Are You Creating an Experience or Just Closing a Deal?

by Lyle Wilks

What Is Your Standard?

Our book of the month is The New Gold Standard by Joseph Michelli, a book about how Ritz-Carlton built one of the most recognized customer-service cultures in the world.

And there is one question from the book that I haven't been able to get away from:

What is our standard?

Not what do we hope our clients experience.

What can someone actually count on when they decide to work with us?

Because there is a difference between doing our job and creating an experience.

Sometimes the Client Will Tell You

I recently sat down with a seller who told me everything she hated about the last time she bought a house.

What frustrated her. What made her anxious. What she never wanted to experience again.

Without realizing it, she was basically giving me the blueprint for how to serve her.

I also picked up pretty quickly that she tended to think about everything that could go wrong.

So instead of waiting for those questions, I tried to get in front of them.

“Here's something that could happen next. If it does, here's how we'll handle it.”

Or,

“When the inspection comes back, there are probably going to be things on it. Don't panic. We'll go through it together.”

A lot of the time, she never even had to ask.

That's part of the experience.

It isn't just answering the phone when someone calls.

It's anticipating why they might need to call in the first place.

1. Define and Refine

One of the five principles in The New Gold Standard is Define and Refine. Ritz-Carlton doesn't simply tell its people to provide great service. They define what that service should look like.

That made me think about real estate.

What does “great service” actually mean in our business?

Getting the contract signed?

Scheduling inspections?

Communicating deadlines?

Getting everyone to closing?

Those things matter.

But they're also the job.

What happens because someone chose you?

Maybe every buyer gets a step-by-step explanation of what happens next.

Maybe clients hear from you before every major milestone.

Maybe nobody gets to closing without you celebrating them with a gift.

If you haven't defined your standard, your clients are getting whatever version of you shows up that day.

2. Empower Through Trust

Ritz-Carlton is famous for giving employees the authority to solve a guest's problem without having to ask permission first. That's part of Empower Through Trust.

As agents, we already have that freedom.

The question is what we do with it.

Maybe it's keeping waters and snacks in the car when you're showing houses all afternoon.

Maybe it's spending a little money to solve a problem instead of debating whether it's technically your responsibility.

Maybe it's simply having the tools ready because you know what your client is probably going to need.

Exceptional service doesn't always require a huge gesture.

Usually, it's the small things done intentionally.

3. It's Not About You

The book talks about keeping your “radar on” and anticipating needs people haven't necessarily said out loud.

Real estate gives us opportunities to do this constantly.

A buyer's biggest concern might really be getting their kids into school on time.

A seller arguing over something small may actually be struggling with leaving the home where they raised their family.

Our job is to pay attention.

For my buyers, I put together a buyer's book with every property we're going to see, room for notes, lender documents and eventually all of their closing paperwork.

Nobody requires me to do that.

It's simply one small way to make the process easier.