Serve Clients’ Needs at a Comfortable Level for Everyone Involved
After surviving and thriving in a truly unique market for more than a year, many of the activities in our industry are beginning to revert to some level of normalcy. In-person meetings are on the rise, live open houses are happening (that is, when a house stays on the market for more than a few days), and more people are open to the overall activities and interactions that traditionally fuel a large part of the real estate industry.
However, not everyone is “full steam ahead,” and there is still a significant amount of people in the market—whether sellers, buyers or agents—that are still careful about the level of interaction they are willing to participate in.
As a team or as an agent, you need to be considerate of, and accommodating to, everyone else in the market to facilitate the maximum amount of real estate activity possible. To accomplish that, be sure to address how to interact with the following:
Sellers: Establish as early as possible to what degree they are comfortable meeting with you and with having people in their home, then act accordingly. Also, based on factors including COVID, market demand, etc., discuss the pros and cons of open houses and how traffic may or may not be affected by the various factors in play. Whenever possible, however, it is highly recommended to host open houses to create higher demand and meet potential buyer clients.
Buyers: Again, you will want to be agreeable to the maximum amount of live interaction with clients as possible, so try to set up a live meeting with new buyers if they are open to it. If not, you can use the virtual business skills that you have developed over the past year to engage with them over phone, Zoom and other avenues.
Your Team: It may not be the buyer or seller that is the limiting factor in live interactions; maybe it is you and/or your team—and that’s okay. If a client’s preferences concerning personal interactions, use of masks or other issues are looser than what you are comfortable with, let them know that you have team members that you work with (assuming you do, or that you will arrange them ASAP) that will be happy to assist them and do so in the way they prefer.
Everyone Else: When bringing in support for your client services—for example, a home inspector, handy man or anyone else—brief them on your clients’ preferences and ask if they have any of their own. Nobody wants an uncomfortable moment where two sets of people have conflicting beliefs on basic interpersonal interaction, so be sure to cover this in advance.
Knowing everyone’s comfort level and having a plan to accommodate them is simply smart business in today’s market. Be purposeful in preparing for every contingency while encouraging live interactions to the highest comfortable level possible, and you will create more opportunities for real estate success.
To learn more about how we have successfully coached our clients to social media success and achieved increased closings as a result, schedule a free, 30-minute strategy call with Sherri Johnson Coaching here.
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.
