How Good of a Customer Experience Do You Provide?

Douglas Gatenbein was apparently unhappy with his experiences buying and selling 5 properties in the last 7 years and working with a half a dozen Realtors in the process - so much so that he wrote a scathing article against Realtors on Slate.com’s Realty Bites.

What I found to be interesting about the article was that the National Association of Realtors Vice President of Public Affairs, Steve Cook, personally responded to his article, refuting what he had to say, and offering some hefty praise for its members.

The particularly noteworthy aspect of Cook’s response was not to acknowledge that Gatenbein may have received poor service from the Realtors he hired, but to attest that most Realtors aren’t like that. That’s great, from NAR’s PR standpoint, but it doesn’t reassure Gatenbein that if he was to hire another Realtor for a transaction, he’d have a more pleasant experience.

Addressing Client Concerns

Imagine, for instance, that you went to Sears for a specific household appliance that you couldn’t get anywhere else. You talked to a sales person who wouldn’t listen to what you had to say and kept trying to talk you into buying something you didn’t need. Not only could you not achieve your goal of buying that new appliance, but you’d be pretty mad that your sales person was only acting in his best interest to get a higher commission at your expense. You might even be so mad, you’ll settle for a substitute elsewhere.

Now, imagine the same scenario, only this time, the sales person is extremely helpful. He listens to your concerns and offers some suggestions - giving you valuable information about 2 other substitutes that may make better sense for you and save you some money in the process. You’re so happy with the choice that you make the purchase on the spot, and your new appliance is delivered the next day.

I imagine that if you had the first experience, you’d be inclined to warn your friends how awful your experience was and to encourage them to seek other alternatives instead of going through the pain you’ve just gone through. And you have every right to - you had a terrible experience with this company. Your sales person put his commission before your own needs. He didn’t care whether you wanted the product. He only cared whether he could get you to go higher. On the other hand, if you had the second experience, you might praise the store for its excellent customer service, no hassle sales people, and speedy service.

The same scenarios can be applied to real estate transactions. If your clients aren’t satisfied with your services for whatever reason - they didn’t feel you were knowledgeable about making the transaction, you didn’t know how to sell a house in their higher price range, you weren’t accessible when they tried to call, the house sold for far less than what they wanted - you can be sure that they will complain about their experiences. If this happens repeatedly with different agents, as in Gatenbein’s case, you can be sure that they will start to expect they’ll receive this kind of horrific service as the industry norm. And they will start looking for other, easier alternatives. They will think your prices are too high to pay. And they will speak about their negative experiences to anyone who might listen - anyone they can warn before someone else goes through a similar experience.

Poor Customer Service Leads to Bad PR - People Will Talk!

Going through 5-6 different Realtors for the same number of real estate transactions just proves that he was not happy enough with even one of his Realtors’ service offerings to become a repeat client. Why? Because his Realtors did not take the time to develop a working relationship with him. Instead, he perceived that each was acting in their - not his - own interest. Yet in this business (like every other business) how you treat your clients will be the determining factor in whether they speak out in praise for you or in frustration against you and your industry.

Gatenbein does admit that he’s heard from sellers who’ve had agents who really “got” how to market a home. Those agents, he says, probably earned their commission and more. Having gone through several unsatisfactory real estate transactions, I’m sure he wishes he could have worked with one of those agents he’d heard others praise - yes praise. Those who have had good experiences have spoken out positively about how helpful their agents are!

The bottom line of this article is more to emphasize the impact that customer satisfaction can have on your business and the importance of acknowledging what the overall population finds problematic with the real estate industry. Such negative reviews of their real estate experience accentuate the wide gaps between how the public perceives Realtors and what Realtors want the public to believe.

You can’t force your clients and prospects to believe good things about you. But you can demonstrate that you are a cut above everyone else by providing exceptional customer service to make their extremely stressful task of buying or selling a house more pleasant. Put your client’s needs first!