By JOVAN HACKLEY
Your reputation earned you the client, but are you sure you can keep them? These days many sellers are coming down with cases of the wandering eye. The changing tides and urgent needs that come along with selling real estate mean you have to pay attention to keep your clients and avoid your hard work going to waste.
Here are five reasons (and signs) your sellers might be shopping for your replacement:
1. You leave them with more questions than answers
If you find yourself explaining or unexplaining advice your clients have found elsewhere, you might be in grave danger of losing them. This usually means they feel both unsatisfied and uneducated. Both of these mean your commission’s in danger.
2. They’re flying blind
The days of the lemming consumer are over.
Now, clients and customers want to feel like they understand the process and what’s happening with their transaction. If you haven’t explained what the “road to closed” looks like, you’re leaving your client relationship and commission in danger. No one likes flying blind.
Sharing insights into how the home selling process works gives you a great opportunity to get back in your sellers’ good graces. Incorporate these statistics that sellers love into your explanation of the process to reinforce the fact that you’re an experienced real estate professional.
3. You’re hard of hearing
Repetition is a great tactic for making sure your audience gets the message … unless you’re paying that audience thousands of dollars to listen. Beware of repeat conversations, email exchanges and debates. These are clear indicators of client frustration and that they may soon be looking for your replacement.
4. You’re too nice
Smiles, gifts and great conversations are all a part of great client service, but they mean nothing if you can’t close the deals. Don’t mistake your great rapport with a client for a great working relationship. Ultimately, sellers want to work with the agent who can actually move them home.
5. They’ve fallen in love with Google
The days of consumers passively waiting for service providers to meet their needs are long gone. When any or all of the above are true, your clients will start hunting for answers and help elsewhere. This is dangerous for your relationship because it means you’ve been officially dethroned as the “real estate expert” in their minds.
How to win back the client you already have …
In theory, most of the above can be solved by being candid and finding new ways, like shared Google docs, to keep in touch.
But we want to hear from those of you who’ve dealt with this challenge.
How do you win a client back when you sense they might be slipping away?
This post was originally published on the Trulia Pro Blog. Follow Trulia Pro on Twitter: @TruliaPro.
