How Clients Perceive You Matters
by Brandon Barker on May 18, 2012
There’s a famous quote from John D. Rockefeller that any good businessperson should know, paraphrased: “A business founded on friendship does not have as good of a chance surviving as a friendship founded on business.” There are a number of takeaways a Realtor can pull from those words when thinking about real estate agent marketing. One is simply, “don’t start a business with your friends, or the stress and details will ruin your friendship and the business itself.” But even more importantly for real estate agents, I think the message is that throughout your business transactions (i.e. during the real estate home-sale transaction) you want to generate goodwill with your clients and try to solicit real estate agent reviews after the process. Your client’s perception of you matters. Why?
Our content partner AG Beat has a new article on the value of client feedback. And they point out that many business people avoid seeking customer feedback simply because they want to avoid hearing anything negative. On the contrary, feedback in any form—especially negative—can help improve your customer service skills. According to author Matthew Collins:
“When you ask for feedback from your clients, you’re demonstrating to them that you’re committed to excellence and value constant improvement. Clients value this and will view your attempt to gain honest feedback favorably. Don’t guess your reputation. You need to know what resonates with your clients and what you can do to provide world class service. Once you do, you’ll be well on your way to a business where clients will come back time and again and referrals will flow your way.”
Being liked is not the main goal here, it’s understanding what home buyers and sellers are looking for in an agent and using your skills to try and meet those expectations. It won’t always work out, but here are a few things we’ve noticed resonate with customers:
1. Understanding: Clients appreciate when a Realtor understands their home buying or selling situation, especially if the sale is due to some stressful or sensitive matter.
2. Communication: Clients appreciate being able to reach their real estate agent fairly easily, through phone, e-mail, text, what have you. Agents will need to adjust based on the needs of the customer here. In addition, they appreciate their needs and wishes being “heard” by their agent.
3. Knowledge: Clients appreciate having a Realtor who knows the process and can anticipate all the bumps along the road, whether that be dealing with financing, inspections, or what have you.
4. Connections: Clients appreciate when their real estate agent is connected to the community and is able to share knowledge of local schools, businesses and services. They like their agent to not only “represent” the home sale but also the neighborhood where the client is relocating to.
There are a few survey tools out there to help you gather feedback from clients, but ReachFactor makes it easy to solicit real estate agent reviews from clients and market them across your web site, Facebook page and even e-mail signature. You can sign up for free, and if you need help figuring out how to get started, just let us know.
Image Credit: AGBeat
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