Almost any of us can take a look around our area and find a small family owned business that offers the highest level of customer service to their clients and community.   Year after year their customers come back to them building the foundation for their business.  So how do we translate the lessons that these companies have learned over the years to building a successful customer service oriented real estate practice? 

Customer service is not just a phrase to be printed on brochures and websites.  Providing customer service that makes your clients want to come back to you the next time they need to buy or sell a home and refer you to friends and family does not just fall out of the sky.  It is an actual written part of your business plan that you can track yourself against with every transaction. 

So what do you do to make yourself standout from the other 10,000 agents vying for new customers in today’s real estate market?  Having spent a number of years working on projects with the APQC studying best practices across industries, there were some common elements we found that most small businesses did every year to assure that they kept customer service at the forefront of their business.  I've adapted some of those ideas to make them relevant to real estate.

The first step is to make a list of everything that you offer to your clients that you feel falls into the “customer service” category.  It could be as simple as referrals to lenders and home inspector or it might be something much more complex.  You may want to divide the list to focus on buyers and sellers separately.  Some may overlap but looking at what you offer each is important.

Now that you have your list what do you offer that makes you unique?  Is there something on your list that you know has made your past clients give you a 5 star rating and is “better” than your competition?   If you have those one or two items, it doesn’t take a long list, how do you kick that up a notch and make it really standout? 

Once you have your current list sorted out make a second list that is all of the things that you would like to do but haven’t gotten around to yet.  Let your imagination go a bit crazy as this is just a brainstorming list.  Once you have it finished study it carefully.  Is there something on the list that is feasible to do?  Will it make you standout with new customers?   

With your lists in hand, current services and new services choose the ones that have led to your past success and add the key new ones will keep the customers coming to your door.  Now let your clients know about them.  So many times agents add a service and are afraid to let their past clients know about them.  Why?  Perhaps we think our past clients will think they were short changed in some way?  With new technologies coming out every day and the market changes our clients know that our services are going to change.  So get the word out. 

The final step to making your customer service stand out is to be proactive.   Listen to your customers.  When they tell you they need something be responsive, even if you have to say no.  Ask for their feedback during the process to make sure that you are on track to meet or exceed their expectations.  Keep looking at your lists and make them a living part of your business plan.

Implementing a written customer service plan can be easy and if done right will make you stand out in your customers mind for years to come.