It all comes down to people

Our business is a personal one.

by Mary Frances Burleson   Do we really know what our clients want from us? Take a minute to think about the first house you purchased. You were nervous. Apprehensive. You did not know what to expect. Now, bring all those emotions and fears to mind the first time you meet with a buyer or seller. Even if they have purchased and sold homes in the past, it might have been several years ago. Every experience is new–or at least has some new aspects to it. Contract forms have changed ... again. The Internet has enabled clients to be much more knowledgeable about the buying and selling process, but it has also given them more information to process.

Those consumers want just what you wanted when you bought a house:

• An advocate
• Someone who listens to their needs and desires
• Someone who is trustworthy–a tireless worker on their behalf
• Someone who is smart and follows up

The April issue of NAR’s REALTOR® magazine presented a very interesting article about what consumers want. There is also a guide to "pegging" consumers. Not all consumers are alike. That’s worth remembering. We are the products of our families, our education, the value systems of the decade in which we grew up. Think about your last three or four clients. They likely responded differently to the same buying and selling situations, but each one sought a real estate purchase or sale that satisfied their personal needs: a showy home for status, a gated-community for security, a comfortable home for a growing family, an income-producing property for retirement, a new building for an expanding business.

If your attention to marketing, your expenditures on technology, your expansion of your Web site brought you a variety of clients, you gave them time to express themselves and you listened. You helped them search out their dream home, the perfect site for their company’s expansion, or found a buyer for their property. You offered them the information and advice they needed to make a good decision, and then gave them the breathing room to make it. And you are staying in touch.

There are no magic formulas, no secret potions, no special mantras that will make our real estate profession easier. No matter what tools you use, our success comes down to a combination of all of our efforts and our great attention to clients. Ours is truly a one-on-one, personal-touch business. Happy days!

Photo by Jim Reisch.

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