Showing Strength in Numbers Raises Team Value and Frees Agents up for Productive Work
Recently, I met with a new service about providing solutions for some of our coaching team’s internal operations. The company came highly recommended, their salesperson was knowledgeable and personable, and they checked all the boxes for being able to meet our needs. After some internal discussion and consideration of other options, we officially hired them for the proposed project.
What happened next was amazing. Within 24 hours of executing our contract, a client-onboarding specialist contacted us and hosted a Zoom meeting to welcome us as a client and set expectations for our next steps. We were then introduced to other persons with whom we would be working and received detailed reference material to help our utilization of their service. In each interaction, the representatives were friendly, attentive and proactively focused on our experience as a client.
I was blown away with their team approach to service, and my mind—unsurprisingly—turned to real estate, considering how that kind of “wow” experience should also be provided by real estate teams to their new listing clients, buyers and prospects.
Some simple ways that immediately came to mind included:
Welcome Call: Whenever a new client relationship is formed, have a team member, other than the representing agent, welcome the client to your service. This can be done by an admin, marketing staff or the team leader, depending on your preference. The point of the call is to show appreciation and to demonstrate that by hiring your team’s agent, they have also hired the full functionality of a cohesive, superstar team of professionals. This call should be positive and instructive, setting expectations for future communications and providing alternate contacts for the client in the event that their agent is unavailable.
Updates: At a reliable frequency moving forward (e.g., weekly), provide written or verbal updates from your team that are relevant to your clients. Again, try to have these come from team staff, especially if they are easily understood by the client. Major developments such as offers, inspection negotiations, etc. should still be communicated by the client’s actual agent, however, but routine updates from staff will be an easy reminder of your team approach, and also serve to free up your agent to focus on dollar-producing activities.
Lifetime Contacts: The agent representing each client will obviously (we hope!) keep in touch with them post-closing for referrals and future needs, as was done with the initial welcome call. However, incorporating additional calls once or twice per year from the team and/or team leader will reinforce the strong, unique team that stands behind their agent of choice.
At each and every point of client contact, especially when coming from supportive team members, it is imperative that a pleasant attitude and an obvious concern for the client’s satisfaction be present. This was true for everyone that spoke with my company in the example that I referenced earlier—so much so, in fact, that it felt completely natural at the end of each call when they asked us two important questions: did they provide us with everything that we needed at this time, and was there anyone that we knew that they may also be able to help?
What an amazing way to reinforce their team’s concern for us while confidently asking for referrals.
The beauty of doing this with your own team is that clients will feel more positive about having hired you, so referrals will come more often, and your agents will be spending more time listing, selling and closing more homes—all while your staff continues to make them look good.
Everybody wins when you leverage your team to support and impress your clients. Use your collective abilities to “wow” them consistently, and your business will thrive as a result.
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Sherri Johnson is CEO and founder of Sherri Johnson Coaching & Consulting. With 25 years of experience in real estate as an agent, broker and executive, Johnson now shares her proven methods through coaching, consulting and keynote speaking services nationwide. She is a national speaker for the Homes.com Secrets of Top Selling Agents tour and is the Official Real Estate Coach for McKissock Learning and Real Estate Express. Johnson has also been named an RISMedia Real Estate Newsmaker in 2020 and 2021 as an Influencer and Thought Leader. Schedule a free 30-minute coaching strategy session or visit www.sherrijohnson.com for more information.
