Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:09] Speaker B: Hello, and welcome to the Bottom Line Me podcast. I'm your host, Ann Allard.
Today we're going to explore the power of service in real estate and what happens when it falls short.
My guest had a recent customer service letdown, but instead of moving on, she decided to take a little time and reflect on what it taught her about communication, professionalism, and the small things that make a difference.
Sue.
[00:00:40] Speaker A: Yeah. It's so good to see you.
[00:00:42] Speaker B: Welcome back. I'm glad you got the memo about wearing blue today, too.
[00:00:45] Speaker A: Me, too. Yeah.
[00:00:46] Speaker B: Well, it's great to have you back.
[00:00:47] Speaker A: Thanks so much for having me back, Erin. It's been a while. It has been a while. It's great to be here. Good.
[00:00:53] Speaker B: Well, for those that might not have listened in on a previous conversation we had, can you take a minute and just tell our audience a little bit about yourself, what you do here at Old Republic Title?
[00:01:04] Speaker A: Yes. Hello, everyone. I'm Sue Morgan. I've been with old republic for 20 years now. Currently the Pennsylvania Sales manager for Old Republic Title, working on the agency side of business and helping out with all things sales and some operational stuff for the Pennsylvania business here.
[00:01:22] Speaker B: Well, super. Again, great to see you. Thanks for coming on.
[00:01:26] Speaker A: Thanks for having me.
[00:01:26] Speaker B: All right, so I think a good way for us to start is tell us a little bit about what sparked this conversation on customer service. You had kind of an experience.
[00:01:39] Speaker A: I did, and it's going to be interesting to weave through this. So I'm going to try to keep my blood pressure down and the story short.
So it was an experience with my dentist, and yeah, so it could be a painful experience for some. And it's interesting because, you know when you have one of those scenarios when you walk through the office and you're probably your blood pressure is already high because it's been a situation where it's been building for some time. I think my experience there has been tested a time or two before.
So several weeks prior, my own appointment there was canceled. On my way to the appointment, they called me and my appointment had been canceled. And so then my daughter's appointment had happened.
She had needed a filling redone and a new filling done.
And so while I was there to schedule the appointment, they wanted to charge me for the redo of the filling. And so I was wondering why there was a charge for it. And so I asked the receptionist if she could explain that to me, and she didn't have an answer. And so no call.
She said, well, I can find the doctor for you if you'd like, yes, please. So I had to wait for her to find the doctor. And doctor came out, she's like, well, I heard you had a question. And so.
Well, yes, I understand there's some issue with the current filling. Is there another cavity or what have you. And so I had to wait for this whole long explanation and I had to go through the explanation of it. I said, well, if there was a problem, why is there a charge when you originally did it? Oh no, no, no, there shouldn't be a charge.
Okay, well there is a charge. Oh no, well there shouldn't. So I looked at the receptionist. Well, that's just the way I was told to code it.
Okay, so then could we just remove the charge? And so now we get to the appointment in which this is supposed to be done. And I'm waiting in the waiting room. We're 45 minutes into the appointment and this woman comes out and says, you're going to have to come back next week.
We couldn't finish, so why couldn't you finish? I don't know, but you have to come back next week. Just Friday at 3:00' clock work.
And I said, why? Why couldn't you finish? I've now taken off this afternoon, like to take time, more time off from work. I don't know, I didn't get an explanation. Just three o' clock work. I said, well, I have to look. Well, can you look now?
So, well, I would really like to know. Can we just get it done now?
Well, I don't know, I don't have a reason, but could you look now to see if there are clockworks? Like so okay, so I'll put you down for three.
So my daughter comes out of the appointment and I said, what happened? She's like, I don't know. They started, then they stopped for 20 minutes and then they came back and they did this.
And so I walk out and I said, well, I guess I'm coming back at 3 o' clock next week.
And meanwhile she was scheduled for 3 o' clock that day. They call and confirm and they had moved the appointment up 15 minutes, which also was frequently happening at this office. They continue to move the appointments, cancel the appointments. And so it's a non stop service issue at this place. And so my blood pressure continues to rise.
[00:05:04] Speaker B: Mine's rising right now just hearing this story.
[00:05:07] Speaker A: So we get in the car and I was like, what? Why?
Why couldn't they finish? And she's like, I don't know. But I'm sitting there and like they come in they do this flurry of activity, and then they leave. And there's talk about, like, consent. Was there consent to do?
