What makes a Realtor good: an answer

Ease of use must include anticipation. The best client service is proactive. It anticipates the client's need and addresses it, often making recommendations. One of the best salesmen at Bergdorf Goodman Men I worked with would go find a suit for the customer, but at the same time pick out a couple of shirt and tie combinations that matched that suit perfectly. Then he would ask the customer how the rest of his wardrobe worked with the suit the customer had just selected. More than half the time, the customer would want to see what the salesman had in mind. (It didn't hurt that this was an extremely effective way to cross-sell merchandise.) In real estate, anticipation can take many forms. Perhaps the buyer client was looking for homes in a good school district -- anticipate her need and ask if she'd like to do a short tour of the local elementary school. If you know that a client is going to ask for something, don't make the client ask; just do it for her.

Lastly, but not least, ease of use encompasses delivering the result the client is seeking, or at least helping the client understand why that result was not achieved. If what the client wants is not something you can deliver, and won't change his mind even after you've explained, then ease of use dictates that you send the client somewhere else.

What about skills?

In the original post, a number of commentators spoke about things like market knowledge, technical skills (such as knowing the law, doing paperwork, negotiation), and the like. Surely what makes a Realtor good includes some measurement of the craft of brokerage?

It does. But not to the extent one might imagine, and perhaps not for the reasons one might imagine.

The technical skills and market knowledge are critical, of course, but ... a Realtor who doesn't possess these basics could hardly be considered a professional at all. Issues of client service can hardly enter the picture if the Realtor in question doesn't know local market conditions and can't negotiate her way out of a paper bag. We are better off considering such individuals as Realtor larvae, as we think of first-year law associates to be lawyer larvae.

As a rule of thumb, may I propose that a Realtor whose technical skills and knowledge can be matched by a consumer who spends a day on Google looking up information, data, and the real estate process needs more basic training? Or to find some other line of work.

Competing on ease of use

I believe that ease of use is the perfect grounds for competition. It is easy to understand, obvious to the client, and easier to differentiate than the alternatives.

Consider something like "market knowledge." There is no real way for the consumer to judge whether one Realtor has more market knowledge than another unless the consumer himself is an expert in local market conditions. Negotiating skill is another thing the consumer can't possibly judge without sitting in on a bunch of negotiations by a bunch of Realtors.

But the frequency and quality of communication is something the consumer can judge. Whether one Realtor takes the time to explain the advice whereas another one doesn't, or does a worse job, is something the consumer can judge based on his own understanding of the advice and issues after having it explained. "Joe made that really clear, but Jane not so much."

The consumer, after interviewing a few different agents, can decide whether one agent gives him a greater feeling of peace of mind.

That's great, but how?

I'm not really sure. I have ideas that I plan to explore in future posts, since the whole insight was new to me as well.

Offhand, however, it occurs to me that most Realtors and brokerages focus most of their investment into getting more eyeballs on listings. There's a lot more energy spent on thinking about random visitors from Google than there is on people who have entrusted their biggest asset to the agent. That might be a place to start.

I've got things to think about. What about you?

Originally posted at Notorious ROB, Copyright (c) 2009 Robert Hahn

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