As a Seller, Here’s What to Expect – Showings and Feedback
When you have your home on the market for sale with The Bunch Real Estate Group, we will provide a Supra Lockbox for agent showing access and control. Real Estate Agents with prospective buyer clients will contact you (as the Seller) at the number we provide in the MLS and arrange for a time to come by to show your house. Each time an agent accesses your lockbox, there will be an electronic stamp and the system will email us with the time and the agent’s contact information. Here is an example below:
For safety and security it is important that we keep a record of every person that gains access to your house during the time it is on the market. So, if you let someone in please make sure you know who they are. If it is a showing agent and you happen to be home, please ask them to access the lockbox anyway so we can log them in as having shown or seen your property. Professional agents should have no problem with this request. In fact, they should expect it. If there are any concerns, do not hesitate to call us immediately. Lockbox access also will be the same for other full-time service providers during the process like the buyer’s home inspector, the appraiser and the termite inspector. Typically they have a lockbox key of their own and be able to gain access without you having to be home.
Seeking Feedback after a Showing
Listing Agents have various ways to go about obtaining feedback after a showing from a phone call to sophisticated automation. These days more and more agents are using automated email systems for collecting feedback. Our approach is different – perhaps because when we are showing property we HATE getting automated emails with generic questions about what our clients thought about the house. If I am going to take the time to give feedback on one of our showings, I want talk to a human being that really wants to hear my feedback. Believe me, I really want to return the courtesy of giving feedback because I know how much feedback means to me when we get it on our listings. It’s just that generic questions turn me off and they give me the impression that the agent does not really care about specific feedback. Call me old school – I want to have a two-way conversation.
So, years ago we came up with a simple approach and it has been so well received that we get great feedback nearly every time! We call it our “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg” email and it goes like this:
“I could sing you that song, but I’d much rather hear from you what you thought of 123 MAIN STREET, ATLANTA, GA when you showed it! Here are some photos to jog your memory. And the home is priced at $5,000,000” (pick a number – our email works in all price ranges). It works because it makes showing agents laugh and it feels personal. It also stands out among all of the other emails they are getting. Not to mention the fact that I am actually willing to sing that song if need be to get feedback for our clients. Below is a video if you would like to hear the professionals sing it 😉
[embedplusvideo height=”450″ width=”700″ editlink=”http://bit.ly/1CcX5Ke” standard=”http://www.youtube.com/v/crWSG6liT5Y?fs=1&vq=hd720″ vars=”ytid=crWSG6liT5Y&width=760&height=599&start=&stop=&rs=w&hd=1&autoplay=0&react=1&chapters=¬es=” id=”ep4941″ /]
Getting Quality Feedback
Getting quality feedback after a showing is really the goal. Our”Ain’t Too Proud to Beg” email is just a winsome way to get the showing agent to respond to us. Once they do, we approach showing feedback like investigative journalism. We “interview” each showing agent we reach to thank them for showing our listing and see how we can help them with their buyer. We want to know what their buyer is looking for, how large of an area they are looking in, what is really driving their search. Ideally, the discussion will lead to helping overcome any obstacles that may be in the way of an offer. If it looks like our listing is not a good fit, at least we know more about where our competition is. Then we will pay special attention to any nearby sales to see if that agent shows up as the selling agent on one of the competing properties. This kind of feedback provides crucial data so we can advise our sellers of any adjustments that need to be made along the way in order to get their house SOLD.
Agent won’t Return my Call or Email
The frustrating reality is though that No Feedback is feedback. No system works 100% of the time and ours is not immune to being ignored. If the showing agent is super busy and our listing is not in the running, we may not get a response. If our listing is a top contender, we will probably not get a response – because they do not want to tip their hand that their client has serious interest. We will know which case we have in a couple of days. Buyers will not be denied something they want. If the buyer has any interest in making an offer – we will know about it in a few days. If we have to chase them down… there is probably no use. Whining, shaming and scolding will only burn up good will and sound desperate. We are better off leaving the door open for them to come back if their other choices do not work out. Our approach: kill them with kindness and stay in touch. Things can change. Another buyer could nab their first choice and they could be back 🙂
