Navigating Client Communications: Balancing Availability with Productivity

Effective client communication sits at the centre of every transaction. It is crucial for building trust, managing expectations, and, ultimately, ensuring successful property settlements. However, for many conveyancing business owners, traditional client communication methods – such as phone calls, emails, and in-person meetings – can be time-consuming and inefficient and often cause stress among team members. Our previous article looked at the financial and non-financial costs (including the toll on mental wellness) of these constant interruptions and work fragmentation that typically plague conveyancers. 

So, on one hand, conveyancers are overwhelmed by communication. But at the same time, consumers are demanding even more transparency and immediacy in the communication around their property settlement. As a business owner who cares not only about your team’s wellbeing but also about your clients and the business’s bottom line, how do we satisfy everyone? 

The answer? Leverage technology. Implement tools to streamline and automate the communication pipeline to enhance client communication while reducing the manual burden on conveyancers. Fortunately, innovative solutions are available that can facilitate communication processes, improve client satisfaction, and alleviate the stress and overwhelm experienced by your team.

Streamlining Communication Processes with Technology

Realtime Conveyancer offers industry-first solutions, such as app-based communication through the Pathway to Settlement consumer app, which automates client updates, reducing the need for constant phone calls and emails. Pathway to Settlement enables you to leverage app-based, automated communication, update your clients, and allow them to track the progress of their transactions 24/7 without the need for constant phone calls or emails. This not only improves the client experience but also frees up valuable time for your team to focus on higher-value tasks.

Other tools conveyancing businesses could consider include automated quoting processes and chatbots to provide clients and potential clients with accurate information and responses in real-time. Web-based instant quote tools provide clients with accurate and timely quotes without requiring manual calculations, lengthy phone calls, or back-and-forth emails. This saves time for your team and ensures consistency and transparency in your pricing.

For those willing to lead the way with communication technology, chatbots can handle basic client enquiries, such as general information about the conveyancing process and documentation requirements. By implementing chatbots on your website, you can provide instant responses to common queries, freeing up your team to focus on more complex tasks and reducing the need for constant interruptions.

Finally, conveyancers can leverage SMS messages to send regular updates to clients, informing them of important milestones and deadlines throughout the conveyancing process. SMS messages can be used to keep your clients in the loop without requiring lengthy phone calls or email exchanges, allowing your team to maintain productivity and focus.

Establishing Processes for Effective Communication

While the modern communication technologies mentioned above offer numerous benefits, it’s crucial to establish processes and boundaries to ensure that convenience does not come at the expense of productivity or client relationships. Encouraging these alternative channels for non-urgent queries can help prevent interruptions and allow your team to focus on their work uninterrupted. This frees them up to have lengthy phone conversations with clients whose transactions are trickier or require more comprehensive support. 

Consider this scenario: You’ve sent your client a large packet of settlement documents to sign and return. Perhaps you post them, or more likely, you email them. When your client receives them, they call you to discuss some questions they have. Then, since they need to complete their ID check anyway, they decide to drop the signed documents back to their conveyancer in your office (without pre-booking a meeting) and chat about what’s next while they’re with you. 

Juxtapose this with the alternative scenario, where your office is leveraging available technology to reduce the impost of client communication whilst simultaneously empowering your client to be informed on the status of their transaction.

You send your client a large packet of settlement documents via Pathway to Settlement. They review them and call you with some questions. They sign the documents and return them to you via the app. At the same time, they action the ID request you sent them via your Virtual ID partner. The conveyancer receives the documents back, straight into their Realtime matter along with the completed ID, and marks off these tasks in their matter’s workflow. The client checks back in the Pathway to Settlement app to see that these milestones have been completed. 

Note that in the second scenario, you haven’t removed client communication. In fact, if anything, it could be argued that your client is even more informed about their transaction, given that they can view all of the pathway steps in their app. Your conveyancer has still been able to foster a positive relationship with their client when they go over the documents on the phone with them. But the time your conveyancer has spent overall is significantly reduced, freeing them to work on more pressing matters.

Supporting Team Wellbeing and Productivity

Implementing tools and strategies to support your team’s wellbeing and productivity is essential for creating a positive work environment and ensuring efficient client communications. As highlighted in our previous blog, the constant interruptions and work fragmentation experienced by conveyancing staff significantly disrupt concentration and elevate stress levels, ultimately impacting productivity, employee morale and client satisfaction.

To address these challenges, consider implementing task management software, such as Realtime Conveyancer, and use time-blocking techniques to help your team manage their workload more effectively. By providing your team with the resources and support they need to stay organised and focused, you can prevent burnout and ensure that client communications enhance productivity rather than detract from it.

Furthermore, fostering a culture of open communication and collaboration within your team can also improve wellbeing and productivity. Encourage team members to share insights, ideas, and best practices and provide professional development and growth opportunities. Research has shown that businesses that invest in their team’s development and create a supportive work environment have greater employee satisfaction, which can lead to superior client experiences.

Balancing Communication, Productivity and Employee Workload in Conveyancing

Finding the balance between accessibility and productivity is essential in business, but never more so than for modern conveyancing businesses. As explored throughout this article, leveraging technology can streamline client communications, offering greater transparency and on-demand information while supporting your team’s wellbeing and productivity.

By embracing innovative solutions such as Realtime Conveyancer’s Pathway to Settlement app, automated quoting processes, chatbots, and SMS updates, conveyancing business owners can streamline communication channels, enhance the client experience, and alleviate the burden on their team. These tools improve efficiency and empower clients to stay informed and engaged throughout the transaction process, fostering trust and satisfaction.