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client care: This is Exceptional Client Care: The Dallas Green Story - 04/20/12 08:23 AM
This is Exceptional Client Care: The Dallas Green Story Readers of my Zebra Report know that I've had misfortune to be on the receiving end of poor service a number of times over the years. You may fondly remember my rant about meatballs at Olive Garden, or my rave about the staff at Bothell's Hilton Garden Inn. Today I want to tell you about phenomenal client care I experienced from one of my own clients - Dallas Green, a real estate agent who works in Washington's Tri-Cities of Richland, Kennewick, and Pasco. For the story to make sense, I need
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client care: 4 Important Things to Share with Cilents … Right Now! - 04/13/12 09:22 AM
4 Important Things to Share with Clients ... Right Now! If you’ve been reading my Zebra Report for any time now, you know that I am passionate about the need for real estate agents to keep in touch with past, present, and potential clients. It’s one of my mantras, and one of the best things you can do to build your business. Often, an agent will say to me, “Denise, I think it’s great to keep in touch … but I don’t know what to say.” These are the agents who sign up for their company’s mailing systems (which, unfortunately,
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client care: Polly Want a ... Chicken??? - 03/16/12 09:16 AM
Polly Want a ... Chicken??? You probably remember my Zebra Report from March 1st, entitled “Adventures in Selling” which was a guest post courtesy of my friend “Polly”, who had just decided to list her home for sale. In Polly’s guest post she shared her frustrations with the agents she had interviewed to list her home. Well, I got a follow-up email from Polly this week … and I just have to share it with you. “Denise, I’m going to go out on a limb here and guess that you do not teach your coaching clients to send rubber
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client care: Peak Performance Series, Part 1: Overview - 02/06/12 01:02 PM
February 2012: A Focus on Peak Performance Are you performing at your peak … or are you settling for something less. Peak performers are made, not born, and everyone has the ability to work at a peak level. The trick is identifying – then working on – the 27 areas of focus. Join us for our series on “Peak Performance”, in February of 2012. We’ll help you learn how you can move your performance to “peak” levels. Are you ready to take the next step? Let's take a look at this month's videos and tools. Overview Welcome to our series on
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client care: Working with Buyers: Ongoing Communication - 01/17/12 03:10 PM
January 2012: A Focus on Working with Buyers Today's buyers have high expectations of their real estate agent. Do you make the grade? Join us for our series on "Working With Buyers," in January of 2012. We'll share our ideas on the most effective ways to build strong buyer relationships. Are you ready to build your skills? Let's take a look at this month's videos and tools. Ongoing Communication Welcome to our series on "Working with Buyers." This month we'll be reviewing best practices for building strong buyer relationships. This week we'll be talking about ongoing communication with buyers. Check out
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client care: The Power of … Annual Client Reviews - 11/29/11 12:40 PM
The Power of ... Annual Client Reviews It’s been many years since I actively sold real estate. But when I did, there was something I did which was the single most important activity I undertook each year for my clients. No, it wasn’t throwing a party for my clients each year. And no, it wasn’t holding open houses, doing geographic farming, or asking my clients for referrals. When I actively sold real estate the most important thing I did each year for my clients was their “annual client review”. What is the “annual client review” … and why should you
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client care: The Ten Secrets to Extraordinary Client Care - 10/28/11 03:09 PM
The Ten Secrets to Extraordinary Client Care Over the years you’ve heard me talk a lot about service. More times than I care to think about, I’ve seen (or been the victim of) absolutely appalling service. But occasionally I encounter a level of service that isn’t good, or great, or excellent. It’s extraordinary, brilliant, and incomparable. And that’s the kind of service I want to talk about today. So what are the ten secrets to extraordinary client care? Here’s my list: Identify what the people keeping you in business want from you. Not what you think they want, or hope
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client care: A Focus on Follow-up: Annual Client Reviews - 10/24/11 03:46 PM
October 2011: A Focus on Follow-up Are you a client communication crusader ... ... or a failure at follow-up? After years of working with clients and consulting as a peak performance expert, there's one fact that never changes: agents who neglect their clients or lack strong communication skills also lack a strong, sustainable business. Do you have a plan for client communication? Whether you're working with buyers or sellers, there are some simple "must-dos" in the world of communication and follow-up. Join us this month to learn how to build a plan, create the necessary tools, ask for feedback from your
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client care: A Focus on Follow-up: Free Client Survey - 10/17/11 05:52 PM
October 2011: A Focus on Follow-up Are you a client communication crusader ... ... or a failure at follow-up? After years of working with clients and consulting as a peak performance expert, there's one fact that never changes: agents who neglect their clients or lack strong communication skills also lack a strong, sustainable business. Do you have a plan for client communication? Whether you're working with buyers or sellers, there are some simple "must-dos" in the world of communication and follow-up. Join us this month to learn how to build a plan, create the necessary tools, ask for feedback from your
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client care: Business Boosting Buyer Strategies - 09/19/11 05:43 PM
Business Boosting Buyer Strategies A terrific buyer business will have several key components – client engagement, a powerful presentation, and a “concierge-level” buyer tour. But even with the right tools, you will never solidify your buyer business until you are able to write offers that close and create a follow-up plan that builds long-term relationships. Do you have buyers making offers that are never accepted? Or maybe you have buyers who write offers that are accepted, but they bail out of the transaction before closing. While buyers do sometimes make the decision to bail for the “right” reasons, you can
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client care: More Keys to Buyer Success - 09/19/11 05:39 PM
