Customer Service

One thought that always comes to everyone's mind when the word salesperson is mentioned is "pushy". If you really want to be great in sales, you need to be just the opposite of that. You need to be "pullee." So, what's the difference between pushy and pullee? A pushy person is that interesting extrovert who is always pushing people with statements of fact. Whereas, a pullee person is always asking a lot of questions and is an eloquent listener--not only to the verbal messages, but the non-verbal things that are being communicated. 

In order to curb that image of "pushy", I would like to cover with you now, what I call the Seven C's of Effective Customer Service.

All of our research has shown that the people who will stay in business and prosper through the next decade are people that live seven words. If you take these seven C-words and make each one a part of your make-up and a part of your daily business, you'll not only prosper, but you will build that wonderful referral base we are all after. 

The first C stands for Concern. I think people want to know that you are more concerned with serving them, more concerned with helping them, more concerned that they are happy, more concerned they want a long term relationship with you than making the sale and getting the check. They want to feel that concern and many people in sales don't get the dollar signs out of their eyes. If a person feels you need the sale and they feel pressure to purchase a home they are not ready to commit to, they will fight you because they want your concern.

The second C is Competence. People demand competence today. They expect you to be an expert. They want you to know your trade and your profession. They want to be able to rely on your professionalism.

The third C is Courtesy. Great people in sales are very polite. They are concerned about their manners, and they are very concerned about their vocabulary. They don't in any way insult a person's values by saying anything that might offend them. Now our society is constantly changing it expectations for business behavior. Sadly, those expectations are often lowered, but I really believe the highest paid people in the real estate business are very polite, very courteous and watch their vocabulary so they don't insult the values of the person they are speaking with.

The fourth C is Commitment. This is one I find lacking in the real estate industry today. People are not willing to really commit and dedicate themselves to become the very best. They aren't willing to commit the time and effort to really achieve their goals. As you read this, I hope you realize that the top professional makes a commitment--it's called being willing to get out of balance for a period of time so that someday they can have complete balance. I believe in balance in our lives today, but I also believe that in building a real estate business you have to be willing to spend some time out of balance. That means if you have a family, you need to sit down with the family and say, "We are going to commit 24 months of putting in more time and effort. And, if I do everything that I have to do as a professional, I can work less time with much more income for the family. This will come about only because we are willing to make this commitment."
And of course, the fifth C is Composure. It's important that we don't allow ourselves to get upset and frustrated with this business. Realize that you are not really in the real estate business--you are in the people business and have chosen a vehicle called real estate. But in the people business you can get messed up if you don't keep your composure.

And of course, the next C is Consistency. Every professional I have ever trained that has gone on to be one of the best is consistent. They know exactly how many contacts they need to make each day. They know exactly the number of calls, exactly the number of people they are going to visit, which will result in so many homes sold and they make that commitment to consistency.

And the seventh C is Creativity. The people I meet that do the best are very creative people. In other words, if they have a challenge, they overcome it by being creative. If something is wrong in their life, they handle it by being creative. If you have a sale that is about to fall out or cancel, get creative. If it doesn't go through, don't get depressed--become more creative. Approach it with the attitude that you will take what you learn from this opportunity and develop your creativity.

By concentrating on our customers' needs and giving them the proper service they deserve while searching for a home, I hope we can become more "pullee" and give them the opportunity to see our concern for them along with the other C's of customer service!