Giving customers what they want may not always get you their business.

Consider an example. You need your car fixed, and you plan to call three different repair shops. The first one comes back with a quote of $800 and tells you that you will have your car back in three days. OK, that’s it – you no longer want to go to the other repair shops because you are happy with the first garage. They quoted you promptly and promised a reasonable timeframe for the repairs. You reward them by giving them the business.

This story is how business is going to be won in the coming years. It is no longer about doing the best job. There is too much competition to pride yourself in just being the best. You also need to learn the value of working faster for your customers.

Imagine you are a real estate agent in Aspen, Colorado. You are just one of a thousand agents there. As an agent, you know how important the online community is for acquiring buyer and seller leads. So you do everything right – you build the best website, figure out how to get it ranked all the way up in the number one spot for “aspen real estate.” Now you are getting flooded with emails, which you check once a day, every morning.

Meanwhile, another agent in Aspen is also doing pretty well with his website. His site is ranked in the fourth position; he is not getting quite as many emails as you are, but he is getting more closings. His secret? Fast response time! He uses a Blackberry to receive emails and responds to customers within 5 minutes on average! How much do you think that impresses the person looking to buy or sell a home?

The California Association of Realtors has determined that the number one competitive edge for an agent is fast response time.

Imagine how great it will be when all you have to do to get business is raise your hand and say “I can do that.” If you can do this BEFORE someone else does, then you will get rewarded with the business more than 80% of the time.

So to start gaining more business, decide what you can do to improve your response time. What can you do to show customers that you can give them the fastest response?

Then implement these ideas so your customers will immediately see the difference!
Jeremiah Thompson