When you hire a real estate agent, what do you expect of him or her?
Be there for them.
Yes, there is a long list of things that a real estate agent does for you, whether you are a buyer or a seller, that's just a given. That's our job and we better do it well.
Answer your phone when they call, get right back to them when they text or email.
They don't care if you are driving down the road, showing a home to another client, having dinner, taking a shower, you get my drift.
When they reach out to you in whatever form, they want to get hold of you.
But, you say, I have other clients, they knew that when they hired me, in fact, they sign a form that tells them they are aware that I may have other clients!
Right, but now that you have signed them up, are you "too busy" for them or are not available?
Here are two scenarios where you absolutely lose a client's loyalty.
TRUE STORY #1.
A real estate broker had a client buying and selling some high end properties in town. They were friendly, everything was going swimmingly. Then one day a certain house came on the market and several buyers were going to make offers on it. This particular buyer wanted this house, no matter what. But guess what? The broker was gone for the weekend on "retreat" and could not be reached. The buyer grabbed the first agent who came across her path to get an offer in. And got the house. Since then this buyer has bought and sold several other properties and always with this new agent. This happened to my first and only broker that I worked for. Unfortunately he was so paranoid about "his" clients, he did not let them know he was unreachable and to call me which would have solved the problem. Since then that buyer and I have become friends. However, she feels such LOYALTY to the agent, she has not switched her business to me and I respect that. What a lesson that taught me!
TRUE STORY #2.
This summer I sold a property through another agent. Everything went well except that this is an owner/agent of a franchise and I had to deal with her transaction coordinator for a lot of the paperwork. Let me say that this agent is known by other agents for being less than responsive in a timely manner. Fast forward to just after we closed. I got a listing that was "hot" and investors were all over it. While I was at the listing, these same buyers came to the door and asked to see it. I asked them why they did not make an appointment through "their" agent and they said "she is too busy". I showed them the listing at which time I found out they were "previewing" it for a family member who wanted to buy it. I asked them again, and subsequently their family member, if they wanted to use that other agent/owner and they said "no", the family member wanted to go through me directly. Did I have a responsibility to call that other agent and tell them what happened? I don't think so. It's the clients' decision to switch LOYALTY.
I'm sure we all have stories in the real estate business but these are two valuable ones that just bring home the fact that:
I need to be there for my clients when they need me or suffer the consequence of lost loyalty.
By the way, this is an Activerain contest entry, so, in order to complete all the items that I am supposed to, here is my ugly little secret:
I will take your call no matter where I am; you get my drift? Some agents say they leave their phone outside of the "smallest room in the house" but not me. In this case, "disclosure" goes a little too far and I don't believe I need to tell you where I am physcially when I take your call!
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