The right technology can help to provide out-of-office support that reduces the stress and fatigue experienced by agents.
That is according to The ValPal Network, following recent research suggesting that blurred lines between work and home life increase stress and fatigue for property professionals.
Although agents nominally log off and leave work after a particular time, new enquiries are frequently made outside of office hours and agents often feel obliged to react to these.
But research suggests property workers are struggling to cope with these demands. Fortunately, using the right tools to ensure enquiries are being responded to outside of traditional office hours in a fast-changing world could help to ease the pressure that agents often face.
The popularity of out of office hours cannot be overlooked
In a recent study, The ValPal Network revealed the most popular hours for vendor and landlord leads for agents.
The results found that 07:00 to 07:59 is the most popular hour for valuation requests, while 18:00 to 19:59 is the second most popular hour for these requests.
Both times are just outside of traditional agent office opening times and prove that agents must have strategies in place to handle the enquiries that come through during these hours.
Craig Vile, director of The ValPal Network, explains: “Without real-time responses agents risk the chance of losing leads. Yet the solution to this is technology and automation because they allow agents to follow up right away.”
“Many agents have already adapted to having automated online valuations as part of their website, rather than requests that require a human to manually calculate. Equally, chat boxes/bots can help to ensure that questions are answered 24/7 to engage with the client there and then and keep them as a hot lead.”
“Valuations are only one request that agents deal with on a day-to-day basis. There are many more that could also benefit from being automated.”
“Quick responses demonstrate that you provide a reliable service and give agents the best chance of converting that all-important lead. Personalised lead generators and nurturers – such as our MovePal product - can help to ease stress and fatigue amongst agents because when they are away from their desk opportunities will no longer be missed.”
Use technology to adapt to change
The property industry is constantly changing and, as proven by the Covid-19 pandemic, there is a constant need to adapt and move with the times.
The current topic of discussion concerning the structure of work is the four-day week. Recent research carried out by Metro discovered that around 72% of office workers would prefer a shorter working week, while over 125,000 people have already signed a petition to get the UK government to adopt a four-day week to lower the UK’s carbon footprint.
Vile further explains: “With the idea of a shorter working week and more flexible working hours more popular than ever, agents need to start making technology that provides out-of-office support a priority.”
“Stress and fatigue among agents are often the result of being overworked. Employees with jobs that require a lot of manual data input usually fall into this category, but tools that prevent these issues already exist.”
Vile says long-term nurture journeys, instant communication and automated leads are all excellent solutions because they can stop agents from either working longer hours or having to be contactable and working outside of hours.
“By sticking to old ways of conducting business, agents can put themselves in a position where they are unable to keep up with the changes that are happening around them.”
He concluded: “Considering the amount of new research that shows a preference for shorter working weeks and a high number of business requests outside of office hours, procedures that avoid losing these leads and keep agents happy must be explored.”
