
7 minute read
The Hub
FOUR SHORT QUESTIONS… ONE BIG IMPACT!
The new Harcourts CX Programme, powered by RateMyAgent, will be available to all offices soon. In developing the new programme, we have listened closely to the needs of business owners, managers and agents, both in terms of survey timing and the questions we ask. The new Harcourts CX Programme is based around only four questions, two asked at unconditional and two at settlement: Question 1, Unconditional Survey: Rate (agent’s name) skills and knowledge (clients award 0 to 5 stars, where 5 is excellent) Question 2, Unconditional Survey: Tell people about your experience. Describe (agent’s name) market knowledge, communication and professionalism (clients provide a testimonial which can be used for marketing) Question 3, Settlement Survey: How likely are you to recommend Harcourts (office name) to a friend or colleague? (clients award score on a 0 to 10 scale, where 10 is extremely likely) Question 4, Settlement Survey: Tell us a little more why you gave this score? (clients provide key details of any issues they’ve encountered) Armed with the responses to these four short questions we’re able to: • Gather a high volume of verified testimonials, nothing better to drive new appraisal requests. • Deliver star ratings that can immediately appear at Google
Reviews (thanks to RateMyAgent’s Google integration), driving both visibility and search optimisation. • A Net Promoter Score for office and agents – the currency of client satisfaction that allows us to measure how we’re delivering the finest experience in real estate. • Key insights that can help us identify every little opportunity to constantly improve our service delivery. And that’s it – four short questions delivered across two surveys. Very simple, but very powerful.

Alistair
Wright THE HARCOURTS TECHNOLOGY SUITE, HELPING YOU DO MORE, AND DO IT BETTER!
2022 is an amazing year of positive change for the Harcourts technology suite. We have finished migration of all Harcourts branded offices in Australia from H1to VaultRE. The project’s focus has now moved to Nutrien Harcourts and NAI Harcourts Australia, while we continue to work with The PropTech Group to enhance VaultRE to be match fit for New Zealand. H Digital + Web the new National, Office, and Personal websites for Australia and New Zealand continue to be enhanced with new products and features being introduced. NZLC in Auckland was an exceptional event where the new Interfirm dashboard was released in H360. Last but not least, we have started rolling out the new Harcourts Hub into both New Zealand and Australia. Everything we’re building and rolling out helps our people do more, and better. Aligning with our aim to deliver the finest experience in real estate. We’re replacing existing technology and delivering a world-class system of talking technology that provides clarity, connectedness, and centralisation to make your operations smoother, cleaner, and more cutting-edge. VaultRE is the endorsed specialist customer relationship management (CRM) system that allows Harcourts team members to do more, and better. This leading system allows team members to monitor every aspect of their operation from a single page, from any location, in real time. Ultimately, VaultRE will help team members to list more, sell more, rent more. H Digital+Web delivers world class national, office and personal websites. Built from the ground up focused on providing the best content management system allowing Business Owners and Agents to create a beautiful web presence. Delivering a platform to showcase you, your business, and your vendors properties. Read more on page 12. Harcourts Hub is the home of all things Harcourts, built for team members as the central location for all training, newsletters, events, templates, and resources. It will replace H1 for news and information, resources, and library content. Read more on page 8. H|360 collates data from multiple sources to help our business owners, property managers and agents see the story of their business performance in live graphs, dashboards, and rankings. These indicators show our team members how they’re performing in real time, so they know where their opportunities are, and can grow through relevant training and support on Harcourts Hub. This business performance dashboard is a source of live, smart data that will help team members set and hit targets. H|360 gives us the capability to make decisions based on intelligence rather than intuition. As well as performance KPIs, the Hub also gives every team member access to a full CX dashboard - showing their own NPS, star ratings and testimonials. Enjoy!
Leonard
Donaldson
Chief Information Officer leonard.donaldson@harcourts.net
INTERNATIONAL UPDATE

There’s a saying that the more things change, the more they stay the same. It’s true that there is a huge amount of change in the world we live in, and that the pace of change increases. But at the same time, so many things stay the same. Our business is about people. It’s about connecting with our clients, understanding their needs, really caring about how we can help them, and then delivering the best solution possible in the market that meets their needs. When we do this well, with care and professionalism, then we deliver the finest experience in real estate. Putting people first has never been more relevant than it is now. And it’s what we do best at Harcourts. Doing this means investing time with people – time we need to buy out from our busy day. We’re excited about the enhanced tools and systems that we’re rolling out to the Harcourts Group. Invest the time in learning to use these new tools. They’ve been designed to help you be more efficient, cope with greater volume, and do more, better. Their purpose is to give you more time to spend on what matters most - developing relationships with people. Connecting. Making a difference. It matters more now than ever before. Something else that remains the same is the fact that in every market there are always opportunities to grow your business. Sure, we have to adapt. Change our strategy. Sharpen our skills. It requires action on our part. These changing markets present huge opportunities for us - if we’re courageous enough to take them. Let’s make sure our business plans will get us where we need to be. Lastly, another unchanged reality is that Mike Green remains embedded in the very fabric of Harcourts. So much so, that he’s realized he’s got a lot more to give us! Mike is coming back as the Managing Director of the group and I’m looking forward to working together with him in my current role as CEO of Harcourts International. These are exciting times for us all. There is change that we need to embrace. But we also have the chance to build on what sets us apart and will never change – our values, our culture, and our ability to build relationships that matter. One Team. We’ve Got This!
Steve

Rising interest rates and a higher cost of living have many homeowners in Australia and New Zealand looking for ways to stretch the budget a little further. With mortgage repayments going up, there’s no better time to think about spending less and saving more. Here are 5 helpful mortgage tips for a rising interest rate market.
1. Check how your mortgage is structured Current rates on the market vary and they’re moving quite a bit, so it’s worth checking what type of loan you’re on and that you’re getting the best deal available to you. Contact your lender if you’re not sure, and if you do need to make some changes, talk to your mortgage broker or adviser for help with restructuring your loan.
2. Pay fortnightly instead of monthly If you’re not already doing so, switch to fortnightly repayments. Not only will you save on interest by making more regular repayments, but you could also pay back your loan faster as you’ll be making two extra repayments each year, with 26 fortnightly repayments instead of 12 monthly repayments. 3. Use an offset account An offset account is a transaction account linked to your home loan that you can make deposits into or withdraw from. Money paid into your offset account reduces the balance of your home loan and the amount of interest you get charged. So you save on interest charges.
4. Cut back on spending With inflation at its highest level in close to 30 years, cutting back on spending is a tough one. Start by scrutinizing your budget. Then track your spending. Reduce and cut back where you can. And clear high interest debt as a priority.
5. Get help from a mortgage professional Book a financial health check to get a clearer picture of the impact rising interest rates will have on your budget. Find out if refinancing to a better interest rate is an option. And compare home loan deals to see how yours stacks up.