They may leave for price, but will come back for service...
Remember that client I was telling you about last month who wanted me to slash my commission in order to meet (or beat) the rate quoted by another agent? Well, I ended up losing the deal because the customer thought that all things (agents) being equal, they would go with the person with the lowest commission.
You get what you pay for...
Before the ink even had a chance to dry on their contracts, my former customers quickly realized all agents are not created equal and for their $8K, they weren't going to get anything more than a sign in the yard and the home into the MLS. When they inquired about photos, flyers and virtual tours, their agent said 'No' to all of the above.
Bob, we need you!
Last Friday, these same customers called me back and said, "Bob, we made a mistake!" They realized that yes, they were saving a little bit of money listing with the other gal, but in doing so would have made HUGE sacrifices on the service they had come to expect and deserve.
In the end, my customer realized that the high level of service and knowledge I happily provide far outweigh the little bit of money they thought they were saving.
Bottom line, don't sell yourself short. You may lose customers because of price, but odds are, they'll come back for great service!
Until next time, Bob :)
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Easy come, easy go...
This morning I received a call from a past client who received my Reconnect Letter asking if I'd be interested in listing her home, her daughter's home and her daughter's neighbor's home. Her hope being, as a package deal, she could negotiate a significant discount on their commissions. The thought of having 3 listings materialize out of thin-air was pretty exciting!
After running some comps, I found that each of these homes has an average value of around $500K. I took an hour or so to carefully consider both the time that would be required to service three clients as well as the time it would take to sell each home in the current market. I was prepared to reduce my commission to 2% on each home or about $10K each before splits and taxes.
Before I had a chance to present my offer, the client called back. Apparently her son-in-law had a friend in the business who was willing to sell each home for a flat-rate fee of $6K per home and she wanted to know if I could meet or beat it. It was quite obvious, all she was concerned about at that moment was paying the least amount of commission possible.
While chatting, I quickly ran the numbers in my head. $6,000 works out to about 1.25%, significantly less than the 2% I was prepared to offer. After thinking it over, I declined to compete on price and wished the client the best.
In the end, I realized that this was not a 5-star deal.
From a financial perspective, $18K after splitting the commission with my broker would have given me about $10K before taxes and about $6K after. I could do one deal and make the same amount of money, with 1/3 the headaches.
In terms of time, I realized that trying to take on three clients at once would not have allowed me to be the best Real Estate Consultant I could be, not to mention maintaining commitments at my current employer.
For now, I'll stick to my plan of working with one or two clients at a time, giving them the time and attention they deserve, while developing solid relationships for the future.
Until next time, Bob :)
Reconnect Letter Feedback
Today was a good day! Now that my reconnect letters are out and I'm starting to follow-up with the people I sent them to, I'm hearing a lot more positive feedback than I expected.
Today, one of the co-workers at my "other job" stopped by my cube to thank me and let me know he received my reconnect letter. During the conversation, he told me about another friend of his, also a Realtor, who he normally thought of when referring a friend or family member looking for an agent. He went on to say that after reading my letter, he now understands the difference between a traditional agent and a Real Estate Consultant and would think of me the next time he knew of someone getting ready to buy or sell.
Wow, these things do work! Knowing how well received the letter has been so far is going to make the rest of my follow-up calls that much easier. I'm really excited to start implementing the next strategy my coach, Katrin, and the others at By Referral Only have put together!
Until next time, Bob :)
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It's been a long road...but I got there!
I'd planned on starting posting on this blog a few months ago, but I got a little off track taking care of business in my personal and professional lives. But, I'm back and plan to tear it up in 2007! :)
If you read the intro page on this site, you'll know that back in October 2006 I made a commitment to myself to make a serious change in my Real Estate business. For the previous 18 months, I had been floundering. Sure, I'd done a couple deals, but I never knew where my next deal was going to come from. This is a business I'm excited about and one I'd really like to be able to do full-time in the next year or two. So, to help me take that next step, I hired the folks at By Referral Only (BRO) after attending their Main Event in Sacramento.
By Referral Only teaches people how to develop a consistent, systematized, referral based business (RBB). Once you've build an RBB, you no longer have to spend so much time trying to get business from strangers because instead, you're working with people who know you, like you and trust you, or someone who was referred to you by someone that does.
Tomorrow morning I have my 5th telephone appt with my Coach, Katrin, from BRO. She's probably wanted to shoot me for the last few months cause I haven't made as much progress as either of us had hoped. My initial tasks were relatively easy, and I should have been able to plow through them, but instead, I let a few other things get in the way. I could re-hash all the excuses I've given Katrin, but when it's all said and done, it comes down to me not making the time. I had time to sit down at the end of the day and watch every episode of Medium when it was on, but I didn't do anything to help grow my business. But that's going to change!
My first assignment from Coach was to finish cleaning out my client database and to send out a reconnect letter to everyone. This task serves a few purposes. First, like it says, it's to reconnect with my friends and family that I may not have kept in touch with as often as I should have. Second, to let them know that I'm in the Real Estate business.
It may sound strange, but I didn't tell some of these people I'd gotten into the business a couple years ago and I probably missed out on a few deals because of it. At the time, I didn't feel comfortable asking those closest to me for business because I was afraid of messing up and tainting the relationship. With a few deals under my belt, I'm much more confident in the process and my ability to satisfy.
The 3rd and final purpose of the letter is to plant the seeds of referrability and to open the door to follow-up conversations from me about Real Estate.
Katrin should be very pleased when I report tomorrow that I've sent out the reconnect letter to my entire database and have even started on the follow-up calls.
I don't know if I'll end up with any new business as a result of this mailing and follow-up campaign, but either way, it's a win-win as this is a new direction in my business. A ground breaking if you will. This is my first attempt at marketing.
In case your interested, this initial campaign cost me just under $35, not including my time, for fancy paper and envelopes, return address labels and postage.
From now on, each month I'll be sending out two items to my database. An evidence of success postcard that talks about the people I'm working with and a letter from the heart that tells them what's going on in my life. This will, hopefully, no, definitely be a regular mailing I send out on specific days of the month. My first step in systematizing.
Until next time, Bob :)
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