How Do You Build Loyalty?

By Shawn Lackie

This is a question I get asked from time to time and ask my self more times than I care to remember. How DO you build loyalty?

Back in the day, it was an accepted fact, people had their doctor, banker, lawyer, realtor and on and on. People had a true allegiance to the others they did business with. It was a true symbiotic arrangement and both parties usually benefited from that agreement, for a long time. It would seem it is no longer the case.

It’s been said, 15 percent of all buyers will just go to the cheapest available purchase, of any sort, even when selling your most valuable possession, your home. Quality? Meh. As long as I can keep more for myself who cares? Why else do you think there was such a proliferation of posting brokerages which would charge you a flat rate (By the way, I read the small print). The prevailing attitude is, “All that matters is, what I can keep in my pocket?” Many times, this would blow up, for obvious reasons. You know the old saying, “You get what you pay for.” At any rate, back to loyalty.

I was chatting with an old pal the other day and was told his cousin had sold his home and bought another. The same cousin I helped buy his home, 16 years ago, and had been sending prospective matches to, for the last ten years. I had taken him out a few times to see properties he was considering buying. It’s not like the usual scenario, where realtors lose touch with a client because they simply drop whatever communication with them they once had. No, I had been in touch with this person on more than a few occasions.

So why the change? Simple, most people just don’t care. They don’t see what value was brought to the table. When we made their purchase, back in 2009, it was somewhat complicated because it was an estate sale. They also wanted to buy it on the cheap (there’s that 15 percent again). For the most part, they got a really good deal on it. So you would think that would resonate, so, when it came time to buy or sell, they would call me. I guess not.

Which leads me to the handyman dude, whom we have paid well over $75,000 to over the last few years. I also recommended him to many of my clients, to the point where he told me to hold back because he had too much on the go. How many handymen would like to be in that spot? At any rate, he was wandering around one day and saw a place for sale. So he went in and talked to the listing realtor and ended up putting in an offer. So he bought it from the listing agent!

A few weeks later he began to carp at me about the problems he was having. Moving fast forward to a year ago, he listed his place with another agent. Nice touch, the ultimate in loyalty. Needless to say, I no longer send clients his way. Ah Loyalty, what a concept.

Feel free to check out this story and more on my blog site, at https://slackie14.wixsite.com/buy-sell-and-more