking for a valuation.  If your agency can’t respond promptly because you’re closed, you could miss out on opportunities to a competitor offering instant, online valuations.

Offering 24/7, online valuations via an integration with your CRM (for example, Street Insights) can ensure your agency never misses a lead, even when the office is closed. What’s more, Street Insights will feed these leads straight back into your CRM, ready to be nurtured into instructions. 

Being readily available improves the chances of securing instructions. Put it this way: who would you rather trust with your sale? An agency that took over 24 hours to respond to your enquiry, or an agency that provided an instant response?

4. Lack of transparency

Trust is a significant issue for estate agents. Research shows that only 5% of home-movers ‘completely trust’ their agent​. Lack of transparency around the property selling or letting process can lead to frustration, causing vendors to lose confidence in your services.

By providing clear and consistent communication throughout the transaction—such as real-time updates on viewings, offers, or marketing performance—you can build trust and differentiate your agency. Tools like Street.co.uk’s Consumer Platform allow clients to see what’s happening with their property sale or purchase, reducing uncertainty and giving them peace of mind​ during what is often the biggest transaction of their lives. 

Another great way to encourage transparency with your vendors and landlords is via regular customer care (or listing performance) reports. Street.co.uk’s Listing Performance Reporting feature makes this easier than ever before by gathering portal data, viewing and pricing feedback, and even generating email copy and subject lines for you with the help of AI. This gives you a chance to not only show off the work you and your agents are putting in on marketing their property, but also to showcase your expertise with your data-backed recommendations – ultimately, reassuring your clients that they chose the right agent.

5. Failure to meet modern expectations

With customer experience now a critical differentiator, vendors are expecting a personalised, efficient service that mirrors the seamless experiences they receive in other sectors. 

A PwC study shows that 32% of consumers will abandon a brand after just one bad experience​. If vendors feel your service is slow, confusing, or outdated, they won’t hesitate to instruct one of your more modern competitors.

Meeting modern expectations means offering services like self-serve online booking for viewings, on-demand access to property information, and a clear focus on customer convenience. 

Adopting digital tools that allow vendors to manage their property sale from their smartphone, for example, can give consumers greater control, and on-demand, 24/7 access to their information, without having to chase their agent.

6. Neglecting the power of reviews and referrals

Word-of-mouth recommendations and online reviews are still vital in the property market. A bad customer experience can spread quickly, with 95% of consumers more likely to share a negative experience​. 

On the other hand, delivering exceptional service can lead to glowing reviews, repeat business, and valuable word-of-mouth referrals.

If your competitors are focusing on customer satisfaction and generating positive reviews while you’re not, you’re more likely to lose potential instructions. 

Investing in tools like Street.co.uk that help you exceed expectations and generate positive feedback will ensure you stay competitive.

Choose a CRM that keeps you ahead of your competitors

Losing instructions to your competitors often comes down to outdated processes and a failure to meet the expectations of modern vendors. 

By embracing automation, improving transparency, and offering the convenience of online booking, your agency can improve consumer experiences, and beat your competitors to win more instructions.

Of course, customer expectations will continue to evolve – so don’t let your agency get left behind. Choose a CRM that will stay on top of changing consumer trends, and give you access to the latest tech – making you the obvious choice for home movers every time.

Want to see how Street.co.uk can help you win instructions over your competitors? Get in touch for your free, no-obligation demo today, or download our latest guide.