We learn from our mistakes and those of others...don't we? That's the importance of not only listening but understanding the needs of our customers.
I received a call from a frustrated customer. I went through the normal listening ..questioning session. We made the appointment to view the home she called on.
Her husband was not at the showing..the potential buyer said " I have to do the ground work myself in searching for our home, my husband is not a patient man and he just hates looking at houses......he tells me ..you know what you want ...find one"
The potential buyer thought the home had promise and would talk it over with her elusive husband.
I always make a point to ask if a buyer agency was signed with another agent or( out of respect ) if they are working with someone from our office. She said, no buyer agency contract and she definitely did not want to work with THAT agent.
I did the ethical thing ( not wanting to go to the " what happened" )
She called me the next day to set up other appointments from the multi-list search, I e-mailed to her.
I went to the first appointment 20 minutes early. It was hot in the 90's. The listing agent said the air was off
( sellers out of town ) so I could turn on the air before the buyers got there. yep...another decent showing..and a surprise...the husband came as well as the husband's father.
This went on for a couple days, a list of showings of houses that matched their wants, and a lot of listening and understanding on my part, to exactly what & why it was important to them to find what they needed.
Our last showing, ( yep...found them the house they want ) the buyer said to me...".Thank you so much.We were so frustrated. The last agent would always come late to appointments then rush us through the houses. The straw that broke the camel's back was when the agent set me up appointment to see her company listings before I was scheduled for work. The agent was 25 minutes late, no apology and rushed me through three houses that had nothing close to what we had interest in seeing and as a result I was late for work and very upset.
Oh boy ...really didn't want to hear this...and the perception is..".It's a Realtor thing "...well no it is not!!!
I write this post not to brag about how it should be done.....it is a normal progression of what Realtors do for their clients.
Nothing out of the ordinary..just normal listening and understanding to what we need to do to provide the service expected of professionals.
The thought is........how we as Real Estate agents conduct how we handle our clients reflect on others in our Industry.. Consumers have the tendency to clump us together and judge us by their worst experience.
This agent is very, very busy ...maybe too busy to stop and listen.....but I thank her... for learning from her mistake
.Will I ever be late for appointments........I would hope not
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