Posts Tagged ‘real estate agents’

How to Provide Excellent Customer Service

Jun 25, 2008 Marketing

Providing excellent customer service is a challenge for many real estate agents and brokers. Afterall, many real estate agents do not even recognize that part of their job is to provide excellent customer service. Before you can provide excellent customer service, you must first define what excellent customer service includes.

Here are a few things excellent customer service includes:

1. Accessibility: To provide excellent customer service, you must first be accessible to the customer. The customer should be able to call, email, or mail you with any of their questions or concerns. It should be easy for the customer to find this information. Having a website with a FAQ section and all of your contact details can help you be even more accessible to provide excellent customer service.

2. Promptness: All calls should be returned and all problems resolved the same business day. Postponing a problem more than one day will cause the problem to escalate to a bigger problem, especially because you are giving the customer more time to stew over their disatisfaction or predicament. Another customer service mistake is that phone calls and messages go unreturned. Playing phone tag or constantly getting an answering machine and never speaking to a live person do not create an excellent customer service atmosphere.

3. Give the Customer What the Customer Wants: This of course is not always easy. Many times you will face a loss if you give every customer exactly what the customer wants all of the time. Many times a customer with a complaint or problem does not know what they want or what is needed to resolve the problem. Give the customer a few options to choose from. The more choices the customer has, the more the customer feels in control and feels satisfied. Giving the customer what the customer wants is crucial in providing excellent customer service.

4. Compromise: You must be willing to compromise to provide excellent customer service. Maybe you cannot give the customer everything the customer wants, but surely you can give the customer something the customer wants. Be clear to the customer you are willing to compromise and ask that they be willing to compromise as well.

5. Follow Up: This is the hardest for most people to do when dealing with customer service issues. But in order to provide excellent customer service, you MUST follow up. You can opt to send them a letter, postcard, or a telephone call. Following up with customers makes them feel as if they haven’t been forgotten and can possibly lead to future business. Following up is one of the crucial steps many companies make when providing customer service and is the step that puts the “excellent” in excellent customer service.

By incorporating these ideas in your business, you will be able to exceed customer service expectations and provide excellent customer service to your future customers and clients. Do you have any tips or suggestions on how to provide excellent customer service? Feel free to share your tips and suggestions on ways to provide excellent customer service in the comments below.

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Why Agents Fail

Jun 2, 2008 Marketing

It’s no secret that most real estate agents fail. Thousands of agents become licensed each year, and within months few of those agents are still in business. The ones who managed to hang on past the first 3 months are often struggling. Why do these agents fail? Were they not determined enough? Unorganized? Not assertive enough? Maybe they were just unlucky?

Part of it comes from not practicing what works. I recently read an ebook called Becoming a Real Estate Agent. The book clearly outlines everything that is necessary for making it big in real estate. I have never met an agent who did everything suggested in the ebook and NOT succeed. Most of the things needed to be successful in real estate are not even that difficult. Yet, for some reason, we don’t do them. We don’t make contacts, we don’t make calls, we don’t prospect. Instead we whine and complain, blame it all on a terrible market, and eventually give up.

If you’ve been reading books upon books on becoming a better agent (I think we all do at some point), you might as well put them all down unless you sincerely promise yourself to do the things exactlly as prescribed in the book. You are welcome to try to be creative, but remember the 3 fundamentals of getting sales: Networking, Prospecting, and Closing. If you’re not actively doing these things everyday all day, you’re likely to be disappointed. You won’t make a single sale just by reading about ways to be a better agent. You need to be DOING, too.

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Real Estate Safety 101

May 27, 2008 Agent Life

Many real estate agents, excited by the prospect of a sale, often overlook the important necessity of practicing real estate safety tips. It would be nice if we lived in a safe world where we never had to worry about bad people. Unfortunately, for all the nice people we meet, there are always a few to be wary of. Because of this, it is very important to learn about real estate safety and practice these real estate safety tips at all time.

 It is a common misconception that only female real estate agents are subjects of these crimes and need to worry about real estate safety, but many real estate related crimes and violence have also happened to male agents. These real estate safety tips aren’t meant to scare you but to help you avoid dangerous situations.

To help protect yourself in real estate, here are some tips on real estate safety:

1. Research your clients: It never hurts to run a quick search of their name on Google or check their names and addresses on sites such as Anywho.com.

2. Always meet at the office first: Never meet a customer at a property if you have not met them previously. Make it your policy to always make photocopies of drivers licenses or other identification before you get in the car with them. It’s also not a bad idea to write down their car make and model and license plate information. You may also want to make a big deal of introducing the person to other agents in your office as this may deter them if they could be easily remembered or recognized.

2. Always tell someone where you are going: Make sure they know where you will be and when you expect to be back. It’s not a bad idea to have a friend or family member call to check in on you or send a quick text message while you’re out with clients.

3. Be wary of cash buyers: Always find out their bank information and request a verification of available funds if a buyer is paying cash before you go out. Most buyers will be compliant with this once you explain to them it makes their offers even more attractive to sellers. If a customer refuses to do this or be pre-qualified for a sale, it can be a huge red flag that something could be suspicious.

4. Always leave yourself an exit: One of the first things I learned when doing an open house is to let the customer walk into the room first so you are not trapped. It is also a good idea to keep your cell phone in your hand in case you may need it.

5. Remember safety in numbers: It’s okay to ask someone from your office to accompany you if you are nervous about a customer. Just make sure you’re willing to return the favor if they should ever need it.

6. Don’t underestimate women: Many people will let their guard down around female customers, thinking only men would attack them. Women are just as capable of robbery or may work with a partner who could be waiting at a house for you to arrive.

7. Trust your instincts: If something doesn’t seem right to you, there is no requirement for you to work with any customer. Your life and your safety is always more important than any sale.

8. Brainstorm with your office: Ask your office manager if there are any safety guidelines in place. If not, make sure it is something you discuss at the next sales meeting on ways to be safer in real estate.

9. Dress for safety: Do not wear provacative clothes or shoes that are difficult to run in. Make your public profile photos as professional as possible. You are a real estate agent - not a model. Many agents are targeted due to their appearance in public profile photos online and in advertisements. Wearing valuable jewelry can also make you a target for theives.

10. Practice Car Safety: If possible, park on the street and in well-lit areas. Make sure you can always get to your car easily. Do not ever get into your client’s car.

These are just a few ways to practice real estate safety and be safe while selling real estate. For more valuable resources on real estate safety and to download client safety forms, visit the Real Estate Safety Council.

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