When we sold our last home, the market was strong. Prices were going up and houses were selling quickly.
I briefly considered going the FSBO route, but we needed to sell fast and we didn’t want to go it alone.
When we met our real estate agent, we thought he was a dream come true. He couldn’t have been more helpful or accessible, as a “neighborhood expert” he knew the neighborhood better than anyone, and he had a “whole network” of people that could help us if your house needed any work done after our inspection.
Since he had more yard signs than anyone in the neighborhood, we hired him.
Then everything changed:
Here’s the kicker:
Though his commission was large enough to buy a new Mercedes, there was no follow-up after the sale.
No fruit basket.
No flowers.
No thank you card.
Not even a phone call.
Nada.
Then the bottom fell out of the real estate market.
I knew times were tough when he started sending us poorly designed newsletters. A few weeks ago he even sent us a magnetized football schedule.
Now he’s marketing to us.
And of course, now it’s way too late.
The irony is, when the market was strong, he had the money to hire a sales assistant to help him respond to customer questions.
When the market was strong, he had the money to thank us for our business.
And when the market was strong, he could have developed a customer for life—a customer that would have referred others, even when the market went south.
Instead, he’s become a case study for crappy service.
There are a few lessons to be learned here.
If you over-promise and under-deliver, you’ll never have happy customers. Be honest and avoid marketing puffery.
Customer delight, not just customer satisfaction should be your goal. Your customers will take care of you when the market won’t.
And while not marketing in a down cycle is a bad idea (there’s less competition), failing to market in an up cycle (because you don’t think you need to) is even worse.
What’s the worst customer service experience you’ve ever had?
Comment below to weigh in.
