Bayut Academy: 7 Customer Service Tips for Real Estate Agents to Secure Listings
These days, agents have successfully started using social platforms like Instagram for real estate purposes, engaging with sellers, buyers and renters in a personal and professional way. However, there are some old-school customer service tips for real estate agents that shouldn’t be forgotten, especially for securing listings. As the UAE real estate market is extremely competitive, Bayut presents some timeless real estate agent’s customer service tips to stand out from the competition! Remember, securing listings is the name of the game in real estate!
Top Customer Service Tips for Real Estate Agents
Be proactive and prepare in advance
Starting the list of what sellers want in a real estate agent is preparation. You live in the world of real estate, but your clients do not. Give detailed information about the current market, the process of selling a home in the UAE, the process of showing properties and preparing a home for sale. Create a listing presentation that shows what you will do, and why each step is important. It’s also one of the agent’s duties to a seller to recommend how to prepare a home for sale. Try to also include a list of preferred suppliers to help with the process.
Market comps are a necessity
This is one of the most important realtor’s responsibilities to sellers, but it can be a difficult conversation. You may represent a wonderfully staged property, but if it is overpriced, it will not sell. And there are no marketing tricks to sell an over-priced property. One of the best customer service tips for real estate agents is to set data-based expectations. Just because a seller says they got a certain price for a property does not make it true. Use the last transaction history to have an intelligent and productive conversation with sellers. As well, educate the sellers and show them potential clients’ options and other properties they may view.
Explain why exclusivity is important
Selling a home is stressful and if the owner is living in that home, it can even be intrusive. What should a realtor do for sellers in this situation? In addition to a market assessment, they must outline the time it will take to sell the property and the reasons exclusivity is a must. For example, 48 hours may seem an appropriate turn-around time to arrange viewing for a seller, but unless it’s truly an exclusive listing, it won’t work for a buyer. This must be discussed in detail, and it’s one of the real estate agent’s duties to a seller to answer any question they have about the process.
Outline seller expenses
While buyers cover the bulk of commission charges in the UAE, there will be some seller expenses to get the property ‘show-ready’. These expenses can include staging, painting, decluttering, repairing and tweaks to increase curb appeal. One of the tips for real estate agents is to outline these expenses for the seller, explaining why they are necessary. Selling a home ‘as is’ is rarely a wise decision.
Provide a marketing plan and timeline
When considering what sellers want in a real estate agent, outline how you plan to market the property. In addition to listing the home on a property portal, explain how you will alert other agents about the property (while still maintaining it as an exclusive listing). One of the top customer service tips for real estate agents is to give an educated estimate of the time it will take to sell the property. Couch your response according to time of the year, current market conditions, average days on the market for comparable sales and number of competing properties. It’s also important to explain how online views translate into property showings, while being transparent and thorough about the process.
Share feedback from showings
Other real estate agent’s responsibilities to sellers include sharing market feedback from viewings and following up with other agents for information, too. Keep the feedback professional and ask sellers their preference to receive the information (phone call, email or face-to-face).
Discuss the conditions to set up viewings
It can intrusive to sell a property while still living there. Therefore, an important customer service idea for real estate agents, is to agree on how much advance notice will be needed. Also, discuss how the property should be prepared for a viewing. And set up realistic turn-around times to best market a seller’s property.
Other essential customer service tips for real estate agents is to explain what happens at viewings. Property showings can start late or run over time, or potential clients may want to see the property multiple times.
Bayut Academy believes the best way to impress potential sellers is delivering old school customer service and a plan of action! Tell us, what are your customer service tips for real estate agents to secure listings? Also, want to achieve your real estate goals in 2019? Use Bayut’s goal setting and achieving formula to crush your real estate goals. And follow MyBayut, for more articles on being a successful real estate agent!
