Millennials look to reviews and ratings before choosing an agent
A curious finding of our new research. Millennials say that the most important source they use for finding and selecting an agent is “a referral from a trusted source.” Even more than their parents, or any other generation, young people find that a referral from someone they know is a great way to find an agent.
Checking the Ratings
Once they get this referral, they go online to check for ratings, reviews and any other information they can find out about that agent. In fact, they do this at about three to four times the rate that older generations do. It is interesting to note that all age groups check on referred agents, just not as much as young buyers and sellers do.
Get on the Review Bus
This brings to mind the arguments for and against ratings (which by our definition means quantitative measurements of performance) and reviews (customer testimonials). One hears all the arguments: Sales associates write their own reviews; MLS data is not the complete picture; and there is no way to defend oneself against negative reviews or those that are posted by competitors. While there is merit in each argument, the fact remains that the world we live in will see more reviews and ratings whether you want to participate or not. Further, those willing to submit reviews and subject themselves to ratings will grab more share than those who don’t.
More Reviews=More Referrals
According to leaders of several listing portals, their tracking shows a significantly higher level of referrals and inquiries from consumers to agents who have reviews or ratings than for those who have none. Further, we have heard from several sales associates that, in fact, this is true. It could be that the portals bringing this up may be self-serving, however, agents who allow reviews and ratings to be posted confirm this trend. That makes us believe the listing portals research.
Much like the impact of the Internet and online listings and the explosion of social media, each brokerage firm, sales associate and MLS will need to examine how ratings and reviews will be handled. There does not appear to be any rules or guidance as to how to handle negative, incomplete or inaccurate data. In this case, however, we think that time and the consumers’ desire to know more about those with whom they are dealing will not wait for the industry to come up with rules and regulations. They will use whatever is available.
This article appeared in REAL Trends Newsletter and is being reprinted with permission of REAL Trends, Copyright 2014.