Not my listing? Not my problem

SNYDER, N.Y. – April 8, 2009 – A new white paper issued by the consulting firm WAV Group presents the results of a “secret shoppers” test of 100 IDX-powered broker Web sites and determined that most agents do not respond to inquiries about listings belonging to other brokers.

The study shows that 33 percent of e-mails received no response, the average response time was 10 hours and 16 minutes, and only five of the 25 responding agents answered all the questions posed. When making phone calls to 64 listings with phone numbers, none of the 58 agents they reached could answer questions about the listing.

“I would not presume that brokers are going to pull down their IDX sites anytime soon, but I do believe that brokers need to take the relationship with the online consumers more seriously and deploy solutions that will improve response rates to increase consumer satisfaction and confidence,” says WAV Group partner Victor Lund.

The paper suggests that consumers are more satisfied with syndicated listings sites that put them in contact with the listing agent or broker.

Source: 
Inman News (04/03/09)

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