And then they come back in and they do all the work. And so we started driving away. I'm like, I really just want to know why.
So I turn around and I come back in. I'm like, I'd like to speak to the doctor.
[00:05:39] Speaker B: Okay, makes sense.
[00:05:41] Speaker A: And so the doctor comes out and she's like, well, the top one took a lot longer than I thought it was going to take. And I said, okay, but why couldn't. Like, can we stay a little longer? She's like, well, the office does close. And I said, okay, but how long does the other one take? It's just like, well, I don't know. But I'm like, I have to take time off of work.
Can we just. You've already numb the air. She's like, well, no, no, we didn't.
Well, why not?
Like. Like, it was already scheduled. It's like, well, I guess we could finish it now.
Well, yes, please.
So we ended up staying. It took them 20 minutes to finish it.
[00:06:22] Speaker B: All of that.
[00:06:23] Speaker A: All of that for 20 minutes. Wow.
So as I'm sitting in the car, I ended up sitting in the car, not waiting in the waiting room, because it was freezing cold in the waiting room and I needed, ironically, to cool off.
[00:06:36] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:06:37] Speaker A: But it was really cold.
And though I'm reflecting in the car and I think we'll go down to some of the quick questions of my reflection, but just the frustration of that moment, of the whys behind it.
[00:06:53] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.
[00:06:55] Speaker A: Of the.
My question to her, of the woman who came out of, well, why couldn't you finish? And I don't know. I don't know, but can you come back?
And clearly, that was the answer.
What I. We were scheduling the appointment. Why are you charging me? And why can't you finish? And no one had the answers to that. And we had to go get the doctor, and we had to go get somebody else. And when you had to go get somebody else, it wasn't when they went to go get the doctor.
The woman would like to know why. Yeah, because I think if they had presented that question to the doctor, then they probably would have either come back with the answer, or the doctor would have come out and said, I understand you would like to know why.
[00:07:42] Speaker B: So, yeah, it sounds to me like the trigger was the first response, which was, I don't know. You just have to come back.
[00:07:49] Speaker A: Right.
[00:07:49] Speaker B: And that set the stage for a ugly experience. Really? Or an unhappy one. So I'm kind of curious to know, if you were in the shoes of that person or any one of those people, what do you think you would have done differently? What could they have done differently, aside from listening and all the things we just talked about?
[00:08:16] Speaker A: Well, starting with answering the whys initially, right off the bat.
And that's where I sat in my car and reflected in having the answers to the whys.
And that instantly triggered my frustration.
Right. When you don't have the answer to the why.
And going to the source of the why, like, I understand maybe you, the receptionist, don't have the answers to why I'm being charged. The charge, or the woman who came out and said, you know what, great question. I don't know why they weren't able to finish. Let me find out.
[00:09:02] Speaker B: There you go.
[00:09:02] Speaker A: Right.
[00:09:03] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:09:05] Speaker A: Because as the mother of the child being worked on, probably that is a great question. Who needs to find out, was there an issue with my child or whatever the case may be? Yeah.
But clearly I wanted to know or say, let me grab the doctor and have them come out and answer the question for you. Yeah, but either empower the person to find out the answer or it just.
They weren't trained well enough to help.
[00:09:46] Speaker B: That's what I was thinking.
[00:09:47] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:09:47] Speaker B: It's no training there.
[00:09:48] Speaker A: Yeah. There wasn't a training element there or there wasn't an ownership there of how to resolve the issue.
[00:09:56] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:09:58] Speaker A: So that was my first reflection. And then shortly thereafter, we had our own little customer service issue here in the office in which we dropped the ball on an issue and we had a number of agents calling up looking for a response to a project. And I had to respond that we.
We did not perform as we should. And so I had to let them know that we dropped the ball and didn't want to have run anybody over with the bus. And there were a couple of us who. It was an oversight. I was like, yep, this was a trifecta of errors here. And so we're working on it and it's going to be delayed and I'm sorry for the inconvenience and I'm keeping an eye on it. As soon as it's resolved, I will give you a heads up and let you know.
But it's a problem and I'm so, so sorry about it. And I owned it. And. And that's what you got to do.
[00:11:01] Speaker B: Yeah. Well, I was going to ask you, how do we connect the dots from a story at the dentist to a real Estate and title, you know, industry and how relationships really in our business are everything.
