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A big part of creating a pleasant real estate experience for clients is eliminating their risk.
You have to understand how your client feels. Understand the risk they are accepting by choosing you as a realtor. Understand that risk is hard to swallow. When all is said and done, your client wants maximum satisfaction with minimum risk and frustration, and your job is to help them achieve just that.
The fact is that sellers worry themselves sick about choosing a realtor. Why? Because they don’t want to be tied into a listing contract with a deadbeat realtor who is not willing to do what it takes to sell the listing. It wastes their time and their money. Wouldn’t you be worried?
Regardless of whether clients come out and say it, most have similar concerns about choosing a realtor and listing their property. What are you doing to ease your clients’ concerns? Do you address each problem individually, working them out as they come up, or do you brush them aside and tell your clients not to worry? A successful agent is aware of client concerns and knows how to address them.
Addressing and resolving your clients’ concerns is the first step in eliminating risk. Your clients are worried about everything from paperwork to plumbing and if you don’t guide them along every step of the way, they’ll be miserable. It is your responsibility to help your clients feel comfortable during the entire listing process. Clients often have confidence in a knowledgeable realtor with good referrals, who isn’t afraid to explain the details. However, there are clients whose fears are not so easily abated. It may take more to make them feel comfortable about a contract.
That’s where a real estate service guarantee can really help. A guarantee tells the seller that you are willing to take on some of the risk, and shows that you are serious about the services you offer. A successful guarantee focuses on the details. It should spell out exactly what you as the realtor are willing to do for the client in order to sell the listing, as well as what you are willing to do if the listing doesn’t sell.
A guarantee must offer your client an out if they don’t like your service. Some companies offer free months of service or small cash payouts for unsatisfactory service. However, neither of those options gives the client a way out. A couple of free months of service are no good for a client who doesn’t like your service, and giving a few hundred dollars to an unsatisfied client is hardly compensation for their wasted time.
A straightforward guarantee that avoids gimmicky marketing strategies is always the best bet. I would suggest something like “If at any time you become dissatisfied with our service, feel free to cancel our contract,” or “If we don’t sell your house by the end of the listing period, you pay no commission.” These simple guarantees eliminate much of the seller’s risk while making them feel confident in your services.
One of the keys to making these types of guarantees is to only accept listings that are likely to sell. That way you lessen your actual risk but the client still gets a guarantee.
A guarantee that Offers cash as collateral for good service can be effective if the amount is significant. For example, an effective cash guarantee might be: “I will sell your property in 90 days at a fair price, or I’ll pay you $2,000 dollars.”
Other guarantees, like offering to find a new home and pay for moving expenses for a client who is dissatisfied with a purchase, give an agent a competitive edge over other realtors and helps clients feel confident in their decision. Guarantees are all about eliminating risk by giving clients a way out.
If you are like most realtors, guarantees like these sound a little scary. Don’t worry; you can begin with something much simpler. If you’re not ready to put your commission on the line, offer your clients some other incentive that shows you’re serious about working for them. Promise them you’ll market their property aggressively until it sells and lay out in detail your marketing plan. The important thing is that you show them you are willing to do what ever it takes to sell their property. You have to offer them something the competition doesn’t. The fruits of your labor will be startling. There is power in a guarantee.
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