- You have to exceed your clients’ expectations to deliver good customer service.
- Great customer service is something you have to do 100 percent of the time, and not just 99 percent of the time.
- What you say matters. Be intentional.
Let’s face it. Dealing with clients is challenging.
Homebuyers are emotional. They see a bedroom painted red and can’t move past the color of an otherwise perfect home.
Homesellers are too rational. They need you to elaborate every bit of minutiae in your marketing plans to justify a price decrease.
So how do you provide these two very different groups of people with high-class customer service? It starts with what’s in your heart and what’s in your soul.
Here are four ways real estate agents can provide better customer service to both homebuyers and sellers — 100 percent of the time.
It starts with you
To provide great customer service, you first have to want to provide great customer service. Everyone can spot a phony. Clients know when you’re just babbling a bunch of bull.
If you aren’t dedicated to delivering exceptional customer service all of the time in everything you do to everyone you encounter in your real estate career, you won’t have it in your heart and soul to give great customer service. You need to eat, breathe and sleep customer service around the clock.
Exceed, don’t just meet, expectations
Customer service isn’t something you do to meet your client’s expectations. Any average Joe can meet the needs of a client.
People who want to give great customer service strive every single time to exceed their client’s expectations. Going above and beyond is the only way to remain relevant to your clients.
If you are working with homebuyers who like craft beer, don’t just show them on a map how close the nearest brewery is to the house. Drive them past the brewery on the way to the showing, then provide them with a growler of the spot’s signature brew when you arrive.
Be mindful — it always wins
Customer service is intentional. You have to be mindful because everything you say has an impact on the people you interact with.
When a potential client asks you to do something for him or her, don’t say things like “no problem” or “don’t worry about it.” Elevate your customer service game by saying things like “my pleasure” and “I would be happy to take care of that for you.”
Do it all the time
Great customer service isn’t something you can do just some of the time, most of the time or nearly all of the time. You have to give great customer service all of the time.
Clayton Christensen, author of The Innovator’s Dilemma, brings up this point about customer service: It is easier to do things 100 percent of the time than it is to do things 99 percent of the time.
What he meant by this expression is that not giving your best every time is an easy trap to fall into. And if you don’t deliver your best just once, it’s easier to let quality slip again and again.
Nico Hohman is a real estate agent and construction manager for NextHome Discovery. Follow him on Facebook or connect with him on LinkedIn.
