Winning clients, then keeping them
IN the modern technologydriven age, when competing brands have so many channels to reach consumers and loyalty is an increasingly rare commodity, client retention can pose a challenge for any business.
This is according to Lance Chalwin-Milton, joint managing director of bespoke property-focused High Street Auction Company. The keys to success in this particularly competitive industry are superlative service, integrity, innovation and the expertise to consistently meet or surpass expectations of sellers on the auction floor, he says.
“Recent research produced by McKinsey & Co in the US makes for uncomfortable reading. Only 13% of customers are loyalists who don’t shop around and 58% switch between brands, while an Accenture report on brand loyalty indicates 78% of consumers are retracting loyalty at a faster pace than three years ago.
“In property auction terms a small minority of clients — usually private homeowners — will only engage with the industry once in their lives, but the majority are public sector entities, real estate investment trusts and large developers that often modify portfolios through this sales method and have their choice of service providers.”
Securing their business, then nurturing that relationship according to their specific needs is the difference between auctioneering success and failure.
One such entity, says Chalwin Milton, is the Cosmopolitan Projects and Central Developments Property Group, which has been developing property across the country for more than 25 years and has a long-standing relationship with High Street Auctions.
“They are ideal clients in that through constant innovation, attention to every detail in the development process and a strong focus on quality and value for money, the group has firmly established itself as the market leader in South Africa’s residential housing sector.
“But like many other large property groups they are currently revising their investment portfolio and on May 25 we’ll be auctioning five of their development sites ranging in location from Rustenburg to Empangeni,” he says.
High Street Auctions has retained the Cosmopolitan Projects and Central Developments Property Group’s business by sticking to a simple formula, as it does with all its clients, he says.
“You have to demonstrate consistent, comprehensive market knowledge, employ only the highest quality staff, show impressive marketing reach and host world class auction events time after time. You’re only as good as your last sale.
“Leading the industry’s technology race though innovations such as live-streaming auctions and developing professional, client-centric apps is also critical in the online age.
“Ultimately, client retention boils down to one simple principle, though: offering the level of service you’d want to receive if roles were reversed, and always doing that with respect, honesty and integrity. It’s a simple but winning formula.”