Episode Transcript
[00:00:09] Speaker A: Welcome to the Bottom Line Me podcast. I'm your host, Ann Allard, and today we're shining a spotlight on something that often gets overlooked in the hustle of contracts, closings and constant multitasking, and that is customer service. In an industry where every day is a juggling act of deadlines, details and deals, it's really easy to forget that clients are the heart of everything that we do. Joining me today is someone who's no stranger to this podcast, Brenda Nelson. Welcome back, Brenda.
[00:00:44] Speaker B: Thanks, Anne.
[00:00:44] Speaker A: It's great to see you.
[00:00:45] Speaker B: It's good to be here.
[00:00:46] Speaker A: Good. Yeah.
When Brenda's not busy engaging with clients, leading her team or solving problems, or even putting out some fires, she steps into the co host role here with me often. And so it's great to have her back.
She brings also a pretty unique hands on perspective. She's deeply immersed in the day to day realities of real estate transactions and truly understands what both professionals and clients are navigating.
Her passion for not just meeting, but consistently exceeding customer expectations makes her the perfect guest for this conversation. Again, welcome back, Brenda.
[00:01:33] Speaker B: Good to be here.
[00:01:34] Speaker A: Great, great. All right, well, let's get into it. Let's start with some basics. Okay.
All right.
In your opinion, what does great customer service mean to you in the context of a real estate transaction?
[00:01:49] Speaker B: Well, you know, in real estate there is a lot of stress.
There's time sensitive. It's lots of people are involved, lots of different people are involved. So different people mean different personalities.
So when it comes to great customer service in our industry, it's not just one thing. I think you can't pinpoint it to be one grand gesture. It's a combination of a lot of little things.
And all of those little things add up and they leave a lasting impression on the customer, on the client.
It's a handwritten note or it's a phone call to follow up or just checking on satisfaction. So it's follow through and getting the job done.
[00:02:30] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. And all those things are really important. But as we both know, it's pretty past our business. It's very fast paced and heavy on a lot of details. So do you think sometimes customer service gets overlooked in our industry?
[00:02:49] Speaker B: Well, that's an interesting question because I'm going to take the middle of the road on it. I'm going to say yes and no. There's two different.
I'm going to talk about no first.
No. Because we live and breathe customer service in real estate. Our entire day is consumed with helping our customers and in turn helping their customers.
So we want to get to the finish line of the transaction and that's what's critical to our success.
So I'm going to say yes, because in many, many times, owners and managers, they assume an employee naturally knows how to serve people.
There's no studying required.
So just to give you an idea, would you actually put somebody on the front desk and show them the phones, show them how to log into the computer and then walk away from them? I mean, you wouldn't do that with a new employee. You would want to make sure that somebody sat with them, talked with them, told them how to answer the phones, how to introduce themselves to someone coming in and help them get acquainted with all of that. And then you could move on after that. But there's a reason why the person at the front desk is called the director of first impressions, because it's really. There's a valid reason for that because they are the ones that first. The first person that people see, the first person they come in contact with, whether it be phone or coming through the door. So it's not natural to a lot of people. Customer service. And we do need to do some training.
[00:04:22] Speaker A: Interesting.
I think sometimes the best lessons come from real life stories that we've all faced or had. Can you share with us any personal story where you feel like exceptional customer service made a difference in a transaction?
[00:04:38] Speaker B: And I'm going to disappoint you because there's really not one story that comes to mind. But I'll say most of the stories that I have revolve around situations that are very tense, upset customers, and being able to diffuse those situations.
In nearly every transaction, you have at least one person that gets upset, whether it be the buyer, the listing agent, whoever. And I think that you have that and you're there to help calm the situation and to bring things into perspective. Because a lot of times they do, they lose perspective.
So in my experience, the number one way to deep escalate a situation is simply by listening.
And that is, you know, stressed people, they don't feel heard, they don't feel understood. And so just listening and understanding where they're coming from. I think you can find out where the stress is coming from and then offer a solution or a remedy.
[00:05:41] Speaker A: Yeah. Or as we know, sometimes they're not looking for a solution, they just want to purge it, prevent it.
[00:05:47] Speaker B: Exactly.
[00:05:48] Speaker A: So I think your suggestion of just listening is a really, really important and a good one. So now let's talk about processes, which I know you love.
