Losing Customers

I recently “lost” a listing. It just didn’t work out between me and the sellers so we parted ways prior to the expiration of the listing agreement. I don’t think it was any one person’s fault. I feel I am a little at fault and so are the sellers. At first I was rather upset about the whole situation but as I have reflected, I’ve thought about what went wrong, what went right and how I can improve.

The biggest thing I have learned is that I wasn’t clear with the sellers on what they should expect from me. I also didn’t protest when they wanted to list the property higher than my recommended price. I guess I felt a little intimidated at the time and wanted to have that listing so bad that I did not object to what they wanted. When they wanted to list higher than my suggested price, I should have objected. They were looking for “negotiation room” but I should have explained that if we price where I suggest, they may not need to negotiate as much or maybe not have to negotiate at all. I also should have provided a checklist of items that I provide as part of my standard services and any additional services that may be available. Needless to say, I will be providing a list of services for the price they pay and I will be less intimidated by the next seller who wants to go against my recommendations. After all, I am the professional.

But I am also not the only one at fault. Normally I would take all the blame but I find this to be true when it comes to some of my customers. They didn’t really communicate with me their needs fully. I knew they had to sell and had already bought a home elsewhere. I knew this was costing them money the longer it sat on the market. Every seller has a bottom line price but do they have a bottom line time frame? They weren’t willing to give the property away and I agree with that but we were on the market only 60 days during a Pandemic (COVID19). We didn’t get as many showings as we anticipated and the feedback I received was that it was overpriced. But they never expressed their concerns and every time I would give them feedback or my opinion they responded with, “We know what we’re doing. We’ve bought and sold many houses before. This isn’t our first rodeo.”

But is this really not your first rodeo? We’ve never had a pandemic of epic proportions like we do currently. We’ve never had an economy fluctuating so drastically back and forth in our lifetime. We’ve never had the country shut down for this long. Even for me, this is a learning curve. So how do they know so much?

I asked the sellers to drop the price. I sent them articles on the market conditions. I reassured them that leaving their vacant home on the market during this time was a good idea as there are still buyers out there looking and there is less concern about transferring the virus since the home is empty. I bought equipment and created a virtual tour with over 15 hours total between filming and production. I was planning to pay for online ads and a virtual open house for the following week before the sellers and I agreed to disagree. Plus, we were still having showings and I was letting the sellers know every time a showing was scheduled and giving them the feedback every time I received it.

So what made them change their mind about selling their property with me? Did they feel the communication wasn’t there? They never expressed any dissatisfaction in what I was doing to market their property. It was all over the internet. I was sharing the virtual tour. I was emailing those who had seen the property prior and asking if their buyers would reconsider. They never said I wasn’t being communicative to them on a regular basis.

Was it because they know so much about the real estate industry? Were they listening to neighbors who were saying that their home should have sold already? They aren’t licensed real estate agents. They haven’t gone through the training and continuing education that I go through on a yearly basis to maintain my license and my expertise in the industry.

I am a licensed professional through the Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR). This is the same governing body that licenses CPAs, Contractors, Veterinarians, and more. If you vet tells you that Fido is sick and needs medicine and rest, are you going to think you know better and take your beloved pet out to run in the park instead? If your contractor tells you that the roof on your house needs to be replaced soon or it will start to leak, are you going to ignore it until it is actually leaking? If your CPA tells you to spend less money or you’ll go bankrupt, are you going to continue spending and possibly lose your house, your car, and go for broke? No! So why would you listen to your real estate professional?

If we tell you that your home is overpriced based on the feedback we are receiving and we suggest a drop in price, why wouldn’t you do it? If we recommend cleaning the carpets because people are turned off by the foul animal odors, why wouldn’t you hire a carpet cleaning company or rent a carpet cleaner? If we suggest repainting the front door or touching up some paint spots around the house knowing it would improve curb appeal, why wouldn’t you buy a can of touch-up paint?

We are the professionals. We are licensed. We have continuing education every two years. We keep on top of industry trends and neighborhood market statistics because that is our job. Do you want your doctor to be behind on the times? No. So don’t expect real estate agents to be behind either. We watch, read and listen to industry trade websites. We get emails daily about current events and how it impacts home buyers, home sellers and real estate professionals. Do you think your doctor should be keeping up with this pandemic and what it means for our area? Yes. This is the same thing real estate professionals do. We know the areas we specialize in. We know what the market is doing. We factor in trends and statistics to help better “predict” the future for our areas.

We are the professionals. We are also human. So I see my fault in this as well as the fault of my customers. I make the commitment today to be clearer with customers in my message. I will ask what their expectations are of me and my services to market their home. I will put in place a checklist. I will verify how often they would like to be contacted. I will also stand my ground because I am the professional.

I am discouraged that I lost this listing but there will be others. This gives me an opportunity to improve on my methods and systems to make the next transaction I do even better than the last. This may not have been a good fit for me or for the sellers but I know there are others out there where I am the perfect fit for them. I will keep moving forward and improving until then.