A LOT of e-mails
I am a real estate broker operating state-wide in Tennessee. I do a lot of listings, many of them MLS Entry-only listings. As a result, we have listings by the dozens and get e-mails by the hundreds. These e-mails usually involve a question a customer may have, or a correction they want to make to their listing.
In this business, I cannot sit at my computer all day and night, so sometimes I am on the run. I know people would feel much better if I could at least respond to their e-mail and tell them I will work on their situation when I am back at the office.
Mystery e-mails
But more and more lately, I run into e-mails that are a complete mystery to me, and I have no clue how to respond. Sometimes, the mail has a name on it, but sometimes the name has changed, perhaps in marriage, and sometimes truncated by their e-mail client. So no I don’t know who it’s from, and without being at the files in the office, I may not find it or the subject property, much less a phone number where I could give the customer a quick call.
Now I may have a customer who is getting irritated as time passes, and of course they blame me for being impossible to hear back from, when in actuality, it is they who are shooting themselves in the foot.
To end this craziness, here are the rules I try to impose on my customers, and lest this article sound to “inside baseball” or closed circuit, I suggest you use some of these ideas to make your communication more effective as well.
E-mail Solution
- Start the e-mail on “compose” and not “reply,” or “reply all.” After only a few exchanges, this threat can become clogged up with uneeded information, and sometimes even include people who have no business there. Don’t be lazy. Use my address.
- Start the subject line with a couple of hashtags. That is nice for me, but the primary things I want to see are these. Your last name – your street name – your phone number. That solves so many problems immediately. (Remember, SMITH – MAIN – (615) 973-8970.)
- In the body, you can mention you would like to raise the price, or have an open house or what ever you may want to get your edit on the route schedule for Thursday. Don’t become eloquent, but briefly mention what you desire. Remember, here where I am, I have a change form you need to complete, sign and attach, so don’t forget to do that, too.
That’s it. That makes it so easy, and you aren’t left hanging. I am a SLOW typist, but I can usually respond fairly quickly by phone, so you know you are not all alone. But this is common sense, and I am not trying to make my customers feel badly, but in exciting times such as selling your own house, it’s easy to forget the obvious stuff.