[00:05:57] Speaker B: I do, I do.
[00:05:59] Speaker A: With so many moving parts in our typical day. How do you think somebody can balance providing good service while at the same time managing multiple clients and multiple transactions or deadlines?
[00:06:14] Speaker B: Yeah, well, it's a gift, definitely a gift. But I think putting systems in place is one of the biggest assists. I'm a big fan of checklists, of having processes, but I don't think you need to live and breathe them. That's one of the things, you know, strictly adhering to something, checking every single box is mandatory. No, that's not what we're talking about. But what it is, is like in a resale transaction, you know the steps, you know the things that are commonly done, and how to get to the bottom line, how to get the transaction accomplished to closing day.
So I think the other plus to having a process or a system in place is that you're able to update the customer.
You know where you are in every single transaction because you're following the same system, the same process, so you're able to talk to the customer, touch base with the customer periodically, and give them updates. I think being proactive, instead of having someone, like waiting for someone to reach out to me, problem with waiting for someone to reach out to me, what does that person.
What's that person heard? Well, just silence. They haven't heard anything from you. And what does silence create? It causes their imagination to run away from them and what they end up doing is anticipating a problem the worst and it caused. Yes, absolutely. So it's really, really important, I think, to have a system in place, keep everything in order, and help your customer feel that they're part of the process.
[00:07:54] Speaker A: And at the same time, be flexible, as you just said.
[00:07:57] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:08:00] Speaker A: So we agree that consistency is key, especially when you're juggling lots of different things. Right. So are there any systems or habits that you think could ensure that no client ever feels like they're being neglected?
[00:08:15] Speaker B: Well, I mean, we've touched on a few of them already, but I do think keeping them informed, being proactive in the communication, listening to them, figuring out a solution together.
Of course, you know, there's a few clients that you realize that you're never going to make them happy.
It's those situations that I find myself getting anxious.
I want the transaction to just be over so I can move on and it's not enjoyable.
But if you continue to do your part and treat them with respect, and of course, respect with boundaries for yourself, you may in the end receive a compliment from that difficult customer.
[00:08:53] Speaker A: Yeah.
Yeah. Well, let's go back to that, talk a little bit more about that. We know that not every transaction is going to be smooth. So what's your thoughts on how to handle a difficult client or a situation while you maintain that high level of good service or good customer relations?
[00:09:17] Speaker B: I think it's mindset.
I think, no question mindset makes a huge difference.
If you have a negative mindset, it's going to come out to the customers.
They may hear it in your words, but they may see it in your actions as well.
So the opposite is true. Having a positive mindset.
[00:09:36] Speaker A: Mindset. I love talking about mindset.
Anything else you want to share with us on what role you think it has in every interaction you have with a customer?
[00:09:51] Speaker B: Well, I think mindset comes also from where you work.
And I think company culture is a lot of that. And it was hard for me when that phrase came out because I'm like, what in the world does company culture have to do with my job? What does it have to do with who I am?
What does it even mean?
But I'm really happy to say that now I realize that it has everything to do with everything. And if that makes sense, your company culture is about the team from the top down to the bottom, and from the bottom up and how the team works together.
And if your company is supportive of you, if you, well, if they're supportive of you in the day to day and also in your development in your career, then you feel that. I mean, it seeps into what you do and it seeps into how you handle customers, how supported you feel.
So I happen, we happen to work for a company that the company culture draws people in. They want to work here, they want to stay once they're here for the duration of their career. So it's that good.
[00:11:03] Speaker A: I think companies would want to hang around with you. Well, thank you.
I think as you said, you know, culture is really important. And it starts from the top or with management.
[00:11:17] Speaker B: It does.
[00:11:17] Speaker A: And so they're charged often with the training or inspiring of people. So what's your thoughts on that?
[00:11:25] Speaker B: Well, I would make sure that people in the organization saw managers and management showing appreciation for others around you. You know, me too, but you do often praise, rewards, all of that type of thing. It's when people get noticed and recognized.
If they don't get recognized, they get discouraged. I mean, they're thinking, you know, why even do the work, they don't feel seen or appreciated.
But as far as training goes, there's a lot of ways to do it. A lot of ways.
