Plan your client’s journey. Identify every moment of truth. Darryl Davis writes, ask yourself this question every time: “Does this feel like a five-star experience?”
Back in the 1980s, a Swedish businessman named Jan Carlzon took over an ailing airline and turned it into one of Europe’s most profitable airlines, not by buying new planes, but by redefining what his business actually was.
Here are the insights captured in Carlzon’s groundbreaking book, Moments of Truth: Customers form an impression every time they interact with your business. Scandinavian Airlines calculated approximately 50 million customer interactions per year. That’s 50 million chances to win a customer or lose them forever.
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What Carlzon understood, and what most service professionals still miss, is that clients don’t value you as a whole. They evaluate one interaction at a time. Each touchpoint either adds to your credibility or takes away from it.
Now let’s think about Disney. When you walk into a Disney theme park, nothing happens by chance. Every element was intentionally designed, including the spacing of the trash cans, the language used by cast members, and the music played during each turn.
Disney doesn’t leave the guest experience to chance. They design it for each touchpoint. That’s why people don’t just go to Disney. They come back again and again.
Most real estate agents leave their customer experience completely up to chance. The phone rings and they improvise. A promise comes and they fulfill it. Your transaction will be completed and your card will be sent. perhaps.
If you want to create a 5-star customer experience, you need to think like Carlzon and design like Disney.
Moments of truth in real estate
Agents often have a good demeanor during the middle of the transaction, but become sloppy towards the end of the transaction. And the edges are where clients form the most lasting impressions.
Moment 1: First contact
Whether it’s a phone call, text message, or DM, a casting call is the first contact a potential client will make. World-class agents are prepared to respond to every first contact intentionally, not robotically. A fumbling, unprepared first response tells the client everything they need to know about how the rest of the experience will go.
Moment 2: Consultation
This is where the client trusts you, likes you, and decides whether or not they’re going to hire you. I will appear with a presentation. Bring market data. Prepare a written agenda. When a client sees that you’ve come prepared, something changes. They will stop interviewing you and start trusting you.
Moment 3: Screening and list activities
This is where agents are most often silent. Sellers want to know what’s going on with their home. Buyers want guidance and context. Five-star agents communicate proactively, not passively. They deliver updates before questions arise.
Moment 4: Offer
The moment an offer is made is filled with high emotions: anticipation and anxiety for the buyer, and validation or disappointment for the seller. A good agent does more than just “make an offer.” They walk clients through every step of the way, translate legal jargon into plain English, and help clients make informed and confident decisions.
Moment 5: Under contract
Once the contract is signed, many agents mentally move on to the next deal. However, clients are still living through the most stressful financial decisions of their lives. Establish a cadence of communication, including weekly check-ins, inspections, evaluations, and proactive updates on title work. Clients don’t have to wonder what will happen next.
Set these expectations at the beginning of the transaction. Tell your clients exactly when and how you will contact them, then go ahead and do it. It’s consistency that builds trust when things get complicated, and things almost always get complicated.
Moment 6: Closing date
Disney ends every park visit with an intentional experience. They know that how guests feel at the end will shape their entire memory of the day. The closing should be the same. It’s not just paperwork and handshakes, it’s a true celebration. A thoughtful gift. personal card. A real moment that says, “You succeeded, and I’m proud to have helped you get here.” That’s the moment that generates referrals three months later.
Build a magical system
According to the National Association of Realtors’ 2023 Home Buyer and Seller Profile, 90 percent of buyers say they would use their agent again or recommend them to others, while 40 percent of buyers found their agent through a friend, neighbor, or relative. This means that referrals are already a major source of new business.
The gap between intent and actual repeat business is not a matter of likeability. It’s about memory. Decent does not generate referrals. That’s amazing.
Carlzon didn’t transform Scandinavian Airlines by telling employees to work harder. He gave them a framework. He defined what excellence looks like at every touchpoint and trained his team to consistently deliver it. You can do the same.
Plan your client’s journey. Identify every moment of truth. And ask yourself this question every time. Does this feel like a 5-star experience?
Here’s what Disney discovered a long time ago: Magic is not accidental. Magic is a system. And when you build that system, every client becomes a raving fan and every closed sale becomes the beginning of 10 more closed.
