Rorey Bridgeman is a Realtor with Virtual Properties Realty

Atlanta Agent (AA): Your background is in market research – from your perspective, how is Atlanta’s housing market doing?

Rorey Bridgeman (RB): The Atlanta market is continuing to grow and rebound from the recession. It’s currently a seller’s market, and several areas around the metro are experiencing shortages in inventory, especially in the spring and summer.

However, as the economy continues to expand and interest rates stay competitive, the residential home inventory should increase. Furthermore, the number of people wanting to upgrade and sell their home should also increase. The trend also continues for more attractive homes to sell faster than less desirable homes.

AA: What areas of the market should agents pay closer attention to, in your opinion?

RB: People are moving to Atlanta from all corners of the United Sates and beyond. Having a strategy to tap into that market is imperative to growing your base. Another great opportunity is to work with investors and understand how certain tools work, such as the 1031 Exchange (a section of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service Code that allows investors to defer capital gains taxes on any exchange of like-kind properties for business or investment purposes). Even though a financial expert should be consulted by the client, it’s good to know how the process works for this tool and others.

AA: Finally, what steps do you take to engage with clients after the sale? And why is that important?

RB: Running your own real estate business can be rewarding and overwhelming at times. It’s almost impossible to watch over every part of your business 24 hours a day and 365 days a year, especially if you manage a team or a brokerage. That’s why seeking feedback from buyers, sellers, prospects and vendors about your business operations, processes and marketing is imperative in retaining customers and growing your businesses.

Using the right survey tools can help provide feedback to keep your business running smoothly. You never want to let a broken process, lack of great customer satisfaction, a rouge customer facing employee, etc. go unchecked for a long period of time. The Net Promoter Score, which is an index that measures the willingness of customers to recommend a company’s products or services to others, and the Customer Experience survey, which provides business owners with a metric that they can use to manage and improve their businesses, are tools that can help. Developing a two minute or less online survey, and incorporating both of those tools, can provide valuable feedback.