4 Ways You May Be Turning Off Your Clients Without Realizing it
Referrals should be the lifeblood of every real estate business. Sadly, they aren’t. It truly isn’t difficult to provide the customer service that will leave your clients raving. It’s also easy to turn them off to the point they warn others not to use your services.
When a client leaves you or doesn’t use your services for future transactions, you may be guilty of committing one (or more) of the Four Cardinal Sins of real estate.
1. You turn into Amelia Earhart
One of the most common complaints from consumers about their real estate agents is that they disappear. And they don’t have an out-of-fuel twin-engine Lockheed to blame.
The practice is so prevalent that Google offers up these suggestions for searches:
- Realtors…why don’t they answer their phones???
- What’s with agents who don’t answer their phones?
- Why are most agents so unresponsive?
- What to do when your realtor ignores you
- Realtor not responding to emails
- Real estate agent not responding
- Real estate agent not getting back to me
- Am I annoying my realtor?
We find that last one especially sad. The solution is to get clear on communication expectations on the very day that a client agrees to become a client. Not only should you learn their preferred mode of communication (phone, text, email, etc.) but how often they expect to hear from you.
If they call, answer. At the very least respond within a reasonable amount of time.
2. You haven’t mastered the art of listening
All of us have heard about the agents who show homes to clients that are out of their price range or lacking in their wish list “must haves.” Both are a result of not listening.
Are you guilty of letting your mind wander, of multitasking in your brain while a client is speaking to you?
Sherrie Bourg Carter at psychologytoday.com suggests:
- Good listeners don’t jump in with answers.
- Your client should be speaking 80% of the time. The 20% of the time that you speak should be spent asking clarifying questions.
Tune out the grocery list, the angst over your next appointment and everything else that rattles around up there and listen to your client.
3. You’re a cut-corners-penny-pinching agent
It’s amazing that, in this day and age, there are still amateur listing photos in the MLS.
As a listing agent, the most important job you have is to market the home. Photos that don’t present the home in the best light possible are not acceptable. Especially when one considers how much that seller is paying in real estate fees.
If you can’t afford a professional photographer, you can’t do your job properly. Stop taking listings and become a buyer’s agent.
4. You are a listing-buyer
A common complaint that we read online is about the listing agent who beats the client up, repeatedly, over lowering the listing price.
Then, there are the listing clients who complain that their homes sat on the market while others around them sold.
Either condition can result when an agent “buys” the listing.
Your job as a listing agent is to recommend a list price that is close to or matches the current market value. As a real estate advisor, your job is also to counsel a client or potential client what happens to homes that are overpriced.
To take an overpriced listing with the hopes of a price drop, later on, is shoddy customer service. If you’re guilty of committing even one of these “sins,” you may be losing clients. Think about the best customer service you’ve ever received and vow to mimic it with every single client.
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Please reach out to our support team at 866.405.3638 with questions or if there is anything we can do t
o help you with your success.
PLUS: When you have time…here are some helpful resources we’ve made available to support your success.
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