It Is Not Your Phone System

February 14, 2008
A really funny thing happened to me the other day. This post maybe more oriented to real estate professionals or small business owners, but I thought it was funny enough to share with everyone.There was a house that some of my clients wanted to see. I called the agent representing the property whose name happened to be the same as the brokerage’s office name. She didn’t answer the phone and it went to her phone system… “press 1 to speak with a real estate professional, press 2 to set a showing appointment, press 3 for a directory of agents…” and so on. I pressed 2. No answer. They just asked me to leave a message. Knowing that my clients wanted to see the property pretty soon, I needed to speak with someone live.

I hung up and tried again. This time, I decided to press 1 and speak with a real estate professional, knowing that they could “hook me up” with a showing appointment pretty fast. No answer. Just a machine again.

I tried the showing appointment center again and got nothing.

I decided to use the directory so that I could talk to SOMEONE. I pressed 3. They asked me to dial the first three letters of the persons last name… I’m on a black berry so this is very hard to do. The numbers and letters are not the same as a standard phone. I have a full keyboard, but only the numbers work when the phone is activated. So, I did my best, guessing which letters fall on certain numbers. Doing what I could to count it out, abc = 2, def = 3, ghi = 4, jkl = 5, mno = 6, p..q.. r… wait?? Where is ‘q’? If ‘q’ is on 7 is ’s’ on 8? That messed up my count. I tried about 3 or 4 times to get her name right… each time failing because my black berry didn’t allow me to win in this stupid game.

Fifth time’s a charm… “stay on the line and someone will be with you shortly” - the phone system must have gotten tired of me pressing a bunch of numbers…. but no one was with me… and shortly had come and gone. I hung up and tried the directory again, determined to listen to the entire thing until I heard this agent/broker’s name. Redial, again, I pressed 3… I pressed 2 to hear the entire directory. There was one agent in the directory. It was her. ONLY 1 agent. I pressed 1 to speak with “that” agent…

“I’m not able to take your call right now… … Leave a message or call my cell… BEEP!”

I hung up. I tried her cell phone which said, “I’m not able to take your call right now… for showing appointments or to speak with someone immediately, contact our office… BEEP!” I laughed.

I left a message. 2 days later she called back. The time had passed. The home didn’t get shown. What did I tell my clients? On Day 1, they asked me if I had set the appointment. I told them the short version of the story and said, “Here is ‘their’ number. Call her.” They had the exact same experience!

My point?

Success isn’t about a phone system, it is about service. Using the latest and greatest in technology doesn’t help if your service suffers.

P.S. People don’t like talking to machines. If you are the only agent in your office, make sure to have all calls come to ONE place… YOU! Because YOU are the company!

I hope you enjoyed the story! & “Please leave a message… BEEP!”

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Posted by Ray

Number of Realtors DROP by 3% in NWA

February 4, 2008

January 31st was D-Day for Realtors in Arkansas. “Dues Day”. If you were going to continue to be a Realtor in 2008, you had to pay up by January 31st. It is always interesting to see who stays and who goes. Who finds other passions and who looses their fire for Real Estate. Well, this year, for the first time after 4 years of growth, the number of Realtors in NWA dropped by 3% from 2498 to 2426! This is just the beginning.

So, is this good or is this bad?

In my opinion, it is good. Not just because I can get a slightly larger piece of the “market share pie” (which is a plus), but really because it is a good natural thinning of the business. At the peak of the housing market, if you had a cell phone and a pick-up truck you could be a builder or contractor. If you had a nice pen and a few connections, you could just as easily be a Realtor. The “hot market Realtors” never had to “work” a listing or “SELL” a propety. Instead, they did paper work. “Oh, you would like to purchase this home? Ok. Lets do some paper work.” “Oh, you would like to sell a home? Ok. Let me stick a sign in the yard and we will do some paper work.” They didn’t prospect. They didn’t read the professional journals to stay on top of things. They didn’t invest each experience into the next to get BETTER. They didn’t read sales books or Realtor training books because they didn’t NEED to. They never developed professionally. Some of them were in the market 5 or 10 years, but they really only had 1 year of experience, repeated 5 or 10 times.

The “hot market Realtors” didn’t have to MARKET a property. They didn’t have to think of a way to network and sell. They didn’t prospect. They didn’t have to put together a campaign to sell their subdivision. An “If you build it, they will buy it” attitude was in full force. So much so that a number of builders & their wives began to get their real estate licenses so that they could build and sell more with out hiring a professional agent and they tried to save 3% off their over appraised homes. Now, those homes are sitting. I know it is no guarantee that the effect would have been different if they would have hired a great agent, but I wonder. But the builders didn’t have much of a choice. There was such an influx of “hot market Realtors” that they could duplicate the service they were getting by being their own part time Realtor. Stick a sign in the yard and do the paper work. Who needs a pro?

Now, times have changed. There are fewer “pick-up truck contractors” and there are fewer “hot market Realtors.” I have a feeling that the number of Realtors & builders will continue to decrease this year.

It is a natural thinning. Survival of the fittest. Survival of the PROFESSIONALS. It is good for our industry. Enjoy top notch service from Real Estate Pros who can survive & even THRIVE in a “down market”!

P.S. I’m still here! Call me!

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Posted by Ray