This is the second part of an article about customer service in the real estate business. [Read part one of What is Good Customer Service in Real Estate?] When clients get great customer service by their agent throughout the entire relationship, they are not only happy with their agent, they are as pleased as they could possibly be. Anything less is just ordinary customer service.
Customer Service and Values
Good customer service is a function of values. There are key values you would expect to be foundational for good customer service. Those values include honesty, integrity, hard work, perseverance, competence, professionalism, loyalty, and a passion to constantly improve one’s knowledge and abilities for the sake of his clients. Unfortunately, these values are not as common as one would like to think.
Good customer service depends on the company culture. A real estate brokerage has a culture just like any company does. That culture is created by the owner, and it filters throughout the company and influences everyone who works there. So the question becomes, what is the brokerage culture?
Is the owner kind, generous, devoted to the best interests of all their clients, and passionate about serving others more than putting money in her own pocket in ways that could compromise the clients? Does she bend over backwards to handle every detail for her clients? Will she work overtime to get her client’s work done? Is her commitment to honesty uncompromised? Does she treat everyone equally in the best way possible? Does she constantly seek to improve her real estate knowledge so she can give her clients the highest level of expertise? And does this broker/owner hold all her agents accountable to the highest standards?
Customer Service and Culture
All of this together creates a culture of customer service that speaks to the clients in a hundred ways, especially when it is most important. Whatever the culture created by the leadership, it becomes the culture of the brokerage. The thinking and behavior of the leader tends to permeate the entire brokerage, and the longer the same leader runs the company, the more entrenched that culture becomes.
It’s amazing, but brokerages tend to assemble agents with similar values and work habits that fit within the culture of the company. That’s either good news or bad news for consumers, depending on the culture of the brokerage. Do not take good customer service for granted, because it is not so common.
Last Updated on September 22, 2019 by Chuck Marunde
