Real estate customer service is vital, say Spanish academics

There are many expert views on the Spanish property market, particularly those who are keen to weigh in over whether the market has finally started to bounce back or whether prices are still falling. But a different outlook has come from academics.

And the points they are making about customer relations are being seriously considered by Spanish real estate agents and in fact there should be a revolution in delivering top-class customer service.

Business professor Marcial Bellido, who has set up the Network of Qualified Property Consultants (RAIC) and Real Estate Registry Functionalists (RFI), says real estate businesses should be focused on local market knowledge and satisfying customer needs.

There must be a return to more traditional working, with agents understanding why clients are buying and how their needs can be fulfilled, says Mr Bellido, who is President at the Institute of Business Practice (IPE) in Malaga.

“We cannot aspire to make a living laying bricks if we do not begin the effort to understand and know what they need those who will enjoy,” he told Pisos.com. Understanding what the buyer needs is the key to everything and ignoring the customer has caused a ‘crisis’, he says.

Sociologist José Fernando Perez Trojan, a Professor of the University of Málaga, says both the real estate sector and the world economy have both been blind to the real needs of property buyers and have relied on false assumptions, including the fact that customers have an insatiable desire for housing. Homes are more than just commodities, he says.

One false assumption was that there were millions of potential property investor in Western Europe and Scandinavia who were willing to buy real estate on the Mediterranean coast and the Canary Islands.

It seems the academics’ ideas are being seriously considered within the industry. Javier Serra, President of RE/MAX Spain, says satisfied customers attract new business and a well-run business leads to more success. “A satisfied customer is well able to bring in new customers.”

A sociological approach works because it is the science that studies the population, their determination and motivation, says Mr Bellido. As to whether the theories are correct, that can only be proven over time, he says.