Emails From 2019

Last week, I received an email from an estate agent selling a property I'd enquired about buying. That's not unusual – except in this case, it was…because I made the initial enquiry back in 2019, and I never heard back from the estate agent at the time. Three years later, they decided to contact me to follow up.

This is a clear sign of the change in the UK property market: agents are now prospecting rather than simply dealing with demand.

But that's beside the point. What I want to get at is the importance of customer service and valuing the people who chose you to help them.

There is a reasonable chance I would have bought one of the apartments I'd enquired about – it's one of the best developments in London. If nothing else, back in 2019, the estate agent had the chance to try to sell me a property – I was interested in buying an apartment and had declared that interest.

But they didn't call me or get in touch. Instead, they never contacted me, so I explored my options with other agents who valued my enquires more than they did.

It's also a story of exactly what we do the opposite of at Enness. As a business, we call every single person that gets in touch: within 30 mins if an enquiry is received during working hours or as soon as we open the next day.

We also connect clients and brokers as soon as possible. We don't make anyone jump through hoops to start a conversation that gets them closer to a solution or an outcome. We know our clients or their advisers usually want to get answers and advice as soon as possible, so we make that happen. Anyone who calls us can speak to a broker immediately or book a time to talk to a team member. Or they can think things over and come back to us when the time is right.

Why?

It's simple. If I want a solution or need help, I call a company that can help me solve the problem. If the company I contact has said they could help – on their website, in their emails, on social media, or in a face-to-face meeting, I want them to show they value my business, so I wait for them to provide a solution.

If I call a company and they don't answer, or if they take ages to reply, or say they can't help for a few days, or they try to filter me, I say 'thanks', then I look for someone who can help me on my terms and within the time frame that fits me. At Enness, we recognise that the time frame for needing answers or assistance is almost always immediate – most of us want help now and to work with a business that can help us now. Our clients are no different.

It isn’t always about giving the solution there and then: it's about showing that we value the opportunity, that we care, and that we are prepared to put the time in to help or show we can help if we can't find an immediate solution. It's simple in practice, but not everyone gets it right – although, at Enness, I think we do.