In today’s competitive real estate world, we know that clients have a lot of choices!
If we surveyed your customers and clients right now what would they say about you? What recent complaints have you had? Were they random or is there a pattern to them that needs to be addressed?
Today’s customer or client is impatient and expects a lot from us. We have to wow them with service to ensure they tell a friend and come back to us in the future.
Customer service standards will need to be set by you and you will need to be vigilant in making sure that everyone on the team understands your service expectations. You must hold them accountable to deliver exceptional service. Excellent customer service is critical to maintaining your reputation in the community and within your database and is essential to building a database that will feed you for many years to come.
Continually look for ways to fine-tune and improve, ask the team for their input on ideas to create an outstanding experience that will have your clients raving about you!
Why not ask the client what they want? How often do they need to hear from us? Do they want us to call, email or text? What reports or information do we need to supply? Once they tell you what they want, write it down and deliver it!
You might be asking, “But what if what they want isn’t reasonable?” Yes, they can be demanding but isn’t it better to know up front what their demands are so you can work to manage them instead of being blindsided by them?
It is a much happier environment when you have happy clients. The pressure of striving for service perfection is worth it.
Mistakes will be made and when they are you must work quickly to correct it. Take responsibility as the leader and support your team in learning from the mistake. Create new systems or processes to keep the mistake from happening again.
Areas of service to discuss with your team:
- How incoming calls are handled and returned
- How often emails are responded to and proper email etiquette
- Lead follow up expectations and supporting nurture campaigns
- Post listing seller service plans
- Pending transaction client service
- Closing and post-closing service
- Latitude they have to solve problems on the spot
- Training on the DISC so they can adapt to others easily
- Training on how to handle confrontation and difficult clients
- How to treat others on the team
- How to treat affiliates and support services
- Ways to wow the customers and clients
- How to go the extra mile and how to ask for referrals when you do!
Customers and clients can be difficult and demanding, encourage your team to “walk a mile in their shoes” and to be gracious and understanding. Discourage negative and derogatory conversations about others and look to resolve any disagreements or areas of dissatisfaction quickly!
It is impossible to make everyone happy all the time, however if 100% customer satisfaction is our goal we will always be at the top of our game when it comes to meeting and exceeding expectations. For this to happen service must be top of mind and frequently addressed with your team.
Author Bio:
Debbie De Grote began her real estate sales career at the age of 18. By her early twenties she was closing over 150 transactions a year. After two decades of selling, managing, recruiting and launching new office locations Debbie decided it was time for a career change, she decided to become a full-time coach. To receive a PDF of her book Building Bigger, Busier, and More Profitable Teams, click here.