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BRAND SPOTLIGHT: Offerpad
Continuing to evolve as a comprehensive solution for selling, buying, and financing homes.
By Execs In The Know
In a recent conversation with Tracy Sedlak, VP, Customer Success at Offerpad, we learned all about her career journey, how the brand maintains its 93% CSAT, which CX technology she’s most intrigued by heading into 2024, and which success has meant the most to her and her team.
Offerpad, unlike its real estate tech counterparts, was founded in 2015 by a team of seasoned real estate experts who collectively possessed vast experience in buying, selling, renting, and renovating nearly 100,000 homes, prior to the start of the company. Recognizing the stress and complexity inherent in the traditional real estate process, they embarked on a mission to revolutionize it, with the customer in mind. Leveraging their extensive industry knowledge and innovative technology, they introduced a pioneering online real estate platform.
This platform enables sellers to request and receive compelling cash offers for their homes within 24 hours, facilitating swift contracts and closures that circumvent the typical hassles and headaches associated with conventional home sales. Offerpad’s journey has since assisted countless individuals nationwide in discovering a superior approach to real estate, and their story is far from over; they continue to evolve as a comprehensive solution for selling, buying, and financing homes.
Execs In The Know (EITK): Please share a little about your background, how you came to be at Offerpad, and describe the day-to-day focus of your current role.
Tracy Sedlak: My career has been in sales and sales operations, leading omnichannel contact center teams. I started in tourism, but after five continents and 29 countries, I left the life of travel in 2020. I decided to fulfill a personal dream, which was to get my real estate license. I figured while my high schooler was home-schooling, I could too! I got my Arizona real estate license and entered the unchartered world of residential real estate during COVID! You might say I like a challenge!
Not long after I started in real estate, an intriguing opportunity was presented to me, which I call “my unicorn:” running the phone-based sales and customer service teams for Offerpad as the VP of Customer Success. It was the perfect marriage of career 1.0 and career 2.0, and it was too good to resist! I loved the art of real estate, especially with the added complexities of a global pandemic, but I learned how much I missed being a part of something bigger. Offerpad was poised to go public just two months after I joined, which was also a tremendous opportunity to be part of building something that was still in its infancy.
My role today is leading three teams, from customer solutions advisors who manage phone, chat, and email to our initial engagement team who educates interested sellers on all the solutions that Offerpad can provide to sellers (and buyers, and those looking for mortgage solutions — shameless plug!) and our team of licensed real estate solutions advisors. We support the customer’s journey from initial interest to going under contract. We support more than 1,072 cities and towns across 14 states.
EITK: What are some of the most important experiences and insights you’ve gained throughout your career, and how are they shaping your work for Offerpad?
Tracy: Our teammates and our customers are people. They are people with differing viewpoints, needs, and goals. I believe that my travels and exposure to a multitude of cultures have shaped my leadership style. I welcome a diverse team; through this, we can learn from one another and adapt to nearly every situation that presents itself. Real estate can be daunting, most people experience a real estate transaction once every ten years. A lot can change in that time, and it is critical that we work with our sellers to help them navigate the market and understand their options to make the best decision for them.
EITK: Company policies and processes play a major role in shaping the customer experience. How has Offerpad evolved these aspects of its business, and how has this impacted things like resolution rate, customer satisfaction, and customer effort?
Tracy: Everything we do at Offerpad is with the customer at the center. We take our CSAT (Customer Satisfaction) and NPS (Net Promoter Score) as a top priority. Identifying friction points in our process is paramount to what we do every day and the decisions we make in our business. One of the favorite parts of my role is “Voice of the Customer”. This is a monthly review of our social media and customer survey feedback. Up to the C-Suite, the heads of our departments review our results and dig into experiences. We celebrate successes, but more importantly, we learn from our missteps. We must own any mistakes and learn how to avoid them in the future. We are very proud of our 93% CSAT and are doing what it takes to maintain, if not improve it!
EITK: How would you describe Offerpad’s culture, values, and overall mission in serving its customers?
Tracy: The customer is at the heart of everything we do at Offerpad; real estate is in our DNA, and the customer experience is what built Offerpad. We understand that today’s consumers demand convenience, knowledgeable, friendly support, and quick response. Combining technology with the human element is one area that differentiates us from others. Our mission is “Provide YOUR best way to buy and sell a home. PERIOD”. You will hear us refer to being a Solutions Center; that is truly our belief. It is not about us; it is about providing the right solution to meet each individual seller’s needs.
EITK: What does a typical customer success engagement look like for the brand?
Tracy: Our customer engagement typically begins online with a seller answering questions about their home to start the request process to receive a cash offer and information about other services we provide. After they complete the form, we reach out to them within minutes by call, text, or email. Our first contact is to learn more about their needs and answer any questions they have about the process and what to expect next. Once they decide to work with us, they have a dedicated Success Manager who is their single point of contact through the entire process.
EITK: How has Offerpad’s channel strategy evolved in your time with the company, and what have been some of the primary drivers of this change?
Tracy: Our channel strategy has evolved during my two years with the company. When I joined, there was a strong focus on the phone as the channel of choice for communication with our customers. In my experience, you need to meet customers where they want to be met. Since our customers usually come to us online, engaging with them through text, email, and chat made sense.
We revised our communication cadences and varied them amongst phone, text, and email. It quickly became obvious that text messaging was the desired channel of choice for many of our customers. This pushed us to be more creative with our text messaging, incorporating direct links to our offer, video tutorials, and links to information they could use to self-service based on their needs.
EITK: The past year has been filled with challenges and many big and small wins for many organizations. Looking back over the past year, which success has meant the most to you?
Tracy: It may seem cliché, but I would say that post-COVID return to work has been our greatest challenge and success. It has been a two-plus year process, starting with my personal experience of interviewing and onboarding fully remote, never meeting my teams in person until April 2022. Then moving into a hybrid world was extremely challenging for many people for various reasons.
As an employer, we are learning to balance what’s best for our people with what’s best for our business and, at times, making tough choices that we know could impact our people and, quite frankly, that could be viewed as unpopular by our teams.
Throughout the process, we found success in pushing what was considered “the norm” which for most companies was a hybrid approach. In October 2022, we decided to fully return to the office. We saw the positive impacts on our business, but we also felt the impact on our teams. We have successfully navigated through this and moved to Offerpad’s version of hybrid, which is working very well for both the business and our teammates!
EITK: Which CX trend or technology are you most intrigued by heading into 2024, and what should every CX leader be tracking?
Tracy: Artificial intelligence! Regardless of industry, every business leader should be keenly aware of how AI will impact their business. AI has so much opportunity to improve the customer experience and the experience of our advisors. Finding the proper use for it to enhance your customer journey and complement your advisors’ efforts is critical to success.
EITK: Can you share how your involvement in the EITK community translates into value for yourself, your organization, and the community?
Tracy: The EITK community has become a group of trusted advisors. Throughout my participation in CRS and KIA, I have fostered relationships with peers I can count on for excellent recommendations, advice, support, and the much-needed laugh!
EXPLORE OUR KNOWLEDGE CENTER
VP, Customer Success at Offerpad
Execs In The Know partners with brands that are providing outstanding customer service (CX) experiences. The Brand Spotlight Series showcases innovations and solutions to CX challenges faced by today’s leading brands.
Thank you to Tracy Sedlak and the entire team at Offerpad for contributing to the Execs In The Know Brand Spotlight.
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