by Jeff Kempe

Realtor, Associate Broker

Author website

I’ve mentioned before a friend of mine who’s a broker in Phoenix; we talk perhaps once a month. Several weeks ago he told me about a conversation he’d had with someone in my office that stunned me, and I’m not easily stunned. I asked “are you sure?” three times, then asked him to please put it in an email, which he did. He’s now said he’s willing to be deposed. Here’s the email he sent:

Hi Jeff,

I wanted to let you know that I had a conversation with a fellow agent of yours, [redacted], two weeks ago. She had called me because my client’s are moving to Oregon and happened to look at one of her listings. She was asking if I thought their house was priced right and how long it would take to sell it. I told her I was from Tigard and knew you.

She said you were very pushy, arrogant and a jerk. I told her that she must be talking about someone else and I described you. She said no it definitely was you and that she would never do her business the way you do and that you are a little unethical in your business practices.

I felt you might want to know what she was saying about you.

‘Arrogant’ in the postmodern twenty-first century refers to anyone who actually believes what he says and says it. Guilty. If by ‘pushy’ this person meant someone who insists people to follow through on promises, guilty again. ‘Jerk’ is so manifestly subjective that it’s meaningless.

But ‘unethical’? That’s slander.

Now: This person is a mega-producer, in business for twenty five years. I’ve been in the business a little over three. I did a few open houses for her up until a year ago – I learned email to her was a decidedly foreign concept – but we’ve never been on opposite sides of a transaction. By both reputation and public record this is her SOP: the climb to the top has been with cleats on the backs of others; I suspect everyone reading Read more

by Lani Anglin

Real Estate Rainmaker

Author website

Seth Godin wrote this week about the customer service call centers set up with conflicting goals.  Regarding his experience with PayPal:

The desired outcome (I go away) doesn’t seem like it’s aligned with the corporate goals (I stick around).

Most call centers reward employees for non-escalated calls and for shorter calls.  I experience this primarily when I call Sprint or the cable company (especially tech support).  The script doesn’t include actual help, it is designed to herd you off the phone or to a different department to boost their individual stats.

What does this have to do with real estate?  We’re in a customer service industry designed to retain clients, but I would say that most Realtors and lenders fail.  [Disclaimer: I’m not a licensed Realtor and although I work in the industry, I maintain a client-like perspective.]

Just try calling a listing agent from your cell.  Naturally, there is rarely an answer.  Occassionally, you’ll get a call back, but if you’re a Realtor or an industry professional (and not an unrepresented buyer), the tone frequently changes and you’re shuffled off the phone.  Try emailing a listing agent and perhaps within 36-48 months you’ll receive a reply, but chances are they’ll never open your message.  The difficulty is that many readers are here to better their profession and this problem does not apply to them but we must all self-evaluate.  As for our company, agents have been let go for lack of communication (yes, you heard that correctly- agents are let go) and lenders (most notably processors) have been let go for lack of communication as well.

Don’t be part of the “not my problem” problem- answer your phone even if you don’t recognize the number.  Don’t ever make a caller feel as if they are unimportant, whether they are a buyer, seller or fellow agent.  Return messages promptly, and if you say you’re going to call by 11am, call by 11am or be prepared at 12pm to call with an apology. 

Let’s change this industry from one equivalent to Seth’s terrible experience with PayPal into the customer service beacon it should be.