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“What clients are really
interested in is honesty, plus a baseline of competence’ … Patrick Lencioni
‘You should not build your
customer service system on the premise that your organisation will never
question the whims of your clients” … Richard Branson
“Client is God but even Gods
can be wrong at times” … Me
Once again two quotes &
third one is just sharing of feelings about the earlier two quotes, please do
mind! Will come straight to the subject of sharing which is clients & real
estate & let me clear at the start, this is not about marketing or selling
flats (or any real estate) because, first, I am not at all a marketing person
& second people (read as clients) have become smart (rather over smart)
that you can’t make them buy your home by reading some article, so what you
read ahead is my analysis of trends in real estate to handle clients &
change the industry has seen over the years on clients front. This sharing may
be helpful for understanding the client handling at your end is what I feel
& I may be wrong, as any B-School will teach you how to identify clients
& how to sale them your product but nobody can teach you how to retain your
clients as that’s something depends on your attitude towards your work as well
how you make understand your clients about what you are! This aspect I thought
was missing not just in real estate but in most desi industries & more than
selling your product if you understand to handle your clients in the right way
then it surely saves you from many unpleasant (read as stress generating)
incidents in future, is my reason for sharing.
That way real estate till
very recent was not known as client friendly & the reason was simple, it
was seller’s business as the gap between demand & supply was big & so
was the ego of the sellers’ (read as builders) & I know many first generation
builder’s stories about how they use to rule their clients at their whim,
though there has been some exceptions to this yet at large client was not an
entity to be needed to treat with respect much, was a fact. But today that’s
history & with policies of the govt there is enough supply of homes in the
market & no more the client has to beg for his home or shop & then
there is RERA whose (supposedly) job is to keep clients interest protected
& make the builders’ treat clients with respect! As well there is one more
player, i.e. social media of which most industries are afraid of as it can
tarnish a brand in a day & most new age buyers of real estate are well
versed with social media. Unfortunately, with all measures of the govt as well
market situation in favour of buyers yet in comparison to other industries
client relations remains a problem in the real estate industry, is a fact &
for that we have to understand a few basics of the system.
For ages, the real estate
industry has been dominated by the sellers & their dominant attitude has
been deeply penetrated in all the segments associated with real estate,
especially the employees. Because in any organization the employee team usually is
reflection of their boss i.e. the owner & if the owner is not truly giving
respect to his clients, then you can’t expect it from the team. And when such
people switch from a company to another even if the new boss is caring for the
clients, they won’t get tamed in that attitude or say mode easily because of
their earlier training. And then, the attitude about caring of
clients’, needs to get developed over the period & cultivated just the way
any good habit needs & that’s a job of patience which most employees &
employers don't have, resulting in client relations going for a toss! As any relation
depends on right communication which is the weakest link of real estate &
with every modern tool at assistance yet people in real estate are most
unprofessional when it's communicating the message. They make mess of any
communication right from the delay in conveying the message to using the wrong
language (as most are poor in English) as well not taking efforts to confirm
the message has been delivered in the right way to the right person. And any
proper communication needs a system in place which is again a weak link with
most real estate cos.’ You may think I am naming/ shaming too much, to real
estate but you can cross check my claims (statements) with any person in any
field who for some reason has been needed to communicate with any real estate
firm’s team & then tell me their remarks about their experience!
A system must be there for
the right way of communication & any such system works only if the top boss
of the company respects that system & here respect means, insisting on
right use of the system. If a client emails you, then within twenty-four hours the concerned
person must reply to that email with even just an acknowledgement saying,
“thanks we have received your email & we will revert soon.” And the same
concern must revert on that email, which rarely happens in real estate, exception
is if it is an email for buying flat (that too gets ignored many a times) or
it’s an email about depositing the money (sarcastic fact)! More frustrating is,
there are shameless responses like “mi mail baghitlich nahi” (I didn’t see the
mail) or the server was down or most of the time nothing is conveyed back to
the clients if there is any problem with the flat or any document need. Do remember, in any relation
communication is the key & real estate is no exception to this law, so if
we want our clients happy then first thing is, building a system where at least
they will be attended promptly! And for that within your team there must be a
system by which responsibilities are given very clearly so no passing the buck
game is played which upsets the client most. Always try to keep single point
contact & make someone responsible for the clients, that will make us know
where the shoe is biting. Why we hate govt system, as keep apart corruption
part of it (that’s in private also) major problem is, every time instead of
taking lead & solving the problem of the customer it tries to push the ball
in other’s court (read as dept) & make the client communicate till he or she
gets frustrated, spoiling the relations (who cares here) with the clients,
isn’t it? Then why you allow the same thing happening to your clients, is the
question I will ask to real estate people when it’s about setting up &
following the right communication system with the clients!
