As I was reading The E-Mail Handshake in yesterday’s New York Times, I found myself – a fairly tech-savvy real estate agent- with mixed emotions about the concept of conducting negotiations via Blackberry/iPhone email.
I believe that too often agents, clients and customers use email as a way of avoiding contact and the tough conversations they need to have about a property or the negotiating process. It’s easier to be a hard-ass with a few thumb strokes than it is on the phone, having to listen to the other persons advice. That being said, perhaps some buyers don’t trust their agents and don’t even want to listen to their advice, so they just shoot ‘em instructions and see where it lands. On the flip side, perhaps some agents don’t have the confidence to stand toe to toe with their client and tell them the things they don;t want to hear that just might get the deal done.
I wonder how many deals don’t get done because the wrong method of communicating was chosen?
I’d like to think that today’s most prominent agents know when to “e” and when to “c” their clients and have established a relationship with their clients that they know when a “c” is coming in, it’s important enough to take it.
Knowing when to use technology and when to use personal contact is a combination of art, science and style…
1 comment
April 28, 2009 at 5:31 pm
Wilfred Joseph
It’s a generational thing i feel. Older clients prefer a call for most communications and the younger ones email. but that a generality. All transactions are unique and have to handled in the manner that would best bring it to successful conclusion.
In the fast moving high pressure world of NYC of course emails will play an important part of the way agents communicate.
Since real estate is the only form of contract that must be in writing we must all be careful about what we write. I like what the professor said, that email should be drafted like formal letters and not done casually.
Now we have twitter, and other SMS (texting) forms of communication? Maybe that should be another post.