One Person Can Make a Huge Difference
Recently, I traveled to New Orleans to speak at the National Association of REALTORS® Convention for the Women's Council of REALTORS®. I had never been to New Orleans before and was excited to see what was in store for me there. I traveled with Shauna from my company and we stayed at a hotel that had a restaurant that we frequented daily for breakfast.
The first day we arrived in the restaurant, we were pleasantly surprised at the great service we received from our server, Byron. But Byron didn't just provide good service, he provided exceptional, memorable, over-the-top service!
He was genuinely interested in who we were, what we were doing in New Orleans, and he was excited to share his knowledge and passion for his city with us. He acted as our tour guide, concierge, historian, and our friend. It's the little things that add up to make a big difference in client care.
Each morning when we arrived at the restaurant, his big smile and welcoming attitude made us feel right at home.
This was apparent on the first day. While setting up our booth at the Expo, we realized that our container to collect business cards had been crushed during transit. Byron overheard us talking about our challenge of finding a replacement and before you knew it, he was searching the restaurant high and low to find something that would work. Of course, he found something that worked perfectly and allowed us to borrow it for the weekend. He genuinely cared about helping us to resolve our problem.
In addition to this, he also helped us to secure a spot to do some filming that we needed to do on the last day of our trip. He allowed us into a room with great lighting that wasn't being used and indicated he would help keep it quiet while we were doing our filming.
Byron went above and beyond the call of duty and remains one of our favorite memories from our trip to New Orleans.
How does this pertain to your real estate business? Everybody needs some Byron-type of client care in their world. When you go above and beyond for your clients and do the things that are not required or expected, you make a strong impression on a client. I have always said that it is not about what you do for someone when you are getting paid that makes the strongest impression—it is what you do for someone when they are not expecting it.
Byron went above and beyond what we expected from a person serving us breakfast. I still think about Byron's great service even now that I am back and it reminds me of how critical it is to us in this industry to give our clients memorable service … the kind of service that we want to tell the world about. That kind of service lets you know that the person giving it is not doing so because they have to, but because they want to. It's the kind of service that makes people feel cared about and appreciated.
Byron, thank you for making our trip to New Orleans so memorable! And whenever I'm out in the future and I think about remarkable client care, your big smile will come to mind.
By Denise Lones CSP, M.I.R.M., CDEI - The founding partner of The Lones Group, Denise Lones, brings over two decades of experience in the real estate industry. With expertise in strategic marketing, business analysis, branding, new home project planning, product development, and agent/broker training, Denise is nationally recognized as the source for all things real estate. With a passion for improvement, Denise has helped thousands of real estate agents, brokers, and managers build their business to unprecedented levels of success, while helping them maintain balance and quality of life.
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