Todd Pierceall

I received a call today from a gentleman looking to buy a house. Easy enough, I thought. He proceeded to tell me he had already worked with 3 other agents and they didn't listen to him and were showing him properties that were not what he requested. He ask me if I was willing to work with him to find what he was looking for or was I going to try to sell him something else.

He was looking for only 4 criteria. The home had to be in his price range, it could not be in a development, it could not have an HOA, and it have to have at least 1 acre of land. In my area this was very easily obtainable. I thought to myself, why could these other agents not help him? I took his information jumped on the computer and within 10 minutes had sent him 12 properties that matched his exact criteria. He called me back to schedule some showings and in under 30 minutes I have a new client.

What he said to me as we hung up was what stuck with me. He said, "thank you for listening". That was it. Tha was all it took to get his business. I immediately thought back to if there were times when maybe I was one of those other three agents. Maybe I tried to sell the client something they really didn't want because I thought it was better for them. Maybe I didn't really pay attention and showed them properties that weren't exactly what they wanted.

This simple lesson made me awaken to the truth. Sometimes the most basic things are what propels us to success more than anything else. No amount of advertising, awards, or designations would have encouraged this man to do business with me. He just wanted somone to listen.

Return to the basics, simply listen to your clients.

Todd Pierceall
Prestige Properties
www.prestigeproperties4u.com

This may be a little late considering the event took place in January and was actually scheduled probably the year before that but I have been ranting about waste so I thought it was appropriate. This particular article is about the NAR. For those of you that are members you know we recently paid an extra fee to the association for increased awareness or something like that. I'm still not sure what the extra fifty bucks was for but I paid it. In a time when we see large companies and even the government consumed with wasteful spending the extra fee made me think we should look at our own house.

In January the National Association of Realtors was the proud sponsor of a beautiful float in the Tournament of Roses Parade. Yes, I even tuned in to watch for the float since it was being so heavily marketed to us. We could watch pod casts of the making of the float and interviews with the officers of the NAR about how great this was and how it brought so much exposure to our association. We should be so proud. It was featured in the association's magazine and multiple e-mails were sent out to remind us of this great achievement.

After the parade, I actually went over to a family member's house to watch some football. I knew the guys had not watched the parade but maybe the women had. I knew my mom watched it every year. I ask them if they watched and sure enough 6 of them had watched the whole parade and loved it. They went on and on about the beautiful floats and how it is such a tradition. Then I asked them what they thought about the NAR float. They looked puzzled. My mom asked me, "which one was it". I described it and she said she thought she remembered it. Some others starting saying they were all beautiful and it was hard to remember just one. In other words they had no idea which one I was referring to.

So this is where it all comes together. Everyone is complaining about wasteful spending, should we start with ourselves? The float was touted as a great way to bring exposure to the NAR and a great marketing engine. People would see it and realize what a great contribution that Realtors are to the marketplace. Well, in my family anyway, no one even remembered it or even knew who sponsored it. So was it worth it? Did we get the great exposure we were hoping for?

I want to hear other members opinions on this. Perhaps the money could have been better spent elsewhere. Perhaps if we had not sponsored a float in a parade it would not have been necessary to add an additional fee this year. A year when the real estate market is the worst in three decades and agents are struggling to survive. What do you think. Am I eating sour grapes or should this be a concern. Does the old adage of "people who live in glass houses..." apply here. Should we be criticizing the spending habits of others if we are being wasteful ourselves? Let me know what you think.

In today's real estate market showing services are a must. Sellers and buyers both have busy schedules and want to make appointments on the spot. An agents entire day can be consumed trying to track down the involved parties to get one showing scheduled.

As nice as showing services are, they only work if the agents participate. Not just participate, but participate with some thought. Feedback is vital. Feedback can help the listing agent make improvements or verify they have gotten the price correct. There are many positive outcomes provided by feedback. Agents must provide the feedback however. I have recently experienced several agents that refuse to provide feedback. Why is this? Are they lazy? Who knows the reason, but it hurts everybody. One of my clients that has access to view feedback responses called to ask me why it had been over a week and we had not received feedback from a recent showing. I told him I had sent 5 requests and also called the agent but without any luck. He then asked me why an agent would not be willing to provide feedback. It is very hard to explain this to a client without violating the Realtor Ethics by saying something negative about the other agent. But yet, how do you explain it to a client? They want an answer.

Here are some tips that can help all of us.

-Provide feedback promptly, it only takes a few minutes.
-Be honest but not ugly. Clients can sometimes read the feedback and your response may have a direct bearing on your reputation.
-you do not have to quote your clients directly. If your client says that a house was ugly and filthy you may send a feedback response that your clients are looking for a more "move in ready" home. Or perhaps you would say that your clients prefer a different style of home.
-If you encounter a serious problem with a home, get in touch with the listing agent directly, don't wait to casually pass on the information in a feedback response.
-If you do not make it to a showing, let the agent know. Tell them you ran out of time, got lost, client got sick, or whatever the reason was. Remember, the seller is going to ask their agent about the showing.
-be realistic about showings. Do not try to schedule 6 homes in one hour. You know it is not possible and you need to let your client know it is not possible.
-be responsive to showing service calls and emails. They are not trying to contact you to waste your time.
-Make sure you give precise instructions to the showing service. Remember that they are not out looking at the houses and if you leave vague instructions the buyer agent will probably be calling for further explanation of which they will not have. This just delays the whole process and aggravates the sellers.

Together the whole system works a lot better and a little respect and consideration go a long way for everybody.

Todd Pierceall
Prestige Properties
www.prestigeproperties4u.com