Next thing is, clear
communication & keeping records of the communication as no more the clients
are submissive the way they used to be in the past & they can drag you in
the courts over your wrong communication & which not only can damage your
image but make loss to you also financially. This is where proper system &
training to the team comes in the picture, another weak link of real estate. As
everything must be in writing from our side as the client doesn’t need it but
we do, in case the dialogue becomes an argument! And not to prove the client
wrong but to prove that we too were not wrong & to avoid misunderstandings
as these are relation spoilers. Don’t commit things which you can’t do &
if you commit then try sincerely to deliver it & even if you fail, do
acknowledge it with open mind & plain language communicate that failure to
deliver to your client in the right way & right time, this avoids most of
the problems, is my experience! And to achieve this there has to be a keen eye
on the entire day to day operations by the top boss & a continuous training
to the team making them understand the importance of right communication with
the clients. You can have WhatsApp groups within your team as well site wise
groups with the clients on it though many builders avoid transparency, thinking
clients will take undue advantage of their openness (which is true in a way),
but avoiding transparency with clients is like not taking vaccine against a
deadly disease just out of fear for side effects! How much ever you may
do good still there will be some clients who will be unhappy & name you in
bad way but you will be confident that you have not done anything wrong as well
there will be many other clients which will stand by you for your transparency
(if you really have been one) & for those clients you must adopt right
communication system with every client.
Recently, in one of our
completed projects, an NRI lady (highly educated & working in the finance
field in USA) purchased a small ready possession apartment with a package deal.
With all her money utilized rightly for the purposes as mentioned in her
agreement & her maintenance deposit transferred to the society which was in
place yet she abused us of cheating, bullying & not-being transparent &
expressing she made a mistake by buying a home with Sanjeevani group etc etc.
First, I said I will look in & went through records as well communication
involved & when I myself was satisfied that we haven’t done anything wrong,
then I shared all details with her saying we are not at fault & the matter
she should resolve with concerned society’s office bearers on which even the
society members also agreed upon! Yet she kept calling us by names &
posting messages on WhatsApp group of that project’s clients & then I
posted a lengthy message on that society’s group, explaining our stand. To my
surprise, many members (flat holders, clients) stood by us & some even
said, they feel sorry that we had to listen to such crap from that lady & I
should ignore it & they believe in our workings! With due respect
to that NRI lady client of ours (as after all, she is our client), I
deliberately mentioned our own case of clients unhappiness here because even
with all right ways & sincere efforts to make someone happy yet the client
may not be happy but that’s ok, you tried is what matters most is what I feel
& somewhere, somebody does take cognizance of your efforts if you are doing
it in right way & I think that’s the key to client service & relations
in the real estate! Something about new clients of real estate, just
know that all builders are not in business to cheat you & make money, there
are many who wants to build good homes & earn money as well make good
relations with clients, so as a client you also need to follow some right
communication norms/ system to understand your builder better before tagging
him a cheater, & I think that’s a fair expectation as a seller (read as a
builder) as then only any deal brings peace to both parties! And for that, dear customers
(read as home buyers) you have to ask the right questions in the right mode
& in the right way & know about your home as well as understand the
process of booking properly, in depth, which will help you in avoiding bitter
moments with your builder & this is applicable to any product, even your
home loan also!
Incidentally, I came across
two very interesting clients handling examples while I was penning down this
sharing, one is from hotel Vaishali, an iconic place in Pune
where its manager named Manjunath, returned bag full of cash to its
rightful owner who has forgotten it in the joint & not a single rupee
touched. Though the client thanked Manju but to my knowledge didn’t give any
cash reward for his honesty & dedication towards the service to the
clients! And second, Ganesh Jamdar, Police Inspector of Bhosri
Police station in PCMC, when came across case of theft where robbers have
looted goods from a small road side shop & the owner was a physically
disabled couple, not only get the complaint lodged but collected money within
his team & refilled the goods in the grocery shop to help the poor couple!
Again, a wonderful example of commitments towards clients as very few people in
Govt understands it’s a service to the public & every person who comes to
them is a client & needed to be served to fullest & again not many took
cognizance of this noble act from Inspector Jamdar. I wrote to both of them,
individually, & thanked them for reminding all of us to keep serving our
respective clients, without expectation of getting appreciated, at least that
much I can do!
Friends I have been taught
(read too) that customer is always right but that doesn’t necessarily make you
always wrong; rather it’s not about who is right & who is wrong, it's about
how we can achieve peace (and some money) by making our clients happy, that’s
key to success, right? Adios, with this note, real estate friends & clients too!
--
Sanjay Deshpande
Sanjeevani Dev.
Please view my sharing about finding a Right Home/
Office in Pune, at YouTube link below & share if liked...
https://youtu.be/27j3I3rwGPQ?si=-ODYBxVI2Dl_C345
Please do visit my blog
links below to read about real estate & home buying!
https://visonoflife.blogspot.com/2024/01/choosing-your-home-along-with-future-of.html
http://jivnachadrushtikon.blogspot.com/2023/02/blog-post.html
Creating Togetherness; team Sanjeevani Way (Click link below)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/65629150@N06/albums/72157627904681345
For any of your complaints about city, log in at link below
www.punecorporation.org
Take your issues to Hon PM at link below...
Think Green, Think Life
www.sanjeevanideve.com / https://junglebelles.in/
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