So I picked up on an interesting thread on Twitter today by Nick Bostic over at Agent Genius.  He had written a very interesting post on Loyalty that I ended up commenting (ok... ranting) on, but it really made me think and do some serious Soul Searching.

Read the Full Post Here

The post wasn't overly eloquent... well written... or one of Nick's best (No offense, I think he's a great blogger and really enjoy reading his columns over at Agent Genius) but something about it really stood out and made me think.  And most of all, it made me ask (and comment) on the question that follows:

"Do You Deserve Customer Loyalty... Ask Yourself Why?"

Below is the comment I wrote on the post.

"Nick,

Where I totally agree that there is rampant (what I call) follow-the-shiny-object loyalty out there, I think that one has to ask themself the question at the same time: “What have I done in the past, and currently, to deserve the loyalty of my consumer/client?” I worked in Real estate recruiting for a very long time, and if ever wanted to see a bigger lack of loyalty, that was it. Pay me a bigger split? You’re going to feed me leads? I’m yours.

But what is different now… is that the consumer, and the agent in that matter, has the right to question that relationship and in turn question their loyalty. As an agent (or other provider) have I :

- Worked in the best interest of my clients throughout the transaction?

- Followed up with them about changes or improvements they wanted to make to their house and provided referrals? - Assisted them with movers, tax exemption information, etc?

- Sent them a RESPA for tax purposes at the end of the year?

- Updated them on recent sales in the neighborhood that effect their eventual resale value?

- Not only SENT them, but sat down with them on a yearly basis to go over a CMA of their property?

-Called them with the recent headlines and helped them make sense of it all?

- Sat down with them to differentiate National real estate headlines from Local real estate market conditions? - Made recommendations on how to enjoy their neighborhood, schools, parks, etc?

- Overlooked my greed and advised clients that don’t need to sell right now to sit tight if it’s in their best interest?

- And lastly, if my clients ARE in financial straits and facing Foreclosure, have I come to their aid and helped them?

That… would cause me to be LOYAL. Heck, probably half of those things would probably cause me to be loyal. But in this market, and in this day and age, I think we all can admit that the bar has been raise. The question becomes, has the REALTOR we used to BUY the home, raised their game along with it."

Let me know your thoughts here... and if you deserve your customer's loyalty... I'd like to welcome you to learn, share and collaborate on My Facebook Group and at my blog www.TheYouFactor.com.