I’m angry and getting more so every second.

Tick, tick, tick….you haven’t responded. Am I not important to you? I know you saw it, heard it, looked at it, considered it, but you still haven’t responded.

This particular scenario occurs all over the world, every second of the day. As we get more ‘tech-savvy’ it seems less and less people are finding it necessary to respond in a timely manner, if at all. In the real estate business, response time can mean the difference between landing customers or handing them on a silver platter to your competition.

Why is it such a big deal? Let’s move into your personal life for a minute. When texting, emailing or calling your spouse/significant other/kids, what kind of response time do you expect from them? How do you feel when they respond a half hour later? How about if they don’t respond at all? It can make you feel insignificant, even disrespected. Let’s see what Merriam-Webster has to say about respect:

RESPECT

: a feeling of admiring someone or something that is good, valuable, important, etc.

: a feeling or understanding that someone or something is important, serious, etc., and should be treated in an appropriate way

When a customer submits a request to connect with you, how do you want them to feel? If you respond in seconds, they’re going to feel very important—even if it’s a quick response like this “Thanks so much for your interest in xxx property. I’m out with buyers at the moment, but should be able to connect with you at 2pm. Will that work?” When we take our time responding, customers will feel insignificant or even disrespected. I don’t know about you, but when I’m shopping for something, I expect to receive good customer service and timely communication.

I know, I know, it’s difficult to respond to everyone when you’re running around like crazy in this business. There’s 101 ways to automate, but personalize, your response to interested parties. You can even pull the Leigh Brown quick video response out of your bag of tricks. Have it pre-recorded and loaded somewhere and send it right over to the potential customer while you’re out in the field.

Show respect to those that want to connect with you and receive respect in return. Response and response time are critical.

“Yes, you’re important to me.”

I’ve spent the last few days in San Francisco at the National Association of Realtors Conference. This is where the top of the top come to share their knowledge regarding everything from staying motivated to emerging trends.

Last year, I had trouble finding the emerging trends. I came home with some great tips and new connections, but not much in the way of ‘new’.

I’m happy to report this year was the opposite. I connected with fewer people, but gained real insight as to where we are heading, not only as an industry, but as a society.

Several words and terms floated throughout my interaction in classes (esp. Errol Samuelson and Todd Carpenter)  and with start up companies (Zurple) including: inbound leads, interactive marketing, predictive marketing and big data. Since I only stop at my friend’s and companies I haven’t heard of booths in the expo, I may be a little lopsided on my view, but it seemed all of them were woven with a common thread.

Big brother is watching (and has been longer than any of us realize).

We have come to a point where data is available in massive quantities and there are companies poised to show us all how it can be a benefit in our businesses and daily lives. While there are those that won’t like it because it’s all too invasive, there are many others that will be using it to their advantage.

I’m a Android and ‘all things Google‘ fan so I already have a comfort level with this technology. When Google analyzes my calendar along with traffic on the route and notifies me that I need to leave a little earlier than normal with an alarm. .. I’m not mad. The fact that it knows I’m out and about exploring San Francisco, then makes recommendations right on my phone…I’m still not mad. 🙂 I do enjoy convenience, but I wonder at what point does it stop being a cool convenience and become invasive to me?

It certainly will be interesting to watch companies emerge and consumers react. It was fun getting to see it all firsthand here at the NAR Conference.

Thanks for the hospitality San Francisco. I’ll be back.

Pier 14