RISMEDIA, August 31, 2010—Real Living, a real estate franchisor announced that 58 of its agents received prestigious “The Best in the Business” awards from an independent research firm that annually conducts a comprehensive survey of customer satisfaction.
With just 250 professionals in North America receiving the award, Real Living—long known for its unsurpassed focus on providing the industry’s highest level of customer service—claimed the most “Best in the Business” awards of the franchise real estate companies surveyed.
The four real estate franchises ranked with the most agents in the top 250 were:
1. Real Living – 58 agents
2. Prudential Real Estate Affiliates – 55 agents
3. RE/MAX – 40 agents
4. Coldwell Banker Real Estate – 15 agents
Quality Service Certified (QSC), an independent research firm, delivers, administers and validates customer service satisfaction results following closed transactions for participating agents. QSC executives noted that the availability of detailed service satisfaction history and actual past customer comments enable consumers to make better, more informed decisions in finding and selecting real estate professional who best meet their needs.
“For the past eight years, we have steadfastly focused on developing and then implementing Premier Service, one of the industry’s most comprehensive customer satisfaction program,” said Harley E. Rouda, Jr. “Simply put, these independent surveys rate us on our own merits. In 2009, QSC surveyed more than 32,000 of our home buyers and sellers and found that Real Living/GMAC Real Estate has a customer satisfaction rating of 96%, the highest in the industry, bar none. When you look at the size of the Real Living network and our number of award winners versus other, much larger franchisors, this is a huge accomplishment.”
Considered one of the most innovative and comprehensive customer service programs in the real estate industry, Premier Service promises consumers consistent and measurable levels of service. For example, Real Living agents put in writing, up front, the services they will perform on their customers’ behalf. Through Premier Service, the company takes the unprecedented step of asking their customers, via an independent survey, to honestly rate the performance of their sales agent and by reflection, the national company itself.
“Since our Premier Service program debuted, we have sent surveys to more than 500,000 consumers throughout North America,” Rouda said. “No other real estate company in the world has gone to the extent we have to measure customer satisfaction.”
“The real estate brokerage industry has traditionally focused on sales and production as the measure of excellence,” said Larry Romito, president and CEO of Quality Service Certification. “Agents recognized as ‘The Best in the Business’ averaged nearly 30 closed transactions with a record of virtually perfect service—100% of their clients responded that they were very satisfied with their overall service and all the details. Consumers tell us what’s important isn’t how many clients are served or how many transactions agents tally, but the level and quality of service the agents provide. That’s what matters most to them.”
A complete list of the 250 “The Best in the Business” QSC award winners is available here: https://secure.qualitycertified.org/Members/downloads/email/20100624bestinthebusiness/AwardWinners2010.pdf.
For more information, visit www.realliving.com.
