HOW DO YOU BUILD LOYALTY?

A question I get asked from time to time and ask my self more times than I care to remember. How DO you build loyalty? Back in the day, it was an accepted fact that people had their doctor, banker, lawyer, realtor and on and on. People had a true allegiance to the others they did business with. It was a true symbiotic arrangement and both parties usually benefited from that agreement for a long time. Not any more, it would seem. It’s been said that 15% of all buyers will just go to the cheapest available. Whether that is a purchase of any sort or even when selling your most valuable possession – your home. Quality? Meh. As long as I can keep more for myself who cares? Why else do you think there was such a proliferation of the mere posting brokerages that would charge you a flat rate (By the way – read the small print) All that matters is what I can keep in my pocket. And many times this would blow up for obvious reasons. You know the old saying that you get what you pay for. At any rate back to loyalty. I was chatting with an old pal the other day and was told that his cousin had sold his home and bought another. The same cousin that I helped buy his home 16 years ago. The same cousin that I had been sending prospect matches to for the last ten years and had taken out a few times to see properties that he was considering buying. It’s not like the usual scenario where realtors lose touch with a client because they simply drop whatever communication with them that they once had. No, I had been in touch with this person on more than a few occasions. So why the change? Simple. Most people just don’t care. They don’t see what value was brought to the table. When we made their purchase back in 2009 it was somewhat complicated because it was an estate sale. They also wanted to buy it on the cheap (there’s that 15% again) and for the most part they got a really good deal on it. So you would think that would resonate and when it came time to buy or sell they would call me. Guess not. Which leads me to the handy man dude that we paid well over $75,000.00 to over the last few years. I also recommended him to many of my clients, to the point where he told me hold back because he had too much on the go. How many handymen would like to be in that spot? At any rate he was wandering around one day and saw a place for sale. Went in and talked to listing realtor and ended up putting in an offer. So he bought it from the listing agent!! A few weeks later he would carp at me about the problems he was having. Fast forward to a year ago. He listed his place with another agent. Nice touch. Needless to say I no longer send clients his way. The ultimate in loyalty. Ah Loyalty, what a concept.

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