Dear Jean and Tom,
Hi, this is Marc Davison, General Manager of Davison Real Estate. In conjunction with Margaret Hill, your agent, I want to personally welcome you to your new home, and our community. This is a great place to live.
I know that between unpacking and decorating, you probably have your hands quite full so we thought you might enjoy taking a break and joining us for our monthly company barbecue at Islay Park on Sat, May 16th. We want to get to know you better and introduce you to other new families that have also just moved into the neighborhood. There will be fun and games for the kids and some great housewarming gifts.
It starts at 1:00. You need not bring a thing.
Lastly, please take a moment to fill out this simple customer service feedback survey (a link would be provided) it will help us learn more about how we perform and hopefully improve our performance standards.
Sincerely,
Marc Davison
General Manager
Davison Real Estate
The 5 questions would be as follows and answers would be in the form of a Unsatisfactory, Satisfactory and Excellent rating:
1. How would you rate our level of service?
2. How would your rate our knowledge and expertise?
3. How would you rate our website?
4. How would you rate our professionalism?
5. How would you rate our experience against your expectations?
What if you were Jean and Tom and received this from the owner of the company your agent worked for?
What if you were the company owner that sent it?
What if you were the agent?
Would this not be a service that differentiates a broker and the agent?
Could this be a step towards creating a connection with customers that would move their opinion about real estate folk in a positive direction?
What do you think?
– Davison
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I am really interested to see what agents think. When I was a manager for a company, lets call them Millennium 12, I did this exact thing sans the Marc Davision signature.
After some agents post their thoughts I will share how it went over in my offices.
Daren,
I’d venture to say that your agents didn’t like you doing this because they thought you were interfering with the relationship between the customer and them.
That's exactly the same thing I emailed Darin this morning. I am hoping we can get some dialogue going that delves into the fear of "interference" and explores the features, benefits and advantages of working together with a company head, with a company of agents and their cleint base to create a powerful new experience for everyone.
Marc and I did have a great exchange this morning by email.
Marc hits it dead on. FEAR. My question for agents, "Why are you afraid to have your broker/manager trying to enhance your business?"
To broker/managers, "Why are you afraid to do what would be right for the consumer, your agent and your brokerage?"
Imagine getting a letter of gratitude from the CEO of Prada after you swing through your favorite retail location.
Imagine getting an email from the CEO of Jet Blue inviting you be part of a Jet Blue event.
Imagine receiving a private invitation from the Board of Directors of BOA in conjunction with your favorite mortgage partner thanking you for your business.
Imagine what it would mean to a homeowner to get an email from the owner of a company who adds their footprint, their good name to the experience.
Imagine a Sat afternoon event where 200 agents show up along with all their new clients for the month and everyone gets to mingle.
Seth Godin talks about building up a following of 1000 core diehards and building an empire from it.
Is this not one path towards doing that?
I would love if the broker or owner of my company did something to "enhance" my business. Unfortunately, it mostly goes the other way. Company website sometimes makes the top 10 pages of google while my website and blog are both on page 1. We have tried to tell them for years that the internet is the name of the game, but they don't know enough to care.
As for the specifics of your idea- I personally send out a similar feedback form (which will get some tweaking after your input), but don't do the event. Any ideas how such an event might work in a small vacation market?
This form of relationship building and follow-up pays off a hundred-fold. This effort personalizes the company beyond the agent and conveys an uncommon message: "The customer matters to us." Great marketing for any business.
I would suspect the best way to please all parties involved would be to give the agent the option for these letters to be sent to their clients.
Michael,
I think the overall point that Marc is trying to get at is a united brand. Everyone offering the same services.
Starbucks wouldn't be the brand they are if some stores offered consumers to make up their own drinks and other stores said you have to order off the menu.
A brokerage letting agents pick and choose how the consumer gets served could dilute the brokerage brand.
I'm on the right track Marc?
Yes, you are right on track.
A brokerage letting agents do whatever they want doesn't dilute the brokerage brand. It tells me that there is probably no brand to dilute.
But what I am also after is offering readers verse and chorus on how to build a brand by creating things that no only stand out as different, but that offer benefits that carry meaning. It's what's inside that meaning that builds a brand.
I'm running out of ways to say this – building a brand doesn't result from tri-fold Hobbs Herder brochures. Creating a website with your picture on it and a bunch of real estate cliche is not brand building.
You build a brand by believing in something transitional, something meaningful, something uniquely yours and delivering it as a company wide experience to the consumer through every single touch point of your brand. Every single one. That means, every one of the agents who operate under that brand mark.
Posing dressed in a St Louis Cardinal baseball jersey, holding a bat against your chest and smiling to the tag line, "I'll hit a home run for you in every deal" is NOT BRAND BUILDING. It's borderline stupid, meaningless and empty and I have seen more than my share of these to last 20 lifetimes.
If you own a brokerage, if you work at a brokerage and if you all cannot find a way to leverage your collective greatness to establish an experience you can deliver across the board and impact the marketplace in a profound way, then you are missing out on the wonders of what brand building can deliver.
This is a great idea and a good way to know if you're accomplishing what you set out to do. At the end of a conversation, I'll often ask a client, "How else can I help you?". Their reaction is very positive and sometimes the feedback is surprising.
Daren,
I’d venture to say that your agents didn’t like you doing this because they thought you were interfering with the relationship between the customer and them.