Get off of Facebook and sell my friggin’ house already

I’m not anti-social media

Yes, that was a baited title and No, no one said that to me.  But they could if I don’t do my job as a listing agent first and foremost.  I am NOT an anti-social media advocate (not at all, I <3 love social media!) but I AM a consumer advocate and if you are an agent your consumers are buyers and sellers, period.

Do you want to know what the awesome sauce of being a top listing agent is? It is servicing a listing as you would want your own home to be serviced.  Think about that for a minute.  If you had a home for sale, what would you expect the listing agent to do?  You may not have even thought about it in this perspective before, but it can be a pretty handy tool to up your game and build client loyalty and provide your consumers, your clients, with the type of service they RAVE about.

I would EXPECT my Super Star Ace Listing Agent to:

1) Dominate the Internet with my listing, including maps, pictures, details, school info etc.  I’d want to be able to Google my address and find my listing in many different locations.

2) I would want to be able to reach my listing agent quickly, in my preferred communications manner (text, email, phone).

3) I would expect detailed updates each time they showed the house (feedback) and monthly updates on all the marketing my listing agent has done that month for my property (and I’d like to know what is working and where the traffic is coming from, technically and geographically).

4) I for SURE want to be assured that when someone wants to see my listing, that the listing agent makes it very easy and accommodating for it to be shown.

5) If I saw my agent on Facebook, Twitter or other social media, I’d be cool with it as LONG as they were doing the above first.  If they haven’t had time to update me, show my listing or give me feedback, they sure as Heck don’t have time to be on any social media site.

6) I’d EXPECT my listing to be on my listing agent’s blog or website (I would not take kindly to the idea that my agent’s blog or website is NOT the place for my listing to be, so if you, Blogging Purist Agent, don’t have a main site where your listings are highlighted, I’d rethink that strategy, my main clients are my listing clients, not blog visitors who don’t want to see my listings, this is a REAL ESTATE BLOG and I SELL MY LISTINGS).

7) I would NOT want to know that my listing agent has a bad reputation for spamming anyone.

8) I would expect my listing agent to be fully abreast of my competition not only when they list the property, but monthly so that we  can make decisions together regarding price changes based on informed knowledge.

9) I would want to know that my listing, regardless if it’s lower than the rest of my agent’s inventory, is getting the same treatment that all of the others do.  If they wanted my business, then respect it. Don’t just take my listing to build your inventory book and treat me like a red-headed step child.

10) Finally, I’d want to know that my agent is knowledgeable, approachable, professional and dedicated to selling my listing as quickly as possible for the highest the market will bear.

Have you done your job?

If you, fellow agents, have some disgruntled listing clients or clients who don’t want to reduce their price even when the market indicates it should, look at the above and see if you have done your job as you would have expected it to be done for your own property.  Where did you fall short?  What can you rectify now?  Build your business around the desired consumer experience and expectation and you can’t go wrong.

You might do all of things, you might do more, and they might seem elementary.  If so, Great, go have a blast on Facebook and bring in more great business from great clients, but if not, get your own house in order before looking for more houses to sell. No pun intended.

PS: I have seen agents (and even myself in moments of weakness) not provide the service above, and when I look back at my less-than-perfect self, I just shake my head, pull up my bootstraps and get back to being that agent that I want to be.  Where I most often fall down is simply letting the clients know what is going on.

I somehow forget that they don’t KNOW their single property site has been viewed 5,000 times, or that there is a foreclosure in the neighborhood that wasn’t there before, etc.  I need to always keep them as informed on their listing as I am so they can feel secure and up-to-date.  That is exactly what I would want to be if it were my home on the market….

This editorial was originally published in 2010 on The American Genius by Janie Coffey.

#giterdone