And so I think a single bad service moment can really have a long term impact on the next deal from that person. Your reputation out in, on the streets or even losing a referral from someone who experienced bad service. So, you know, any thoughts or comments on, you know, what to do? I love the fact that you said the thing you have to do is own it. It's you make a mistake, you have to own it. If you don't know the answer, find a better way to let somebody know without just saying, I have no idea.
[00:11:54] Speaker A: Yeah. And the, the other aspect is, I know in our industry there's going to be times when you're going to walk into a closing, you're going to walk into an issue or transaction and you're going to know that there's going to be a person in that room that's not going to be happy because things went sideways before you got to the closing table. Yeah.
Try to clear the air before you get into the room. Because knowing how I felt before I even got into that appointment, I said to my daughter before we even pulled into the parking lot that day, God, I hate this place. And I can't wait till our insurance changes and we can find another dentist. Like, my mindset that day was already, I hate this place. Ah.
And so I was already feeling on edge about it.
And I think if you have the opportunity to change the mindset before you get to the transactional table, try to do it.
Because if you're going to be in a room with other people, you want to clear the air before that edge can reflect on something else. And other relationships that are going to be there.
I know it's probably going to be difficult. Nobody likes to try to stir the pot with somebody who's not, you know, is already on edge with you. But if that has any opportunity to contaminate the waters with other people, then you have to try to do it and they'll respect you for it. Right. Because if you own it, like I said, if you own the fact that you perhaps drop the ball someplace else, then why wouldn't they respect you for trying to say, yep, you know what, I bid it, you expected me to do it better or this went sideways and that wasn't what you expected this transaction to look like, I should have owned it in a different way.
They'll probably look at you in a different light, but don't let it get to a point where they're walking into that room. With a perspective of you that shouldn't be and has that opportunity to turn your, turn the whole transaction against you.
[00:14:25] Speaker B: Then it has a larger cost to it usually. But you know, all right, let's move away from self reflection and take a look at what goes on behind the scenes. Because, you know, not everybody is directly interacting with the customer or the client every day, but yet they still can contribute to, you know, the experience.
So are there anything ways that you think somebody could contribute to that experience even though they're not directly interacting with them?
[00:14:55] Speaker A: I do. And I think there's a lot of things that people perceive about the process that they might not be willing to share. So sometimes like having a team meeting and asking the entire group, what are you thinking about how we're servicing our overall customers and what could we be doing better? And allowing the team to share those thoughts.
Because even though they might not be intimately involved in every part of the process, they're seeing what's going on. They're seeing how the interaction is taking place, how maybe efficiently they're servicing the customer or how they're communicating. And perhaps it's not moving as well as it could be. Or there could be a blip in the communication process in which if it flowed a little bit smoother, people would be happier.
Or if one piece of the process moved a little bit differently, it would flow a little bit better.
Opening up that streamline of communication might be the piece of the puzzle that helps just overall service everyone a little bit better. So I think bringing in everyone might open up those lines of communication and overall service your whole clientele a little bit better.
And keep in mind that just because they're not customer facing doesn't mean that they're not your best salesperson. Everyone who touches any aspect of the process is a salesperson.
So they have a piece to contribute to your overall operation. And so having a 10 minute sales, not sales meeting per se, but, but a meeting to talk about how you're servicing your clientele with just that in mind might change the overall perspective of how you're operating. And you might be surprised at how that turns out.
[00:16:54] Speaker B: Yeah. You know, over and over again it's communicating with each other that makes a big difference. And I think, I love that suggestion. And I think it also gives everybody an opportunity to feel as though they make a contribution.
Thanks. That's really a great suggestion.
So here's another one. You know, we often hear that it's the little things that can have the biggest impact. I just want to unpack that with you a little bit. I know that's one of your favorite phrases.
Any small but meaningful things that anybody in the business can do to make a client feel either more valued, especially when something goes wrong and it doesn't have to be something big, There are any little things that you think can really contribute to maybe mending the fences or just making the experience a little bit better.
[00:17:50] Speaker A: Well, like I said earlier, own it.
I think that's the biggest piece. Don't hide it. You got to own it.
And then, so, I don't know, I feel like asking what you could do to make it right. You know, if something doesn't go right, how would you feel if somebody said to you, all right, so we blew it.
What could we do to make it right?
[00:18:18] Speaker B: Ooh, so the interviewee becomes the interviewer, right?
