How about a little more CS and a little less BS?
Real estate is a people business. It's also a sales business. It can be easy to get so caught up in the sales business that the people business just becomes a means to end. Hence, volume of sales, sales price, production awards, commissions and name recognition become the prize and happy satisfied customers become an afterthought.
In the past few months, I had a client who was buying in my area. He had a home in the Atlanta area that needed to be sold. I reached out to Lynn Friedman who immediately jumped into action and had a highly qualified friend go by my client's home to meet him and discuss what it would take to get his home sold at the best possible price. That's great CS - customer service.
That process continued until one day I received a text from a family member saying my client had decided to switch agents and go with an old friend who had swooped in and made an incredible offer to get my client's Atlanta home sold fast and at or above top dollar. This is where the BS (Buffalo Biscuits)
comes in. Lynn's agent backed off and the BSer moved in. I talked to both Lynn and her friend and both stood ready to jump back in if things went awry. That's customer focused service.
During those uncertain days in Atlanta, things were progressing nicely in my market. The client looked at several homes and finally found the perfect home, and I mean it was as perfect as perfect gets. The house had everything, and more, of what the client wanted. The price was doable and the house was vacant and ready for his big move. The only hang up, the BSer in Atlanta turned out to be clouds with no rain, always promising but never delivering. He was a trying to sell my client's home to cash investors who would make low offers in hopes of getting a steal for a quick flip. Getting top dollar went out the window once he secured the client.
Finally, after a few low-ball offers and no hope for a serious offer, my client's family called a stop to the all promises and no delivery BSer in Atlanta and Lynn's crew picked up the ball and sold the house quickly. In this business, a customer's needs should come before the hope of a quick commission. The BSer in Atlanta didn't care about my client. Supposedly, he was an old friend, but who needs friends like that? He saw a path to a quick check and that's all that mattered. Lynn's crew saw a client with specific need and sought a path to meet that need at the very best option for the client. That's CS. We need more CS in this business and less BS.
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