Eight easy ways to wow customers

by Ward Lowe   Your customers and clients expect a certain level of service from you, and it’s up to you to determine those expectations and meet or exceed them. That may be easier said than done, but focusing on a few little things that customers want can differentiate your business—and maybe win you a reputation as a real estate professional with outstanding customer service.

“What really impresses a buyer or seller is the same thing that impresses everybody else—a ‘wow’ experience,” says Terri Murphy, a leading industry consultant and author with more than 26 years of experience in real estate. But wowing a customer doesn’t necessarily take as much effort as you might think.

“The strong market of recent years has not encouraged REALTORS® to do the little things that make for great customer service,” says Jane Caskey, north central sales manager for Coldwell Banker D’Ann Harper in San Antonio with 17 years training and management experience. With plenty of business out there for most agents, why spend the extra time and effort on a little customer service?

Spending more time on your service doesn’t always mean going to extraordinary lengths to please people. It means taking the time to do simple things that consumers want. Here are eight easy ways to better serve your clients and customers.

1. Provide information at the height of their interest
The Internet has turned real estate into a 24-hour marketplace. Consumers no longer rely on you as heavily as they once did to search the MLS or furnish data about your community—it’s all online whenever the consumers want it.

Murphy says you’d better be prepared to provide that information, regardless of the time or day. “If you can’t answer the question at the height of the consumer’s interest, he’ll go to the next guy,” she says.

You have to make yourself attractive and convenient for that first contact, whether the caller got your phone number from a yard sign, the MLS, or the Internet. “The caller can’t call an agent and hear, ‘I’m sorry. I don’t answer this phone. Please call me on this number,’” she says. Nobody’s going to go through that much trouble to get to you.

A simple and fairly inexpensive way to make contact easy for consumers is an 800-number service that uses an interactive voice responder (IVR) system. The IVR system enables the caller to listen to information from recorded messages, can route the calls to you or another agent covering for you, and can track where the calls are coming from. A buyer who sees a yard sign with your 800 number can call, get the price of the listing and other information about the property, and connect to you or request a call back.

2. Let them dictate how you communicate
Before you call, fax, or e-mail anyone, you should know how they want you to contact them. It doesn’t matter if it’s a consumer requesting a listing flier on one property or a longtime client—you need to ask that person how he wants the information.

“I ask the client up front what the best way is for me to communicate with her,” says Jan Agee, 2003 TAR Educator of the Year and broker/owner of FirstPlace Property Services in Arlington. “Would it be telephone, fax, e-mail? Home or office? Would morning or afternoon be better? I let them tell me the best way for them to get information instead of me telling them how it’s going to be.”

Murphy adds, “Ask them: ‘How often would you like to hear from me?’” Once you find out that your buyer wants to get a call on his cell phone every Monday and at home on Friday, add that information to your contact manager.

3. Be the expert
Whether a first-time buyer or an experienced seller, potential clients need you to know more than they do—or else why hire you? “Agents have to prepare,” says Murphy. “Don’t just print out CMAs—go look at the houses. … The biggest challenge in real estate is showing value for your service.”

Caskey agrees that you must show that you are an essential part of the transaction, and being the expert and single point of contact achieves that goal. “If the mortgage company calls the consumer and the title company calls the consumer, then an agent is in the dark and is no longer important to the transaction,” asserts Caskey. Not only that, she says, but the consumer might not understand what different parties to the transaction tell him, which can cause huge communication breakdowns.

Keep yourself in the loop for all communications that concern your client. Buyers and sellers both will appreciate you monitoring the details, and you can rest assured that you have control over the transaction.

4. Leave a paper trail
Even if you steer a transaction, your customers and clients still want to know what’s going on. How did the sellers react to my counteroffer? Where did my earnest money go?

“Whatever goes out of my office, there’s a copy going to my buyer or seller—e-mail, hard copy, fax, confirming a telephone call,” says Agee. “My clients also get a copy of every document, everything they sign, every step of the way.”