Well, I love that question. I love to have an opportunity to make something right. So I would welcome someone saying to me, I know we blew it. What can we do to fix this or make it better? And at the same time, I think it's a good lesson for me. As you say, your experience has taught you to go back and reflect.
I think it's a question always worth asking ourselves and sharing with somebody that either we were the cause of the bad experience or we were the recipient of it. So, yeah, how'd I do?
[00:18:59] Speaker A: I. I think. I think you did well. I mean, I've never been afraid of showing up with a bag of Blow Pops and saying, yep, blew that one.
[00:19:05] Speaker B: And I love it.
[00:19:07] Speaker A: We'll try again. And, you know, so sometimes you try a little humor, sometimes you try with it. You know, I'll. I'll do over. But you. You have to, depending on how big the oopsie is. But, yeah, you.
You gotta own it and then meet them where they're at in trying to repair the issue. And worst comes to worse, really coming down to the heart of the matter and saying, what is it going to take to fix what we did wrong and what can we do to make it right? Because usually in the person's mind, they have it in their head of what it's going to take to repair.
Right.
[00:19:48] Speaker B: We all know what we expect and how we want to be treated. So, yeah, it's an easy question to.
[00:19:54] Speaker A: Answer for most of us.
[00:19:55] Speaker B: Yeah. Unless we're just unhappy in general. But, you know, so let's. Let's shift again and talk about somebody that's new in our industry, because this can be challenging for new people in the industry.
What. How would you approach or what would you say to a new employee who's having problems or is handling a difficult client, keeping in mind that you want them to be able to show some empathy, but at the time, same, same time, you got to stay professional.
[00:20:25] Speaker A: Right. Right. So first things first. Get some training too, you know, like, because customer service, especially if you're in that role, everybody's in a customer service role.
Talk to your manager. How to handle customer service in the. The role that you're in. What are the types of clients that you're going to be dealing with? How should you be handling customer service in that particular area?
How should you be responding to phone calls? What are the types of calls you're going to be receiving and what's the expectation of handling those calls?
How to navigate those waters, per se in the situation going back to the dentist?
What's the normal response that you should give in those types of scenarios and the professional way to respond to it?
When I was going back more than 25 years ago.
Yes. Professionally, how to respond to some of those calls, I did have to have a team meeting and say, okay, so if there's language that's being used that's not so professional. I didn't want my team to be berated by folks on the phone. So we talked about how do you end a call professionally when there was.
[00:21:43] Speaker B: When you just want to hang up.
[00:21:44] Speaker A: Well, you just want to hang up. And so we talked through, you know, hey, I understand that you're angry right now. And I get.
Maybe we just need to talk through this when you're not so angry about the situation. And I will be here, and you're more than welcome to give me a call during that time. Until then, let's just end this call and we can talk through it then.
And so there are ways, but you got to talk through it with your manager and have it scripted out and be ready to execute it when that time comes.
So have a game plan in play, and managers do a training session so that their team is prepared and is ready to go when the time comes.
[00:22:27] Speaker B: Yeah, especially if you're on the front line and you're not used to it.
We're all going to take a hit now and then from customers because we are in an industry where people's emotions run high. And I guess in the dentist's office, they do as well. As you pointed out right at the beginning, they're anxious anyway when you go to the dentist. But, you know, certainly the interaction you have, a little empathy might have gone a long way. Yeah. And a little more professionalism certainly would have so great lessons from that story. So thank you.
[00:22:58] Speaker A: Yeah, who knew.
[00:22:59] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:23:00] Speaker A: Who knew that a trip to the dentist would lead us here to a table on a bottom mi podcast? Yeah.
[00:23:05] Speaker B: Well, I think you just led to the bottom line. All right, so give us a bottom line here. If somebody wants to improve how they can serve their clients better, what's one simple thing that or one simple habit or practice they can begin to implement today that will, that will ultimately improve that customer relationship or that customer experience.
[00:23:30] Speaker A: Be empathetic.
Be genuine.
Be you.
[00:23:36] Speaker B: Well said.
I think those are three words that are worth remembering.
And with that, thanks so much for joining us.
Always great to be with you and see you and I love your outfit again.
Until we see you again. I really appreciate you and thanks again to our audience.
Always thank you for joining us. We really appreciate your taking the time to listen in. Till next time, we hope you'll all keep learning, growing and prospering. Thanks.
[00:24:07] Speaker A: Thank you.
