Kate Charrington joins us for the final part of our first episode of Season 2 of Survey Booker Sessions.
Kate is the Director of Projekt3 and is focused on helping residential surveyors future-proof their business by introducing and developing sustainability into their products and practices.
We discuss 3 topics together and in this third and final part, we are discussing how report auditing and discussing the environment can help you add to your USPs and help you boost your fees.
In this episode, we discuss:
🚨 What are the common pitfalls and easy wins to providing better reports?
🧘 The importance of writing reports focused on customer concerns
📣 The benefit of writing a report in first person
⭐ How to make a customer confident in your report
📊 How to boost your average fee and improve your USPs
Contact Kate on: [email protected]
Transcript
Matt Nally
For our final topic, I’d quite like to tie together, I suppose, a bit of what we’ve been talking about in the last two topics, which is, you know, the environment, and then the benefits of the auditing aspect. So I suppose one of the things before we start on, before we move on, sorry, it’s about how you personalise your reports better. And then how you get better fees. In that context what are the three biggest mistakes you see in reports? Not in terms of like, you know, surveyors are missing, not doing the right things in terms of the compliance aspects. Obviously, they know what they’re meant to be doing with that. But what are the, I suppose the common pitfalls where you see Easy, easy wins on improving reports and providing better outcomes for customers?
Kate Charrington
Yeah, so over the past kind of three years, it’s interesting, because I would have thought that actually, the pitfalls that I would see would would kind of change, but obviously, if, as you kind of get new clients, as you see more reports, and actually, it’s, it’s funny, the common pitfalls seem to have have kind of remained the same. And so they typically stem from, you know, standards not being quite, quite met, and particularly actually, from level two and level three perspective, or equivalence. And also, where, where, so favourite reports actually just speak to everyone, rather than being specifically kind of client SEC centric, which, which I think really relates to the USP element. And, and that, again, actually ties on to the kind of third one, which is delivering the same report is, is everybody else, which I think really stems from the template aspects. And that’s not to say that I dislike a template, like, I love a template, I think it’s really helpful, I think it can make it really easy for surveyors to do their job. But actually, say you do use a template of whatever kind might even be a custom built template that you that you actually use. And the question is, well, what’s the content like? The the template is one thing, the content is entirely different. And whilst you might talk about, of course, the same things, you’ll talk about roofs, you’ll talk about walls, you’ll talk about rounds, you’ll talk about, you know, this, that and the other. What you can cover within those things, obviously, depends on the type of level of sorry, the type and level of survey that you’re trying to deliver. But ultimately, you need to be talking about different things to set you apart from somebody else.
Matt Nally
As it’s a very good point. I’m definitely not trying to plug some of it because it’s about the ultimately the process you have him. But one of the one of the things we we focus on is having clear job records that give you all the correspondence in one place, you can see everything you’ve discussed on email, you’ve got your notes, all that type of stuff. So if you’re out on site, you can be viewing that and understanding very easily and quickly the context in which you’re writing that report. So isn’t, as you said, it’s not just that I’m writing a report on this property, as I’m writing a report on this property for someone who has a particular concern particular state there a particular stage in life that you know, that that that’s the difference between a four star and a five star review, or a three star on a five star review is, you know, how relatable is it to that? How much care has gone into writing if that individual?
Kate Charrington
Yeah, exactly. And I think, you know, I’ll probably answer maybe your question, which may be your last getting no, but actually, like one of the, one of the things that really strikes me is the is the lack of personalised language in a report. And I again, I’m not saying this is necessarily a bad thing. But there are so many reports, which I read, which actually say the survey unnoted, or the surveyor x y Zed, and that’s very, that creates a real kind of separation between yourself as the surveyor and what you are reporting personally to a client. And if not for the fact that also, sometimes it makes it makes me it sorry, let me rephrase So it would make me think potentially as a client, okay, well, did this survey actually write this report? Or is it being written by someone else on their behalf? So it,
Matt Nally
you know, question actually, that was gonna be actually do you see that more choice? Do you see more that will happen more often with people, they get reports transcribed before them and as someone writes it or or to people write it in third person?
