Don't fire those difficult sellers, refer them!
Former clients contacted me in the fall of 2014 to list the beautiful home that I had sold them two decades earlier. We talked many times over the years, and I had performed many CMA's for them as they considered home improvement and re-financing options. They didn't even consider any other agent for listing their home when a fabulous job opportunity required their move to California. I was thrilled to work with them again!
I didn't take their business for granted, however...
They received my usual listing presentation, complete with an explanation of my pricing strategy, a competitive market analysis, market trends report, and marketing plan. As a gesture of appreciation for their loyalty I paid for a staging consultation for their home and a mega-package of professional photos that included photos of their nearby deeded dock and the community marina.
Marketing including blogging and Facebook ads (including boosted ads to target markets in Arlington, Virginia, and Annapolis and Bethesda, Maryland), email blasts to targeted agents, several What's Up Annapolis ads prepared with the hands-on assistance of the publication's own marketing department to maximize results, ads on military home search websites, open houses and two agent open houses, as well as the standard corporate and multiple list marketing.
All this marketing produced a lot of showings, especially when you consider the price range and season. The sellers wanted a full resume of every agent who showed the property: how long in the business... what company... how many homes did they sell in the past year... were the sold homes priced in the upper brackets?
This was time consuming for me, at a time when my assistant was on maternity leave and I was preparing my own home for sale. And, of course, the sellers wanted feedback from the showings - only to argue why the feedback wasn't fair and issue new demands to change the wording on the listing or include some detail in the MLS that wasn't an option in the pull-down menu.
Remember the staging consultation I mentioned? They did refinish their hardwood floors and paint most rooms a neutral color but they didn't agree with the stager on some things. In fact, they returned furniture back to its original placement in some rooms. As a result, the open view to the two story-fireplace, which the stager had created, was now obstructed by the back of a leather sofa in the listing photo. A heavy velvet fabric panel divided the kitchen and informal eating area and they simply wouldn't remove it so buyers could see the openness of this area... Christmas came and went, but their holiday decorations didn't.
There was one small price drop, but not close enough to the likely selling price that I had initially predicted.
This listing was a real drain on my time, finances and morale... I can't count how many times I was on the verge of firing them as clients, in spite of our past history.
Rather than firing my clients or letting the listing expire, however, I called them to suggest we refer their listing to another office of my company - one that is closer to the property. With their permission, I asked the manager of that office to suggest an agent and then negotiated a 30% referral fee with her. The sellers were happy, I was happy, and last week I deposited a referral fee in excess of $4,000. This referral decision truly was a win-win because the referral freed me to help several other home sellers and buyers and resulted in a sale for my client's home.
The next time you're thinking about firing your clients or letting their listing expire, consider referring them!
Comments (6)Subscribe to CommentsComment