8DollarFarming blog

I often write about the importance of not just meeting, but exceeding your clients’ expectations.  But what I think is interesting is how small the difference can be, and how easy it can be to cross over from competent (meeting expectations) to exceptional.

The crossover from competent to exceptional is important because it’s this difference which generates referral business.

If you were competent, you’ll have a client who is satisfied, and who will probably use you again in the future.  But your client probably isn’t actively talking you up to their friends & coworkers - and if somebody asks them about you, their response might be “my Realtor was good; here’s his number.”

On the other hand, if you were exceptional, your client is going to feel special and is going to brag about you.  (people always like to believe they got the best one of whatever they’re comparing.)  They’ll go out of their way to tell people about you.  But the conversation point won’t be about your service in general; it’ll be about something specific you did that makes a great story (and bragging/selling point).

It’s important to note you can’t be exceptional if you’re not competent.  This means you can’t be average (or worse, disappointing) during the transaction, and then hope to elevate yourself to exceptional with an over-the-top house-warming gift or some other gesture.  If you want repeat and referral business, you need to be great throughout the entire buying or selling process.

Here are a few of my personal examples; these clients enjoy bragging about me and continue to send me referrals.

Daily Updates.

Tom was a project manager who worked in a big office for a big company.  He was detail oriented, knowledgeable, smart, friendly, and well respected.  He also asked lots of questions.  He worked with large groups of engineers, analysts, and computer programmers.  I knew from the very beginning I would only be able to impress Tom by staying ahead of his questions.

I started sending Tom an email to his office every night, which would be the first email he would read the next morning.  It was a simple email - maybe a paragraph or two, and a few bullet points outlining what we accomplished today, what we were going to work on tomorrow, and what loose ends were still outstanding.  The first couple of days Tom called me to say how much he appreciated it; then it took on a life of its own.

Tom began sharing (bragging) about me & my email to the guys at work, and pretty soon they were all following Tom’s transaction like guys at a sports bar watching the updated scores scrolling across the bottom of the tv screen.

Over the years I’ve had more than a few referrals from Tom & his colleagues.

The House Painting.

Anthony bought a beautiful house with stunning views.  He is also a big fan of art and has impeccable taste.  I took a great picture of Anthony’s new home (lots of pictures, actually) which captured the home and the views.  I then used photo-editing software to create a water color portrait, and ordered an extra large print from an online photo processing site.  Finally I had the picture framed, and brought it with me as a housewarming gift the first time Anthony invited me over to see his home.

I knew he was going to say thank you, and I knew he would think it was a thoughtful gesture, but I wasn’t sure he would like it enough to display it.  Fortunately he did.  The picture is now hanging in his living room, and everybody who comes through the house gets to hear the story of where the picture came from and how great his Realtor was.

The Drive Across Town.

Brenda bought a home in a suburb in one of the far reaches of town.  She moved in and had some redecorating work done, after which she invited me over to see the difference.  The home looked great, and as she gave me the tour she pointed out an open space on the wall where she was going to hang a sconce she had her eye on, but it was from a store on the other side of town (over an hour away) and she hadn’t gotten over there yet.

Two weeks later I happened to be on the other side of town, just down the street from the store Brenda mentioned.  I gave her a call to see if I could pick the sconce up for her while I was over there.  It took a little bit of effort, with Brenda describing it first to me and then to the store manager, but eventually we found just the right piece.

Much like Anthony, today Brenda tells everybody the story of the sconce, and how anybody who needs a Realtor is crazy to not call me.

Bottom Line

There’s not a magic formula, but it’s pretty easy to see a pattern.  As a Realtor, start by being competent - very competent.  Then do something better!

**note - the names and stories have been modified for this example.