Kate Charrington
And I don’t necessarily know the answer to that, because I don’t necessarily get into the nitty gritties of their entire their entire process. But, you know, that’s, that is a question and an aspect of my kind of quality assessment is, you know, when I actually look at a property Yes, when I look at, when I look at reports, I will kind of ask myself these internal questions as I go. And when it when it comes to a report that is written by a surveyor for a client, and I’m very much an advocate, this will probably be controversial, I’ll probably get a load of statistics. But I really like the use of AI. In, in a report, you know, first person to me demonstrates that the surveyor has written the report, the surveyor is actually talking to you, as the client, you know, they are making sure that you you are being taken care of, and that your concerns are being being kind of covered within the crux of the report. And actually, that that would lead me to say, you know, something as simple as Sorry, can I also just say, Actually, I have, I have actually run like a free half an hour webinar, which people can sign up to. So yeah, if you want to do that, then hopefully, we can maybe share him share the link for that. And this will kind of talk maybe about some of the things that we’ve spoken about, but But we, you know, often often in my kind of quality assessments, I’ll actually get somebody to think about okay, well, if I’ve reviewed the entire case file, and in the terms of engagement, a client has specifically asked a surveyor to cover a particular thing. Have they actually stated in the report, you asked me to cover this? Or you noted in in the documentation, that you were concerned about X Y, Zed? That’s not something that I come across it? I would, I would probably say in the majority of the surveys that I that I see. And if if a client hasn’t, hasn’t mentioned any concerns, then equally, I would actually reflect that in the report and say, you know, you haven’t mentioned anything as a cause of concern to me in terms of engagement. So, you know,
Matt Nally
yeah, yeah. That’s a very good point. Sorry, to jump right in. But yeah, there’s a really key point, which is the other importance to not overloading your diary, having time built into review, having proper processes at the start to log those conversations, those those concerns, is then being able to vet to make sure before you submit that report that it answers that question, otherwise, you then have the back and forth of it. What did you think of that? And then immediately, I suppose the confidence isn’t in the report at that point, if you’re the core question hasn’t been answered,
Kate Charrington
exactly. Like a report should tell the client everything they need to know. And everything that they’ve asked a call can merely kind of go, go just a little bit further in creating that rapport and actually being able to maybe, perhaps talk things through, you know, rather than necessarily provide further advice on a call, you’re actually just merely kind of running through what you’ve actually covered. And, and I think that’s, I think that’s fundamental. I think every surveyor should should be doing that, in fact, home survey standards actually do require you to, to speak to, to a client in in some capacity. So yeah, I overall, I just think that when it comes to reporting, surveyors should really make sure that they can be able to say, Okay, well, if I were to give you this, this report, and you were to get this report from another surveyor, here’s how mine’s different. You know, I think that’s, that’s real fundamental. And because if you can’t do that, then you can’t sell the value of you. And that’s,
Matt Nally
that’s, that brings me to the next question really is how do you personalise your home survey reports and use that to increase your fees? I suppose ties into the flipside of the question we’ve just had, which is what are the sort of best things you’ve seen that mean people charge more?
Kate Charrington
Yeah, yeah. So So first and foremost, and When it comes to personalising your report, and like I say, use the language, which I’ve actually just just kind of covered and spoken about, you know, I versus the surveyor or we, I think makes it particularly important. What do you know about your client, and, you know, if you, if you talk to a client, you may well find out that they live on their own, which may potentially mean that they are more concerned about security could do. And you may find out that they have a particular chronic illness or something. Now, whilst I’m not saying we need to, you know, have a full medical history, or, you know, know everything and sundry about a particular client, it’s those kinds of conversations, which can lead to golden nuggets of information, which may or may potentially allow you to talk more about stuff in, in your, in your home survey. So particularly if I kind of relate this to climate change, if you talk to somebody who is, you know, clearly conscious about energy or cost of energy or, you know, energy efficiency or, or whatever it is, then you know, that that client would likely appreciate you to focus on climate focused elements in in the report. And personally, I think that should be done each and every time because it will impact every every single person and everyone. But at least it gives you that kind of inroad to say, hey, you know, what, I know my client, I know what I I can report to them on, but I also know what I could report to them on, based on their particular circumstance. And that’s, that’s really why personalising your your reports is really important, but how you can also demonstrate to potential clients. Look, here’s what I do, here’s how I’m different. And just go from there.
Matt Nally
So that’s my slight bugbear in marketing, I suppose I say. And my question is, how do you turn the the report auditing the type of things you put in your report into USPS that a tangible for making getting an average V out because I think what we’ve discussed is off call. But one of the common things you see a lot on survey sites or marketing is MRCs. on local jargon, free reports, you can start reading stuff off, but that every everybody’s saying and so of course, when it comes to, well, why would they pay you more than 10? Other people have said the same thing, maybe two or three others, but that’s obviously not going to get you the higher fee, because it’s the same same point as everybody else. So what are the things that you see in reports that can be manifested into a USP that you can then, you know, tangibly explain to someone to get that fee up?
