You Could Be Losing Clients. . .

 Does the person answering your phone sound like this . . .

Or this. . .

Or this?

FRONT OFFICE PERSONNEL

Are they Performing?

If the person answering your office phone is unprofessional, discourteous, incompetent or apathetic, you could be losing business. A great way to find out what it sounds like to call your office, is to have friends call for you and give you feedback. Ask them to leave a message. How long does it take for you to receive the message? This is a critical link in connecting with your clients.

Is Training Needed?

Does your front office staff need critical training? The first impression a client will have of your office is their experience with the person answering the phones. Is that person overloaded with too many "extra projects" to give his/her full attention to the phones. How diligent are they in tracking down the person who was called?

In a challenging market, we cannot afford to have any "weak" links. Poorly trained or poorly motivated front office staff is a HUGE weak link in your efforts to connect with your clients.

Check out other reasons that may have caused your telephone to stop ringing.

If You Can't Control Front Office Personnel Make Your Cell Phone Your Primary Contact

If you have poorly trained or poorly motivated front office personnel and you do not have any control over their training (i.e., you have reported poor performance to your broker and they have not responded), make your cell phone your primary contact. You have control over how you answer the phone and how you return phones calls. It's not ideal because poeple like to speak to a live person but it's a better alternative to a rude, apathetic front office person taking the call.

IT'S ALL ABOUT YOU

Do you answer your cell phone as if it were your office phone? Or do you answer, "Yo! Stan here!"? Say nothing? Say hello?

1.    You want your caller to know they have contacted the person they were trying to contact.

2.    You want them to feel reassured by your calm, professional and competent demeanor.

3.    Ask for their name and a return number in case you get cut off. THEN LISTEN!!!

4.    If you don't know the answer to their question, tell them that it requires a bit of research and give them a time when you will call them back with the answer.

There's nothing worse than giving bad information because you were afraid of saying, "You know that's an interesting question that will require me to do a little research. Can I call you back at 3 PM with the results?" You have the opportunity to impress them twice. One, you were candid and said you'd need to do the research. Two, you took the time to look it up and call them back by a certain time.

I DO THIS ALL THE TIME because I frequently get weird facts and circumstances about 1031 exchanges that need a little research.

COMMUNICATION WITH OUR CLIENTS IS CRTICAL!!

Do everything you can to make it easy for your clients to reach you and then follow through!  Give callers clear directions on your voicemail greeting regarding what information you need to call them back.

CLIENTS, PLEASE REMEMBER TO LEAVE YOUR NAME AND PHONE NUMBER (TWICE) [cell phones can cut out leaving only a partial return number] so that your agent can call you back.

So, that's my two cents. Let me know if you have any further observations.

Please call me or email me, if I can assist you or your clients with their 1013 Exchanges.

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Lisa A. Lambert, Esq.  877.646.1031 or LisaL@apiexchange.com

Asset Preservation, Inc. 800.282.1031 or info@apiexchange.com or www. apiexchange.com.