When real estate agents behave badly

by | Jul 2, 2011

When real estate agents behave badly Kevin Turner July 1, 2011 (Sydney Morning Herald)

You would think that with so many real estate agents leaving the industry because of hard times, those remaining would be bending over backwards to secure all the business they can.

Going that extra mile, so to speak.

With reports that up to 10,000 real estate agents, about one in six, have had to up stakes and look for employment elsewhere in the last year, industry leaders are wondering what to do to keep morale up.

Advertisement: Story continues below Real estate trainer Glenn Twiddle, who has a passion to make his industry better, argues agents are their own worst enemy – offering poor service to sellers and next to no follow up with buyers.

He set out to prove his point recently with a secret shopper campaign at real estate open houses, and the results are not good.

Glenn and his team visited 102 open homes, primarily in southeast Queensland, posing as buyers with instructions to give the agents whatever contact details they requested.

Here is a summary of the results:

One agent got more details than just a mobile number;
Seventy-two agents made no follow up at all after the open home;
Two followed up on the day of the open home (the standard that is trained);
Two followed up on more than one occasion after the open home;
Eighty-three of the agents made no attempt to try to sell the property in any way;
Most agents handed out property brochures but only one had outstanding property promotional material (extra info, DVD, video tour etc); and
Four agents did not even show for the open home.
These statistics are appalling!

It is a good idea to secret shop the agents in your area before you list.

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