Kate Charrington
Yeah, that’s, that’s a really good question. And, you know, I would say, having some kind of, you know, independent quality assessment is one thing. You know, but aside from that, is it is really difficult. And I would say, I would say that, actually, surveyors don’t always value themselves enough. I mean, I’ve spoken to surveys who carry out, you know, level two plus surveys for 250 quid. If you think about this, not a disrepute to estate agents, I used to be one so but you know, if you’re paying an estate agent 1000s of pounds it because people don’t see it go out of their pocket, because it tends to be all kind of coming from completion money. So whatever, people are more willing, whereas actually, you hold a great deal of of liability, you’re giving professional advice, you need to value value yourself. So I mean, you can, you can potentially go down the route of providing kind of example surveys, which I do, I do see on lots of surveying websites. Obviously, it’s kind of down to you how much information and content you actually put in put in your report. But ultimately, like I say, evidencing that you actually undertake external quality assessments, and providing example surveys, actually talking to the client first and foremost, should actually boost your your USP anyway, if you merely do everything remotely, rather than actually picking up the phone, and then you know, that that in itself may potentially add value that I’m not a marketing expert, but I know that if I want to I don’t know, like I if I I want to buy new carpets, I want to speak to somebody face to face and kind of get advice on what I maybe should get. And so if you provide things like zoom calls, versus just a telephone call, or you know, that kind of thing, I think having demonstrating access to you, as an individual is a real kind of key key element, and demonstrating that you ask questions about your clients that maybe other other surveyors don’t is, is another key element as well. And personally, I think the whole concept of fees is, I don’t know, maybe maybe I’m being a bit utopian here, I would want people to do the best job that they can. And not just kind of put up a fee for fees sake, you know, you should show value, if you put your fees up, or you know that you charge a fee, that is probably the highest in the area, then you should be able to validate. This is the reason why I’m actually saying this is the reason why, versus here’s what we do, can sometimes be totally enlightening for people, you know, it might look on the face of it, if you say, you know, I’m an I’m an ICS. surveyor, I’ve had this many years experienced by law, that that might not kind of land in the same way as Look, here’s what everyone else does. Here’s what I do. And that, you know, it being explicit about your difference is really important.
Matt Nally
Yeah, that’s, that’s very key point. It’s not about seeing the customer as a cash cow, and how much can I get out of them? But But how can I justify that the level of work I do, and therefore the fee, I charge for it, rather than having to want to provide that but drop? Yeah, down to another level? Because I can’t explain the difference. Yeah. So
Kate Charrington
because I also sorry, Matt, I was just gonna say that, you know, if if you are providing, and again, this isn’t a kind of slight on the surveys that do if you are providing surveys within a 24 hour turnaround? Can you evidence, or can you demonstrate how your quality still remains high? You know, because if you’re bashing out a survey, in a very short period of time, I might as a potential client think, Oh, that was a bit faster, rather than necessarily think, you know, that time has been taken over it. Of course, that will be dependent on if a client actually really needs something very quickly or not. But I think in given the scale and the length of time that property transactions actually take I don’t think 24 hour surveys aren’t necessarily needed. But hey, that’s just just
Matt Nally
Yeah, I suppose from the from the potential claims aspects. And honestly, it will completely that comes down to the processes you put in place to make sure that you’re going back to what the customer wanted, and not running out of time just putting a generic report about their property out. But I suppose I suppose it comes down to how good the process are, and advanced as well. But the, I think the risks from a client’s perspective, as you start to get that pressure of you overbook, or report take slightly longer to write up that you then go, Oh my God, I’ve got to get this out, then you’re more worried about the time perspective than you want necessarily about the quality, potentially. And then that could obviously lead to not having the reflection time and plenty of other things. So that I think the time you’re right gives you that, that chance just to breathe a little bit, be a bit more relaxed, and then yeah, puts better, potentially better quality workout.
Kate Charrington
Yeah, and actually, I mean, when when I was kind of prepping for, for some work that I was doing, I carried out a lot of research and spoke to a lot of love surveys. And one of their key kind of issues in delivering surveys was time, time related. So that kind of told me, one thing really was, you know, I you kind of charging the value of the time that you’re actually putting into, into your surveys. Because if you’re not, then you, you, you know, you’re not doing you’re doing your best service really to to a particular client. So yeah, making sure that your fee aligns to your time as well as the output, I should say, is, is fundamental in making sure that you have the time and the space, as you say, to deliver a high quality service.
Matt Nally
Awesome. I think that’s been really interesting going through that today. So thanks for coming on, and sharing your your thoughts. If anyone wants to get in touch to learn more about your services or to listen to the webinar, you mentioned, how do they go about that?
Kate Charrington
Short so they can go to www dot project three and that’s project with a K and then numeric three.co.uk. And you can also feel free to just email me tax cheats. Project three, again with a K three.co.uk as well.
Matt Nally
Chuck. Awesome. I’ve seen lots of positive comments about your services on LinkedIn. So I’m sure it’s worth getting in touch. Thank you very much for coming on. Appreciate it.
Kate Charrington
Thank you very much.