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ADVANCING THE BALL;
OR
WHAT WOULD IT TAKE TO
IMPROVE ON CUSTOMER SATISFACTION
By Jim “Gymbeaux” Brown, September 1, 2011
As you read this, remember, a customer is EVERYONE you interact with.
You have probably heard that a “chain is only as strong as
its weakest link”. Surprise, so is a
committee, a group, a team and especially a company.
It is no surprise that when you do something correctly a
handful of people will be pleased but you will be lucky if they “pass the word”
about your proficiency to more than 5 others.
Do something wrong and the customer or cooperating agent
will tell the world! The world! They will do so by word-of-mouth, by
Facebook, by Twitter, by Linkedin, etc.
What can we learn from this?
Do things correctly – FIRST & ALWAYS!
Each of us may be independent contractors and that is a good
thing. But being independent does not
mean being free to NOT perform as a Professional Real Estate Agent and more
importantly a Professional Keller Williams Realty Professional. The
actions of one not only adversely affect the 85 other members of the team, it
eventually affects the over 77,000 members of the Keller Williams Family.
IT DOES NOT STOP
THERE. Just as it is possible for a
Butterfly to flap its wings in New York and ultimately create a wind storm in
San Francisco; the failure of just one real estate agent could adversely affect
the reputation and production of over one million licensed real estate agents
throughout North America. You are NOT alone. Your actions or inactions count in everything
you do! Everything!
Actions have consequences!
Every action has an equal and just as powerful reaction!
I would highly recommend reading the following books:
·
The Power of Professionalism by Bill Wiserma
·
The Speed of Trust, by Stephen M. R. Covey
·
The Little Teal Book of Trust by Jeffrey Gitomer
One over-riding theme discussed in these books is that it
takes years, maybe a lifetime, to build trust with your customers, teammates
and even your family. But it takes a
split second to destroy that trust that in some cases can never be restored.
Part of building trust occurs when the people you work with
feel that they can count on you to do the right thing – even when no one is
watching – especially when no one is
watching.
To demonstrate what this means would be impossible if I were
not to identify the behavior observed within the real estate industry over my
32 years in the business. Pointing this
out hardly indicates that I am perfect, far from it. I do, however, observe people and that is one
form of learning.
Just as you should identify what the 20% of agents who are
creating 80% of the business are doing, you should also learn from what 80% of
the agents who are creating only 20% of the business are doing. If you watch closely what other people do, or
not, you discover it is difficult to produce great results when you repeatedly
and adversely affect the public’s impression of the real estate industry. A lot of this type of agent activity falls within
the 80%. So here we go, on a scale of 1
to 10, with 1 being “I don’t do this” to 10 being “I do this all the time,
without fail” how would you grade yourself in regards to:
- Complete every blank on every form, really do you do this?
- Submit paperwork ASAP (that means As Soon As Possible for you-know-who)
- Return telephone calls as soon as possible
- Return text messages as soon as possible
- Be learning based, attend classes, read books, become better at what you do
- You are NOT judgmental about other people in the business
- You do NOT take transactions personally; you remain an unbiased third party negotiator
- You do NOT spread gossip; trust me, the REALTOR GRAPE VINE is very much alive and well and that is not a good thing!
- Celebrate other people’s victories
- Help solve problems; you do not become part of the problem
- Teach and guide others; remember everyone, including you, started somewhere
- Read and study the REALTOR Code of Ethics at least annually
- Read and study the Real Estate Commission Rules & Regulations at least annually
- Lead by example in a good way!
Do unto others as you
would have done unto you. That does
not mean sometimes - it means all the time.
If you want others to be “professional” towards you, you must be
professional towards them (actually everyone, especially the people you may not
particularly like). If you want
customers to refer future business to you; you must be and do your work as a
professional for them. If you talk about other people; you will be
talked about yourself. If that is not a
universal law it should be!
There once was a village elder who was looked upon and
respected for his knowledge, experience and wisdom. A younger villager was jealous towards the
elder and began spreading malicious gossip about the elder to anyone who would
listen.
Realizing what he had done, he wanted to apologize to the elder
who graciously accepted a request to meet with him. At the meeting the youngster told him what he
had done and asked for the elder’s forgiveness; so far so good.
The elder said with a smile that he would accept his apology
on one condition; here it comes. The
youngster was to take a feather pillow to the highest point overlooking the
village and cast the feathers to the wind.
The youngster was eager to earn the elder’s respect and forgiveness to
he gladly did as requested and quickly returned to proudly report his action to
the elder.
The elder then said, “Son, now gather all the feathers that
have been dispersed by the wind and bring them to me.”
The youngster was shocked and cried that it was impossible;
the wind had spread the feathers about the country.
The elder said, “That is correct. Just as you cannot retrieve feathers spread
by the four winds, nor can you retrieve words spoken as truth, as lies, or
based upon a personal agenda.”
This story clearly demonstrates the power of words – both
good and bad. Once spoken - they can
never be retrieved. So my advice would
be to THINK before you speak or act and
consider the consequences BEFORE you
say what you want to say or do. Is what
you are about to say true? Is what you
are about to do going to enhance your reputation or help destroy it? How do you know for sure? What will be accomplished by what you say or
do? Who will be helped? Who will be hurt? Vince Lombardi once said, “Gentlemen, this is
a football. The object is to advance the
ball and score.” Or something to that effect.
It could not be more basic.
Using Joe Tye’s Direction-Deflection-Question (DDQ), you
should always ask and answer the following question:
Is what I am about to
say or do going to “advance the ball?”
The answer: If YES –
say or do it; if NO – don’t say or do it!
The “ball” in this case would be to become more professional
in what you say and do. Think about this
– please. This is not how a great many
in our business think. They should! In our business we are like actors on a
stage. Our every move and our every word
is being watched by the eyes of critics and everyone is a critic! Did
you move the ball forward or did you fumble the ball when you had the
opportunity to move it forward? There
is no standing still!
Food for thought:
Would you want your children to read about what you said to a customer –
especially in anger; what you said to or about a colleague; what you did or
failed to do; what you thought or failed to think; how you helped or failed to
help, especially a colleague and have it all printed on the headlines of the
local newspaper.
INTEGRITY – do the right thing; especially when no one is
watching or listening!
My uncle would always ask me, “Jim, did you ring the cash
register today?” What he meant was did I
learn anything or did I accomplish anything.
It is possible to accomplish both good things and not-so-good
things. I prefer to ask, “Did you
advance the ball today!” And as Clint
Eastwood would say, “Well did ya?”
If NOT why NOT?
And my favorite quote from whom I don’t know is:
Do you brighten a
room when you enter or when you leave?
Are you sure?
