Borrower’s Voices are Heard when it comes to Nationwide Appraisal Network Service

As an appraisal management company, not only is important to make sure our clients are happy with our service, but it’s just as important that we make sure our client’s clients are happy with our service.  With a network of over 6500 appraisers located throughout the entire United States, I’m sure you can imagine the magnitude of trying to manage such a service.

A little over a year ago, after brainstorming sessions and feedback from clients, appraisers, and borrowers, we decided that it would be most effective to simply ask the borrower how the appraisal experience was for them overall. 

Now I’m sure you have lots of thoughts on this topic as at first glance as you can see that the client’s client is not our client.  So why care or even ask for that matter?  Why engage them in an opportunity to complain?  Why not ask the clients directly?

It all boils down to this:  If our client’s clients are not happy and are not turning into a repeat customer or referral source for our clients, then we are not doing our job.  Our clients look at Nationwide Appraisal Network as an extension of their business.  A partnership, if you will.

We are very thorough with our clients at the start of our relationship to be really sure that we understand whole heartedly what their goals and values are in respect to daily business operations and how they treat their customers.  We try to mimic this when handling their appraisal requests by sending the best, most experience appraisal professionals to every home, every time.  It may sound like a tall order, but it’s really simple.

So here’s the process:

1. We ask our clients to include the borrower’s email address on every appraisal order.
2. Once the appointment time and date passes, we email the borrower a quick 5 question survey which includes questions about thoroughness, professionalism, timeliness, etc.
3. We instruct the borrower that they have 24 hours to fill out the survey and send it back. (No surveys are considered 24 hours after the inspection takes place as we do not want the final value of the report to impact the borrower’s perception of professionalism).
4. Our Quality Assurance and Compliance department reads over the survey and passes along to the appropriate team.
   1. If there is complaint, then it gets forwarded to our “Resolution and Retention Team”.  If it’s a positive comment then it gets put into a batch that goes out once a month whereby we give kudos to appraisers who have received positive comments from surveys.

The thought behind this is three-fold.

1. We are telling the borrowers, “We care about professionalism”.
2. We are telling our clients, “We understand that you depend on us to carry out your values as an extension of your team”.
3. We are telling our appraisers, “We demand professionalism and courtesy and we applaud you for a job well done”.

When the appraisers receive positive feedback from our team, the response is overwhelming.  It’s very rare in this day in age to get positive feedback on anything.  No one has time anymore to say “thank you”.  But we make it a policy to do this every month.  Even if it’s something small.  We know we are rewarding good behavior and are likely to see it again.  It’s an opportunity to create loyalty with appraisers and clients.