Nothing makes me cringe more than when I hear agents tell a client, “call me anytime.” Why do I cringe?  I cringe because the agent doesn’t really mean what they say.  They “think” they mean it, but in reality, if a client calls them on a Saturday night at 11pm, they will be annoyed.  Annoyed, even though they gave the client permission to do so.  

Real estate agents tell their clients they are always available because they fear that if they say otherwise, the client will find an agent who IS available all the time and they will lose out on some business.

The truth is, unless you are literally saving lives, you should not be available 24/7 because there is no way you can provide outstanding customer service when you are “available” at all hours. What other profession is always available other than a physician or a bail bondsman? 

We Need to Manage Expectations

One of our major jobs throughout the home buying and home selling process is to manage our clients’ expectations.  We need to let them know not only about the real estate process, but how we work, as well as what we expect from them.  A major part of the conversation should be how all of the parties will most effectively communicate. Here are just a few questions that are helpful to ask your clients at your first meeting:

• What is the best way for me to reach you?
• How would you like to receive new listings?
• When is the best time to call you?
• If I need to reach you quickly, what is the best way to contact you?
• When are you available to look at properties?
• When is a good time for you to review offers?

Know How You Work

Take some time to think about how you work, or how you would ideally like to work. Visualize your work day and your work flow.  What does that look like?  It’s important to do this work because if you don’t know how you work or want to work, it will be impossible to let your clients know how you work.  If you fail to let your clients know how you work, you run the risk of them being disappointed with your performance because you didn’t tell them what to expect and they may have expected much more than you are delivering. 

During your buyer consultation or listing presentation is the best time to let the client know what to expect from you.  If they have an issue with anything you say, it can be discussed and resolved at the beginning of your relationship. Here are just a few topics you can discuss at your first meeting.

• How many open houses you will hold, if any.
• How you will deliver feedback from buyers and agents
• The frequency of the feedback
• What time you return phone calls
• What time you stop answering your phone and responding to email

Naturally there will be exceptions to this, but you cannot live your life by exceptions.  I have found that when you let people know what to expect, they are fine with what you tell them. They will think you are always available because you have told them when we are available. 

If a phone call is received after the time you have set, let it go to voicemail. You get to decide what calls you take. Your client already knows that you’re not going to pick up because you told them at your very first meeting what to expect from you, so there is no need for you to panic.  The same is true for answering email and text messages.

These are just a few examples of how you can set healthy boundaries and have those boundaries respected.  By setting boundaries, you can spend time with your loved ones, a hobby and doing a little self care.  This will enable you to show up as your best self. 

Candy Miles-Crocker is a founding coach of The Helm and affectionately known as “the boundary queen.” You can learn more about her here.