More Keys to Buyer Success For most agents, building a lasting – and lucrative! – business requires cultivating both buyers and sellers as clients. But many agents find working with buyers to be a frustrating experience. I want to change that! In my last Zebra Report, “The Key to Buyers”, I discussed the reasons why engagement is such a critical piece of building a successful buyer business. Today I’ll discuss two more critical pieces of the buyer puzzle – presentation and buyer tours. Presentation Let’s start with a scenario: Your phone rings; the caller would like to
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client care: The Key to Buyers? Engagement! - 09/19/11 05:37 PM
The Key to Buyers? Engagement! If you read my recent Zebra Report series on open houses, you know that great open houses can generate so many opportunities. I’m thrilled to tell you that I’m starting a new Zebra Report series, dedicated to helping you adopt the concepts from the open house series to create a successful buyer business. Are you finding the success you want when it comes to working with buyers? Or are you so frustrated with buyers that you’re seriously considering working exclusively with sellers? If you choose not to work with buyers, you are walking away
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client care: Powerful Client Communication Tools - 04/11/11 04:15 PM
POWERFUL CLIENT COMMUNICATION TOOLS This is the third article in my series on powerful listing presentations, where we'll be covering pricing, communication, technology, marketing, and home presentation & photography. This week I want to discuss powerful client communication tools and how they will enhance your listing presentation. Many sellers say that one of their biggest frustrations and challenges is agent communication. In my company we often talk with seller focus groups, and communication issues come up over and over again. Here are some of the things that sellers tell us: "Once I signed the listing agreement, I rarely heard from my
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client care: Just One Thing - 02/25/11 12:41 PM
JUST ONE THING For many agents, just getting away for a few hours to invest time in their business is hard. What’s even harder is getting away for two entire days. But recently a large group of agents did just that. They took two days away and joined us for the first of our 2011 Safaris. We asked attendees to really look at their business. We asked them to really look at who they are. We asked them to look at their strengths and weaknesses. We asked them to look back at their production numbers and examine why they weren’t where they want
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client care: Connect the Dots - 02/10/11 05:29 PM
CONNECT THE DOTS Let me tell you my newest story about customer service. Or in this case – the lack thereof. It began during the holidays, with my entire family at my house. My family members arehockey fanatics. They live and breathe hockey. On this particular day, there is a very important hockey match on television and they are desperate to watch it. The problem is, the only way to watch this match at my house is if we have purchased the cable package that includes the NHL channel. Which we have not. My husband, wonderful man that he is, disappeared for a
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client care: Which Are You? How Personalities Handle Different Kinds of Markets - 01/14/11 12:54 PM
WHICH ARE YOU? HOW PERSONALITIES HANDLE DIFFERENT KINDS OF MARKETS Every person’s personality type creates natural tendencies. Personality can affect everything we do on a personal and a professional level. There are four main personality types, which I call Promoter, Controller, Analytical and Supporter. They are each very different and each have their own set of strengths and weaknesses. And believe it or not, personality plays a major role in how an agent handles different kinds of real estate markets. For the sake of today’s Zebra Report, I’m going to talk about how agents, all with different personalities, handle good markets and challenging markets.
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client care: Turn Lost Opportunities Into Realized Opportunities: The Need for a Detailed Communication Plan - 01/05/11 05:12 PM
TURN LOST OPPORTUNITIES INTO REALIZED OPPORTUNITIES: The Need for a Detailed Communication Plan In the last two Zebra Reports I’ve been talking about the idea of Lost Opportunity and what it means to your business. Lost Opportunity business is business you can have, and it is income you should have. Don’t lose those opportunities simply because you didn’t have a plan to keep them in your pipeline. No more Lost Opportunities in 2011! What’s the one essential thing that I think you must have? A communication plan—as part of your overall business plan—that will solidify your relationship with your past, current and potential clients. Recently, an agent I work with
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client care: What Are Your “Lost Opportunities” Telling You? - 12/17/10 06:22 PM
WHAT ARE YOUR "LOST OPPORTUNITIES" TELLING YOU? We’ve all lost listings … either because the property didn’t sell and the listing expired, or because the seller decided to cancel the listing. It’s not something we like to have happen, but it does, and we move on. There’s always more business just around the corner. Right? Here’s something to think about, though. How much income are you losing to your expired and canceled listings? I’ll bet it’s a LOT more than you realize. If you added it up, it could be thousands of commission dollars that you have given away. Here’s something
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client care: Holiday Cards? Again? Try This Instead... - 12/03/10 01:00 PM
<!-- .style1 {font-weight: bold} --> HOLIDAY CARDS? AGAIN? TRY THIS INSTEAD... It’s that time of year again. Lights are popping up on houses. Trees are soon to be decorated. Malls are becoming hot and crowded. And people are getting ready to send out holiday cards. We send out holiday cards as individuals, but as real estate agents I believe there is something better we should be doing. Funny thing, most agents like sending out holiday cards. They really do. They feel like they’re creating a warm connection with their clients by doing so. While there’s nothing wrong with a warm connection,
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client care: Ask Denise! - 11/30/10 06:03 PM
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Denise Lones
Bellingham,
WA
More about me
The Lones Group Inc.
Address: 2200 Cornwall Ave., Bellingham, WA, 98225
Office Phone: (360) 527-8904
Email Me
Join Denise Lones each week as she looks at the world of real estate and the world at large from customer service to the importance of listing presentations in a one-on-one style. Denise has more than 20 years of experience as a successful agent, broker, trainer and coach. Denise is someone in the know when it comes to real estate.
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