Yeah. I think we need to remind those on the front lines how important servicing the customer is and to keep it top of mind. So with technology, as far as training goes, you have so many options. There are a lot of options.
Don't think assigning lengthy customer service courses is going to do anybody any good. I don't think they're well received.
But maybe create one minute videos with a quick thought or a point that you want to make, sending it through email.
Maybe you could use those videos also for telling them how you're thankful for them giving that appreciation. So there's many ways to show appreciation and to keep your team trained.
[00:12:45] Speaker A: You know, that makes me stop and think about the world we live in today and that so many people work remotely, so they're isolated.
So how do you make sure that their kids keeping customer experience or customer service top of mind and how do you train them?
[00:13:03] Speaker B: Yeah, it's really difficult, I'll say.
One of the things, just from experience, we have a group of examiners that work remotely. They all do all over the country.
And what ends up happening is they have a coffee talk every other week and it's run by their manager. But the manager, there's no topic. It's let's come together and just what's going on. It may be the weather, but it could be basketball. It could be a new computer game that people are playing and they kind of do current events at the beginning, what's going on in the company? What do you need to know?
But then they just start talking and between everybody's on camera. There's between.
Normally between 30 to 35 people, they're all on camera, they're all talking. The chat kind of blows up when people, you know, make funny jokes and different things. But I think that creates the camaraderie. Where before they were all in the office, they could talk over the cubicles, they could talk from office to office.
And now they're able to communicate and see someone, a new employee. They get introduced on coffee talk and people now see them, they know them.
So I think it's really, really important.
[00:14:18] Speaker A: And it's probably a way that remotely you can sort of introduce the culture of your company as well.
[00:14:23] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:14:24] Speaker A: Interesting. Absolutely.
[00:14:26] Speaker B: And they feel seen.
[00:14:27] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:14:27] Speaker B: And they feel heard and a part of something.
[00:14:30] Speaker A: Excellent. I love it.
[00:14:31] Speaker B: And that goes into customer service. These are people that talk to people on the phone, they email people. They may never see a customer physically.
But what you have in that coffee talk carries over to how they treat the customers.
[00:14:47] Speaker A: Yeah, that makes perfect Sense.
I love to talk about the results. How do you know what's working and what the impact is?
Have you seen any measurable impact or things like referrals or repeat business from focusing strictly on customer service?
[00:15:08] Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
[00:15:09] Speaker A: Or making it top of mind.
[00:15:11] Speaker B: Absolutely. I mean, you take the care of your customers and your customers clients. And they remember it. There's no question about it. They remember it. The job you do, the communication you have with them, from listening to their needs to giving progress reports, to solving their issues, diffusing situations, whatever it is, getting them to the bottom line, it shows how much you care about them.
But you showing care to their clients, you're going to get referrals and you're going to get a loyal customer.
[00:15:42] Speaker A: Great.
Well, and it certainly will affect your bottom line.
[00:15:46] Speaker B: Yes, it will. Yes, it will.
[00:15:48] Speaker A: It leads us to the bottom line.
[00:15:50] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:15:51] Speaker A: So here's the question. What advice would you give to someone who's listening today, who wants to improve their client experience?
What's the first thing they could do or what's one thing they could do?
[00:16:05] Speaker B: Keep learning. I think keeping your knowledge up of the industry, every transaction is different, so you're going to have some that are harder than others. But I think debriefing at the end of a transaction and asking yourself, what went right, what went wrong? What could I improve on? What could I do differently? But if you work on a transaction team, you could also take the time to talk maybe once a week and say, how did last week go?
What came up that was unexpected?
What successes did we have? And I think that's really important to be able to share that.
Also put systems in place. You know me, I love my systems and I love my processes, but I think if you put them in place, that alleviates your own stress and it makes for a much calmer experience for the customer.
[00:16:58] Speaker A: Yeah. Oh, great. Well, this was a really fun conversation to have with you. And I know it's something that you're very passionate about and that you constantly work at and lead by example. So thanks again for spending some time with us.
[00:17:12] Speaker B: You're welcome. Thank you for having me. Always love it.
[00:17:15] Speaker A: Great, great. And to our audience, we really appreciate your joining us today. Until we meet again, let's all continue to learn, grow and prosperity.
[00:17:24] Speaker B: Thanks.
