As a real estate professional, I have heard that expression from rookies to seasoned veterans of this industry. Did you ever have a "buyer" tell you that they were looking for a 3 bedroom, 2 baths, full basement and a 2 car garage, and they will not spend more than $250K with a 10% down payment in a specific market area?
You are the "professional" and you know that this customer is unrealistic in their expectations of what they can buy with those search parameters. You decide that you will not waste anytime with them and you lose contact
*1 (you did not follow up). Several months go by and you are getting desperate for a sale, so you decide to go through your tickler file ("wish list" as I call it).
You call this customer and find that their phone number has been changed, so you call the new number and when they answer, you ask how they are doing. They are very excited and they tell you they recently closed on their new home purchase. At this point you are feeling a little depressed as you visualize a lost sale and the loss of a nice commission.
The customer tells you they purchased a beautiful 2 bedroom condo near the downtown area of town miles from the area they told you they wanted. They tell you they paid a bargain price of $400K. At this point you are wondering where you went wrong with this customer, so you remind them about the parameters they gave you when you were trying to help them find a home. You ask why they bought something that had much different parameters.
The customer tells you, that they contacted an "online real estate agent" *2 that was referred to them by a trusted friend. The agent was in constant contact with them and alerted them about many different homes that were available in a larger and broader search parameter.
The agent was persistent and offered to *3 "rebate" part of her commission if the customer promised to be loyal and work with her exclusively. The agent promised that she would represent their best interest throughout the buying and closing process and that the commission (although important) was not her number one priority.
What is the moral of this story?
- Was the Buyer a liar?
- Should the jilted agent have tried to convince the customer to be loyal?
- Should the Buyer have been loyal to the jilted agent?
- Should the buyer trust the jilted agent?
- Does a rebate or incentive create loyalty?
*1 statistically 89 percent of clients would use their same realtor for repeat business but only 11 percent actually do. Wondering Why?
*2 did you know? "3/4 of consumers rate 'word of mouth' as the #1 Influencer of a purchase" - AC Neilsen
*3 According to NAR approximately 30% of real estate buyers and sellers expect some kind of rebate or financial incentive from a real estate transaction.
Too many in the real estate sales business, in good times and bad, thought from deal to deal, listing to listing, never taking the time to invest in what it takes to build long-term relationships with their customers. There have always been closing gifts, but does a door knocker or restaurant meal certificate on moving day cut it these days? Where might we look for an answer?
It's time we stopped throwing up our hands and did something about it. I would like to hear from you, tell me what you are doing.
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