How bad customer service can affect your sale price
Recently I had the pleasant surprise of being the target of a mystery shopper at one of my home opens. After a few follow up calls he admitted that he wasn’t interested in the property he came to view. He told me about some of his previous negative encounters with other real estate agents and as a result he had decided to mystery shop another agent to find an agent who could communicate well and do their job properly.
One his main concerns in particular was the apparent lack of communication skills shown by some of the other agents.
For instance, one sales agent did not even bother to follow up on an enquiry. I am sure that you have experienced the same. An email or message is left with the sales person and nothing happens. In the case of the mystery shopper, it was the fact that none of the agents tried to follow up with him after he had viewed a property.
Another example is when something is promised but not delivered and it can be very simple thing. For instance, telling somebody that they will get back to you by a certain date and they do not.
It happens in other industries as well. Anybody who has applied for a job has probably experienced this in one way or the other. Have you every applied for a job, been to an interview and then you hear nothing at all from the recruitment agent or the company?
Here are 3 simple tips that will make you stand out from your competition (and colleagues too if you like):
1) Always keep your clients in the loop and meet your promised deadlines. People hate being left in the dark. Even if you only have bad news, it is better to keep your clients up to date rather than hoping that they are going to forget about it all.
2) If you promise something, keep it.
3) If you are in sales role (this includes business owners, business development managers, administration, sales reps, management, reception etc) follow up on any enquiry.Always. The only reason you are in business is because people buy your product or service. How are you going to keep your job and get paid if the business makes no money?
If you are looking to appoint a real estate agent, here are a couple of tips on mystery shopping:
- Attend their home open. Don’t dress up. Wear the most casual clothes you have. Provide your phone number and email address to the agent at the home open. Do they communicate with you after the home open?
- If they do contact you, ask a question that they are unlikely to know the answer offhand. Ask them to find out and get back to you. Do they get back to you?
….and in relation to the mystery shopper, he hasn’t bought from me yet but he did refer me to a good friend of his, so I like to think that I passed the test…
What are your thoughts, do you have any other tips that should be added to this list?
