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Buyers Want Quick Response from You

Buyers Want Quick Response from You

A recent survey by the group shows that over 50 percent of prospective home buyers want a response to their telephone inquiries within 30 minutes.

This makes it crucial for real estate professionals to carry a BlackBerry, iPhone, or other personal digital assistant at all times.

The poll also indicates that 80 percent of buyers search online for two months before contacting a sales associate, and 40 percent search for practitioners through Google and then view their Web sites or social networking sites.

After finding a professional to work with, they view about a dozen homes before making a purchase.

Posted by Andrea Palmer Phone 239-333-5556 on 03/15/2009 06:50 AM

Comments (17)

17 Comments on Buyers Want Quick Response from You

MAR

Andrea, Good post. Its wild how many times agents don't answer their phones and its the link to Buyers and showings.

Andrea, Useful stats. Frankly, I don't know how anyone can survive in this business today without a smart phone of some type. Rich

I just read another post very similar to this. I don't mind responding quickly, but I will not drop everything to go show a house.

Hi Andrea,

Your posts hits the nail on the head. I have my phone synched with my website to avoid missing a beat. I always answer unless I am directly working with another client (then that particular client gets my full attention). I have had several instances where I was able to get in contact with prospective buyers and sellers while they were still on my website- can't beat that kind of response time.

Hey Andrea,

This is a great post! Short, sweet and to the point. I spend hours trying to convince people that stepping into the digital age is a must. Since dogs now have longer attention spans than humans, if you are not "on it" immediately, you will lose. I will never forget having 2 agents at a seminar telling me that they do not respond 'too quickly' because it looks desperate. They told me that they only return calls from 12-2 and 7-9, even if they are doing nothing (lol). People who do not understand simple human tendencies today are learning the hard way more than ever. Thank you for the great message!

Hello Andrea, Nice name by the way. Thank you for bringing those stats to my attention. You just pushed me all the way over the fence on the blackberry thing. Now I am off to find the $$ to pay for it!

Andrea,

You know yourself when you have to wait 5 minutes on the phone to get in touch with a department it's feels like a long time. I can't stand message managers these days that give you 3 options just to leave a message.

When buyers need information on a property, there is urgency in their request. Good to see your post indentifying that. We need to remember it every day.

Cheers.

Greg

Quick response is a must for both phone or email inquiries. My Blackberry works great for both.

So true! I know agents of my "seniority" who won't send a text message much less use a Blackberry. My world would stop without both. I have ALL contacts forwarded to my BB. But sometimes you just CAN'T take the call. My voice message says "Thanks for calling. I am unable to take your call right now because I am with clients and giving them my undivided attention. Please leave a message and I will return your call shortly. Thank you for your understanding." If they don't understand that I probably wouldn't want to work with them anyway!

The facts are the facts! In today's market the buyer wants to hear from you. It doesn't mean they have to see the house that second. They want to hear from you to coordinate a showing, answer a question or just be there for them. A simple phone call back tells them you care and they are important to you.

True..the trick is how do you do this when you are showing homes or on a listing presentation and you make it a point not to answer texts or the phone and give these clients your full engagement??

I respond as fast as possible...good post.

Thanks for bringing this to light. As trainer of new agents I express upon them that it is a must that become comfortable with technology allowing them to get back to requests fro information and take advantage of the oppertunity to secure a new client.

Great post about the importance of response time. I recently had a call from an agent who was asking the same question I had already answered 3 times, so I decided it was time to put it in writing, for her sake and mine as she has a reputation for not listening. Three days later, she was still calling, when I asked why she hadn't responded to my email, she said she hadn't checked it in a while. No wonder she's not busy!

Andrea,

So true my BB is my lifeline! TX.

Andrea, this is so true. Responding in a timely manner is important. If you don't respond quickly, they will go somewhere else.

Andrea, if they don't receive a response almost immediately, they've already called the next 2, 3, or 4 agents as they surf the different sites.

Amen. And many who send emails only provide their email address and that is how they want to make contact until they are comfortable. I have many buyers I have sold homes to that I never spoke to them on the phone prior to meeting them for the first time because that is how they wanted it.

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