What's In A Greetiing? Everything!

Each day our office phones ring for a multitude of reasons.  Residents with service requests, prospective residents seeking rental information, corporate calling regarding reports and family wanting to know whats for dinner tonight.  All of these are extremely important people to us.  People to provide us with job security and people who we want to have job security for.  Yet, on a daily basis, we answer the phone as though it is a uneventful routine requirement.  It is uneventful, because we have allowed ourselves to forget our tone and energy will dictate how the conversation will continue.  That's right, if we pick up with low energy we will have a low energy conversation, if we pick up with a serious attitude the conversation will turn serious, if we pick up in a hurry the conversation will end quickly.  If our phone energy is negative we will contaminate the energy of the caller.  If we pick up with a positive high energy we will elevate the energy of the caller.

"Good morning, thank you for calling Just The Same Everywhere, how can I help you"?  Why do so many people insist on using this greeting?  It is so boring and insincere.  We all understand the rules of supply and demand, if there is infinite supply then the item is cheaper.  Well, there is a ton of this greeting in all industries throughout the United States.  It is a cheap and insincere greeting, one might say last years unwanted overstocked design that is now available at the local dollar store.  Yes, I called, and the local dollar store actually answered there phone that way.

You only have a few seconds to impact the energy of the conversation, so use those beginning seconds wisely.  Pick a sincere greeting like:  "I'm glad you've called Great Estates".  Pick a marketing greeting like:  "It's a Rental Round Up at Sonata Ranch".  Pick a fun greeting like:  "You've just reached Pennington Park, where residents are always cool by the pool and having fun in the sun".  Of course, pick an appropriate greeting that fits your asset and clientele - but just make sure it is different and catches their attention while setting an upbeat positive energy and tone.

Now the hard part, YOU.  It is easy to get caught up in the rat race of office demands.  Unexpected residents visiting, walk-in traffic, surprise reports due, vendor visits, unannounced inspections, etc.  Often we find ourselves picking up the phone on the fly, not giving it the attention deserved.  We have to step back, breathe, and remember - this is a potential commission or renewal calling, the very item that insures our success and employment.  The phone is like a courtesy alarm, reminding us that on the other end is opportunity, a destiny of success or failure that we are able to control.

Change is good, focus is good, success is good - so mix it up a little today, promote your phone to the top of you and your teams priority list and keep it there.  I guarantee, it will ring in continued great rewards!