In real estate sales, there is a lot more to successful customer service than dealing with just customers and clients. Any agent who wants to stay in business needs to build a professional relationship with other realtors too. In real estate listing is the game. Homes are listed in multiple listing services, and thousands upon thousands of other selling realtors are there to sell a listed home.
The goal of every customer relationship is to be able to communicate with each other. Whether it is by email, telephone, cell phone, interoffice communication, or social media, relationship marketing counts for other business people and organizations. For instance, a South Carolina furniture manufacturer sells to a Palm Beach interior designer. Fabrics are ordered, designs are met, and delivery dates are agreed. The designer pays the manufacturer on time, and the furniture manufacturer is confident the order was done correctly and is able to deliver a quality product in a timely manner.
We know that business to business relationships always don’t proceed as smoothly as the above example, so here are a few tips which can facilitate better relationships with clients and other business partners:
- Communicate clearly with each other. Make sure your orders are clear. Everything has to be in writing. Never say, “I told you to do that about a month ago when we spoke on the phone.”
- In a business to business relationship, pay vendors on time. In turn vendors will likely deliver on time.
- Don’t assume you are smarter than anyone else. Being humble in business to business relationships make you approachable and people want to work with you. It can get very tenuous when an individual becomes arrogant and uncooperative.
- Never promise or commit to more than you can handle.
- Welcome new ideas from your partners or business relationships.
- If you make a mistake, admit it and fix it. Follow up in your business relationships. Other organizations will have more respect for you.
- Thank all of your business relationships for working with and for you. Even if you’re the owner of an elite Palm Beach boutique, that lady who does your alterations will always appreciate a thank you and an “atta girl.”
- Never be selfish or greedy. We all want businesses to respect all of us.
With so much traditional marketing fading away, there is still one main factor that will never go the route of the extinct dinosaur, and that is the most reliant word of mouth referrals. It is surprising what a small world it actually is, and how the business of life so often meets up with the life of our businesses.
photo credit: thomasy7
