I call it VISUAL DESSERT DECEIT.
The first time I encountered this was back in the 80's when my folks took me to Europe with them. We went into this really cool little coffee house kind of place because we had seen these gorgeous (and I do mean GORGEOUS) desserts in the window. It was the kind of scene where they beckon out to you as you walk by. It's like you can hear them say to you, "Come in here...I taste SO good. You NEED to enjoy this..."
Anyway, we were in this German coffee shop and we all ordered these amazing looking desserts. I remember my sister saying something about how the Germans don't really do the sweet milk chocolate like we do, but hey, who had the time to listen to her? It was awesome dessert time and I was hungry!
So we sit down, grab our forks and go for it in great anticipation...only to tastefully as possible, eject everything we could from our mouths in utter disgust. YUK! For something that looked so good, it tasted horrible! That comment that my sister had made suddenly made sense. WOW!
I was thinking about that yesterday when my wife and I went to get her a new pair of glasses. The place we went to advertises loud and long about a $99 two pair of glasses special. I could taste that bitter dessert on my palette once again as we were directed to a box of obvious rejected frames and last year's leftovers. Yuk!
I think of another example. This weekend we're heading to Branson with my sister's family. As I was watching the news this morning, I saw an add saying you could get $250 in gas money for staying at certain hotels. Intrigued but suspicious, I went to the website to check it out. Sure enough...you don't get the cash for coming this weekend. No, you have to stay at least x number of times within a time frame, blah, blah, blah. It was dessert deceit again.
If you follow my blogs at all, you know there's an application coming. So here it is.
Do we offer the very same thing? Am I guilty of advertising sweet and wonderful things, only to leave a bitter taste in my clients mouth?
How do we avoid being Real Estate Dessert Deceivers? It's pretty simple...
- Don't say you're going to do something if you aren't going to do it. This is like making a beautiful sweet looking dessert with bitter chocolate. Ick. It may look good, but it leaves a bad taste in your mouth. Nobody likes that.
- If you drop the ball, pick it up as quickly as possible! I'll admit to being guilty of this. Blame it on overload. Blame it on procrastination. Blame it on that other agent in the office that takes too much of my time. Blame it on anything, but don't blame it on me! (That's sarcasm folks!). Folks, we can't afford to make excuses if we want to be able to afford to pay our bills!
- Be very good at what you do. See the previous paragraph about dropping the ball.
- Know what you need to know. I'm not talking about on going training, although that is important. No, I'm talking about the facts of each of your transactions. I just got a great software package for tracking my database and each step of each transaction. Initial reviews...very cool! Top Producer is very popular with lots of agents. The one I chose is called Advantage XI. If you do Advantage XI, be sure you get the Transplans piece for tracking the transactions. Gary David Hall of AR fame, has all the details on Top Producer and Advantage XI and other programs.
- Do whatever it takes to romance your clients all the way through the transaction and beyond. This is something I've learned from our new home builders in the area. One of them goes out of his way to solve problems that may creep up after the closing because, as he points out, "A satisfied customer brings more customers." Now, after closing, I check up on my clients to make sure things are going well for them. It pays off big time!
I'm sure there could be further applications, but that's it for this short list.
Over the weekend I'll take a picture of a dessert that we like to eat in Branson at our favorite ice cream parlor. It's as sweet as it looks, which is what good service is all about!
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