7 Ways to Be of Real Service to Your Clients

7 Ways to Be of Real Service to Your Clients

 April 4, 2016

Service is the name of the game for real estate agents. The more you find ways to truly be of service the more successful, over the long-term you’ll be. Here are seven suggestions about how to be or real service to each of your clients.

Post all your listings – even pocket listings – when you take a listing you owe it to your client to post it in a timely fashion. Sure it’s tempting to let one or two of your buyers know about it before you post it, but it’s really not fair to the seller. Nor is it fair to your fellow agents. If you’ve got a buyer, fine, post the listing and notify your buyer right away.

Answer your messages promptly – there is probably nothing more frustrating for clients and prospective clients than messages going unanswered. This doesn’t mean you have to interrupt a property showing or your family dinner to respond, but return calls, emails, and texts from clients as soon a reasonably possible.

Don’t make people sign up for your website to see the listings – okay, this is a pet peeve of mine, but think about it. Making someone sign-up to see the listings on your website is actually putting a barrier between you and the potential client. Is that what you want? Think it through.

When you text make sure the recipient knows who’s texting – when you’re texting make sure the person receiving your message knows who you are. It take just a moment to add your name. No one likes texts that seem to come from no known person.

Use easy-to-unsubscribe-from email newsletters – if you’re sending an email newsletter make it super easy for people to unsubscribe to it. MailChimp does this well. And don’t worry about those who unsubscribe. Some will, some won’t, and some will return. I promise.

Listen more than you talk – it’s so tempting to talk over your clients. After all, you often do know what they are going to say. Resist and practice deep listening also known as active listening. Essentially it means paying close enough attention to what other people are saying without planning your response. For most of us it takes some practice, but it brings such clarity to communication that it’s more than worth the effort.

Don’t cross the ‘hog’ line – back in the day we had a real estate commissioner in California – it might have been Robert Karpe – who admonished us by saying “don’t cross the hog line.” He was, of course warning us about getting greedy. My father would add, “You can go right up to that hog line, but as soon as you cross it trouble is sure to follow.” It’s a pretty good saying today as well. There’s plenty for everyone and no need to risk the problems that come with greed.

I’m sure you have other ways you make sure you’re of real service to your clients. Please, share them in comments.

Anne Wayman real estate writer


Anne Wayman

By Anne Wayman

Before Anne Wayman became a writer she sold real estate in Southern California. She worked with her father who learned the business from his father. Not surprisingly she learned a few things along the way. Since then, she has been freelance writing for over 30 years – she is a grandmother, loves cats and writes about a wide variety of topics including real estate.