As states began to reopen their economies over the last few months, it quickly became commonplace for agents to provide masks, gloves and hand sanitizer to clients when hosting open houses or in-person showings. But this is just the beginning of how we can go beyond the normal call of duty. As challenging as our jobs have been recently, it has also opened up a few pockets of opportunity for how we can serve our clients.
The first place to look is in-person showings. Even if you do have an in-person showing, it is worth taking a video as you go through each room with your clients. If they happen to be on the fence about buying after taking a tour, and would want to tour the property again to look at it more closely under normal circumstances, they’ll have the video to go back to instead of having to arrange another in-person visit. As you’re touring the property, take a variety of different video clips—not more than a minute or two each—so that they don’t take up all the memory on your phone or device and can upload quickly. Once the showing is finished, upload the clips to a cloud-based storage site such as Google Drive or Dropbox and send the link to your clients. Use file names that incorporate the buyer’s last name, such as SmithKitchen123MainStreet, to add a small sense of ownership to the property while your buyers are in the process of deciding whether to make an offer.
Hopefully your clients have been able to maintain their employment throughout this challenging time, but since this is a topic on everyone’s mind, demonstrate your in-depth knowledge of the local area by letting them know about companies within driving distance that may be a good fit for them if their situation does change. Not only does this highlight how well you know the area, but it also shows that you care about your clients and appreciate what skills and expertise they bring to the table. Additionally, if your clients are comfortable discussing day-to-day financial decisions with you, it may be helpful to share your knowledge regarding ways they can conserve costs while living in the neighborhood—whether it’s the hidden away gas station that offers lower prices or low-cost activities where they can take their kids or friends visiting from out of town.
Customer service has always been a core principle of real estate, and COVID hasn’t done anything to change this part of our business. What it has done is shown us new ways to provide value to our clients that can last long after the pandemic has receded.
Allen Alishahi is president of ShelterZoom. For more information, please visit www.shelterzoom.com.
