Rachel Allen is a Realtor with Keller Williams Memorial
Every week, we ask a real estate professional for their Short List, a collection of tips and recommendations on an essential topic in real estate. This week, we talked with Rachel Allen, a real estate broker with Keller Williams Memorial, about ways to provide excellent customer service in a real estate transaction.
5. Under promise and over deliver – Setting the right expectations in the beginning is one of the most important things you can do in a real estate transaction with your client. Don’t make promises you can’t keep and don’t allude to doing anything for your client that you won’t be able to do. Once the expectations have been set, do what you can to exceed those expectations whenever possible. Note: Be careful not to set your expectations too low.
4. Be honest and upfront always – Never lie to your clients. As Realtors, we often want to have an answer for everything. It’s impossible to know everything, so don’t make up an answer to a question because you want your clients to think you always have the answer. The best thing to do when you don’t have a confident answer is to say, “I don’t know but I’ll find out and get back with you as soon as possible.” Making a statement that is false can do way more damage then saying “I don’t know”, and it could potentially get you in legal trouble.
3. Be prepared – You may not know the answer to everything, but you should do your best to prepare yourself for any situation you are about to face with a client. Before your appointment, always try to think of potential questions that your client might ask. Be proactive and find the answers beforehand!
2. Always Communicate – Communication is key when interacting with clients. Even when there is no news, call your clients and let them know that there is nothing new to report and ask if they have any questions or concerns so that you can proactively address what they say. Communicate at minimum once per week. You don’t want your client to feel abandoned. I can guarantee that if your clients haven’t heard from you, your clients will have the “worst case scenario” going through their head.
1. Keep cool, calm, and collected – Your clients will feed off of the emotions you portray when interacting. If you’re upset, they’ll be upset, if you’re nervous, they’ll feel nervous. You want them to feel cool, calm and collected so that they feel good about working with you. Also, your client will feel at ease knowing that you have everything under control especially in stressful situations.
Rachel holds a Bachelor Degree in Communications from the University of Miami with an area of expertise in advertising, print and social media marketing. Her 10 years of experience in customer service has prepared Rachel to truly listen to her clients and assess her clients’ needs. Rachel has been professionally involved in Real Estate since 2008. She started as a Real Estate investor and currently holds a small portfolio of rental properties. Rachel is a licensed Realtor with Keller Williams Memorial Realty in Houston, TX providing client services to buyers, sellers, landlords, tenants, and investors.