Real estate agents like to dress snazzy. This, we know. And now they are taking their customer service advice from the nation’s fashion haven as well.
Julie Escobar, director of corporate and convention marketing for ProspectsPLUS!, penned an article for Realty Times advocating that real estate professionals use Nordstrom [stock JWN][/stock] as an example when it come to customer service.
ProspectPLUS! is a postcard marketing company that also offers marketing tools specifically geared toward real estate agents. While the company does offer some interesting and effective products, the advice given in the column doesn’t seem to match up.
Clearly, Escobar is a fan of the upscale department store:
“Thank you Nordstrom for setting the customer service bar high and keeping it there and for creating an example for salespeople from every industry around the globe. You guys truly do deliver the WOW factor!” she says.
Escobar offers good tips. The “nobility” of customer service isn’t something that often passes over the eardrum, and bonding with customers is always a good way to really figure out their needs. But none of the tips seem particularly geared toward real estate agents. Nor are they particularly groundbreaking.
“In an economic time that has seen markets dramatically shift, competition gets fierce and sales professionals who were either unwilling or unable to make the leap from ‘how it’s always been done’ to ‘what works NOW’ leave our industry, one thing is for sure, SERVICE has never been MORE important,” writes Escobar.
But is Nordstrom’s sales strategy working for Nordstrom? It’s worth mentioning that Nordstrom posted its earnings Thursday, increasing its profit but still falling below analysts’ expectations.
