In a crowded real estate market, providing excellent customer service is one of the easiest—and most effective—ways to set yourself apart from the competition.
So, if you’re looking to master the art of selling, make sure you’ve mastered these skills first.
PATIENCE
Not only is patience important to clients, who often reach out for support when they are confused and frustrated, but it’s also important to your business at large.
If you deal with clients on a daily basis, be sure to stay patient when they come to you for guidance, but also be sure to take the time to truly figure out what they want—they’d rather get competent service than feeling like they’re being taken advantage of.
ATTENTIVENESS
The ability to really listen to clients is so crucial for providing great service for a number of reasons.
Not only is it important to pay attention to individual customer experience (watching the language/terms that they use to describe their problems), but it’s also important to be mindful and attentive to the feedback that you receive at large.
For instance, clients may not be saying it outright, but perhaps there is a pervasive feeling that your firm’s website isn’t laid out correctly. Clients aren’t likely to say, “Please improve your UX!,” but they may say things like, “I can never find the search feature,” or, “Where is the _________ function at again?”
What are your clients telling you without saying it?
CLEAR COMMUNICATION
Make sure you’re getting to the problem at hand quickly; clients don’t need your life story or to hear about how your day is going. More importantly, you need to be cautious about how some of your communication habits translate to clients, and it’s best to err on the side of caution whenever you find yourself questioning a situation.
When it comes to important points that you need to relay clearly to clients, keep it simple and leave nothing to doubt. Pro tip from Triplemint VP of Marketing Shelly Huang: “I use a notes app to organize each stakeholder. Keep track of the key points you need to get across bullet-point style, and use that as a cheat sheet to stay on top of things and be confident in your communications.”
Always send a follow-up email to summarize what you discussed with next steps (leave a paper trail).
KNOWLEDGE
Aside from knowing the housing market, having a solid understanding of the rules and regulations in different neighborhoods, as well as knowing the likely value of a property, is critical. This ensures you’ve got the best tricks up your sleeve to help clients navigate even the most complex situations. It also helps you become their strongest advocate.
You want your clients to feel empowered, and that comes from them knowing all the facts. Explain what they need to know and why, before they need it.
THE ABILITY TO USE POSITIVE LANGUAGE
Language is a very important part of persuasion, and people create perceptions about you and your firm based off of the language that you use.
For example, your client really wants to see an apartment that already has a contract out.
Instead of using phrases like “I can’t get that for you” or “it’s not available,” provide the closest alternative. Use “and” not “but.” Think about solutions because that’s what clients are interested to hear.
TIME MANAGEMENT SKILLS
You know what they say: Time kills deals.
You need to be concerned with getting clients what they want in an efficient manner.
A prospective client who doesn’t hear from you the same morning or afternoon of their attempt to contact you may very well move on, on the assumption that you’re never going to get back to them. Even if you do not have immediate answers, it is important to consistently communicate.
THE ABILITY TO “READ” CLIENTS
You won’t always be able to see clients face-to-face, and in many instances, you may not even hear their voice! That doesn’t exempt you from understanding some basic principles of behavioral psychology. Look and listen for subtle clues about their current mood, patience level, personality, etc.
This is an important part of the personalization process as well, because it takes knowing your clients to create a personal experience for them. More importantly, though, this skill is essential because you don’t want to misread a client and end up losing them due to confusion and miscommunication.
When a client’s wish is met before it’s been expressed, that sends the message that you care about the client as an individual.
A CALMING PRESENCE
Situations outside of your control—such as a client’s—mood will sometimes creep into your usual support routine, and when they do, it’s essential that you remain calm.
You can’t let a heated client force you to lose your cool; in fact, it is your job to try to be the “rock” for a client who thinks the world is falling down due to their current problem.
PERSISTENCE
The ability to follow up effectively and consistently is often what makes the difference between a good and a great real estate agent.
ABILITY TO HANDLE SURPRISES
Life is unpredictable and this is no different. It’s inevitable that you’ll at some point face unexpected situations. Thus, it’s helpful to have a guideline for yourself on how to tackle this.
Who do you consider your “go-to” person when you don’t know what to do? Define a logical chain for yourself to use, then you won’t be left wondering who you should forward the problem to.
When the problem is noticeably out of your league, what are you going to send to the people above? The full conversation, just the important parts, or maybe some highlights and an example of a similar situation?
When it comes time to get someone else involved, how are you going to contact them?
PERSUASION
In any sales role, the art of persuasion can make or break your business.
It’s crucial to know how to communicate your message in a compelling way. You need to have some mastery of persuasion so you can prevent clients from slipping away and keep them engaged.
TENACITY
A great work ethic and a willingness to do what needs to be done (and not take shortcuts) is a key skill when providing the kind of service that people talk about.
Remembering that your clients are people too, and knowing that putting in the extra effort will come back to you ten-fold should be your driving motivation to never “cheat” your clients with lazy service.
CLOSING ABILITY
Being able to close a client means being able to end the conversation with the client feeling that everything has been taken care of (or will be).
Research shows that clients remember the first and last minutes of a service encounter more vividly—and for longer—than the rest of it. Make sure that the final elements of your interactions are particularly well engineered, because they are going to stick in the client’s memory.
EMPATHY
When you can’t tell the client exactly what they want to hear, a dose of care, concern and understanding will go a long way. Your ability to empathize with a client and craft a message that steers things toward a better outcome can often make all the difference. Listen to them and try to explain the situation even if you are unable to solve them. This will greatly assuage the customer’s distress.
A WILLINGNESS TO LEARN
This is probably the most general skill on the list, but it’s still necessary. Those who don’t seek to improve what they do will get left behind by the people willing to invest in their skills. Diversify your efforts. You never know if you’re missing out on a gold mine until you try a new tactic.
IN CONCLUSION
If you want to elevate the service you provide as a real estate agent, the skills above can go a long way towards making a client feel as though they’re working with a trusted advisor. After all, when it comes to providing exceptional customer service, it’s the people who make all the difference.
