If you have followed my blog posts here on Active Rain over the years you understand my displeasure with real estate agents in general and the lack of professionalism on many of their parts. One of my biggest gripes is agents who do not answer their phones. We preach a good game about customer service and putting the client first but then we don't want to answer the phone. Some agents have gone so far as to try to automate the whole communication process, ie. text or e-mail messages only. God forbid they actually speak to living human being. But that's not what I'm writing about here. I could go on and on about that subject.
No, today I would like to address the issue of phone etiquette when one DOES happen to get a hold of an agent on the phone these days.
I was lucky in that one of my first jobs out of school was for a small accounting firm in San Francisco. The owner of the firm was very much a micro manager, which wasn't pleasant at times, but he did teach me a number of important things about business. First and foremost was how to answer your phone.
So many times these days when I call an agent I get "Hello?" or "Yeah?" as an initial greeting. What's up with that?
My aforementioned boss taught us that your phone voice and the way you answer your phone is your first impression with people, so make it a good one. Answering your BUSINESS phone as if you're talking to a friend or your spouse does not convey professionalism. We were taught to answer the phone by saying, "Hello/Good Morning/Good Afternoon, this is Jerry, how may I help you?"
Now, I admit that I don't ask "...how may I help you?" when I answer my phone, but I do introduce myself and I answer in an upbeat, professional tone. Not as if I just woke up from a bender the night before.
My point is, as real estate agents the phone is one of our main tools of business (computer and car being the others). And I stress BUSINESS! Sure, you may get personal calls on the same phone as well, but distinguish those from your business calls and answer the phone accordingly. It's just another small step we can all take to further improve the professional image of our industry.
Thank you for listening, and have a nice day.
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