“Earning” the Testimonials and/or Referrals

Steve Levine with Andy Valadez, President of Marketing Dynamics and Ruben Gonzalez, 3 Time Olympian

What I have learned in my 6 years of publishing this fine magazine is that every realtor claims to be superior in customer service over their competitors, at least as evidenced by the number of referrals they receive from previous clients.

They must deliver the quality and quantity of service “worthy” of a testimonial and/or those referrals. How does one exceed a customer’s expectations when each customer uses a different “yardstick” by which to measure that excellence in customer service?

We all have experienced service in a restaurant or hotel that was worthy of a compliment or complaint. When Barbara and I recently traveled to Dallas to attend a convention over the Valentines Day weekend we had a terrible experience with with the quality of a very expensive steak in one of Dallas’s premier hotels.

I have always felt that the more you spend for a product or service, the better the service should be. Not so at this restaurant!

The $32 T-bone was tough and tasteless. The asparagus had so much garlic and salt, you couldn’t taste the actual vegetable! After sending the plate back to the kitchen 3 times, Barbara gave up on her steak and we left with a “bad taste in our mouth” (in more ways than one) for that restaurant.

What was most disappointing about our dining experience was that there was a better steak restaurant in the same hotel, that they could have (and should have) gotten the third steak from. But, no one wanted to go to that length to “save” the customer, till Barbara communicated her experience to the General Manager of the hotel who arranged for her to get a better steak at the better steakhouse (in the same hotel mind you) and gave it to her complimentary.

We all have very high expectations for how we want to be treated when we are the consumer. But, how many of us really deliver that same level of service to OUR consumer?

Both this month’s cover story, Vicki Looney of Keller Williams Realty-Memorial and our “Company Profile”, Gary Pollard of The Gary Pollard Agency Group focus on raising the bar of excellence in customer service client after client, month after month. For Vicki and Gary the attitude that “Unless the consumer is 100% satisfied, you have missed the mark”, is the why their businesses continue to grow while others around them are not.

You will enjoy both of their stories!
Gary Pollard and his company were first profiled in the March 2005 issue of Real Estate Executive and are back by popular demand.

Also returning to us are the great folks at Allied Home Warranty who have provided you with an application inserted in the magazine and only ask that you give them a try.

The other insert is a reprint from Michael and Mark Marlow of Re/Fund Realty Services and Mortgage Funding. They were profiled in the October 2007 issue.
Great guys with a terrific company that are also worthy of your referrals!

As always, good reading and good sales!
Success to you!

Steve Levine
Publisher