I have to say it was fun to tell my college aged daughter that her mom is blogging!! But I guess I can't say "blogging," as in active blogging, unless I do it more than once. So here I am with blog entry #2!! yahoo!!
I have found that in the past year, one of the greatest challenges that I feel I am faced with, in this fun and ever changing market, is keeping my sellers calm, realistic, motivated and most of all retaining me. So far I feel I have done fairly well, or maybe just been darn lucky :)
One thing that I started, fairly early in my real estate career that I feel has been paramount in helping me with this particular situation, is what I call "Feedback Friday." Feedback Friday is simply an email that my clients receive every Friday. Whether we had 10 showings or none, whether a home up the street sold or no homes sold at all - it is an email that they know will come regardless, and that any updates I have to share will be there.
Now of course if something major happens I tell the that I will contact them right away, and I do. But I let them know that every Friday they can expect to hear from me with a re-cap of all that has gone on.
I include things like current market stats, feedback on showings and information on comparable homes - (be it price drops, new on market, solds, etc...) I make sure they know how many agent hits we have had in the MLS, how quickly flyers are disappearing, how many visits to other sites where their home is featured, pretty much anything I can think of to steer them in the direction I want them to go, or just let them see I am still here and I am working hard for you.
It has been received very favorably. As a matter of fact, I have had several re-peat clients that when I worked with them the first time I did not do this, but by the time I worked with them the second time I had implemented this as part of my routine. And they loved it! Oh, and the bonus... they don't call me with every little question because they know we will be in touch on Friday.
Though I think this has been very helpful with and for my clients, in these tough times I have lost a listing to someone else. And though my broker (Colleen Fischesser who is amazing I might add) and I have had numerous conversations about it (bless her heart!!) I don't know that anything I did made him try someone else, nor do I think anything I could have done different would have made him hang on with me any longer. And though I pretty much believe that in my head... :) :) in my heart it still stings. And I want to learn from this and figure out how to better serve and retain my sellers.
So here is where you come in... My friends have been on my case for sometime to get on Active Rain and to start blogging. Anita Beach even sent me the Friendship Ball so that I would have to get started (you sneaky thing!) So here I am, hoping that from this networking we can all share ideas and grow and become better agents. So talk to me Rain, I would love to hear what you think of the Feedback Friday, what you think I should include in that, and what types of things you are doing to keep your sellers calm in these tumultuous seas.
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