This serves two purposes: The paper trail keeps clients in the loop and serves as a record of everything that occurred in their transaction—even if it means they end up with 10 copies of the contract. Also, it helps clients understand all the behind-the-scenes things that you do for them. “It’s not like all I do is show properties and collect commissions,” Agee says. Showing all the things you do for your commission helps clients and customers appreciate your service.

5. Give sellers showing feedback.
You pay a lot of attention to sellers to get their listing. Don’t forget about them once they’ve signed to list with you. “The seller is looking for accountability,” says Murphy. “They want to know what you’re doing to sell their house.”

An easy way to assure sellers that you’re working toward a sale is to get feedback from showings. Caskey says, “They want feedback when their house is shown. That’s what sellers want more than anything.”

Some areas in Texas have a centralized showing system, which automatically alerts the listing agent when another agent shows her listing and prompts the showing agent for feedback from the potential buyer. But even with such as system, you need to be persistent, as feedback-response rates in most areas hover around 25%. “It’s something the listing agent has no control over, other than to ask and ask and ask,” says Caskey.

Whether or not your area has a showing system, contact the agents who showed your listing and get as much feedback as possible. Not only will sellers like the feedback, but letting them know who saw their home also makes many clients feel more secure, says Agee.

6. Be on time.
You never know how a client will react if you’re running behind. Some people don’t mind adjusting their schedules; others take it as disrespectful and a waste of their time—and calling to say you’re going to be late doesn’t make it OK.

“I can’t stand being late,” says Agee. She gives herself leeway for all appointments, “so being late is something I don’t have to worry about.” For example, she tells clients that she’ll pick them up between 1:15-1:30 p.m. And many clients appreciate that cushion if they’re running a few minutes behind themselves.

Fifteen minutes may be too broad of a window for some people. If a client complains that you’re as hard to pin down as the cable guy, you may need to commit to a specific hour—make sure you block out extra time in your schedule before that person’s appointment. But most clients won’t flinch at your technique, which just might keep you from ever being late.

7. Make your car comfortable.
You don’t have to drive a luxury motor coach or install La-Z-Boys in the back seat, but providing a few items for your passengers can make a long day of driving around looking at listings more palatable.

Stash a small cooler for water and soft drinks in your trunk and bring along a thermos of coffee for early appointments. Keep nonperishable snacks like dried fruit or pretzels on hand and always carry a small first-aid kit that includes Band-Aids for foot blisters, tissues for allergy season, and aspirin or ibuprofen. Texas weather can change fast, so have extra sunglasses in your glove compartment and umbrellas and plastic ponchos in your trunk.

And don’t forget about the little homebuyers. “I have activities for kids—a DVD player, books on tape, coloring books,” suggests Agee. “Crayola makes these markers that only work on a certain kind of paper. You can write all over your clothes and they won’t make a mark, which keeps them from ending up all over my car, but they work on this special paper.”

8. Tell out-of-towners more than the weather.
Relocating buyers today can get U.S. Census data, weather facts, and other statistics on your community with a few mouse clicks. What they need from you is information specific to their interests and needs.

“When people relocate, it’s not all about the house. It’s about the community first, then it’s about the house,” says Agee. “Ask relos what kinds of community activities they participate in and send them information about those interests in your town. Send this separate from any property-related correspondence.”

Caskey suggests using an online photo service when dealing with relocating buyers. Web sites like DotPhoto.com and Shutterfly.com enable you to post pictures on their sites and share them with whomever you chose—all for free. You don’t need to worry about the size of the photos being too large for e-mail attachments.

“If it’s new construction, you can go by once a week and take pictures of the property, so the buyer can watch the progress,” she says. “If it’s a pre-owned home but only one spouse was able to travel and look at houses, you can post pictures from showings.”

Go forth and serve
None of these eight ideas takes a lot of time or money to implement, and they enhance your image in consumers’ eyes. Whatever you do to improve your clients’ and customers’ experience, Murphy says, “Under-promise and over-deliver and always be impeccable with your service.”

Photo © PictureQuest.

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