Tips for Providing Great Customer Service

For real estate agents, the ability to provide great customer service that is fully backed by knowledge and skill remains the foundation for all potential success. If you’re building your client portfolio, remember that only by putting your client’s needs first will you be able to generate the extensive word-of-mouth network you surely envision for your future. 

Below, we’re sharing our Top 7 Tips for Providing Great Customer Service. Every time you’re preparing to grow your network, first set aside the time to review the following basic principles and make sure you’re nailing each one.

1.) Strive to Connect with Your Client

Each interaction with your client is an opportunity for you to ask insightful questions that will expand your understanding of that client as a person. Have a mental or physical checklist of things you’d like to learn. 

For example, what drives their desire to own a home? What are they looking for in their dream home? Furthermore, how do their “need” and “want” features connect to the deeper structure of their life? Do they have nostalgic connections to certain features, like large trees or adequate space for a sizable kitchen table? These are precisely the kind of things you’ll want to notice and record.

2.) Choose Complete Transparency

Now more than ever, honesty is a must in real estate. Basic ethics aside, keep in mind that clients can fact-check your claims and assertions in a matter of minutes. 

If they sense insincerity—and millennials can detect deceit from a mile away—they'll drop you in a hot minute, and they’ll probably tell a friend about your gaffe. 

Instead, remain honest and open with your client. Be their best resource for fully accurate information, and you’re much more likely to be the one they call first.

3.) Be Reachable and Communicative

Today’s client expects nearly instant replies to their emails, texts, tweets, and voice mail messages. If you want to provide top customer service, it’s imperative that you be the agent who consistently responds first with an upbeat, helpful attitude, accurate information, and insight into the local market. 

Make sure every communication is clear, concise, and to the point. Take enough time to review and edit your writing for grammar and clarity, but no more! Delaying a reply for even fifteen minutes could mean losing a client completely.

4.) Adapt to All Modes of Communication

Your clients are used to jumping from platform to platform to keep in touch on the most popular apps. If you want to be the agent who gets that lead, you need to be reachable everywhere your clients are.

Keep current on trending communication platforms, of course, but remember that you will also have clients who are leery of technology and would rather keep in touch in more old-fashioned ways. Just like you’ll spend an extra half hour on Instagram and Twitter for your younger clients, it’s important to set aside time to call or write clients who are not present in electronic spaces. 

5.) Give Your Undivided Attention

While overall you will naturally be balancing the needs of many clients at once, it’s vital that while you are interacting with a client, they truly feel like your only priority. 

During client meetings, do not check your watch, phone, or computer unless you are directly fulfilling their current request. Deliver the right amount of eye contact, listen carefully for relevant details to note, and use active listening skills to develop your relationship further. 

Remember, your clients are choosing you over your competition—make sure they know you appreciate it by being mentally fully present during each interaction.

6.) Make It Personal

Whether you only bring a gift to clients that have made a big impression, or tend to make such thoughtful gestures a signature of your business, the fact remains:

A closing or housewarming gift is only likely to be perceived as relationship-building or sincere if the gift you choose is truly personal.

Let the gift call back to information you learned during a conversation you had with your client, especially if the gift will help your client make use of their home in a way they’ve envisioned. 

If the opportunity for such a gift does not present itself, a thoughtfully handwritten note in a beautiful card will likely make a better impression than a bland, generic gift, so keep this in mind from your first interaction with each client. Information you gather with your thoughtful listening skills can make or break this potentially impactful moment of connection.

7.) Get Back in Touch at Just the Right Moment

No matter how well a sale has gone, your client’s emotions and thoughts are likely to be a jumble for a period of time after closing. Normally, however, people have settled in a few months after the big move. 

At this point, this is a great time to get back in touch. Your client may have carefully reflected upon their homebuying experience; if you’ve built a connection on trust and reliability, they will likely share valuable feedback with you.

Of course, we all want such feedback to be positive, but keep in mind that comments of either nature can be helpful when you’re focused on crafting a successful business. 

The preceding seven tips are equally true for both newly established agents and agents who are nurturing flourishing businesses. After all, throughout any technological changes or market fluctuations that affect real estate agents, keeping the needs of customers at the forefront of our efforts remains the best strategy for rising above the competition.

Do you have any tips for your fellow Parks agents? Leave a comment below to offer your insight or ask a question.