I pulled this one out of the archives…. and wanted to share it…
Summer 2010:
-writing this blog from the car while waiting…_
Clients often complain about their Realtors; just like I am sure every other customer/client and service professional relationship there is.
I also often hear of Realtors saying how clients do not respect their time. This is a re-occuring comment and one that I am familiar with as well.
When a client says; let’s meet at 9am – that means 9am. Now anyone who knows anything about DC traffic knows to add lots of extra time. So when a client calls and says they are running late – I expect that to mean 5-10 minutes – not 30-40.
What if I was 30 minutes late? Would the client wait? Would they be mad? I think so!
Customers are quick to through out a complaint – but sometimes the issue is a bit closer to home….
and so this client – (she was 50 minutes late. Lost? Seriously – she has GPS! ).
It’s always a pleasant surprise when a client shows up on time. I used to wait and wait and wait. Now I have the 20 minute rule. If I’m at the property and they call without a specific “I’m about 30 minutes away” or something similar, I let them know we can re-schedule or I’ll wait for the 30 minutes. If they don’t call at all, I’m outta there after 20 minutes.
Once the client realizes our time means nothing and they can be as late as they want to be than all the time boundaries disappear and the level of general respect for our experience and expertise flies out the window.