During Real Estate Connect in San Francisco, a Seller's Panel was brought forth to answer questions on their experiences, thoughts and feelings of working with their agent and the entire process. The best news for their agents was that none of them even thought to rate their agent on any of the online rating portals.
As individual agents, teams, brokers and as an industry as a whole we might want to take a step back and really hear what these seller's had to say about their experiences and feelings about those same. If not, don't be surprised if some smart entrepreneur doesn't come along and offer them the experience they desire and does a round end of our entire industry.
What did the seller's say?
1. 5 out of 6 used an agent that was referred to them by a family member or friend.
2. Most said that the agent who helped them buy the home didn't stay in contact so they found another agent.
Are you working a consistent follow through campaign with your past clients and database? Those first two tell you that is how you will get and keep clients.
3. Not one seller had an agent that asked them how and how often they wanted to communicate.
The biggest complaint most sellers have is the lack of communication from their agents. Find out if they prefer, phone, text, email, Facebook IM or whatever and then honor that. Find out their expectations on communication, or at least set the expectations of how and how often they will hear from you.
4. The websites they used to look at houses, learn about pricing, and other things they wanted to research was overwhelmingly Zillow and Trulia. It really doesn't matter if you like Zillow or Trulia, it matters that your clients do. Just a side note, not one seller said they ever used REALTOR.com.
5. 5 our of 6 sellers interviewed 3-4 agents before choosing one to list their homes.
6. 4 of the 6 sellers Googled the prospective agent's names.
Do you have a Google/Alerts set up on your name and your broker to be aware of what your potential clients can pull up on you?
7. They ALL Googled their own address to see what sites you had them on and how their house looked.
8. Only one seller had an agent who showed up with either an iPad or laptop to their listing appointment.
9. NONE said that their agent made them feel like they were part of the team in selling their house.
10. None said that their agent offered a Showing Feedback tool, but at least half said they would have loved to have one available if possible.
11. All of them negotiated a lower commission.
12. 4 of the 6 believed they could have gotten more for their house if they had hired a different agent.
13. ALL said their agent hadn't done anything to make their lives easier during the sales process. One said he just wished his agent would have communicated what to expect next.
14. ONLY 2 of the 6 felt good about the industry after the process.
There is GREAT OPPORTUNITY in this panel survey for those professionals who are willing to be EXTRA ordinary. It wouldn't take much to be better than what most experience. You can Wow them if you take to heart their comments above and consider how you will provide service that your clients truly are hoping for. I strongly recommend reading Zappo's founder and CEO, Tony Hshieh's, book "Delivering Happiness"
If agents and their brokers don't wake up and understand that today's consumer wants something very different than our industry they will be very sorry they didn't.
Here is a link to the article: Home Seller's Panel Survey.
Monday, July 21, 2014
Tuesday, July 15, 2014
Be Wise, Seek Council.
The man most known for wisdom, Solomon, gave us this advice.
Proverbs 15:22Without consultation, plans are frustrated, But with many counselors they succeed. 23A man has joy in an apt answer, And how delightful is a timely word!…
Are you seeking "many counselors" and strong advice from those who have done what it is you want to do? Isn't it logical that someone who has done what you want to do would be the best person to tell you how?
Just last week our Director of Operations, Jennie Franklin, and I flew up to Minneapolis/St. Paul to council with the Broker Owners and Leadership team for RE/MAX Results, the largest RE/MAX franchise in the World. The owners, John Collopy and Marshall Saunders not only made their time available to us but that of all their department heads. It was truly a whirlwind two days.
We have become accustomed to being the ones that other RE/MAX brokers from around the country fly out to spend time with, and we very much enjoy sharing with them. It was wonderful to be on the other side this time. While we are the 43rd largest RE/MAX in America and always one of the fastest growing they are the largest in the World! Where we have 150 agents they have 850, where we have 6 offices they have 28, where we did 432 million in volume they did 3.8 billion!
What was so exciting was how much of what they do felt very familiar, very comfortable, we found that we felt very much on track, and that we are doing the things we need to be doing. They were once our size and it was easy to ask what they did, what pitfalls to avoid, what they would have done differently could they do it again. We came home as excited as we have ever been with new information ready to put into place.
If you are building your business, who are you seeking for council? Look for those who have businesses that you admire and would love to emulate and buy them lunch, find a way to get to ask them about how they did it, and what they are doing that you need to adopt. Look for those who's lives are those you would like to as well. These mentors do not have to be everything you want to be, you can learn from one aspect you want in your business or life and from someone else on another area.
No matter what you do, find them, and learn.
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