When we first moved to Florida, we bought a new home, and thus needed furniture. After looking up various places around town, we decided to go look at one of the biggest guys in town. Upon walking into the showroom, we were greeted with beautiful displays, fancy lights, and well dressed employees. It was a "SALE" day where you could punch a balloon and get the discount offered in the balloon. We found a couch and chair that we loved, found a sales person, and prepared to negotiate.
Here's where things got sticky. The sales person told us they don't negotiate. After some going back and forth, we relented. Then we asked for free delivery. We got the same, they don't negotiate (I mean we are only talking about $75) and a little attitude from the lady "helping" us. By this time we were pretty ticked off and we were not satisfied customers. So being a customer service oriented Realtor, I asked her this "Would she rather have 100% completely satisfied customer, or a customer who would never come back AND would tell everyone she meets to never shop at this store?"
Believe it or not, she chose the latter. Her reason was this, and I kid you not " We have been in business for 150 years and losing you as a customer would not hurt us one bit".
My husband and I just looked at each other in utter shock.
What does this have to do with real estate? Well, everything. Customer service is the key to having a successful business. The minute you forget, refuse, or slack at keeping your clients happy, you are doomed for failure. You see, real estate, after you have been in the business a while, tends to drift to a referral business. But if you are not taking care of your clients, they won't be giving your name out to anyone.
Fresh out of college, I worked for Enterprise Rent-a-Car for two years. I became a manager and would have to say the number one thing I learned from them is that if your client cannot say they are 100% completely satisfied, then you need to find out the reason why and FIX IT! If that means giving a discount, than do it. The old saying goes, "It takes less time to keep a current client happy, than it takes to find a new one".
Back to the furniture store. For the next two years I proceeded to tell every client that asked me where to shop for furniture the story above. Each of them said they would never go there. I think I told over 100 people. I am sure they then told other people. The third year, I was reading the paper and low and behold, look who was on the front cover...that same store. Unfortunately, the story didn't feature how great the store was doing, but to announce that they were closing down all six of their stores and were going out of business! Hmmm....I thought their 150 years was going to keep them around forever?
Moral of the story is this....the power of Word of Mouth is amazing. You can be the best agent in town, have the flashy car, be a Multi-Million producer, be in the business for 30 years, etc, but if you don't give 100% each transaction, you could easily be letting your business slip away. In less time than it took you to build up your client base, you could be looking at a list similar to that of a rookie. It's not about you, it's about them. And the minute you forget about them, they will know it and so will your pocket book.
I am very unforgiving when I get bad service and I let the person know it. Clients are unforgiving when you let them down. Do you ask your clients how satisfied they are after a transaction? Some of us do through surveys. But I'll leave you with another question...Do you ask your clients how satisfied they are DURING the transaction? Most agents don't. Think of how amazed a buyer or seller would be at this question because it would be unexpected.
So I challenge you all to call you current buyers and sellers this week and find out how you are doing. Nipping problems in the bud now, can help your business grow into the future.
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