There’s a change in the air…
Today we’re lucky to have a great guest post from Malcolm Owens. Malcolm’s a bit of a marketing guru who’s had experience as a business owner and works at a senior level in the corporate sector – so with a foot in both camps, he’s got a unique perspective.
Have you noticed that some business people have little idea about customer service, basic business skills or even common sense? Why should we accept mediocrity, dealing with business folk who haven’t noticed the market is tough?
In the last three weeks I’ve been enquiring about properties. I rang some real estate agents, who said:
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It’s $780k but she won’t negotiate.
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It’s over $800k so I suppose it’s out of your price range.
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No it’s not open. I can arrange an inspection but only if you’re serious.
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I’m the principal of the agency so I don’t have time to show you the property.
Did you notice that each of their comments was price based or negative? Not one tried to qualify or engage me. They didn’t ask where I lived, what was important to me in a property, why I wanted so many bedrooms, when I planned to buy: they assumed I was a price shopper and dismissed me as a time waster.
Why?
Searching for property on the internet is easy, selling direct is becoming easier and an agent’s commission is no longer obvious value for money. Unless agents (at least the ones I speak to) change their attitude, they’ll become irrelevant.
So as a marketing expert, and a potential buyer, here’s my advice to the real estate industry:
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Don’t put ‘POA’ in an ad. Include a price range that allows me to make an informed decision. I won’t ‘waste your time’ if you don’t waste mine.
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Spend 3 minutes qualifying your prospects. Engage me and find out a few things that may assist you in closing a sale. Offer a few facts, invite me to look at a number of properties, offer to send me a booklet on the top 20 tips for finding the right property.
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Treat me with respect. I called you because I want your help. Drop the attitude.
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Ensure your staff are fully trained; this includes interpersonal skills.
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Stop putting business cards in my letterbox with pretend handwriting on the back informing me that you have a buyer for my home. You don’t. I know that, and with every agent in the country doing it you don’t get cut through. Come up with something interesting and different. Read ‘The 100 Quickest and Easiest Ways to Grow Your Business’, available at www.thesuccesssurfer.com
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Stop spending millions of dollars on TV advertising telling me about your wonderful service if you’ve no intention of providing it.
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Accept that the market is changing and look at ways to change with it. How can you add value to the sale process? What’s your unique value proposition? How can you make the process easier for me? Look at your business from my (the customer’s) perspective.
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Be different. With so many businesses having to step up just to reach mediocrity, you’ll stand out from the crowd and shine
Malcolm Owens, www.thesuccesssurfer.com
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Thank you for your guest post, Malcolm. It’s great to see a commentator make the transition to post author. I hope some of our other regulars follow suit.
I’ve said it before but I’ll repeat myself for the newcomers. Malcolm’s book is ace. I’ve been using the tips for years to great effect. And every client I’ve given it to has been very impressed.
Malcolm has read everything that moves on marketing, so you get a wonderful distillation of information in his writing. Do yourself a favour and check out the link. P.
Nice one Malcolm!
Hmmm! Real Estate Agent (REA) service? Somehow just that little sentence feels contradictory. Is this going to be a long discussion or what?
I’m sure most of us could write an accompaniment to ‘The 100 Quickest and Easiest Ways to Grow Your Business’…something like ‘100 Ways that Real Estate Agents Don’t Help’.
I have always found it both ironic and sad that I live in a society where I can get into more trouble for beating-up a building than a person. One would think that with such a value system, acquiring a home would at least reflect such values. It doesn’t!
I actually used to be a Real Estate Agent (many years ago). It didn’t last long. I found that the only people that REAs treated worse than their clients were each other…of course the clients usually suffer at both ends (Oooh! I could’ve worded that differently…but, somehow it still seems appropriate
).
I remember my very first job in real estate…On my very first day I was told to go and evict some tenants. I got in big trouble when I returned about 6 hours later (& pretty tipsy
). The ‘boss’ asked what ‘the bluddy hell’ I’d been doing…I told him that we had an eviction party. He went berserk…I told him that he should watch his own training videos…then he might learn something about turning a negative into a positive. He sacked me…funny about that :- P. But, there was a happy ending. I was immediately hired by his ‘arch rival’ (local competitor). The family of the people that were evicted became a solid referral base. They knew a lot of people in that large country town.
Cheers
Stephen G
Cor struth, Stephen! Is there any job you HAVEN’T done?
Yep! I haven’t been a ‘housewife’ or a mother…toughest jobs on the planet I reckon
Actually, I’ve had the following line in my Resume for some time:
“Everything from wiping bums to kissing them” :- )
And just for the record, I am not making this stuff up :- ). If I’ve ever wanted to know something, I’d have a go at it. Once I learned what I wanted to know, I’d then try and apply it…then I’d go and answer some other questions (’Quest-I-On’? :- P).
This may be attributable, to some extent, to a small book I read when I was about 17; it was by Albert Einstein (I forget the title…I think it was something like ‘Book of Dreams’ or ‘Letters’)…anyway, the bit that stuck with me most was this:
‘Knowledge is experience, anything else is just information.’ (I haven’t quoted it as their may be a tad of paraphrasing on my part…but it’s pretty close).
Cheers
Stephen G
I hate POA on listings. It wastes so much time!
I think many businesses need to look at the interpersonal skills of their employees. Even just a 20 second bad experience or lack of positive communication (or communication laced with attitude) from someone will turn a potential customer away.
If they don’t have the time for me – I don’t have the time (and my money!) for them!
Thank you for your comment, Sandy. It’s good to get your viewpoint. P.
Thanks for the comments about real estate agents, clearly a universal concern to many and a neccessary evil but, as I said in the post, for how much longer! I agree with Paul, we work hard for our money and if we are going to spend it with a supplier (not just agents any business) we have the right to expect a level of professionalism and appreciation.
I’m in Perth this week and quite a different business culture to the East coast. More relaxed, friendly and keen to please. I have never seen so many smiles! Makes it an enjoyable experience.
Something in that for us all!