The Purpose of our Work

If you head west from Fort Worth on I-20 and drive for just over an hour, you’ll come to the exit for a town called Strawn, TX (pop. 653).

Then, if you head north for only 4 minutes, on the right side of the road you’ll see Mary’s Café, home of the best darned chicken fried steak in the world.  Her full parking lots (including over-flow!) back up that statement as fact.

We always make it a point to stop when passing through and this last time, I noticed something on their menu (besides the chicken fried steak) that really hit home. It was Mary’s own customer service motto and the part I really liked was this:

You are not an interruption of our work – you are the purpose of our work!

The purpose of our work

Have you ever been annoyed because your phone rings right when you’re in the middle of working on your next, fantastic marketing piece that going to get you more clients? (hint: might that be a real, actual client on the phone?)

Have you ever hit the “ignore” button on your phone because you’re busy responding to your “friends” Facebook posts?  Why’d they have to call now? Don’t they know I’m busy networking?

And it gets worse. Have you ever been even the tiniest bit irritated when a client calls and wants to see a home and yet all you’re doing is watching TV, reading a book or surfing the internet?

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that as a real estate agent you can’t schedule some “you” time – in fact, you should.  I’m also not saying that you should let your clients walk all over you – you shouldn’t!

But a common complaint of many real estate agents is that they don’t have enough business (i.e. clients).  Yet, how many clients are right before their eyes, if, like Mary of Strawn, TX, they’d only remember the purpose of their work.

Your Own Customer Service Motto

As Office Manager for Ready Real Estate, my customer service motto is

My job is to make your job easier

I may not always succeed, but I do try and I always have something for which to aim.

As an experienced agent, do you have a customer service motto that has served you well?  Or, if you are new agent, what do you want your customer service motto to be?