RISMEDIA, November 7, 2009—Taking the time to stage your home so that prospective buyers can envision themselves living in the space is a crucial part of getting your home sold. While a vast majority of sellers take their agents advice and declutter their homes before a showing, the feedback from a showing appointment is just as important as getting the home ready for the showing itself. Here, Kevin Faherty, Vice President of Operations and Sales, Centralized Showing Service talks about the importance of professional feedback.
Kevin Faherty
Vice President of Operations and Sales
Centralized Showing Service
www.feedbackcentral.com
Almost universally, sellers are instructed by their listing agents to make sure their house is clean and “showable.” Many sellers go to great efforts to pick up dirty clothes, organize, put the dogs in the car, turn on all the lights and bake cookies before the next showing in hopes that this showing will sell their home.
The seller leaves their home with all the common fears of having strangers inside their home—evaluating them, seeing how they live, and judging whether their home is “worthy.” When the showing is over and the seller comes home, they wait. And wait. And then they wait some more.
After going through all that trouble, sellers invariably want to know how the showing went. What did the buyer like? What didn’t they like? They’re usually willing to do whatever is necessary to make a sale happen—whether with the current buyer or a future buyer—but in order to make these changes, the seller needs feedback provided in a professional way.
Many listing agents dutifully try to get feedback from the showing agent, but the showing agent doesn’t respond, even after repeated e-mails and calls. Some listing agents don’t even try.
As an industry that promotes its professionalism—nay, sells its professionalism—to the public, it is crucial that agents make an attempt to provide feedback on showings. Not only will this improve the Realtor image, it will also assist sellers in upgrading their properties and changing their behavior. The combination of these factors can result in a faster sale. Everyone benefits.
Some agents fear that providing feedback may someday come back to haunt them. After scheduling close to 50 million showing appointments, Centralized Showing Service, Inc. (CSS) has never had an instance where professionally provided feedback, positive or negative, has caused the showing agent to regret providing it or the listing agent from passing it along.
