TThis is a post I created on April 10th, 2007 that I've uploaded June 13th.
Today I want to talk about setting client's expectations. Have you heard those nightmare stories from clients who thought they were getting X but received Y and sometimes even Z. The "you never told me that could happen," the "it's my agent's fault," or the "he/she is impossible to get a hold of." I believe all of this is avoidable in part by setting our client's expectations.
Setting client's expectations is just one part in providing excellent customer service. Think about how many times have you entered a restaurant and received lousy service? What about the supermarket? How about your favorite department store? Less than excellent service is happening all over not just in the real estate business. Of course it doesn't have to be that way but why is it that most of the time it seems to be? I have an idea that may shock people. Let's call the idea the ‘Being Honest' idea. Imagine it for a minute.
You walk into a restaurant during the business lunch time and it's a bit crowded. You sit down at the table and your waiter or waitress comes over for the introduction. Let's call this person Amanda.
Amanda: Hi my name is Amanda and I'll be taking your order and making sure you receive great service. (She smiles)
You: Thanks Amanda.
Amanda: You know before we get started I wanted to let you know that whatever you order you're going to get great tasting food. It may take a little while to prepare today as we are running a bit behind in the kitchen. I hope that's ok.
You: Well Amanda how long are we talking here I'm on my lunch break and I have to return to work.
Amanda: Our usual 15 minutes is running closer to 30 minutes.
You: Oh 30 geez. Sorry Amanda that's going to make me late. I think that I'll pass. Thanks for letting me know though. Take care.
You exit the restaurant and grab a quick sandwich to go. I'll bet you thought this particular scenario would turn out different. Amanda was honest with the very important expectation of quick service during the business lunch time. Instead of having you sit there in a panic waiting for your lunch when you have to get back to work, Amanda was ‘being honest' with the service time and providing you with a choice. I'll bet the customer appreciated this service and will return at another time.
This seems like a simple idea setting expectations that may or may not happen. However too often in our industry agents, lenders, title companies are not setting their client's expectations. The results are complaints over service.
Shifting to popular examples in Real Estate I often receive these 2 questions:
1) What would you offer on the house?
2) How would you price our home?
In answering both of these questions I help guide the customer to see the possible answers. I never set price or determine the exact offer to be made. I help set the expectations by providing my customers with comparables on the properties in question, discussing goals and formulating a strategy to reach the goals. If your goal is to sell the house quickly we can look at the lower end range based on the days it took other homes to sell in your area.
Say you want to offer $151,000 on a $177,000 house I say we go for it. Offers are always free to make, however you may risk offending the owner. I discuss time on the market, comparables on this home and I set expectations of what may happen in this offer scenario. The sellers may reject this outright and may in fact not want to entertain other offers from you. The sellers could counter your offer or they may accept the offer as is at $151,000. All of these are possibilities. You need to ask yourself how badly do I want this house. Let's talk about your price goal in this situation for this particular house.
Honest discussion and setting expectations go a long way toward making customers happy. This is only one part to providing excellent customer service, but to me it's a must. Returning phone calls promptly is another expectation to set. One common complaint from customers is that there past agent or mortgage lender took forever to return calls. If it takes you longer than 2-3 hours to return a call in my opinion this is too long. I let my customers know that I'm available from 8:30am until 9pm, 7 days per week. I tell them that often M-F between 6pm and 7:30pm when I'm not showing homes I spend quality time with my 2 year old, but that after 7:30pm I will gladly return their call. Customers respect the up-front setting of expectations.
Customers turn to us for help, advice, guidance and most of all for representation. Setting expectations go a long way in providing excellent customer service.
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