I have never had an issue personally with waiting for a response back from a broker, but I have been noticing lately an uptick in posts saying “I PM’ed XYZ broker a day ago and I still haven’t heard back. Anyone having the same issue?”. Meanwhile, the Broker, on top of having tons of PM’s to get back to, are also away/unavailable for a few days.
Is there a possible option available for Broker status users to create an “Away Message” in their PM box, so it sends an automatic message stating they are unavailable and will get back on xx date? I know they typically post in their review thread, but sometimes people aren’t looking around the whole site for that.
Much of that can be attributed to impatient people, so you have to take that with a grain of salt to a certain degree. People expect instant response and think they are the only one asking. Furthermore, they’re likely a tire kicker and won’t follow through with a purchase anyways.
I will 100% (more if possible!) agree that there have been more tire kickers than buyers lately.
At this time of year especially, I would (and I’m sure other brokers would agree) ask for people’s patience. There are A LOT of people messaging us, and it makes it more difficult when there are buyers for whom we obtain quotes, correspond back and forth, and then they just disappear. This time of year makes it tougher with the holidays, maybe family commitments, and people looking for that “year-end deal.”
The other thing to remember, too, is that many of us work full-time jobs on top of brokering. Both @electric and I do this on the side, and it takes up quite a bit of time. We usually respond during the work day, but if we’re tied up by our “real jobs,” we might not answer within an hour, which is what some people expect. I know many others also work full-time jobs in addition to this, so it’s not isolated to just a few of us!
I wouldn’t disagree with somehow being able to post that we will get back to you as quickly as we can and somehow have it pinned on top, but again, that also just lends itself to asking that buyers be reasonable overall, not just with the time it may take to respond; being reasonable as to pricing is always appreciated too!
I’ll add a +1 to tire kickers. I’m at a 5/1 ratio of people just kicking tires vs actually serious about purchase. I’m at a 4/1 ratio for giving a quote and not hearing a peep back…no thank you, no I’ll think about it, no F off…nothing. The majority of these people also wanted a quote “ASAP.” Those that don’t reply back, I highly suspect are being overly unrealistic in their expectations. That said, I have begun asking people what their expectation is regarding payment. I will always do better than their expectations if I can, however, it also helps me save time by seeing if it’s worthwhile to even get a quote or they’re too optimistic.
The fact of the matter is, while there are plenty of good natured, polite and patient people out there, there are also plenty of ignorant, disrespectful and rude people out there as well. You can’t please everyone, and all you can do is attempt to do the best you can.
We’ve been asking people about their payment expectation for a while, but it still doesn’t help. I’m glad (and also not glad; I’m sure you know what I mean.) that it’s not just us dealing with this nonsense of asking for quotes, negotiating things, and then they disappear.
We’ve been going back and forth about charging a retainer, but I wonder what others think. Will that scare off potential buyers?
I’ve toyed with the retainer angle myself for the same reason in the hopes it would weed out the tire kickers. I see drawbacks as well to this, and as such have not implemented one as of yet. That said, if it continues to this degree, especially the extreme ghosting, my mind may sway the other way.
