Since moving back to Australia one month ago we’ve been on the lookout for a home to buy. Since our first weekend of inspections things have changed drastically, including all open houses being banned. This has left Real Estate Agents scrambling to make sales… and it’s left me in complete and utter shock at the ineffective marketing strategies being used.

For context, at every open house we needed to provide our names, phone numbers and email addresses.

Here’s three examples of legitimate text messages I have received from agents in the past week. .

“Hi Tahnee. Can we please talk regarding [house address].”

”Hi Tonnee. I tried to call to see if you were still looking at buying a home? If you are please call me back asap.”

”Hi Tahnee. We are currently working with highly motivated owners who need to sell. If you’re still looking to buy we have 14 new homes. Please phone our office.”

What is wrong here? (Despite the obvious incorrect spelling of my name.)

Each of these text messages are generic and about the AGENT and what they need me to do for them. None of them are about ME, the CUSTOMER… the one whose money they want.

Imagine if I received a text message or EMAIL (not a single agent sent me a personalised email) that said:

”Hi Tahnee. Thanks for attending the open house at [address]. If you’re still on the lookout for a property, let me know some of your search parameters such as budget, bedrooms, ideal suburbs etc and I’d be happy to keep a close eye on the market for you and advise of any opportunities I see.”

How easy is that to do? And what a difference it would make to my customer experience!

I know the thought of losing income is terrifying. I know what it’s like to invest a lot of energy into marketing with no guaranteed return on investment. I know that desperation and stress often leads us to perform at less than our best selves.

But I also know that in order to SELL, you have to first SERVE.

Before you send any further communication following up with clients or chasing customers, take a step back and ask yourself: Does this message serve my clients, or is it serving me?